Waynesboro City Council will decide the fate of cottage court housing to address affordability issues at its Jan. 13 organizational meeting.
It will be the first regular meeting of Council since new board members elected in November join the governing body including Ward A representative Lorie Strother and At-Large representative Jeremy Sloat. The newcomers will join Terry Short, re-elected in November, and current Councilors Jim Wood and Kenny Lee, both elected in 2022.
Earlier this month, City Council members received a brief presentation on the ordinance to amend the zoning ordinance to provide cottage court housing from staff before a public hearing. Cottage court housing was introduced to the city Planning Commission and City Council as a possible tool to help address affordable housing with the possibility of a less expensive housing option.
A cottage court is a group of small residential buildings made up of detached, attached or townhouse units, or tiny houses. Cottage housing fronts a common green space, a community area or garden, rather than a street. There would likely be a parking lot nearby that the residents would utilize but no driveways in front of the homes.
Cottage court housing could fill ‘substantial gap’ for affordable housing
Dan Layman, president and CEO of the Community Foundation of the Central Blue Ridge, encouraged City Council to allow cottage court housing to help fill the “substantial gap” in affordable housing.
“Cottage courts are one piece of the overall toolbox that is available for communities, and it is a tool that has been used successfully across the country to address the housing issues, but it is just one part of a total solution,” Layman said during the Dec. 9 public hearing.
A recent report found that within Waynesboro, 46 percent of households with one to two working adults with no children are working, but just getting by, not saving enough to work through emergencies that might come up and put them in jeopardy of losing their housing.
The report also showed that 57 percent of Waynesboro households are comprised of adults over the age of 65 with just enough income to cover basic routine expenses.
“Cottage courts for two individuals are a reasonable option for them to achieve affordable housing, and save money for their own continued growth as a family,” Layman said.
He also pointed to growing trends showing empty nesters moving into smaller housing units that are easier to maintain and cost less for heating and cooling.
“Although there are many other options for subsidized housing programs to help make traditional housing affordable, those resources are not unlimited,” Layman said. “Cottage courts can be one of the solutions that helps fill the substantial gap in the need for affordable housing that subsidies alone cannot address.”
Virginia Organizing representative Olivia Hathaway gave praise to City Council for considering the cottage housing policy.
“As someone who grew up in the SAW (Staunton, Augusta County, Waynesboro) area and still considers it home, I’m a big fan of repurposing and revitalizing existing developed land instead of expanding into the beautiful fields and forests of the region,” she said. “As an attendee of the recent SAW housing summit, I’m also pleased to see City Council responding to the identified housing shortage that’s making it hard for people to find affordable housing and hard for people to move through the stages of housing.”
The potential impact on existing neighborhoods
Pelham Drive resident Rebecca Garrett expressed concerns about how the zoning amendments could change the character of existing neighborhoods like Pelham.
She said that Charlottesville homeowners are facing uncertainty about their neighborhoods and property values after similar zoning changes. She said that single-family homes in Charlottesville are now being marketed and sold based on their development potential instead of as a single-family home.
“My concern centers on what this means for Waynesboro,” Garrett said. “For example, are there properties that are targeted or more appealing for this purpose or is it really open to any lot of the types listed in the ordinance which we just heard include all residential lots?
“If open to any lot, residents could possibly consider that every large house with a large yard or maybe those with aging occupants, deferred maintenance or other distressed properties, they may be more vulnerable to being purchased by a developer and being converted into multiple homes with a parking lot instead of being retained as a single-family home.
“Might this mean that every lot in Waynesboro could be open to becoming, at minimum, a duplex with a parking lot?”
She said she has concern that the zoning changes could lead to multiple rentals instead of encouraging home ownership.
“There is a need for the missing middle, and I absolutely agree with that, but there’s also opportunity in new developments and vacant land for sale all over Waynesboro,” said said. “If new developments were required to help meet this missing middle, it could help solve the issue rather than impacting or irreversibly altering established neighborhoods.”
Waynesboro resident Hashim Halstead said more housing is needed due to new industries, new needs and new people coming to Waynesboro.
“We need more housing for different levels,” he said. “If not this, then what? We need to find a solution to this housing situation.
“We need to start prioritizing people having a place to live versus a few people feeling mildly uncomfortable that their neighborhood might look different.”
Intent is to ‘drive down the cost’ of home ownership
City Council did not comment publicly at its Dec. 9 meeting about the proposed ordinance.
However, in November, following a presentation to City Council, Short said he’d like to see safeguards set up to prevent developers from buying up property under the new zoning and charging above-market rates for the rentals.
“The whole point of this is to create affordable access to starter homes, and I do fear that you could see companies like BlackRock or whatever, kind of coming into the community and buying up a bunch of parcels, and then just dumping these things out, and then charging $1,500 a month because they are going to make six grand in rent every month,” Short said at the meeting.
“The intent here, the purpose, is to drive down the cost of home ownership for folks in one-, two- person households. Period.”
Cottage Court housing: Four amendments under consideration
Sec. 98-2.3 Add cottage court as a housing type
Sec. 98-2.4 To permit cottages courts by conditional use permit in all residential districts and MX-B and L-B business districts
- RS-12 Single-family residential, large lot
- RS-7, single-family residential, small lot
- RS-5 Traditional residential
- RG-5 General residential
- R-MX Mixed residential
- R-MF Multi-family residential
- R-O Residential office
- MX-B Mixed business
- L-B Local business
Sec. 98-10.3 Add definition for cottage court
A group of small detached houses, attached houses, townhouses (limit of four units per structure and up to 50 percent of development), or tiny homes fronting around a common spaces. A cottage court may be developed on individual lots or with a common form of ownership.
Sec. 98-4.2 to add a new section for cottage court use standards
Includes the:
- Purpose and intent of cottage court housing type
- General use standards
- Unit size requirements
- Parking requirements
- Common area/space requirements
- Private area requirements
- Unit orientation requirements
- Buffers
Applicants would still need to go through the conditional use permit process and, if approved, the applicable site review process
The Planning Commission recommended approval of cottage court housing in a 7-0 vote.
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Crystal Graham
