Council delays vote on cluster housing

Published 12:00 am Friday, August 23, 2002

The City Council put off voting on a proposal Wednesday that would have added cluster housing developments to the Unified Development Ordinance long enough for staff to iron out a few details.

If council had adopted the ordinance, Suffolk would have been the first locality in Virginia to act under the General Assembly’s new law giving localities the right to strengthen local standards and criteria for clusters and other developments that help preserve green space and allows easy access to infrastructure.

Several council members raised questions about the ordinance requiring a 50/50 split between the number of one- and two-story homes in cluster developments.

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Approval of the proposal would have allowed developers to build clusters without first getting a conditional use permit, said Assistant City Manager Steve Herbert. In return, the General Assembly gave the city the right to impose standards and guidelines to make sure the cluster developments are top quality.

During the public hearing, Claudia Cotton, a spokesperson for the Tidewater Builders Association, said the organization opposes the additional restrictions established by the ordinance.

Implementing residential design features included in the proposed ordinance would add $18,000 to the cost of a house, she said. According to the Cotton, meeting the standards would up the cost of a 1,700-square-foot, two-story house to $168,000.

&uot;It would require a minimum annual income of $57,000 to purchase a home like this,” Cotton said. &uot;…Sixty percent of households in Suffolk fall below $50,000 in income.&uot;

Cotton said that if the city adopted the rigid ordinance, the TBA would probably carry its concerns back to legislators in January.

&uot;If this ordinance passes tonight, we have no choice but to take our concerns back to the General Assembly.&uot; Cotton said Wednesday. &uot;Del. (Dave) Albo …will consider changes to this legislation by removing the local government’s flexibility.

&uot;We would much rather work with you at the local level than against you at the state level.&uot;

The impact of the TBA’s threat to appeal the ordinance before the General Assembly extends far beyond the Suffolk legislation, said Mayor E. Dana Dickens III. Dickens, along with other local government leaders and shelter industry representatives, including a member of the TBA, worked for more than two years developing a mutually acceptable plan.

&uot;I’m extremely disappointed in the position your folks are taking on this thing,&uot; said Dickens. &uot;A lot of folks spent a lot of hours working…and what came out of those talks was a classic compromise.

&uot;…The shelter industry asked local government to give and we gave. Nobody got everything they wanted but it was a classic compromise that was acceptable to everyone.

&uot;…This is a much bigger issue,&uot; he continued. &uot;I plead with you not to undermine the support and trust that has been built between local government and the shelter industry over the past few years.&uot;

The two parties traditionally are at odds with one another, Dickens said. So last year, when representatives from the shelter industry and local government teamed up and supported the proposed legislation, the General Assembly approved it easily.