A contested rezoning of roughly 89 acres along North Main Street (RZN2025-4) generated lengthy public comment and council debate at the Dec. 17 meeting. Staff reported the applicant seeks to rezone about 72 acres from B-2 to RU-18 to allow a proposed 497 residential units (329 townhomes and 168 age-restricted multifamily units) while preserving 17 acres of B-2 commercial frontage. A key applicant proffer was the conveyance of a 2.3-acre site and office building valued at approximately $6.27 million to Suffolk Public Schools as mitigation for school impacts.

Proponents argued the plan preserves trees, offers public waterfront access and park space, provides architectural controls and phases non-age-restricted units so school impacts are staggered. Developer representatives said the proposal includes traffic and safety improvements, a phasing schedule limiting certificates of occupancy in early years, and that the by-right commercial alternative would generate far higher traffic and greater school impacts.

Opponents, including parents and nearby residents, raised immediate concerns about overcrowded schools (children being taught in trailers), the timing of mitigation versus occupancy, failing traffic movements at Main & Constance, potential loss of commercial land along downtown Main Street, historic and archaeological resource protection, and the adequacy of traffic analysis. The applicant’s traffic engineer said the proposed plan would generate an estimated ~5,000 daily trips versus ~15,000 trips under a by-right scenario and emphasized multimodal safety work.

Council members debated the trade-offs between preserving a historic building and trees, freeing CIP dollars for school capital via the proposed building conveyance, the sufficiency of traffic mitigation and the effect of phasing on school capacity. Multiple council members said they wanted clearer commitments on occupancy phasing (and asked that age-restricted units be clarified in phasing language), explicit plans for how the conveyed building’s value would be applied to immediate school needs, and additional traffic modeling.

Council Member Wright moved — and the council seconded — a motion to defer the rezoning until Feb. 18, 2026 to allow time to address school/CIP implications, clarify phasing (especially how age-restricted units are sequenced) and refine proffers; the motion carried by recorded vote 7–0 (one member excused). The applicant indicated willingness to clarify that age-restricted units will come online first and to refine proffers before the next hearing.

Next steps: The item will return to council on Feb. 18, 2026 with the revised proffer package, phasing clarifications and any additional traffic or school-impact analyses requested by council.