Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Is a regularly scheduled meeting of the city of Richmond planning committee. Nice to see you all. Would you please give the electronic notice, madam secretary? This

meeting is being held in person in the 5th Floor Conference Room of City Hall while staff and a quorum of planning commissioners are attending the meeting in person. Citizens may choose to participate in the meeting virtually. All written comments that were received by email prior to 12PM today have been provided to the planning commissioners in advance of the meeting. During the public comment period, speakers will be asked to limit their comments to three minutes for an individual or five minutes if representing a group.

Thank you very much. For the purpose of establishing a quorum, please call the roll.

Mister Poole?

Here.

Ms. Greenville? Here. Ms. Knight? Here. Ms. Robertson? Here. Ms. Rowe? Here. Mr. White?

Here.

And then Mr. McKenzie? We do have a quorum.

Very much. We have some minutes starting with 07/01/2025. Is there a motion? I move to approve.

I second.

Any discussion? All the question, we're voting on approval of the minutes of 07/01/2025.

Mister Poole?

Aye.

Ms. Greenfield? Aye. Ms. Knight? Aye. Ms. Robertson? Aye. Ms. Roe?

Aye. And mister White?

Aye.

K. Motion passes, and those minutes are approved.

07/15/2025. Is there a motion?

Move approval. Second.

Any discussion? Question regarding on approval of the July of the planning commission. Please call the line.

Mister Poole?

Aye. Ms.

Greenfield? Aye. Ms. Snake? Aye. Ms. Robertson?

Aye.

Ms. Roe?

Aye.

And Mr. White?

Abstain.

That motion passes, and

those minutes are approved.

Finally, we have 03/17/2026. Is there a motion? Second. Any discussion? All the question, we're voting on approval of 03/17/2026 meeting. Minutes. Please call the roll.

Mister Poe? Aye. Miss Greenfeld? Aye. Miss Knight? Aye. Ms. Robertson?

Aye.

Ms. Roe? Aye. Mr. White?

Aye.

And that motion passes,

and those minutes are approved.

Mister Manty, do you have a director's report?

No. One greeting is from Dario.

Welcome. Alright. Are there continuances or deletions?

We have none.

Can you please present the consent agenda?

Sure. So for the consent agenda, we

have item four, ordinance twenty twenty six dash o six two. This is an ordinance to authorize the special use of the property known as 3313 Elwood Avenue for the purpose of up to one two family detached dwelling and one dwelling unit within an accessory structure upon certain terms and conditions. Item five, UDC twenty twenty six zero five. This is the concept location character and extent review of Bryant Park Dam removal and stream restoration located at 4308 Hermitage Road, and this is to be referred to the April 16, UDC meeting.

Questions from members of the commission? No. I'll open a public hearing and ask if there's any member of the public present or online who wishes to speak to the consent agenda. Anyone online?

I am seeing no one online.

Is there any member of the public who wishes to speak in opposition to the items on the consent agenda? I'll the public hearing and bring it back to the commission and ask if there's a motion on the consent agenda. Move to approve.

Second.

Discussion? Question. We're voting on approval of the consent agenda as presented, particularly with the UDC getting item number five. Please call the roll.

Ms. Streipple? Aye. Ms. Greenfield? Aye. Ms. Knight? Aye. Ms. Robertson? Aye. Miss Roe? Mister White?

Aye. Mister McKenzie, would you like to vote on the consent agenda? Aye.

Thank you. That motion

passes. The UDC item will come back to you guys, and ordinance o six two will be forwarded to city council with recommendation for approval.

Thank you very much. We'll be present the first item on the regular agenda.

Item six, ordinance twenty twenty six dash o six zero. This is an ordinance to authorize the conditional use of the property known as 110 North 18th Street for the purpose of a nightclub upon certain terms and conditions. And Madison is gonna be giving us a staff presentation on that.

Good evening, everyone.

How are you?

Good. How are you? It's been a minute. So we're going to be talking about ordinance twenty twenty six dash o 60. This is for 110 North 18th Street for a conditional use permit.

So the site is in Shaco Bottom neighborhood. It is 5,920 and a half square feet, and the current use is a restaurant and performing arts and cabaret theater known as Dream House. The existing context of the site, it was previously operated as a sports bar and restaurant. The new tenant has opened a cabaret theater with the sale of alcohol and food. The proposal is to operate until midnight most evenings with occasional events that will run past midnight.

