OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Harrisonburg Planning Commission Work Session on Zoning Ordinance Update - June 18, 2026

City Council & Planning CommissionThursday, June 18, 2026
BodyHarrisonburg, Virginia
SessionCity Council & Planning Commission
DateThursday, June 18, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 2:27:44

Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

Yeah, I say we're gonna get started.

0:01

Okay, then I will call to order this uh work session, June 16, 2026 work session of the planning commission to consider zoning work's update project.

0:12

Um roll call will be we've got five of the commissioners present.

0:17

Uh looks like vice chair order and council member down are not with us.

0:21

The other five members are present, so we do have a forum.

0:25

Um stay us to mention just could be benefit of anybody who maybe you know, we otherwise that this is being recorded, so like any other planning commission meeting, anybody who's uh not able to participate for some reason just to go away now will be available online for people who subsequently people who are here, there are bathrooms outdoors.

0:44

Okay, that we'll be fairly as informal as we can be nice, but we really just flag us down, but make sure you're taken care of.

0:53

But with that, I think we're ready to go ahead and start with the actual agenda of starting item three, a presentation on the communications and public engagement plan for the zoning ordinance update project that leaves works.

1:05

You're going forward.

1:07

Okay, thank you.

1:08

All right.

1:09

Thank you.

1:10

Sarah, and everyone, I'm Mike Sparks, I'm at the city's director of communications public engagement.

1:15

Uh, a brief presentation for you tonight in regards to the communications uh public engagement strategy.

1:22

Uh, that Tom, Wesley, I, and Kylie Hulver in my office have been working on to start talking more with the community about this efforts.

1:31

Uh, one thing I I will ask you to keep in mind as we move forward is with any communication strategy, these things evolve.

1:37

As we start working with the community, as we learn more, as we see how the community is interacting with our engagement activities.

1:44

We may need to tweak some of those things.

1:46

We may need to mold, add more.

1:49

Excuse me.

1:50

We may see that some of these things aren't working and we don't continue with those.

1:53

So uh, but this is a draft uh that will be updated throughout the process.

1:58

We've established three goals uh for this communications in the public engagement strategy.

2:05

The first is to educate the community on the different aspects of the current zoning ordinance update project.

2:11

And this is uh through an initial period from this summer to the end of the year.

2:16

It's currently what we're looking for for this initial period.

2:19

Again, that's something that may continue into 2027 if we see that we need more community engagement.

2:25

Uh as we see how the community is interacting with us, we'll play that by year and may need to extend this.

2:30

Uh, but that education, that engagement is going to focus on these main items that we have listed here.

2:38

Uh, in addition to you know, providing an opportunity if there are some issues that you don't see on this list that people want to discuss for us to obtain that input.

2:48

Uh, this this is anytime that we're doing a communications and engagement strategy, we don't want to turn away engagements.

2:56

If we're hearing things that are not on this list, we want to take that in.

2:59

We want to create avenues to keep having those conversations.

3:02

Uh goal two, create avenues for feedback and encourage input.

3:05

This isn't just us talking to people, these need to be conversations that we want to have with our community members.

3:10

Uh so uh we want to create a number of different ways for people to provide that feedback, no matter what uh works best for them in person, virtual, a number of different in-person opportunities.

3:21

We'll get into here in a little bit.

3:23

And then finally, anytime we do community engagement, we want to show the community how we are using that input.

3:28

How is it impacting our plans?

3:30

What are we doing with that input?

3:32

So that is something that we'll be incorporating throughout this process to let people know that we are hearing from them and how that is changing what we are looking to bring to the community.

3:43

So these are our three main strategies.

3:45

We want to educate the community about this project by breaking it into easy to understand uh discussion points.

3:52

So if you want to come and talk to us about just one portion of this plan, you'll have the opportunity to do that.

3:58

If you want to talk about everything that was on this list, you can do that as well.

4:02

But we know that some of these things are going to be things that some in our community are only interested in one or two pieces.

4:09

We don't want them to have to go through the an entire engagement period.

4:13

If they really only want to provide some very nuanced feedback to us.

4:17

Uh, so we want to do that uh in a number of different ways, knowing that we have a number of different audiences uh that this impacts.

4:24

Uh additionally, we want to create those uh avenues for community members to provide that feedback, as I mentioned uh in personal and virtually.

4:33

This is one of those areas that I think uh could change the most as we move into this plan, as we are hearing from community members.

