Charlottesville can now go full speed ahead with implementation of a relatively new zoning code now that a lawsuit filed by a group of property owners has been settled.
On October 24, an attorney with the firm Flora Petit filed a motion for a nonsuit in Charlottesville Circuit Court. That ends any legal action as long as the city follows through on its agreement to prepare a traffic impact statement and submit it to the Virginia Department of Transportation.
“We have long believed that the most glaring deficiency in the process of passing the new Comprehensive Plan and the [new zoning ordinance] was a failure to plan for the impact of the NZO’s increased urban density on traffic congestion,” reads a statement from the group of plaintiffs.
A resource:
“We hope that by committing itself under the settlement to VDOT review of the NZO’s effect on our existing road system, the city will be encouraged not only to develop reasonable solutions for that problem but take a similarly hard look at the rest of the infrastructure needs as mandated by the state’s zoning law,” the statement concludes.
The settlement agreement requires the city to share VDOT’s response with the plaintiffs. Section four required the nonsuit to be filed within ten days of Council approving the settlement agreement.
If for some reason the city does not comply within a year, the plaintiffs have the right to refile the original suit. If the city does comply, the plaintiffs agree to not file any other legal claim against the zoning code.
Under the agreement, the city does not admit any wrongdoing or fault. Council has agreed to spend $650,000 to hire the firm 3TP Ventures to conduct the traffic impact study. The company has recently merged with the firm Line and Grade.
A major component of the city’s new Development Code is the ability for property owners to build substantially more residential density in almost all parts of the city.
That includes 2030 Barracks Road, a 0.83 acre property that will be subdivided into two lots with a 12-unit apartment building constructed on both.
Staff in the city’s Department of Neighborhood Development Services has conditionally approved a major development plan. Though the project is being built under the zoning code, City Council has to approve a special exception and staff has to approve a special exception to disturb critical slopes to proceed.
The Planning Commission was set to hear that special exception but the item was deferred in June, as is the critical slopes exception.
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