Charlottesville sets June 27 open house to gather input on zoning ordinance rewrite

The City of Charlottesville has started the process of updating the city’s zoning ordinance, and will host an open house event on Monday, June 27, to gather input on the proposed zoning approach.

The Charlottesville Department of Neighborhood Development Services has been working in partnership with a consultant team on a three-part process called Cville Plans Together. Earlier efforts focused on creation of an Affordable Housing Plan (endorsed by the City Council in March 2021) and updating Charlottesville’s Comprehensive Plan (adopted November 2021).

The third and final part of this project is a zoning ordinance rewrite. You can find out more about the Cville Plans Together process and view materials from previous phases at cvilleplanstogether.com.

The zoning ordinance comprises a set of municipal laws that regulate the development of buildings and the use of land. It is an important factor in how the community manages and prepares for the growth and evolution of its physical space.

You can learn more about zoning in the Zoning 101 overview posted on the Cville Plans together website.

The purpose of the zoning ordinance rewrite is two-fold:

• To ensure that the zoning ordinance effectively implements the Affordable Housing Plan and the newly updated Comprehensive Plan, including the Future Land Use Map.
• To make other needed updates to streamline and clarify the ordinance.

Draft diagnostic and approach report available

The first steps in the zoning ordinance rewrite are to identify the changes that are needed to the zoning ordinance and an approach for addressing them.

View the draft Zoning Diagnostic and Approach Report at cvilleplanstogether.com/zoning-plan/draft-approach. This document identifies issues with the current ordinance and establishes a proposed approach to updating the ordinance.

Please note that we have not yet developed a draft zoning map or draft zoning text. The Report outlines a proposed set of changes and the purpose of this event and the summer community comment period is to gather input on this approach before we share a draft zoning map and text.

Details: Upcoming Open House

What: Drop-in Open House
Date: Monday, June 27
Location: Ting Pavilion (700 E. Main St.)
Time: 4-8 p.m.

All materials from the open house will also be available at cvilleplanstogether.com/zoning-plan.

To stay up to date on upcoming opportunities to review materials and provide your input, please sign up for the project email list.