Planning Commission backs conditional rezoning, allows daycare to continue at 1485 Johnson Road

The Norfolk Planning Commission on Oct. 11 recommended approval of a conditional rezoning for 1485 Johnson Road and a conditional use permit that would let an existing child daycare continue operating after the parcel is subdivided.

The approvals respond to an applicant proposal to subdivide the site and construct seven townhouse-style condominiums on part of the property. Planning staff said the property is currently zoned Institutional, which allows child day care centers by right only if the daycare lot is at least 1 acre; subdividing would make the daycare parcel smaller than one acre and therefore ineligible under the existing zoning unless the property is rezoned. The applicant asked to rezone the parcel to a multifamily neighborhood-scale district and obtain the conditional use permit to preserve the daycare use after rezoning.

Russell, a planning staff member, briefed the commission on the request and explained staff recommendations and conditions. “The institutional zone allows child daycare centers by right but requires a minimum lot size of 1 acre,” Russell said during the presentation. He described three proffered conditions from the applicant: adherence to the submitted site plan, a combined drainage plan for both resulting lots, and an alternative landscape plan that reallocates required landscaping along the daycare site's western property line.

Applicant Dennis Woodbury told the commission his family has operated the childcare center since April and that the development would create additional homes for sale in a neighborhood that the applicant said lacks housing. Woodbury provided his address as 1485 Johnson Road and described the proposal as an infill project to add townhouses while keeping the daycare.

Commissioners voted to recommend approval of both the conditional use permit and the conditional rezoning to city council, with staff-recommended and applicant-proffered conditions attached. The commission’s recommendation is advisory; final action will be taken by the Norfolk City Council.

Details noted during the hearing included: the planned subdivision would result in seven townhouse-style units; staff’s requirement that the current electronic sign be brought into compliance (the sign must be fully renewed within 30 days if approved); and the proffered requirement that a consolidated drainage plan be submitted for the combined development. Commissioners asked no substantive follow-up questions beyond clarifying the conditions and the sequencing of votes.

The commission’s recommendation advances the application to city council, where the zoning change and the conditional use permit will receive a final decision.