Doug’s Platforms

Doug Shaffer will represent the Berryville Precinct on the Clarke County Board of Supervisors in many unique issues both expected and unexpected to come up during his tenure on the Board, but his positions on the following issues demonstrate his commitment to Keeping Clarke Conservative fiscally, environmentally, in its land use, and in its support of law enforcement and first responders evidences his intent to protect our community’s character.

Reassessment 2024

Clarke County’s real estate has not be reassessed since 2019. One of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is that it drove local real estate values through the roof as Northern Virginia residents moved to our area to benefit from lower real estate costs, more land, and less progressive governmental interventionism. As a result, the recent tax reassessment that has been conducted in 2024 is expected to increase tax assessments as much as forty percent (40%)! An increase of forty percent on a property would result in a substantially higher tax bill for a property owner as exemplified below:

Preserved Conservation Areas Slow Rampant Residential Growth.

Clarke County maintains one of the most restrictive types of zoning schemes in the country. Developing multiple residences requires locating within a subdivision space, which are often limited in size, approval, and are planned our years in advance, which requires developers to thoroughly vet the area before rushing in to build.

Similarly, Clarke County utilizes an expansive conservation easement program that encourages property owners with large acreages of vacant space to place their property into development-restrictive covenants that will permanently limit development. More than twenty-five percent (25%) of the County is under conservation easement, guaranteeing limited development throughout much of the County’s open green space.

Doug supports the use of conservation easements as each property’s situation can be considered by the Clarke County Conservation Easement Authority to decide what terms are appropriate. Conservation easements are handled on a case-by-case basis so that the property owner’s, the County’s, and the community’s needs can be addressed smartly.

County-Supported Commercial and Industrial Growth is the Answer.

Doug knows that uncontrolled residential growth will not promote a higher quality of life, nor higher quality of public services, nor will it help to lower taxes for our community. Instead, he supports developing commercial and industrial zoning sectors that are commensurate with the character of the locations such zoning areas are established in. Doug’s background in industrial manufacturing processes (i.e. concrete products) permits him a perspective geared toward growing Clarke’s limited commercial and industrial base where the most tax revenues can be generated from machinery, equipment, and tools taxes while yielding the least number of public resources to such constituents (i.e. warehouses do not send children to public school nor typically need ambulances).

One such commercial and industrial sector Doug finds worthy of attention in this campaign cycle is the “Camp 7” project. The Clarke County Board of Supervisors recently entered into a contract with the state government to purchase forty (40) acres south of White Post (Double Tollgate area) for the low, low price of $100,000! Camp 7 is a defunct Department of Corrections property with dilapidated buildings that the state has determined it has no further use for and is in the final stages of closing on the contract to sell the property to the County for pennies on the dollar for its fair market value. Doug intends to work with the Board of Supervisors to address maximal zoning use for the property to hopefully capture commercial and industrial businesses seeking nearby access to major interstate highways (I-66 and I-81), which would bring in higher tax revenues that will benefit the County’s and the Town’s public resources instead of developing the property into several hundred residences that will ultimately require tax hikes.

Doug is fully aware and supportive of the agrarian backbone in Clarke County, and supports traditional and modern farming ventures, as well as the growing trend in quasi-agrarian business structures such as agritourism activities, wineries, and breweries establishing within Clarke County, and in the Town of Berryville itself. The more businesses that can serve our citizens’ needs as well as outside tourist dollars encapsulates more local tax revenues that cycle and support our localities.

Conservative Fiscal Responsibility

Doug is experienced as a general manager of several industrial manufacturing facilities and administrative offices. As part of those duties, he established and monitored 1,100 item line budgets for several facilities at a time, and always performed under budget. While his facilities remained within budget, he did not skimp on workplace safety or cut corners that reduced the product quality.

Doug supports maintaining Clarke County’s real estate and other taxable at lower rates than adjacent jurisdictions. He credits Clarke’s generally lower taxes to a government that is fiscally responsible, and a matching citizenry and business community that likewise are financially diligent. Our emergency services are managed by fiscal conservatives who typically ask for what is necessary as opposed to what would be “nice to have.” Doug will ensure that tradition continues as a fiscally responsible conservative on the Board of Supervisors.

Improving Our Transportation Corridors

Doug has extensive experience working with Virginia Department of Transportation on numerous projects in his work experience, in his civic experiences, and as a supervisor. As a supervisor, Route 7 benefited from several major safety improvements such as widened shoulders, rumble strips near the shoulder, and repaving. The Millwood community received speed tables recently, which has vastly curbed speeders in the area. Doug is working with VDOT to continue to improve those speed tables, and advocate for more state-sponsored road improvement projects that will encourage safer driving, and additional industrial access to and through Clarke County without harming its rural character.

Encouraging Businesses and Tourism

Doug believes that the economic base of our country is entrepreneurial enterprise. He recognizes that small businesses consider risk as one of the biggest factors in whether to establish itself in a community. To help offset that risk, Doug believes in government maintaining only a small role with light regulation designed to protect the rights of other interests that may be affected by an enterprise, but so long as the new business complies with those minimal regulations, government should stay out of the way. Doug supports ordinances that accomplish the minimal amount of regulation necessary to protect others to avoid overly restricting businesses’ growth and development.

Doug supports Clarke County’s and Berryville’s businesses that attract tourists. Tourist revenues are injections of money that help to stay and support local businesses. Our rural character should be protected, but also showcased. Doug supports businesses that encourage agritourism and related activities as they help ensure the survival of green, open space while providing a new stream of revenue for our longtime farm-based properties.