As if we don’t have enough holidays to worry about at this time of year, I offer the following possibilities for additional cheer and or punishment. These include: National Emo Day; Look for an Evergreen Day; National Hard Candy Day; Goa Liberation Day; It’s also time to celebrate the 473rd installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast that is not capable of having any feelings about your presence, but I’m Sean Tubbs and I’m glad you’re reading or listening.
On today’s program:
Highlights from the latest report from interim Charlottesville City Manager Michael C. Rogers, including news that the cost estimate for a replacement of the fire station on the U.S. 250 bypass is over budget
A quick look at legislation pre-filed in the General Assembly, including a cap on the total amount of money one person can give to a political candidate
The first of several segments from the December 13, 2022 Charlottesville Planning Commission on comments made before meeting actually began
The second Planning Commission segment covers recent planning updates, including a preview of next year’s public review of a new zoning code intended to make it easier to build new housing and other buildings
First shout-out: The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign
Since the very beginning of this newsletter, one Patreon supporter who has been there since July 2020 has used his shout-out to draw your attention to the work of the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign. The campaign is a coalition of grassroots partners including motivated citizens and volunteers, partner organizations, and local governments who want to promote the use of native plants. We’re now close to the beginning of winter and if you’re already looking forward to the spring, this is the time to learn about what you need to plan to attract pollinators who’ll keep native species going. To learn more, visit plantvirginianatives.org to download Piedmont Native Plants: A Guide for Landscapes and Gardens.
City manager report: CAT service to Center slated to start in May 2023
Tonight the Charlottesville City Council will meet for the final time of 2022 and with that event will come the final monthtly report from interim City Manager Michael C. Rogers. Often these items are discussed at the meeting, but sometimes they are not. So, here are some of the highlights:
There are a few more days to fill out the National Community Survey if you live in Charlottesville. The input will be used to inform the strategic plan that will soon get underway. (link to survey) (story)
A new person has begun work as a grants analyst to manage funds that flow from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. Anthony Warn’s position is within in the Office of Community Solutions. The position of housing manager has not been filled. That person will ensure that the city’s affordability provisions are actually being met.
Charlottesville Area Transit is seeking ways to move forward with route changes, or at least expansion of service to the Center at Belvedere on Route 11. In a follow-up, CAT Director Garland Williams said service would begin in May 2023. However, other routes that went through a public process in 2021 will be delayed until later on in 2023.
Charlottesville Area Transit also continues to get ready to provide microtransit service in Albemarle County. Williams said that service will launch in late summer or early fall.
Staff is also working to expand the bus stop at Midway Manor which will a require an easement from the property owner.
The city is ready to take possession of plastic bags to provide eligible households with enough in advance of the plastic bag tax that goes into effect on January 1, 2023. Are people ready for this to occur?
Work on the city’s economic development strategic plan will begin soon. The city has announced that Resonance has been hired do the work with completion in the summer. I had posted about the award on November 21, 2022.
Outgoing interim Police Chief Tito Durrette has ordered a State of the Department to be ready by the time Michael Kochis takes over as police chief.
“The audit’s goal is to provide stability within the organization ensuring an orderly and efficient transition of command. Some of the tasks that will be accomplished include conducting inventories of the property and evidence room; all firearms (including ammunition) and less-lethal weapons in our possession; the quartermaster’s space; our motorized and bicycle fleet; our communications and electronic systems, including all phones, radios, computers, and audio/video surveillance equipment; all badges and sworn credentials; and of all other fixed assets that are within the main facility and any of our offsite offices.”Twenty percent of city employees participating in a phishing email campaign failed according to a report from the Department of Information Technology.
The Route 250 bypass fire-station is perhaps $1 million over estimate even after value-engineering.
Legislative round-up: An independent Richard Bland College; Campaign finance limits
There are now 23 days until the next session of the Virginia General Assembly. Here are some more bills that may be of interest for you to track when the session gets underway.
