April 1, 2025: Rezoning filed for 75 units on Rio Road at site where EcoVillage had been proposed
Plus: A look at upcoming transportation projects in Albemarle County
There are no current April Fool gags in this 2025 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement for this day of pranks and merriment. There was an attempt in 2022 and another in 2023. Both are podcasts as well. Perhaps one day in the future there will be another frivolous attempt to convince the audience of the pure joy of comparative government through reporting from an alternate universe. I’m Sean Tubbs, and I suppose I’ll have to do the best in the one I appear to be in.
In today’s installment:
Plans have been filed in Albemarle County for 75 units on a 6.5 acre site on Rio Road East
April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month and Albemarle’s Department of Social Services planted pinwheels to draw attention
Another look at public hearing notices including one for a public hearing for a bed and breakfast in central Charlottesville
A look at upcoming transportation projects in Albemarle County ahead of Wednesday’s briefing with the Board of Supervisors
First shout-out: Piedmont Master Gardeners seek items for Green Elephant Sale
If you are cleaning out your garage or basement this winter and have garden implements or yard ornaments you no longer need, the Piedmont Master Gardeners will take them off your hands
The Piedmont Master Gardeners are seeking donations of new and used garden tools, hoses, decorative items, outdoor furniture, and virtually anything else that can be used to maintain or enjoy a home landscape. From February 1 through April 30, these "Green Elephant" donations may be dropped off at 402 Albemarle Square between 10 a.m. and noon on Wednesdays or Saturdays. The Master Gardeners are not able to accept plastic pots or opened chemicals.
The Green Elephants will be offered for sale to the public during PMG’s Spring Plant Sale, scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 3, at Albemarle Square Shopping Center. Proceeds will support the many free and low-cost horticulture education programs the Piedmont Master Gardeners offer to the community.
To arrange a pickup of large items or for more information, contact the Piedmont Master Gardeners at greenelephant@piedmontmastergardeners.org.
Rezoning filed in Albemarle for 75 units on Rio Road near Charlottesville border
For many years a group called Charlottesville EcoVillage worked on plans to develop six and a half acres on Rio Road East in Albemarle County into an intentional community.
Now a successor group has filed plans for a rezoning for the property to allow for a 75 townhouse development that would be called Lochlyn Commons. The proposal comes from the Housing Lab and Kennon Williams Landscape Studio.
“The proposed design provides diverse housing options, improves walkability and connectivity, creates a sense of community and place, creates a sense of community and place, creates three shared park spaces, reduces stormwater impact and land disturbance, and enhances the natural amenities of the site,” reads the narrative for the rezoning.
The site rises steeply above Rio Road East and currently contains two structures including one built in 1870. A previous plan listed on the Housing Lab website stated that the historic house would be turned into a common structure for residents of the co-housing initiative.
In 2023, Lochlyn Commons LLC and Berkley Apartments LLC paid $1.36 million for the site. EcoVillage Charlottesville purchased the property in November 2013 for $900,000.
The project needs a rezoning from Residential-4 to Planned Residential Density. The Future Land Use Map in the Comprehensive Plan designates the property as Neighborhood Density Residential. The project would have a gross density of 11.5 units per acre, well within the range for that land use designation.
The applicants are proposing to build connecting trails to adjacent property.
“The centerpiece of the pedestrian infrastructure is a multi-use trail along the Property’s northwestern edge connecting Alwood Lane and Rockbrook Drive that will be dedicated to the County, diverting pedestrians and bicycles from Rio Road,” the narrative continues.
There is a specific acknowledgment of the Charlottesville Ecovillage project and a by-right plan they had sought that would have allowed for 26 units.
Chris Fuller of Housing Lab was a member of the former group’s Board of Directors. For a glimpse into the previous proposal, Fuller is quoted in a May 2014 Charlottesville Tomorrow article.
“We envision this as a green, energy efficient, and environmentally and socially responsible community,” the narrative continues to continue. “This application for rezoning is based on the belief that rezoning the parcel from the current R-4 Zoning designation to PRD will allow for a more sustainable design and better serve the needs of Albemarle County and the Charlottesville metro community.”
