One two, two two, two zero, two two.
This particular way of reciting the date sounds almost birdlike so let’s fly right into this pre-holiday edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast that seeks to provide as much information as possible. But if you are avian in nature, apologies in advance for the lack of translation into dialects for all of our feathered friends. I’m Sean Tubbs, resisting the urge to make a witty comment about Twitter.
On today’s program:
The Regional Housing Partnership hears from Delegate Sally Hudson about her housing priorities for the 2023 General Assembly and have a discussion on bottlenecks in the development review process
A quick look at what else may be coming up in the 2023 General Assembly
And the Chris Long Foundation makes another round of book donations in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Central Virginia
First shout-out goes to Camp Albemarle
Today’s first subscriber-supported public service announcement goes out to Camp Albemarle, which has for 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. Camp Albemarle seeks support for a plan to winterize the Hamner Lodge, a structure built in 1941 by the CCC and used by every 4th and 5th grade student in Charlottesville and Albemarle for the study of ecology for over 20 years. If this campaign is successful, Camp Albemarle could operate year-round. Consider your support by visiting campalbemarleva.org/donate.
Delegate Sally Hudson meets with Regional Housing Partnership
For the next couple of weeks, the format of this newsletter and podcast shall change a bit. I record many more meetings then I am able to process during the busier weeks. I try to write and produce as many as these possible, and it takes me a while to get back.
A major issue facing our community is the ability of people to find housing they can afford. In the past two years, both Albemarle and Charlottesville have adopted affordable housing plans that seek to encourage, incentivize, and require below-market units. Both localities are also part of the Regional Housing Partnership coordinated by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission.
The Partnership invited Delegate Sally Hudson to their December 5, 2022 meeting so she would be able to hear directly from its members about issues facing the development community and local government. This took the form of a roundtable discussion with questions asked by the Regional Housing Partnership. Albemarle Supervisor Ned Gallaway was the moderator.
“The first question I will throw out is what legislative priorities if any do you have to impact affordable housing?” Gallaway said.
Hudson said she is glad to help build a bridge between localities and the legislature on the topic.
“I think we all know that affordable housing is priority one, two, and three from the constituents that we collectively serve and it’s going to take a lot of collaboration between state and local government in particular because the General Assembly is often handcuffing you all from doing the kind of things that you need and denying you both the resources and the flexibility to try to tackle the problem with a full suite of tools that you deserve,” Hudson said.
Watch the whole meeting on YouTube:
Hudson said she has carried bills to allow Charlottesville flexibility. In 2020, HB1105 easily passed both Houses of the General Assembly and added the city to the list of localities authorized to adopt inclusionary rezoning rules to require units to be built at below-market levels.
In 2021, Hudson introduced another bill (HB1900) to give more protection to tenants against evictions passed on a 55-44 vote in the House of Delegates and 20-19 in the Senate.
Later that year, the Republicans took back the House of Delegates, a body they currently hold a 51 to 47 majority with two vacancies. Special elections for two vacant House seats will be held on January 10. The General Assembly convenes the next day.
“Going into the next session, I am planning to introduce three bills, two of which were direct requests from local folks,” Hudson said. “One became a priority from the [Albemarle] Board of Supervisors which is allowing short-term rentals to expire if the property changes hands because I think we’re getting increasingly concerned about companies gobbling up lots of different properties that perhaps were originally intended for owner-occupied housing to have maybe another stream of income on their property.”
Hudson said another bill was requested by individual members of the Charlottesville Planning Commission to study the possibility of allowing properties and residential units to be taxed at different rates.
“Potentially allowing for some more flexibility when we know we’ve got some underutilized opportunities for urban infill in the city,” Hudson said.
The third bill would be to set up minimum standards for accessory dwelling units statewide.
Delegate Hudson also reminded the Regional Housing Partnership that Governor Glenn Youngkin has made the production of new housing a priority in the next session as part of his Make Virginia Home initiative. She said there needs to be additional funding.
“The current administration is sort of trying to pit demand-side subsidies and supply-side constraints against each other where really it’s a ‘yes and’ answer,” Hudson said. “There are some units that will need to be permanently subsidized for tenants or owners that we know will not be able to maintain the income stream they need to stay in place.”
