Planning Commission

Meetings

  • 7 pm on the 2nd Tuesday of every month
  • Historic Courthouse
    17 Church Street
    Mathews, VA 23109

Members

  • Patricia Stall
    PO Box 485
    North, VA 23128
    Email Patricia Stall
    Term expires: December 2026
  • Byron Rauch                                                                   1430 Knights Wood Rd 
    Diggs, VA 23045
    Email Byron Rauch
    Term expires: March 2025
  • Donald Morgan
    49 Beaumar Rd
    Moon, VA 23119
    Email Donald Morgan
    Term expires: December 2025
  • Paul Hudgins, Board Liaison
    P.O. Box 839
    Mathews, VA 23109
    Email Paul Hudgins
    Term expires: December 2023

Overview

Citizens are appointed to four-year terms. 

Per §15.2-2210 of the Code of Virginia, all localities are required to create a local planning commission.  The Commission serves in an advisory role to the Board to help promote the orderly development of the County.  The Commission’s duties include preparing and recommending a Comprehensive Plan, preparing and recommending a Capital Improvement Program, and providing a recommendation to the Board for a variety of land use matters.   

The Planning Commission holds joint public hearings with the Board of Supervisors for several development related applications, including conditional use permits, zoning text amendments, and zoning map amendments.  

Conditional Use Permits (CUPs) are permits that cannot be approved by staff and must be approved by the Board. CUPs include uses that might have impacts to adjoining properties, and therefore, the Commission may recommend conditions on how that use may be conducted.  The Board has broad discretion to either approve a permit request with conditions to ensure the use is compatible with the surrounding area or to deny the permit request.

Zoning Text Amendments are changes to the text of the zoning ordinance.  Changing the text of the ordinance might change which uses are permissible in a certain district, what acreage or setbacks are required in a certain district, or any number of additional land use regulations that might apply the County.  

Zoning Map Amendments (rezonings) are changes to the zoning district map of the County.  Changing the zoning district in which a parcel lies changes what uses can and cannot be conducted on that parcel and the development density of the parcel.

In each of the applications, the Commission makes a recommendation to the Board based on the materials in the application, citizen input, and the Comprehensive Plan.  The Commission has 70 days to make this recommendation to the Board.  Once the Board receives the Commission’s recommendation, the Board has 100 days to act on the matter. Only a motion of the Board or Commission, or a requesting citizen may initiate any of the above described processes. Thus, the shared role in making decisions on these land use applications is of great consequence in the overall development and character of the County.  Along with budgeting and taxation, land use decision-making is one of the Board’s greatest areas of legislative discretion.