The Williamsburg Planning Commission at a meeting on Sept. 14, 2022. Sian Wilkerson/staff (Sian Wilkerson)

WILLIAMSBURG — The Williamsburg Planning Commission last week voted for an amendment that would increase affordable housing with more hotel conversions.

The commission voted unanimously Wednesday to recommend approval of an amendment to the city code that would increase the number of adaptive housing dwelling units from 150 to 350 and increase the number of allowed facilities from two to no more than five in the Planned Development Housing District. The amendment doesn’t allow adaptive housing facilities adjacent to Richmond Road.

The amendment also includes a requirement that would require the facilities to offer affordable rent to households with incomes at or less than 80% of Area Median Income.

Currently there are 32 hotel and motel properties in the city. Staff identified 13 properties that could realistically be used for a conversion to affordable housing.

One sticking point in the proposed amendment was a requirement to have 20% of the units in each facility be two bedrooms.

At last month’s meeting, the commission asked staff to take a look at what type of demand existed for two-plus bedroom options within the units.

During the open forum, Scott Foster, who spoke on behalf of the owner of the Baymont by Wyndham Williamsburg hotel on York Street, said that while he agrees “with the spirit and intent” of the city’s goals with the affordable housing conversions, he disagrees on implementation.

“The two-bedroom requirement significantly changes the financial incentive for property owners to convert their property to this use,” he said. “It drives down the total number of units. There’s a high likelihood that two-bedroom units will be more expensive to maintain. ... We may require two bedrooms to be built but I don’t know that we can actually custom-tailor this ordinance in away that ensures that the people that we’re intending to help are actually housed in those units.”

Foster suggested that instead of making it a requirement, individual applicants can include their own feasible number of two-bedroom units, allowing the commission to make a judgment call on a case-by-case basis.

Commission member John Tarley said that he preferred more flexibility in terms of unit size number requirements, while Chairman James Boswell said that developers “won’t do it if they won’t make money.”

“I don’t like to put restrictions on individual developers when we could prevent a good conversion from happening,” commission member John Cale said. “... The conundrum is it certainly is a need for these families and they’re turning away families, so how do we regulate that and encourage it [without dictating] a set number so we would potentially lose development opportunities down the road?”

The commission agreed to make the mix of number of bedrooms part of the application process.

The city currently has two affordable housing facilities: the Flats of Williamsburg on York Street, which has two-bedroom units, and Willow Creek Apartments on Parkway Drive, which does not have two-bedroom units. Though there is no Area Median Income requirement in either facility, in the Flats, 11% of the units are leased by those using public assistance, while 24% of the units at Willow Creek are leased by those receiving a subsidy.

According to a presentation by the city’s director of planning and codes compliance, Tevya Griffin, the demand for two-or-more bedroom units is apparent when looking at the fact that 20% of children living in the city live in poverty, and renters in the city tend to have larger households than homeowners.

In other business, the commission unanimously denied a request to allow a Hookah Lounge to open on Monticello Road, agreeing with staff’s conclusion that a denial would help protect the health and safety and welfare of the general public.

A scheduled discussion about the potential construction of 100-120 multifamily units at 180 Strawberry Plains Road was postponed to a later date at the request of both staff and the applicant.

Sian Wilkerson, sian.wilkerson@pilotonline.com, 757-342-6616