Planning Commission OK's W&M Foundation's Housing Plan

By Amber Lester Thursday, March 18, 2010

The Williamsburg Planning Commission has unanimously agreed to recommend approval of a mixed-use student-housing development on Richmond Road.

 

The three-story building, proposed by the William and Mary Real Estate Foundation, would house 56 students in 14 apartments above a mix of restaurants and retail stores. To make room for the project, three buildings belonging to William and Mary – the Thiemes building, the former Master Craftsman building and the Taylor building – would be demolished. The $5 million development, often referred to as “The WaWa Project,” would be bordered by a WaWa convenience store and the Williamsburg Baptist Church.

If approved by City Council, the parcel on which the 10,634-square-foot project was built would be rezoned from B-1 Downtown Business District to a new Planned Development College (PDC) district. The PDC district would be a modification of the existing Planned Downtown Development District. Planning Director Reed Nester wrote in a memo that the PDC District regulations are narrow and designed to encourage mixed-use development including student housing close to the college. Any building in the PDC district housing students would have to be managed by the college or a separate management plan would have to be approved as part of the development plan.

The proposed apartments would house no more than four unrelated people, in accordance with the city’s newly adopted four-person rule. The permitted uses for the building would include student dwellings, banks, art galleries, restaurants and retail.

The Planning Commission also approved two special use permits that would allow the foundation to develop a parking master plan in lieu of the standard parking regulations for the Downtown Parking District. Under current regulations, a lot at that location would have to have 74 parking spaces. In its application for a special use permit, the foundation said 29 spaces would be provided for customers at the retail shops and restaurants. Students would be required to purchase campus parking permits as part of the lease. The second special use permit would allow the building’s height to increase from 35 to 45 feet.

During a public comment period, resident Gladys Victor expressed concern over whether a parking garage could be constructed adjacent to the building. Nester said the existing B-1 zoning allows parking garages with a special use permit, while the PDC zoning allows parking garages as a use permit by-right. To do that, however, a parking garage would have to be included in the development plan and is not included in this case.

Still, the commissioners considered altering the PDC zoning district wording to not allow the construction of parking garages as a permitted use. Jim Joseph and Elaine McBeth advocated for its removal from the PDC wording; Joseph said, “It’s not going to serve the purpose of this plan. It really serves no purpose but to create anxiety.”

Commission member Sarah Stafford didn’t see a reason to make the district more restrictive than the existing B-1 zoning, however. Once the parking garage wording was changed in the creation of the new district, it would apply to any future PDC district in the city. “It makes the PDC less attractive than the B-1,” Stafford said. “It’s not clear to me why we would limit that.”

Commission Chair Doug Pons said the PDC shouldn’t be more appealing than the B-1 district. “I think we should eliminate it because we don’t want to make it more attractive,” he said.

Ultimately, the commission voted unanimously to strike the parking garage permitted use from the PDC language.

Prior to the Wednesday commission meeting, the project’s development plan was reviewed by the Site Plan Review Committee on Jan. 20 and the conceptual plans were approved by the Architectural Review Board on Dec. 8, 2009. An archaeological survey was also conducted on the property, finding no intact artifacts in the yards. A review of early land records showed no development on the property prior to the late 19^th century.