The Virginia Beach Planning Commission held its informal hearing and public hearing on August 12, 2026. The commission considered a range of land-use items, including a short-term rental overlay boundary reduction, workforce housing code amendments, a mini-warehouse deferral, and 16 consent agenda items. It also received a briefing on data center regulation and discussed planning commission retreat logistics.
The commission approved the following by consent (11-0, with abstentions on certain minutes): the 2025-2026 Planning Commission annual report; minutes from the July 2 and August 6 site visits and the July 8 hearings; and agenda items:
Speakers on the short-term rental overlay amendments (items 1 and 2) expressed opposition:
No speakers appeared for item 17. The applicant, Pamela Hinton (Tiny Roots Learning Center), presented her child care proposal.
Short-term rental overlay boundary (items 1 & 2): Zoning Administrator Hannah Sabo explained two map options: the City Council resolution map would grandfather 50 permitted STRs; Alternative A (presented July 8) would grandfather 19 and retain part of the VIBE district and 17th Street blocks. Staff reported enforcement progress: noncompliant STRs in the overlay dropped from 107 in December 2025 to 16 in August 2026. Commissioners discussed transition rules; Commissioner Plumley moved to approve item 1 (text grandfather amendments) and item 2 with Alternative A. Commissioner Mosh requested consideration of a transition rule for pending applications, but this was not adopted.
Workforce housing (item 3): In the informal session, Housing Development Manager Sharon Schoaf explained the amendment removes a locality preference because it conflicts with LITEC and other federal/state programs. She noted a developer intending to prioritize local workers could not use both programs. Commissioners asked about compliance agreements (50-year term) and aligning local rules with HUD standards.
Item 7 (Indoor rec facility modification): Attorney Tyler Rose explained the request solely moves the CUP boundary to align with a new subdivision, removing the previously shown restaurant use from the concept plan. A deferred adjacent application (item 8) for a mini-warehouse involves a separate developer. The applicant agreed to add a pedestrian refuge near the driveway. The commission approved despite Vice Chair Byler's concern that hearing it separately from item 8 could confuse the public.
Item 17 (Child care): The applicant described 30+ years of experience and support from the community; the only opposition speaker (Ava Lahorn via WebEx) was not present. Commissioner Plumley abstained; the item was approved.
New business – Retreat and speaker order: Commissioners discussed scheduling a planning retreat for mid-October, possibly on October 14, and reviewed options for changing public hearing speaker order. No formal vote was taken.
Data center briefing: Staff provided an update on data center research, including industry definitions, impacts (noise, energy, water), and potential regulatory tools (size/energy caps, CUP requirement, technology overlay zone). Several commissioners supported requiring a CUP, categorizing data centers by scale, and possibly recommending a moratorium to City Council while regulations are drafted.
Good morning of the Planning Commission. Welcome to the August 12th informal hearing. Yeah, they're this morning, man. Move on into the speaker. Okay, off we go. Thank you. Good morning, Planning Commission. I'm Hannah Sabo, zoning administrator. The first two items are related to short-term rentals at the Oceanfront, short-term rentals, also called STRs. So I'll be using the acronym STR moving forward. Item one is an amendment to section 241.2 of the zoning ordinance. And then item two is an amendment to the Oceanfront Resort short-term rental overlay district. On April 21st, 2026, City Council approved a referral resolution sponsored by Vice Mayor Wilson and council members Remek, Shulman, and Henley relating to short-term rentals within the Oceanfront Resort District. That was a two-fold change or proposed change, an update and reduction in the STR overlay map to address the proliferation of STRs at the oceanfront and reduce impacts to the neighborhood. And I'll just note that during the 2024 Virginia Beach housing study, stakeholders did identify concerns with STRs reducing the supply of rental housing. And so that was the reason for that overlay change. The other portion of this was a revision to the parking requirements for STRs within the overlay. That was held at your last planning commission meeting. You guys voted on that, and then it was last night deferred at City Council to the September 1st City Council meeting to be heard along with the map update as well. So today we will just be talking about the overlay boundary revision. So with the there are two different maps that we'll be looking at, and we'll get to those in a moment, but first I wanted to discuss what will happen to those STRs if they are mapped out of the overlay. So legally operating short-term rentals, which are mapped out of the overlay. So they are currently within the SDR overlay, and this a proposal would perhaps map them out of that. Um they would become grandfathered. They would be permitted to continue their SDR use under the conditions of their CUP, with the exception that grandfathered SDRs can't expand the footprint of the dwelling beyond 25% or a thousand square feet, whichever is less. And if they are not used as an SDR for a period of two years, they will lose their grandfather designation. If this ordinance is approved, any STRs operating illegally, so without a CUP or without their SDR permit, or properties which don't currently have a CUP for an STR that are mapped out of that overlay, they would no longer be able to apply for a CUP for an STR. So the updated STR overlay map proposed as part of the resolution shown here. Um and I'll zoom in in a moment, but the portions in purple uh here would be removed with this map. There are 50 permitted STRs that would become grandfathered by that change. Those SDRs would go from about Pacific and 20 and a half street uh to the blocks facing 17th Street. During the July 8th, 2026 Planning Commission meeting, an alternative map was presented. This map, alternative A, keeps a portion of the VIBE district within the SDR overlay along with a block to the north of 17th Street and the half block to the south of 17th Street. And there are 19 STRs that would become grandfathered by this map amendment. So zooming in here to the area that differentiates between the two. Uh we have I'll also just note here that this when I zoom in, is it also shows an update to the compliant versus non-compliant STRs. Um we didn't change it when we're doing all of the briefings. We want to keep the same kind of data on there, but this data was from 2025, the compliant versus non-compliant data, I'll say. And then um, so these zoomed-in ones have the current data as of last month, and I'll just note that non-compliant STRs within the Oceanfront Resort Overlay at large went from 107 in December of 2025 to only 16 this month. So just a shout out to our STR team that is doing great work on that. So here we have the STR resolution map. And then if we toggle to alternative A, you can see that this one keeps a portion of that vibe district within the STR overlay along with the block to the north of 17th Street and the half block to the south of 17th. Since the resolution was adopted by City Council during their April 21st meeting, a number of public meetings and outreach efforts have occurred. Uh briefings to the planning commission, resort advisory commissions, and subcommittees, among others, all of which were open to the public. We also briefed the Hampton Roads Real Estate Association during the July 7th City Council hearing to extend the resolution timeframe. And then that July 8th public uh planning commission hearing, which deferred the item. Uh there were no speakers signed up to speak at either of those items. On July 22nd, a landing page was added to the STR website, which provided information on the proposed amendment. It had both maps on there, and then contact information for any questions. And that a link to that website was included where we sent out the mailers to all affected properties for this meeting.