Week Ahead for February 24, 2025: Albemarle County Executive Richardson to present supervisors with FY26 budget; Charlottesville BAR to review demolition request for Violet Crown Building
Plus: Three different meetings in Albemarle County this week have something to do with economic development
Close your eyes. Count to five. Then open them. Look around.
When I do this from my work station, I see the intersection of two roads. There are overhead utility lines. In the distance I can see the utility towers on Carter Mountain.
These are all items that are governed by sets of rules that come from local, state, and federal regulations.
Now, what do you see that fits this description?
I do this column each week because I want people to know what’s happening. At the core of my existence is a belief that citizens of a democracy should know what’s happening. Many of you read this work because you want to know what’s happening.
I created a company to do this work because I believe there are enough people who will support it. I now have over 700 people paying me, as well as a weekly sponsorship from the Piedmont Environmental Council.
I do this column because I want to know what’s happening. And here are some of the highlights this week:
Albemarle County Executive Jeffrey Richardson will unveil his recommended budget for fiscal year 2026
The Charlottesville Planning Commission will meet Tuesday for a special meeting to review three special exceptions to the new Development Code including one required for a multifamily apartment at Kindlewood to be the way the Piedmont Housing Alliance wants it.
The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority will review their audit for FY2024.
Two of Albemarle’s community advisory committees will get briefings on Albemarle’s economic development strategic plan, and Albemarle staff will hold a Comprehensive Plan “lunch and learn” Thursday on the “Thriving Economy” chapter in the draft update.
Albemarle County’s Planning Commission will turn to the parks chapter of that AC44 update and will also have a public hearing on changes to the zoning code related to zoning districts
Fluvanna County will hold a meeting on the update of the Comprehensive Plan
Greene County’s Board of Supervisors will hold public hearings on a permit for an ice park and creation of a technology district
There are no meetings in Louisa County this week
Monday, February 24, 2025
Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority Board to review audit
Long-time readers of this Week Ahead version of the newsletter know that one of the quirks I point out is that the City of Charlottesville has two separate online calendars for meetings. Anyone looking to develop a summary of upcoming meetings must look at both because frequently one will be listed on one calendar and not the other. (calendar #1) (calendar #2)
That’s the case for the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s Board of Commissioners meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. in City Council Chambers. That’s listed on calendar #1 but not on calendar #2.
The CRHA website on meetings does not have the agenda for this meeting. I get a copy via email and often upload it to cvillepedia. (view the agenda)
One of the items on the agenda is an audit of the CRHA’s books for FY2024 by the firm Vicars and Dooley. The CRHA fiscal year ends on March 31 each year. (view the audit)
“The Charlottesville Redevelopment & Housing Authority had a difficult year due to irregular funding of [United States Department of Housing and Urban Development] programs and economic market conditions that have affected the Charlottesville area,” reads the audit.
Just under three-quarters of the CRHA’s revenue came from the federal government in FY24. Rent covers about 11 percent of revenue. Rent collected increased by 140 percent in the fiscal year due to acquisition of new property as well as higher rents. Operating expenses increased from $9,489,073 in FY23 to $14,323,805 in FY2024.
One of the other items in the packet is the property management report dated February 18, 2025. There is a collective $211,916 in unpaid rent through that date.
Pantops group to learn more about economic development in Albemarle County
Albemarle community advisory committees can provide many roles as the county continues to grow. One of them is to serve as a clearinghouse for information about different aspects of the local government.
At their meeting on February 24, the Pantops Community Advisory Committee will spend an hour getting a status update on economic development. That office is currently in the midst of updating a strategic plan that has transformed the county’s attitude towards business. (meeting info) (agenda)
“An economic development strategic plan examines a community’s assets and prioritizes the activities that will most effectively support the local economy,” reads a website that’s listed in the meeting agenda. “The strategic plan becomes a roadmap for maximizing the community benefit of economic development activities.”
The firm Resonance Consultancy has been hired to update the plan and a final draft plan is expected in the summer. The materials in the packet also contains a link to a five page summary of what has been accomplished during the time Project ENABLE 1.0 has been in effect.
“As of June 2024, the County has completed more than 100 business retention and expansion (BRE) engagements with existing and prospective County businesses, and established a database of more than 150 business contacts interested in the County’s future economic development activities,” reads a description under Goal 1.