The applicant seeks a conditional use permit to allow for sale of alcohol past midnight and events defined other a nightclub use. Here is the floor plan provided by the applicant. So to just to outline the definition of nightclub use. Nightclub means any establishment in which all of the following features are made available at any time between twelve midnight until 6AM. This applicant does not intend to be open until 6AM.

That's just the the definition of the nightclub. Alcoholic beverages served or consumed on premises between midnight and 6AM. Floor space provided for dancing or standing or for or both for patrons in conjunction with an entertainment activity provided that floor space utilized for patrons to view television or similar media shall not be construed to constitute floor space provided for dancing or standing or both for patrons in conjunction with an entertainment activity. And three, music or other sound that is amplified through speakers for which the purpose of entertaining patrons except for the following sound associated with television or similar media being viewed by patrons and being provided exclusively as background entertainment for dining patrons. In any case where the above features are only incidental to a private event, not open to the general public such as a wedding reception, banquet, nonprofit event, or similar functions, such features shall not be construed to constitute a nightclub.

The Richmond 300 master plan designation is destination mixed use, which is defined as key gateways featuring prominent destinations such as retail, sports venues, and large employers as well as housing and open space located at the convergence of several modes of transportation, including the Pulse BRT or other planned transit improvements. Active commercial ground floor uses are required on street oriented commercial frontages. The intensity is minimum five stories typically, and primary uses are retail, office, personal service, multifamily residential, cultural and open space. And secondary uses are institutional and government. The existing zoning is B5, Central Business District.

And the use of nightclub is not included under B5 unless it is permitted by a conditional use permit, which is why they have to go through this process. And the ordinance conditions are the following. Pursuant to section 30 dash 442.1 of the code of the city of Richmond as amendment, the conditional use of the property shall be as a nightclub substantially as shown on the plans. Operation of the conditional use permit shall be conducted strictly in accordance with the document entitled Dreamhouse Management and Operations Plan prepared by Vincent Vinuti and Dreamer FX Studio LLC and dated 10/03/2025, a copy of which is attached to and made part of this ordinance. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in section three b above, the hours of operation for the conditional use shall be from twelve midnight until 2AM, Wednesday through Sunday.

The conditional use shall not operate between the hours of 2AM and 6AM daily. Patron queuing on the exterior of the building shall be only permitted directly adjacent to the building wall and without any improvements, temporary or otherwise, unless said improvements are approved according to the applicable provisions of the Code of the City Of Richmond as amended in all future amendments such laws. Operation of the conditional use does constitute an exemption to providing sound control. The nightclub shall use shall be conducted strictly in accordance with chapter 11, article two of the code of the city of Richmond as amended. And notwithstanding anything to the contrary in section 30 dash ten forty five point ten of the code of the city of Richmond as amended, this conditional use permit shall be valid for a period of five hundred forty eight calendar days from the date of issuance of a certificate of occupancy as described in the section six below shall terminate and become null and void upon the expiration of such period of validity.

And the asterisk is pointing to, If no zoning or ABC violations are within that period, the applicant may amend the ordinance to remove this condition so they don't have to be on this timeline any longer. For neighborhood participation, area residents within 150 feet of the properties were sent an official notice by mail from the city. The Shaco Partnership Civic Association was notified of the application. To date, staff has not received any feedback regarding this proposal. And staff recommendation is approval.

The city's Richmond 300 master plan designates a future land use for the subject property as destination mixed use in the Shaco Bottom priority area growth node. Staff have reviewed the application and finds the proposal is generally consistent with the designation, which supports retail as a primary use and a mix of complementary uses in this district. Staff finds the master plan supports the proposed nightclub use, which is considered complementary to a dense urban environment. Therefore, staff recommends approval of this request. And the applicant is here as well.

Questions from members of the commission for miss Wilson? I have several. K. The eighteen month limitation may be removed by amendment, but by amendment, that means they come back to the commission?

Yes. So because of the kind of the issues happening in Shawco, our agreement that we made to back when we were working with POPIs, the way that we met in the middle with the Shawco partnership at the time and, I believe, police is we put a essentially probationary period on nightclubs that are proposed to happen in Shaco for the time being until they feel that they have the area better under control because of because of the, like, essentially gun violence that's gonna happen down there as of late. So they just wanna make sure that everybody is behaving properly down there.

My question was did it actually comes back to the commission? Because in order to amend the CEP, it has to come back to

the Yes. Yeah. It would have to go through the amendment process.

But if they don't have any ABC violations, we would usually look kindly towards that outcome.

