RULES AND REGULATIONS
OF
THE COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION
HENRICO COUNTY, VIRGINIA
ARTICLE I – NAME
The name of the Commission shall be the Henrico County Planning Commission.
The Duties of the Commission are outlined by an ordinance adopted by the Board of Supervisors of Henrico County on January 20, 1960.
- To exercise such powers as are conferred upon the Commission in counties by Title 15.2 of the Code of Virginia as amended;
- To assist the County Board of Supervisors in the administration of Chapter 24 of the County Code (Zoning Ordinance) and other matters affecting the growth and development of the County; and, in furtherance of the purposes of the Zoning Ordinance of the County, shall make careful and comprehensive surveys and studies of existing conditions and probable future changes of such conditions throughout the County; it shall recommend such revisions to the existing components of the Future Land Use and Major Thoroughfare Maps of the Comprehensive Plan, and such implementation thereof, as the Commission may deem necessary and proper to the accomplishment of a coordinated, adjusted and harmonious development of the County; studies prepared by consulting firms under employment with the County on drainage, utilities, traffic and similar programs shall be made available to the Commission upon request directed to the County Manager;
- To perform all the duties imposed upon it by the terms of the County Zoning Ordinance, including the investigation of and report on every proposed amendment, supplement, change or repeal of a zoning regulation and every proposed change in any of the district boundaries as shown on the County’s Zoning District Map, and review and recommendation for every Provisional Use Permit; the Commission may, on its own motion, initiate any such changes; and the Commission is authorized to hold public hearings for the purpose of investigating the advisability of amending the Zoning Ordinance or determining its recommendations to the County Board of Supervisors on any matters referred by the Board to it.
- Under certain circumstances, the Commission is charged with the review and approval of Plans of Development (POD), Site Plans, Chesapeake Bay Preservation Requests for Exceptions, and related items referred to the Commission at the request of the Planning Director.
The Commission shall consist of six (6) members appointed by the County Board of Supervisors; there shall be on the Commission from each magisterial district one member. One member of the Board of Supervisors shall serve on the Commission.
The Commission shall annually nominate a slate of officers for chairman and vice-chairman at is meeting in December and elect a chairman and vice-chairman at its meeting in January.
The Chairman shall preside at all meetings and hearings of the Commission and shall decide all points of order or procedure. The vice-chairman shall assume the duties of the Chairman when the chairman is absent or upon the direction of the Chairman. In the absence of both the Chairman and Vice Chairman, and provided that there is a quorum, the remaining members shall chose who shall preside at the meeting.
The Director of Planning shall serve as Secretary to the Planning Commission. The Secretary shall: 1. Conduct all official correspondence of the Commission. 2. Send out all notices required by law, County policy, or Rules of the Commission. 3. Attend all meetings and hearings of the Commission. 4. Scrutinize all applications to ensure compliance with all pertinent requirements of the Zoning and Subdivision Ordinances. 5. Keep the agendas and minutes of the Commission’s proceedings. 6. Keep the necessary files and indexes on all matters that come before the Commission. 7. Generally supervise the clerical work for the Commission. 8. Notify the applicant of final action of the Commission. 9. Ascertain that all maps and plats are properly and adequately prepared so as to convey all the information necessary to make a fully informed decision.
A quorum of the Commission shall consist of four of the six-member Commission and in accordance with State law, no action of the Commission is valid unless authorized by a majority vote of those present and voting. All motions to approve, deny, or defer action on a pending agenda item require a second. Motions that do not receive a second shall be considered failed motions.
Hearings shall be open to the public, but the Commission may, after taking appropriate action, adjourn for a closed session to discuss matters pursuant to meeting the requirements set forth in the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.
Regular meetings of the Commission for the consideration of changes to the County’s Zoning District Map (regular and conditional rezoning); Provisional Use Permits; amendments to the zoning and subdivision ordinance; and under certain circumstances review and approval of plans of development and site plans shall be held on the first Thursday after the second Wednesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. Meetings shall be held in the Board Room of the County Administration Building in the Government Center at Parham and Hungary Spring Roads, or at such other time and place as the Commission may deem appropriate and necessary.
If the Chairman, or Vice Chairman if the Chairman is unable to act, finds and declares that the weather or other conditions are such that it is hazardous for Commission members and the public to attend a regular meeting, the meeting shall be postponed for a period of one (1) week to the same time the following week; however, if the postponement would be to a County holiday or the day before a County holiday, the meeting shall be postponed to two (2) days before the County holiday. Commission members and the press will be notified as promptly as possible, and notice will be posted on the front doors of the Commission’s meeting room and the courthouse. All hearings and other matters previously advertised will be conducted at the continued meeting, and no further advertisement or notice is required.
