The Waynesboro Planning Commission recommended approval of zoning amendments to allow for cottage court housing in the city at its meeting on Tuesday night.
The 7-0 vote came after a presentation by City Planner Alisande Tombarge and a public hearing with one Augusta County developer expressing support for the concept. No residents spoke in opposition to the zoning amendments recommended by staff.
The matter will likely go before Waynesboro City Council in October.
Tombarge, in her presentation, said that cottage court housing is designed to promote a sense of community with a grouping of small houses arranged around a common area.
“It does appeal to a wide variety of people, including young professionals, couples, empty nesters, older adults, single adults and then also small families,” she said.
Several sections of the overall zoning ordinance for the city will need to be updated to allow for cottage court housing options.
The updates to zoning would include:
- Add a category for cottage court housing in table of housing types
- Amend use table to allow cottage court housing by conditional use permit which would be reviewed by staff, then the Planning Commission and City Council
- Ordinance would be updated to permit cottage courts in residential zoning districts and two mixed residential/business districts
- Amendment to definitions chapter to add a definition for cottage court housing
- Amendment to residential use standards section to establish new use standards specifically for cottage courts
To get approval for cottage court housing, there would be a multi-step review process:
- Add cottage housing to allowable use in zoning ordinance
- Applicants would still need to go through the conditional use permit process
- If approved, applicants would still go through with a site development plan or preliminary plat review process
Tombarge pointed to a regional housing study that she said reinforced there is a discrepancy in the size and type of units that are available in Waynesboro, Staunton and Augusta County.
“The study pointed out that one- and two-person households make up about 65 percent of households in the overall SAW region, whereas units with three or more bedrooms make up 70 percent of the housing stock,” she said. “Cottage courts could be a way to help fill a need for smaller housing that is not there currently.”
Cottage court housing could be used in some areas for short-term tourist or recreational rentals. However, this would only be considered in mixed residential/business districts and only if it fit in with the neighborhood around it. Residential neighborhoods would stay residential with no short-term units, she said.
“The ordinance doesn’t approve anything,” said Director of Community Development Leslie Tate in a discussion with Planning Commission members. “It really just allows someone to come forward with an application.”
Tate said the zoning amendments would open up cottage court housing as an opportunity.
Planning Commission Chair Will Flory told staff he would like to see language added to the cottage court definition to specifically exclude trailers or manufactured homes.
Tate said they would address the exclusion with legal counsel before a presentation to City Council. However, she said, if someone came to the planning department with a plan for a trailer court, they would point them away from the cottage court zoning designation to the mobile home park requirements.
One person spoke at the public hearing Tuesday night in favor of cottage court housing.
“I think as an industry, we need tools to try and address several issues: affordability, home supply, homelessness. And to me, this is one tool that can help us in this process,” said Scott Williams with Crescent Development Homes. Williams serves on the board of the local Home Builders Association and is the president of the Home Builders Association of Virginia. “It’s not an end all, cure all by any stretch, but it’s something that can help.
“I think everybody who reads a newspaper or watches TV knows that there are several issues right now … housing affordability is one, availability is another, in addition to the homeless crisis across the country.
“This isn’t a silver bullet, and there’s not an easy answer to any of this,” he said. “I commend staff for bringing forward something that will give us an opportunity to try and effect change in some way.”
Tombarge said that her research into cottage court housing didn’t show any drawbacks to the housing option, and there was a lot of positive feedback related to retirees liking the sense of community the housing structure provides.
“Based on the research I came across, people love them [cottage court units],” Tombarge said. “I haven’t come across any sort of negative articles on cottage court housing. They like the smaller living, especially I think, older adults.”
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Crystal Graham