Goal 3 calls for Albemarle to prepare the ground for more development. Taken literally, this includes the $58 million purchase of 462 acres around Rivanna Station in anticipation of expansion of the defense and intelligence sector. Supervisors approved that back in May 2023, as I reported at the time.
One example of economic development in the Pantops area is the county’s work to try to prepare the former regional headquarters of State Farm for other uses. In October 2021, the firm Bonumose agreed to use some of the space and here’s a story on that.
If I had infinite resources, I’d devote one reporter to cover this issue alone and to follow up to see if the investments are paying off.
Will new members help the Albemarle Historic Preservation Committee meet quorum?
Three new members will join the Albemarle Historic Preservation Committee when they meet at 4:30 p.m. at the county’s office building at 1600 5th Street in Room C. They are Chris Kean, David Harlow, and Dennis Hughes.
The January meeting did not occur so they’ll approve new officers and adopt rules of procedure at this one. If there’s a quorum. Looking at the committee’s webpage, meetings were canceled last year in January, February, April, May, July, October, and December.
At this meeting, there will be a discussion of a local historic market, but there’s no details in the packet. There will also be a review of recent and pending demolitions. One of them on the list this time around appears to be a residential structure that caught fire in January.
The agenda has four questions under other business.
New owners of historic properties?
Threatened properties to watch?
Recently demolished structures?
Resources available to assist in the implementation of the [historic preservation] plan?
In other meetings:
The Fluvanna County Social Services board will meet at 3 p.m. in the 1st Floor Conference Room at 8880 James Madison Highway in Fork Union. (meeting info)
The Charlottesville Youth Council will meet at 5:45 p.m. in CitySpace. There will be a presentation from the Office of Sustainability. (agenda)
Tuesday, February 25, 2025
Greene Supervisors to hold public hearings on ice park, tech/flex zoning district
The five members of the Greene County Board of Supervisors had their meeting on February 11 canceled due to a winter storm. They’ve since had another meeting to review some of the items, but not yet two public hearings that had been scheduled. That will happen at a meeting that begins at 5:30 p.m. at the county meeting room at the administration building in Stanardsville. (meeting agenda)
There will be two public hearings.
The first is on a special use permit for an indoor ice rink next to the Food Lion on U.S. 29. These plans were filed last year and The Greene Journal reports that the Planning Commission recommended approval in January.
The second is for the creation of a new Technology, Flex, Research, and Development District to attract new business to Greene County.
“High-tech enterprises such as information technology, national security, biotechnology, advanced specialty manufacturing, and other companies classified as ‘technology’ businesses provide high-paying, low-impact employment opportunities and new revenue sources from economic development,” reads the staff report. “Greene is situated along the Route 29 Corridor and adjacent to the National Ground Intelligence Center and the University of Virginia.”
The staff report states in all capital letters that the proposed district is not about “CREATING A DATA CENTER DISTRICT.” The idea instead is to give the Board of Supervisors more control about that use should a proposal come forward. The relatively recent Comprehensive Plan update called study of this use. There are six pages of public comments received to date.
Supervisors will also get an introduction to Judith Selzer, the new CEO of the Jefferson Area Board for Aging. She said hello to Charlottesville City Council on February 3 and the Albemarle Board of Supervisors on February 5.
There will also be an update from the Virginia Department of Transportation. Those materials are available in advance and include a discussion of funds to pave gravel roads.
After the consent agenda, there will be an action item on approving a Finding of Public Need for the Route 670 Road Project. (memo)
There will also be a “resolution to accept and appropriate $500,000 for the Water and Sewer Department to cover the immediate critical capital construction needs for the Rapidan Wastewater Treatment Plant Alum Feed project.” This is a project required by a consent order from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. (memo)
AC44 process turns to Parks, Recreation, and Open Space
Since November 2021, Albemarle County has been participating in a long, slow marathon to update the Comprehensive Plan. The third of four phases of what is known as AC44 is underway and that involves a chapter-by-chapter review.
Since October, the Albemarle Planning Commission takes a first look at a 4 p.m. work session for each chapter followed by a discussion at the Board of Supervisors. Last Wednesday the elected officials spent over two and a half hours going through the Environmental Stewardship chapter. (meeting info)
In the spirit of trying to stay current, this time around the Planning Commission will review draft language for the Parks, Recreation, and Open Space chapter.
