Roanoke City Council’s Monday meeting ran more than four hours and ended at 11 p.m. without action on a major zoning overhaul, leaving several speakers unheard and pushing decisions on housing rules, vape shops and data centers to a future date.
A motion to extend the meeting failed because city code requires unanimous consent.
The package under review would revisit parts of the city’s 2024 zoning update, including housing density rules, new limits on vape and tobacco shops near schools and youth spaces, and regulations for data centers and some inpatient treatment facilities. City staff said they expect the hearing and council vote to resume at a June 15 evening session.
Tax exemptions approved, but mayor flags concern
Earlier in the meeting, council voted 6-1 to grant tax-exempt status to two Restoration Housing-linked properties: Villa Heights on Hoover Street and The Grove on Patterson Avenue. Both will pay a reduced service charge instead of full property taxes.
Supporters said the properties provide child care, youth programming and housing for women in recovery. A council review committee had recommended against the exemptions, citing rental income at the sites and the impact on the city’s tax base.
Mayor Joe Cobb said after the vote that council needs to pay close attention to future requests.
“But I need citizens to know that we’re really concerned about this,” Cobb said. “And as we’re thinking about additional revenue resources and streams for the city, if we continue to raise the number of properties that are tax exempt, then it limits our ability for properties that are taxable.”
Council member Evelyn W. Powers cast the lone vote against the exemptions.
Vision Zero street safety plans adopted
Council unanimously adopted a Safety Action Plan and Speed Management Action Plan and approved updates to the city’s Complete Streets Policy. The plans support Roanoke’s Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2040.
City data from 2019 through 2023 showed an average of 10 traffic fatalities and about 60 serious-injury crashes each year, with pedestrians and motorcyclists disproportionately represented in fatal crashes. Staff said adoption of the plans keeps Roanoke eligible for future federal transportation safety grants.
McGuire said street safety has become both a neighborhood issue and an economic development concern.
“This is an issue I care a lot for the safety, for the walkability, for healthy neighborhoods, those reasons and perspectives,” McGuire said. “But it really is about economics as well. There’s a huge cost to having our EMS services have to go out to crashes. Walkable neighborhoods and safe streets are also economic development. It’s something that we know businesses are looking at when they’re trying to decide where they’re going to locate.”
Evans Spring guidance shifts toward conservation
Council also approved changes to the Evans Spring Comprehensive Plan covering a roughly 150-acre privately owned tract in northwest Roanoke. The update removes large-scale commercial retail as the recommended use for part of the property and adds conservation as a possible outcome, along with neighborhood-scale mixed-use, residential and park space.
The vote does not change ownership or create a park. The land remains in private hands, and the action only adjusts the city’s planning guidance. Any conservation or park plan would depend on whether landowners choose to sell and whether funding can be secured.
A speaker with the Blue Ridge Land Conservancy told council the new language opens the door for grant funding that was not available when the plan only envisioned commercial development. Supporters described a future park that could promote health, provide low-impact exercise, offer outdoor learning for students and help cool what they said is one of the city’s hottest areas in summer.
Mayor Cobb asked for a separate transportation study to look at access to the area after council removed earlier language calling for a direct interstate connector.
Laundromat rezoning advances on 3½ Street Southeast
In other business, council unanimously approved rezoning along the 3 1/2 Street Southeast corridor from light industrial to urban flex, clearing the way for a laundromat. The change allows a new neighborhood-serving business to move into the corridor.
What comes next on zoning
Because the zoning amendments were not heard in full, no changes to the city’s code have been made. The 2024 rules remain in effect until council completes the public hearing and takes a final vote, likely in mid-June.
