Fredericksburg planning commission hears pleas to guard Mayfield residents as staff backs Creative Maker rezoning

Bailey Thompson, the city’s senior planner, presented the Area 8 Small Area Plan and a companion zoning map amendment that would rezone 44 parcels in the Dixon Street/Mayfield area to a Creative Maker District and apply a T4M transect and form‑based code.

The staff recommendation, Thompson said, would permit a mix of walkable residential, neighborhood‑serving commercial and light manufacturing uses, add frontage standards and building types, and lean on historic tools such as character structures and a possible National Register nomination to encourage adaptive reuse. "The staff recommendation is to recommend approval," Thompson told the commission.

Residents and community groups urged caution. "We embrace revitalization without displacement," said Trudy Smith Wilson, president of the Mayfield Civic Association, who read plan language noting risks of displacement among long‑term residents, renters and owners of older housing. Smith Wilson asked the commission to require clarifications and enforceable equity protections before rezoning takes effect.

Sabrina Johnson, representing NAACP Fredericksburg, said the neighborhood’s history as one of the few places where Black families were able to build homes and businesses makes anti‑displacement measures urgent. "Meaningful engagement must mean more than legally sufficient notice," Johnson said, asking the commission to press staff and council for additional community meetings, plain‑language materials and monitoring to ensure homeowners remain in the neighborhood.

An industrial property owner, Jamie Scully, warned the commission that rezoning the I‑1 parcels would remove scarce industrial land that supplies jobs and municipal needs. "These buildings are large," Scully said, noting several properties of tens of thousands of square feet and arguing that industrial capacity is limited in Fredericksburg.

Staff answered questions about the plan’s tools: the community development block grant programs would remain available, the area lies in a HUBZone that can incentivize hiring locally, and National Register listing and local rehabilitation tax exemptions can unlock tax credits. Kaye Schwartz, the city’s planning and historic resources manager, said character structure incentives are intended to lower redevelopment costs for owners who reuse existing buildings rather than demolish them.

Commissioners asked staff to make implementation language more concrete and to itemize the incentive 'toolbox'—tax relief, grants, EDA programs and rehabilitation exemptions—so residents could better understand how benefits would flow. The commission also requested clearer cross‑references to earlier small‑area plans where incentive language is more explicit.

The public hearing remained open for additional input. Staff said it would continue to refine the plan text and bring back clearer implementation steps and potential incentive packages. The commission did not vote on the rezoning at the meeting; it will continue its review during future sessions. The Planning Commission is scheduled to reconvene on June 10, 2026.