Waynesboro City Council on Oct. 15 introduced three ordinances intended to clear zoning and property constraints for a planned addition to Waynesboro High School, city planning staff said.

City planning staff member Miss Tate told the council that the Waynesboro School Board has applied to rezone several parcels that make up the high school campus — including properties addressed as 1211 Hundred, 1044 West Main Street, 325 Pine Avenue, 1017 Twelfth Street and 0 Poplar Avenue — from a mix of RG-5 (general residential), RS-5 (traditional residential) and LB (local business) to CB (Central Business). Tate said the rezoning would give the schools the height and setback flexibility needed to build a one-story media center, a three-story classroom wing, a three-story connector and a one-story gym and athletics complex.

Tate described the current zoning limits: RG-5 and LB restrict building heights to 35 feet, while the existing three-story classroom wing is about 50 feet tall. She said the Central Business district allows up to 100 feet but that the school offered a voluntary proffer to limit building height to no more than 70 feet. The planning commission recommended approval with voluntary proffers, including a proposed 75-foot height limit and a commitment to maintain at least 247 on-site parking spaces.

Tate also explained that the change to CB zoning is tied to a second request: a conditional use permit (CUP) to modify the Central Business district build-to-line requirement. She said the school’s concept plans indicate portions of the new construction would have setbacks — for example, a three-foot setback for a first-story media center and roughly a 17-foot setback for the three-story classroom wing — and the CUP would allow that deviation.

The third related item introduced would close and vacate multiple small public rights-of-way that run through the high school campus. Tate said the city was asked to close about a 10-foot strip along West Main Street and roughly 8,327 square feet of alley in two 10-foot alley segments, plus a 20-foot public right-of-way between certain lots. Tate said the city’s appointed viewers determined closing those strips would not cause adverse impacts to the traveling public, and staff reported no known utilities along the 10-foot Main Street strip.

No members of the public signed up to speak during the public hearings on these items. Council members moved to introduce each ordinance; Tate said each will be considered for final action at the council’s Oct. 27 meeting.

Why it matters: The three measures are procedural but linked steps needed to allow the school board’s second phase of construction to proceed. Rezoning, a modified streetscape requirement and vacated rights-of-way would alter how the campus interfaces with neighboring properties and the city’s downtown zoning and development patterns.

Details and context: In central business zoning, buildings are expected to form a street wall (the build-to-line) to encourage pedestrian activity; the school’s campus sits about a half-mile from the downtown core and contains existing parking and buildings that cross some public rights-of-way. Tate said the proposed voluntary proffers would limit campus uses to Waynesboro City Schools and associated uses, cap building height (the record includes both a 70-foot voluntary offer and a 75-foot planning-commission condition), and preserve at least 247 parking spaces on site. Council members discussed the trade-offs of preserving current setbacks along Pine Avenue to maintain neighborhood context versus allowing buildings to come closer to the street to create a stronger block face.

What’s next: Each ordinance was introduced for consideration at the council’s Oct. 27 meeting; no final rezoning, CUP or vacation was adopted on Oct. 15.