To the Editor: Enough With Special Use Permit Appeals

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1916
RestoreN Station on Route 250 next to Free Town Lane.

It’s difficult to communicate how upsetting these incessant attempts by Jeff Sprouse to damage our community and homes have been. It has been harassment by process. We spent years and years attending countless meetings held during work and evening hours discussing this development with the applicant, the board, the community, the CCAC, county planners, and others. The result of all this was a special permit designed to protect our neighborhood and the larger Crozet community.  However, what good is a special use permit, designed to protect a community and provide peace of mind for its residents, if every few months the applicant can submit another proposal to remove its protections?

I appreciate the professionalism of both the county planning office and the tireless work and support of the Board of Supervisors on this issue. However, I would ask that the county look into amending its processes to restrict the applicant from using the permit process as a tool to harass the residents and homeowners of Free Town Lane.  Once a change to an existing special use permit has been denied, can we not restrict an applicant from resubmitting another request for a specified amount of time? Without this restriction the applicant will continue his barrage of requests, thereby leaving our community in a constant state of anxiety and worry.  We would appreciate the basic right to live peacefully without the omnipresent worry that Jeff Sprouse will try to make our homes and neighborhood unlivable.

In addition to this change, we would request that the Board of Supervisors deny the applicant’s most recent attempt to undermine the special use permit.  He has already been found to have violated the permit by keeping his pumps open 24 hours a day, only stopping once reported. He also allowed trucks to park and idle in his parking lot, at all hours of the night, in violation of the permit.  Increasing the hours of operation and keeping the pumps open 24 hours a day will harm our neighborhood.  We can say this on authority because we’ve already experienced it.

Jonathan Hunt
Free Town Lane homeowner

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