Board of Supervisors v. Stickley

This is an appeal in a zoning case, and the dispositive question is whether a fairly debatable issue was presented by the decision of the Board of Supervisors of Rockingham County to deny William S. Stickley a special use permit to raise and release game birds on his farm. The trial court found the issue was not fairly debatable and held the denial was unreasonable, arbitrary, and capricious. We disagree with the trial court and will reverse.

William S. Stickley is a physician who owns and resides on a farm containing over two hundred acres in Rockingham County zoned General Agricultural A-2.…