Delegate Emily Brewer has a bill that would allow holders of concealed weapons permits to carry explosive material or firearms into any building owned by the state of Virginia including Capitol Square. (HB1407)
Brewer also has two bills that would extend workers’ compensation to add to certain cancers believed to be derived from occupational hazards. (HB1408 and HB1410)
The College of William and Mary would no longer supervise and manage Richard Bland College which would instead become independent if another bill from Delegate Brewer becomes law. (HB1415)
The number of judges assigned to a locality is derived from the General Assembly. Delegate Daniel Marshall has a bill to extend that to three judges in the 22nd Judicial District. (HB1412)
Marshall has another bill that would allow industrial development authorities to fund affordable housing projects regardless of whether a Housing Authority exists in that same community. (HB1413)
Delegate Bill Wiley has a bill that would require the political party of candidates nominated for local races to be identified as such on the ballot. (HB1414)
Senator Chap Petersen has a bill that would prohibit political campaign contributions in excess of $20,000 from persons, but there would be no limit for political action campaigns. This would apply to statewide office and General Assembly races. (SB803)
A second bill from Petersen would prohibit political contributions from utility companies. (SB804)
Charlottesville Planning Commission pre-discuss capital improvement program at pre-meeting
For much of the next couple of weeks, you’re going to read and hear a lot from meetings I’ve not yet been able to get to. That begins right now with the first of several reports from the December 13, 2022 meeting of the Planning Commission.
The official start to the meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. and that’s what the calendar entry on the city’s website says. But the Commission starts a pre-meeting at 5 p.m. at which official business is discussed.
One of the items on the regular agenda was the draft capital improvement program. Chair Lyle Solla-Yates took the opportunity during the pre-meeting to ask a broad question.
“We have a lot of I think important projects that are not recommended for funding in this [Capital Improvement Program],” Solla-Yates said. “I suspect they are important and we need them. I would like to have a better understanding from staff about how difficult this is to not fund them. How much pain are in for?”
This question is asked before the meeting begins and before a presentation has begun. Still, there’s an answer from Krisy Hammill, the city’s budget director. She said this time last year, the city did not feel it would have additional capacity for more projects in the future. Hammill said that’s not entirely the case going into FY22 due to greater than expected revenues.
“I think what we’ll talk about tonight is that capacity is not really an issue,” Hammill said. “We’re really back more to affordability. To your point, there are lots of things that aren’t even on the list, for example for schools that we know they have needs and they weren’t submitted and they’re not on that list yet but they’ve been talked about as well as affordable housing projects and other things. We’re never without projects.”
The conversation about the capital improvement project continued, despite the meeting not technically starting yet. Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg noted that the city received seven submissions answering a recent request for proposals from nonproift developers to construct below-market housing.
“How are we anticipating that we would hypothetically fund those if we wanted to?” Stolzenberg asked.
Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders said that was a good question.
“The reality is that there’s basically no money that’s been basically set aside for that purpose so when those applications come in the approach that we’re taking by creating this RFP to try to channel all of them at one time is so we can review them [and] basically compile that information and put it before Council.”
Sanders said that staff’s direction from the Affordable Housing Plan adopted in is to make $10 million available each year for affordable housing projects. In addition to the RFP for construction, there is also a request for proposals for nonprofit groups for operations that will close at the end of this month.
“We are actually implementing the Affordable Housing Plan as it was intended but we know there are a lot more projects that are out there that are on the table to be done,” Sanders said. “There is a lot of desire for the city to be engaged in that and Council has to help balance that.”
Sanders said that will include making comparisons of what each of those seven projects would offer. Two projects by Piedmont Housing Alliance in addition to Friendship Court are already included in the draft five-year capital improvement program.
All of these quotes from before the meeting. The actual conversation takes places again both later on the meeting and in a future edition of Charlottesville Community
Second shout-out: Clay 1613
What does 19th-century slaveowner and US statesman Henry Clay have to do with legendary boxer Muhammad Ali? The Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society in partnership with The Center at Belvedere will welcome Leontyne Clay Peck for a screening of her newly released documentary: CLAY 1613: An American Family in Black & White. This will take place Thursday, December 22 at 6 p.m. at the Center.
The film explores Mrs. Peck's 18-year journey finding and documenting her Clay family ancestry - the Black and White, known and unknown, rich and poor descendants of the planter, John Clay, who arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, by 1613.
Bring your family and join us to learn more about this unexpected connection and much more! The film screening will be followed by a discussion with Mrs. Peck with time for questions from the audience. Register at thecentercville.org.
More from the Planning Commission: Moving Towards 2050, Downtown Mall tree removal
The actual meeting of the Charlottesville Planning Commission began with updates from members of the Planning Commission. Each member serves on other committees and these updates are a good way to learn what’s happening or at least what’s being planned.
