Application Information

Special exception application to the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) shall be filed in the Department of Planning and Zoning on approved forms. Each application shall be accompanied by a check for the fee established by the Board of Supervisors, payable to the County Treasurer and shall provide written verification from the County Treasurer that all delinquent real estate taxes on the subject property have been paid in full.

Fee Schedule

Individual Residential - $616.50 (this amount includes a 2.75% technology fee)
Other - $1,412.81 (this amount includes a 2.75% technology fee)

Regulations

No special exceptions shall be authorized by the BZA, unless it finds that:
  • The location and height of buildings, the location, nature and height of walls and fences nature and extent of landscaping on the site shall be such that the use will not hinder or discourage the appropriate development and use of adjacent land and buildings or impair the value thereof
  • The use shall be in accord with the purposes of this chapter and the Comprehensive Plan of the county
  • The use shall be in harmony with the uses permitted by right under a zoning permit in the zoning district and shall not affect adversely the use of neighboring properties
  • The use shall not affect the health or safety of persons residing or working in the neighborhood of the proposed use
  • The use shall not be detrimental to the public welfare or injurious to property or to improvements to the neighborhood
  • The use shall not tend to change the character and established pattern of development of the proposed use
Any use, building, or activity legally in existence on the effective date of the Zoning Ordinance, shall not require a special exception, so long as such existing use, building, or activity is not expanded or enlarged.

Denial Waiting Period

Should an application for a special exception be denied, at least one year shall elapse before another application of the same use on the same land is considered. The one year shall be counted from the date of denial.