Zoning
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953 New Townhomes, Apartments, Detached Homes Proposed On 161 Acres At Quarry Heights |
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 download a larger version of the concept plan here A sizable new housing development is being proposed in the City of Harrisonburg, to include up to 953 new housing units on 161 acres just west of downtown Harrisonburg at the site of Frazier Quarry, which would be transformed into a 30 acre lake. The new development would be located on the north side of West Market Street generally across from Thomas Harrison Middle School and would border Waterman Drive.  click here for a larger version of the area map Here are some basics on the types of housing that are proposed for this new housing development:
Of the 653 townhouses and detached homes, approximately 48 housing units are estimated to be detached homes. This proposed new housing development is similar in size to Preston Lake, which is just east of Harrisonburg, located in Rockingham County. The conceptual layout shown above is not proffered, so that could change. The developer has outlined an extensive list of proffers, including:
Of note, the developer who is seeking the rezoning would not build the housing. They might build the apartments - but they would be partnering with a builder or builders in the future to build the townhouses and detached homes. A representative of the developer indicated that the following price ranges would be likely for the housing types that are planned for the development:
The Villas described above would be high end attached homes on the highest ridge of the development with eastern and/or western views. You can find links to additional documents related to this proposed development on the City website here. City Staff recommends approval of the rezoning and special use permits required for this development. A public hearing for Quarry Heights will take place at the Planning Commission meeting on Wednesday, October 9 at 6:00 PM. | |
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Rockingham County May Start Limiting The Pace At Which New Home Communities Can Be Built |
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 The Rockingham County Planning Commission will meet this evening to discuss a potential change to the Rockingham County Zoning Ordinance to limit how quickly new home developments can be built. In summary -- the Planning Commission is considering a change that would only allow developments to obtain (30) building permits within any (12) month period. Thus, if a new 240 home development were proposed... this new limit would only allow 30 such new homes to be built a year, stretching out the development over eight years in this example. This change is being proposed for the R-1, R-2 and R-3 zoning classifications in Rockingham County. This change, if approved, would seem likely to have a few significant impacts on the local community... 1. Fewer homes would be built. 2. Assuming that demand continues to grow, home prices would likely rise due to constraints on how quickly new developments can be built. 3. Fewer new housing developments would be proposed given the limit to the pace at which such a new home community could be built. The proposed changes to the Zoning Ordinance to note that a developer can request a special use permit to exceed this limit of (30) building permits a year. If you are interested in hearing more about this proposal, the Planning Commission meets this evening at 6:30 PM at the Rockingham County Administration Center at 20 East Gay Street, Harrisonburg, VA. | |
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A Reasonable Next Question Is How Much More New Housing Should Harrisonburg Approve |
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 These two stats create an interesting follow up question... 1. Over the past 3.5 years, the City of Harrisonburg has approved 2,866 new dwelling units. 2. Over the past 3.5 years only 25 of those dwellings have been built. The reasonable follow up question is... How Much More New Housing Should Harrisonburg Approve? In conversations, locally, I hear two very different opinions about the answer to that question... 1. The City should keep approving more housing developments so that hopefully, eventually, some of the housing will be built, as there is a shortage of housing in the City. 2. The City has approved so much housing over the past three (+) years that the City definitely shouldn't approve any additional housing. If or when some or all of this approved housing is built the City will have a population increase that will likely result in the need for more schools (and other infrastructure) and thus higher taxes. It will be interesting to see City planning staff's perspective on this, as well as that of the Planning Commission and City Council as future rezoning requests are proposed in the City to allow for additional residential developments. | |
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While Lots Of New Housing Has Been Approved In The City, Very Little Has Been Built |
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 Over the past 3.5-ish years, since January 2021... in the City of Harrisonburg... 2,886 new dwelling units have been approved 25 have been built Wow! Indeed, City Council has approved a LOT of new housing over the past few years, including...
