Board of Supervisors of Culpeper County v. Greengael, L.L.C., 271 Va. 266

Summary

The Supreme Court of Virginia reviewed the denial of a preliminary subdivision plat and the subsequent rezoning of property in Culpeper County. It held that the Board of Supervisors properly denied the subdivision application because the applicant failed to provide the utility letter required by the subdivision ordinance and that the denial was not arbitrary or capricious. The court also rejected the claim that the applicant had vested development rights preventing the rezoning.

Holdings

1. The Board properly denied the preliminary subdivision plat because Greengael failed to submit the utility letter required by the County subdivision ordinance.
2. The Board did not act arbitrarily or capriciously in denying the subdivision application.
3. Greengael had no vested right to develop the proposed subdivision that invalidated the Board's subsequent rezoning of the property.
4. The rezoning from R-4 to LI was not an impermissible piecemeal downzoning.
5. The trial court properly sustained the defendants' demurrers and pleas and dismissed Counts II through VI.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the Board lawfully denied the preliminary subdivision plat because Greengael failed to submit the utility letter required by the subdivision ordinance.
2. Whether the Board acted arbitrarily and capriciously by denying the subdivision application.
3. Whether Greengael had vested rights that prevented the Board from rezoning the property from R-4 residential use to LI light industrial use.
4. Whether the LI rezoning constituted impermissible piecemeal downzoning.
5. Whether the trial court properly sustained demurrers and pleas and dismissed Greengael's additional claims.

Disposition

other