City Council Meeting   8/12/2025

City Attorney Brown.

Here.

Council Member Dent.

Here.

Council Member Robinson.

Here.

Chief Tobia.

Here.

Here.

Thank you Madam Mayor.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen and those who are in the overflow area.

To manage the safety of everyone tonight, we're going to ask for some very simple rules to be followed.

We are at capacity in this room, and so if somebody leaves, somebody else may be admitted to replace that seat.

So just be aware, there's restrooms in the back of the seating area and in the lobby.

When the time comes for public

Once to be heard, we will start in this chamber completely.

We'll work from the front to the back.

If you choose to leave, you are welcome to do so.

There will be permitted a single file line

When an individual is done speaking who is in that line, they will need to turn and go back outside so that we do not exceed capacity.

If anyone has a medical issue of any kind, just raise your hand

I do ask that there's a lot of folks in here and so we're going to keep moving through the agenda but I do ask that there's a limited amount of chatter so that everybody can be heard and that we can hear people as well.

So please respect our procedures in City Hall.

Thank you.

Alright, we will now stand if you wish for a moment of silence or private prayer and remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

So I would like to call up Mark Finks.

And if you want to bring anybody else with you, that is fine.

We have a proclamation.

Rick, come on up.

You know the rules.

Yes.

So this is a proclamation recognizing Harrisonburg's officers of election.

Whereas free and fair elections are the foundation of our democracy and their success depends not only on laws and systems but on the people who bring them to life.

and we're as Harrisonburg's officers of election.

Our friends, neighbors, co-workers, and fellow citizens give generously to Harrisonburg's co-workers,

and fellow citizens give generously of their time, energy and care to ensure that every eligible voter is welcome and every eligible vote is counted.

And whereas these individuals often rise before dawn and remain at the polls long after they close, bringing steady focus, good judgment and patience.

to every step of the voting process.

And whereas the work of an officer of election is not glamorous, it can be tiring, stressful, and invisible to many, but it is essential, honorable, and deeply appreciated.

And whereas the City of Harrisonburg recognizes that the success of

of each election rests not only on technology or policy but on the steady hands, their thoughtful minds, and kind hearts of those who serve at our polling places.

Whereas it is fitting and proper that the City of Harrisonburg expresses its gratitude to these civic-minded individuals for their invaluable contributions

to our community on National Poll Worker Recruitment Day.

Now, therefore, I, Deanna Reed, and the Mayor of the City of Harrisonburg hereby recognize the service and dedication displayed by the officers of elections for the City of Harrisonburg.

Be it further resolved that the Harrisonburg City Council honors and applauds

each officer of elections for their service and encourages all residents to acknowledge and thank these individuals during and after every election.

Mayor, I apologize.

I think I might have created that hum by trying to plug in a charger.

I think our amazing clerk has gotten it figured out.

My apologies, everybody.

That was me.

That's what I like about you.

Take responsibility.

Alright, we good?

We're good?

Come on up.

Oh right, the consent agenda for special events.

We might want to bring Matt in.

Yep, tell him, Chief.

He can just be up at the podium, right?

It doesn't matter.

He just needs to be in if we have any questions.

Just a couple up front.

All right, we'll go into our consent agenda.

Any item placed on the consent agenda shall be removed and taken up as a separate matter if so requested by any member of council.

Madam Mayor, I move that we approve the consent agenda as presented.

Second that.

It's a quick appointment that we need to make and it's Maria Blair for Community Policy and Management Team so if we can go ahead and vote on that so we're not waiting until the end.

So I'll move to approve Maria Blair to the Community Policy and Management team to one of the two vacancies we have.

She has come with excellent recommendations.

Second.

Any discussion?

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Thank you.

All right, Maria's passed through.

Now we can go to our public hearings.

Adam, we got 6A.

Before you get started Adam, I just want to let all the people know in the room and in the lobby Standing outside that today is Adam Fletcher's birthday

Laura's yours.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

My name is Adam Fletcher, Director of Community Development.

Thank you so much.

I was not expecting that.

All right, first item I have for you this evening is a rezoning request at 320 South Main Street.

The request is to rezone the site, which is a little over 11,000 square feet from B2 General Business District to the B1C Central Business District Conditional.

The images on your screen, we have a site vicinity map on the left, red box showing that we are downtown, really just a stone's throw away from our building here, both sites this evening.

The property is along South Main Street there, 320, outlined in blue, and what you all are looking at is a zoning map on the right-hand side.

So B1 is the red, the orange is B2, and then we start to pick up urban residential in the blue colors.

Just for continuing to sort of understand zoning here,

Anytime you're looking at our zoning maps, if you see a zoning color and it has the sideways hatching, that is an immediate indication that at some point that property was not only rezoned, but it also had proffers associated with it.

When you look at our maps, if it doesn't have hatching, it does not mean that it was not rezoned, but it just means that it has straight permissions that are already permitted in that zoning district.

So in this particular case, to the north, to the south, and even along Franklin Street,

You can see that there were properties that have proffers and they were rezoned here, some in our modern history here in the past couple of 20 years or so.

Our land use guide map, which is our official land use policy of the comprehensive plan, indicates this parcel is planned for mixed use.

Designation.

The mixed-use designation carries with it opportunities and promotions for both residential and non-residential uses.

In our downtown area, we're oftentimes looking at properties with no maximum density caps, but we do encourage people to take into consideration if they are rezoning and even just redeveloping properties with prior permissions that they take into consideration massing of buildings, parking issues, anything that might be relevant to their particular property as it does impact those around them.

The MXU district oftentimes, as you've heard me say many times, is associated usually with our B1 district.

So when we see mixed use, we are oftentimes associating it in the zoning terminology that we're thinking B1 and looking at opportunities where we can encourage that.

And then as you go to the east in this image, page right, the red color there represents neighborhood residential, and that is a sort of a catch-all designation that allows for many different types of housing and different densities of housing.

and then the aerial photograph of the site.

You can see, you know, we're in this building right here.

Here is City Hall, so we are very, very close to the subject site.

The property is known as the Elm Office Complex.

Folks around here may recognize it and recognize that there have been different uses in this property from professional office uses to retail uses over the years.

I believe the applicant has indicated that there is space for 12 tenants and there are multiple uses that have transitioned over the years.

They came to us with plans to put in new uses, I believe, and then was learning really from staff at that point that they have nonconforming parking depending upon the type of uses that are in the building.

So all of our zoning districts, except the B1, and we're talking about B1 on both of our properties tonight, all of our zoning districts have minimum required parking standards, except if you're in the B1 district.

This property is currently zoned to B2,

and it goes back to some history from in 1960 when staff through this review process learned that in 1960 there was a building permit that was issued and there was interestingly there was a note on that building permit that said that they had to provide at least 20 parking spaces before at that time that they could move forward with their plans.

So we have a situation where they approved the building permit acknowledging at that time way back in 1960 that they could not get their building permit until they showed that they could provide at least 20 parking spaces and I'll get into a bit more of that detail in a moment.

The existing building is a little over 4,600 square feet as I indicated multiple tenants and a listing here on the screen of the different uses that are in the building today.

This is an image taken from Federal Street.

The red line here is just in a very high-level approximation where we believe the property line could be.

And you have somewhat of an odd situation in this particular case.

So you have a one-way angled parking with no appropriate outlet.

So when you turn into this space, there is no actual vehicular turnaround ability to maneuver in the space and dimensional requirements that we would today require in our design construction standards manual.

This is a non-conforming situation, meaning that it does not conform to our current standards.

And when you enter this site, you have to, in one way or another, either maneuver on site to get out, or you're doing an unsafe maneuver which is backing out of the parking lot and then into the Federal Street public right-of-way, which is not promoted and creates these unsafe conditions.

So these are the facts of today and what's out there today.

Just to continue education here, so when you have properties that are not zone B1, there are different calculation rates for all different uses.

Parking is really a science in and of itself.

There's times that you think you need more parking, there's times you think you need less parking, and there are books written about it, and it is a very complicated issue to discuss.

For this particular case, when a property is zone B2, you have

If you have a professional office, it's one parking space per 300 square feet of gross floor area.

If you are a retail use, if you're less than 10,000 square feet in square footage of the building, then it's one per 200.

Once you jump to above 10,000, the parking detail decreases and it's one per 250.

So the larger you get, the less restrictive the parking requirement becomes.

And then what's not shown on the screen is our most restrictive parking is for retail, excuse me, for restaurant uses.

That's one space per 100 square feet of gross floor area.

In this particular case, due to the size of the building and because of the parking restrictions that are placed on them, you, and depending upon the uses that you put in the building, you would get a range of parking requirements, which is on the screen here.

So you would get either a range of, depending upon the uses, up to, as low as 16 and up to 24.

When the applicants were aware of this, they really wanted to create some opportunities for flexibility for them so they would not be limited in their situation for parking.

And in recognizing that we were promoting it for mixed use, thought that it would be good for them to request rezoning to B1 to create some flexibility for them so that it could promote more different uses in their building.

And after our review, we offered a favorable recommendation based upon also the proffers that were submitted by the applicant.

There are three proffers.

Profers, if you've never heard that word before, proffers are essentially a legal promise.

Anyone who is requesting to rezone property can offer up proffers voluntarily by the applicant.

The city cannot require them.

The applicant can submit those proffers.

If they are approved in the rezoning process, they become part of the property.

If property owner A goes through that rezoning process, receives approval of it, and sells it to property owner B,

Those regulations go with the property.

They never change until either the city on its own initiative rezones a property or a future property owner rezones the site.

So the proffers go with the property owner.

These are the three proffers that were submitted.

These are similar proffers that we encourage and we suggest to property owners who are requesting rezoning to be one because we're trying to promote buildings to be closer to the street

and to eliminate really long separations from buildings to the public streets, especially in our downtown area.

We also are encouraging less vehicular-centric type uses.

So we suggested some proffers here to them, which they then voluntarily provided to the city, which is no drive-through facilities would be permitted.

Today they would be, although difficult on this site because of dimensional and design regulations, but from a use perspective, drive-through facilities would be permitted.

So they have eliminated that ability

They've also eliminated for there to ever be redevelopment on the site that puts a parking lot between the building and South Main Street, another idea that we are accepting of.

And the third, although much more detailed, and this is just a snapshot, the third is that all traffic generating issues shall be limited to a combined total of 100 vehicle trips in either the AM or PM hour.

and that is the reason why 100 is when you hit that threshold that's when we as staff can then require traffic impact analyses to be completed and then we go through that process and in this case whenever they are submitting for building permit or change of uses in the building itself

We would be looking at what those uses would be, running those calculations with our help from the Department of Public Works, and then if they're hitting those thresholds, they either have to not go forward, they could not put those uses in, or they would come back and either complete a traffic impact analysis and then implement those mitigations that may be suggested by the TIA.

So with the proffers and after our evaluation, we offered a favorable recommendation to Planning Commission who in turn

offered a fable recommendation to you all unanimously.

It seems the primary reason is safety, really, right, from backing out into the alley.

Kind of have a blind backing out there is the prime driver for this.

So we cannot require them to change their parking.

So our concerns that we presented to them is that they can maintain that design.

and we suggested for them to you know give consideration.

I remember my comments talking about you know there are different designs that could be designed that could be completed but they are not required to change that design.

I believe the applicant is interested in removing at least the two parking spaces closest to the right-of-way to eliminate some friction with the backing out which is going to help with the safety concern.

That's not proffered right?

And then in the planning notes, I was reading about the two parking spaces and the way it read to me is that if that doesn't work, then they will put them back.

They do not.

Well, if they change, this is where it gets a bit complicated.

So their site does not conform to the design.

If they change anything,

There's arguments to be made that they may not be able to put those two back.

It's something I have to discuss with staff because they're eliminating making it a better situation, and I doubt that we would allow them to put them back in.

So anytime, and this just goes for any use, any detail of a site, if you have a non-conforming situation, most of the time you want to maintain it because you get to keep it, right?

One of the things you have to do in our application process is determine whether or not you have to perform a TIA.

There are different calculation rates.

There's what's called an ITE manual, the International Traffic Engineers manual.

And in that manual, there are different studies that reflect what is anticipated to come out of a traffic.

So whatever the use is, it is anticipated to generate certain types of traffic in what's called the AM peak hour and the PM peak hour.

The third proffer that they provided is stating that any use that would go on site would not hit the 100 vehicle trips in either the AM or PM.

In their change of use, when they come to us to do a change of use permit, we will check to see the square footage of the space they're using,

and what the use is.

And we also have to know what all the uses are in the building.

And if, when we run that number, it hits the threshold for 100, we pause and we say either you can't move forward with your use, you reduce the scale of your use, or you can choose to do a traffic impact analysis yourself to then try to indicate that you are not contributing to any particular problems

or that the traffic that is being generated would not need to have any mitigations solely by your development.

And so this is a catch-all.

It's a good thing to have number three because it gives some indication to the community that the traffic thresholds should be minimal.

And if they were to go higher, we have a stopgap to evaluate it.

Thank you.

So that probably wasn't simple.

Yes, so anytime you're looking at our zoning maps and you see a C next to it.

So we have R1, R2, R3, all the way up to R8.

We have a mixed use zoning classification.

In fact, that's one zoning district that is not mapped because there are no properties that are zoned MXU.

We also have some other zoning districts that are also not mapped because there are no properties that have them.

But anytime you see B1, B2, M1, all of the R districts, and it has a C on the end of it, that means that it was rezoned at some point in the past, and there are proffers associated with it, there are conditions, and that's what the C really indicates.

It's a mechanism in the Commonwealth of Virginia that allows people to submit details of a site, limitations, it's basically potentially making it more palatable to the government agency to say,

Okay, you're giving us assurances that not only what you're saying you want to build that you're going to build or that you're going to provide or prohibit.

You could prohibit uses.

You could prohibit heights.

There's so many details that you could proffer, but that's what the C means.

