The Harrisonburg Planning Commission convened on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, at 6:00 PM in the City Council Chambers with six members present (Richard Baugh, Chair; Shannon Porter, Vice Chair; KC Kettler; Rob Jezior; Randy Seitz; and Laura Dent, Councilmember). Commissioner Heja Alsindi was absent. The Commission reviewed and acted on four public hearing items and one action item, forwarding all to City Council.
Okay. We're good. All right. I will call to order the August 12th, 2026 meeting of the Harrisonburg Planning Commission. At this point, six of the seven members of Commission, uh, Commissioner Al Cindy is not present at this time, although we expect he may be here eventually, but at this point we have six of the seven members present and have a quorum. Uh first order of business is review of the minutes for July 8th meeting. I'll make a motion to accept the minutes to submit. Second. Motion made by Vice Chair Porter, seconded by Commissioner Kettler. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed no. Minutes stand approved. And then uh same uh review of the minutes of our July 21st, 2026 meeting. Move to accept as presented. Second. Alright. Um motion by Commissioner Seitz, seconded by Councilmember Kent. Discussion. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed, no. All right, minutes stand, those minutes stand approved, which gets us to the first order on a new business, a request for a special use permit at 387 Monticello Avenue. Good evening, Commissioners. My name is Meg Rebke. I am a planner with community development. The applicant this evening is requesting a special use permit to allow a short-term rental at 387 Monticello Avenue in the R1 district. The surrounding properties are also zoned R1. The comprehensive plan designates this project or the subject property as in the surrounding areas as low density residential. And then here is an aerial of the site. The applicant has recently purchased the property and is requesting to operate a short-term rental while continuing to live at the home. The applicant would serve as the operator and has indicated the intent to make the rental available most weekend weekends throughout the year. Because the proposed operation would exceed 90 calendar nights per year and would occur within an accessory building. The applicant states that the available rental area would be limited to the lower floor of the accessory building and would include a bedroom, a living room, and one full bathroom. The space could accommodate up to four guests, although the applicant has indicated it would be generally marketed to two to three guests at a time. The applicant has also recently installed a small driveway from the existing public alley to provide guest parking and guest parking access to the accessory dwelling. The zoning ordinance for reference provides two routes for short-term short-term transient lodging, a buy right homestead and the short-term rental authorized by special use permit. A buy-right homestay must be located at the operator's primary residence, may be operated for up to 90 nights in the calendar year, and may host no more than four guests, and it has to be located within the principal dwelling. As mentioned before, since this request is planning to operate more than 90 nights in a year and an accessory dwelling. And in it and in an accessory dwelling, a special use permit would be required. Staff recommends conditions limiting the short-term rental to the accessory structure as described in the application, and limiting it to two uh accommodation spaces, no and for no more than four guests at one time. And we would also like to uh suggest conditioning to not require off street parking to be delineated as required. Other conditions would include um requiring a pre-off pre-operation form and allowing planning commission or city council to recall the special use permit if it becomes a nuisance. After review of this request, staff believes that it share similar characteristics with other applications for short-term rentals that have received approvals and staff recommends approval of the special use permit with the conditions. Okay, thank you. Uh questions of staff. Thank you. Uh at this point we'll invite the appropriate representative to speak.