Council approves proffer amendment and special‑use permit update for 865 Port Republic Road

Harrisonburg City Council on June 10 approved two related land‑use actions at 865 Port Republic Road: a proffer amendment to the property’s B‑2 conditional zoning and an update to a previously issued special‑use permit that includes a three‑year time extension and reduced side/rear setback allowances for a planned residential addition.

Staff told council the amendment was largely “cleanup” to correct unintended restrictions introduced with an earlier rezoning. The applicant’s original voluntary proffers had inadvertently prohibited wireless telecommunications facilities on the site; the amendment restores that use consistent with city ordinance 10‑3‑90 and clarifies that an existing ground‑floor tobacco smoke and vape shop is a permitted use under the current proffers. Staff and the planning commission recommended approval; planning commission voted 6–0 in favor.

Quentin Callahan, attorney for the applicant, described the request as a clarification and clean‑up of prior approvals: “This is simply cleanup. We were trying to clean up various items,” he said during the hearing. Callahan and the applicant confirmed there has been some engineering work but no formal site submission to the city since the prior approvals.

The special‑use permit action updates the 2024 approval that allowed reduced setbacks to enable construction of an addition of up to roughly 60 residential units on the site; the council vote extends the time window consistent with the city’s three‑year period now applied to residential special‑use permits. Staff recommended a condition that the reduced‑setback permission apply only to the existing building on site and the planned addition.

Council members asked whether the tobacco smoke and vape shop now on the first floor would be affected by the revised proffers; staff confirmed the existing business would remain a permitted use and that the city now treats smoke and vape shops as a defined use with distance requirements from schools and childcare facilities. Council discussion noted the intent was to preserve existing lawful uses and restore the wireless telecommunications permissions that proffers had unintentionally barred.

Council approved the proffer amendment and the special‑use permit update with the time extension on separate roll‑call votes. The votes were unanimous among members present.