Well, that's what's slightly confusing in the nomenclature, at least, because in this case, the C refers to a proffer, unlike in a special use permit where we, as council, or planning commissioner or staff,

can impose conditions only on a special use permit.

Yeah and in our zoning district it's called conditional or excuse me in our zoning ordinance it's called conditional zoning.

It just means it has proffers which are by definition voluntary on behalf of the applicant.

And they can be, like I said, they can be prohibitions, they can be additional enforcements on themselves, removing uses, removing heights, placing more parking requirements on themselves.

If anyone wishes to speak, please state your name and address.

You'll have five minutes All right CNN

In Chambers, do we have anybody in the lobby?

Thank you.

Do we have the applicant here?

I asked if anyone wishes to speak.

They could come up if they wanted.

I think I got it.

My name is Marshall Price and my brother Ed Price.

And we have been renting it the same way for all these years and we want to continue to rent it that way.

But with the help of the city, just to keep us in line with our parking, this was a recommendation for that and we would like to have that done.

So we're just going to continue to do it like we have now.

Hi, my name is Angela McElmery.

So we have a more narrow property that we're discussing now it doesn't have anything to do with the larger area that that may be impacted by the building and it's the building that's

This has to do with only what was up and the very limited number of parking spaces there.

Mr. Fletcher, I think we're talking about 20 spaces going away, correct?

It's not a hundred vehicle permit.

The 100 reference is referencing the number of vehicles that are coming and going from the site.

And when you hit that threshold is when the TIA is triggered.

So we're not, if I understood the individual's question appropriately, it's not that we're giving permission for 100 vehicles.

My question I think is kind of similar to hers.

Who's monitoring?

So in many ways, it's like all zoning, right?

It is monitored by what we know.

So whether it's concerns about traffic, if it's concerns about counts that we get through help from our public works department, if it's concerns that are brought to us

from the public.

So we aren't monitoring and counting every single parcel's vehicular trips.

The only time that we can monitor it is when we have to monitor it.

I know that sounds odd, but it's when there's something about the site that has to be discussed.

So when an application is brought before us, which there always needs to be probably some type of application and in good faith sometimes people don't know that they have to apply for building permits.

These are all the checkpoints for us to ensure that codes are being

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Thank you.

I will now close public hearing on this item.

Alright, I'll make a motion for this one.

So I'll make a motion that we approve the rezoning of 320 South Main Street to B1C with the proffers as provided.

Any more discussion?

Councilmember Alsadun?

Aye Councilmember Dent?

Aye Councilmember Robinson?

Aye Vice Mayor Fleming?

Okay, there was one slide that I was asked this afternoon to put together to assist with an explanation about rezoning processes and understanding how you go through those steps.

And I really appreciate being asked to do this, even though it's somewhat last minute, because I really appreciate the opportunity to help educate folks.

The public administrator in me loves doing that, and seeing folks here really is energizing, and I appreciate that people want to be engaged in local government.

When I get to the rezoning request, I will try to stay high level.

I'm sure that probably everybody in this room has read through the staff report, has looked at the images.

And so to streamline it, I will stay high level.

But out of respect for the applicant, I would also take the time to also explain their project.

And then, of course, they'll get the opportunity to do the same.

But what I'm going to do now is I also want to take an opportunity to plug two things.

One, Citizen Academy, which Mr. Parks is responsible for.

And you can participate in Citizen Academy.

You can still apply.

up until the end of this week.

And you can learn not only more about what we do in community development, but all across the city.

And it's really fun.

And then lastly, a plug that's extremely important in knowing that all these people were in here tonight about development is that we are right now rewriting our zoning regulations.

We are working off of regulations that were probably thought through in the 80s and early 90s.

And the last comprehensive rewrite we had was in 1996 and 1997.

Ms.

Dang, if you'd raise your hand, is the leader of that project.

And I encourage you all to either contact Ton, not all at the same time, please, but by email.

There's a website, and you can contact her to get added to the list to get updates about when this is occurring.

And it is extremely, extremely important, because it affects everything about plans and implementation and enforcement about the uses that are allowed on properties.

Very, very important.

And then very close after that, we'll be updating a comprehensive plan, and you'll hear me say those words.

and we follow those plans and we want you to be involved.

Moving on, so how does a rezoning work?

So we begin very simply is contacting our office.

Our office is planning and zoning, engineering and building inspections.

You're really talking to planning staff.

Ms.

Dang and her team is simply a phone call, an email or an in-person meeting to just get the conversation started.

Hey, we have a use that we want to use on this property, but it doesn't meet the zoning regulations.

How do I change it?

So then we're having just a small meeting.

Oftentimes, these folks are saying, hey, Tom, could you just collect Adam or maybe Tom Hartman at Public Works?

High level, we want to have a conversation about what are the impacts about this proposed use on this site.

We will just high level everything, tell them what we think about the site, what we know about the site, and what their concerns might be.

There is no timeline ever for somebody to call with ideas about this.

It could be weeks before we hear from them again, years, or never again.

This happens with properties all across the city.

When they get a little bit more serious, they might want to have a pre-application meeting.

And I say might, because we don't require it, but we do highly encourage it.

There are times that we will come back from a meeting, and there'll be a rezoning application at our desk, and we're like, whoa, what is this?

We've not heard about this at all.

And then we're literally starting from scratch, and the timeline begins.

So we highly encourage for people to have pre-application meetings.

During these meetings, it's a monthly meeting.

In fact, it's two days a week, the second and fourth Thursday of every month.

There's a preset meeting date and preset times in which you get into that agenda so that you get a bunch of different city staff from all different departments in the same room talking about the same issues associated with a particular property.

These folks come to us with a narrative or a concept plan or a preliminary layout.

They may not have really much of an idea at that point, and that's okay.

But they come and tell us everything that they know about the site and what they want to do with it so they can hear our feedback.

You're getting in that room conversations about is a traffic impact analysis needed?

Is this going to be so contentious that you as the applicant, you as the property owner, you as the contract purchaser should reach out to the local community and engage them yourself?

Because we can't require you to do that, but we encourage you to.

You get in this room planning and zoning staff, engineering staff, public works, public utilities, water, sewer, trash, streets, pickup, fire department, HEC, the housing coordinator, the building official, and Harrisonburg Department of Public Transportation all in the same space talking about the property.

And again, no timeline.

Again, it could be weeks or years or never again would we hear from these people.

Unless they know for certain they're moving forward and they have to do a traffic impact analysis.

And so then they decided to move forward.

There could be multiple iterations of us meeting with us.

And at this time, of course, we are the only ones that know about this, which happens all across the city with these private property owners, with their private property ownership rights of not having to share their ideas with somebody else's, with somebody else who might be in competition with them.

Say it's a restaurant or anything, any use you might want to think of that they may not want to share publicly what their ideas are for their property.

So if they're required to do a TIA, they didn't begin the TIA.

And let me pause here for a minute and say that this is its whole separate process.

It can cost significant amounts of money.

It can be a short, small turning analysis.

It could be an entrance analysis.

It could be site distance evaluations or a full-scale traffic impact analysis that requires a pre-scoping meeting and has its own flow chart to go through all of those steps where you're looking at the intersections that need to be evaluated.

The traffic signals that need to be evaluated, the timing sequences, the turning movements, the percentages of traffic that will go north, south, east, west will potentially go down one street or another street.

All of this gets built into the model and the software and I'm probably butchering this a little bit with some of my

colleagues in the room that know more about this than me, but it is a very complicated process, but it is one that is needed at times.

There is no requirement for a timeline of a TIA, but I can tell you that from our position, we've never had the experience where a TIA has elongated for long periods of time where potentially the numbers don't make sense anymore.

They've always just continued through the process because if they're going through the process, they're paying for it.

So we've, at least my experience, and Mr. Hartman, if he's still in the room,

would be able to attest to these traffic impact analyses not taking for a significant amount of time beyond what they would normally take, which is several months.

Again, still no timeline.

They could come back in weeks, years, or never be heard from again.

When a traffic impact analysis is completed, they cannot, so let me back up, you cannot apply for a rezoning or special use permit until the TIA is accepted, I put that in quotes, accepted by public works.

It does not mean that we 100% like the numbers or like the results, it just means you followed standard best practices and you have met the criteria for performing a TIA.

A TIA does not tell you whether you should be permitted on site, whether it should be approved for rezoning.

All it is telling you is literally what it tells you.

It is the impact of the traffic generated from that use.

So once it's been accepted as in best practice, Public Works essentially gives them, yes, thank you, we agree with what was the end result based upon those practices and you may proceed with your rezoning.

then the reasoning application is submitted and then the timeline really officially begins and in the city when you compare us with other localities we do a pretty good job with efficiency about moving people through that process because we get sort of the critique of

Hey, you're moving too slow, or hey, you're moving too fast.

And it's all this buildup that we're methodically trying to think through all of the issues and hoping that we're covering all of our bases and trying to give them the best suggestions.

Because when that timeline begins, we have deadlines we have to meet.

So it's this when it begins with the official staff review.

And when that application is submitted and we have those materials, it's completely public information.

Even before they submit, if there are documents and information that are in my possession or in staff's possession, you can ask to see them.

It's a freedom of information and you can ask to see it at any time.

Any engineer comprehensive site plan or building permit that is in our department, you can come and see it and ask for questions to be answered.

There's also a website you can go to for our building permits and you can see what's active and what they're trying to do.

Alright, that's all before you even begin the rezoning process.

So everything below this line is then you're starting in the rezoning process itself.

So you're submitting your application and then we send it out for the quote-unquote official review.

Not only are we sending it back out to all the people that have already seen it either once, twice, or multiple times, but now we're including the City Attorney's Office, Economic Development, Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative, Verizon, Columbia Gas, Harrisonburg City Public Schools, and Rockingham County.

By law, we have to send certain types of applications to Rockingham County, but through, you know, sharing of information and make sure everybody understands what's going on in our different localities, every single month we send our applications to Rockingham County so they're aware of what's going on.

And they do the same with us.

We then are submitting our comments, all of the individuals throughout all the different departments,

are submitting comments to us.

We're sort of the hub.

I like to sort of think of us as a bike wheel.

Community development is in the center and we spoke out to all the different departments and sort of that forward motion of the bike is moving progress forward and moving development forward because they're feeding information to us so we can feed it to you in the community.

We're talking in these comments about site layout.

We're talking about design, water and sewer uses, storm water management, entrance concerns, site distance concerns, you name it.

We're trying to cover our bases

We're not perfect, but we try to do the best we can for the applicant and for the community because we know that even if we recommend denial or approval to this body, that you all will make the decision you think is best for the community, whether we recommend it for or against it, and it will be what it is, and then we have to implement and enforce it.

Then we start talking, if not here, because we have already done it at the earlier stage, we talk about suggested proffers.

From what I was noting earlier, proffers are voluntary.

But we do give suggestions for them to consider.

You might consider improvements to the public street.

You might consider providing sidewalk.

You might consider limiting certain types of uses, hours of operation.

I mean, details are kind of unlimited, but there are some parameters that we have to work through.

And if we sort of find ourselves in a situation, oh, I'm not sure you can proffer that detail, we talk with our city attorney and our team and say, hey, is this something we can accept?

And then we move forward or move forward.

And again, those proffers go with the property if they're approved.

At this time, usually, so we're already in that first month's review, the applicant may see a lot of issues.

They might see the writing on the wall and they could either just withdraw their application or they'll delay it.

They'll put a pause on it and then they'll say, hey, pause it, don't advertise our request yet, we're not ready, we need to go back to the drawing board and make some changes based upon your suggestions.

Sometimes they're ready.

Sometimes they'll turn it around in a week or two weeks, and they just keep moving forward.

Public notices are provided.

We are required by the Commonwealth of Virginia to provide certain types of notices.

We have to provide adjoining property owner notifications, which are any property that is touching the property and across the street.

We try to be liberal with that about where's that line hitting?

Is it this?

So we might bump it over to the next

property owner as well, but we have to draw the line somewhere.

So we meet the minimum requirements by the state.

Otherwise, we would just be arbitrarily picking, well, maybe that street should be notified and maybe that street should be notified, which is why we do encourage the applicant to do their own community engagement.

So we meet the minimum requirements of joining property owner notification.

And then we also advertise in a newspaper on our website.

And then we're also posting signs that you see with the QR codes so you can get more information or contact us to get more information.

We then write the staff report, which is the official position of staff.

Of course, there are pros and cons about almost any project.

We try to work through those pros and cons, again, trying to make it the best it can be, regardless of what our opinion might be, so that if it gets approved, that we can implement it appropriately for the community.

We question ourselves about, does it align with particular plans that we have?

I mentioned to Mike Parks earlier this week, he said,

described to me the easiest way how you go about trying to come up with a recommendation.

And I was like, how much time do you have?

I don't think I have that much time to write in an email.

But I basically just said that our comprehensive plan is a document that you could likely use to support or recommend against almost any project.

It's pie in the sky.

It is a vision document that we use to guide us based upon community feedback at the time of the comprehensive plan update, which we update on a routine cycle, so that

We don't slow down processes every single time somebody has an idea.

But then we also have this opportunity for public engagement when it matters to people.

So it's those questions we ask ourselves.

We also provide recommendations, as you know, for approval or denial.

Then the public hearings held a planning commission.

They make a motion, approve or deny.

They vote on it.

That motion gets moved on to you all, to the public hearing.

You have a vote when you decide to vote.

and then there's a required second reading which if people were paying attention tonight that consent agenda is that required second reading it's listed in the consent and then that's when it becomes official.

I do want to pause here and although I don't have any graphics associated with this is that between the public hearing between Planning Commission and City Council

When there is a change in proffers that was not in some way discussed at Planning Commission, that it likely has to go back to Planning Commission.

So if you change proffers that in some way changed what's happening with the project, you have to go back to the Planning Commission for review again.

That can be a joint hearing or it can be its own separate hearing again.

I would answer that by saying it kind of depends and it depends on the context of the proffer and what its impact is.

I believe over the years when people have further restricted themselves and then did the Planning Commission already support it without the further restriction, we may not have sent it back, right?