The project would also provide a bus stop on Rio Road West. Of the 75 units, 60 would be three-bedroom units and the rest would be either studio or one bedroom. Twenty percent of the townhouses would be designated as affordable under the Housing Albemarle policy.
Traffic generation information in the narrative claims the project would create 578 vehicle trips a day.
The project is just to the north of two multifamily developments on Park Street in the City of Charlottesville, both being development by the Piedmont Housing Alliance.
Albemarle marks National Child Abuse Prevention Month
People who work in Albemarle County to help keep children safe from predators and abusers spent some time this morning at the two municipal office buildings planting a plastic flower at the heart of National Child Abuse Prevention Month.
“The pinwheel is a national symbol for child abuse prevention because it serves as a physical reminder of the joyful childhood experience we want for all children,” reads an information release sent out at 9:14 a.m.
Members of Albemarle’s Child Protective Services team gathered alongside members of the Police Department’s Special Victims and Victim/Witness units to plant the pinwheels on the front lawns to draw attention to their work and the need to do it.
“When children and families in need come to our attention, Albemarle County Department of Social Services Child Protective Services (CPS) and its child welfare colleagues partner with parents and caregivers, their natural supports, and relevant community partners to conduct a thorough assessment of each family’s strengths and needs,” the release continued.
The release comes with resources. If you suspect child abuse or neglect, phone the Albemarle County Department of Social Services at 434-972-4010, Monday through Friday between 8 am and 4:30 pm. After 4:30 pm or on weekends and holidays, call the statewide Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline toll-free at 800-552-7096 (out-of-state) or 804-786-8536 (in Virginia).
For more information, visit Engage Albemarle.
Public notice: Charlottesville Planning Commission to hold public hearing for bed and breakfast
A monthly print subscription to the Charlottesville Daily Progress is not cheap at over $42 a month. That’s up from $36 a month just several few weeks ago. My primary reason for having a subscription is to make sure I can read the legally required public notices in print so I can help keep tabs.
The name of my company is Town Crier Productions so the stuff of these public notices is the stuff of this newsletter.
Since the adoption of Charlottesville’s new Development Code, the Planning Commission has had a lot less to do than in previous years. For the most part, the new zoning code makes the need for an applicant to secure a special use permit much more rare.
One of the most interesting sections of the Development Code is the “Permitted Use Table” which tells property owners and the public what activities can take place in the different districts.
The owners of 401 Ridge Street want to convert the home into a bed and breakfast with five bedrooms. The 0.31 acre property is zoned Residential-C which requires a special use permit. A special use permit requires a public hearing and that’s coming up on April 8, 2025.
Albemarle County Planning Commission will also have a public hearing for a special use permit on April 8. This one will be for outdoor sales at a plumbing retailer that is relocating to 400 Rio Road West.
April 4 is the first working Friday of the month and that means it is time for the City of Charlottesville to hold a public auction at the City Warehouse from noon to 3 p.m. The city’s website doesn’t have any specific information to this sale, but there is a link to Public Surplus and at publication several vehicles are available for sale.
The firm Roudabush, Gale, & Associates are fielding applications for firms to construct infrastructure in Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville’s Southwood Village 3. Bids are to be received by 1 p.m. on April 12. The ad tells people to use the company’s website to leave information, but the link isn’t secure so use at your own risk. (click here)
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality is taking public comment on a proposal from the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women to reissue a wastewater permit for the release of 0.3 million gallons into a tributary of the Mechunk River. For more more information and to respond, visit this link to the DEQ website. The public comment period expires on April 21. For a ridiculous level of detail about the process to approve this permit, visit the Commonwealth’s permit site.
A similar wastewater permit is under review for the Twin Oaks community in Louisa County. I do not have the print version for this one but the link on the DEQ site is here.
Second shout-out: Dawn Porter to address Emily Couric Leadership Forum on April 10
On April 10, the Emily Couric Leadership Forum will award $250,000 in scholarships to area high school women in recognition of leadership excellence at its annual Luncheon at the Omni Resort in Charlottesville. They anticipate a sell out for this year’s luncheon.
