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<DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;"><DIV><DIV><P><SPAN><SPAN>Character districts are the City’s updated approach to planning, replacing the traditional adopted land use plan. Character districts focus on the outcomes and attributes of complete communities rather than on specific land uses. Complete communities provide employment, housing, recreation, and businesses for residents with a mix of land uses and a variety of housing types. Particularly, Character Districts highlight the envisioned mix of uses, open space, amenities, and street network and mobility across the City.</SPAN></SPAN></P><P><SPAN /><SPAN><SPAN>Character districts were created based upon parcel boundaries. Existing right of way was excluded from most character districts.</SPAN></SPAN></P><P><SPAN /><SPAN><SPAN>The Conservation Character District was based upon data. It includes lands that are already under protection by the City, State, Federal Government, non-profits, etc. such as State and Federal conservation lands, properties owned by the Nature Conservancy and other nonprofits, land zoned C-1 conservation district, wetlands mitigation sites, FEMA buyout properties, backup City water supply parcels, tidal wetlands, and the Intracoastal Waterway. It also includes the outstanding and very high quality Ecological Cores and Natural Land Network corridors as identified by the VA Department of Conservation and Recreation. </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN /></P><P><SPAN><SPAN>There are currently eleven different types of Character Districts in Chesapeake, represented by a 2-3 letter abbreviation. They are:</SPAN><SPAN /></SPAN><SPAN /><SPAN /><SPAN /><SPAN /></P><UL><LI><P><SPAN><SPAN>CC – Community/Regional Commercial</SPAN><SPAN /></SPAN><SPAN /><SPAN>CON – Conservation</SPAN></P></LI><LI><P><SPAN>EC – Employment Center</SPAN></P></LI><LI><P><SPAN><SPAN>FO – Fentress</SPAN></SPAN></P></LI><LI><P><SPAN><SPAN>LSN – Low-scale Neighborhood</SPAN></SPAN></P></LI><LI><P><SPAN><SPAN>MSN – Mid-scale Neighborhood</SPAN></SPAN></P></LI><LI><P><SPAN><SPAN>NC – Neighborhood Center</SPAN></SPAN></P></LI><LI><P><SPAN><SPAN>PP – Production and Processing</SPAN></SPAN></P></LI><LI><P><SPAN><SPAN>RP – Regional Park</SPAN></SPAN></P></LI><LI><P><SPAN><SPAN>RUR – Rural</SPAN></SPAN></P></LI><LI><P><SPAN><SPAN>UMU – Urban Mixed Used</SPAN></SPAN></P></LI></UL><P><SPAN>The Character District layer includes the following fields listed by alias with the field name in parentheses, and a brief description at the end.</SPAN></P><UL><LI><P><SPAN>Calc Acres - (calcacreage) - acreage determined using calculate geometry functionality</SPAN></P></LI><LI><P><SPAN>Character District (LandUse_2045) - Character District of area; domain applied for the 11 different Character Districts</SPAN><SPAN /></P></LI><LI><P><SPAN>Historic Char District (Historic) - previous Character District</SPAN></P></LI><LI><P><SPAN>Date Changed (Date_Changed) - date the Character District changed</SPAN></P></LI><LI><P><SPAN>Comments (Comments) -brief reason why the Character District changed</SPAN></P></LI></UL><P><SPAN>This layer will be updated periodically following the adoption of Small Area Plans or other actions by City Council.</SPAN></P><P><SPAN>Character Districts were adopted by City Council as part of the 2045 Comprehensive Plan update on January 20, 2026.</SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></DIV> |