Supervisors approve new Land Division Ordinance with 4-1 vote
Indian Valley Supervisor Kalinda Bechtold said while the revised version does not include protections of resources that she “would like to see,” it is important for the Board to have a new LDO in place as the previous one is “not reasonable” and “not functional, truly.”
Floyd County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to approve the new Land Division Ordinance (LDO) at its Nov. 18 meeting after more than five years of work by county staff. The revised LDO, which replaces the county’s Subdivision Ordinance, goes into effect Jan. 1, 2026.
A Public Hearing was held in August, and a final work session was held in October.
The new LDO re-names division types (“Agricultural Subdivision” to “Large Lot Division,” “Cemetery Subdivision" to “Special Lot Division," etc.), lays out requirements for public vs. private water systems, and expands the list of relationships that can be included on Family Divisions, as reported in August.
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One of the final changes made to the LDO before it was adopted last week was the minimum lot size for Standard Divisions, which was increased from .5 acres with private central water OR wastewater (proposed) to two full acres, the same requirement as the previous ordinance. The minimum lot size was also increased to two acres for lots with both private central water and wastewater (proposed .25 acres).
There were also changes made to the allowed Limited Access Parcel in regard to Large Lot Divisions. The adopted LDO states that a Limited Access Lot “with an existing house, well, and septic system can be as small as one acre; all others must be at least two acres.”
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Board Discussion
Indian Valley Supervisor Kalinda Bechtold said while the revised version does not include protections of resources that she “would like to see,” it is important for the Board to have a new LDO in place as the previous one is “not reasonable” and “not functional, truly.” She said she still has “grave concerns” about the availability of water throughout the county and hopes that water study results will be taken into consideration as they are available.
Jerry Boothe of the Courthouse District said that while the new version “may not be perfect” it is “way above what we had.” He said it will help guide landowners that want to develop their property without having to hand it over to third-parties.
Chairman Joe Turman of Burks Fork said the new LDO can be “tweaked” as needed in the future, “as long as we don’t make it more restrictive.”
Little River Supervisor Linda DeVito Kuchenbuch confirmed with County Planner Karla Turman that the question about whether or not a landowner could split 100 acres into 10 separate lots (without time limits as restrictions) still hadn’t been answered.
Bechtold said that type of development would be “constricted by access to public roads.”
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Boothe said a landowner could “do a public road today and do the 10 lots, and a month from now, you could go around the corner and do another one, and put 10 lots there.” Any public roads with development along them must be built to VDOT standards, according to the LDO.
“The only way you could really restrict that is by lot size or by zoning,” Bechtold said.
The motion to appeal the county’s Subdivision Ordinance, which dates back to 1978 with revisions as recently as 2018, was made by Boothe and seconded by Levi Cox of Locust Grove.
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DeVito Kuchenbuch said she appreciates the time spent on developing the new LDO by county staff and knew “the Chairman would like a consensus,” but that “at this time” she had to vote against the adoption. The other members of the Board voted in favor.
The full, adopted LDO will be available at www.floydcova.gov before it goes into effect at the beginning of the year.
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