This year’s speaker and recipient of the Forum’s Women’s Leadership Award is Dawn Porter, an award-winning documentary filmmaker known for her storytelling on social justice, history, and cultural icons. Her celebrated documentaries have aired on HBO, Netflix, CNN, and PBS. Many of her films elevate marginalized voices and illuminate U.S. history’s lesser-known stories.
If the event does sell out, there will be a wait-list and the event will be live-streamed!
To find out more, please visit the website at www.emilycouricleadershipforum.org
Albemarle transportation update: Shared Use Path on U.S. 29 moving forward
A reason to cover local and regional government up close is so you’ll always have some sense of what’s happening. That way when someone asks a specific question it is not unreasonable to be able to provide a specific answer.
This mostly means knowing where to look and over the years I’ve had to learn how to stay on top of information about transportation projects. In the early days of this newsletter there were more stories about specific projects and my time at Charlottesville Tomorrow taught me how to navigate information put out by the Virginia Department of Transportation.
I’m a bit out of the loop on projects so there’s time like the beginning of the final quarter of FY2025 to go through projects in Albemarle County. The Board of Supervisors has three different transportation related items on their agenda, so it turns out this may be a good time after all.
For the purposes of this story, let’s go through the quarterly report from the Virginia Department of Transportation. It will be delivered by Carrie Shepherd, VDOT’s resident engineer for the Charlottesville Residency.
There are three main phases to a construction project and the first is Preliminary Engineering. There are six projects currently in this stage and the Route 29 Shared Use Path is the furthest along.
“This project will construct a new ten-foot-wide shared-use path along the east side of U.S. 29 (Seminole Trail) between Route 854 (Carrsbrook Drive) and Seminole Lane in Albemarle County,” reads a section on VDOT’s website. “The new shared-use path will tie in with an existing sidewalk located on the south side of the South Fork Rivanna River.”
This project will be advertised for construction later this spring but no exact date has been given. The $5 million project was funded through Smart Scale and is expected to be completed in spring of 2026.
The project with the next milestone is a “limited access change” for a park and lot ride anticipated at Exit 107. This $5 million project was also funded through Smart Scale and will see about two dozen spaces, bus shelter, and a place for buses to pull through. The public hearing was held in June 2024. (learn more)
Property is being acquired for a $11.3 million project known as the 5th Street Station trail and hub that was also funded in Smart Scale. This project won’t get under construction until next spring. What does it entail?
“This Smart Scale project will construct a 10-foot-wide shared-use path from Wegmans Way to 5th Street in Albemarle County and the city of Charlottesville,” reads the VDOT website. “The project will reconstruct the existing hiking trail on the west side of Biscuit Run to a 10-foot-wide shared-use path. This will connect 5th Street with 5th Street Station. A new bridge is proposed to replace the existing bridge over Moores Creek.”
A public hearing was held in September 2024 for a series of projects funded through Smart Scale for a total of $22.4 million that will improve the U.S. 250 on Pantops. Design approval is underway now and VDOT anticipated this project being advertised for construction bids in spring 2026.
“Congestion will be eased and traffic will move more efficiently through the intersection by converting the existing shared through/left-turn lanes into dedicated lanes for each traffic movement,” reads part of the description of this project.
Another project in preliminary engineering is a new 0.2 mile long road to connect Berkmar Drive with Lewis and Clark Drive at Airport Road. The design public hearing for this $19.2 million project was held last November.
“A two-lane hybrid roundabout will be constructed at the northern end of the project to connect Berkmar Drive with Airport Road and Lewis and Clark Drive,” reads this project’s description.
The project is expected to go to construction in late 2026 and to be completed in the fall of 2028.
Another project in the preliminary engineering phase does yet not have a certain future. A project to replace a bridge that carries Fontaine Avenue over Morey Creek did not yield any valid bids when it was advertised last and there are no scheduled milestones.
Design Build Bundles
To make projects more attractive to contractors, VDOT often advertises different projects as bundles. This was first used to implement the Route29 Solutions projects which saw construction of Berkmar Drive Extended, the grade separated interchange at Rio and U.S. 29, and other projects built in the mid 2010’s.
