Newport News council approves rezoning for Enview development with traffic and preservation proffers

The Newport News City Council on April 22 adopted an ordinance rezoning a parcel at 350 Yorktown Road to allow a DR Horton-led mixed-use development, voting 7-0 to approve the change after a public hearing.

The rezoning ordinance — identified in the hearing as "Charlie Zulu-2025-0001" — will permit a mixed-use designation with new proffers for the Enview property owned by the city's Economic Development Authority. Developer representatives told council the proposal includes a mix of housing types and a firm cap on residential units.

Developer representative Grady Palmer, who said the project has been in development for about four years, described it as "a very well designed, mixed housing, pedestrian connected proposal" and said the proffers limit the project to "not exceed 620 residential units." Palmer also said the proffers include a traffic-impact analysis, signal studies and improvements paid for by the developer and a memorandum of understanding with government agencies "to preserve and protect historic resources on the property."

Why it matters: The parcel sits on a heavily traveled corridor near tourist destinations. Residents who spoke at the public hearing called for more study of traffic impacts and said they had not received adequate notice about the project. Council members asked developers to clarify proffers and access points before adoption.

During public comment, resident Manuel Ankrom, who said he lives at 548 Yorktown Road less than a half-mile from the project's entrance, told council: "The project sounds decent, but what it's gonna do, it's gonna bottleneck and can create a congestion for all the people from out of state to come to visit Yorktown." Ankrom said tour buses and existing congestion at Crawford Road and Yorktown Road are already problems and that some project materials he received appeared dated.

Councilman Vick asked specifically about lighting and other proffers. "In regards to the proffers, I thought that there was an addition to potential street lights or some kind of can you speak to that very briefly?" Vick asked. Palmer replied that the proffers include a traffic-impact analysis and that the developer will provide signal analyses and, where warranted, perform required signal improvements at its expense.

Council members also pressed developers to clarify access: Palmer said the project will have three entrances and that the Crawford Road entrance "will be limited to an emergency gated ingress egress only," and that the developers will dedicate land for a future widening of Yorktown Road but will not construct the widening as part of the project.

Council discussion was brief after the public hearing. The council moved to close the public hearing and then to adopt the ordinance; both motions passed on voice votes and the roll-call for adoption recorded: Vice Mayor Bethany, Councilman Coleman, Councilman Ealy, Councilman Harris, Mayor Philip Jones, Councilman Long and Councilwoman Vick all voting yes. The motion carried 7-0.

Clarity and limits: The developer described several proffers in general terms. The council’s votes adopted the rezoning with the proffers as presented; any additional traffic or design details that staff or council requested during questioning were to be addressed in follow-up or implementation steps rather than altering the adopted zoning at the meeting.

Residents later raised additional concerns about the project's layout and placement of commercial uses at nearby corners during the citizen comment portion of the meeting; George Etter said he opposed placing businesses at the corner of Yorktown and Jefferson and asked that commercial uses be moved into the interior to preserve open space.

The council formalized the rezoning by ordinance at the same meeting. No amendments to the ordinance were recorded on the council floor; the final ordinance and proffer documents will be part of the official record held by the city clerk.

Ending: The rezoning clears a major procedural hurdle for the Enview project. City staff and the developer will handle remaining technical questions and implementation details through follow-up submittals and coordination required by the proffers and applicable permits.