“The majority of Albemarle County’s large parks and open spaces are located within the Rural Area, which contains 95 percent of the County land area,” reads the staff report. “Given the allocation of dedicated land and recreation amenities within the Rural Area, AC44 places special emphasis upon expanding the parks, open space and recreation amenities within the Development Area, where most county community members reside.”
The staff report said there will be an emphasis on expanding shared use paths. There is no mention of coordination with the City of Charlottesville or the University of Virginia in the 18 page draft chapter. Charlottesville’s draft master plan for parks and recreation calls for a dramatically expanded network of shared use paths.
Resources:
The evening session has several public hearings with several of them being review of Agricultural and Forestal Districts.One that is not is a rezoning request for Flow Toyota and Mercedes related to sleep slope designations. The other is a public hearing on changes to the zoning code to add regulations for data centers. I’ll have a preview story in tomorrow’s newsletter, but here’s the staff report if you want a preview.
Charlottesville Planning Commission to review three special exceptions
Charlottesville’s new Development Code is now just over a year old and the Planning Commission has had a lot less to do since then. But, they’ll hold a special meeting at 5 p.m. in City Council chambers to consider three special exceptions.
Section 5.2.15 of the code lists five areas where an applicant can seek deviations through a special exception permit. The Planning Commission holds a pub;ic meeting to hear these and a recommendation is given to City Council. This is not a public meeting, and anyone with comments are to make them at the public comment period.
The first one is for a critical slope at 1115 St. Charles Court (learn more). The provision for this is 5.2.16. In this case, the property owner seeks to add a retaining wall, patio, paved path, and an accessory shed. (learn more)
The second is for a fence at 820 East Jefferson Street as one is not allowed in the Node Mixed Use 10 district without an exception. This is to add a patio along East High Street for the Cumbre Cafe. (learn more)
The third is for “street facing entries” for the third phase of the Kindlewood development. This is quite technical and I’ll spare you the details until later in the week. (learn more)
Fluvanna County holding meeting on Comprehensive Plan update
Last year, the Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors adopted a new Comprehensive Plan in order to be compliant with a state requirement to review the document every five years. This is in marked contrast to Albemarle County which last year extended review when staff opted to alter some of the document’s structure.
In Fluvanna, Supervisors agreed to begin a review of the Comprehensive Plan right away in order to add additional protections to slow residential development in the rural area. The first public event will take place at the Fluvanna Community Center at 6 p.m.
One of the items on the agenda is a P.A.R.K. exercise in which participants are asked to identify what they’d like to preserve, what they’d like added, what they’d like removed, and what they’d like to be “kept out” of the county.
A second meeting will be held on Thursday.
In other meetings:
The University of Virginia Board of Visitors will hold a closed meeting to get legal advice “into matters alleged by the School of Medicine faculty in their letter of September 5, 2024.” This letter is not provided and I’ll provide more information in the next newsletter. (meeting info)
The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority’s Board of Directors will meet at 2:15 p.m. at the Rivanna Administration Building in the 2nd Floor Conference Room at 695 Moores Creek Lane. After the consent agenda, they’ll go into closed session to discuss the purchase or lease of land in the City of Charlottesville. They’ll also get an introduction to the five-year capital plan. (agenda packet)
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
Richardson to unveil recommended Albemarle’s budget for FY26
When you’ve covered the same community for many years, there are multiple rhythms to the year and one of the major beats relates to the proposed budgets for the next fiscal year. These documents explain how a locality works. The final week of February is when the six members of Albemarle County Board of Supervisors have a special meeting to review what county staff will recommend for their review.
There are no materials available in advance but I’ll attempt to provide some perspective. I appear to be the only practitioner of journalism who devotes any time to the county’s budget . This is not how it should be, but it is how things are. Information Charlottesville, the archive site for this newsletter, has a category called Budget-Albemarle if you want to see what I’ve been able to note.
You may note there are not as many articles as I’m able to write in Charlottesville. If you look at the Budget-Charlottesville category, you’ll note that there are many more articles about the prep for FY26.
If you want a sense of the process, take a look at the article I wrote last year when County Executive Jeffrey Richardson recommended a budget based on $629,054,446 of revenues. That was a 13.4 percent increase over FY24. Supervisors opted to increase the lodging tax rate from eight percent to nine percent and the personal property tax to $3.96 per $100 of assessed value. That led to a total budget of $642.2 million.
Some questions based on three recent stories.
