Smithfield’s Planning Commission will hold a special June 17 work session at 6:30 p.m. at The Smithfield Center to further discuss several unresolved debates at recent meetings, including whether to revise the maximum density allowed in the town’s historic district.

The agenda also lists discussions of allowed home occupations, recreational vehicles, accessory dwelling units, a report from Isle of Wight County Schools and a proposed text amendment to allow duplex dwellings on a single lot.

The density debate originated from the Town Council’s 4-2 decision in March to deny a zoning ordinance text amendment request by developer Vincent Carollo, who purchased eight lots spanning just over an acre at Washington, James and Clay streets last year. The text change would have allowed him to apply for a special use permit for 10 homes, up from the eight approved when the land was formerly owned by Joseph Luter IV. Council members who voted to deny the request cited the current 5-unit-per-acre maximum allowed in downtown neighborhood residential zoning that dates to 1998. Carollo and planning commissioners contend some existing downtown neighborhoods that predate the 1998 ordinance already exceed the limit. 

Information from town staff shows a 0.38-acre Washington Street neighborhood with five homes, the oldest of which dates to 1930, equating to a density of 13.16 units per acre. Another 0.46-acre stretch of Chambers Row off Cedar Street has five homes, equating to a density of 10.86 units per acre.

The Planning Commission last discussed the matter on May 13 but failed to reach a consensus on whether changes to the zoning ordinance are warranted.

The planned discussion on home occupations comes amid the Planning Commission’s vote earlier this month to grant a special use permit to Nancy O’Berry, an author and resident of the age-restricted Villas at Smithfield development off Battery Park Road. O’Berry said at the commission’s June 10 meeting she was told by town staff she would need to pay a $400 special use permit application fee when she applied to the town for a business license. At that meeting, more than one commissioner asked why a permit was required for an author and were told by Town Attorney Bill Riddick that authors are among the home occupations requiring special use permits under the town’s multifamily residential zoning.

The planned discussion on accessory dwelling units and recreational vehicles concerns a provision of the town’s zoning ordinance that states in residential districts, no motor homes, recreational vehicles, trailers or boats can be parked on the street right-of-way and no more than two of any of the above may be parked on a residential lot. RVs are currently not permitted to be used “for any form of habitation on a residential lot.”

Accessory dwelling units can also refer to a detached, smaller house on the same lot as the primary residence that homeowners may use to house relatives.

The proposed zoning ordinance change that would allow duplex homes to be built on a single lot comes at the request of town staff. Currently, the town requires residential duplexes to be built on separate lots that abut at the units’ shared wall.

The report by Isle of Wight County Schools comes amid commissioners’ concerns about the cumulative impact of multiple in-progress and proposed developments in town on school capacity. IWCS previously provided the Planning Commission last year with projections showing four of its five northern-end schools would be over capacity based on the state’s maximum class sizes if 15 active and proposed developments across Smithfield and Isle of Wight County are completed.