âItâs been a long road for the countyâs vision documentâÂ
The jam-packed agenda for Mondayâs regular meeting of the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors included two public hearings, a COVID-19 presentation from the Virginia Department of Health, a review of the countyâs financial audit, and last but certainly not least the unanimous adoption of the 2020 Comprehensive Plan, a vision document that will guide the countyâs future land use planning.Â
âYay,â said Stonewall-Hawthorne representative Chris Parrish, raising a jubilant fist.Â
âThanks, everybody,â said Vice-Chair Debbie Donehey.
The comprehensive plan arrived in its current form after countless revisions by the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors over the course of the past year. In the eleventh hour before its approval Hampton Supervisor Keir Whitson walked the Board through a painstaking two-hour review of his last-minute line edits in a true
Protecting Paradise: Climate change and the new abnormal rappnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from rappnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Remembering Rappahannock land steward Phil Irwin
Phil Irwin, who cofounded RLEP, set up the county s first easement on his farm outside Flint Hill in 1973. 2016 file photo by Dennis Brack
Phil Irwin, we have little doubt, was smiling down on the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors meeting Monday night, where his customary wicker chair sat empty for once, draped in black mourning cloth.
For months on end, until his untimely passing last Thursday, Irwin had pleaded with county officials to adopt without further delay the long overdue 2020 Comprehensive Plan. Fine-tune it, he encouraged, but do so in subsequent months and years. A working document, he proposed, kept current with the times.Â
Washington column for Dec 10 rappnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from rappnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Where wasn’t the presence of Phil Irwin felt in Rappahannock County?
A constant of virtually all proceedings of the Rappahannock County community and government, cherished innkeeper of Caledonia Farm – 1812, founding member of the Rappahannock League for Environmental Protection, regional director of the Virginia Farm Bureau, committee member for both Rappahannock County Farmland Preservation and the Agricultural Forestal District, Rappahannock tourism advisory member for 25 years chief of morning broadcasts for Voice of America (VOA) Irwin was found dead Thursday at his working cattle farm north of Washington.
“What a contribution Phil made to our county over his many years here,” Huntly friend Ralph Bates reacted upon learning of Irwin’s death. “He will live in our memories as we drive and see how well our viewshed and environment has been protected because of his commitment and work.”