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 r...
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