So we're not trying to slow down and like what is the reality of that impact, but if they want to

reduce numbers of units or change some type of dynamic, especially things we're going to be talking about tonight with the number of bedrooms in a particular unit, things like that.

Those are hard things that are changing, and then it may need further review by city council, or excuse me, by planning commission.

Anything you want to add?

Thank you.

Any other questions, and then I can move forward into this.

whether or not we think it's in line with the comp plan or not.

We are offering suggestions to allow that applicant the best foot forward because even if we don't like it, you may.

You may approve it and we want to make sure that it has the best opportunities for the community.

So we are not telling people up front, oh yeah, we'll support that application.

Believe me, we get challenged doing it almost every application.

Every applicant that comes in and wants to say, what do you think about this, Adam?

That's what the review's for.

And we do not tell people up front whether or not we're going to support something or recommend denial.

It is closer to the end of that official process where they're starting to see the writing on the wall, they're starting to see, eh, looks like staff might suggest approval of this.

And we get critiqued about that.

We get critiqued about their learning about our recommendation too late.

But out of respect for the process and the integrity of the process, that's how we operate.

In this particular case, and I'll allow the applicant or any of my colleagues in the room to correct me if I'm incorrect, as I thought through this I thought, oh goodness, when did we start talking about the project we're going to be talking about tonight?

So just kind of digging back through some old emails and some old notes, while this particular site reaches back to, there was discussion about entrances, it goes back to 2019, there was discussion about the funeral home lease was going to end and they were thinking about the future,

It appears that we sort of officially kind of started talking about the redevelopment in a project similar to this back in May of 2023.

So that's when we started that conversation with the applicant.

Okay.

Here we go.

So the rezoning for South Main Street, multiple addresses along South Main Street and South Liberty Street.

This request is a rezoning from R3 to B1C with submitted proffers, again,

Facility map on the left side of the screen showing it is downtown, that red box there in the indication.

Then I've outlined the 10 parcels that it is impacting.

So about 2.75 acres.

And it's currently zoned R3.

And even in this map, you can see that there have been some rezonings over the years with that hatching on particular properties, even across the street, the Joshua Wilton House, the bank property, the Elks Lodge, several other properties.

Also note on this screen, B1 property has, that's the red, no parking requirements, no setback requirements, heights up to 75 feet permitted by right.

That is similar to the B2 district, so anything that's orange also has, so in the B2 district, also has permissions to go to 75 feet in height by right, but there are parking requirements and setback regulations, which is actually true for all other zoning districts except the red.

When we look at the long term plans for this area of the city, everything in this image that is hatched in that white color is areas that we have planned for mixed use.

Over the years that we are comprehensive plan updates, we have expanded that as we've pushed for growing our downtown.

This particular property, along with property where the Harrisonburg Baptist Church sits and then property to the west of South Liberty Street has been planned up to the railroad tracks, I believe.

But at least the subject property and several other properties in this vicinity have been planned for mixed use since the 2011 update.

We've since had the 2018 update and we're upcoming on a new update.

And then the aerial photograph of the site, I believe we're all quite familiar with this area.

There's quite a bit of green space on the property today, but as you go back in time,

Almost every parcel in the blue area had a structure on it at one point in time.

I believe what I looked back on is that there really started to be a rapid demolition of properties around the 2007-2008 era when there were, from that time period I believe there were five structures that were eliminated from the site.

But you go back a little bit earlier and there were properties that were also, structures were demolished.

The site plan that was submitted by the applicant, just an aerial view, two-dimensionally looking at the massing of the building, extension of Paul Street proposed, and then the parking garage that's planned, and then a few photographs.

So this is taken from Paul Street, looking directly at it.

In fact, you can see some remnants of where sidewalks used to be leading to structures from Main Street still today.

Just going through a series of photographs, I know we know this quite well.

This image taken from the City Hall parking lot, so directly behind me looking south onto the site.

Now standing in Liberty Street, looking east.

So all those images showing where properties would be and the proposed building of the link.

And just a few photographs, different viewpoints.

and back to the layout.

The applicant has submitted proffers which in their proffer document, which is quite extensive, quite detailed, they break it out into these five sections, development standards, transportation improvements, parking, access improvements, amenities and implementation.

I will not go through every single detail.

I will hit details within certain proffers.

If there is a detail that I know you've read but you want to ask me about, please do.

I also want to take advantage of having

Some other colleagues in the room, I don't often have the opportunity to share with answering questions, Mr. Tom Hartman, our Public Works Director, Thanh Dang, our Deputy Director of Community Development, Liz Webb, our Housing Coordinator, and always with me is Mr. Tobia, the Fire Chief, who is always with me, and I always get to take advantage of his services when I need them.

So speaking about the development standards, we have a proffered maximum of 265 units,

A minimum of 25% would be one bedroom.

A maximum would be four bedroom.

There'd be a minimum of 2,000 square feet of commercial space.

There are also architectural controls for the layout and the design.

As I noted earlier, we often give suggestions about prohibiting drive-throughs and that no parking lots would be located between buildings in a public street, being that they've proffered certain details.

While not specifically stated, those proffers basically get implemented, so there would be

No drive-throughs, there would be no buildings, or excuse me, no parking lots between the building and the public street.

All things that we promote in our downtown area.

Walking through just some ranges of units and how the math kind of works out.

So if they're proffering 265 units and if they build 265 units, what are the range possibilities for the different types of bedrooms?

So one bedrooms could range from 67 to 265.

So if they were all one bedroom units,

Two to three bedrooms could be anywhere from providing none up to 198, different combinations of two and threes, and then four bedrooms would be either none or 106.

When you play out two different scenarios in these situations, if 265 units are provided, and if you played out the minimums and the maximums, you could end up with, could, emphasizing 67 units for one bedroom, 106 for four bedrooms, and then 92 two or three bedrooms.

Of course, those numbers could fluctuate downward if they provided less than 265.

And then again, just an example of the different types of unit counts based upon the minimums and the maximums that are proffered, you then end up with one example, 165 units, 42 units being one beds, 66 four beds, and then 57 being two or three beds.

We were drawing distinctions to just help Planning Commission, you all in the community, just sort of understand what is the scale of this building?

Are there existing examples?

I apologize if there was this picking on of urban exchange, but it was a real world scenario that we have thought that people could at least visualize.

So when we compared it with urban exchange, you're looking at just that comparison of 194 units on 2.63 acres of urban exchange at a density of 73 units an acre.

I also want to point out that B1 is our most dense zoning district in the city.

When we say R5 high density residential, that's in other areas of the city, that's only 24 units per acre.

And that sounds high, but oftentimes people aren't able to maximize their density due to all the requirements that come into play.

Stormwater management, parking requirements, and all those things, setback requirements.

So B1 is our most dense zoning district.

Comparing that to the link, 265 units on 2.7 acres, 96 units per acre.

The urban exchange property, of course, has much more commercial space at approximately 12,000.

This project, at this time, is proffering a minimum of 2,000 square feet, both of which, at the end of the day, would be at a height of approximately six stories and 75 feet.

Also, for comparison, Coffee Hound, if you're a customer of Coffee Hound or Benny Sorrentino's,

Those two properties take up about 1,600 and 1,400 square feet respectively, just to give you an idea of approximately what about 2,000 square feet looks like.

And then a reminder again that in the B-1 district, the maximum height is 75 feet.

That's by right.

I'll pause again to describe what by right and by special use permit means.

Every zoning district in the city has a list of uses that are permitted by right.

If the use you want on that property is not listed, then you would go to the next category.

I want to do X on this property.

Is it listed in the special use permit category?

If it is not listed, you cannot ask for a special use permit.

You have to ask for what is listed.

So there's not this end-all be-all to ask for a special use permit for anything you want on a property.

If it's not listed, you can't apply for it.

The only other option at that point would be to rezone it.

I bring this up because in the B-1 district you could apply for a special use permit to go taller than 75 feet.

There is no maximum, it's just that you apply for a special use permit and then it's evaluated on each application's face value.

The traffic impact analysis that was completed and accepted by the city.

I will not go into the details of all this.

I will rely on any questions you might have for my colleague Tom Hartman who might be able to answer it.

But I will note that there were all of the orange marks on the screen here just giving examples of all the different intersections that were studied.

looking at the levels of service and the three stars indicating where they recognized that there were already three intersections that were below or failing a level of service.

Those are different turning movements.

Again, I won't go into the details, but there are different turning movements at the intersections of East Grattan Street, MLK Jr.

Way, and Gray Street all along that South Main Street corridor.

So those are where those levels of service are already failing.

The traffic impact analysis, bear with me just one moment, also indicated that it showed that both controlled delay and queuing increases from this project, that there are queuing increases minimally at the intersection movements within the study area, but none of which were deemed to warrant mitigation to be borne by this development.

But then again, it was already determined that there were some intersections that were already failing.

and that's those three intersections.

It was recently also noted through a lot of discussion that came out in the past couple of days as questions just started coming at us about different things and then speaking with the applicant about potential changes they were thinking about making.

And it really came to our attention that upon further review, and I'm quoting here an email that we sent to the applicant, that we acknowledge that the minimum word in the proffers, referring to the minimum square feet of the commercial space wording is present in the proffers.

and that's the square footage that was modeled in the TIA.

Therefore, we saw it as our own sort of failure by saying, look, we really should have hoped for the word maximum because that means that you could provide more commercial in that space which would potentially increase those numbers.

It does not mean that the increase in numbers within mitigate more issue or necessitate more mitigation but that it would,

On the other side of the coin you look at it and say well you don't want to necessarily limit the commercial if you want to promote more commercial but we just we sort of were hard on ourselves and saying

Well, if the applicant would have considered maximum, putting a maximum limit on it, they could, still can.

But that would then mean it immediately tracks the model of the TIA.

I hope that makes sense.

The Liberty Street project was taken into consideration and was used in the model.

If you're aware of the Liberty Street project, it is a project that we received funding for that Mr. Hartman and his team are facilitating and are excited to

bring to fruition for the city where construction is anticipated between 2027 and 2028.

The changes being that Liberty Street, so kind of difficult to see in the image below, but Liberty Street from Knoll at the north at Cratzer Avenue intersection along South Main Street all the way down to the intersection by the World War I Memorial statue would be a

improvement shown in the first image on the top right side of the screen where you have two lanes limited down to one lane where then you have two lane traffic for bicycles only and other improvements in this corridor.

So this was taken into consideration during the traffic impact analysis modeling.

Moving on to proffers associated with the Paul Street extension.

So they have proposed to extend Paul Streets

which would include potential design variances in the subdivision ordinance so when they go if this is approved when they go to plat the street so they're dedicating that street to the city they would build it on their dollar and then they dedicate it to the city which is typical processes

There are certain widths that they will likely request deviation for.

And this is a deviation that we've been supporting recently for other projects where we want to narrow the width of the street to help promote slower traffic.

And this is one that they will be looking at here.

There's also some design variances that are likely needed to allow alternative street designs for the curb radii, as well as the locations of entrances off of Paul Street.

And really what we're talking about here is those entrances into the Harrisonburg Baptist Church parking lot.

being close in that space, but we're also eliminating them along South Main Street and then South Liberty Street.

It would be extending Paul Street sidewalk on both sides, making sidewalk improvements on Liberty, sidewalk improvements on Main, and then also planning for sidewalk connections to the north, to the potential future park, and then to the City Hall complex.

Profits for parking include a minimum of 400 structured parking spaces within a parking agreement still to be finally executed if approved,

through allowing a reservation of up to 65 parking spaces for municipal public uses, so public hall, excuse me, city hall and public uses after city hall hours, which also helps alleviate some of the concerns with regard to off-street parking.

Profits relate to the downtown park, so this property does not

encroach onto the park, right?

So this property is private property that's in a contract purchasing agreement for the proposed developer, but they are providing details to work with the community to provide access and vehicular turnarounds into the park space.

So just kind of focusing in on this area, there's a commitment to coordinate going through the access, which is actually going under the building,

and then into the space that would have back of stage access, providing appropriate easements and allowing people to be able to get like vans and trailers and things that begin to get into that space.

There's also details about sustainability features.

There would be rough-in measures for future installation of solar panels, EV charging stations, and then minimum numbers of secure indoor bicycle parking spaces and outdoor parking spaces for bicycles.

We also receive feedback from Harrisonburg City Public Schools and we also utilize the Weldon Cooper Center's student generation rates.

It's a generation rate that was recently provided to us through the study that we worked with them on when the city contracted to get population estimates provided directly to us from the Weldon Cooper Center.

When we use that calculation rate and you type in the number of units for this particular project, you end up with

A potential of 88 students being generated for K through 12.

The applicant then before going to the planning commission meeting requested, well, what is the actual real world generation for urban exchange?

We communicated with the Harrisburg City Public Schools and they informed us that there were only three students, which happened to be elementary students, that reside in urban exchange.

which is the parallel that they were looking to at least look at as a comparison.

All right, coming to a close here.

So when we look at the 2018 comprehensive plan update, I really just want us to look at the bigger picture of the downtown and where we're also looking at different extensions of where we promote mixed use.

So the yellow star is Court Square.

And you can see there's quite a bit of space that we're looking to promote, either continued B1 or more of a B1-esque type operation.

So more mixed use, more opportunity for both residential and non-residential in the same space, potential for no setbacks, potential for no parking requirements.

But anytime there's a rezoning, we're also, we sort of are in this tug and pull situation where we want to encourage people to provide parking, but at the same time we don't want to provide as much parking.

because we don't want parking lots in our downtown.

We like structured, we like underground, but we also want to utilize the space we have for buildings and uses and people rather than just parking lots and spaces like that.

So we are asking those questions in those proposals.

So when you look at this, you can see we're looking to extend some mixed use along these major corridors out East Market Street as it heads toward Interstate 81.

What you don't see in this image is that we push it further south.

Every parcel in this image that is purple is a publicly owned parcel.

