Planning commission deadlocks on Harborview rezoning after debate over housing, master plan

The Suffolk City Planning Commission was tied 4–4 on Monday on a rezoning request to convert about 18.95 acres at 7250 Harbour Town Parkway from the MUD (Mixed Use Development) overlay to RU‑24 (Residential Urban 24), a change the applicant said would create a mix of townhouses and multifamily units and provide new housing choices near Harborview Station.

Staff planner Gonzalo Borges told the commission that the request, RZN2024‑014, proposes a maximum of 344 total residential units — 288 multifamily apartments and 56 townhouses — and that staff finds the rezoning “does not meet the intent of the provisions of the 2045 comprehensive plan and the Unified Development Ordinance,” in part because it would alter the Harborview Station master plan and reduce the property’s planned commercial/medical uses.

The commission heard from developer representatives and consultants who said the project would supply housing the city needs. “We are very excited to have the ability to provide additional attainable housing options to an area that we believe housing is very much needed,” said Tom Martinson, a representative for the applicant. Melissa Venable of Land Planning Solutions, who presented the application’s technical details, said the proposal would support walkability and the existing Harborview commercial base and that the applicant is offering significant school‑age proffers: “we are proffering nearly $2,900,000 in school age proffered dollars.”

Applicant consultant Grady Palmer urged commissioners to consider how the development would function in practice, not only the zoning label. “Take a little bit broader perspective on this,” Palmer said. “We believe it will function exactly the way that a mixed use development is supposed to function.”

Commissioners who opposed the rezoning emphasized land‑use consistency and the role of the master plan. Borges noted the site was identified for a mix of commercial, office, medical and assisted‑living uses in the Harborview Station master plan approved in 2006 and amended in 2013; extracting the parcel from the MUD, staff said, would conflict with the comprehensive plan’s objectives for mixed‑use master‑plan areas.

Other commissioners pressed the applicant on the jobs‑to‑housing balance and where commercial development could still occur within the MUD. Venable and staff said several undeveloped commercial parcels remain in Harborview that could provide jobs, but staff expressed reservations about relying on aggressive assumptions for future commercial job generation on parcels that are currently vacant.

After questions and public testimony, the commission moved to approve the rezoning. The motion failed on a 4–4 vote (Bauer, Creekmore, Goodman and Hicks voting yes; Everwine, Edwards, Vice Chairman Staylor and Chairman Singleton voting no). The commission clerk said the tie would be transmitted to City Council as a recommendation of denial; the item is scheduled to go to City Council on April 16.

The vote leaves unresolved whether the Harborview parcel will follow the master‑plan commercial/medical vision the city approved previously or move toward higher residential density. City Council will take the next action on the rezoning application.