Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
Weir resigns from Haymarket Town Council
Haymarket Town Council member Bob Weir abruptly resigned from his post Monday evening during a special session regarding the sale of the Town Center property to developer Gerry Kennedy.Weir was the only council member to vote against the $2.3 million sale of the property the prior week, but said he had “accepted that deal” and had “moved on from that.”
He had threatened to resign once before, in December, if the council were to break with an unwritten policy and hold a special meeting to vote early on the project, instead of waiting until its regularly scheduled January meeting.
The “straw that broke the camel's back,” he said Wednesday, came when Mayor Pamela Stutz called for the special session. Weir said he felt that session was the council “essentially firing a preemptive shot at the [Haymarket] planning commission” by indicating that the council would ultimately override the planners' concerns on the issue.
“The council holding a meeting, giving the planning commission their input before the site plan was even received, diminishes the role of the planning commission,” said Weir, who was the council's liaison to the planning commission.
Stutz said there was a miscommunication with Weir about the intent of the meeting.
“The special meeting was intended to define the roles of all the members” who were affiliated with the land deal, she said, adding, “the council had agreed to work with the developer on this plan.”
Weir went so far as to prepare a letter of resignation when he found out about the special session on Friday, just in case the Monday proceeding went awry.
Chief among Weir's concerns was that the council would allow variances in the development's site plan. Stutz admitted there probably will be a few, but said they will have to look at that on a case-by-case basis.
The now-former councilman said he was expecting the town council to make “the assertion that it didn't matter what the planning commission said, the town council was going to avoid the variances.”
He turned in his resignation when he thought it indirectly did.
According to Stutz, the town council did “not in any way say that the planning commission was going to be overruled” but rather she and the council wanted to “make sure the planning commission members were informed.”
According to Weir, the town council's special session prior to the planning commission meeting “calls into question the validity or equity of the process” and indicates that “it really doesn't matter what the planning commission does because we're going to do it anyway.”
His physical exit from the council came in dramatic fashion as he resigned during the meeting, walked out and then challenged a heckler to meet him outside.
“We have since mended fences so it's a non-issue,” Weir said during a Wednesday morning interview.
Weir's temper is well-known to those who follow Haymarket town politics, as he occasionally speaks with words that are less than politically correct.
“I think Bob's just a very serious and conscientious person,” said Stutz. “Obviously, he believes he's doing his fiduciary responsibility for the town.”
Throughout his nearly four-year career on the town council, Weir had consistently been a stickler for government bodies following procedure and protocol. He routinely blasted the county government, particularly the county's planning department, for either giving the town inadequate notice about changes concerning nearby infrastructure or for simply not following procedures.
He called the planning department “irresponsible and reprehensible” in a letter last May for asking Haymarket to offer comments about three proposed residential developments in less than four weeks' time without first submitting a traffic-impact analysis for each development to the town.
By the same token, Weir had also taken the role as the unofficial liaison for the town to the county regarding land-use matters.
He fired off a seven-page letter Jan. 4 to the board of county supervisors detailing the reasons why the county should not approve rezoning applications for the proposed Haymarket Landing and University of Virginia Foundation residential developments along the town's southern border.
“I think his legacy would be that he had the desire to make sure our zoning code book would be brought up to date and that we would work with the developers and the development in our town,” said the mayor.
When asked what he enjoyed about his time on the council, Weir replied with a laugh, “Not much. Just the ability to impact things in a positive fashion. Somebody's got to do it.”
The Town of Haymarket is now accepting letters from town citizens who want Weir's vacant slot on the council. His resignation will formally be accepted at a continuation meeting Jan. 24.
Town Hall is located at 15000 Washington Street, Suite 100, and can be reached at (703) 753-2600.
Only town residents, not those who have Haymarket mailing addresses but are not in the town itself, are eligible to apply.
You must be logged in to post a comment.