So what you're seeing is city-owned parcels, county-owned parcels, federally owned parcels, and of course, JMU, which is a state agency.

So you're capturing all that.

What you're not seeing is the continuation of where we want to continue some mixed use in that corridor along South Main Street.

Our subject parcel, the green star, just where it fits in here.

And as I noted earlier, we're oftentimes associating and planning for these types of uses in this space.

Of course, we had a Harrisonburg downtown 2040 plan, I believe was presented to this body in December of 2021.

It touched on a lot of different matters.

And in this particular case, what I'm showing here on the screen is an image that it was focusing on potential redevelopment in key spaces in the downtown.

The north downtown area, what you're picking up there, not all of the parcels, but some of the parcels, that's where we had some great redevelopment opportunities where Magpie was renovated in existing structure, where the town homes were constructed, where the site is now located.

All of those parcels were zoned M1.

They were general industrial, and they went through a rezoning process, like I discussed this evening, to rezone to B1C to be able to be what they are today.

There's even been some rezoning sort of outside of that yellow box.

The downtown 2040 plan was also anticipating some areas along Federal Street in this area.

And then you're picking up, that's the parking deck, the Water Street parking deck, excuse me, Elizabeth Street parking deck.

And then focusing on the south downtown area, which is where you also have the subject site.

So again, the yellow is Court Square and the green being the subject site that

We were looking at and anticipating something to happen in this space.

The downtown 2040 plan also talks about growing downtown as a neighborhood, even gave some very conceptual renderings about sort of the massing of buildings and just different ideas.

What you'll notice in this space is that, you know, it was even showing parking in an area that we're now essentially anticipating the park rather than the park being on the north side of the Farmers Market Pavilion.

and so this is just conceptual renderings.

And then there's also indications about recommendations specifically 16 and 17 out of that plan for encouraging the mixed use and residential development and key clusters in our downtown space as well as to look for long-term opportunities to add density and improve urban design for all those spaces, bringing buildings closer to the public street and massing buildings closer to the public street.

Oh goodness.

So that also is one of those long-winded answers, but urban design can mean a lot of different things.

It's always context-sensitive about where it is, the type of community you want to be, looking at the different types of

uses that you want in those spaces, but as a planner, as a public administrator, when I hear urban design, I think about density.

I think about taller buildings.

I think about pushing the building close to the public street.

I think about wider sidewalks.

I think about relying on public transportation, walking, biking, all of these things.

That's what it means to me, and of course it can mean a lot of different things to people, but when I hear what is urban design, that's what it's about.

It's about relying on public infrastructure, excuse me, public transportation.

I think it might be urban development area

One of their urban development areas is east of the city.

So you're looking at like where the Walmart is, Port Public Road, extension of Reservoir Street, where you see a lot of taller apartment buildings, more commercial space, more mixed use, you know, it's all out in that space.

So that's their urban development area.

The city has designated its entire city as an urban development area because we already meet all of the minimum standards.

So when it was originally designed, and I want to say,

I want to say probably back in 2012 when the state required us to do UDAs, we had to identify them.

We contracted with herd planning out of Northern Virginia to come down and help us designate specific UDAs and we did that.

If you look back at our 2011 comprehensive plan, we did an update and there were three different sections in the city that we said here's our urban development area, here's where we can accommodate the growth in the city.

What we learned is that in some ways that was not really the best approach because we are a city we already met a lot of those minimum design criteria for being just an urban space and you get funding for transportation improvements or you can score better in transportation projects when you have that particular space being in UDA and by designating the entire city it's a win-win for the community because we're saying we can contribute

Thank you.

Another term I've heard not from you but a lot in planning commission from Tan and others who are presenting the applications is traditional neighborhood design.

And as I understand it, that incorporates some of the things you're already talking about like massing close to the street, wide sidewalks, more walkable downtown.

Yes, excellent question.

I wanted to refer to my notes.

This was also something I pointed out too.

So traditional neighborhood design, people hear that terminology, T and D oftentimes.

Traditional neighborhood design is a term in our comprehensive plan that talks about

utilizing some of the urban design principles.

It's about not relying on parking spaces all the time, creating opportunities for a mixture of uses, internal cross traffic so people can maneuver across parcels rather than always having to come out on the public street to go from parcel A to parcel B. There's a number of them.

I'm failing to come to all the lists, but they're all in the comprehensive plan.

And what we promote in the comprehensive plan is that we promote those principles everywhere in the city.

We want those designs.

We want sidewalks.

We want all these things.

Another pause here for a minute is like you might go across the city and say, well, why?

Why are there not sidewalks on my street?

That's because when those projects were built, the private developer who built that neighborhood

They built the public street to the minimum standard.

So say, for example, Sunset Heights where there are almost no sidewalks.

They built to the minimum standard in the 50s, 60s, and 70s when the city's design criteria did not require sidewalks.

So, of course, as we've evolved over time, we now require new public streets to have sidewalks on both sides of the street.

Now, granted, that's a great thing and people want that, but it does increase cost, right?

Because you're increasing the cost on the developer to provide them who is then handing that cost off to the folks who are then buying those parcels.

Almost done, ma'am.

There was another slide I was asked to provide, and I'm going to put some sort of data points out here that we as staff have been collecting over the years, and then because of the questions, so then we did some updates.

So I have a few graphs here, one slide.

So,

SCHEV is the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia.

It is the Commonwealth's coordinating agency for higher education.

They make recommendations for higher education, public policy, recommendations to the governor and general assembly for capital and operating budget planning, enrollment projections, which is the point I'm talking about them this evening because they provide enrollment projections for universities across the Commonwealth.

They provide recommendations for institutional technology needs and student financial aid.

SHEV tells us these are the projections for James Madison University.

I was asked to provide what do we know about population projections and what do we know about bedroom counts across the city.

So the graph before you shows a range of the projections starting in 2022 to 2029.

Of course it looks like it's significantly dropping and then going back up but we're only talking about a range of difference here about 160 some odd students.

When you look at the 2024 actual fall headcount, the fall headcount was 22,879 students.

When we look at our total bedrooms of on-campus and off-campus housing, I will pause here and tell you this is not perfect.

What we have done is in 2016, we began in an internal data collection study of trying to figure out all of the, I'll call them complexes, student housing complexes or developments across the city,

and determining how many one beds, two beds, three beds, four beds, even five beds in some of our nonconforming developments across the city.

How many of them are there and how many bedrooms are in all of these units?

Of course, they've changed over the years and we updated this for this specific discussion.

And the numbers that you see in this pie chart show that 9% are in the county and mainly that's the altitude,

I think it's called, it used to be called the resort or the reserve I think and now it's called something different.

I have this data here in front of me, but it's mainly just like four developments.

Then on campus they're providing about 31% of units, excuse me, of bedrooms.

Of course

We just recently heard that the president at JMU is hoping for a long-term plan to provide more on-campus student housing, which we do believe is a positive thing.

But it doesn't mean that we don't have student housing in areas where we want students to be.

So when we evaluate especially the subject site, you could look at these numbers and say, well, maybe we actually don't need

More student housing.

And it's not that every single unit in that building will be students because it will be open to anyone who wants to reside in that space.

Of course, four bedrooms, four bathrooms does speak to students.

But it doesn't mean that they won't rent to other folks.

But being a quarter of a mile from the university campus is something that is a best planning practice.

It's something that we recognize.

And so we recognize that and took that into consideration knowing that there's opportunity that you are relocating students.

We hear concerns all the time about traffic on Reservoir Street, traffic on Port Republic Road.

Why aren't the students taking more public transportation?

And we do the best we can to encourage public transportation.

There's even theories out there of you make it worse in situations to force people to have to actually choose to take public transportation.

I've heard those conversations.

But in this particular case, we recognize that this would be a space that we would encourage it if students want to reside here.

These bedroom counts do not take into consideration all of the bedrooms all across the city that exist in single family homes.

If the townhomes were known to house a majority of students, we included them.

And our last graphic is just a comparison between

Student enrollment compared to on and off campus bedrooms so it's the pie chart and then adding it below taking the the enrollment and that so it looks close but it's also not taking into account that even in student housing complexes there are students that there are people that live there that are not students and there are students living in areas that are not in student housing complexes

We offered a favorable recommendation based upon our plans and everything that we took into consideration to Planning Commission.

At the meeting, they recommended unanimously approval of the project.

But I do want to point out, although it is probably one of the first times that I've had in my career, which has been over 21 years of the city,

that after this vote happened, there was communication with Ms.

Dang and myself from one planning commissioner in particular, which we've included in your packet, that noted that they regretted voting the way they did.

They regretted voting the way they voted.

So I don't recall that ever happening in my time at the city.

But it's just a fact of what happened.

Sorry if I went long.

I'll try to answer any questions.

Ms.

Dang, Mr. Hartman, and Chief Tovey are available to answer questions.

And Ms.

So, let's go ahead and... Should we ask questions first?

Yeah, of Adam.

Well, so, I think we have a pretty good idea of four-bedroom units or student housing generally.

For the other units, particularly two and three bedrooms, do we have a way of reliably guesstimating what might be kind of full-time resident use?

Okay, sorry about that.

Of getting some reliable estimate of

How many of those would be full-time residents versus students who might go in there?

I think that's one of the issues we're trying to think about is it's open to anyone to move in there.

How likely is it that we will get full-time residents in those?

Off the top of my head, I do not know the answer to that.

It's a complex question to answer.

Many of my colleagues could answer even if the applicant has something to respond to when they have their opportunity.

Well, we know that this type of development attracts students, right?

I mean, that's even when you look at the figures that you had for

The city schools, the school do it.

It was low, right?

Urban exchange is low because there's no families living in there.

It's students.

This is low.

You know, 88 students from K through 12.

It's because it's going to attract students.

Just to be clear, I have some data here.

One other question came up is you know we haven't had a downtown a large downtown building really since Urban Exchange I guess did you guys have any discussions about a construction management plan for this

It's relatively early to get into those conversations.

I also would question, you know, what is what is large, right?

So, of course, Ice House 2, you know, four stories of space there but built in a space that was already in a, you know, they demolished space and built new and removed so the old ice portion of it.

Anybody else?

I just had one, just one comment.

When I was going over the minutes, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I thought my big mouth could be heard.

When looking over the notes from Planning Commission, I looked at the housing study information that was on page six.

And I just thought about the one statement that says we need in the city of Harrisonburg to increase rental housing inventory for the lowest and the highest income spectrum of folks that are living here in Harrisonburg.

But when I look at what is presented to be the place, it seems to me like it's not going to be inclusive because of the cost of the rent.

I'm like Mayor Reed.

I know this is going to be for college students.

I know the rooms will probably go like wildfire.

My concern is with the structure that is this large, when it's not the number one place to live anymore for JMU students, are we going to see a decline in the property like we've seen

and several other areas of Harrisonburg.

And it would be right at the entrance to the gateway to downtown.

And so I think about, yeah, it's all shiny and pretty now, but in how it aesthetically doesn't match the surrounding, but I'm more worried about what happens once it's not the place to be anymore.

And you can't do anything with it.

And you have this huge complex then that then will be available

for rent probably for folks who have vouchers because they have to have families to fill up a four bedroom with four, we don't have to, four bedrooms with four bathrooms.

That's who this would be enticing to later years into the future.

So my concern isn't just six stories.

So I'm pretty sure Adam's going to say he can't answer that question because he has no idea.

But I can say I can answer it and I will answer it because that's our job as council members, as leaders of the community.

We have to think 20, 30 years down the road.

And so that's why I always push back and say we know we need housing in Harrisonburg.

We know that.

But we have to be strategic thinkers.

We have to be strategic leaders.

We can't just sign off on everything that comes our way because it's our job as leaders to think about what is this going to be 20 or 30 years down the road.

So you're exactly right.

What is it going to be?

And this is a lot.

This is a lot of stuff.

I spent most of it, I called it

the links day for me because the phone was ringing constantly I was trying to catch up on emails and it's the link the link the link the link and there was so much information to try to okay let me look at this and then compare this to the downtown plan and we know that this has been in the works for a while but I think that a lot of folks just now are getting the opportunity to actually see

I want to hear from Ms.

So let's talk about housing.

What is the impact?

Do you think that Link can benefit small businesses for their employees, that they can find a good housing for them?

I mean, if you have any answer.

Mr. Hartman, what will be the impact on traffic?

Do you think that there will be any impact?

As my colleagues are coming up, I wanted

I wanted to return back to Mr. Fleming's question about the construction details and I said it's too early and once never too early and we would entertain those comments and talk with them about it it's rare that people want to talk about that stuff from their side because they don't even know if they're going to get it approved so we would welcome it and we would entertain those questions but we just we typically don't.

As Adam mentioned, the developer performed a TIA that was reviewed by Public Works.

TIA's look at peak hour trips.

We don't look at ADT.

We look at the AM and PM peak hour trips.

Based on the projections of trips generated by the site, when we laid that into the existing network, we saw minimal impact to the street network.

The TIA looks at a no-build condition.

We look at that currently, and then we look at that when they

at the predicted year of their occupancy, which they said would be 2027.

So we look at the no-build 2027 street conditions.

We lay in their development on top of those no-build conditions.

And that's called the build condition.

And then we analyze the same intersections to see if the level of service declines, if queues increase, if delay increases.

And we didn't see any areas where there was any kind of

has the potential to mitigate some of those failing levels of service, such as the very tight turnaround at Groton Street and others further down.

Correct.

So right now that was one of the noted failing movements.

The intersection wasn't failing, just the left turn movement off of Groton when you cross Main Street to go into the little alley at the World War I statue and then turn left.

That's a failing movement.

So with the extension of Paul Street between Main and Liberty,

that would allow us with our RAISE grant project, which Adam explained was the Liberty Street, we could close that crossover and divert those trips to make a right on to Main, then make a left on to Paul, down to Liberty, and then make the left around, which then would alleviate and make that a much safer movement and get rid of that little no man's land area between the statue and the church.

Does it affect some of the, there were three, does it affect the other two potentially?