An expedited review agenda may be used in order to make the most efficient use of the Planning Commission’s time, to reduce unnecessary waiting by the public and development community, and to conserve time for discussion of plans with remaining issues or otherwise. The Staff may place plans or cases meeting all of the following criteria on the expedited review agenda. The criteria are as follows:
- The Staff must be recommending approval of the applicant’s request subject to any conditions or recommendations for a conditional Rezoning or Provisional Use Permit; or the annotations on the plan, standard conditions and any special conditions or recommendations for Plans of Development or Site Plans.
- The applicant must submit a letter stating its agreement with the Staff’s recommendations, annotations, standard and special conditions and stating the applicant is unaware of any opposition to the plans or request. The letter must be received by the Secretary not later than 4:00 p.m. on the Tuesday prior to the meeting.
- There is no known opposition to approval of the plan or request. If there is any known opposition to approval of the plan at the meeting, the item shall be removed from the expedited review agenda.
Any member of the Planning Commission may ask that any item be removed from the expedited agenda without a motion and with the consensus of the Commission, in which case it would be heard on the regular agenda.
Those items placed on the expedited review agenda shall be addressed individually with specific motions and votes on each.
The order of business at all regular meetings of the Commission shall be as follows unless otherwise rearranged by the Chairman:
(a) Roll Call.
(b) Consideration of requests for deferrals and withdrawals.
(c) Expedited review agenda for applicable plans where permitted.
(d) Hearing and consideration of items on the agenda.
(e) Approval of minutes of previous meetings.
(f) Adjournment. No motion to adjourn shall be required unless requested by the Chairman.
The Commission may establish reasonable limits on the length of testimony. Following the staff presentation, the applicant (or its representative) shall be allowed ten (10) minutes to present testimony. A portion of that time can be “saved” for rebuttal of opposition statements. Following the applicant’s presentation, the opposition will be allowed ten (10) minutes to present testimony. Time to answer questions of the Commission shall not be included within the applicant’s or opponent’s allotted time. Such limits may be announced before the commencement of testimony and the Commission may extend the time limits for each side at its discretion. Any extension shall not discriminate between opponents and proponents of a proposal. Comments shall be directly related to the case under consideration.
ARTICLE VI – PROCEDURE FOR REZONING, PROVISIONAL USES, PLANS OF DEVELOPMENT, SITE PLANS, AND RELATED PLANS.
REZONING AND PROVISIONAL USE PERMITS:
- Every application by a property owner to amend the county’s Zoning District Map (rezoning) and every application for a Provisional Use Permit shall be filed on prescribed forms with the Planning Department and accompanied by a fee as established by the Board of Supervisors payable to the County of Henrico, Virginia, which fee is applied to the cost of advertising, notification of adjacent owners, and other expenses incidental to reviewing and processing the application. After the order for initial publication of the applicant’s request is released by the Secretary, such fee shall not be returned regardless of whether the request is granted, denied or withdrawn.
- A maximum of nine (9) new applications for zoning district map amendments or a cumulative total of fifteen (15) applications for zoning map amendments and Provisional Use Permits, exclusive of those initiated by the Commission or Board of Supervisors, will be placed on each month’s agenda. If the ninth (or fifteenth) new case limit is realized prior to the established deadline for filing, the agenda will be completed as of the date and time the ninth (or fifteenth) case is received. Subsequent applications should be placed on the next available zoning agenda and advertised in accordance with law. The Commission shall retain the right to waive this limit as it may deem appropriate.
- The Secretary shall forward the application of any proposed amendment to the Zoning District Map or Provisional Use Permit to the Commission for recommendation and report. Applications must be received by the Planning Department at least eight (8) weeks prior to the Commission’s regular meeting.
- Each application placed on an agenda shall automatically be advertised prior to its scheduled public hearing. Said notice shall appear in a newspaper having general circulation in the County. Such notice shall specify the time and place of the hearing, and such hearing shall be held not less than five (5) days nor more than twenty-one (21) days from the time of publication. Unless circumstances cause otherwise, notices shall appear in the Monday edition of the newspaper, seventeen (17) days and ten (10) days prior to the scheduled public hearing. In addition, the Commission shall, prior to its scheduled hearing, notify all owners of property being rezoned and owners of property adjacent to the site which is the subject of a Rezoning or Provisional Use Permit request. The Secretary may give notice to additional property owners, groups or other persons deemed appropriate and advisable. A sign may be placed on the property requested for rezoning, change in proffers accepted with a previously approved rezoning case, or provisional use permits. This sign will be a notice that a request has been filed and indicating a telephone number whereby additional information can be obtained.
