• The proposed mixed use building would have (22) one-bedroom apartments and commercial space - potentially a fast food restaurant.
   
  
• The properties would need to be rezoned from R-1 (Single Family Residential) and R-3 (Medium Density Residential) to R-5C (High Density Residential District Conditional) in order for this project to be constructed.
   
• The developer also needs to be approved for a special use permit for an apartment building with more than 12 units, and a special use permit to allow for the commercial use.
   
• If approved, the developer would raze (tear down) four existing buildings in order to build the mixed-use building.
   
  
• City staff does not think that low density residential uses facing South Main Street (a five-lane roadway with a 35 mph speed limit) are likely or practical.
   
• City staff is recommending approval of the requests for amending the Comprehensive Plan, rezoning the properties and issuing the special use permits.
  

The bottom line here seems to be that the property (properties) in question have high traffic count road frontage, yet also adjoin a low density residential neighborhood in the back.  Should the use of these properties continue to be low/medium density residential use as currently approved?  Or should the City allow the property owner to rezone them to allow for a much denser use of the land?

You can read the entire packet of information to be reviewed and considered by the Planning Commission here.

Council Kills Special-Use Permit Request
By Tony Brown, Daily News-Record
March 16, 2017

HARRISONBURG - Ted Byrd played sheriff at Tuesday night's regular City Council meeting.

He deputized the other four council members and led a unanimous posse to gun down a petition for a special-use permit for an old house on Old South High Street downtown.

He said the property owner was trying to get out of breaking the law.

"This was an illegal use from the getgo," the lone Republican on council said. "Sometimes, you gotta draw the line. This is begging for forgiveness instead of asking for permission. We're either a body of laws, or not."

Byrd was so persuasive that he converted Democrat Richard Baugh, who did a complete 180 on the issue.

As the elected council's representative on the appointed Planning Commission, Baugh was part of a unanimous decision by the commission to recommend council approve the petition.

The city planning and zoning staff also is on record recommending the change.

• The Board of Supervisors tabled a request Wednesday from Surber Development and Consulting LLC to rezone a 5.3-acre parcel on Reservoir Street from medium residential to general residential for phase two of Robinson Park apartments.
   
• The board wants more time to address concerns from fire and rescue and the sheriff's office, as well as potential public transportation issues.
   
• Surber Development plans to purchase the property once it has been rezoned.  The parcel at 2770 Reservoir St. is owned by the estate of Mary Madalene Lambert, who died in March. It is valued at $250,600, according to online real estate records. 
  

• (1) large mullti-family building with 168 units
  
• (15) quad-plex buildings
• (6) duplexes

AFTER:

• (12) multi-family buildings with a total of 168 units
  
• (6) townhouses

Per my math, each of these (12) apartment buildings would have (14) apartments in it -- which I'm assuming might be a three-story apartment building.

This is the affected portion of the master plan before the proposed change....

And here is the same section after the proposed change....

• 162 Single Family Detached Homes
• 60 Duplexes
• 16 Quads
• 245 Townhouses
• 336 Apartments
• 168 Apartments in 12 Small Buildings
• 168 Apartments in 1 Large Building

• Rezoning Request Packet from Rockingham County
• Previously Approved Master Plan
• Newly Proposed Master Plan
• Daily News Record article (11/30/2016)
  

• Altitude at Stone Port (student housing) - rezoning approved
• Moe's Grill (restaurant) - under review
• Reserve @ Stone Port - mass grading underway
• Farmers & Merchants Bank at Coffman's Corner - ready to break ground
• Doctor's Office at Coffman's Corner - under review
• Robinson Park Apartments - footers and framing underway
• Greenport - construction underway
• Retreat @ Harrisonburg (student housing) - mass grading underway
• Preston Lake Marketplace - mass grading completed, seeded

Download a larger version of this map as a JPG or PDF.

• the community would be a mix of detached homes, duplexes and quads
• amenities would likely include a clubhouse with fitness center and study facilities, outdoor swimming pool, outdoor gaming courts and extensive walking and biking trails
• this community would have no more than 178 residential units and no more than 715 beds (bedrooms)

While Airbnb is spreading around the Valley - and the globe - it faces resistance from governments and zoning laws. Adam Fletcher, director of planning and community development for the city, said Airbnb renting is "for all intents and purposes" not allowed in Harrisonburg.

"You have to have a special-use permit and they have to operate under the specific parameters of a bed-and-breakfast," he said. "Most properties don't fit that requirement."

But Fletcher admits the city can't do much about Airbnb entrepreneurs because the city does not have practical means to enforce the law.

• 29 one bedroom apartments
• 24 two bedroom apartments
• 87 four bedroom apartments
  

• There will be a 2-3 story clubhouse with roof top deck, surrounded by two apartment buildings.
  
• The apartment building along Port Republic Road will be 5 stories in height.
• The apartment building along Apple Valley Road will vary between 4 to 5 stories in height.
• The community will include a clubhouse with fitness center and study facilities, a roof top deck, outdoor courtyard, storage units, bicycle storage room and study rooms with smart technology features.
• The exterior of the buildings will include faux stone, EIFS (exterior insulation finishing system), metal panels and cement panels. (no vinyl siding)

Read more about this proposed development via the recent Daily News Record article or the Planning Commission's information packet.