Hudson said she is concerned about proposals to fast-track construction of affordable housing by trying to expedite the permit process and easing zoning rules.
“I am concerned that the administration also means cutting corners on labor and environmental regulations and allowing projects to go up faster because they are short-changing either workers or the environment,” Hudson said.
One big topic in the conversation regarded what many developers say is a big hold-up for the provision of all kinds of housing.
“I hear and I’m sure that you do as well in conversations with developers about bottlenecks at the local level in the permitting and approval process,” Hudson said. “I don’t feel like I have gotten a clear answer as to where in the pipes of government are the slow-downs and what can be done to speed them up?”
Supervisor Ned Gallaway said it was a complex issue.
“How I would answer that is that you have a systems issue,” Gallaway said. “We have antiquated systems in use. We’ve got a personnel drain… in terms trying to retain the people.”
In the last couple of months, Albemarle has lost its director of planning and a senior planning manager to the private sector.
But Gallaway also said that different people may bring different levels of scrutiny to whatever application may be in front of them. He said he’s interested in a three-pronged approach.
“Is the system, the mechanism they use to process the permits or whatever it is, as efficient as it can be?” Gallaway said. “Do you have the people in place to be able to do it? And then, do you have the right mentality being done on the work that’s actually being done?”
Albemarle has invested in new software, and that’s a topic I’ll cover in an upcoming edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement.
Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook said he believed there were personality conflicts that contribute to the bottlenecks.
“We’ve got a problem in the City of Charlottesville right now without getting into a lot of detail where you have folks on the private side who are just pissed off at the folks on the city side and vice-versa and they can’t see eye to eye on what an acceptable application looks like and the city manager is trying to mediate this dispute between them but we’ve got delays of up to a year or more on things like engineering details that ought to be resolvable and it’s so frustrating for those of us who get harped at from both sides and basically what we need is for these two groups of people to start acting like adults,” Snook said.
Snook said he was concerned about state mandates from Richmond for specific clocks for action.
“That assumes that, first of all, that the engineering people who are submitting the applications have actually done a good-faith effort to get the whole stupid thing finished instead of putting in 20 percent and then figuring it out as we go along,” Snook said. “And that’s the kind of thing we’ve had problems with.”
The Regional Housing Partnership includes members from the private sector including one developer who said he has experienced delays in both Albemarle and Charlottesville. He said he wanted to find solutions to getting building permits processed faster.
“I sit at this table because I’m passionate about it,” said Christoper Brement of Bramante Homes. “I volunteer for the Blue Ridge Home Builders Association because I’m passionate about it. And we’ve been very grateful to the Community Development Director in Albemarle County for holding several roundtables engaging the Blue Ridge Home Builders Association.”
Toward the end of the meeting, Supervisor Ned Gallaway asked about one of the bills Hudson carried in the 2022 General Assembly. HB1286 reduced the amount of time public housing authorities have to inform the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development about properties they may want to “demolish, liquidate, or otherwise dispose” of property.
“Last year I carried a bill which… was geared towards facilitating faster redevelopment of public housing projects,” Hudson said. “In order to let residents know that their units were about to be renovated there were two separate stages which could have proceeded in parallel and residents to still get the same level of timely notification that they were going to need to relocate temporarily while allowing the construction efforts to get moving.”
Hudson that bill was a collaboration with housing authorities across Virginia.
Delegate Hudson is also challenging Senator Creigh Deeds for the Democratic nomination for Senate District 11, which creates an open seat in House District 54 next year. So far, only one candidate has filed and that’s Albemarle School Board Member Katrina Callsen.
Second shout-out: UVA Health holiday gift card drive
With just a few days before the holidays, there’s still time to help ensure someone who could really use a gift to get one this Christmas. The Student National Medical Association (SNMA) is partnering with the UVA Health Office of Diversity and Community Engagement to collect and distribute gift cards.
Every year UVA’s SNMA chapter works with Charlottesville’s City of Promise to sponsor a toy drive for the Westhaven community. Children create holiday wish lists, and your purchase of a $20 gift card from area stores or a donation through Venmo will help more community members have the opportunity to purchase the things they want for themselves and their children. This year the SNMA has extended their reach in support of children and parents associated with Abundant Life Ministries and WellAWARE.