- In accordance with Section 24-2304 of the County Code (Zoning Ordinance), if the owner of the property which is the subject of a rezoning request shall elect to amend the application to request conditional zoning, such owner shall voluntarily proffer such conditions in writing. The Commission shall designate by motion, duly adopted at public hearing, the time during which the proffers may be filed. The Commission shall defer the request, notices shall again be given as required by law and if it deems it necessary, the Commission may direct the Secretary to readvertise the request prior to the hearing at which it makes its recommendation to the Board of Supervisors.
- In the event that additions or modifications to proffered conditions are desired by the owner of the property which is the subject of a rezoning request, the same shall be made in writing not less than forty-eight (48) hours prior to the time at which the Commission makes recommendation to the Board of Supervisors. The Commission shall retain the right to waive this deadline pursuant to approval of a motion by the Commission. Amended proffers shall be accompanied by a “blacklined” version of the proffers illustrating the amendment or modification by underlining new language and striking through deleted language.
- Cases shall be heard in the order in which they appear on the agenda, except a case may be advanced for hearing by order of the Commission upon good cause shown and with the concurrence of the Chairman. The Commission shall report to the Board of Supervisors no later than one hundred (100) days after the first meeting of the Commission after the proposed zoning amendment or reenactment has been referred to the Commission unless the applicant has in writing waived his right to receive such report in one hundred (100) days and has specified the additional time period the Commission may utilize.
- In determining what, if any, amendments to the Zoning Ordinance are to be adopted, the Commission shall give due consideration to the proper relationship of such amendments to the Zoning Ordinance and Comprehensive Plan for the County of Henrico and such other considerations as required by state law.
- After the Board of Supervisors has taken official action either granting or denying a petition for any change in zoning or any change of zoning conditions, no petition for substantially the same change(s) shall again be considered in less than twelve (12) months from the date of such official action. In the event a petition is voluntarily withdrawn by the applicant, no petition for substantially the same change(s) shall again be considered in less than twelve (12) months from the date of such action.
PLANS OF DEVELOPMENT, SITE PLANS, AND RELATED PLANS:
- Written application for Plans of Development, Site Plans or related approval, accompanied by copies of the detailed plans which conform to Chapter 24 of the County Code (Zoning Ordinance), shall be submitted to the Planning Department not later than six (6) weeks prior to the scheduled meeting at which the Plans are to be considered.
- At least eight (8) calendar days prior to the public hearing, the Secretary shall send notice to all property owners entitled to receive notice and to such additional property owners, groups, and other persons that the Secretary deems appropriate and advisable.
- The Secretary shall check all Plans of Development, Site Plans, and related plans for general completeness and compliance with such administrative requirements as may be established prior to accepting such applications. The Secretary shall route copies thereof to reviewing departments, agencies and officials, see that all reviews are timely completed and that action is taken by the approving authority within sixty (60) days of receipt of the application unless the applicant requests an extension of time.
WITHDRAWAL:
- No action is necessary by the Planning Commission should the applicant withdraw their application for a Rezoning, Provisional Use Permit, Plan of Development, Site Plan or related plan unless requested by the applicant.
- Submission of revised plans: Revised plans for consideration by the Commission shall be submitted to the Planning Department no later than 4:00 p.m. on the Friday preceding the Commission hearing. The Commission shall retain the right to waive this deadline pursuant to approval of a motion by the Commission.
ARTICLE VII – ADVICE
No informal request for advice will be officially considered by the Planning Commission.
ARTICLE VIII – RECORDS
All records of the Commission shall be a public record.
ARTICLE IX – SUSPENSION RULES
These rules may be suspended in whole or in part only upon the unanimous vote of the members of the Commission present.
ARTICLE X – AMENDMENTS
These rules may be amended or modified by the affirmative vote of four (4) members.
Amended January 13, 1983
Amended January 14, 1988
Amended January 12, 1989
Amended January 11, 1990
Amended February 25, 1992
with effective date of April 1, 1992
Amended January 14, 1993
Amended January 11, 1996
Amended January 28, 1997
Amended January 15, 1998
Amended September 10, 1998
Amended April 13, 1999
Amended April 5, 2000
Amended September 24, 2003
Amended August 9, 2007
Amended March 26, 2014
Amended August 11, 2016
Amended February 22, 2017
Amended December 9, 2021
January 10, 2022
