By Charlie Bodenstein, contributor
The Harrisonburg City Council unanimously approved a change to the planned Collicello North housing development’s master plan that gets the 13-year-old project one step closer to being built.
Also Tuesday, the council moved forward with a change to the zoning ordinance process and unanimously approved the 2026-27 fiscal year budget of $407.5 million, which is a 2.2% decrease from last year’s budget.
As for the Collicello North project’s master plan, the council initially approved it in 2013, but it has made little progress since then with only some preliminary construction and surveying being completed.
Director of community development Adam Fletcher said that once the master plan is approved, construction on the housing units between Virginia Avenue and Colicello Street in north Harrisonburg can finally begin.
“We’re now 13 years out from the original approval,” Fletcher said. “We have answered these questions about this development over a number of years, and it’s been very difficult for some folks to be able to find a way to make it work.”
Among these requests was requiring all houses to be solar ready, changing density regulations and removing a proposed bus stop from the master plan.
The developer requested “modifications to language related to the previous solar requirements,” Fletcher said. This request was so that not every house would be built with installed solar panels but rather they would all be “solar ready” if the owner wanted panels. Fletcher said this was to help property owners lower costs.
Additionally, the developer asked to remove a regulation in the master plan that would require the amount of housing units to be based on square footage of the lots. Doing so adds flexibility to housing designs.
The third change was to remove a proposed bus stop from the property because the Harrisonburg Department of Transportation decided it “wasn’t really functional” because there’s another stop nearby.
Fletcher said all water and sewer lines have been placed and approved by the city. He also said some “physical elements” like the street itself and the nearby sidewalks have yet to be completed.
The developer’s attorney, Jordan Bowman, said the goal with changes is to “remove things that really weren’t necessary” so they wouldn’t have to come back to request more approvals from the council in the future.
Bowman said ultimately they are aiming to stay true to the original plan that was approved in 2013. He added that they are not changing the number of homes or their sizes and the requirements are only being changed to make the project more cost effective and more viable to build.
“We are trying to balance the environmental vision with also some of the practical aspects of this,” Bowman said. “I think we’ve struck a balance that is appropriate in light of the costs of development.”
City zoning ordnance update
When it comes to future city zoning rules, the city council is aiming to streamline the process — and continued that Tuesday by disbanding the Ordinance Advisory Committee, a group of people who provide the city with input on zoning recommendations and issues.
Deputy city attorney Wesley Russ said one goal was to ensure the zoning decisions don’t “get ahead of where the city is” — for instance by making sure growth won’t outpace water supply or school capacity.
Russ said revisions to the city’s zoning ordinance’s future started last summer and will continue with the next phases in the fall and early 2027.
By this summer, Russ said city staff will work with the Harrisonburg Planning Commission to discuss how to get community engagement with the zoning rules and process. In the fall, they will present findings to the planning commission and the council so that the new city zoning ordinance can be finalized by early 2027.
With this, Russ said they plan to realign the city’s zoning map, restructuring all of its districts.
This rezoning will split Harrisonburg up into distinct districts defined by the type of businesses or residential properties that exist within it. For example, the B-2 district will be separated into two new districts: the auto urban commercial district that contains many auto shops and shopping centers, and the neighborhood commercial district that contains more residential housing.
“It provides an opportunity to really start fresh and think about everything more holistically, rather than being wedded to the history of the existing zoning districts,” Russ said.
Some residential districts will be divided based on the type of housing within it, such as student housing, townhomes, apartment complexes, or family homes.
Russ added that after the rezoning is finalized, public outreach and information sessions will be more effective.
Tuesday’s vote on getting rid of the Ordinance Advisory Committee led to a 3-2 split.
Council member Laura Dent said she was “shocked and disturbed” at the idea of disbanding the Ordinance Advisory Committee because she believes it’s a valuable resource for the community.
“What I like about the Ordinance Advisory Committee is that we do have more input from our local citizens,” council member Monica Robinson added.
While Mayor Deanna Reed said she was not against the disbandment of the committee, she said she prefers having the planning commission be the primary advisors on zoning.
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