December 17, 2024: Plans filed for ice rink in Greene County off of Deerfield Drive
Plus: The Charlottesville Planning Commission makes suggested changes to the Capital Improvement Program
Is there a particular reason why Tuesdays are associated with tacos? One can speculate that perhaps it’s the simple joy of repeating two words that begin with the same letter. One can imagine that perhaps one food establishment coined the phrase to boost sales? In any case, there likely is a reason, but there’s no reason why Charlottesville Community Engagement should spend time to come up with an answer on this December 17, 2024. I’m Sean Tubbs, and one day I’ll have an answer.
In today’s installment:
Plans have been filed in Greene County for a new ice rink
Regional planners will try one more time to get a federal grant to cover the cost of preliminary engineering for a pedestrian bridge across the Rivanna River
An associate architect at the University of Virginia gives a quick briefing on three projects in the Emmet Ivy corridor
The Charlottesville Planning Commission offers some amendments to the draft five year capital improvement program
First shout out: Charlottesville E-bike Lending Library
The rolling topography of the Charlottesville area keeps some people away from choosing cycling as an option to get around. Perhaps an e-bike is in order?
That’s where Charlottesville’s eBike Lending Library comes in! E-bikes are a great way to get around the community but there are many brands and styles to choose from. Because many e-bikes are sold online, it can be a challenge to try an e-bike before buying one.
The Charlottesville E-bike Lending Library is a free, not-for-profit service working to expand access to e-bikes in the area. They have a small collection of e-bikes that they lend out to community members for up to a week, for free. You can experience your daily commute, go grocery shopping, or even bike your kids to school, and decide whether e-bikes are right for you. Check out this service at https://www.ebikelibrarycville.org
Plans filed for new ice rink in Greene County
More than six and a half years have passed since the Main Street Arena on the Downtown Mall closed and demolished to make way for an office building, creating a long journey for area residents who want a place to ice skate indoors.
That may change in the near future as a company called Ice Park Holdings LLC has filed a special use permit request with Greene County to operate an indoor rink on Deerfield Drive right off of U.S. 29.
“The Ice Park Facility is planned to be approximately 32,000 SF with a seating capacity of about 200 seats,” reads the narrative for the project which has the title Ice Rink 2026. “There will be onsite parking with two vehicular access points: Deerfield Drive and the Shopping Center access road.”
The land is zoned Planned Unit Development and the permit is required for indoor recreation. The property is to the north of a shopping center that features a Food Lion as an anchor store. The narrative states this will complement nearby retail rather than compete.
“Rather than competing against the existing businesses, it should bring new customers and traffic from areas beyond their current service areas,” the narrative continues.
Greene County Planning and Zoning Administrator Jim Frydl said this will likely go before the Planning Commission on January 15, 2025 and the Board of Supervisors possibly on February 11, 2025.
Joy recaps UVA capital projects for Charlottesville Planning Commission
For many years, meetings of the Charlottesville Planning Commission have begun with reports from the various members. That pattern was slightly adjusted on December 10 when the new director of Neighborhood Development Services went first with an update on her department’s work plan. (read that story)
There was time before the Planning Commission’s public hearing on the five-year capital improvement program for Michael Joy to give a brief update on a recent meeting of the University of Virginia’s Buildings and Grounds Committee. Joy is an Associate University Architect and a non-voting member of the appointed body.
“Three capital projects were presented to the board,” Joy said. “The first project that was presented was a 1030 parking space parking garage over in North Grounds.”
Joy said approval means the project will soon go to construction at the northwest corner of Massie Road and Copeley Road. Completion is expected for 2026.
Another project will see three student residential buildings constructed on the western end of the Emmet Ivy Corridor with between 750 and 800 beds. The Board approved the schematic design but further approval is needed before construction can begin.
“Part of it butts up against the Copeley bridge and then another portion runs along Ivy Road and sits just to the west of the Karsh Institute of Democracy,” Joy said. “That is part of a larger discussion that's currently happening around second year housing across Grounds.”
For more on those two projects, here are two recent stories I wrote:
UVA Building and Grounds Committee approve North Grounds Parking Garage, add Ivy Road student housing project to Major Capital Plan, December 7, 2024
UVA Finance Committee signs off on North Grounds Parking Garage, Ivy Road student housing, December 11, 2024
The third project is the Center for the Arts which was up for a preliminary review. This would be built at the eastern end of the Emmet Ivy Corridor.
“Some of the programmatic highlights for this include a 1200 seat performing arts center, the UVA Department of Music,” Joy said. “There's galleries, art galleries that will showcase the combined UVA fine art collection of the Fralin and the Kluge Rue along with travelling exhibits.”