The other two were MLK and Grace, and if you've traveled Main Street when Jamie's in session,

MLK and Grace.

So those are issues and concerns that we're currently work with every day with signal timings, other various projects that we can do with those are congested intersections and very tight density in our urban area.

So there's only so much pavement where we can put so many cars at one time.

This development didn't contribute.

They would give us the availability to mitigate that correctly.

They're not proposing to close the crossover at the statue.

So just real quick, the Grayson MLK intersections were already triggered so they're not getting an ERF.

So I would I mean I would say since this is a rental project we look at vacancy rates

For home ownership, we look at how long it takes houses to sell and how long the listings are up.

And we know that both are tight.

In the rental market, vacancy rates considered healthy when it's around 5%.

And Harrisonburg has consistently been lower than that, like 2%, 3%.

So you can assume that adding units to the market would help soften that.

It will help soften it, yes.

But it's also, our other problem here in Harrisonburg is affordability.

And these are market rates, so yeah.

And can you explain that?

Because some people might not understand what that means.

What does market rate mean?

There's a population of folks who are making a substantial amount of money that can rent with that mixed housing thing going on.

They can rent a space bigger than what they actually need.

So when I look at properties like this and when I think about workforce housing, I cannot imagine that population of people that we've been consistently talking about over the last couple of years living in the link.

and so I just it's hard for me to say oh if there's four bedroom apartments but oh yes there's one bedrooms too we didn't forget about you know these young professionals who need a place to stay I just want to know and I don't know this may be opinion and you can say I don't want to answer this will this

I think it's important.

Affordability is a very specific category of housing.

It has requirements about what your income is based on a median income in the area.

And that determines the subsidy you might get and if units are affordable at that level.

And the way that the affordable housing typically is built, it goes through a very different process in terms of figuring out

So at least theoretically someone with a voucher could live here.

Now there are rent restrictions and so on.

I would say generally the subsidy programs use like there's restrictions from the funding sources like from HUD that set caps on what a voucher can cover.

So those are the fair market rents, and those come from housing and urban development every year.

And so generally, they're meant to hit a mid-level rent, so not the newest, the rents that are right in the middle of the market.

federally funded taxpayer-assisted rentals are only going to cover units in that mid-level of the market.

So I would imagine $1,900 a month for a one-bedroom is above what the fair market rents would cover.

Ms.

Webb, they would then be responsible to pay the amount above the cap.

No, I mean, because those programs have, it wouldn't be affordable.

So the whole point of the subsidy is affordability.

Thanks.

All right, thank you.

OK.

So before we go to the public hearing part of this I just wanted to share a little bit about my approach for the link and then what I'll be proposing for City Council after the public hearing part of this and

Like my fellow council members, I've heard views very strongly on both sides of this.

And I also hear a very common request is to make a well-informed decision that reflects our community's values and goals and use the best available facts.

So I think to help us do that, I'll be asking council to defer a vote

on the link.

I think I'll initially propose maybe a September 23rd, which would be kind of a six-week period.

And then I use the time between now and that period to have staff facilitate a focused, facilitated process to gather input, to get information, additional review that would involve the developer and community residents who want to be involved in that.

and to be a very targeted process for us to do.

And why a deferral?

Well first, this proposal has been officially public in front of us for just about a month.

And that's really too short for a full public airing of it for a project of this importance and scale.

Second, if there are proffers, and we have had some proffers come through

you know recently that staff, residents, council do need time to read and respond to those.

So we offer that.

You know we don't have an architectural review committee in Harrisonburg.

We don't have a structure for this as some cities do.

But you know we can have a process where we have some increased dialogue and we can look at this in the future for our city.

This is something new for us to think about that.

So for tonight,

A couple quick notes.

The mayor and this council, we've been consistently supporting robust public comment.

So I hope that everyone who came here tonight will take the opportunity to make your public comments still.

Because your public comments then, your comments tonight become part of the official record.

And that'll help drive our process, that'll inform the process we have moving forward.

It'll help shape how we address things, what we need to address moving forward.

and potentially any refinements from the applicant.

Second, if we have a date, and I'm suggesting, I'll suggest September 23rd, that's not an open date.

That's time bound for us to move towards, and a process that kind of respects people's time, and hopefully we can get the decision on track.

So after the public hearing portion of this, I'll intend to make a motion to defer us, but we'll continue the public hearing.

That'll be part of the process.

before three o'clock in the morning.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

As we previously identified, we will invite public comment inside of this space first, followed by the overflow seating area, and then of course anybody who is listening online or watching on television can call

We will move from the front of the room to the back of the room.

I know that there are very specific rules regarding time limits.

Mayor Reed will guide you in that and be respectful of that.

For those who are in the lobby area of City Hall, we're in communication with the representative from city government there.

For your comfort, I would encourage you to simply wait in that space until everyone in this room has had the opportunity to speak and then

We know that I'm gonna start with the applicant.

We're gonna do this in a timely manner, so I know you got slides of presentation.

I'm gonna ask you to keep it 15 minutes.

Now, when it's time for others to come speak, you will have five minutes, state your name and address.

I want to tell you, this is not the first time we've been through this.

I want everyone that wants to speak to speak and be heard.

But if you see that there's a pattern of you didn't heard this before, maybe you don't say the exact same thing because we didn't already heard it, okay?

But we're going to get through this and we're going to get through this with grace.

Excellent presentation by staff this evening.

Good evening, Madam Mayor, members of council, and city officials.

My name is Todd Ray.

I'm a local land use attorney with the firm of Clark and Bradshaw at 92 North Liberty Street in Harrisonburg.

With me this evening are John Hoover with Timberwolf Capital Partners, developer of the Link Project, and Seth Roderick, our traffic and design engineer with Monteverde Engineering.

For efficiency, I will be making the applicant presentation this evening with John and Seth both available to field questions relating to their areas of expertise.

Council has just heard a detailed presentation of the link application from city staff.

Staff and city departments reviewed the project and the report as presented is indicative of the thorough vetting this project proposal has received.

We are happy to have staff recommendation for approval of the rezoning application in accord with city planning documents.

I will now go back over the individual proffers as staff has covered those items in detail.

The application also comes before council with Planning Commission recommendation for approval and we're proud to present the project this evening with those two important land use recommendations in place.

From a technical land use perspective,

The requested rezoning from R3 to B1C is in accord with the current comprehensive plan and the goals and objectives found in the 2040 downtown plan.

The rezoning represents a logical extension of the downtown B1 central business district to encompass the Lindsay parcels contiguous to the southern end of the existing B1 district.

The request requires neither a comprehensive plan map amendment nor any special use permit requests.

I've worked with the Lindsay family for several decades in planning the redevelopment of this site.

I'll now share a summary of that history.

The Lindsay family sold its funeral business in 1993 to SCI, a large funeral home operator out of Texas.

They leased the funeral home for a period of 30 years and allowed SCI to utilize the Lindsay family name.

The lease expired in 2023.

and the family listed the property for sale.

At that time, the SCI lease was extended on a short-term basis.

SCI acknowledged the property was being marketed for redevelopment, released all rights of purchase, and provided that the lease could be terminated by either party with short-term notice.

Just as Kiger Troba, relocated when that funeral home sold for the construction of the Forbes Performing Arts Center, SCI has had plenty of time to make relocation plans for the business.

In early 2024, Timberwolf, led by Mr. Hoover, whose wife is a JMU graduate, contracted the site for Timberwolf's next development.

The first step in planning the link project was a study of the 2040 downtown plan.

The award-winning plan, adopted in December of 2021, after months of public input and committee work, established the vision and planning framework for downtown Harrisonburg.

Let's review a few key slides of that plan.

Adam touched on some of them.

The overarching goal of downtown is the pressing need to increase population within walkable distance of the city center.

Simply stated, downtown needs more residents and more residential density is needed to support downtown businesses.

The plan also recognized that the city's running out of old buildings to remodel and focused on areas where new and dense construction should be directed.

South downtown containing the Lindsay property is highlighted in the 2040 plan as one of those targeted areas ripe for reinvestment to accommodate the goal of quote, encouraging mixed use and residential developments in key clusters of underutilized space.

The term refers to it as dead zones, no pun intended with the funeral part.

Zooming in closer to south downtown, the plan calls for integrating new housing,

Close to City Hall to activate the area south of Turner Pavilion and the need for new parking to serve south downtown.

The plan slide specifically shows B-1 scale residential buildings on the Lindsay site.

Throughout the plan, the white buildings were not touched.

Those are all existing buildings, so only buildings were put in places where there were current vacant spots.

The Lindsay

The property was further highlighted by the City Economic Development Team as a targeted site for redevelopment in a 2024 Economic Development Awards presentation.

This is a slide from that presentation.

It's on the City website.

The City targeted and promoted the Lindsay site for redevelopment.

Leaving it as R3 does not permit the types of uses and redevelopment that the 2040 plan describes.

It was clear from the 2040 plan what the City wanted for South Downtown.

our team set out to provide it.

The link project represents the first large new build project in downtown in over a decade since urban exchange and the build out of the Ice House and represents the largest economic investment ever made in downtown.

Equivalent in assessed value when constructed to the Hotel Madison Conference Center and Parking Garage Complex at around 60 million dollars.

I will now look at existing land use

Local land use patterns as they relate to city infrastructure.

The last large multifamily new build property in the city center was Urban Exchange that opened 16 years ago.

Since that time, the county has adopted the Stone Spring urban development area east of town.

Eight large for rent multifamily or town home developments have opened in Rockingham County adjacent to or very near to the city limits.

multiple other projects are in the county and pipeline to be built.

This represents hundreds of millions of dollars in residential investment and millions of dollars in recurring annual tax revenue.

All from property types, both student and non-student, that for the most part generate minimal impacts to the public schools, both the city and county's largest budget expense item.

The city bears significant traffic impacts from this development pattern where projects are pushed to the city periphery and out into the county.

Fortunately, the city has a competitive advantage to reverse this trend.

That competitive advantage is your B1 zoning district.

The B1 zoning district contains 97 acres or just about 1% of city land.

As this slide from a public 2023 geo accounting presentation made to planning commission illustrates, B1 contains the most productive and valuable land in the city on an assessed per acre value basis.

At over $20 million an acre, the link project would unlock this value and create the most valuable land in the city.

The Lindsay property developed for the link would add the highest peaks on this geo accounting graph.

As described by staff, the link has been designed to fit under existing B-1 regulations, including building height.

The site has natural separation and buffering on the east and west from Main and Liberty Streets, on the north from the existing City Hall parking lot, and to the south from the Baptist Church parking lot and the new public street extension.

The applicant team did not simply show up and attempt to force an exterior design on the city.

Timberwolf meaningfully discussed

design ideas with city staff, and had QPK, the project architect, prepare numerous design examples.

Timberwith further participated in a design feedback process with HDR, as it recognized the leading role HDR played in the 2040 plan.

During this process, the link team received feedback and exchanged different design ideas and elements.

From these discussions, it became evident

that exterior appearance is highly subjective, and it was hard to reach overall consensus.

And HDR did not endorse a specific exterior design, but valuable feedback was provided and incorporated by the applicant.

I want to thank HDR for being a resource, as they are a unique asset with a singular commitment to downtown.

At no point did HDR take sides, but simply provided requested engagement and feedback

as a responsible city stakeholder.

Timberwolf has shown a willingness to engage and modify its design based on stakeholder feedback and continues to be willing to do so, so long as there's a recognition that the link will remain an urban B1 scale project.

I'll now cover five key project benefits that receive specific consideration as part of the current application.

First, transportation improvements,

The link solves an east-west transportation circulation issue by installing a new public two-way street between South Main and South Liberty.

The new street would allow the city to repurpose not only the substandard rat-and-turn around at the statue, but the half-built, half-parking lot Warren Street extension that directs people through the city parking lot over to Campbell.

It also improves entrances and circulation for the neighboring Baptist Church parking lot,

We engaged with the Baptist Church over the last year and discussed those design patterns and ideas.

The property construction timeline aligns with the completion of the Liberty Street cycle track and integrates with it through ample secure bike storage and direct connection to the cycle lane.

There are existing transit stops across the street on both South Main and South Liberty Streets in close proximity to the site already served by HDPT lines.

Parking solutions.

The Link is designed to meet its resident parking needs within an on-site parking garage, despite there being no B1 parking requirements.

The applicant has heard consistently from city officials the need for more south downtown parking.

The developer plans to charge separately for parking as an economic incentive to encourage residents to consider walk, bike, or transit options, or car light options.

Timber Wolf has proffered below market rate parking,

for up to 65 spaces at ground or entrance level for city municipal use with the further opportunity that the city parking can be used for night and weekend event parking.

The plan structured parking garage will be built over what is today largely surface parking lots.

We're not taking up more land to create parking, but we are utilizing that space in a much more efficient way by giving the city

a downtown garage that's all through your capital improvement plan diagrams and the 2040 plan.

The structured parking facility will also offer EV charging stations for resident and city use and in discussions with staff, those ratios are in line with EV charging station standards for city built projects.

Civic space synergy.

The link has been purposefully integrated with the build our park design as a complimentary use.

connecting a vibrant public commons to an urban residential backdrop.

The project provides multiple points of pedestrian connection to the park, as well as the back of house unloading stage access described by staff.

Additionally, the developer has committed to collaborating on murals, green wall installations, creative lighting, and other art installations on the parking structure

to create supportive visual integration with both the adjacent concert space and city hall.

The applicant first met with park leadership over a year ago in May of 2024 and has been and remain engaged with the park project to ensure coordination.

Community cohesion.

The project ties JMU to downtown as a visual waypoint, filling in a current economic and activity dead zone.

identified in present and south downtown.

For those who watched the Planning Commission hearing, this is precisely the point made by Chairman Ball when expressing support for the project.

The redevelopment would bring a large cohort of residents as potential retail workers and retail customers within easy walking distance of downtown business establishments without the need for them to drive down here and find a place to park, to work, or shop.

The property will contain a student population component.