And yet, over that same timeframe, the only housing to be completed includes...
Of note... these "25 units completed" does not include the following housing units that were completed over the past 3.5 years that were already approved 3.5 years ago, consisting of...
So, housing has certainly been built in the City over the past 3.5 years (a total of 209 dwellings) but that pales in comparison to the many (many!) units that have been approved and have not been built. Of those that have not been built... some new housing units are being actively planned, while the planning has stalled out on some. You can view a list of the approved developments in a memorandum to City Council here and a presentation about the housing pipeline here. | |
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Four Story Building Of Storage Units Proposed On Stone Spring Road |
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 A developer is proposing to build a four story building of storage units in the location shown below -- on Stone Spring Road, not too far from its intersection with Port Republic Road, next to Dupont Community Credit Union.  Find out more about the proposal here. | |
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16 Apartments (Plus An Industrial Building) Proposed On Baxter Drive |
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 A light industrial building and 16 apartments have been proposed on Baxter Court as shown above. Here's the potential site plan...  Learn more about the proposal here. | |
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16 Townhouses Planned For Corner Of Deyerle Avenue And Lucy Drive |
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 City Council recently approved the rezoning (from R3 to R8) of a one acre parcel at the corner of Deyerle Avenue and Lucy Drive to allow for the development of 16 townhouses. Here's the potential site plan...  Learn (a bit) more via the application packet here. | |
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Three Story Apartment Building With 15 to 20 Apartments Planned On West Elizabeth Street |
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 The owners of a 0.24 acre lot on West Elizabeth Street, between North High Street and North Liberty Street, plan to build a three story apartment building with 15 to 20 apartments. The owners have received approval from the City for the rezoning required for this development to move forward. City staff, planning commission, city council and the developers all seem excited at the prospect of bringing more living opportunities to the downtown area. Interestingly...
I'm just realizing that the site will potentially be transformed from only being used by cars (a parking lot) to a use that does not allow for cars (apartment building with no on-site parking). :-) | |
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Harrisonburg Explores Options For Developing Housing On City Owned Land |
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 The City of Harrisonburg has been working for the past year on exploring how two City-owned properties might be developed to provide future affordable housing solutions. The first site is an 8.59 acre parcel located on Neff Avenue that would likely allow for the development of either (72) townhomes or up to (200) apartments. Here is an illustration of a potential townhome layout...  The second site is an 8.13 acre parcel on Central Avenue that would likely allow for the development of (36) single family homes, (51) townhomes or up to (133) apartments. Here is an illustration of a potential single family home layout...  Click here to download the full memorandum from Land Planning and Design Associates, Inc. who prepared a detailed technical memorandum outlining opportunities, constraints, possible development solutions and affordable housing solutions. The memorandum also include multiple other renderings of potential development plans for these sites. | |
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Rockingham County Launches Development Tracker |
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 Exciting news from Kayla Yankey, a planner in the Rockingham County Department of Community Development... Rockingham County has launched a new resource to track development activity occurring throughout the County. This Development Tracker application tracks rezoning and special use permit requests under review and approved, site plans under review and approved, building permits under review, projects under construction, and recently completed building projects. The application is user-friendly and easy to navigate, providing the public with a clear vision of the County’s development pipeline. Information will be updated weekly. For development questions beyond the scope of the Development Tracker, please contact the Rockingham County Department of Community Development at 540-564-3030. This is a great resource to understand developments that have been proposed in Rockingham County. Check it out here. | |
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58 Townhomes, 34 Apartments Likely Coming Soon On Mt Clinton Pike Near Intersection With North Main Street |
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 The 5.23 acre parcel shown above was rezoned back in December 2022 to allow for this new residential development and now the Planning Commission and City Council are reviewing and potentially approving the site plan to allow the development to move forward. The 5.23 acre property will include:
Here's the layout, zoomed in a bit...  Download the full Planning Commission packet (from their meeting last week) here. | |
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Evergreene Homes Proposed New Residential Development On Port Republic Road, Weston Park, To Potentially Include 74 Townhomes, 28 Duplexes And 26 Detached Homes |
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 The developer of Preston Lake, Evergreene Homes, is proposing a rezoning in the City of Harrisonburg to allow for the development of a new neighborhood across Port Republic Road from Westmoreland Drive...  This development would include 128 homes currently shown as:
