The “long overdue award” for the 2010 General Assembly session goes to HB 1063, which finally provides that a board of zoning appeals will not be a party on appeal of its decisions to circuit court. Interestingly, the long-standing requirement to name the BZA was not statutory, but based upon the determination in a Virginia [...]

The General Assembly, Virginia Supreme Court and the Virginia State Bar have combined to make the job of our local Boards of Zoning Appeals (BZAs), and that of the local government attorney who deals with them, much more complicated. As a long-time county attorney and currently counsel to the Stafford County BZA, I have seen this [...]