view a larger plat here

We might see up to 155 detached single family coming to McGaheysville soon, located between McGaheysville Road, Power Dam Road and Three Leagues Road.

Four tracts of land totaling 41.99 acres are currently zoned A-1 and A-2 but the owner is proposing that the County rezone them PSF-C... Planned Single-family Residential with Conditions.

This neighborhood of detached homes is planned to include 155 homes...

   view a larger image

Harman Realty and Stone Spring Holdings LLC are proposing to build 265 apartments in a development to be called EPOCH on Stone Spring Road, between The Overlook at Stone Spring and Squire Hill Apartments.

These apartments would be built on the 17 acres shown above. 

The proposed site plan references cottages, townhouses and apartments -- but they all seem to be multiple dwelling units per building, so they might all feel like apartments? 

City staff recommends approval of this proposal, as does the Planning Commission.  City Council will have the final say on the matter in the near future.

   view larger image

   view a larger map here

Per recent versions of the Rockingham County Planning Commission meeting packets, a new development is being planned for Route 42 North -- just barely outside the City of Harrisonburg,

The site plan currently on file with the County is shown below, though it is likely not the final site plan.  Per the County's notes it is "awaiting corrections and resubmittal."

The current version of the site plan shows (18) single family home lots and (16) duplex lots -- for a total of 34 homes.

   view a clearer plan here

This is one of the many new residential developments in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County that are under construction or in planning phases as outlined here.

  

As I hear about new developments being planned or proposed or approved, I'll add them to the list below. 

What am I missing or forgetting?

Two41 (Blue Ridge Drive)

Juniper Hill Commons (Keezletown Road)

Wingate Meadows (Pleasant Valley Road)

   view a larger map here

The Harrisonburg Planning Commission recommended the approval of the rezoning of a 2.25 acre parcel on Vine Street to allow for 29 townhouses to be built as per the proposed site plan below...

   view a larger site plan here

This is one of the many new residential developments in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County that are under construction or in planning phases as outlined here.

 

   view a larger version of this map here

Later this month the Rockingham County Board of Supervisors will consider a rezoning request for a proposed development on the corner of Port Republic Road and Boyers Road that includes, among other things, 91,000 SF of storage units.

But wait, there's more...

The site plan is currently under review by the County for a development less than a mile from this site, off of Stone Spring Road, for 54,270 SF of self storage in three buildings...

   download the proposed site plan here

So, there must either be an extreme need for self storage right now -- or we are potentially going to see a significant excess of available storage if both of these developments are built out.

  

The City of Harrisonburg and Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance (HDR) have launched Harrisonburg Downtown 2040, a community-driven plan for our beloved Downtown Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Above is a snapshot from the collaborative map that the community is building showing...

Special Places (stars) - important places in Downtown and stories about why these places matter

Ideas (light bulbs) - ideas for improving Downtown including places to be change or preserve, things that are missing from Downtown, etc.

Problems (cones) - problems or concerns to be fixed

View (and contribute to) the collaborative map here.

Read more about the Downtown 2040 project here.

 

 

   view a larger version of this map

A new neighborhood is coming to Pleasant Valley Road, across the street from The Springs at Osceola.

Way back in 2009, this land was rezoned as a part of the 282.86 acres of land that was to be developed as The Springs at Osceola. 

Now, however, the developer plans to develop the 71.502 acres on the west side of Pleasant Valley Road as a separate neighborhood, Wingate Meadows subdivision.

Wingate Meadows would consist of 337 homes, including...

   download a larger version of this image

The developer has now published renderings of the proposed development which can be found on their website.

Some additional details are now available from the proposed development's website...

 

This is a proposed mixed use development, and you can read more about the mixed use developments that do and do not already exist locally here.

Feedback about this potential rezoning can be sent to...

District #3 Commissioner
Bill Loomis
bill@loomiswm.com

District #3 Supervisor
Rick Chandler

  

Given all of the developments popping up along Boyers Road it is probably a good time to pause and remember that this (Boyers Road) is one of the main areas where Rockingham County anticipates seeing further development in the years (and decades) to come per the Stone Spring Urban Development Plan.

The Stone Spring UDA provides a blueprint for the potential development based on a traditional town pattern in four geographic areas that they have called Stone Port, Stone Ridge, Boyers Crossing and Crossroads.

Here's the big picture, per Rockingham County...

"The UDA Plan presents a vision for the development of new, walkable mixed-use neighborhoods, within the four neighborhood focus areas while preserving existing neighborhoods."

"Plans and development scenarios are conceptual and would be phased over the ensuing 20 years, contemplating future generations of development and adaptive reuses of certain parcels over that period. Recommended conceptual alignments, structures and functional uses do not account for parcel boundaries or topographic constraints."