We've always been clear about that part.

It's not been hidden.

Some other projects in the past have been accused of not being upfront with that, but we have been honest with that aspect of the project.

The key thing is that that student population at the link is easily walkable and bikeable and transit convenient to the JMU campus.

This will reverse the trend in recent decades of locating housing

on the Port Road and Reservoir Street corridor and out into Rockingham County where walking and biking to campus over two to three miles of congested roadways is neither safe nor realistic.

Fifth, fiscal benefits.

Finally, the project will be highly fiscally accretive to the city with anticipated resident demographics that will generate few public school students.

You all heard the graphic.

The population living in the link will be similar to what lives in Urban Exchange.

Urban Exchange generates three students across 195 apartments.

A rezoning of the Lindsay site for the B-1 project would yield in excess of $20 million per acre in assessed value with very little offsetting public expense.

It's being built where infrastructure is already in place.

Providing net tax revenue sufficient to cover the annual budget of a modestly sized city department.

and to fund important city priorities at the budget margin where most of the new initiatives, elective capital project spending and bonus employee raises are often discussed at the end of the budget process.

Most of the city budget rolls over from year to year.

We're talking about that last margin of change where the link can be particularly impactful for the city in pursuing its other priorities and initiatives.

The city's currently in a strong financial position, but with property valuations starting to flatten out, we're not going to get reassessments as rapid as we have experienced, property taxes at fairly extended levels, and federal funding sources in a state of uncertainty, a focus on fiscally impactful new projects will grow in importance for the city budget in coming years.

Council will hear much public comment this evening about whether the Lindsay property should be B1

like the rest of downtown or remain R3.

This slide summarizes that comparison and the two paths forward for the Lindsay site and south downtown.

B1 is your competitive advantage.

B1 is your killer app.

R3 allows nothing by right beyond townhomes with no mixed use component, no public parking, and no investment in improved streets and sidewalks.

I think we can be in agreement on the accuracy of these facts.

What you can put in R3 at its highest and best use are townhomes.

We've done the analysis anywhere from 25 to 32 four bedroom townhouses.

That's all you can do with R3.

R3 is not your old R3.

It was restricted about 15 years ago.

It's not what the city wants to see.

That's not the appropriate zoning for the property.

And that's why we have land use recommendations to approve this rezoning to maximize the city's resources with its B1 zoning district.

Thank you all for your time and attention to my presentation.

The applicant team is happy to answer questions and respond to comments.

And we welcome everyone both in favor and opposed to the project to express those views as respectfully as possible

this evening in the Friendly City spirit.

Harrisonburg, the link represents change, just like Urban Exchange represented change.

Harrisonburg needs dense walkable housing in its city center.

It's an urban property in an urban setting, strategically located to provide what the 2040 plan calls for in that location.

Of course, the Lindsay family and Timber Wolf

are requesting City Council to follow staff and Planning Commission recommendations to approve the rezoning before you this evening.

However, in light of the comments made by Councilman Fleming, or Vice Mayor Fleming, excuse me, and the admitted importance of the project to the city, Timber Wolf would be happy to participate actively and enthusiastically in a timely city facilitated further engagement process.

If anyone wishes to speak, please state your name and address.

I don't have a comment.

I just have a suggestion that with Danny's proposal to put it off approximately a month, the city has somebody that can do AI, artificial intelligence, and I think a lot of the issues revolve around the size of the structure.

So someone could do an AI video of what a visitor to the city would see coming north on South Main into the gateway of our friendly city.

My name is Isaac and I live on Rockingham Drive.

I wasn't sure if I would make it tonight so you will see my comments in the public record also, but I thought it important to read them.

We just had the hottest summer on record.

The summer before that was also the hottest summer.

This trend is going to continue.

I know everyone is concerned about climate change, but we all don't yet understand how drastic we're going to have to adjust to meet this new reality.

Part of the transition will be moving to much more efficient city layouts.

Cities that provide walkability and bikeability, cities that are dense, apartment buildings that can hold a lot of people and reduce energy costs.

Mixed use that this project has is also very important.

When I bought my house in 2017 after living in the city for seven years,

I wanted to buy a place that was near downtown because I wanted to be able to walk to Clines or Court Square Theater.

Living downtown is a dream and right now only a few people can participate in that.

Those that are willing to pay for very expensive housing.

The house I bought was 20 minutes away.

These houses will be five minute walk.

That transforms the way people do life in our city.

More people close to businesses and less cars on the road.

Everyone knows that sitting in traffic is no fun but yet we continue to build our cities in a way

that requires more traffic, not less.

Today a project is before us that has an opportunity to lean into what the more dense version of Harrisonburg City could look like.

We need to lean into that instead of pushing it away.

It will make the fundamental change that we're required to make a bit easier to swallow.

And lastly, I just want to underscore that this is not a vote for what type of project to put here.

This is a vote between this project and nothing.

Town homes in this location would be prohibitively expensive.

Weston Marcus, I live at Blue Ridge Drive.

I support the rezoning.

I think it's important to encourage the extra density in downtown.

It's better for revenue for the city.

It's better for traffic.

It seems a little bit scary that you have a large parking deck there, but I think no matter what, if you're adding extra housing, if it's out on the outskirts of the city or out in the county, those people have to come into downtown because it's a destination.

So no matter what, there's always going to be more and more traffic, more and more parking that's needed.

So if you have places where people live that's much closer, more people will

choose to walk.

And students I think will start choosing walking, public transit, and biking.

And you don't need a parking space for every single resident to accomplish that.

One of the establishments in Port Republic Road does not fill up its entire parking lot because

Not as many people use it, even though they have one spot for each resident.

Their parking lot doesn't even get halfway full.

So they're wanting to build more residential rooms because they can accommodate it even with the amount of parking that they have.

I really appreciated Councilwoman Robinson's concern about the affordability.

That's important to me too.

I wish we could prioritize that more.

My name is Theresa Kubisak, I live in Rental Property, 91 and a half Franklin, going on 10 years.

So what's going on?

I hear R2D2 is coming to town!

It's not R2D2, it's R3!

No wait, I thought it was R6!

It could even have been R8.

No, no, it turns out it's really B1C.

I don't understand a thing about it.

I know me neither.

Let's talk to an expert.

Who is it?

Okay, I'm the expert because I used to live in New York City.

Why did I come to Harrisonburg?

It's charming.

I live in an R3 building.

I have students.

I have people who work at Magpie in my building.

It's fabulous and we're a retired couple.

My goal would be

to reproduce what I have right now.

Downtown already is my neighborhood.

I would like to keep it R3 if anything happens on that property and I just want to say

If you don't think I'm an expert, look at the poster of Farmer's Market and I appear on that poster.

I'm very sincere about Harrisonburg.

I love this town.

If I can make it here, I'll make it anywhere.

It's up to you.

City Council, let's keep it R3.

My name is Wayne Brown.

I've lived here all my life.

I've seen the city change and grow, and I love the valley.

I love the people in the valley.

I love the safety of being here in the valley.

I love the cultures that have moved here because we all get along and we all share all of the beauty of those different cultures, whether it's food or a ceremony of some sort or a special holiday, whatever.

I agree with the gentleman here that spoke first.

When I come down Main Street toward downtown, I want to be sure that I am moved by the history.

I want to be moved by seeing Victorian homes or homes that are tied together.

When I saw the picture of this, which I know that's not what it's exactly going to be, but it just seems so overwhelming the size of it.

It just seems so six floors and it seems so big I just want to be sure that when I come in that I see oh this is a nice town I want to have that feeling and I really appreciate all the sharing of all the thoughts in this project and I've learned a lot but mine would be a video would be really wonderful to have an idea when you come down the street

and you're moved by the ambiance of what is in front of you.

I don't want to lose that.

It's too beautiful of a town with beautiful people.

Thank you.

Anybody else on this row?

My name is Mike Baxter.

My wife and I, Reagan Eshelman, live at 515 South Mason Street.

I am just encouraging you to

Think about traditional neighborhood development.

It's the first time I've heard that phrase.

And the link doesn't sound like traditional neighborhood development to me.

I hope that you would keep the zoning at R3.

Thank you.

Anyone else on this road?

No?

Alright, second row.

Anybody else on the second row?

No?

Anybody else on this second row?

I hear people say they've lived here their whole life.

I too have lived here my whole life.

It's minus five years or so in a city of 600,000 people.

So I learned what good density and transportation and living in apartments.

I've lived that side of it as well.

And it is so nice to be able to live in somewhere where you can walk, where you don't have to have a car.

and I also hear all the stories of my family that's also lived here their whole lives say how vibrant downtown used to be and then when I was young it was a dead and I'm so thankful that we're bringing some of that back I think the link would help that because you're bringing people and you're bringing business downtown

I'm concerned though, it was rightly said, we are looking at R3 or I guess the B1.

When I compare those two options, and I am thankful for what Monica brought up earlier, that we need to think ahead.

What's it going to look like 20, 30 years from now when it's not the new shiny thing?

Smart thinking.

As long as it stays up kept, what I've noticed in this town is the new shiny option for the students eventually becomes housing for the middle or lower class.

And so as long as we upkeep that building, we will eventually have the housing that we need for families.

So, also as someone who enjoys history, I grieve that we would no longer have that beautiful, charming building of Lindsay's funeral home.

It sounds like the owners, though, have chosen to relinquish it.

And that is something out of our control, unfortunately.

In my ideal world, we would keep that building and build around it because that's what a lot of cities do.

They keep historical things and they build around them.

and I don't think that this building would be an eyesore.

It would actually be a statement of welcome.

Thank you.

Good evening, Madam Mayor and city council members.

My name is Cindy Ferguson and I'm new to the Harrisonburg area and I started a position here in November.

I work closely with college students who are committed to service and social justice, nonprofits and residents who are mostly a part of diverse and vulnerable populations.

Because I want to be immersed in the areas in which I live, work and play, I like to get to know both the community and the policies that affect it.

So I read the city's mission statement.

I want to read it to you so that we understand the context from which I speak.

We are the capital of Shenandoah Valley.

We provide quality urban living option for everyone who wants to reside here.

Our diverse population thrives in welcoming in a welcoming city where all are valued as friends and neighbors.

Our inclusiveness is our strength

and reflects the true spirit of our city.

The pillars of our multicultural, multi-ethnic and multi-generational city consist of a robust economy and a vibrant education epicenter along with a broad range of amenities that enrich life.

This is made possible by the fiscally sound planning of our staff and elected officials and leaders.

As I compare this development to the mission of the city, I must ask how does this development align with the mission of the city?

There are many reasons to vote no on this request, but I will only mention a few.

First, although the memorandum for this request compares this development with the urban exchange, I don't believe there's a comparison.

The units per acre is less than the link, and there's many more that we could talk about.

The massiveness of the structure as well as the number of occupants goes far beyond what my understanding of downtown revitalization is about, which is to improve economic, social, and physical conditions of the city's downtown area.

The structure doesn't match the architectural integrity of our downtown at the moment.

And if we truly wanna revitalize,

downtown and not replace this rich history and the rich architectural scheme of the area.

We don't want to lose the vitality of all of this.

And then most importantly, too, although there's a great need for housing, the need is extremely great for safe, affordable housing, especially for those with lower incomes and the unhoused.

Those who are considered

asset limited, income constrained, and employed.

In other words, the working poor.

We must ask in this particular development if it supports a living option for all.

Will this development provide housing for a diverse population with a variety of income levels?

Finally, at what cost is the city of Harrisonburg willing to pay

for a large development that does not provide a holistic approach to revitalization and meeting the real needs of this community.

Thank you for allowing me to share.

Good evening, Madam Mayor and city council members and staff, Mr. Barnes.

Thanks.

My name is Matt Winters.

resident of 2627 North Star Terrace in Rockingham, but I'm also the pastor of Harrisonburg Baptist Church and just want to share with you a little bit of our concern or thoughts.

One, right prior to my coming here, moving here and becoming pastor, we decided that one of our mottos would be a heart for the city and praying for those in the shadow of our steeple and being the

Southern neighbor to the new link development.

This is close to our heart and our soul.

My concern is the parking impacts that may bleed over and prevent us from having access to our building.

If a lot of residents choose not to park in the parking garage or if it's full and they park up and down Main Street on a Sunday morning.

I don't know how much of the impact study, traffic study,

The awareness has looked into that detail.

I'm grateful that we're willing to take six weeks and have a conversation and think about that.

I'd love to talk about what those impacts may be on our church and our community.

We're certainly grateful for the presence that we have and for being able to talk with Mr. Ray and talk through what a Paul Street Extension would do.

What I really want to avoid is trying to play some sort of parking enforcement officer on our property if it's easy for folks to park into our north side parking area because they're choosing to park there instead of at the link.

My name is Mike and I am proud to call Harrisonburg my home.

This city has been great to me.

I'm a transplant who came here for school and I never left.

I had the privilege of serving as a photographer at JMU for nearly a decade and then the great fortune of building a company here downtown.

So I stand before this group as both a business owner located on West Bruce Street about a block away from the proposed project as well as someone who happens to be under contract on a house in Old Town.

I'm sort of caught in the middle of these two worlds.

One might think I would be deeply conflicted

So to address my position, I thought it would be easiest to share a quick story from a conversation I had late last week with one of our staff.

A talented young woman who earns a healthy amount more than the median wage in our area.

And she was lamenting about the cost of housing.

To paraphrase her statement, she said, I work really hard.

I bust my ass and I can barely afford a one bedroom apartment in this city and still save for the future.

She's 23, she has a bachelor's degree, a full-time salaried position.

She's leading a life of privilege and she's defeated by the cost of housing.

She is not alone.

She deserves lower housing prices and one of the driving factors is supply.

Our company cannot deliver our services without our staff.

Our company's growth is constrained by talented people who not only want to live in the Harrisonburg area, but who can also afford to live here.

I learned a long time ago that when you go to the polls and vote for a candidate, you don't always agree with them on every position they have.

You're voting for a team, a philosophy.

