Speakers seek answers on next steps
Nine days have passed since Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Claude Worrell voided the city’s Development Code after a law firm working on a defense of the rules failed to file an important document.
That has left some believing that the city has no zoning code, with others arguing that the old rules were instantly put back in place when the motion for a default judgment was granted. Plaintiffs in White v. Charlottesville sought to have the rules thrown out ab initio as if they were never in place at all.
City Manager Sam Sanders had little to say at City Council’s meeting on July 7.
“We are not going to discuss matters of negotiation, even including disciplinary action for those that we hire to work for us and do different things,” Sanders said.
Others did have something to say.
Scott Collins is a civil engineer in the community who called for Council to officially put the old rules back in place given the uncertainty of an appeal of Judge Worrell’s judgement.
“It’s really hard for any project to sort of move forward with a brand new project with that lawsuit hanging out there, knowing that within 12 months this could happen again,” Collins said. “And talking with my clients, they’ve gotten to witness what it could really be like if the city does lose this lawsuit a year from now.”
Collins pointed to the many projects that are still being reviewed under the old code as an example of how this might work until the new code can be restored. For instance, the Charlottesville Planning Commission on July 8 reviewed the design of a 267-unit project at 1185 Seminole Trail in their capacity as the Entrance Corridor Review Board.
One of my readers has contacted me to remind me of a Virginia Supreme Court decision in May 2023 that voided the zoning ordinance in Fairfax County.
The case of Berry v. Board of Supervisors of Fairfax County hinged on whether adopting a new zoning ordinance was something allowed at a time when the COVID-19 emergency prevented in-person meetings. (read the ruling)
- Virginia Supreme Court rules Fairfax Supervisors erred in amending zoning code at electronic meeting, March 23, 2023
The ruling voided the code ab initio, meaning from the beginning.
A member of the group Livable Cville critiqued the system of checks and balances that allows for people to seek legal relief.
“We were not surprised when comfortably housed people sued to prevent the city from addressing its affordable housing goals,” said Michael Crenshaw. “Now, after failing to succeed through democratic processes, the plaintiffs declined to argue their case on its merits, instead using a procedural misstep to avoid a substantive debate through the courts.”
The White v. Charlottesville case had been scheduled to go to trial in June 2026 to allow both sides to argue whether the city followed Virginia regulations and code over the coordination of land use planning and transportation. The plaintiffs specifically argued that the city did not comply with §15.2-2222.1 and §15.2-2284.
In Virginia, the judicial system is enshrined in Article VI of the Constitution, a document that follows the model of the United States Constitution.
“The legislative, executive, and judicial departments shall be separate and distinct, so that none exercise the powers properly belonging to the others, nor any person exercise the power of more than one of them at the same time,” reads Article III of the Virginia Constitution.
Chris Meyer is one of several property owners who had taken advantage of the new code to submit a plan to build 14 units on Harris Road in the Fry’s Spring neighborhood. Several weeks ago he appeared before Council to ask what would happen if the new rules were thrown out.
“I asked a couple weeks ago, what is plan B?” Meyer said. “And unfortunately I haven’t seen the Plan B yet and I know there are folks working on it, but I was a little surprised that I think the Plan B hadn’t been kind of worked out and that we were caught a little off guard from Judge Worrell’s response.”
Meyer called for the city to hold the law firm Gentry Locke accountable for their error and to seek financial damages.
The city has paid the firm $51,000 for their work and are still currently retained according to Afton Schneider, Charlottesville’s director of communications and public engagement.
When it was time for him to present his report to Council, Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders said he would not be discussing the future of zoning publicly.
“But do believe that this organization is working hard to make sure that we address the individuals that made mistakes in representing the city in its recent legal case,” Sanders said. “And we will make sure that we bring forward what is a reasonable resolution as quickly as we possibly can.”
The June 2026 trial date is no longer listed in the case file for White v. Charlottesville in the records of the Charlottesville Circuit Court. An appeal does not yet appear to have been filed with the Virginia Court of Appeals.
Council has a legal briefing in a closed session that took place after the 4 p.m. work session. The Charlottesville Planning Commission will have one this afternoon at 5 p.m. before their regular meeting.
Sanders also gave an update on his work plan, and I’ll have that story in a future edition of the newsletter.
Before you go: This is the third of four stories from Charlottesville City Council’s meeting on July 7, 2025 that were published in the July 8, 2025 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. Both this website and the newsletter are examples of Town Crier Productions.
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