The City of Harrisonburg Planning Commission will hold a public hearing about this rezoning request on February 14, 2024. City staff recommends that this rezoning request be denied, for two reasons... [1] The Comprehensive Plan shows this area as Low Density Mixed Residential which is intended to include large and small lot single family detached dwellings, sometimes with duplexes - but not with townhouses. The majority of the dwelling units in the proposal for Weston Park are townhouses. [2] Only 6.3% of the approved dwelling units between January 2021 and February 2024 have been single family homes and 1.6% have been duplexes. During that timeframe, 23.2% of the approved dwelling units have been for townhomes (589 of them) and 68.9% of the approved dwelling units have been for multi-family properties (1,747 of them). As the staff report summarizes... "Given the lower number of single-family detached and duplex dwellings that have been given use-approval compared to townhomes, and that the Comprehensive Plan recommends single-family detached and duplexes for the subject property, at this time, staff does not believe the subject property needs to be rezoned to allow for more townhome development." | |
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Starbucks, Chipotle, Hotels, Storage And More Planned For Urban Development Area |
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 Above is a recently updated map of the Urban Development Area. Some updates to be aware of... [1] Site work has begun for Wentworth Apartments. [2] An extended stay hotel is being built on Stone Port Blvd. [3] A new Chipotle might be built on Stone Spring Road next to the new 7-11 gas station that is almost complete, which is next to Taco Bell. [4] A new Starbucks may be built on Stone Spring Road. [5] A Hyatt Hotel may be built behind Walmart. [6] CubeSmart Storage was recently completed and Stone Spring Storage is being constructed. Download the full sized map here. | |
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Phase One Plat For Bluestone Town Center Proposed To Include 146 Apartments, 106 Townhomes, 38 Manufactured Homes on 28.31 Acres |
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 The developers of Bluestone Town Center are proposing a plat for the first phase of the development to include the following property types on 28.31 acres...
A few other interesting details about this upcoming first phase of the development include...
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94 New City Townhomes Proposed On Pear Street In Cobblers Valley, Zephyr Hill |
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 Ryan Homes is in the process of developing a neighborhood called Cobblers Valley, on Pear Street, in Rockingham County. The portion of the development to be built in Rockingham County is intended to include:
There is also a small portion of the development that will exist in the City of Harrisonburg, to include 32 townhomes, highlighted in purple above. A new rezoning to go before the Planning Commission this evening would allow for an additional 21 townhouses, highlighted in blue above. A second rezoning to go before the Planning Commission this evening would allow for an additional 41 townhomes, highlighted in red/orange above. My understanding is that the 53 townhomes (32 +21) would be a part of Cobblers Valley, but that the 41 townhomes would be a separate development, called Zephyr Hill, which already includes 55 planned townhomes. View City documents related to the rezoning and special use permit requests here (21 townhomes) and here (41 townhomes).  | |
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Proposed Expansion Of Student Housing Complex, 865 East, To Include 60 More Apartments For A Total Of 160 |
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 The student housing development at the corner of Port Republic Road and Devon Lane -- 865 East -- may be expanding in the near future. The owner has requested that the City rezone the property and provide a special use permit to allow for an expansion of this mixed use property. 865 East currently features 100 apartments and retail on the ground level. The proposed addition would include 60 more apartments connected to the first building via an elevated breezeway. Here is the potential layout of the addition...  Here's a slightly larger view of the potential new profile of the building and addition, connected by an elevated breezeway...  The Planning Commission reviewed this request earlier this week (details here) and they recommended that City Council approve the rezoning and special use permit to allow for this expansion of 865 East. | |
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Tuscan Village, A New Community To Include 57 Townhomes, 54 Apartments, 2 Single Family Homes, Proposed Near Intersection Of Keezletown Road and Country Club Road |
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 The Harrisonburg Planning Commission considered a request last evening for a new community proposed to be built near the intersection of Keezletown Road and Country Club Road. This potential new community would feature 57 townhomes and 54 apartments and would be developed by Scripture Communities, the builder/developer who has also developed Stone Spring Village, Avalon Woods, Heritage Estates, Liberty Square, The Glen at Cross Keys, The Townes at Bluestone, and is currently developing The Townes at Congers Creek. Of note - I represent this builder/developer and have been involved in the planning of this potential new community. The architectural inspiration for this new community comes from the stone and stucco of Italy and the builder plans to incorporate these elements into the exterior of all of the townhomes and apartments. Below are two renderings of the plans for the townhome section of the neighborhood...   A few other items to note about this potential new community in the City of Harrisonburg...