There are currently three separate bundles. The first has seen the construction of a roundabout at Hydraulic and Hillsdale and elimination of left hand turn lanes at Hydraulic and U.S. 29. Construction of a pedestrian bridge across U.S. 29 is currently underway.
A second bundle will see construction of four roundabouts as well as conversion of the intersection of Belvedere and Rio Road East to a “Green T.” These are at various stages of development. This five projects have a cost estimate of $42.3 million and the details can be seen on the VDOT website.
A public hearing is coming up in May for a third bundle which will see a roundabout at the intersection of Hydraulic Road / District Avenue / Cedar Hill Road, changes to the intersection of Fontaine Avenue and U.S. 29, and the project formerly known as the Fontaine Streetscape. VDOT has taken over management of that project from the City of Charlottesville. These projects were all funded through Smart Scale and have an estimated cost of $66.5 million. Read more about these projects on VDOT’s website.
City Council has already weighed on a preference for the District Avenue roundabout. Last August they said they would like the design to include full access to the city’s Meadows neighborhood as I reported at the time.
The other two documents? One is on the draft Secondary Six-Year Plan which is used to schedule paving of rural roads to the rural rustic standard. (details)
The other is the quarterly report from Albemarle County’s transportation planners. These are generally for projects that have not yet been submitted for funding or for which funding has not been secured. Some highlights:
The Commonwealth Transportation Board will take a final vote in June on Smart Scale funding for the sixth round. Only one project in Albemarle County has been recommended for funding and that is for improvements at U.S. 250 and Peter Jefferson Parkway. Here’s my story from late January.
This year Albemarle staff will apply for funding through VDOT’s Revenue Sharing initiative. Pre-applications are due on May 31. It appears there are three candidates.
The first of four public meetings for planning for the Three Notched Trail Shared Use Path is expected to be held in May. Albemarle staff finalized an agreement with the Federal Highway Administration in April 2024 and the firm Vanasse Hangen Brustlin has been selected as the lead consultant.
A safety action plan that comes out of the Move Safely Blue Ridge initiative will come before the Board of Supervisors on May 7 with adoption on May 21.
The transportation chapter of the draft Comprehensive Plan will come before the Board of Supervisors in late May 2025.
What are you most interested in?
Reading material for #841:
Physicians who ousted UVa Health CEO motivated by greed, officials say, Emily Hemphill, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), March 31, 2025
Assessing Louisa's sewer infrastructure, CBS19, March 31, 2025
Virginia governor signs some environmental bills, deems others unnecessary, Lauren Hines-Acosta, Bay Journal, March 31, 2025
Let’s time travel a little at the end of #841 to mark April Fool’s Day
There was a point today where I thought I would emulate April Fool’s Day by pretending we were in the past. This would have reported facts as taken from editions of the Charlottesville Daily Progress from throughout the years.
I love doing that research and using it to update cvillepedia with bits of trivia. After all, some might argue that what I report now is nothing more than trivia. I’m a lover of motes and dust and find it beautiful to shine light upon their free-floating glory.
I could have pretended we are actually on April 1, 1960 and Governor Lindsay Almond has just vetoed a bill that would have required Charlottesville to ask its voters in a referendum if they wanted to annex land in Albemarle County. This is just a click away thanks to the University of Virginia Library.
Or maybe it’s April 1, 1955 and workers at the Scottsville Tire Plant are so far unaffected by a strike against the U.S. Rubber Company. (go look)
On this day 75 years ago, the General Assembly returned to Richmond to sign legislation. A different Constitution was in order then but the basic gist seems to be the same. (travel back in time)
On this day 80 years ago, the Second World War was in full action and the Daily Progress reports that Private First Class William Sanford Critzer of Charlottesville had been killed in action in Luxembourg the month before. (read about his service)
Eighty-five years ago there was information about the primaries for City Council to be held the next day as well as the grisly story of a murder-suicide in Fluvanna County. When anyone ever says “how could things be so bad today?” it is important to note that one role for journalism is to remind us that there are always those among us who struggle with anger. (go look)
So not quite time travel, not quite April Fool’s, but perhaps something to contemplate.
Who will remember who we are now in the future?
