Planning commission considers 31-unit townhome project on South Meadow amid split public reaction

The Richmond Planning Commission on Tuesday heard a special-use permit application seeking to allow up to 31 single-family attached dwellings on the 900 block of South Meadow Street, a roughly 32,000-square-foot (about 0.75-acre) vacant block in the Randolph neighborhood.

Staff planner Madison Wilson told the commission the site is in the R-5 single-family residential district and therefore requires a special-use permit for attached dwellings. Staff recommended approval, saying the proposal aligns with the Richmond 300 Master Plan’s housing objectives and that partner city agencies reviewed the plans and recommended approval with conditions, including screening mechanical equipment and providing at least one off-street parking space per dwelling.

“Staff finds the proposed use would not be detrimental to the general welfare of the community involved and would not create congestion in the streets in the area involved,” Wilson stated in her presentation.

The applicant, represented by Miss Markham, described the design and mitigation measures: rear-loaded garages, a newly named rear alley (Pollinator Place) with a rebuilt surface, new curb-and-gutter, sidewalks and ADA ramps, on-site stormwater management, and a phased construction schedule intended to limit staging impacts. Markham said the project’s unit types would range from roughly 1,400 to 2,000 square feet and that sales would be targeted to “missing middle” buyers in the high-$400,000s to low-$600,000s.

“We will provide an additional fire hydrant that will serve the property and the rest of the neighborhood,” Markham told commissioners during rebuttal, and she said the ordinance includes public-improvement conditions that must be satisfied by the Department of Public Works before the zoning administrator issues permits.

Supporters at the public hearing included Doug Vaughn, president of The Virginia Home, the current owner of the parcels. Vaughn said the organization received a $25,000,000 donation toward a new facility in Hanover and recommended approving the sale and redevelopment to fund that move.

Opponents—many of them neighborhood residents—raised concerns about parking, narrow one-way streets, emergency vehicle access, tree loss, construction impacts and stormwater runoff. Toni Mouts, a neighbor on Blair Street, said that adding 31 townhomes would be “out of character” and could exacerbate congestion where, she said, fire apparatus have struggled to access some streets.

Multiple residents described narrow alleys and one-way streets that they said already constrain parking and emergency access. Several speakers asked the commission to reduce density or require stronger construction and staging agreements with the applicant.

Commissioners pressed staff and the applicant on the basis for traffic and congestion findings. A numerical discrepancy surfaced during deliberations: staff materials initially cited a figure of 57 units per acre; a commissioner identified a calculation error and corrected the project density to 41 units per acre for 31 units on the roughly 0.75-acre site. Staff also noted that accessory dwelling units (ADUs) exist in the neighborhood but that none are proposed as part of this application.

After public comment and rebuttal, a motion to approve the special-use permit was made and seconded and commissioners debated the merits. Some commissioners supported the project as consistent with the master plan and noted proposed garages and infrastructure improvements; others said the scale was too dense for the immediate block and raised persistent concerns about parking and emergency access. The provided transcript ends during that deliberation; the roll-call vote on the motion is not recorded in the excerpt provided to the transcript.

The next procedural step is a commission vote on the motion; if approved, the ordinance will include the applicant’s public-improvement obligations and the condition that required improvements be completed or otherwise satisfied to the director’s determination prior to issuance of final permits.