Learn more in the flier below or call Jacklene Martin at 434-409-4313.
Legislative round-up: Easing burden for trail easement givers?
Once the General Assembly begins, it can often be difficult to track the progress of individual bills but each year I get a little more efficient. But until the first gavel drops, it’s fairly easily to tell you about new pieces of legislation have been filed. Here’s another round-up of what’s in the hopper.
Senator Amanda Chase has filed a bill that would revoke the ability of localities to decide for themselves if they want to ban possession of firearms on public property and would prevent localities from suing firearms manufacturers. Also, any weapons purchased through buy-back programs would have to be sold at public auction rather than be destroyed. (SB805)
Delegate Bill Wiley has a bill to allow anyone to carry a concealed handgun without a permit. (HB1420)
Senator Bill Stanley filed a bill to create the Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics + Computing Competition Team Grant Program to encourage extracurricular clubs in public schools. (SB806)
Senator Barbara Favola has a bill that would allow localities or a park authority to create a system of walking trails including private easements. If passed, the property owners who grant such easements would be released from civil liabilities related to their use. (SB807)
Favola has another bill that would clarify the temporary detention law related to mental and physical conditions if the person involved is intoxicated. (SB808)
Another piece of legislation from Favola would place restrictions on how wine and beer can be displayed to ensure they are not placed next to nonalcoholic beverages. (SB809)
Delegate Lee Ware filed a bill to modify the way cigars are taxed in Virginia. (HB1417)
Delegate Tim Anderson seeks a Constitutional amendment that would not allow personal property taxes to be collected on automobiles, pickup trucks, or motorcycles if they are used for personal use. (HJ 462)
Chris Long Foundation delivers books to Boys and Girls Club
A philanthropic organization associated with a successful player in the National Football League has made its latest contribution to the Charlottesville community. The Chris Long Foundation dropped by the Boys and Girls Club yesterday to hand out over 1,00 books to club members from across the region.
“This is our third book distribution in Charlottesville. It means so much to be in a position to continue giving back to kids in our community,” says Chris Long, founder of the Chris Long Foundation. “All kids should be given the opportunity to excel. That starts with igniting their passion for learning through books that spark their interest and enthusiasm for reading.”
This is part of the foundation’s EdZone initiative which is described on the website as where “elite athletes, coaches, and fans team up to help kids have access to the materials needed for educational equity and success.”
Reading material for December 22, 2022
Deputies in Louisa County fatally shoot warrant recipient, Hawes Spencer, Charlottesville Daily Progress, December 20, 2022
Plastic bag tax starts Jan 1. in Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Dryden Quigley, NBC29, December 20, 2022
A developer’s plan to build new apartments in Scottsville shows just how unprecedented big projects are for the small town, Erin O’Hare, Charlottesville Tomorrow, December 20, 2022
Housekeeping for edition #475:
We are in the holidays now with me producing this afar from the usual studio. You may not notice this if you just read the newsletter, but the audio version may sound a bit different. Same microphone, but the words will be read out loud in different places. The podcast listener may know. If you’re not one, give it a shot! All of the quotes you see in this newsletter? Usually you can hear the person who said it in their own voice!
Episode 475 is 47.5 percent of the way to Episode 1,000. After that I’ll decide if it’s worth it to continue to producing Charlottesville Community Engagement. Until them, this work should still be regarded as an experiment.
And I am grateful for those funding the research! That’s over a quarter of the 1,800+ people who have signed up for these fairly frequent updates on the the nuts and bolts of our civilization. That mostly comes by paying for a subscription through Substack at whatever level you feel comfortable with.
The company Ting will match that initial payment, for which I am endlessly grateful. This helps me really begin to see what the road to 1,000 editions and beyond looks like.
Why not give yourself the gift of faster broadband? Ting can help! If you sign up at this link and enter the promo code COMMUNITY, you’ll get:
Free installation
A second month for free
A $75 gift card to the Downtown Mall
Safe travels to those traveling and safe staying for those staying. Possibly vice versa, but I’ve not quite thought out the ramifications of such a statement.
December 22, 2022: Delegate Hudson chats housing legislation and bottlenecks with Regional Housing Partnership