Joy said the Center for the Arts will need a significant amount of state funding to proceed. As I reported earlier this month for C-Ville Weekly, that could be as much as $200 million in state funds. Some members of the Board of Visitors indicated they’d like to see the project scaled back in scope.
MPO to sign off on application for federal funds for Rivanna River pedestrian bridge
Regional planners are going to try once again to secure funding to lock down a cost estimate for a pedestrian and bicycle bridge across the Rivanna River in the Woolen Mills.
On Wednesday, the Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization will consider a resolution for a federal RAISE grant to cover the cost of preliminary engineering that has a cost estimate of $42.5 million.
“The unknown risks associated with construction costs for the bridge have resulted in significant contingencies that need to be applied to baseline project costs in any funding application through existing state funding program,” reads a resolution the MPO Policy Board will consider.
“The completion of the preliminary engineering phase would result in better project understanding to develop more accurate estimates of the project construction costs.”
One member of the Charlottesville Planning Commission serves on the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission and provided an update to his colleagues on December 10.
“Our costs are all over the place and we're being told that we really need to nail those down more securely to have a hope,” said Phil d’Oronzio.
The TJPDC has twice sought this same funding through the RAISE program. RAISE stands for Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity and is a discretionary program. In 2023 the application was noted as a “project of merit” but did not win funding.
“In the debrief from that year, when we learned that we were not awarded the funding, they said it continues to be a highly competitive application, please continue to submit it, there’s just not enough funding, very competitive national program,” said Christine Jacobs, the executive director of the TJPDC at the December 11 meeting of the MPO-Tech Committee.
The TJPDC tried again in 2024 but this project was not among three Virginia projects that ultimately received funding.
“We are working now both with VDOT and some other partners to bolster some of the data in the economic development section to see if we can bump the score but we really are hopeful the third time is a charm,” Jacobs said.
Albemarle County received a $2 million RAISE grant in 2022 for planning for a multimodal pathway between the Blue Ridge Tunnel and Charlottesville.
The MPO will also get a presentation on performance targets used to measure progress toward making roads and pathways safer.
“By establishing MPO safety targets, we agree to plan and program projects to contribute toward reducing fatalities and serious injuries on the transportation system,” reads a letter that will be sent to the Virginia Department of Transportation’s state highway safety engineer.
The MPO Policy Board meets at 4 p.m. in the TJPDC headquarters at 407 East Water Street. (agenda packet)
Second shout out: Camp Albemarle
Today’s second subscriber-supported public service announcement goes out to Camp Albemarle, which has for over sixty years been a “wholesome rural, rustic and restful site for youth activities, church groups, civic events and occasional private programs.”
Located on 14 acres on the banks of the Moorman’s River near Free Union, Camp Albemarle continues as a legacy of being a Civilian Conservation Corps project that sought to promote the importance of rural activities. Are you looking to escape and reconnect with nature? Consider holding an event where the natural beauty of the grounds will provide a venue to suit your needs. Visit their website to view the gallery and learn more!
Charlottesville Planning Commission seeks more funding for affordable housing, planning for schools
As Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders considers the budget for FY26, the Charlottesville Planning Commission has offered amendments to the five-year capital improvement program. They’d like to see more funds for school planning, school solar, and a strategic housing fund.
For background on the CIP, here are some recent stories:
Charlottesville PC gives broad direction on capital improvement program, October 3, 2024
Sanders tells Council he will try to present balanced budget without a tax increase, November 22, 2024
Charlottesville Planning Commission gives more direction on capital improvement program, December 6, 2024
Charlottesville City Council briefed on upcoming spending on housing and infrastructure, December 12, 2024
Before the public hearing, City Engineer Brennan Duncan gave a presentation on a project to replace traffic signals throughout the city. The five-year CIP anticipates spending $7.25 million on the project which Duncan referred to as deferred maintenance.
“We've got 75 traffic signals in the city,” Duncan said. “They're approaching the end of their useful life. Most traffic signals are anywhere from 40 to 70 or 80 years.”
Duncan said the city has begun saving up a fund for the project over the past few years while a consultant created an assessment of what would need to be replaced first. The work will start off with around 20 intersections prioritized by that study.
“The goal is to get these first, this first batch of 20 done and then kind of get on a cadence where we're addressing, you know, one a year or two every two years or something like that, and start spacing them out,” Duncan said.
Timmons Engineering is conducting the design and Duncan said the project will go out to bid in the spring. This project will work alongside an upgrade of the software the city uses to manage coordination of intersections.
“That will allow us to do a lot with the kind of intelligent transportation stuff the new controllers we're getting are compatible already with that,” Duncan said. “We'll be able to implement and the plan is to implement a lot of the flashing yellow arrows that you see across the Commonwealth right now.”
Bids for the project were due on October 8 and submissions are being evaluated according to the city’s procurement website.