One main thing to note here is that the County has a vision of these four areas being developed as mixed use developments.  We can think about this most simply as residential and non-residential uses.  Non-residential uses might be office space or retail, etc. 

This type of development (mixed use) will look and feel different than most of the areas that folks are familiar with in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County because there are not many mixed use developments currently in existence in our area.

A few examples and non-examples...

Crossroads Farm could sort of be seen as almost being a mixed use development in that a bank was built at the corner of the neighborhood where Cross Keys Road and Spotswood Trail intersect.  That's probably a bit of a stretch though, as these two areas (residential neighborhood, bank) do not connect for vehicular or pedestrian traffic.

Urban Exchange is a mixed use development in downtown Harrisonburg (yes, in the City, not the County) because it has apartments over top of retail and office space, though it is all in one connected building, as opposed to a mixed use development in multiple buildings spread out over a tract of land.

Preston Lake was always intended to be a mixed use development with commercial space on the edge of the original development plan, and as a part of the current development plan, but it's only a residential development thus far with detached homes, duplexes, townhomes and now an adjacent apartment complex under construction.  Again, all residential development - though there is still a possibility it will have some non-residential development as a part of it at some point in the future.

Stone Port, located catty-corner to Sentara RMH Medical Center would seem to be one of our area's first mixed-use development, because it has residential uses (apartments) and non-residential uses (retail, office, etc.)

Stoney Ridge is a proposed/planned mixed use development on the south end of Harrisonburg and partially in the County.  It would almost entirely be residential development (apartments, townhouses, duplexes, detached homes) but does have some intended commercial lots on the front of the property.

Boyers Crossing is a proposed mixed use development on the corner of Boyers Road and Port Republic Road including apartments, commercial space and storage units.  More on this in the coming days.

Am I missing any current or proposed mixed use developments?  If so, email me.

I suspect we will continue to see further proposals for mixed use developments in the four areas in the County referenced above.  Perhaps as further mixed use developments take shape we will become more accustomed to them and more comfortable with them in this marketplace.

 

Bluestone Land, the development entity behind The Colonnade (in downtown Harrisonburg) and Preston Lake Apartments (currently under construction) is proposing to build 142 apartments at the intersection of Blue Ridge Drive and Country Club Court.

The proposed site plan is shown above, and here's a rendering of what one of the apartment buildings would look like...

  click here for a larger version

The current owner of the property (alongside the proposed developer) is requesting that the property be rezoned from R-1 to R-5 and is asking for a special use permit to allow for more than 12 units per apartment building.

Here are some further details of this proposed community...

  download larger images: JPG or PDF

A new development, Stoney Ridge, is continuing to take shape near the DMV on Route 11 south in Harrisonburg,  The majority of the development would exist in the County but a portion of the development land is in the City.

The County portion of the development would include...

The City portion of the development would include...

View a larger version of the map here.

In what would seem to be a bit of a controversial proposed rezoning, Baum Investments LLC is proposing the rezoning of a 5.69 acre parcel at the corner of Port Republic Road and Boyers Road.

The property is currently undeveloped, but Baum Investments would like to develop it to include...

The County approved an Urban Development Area Plan (UDAP) for this area in late 2019 though it is not clear whether this rezoning request align with the County's vision for the area.  The above referenced UDAP shows as example of mixed use and townhomes as a good potential fit for this property.  Sometimes "mixed use" means a mix of commercial space and residential space -- but the UDAP document describes "mixed use" as developments that include "public amenities such as event and recreation space and fine dining." 

So, you tell me -- do the proposed uses (office building, apartments, storage units) fall within the scope of how the County thinks a parcel in this general location should be developed (townhomes, event space, recreation space, fine dining)? 

Am I reading the County's vision document too narrowly? 

Should we understand their vision document to mean that any sort of commercial use is fine within areas where they show potential mixed use?

The Rockingham County Planning Commission meets on February 2nd to discuss this proposed rezoning.  If you have comments about this proposed rezoning, you can contact...

Bradford R.R. Dyjak
Director of Planning, Rockingham County
bdyjak@rockinghamcountyva.gov

Rick Chandler
Board of Supervisors
rchandler@rockinghamcountyva.gov

 

With some regularity, I'll hear from parents of JMU students who are interested in buying a house in Harrisonburg, near the JMU campus, with the intent of having their son or daughter live in the house with friends.

Not a bad idea, right?

Instead of paying rent for several years, you (and the friends of your son or daughter) can be paying off the mortgage on your newly acquired house! 

But before you sign a contract to purchase a house, keep this in mind...

Most (but not all) single family homes (as opposed to duplexes or townhomes) in Harrisonburg are zoned R-1 or R-2.  This limits occupancy of the property to no more than to unrelated people - with one exception which I will mention below.

