The Mathews County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors will hold a joint public hearing at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the historic courthouse to consider a text amendment to the zoning ordinance.

The amendment would remove community-operated playgrounds, parks and similar recreational facilities as by-right uses in the rural (RU), waterfront residential (R-1) and inland residential (R-2) zoning districts and instead make those facilities subject to a requirement to obtain a conditional use permit.

The proposed change to the ordinance was prompted by an effort by a group of kayakers and others to convince the county to provide access to Mathews Heritage Park in Moon and allow volunteers to preserve and repair an old home and a dock at the site.

Adjacent property owners have opposed access to the site and development of a park there ever since the land was donated to the Middle Peninsula Chesapeake Bay Public Access Authority by Conrad Hall in 2010.

However, supervisor Jack White int...