Student Housing Planned - HarrisonburgHousingToday.com

Student Housing Planned County Planners Approve Rezoning Near City Line By VIC BRADSHAW Daily News-Record April 4, 2016 HARRISONBURG — Rockingham County Planning Commission members have given their nod to a proposal to turn 36.8 wooded acres on Reservoir Street at the city-county border into a student housing development. The commissioners voted Tuesday to recommend approval of LCD Acquisitions LLC’s request to rezone the land to planned residential district from general agricultural district. The company intends to build The Retreat at Harrisonburg, a residential development of up to 178 units of detached, duplex and quad housing. Chairman Rodney Burkholder and Commissioners Bill Loomis, R. Steven Pence, David Rees and Brent Trumbo supported approval of the rezoning request, which is forwarded to the Rockingham County Board of Supervisors for final consideration. The board could take up the request at its April 27 meeting. Athens, Ga.-based LCD Acquisitions would use all of four parcels and part of a fifth to put together the acreage for the project. The company, which has a contract to buy the properties from local company BOSA II LLC, agreed to build no more than 178 units containing no more than 715 bedrooms. The company is directly affiliated with Landmark Properties, which has more than 20,000 beds built or under development. It has won several awards for its designs and manages most of the properties it’s built. Landmark would manage The Retreat at Harrisonburg. John Williams, president of Athens- based Williams & Associates, said the units would have between two and five bedrooms each. The development would be ready to accept students in fall 2017. Discussions about the project lasted more than an hour Tuesday as the commissioners grilled planning staff members and Landmark representatives about the development. Much of the concern was tied to problems at the start for Aspen Heights, the only other student housing development in Rockingham County. Aspen Heights opened in August 2013, and its staff was overwhelmed as James Madison University students flooded the Port Republic Road complex, with many loud parties disturbing neighbors a few weekends into the fall semester. But Williams assured the panel that Landmark operates differently than many student housing

companies. “I think you’ll find,” he said, “ that we’ll raise the bar for Rockingham County as far as student housing goes.” ‘Three Strikes Policy’ Landmark, Williams said, has a “ three strikes policy” for violating community rules built into its lease agreements. One of the rules is that management must be notified at least 24 hours in advance of any gathering that will involve 15 or more people. Based on problems its representatives were told about when Aspen Heights opened, Landmark has agreed to provide overnight security Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights for the first 30 days the complex is open. “This is definitely not our first rodeo with managing these properties,” he said, “and we have a pretty good track record.” The company tends to draw tenants who are more interested in studying than partying with its rules, designs that mirror a normal residential neighborhood and rental rates that typically are higher than most student housing in a market, Williams said. If that’s not enough, parents, as lease co- signers, typically are notified about rules violations, and tenants who accrue three complaints are evicted. Landmark is managing 12,000 beds across the country, he said, and rarely needs to evict tenants. “Nobody wants to call Mom and Dad,” said Williams, “and tell them they’ve got to find another place to live in the middle of the year.” Also among the 13 proffers, or conditions, attached to the rezoning request is a requirement that a bus stop be provided. Landmark must arrange city bus service to the site or provide a shuttle to James Madison University for residents. To assuage parking concerns voiced by Loomis, the parking proffer of 3.5 spaces per dwelling was modified to 3.5 per dwelling plus an additional spot for each five- bedroom unit. One unknown that should be resolved before the supervisors take up the matter is what Sheriff Bryan Hutcheson thinks about the project. County planner James May said Hutcheson was having data compiled about calls for service at Aspen Heights. “We want to know what Sheriff Hutcheson feels about 700 more students in the county,” Rees said. “It’s a nice- looking development, though. Too bad students have got to go in there.” Something Brewing? In other business, the commissioners also voted unanimously to table two ordinance amendments

aimed at allowing production breweries to operate in the county. The proposed changes would substitute craft breweries, defined as an independent brewery that produces less than 250,000 barrels of beer or ale annually, for microbreweries, which could produce up to 10,000 barrels a year. A taproom, affiliated restaurant or event center would be allowed to sell beer or ale on the premises, and the alcohol could be distributed off- site. Craft breweries would be allowed by- right in the planned resort, planned neighborhood, mixed use, general business, neighborhood business, planned commercial, and planned medical and research zoning districts, according to the ordinance. But Zoning Administrator Diana Stultz, who brought the staff- sponsored amendment to the commission, suggested that craft breweries also should be allowed in the prime agricultural and general agricultural districts if their owners obtain a special- use permit. She said some of the people who have expressed interest in opening a brewery in the county want to grow some of their own hops or other ingredients. Commission members expressed reluctance to embrace the amendment, especially in agricultural areas, without an idea of what such a building footprint could look like or the parking demands. Stultz said staff members are working on some supplemental standards that would apply to the breweries. She’s optimistic they’ll be ready next month and address some of the concerns. In November, the Board of Supervisors approved an ordinance that would allow farm breweries in the county. Such operations would be allowed to produce only 15,000 barrels of beer each calendar year. Contact Vic Bradshaw at 574-6279 or [email protected]