Right. So if they have no issues with ABC or fire department, any zoning violations, they can amend to remove that last condition so it could just remain a nightclub.

Introductory statement, you talked about later usage of the of the nightclub being occasional, and yet the ordinance itself says until 2AM, Wednesday through Sunday. Correct?

Right. So I wrote it in to be until 2AM as an allowable hour because we don't know essentially, what they want to do is occasionally have uses past midnight, but it wouldn't be regular every week. It would be for things like New Year's Eve or special events. So instead of having to come back and get special events permits over and over, their regular hours will be until midnight, but they will be allowed to stay open in case they

Their operations statement contains hours in it, and that's part of this ordinance. Correct?

Well, yeah, they we had to put that verbiage in there so the it matched. But we can't have it not match, so we have to put that in on the

applicants here, and this is probably a question more applicable to him, but there are inconsistencies in the management statement with respect to hours as well. Some say twelve, some say 11:30, some say two. Is that because of that flexibility that

you Yeah.

I I wanted to be able to offer that flexibility because from what I was told by the applicant, they don't wanna make it a regular occurrence where they're open till 2AM every single on those dates. But there might be a time where an event falls on one of those nights, like New Year's Eve, for instance. It might fall on a Wednesday or Thursday. So we wanted to give that flexibility.

Well, I'll I'll address these questions with the applicant as well. Any other questions for member of the commission? Like, you had a question there, miss Roberts.

Yeah. Just one follow-up. I appreciate your questions, mister Poole. Thank you. Because it raises another issue with another SUP that we've been dealing with for a long, long time that's trying to have hours, and we've been having a real difficult time trying to adjust to some of what the applicant want and what.

This is somewhat unusual to have flexibility without any definition of what that flexibility is. I guess I'm I'm concern I'm wanting you to help me appreciate how how you will come to that recommendation. I hear you said I want to.

Oh, well, it because because the request was occasional events, the thinking was it is still the zoning will allow up to 2AM if they need to stay open past midnight for a specific event. So it wouldn't be So just to clarify, if so as of right now, the way

the origin proof written, they can stay open at 2AM Wednesday through Sunday. Saturday or Sunday. Sunday. Okay. So that is in their prerogative. They could if this gets adopted to the next day, change their regular hours to open till 2AM if wanted to. A statement about what they they have stated, they're only interested in doing special events. Way the ordinance is written, they could do that. They'll have the flexibility to do that, or they could they could very well change the hours. It's not unusual for us to for a nightclub use, this is the hours that we normally put in the in the ordinance. It's it's until 2AM. This is

a point I was making with miss Wilson. So help me understand. Part of the ordinance itself talks about the management agreement that was submitted by the applicant and that that's part of the ordinance. Correct? Or if the management agreement says they're gonna have And and I'm gonna clarify with the applicant what what he really means by occasional in his management agreement.

We'll get some clarity for that. But it seems to me that if I were the zoning administrator, might have some trouble interpreting two provisions of the CUP. Am I reading that ordinance incorrectly?

It says hours of operation typically between 6PM and 12:30AM with limited lead shows until 2AM subject to CUT for zoning approval. That's one area where

yeah. So yeah. It's I guess this would be I don't I don't know that I can make an interpretation on this. It's a section three b. This operation of the conditional use shall be permit shall be conducted strictly in accordance with the document entitled Dreamhouse Management and Operations Plan, a copy of which is attached to this ordinance. So I guess I I don't have an answer.

I don't know.

Yeah. In some instances, they do say 1AM. Yep. But the intention is to allow up to 2AM in case there is still activity going on so they're not hit with a duty violation.

So so so perhaps you would like to move this for me. I'll just tell you what I'm reading here. Paragraph b says it shall be conducted strictly in accordance with the management plan. Paragraph c says notwithstanding anything with the contrary instructions, the hours from will be from twelve midnight to 2AM Wednesday to Sunday. But regardless of what the management plan says per paragraph c, the hours will be twelve midnight to 2AM or the hours of authorized operation. Whether or

not they operate is yep. So that'll clarify for the zoning administrator. It doesn't matter. And notwithstanding, it's very important. Thank you for the clarification. Thank you. Does the applicant present wish my presentation? Please come forward. What's your name if you'll use the podium? Mister Pool, I suppose that I'm gonna recuse from this discussion. Yes, sir.

Hi there. My name is Vinny Venuti. I am the owner of Dream House down in Chaco Mata. Welcome.

Thank you

very much. Thank you for having me today.

