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Council, commissioners debate mixed-use options on Maple Avenue and rezoning criteria for housing diversity
Summary
Councilmembers and planning commissioners discussed allowing ground-floor residential off Maple Avenue, rezoning criteria for townhouse or multilevel housing, and market constraints such as parking, loading and current tenant leases; some council members urged clear comparative data on Vienna's high share of single-family housing.
City staff and the Planning Commission urged councilmembers to review proposed land-use language that retains Maple Avenue as a mixed-use corridor but adds a lighter mixed-use designation allowing, in some locations, ground-floor residential as an option rather than a requirement.
"Mixed use does not mean you must have mixed use. It means you have kind of options of uses," David Levy, director of Planning and Zoning, said while showing the Maple Avenue map. Staff said the light-purple areas on page 49 would permit ground-floor residential in locations that do not face Maple Avenue and make it easier for developers to propose diverse housing types without forcing retail frontages.
Commissioners and council members focused on how those changes would work in practice around the Giant shopping center and other deep lots. One planning commissioner described the approach as opening the door to redevelopment set back from Maple Avenue so that retail remains at the frontage and denser housing can sit behind it.
Council member Chuck (speaker 3) urged caution about treating the change as piecemeal: redevelopment would likely be a major redesign rather than an incremental addition, he said, and neighbors need to be part of the conversation. Another commissioner noted Vienna is heavily skewed toward single-family housing (staff cited an estimate near 80% single-family) and recommended adding comparative tables or a fact book to provide context for future rezoning deliberations.
Staff pointed to draft Policy 2.4 (page 52) as proposed criteria for residential rezonings and asked whether council wanted those criteria to be the comp plan's guidance. The planning commission recommended keeping a high bar for neighborhood-mixed-use designations while preserving a path for rezonings where appropriate.
No rezoning or ordinance changes were adopted at the meeting; staff invited council input and suggested council could direct changes at the May 18 session following the public hearing.
