WILLIAMSBURG — At its Nov. 14 meeting, Williamsburg City Council passed a proposal submitted by AES Consulting Engineers on behalf of Broad Street Realty to convert some of Midtown Row’s retail space into additional apartments — with stipulations.
The approved special use permit allows Midtown Row to convert 8,467 square feet of vacant retail space in Building No. 1 of Midtown Row, located at 221 Monticello Ave., to five apartments: two 4-bedrooms and three 3-bedrooms.
Building No. 1 is nearest the William & Mary School of Education. According to the proposal, all retail will be removed from Building No. 1.
Staff recommended denial of the proposal at the Planning Commission meeting, as it was believed it didn’t meet the criteria for special use permits. However, at the City Council Meeting, Staff recommended approval of the project.
A Planning Commission motion to recommend the City Council deny the proposal failed 3-2 with one abstention in October.
Sean Maze, the supervisor for the project, explained during the public hearing that five years had been spent trying to fill the space, with multiple different leasing and marketing strategies employed, to no avail. As such, it is the developer’s belief changing the location to additional residential space would be the best use for the space.
Several citizens spoke in opposition to the project during the public comment period. Concerns were brought up regarding neighborhood balance, as well as if rent was being lowered to entice potential applicants. Maze countered, assuring that the price per square foot cited online — $38 — isn’t how low they have offered it, noting that they have offered the space for as low as $18 per square foot in the 8,000-plus square foot area.
“If the desire of council is to convert this to apartments, I still have a huge issue with window tinting and shades along Monticello Avenue. I would want something more definitive before I supported converting to apartments,” said Vice Mayor Pat Dent. “I don’t think Planning Commission thinks they approved this [project], and that it goes back through the process with some more definitive answers.”
“We have learned that there are particular characteristics in Building One that make this suitable for additional apartments. We have also very importantly learned through this process what makes the other buildings not suitable for additional residential apartments,” said council member Stacy Kern-Scheerer, citing pages 27 and 28 of the staff report. “We hear a lot about stress in our neighborhoods, and that’s absolutely accurate. There is a huge amount of stress in our neighborhoods.”
“So, when I look at this, and when I look at all of these things put together, and I can kind of separate the big questions that we have to wrestle with and we have to continue to wrestle with, and I think that not every proposal, there’s no one magic bullet here so what are we doing?” Kern-Scheerer continued. “And then I look at this proposal on its own merits, and I look at what it’s got going for them and how it’s not a slippery slope, and that’s 17 less beds that we will have maybe less stressed in our single family residents. I think this really pulls it all together and that is why I support this.”
A motion was made by the city council to approve the proposal, with the condition that the owner prohibits the application, pinning, or hanging of any items on the interior or exterior windows by the occupants in the five apartments on the first floor facing Monticello Avenue in Building No. 1. The motion also came with the recommendation that the applicant work with the Williamsburg Public Art Council to create a film on the windows that would be approved by the Architectural Review Board. The motion passed 4-1.
The next city council meeting will be on Dec. 12 at 2 p.m. in the Stryker Center.
