Warren County Building Department in a battle regarding code interpretations

Attorney Timothy Johnson presents the case that Mr. Mendes and his property were unjustly targeted. Photo and video by Mark Williams, Royal Examiner.

The Warren County Board of Zoning Appeals held a meeting on August 1st to hear an appeal of the determination by the Warren County Deputy given on May 1, 2019, to Nelson Mendes. The determination was that given the information obtained by the Planning Department for an Agricultural Exemption Application, the zoning application would not be approved as submitted.

All structures, which include two metal buildings, one hoop greenhouse, and one deck, require a zoning permit and must meet all other applicable codes and ordinances, such as the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code to ensure that they meet the requirements for flood proofing as described in the federal guidelines. These requirements are addressed in Warren County Code Section 180-16F(1)(a), and noted in the determination and a previously communicated violation. The property is identified on tax map 36C, section 3, block 2, lot 14; located at 0 Stoney Bottom Road in Front Royal, VA in the Haynes-Anderson (Thunderbird) Subdivision; and is zoned Agricultural (A).

Nelson Mendes asks the the Board of Zoning Appeals to:

(1) overturn the Zoning Administrator’s decision to deny Mr. Mendes’s agricultural exemption applications for his two metal garages, and grant those agricultural exemption applications;

(2) overturn the Zoning Administrator’s decision to deny Mr. Mendes’s agricultural exemption application for his hoophouse, and grant that respective agricultural exemption application, or in the alternative, issue a decision finding that the hoophouse is exempted from any regulation as it does not meet the definition of a “building” or “structure” and is not subject to any permitting requirements, or in the alternative, issue a decision finding that the hoophouse is subject to a zoning permit requiring that the structure be inspected for sufficient flood proofing but that the structure has fully complied with flood proofing requirements;

(3) issue a finding that Mr. Mendes’s deck is not subject to needing a zoning permit because it does not constitute a “building” or “structure” pursuant to the Warren County Code, or in the alternative issue a finding that Mr. Mendes’s deck complied with any and all flood proofing requirements and is in full compliance with any and all Warren County regulations;

(4) issue as part of its decision a finding that Mr. Mendes has fully complied with all applicable Warren County zoning requirements concerning his property and the structures on said property ; and

(5) issue as part of its decision a finding that, until the zoning ordinance is amended and modifies the current construction of the zoning ordinance, structures constructed and used for agricultural pursuits are not subject to any zoning permit requirements except for those structures constructed within a flood plain area, and that the only zoning permit requirements for those said structures require a minimal flood proofing safety review consistent with applicable regulations (unless such structures are subject to applicable residential regulations)

The Royal Examiner’s camera was there: