By Stefanie Jackson – All Linda Cleaveland wanted to do was host weddings on her 65-acre property with its view of Nassawadox Creek.
Northampton’s senior planner, Kelley Lewis Parks, assisted her with the zoning application, and Cleaveland believed she was prepared to face the planning commission at the April 2 public hearing on the proposed event venue.
But she was not prepared for what the chairman of Northampton’s board of supervisors, Spencer Murray, said “sounded more like an inquisition than it did a hearing.”
“I apologize for that on behalf of the board and the staff,” he said at the April 9 supervisors meeting.
Planning commission staff “did not ask you all the questions that you should possibly have been asked” beforehand, Murray said.
Planning commissioner Janet Sturgis had said the application was unacceptable because it was incomplete. For example, neither a professionally drawn plat nor an aerial photo of the property bearing Parks’ handwritten notes and drawings included all the required information.
At a second public hearing held by supervisors April 9, several neighbors of Linda Cleaveland and her husband, John Cleaveland, spoke in objection to the proposal, mostly because of noise and traffic concerns.
Mark Shaffer said Wellington Neck is a “quiet, residential area.” Many residents walk and bike for exercise and the road is not wide enough to accommodate the number of vehicles a wedding venue would bring.
“I was always under the understanding that this is a residential area. I never once dreamt that there could be a business put in down Wellington Neck Road that would allow this influx of traffic,” Shaffer said.
The area is zoned agricultural-rural business and an event venue is allowed with a major special-use permit.
Evelyn Witick, the Cleavelands’ nearest neighbor, called the amplified music played at weddings “deafening,” and she is “totally opposed” to the proposal.
Alfred Burger said, “I came here to retire, I don’t want to have noise” in “our quaint little neighborhood.”
Planning Commissioner Glen Anders calculated that 100 decibels of noise on the Cleaveland property would fade out to about 39 decibels as it traveled 1,149 feet across Nassawadox Creek.
According to Northampton’s ordinances, outside noise should not be heard inside a residence above 55 decibels after 10 p.m., and it should not be heard outside on private property above 75 decibels after 11 p.m.
Nancy Bisker speculated that the Cleavelands may be planning to build a marina, and they may allow guests to arrive by plane and land on the Cleavelands’ private, grass airstrip. She further speculated that the couple is seeking to increase the value of the property in hopes of selling it.
But none of the neighbors were as vocal as Roberta Kellam, who said she revoked her support of the Cleaveland’s proposal based on misrepresentations made by John Cleaveland.
“This would transform a current residential conservation property into a full-fledged commercial venue with noise, music, potentially fireworks, traffic, and the potential for intoxicated clientele,” she said.
The concept is not in compliance with the county’s comprehensive plan, which encourages commercial development in towns and villages, not down residential necks, Kellam said.
She disagreed with Parks’ assessment that the Cleavelands’ land could be considered a “historic heritage” property.
Allowing the property an exception to the zoning code would result in “spot zoning” and set a dangerous precedent, Kellam asserted.
She referred to the Cleavelands as an “elderly couple with no known prior experience running an event venue.”
“We balance very carefully the rights of a property owner and the rights of adjacent property owners, and sometimes it’s a very delicate balance, and sometimes … you need the wisdom of Solomon to find the answer,” Murray said.
In an April 3 email to Parks, Linda Cleaveland, a former wedding planner from Richmond, stated she wants to hold 20 to 30 events per year, an estimation consistent with her statement at the April 2 planning commission meeting that she would like to host about one wedding per week from May through September.
The email also stated Cleaveland wants to host between 150 and 200 guests per event – not up to 500 guests as suggested by Parks’ notes on the zoning application.
Parks used a maximum of 500 guests per event as a general guideline when determining how much space was available on the property for parking. Another wedding venue, the Elkington estate that occupies 500 acres in Eastville, was permitted for a maximum of 500 guests.
Elkington Events is owned and operated by Elizabeth Dodd Russell, whose family can be traced back 13 generations on the Eastern Shore, according to the business’ website.
As Murray reviewed the details of Cleaveland’s proposal, Supervisor Robert Duer interjected, “Did we ask Elkington do to all this?”
“I don’t believe we did,” Murray said.
“Why are we going to let one person … not do anything and then run the other one through the ringer?” Duer asked.
Not all of the Cleavelands’ close neighbors oppose the event venue. Patricia Boyer, an adjacent property owner, said, “I have no objection at all.”
She pointed out that water or air traffic would not be a problem because large vessels cannot navigate Nassawadox Creek and the Cleavelands’ airstrip is only permitted for private use. Boyer recalled fewer than a half-dozen landings on the air strip within the last 20 years or more.
Regarding traffic and noise concerns, horse shows have been held in Wellington Neck, and many horse trailers have been driven down the road to the events that featured sound and music played through loudspeakers, and “as far as I know, nobody complained,” Boyer said.
Denise Apple said, “So many people do not know how beautiful the Eastern Shore of Virginia is.” She enjoys the peace and quiet of the neighborhood but also would like the Cleavelands to be able to share the beauty of the land with others and help them make “special memories.”
Dr. Federico Molera noted neighbors objected when John Cleaveland’s private airstrip was approved, but Molera recalls only one plane ever landing there. The neighbors’ objection to the event venue is “exactly the same,” he said.
He doesn’t believe Linda Cleaveland will get enough business to hold 20 weddings per year, “but I hope she does, because she will bring people to the Eastern Shore that will buy houses around the neck” to enjoy the land and lifestyle.
When Murray recalled Cleaveland to the lectern, she said a recent phone call with Kellam resulted in a “total misunderstanding” of the proposed business and that Kellam said the Cleavelands would win “over her dead body” and hung up on her.
“This is a woman who’s running for your seat, Mr. Murray,” Cleaveland said.
Kellam did not deny the accusations. “Mrs. Cleaveland is just as aggressive in her way of speaking to me as I was to her,” she said.
“We’re going to have the drunks vomiting at our driveway … relieving themselves at our driveway.” Kellam said she has even caught tourists having sexual intercourse in her driveway.
“I don’t find it very funny,” she added, accusing supervisors of laughing about the situation.
Supervisor John Coker, who serves on the Eastern Shore of Virginia Tourism Commission, felt “conflicted” because “this is clearly something that enhances tourism in the county.”
Murray advised Linda Cleaveland to ensure the planning commission received all the information that Cleaveland shared with supervisors April 9.
Supervisors will vote on the matter after receiving a recommendation from the planning commission.