You like to give us a presentation, or you want us just to ask you a question?

I would love to give you a little bit of context.

That'd be great. Sure.

So Dream House is a cabaret theater down in Chaco Bottom that I opened, and this was born from an initiative called Chaco Shine. The whole point of Dream House is to help neighborhood with gun violence, create safety, and create a stage for artists to kind of flood the area, take up space, and reduce the crime down there and make it a little bit more livable and split the narrative. So without so understanding that there were there are nightclubs down there, and we are familiar with them. And I understand there are many problems. And the whole point of us being down in Chaco Bottom because, honestly, Chaco Bottom is not my first place to put a Gabbard theater.

I would not have done that. But I heard the problems that are happening down there. I sat down with the mayor, when he called for all the business owners. I listened to the issues, and I kept listening that there were no resolutions. There are no solutions being, excuse me, no solutions being, thrown into the ring.

And so that's where I came in and froze my hand and said, this is what we should do because I did it up in New York City. I helped turn Bushwick into one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the country into the most expensive neighborhood in the country. And so I know that I'm fully capable helping transform the neighborhood through art and through theater. When it comes to cabaret, I would love to kind of explain what cabaret is because that's usually the biggest question. It's like a talent show. That's all it is. It's America's Got Talent. So here in Richmond, we do have lots of different types of talent. So we celebrate circus. We celebrate drag artists.

We celebrate singers, dancers, bands. And so right now, we are after a few months of operation, we've been listening to the community. We've been seeing how it's been, like, impacting the community. And so we've seen that we have been taking up space, and that's the most important goal. We wanna be able to take up space on the streets, the parking.

We want it to be the guests that are actually patronizing the venues, supporting the venues, not actually causing trouble. And so I put together a 30 slide deck called Choco Shine that I presented to the mayor's office. They loved it. And to Martin Agency, to Venture Richmond, and Choco Records, so many other establishments. And they are all on board behind it with the the plan of treating Chaco Bottom like a music festival.

Now don't get scared when I say that. A music festival the way the reason why I say it like that is because people come to music festivals, which I've produced for a common reason, enjoy their time, to have a good time, enjoy art, enjoy music. And if we implement those elements that right? Excuse me. The elements that festivals use, like the community ambassadors that the mayor was talking about that came from Chaco Shine, that can create an environment that feels safer and welcomes people back down to Chaco Bottom so it can be a thriving community rather than a war zone.

So the reason why shop, we planted ourselves there, Chaco Shine came first, and then Dreamhouse was born out of that. And the reason why we were asking to go, for a nightclub use was we just really wanted to celebrate New Year's. I'm

sorry. I didn't hear your last statement.

Really, I just wanted to celebrate New Year's. That's what the whole point of all of it, and I did not expect that it was gonna be this big process.

Are you ready for some questions? Absolutely. Any members of the commission have questions?

Mister chair, I do have a question. Just wanna better understand the hour standpoint. During the previous presentation, it was stated that the hours were requested for things like New Year's and others so you don't have to keep going back for a permit. But if the only goal is New Year's, I mean, our issue with just getting one permit then.

I mean, if there was an opportunity for a wedding that said, hey. Can we go till 12:30? I would love to. I mean, I don't plan on being down in Chaco Bottom past 1AM. That's, I mean, I've been

in New

York City nightlife for over a decade. I'm not staying up late anymore, and I don't see Dreamhouse to be open as late as the other venues around. So having the ability and opportunity to have a client be able to do their wedding till 1AM would be great, but the whole point of me submitting this, we may never have that client.

But the whole

point was just so I could celebrate New Year's and have, like, a champagne toast

at midnight. Quick follow-up. Mhmm. Why Wednesday through Sunday would why those exact days?

Those are just the days that we plan to be open. Okay. Mondays, Tuesdays are usually what we use for rehearsals.

Oh, gotcha. Yeah. Thank you. Other questions? I have several. Your management statement talks about security. One or two numbers of security Correct. That you're talking about crowds of 60 to a 100. In your experience in operating clubs, nightclubs before, is that a sufficient number of security for a 100 people?

I agree. I I think so. So up in New York City, when we do our I know that we're in Richmond, but when I produce music festivals, it was one security guard per 50 people. And so that's kind of what I was going off for down here. Now we also have this thing in place that we have volunteers called consenticorns. They are unicorns that walk around the venue, and they are also policing. They're also they are volunteers. They're not staff. They're not technically security. They're people who are walking around the venue, making sure that women feel safe.

