Virginia lawmakers introduce measure to lift restrictions on Rockingham county land
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) released the following statements after introducing legislation today in both the United States House of Representatives and Senate to lift deed use restrictions on property used for the Plains Area Day Care Center in Rockingham County:
“By removing overbearing restrictions on the acre of land that the Plains Area Day Care Center is situated on, the center will be able to make much-needed upgrades to help ensure this community investment continues to thrive,” Goodlatte said. “This simple, bipartisan bill would have a significant impact on the families and children served by the non-profit day care center in Rockingham County.”
“The Plains Area Day Care Center has provided high-quality and affordable child care to families in Rockingham County for more than two decades,” Kaine said. “This bill would allow the day care center to continue offering this important service to the community by making a small fix to a land-use issue impacting the center’s ability to conduct routine building repairs. This bill is bipartisan and commonsense.”
Background: In 1989, the federal government deeded, with restriction, three acres of land to Rockingham County. Following that land transfer, Congress enacted Public Law 101-479 in 1990 to slightly amend those use restrictions and allow a portion of the land to house a non-profit day care center. Unfortunately, because of the narrow focus of that 1990 law as well as the terms of the deed, the day care center has been unable to secure a loan to complete much-needed renovations. This legislation introduced by Goodlatte and Kaine would remove the deed use restrictions from the one acre of property on which the building resides, allowing the day care center and Rockingham County to make needed upgrades. This legislation (H.R. 2288) was previously approved in on November 30, 2015, in the House of Representatives by a vote of 407-0.
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