Multiple people spoke in favor of this request at the Planning Commission and a few others raised concerns. The concerns that were raised were primarily related to traffic on the roads adjacent to the potential new community -- and stormwater management. The developer will be responsible for ensuring that the development does not create additional stormwater coming off the site to neighboring properties -- and the City has future plans to improve both adjacent roads, though they are not yet funded. City planning staff recommended that the rezoning request (and other releated requests) be approved and the Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend that City Council approve the requests to allow for this development to move forward. City Council will review this request in January. | |
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Middleburg at Stone Spring, To Include Up To 500 Apartments, Proposed Adjacent To The Reserve At Stoneport |
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 A developer out of Vienna is proposing that the 31.5 acre parcel shown above be rezoned from A-2 (agricultural) to PMF (Planned Multi-Family) to allow for the construction of 500 apartments in two phases adjacent to The Reserve at Stoneport. Phase 1 would include no more than 300 garden-style apartments in the larger buildings shown below with 30 apartments per building. Phase 2 would include no more than 200 townhome-style apartments shown as the permitted to be smaller clusters of buildings below with four to eight townhouse style apartments per building. Here's the full proposed site plan...  A common question when it comes to new developments is the impact on schools. Per Rockingham County calculations, this development is estimated to generate an additional 31 students at Peak View Elementary, 18 students at Montevideo Middle School and 22 students at Spotswood High School. The Rockingham County Planning Commission recommended denial of the rezoning request on November 8, 2023. The Board of Supervisors tabled the rezoning request in their meeting on November 15, 2023. This request will likely be reviewed again by the Board of Supervisors in the near future. Download the full rezoning application packet including a larger site plan here. | |
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The High(er) Cost Of Money May Slow Down The Start Of Approved Residential Developments |
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 Over the past few years, thousands of potential new housing units have been proposed to be built in the City of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. Some of these new developments are under construction, but many are sitting idle as undeveloped land that is approved for a new housing development but with no clear indication of if or when construction might begin on those new homes. One of the biggest potential limitations on when these new homes might be built is -- the high(er) cost of money -- current interest rates. Developers and builders are not going out to get traditional mortgages in order to build out these communities -- but they almost always do need to borrow money from a bank to start a new housing development. That money goes towards infrastructure (roads, water, sewer, sidewalks) as well as towards the construction of the housing units -- all of which are bills that have to be paid before the first home is sold or rented. So, will we see all of these thousands of proposed or approved new home developments be built over the next year or two? Almost certainly not... and one of the biggest things holding back the development of these new communities is the current economic climate with high(er) interest rates across the board. If/when interest rates start to decline, perhaps we'll then see some of or more of these new developments being built. | |
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Scott Rogers
Funkhouser Real
Estate Group
540-578-0102
scott@funkhousergroup.com
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