A neighbor’s report of a large pile of uncontained compost containing rabbit manure and hay on an Augusta County property has set off a cascading chain of events that threatens to shut down a long-standing domestic rabbit rescue operation amidst concerns about potential zoning violations.
Now the Augusta County Board of Supervisors, led by Wayne District Supervisor Scott Seaton, who represents the district where the complaint has been filed, is working to find a win-win solution.
The story began in November of last year when the Augusta County Community Development Department and the Staunton-Augusta Health Department received a complaint that Mary Ellen Whitehouse, the property owner, was composting rabbit manure along her property line as part of her nonprofit rabbit rescue organization, Bunny Lu Adoptions, which she was operating from her home on property zoned single family residential. Whitehouse founded the rabbit rescue in 1999 and has been operating from her current home since 2017.
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The November 2024 health department inspection concluded that “the practice of dumping uncontained animal waste could represent a public health concern by attracting rodents and other disease carrying pests,” while Community Development, the department that helps guide land use in the county through its ordinances (rules for what activities can take place on particular pieces of land that are zoned in particular ways), issued a zoning notice violation.
The letter stated that Whitehouse was in violation of county rules in two ways: 1. animal rescue operations are not permitted uses on property zoned single family residential and 2. outdoor storage of animal waste is prohibited in the county.
Whitehouse has responded by filing an appeal, noting that Bunny Lu Adoptions is entirely inside her house, that there are no sales operations, and that the compost pile of rabbit manure and hay has been removed from the property. In her appeal letter, she added that she felt that the health department’s statement that the compost pile represented a public health concern was erroneous conjecture. “…there is nothing harmful found in the compost/fertilizer pile made up of rabbit manure and hay. Rabbit manure is not something that rats eat,” she stated in her appeal letter, adding that the compost makes excellent fertilizer for gardens.
Augusta County Zoning Administrator Sandra Bunch explained, however, that the health department’s conclusion that the manure pile was a health concern put Whitehouse in violation of Section 15-21 of the county code, even though the language does not specifically refer to animal manure. The code states that “(t)he owners of property in the county shall at all times remove therefrom any and all trash, garbage refuse, litter or other substances which might endanger the health or safety of other residents of the county.”
In regard to the operation of the rabbit rescue itself, an email from Bunch noted that: “Section 25-132 of the Zoning Ordinance lists all by right permitted uses, and Sections 25-132.1, 25-133, and 25-134 of the Zoning Ordinance lists Accessory Uses, and Uses permitted by Administrative Permit or Special Use Permit on property zoned Single Family Residential. The operation of an animal care facility or an animal shelter with sales of supplies is not listed as a permitted use in any of these sections. Section 25-135 of the Zoning Ordinance states all uses except those specifically listed in these sections is prohibited.”
According to representatives from the county planning department, the only remedy for the zoning violations issued against Bunny Lu is to zone the land differently.
The situation has caused a community outcry that has produced a petition of over 5,000 signatures supporting the rabbit rescue. Whitehouse and her supporters argue that the rescue helps the county solve a huge problem of how to rescue, care for, and adopt out rabbits, something that local animal shelters are unequipped to deal with. Rabbits are the third most popular pet nationwide, after dogs and cats, and, like dogs and cats, they are often mistreated or abandoned.
In Augusta County, a citizen’s recourse for appealing a zoning administrator’s decision is to file an appeal to the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA), a county board of five members that meets on the first Thursday of each month in the Board of Supervisors room at the Augusta County Government Center in Verona at 1:30 p.m. The BZA’s job is to make decisions pertaining to what can and cannot occur on particular pieces of property within the county. The board is charged with issuing special use permits, variances, and appeals to zoning decisions such as this one. Board members look closely at county ordinances, the county’s comprehensive plan that is the vision for county development, and the effects of county and citizen actions on landowners being affected by issues presented to them.
On April 3, Whitehouse will appeal “the Zoning Administrator’s decision that the operation of a rabbit rescue and adoption center with sales of rabbit supplies and merchandise in a Single Family Residential zoned area is prohibited on property owned by Mary Ellen Whitehouse, located at 11 Aero Drive, Waynesboro in the Wayne District.”
Her appeal is the seventh item on a very busy agenda for the meeting that begins at 1:30 p.m. It is a public hearing, which means that members of the public are free to speak both for and against the appeal.
With the removal of the compost pile, Whitehouse is contending that there is nothing more that the county should be concerned with, because all of her animals are inside and that any sales of supplies are simply those needed for new rabbit owners to help care for their animals in their new home.
“We are an asset to the county and the state in general, because we are saving lives,” Whitehouse told Augusta Free Press in an interview for an earlier article. Her nonprofit organization does not cost the government any money and all staff, including Whitehouse, are volunteers, not employees, who love what they are doing.
Bunny Lu finds homes for approximately 150 rabbits a year, and at any one time there are approximately 30-50 rabbits inside of her home.
A few weeks ago, the plight of Bunny Lu came to the attention of Seaton, who toured Whitehouse’s home and subsequently brought the matter to the attention of the board of supervisors at their March 12 meeting. Seaton noted that he was impressed with what he saw, adding that he had a soft spot in his heart for rabbits, having raised them as a youth while in 4-H.
“I toured the facility. The rabbits are not barking. They are not crowing. They are not running around outside. The rabbits are clean and well taken care of and are all inside. There is no smell except the smell of alfalfa. The manure is no longer on the property, but rabbit manure and alfalfa pose a low risk for human disease transmission,” added Seaton, who is a medical doctor.
Seaton asked that the county be proactive in finding a solution to the problem because the rabbit rescue was “an asset to the county even in its present location,” adding that it is a regional asset to the area and brings good will.
At the end of his comments, Seaton made a motion that the county attorney work with community development and bring possible options for solving the problem to the board at its Wednesday, March 26 meeting (7 p.m.). The motion passed unanimously.
It is possible that solutions might emerge from the upcoming board of supervisors meeting that would change the Bunny Lu public hearing appeal at the April BZA meeting. Until then, however, Whitehouse’s appeal at the BZA’s April 3 meeting remains on the agenda. All eyes, ears, and whiskers are now watching the board of supervisors and hoping for a win-win regarding the fate of Bunny Lu Adoptions.
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