A trial over Charlottesville’s zoning ordinance will be heard by a jury, but not until next year.
In January 2024, a group of Charlottesville residents sued the city over the ordinance, which the City Council passed unanimously in December 2023 and which took effect in February 2024. Broadly, it allowed for more residential density throughout the city, something known as “upzoning.” Officials and some community members hoped that the new ordinance would open up more affordable housing opportunities for people of various economic statuses.
The suit alleges that the city did not follow the law when it passed its Comprehensive Plan in November 2021, specifically that it only sent the transportation chapter, and not the entire plan, to the Virginia Department of Transportation, and therefore the plan is void. If the Comprehensive Plan is void, the plaintiffs argue, so is the zoning ordinance based off of it.
The case was headed for trial when, on June 30, 2025, Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Claude Worrell issued a default judgment in favor of the plaintiffs — attorneys with Gentry Locke, the law firm the city hired to handle the case, missed a filing deadline.
Worrell instructed the city to revert back to its old zoning code.
The decision propelled the state of development in the city into confusion, as city officials and developers alike worked to understand what that meant for developments both already underway and in the planning phase.
Then, during an Aug. 13 hearing, the city asked Worrell to reverse the default judgment. The plaintiffs asked him not to.
Just over a week later, on Aug. 22, Worrell reversed his decision in a written opinion, allowing the suit to proceed to trial. While the court system has no power over a locality’s zoning ordinance, and no place in weighing the merits of it, Worrell wrote, the court is responsible for determining whether a locality followed state law while creating that ordinance.
The jury trial is set for 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, in Charlottesville Circuit Court.
Until a decision is reached, the city will continue to review development applications per the 2024 code — the one the suit is challenging — City Spokesperson Afton Schneider told Charlottesville Tomorrow in an email.
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