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could be rezoned for residential development within reasonable
proximity to the year in issue.
Mr. Hatfield examined the growth patterns and population
shifts in the Chesapeake, Virginia, area and determined that the
Elbow Lake property could be part of the ongoing residential
development in that area. He believed that the property could be
rezoned for residential purposes because property located in
close vicinity to the Elbow Lake property had been rezoned from
agricultural to residential shortly after Lakewood's application
for rezoning was defeated. Petitioner's expert attributed the
ability of the Chesapeake, Virginia, citizens to defeat the
residential rezoning of the Elbow Lake property to luck,
testifying that opponents of the rezoning were able to obtain the
required 15 percent of voters’ signatures for the petition
because they collected the signatures of voters at polling sites
during a general election. The expert did not assert any special
expertise in zoning issues and merely concluded that since other
property had been rezoned, the chances for rezoning the Elbow
Lake property were good. Mr. Hatfield did not discount the value
of the property prior to the 1989 Manual and MOA for the
possibility that the property could not be rezoned for
residential use.
Despite the expert's opinion, we cannot ignore the
agricultural zoning of the Elbow Lake property and Lakewood's
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