There's no guy harassing a woman or vice versa. People are just playing by the rules and having a good time. So even though it's two securities, it's also consent to I'm so sorry. It's also consent to courts. Consent.

I'm sorry. That's the only word that I've ever used for it.

And and I've had staff confirm that you have an ABC license currently, but it's a wine and beer only.

Correct.

Is that how you intend to keep it?

Absolutely. I've been sober for two years, and, I know that liquor can be part of the issue down in Chaco Bottom. Our biggest thing from the very beginning was saying we don't wanna licker people up and throw them on the streets. That's not what we're trying to do. We wanna bring down a demographic that wants to have glass of champagne or a glass of wine.

So the management group the management statement includes that, so you would consider that to be binding on it. Sorry? Would you consider that you have in your management agreement that you're gonna be served wine and beer only? Correct. You said that to be binding on you. Absolutely.

And

you understand that the eighteen month limitation means that you need to come back to the planning commission to clean ABC record.

Absolutely. I'm very, very close with our ABC agent. We offer our space all the time for her to use use it as meeting spaces or just for her to get some work done. So, I mean, the whole point of Dreamhouse is to be as compliant as possible with fire, a b c, police, city government zoning. We wanna be sample.

Well, I must say just as one member of this commission, what you present is a very compelling case. Hopefully, you'll be able to maintain that and think it's an area of the city that has real problem, make

it a better place. It's it's

I mean, I I'll be honest. It's been feat. I didn't get any loans. I haven't received any grants. We tried to. I this was all out of pocket, and I have no more money left. And I'm really hopeful people are gonna maybe start showing up soon. So having this ability to have that nightclub ask and say, like, New Year's Eve party because I know with ABC, since we're not nightclub, you can't say party. So being able to maybe pull in, or at least open that opportunity up to see

if a crowd would come.

But, really, we're more of, like, an event venue rather than doing karaoke until 2AM. That's not what we're trying

to do.

We're more of a private event venue. So

You you've sort of talked about different talent coming, and it's gonna make your talent aware of the difference between a nightclub and an adult entertainment. Oh, yes.

That's I mean, that's one thing that we've actually been educating our community on. So there's a lot of people that don't really understand ABC, burlesque, how that really works, and what the laws are part of that and how we differentiate from adult entertainment to entertainment. So a lot of people that's been a hard part with, people coming in, sniping liquor. And it's like, no. Sorry.

We don't serve liquor because we do celebrate burlesque, the art of burlesque sometimes. So we are compliant in that way, and we're also not trying again, we're not trying to booze people up and then throw them out on the streets. We wanted to also if everything worked out and it's going well, bring back to the bottom and back, that bus line, but call it the dream line so that it would reduce the amount of traffic going down there, the amount of, drinking and driving, and it would be able to get people from one end of the city to the other. It's a it's a very ambitious plan that we put together, but it can work, and it can really flip the neighborhood down in Chaco Bottom because, really, all we want is just to feel safer. And so if I can do if I can have a hand in doing that, I would love to.

You may have mentioned of the fact that you went to the meetings that were held down there. I take it you interrelated with some of the other operators down there because there's some good there's some pretty good operators down there.

I I oh, I know the good ones, and I know the bad ones.

And and they're on board?

With Choco Shine or with with Dreamhouse? With with what part? With what what you're presenting. Absolutely. I mean, what we're presenting is I've spoken to Carlos, my neighbor at La Bodega and Margaritas, even Jackie across the street at Fallout and well, the bakery.

How about Rosie Connelly's? Rosie Connelly's?

Well, the over in 17th 17th Street Farmers Market. I mean, they are not attending the meetings. Okay. A lot of business owners are not attending the meetings where these conversations are happening and solutions are being made. So

involved. Any other questions from members of the commission? Thank you very much. Thank you. Great presentation.

Oh, thank you very much.

So not really a question, but we have issues in the city where there are so many businesses that are operating past midnight but don't have their nightclub permits. So for land use and planning, we appreciate when people like him come over to apply and do the right thing. That is why we recommend an approval. I mean, when the CCT go out in the night past 12:00, there are so many businesses that I will break together and see you. So we recommend an approval because we feel it's with the right, and and, hopefully, within a year and a half, you'll continue to be in compliance with everything else. Of course.

We wanna be able to be an example of that. You can do nightlife right in Richmond. You can do it safe. You can do it fun. Just follow the rules, and, you'll be fine. That's simple. And so that's what that's where we started. Admirable. Thank you. I was not expecting that.

