We have always said that it would be a lot more difficult, if not impossible, to do our job without the help of the membership throughout the state of Virginia and the country. Bob Fleisher is a perfect example of that idea.
Several weeks ago Bob called the office to let us know that the Town of Wytheville was getting ready to pass an ordinance that would outlaw “on-frame modulars” within the town limits of Wytheville. We immediately got involved by sending copies of certain laws to Bob, the town attorney and the town council letting them know that what they were getting ready to do was against the state-wide building code. According to the code, modular construction is determined by what building code the home is built to, not whether it has a frame or not.
Bob has attended several meetings of the planning commission and City Council, but it seems that the Town of Wytheville is determined to go ahead with their plans, at least in some residential zoning districts.
The reason that this one small town’s zoning ordinances are so important is that if they proceed undeterred, other counties, cities and towns will try to adopt the same or similar zoning ordinances.
John Rick and I are planning on attending the next Town Council meeting on February 11th to state our case. If the town of Wytheville goes ahead and adopts this new zoning ordinance, VAMMHA will consider legal action against the town.
Without Bob Fleisher’s initial “heads up” we would not have known about this until after the fact. At least now we have an opportunity to state our case and possibly avoid expensive legal action on behalf of the Association.