What effect will a 5.1 percent increase in property assessments bring about?
What effect will a disintegrating federal government have on Albemarle County’s bottom line?
To illustrate how little this topic is written about by other journalists, I did a search on news.google.com on “albemarle county budget” and the only relevant article that turns up is from the Crozet Gazette.
How can there be productive conversations about the allocation of tax dollars if there is no way for people to know what’s happening? I am committed to growing my enterprise and have demonstrated this for the past five years.
Nelson County Supervisors to meet with Planning Commission on zoning changes
Last year, Nelson County adopted an updated Comprehensive Plan that recommended various changes to the rules that govern how land can be developed. Soon after, the county hired the Berkley Group to rewrite the zoning code accordingly.
The Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission will have a joint meeting at 6 p.m. in the former board room in the Courthouse in Lovingston. They’ll take a look at some sections of the update.
“A new provision has been added to require the posting of a notice sign near the road on all properties undergoing potential zoning action,” reads a description of one change in Article 3.
This is the second of what could be as many as six joint work sessions.
Charlottesville BAR to review demolition permit for Violet Crown
The Charlottesville Board of Architectural Review will finally hold their February meeting. Calendar #1 says this starts at 5 p.m. Calendar #2 has it at 5:30 p.m. (agenda packet)
After a couple of preliminary discussions, the University of Virginia Foundation will come forward with a certificate of appropriateness application for 1000 Wertland Street. This is one of three sites where UVA seeks to build units whose rents are guaranteed to be below market-rate.
BAR gets first look at UVA affordable housing project at 10th and Wertland, June 2, 2024
BAR members suggest changes to planned affordable housing building on Wertland Street, January 10, 2025
Next up, Heirloom Development will present their request for a Certificate of Appropriateness to demolish the existing structure at 200 West Main Street where the Violet Crown Cinema continues to operate. The company has a contract to purchase the property, and wanted to replace it with an 184 foot tall structure. Last week, developer Jeffrey Levien appealed to City Council for them to weigh in on the BAR’s review. Take a look at that story.
“If the existing structure remains, this site will continue to be underutilized in our urban fabric,” writes Bob Pineo of the firm Design Develop. “Granting permission to raze the building is essential in furthering the growth and development of our downtown core with vibrant, mixed-use developments.”
There are two preliminary discussions.
The first is for an addition to 300 Ridge Street which is in the Ridge Street Architectural Design Control District.
The second is another discussion for the hotel proposed at 218 West Market Street. Heirloom Development is also involved with this project. Here’s a story from late fall.
In other meetings:
The Charlottesville Retirement Commission will meet at 8:30 a.m. in CitySpace. There will be presentations from MissionSquare, CapTrust, and cybersecurity. (meeting info)
The Charlottesville Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization meets at 4 p.m. (agency info)
The Fluvanna Board of Supervisors will have a budget work session at 5:30 p.m. The recommended FY26 budget can be reviewed here. I hope to get a small story out. They will meet in the county administration building at 132 Main Street. (meeting info)
The Albemarle Fire EMS Board meets at 1800 hours at the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road in Room 246. They’ll have a work session on the challenges and priorities for the volunteer departments. (meeting info) (agenda)
Thursday, February 27, 2025
Albemarle staff holding “lunch and learn” for AC44’s economic development chapter
Language is important. Words can be powerful. This possibly explains why Albemarle County has taken a long time so far to review its Comprehensive Plan.
The current Comprehensive Plan was adopted in 2015 and the documents sixth chapter has the title “Economic Development.” You can read that here.
The stated goal is: “Albemarle’s economy will be diverse, strong, and sustainable, and retain and benefit County citizens, existing businesses, and new local ventures.”
The current Comprehensive Plan update has been underway since November 2021 and is now in Phase 3 of a four-step process. The economic development chapter has been renamed “Thriving Economy” but the draft chapter is not yet available for review.
One of the ways staff seeks feedback is through “Lunch and Learn” events and there will be one of these to focus on this chapter at noon. This is an online event. What’s not mentioned in the meeting info is that the county is also doing an economic development strategic plan update at the same time.
Does it matter?
In other meetings:
The Jefferson Area Regional Transit Partnership will meet at 4 p.m. (agency info)
Albemarle’s economic development staff will give a presentation to the Places29-Rio Community Advisory Committee at 6 p.m. in Room 235 of the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. (meeting info)