Any other questions from members of the commission? Thank you very much.

Thank

you. Thank you. Public hearing and ask if there's any member of the public that wishes to speak in favor of this case. Anyone online?

There's no one online.

Is there anyone in the public who wishes to speak in opposition to this case? We'll close the public hearing. We're gonna back to the commission and ask if there's a motion. Super critical. I will tell you folks, I was very skeptical when I read this paper.

And I certainly hope this young man is able to do exactly what he says he's gonna do because that would be a wonderful thing for the bottom. I intend to support the paper based on his presentation. Any other comments? With all the question, we're voting on approval item number six, one ten North eighteenth Street for the purpose of a nightclub. Terms and conditions. Please call the roll.

Mr.

Poehl? Aye. Ms. Greenfield? Aye. Ms. Knight? Aye. Ms. Robertson? Abstain. Ms. Crow? Aye. Mr. McKenzie?

Aye.

Survive.

Abstain. Aye.

Motion passes, that item will be recommended for approval of city council.

Thank you very much. Would you present the next item on the agenda?

Item seven, ordinance twenty twenty six dash zero six one. This is the ordinance to authorize the special use of the properties known as 1300 North 34th Street and 1302 North 34th Street for the purpose of up to two two family detached dwellings, two single family attached dwellings, and a single family detached dwelling with garages for rent upon certain terms and conditions. And Jonathan Brown, our principal planner, will be giving a presentation for us.

Great. Thank you very much.

Right. So this is ordinance twenty twenty five at zero six one For 131302 North 34th Street. The properties are located in the Churchill North neighborhood on S Street between North 30 34th And 33rd Streets. The properties are currently a combined 8,121 square feet, point one eight acres. We proved with two single family attached dwellings, conformed to sorting city records in 1950.

Resisting context, you can see current conditions, some various pictures from nearby. There's a variety of housing architectural typologies from nouveau Italianate to ranchers in the immediate block. So this is gonna fit in with the diversity of architecture for sure. The applicant is proposing to add two two family detached dwellings and a single family detached dwelling with garages, which are to be leased to individuals outside of the property. The proposed density of the parcel is seven units upon point one eight acres or 39 units per acre.

And you can see a site plan there with the elevations near the bottom.

The

city's excuse me. Master plan designates future land use for the subject property as neighborhood mixed use. I'm sorry. Which is defined as we as existing or new highly walkable urban neighborhoods that are predominantly residential with a small percentage of the parcels providing retail office personal services and institutional uses. The intensity is recommended at two to four stories.

Primary uses include single family houses, accessory dwelling units, duplexes, small multifamily buildings, and open space. Secondary uses includes large multi multifamily buildings, retail, institutional, and cultural government. This application fits the primary uses very well. The current zoning for this property is r five, single family residential. The, ordinance will suffice some areas of the ordinance that which are not met, including permitted principal uses and permitted accessory uses and structures.

Here are the conditions. The special use of the property shall be as up to two two family detached dwellings, two single family detached dwellings and a single family detached dwelling with garages for rent substantially as shown on the plans. The height of the special use shall not exceed the height as shown on the plans. All building materials, elevations, and site improvements, including landscaping, shall be substantially as shown on the plans. All mechanical equipment serving the property shall be located or screened so as not be visible from any adjacent public right of way.

Prior to the issuance of any building permit for the special use, the establishment of up to five residential lots and seven private evenings substantially as shown on the plan shall be accomplished by obtaining the necessary approvals from the city and recording the appropriate plots and deeds among the land records of the clerk of the circuit court, Suite Of Richmond. Facilities for the collection of records shall be provided in accordance with the requirements of director of public works. Such facilities shall be located or screened so as not to be visible from adjacent properties and public streets. The owner shall make improvements within the public right of way substantially as shown the plans, including without limitation, the installation of seven street trees along S Street and one street tree along North 34 34th Street, which improvements may be completed in one or more phases as approved by the director of public works. Staff notified eight adjacent property owners of the application to the state staff has received a letter of opposition from a nearby resident.

Here are staff's recommendations. Staff finds that the proposed uses align with the master plan recommendations for neighborhood mixed use and are considered primary uses While functioning as two duplexes, garages, and an above garage unit, the applicant has employed creative detail to ensure that the units and garage appear from the public realm as single family dwellings. Amassing height and architectural typology of the new buildings also match surrounding patterns of housing. Staff concludes that the proposed ordinance conditions substantially satisfy the safeguards established in the city charter concerning granting and special use permits, Specifically, staff lines that proposed use would not be judgment to the general welfare of the community involved and will not create congestion in streets in the area involved. Therefore, staff recommends approval of the special use permit.

