CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – A Wednesday court hearing could bring resolution to the city’s zoning ordinance drama, a process that has gone on for over two years.

Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Claude V. Worrell II will conduct a reconsideration hearing regarding the lawsuit over the city zoning ordinance.

The plaintiffs in the case were granted a summary judgement on June 30 repealing the current ordinance, which makes allowances for greater density in the hope of creating more affordable housing. That decision was procedural, stemming from the city’s outside counsel failing to meet a filing deadline.

However, since there has been no official court order entered by the plaintiffs since then, the city has largely been operating under the new ordinance.

WINA Chief Legal Analyst Tim Heaphy says the merits of the overall case come down to one central question: “What’s before Judge Worrell is, ‘Did the city go through the appropriate process in implementing the regulation. Did they conduct a study on traffic for example, the plaintiffs contend that they did not.'”

“Did the city conduct an appropriate environmental study to evaluate whether or not this would have negative collateral effects,” Heaphy said during a Wednesday appearance on WINA Morning News. “The plaintiffs allege that they did not.  That’s the substantive issue in the case.”

The main point of contention centers around an ambiguous portion of Virginia law that requires cities to do transportation studies prior to implementing changes to their zoning code.  The city alleges that they met the benchmark, cut Councilor Lloyd Snook has openly questioned whether it is even necessary given that VDOT does not maintain the city’s road system in an interview on WINA’s Cville Right Now Live with Adam Hawes.

While those are issues pertaining to the merits of the case, Heaphy says there is a procedural matter that must be handled first.

“So the first question for Judge Worrell is whether he ought to essentially accept the city’s filing because if you recall, the original reason he granted a summary judgement for the plaintiffs was because the city’s lawyer missed a filing deadline.  So he has to reconsider that, is he going to accept the late filed response and then get onto the underlying issue of whether or not these procedures were complied with or not.”

The reconsideration hearing occurs Wednesday afternoon at 1:30p.m. in Charlottesville Circuit Court.  WINA will have coverage following the proceedings on Cville Right Now Live at 4p.m.