Commission Karim Habbab serves on the Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee which advises the Charlottesville Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Board. He had a briefing from that group’s recent meeting.
“We looked at an overview of the long range transportation plan for 2050 which is now going to be called ‘Moving Towards 2050’ in an effort to make it more palatable, I guess,” Habbab said.
The long range transportation plan is required by the Federal Highway Administration to signal what projects have the support of elected official when it comes time to having them funded.
Habbab said Public engagement opportunities for the plan should begin early next year.
“We’ve set a goal of about one percent public engagement which is kind of slightly ambitious but possible achievable,” Habbab said.
For scale, the official population of Charlottesville is over 46,500. One percent would be about 465 people, and one percent of Albemarle’s total population is over 1,100 people. Can they do it? Stay tuned.
Habbab is also a member of the Tree Commission and he had an update on the removal of some of the hazardous trees on the Downtown Mall.
“The timeline for that is going to be around mid-January,” Habbab said. “The lumber is then going to be kiln-dried and there is going to be some public outreach to determine what the lumber should be used for.”
Commissioner Rory Stolzenerg sits on the MPO-Technical Committee and he also had an update that could mean a tougher road ahead for new road projects.
“The VDOT cost estimates for our upcoming Smart Scale applications are in and they are absolutely brutal,” Stolzenberg said. “The Rivanna River pedestrian bridge for example came in at over $42 million and that was expected to cost under $16 million.”
The scores for Round 5 of Smart Scale will be out in late January.
Charlottesville zoning updates: Get ready for a busy 2023
The Charlottesville Planning Commission will not meet on December 27 for a work session, but the Deputy Director of Neighborhood Development Services wants them to be ready for a busy start to 2023.
“Please get geared up because we are set for the first four fourth Tuesday which is our regular date for work sessions related to zoning ordinance related activities,” said Missy Creasy.
More details about the zoning ordinance rewrite from NDS Director James Freas.
“So we are now looking at releasing the draft zoning ordinance itself in three chunks, three modules,” Freas said. “The first of those will arrive during the week of January 30 through February 3 and that one is going to be detailed information on the zoning districts that will include the zoning map, use table, and all of the district standards. So the measurements, the rules, the height, lot coverage, lot size, all of those things that we associate with each of the districts.”
The second module will arrive in mid-March and will be on development standards.
“So that’s things like landscaping, parking, lighting, and those types of measures and then the final model is zoning administration,” Freas said. “Most importantly that includes the review processes associated with the zoning ordinance and that will arrive in the April 3 to April 7 week.”
Freas said those dates are guidelines and he reserves the right to extend them as needed for sufficient legal review.
On January 24, the Commission will discuss the future of critical slopes, floodplain development, and entrance corridors. This is the third leg of the Cville Plans Together initiative and a public hearing for adoption is slated for June 2023.
Reading material:
Albemarle school board picks Rebecca Berlin to replace Oberg, WINA, December 16, 2022
Route 250 Bypass replacement fire station plans back in motion, Keagan Hughes, NBC29, December 16, 2022
Benjamin wins GOP nomination in Virginia 4th District race, Associated Press, Charlottesville Daily Progress, December 17, 2022
One injured in Charlottesville Corner district shooting, Hawes Spencer, Charlottesville Daily Progress, December 18, 2022
Special election to fill Campbell’s seat set for Jan. 10, Cardinal News, December 19, 2022
Notes for #473
The style for this one is a little different. I have so many meetings that I record in a given month, and it often takes me a while to get through them. I plan on working through the holiday and bringing you as many updates as I can. That’s what I’ve promised to my paid subscribers and it’s what I intend to deliver.
I will be traveling for some of the time, though, so stay tuned on the Substack Chat for program updates. I have discontinued my use of Twitter and I find the Facebook page of Town Crier Productions to be too sporadic for many people to actually see it. So, for now, Substack Chat for the latest.
By now you may or may not know that this newsletter is funded by readers and listeners through paid subscriptions through Substack. One in four people have opted to pay something, a ratio that has continued to pay off over the past two and a half years. Funds also some from my sponsor, Ting, who will match the first payment for new subscribers.
December 19, 2022: A brief update on Charlottesville's zoning code rewrite; Twenty percent of city staff failed recent phishing campaign