Title
Briefing on Options for Community Meeting Policy for Legislative Land Use Applications
Purpose
PURPOSE/BACKGROUND:
The Hampton Zoning Ordinance does not include an explicit requirement that applicants for rezoning or use permit must conduct a community meeting concerning their proposed development. As a matter of practice, Community Development staff encourages applicants to conduct a community meeting prior to Planning Commission or City Council public hearing. Some applicants voluntarily conduct a community meeting, but others do not. On occasion, City Council will defer action on an application and request that the applicant conduct a community meeting in the interim. This typically occurs in cases where there has been some public opposition to the proposal.
Members of council have expressed interest in potentially developing a formal policy or requirement for community meetings. This item identifies options for council to consider, which are based on policies or practices in other Virginia localities.
Discussion:
The range of options include: (1) require community meeting in all cases, without exception; (2) require community meeting; however, establish guidelines that will allow staff to waive the requirement under appropriate circumstances; or (3) no formal requirement, but request that applicants conduct community meeting or explain why one has not been conducted. The latter is similar to current practice in Hampton.
If City Council wants to require rezoning and/or use permit applicants to conduct a community, such requirement should be included in the Zoning Ordinance. The ordinance should identify when and how the meeting should be conducted, identify the required notice for the community, and state whether the requirement can be waived (and if so, how). Below are two examples of how this has been accomplished in other localities.
City of Norfolk: The zoning ordinance requires a “neighborhood meeting” for all development applications reviewed by the Planning Commission. The ordinance offers two options for compliance. An applicant can either partner with an applicable neighborhood organization to host the meeting or the applicant can host their own meeting with notice as required in the ordinance. The latter option is available in case there is not an applicable neighborhood organization or if such organization is uncooperative for whatever reason. The Norfolk ordinance does not include a process for staff to waive the neighborhood meeting requirement. However, the ordinance provides that in “lieu of a meeting, notification from a neighborhood organization indicating support or no opposition may be considered to meet” the requirement. Although the ordinance refers to “pre-application” neighborhood meeting, as a practical matter, Norfolk staff indicates that the meeting requirement must be satisfied prior to the Planning Commission public hearing. The text of the ordinance is found at the following link, Norfolk Zoning Ordinance § 2.3.2.(B)(2) <https://www.norfolkva.gov/norfolkzoningordinance/>.
City of Charlottesville: Charlottesville adopted a new zoning ordinance in February 2024. The new zoning ordinance does not require community meetings for all legislative applications. However, there was a requirement in the prior ordinance, which was instructive. Under the prior Charlottesville zoning ordinance, the director of neighborhood development services was authorized to establish written guidelines for community meetings, including notice requirements and a process for waiving the community meeting under certain circumstances. The former regulation is found at this link, former Charlottesville City Code § 34-41(c)(2) <https://library.municode.com/va/charlottesville/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=CO_CH34ZO>.
Impact:
This action aligns will the Council policies of Economic Growth, Place Making, Educated Citizenry and a Safe & Clean Community.
Recommendation:
Rec
The information is presented to aide Council in providing direction to staff regarding potential inclusion of a community meeting requirement in the Hampton Zoning Ordinance.
Body