4:39

If we realize that there are audiences that we are not reaching, and we need to do more to reach certain segments of our population who may be impacted by the zoning ordinance update projects.

4:48

And then finally, we're gonna highlight how that input is being incorporated.

4:52

You're gonna see that on our website.

4:53

You're gonna see that in future presentations to show that that this is having an impact as we're hearing from you.

5:01

Number of different tactics and activities that we want to bring to our community, uh, starting with these work sessions, uh, start talking with you all uh more about what's going on, get your feedback, what you're hearing, obviously from the community.

5:16

Uh, we need to hear those things.

5:18

Right now, we're looking at probably two larger public meetings, knowing that there's going to be smaller public meetings, some more nuanced public meetings, but uh two meetings, different locations in our community.

5:30

And this is going to be uh all hands on deck situation.

5:34

We're going to have tables for for every one of these topics, multiple people at each table, multiple handouts at each table.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Zoning And Land Use█████████████████████████████████████████████51%
Community Engagement████████████████████23%
Affordable Housing███████████13%
Historic Preservation████5%
Economic Development████5%
Procedural1%
Legislative Process1%
Engineering And Infrastructure1%
Summary of Proceedings

Harrisonburg Planning Commission Work Session on Zoning Ordinance Update - June 18, 2026

Note: The agenda and minutes list the meeting date as June 16, 2026, but the user-specified date is June 18, 2026. This summary uses the user-specified date.

The Harrisonburg Planning Commission held a work session on the Zoning Ordinance Update Project on June 18, 2026, from 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM. All seven commissioners were present (Richard Baugh, Chair; Heja Alsindi; KC Kettler; Rob Jezior; Randy Seitz; Shannon Porter, Vice Chair, who joined at 6:05 PM; and Laura Dent, Councilmember, who joined at 6:22 PM). Staff from Community Development, the City Attorney's Office, and Communications were also present. No public comment was received, as the meeting was a work session.

Presentation on Communications and Public Engagement Plan

  • Michael Parks, Director of Communications and Public Engagement, presented the draft plan. The goals are to educate the community on zoning basics and proposed changes, create avenues for feedback, and demonstrate how input is incorporated. Initial engagement (summer 2026 to end of 2026) will focus on: what is zoning, proposed new districts and map, reduced lot area and setbacks, streamlined development procedures, and the Neighborhood Commercial district. Tactics include two large public meetings (planned for August 2026), mini-pop-ups, a stakeholder meeting, a detailed website with feedback forms, social media, a virtual meeting, media coordination, a display at City Hall, a mailer, and an email list. Commissioners stressed the importance of explaining "why zoning" and the link to the Comprehensive Plan to build public understanding.

Review of Draft Zoning Ordinance Text and Map

  • Deputy City Attorney Wesley Russ reviewed 2026 Virginia General Assembly bills affecting the project: HB 655 (manufactured homes allowed on residential lots, effective July 1, 2026); HB 1212 (requires a district allowing 3,000 sq ft lots and 30 ft widths, effective July 1, 2026); accessory dwelling unit legislation (effective July 1, 2027); and affordable housing on religious/nonprofit properties (still pending). Staff will investigate the relationship between Virginia manufactured housing standards and HUD standards.
  • Staff presented draft Article B (Zoning Districts) and a portion of Article C (Use Regulations) along with the draft Zoning Map. Key points included:
    • Addition of the Flexible Residential District to comply with the new state small lot requirement.
    • Definitions of duplex (two units on one lot), single-family attached (two units on separate lots, attached), and townhomes.
    • Garden Communities District density set at 15 units/acre (same as current R-3) to avoid enabling wholesale redevelopment of off-campus student housing without better design standards.
    • Discussion on narrow lots: narrow lots typically rely on rear alleys, but alley maintenance is a concern. Commissioners suggested requiring deed restrictions for front driveway prohibition when subdividing narrow lots.
    • Commercial properties with 200+ feet of frontage must have a shared access plan when subdividing.
    • Neighborhood Commercial and Mixed Use districts will require special use permits for auto-centric uses (e.g., drive-throughs, car washes).
    • Proposed prohibition of parking lots between buildings and public streets downtown.
    • Commissioners raised concerns about the lack of substantial reform, such as inclusionary zoning, a housing trust fund, eliminating single-family zoning, and reducing parking requirements. Comparisons were made to Charlottesville's recent zoning overhaul. Staff noted that the current draft is limited by the existing Comprehensive Plan, and more significant changes will be part of Phase Two (2027).
    • Commissioners discussed the need for a clear vision for Harrisonburg's future, the role of leadership, and the economic engine that will drive growth. The importance of preserving historic character without over-regulation was also debated.