That concludes my presentation. Are there any Questions for mister Brown?

Go to the plans to show where the private easements and the five?

This is a site plan. The applicant is here for more detail, but this unit here, you can see my cursor, is they've done a great job with this project, in my opinion, with the architecture not appearing as a garage from the public realm. So the the u the garage garages would be here. But from a street, it looks like a house, and it is a it is will be a dwelling above the garages, and the alleyway is there.

Where are the private easements? Oh, okay. I'll just wait until

the It has to go through subdivision? So I'm

just trying to understand how it

Each of the buildings will have its own lot. So is that what you're asking? Mhmm. Yeah.

Alright. Any other questions for mister Brown? Thank you very much. You're welcome. Believe the applicant is present, is represented. Would you like to present the presentation? Welcome.

Thank you. Good evening, mister chairman, members of the Planning Commission. My name is Marcia Perez with Baker Development Resources. I'm here to represent the property owner of 131302 North 34th Street. Thank you, Jonathan, for your participation.

You can help throughout the process. Brussels are located at the Northwest corner of the intersection of S And North 34th Streets. The underlying zoning is for five single family residential. The property has a total lot of the property has a total of roughly 66 feet of frontage along the North 34th Street, a 124 feet of frontage along S Street, and contains approximately 8,100 square feet of lot area. The property is currently improved with two single family attached dwellings, front to North 3rd And 4th Street.

The goal here is to permit high quality infill development consistent with the Richmond Three Hundred, which is appropriately dense and efficient, consistent with uses found nearby, and respectful to the historic development pattern and predominant character of the new the area. Specifically, the SCP would authorize the retention of the existing two homes and the construction of two two family detached dwellings fronting S Street and a a three car garage with an apartment above designed to appear as an accessory dwelling unit on an alley. The three garage parking spaces would be made available either for tenants on the property or for rent to nearby residents in need of the space. Access will be provided by an existing North South Alley at the rear of the property and along S Street. We'll complete the proposed two family dwellings, but each be two stories in height and configured as flats.

Each unit would contain two bedrooms and two bathrooms and roughly 88, 880 square feet of living area. The floor plans are appropriately, modern and efficient with an en suite bathrooms and an open concept living room and kitchen. Full width front porches on each level would provide private outdoor living area, for each unit and engage the street. The garage building would contain three bays for parking on the bottom level, and the upstairs apartment would contain one bedroom and one bathroom in roughly 800 square feet of floor area. The reason for the request, while two friendly, dwellings can be found in the block nearby, the underlying r five zoning does not permit the two family use.

Further, the zoning code permits, the garage use but requires it to be for accessory use. Therefore, in order to construct the proposed dwellings and retain the flexibility to permit the use of the garages by residents who live outside the property, the SCP is required. Finally, in terms of neighborhood outreach, the property is located within the Churchill Central Civic Association. We presented our project to the association in July 2025 and ensured we included their standard comments and did not hear any additional concerns at the meeting. We have ensured the protection of an existing tree in addition to providing eight new street trees.

We also sent out letters to all owners within a 150 feet of the property. In terms of the public comments submitted by mister Babic, we discussed the proposal with him after he received our letter, and the developer agreed to improve the alley and expand the alley apron at mister Babic's request. We did not hear any additional comments after accommodating his request. We have not been made aware of any further opposition until the email was received by staff from mister Babic a couple of days ago. In terms of his stated concerns of parking and density, in terms of parking, we have made observations from the area, and parking is typically make typically available along the entire frontage of S Street between North 33rd and North 34th Street, which alone should be adequate enough to serve the project along with the three off street parking spaces currently proposed.

In terms of the stated concerns of density, the Richmond 3 Hedrick Plan does call for the neighborhood mixed use, which suggests a mix of uses up to and including multifamily. We've chosen to instead achieve density with a mix of uses that are prevalent in the area in order to be respectful to the context of the neighborhood. Thank you for your time. Happy to answer any questions. Can I also reserve a couple minutes for a rebuttal?

About two.

Okay.

Thank you.

Any questions?

I have a couple. The lots that you're gonna create, gonna be five lots? It'll be

five lots.

13 feet wide. I

don't think so.

I just did a quick math. If you would, please.

