By Lizzie Stone, city council reporter
A proposed mixed-use building — with four floors of apartments, three levels for parking, plus additional retail space — received zoning approval so it could be built along Port Republic Road.
The building, which is at 810 Port Republic, is being called the Vista at Forest Hills and will be constructed on a lot that has a steep incline. The plan takes advantage of the space with underground parking areas that will also support the higher levels.
The buildings will have a maximum of 119 apartments and 440 bedrooms. Developers will be required to build at least an average of 1.35 parking spaces per unit, but they plan to build as many as one per bedroom to accommodate JMU students, as the developer explained at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
Council member Nasser Alsaadun said he was concerned about the amount of cars the development would bring to that part of an already busy Port Republic Road. He suggested offering less parking to encourage students who live there to walk to or bike to JMU’s campus, which is less than a mile away.
In response, council member Monica Robinson said she was also concerned about “excessive parking” but that students were coming to Harrisonburg with cars anyway. The problem is a car-centric society, she said, and that is not the developer’s fault. In addition, she said, students might have a car to run errands and travel out-of-town but still walk to campus.
The final vote on the zoning changes was 3-1, with Alsaadun voting against it. Mayor Deanna Reed absent from Tuesday’s meeting.
Battery facility to store power for HEC
City council members also approved a battery energy storage facility on Ramblewood Road. The facility will be owned and operated by a company called RWE, with the municipally owned electric utility, the Harrisonburg Electric Commission, able to purchase the power that the battery has stored during peak times of electricity use.
The goal is to save customers money by lowering energy demand at peak hours, said HEC General Manager Brian O’Dell. The battery will store electricity during times with lower demand when power is cheaper and discharge it during monthly peaks.
HEC will not have to pay RWE until the battery facility begins its minimum output of 7 megawatts. Not having to purchase as much power during periods of peak demand will save more money than the payments to RWE, so the facility will not be costly for the city, O’Dell said.
Harrisonburg purchases its power as part of the Virginia Municipal Electric Association, an agreement with seven other communities that have city-owned power companies. All of those member cities will benefit from the lower costs, O’Dell said. Harrisonburg is twice as big as the next largest city in the agreement, so O’Dell said Harrisonburg had the capacity to make the battery facility viable.
Council members expressed unanimous support for the facility and its benefits for city residents.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting:
- A new neighborhood traffic calming program from the Harrisonburg Police Department received final approval Tuesday after receiving more public feedback. The department created a new scoring system intended to make the improvement process faster, making scoring more equitable, and increase transparency. Submissions will be accepted until Oct. 1, an extended deadline for its first year to give residents time to learn about the new program.
- The council filled two vacant seats on the Planning Commission. Kenneth Kettler, an attorney, and Randall Seitz, an architect, will replace Brent Finnegan and Kate Nardi.
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