Planning commission defers vote on Morrison Station rezoning after hours of testimony

The Newport News Planning Commission on June 4 voted 5–2 to defer final action on conditional rezoning CZ2025Tech0002 (Morrison Station, Camp Morrison) to its Aug. 6 meeting after presentations by the applicant and a nearly three-hour public hearing with residents, business owners and civic leaders offering both support and opposition.

The rezoning application from D.R. Horton (presented as Doctor Horton in the meeting) would allow redevelopment of the former Camp Morrison industrial site into a mixed residential community. Developer and project representatives described a conceptual master plan with roughly 638 residential units, a system of parks and trails, transportation improvements and stormwater work. The commission voted to postpone the matter to permit additional review and discussions with the developer and neighborhood representatives.

City planner presentations and the applicant's team said the rezoning would replace an aging industrial complex with a master-planned residential neighborhood. "This rezoning does not change or lessen the quality or type or any of the style like the original rezoning," Brian Rowe, vice president of D.R. Horton Southern Virginia, told the commission during the applicant presentation. Planners noted the site lies within the Greater Hilton area plan and that a 2013 conditional rezoning substantially reshaped the property's planned use; the current application proposes a new conceptual master plan and updated proffers intended to meet modern stormwater and public-safety standards.

Why it matters: The site fronts Warwick Boulevard and adjoins existing retail and residential neighborhoods; speakers said the project could add hundreds of for-sale homes to a city that planning documents say needs more housing. Opponents urged the commission to preserve the more stringent 2013 proffers and to keep stronger homeowner- and neighborhood-involvement in design review.