City officials began reviewing the regulations on backyard hens after council members were approached about the matter last fall. Tuesday's vote eliminated a minimum 2-acre lot-size requirement enacted in 2009.

The requirement effectively maintained a ban on backyard fowl, as most lots in the city are smaller than 2 acres.

The new rules, which must be approved again before they take effect, will allow residents of single-family homes to keep chickens. No one living in an apartment, townhouse or manufactured home park will be allowed to keep birds.

Chicken owners are limited to four hens in an enclosed pen, which must sit in the backyard and be at least five feet from property lines and at least 20 feet from any stormwater management installation.

• Stoneport - a mixed use development featuring Bojangles, Wendy's and Wal-Mart
   
  
• a proposed 37 acre student housing community on Reservoir Street
   
• The proposed rezoning of 238 acres by Sentara RMH per their new proposed master plan.
   
• An affordable housing complex being developed off Reservoir Street across from Fieldale Place.

After the workshop (11:30 AM) the Board of Supervisors will hold their regular meeting at 3:00 PM today.

From today's Daily News Record article....

County Administrator Joe Paxton said supervisors are concerned because the growth of JMU and the need for housing are uncertain.

Supervisors want to decide what type of development should go in the area to best spur growth, Paxton said.

"The type of housing that you allow to develop in that area will drive the type of commercial that you get," Paxton said. "So, there needs to be some intentional thought ... in deciding what type of residential development will go in that area."

Deputy County Administrator Stephen King said the workshop will "give an overall look of what is there, what we know is coming, what we've been told is coming," and allow the board to start developing a plan for the area.

Certain types of housing can attract certain people to an area, Paxton said, and the demographics will determine which businesses want to move to the area.

"The income levels are critical to attract different types of commercial development," Paxton said. "If you don't have some kind of plan, then you will just get what happens."

• 2010 = 1 sale ($200K)
• 2011 = 3 sales ($189K median sales price)
  
• 2012 = 2 sales ($113K median sales price)
• 2013 = 5 sales ($135K median sales price)
  
• 2014 = 2 sales ($86K median sales price)
  
• 2015 = 5 sales ($107K median sales price)
  
• 2016 = 1 sale ($99K)

• 70 Single Family Home Lots
• 96 Duplex Lots

View a larger version of the proposed new plat here.

You can review the entire rezoning request here.

Rockingham County staff is recommending that this re-zoning request be tabled.  The Planning Commission will be reviewing this request at their meeting this evening.

• the community would be a mix of detached homes, duplexes and quads
• amenities would likely include a clubhouse with fitness center and study facilities, outdoor swimming pool, outdoor gaming courts and extensive walking and biking trails
• this community would have no more than 178 residential units and no more than 715 beds (bedrooms)

You can view lots of details about this proposal by downloading the full packet of information from the rezoning request which includes the master plan and illustrations of the front elevations of some of the potential dwellings to be built.  Download it here.

• Master Plan of Sentara RMH Medical Center (pdf)
  
• Full Rezoning Application (pdf)
  

"City officials are exploring whether the lot-size threshold should be reduced; if there should be a neighbor approval process; whether a certain number of permits should be issued within a trial period; and any other issues, according to the release."

• Supervisors To Hear Lakeview Rezoning (Jan 8, 2016)
   
  
• Planners Sign Off On Rezoning (Dec 4, 2015)

View a larger map of the area here.

"Brian Shull, the city's economic development director, said the parcel could become the first noncommercial lot of 7 acres or more along East Market to be rezoned for commercial use since 2003, when Harrisonburg Crossing was created at the former Dunham-Bush plant."

For the project to move forward, the parcel's land-use designation in the city's comprehensive plan must be changed to commercial from conservation recreation. The property then must be rezoned to general business district conditional from single-family residential district. Senior planner Alison Banks said the Harrisonburg Planning Commission approved both requests unanimously on Dec. 9. City Council also must sign off and is slated to take up the matter at its Jan. 12 meeting. The change makes sense to the city's planning staff, she said, because of the nature of traffic in the area and utilities on the site. "This portion of the country club that we'd be subdividing off along East Market Street is at a busy intersection," Banks said. "Large [Harrisonburg Electric Commission] power lines run thorough it, too." The conceptual site plan presented to the Planning Commission shows two entrances to the small center - a standard one with turn lanes off Country Club Road, and a right in, right out off East Market Street at the property's eastern edge.

• The Lakeview Golf Club has thirty-six holes, consisting of four sets of nine-hole courses developed over four separate decades. In 2013, the Club requested to rezone a portion of parcel 126-(A)- L44 to General Business District (B-1), for the construction of an event center and expanded club house.
  
• The applicant has requested to rezone a portion of the golf course to Medium Density Residential District (R-2) for the construction of no more than twenty-one housing units and to extend Lakeview Drive to serve these housing units..
  

• This proposal retains the existing character of the golf course with housing on the perimeter; however, the proposed extension of Lakeview Drive does not conform to the zoning ordinance. Staff recommend tabling the request until this is resolved.
  

"Since 2011, commercial and residential development activity has increased and Stone Spring Road has been completed.  [...] Interest in the development of commercially zoned land in this same area is expected to increase as a result of the relocation and completion of Stone Spring Road and the construction of Albert Long Park."

"According to county officials, an expanded UDA would put Rockingham County in a better position to compete for state money under the new prioritization process for transportation funding adopted by the General Assembly in 2014."