Haven't had a chance to be the overbearing boss yet this week, so just. I'm not Mark Baker, Baker Development Resources. And so you have five lots. I think it's the orientation that's messing me up with this.

It is. That's not how many people were there.

These are the existing single family attached, and they both they both front on on 34. And so

to the extent that we

have lot with there, it's half of that sixties 60 something. Right? And then going this direction, it's it's a it's a division by four. Right? So these ended up being at various sizes, but I can tell you they're in the twenties. Can't read that, but it's

Twenty one twenty one twenty two.

Yeah. Yeah. There you go.

That helps. Okay. And as far

as your easement question is concerned, that's that's this gray area here. I mean, this is all about flexibility. Right? I mean, the the rich the the Richmond 300 plan is talking about neighbor mixed use. That could easily be on an 8,000 square foot lot if we're talking about today's zoning. The Cove refresh aside, who knows what's happening with that. Right? But we're talking about today's zoning, that's neighborhood mixed use. And a lot like this, that's r 63 and a lot like this at 8,000 square feet, that's eight units and 1,500 square feet of ground floor commercial. We're like, well, let let's not do that. Right? Let's come in and do something that's respectful to the neighborhood. And so we have this mix of uses that are prevalent in the area, the the single family thatch, the duplex, and the single family over the garages. And then and then take a step further. Let's let's be able to split them up.

So it's not just it's not just a building housing that density. It's multiple uses that could ultimately I mean, you got home ownership opportunity. This could ultimately be a duplex ownership opportunity where I own it. Someone else lives above above me or probably below me. Then and then, again, opportunities for single family attached ownership here. So that's so I guess to the extent that it does get sold into separate pieces, the question is how do these folks get back and access the we had to have an easement for the trash. If this is under separate ownership, right, you want that individual to be able to walk across the sidewalk, come back to easement. These are actually stepping stones. Right? But come across the easement and then go back to the trash area without having

to walk through the alley to take my trash back. Yeah. Maintenance on the sides. The interior, those on the between the single family above the garages, the new two family, how are you gonna maintain the exterior walls when they need painting or Well, I mean, I think

I mean, we have we have we have three foot setbacks here. We have ample setbacks around here. There is it is tighter through here. You know, I suppose if you were gonna sell those, you might wanna put an easement in there and allow for common use of that for for for access. But I

think the pieces there are maybe more likely to

be selling off were were these two in the in the single thing. And that kinda gets to the point of, like, why why do we need to be able to rent those garages separately as well? Because if these are broken off and this is sold, you have a square footage here, four or 500 square foot unit on top of three on top of three broad spaces they don't necessarily need. Right? That would give them an opportunity to rent to one of these other folks or to someone else that's that's in need of the space. So

Other questions from our thank you, mister Beck, and thank you. And we reserve some rebuttal if you'd like. Are there any members I'm gonna open a public hearing now and ask if there are any members of the public who wish to speak in favor of this case. Remember anybody online?

I am seeing no one online.

Remember the public wish to speak in opposition to this case? I'm gonna close the public hearing. Bring it back to the commission and ask if there's a motion. Move to approve.

Second.

Any discussion? I will say this is creative. You're right, mister Brown. This is very creative. It confused me, but it looks good. The other we'll call a question. We're voting on approval of item number seven, thirteen hundred North thirty fourth and 13O2North30Fourth. Please call the roll. Mister Bull? Aye.

Miss Greenfield? Aye. Miss Knight?

I wonder what we're getting ready to do.

Aye. Miss Robertson?

Aye.

Miss Roe? Aye. Mister White? Aye. Mister McKenzie?

Aye.

Motion passes, and that item will be

forwarded to city council with the recommendation of approval.

Thank you very much. Council action update.

Yes. I do have an update and upcoming items right before that. The binders in front of you guys are the budget.

You can take it and loop it if you want. You can if you don't want it, you can

leave it where it is. You were not given one because lost counsel, and so they only gave me enough for people that were not.

I feel I have to ask.

I know. It's all about all of these

nice red books. I didn't say I already belong there. So you

can have them. You can you can leave them if you want. You can take the

binder or just the stack of papers. And then as far as council goes, they last met on March 23. There were three special use permit ordinances that were adopted and then one of the land conveniences. And then the seventeen o five Commonwealth Avenue special use permit is still going on. That was continued until the thirteenth. And then you you're gonna have two new special use permits and one special use permit amendment on your April 21 agenda so far.

Any other issues that any member of the commission would like to raise? Then we are adjourned. Thank you very much. Thank you.