Planning Commission

What’s New at the Planning Commission?  

We hope to make this update a regular feature of the Planning Commission Page.               

August 2023

After finishing our re-write of the Village Residential/Commercial and Gateway Residential/Commercial Zoning Districts (approved June 26, 2023 by the Selectboard), we started on our next re-write: the Village Residential Neighborhoods North and South. The pathway for this process has been altered somewhat by our need to concentrate on a new state law – Act 47 – the HOME act (“Housing Opportunities Made for Everyone”) formerly called S. 100. 

Act 47 requires that the Planning Commission  make certain changes to our zoning regulations with the goal of making it easier to build housing.   Our regional planning commission (CCRPC) has estimated that we need an additional 5,000 housing units – a huge amount! — in Chittenden County over the next five years. One strategy is to require that municipalities make their regulations more pro-housing by allowing more multiunit buildings and greater residential density, requiring less parking, allowing extra density if the housing is “affordable,” encouraging duplexes and accessory dwelling units (ADU’s), among other changes. 

Almost all of these requirements apply only to districts served by water and sewer service, which, in our case, means the village area, and only to districts where residential uses are allowed. The two “village neighborhoods” that we are working on, will be affected. This would include the Baker/Tilden, Pleasant St, Church and Esplanade St neighborhoods, Lemroy Ct, Borden St, Brown’s Ct and Burnett Ct, parts of Jericho Rd and W Main St (Neighborhoods North); and Thompson Road and surrounding residential area (Neighborhoods South).

                The changes that are being required of us include:   

• Residential density of  5 units per acre (or 8,712 s.f. of land for each dwelling unit)
• Multiunit buildings with 3-4 dwelling units as a permitted use
• Minimum required parking of 1 space per dwelling unit
• 40% additional density allowed, including one additional floor above the height maximum, for buildings meeting the criteria for “affordable housing”

 We are currently working to see how these changes will fit into our zoning ordinance. Anyone is welcome to attend our meetings to be involved in these discussions. By October we hope to have drafts of the new language for the residential districts. At this point we will advertise the formal public hearing process, so please watch the FPF for these hearings. 

We also have a vacancy on the Planning Commission. If you have an interest in planning for Richmond’s future, and the ability to attend our biweekly 2-hour evening meetings, we’d love to have you join us!

Thanks for your interest,

Virginia