You aren't voting for perfect.

Is the link the perfect project?

I honestly don't know because much of the objections are incredibly subjective.

The design appeals to some, others don't like it.

Some think there's too much parking, others think there isn't enough parking.

Some think it'll increase traffic on certain streets, others don't, and some are just okay with whatever happens.

Some think it'll ruin the look of downtown, others think it'll pave the way for future, similar projects.

In all honesty, it sounds to me like many citizens in our community are looking for perfect.

Here's where a local business owner and a future Old Town resident stands.

The link increases supply, which pushes downward pressure on rents, which allows our employees to pay less of their salaries towards housing, allows them to save for the future and enjoy a higher quality of life.

In Old Town, we have chosen to live in a city.

Cities grow, they change, they add residents, they add businesses, services, they bring in diversity and propel our culture forward.

We don't need to wait for Perfect to add supply to our rental inventory, grow the tax base, and reach our vision for 2040.

I think we need additional tax base so we can afford an HVAC system that works.

So, yes.

I'm Keith May.

I am the listing broker for the parcel of land.

I'm a business owner in the city.

I also own a mixed-use building in downtown.

From day one, we envisioned this parcel of land to be used as a mixed-use parcel with heavy residential.

Over the past 10 days, I've spoken directly with the Harrisonburg businesses about the Link project.

I've gathered 102 signatures in favor from Harrisonburg business owners and employees of businesses in the city.

These signatures represent restaurants of all types, real estate firms, construction supply companies, coffee shops,

co-working spaces, tech companies, property managers, retail shops, a bakery, bankers, convenience stores, engineering companies.

Although not a hundred percent, the message is primarily clear.

The business community, especially downtown, supports the link because it gives them additional labor, additional employees,

also gives them additional customers.

The city's 2040 downtown plan calls for new housing to replace the limited supply of old building conversions, redevelopment of empty or underused properties, more residents to sustain local businesses, a downtown that is both a business district and a neighborhood.

And I think the link delivers exactly what that plan is calling for.

I know earlier there was a question about urban exchange and about you know about urban exchange being only having three students three children that go to schools and and I talked to the owner on the actual mix of urban exchange and he said there are about 50-50 now so it's 50% students

and 50% young professionals or divorcees or so.

So they may not have a lot of kids but it also represents a lot of young professionals and I think this development would be very similar.

Why should we approve it?

$600,000 in additional taxable revenue approximately.

Walkable, bikable.

More residents to support downtown businesses.

Increased housing supply to improve affordability.

Long term downtown sustainability.

A rare opportunity to add additional housing in a city with limited space.

Because as you know, the city can no longer go out.

The city in order to grow, it has to go up.

A vote yes reflects the facts.

It reflects growth.

It reflects the city's long term fiscal needs.

A no vote reflects resistance to change and a lost opportunity for new revenue and vitality.

Thank you very much, and thank you all for serving the way you do.

Thank you.

hi there council members first I just wanted to say thank you for delaying the vote because sorry oh yes my name is Haley and I am the market manager for the Harrisonburg farmers market and I just want to point out that my personal view doesn't reflect all the views of our vendors I represent 60 small local businesses that operate here downtown

Our biggest concern is just parking overflow if there's visitors or families or students who don't buy a parking pass they will overflow into our parking area and I already have to tow people all the time on market days and I don't like doing that and also just construction noise for the apartments like especially during market days and also we just want to have a seat at the table like you mentioned many businesses you chatted with but no one has come and talked to me at the farmers market and it is

directly next to us pretty much.

So we are also worried about the big kind of eyesore that it could potentially be.

Hello.

My name is Sarah Baker McEveley.

I own BMC Bakes at 157 North Main Street.

We're one of the newer businesses in town.

We opened in December of 2023, but we were operating at the farmers market before that for about two or so years.

I also rent a home downtown behind Rose's.

So a lot of my communities are going to be directly affected by this.

But I'm here today to speak strongly in support of rezoning 473 South Main Street.

I've been a renter in Harrisonburg for nearly a decade, both commercially and residentially.

From that experience, I can tell you there's an extreme shortage of available housing downtown.

Apartments are often leased a year in advance driving up prices year after year.

Today, most one bedroom apartments start at $1,200 a month with only the smallest studios occasionally dipping under $1,000.

Last year, I saw a $750 studio with no laundry, no oven, and a shared bathroom with another studio unit.

It relisted this year for $850.

I find the feigned concern of how this development will affect affordable rent by an opposition comprised primarily of homeowners in one of the wealthiest areas in town to be deeply out of touch with the renting needs in the current market.

The pace of our development is not meeting the demand.

While recent projects like Kavanaugh with 23 units, the foundry with 21 units,

Ice House with 30 units, Ice House South with 38 units.

Don't make a dent in our need.

Urban Exchange remains the largest additional housing at 194 units, but even that is insufficient for the needs of young professionals and residents struggling to achieve home ownership.

Students are not the only ones affected by these developments.

In fact, these developments are coming more and more integrated as young professionals are attracted to the area by the hospital, the university, its professors, and the growth of downtown.

The building my business is in, the Cavanaugh Flats and Lofts, is half and half students and professionals, some of which even work for me.

The city cannot control rental pricing through legislation, it can only increase supply.

Approving this rezoning will add meaningful, walkable, bikeable housing downtown.

Unless managed by the same few agencies that dominate the market, it will introduce much needed competition to break up the oligopoly driving rent prices.

I know some concerns focus on pricing as parking,

As a downtown business owner, I understand this challenge, but solving parking is not the responsibility of one individual housing project.

It is a citywide issue.

So as a business owner in town, I urge you to pair this rezoning with a clear commitment to expanding the Water Street and Elizabeth Street decks to address future needs.

It's also worth noting that much of our new housing is built outside of the city limits, pushing property tax revenue to the county and increasing car traffic everywhere.

not just in downtown.

The smartest solution is to build where people can live, work, and shop without relying on a car, exactly what the link offers.

I would also be amiss as a business owner if I did not point out how essential the students are to the economy of this town.

Even though only 40% is slated for specifically student attractive units, it still brings a primary customer demographic downtown.

For many businesses in town, we suffer through summer to recuperate loss in the fall and plan for the summer through winter and spring.

The students have a profound impact on business viability and this would be a benefit to many of us by raising profit potential in the profitable parts of the year.

Council members, this project is more than just a building, it's an investment in future vitality.

Thank you.

Anyone else on the third row?

All right, fourth row on this side.

My name is Kathy Moran.

I own both residential property in the city and the county, and I own business property presently in the county.

My concerns are twofold.

One, aesthetics, and two, students.

One, the aesthetics.

I feel like the renderings that I have seen thus far have created a building that dwarfs the entrance to our beautiful, historic downtown.

My concern would be can we not consider scaling back the size of the facility so that it does not affect the dwarfing and the aesthetics and the beauty of this historic downtown.

Two, students.

Everyone to this point has spoken about the need for housing downtown so we can house young professionals, professors at the universities

or others that are seeking rental properties.

However, if we do not do something to address what is the reality, which is students seizing and living in this rental space, we've done nothing to address the need for housing downtown.

And so I think the two issues, one, how do we address the aesthetic concerns?

Two, how do we address the need which we've all identified, which is documented in our plans, which is housing?

affordable housing, however we might describe that, but if a student wants to pay $1,900 or $2,000 or $2,500 for an apartment, they will.

And we've done nothing at that point to address the need in our community.

So as we move forward, as we have our listening sessions, I would implore that we address those two specific issues.

Luciano Benjamin, 217 South Liberty Street, Ice House, right across the street.

I was gonna come up here and make a joke that you guys should sell coffee outside of these meetings, but I'm realizing now ice cream would have been a much better choice.

As I said, I live at the Ice House.

I am right across the street from this project, right across the street from City Hall.

I will be very directly impacted by it as long as I live at the Ice House and I hope one day to be able to afford a home in Old Town and also be impacted by it.

I will see and deal with the noise and mess of construction when it's built.

I will certainly fight for parking with the people that live there at the Turner Pavilion lot over there and most frustrating

Perhaps my commute from Target will go from seven minutes to nine minutes and I am absolutely in favor of this project despite all of those things because this is what our city needs to be successful.

Let me tell you why we need it.

It's because this is about opportunity.

This is about opportunity for people to fall in love with our city.

I came here as a student and I was blessed to be able to live downtown and fall in love with our businesses and

people that live here, all these people in this room.

I am very fortunate and happy to call my neighbors, even if we disagree with about this project voraciously, right?

This is about opportunity for providing opportunity for people to live in the downtown, experience it, be a part of it, fall in love with the city and stay here and be a contributing member of our community for years to come.

We have talked a lot about students and perhaps the challenges that we may feel that they pose to our city, but ultimately these students provide opportunity for our businesses

to succeed right we can look at you know just right down the road here we have had multiple businesses sitting vacant multiple lots sitting vacant with no businesses in them and that's because we don't have the downtown base for businesses to succeed there and with more density with more population we have much greater possibilities for businesses to succeed and for us to find businesses to

Even if we were against this project that we may fall in love with and that provide us with something that is way better than we have now, right?

And then the other aspect of this is talking about the opportunity to the city itself.

As you've heard multiple times tonight, we have more and more development ringing our city on the outskirts that we do not control, that we do not benefit from, but we do bear the burdens of.

It leads to more parking in our downtown as people drive into the city.

I can tell you firsthand I have seen JMU students, they park downtown and walk to campus.

They park in my parking lot, right?

If we have more students with a parking deck that they can walk to campus, as I was very fortunate to be able to do living downtown, it relieves some of those pressures.

If we don't do this and they continue building in the outskirts of our city, those pressures will get worse.

We can also talk about the improvements to safety in our city with the extension of Paul Street providing a much safer pass-through between Main and Liberty Street than we have right now where I've seen cars pile up at Grattan trying to figure out who gets to go through the one-way street first as we all have, right?

This is about opp... Nope, that wasn't me.

Okay.

This is about opportunity

for the people that live here, for the people that will live here and for the city itself to benefit tremendously from this development.

It isn't perfect and we shouldn't let perfect be the enemy of good.

I highly recommend that City Council accept Vice Mayor Fleming's proposal to delay this to allow us to talk about it more and collaborate and find the strongest points of the project and build on them and improve on some of its weaknesses but ultimately

Please approve the B1C rezoning request and let's look forward to the opportunities that this brings rather than with fear or trepidation towards what we may lose.

Good evening Madam Mayor, council members, I'm Jay Langston.

the executive director of the Shenandoah Valley Partnership that works on your behalf for economic development in 11 other localities and more than 100 businesses.

Remembering your words early, I'm not going to reiterate a lot of the positives that have been stated here and also understand those that have a little trepidation.

But I hear two major questions from all of the businesses that we were working with

in trying to grow our economy in this region is one, where are my people going to come from?

And now number two is where are they going to live?

We're never going to satisfy the availability of housing for affordability unless we can reduce the vacancy rate here.

For my constituents, for me personally, we are adamantly in support of this project.

My name is Marsha McGrath and my husband John would like to be here but he physically couldn't.

I want to thank all of you.

I know it's a difficult

And speaking on behalf of my husband and I, we embrace change.

I've lived in Toronto, I've lived in Alexandria, I know I've had experience

with this kind of development.

I have, or we have, a great deal of concerns regarding the proposed building.

I think, in my experience, that many people are naive in thinking that this building as it stands right now is going to alleviate

The affordable housing situation that we have, especially for young people, young professionals.

It's just gonna be another JMU dorm right at the entrance of our beautiful city.

And I'm not sure that we want that kind of monolith as

Previous city council members had a commission on what's going to be the desired entrance of Harrisonburg.

And they chose exit 245.

You come in, you see JMU, you cross as you're going into the city and you have all of these beautiful aesthetics of buildings, trees, etc.

And then, bam, we're going to have this huge monolith

that could be put somewhere else.

I think keeping our three, you could still put a three-story apartment building there.

I think we need more address to keeping it downtown as best as we can.

Yes, have more housing, but don't compromise the integrity.

of the forefathers plan for the entrance to Harrisonburg.

My name is Nancy Steller and I live at 487 Preston Drive here in Harrisonburg.

I want to thank you all for letting everyone speak tonight.

I think a lot has been said both for and against.

We're mainly concerned about the look of this building and also about traffic.

Right now, our driveway is on Paul Street, and during school hours, JMU, when it's in session, it's really hard to get out of our driveway sometimes.

And if you add 500 more people at the end of Paul Street, I just imagine that traffic is going to be pretty bad.

But it would really be nice if you could keep rezoning where it is and build around

I like the idea of preserving the building that's already there, the Lindsay building and then building around it and making the entrance to Harrisonburg more aesthetic.

Thank you.

My name is Frank Steller, I'm Nancy's husband and also opposed to rezoning I'd like to keep it at R3 as she said our driveway is on Paul Street and Preston Drive and I'm more concerned about the traffic and the safety

and I wouldn't be opposed to three-story building, but not a big monstrosity downtown.

Thank you.

Anyone else on this side?

I'll be super brief, but just something I noticed is with the Blue Sun development, the complaint was that it was too rural and it was sort of spoiling the natural splendor of Harrisonburg.

And now we're hearing that this new development is too close to downtown.

It's going to ruin the splendor of downtown.

So really, it doesn't seem there's anywhere that works for everyone.

Like my friend Luciano was saying, there is no perfect development.

That's really the point I wanted to make.

Not to mention the fact that I'm hearing now that this one is too fancy and Bluestone was not fancy enough, right?

So every time there's a number of complaints and they all kind of meld together into some sort of like general opposition, which makes it easy to

Good evening.

My name is Erin Garber.

I want you to think about something.

As you come from JMU, you have this beautiful quad.

You drive down the street, you see First Baptist.

Beautiful.

You have green spaces.

You have low buildings.

As you get further into the city, into downtown, you see lower buildings that end up becoming larger buildings with the city or the county courthouse being the centerpiece of it all.

