The Harrisonburg Planning Commission voted 5-1 Wednesday night to recommend that the city council approve The Link, a controversial multi-story apartment complex planned for downtown. WMRA’s Bridget Manley reports.
ROLL CALL VOTE: Alright then, roll call vote, I guess, please…. Vice-Chair Porter…No…Commissioner Seitz…Yes…Commissioner Kettler…Aye…Council member Dent…Aye…Commissioner Jezior…Aye…Chair Baugh…Aye…So, this goes forward to city council with a non-unanimous staple of recommendation on April 14.
The development, which is proposed to be built on ten parcels between South Main and South Liberty streets near City Hall, would sit very close to the heart of downtown Harrisonburg, where the current Lindsey Funeral Home is located.
Commissioner Shannon Porter voted against the recommendation, citing concerns about the building's management plan and wanting a greater investment in affordability.
Last August, after a lengthy public meeting where comments extended past midnight, the Harrisonburg City Council postponed their decision on the project for six weeks to gather more information. Afterwards, the city had to restart the entire process because it failed to publish the public notice in a newspaper in July, as legally required.
The city needs to change the properties’ zoning designation from "R3," which only allows three-story buildings, to "B-1C" zoning, which permits a higher-density, mixed-use, and taller development.
The project’s developers returned with several changes to their original plan, including lowering the density from 265 units to 250, contributing $93,000 to Harrisonburg’s affordable housing fund, and designing a “smaller, less imposing” building. They did not, however, reduce the number of floors the building would have – they still propose a six-story building.
Todd Rhea, an attorney with Clark and Bradshaw representing the developers, said The Link would align with the city’s 2040 comprehensive plan by capitalizing on underused space for mixed-use and residential developments.
TODD RHEA: An overarching goal of the 2040 plan is the pressing need to increase population density in the city center. Simply stated, downtown needs more residents. And more residential density is needed to help support downtown businesses. The plan also recognized that the city is running out of old buildings to remodel and focus on new and dense residential construction should be directed.
The city council room was packed Wednesday night, and public comment lasted for hours as commissioners listened to those supporting and opposing the project.
Those opposed highlighted the strain on services such as water, sewer, and roads, the social disruption to quiet neighborhoods, the size and appearance, and the environmental impact.
Jeff Roy lives in the Oldtown neighborhood. He is against the proposed property, saying the proffers don’t go far enough to fix what the development will bring.
JEFF ROY: The proffers offered aren’t going to mitigate our traffic problems, and the taxpayers are going to pay for it. Saying that we are going to come back and fix the problem later when we figure out what exactly those problems are going to be, even though some of them could be predicted, is not going to take away from the fact that we, as taxpayers, are going to pay to fix that. And there is no proffer that is going to cover the cost of that.
Sam Nickels, a resident of Harrisonburg, supports the project. He says there is a lack of housing for low-, middle-, and high-income residents, which leads to a domino effect that impacts low-income residents the hardest.
SAM NICKELS: One thing that is important about this development is not that it will serve low-income people directly, but it will do so indirectly because it will take pressure off of the lowest income group by providing more housing for middle- and upper-income populations.
Mark Facknitz also lives in the Oldtown neighborhood and opposes the project.
MARK FACKNITZ: I heard the complaint that “the building is ugly” is a matter of taste – that may be. But there is a metric for big. And for the fact that it is six stories, and its street-to-street sprawl would change access to sunlight, to the movement of air, to the percolation of rain, and the way people – residents and visitors – regard the approach to downtown.
Sarah Baker-McEvilly, owner of BMC Bakes in Harrisonburg, supports the project. She mentioned that in the last two years, 10 businesses have closed in downtown Harrisonburg, and having more residents downtown could help more businesses succeed.
SARAH BAKER-MCEVILLY: One of the most important things we can do to support downtown businesses is simple – allow for the development of more housing for the many people that desire to live downtown. Right now, there is an extreme shortage of apartments downtown. A healthy rental market typically has a vacancy rate of around 8%, which I’m sure you all know. Downtown rental vacancy rate is closer to 2%. Most units are rented nearly a year in advance, and prices continue to rise because supply is not keeping up with demand.
The zoning request will now move forward to the city council for its approval.
