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Neighborhood transitions work group outlines multiple housing bills; no consensus on ham radio measure
Summary
Delegate Kathryn Bulova, chairing a Virginia Housing Commission work group, reported progress on multiple housing bills and said members have not reached consensus on a measure to override common-interest community covenants.
Delegate Kathryn J. (Kathy) Bulova, chairing the neighborhood transitions, local land use and community living work group, told the Virginia Housing Commission on Oct. 24 that the group has held two meetings and scheduled a third for Oct. 23 to continue work on multiple bills affecting residential communities. The work group discussed a measure to prevent homeowners associations from banning amateur (ham) radio antennas, a long-running declarant-control dispute on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, a proposed workforce housing incentive, rules for assumable mortgages, tree canopy protections tied to critical root zones, right-of-first-refusal models, and zoning changes for manufactured homes.
The discussion over Delegate Seibold’s house bill on amateur radio antennas raised the classic question of whether the General Assembly should overturn homeowner-declaration provisions. “At this point, it doesn't look like we're gonna have consensus on this bill,” Bulova said, adding the parties will continue to press their cases in the 2026 session. The work group flagged a lack of agreement but continued study.
Bulova described a separate, localized problem on the Eastern Shore where a developer has retained control of a community for roughly 53 years, frustrating residents who want a greater governance role. The work group is considering three tracks: expanded disclosure at initial sale and resale to make developer-control periods clear to buyers, potential statutory limits on the length of declarant control, and updates to older subdivision ordinances that may have allowed those control structures to persist. “I think we're in a position, as a General Assembly, to help prevent these kinds of situations from happening again,” Bulova said, while noting it would be difficult to “reach back into 50 years” of existing arrangements.
On affordable ownership initiatives, the work group reviewed Senate Bill 1139 (presented by Sen. Sturdivant), which would create a Virginia workforce housing program modeled on matching grants to allow employers and partners to help reduce homebuyer down payments. The group formed a small subgroup to refine recommendations on Oct. 20. Members also reviewed Senate Bill 1452 on assumable residential mortgages; the work group did not endorse blanket allowance for assumable loans but expressed interest in streamlining processes where loans are currently assumable—such as cases of death, immediate-family transfer, or divorce.
The group discussed House Bill 2238 on tree canopy and critical root zones. Bulova said the bill would not expand canopy requirements but would require mapping or consideration of critical root zones so construction activity does not unintentionally kill trees. Bulova said Home Builders of Virginia is meeting with the town of Leesburg to explore non-legislative solutions.
Looking ahead, the work group plans to evaluate national models for right of first refusal that Jessica (staff) presented, and to examine whether local zoning and subdivision ordinances can be revised to be more friendly to manufactured homes.
Work group members emphasized the staff effort to locate jurisdictions that might still be operating under outdated ordinances and said any final recommendations will be returned to the full commission for consideration in December.
