The city plans to fund two impact studies to settle the suit and move forward with enacting its 2023 zoning plan update.
After months without a zoning code, the Charlottesville, Virginia City Council voted to settle a lawsuit that has held up the city’s zoning update.
As Ryan Kushner explains in Smart Cities Dive, the lawsuit was brought by residents who claimed the city failed to follow proper procedures such as conducting an impact study when it updated its zoning code to allow more density in 2023. According to Kushner, “The city’s updated zoning eliminates single-family zoning and parking space requirements at new developments, moves intended to address the city’s housing affordability crisis.”
Now, the council voted to fund two infrastructure and transportation studies in an effort to settle the suit and move forward with the zoning update. City Attorney John Maddux called the settlement “the best outcome in this case,” saying, “It’ll help us move forward with clarity and purpose with our zoning.”
Read the full story: How Charlottesville, Virginia, is getting its zoning back
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
Nation's most wind-powered state turns to coal as data centers increase energy demand
For the first time in decades, Iowa has increased its generation of coal power.
NYC cools commuters with city's first rain garden above a bus stop
New York City officials say the plants in the rain garden can absorb 16 gallons of rainwater during heavy storms.
Brightline West’s future may rely on $6 billion federal loan
The company has until Nov. 2 to make a $400 million equity investment into its proposed high-speed rail line.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association