COVINGTON, Va - WDBJ7.com, serving the Roanoke market, reports that the Alleghany County Zoning Board has sent new regulations regarding camping in the county back to the planning board for “tweaking.” As written, the rules required a zoning permit if a person occupied a camper for more than 30 days. Campers would have to conform to building codes, and a property with more than three campers on it would legally be defined as a campground, requiring the installation of sewer and water lines, etc.

Residents and property owners in the Roanoke Valley community, a popular destination for hunting and family recreation, objected, and county planners quickly rolled back the new rules, saying that going after residents was never their intent. Alleghany County Board of Supervisors Chair Stephen Bennett told WDBJ7 that the board’s intention was to plan for future commercial campgrounds entering the area. "In case we get an influx on the commercial side of recreation," he said. "I think a lot of people mistook that to mean we were trying to regulate their own personal use on their own land."

The regulations will be rewritten to apply only to commercial campgrounds, and should be released within three months. Click here for the full story.