Charlottesville council adopts Tier 1–2 zoning fixes as residents demand faster anti‑displacement action
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Summary
After hours of public comment urging faster action to prevent displacement, Charlottesville City Council voted 4–1 to adopt tier 1 and 2 amendments to the development code and approved an updated fee schedule; community groups urged the council to initiate a zoning text amendment for stronger core‑neighborhood protections.
CHARLOTTESVILLE — Charlottesville City Council on Thursday adopted a package of technical and clarifying changes to the city’s development code while hearing repeated appeals from residents and community groups for quicker, stronger anti‑displacement measures.
Matt Alfley, the city’s development planning manager, told council the package — labeled tier 1 and tier 2 amendments — corrects scrivener errors, clarifies review timelines, and adjusts rules on setbacks, accessory structures and height bonuses. Alfley said the changes are intended to make the development review process clearer and to implement prior policy decisions made when the form‑based code was adopted in December 2023.
Residents and organizers used the public hearing to press for more substantive action. Emily Dreyfus of the Legal Aid Justice Center told council, “This really is a correction,” and urged officials to pursue a separate zoning text amendment that would impose a three‑story limit in core neighborhoods or require deeper affordability for any height bonus. Similar appeals came from community organizers and long‑time residents who said recent large student‑housing projects risked eroding historically Black neighborhoods and displacing low‑income residents.
Several speakers recommended concrete steps: initiating a formal zoning text amendment process to address tier 3 items now rather than later; earmarking one‑time surplus funds for land acquisition to preserve affordable housing; and adding special‑use permit pathways that tie increased height to deeply affordable units. Speakers repeatedly cited the proposed LV Collective student‑housing project and asked council to prioritize protections for West Haven, 10th & Page and other core neighborhoods.
Council debate reflected those tensions. At least one councilor described the tier 1/2 items as ‘‘small technical’’ fixes but said the public’s concerns warranted a separate process to consider larger policy changes. A motion to adopt the ordinance amending the development code as presented passed 4–1.
City staff also presented an update to the neighborhood development services fee schedule designed to align fees with the new review categories; council adopted the fee update in a separate 5–0 vote.
Councilors and residents agreed on the need for better outreach and more transparent engagement on major land‑use decisions, but they differed on timing and legal strategy. Several speakers asked the council to schedule a formal initiation of a zoning text amendment so that Planning Commission work and public engagement could proceed on a faster timeline.
The council did not adopt any of the community‑proposed height limits or mandatory affordability floors during the vote Thursday. Council members indicated they would consider how to move tier 3 issues — the larger policy changes community members requested — into the city’s work plan and whether to initiate formal zoning amendment proceedings.
