Over a month has passed since Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Claude Worrell ruled in favor of a group of property owners who sought to overturn a new zoning code adopted in late 2023. An outside law firm working on behalf of the city failed to file a document on time, triggering a request for default judgment.
Since then, the city has embarked on a legal strategy to seek restoration of what’s officially known as the Development Code including a July 22 motion asking Judge Worrell to reconsider the June 30 ruling. They’ve argued that Judge Worrell did not sufficiently take into account the city’s good-faith efforts to prepare for a trial that had been scheduled for June 2026.
A hearing on that request is set for August 13 and attorneys for the plaintiffs have filed their response to the city’s motion.
“Unlike the typical litigant for whom a default judgment is finally determinative of the matter, the City has the ability to re-adopt the zoning ordinance at issue and presumably has the wisdom to correct the defects in that ordinance when doing so,” reads a footnote on the second page of the memo.
Charlottesville City Council voted on July 21 to refer the Development Code back to the Planning Commission for re-adoption. At issue in the lawsuit is whether the city sufficiently coordinated with the Virginia Department of Transportation about whether infrastructure could handle the additional density. See §15.2-2222.1 and §15.2-2284 of Virginia Code if you want the details.
“The City merely seeks to reargue a question that has already been decided, and therefore reconsideration is not appropriate,” reads section III of the plaintiff’s latest memo.
The hearing is set for 1:30 p.m. in Charlottesville Circuit Court.
Before you go: This story was first published in the August 7, 2025 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement and posted a day later to this website. Learn more about Town Crier Productions here.
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