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Planning commission recommends reduced Founders Hall setback after lengthy parking, height debate
Summary
The commission recommended approval (3–1) of MPA 2025-01 to reduce Founders Hall’s Washington Street setback from 34 to 21 feet; commissioners raised concerns about effective height on Lee Avenue, parking impacts and tree removals; W&L said parking studies and a landscape plan will follow at site-plan stage.
LEXINGTON, Va. — After extended discussion about parking, trees and building scale, the Lexington Planning Commission on Wednesday recommended approval of a master plan amendment that reduces the approved setback for Founders Hall on Washington Street from 34 feet to 21 feet.
The item, MPA 2025-01, applies to a Washington and Lee University capital project described in the campus master plan. Two commissioners recused themselves at the start of the hearing because of familial employment ties to the university. City staff explained the commission’s review must use the criteria in the institutional-district code provision (subsection 4-20-7.6(b)(1)) to determine whether the proposed plan “will not be detrimental to the public health, safety, and welfare or unduly injurious to property values or improvements in the neighborhood.”
Commissioners focused discussion on three recurring issues: parking, building mass/height and landscape impacts. Staff told the commission that a traffic study will be updated and reviewed at site-plan submission, which—because of a state procedural change—may be handled administratively by staff rather than through a legislative hearing. An attendee who said they had worked in the university’s admissions office described frequent, day-to-day parking shortages at the current location and spillover onto neighborhood streets.
Tom Kalaski, who identified himself at the hearing as the university’s executive director of university facilities, said the master plan amendment request is limited to the setback; he repeated that a detailed site plan and traffic study will follow and offered to hold a public forum and a meeting between commissioners and university consultants to review parking and circulation plans. “We are more than happy to have a public forum or meet with just the commissioners,” he said in response to questions about parking solutions.
Several commissioners said the combination of a 50-foot approved height and a smaller setback could make the structure appear much taller on Lee Avenue because the entry threshold sits several feet above street grade. One commissioner said that was a principal reason the commission and council had previously approved a larger setback in 2022. Others noted the 2022 campus master plan footprint and approvals and that some adjacent proposed projects have been relocated.
A motion to recommend approval of the setback reduction (as satisfying the code’s subsection 4-20-7.6(b)(1) findings) passed 3–1. The recommendation is advisory to City Council; a future site-plan application will present parking, landscape and stormwater details for staff review and any required permits.
