Chesterfield zoning update moves forward

Chesterfield County is nearing the final stages of a yearslong effort to overhaul its outdated zoning ordinance. At a July 15 meeting, the Chesterfield Planning Commission unanimously approved the current draft of the Zoning Ordinance Modernization project — known as ZOMod.

The project aims to align the county’s land use regulations with its comprehensive plan because the county’s existing zoning code was largely written in the 1980s and early ’90s and doesn’t match Chesterfield’s vision for growth and development.

“We have a comprehensive plan that was shiny and new, but we are still living with a zoning ordinance developed decades ago,” says Steven Haasch, assistant director at Chesterfield County Planning Department. “We had the vision. We were missing the tool to implement that vision appropriately.”

Among ZOMod’s most significant updates is allowing for a mixed-use zoning district, which would usher in more developments like Chester Village. This helps to avoid the cumbersome exception zoning process required under current zoning regulations.

“We have been trying to work around the existing zoning ordinance because it doesn’t fit the modern development trend,” says Rachel Chieppa, planning manager for comprehensive planning and research at the county’s planning department.

“When our ordinance was originally created, [all uses were] separated. We didn’t go to a brewery inside of an industrial park.”

Some Chesterfield County residents, though, have been wary of the ZOMod process, concerned the new ordinance will only make the county more crowded. County officials stressed, however, that ZOMod won’t increase density limits because those are controlled by the comprehensive plan.

“The zoning ordinance does not set density,” Haasch explained. “The comprehensive plan does, and we are not changing any densities in the comprehensive plan. The plan is what the plan is.”

Housing is another focus in ZOMod. New provisions would allow for smaller lot sizes, Haasch says, while also retaining amenity spaces younger generations have become accustomed to, like green spaces, clubhouses or other common areas.

“We’re really limited today” with housing choices, Haasch says. “ZOMod tries to have more options for development.”

The Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing on ZOMod on Sept. 17.

“Don’t believe what you hear on social media,” Haasch says. “There’s a lot of misinformation going on around ZOMod, and we would hope people would … learn for themselves what it does and doesn’t do.”