Billy Shields / VPM News HOME of VA held a letter-writing blitz in a county pizza parlor in October

VPM | By Billy Shields

New comprehensive zoning plan could offer affordable housing, but also lower density

Advocates of affordable housing are organizing to oppose several aspects of Chesterfield County’s proposed comprehensive plan.

About 30 people crammed into a dining room at a Midlothian pizzeria on Oct. 15 as part of a letter-writing campaign staged by Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia (Home of VA), the Chesterfield County NAACP and the Sierra Club regarding the county’s proposed comprehensive plan.

Many of the letters encouraged officials to build on existing infrastructure and ensure affordable housing gets built in the future.

“Whether you’re a young adult and can’t afford housing here, if you’re a senior and all of a sudden you’re like ‘Where do I downsize; where do I find something that’s cheaper than my own home,’ or if you have to commute from Eastern Henrico to work here,” said Mike Burnette, of Home of VA. “That’s not fair either.”

The groups organized the letter blitz in advance of the Chesterfield Planning Commission’s November vote on the plan, known colloquially as “PlanMod.”

PlanMod includes about 15 new designations for residential, commercial and industrial areas. It differs from ZoMod, which is updated zoning designations, because it lays out an outline rather than granular zoning rules.

County officials working on PlanMod hope that it will encourage areas to embrace things like mixed-use developments.

But the plan itself is the latest battleground over what Chesterfield’s future could look like: a tug-of-war between affordable housing advocates looking for more densely populated neighborhoods and residents who worry that the county is approving too many units too quickly.

What defines “affordable housing?” The county’s definition, explained at the last Planning Commission meeting Oct. 20, is housing that costs less than 30% of a household’s annual income. 

Annika Schunn, a Home of VA policy advocate, said there is a “fear that the county is growing too fast, that they can’t keep up, that roads don’t have capacity.” But according to Schunn, the places where PlanMod would limit housing density over the current outline, “They’ve actually been in areas that are already served by infrastructure, right?”

Under the new scheme, Schunn used the eastern side of the Matoaca District as an example. It currently has a planned density of four units per 1 acre, but under PlanMod Matoaca’s new density would be either one or two units per 1 acre.

Matoaca Supervisor Kevin Carroll said the problem with keeping the four-unit-per-acre density is being able to match density and infrastructure, which according to him, the area currently lacks.

“None of that land can be developed without sewer,” he told VPM News. “And the people who own the land say they will never give the county right of way for sewer access.”

Carroll added that 45,000 housing units across Chesterfield are already in the pipeline waiting to be built: “For every one email I get saying we need more affordable housing, I get 10 that say, ‘Why are you approving all this housing?’”

An area in Matoaca that sits squarely in the middle of this dilemma is the highly controversial Marlbank Farms, controversial because it only existed on paper for two decades and is now on the cusp of being built.

Approved 20 years ago, construction on the 300-home neighborhood stalled as the real estate bubble burst and the economy slowed. It has recently started working its way through the approval process to be developed.

Because the zoning was approved 20 years ago, there’s little that can happen to prevent the project from being built now, much to the chagrin of residents in nearby Swift Creek Estates.

One-quarter of its proposed units are age-restricted, meaning someone who is looking to downsize to retire might like living there. The project can use the current sewer setup without easements. But if the PlanMod tweaks were in place before it ever got zoned, Marlbank Farms never have been approved because it is too dense a development.

“Trying to prevent sprawl is very important,” Schunn said. “But, actually, we are seeing the county deconcentrate where new housing can go in areas that actually make sense.”

Home of VA defines “affordable housing” similarly to Chesterfield, with a caveat.

“The question,” wrote spokesperson Lance Warren, “is affordable to whom?”

The Chesterfield Planning Commission is scheduled to vote on the PlanMod proposal November 19.