In late September, the Stony Point Development Group held a required community meeting for the third phase of Dairy Central, a mixed-use project that is just under the threshold required for City Council to approve a special exception permit for additional height. In other words, this project is by-right under the city’s 2023 zoning code.
That Development Code is the third and final component of the Cville Plans Together initiative, a series of projects intended to increase the amount of housing that could be built across the city of Charlottesville.
The Affordable Housing Plan was the first and it called for “soft density” across the city which resulted in a Future Land Use Map and a new zoning which allows for many more residential units without City Council’s input. “Soft density” is also known as “missing middle” and the ability is embedded in the Development Code.
One example of this in practice can be seen at 1040 St. Clair Avenue in the Locust Grove neighborhood on which a single-family home will be demolished to make way for six units. The 0.213 acre parcel is zoned Residential-A, which allows six units on a lot if half of them are designated affordable. Learn more in this story from August 2026. A final site plan has been approved.
A working group of developers, staff, and other interested parties is leading efforts to loosen regulations in order to make it even easier for builders to construct more homes. The Planning Commission got an update on this missing middle work group from Ross Harness who said utilities are a barrier.
“It was also noted difficulties that arise from the city having a gravity-fed only sewer system and how sometimes that prevents lots in town from even being reached without having a private pump system that… increases the cost of construction of those properties and long-term maintenance on the private side,” Harness said.
Harness said there are many city policies that are preventing more housing units from being constructed such as requiring structures built on sublots needing to be spaced apart. He said the purpose of the group is to identify what developers call constraints.
“Next steps for this group are a site visit to some of the parcels that some of the members of the subcommittee have so that we can actually get out there and have a little bit more physical discussion about some of these constraints,” Harness said.
The Missing Middle work group is an informal committee, but I asked the city to provide a list of members. This was what was provided on September 10.
- Local Builders and Developers: Bob Pineo, A.J. Amigoni, Richard Price, Nicole Scro, Dan Zimmerman, Trent Lawhorn, and Dan Rosensweig
- Neighborhood Development Service: Matt Alfele, Carrie Rainey, Dannan O’Connell, Ben Koby, Madelyn Metzler, and Chuck Miller
- Public Works: Brennan Duncan, Caleb Smith
- Fire: Jason Campbell
- Utilities: Cody Tusing, Calvin Chan, Chuck Drennen, and Donald Schrager
- City Attorney’s Office: J Vaden Hunt and one other staff member
- Planning Commission: Ross Harnes and Betsy Roettger
The group also met on September 30, 2026. These events are not listed on the city’s two meeting calendars.
“Please also come prepared with concrete examples of engineering and stormwater-related
issues encountered in your Missing Middle-type projects,” reads the agenda. “Understanding real-world
constraints is critical to building an accurate technical baseline.”
Learn more about the Missing Middle Work Group here and also here on Connect Charlottesville.
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Paid subscribers cover the cost of conducting research for this article which was originally published in the September 28, 2026 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. You can either subscribe through Substack or make a charitable contribution.
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