When it came time for the public hearing, the first and only speaker represented the Venable neighborhood and had further questions about the technology Duncan had described. This person also wanted to know what spending is in the CIP on climate resilience.
Budget director Krisy Hammill said the current fiscal year includes $1 million for initiatives as does each of the next four years.
“In addition, for all of the maintenance type items, we are looking at more efficient, more modern ways of doing things to help address the climate and in areas when we can,” Hammill said. “And then transit, of course, is a big initiative, but that is all funded in the transit fund, so not in the CIP.”
With the public hearing over, Commissioners discussed their amendments. Commissioner Lyle Solla-Yates suggested adding a strategic housing fund to set aside money for additional purchase of housing units that are currently affordable but not be in the near future.
“A strategic housing fund similar to the Strategic Economic Development Fund, reflecting recent funding challenges with mobile home park purchases and the sunsetting of affordable housing restrictions,” Solla-Yates said.
Earlier this year, Council agreed to an $8.7 million forgivable loan to the Piedmont Housing Alliance and Habitat for Greater Charlottesville for the purchase of the 6.5 acre Carlton Mobile Home Park. That had not been anticipated in the budget process and the initial money has been taken from a fund set aside to launch a land bank.
Hearthwood Apartments was not mentioned at this meeting but was mentioned at a November 26 work session.
Solla-Yates also suggested increasing funding for Charlottesville City Schools to develop a comprehensive facility plan, increased funding for solar projects at the schools, increasing funding for school maintenance.
Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg suggested a line item in the CIP for the Safe Routes for School program that has in recent years been funded through the American Rescue Plan Act. He also wanted a line item for “urgent transportation infrastructure.”
“I understand that this year, out of surplus funds, the city manager plans to allocate or to ask Council to allocate money into that account,” Stolzenberg said. “My motion would be to identify a sustainable source or sustainable funding for urgent transportation improvements in out years.”
Stolzenberg also suggested creating a competitive process for how the city decides what affordable housing projects receive funding. He said he thinks it is a good thing the city is exceeding its goal to spend $10 million a year on affordable housing but has a concern.
“My concern is that we still have no defined process for competitive granting of major CIP [Low Income Housing Tax Credit] subsidy awards,” Stolzenberg said. “All the money now of that 99 million is programmed to specific projects, none of which have gone through any sort of competitive or even really an application process.”
Stolzenberg suggested removing, for now, $4.5 million in funding currently slated for Piedmont Housing Alliance for the fourth phase of the Kindlewood development which is scheduled to split across FY29 and FY30.
“City Council made a commitment to redevelop Friendship Court and everyone who lives in Friendship Court will be housed in new housing as part of phases one through three,” Stolzenberg said.
Stolzenberg added that the fourth phase of what is now known as Kindlewood has not yet been designed. He didn’t get a second on a motion to add this, but did get support for a more competitive process to be worked out beginning in FY2031. Currently the city’s Office of Community Solutions asks affordable housing groups to send in lists of what they would like to build as part of the housing development partnerships program. That process is detailed on the city website.
Planning Commissioner Carl Schwarz recused himself from discussions on affordable housing because he is working on plans for Piedmont Housing Alliance projects that have received funding from the city. `
More on the budget in the next edition of the newsletter. Topics to cover include the city’s surplus for FY24, the third of three budget briefings, and a vote on the use of the city’s remaining American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Reading material for #782
How Cville Tulips Helps Refugee Women and Children Bloom, Zeina Mohammed, UVA Today, December 16, 2024
Greene County supervisor compares dam emergency to 9/11, Heather Price Ives, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), December 16, 2024
Where has it all gone, #782?
I took a break during today’s newsletter to peel root vegetables for a dish that’s currently in my slow cooker. If I have cooked a rutabaga before, I do not remember it. I’m not entirely sure how this is going to turn out, but the recent burst of productivity for this newsletter is directly proportional to my decision to make as many of my own meals as I can rather than just eat store-bought meals.
I also made my own home fries today after I’d framed up the script and written two of the four stories. Part of the reason I’m doing this is to have some better understanding on food production issues, an area I wish I had more capacity to write about and perhaps one day I will!
We’re heading into the time of the year when I know many of you are going to drop away and take a break. That’s laudable! I am not entirely sure what I will be doing but there are still so many stories I want to get to so it’s highly likely I’m going to keep going.
Making food from scratch and writing a newsletter are both sort of similar endeavors. Both are creative pursuits and I’m grateful for paid subscriptions to keep me going with both adventures. If you’d like to join them, consider signing up today!
If you’d rather advertise, I’m going to have a big announcement before the end of the year on that front. I will use some of the down time from meetings to try to get some new business ideas in place. I’m just glad I get to wake up every day and do this work, and I’m glad you’ve read to this point.
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