City Council Meeting

Judy Frazierpublic commentReal engagement takes time, can be messy, can be boring, can be irritating. But follow through on your promises for real engagement with the community. Number two, don't simply rely on comp plans or small area plans to justify an action. Use them as guides to sort, filter, prioritize, but don't think for a hot minute that just because something is in one of those documents that it has been approved by or will be acceptable to the community those plans are intended to serve. Be clear about goals of any project. The GST is honestly a mashup and it shows. Number four, free money is not free. We have spent an inordinate amount of money. Staff time is very expensive. Council time is expensive and limited.

Paul NaptystaffThank you, Mayor Reed and members of council. We appreciate you having us here for your first meeting as a council. The purpose of this project is to review our zoning ordinance and determine where there might be discrepancies or other items that might be changed as a result of adopted small area plans. It isn't uncommon for new policy to not be in sync with existing codes and standards. And so with four smaller plans adopted so far, we felt it was time to look at our zoning ordinance and try to make things align better. at are not just differences in standards such as dimensional standards but also ways that we can use the zoning ordinance to improve implementation of the small area plans by providing clearer direction

for private property redevelopment by establishing standards whereby developers are receiving benefits from the small area plans for their sites but in return providing community benefits and making sure that those types of negotiations are having consistently so this would be a tool help us with these types of things in the future. This process began in the summer of 2024. The city retained a consultant, White and Smith Planning and Law. And that consultant is with us here tonight for the presentation. They spent the last several months getting information, going out in the field, meeting with certain stakeholders. And so the purpose of the meeting tonight is to provide some general background about

Justin Wallacemadam mayor members of council thank you for having me today I'm Justin Wallace with White and Smith I'm with the consulting firm as part of this project and it's my pleasure to at least introduce you to the small area plan zoning implementation Paul gave a little bit of an overview and I'm going to go much more detail we're early on in the process as Paul mentioned and we are here to seek your insights and make sure we're generally on track and we did share a summary of issues with you and you should have in your your packet today and we'll go through that a little bit in more detail as I mentioned this is the potential zoning ordinance update to implement the small area plans and There is an engagement page for those that are viewing and in the audience.

After the adoption of the comprehensive plan, the city embarked on a series of small area plans, which are a more detailed, more nuanced approach to planning, to develop a set of policies that are tailored around specific characteristics, trying to understand the individuality of each of these areas in terms of the desired mix of land uses, what activities are desired there, the level of residential density, what types of building intensity, the overall character, how new street connections will work, how parcels will connect with one another, and what types of infrastructure improvements, such as stormwater, sewer, sidewalks, and considerations for parking, and what open space looks like in each of these areas.

the physical development of different characteristics on a parcel by parcel basis such as what land uses are allowed the allowable density height setbacks landscaping and so forth so some examples of what discrepancies or gaps are between the policy that's in place through the comprehensive plan the small area plans and the city zoning ordinance so for example the city sets a single maximum height across all its zoning districts and whereas the small area plans contemplates varying heights and as they transition to neighborhoods that surround the activity center and so we want to look at that and the zoning reflects appropriate transitions in height is just one example. And there are many other examples.

All the physical characteristics we want to evaluate and make sure that they align with those small area plans. A little bit of background in public engagement. As Mr. Nabtee mentioned, we started in August, just at the tail end of summer. came here we the city staff gave us a tour of each of the areas we toured in person just to understand observe the the differences of each activity center area understand what's on the ground today and just get a sense of the the challenges that each of these areas are facing we also met with different members of the city staff and their leadership team and got a first side into what they're looking for with a zoning ordinance update in the fall we held a series of

We've been looking at trends in recent development, trying to understand the issues that the development community is facing and the public perception of those projects as well. We've been looking at common gaps and discrepancies as it relates to the various characteristics in the small area plans and understanding the community's needs and interests and values and priorities for each of the areas. we'll be looking at how to balance that with market trends and understanding the needs of development. So that will be a delicate balance. So ideally, the resulting zoning ordinance would align with policy. It will be clear, purposeful, and making the right standards easy. We'll be looking at the development review process for streamlining and making it effective and efficient

it leads to inconsistencies and unpredictability. So we want to make sure that the zoning ordinance reflects what's in the comprehensive plan when it comes to activity centers and enabling mixed-use, walkable, pedestrian-oriented areas. When we think about reinforcing the distinctions of small area plans, each small area plan has unique qualities and characteristics. So we want to make sure that we set a framework that builds consistency but is flexible enough that it highlights the unique qualities of each activity center area. As far as mixed-use development, we heard quite a bit about the use of special use permits, special exceptions, various adjustments that the development community is having to navigate around through the existing zoning ordinance.

An exciting and interesting task will be looking at incentivizing community needs. And what that means is we heard a lot about sustainable development practices. We heard a lot about environmentally sound development and resiliency. And so given the Virginia statutes, we're looking at an incentive-based zoning approach to that. And so that could take various forms. We're still looking at this, but it could be in the form of a bonus program, a tiered approach, or a point system that would balance community needs or their expressed desires with development needs. So I think this is something that's been done in other communities in the area, so we don't have to look too far for examples. But it's something that we're exploring more to just focus on what we've heard that individuals want out of the small area plans.

Paul NaptystaffDo you want to talk first about that? It's I would agree it's probably not off the table. Not necessarily within the anticipated scope. The purpose of this effort is to specifically look at the recommendations that are in the small area plans. The small area plans don't really get into that kind of detail. but through this effort we I think are going to be already recognized we're going to be identifying some other issues that are happening and that could spiral into some kind of side efforts and that kind of thing so

Thomas PetersonAnd the reason I ask, I haven't seen it, but just some basic questions around scope. We have four small area plans.

Justin WallaceYou want to spend the game? I would say both. I think we're looking at the small area plans because they each have their own unique qualities and Old Town, you can't compare Old Town with Camp Washington. I mean, they're just two separate contexts. And so we are looking individually at each area, ideally coming with a framework that works across all of the areas, but also reflecting the unique qualities of each area. So we're still looking at that, but to answer your question, we'll be taking into account each individual area as part of the evaluation.

Yeah, I think out of all of the issues that we shared, that will be perhaps the most challenging for us because, you know, we are, we heard a lot of different things. We heard resiliency, we heard public art, we heard you name it. So I think it'll be important to really dive into what a framework in a zoning ordinance will look like, and whether that is through a bonus height program or a point system or some type of tiered approach where there's prioritization of both what the community is asking for and what the developer's needs are. It may not be height. It may be floor area ratio. It may be something that the market is suggesting a demand for. So I think what we want to do is look at balancing the priorities for the small area plans with what the demands for the market is suggesting.

Catherine Readany other questions from the dais I mean my only comment is that the small area plans are a concept not a blueprint which I think we've discussed many times because the best laid plans of mice and men rarely work out the way we imagine that they will we didn't think that Paul VI high school was going to be a residential development, and here we are. So I think it's important to look at zoning because it's come to my attention that single-use zoning came about in the 1920s. So this whole concept is really not that old. It's like 100 years old, this concept of use zone for specific uses. So much older cities, obviously, were laid out differently. So we got the feedback from our consultants that mixed use really is the way to further develop a limited amount

of square footage in our city so that we have flexibility going into the future and so I do think it's important for us to look at the zoning to see if it supports what we're looking at as far as the land use policy and and I think this council is up for learning more about it but I do just want to say to everyone that there's always going to be flexibility long after we're not on this council and after things start getting built in these small area plans it may change how the next council or the community feels about it in two or five or ten years so I think we have to be realistic about coming up with ideas and scopes and plans and realize that all of this really is subject to change and as