Can you imagine if we drive into downtown Harrisonburg and all of a sudden, instead of seeing that nice gradual progression, you have this bam, six stories.

It's going to be almost as tall as that steeple next door.

It's going to dwarf this building that we are currently in.

I can't imagine.

I've lived here all of my life.

with some brief times outside of it.

But the one thing I can say is downtown has always been special.

No matter whether it's been busy or not, it's always been special.

And what you're asking for is to take some of that away.

If we could find something that would be in R3 that would take and have that green space.

We have no green space in this.

It's token.

It's a tree.

A bush.

Something like that.

There's no green space.

And it's sidewalk to sidewalk.

We're not in New York City.

We're not in Philadelphia.

We're not in a big city.

We are a big city for the area.

But we're not in the big city.

Downtown is special.

Please keep it that way.

Also, we talk about safety with what we're doing with putting in Paul Street, the extension.

Well, first off, what about going up that street?

Because if I were a student, I'm going to come out of that parking lot, I'm going to turn up Paul Street, and I'm going to continue up Paul Street.

It's a very narrow section on the 200 block that we live in.

There are a lot of people that have to swerve over to the side because somebody's coming straight up the middle of the street.

We've had traffic calming.

We still have to pick up bumpers on the speed bumps.

It's a monthly occurrence, so people are still flying up that street.

Now we're going to put 500 bedrooms at the bottom of this street and continue to push that up so that they're going to JMU.

I question the safety on that part of it.

I question the traffic study on that part of it.

Good evening, everybody.

My name is Stephanie Cook.

I live at Paul Street.

Erin is my husband.

I do oppose the rezoning of the property where Lindsay Funeral Home currently stands.

However, that being said, I do want it on record.

I do not oppose building housing there.

What I oppose is building a large, dense housing building at the entrance of our downtown.

It's a fact the city of Harrisonburg does need more affordable housing.

The issue here becomes the definition of affordability and the location.

Renting a two bedroom apartment in Harrisonburg per Google on average is over $1,500 a month.

Something that a lot of families simply cannot afford in today's economic environment, especially one that you would need to also pay for parking.

The numbers that have been provided by those representing this development have been more than $1,500 and that's for a single bedroom.

Obviously a common complaint has been that the Link development has the aesthetics and the size don't really fit downtown.

That's not a concern to me.

Okay, make it however you want.

However, what is a concern is this is the building that is going to welcome people visiting our downtown.

I grew up in Waynesboro.

It obviously does not compare to Harrisonburg.

I love downtown.

I love being able to walk downtown.

However, driving into downtown and seeing a big building like that and hiding all the beauty that Harrisonburg has to offer, it's kind of a turn off.

Another big concern lies in the absolute need for updating infrastructure if this rezoning and development go through.

The financial burden is going to land on us, the taxpayers.

Adding over 200 new units and potentially double that in residence, as well as business space containing employees and customers, is only going to add to the strain on our already aging and taxed sewer system, electrical systems, need for more traffic lights,

the need for additional fire rescue vehicles that can reach the top of this building.

Having recently replaced the water line to our home, I can tell you the main water line outside is not the newest and prettiest.

I am also concerned that the belief that if we force people to pay for their parking spots, they won't bring their cars.

If this development is family centered and not merely student centered, as originally stated on the developer's own website and representation, they all in likelihood have at least one vehicle to be able to get to the grocery store, to take their kids to school, to get to their jobs if they don't work downtown.

Paying for parking will not deter individuals from bringing their vehicles to the streets of Harrisonburg.

It will merely make them look for places to park in the surrounding neighborhoods and parking garages.

Per information provided by their attorney, there will be at least 100 more bedrooms than parking spaces and even fewer bike lockers.

If they truly believe these residents are going to bike around town rather than drive, why not provide more bike spots?

The definition of ample bike parking is arbitrary.

With these residents potentially parking in the surrounding neighborhoods where existing neighborhood residents already pay for permits to park in front of their own properties,

This will lead to further taxing our city's police force as they need to work to enforce the current parking restrictions.

I encourage you, City Council, to look at all aspects of this proposed project.

I encourage you to examine the proffers carefully and ask questions.

Please look at this developer's other properties carefully.

Read the reviews.

It may bring you more questions.

Harrisonburg needs housing, but we don't need to rezone our entrance to downtown to do it.

My name is Peter Denby.

I live in Harrisonburg and I represent the Harrisonburg Innovation Hub on North Liberty Street.

Picture this, it's a Thursday morning and a young software engineer just moved to Harrisonburg

walks from her apartment at The Link to the Harrisonburg Innovation Hub where she works.

On the way she grabs a muffin from BMC Bakes.

She stops for a latte at Broad Porch Coffee.

Later that day she joins some friends at Magpie for dinner.

She's here.

She's living here because housing like The Link exists in a fantastic friendly city that is Harrisonburg.

Every step that she takes is another chance for a local business, a downtown business, to make a sale.

This is the lifeblood of downtown.

Without more residents within that walking distance, those businesses face an uphill battle.

Business is hard.

Small business is really hard.

When payroll isn't met, it's the business owner that makes a sacrifice.

When it's rainy outside, it's the small business that doesn't get sales.

Yet day after day, night after night, we're there.

We're serving downtown.

We're chasing our dream.

We're getting that jolt of energy every time we hear someone open our door to our business.

It's a numbers game.

The more people that walk through the door means the more sales that we get.

And for us at the Innovation Hub, the more people that need a fantastic place to work means more members.

The Harrisonburg Innovation Hub is a five and a half million dollar recent investment in downtown Harrisonburg.

By definition, an investment is based on the future value of being here.

We are betting on the growth of downtown.

At full capacity, we'll be home to over 150 companies.

Even with very conservative estimates, that's over $30 million flowing in and out through this town yearly because of what we're doing.

Payroll, rents, meals, shopping from all of our members.

Those are rent dollars that stay in our community.

20% of our members and leads so far this year have come from outside of Harrisonburg.

Those people, they need homes close to work.

The link answers that need in a modern design that reflects a growing, healthy city.

It fits our downtown 2040 plan.

It makes the best use of what is already very limited land that we have to work with.

The alternative is outward or inefficient growth, neither of which benefits the heart of downtown.

27 years ago, I came here as a freshman

at JMU.

I'm one of those students.

I have contributed deeply to this community.

I have built my life and my businesses here because Harrisonburg has this way of making you believe it's possible.

We can either grow inward and strengthen the heart of our downtown Harrisonburg, or we can grow outward and watch the heart weaken.

The link grows us inward.

It fuels our small businesses.

It keeps our tax dollars in the city and it creates the kind of downtown where people want to live and work and stay.

This isn't just about a building, it's about the future that we are building.

Let's make it a good one and I hope you will support this project.

Thank you for listening.

Elizabeth Swallow, I live on Fairview, right near the intersection of Main Street and Port Road.

So I get to see the good, the bad, and the ugly of Harrisonburg.

And I chose to come here for the rest of my life and work here.

And if you wonder what this development would look like,

Picture a Bucky's built next to City Hall.

And there are many of us in this room who have listened to other meetings like this.

and I hope that this is not another Harrisonburg done deal.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Thank you for sitting through all of this.

My name is Jeff Roy.

I live in 519 Paul Street.

I'm on the MLK side of it, so I can attest to the fact that traffic is no better on that side of it than it is on this side of it, other than our streets a little wider, but we don't have speed bumps.

My wife and I moved here in 2016 from Los Angeles to go to grad school, and it was probably not in the plan at the time to stay in Harrisonburg, but one of the things that we

fell in love with was downtown for its lack of these giant modern not fit in type buildings.

We really enjoyed driving into downtown the first time I remember that and thinking, wow, this is kind of cool because the buildings were old.

They all fit and it ramped up to what sits around Court Square, which are the taller buildings down there.

Honestly, we love the historic character of the area and that was one of the reasons we stayed and we had the opportunity to move closer to downtown so we could walk down here and enjoy all that it has to offer.

I urge you to vote no on the rezoning for this project.

It's simply too large for the gateway to downtown.

It'll overwhelm the scale and the historic feeling of South Main and Liberty.

I worry about its impact on a narrowed street, which I am completely in support of.

as well as the impact on landmarks that are near the site like the Joshua Wilkin House and its effect on their ability to even operate when their view now becomes a giant building.

We've already talked about the parking, we've talked about the traffic impacts.

I will say that in the city that I used to work in, in Los Angeles area, we had a California mission there and there was a mission district and so these developments in that area were subject to

historical preservation because that existed.

And I know Mr. Fleming, you had mentioned that that doesn't happen right now here because we don't have those architectural commissions.

And I hope that that's where we go.

But I think one way that we can prevent that is to limit the size of this particular project.

And I think that there are places where this project would fit in better.

Some of the comparison buildings are surrounded by other buildings of similar height.

I'm not against growth.

I think this is the wrong project for this particular site.

And I urge you to vote no on the rezoning.

Good evening City Council.

My name is Amy Roy.

I live at 519 Paul Street.

My family and I moved to this beautiful town from Los Angeles in 2016.

So I know what overdevelopment is.

Traffic is like.

When you think you're going to travel 20 miles and it takes you two hours.

My husband attended James Madison University.

To pursue his dream of becoming a physician assistant, leaving behind the fast paced crowded city was a big decision.

But we came here looking for something different.

We found it in Old Town.

Since moving here, I've had the privilege of teaching at Rocktown High School.

Every day, I had the privilege of investing in our youth, many of who are from families who live here for generations, even new ones, newcomers.

I see firsthand how much this community values connection, tradition, and a pace of life that supports families, not just development.

Old Town quickly became more than our new address, it became our home.

We fell in love with its historic charm, the walkable streets, the local businesses, the sense of community.

You can't just build with steel and concrete.

This place is unique.

It's not trying to be the next big thing.

It already is something special.

Which is why I'm here tonight to voice my concerns about the proposed B1C building.

While I understand the need for thoughtful growth, this development feels out of scale and out of character for our community.

It prioritizes density over charm and profit over people.

Many of us moved here or stayed here because of what Old Town is, not what it could be turned into.

We don't wanna become another overdeveloped corridor.

We wanna preserve what makes this town livable, lovable, and lasting for the next generation.

Please protect what we already have rather than risking it for something that doesn't align with the heart of our community.

Good evening.

Lorna Nichols, 180 Diamond Court.

I got a little nervous speaking in front of people, but I wanted tonight to consider Timber Wolf Capital Partners, please, and look at their business model.

I think one thing we've heard tonight is that they are stellar property managers.

which is really a good thing.

Let me first interrupt myself and say that I concur with those who have come before me speaking about wanting to retain R3.

So I agree with all of that.

Let's talk about the business model of Timberwell Capital Partners.

They have eight developments and they build student housing, they lease it up well, and they manage it in a stellar way.

And then they sell.

So, over at WVU in Morgantown,

The one they did there, they were able to sell that in four years.

And in Clemson, South Carolina, Clemson Lofts, why it sold for two times their cost in only five years.

25% of their developments have already sold.

That is their business model.

That is where they make a huge amount of the money.

So, who in four to five years will buy this?

And whomever buys it, will they have the stellar management style of Timber Wolf?

And will JMU want to buy it?

These are just some things that I'd like for you

and all of us to consider.

Anyone else on this side, fifth row?

Good evening.

Thanks for being here so late Members of Council.

My name is Rob Alexander.

I'm at 977 South Dogwood.

I just want to start by saying I appreciate a bunch of things here.

I appreciate your interest in dialogue and collaborative problem-solving for our community.

I appreciate that you all value planning documents and studies, that we're making decisions based upon evidence, based upon thoughtful deliberation.

I appreciate that we have professional city staff who are thorough, responsive, transparent, and are by the book of the code that councils have given them.

And I also appreciate my neighbors and community members because when I look at public hearings in town council meetings around the country, it does not look like this.

So we should give ourselves an applause for being thoughtful, listening to one another, being respectful, and maintaining a healthy democracy as we try to figure out some complex decisions.

So thank you all of you for being you and I'm really grateful to be in this town for that.

I am the chair of the Environmental Performance Standards Advisory Committee for the City of Harrisonburg.

I'm not here on behalf of that committee, but I wanted to bring to your attention another plan that you have that was generated through a robust

Public participation long process and approved by council and it's used by city staff to make decisions going forward and that's the environmental action plan and in the environmental action plan there's focus area 2 which is land use and green space and goal 1 modernize and establish enduring land use and development patterns and strategy 1.3 is

is to continue to promote high density compact and mixed use development where appropriate.

I think that where appropriate is really important.

From my EPSAC hat, I think that with the downtown 2040 plan, the comp plan, the housing study, those seem to lend itself to this is an appropriate place for higher density housing.

that helps with the sustainability of our city.

As a resident now, taking off my EPSAC hat, I think there are three things that I also think you should really be considering when you spend the next potentially spend the next six weeks deliberating this.

One is that just the drop in

federal funding for things like affordable housing.

So it's pretty clear from your deliberation earlier and your questions to the presenters that this is always in the front of your mind.

It's been a priority of this council for the past three or four councils and it's something that we are challenged by all over the country.

But I think that's something that's important to think about.

If we don't have access to those types of funds, if it's not this project, and if it's supposed to be affordable housing here, how's that going to happen?

So if we have developers in place that are willing to invest money for housing that is high density, that's something to consider.

I think that another one is the housing study, and I remember the previous council really leaning in on this.

One of the things that study said, I believe, is that there were high-income earners who were buying housing or renting housing that was for middle income, so they're bumping people out.

So it was my understanding from tracking your decision-making of council that Bluestone was purposely intended to be direct, more affordable housing.

but there was also an interest and there has been approvals of other housing complexes over the past few years that was trying to create spaces that attract the higher income earners.

So I just think like just remember that that's part of your deliberation for the past as well.

And the last thing I want to bring up is that the Weldon Cooper Center of Demographics up at UVA, when they presented at the Economic Development Summit at JMU this past fall,

It's very clear that the demographic predictions for this part of the valley is increase, increase, increase.