HEATHSVILLE—Northumberland supervisors on Thursday, June 8, approved an exception to the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Ordinance that will allow property owner Michael Civay to build a home on a Fleeton Beach parcel.
The property is zoned residential restricted. During a related public hearing, agent Jeff Howeth said most of the lot lies within the resource protection area (RPA) 100-foot buffer. The plan calls for a permeable paver driveway and downspouts leading to biolfiltration planters to reduce runoff, said Howeth. “If we’re in agreement that the Chesapeake Bay math and their spreadsheets all work, then this project does not pollute the bay even if it is within the buffer.”
Making the motion to approve the exception, supervisor Thomas Tomlin noted that with nearly all of the property within the RPA, “if this board were to turn this down with the efforts that have been done, we’d be liable for a lot and I don’t think you’d want us to pay for a lot and the lawsuit….