The Valley AeroSpace Team (VAST), a hobby rocketry club located in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, has filed an appeal with the Circuit Court for the Special Use Permit (SUP) denial by the Augusta County Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) on September 3rd, 2009.
According to the Zoning Administrator, VAST's activities, which had been conducted for 14 months in the middle of a 500 acre farm field located in Swoope, Virginia, were considered active recreation and per the Zoning Ordinance, an SUP would be required to continue. VAST applied for the permit but the request was subsequently denied by the BZA.
As the next step under the Virginia Code of Law, VAST retained an attorney and filed an appeal to the Board's decision with the Court basing it on the grounds that the BZA's decision was arbitrary and capricious and a clear violation of the zoning standards and principles they are tasked with following.
We, the undersigned, wholly support the hobby rocketry activities conducted by the Valley AeroSpace Team at the Croft property located in Swoope, Virginia.