So -- before you go buy a five bedroom house with the idea that Johnny and his four best buds can live there -- you should definitely check the zoning of the property.  If the house is zoned R-1 or R-2, it will just be able to be Johnny and his best friend living at the house.

But wait -- what if you put Johnny on the deed to the house, making him one of the owners of the house -- would this change anything?

Why, yes, it would!

While Johnny would not then be able to invite all four of his friends back into the fold, he would be able to have his two best friends living there at the house instead of just one friend.

Stated more simply...

An R-1 or R-2 property can only be occupied by two unrelated people if the owner is not living there, but it can be occupied by the owner plus two unrelated people if the owner is living there!

You'll find all the details here.

If you're a JMU parent, looking to buy a house off campus, I'm happy to help with the process -- but don't let Johnny get too many friends excited about the idea until you have reviewed the information above.

A few final notes...

1.  There are some properties in Harrisonburg that have been in non-conforming use (many unrelated people living in them) since before these current zoning regulations were put in place.  Those properties are "grandfathered in" and can be continued to be rented in that (non-conforming) manner until/unless there is a 24 month interruption in the non-conforming use.  So, technically, you could buy a house for Johnny and his four friends -- but we'd have to find a property that is grandfathered into that non-conforming use and those properties don't come on the market very often.

2.  There are likely some property owners out there, now, who are renting their properties to more unrelated people than are legally allowed to live there.  Before you jump to "well if they can do it, then I should also be able to do it" I will encourage you to only consider making an investment purchase that allows you to rent the house in a manner that is legal according to local zoning ordinances.  It's not worth the risk to try to skirt the zoning regulations.

 

Overbrook, a single family and duplex community in McGaheysville, Virginia is expanding. 

As currently developed - as built homes or platted lots - the neighborhood includes...

 

Mark your calendars for Thursday, November 19th at 6:00 PM to tune in to hear a presentation of the findings of the initial draft of the City's Comprehensive Housing Assessment and Market Study!

From the press release from the City...

Here's how to tune in to this meeting...

Watching on a computer or mobile device via GoToWebinar. Register in advance here - Webinar ID: 281-556-371.

Calling in to listen by phone at +1 (951) 384-3421, Access Code 484-931-436.

Watching the meeting live on Public Education Government Channel 3

The Zoning and Subdivision Ordinances for the City of Harrisonburg have not been thoroughly updated in over 20 years!  There have been a variety of smaller updates to the ordinances over the years, but, as the City points out the result of all of these small changes since 1996/1997 have been...

The City is currently in the midst of updating these ordinances, and they'd like your input!

Click here to take a community survey to provide input as the City works on updating these ordinances.

Click here to read more about the process for updating the ordinances.

 

This table outlines how many unrelated people can live in a home (detached home, duplex, townhouse, condo, etc.) in Harrisonburg based on the zoning of that property.

Download the master plan as a PDF here.

A 133 acre mixed use development is in the planning / approval process in Rockingham County - just south of the City of Harrisonburg.

This development would feature:

With great regularity, potential buyers (either investors or parents of JMU students) will ask if a single family home can be purchased and rented to a group of JMU students -- often an intended group of four or more students.

I let them know that it will be no problem at all -- the adjoining property owners in the quaint neighborhood probably won't mind as long as the students aren't too bothersome -- and the City doesn't mind at all if their zoning ordinances are violated, so long as it's just "nice college kids"....

WAIT!  NOT REALLY!  READ ON!!!!

It seems that some buyers are really getting that feedback of "sure, it will be fine" -- though I'm not sure if they're getting it from their Realtor, or from someone else advising them in the transaction, or if they just aren't thinking about whether their planned use of a property is allowable.

The REAL answer, and the feedback that I ACTUALLY provide to my clients is....

1.  We need to check to see how this property is zoned, and whether that zoning classification allows for that number of unrelated people to live in the property.

2.  We need to check to see if there are recorded restrictive covenants for this neighborhood that restrict the number of unrelated people who live in the property.

A few notes....

1.  Most single family homes in the City of Harrisonburg are zoned R-1 or R-2 and do NOT allow for three or more unrelated people (students or otherwise) to live in the property.

2.  If a property has been used in a non-conforming manner (for example, four students living in it) since before the zoning ordinance was put in place, without a 24 month gap in the non-confirming us, it MIGHT be possible to continue to use the property in that non-conforming manner.

And, if #2 above is starting to get confusing, then we arrive at my main reason for writing today....

CALL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT TO UNDERSTAND ALLOWED USE OF A PROPERTY!

Yes, in fact, there are very helpful City staff in the Community Development department -- who can very quickly help you understand whether a property can be legally used as you intend to use it. 

And it is imperative that you make this call BEFORE you buy the property, and even BEFORE you make an offer on the property!