Busy Day for Council: OK's WaWa Project, 4-Person Rule and Riverside Changes

By Amber Lester Friday, April 09, 2010

The William and Mary Real Estate Foundation received the go-ahead from City Council to construct a student-oriented housing and retail building.

The Triangle Retail Project, also known as “The WaWa Project,” will be located on Richmond Road, next to the WaWa convenience store. The three-story building will house 56 students in 14 apartments above a mix of restaurants and retail stores.

Three buildings belonging to William and Mary — the Thiemes building, the former Master Craftsman building and the Taylor building — will be demolished to make room for the $5 million project.

To make the project happen, the City Council approved the creation of a new Planned Development College district; rezoned the district from B-1 to the new PDC; approved a special use permit for a parking master plan; and approved a special use permit for increasing the building height from 35 feet to 45 feet.

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.

Planning Director Reed Nester told the board the PDC district was designed to encourage student-oriented housing and retail development in close proximity to the college. Vernon Geddy, representing the foundation, said the project meets two goals stated in the comprehensive plan: locating student housing adjacent to campus and bringing student-oriented business close to the campus.

The proposal included a parking lot with 29 spaces for customers at the shops and restaurants. The students will be required to purchase campus parking permits as part of the lease agreement.

Gladys Victor, owner of the King and Queen Apartments, had told the Planning Commission at a March work session that she was concerned about parking garages being built in that part of town. The PDC zoning code allows parking garages as a use permit by right.

The Planning Commission wasn’t comfortable with the by-right provision and voted unanimously to strike the parking garage permitted use from the PDC language.

On Thursday, the council disagreed and added the by-right use back to the PDC district. Council member Paul Freiling said he thought the use would be beneficial to the community. He worried the council would send the message it didn’t want privately built parking garages constructed downtown, where parking is not easy to find along Richmond Road. Council voted 4-1 to add the parking garage use to the language; Bobby Braxton dissented.

Council also approved revisions to the requirements for an increase in rental occupancy in single-family dwellings from three unrelated people to four. The revision will require landlords provide plot plans instead of minor site plans and deletes the requirement for an electrical inspection by a third-party inspector. Instead, the city’s inspectors will perform electrical inspections.

Council’s decision differed from the Planning Commission’s recommendation. The commissioners had recommended no changes to the zoning ordinance, based on the idea the electrical inspection would ensure homes were safe for four roommates. In a memo to the city council dated Feb.4, City Manager Jack Tuttle wrote that the minor site plans and a third-party electrical inspection create unnecessary burdens to homeowners.

Vice Mayor Clyde Haulman said prior to the unanimous vote that the council had tried to create opportunities with the new ordinance and the requirements were creating hurdles for potential landlords.

Finally, the board approved amended proffers from Riverside Health Systems to expedite the construction of its mixed-used development, Quarterpath at Williamsburg, which will include Doctors Hospital, along with retail and residential space. The proffers approved in 2005 didn’t reflect the more challenging economy, and the new proffers grant the hospital and medical offices a waiver to all city taxes, except real estate taxes, for 10 years after occupancy.

Riverside also will not have to complete Battery Boulevard before building the hospital. Instead of constructing the road, which stretches from Route 60 to Quarterpath Road, Riverside will first build from Route 60 to the hospital until a traffic threshold is met.

Riverside then would not be able to start any construction until the completion of Battery Boulevard. Also, 80 percent of the cash flow paid for leases on the land must be put into escrow until the road is completed.