You don't have to be a NIMBY (not in my back yard) to be worried about this.
Looking at police powers granted localities relative to land use, Virginia's House Bill 1250 easily sailed over to the other side, including an "aye" vote by Dave Nutter:
Vested rights. Provides that the issuance of any written order, requirement, decision, or determination by the zoning administrator regarding the permissibility of a specific use or density of the landowner's property that is no longer subject to change, modification, or reversal shall be considered a significant affirmative governmental act for purposes of determining vested rights.
As editorialized in the Roanoke Times if passed, this new law would circumvent any and all community input relative to local zoning laws as they currently stand. It would become critical that any land use request -- no matter how harmless, simple or mundane they appear -- be closely scrutinized before any employee responds, including the zoning administrator.
In Christiansburg, there are numerous examples of how zoning laws are already danced around:
If the Senate also endorses this bill and it is passed into law, will the Council's current priority to update Town Code and Zoning ordinances even matter? The Senate voted in favor of this 40-0 today. Thanks, Jim Shuler!
Does this mean every locality needs to fire their zoning administrator -- wait; isn't this position or function required by State Code?
It appears Vested Rights, as proposed, would occur with simply scheduling a meeting for officials to consider a request or require additional information be provided.
Land use issues take up the majority of any elected body's time, followed by allocating how revenues will be spent. This new law underscores why a property's "pedigree" or history and the full intent or scope of all projects must be extracted from mandatory application forms. A first line of defense for local governments would be applying higher fees (which could offset additional, intensive training, research and legal advice before blinking) regardless of the size of any project.
It is time citizens pay more attention to these agendas, as these types of laws weaken the public's ability to be involved in actions that can drastically change entire communities and local economies.