Planning commission passes affordable unit requirement

By Rachana Dixit

Published: January 15, 2009

An affordable housing bill that easily passed the General Assembly last year has enjoyed a similar reception from Charlottesville’s Planning Commission.

The seven-member body unanimously voted Tuesday to require certain projects to devote 5 percent of their residential space to affordable units. The condition would apply if a developer had a high-density project — in which the building’s square footage exceeded that of the land where the project was to be built — and was requesting a rezoning application or special-use permit from the city. The ordinance will advance to the City Council for approval.

Under the bill, which was sponsored during last year’s General Assembly session by Del. David J. Toscano, D-Charlottesville, developers could choose to provide on- or off-site affordable units, or give a cash contribution of $2 per square foot of residential space to Charlottesville’s Housing Fund in lieu of building affordable units.

Planning Commission Chairman Jason Pearson said he appreciated the flexibility the ordinance provides for developers’ contributions.

“I’m not sure that on-site [units are] necessarily the solution,” he said.

But other commissioners wished the measure provided affordable housing for a larger group of people. State law defines “affordable” as units committed for a 30-year term as affordable to households with incomes at 60 percent or less of the locality’s area median income.

“I wish it were 80 percent,” Commissioner Cheri Lewis said. “At 60 percent, you’re just not capturing as many affordable dwelling units.”

City planner Nick Rogers also said Tuesday that there is no “hard and fast mechanism” to ensure that the units are guaranteed to remain affordable for that period. If the change to the city’s code is ultimately approved, Rogers said, the housing advisory committee would be responsible for tackling that hurdle.

Local developers have generally viewed the new law favorably. Charlie Armstrong, vice president of land development for Southern Development, said the 5 percent affordable housing dedication would not be seen as a problem because of the extra density exchange.

“The homebuilders’ associations in the area have supported this code change because it’s an incentive-based system,” said Armstrong, who also serves on the city’s housing advisory committee. Armstrong had expressed skepticism earlier this month about the percentage of affordability units as councilors discussed an incentive based on faster project reviews. He said the unit threshold could end up too high for it to be worthwhile for developers to pursue.

Greater density allowed in projects, Armstrong said, “can usually offset the costs” of providing affordable units.

“That probably has more value,” he said.

Local architect Bill Atwood agreed, saying in an interview last week that the best way to provide affordable units is to allow greater density.

“I can’t imagine any other way,” he said.

But Commissioner Mike Farruggio said the city would need to pay attention to how potentially increasing affordable housing could change Charlottesville’s demographics, poverty levels and housing designed for other income classes.

“I’d like to have a full grasp of that,” he said.