After four months of wrangling over the issue, Mathews planners on Tuesday night voted to recommend to the board of supervisors that a provision in the zoning ordinance that allows short-term rentals to exceed the health department’s occupancy limit should be removed.
The vote was 4-3, with members Donald Morgan, Byron Rauch, and James Meade voting against. The board of supervisors will have its own public hearing on the matter at its October meeting.
Doug Wilton, who last month voted against removing the language allowing two additional people per dwelling beyond the two-per-bedroom limit allowed by the Virginia Department of Health, apologized for what he said was a mistake and voted this time to remove the language.
The decisive factor for Wilton appeared to be information shared by County Administrator Ramona Wilson, acting as planning and zoning director in the absence of an employee to fill the position, about Virginia’s status as a Dillon Rule state. The Dillon Rule, said Wilson...