The Harrisonburg Planning Commission met on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, 409 South Main Street. Six of seven members were present (Chair Richard Baugh, Vice Chair Shannon Porter, Councilmember Laura Dent, KC Kettler, Rob Jezior, and Randy Seitz); Heja Alsindi was absent. After a quorum was established, Fire Chief Matthew Tobia reviewed emergency procedures. The meeting included two rezoning requests, one special use permit, a major rezoning for The Link Apartments, annual reports, and committee reports. The meeting adjourned at 11:31 p.m.
In fact, we're at 6 o'clock, so I will call to order the March 11, 2026 meeting at the Harrisonburg Planning Commission. I will note the presence of everybody on the commission except for Commissioner Alcindy, so we have six of the seven presents and therefore have a quorum. And with that, because we've got a little larger crowd tonight, we've got a little special rules that we're the setup will be a little different. So I'm going to invite Chief Tobia to come forward and tell everybody what we're going to be expecting when we get to the part of the evening where we expect there'd be significant public comment. Great. Thank you, Chairball. Appreciate it. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Matthew Toby. I am your city fire chief. My job here this evening is to ensure everyone's safety as we conduct this business before the city. Couple of extremely important things. First and foremost, we want to make sure that if anything were to happen that we can safely uh leave the building. If the fire alarm sounds, we will all exit the structure. We'll go outside and we'll assemble on the sidewalk outside near South Main Street and allow the firefighters to respond, determine whatever emergency may be existing, resolve it, and then allow everyone to come back in. Otherwise, assuming that we have just our regular meeting, it's important to remember a few things. People will be arriving and they may want to have a we they may want to find a seat, make a new friend, uh welcome people to sit near you, and we will fill this space up to capacity, which is everyone in seats. That's 162 approximate seats in this room. And then we have arranged for additional overflow seating in the lobby of City Hall. Um there will not be any standing allowed in this space along the walls or in the back area, those doorways need to remain open. Uh during public comment, uh, if chairball is amenable to it, uh it is acceptable for people to line up a single file in the middle. Um, and then after you are done speaking, you are free to depart or return to your seat. Um, and then there will be, if we get into an overflow capacity, there will be people who will come in, be coming in from the overflow area after everyone in this space has had a chance to speak. Um if you have a medical emergency for whatever reason, just signal myself or the police officer at the back of the room, and we'll we will be a we will be happy to provide whatever services are needed. All right. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, sir. All right, our next order of business is review and approval of minutes of our February 11th meeting. Motion to approve. Second. Motion to approve by Commissioner Kettler, seconded by Vice Chair Porter. We're just getting started. I know. Uh all in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed, no. All right, minutes stand approved. Gets us to our first item under new business public hearings. Uh item 4A, a request to rezone a proffer amendment for 361 Franklin Street. Good evening. I am Nirma Soffel, a planner with community development. So the plus or minus 10,269 square foot property is zoned R8C. In 2023, City Council will approve the applicant's request to rezone the property from R1, single family residential district to R8C small lot residential district conditional to construct uh construct a single family home that would exceed the R1 district setback requirements. The rezoning including proffers to uh limit the property to only one dwelling and to establish a 20-foot setback along Franklin. The comprehensive plan designates this site, this site as low density residential, which consists of single-family detached dwellings in and around well-established neighborhoods with a target density of about four dwelling units per acre. The number of dwellings and density conform with the low density residential designation, and the R8 occupancy is the same as for the R1 district. The parcel is vacant, and the applicant continues to propose constructing a single family residence. In November of 2025, the applicant submitted a building permit request to build the proposed dwelling. During building permit review, it was determined that the proposed porch roof would require an amendment to the 2023 proffers.