City planners seek proffer guidelines

In drafting a clearer policy on proffers during a Tuesday work session, the Charlottesville Planning Commission identified a number of areas in which developers may consider submitting proffers for future projects.

Proffers — benefits offered by developers as part of a project — can be encouraged when rezoning is requested because of the large impact a project may have on existing neighborhoods. But city officials have often haphazardly decided what types of benefits should be accepted.

“We’ve just sort of been winging it,” said Cheri Lewis, a member of the Planning Commission.

The new guidelines being crafted, among other things, would serve to educate developers early on which benefits the city would view favorably. Community priorities that have been identified — which Planning Commissioners say proffers should address — include affordable housing, pedestrian-oriented design, practicing environmental sustainability and preservation, and the maintenance of public utilities.

In an interview, city planner Nick Rogers said providing developers with structured guidelines would make an already time-consuming process less chaotic for those involved.

“They do like rules and guidelines and order, and anything that is discretionary or a cloudy area is very frustrating for our development community,” Rogers said.

Commissioners also said Tuesday that they would encourage developers to proffer concept plans for projects. In volunteering concept plans, which are already required for planned-unit developments, city officials could ensure that developers stick to their approved projects and are held accountable if they stray from the conditions.

“Proferring the concept plan basically allows the developer to put his money where his mouth is,” said planner Brian Haluska.

Rogers, who completed research on proffer policies in other Virginia localities, said Roanoke, Richmond and Arlington have incorporated similar guidelines successfully.

Lewis said the city also does not have a written policy on cash proffers, which often creates confusion for all parties involved in a proposal.

Such was the case last year when Richmond developer Bob Englander sought a rezoning for a project at 301 W. Main St. Originally, Englander said he would donate $200,000 to an affordable housing nonprofit and undertake $200,000 in streetscape and landscaping improvements.

Though the Planning Commission said at the time that the benefits package was too small to deserve rezoning, the City Council later approved the project after Englander agreed to contribute $300,000 to the Charlottesville Redevelop-ment and Housing Authority.

Lewis said they have not had issues with consistency in accepting proffers volunteered by developers, especially as the city gets very few rezoning applications per year. Rogers said that since last year the city has received six rezoning applications. Only two had proffer statements.

Charlottesville’s situation has played out much differently than Albemarle County’s, where rezoning applications for residential units — including the 3,100-unit Biscuit Run development that was approved last year — come in much more frequently. The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors came up with a formula for how much it hopes developers will contribute in proffers to offset growth costs. Supervisors decided that cash contributions of $17,500 per single-family house and $12,400 per condo unit were appropriate.

The county also has a policy requiring that 15 percent of units in a rezoned development be set aside at affordable rates, or that a developer contribute a comparable amount of money to a housing fund.

But, developer Oliver Kuttner warned that set guidelines with little to no wiggle room may deter developers from submitting applications in the first place. Instead, proffers should be tailored to individual projects.

“It’s a different time and there’s a different amount of money out there,” Kuttner said in an interview.