Another issue starts from scratch
Zoning change joins list of recent city process errors
By Joe and Deb Fitzgerald
Last month, the Harrisonburg Planning Commission recommended a change in the zoning ordinance to require a special use permit for substance abuse treatment centers in areas where the permit is not currently needed.
An error in the process means they’ll have to start from scratch.
The error is not the same one, or of the same type, that required the Planning Commission and City Council to start from scratch on consideration of The Link.
The zoning amendment, if done correctly this time and passed by City Council, will first define Inpatient Substance Use Disorder Treatment Facilities, and then require a special use permit for them to operate in R-3 residential areas or B-2 business areas.
By state code, such an amendment cannot be initiated by a request from the Community Development staff, but must begin with a resolution from the commission or from the local governing body. The Planning Commission held a special meeting Thursday night to pass said resolution.
Laura Dent, a City Council member since 2021 and the council’s representative on the commission, asked if the City Council is the governing body. Staff confirmed that it is.
The commission then unanimously passed a resolution asking staff to bring before them for consideration the ordinance change they recommended approval of last month. If they recommend approval again, the ordinance change will go forward to the City Council.
Any appeal of a zoning amendment passed by the wrong process must come within 30 days, so no past ordinance changes will be affected by the city government not knowing about the relevant provision of state law.
The Community Development staff was informed of the provision of the state law by an attorney representing someone planning an inpatient facility under the current rules. Under those rules, an operator can open a treatment facility for treatment of drug abuse or alcoholism without permission from the city government. Facilities can then release clients into the community when their insurance benefits run out. Rehab programs may pay for treatment for as little as 30 days.
An unrelated process error negated two months of city meetings on The Link, a planned six-story apartment complex downtown catering primarily to JMU students. The Link came before the Planning Commission in July and City Council in August. The approval process was delayed after the council voted to order a facilitation process without saying how it should be done. The entire debate became moot when it was revealed that the Community Development department had not properly advertised the public hearings for the project.