Roanoke Zoning Clash Returns To Dais with a Bang, Homelessness Task Force Forms, Vape Shops Targeted

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New plan formed for lingering Roanoke zoning controversy

Roanoke leaders aim to adjust, but not completely gut, controversial zoning reforms designed to create more multifamily housing.

The effort will be led by the two city council members who had the most intense exchanges about the matter Monday: Nick Hagen and Peter Volosin. 

Mayor Joe Cobb, near the end of almost an hour of debate, said Hagen and Volosin had proven they should be part of a possible solution. 

The path forward council agreed on: planning staff will talk with stakeholders, including concerned citizens, to come up with specific potential amendments. Hagen, a lawyer who campaigned against the zoning changes, and Volosin, a real estate agent who championed the policies, will review those suggestions. The council would then discuss what to do, likely in October.

The substantial zoning reform was put in place to try to create more housing options while essentially doing away with exclusive single-family zoning. Opening neighborhoods up to more creative development opportunities can increase affordable housing stock, arguably the city’s biggest need, according to supporters of the changes. 

Opposition formed over potential upheaval to longtime single-family neighborhoods through multi-family development. The ordinance approval promptly got the city sued by a group of citizens. That has required the city to spend about $85,000 in taxpayer money for legal fees to a private firm as of May. A hearing on the lawsuits is scheduled for Aug. 21.

City Attorney Tim Spencer said Monday his office has tried to keep those costs down by providing some in-house work. Other localities have spent more on similar zoning-related lawsuits, including Arlington, which has spent $1.4 million and Charlottesville, which has spent more than $100,000, according to information provided by the city of Roanoke.

“One of my largest concerns that I’ve had about this is the lack of public input when these changes occur in neighborhoods,” Hagen said. “I’ve found that when that happens, people tend to get litigious, which then raises costs for everybody.”

Hagen restarted the formal discussion of the issue by asking for a repeal of the ordinance or a way to achieve revisions. He did that by filing a “council member initiative” form, a new way for ideas to be brought to the larger group. A majority of council members who took office this year — Hagen, Vice Mayor Terry McGuire, Phazhon Nash and Evelyn Powers — previously said they were in favor of at least making amendments to the ordinance.

On his initiative form, Hagen wrote that a potential repeal or substantial revision “reasserts the goals of ensuring equitable development and that people have a voice again.”

Volosin said he’s not against some possible tweaks. But he said it makes no sense to ask city staffers to undertake a full review of the ordinance – particularly after they went through the substantial work to change it, including two public input phases before it was approved in September.

“For you to come and then just say ‘here, study everything,’ I think is a little bit too vague,” Volosin told Hagen.

Volosin, to prove a point that the city has provided adequate public input, then asked city Planning Director Jillian Papa to detail the outreach that was completed twice in 2024, including meetings and online feedback and a campaign that included posting yard signs in neighborhoods.

While she was doing that, Hagen asked Papa: “Director, how many people on average attended those meetings?”

It ranged from a high of about 30 people to a low of around four, she responded.

One of the citizens suing the city, Tony Stavola, attended Monday’s meeting. He said he plans to be part of the ongoing conversations prompted by the council’s latest decision.

Asked about previous public input opportunities, Stavola said he doesn’t believe the city went about it the right way.

For instance, he said the yard signs used by the city read “Say yes to housing.”

That’s an advocacy campaign that a lot of people either didn’t pay much attention to – or didn’t realize had potential far-reaching impacts, he said.

McGuire also said the yard signs were “not public engagement, that was a PR campaign to try to influence the outcome.”

Following Monday’s meeting, Councilwoman Vivian Sanchez-Jones, who voted for the zoning reform last year, expressed frustration over the ongoing debate.

She said it’s much about not-in-my-backyard complaints in certain areas of the city.

Homelessness task force forms with 21 members

Roanoke’s new homelessness task force stood together for a public introduction Monday as it begins its multi-faceted mission.

That includes dispelling myths about people experiencing homelessness, reducing stigmas, educating the public and finding creative ways to address the problem. The goal is for the task force to have recommendations in 12 to 18 months, an extended period needed based on the complexities involved, Mayor Joe Cobb said.

Cobb, with the city council’s backing, came up with the idea to form the Hope and Home Task Force. He says it is meant to accentuate the city’s existing network of services.

While there has been a 30 percent reduction overall in homeless people over 15 years, there has been an uptick post-pandemic, including unhoused families, based on city data.

“The city of Roanoke carries the heaviest burden and the highest level of responsibility in this work” in the region, Cobb said during Monday’s press conference.

That includes funding. One issue the task force is expected to explore is involvement of other localities, where people have left to come to the city for what is offered. That could include requests for money and also the potential for other localities to provide housing options for those in need.

Virginia Tech’s Center for Economic and Community Engagement will consult with the task force. Scott Tate, the department’s associate director of community engagement, said research can be done on topics such as what other cities are doing. He said he also plans to facilitate the task force’s work. The city’s contract with the center, including the fee arrangement, had yet to be finalized Tuesday.

City Manager Valmarie Turner said important factors ahead for the task force include becoming familiar with the different populations of Roanoke’s homeless community, and probing such questions as: Where can more funding be found? What are the needed levels of job training, mental health treatment, police enforcement and housing supply.?

One question that was answered Monday: There is definitely not a lack of interest in task force service. It includes 21 people from diverse backgrounds, from business to nonprofits to higher education to healthcare.

Two who represent the varied experience spoke Monday about why they wanted to serve.

Courtney Downs is a patient navigator with the Virginia Harm Reduction Coalition. 

“I used to be the person sleeping under the bridge over there, by Tazewell, right by the [Roanoke Rescue] Mission,” she said. “It is the community that kept me anchored and connected long enough until I could find what I needed to find to be where I’m at today.”

Michael Friedlander is executive director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute on Jefferson Street.

Those at the institute have noticed the challenges with homelessness and how they’ve become more significant in recent years.

“We, the people from the institute I represent, we’d like to be part of the solution.”

The task force will meet monthly at a place to be determined and is expected to start later this month or in September.

Vape shops should pay price in Roanoke, Nash says

Vape and smoke shops harm the community and should pay a hefty fee as a deterrent to operate, City Councilman Phazhon Nash said.

As a way to start a discussion, he proposed a $20,000 fee. He said the fee has to be high enough to make such businesses think twice about locating in the city.

Nash, the council’s lone Black member, said such businesses tend to target marginalized communities and people of color.

“The second [that] vacant storefronts or vacant commercial space becomes available, they sweep in and snatch it up,” he said. “And that also means that from an economic development standpoint, that’s one less business that could be beneficial” to a neighborhood.

The stores — “not your typical Sheetz or Shell gas stations,” Nash said — sell products such as those with kratom, that drive addiction.

“Lots of kids are vaping,” said Councilwoman Vivian Sanchez-Jones, adding that many are underage.

Other council members supported Nash’s idea, while raising related issues. Such as, the state of Virginia restricts what localities can tax. And whether the city should charge a fee to convenience stories, too. And whether data can be gathered to help the council decide what to do.

The council also may want to include some sort of proposed legislation on the matter as part of its annual list to the state legislature, Vice Mayor Terry McGuire said.

After their discussion Monday, the council asked that the city attorney’s office study the request and determine options.