One home on Fullerton Court in Spotsylvania County appears to have a construction company inside, with a basement rented to six employees.
Another property owner paved his grassed yard to park up to 12 cars there. A small home in the Governor's Green subdivision is turning into a fraternity home, packed with college students.
And if Mom has her two-door coupe and Dad has his 2-ton truck and antique Mustang, they don't want to get fined when Susie, Mike and Johnny return from college with their cars.
These were all anecdotes Spotsylvania residents provided the Planning Commission last night during a public hearing to consider adding to the zoning ordinance to regulate stacked homes and parked vehicles.
Zoning staff recommended measures to:
Define "family" to one or more persons related by blood or marriage with any number of children, and no more than four unrelated people.
Regulate parking of vehicles in a subdivision to four vehicles per home.
Double the fines to $2,000 for property owners who violate the rules.
Speakers said they want to tighten the rules on stacked homes and give zoning officials the tools to do something about it. They just don't want the government regulating how many cars they can park on their private property, paved or not.
"As a mother, we have lots of children in our neighborhood and if you come out around dinner time both sides of the streets are just filled with cars," said Angela Cruise, of the Lee's Park subdivision. She said the parking rules could adversely affect law-abiding families.
Chris Buzzard, who lives in the Governors Green subdivision, said overcrowding is causing problems in some of the older county neighborhoods.
"It is a bit disconcerting when you get home from church and you get out of the car and there's eight males having a beer party and they're eyeing your 14-year-old daughter," he said.
Since January 2006, Zoning Director Troy Tignor said there have been at least 100 complaints about stacked homes and the numerous vehicles surrounding these homes.
Commissioners recommended that the Board of Supervisors take one of the ordinances a step further and to loosen another.
On a 7-0 vote, commissioners recommended that only three unrelated people be allowed in a home with a family, not four.
And they recommended that an unlimited number of cars be allowed to park at a home as long as they're on a paved, gravel or asphalt surface. If anyone violates these laws, they could be fined $2,000.
Dan Telvock: 540/374-5438