Key Outcomes

  • No votes were taken; this was a work session to gather feedback from commissioners.
  • Staff will refine the draft ordinance and map based on the discussion.
  • Public engagement activities will begin in summer 2026, with two open house meetings scheduled for August 2026.
  • Formal public hearings before the Planning Commission and City Council are anticipated in November/December 2026.
  • Phase Two of the zoning update (more substantive reforms) will commence in 2027, concurrent with the Comprehensive Plan update.
  • Staff will provide materials for future monthly work sessions, and commissioners will receive advance questions to guide discussion.
  • Commissioners requested additional information on manufactured housing standards and the timeline for state building code updates.

Meeting Transcript

Yeah, I say we're gonna get started. Okay, then I will call to order this uh work session, June 16, 2026 work session of the planning commission to consider zoning work's update project. Um roll call will be we've got five of the commissioners present. Uh looks like vice chair order and council member down are not with us. The other five members are present, so we do have a forum. Um stay us to mention just could be benefit of anybody who maybe you know, we otherwise that this is being recorded, so like any other planning commission meeting, anybody who's uh not able to participate for some reason just to go away now will be available online for people who subsequently people who are here, there are bathrooms outdoors. Okay, that we'll be fairly as informal as we can be nice, but we really just flag us down, but make sure you're taken care of. But with that, I think we're ready to go ahead and start with the actual agenda of starting item three, a presentation on the communications and public engagement plan for the zoning ordinance update project that leaves works. You're going forward. Okay, thank you. All right. Thank you. Sarah, and everyone, I'm Mike Sparks, I'm at the city's director of communications public engagement. Uh, a brief presentation for you tonight in regards to the communications uh public engagement strategy. Uh, that Tom, Wesley, I, and Kylie Hulver in my office have been working on to start talking more with the community about this efforts. Uh, one thing I I will ask you to keep in mind as we move forward is with any communication strategy, these things evolve. As we start working with the community, as we learn more, as we see how the community is interacting with our engagement activities. We may need to tweak some of those things. We may need to mold, add more. Excuse me. We may see that some of these things aren't working and we don't continue with those. So uh, but this is a draft uh that will be updated throughout the process. We've established three goals uh for this communications in the public engagement strategy. The first is to educate the community on the different aspects of the current zoning ordinance update project. And this is uh through an initial period from this summer to the end of the year. It's currently what we're looking for for this initial period. Again, that's something that may continue into 2027 if we see that we need more community engagement. Uh as we see how the community is interacting with us, we'll play that by year and may need to extend this. Uh, but that education, that engagement is going to focus on these main items that we have listed here. Uh, in addition to you know, providing an opportunity if there are some issues that you don't see on this list that people want to discuss for us to obtain that input. Uh, this this is anytime that we're doing a communications and engagement strategy, we don't want to turn away engagements. If we're hearing things that are not on this list, we want to take that in. We want to create avenues to keep having those conversations. Uh goal two, create avenues for feedback and encourage input. This isn't just us talking to people, these need to be conversations that we want to have with our community members. Uh so uh we want to create a number of different ways for people to provide that feedback, no matter what uh works best for them in person, virtual, a number of different in-person opportunities. We'll get into here in a little bit. And then finally, anytime we do community engagement, we want to show the community how we are using that input. How is it impacting our plans? What are we doing with that input? So that is something that we'll be incorporating throughout this process to let people know that we are hearing from them and how that is changing what we are looking to bring to the community. So these are our three main strategies. We want to educate the community about this project by breaking it into easy to understand uh discussion points. So if you want to come and talk to us about just one portion of this plan, you'll have the opportunity to do that. If you want to talk about everything that was on this list, you can do that as well. But we know that some of these things are going to be things that some in our community are only interested in one or two pieces. We don't want them to have to go through the an entire engagement period. If they really only want to provide some very nuanced feedback to us. Uh, so we want to do that uh in a number of different ways, knowing that we have a number of different audiences uh that this impacts. Uh additionally, we want to create those uh avenues for community members to provide that feedback, as I mentioned uh in personal and virtually.

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