The final week of 2021 begins with a slight pause on government meetings at the local and state level, but there’s always something to document in every edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. What phrase would you use to describe the week between Christmas and New Year’s? Boxing Week? Witching Week?
On today’s program:
A lawsuit has been filed to stop a Confederate statue from being given to the Jefferson School Center for African American Heritage
Scottsville and Charlottesville have both received additional funding from a cap and trade program to pay for flood programs
The Nelson County Board of Supervisors hires a consultant to help update the Comprehensive Plan
Albemarle County offering seven drop-off locations for Christmas tree recycling
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Pandemic update
As the week begins, the Virginia Department of Health reports the seven-day average for positive tests has climbed to 14.5 percent this morning and a seven-day average of 6,307 new cases. On Christmas Day, the VDH reported 8,609 new cases and 5,432 cases on Boxing Day. More on the pandemic tomorrow.
Statue lawsuit
Two organizations that bid to receive the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee have filed suit in Charlottesville Circuit Court to prevent it from being awarded to the Jefferson School Center for African American Heritage. The center plans to melt the statue down and made into a new public work of art.
The petition for injunction filed December 22 on behalf of the Trevillian Station Battlefield Foundation and the Ratcliffe Foundation argues that City Council overstepped its authority when it voted 4-0 in the early hours of December 7 to choose the center.
“The City can legally remove, relocate, contextualize, or cover the Lee monument, but the General Assembly denied the City authority to alter or destroy,” reads the argument, which also names the center as a defendant. “A foundry is not a museum, historical society, government, or military battlefield, which are the only lawful recipients for placement of a relocated monument.”
The plaintiffs seek voidance of the award and to prevent the Center from submitting another one. Alternatively they seek damages or restoration of the statue. The suit claims the city broke the Freedom of Information Act and its own procurement rules. (read the petition here)
The 2020 General Assembly passed legislation allowing localities to decide for themselves if they wanted to remove war memorials, which had been protected by state law. The Virginia Supreme Court ruled in April that that state law did not apply to either the Lee statue or another Confederate statue that formerly stood in a city park. (April 1, 2021 opinion in City of Charlottesville v. Payne)
Belmont Bridge update
Crews working on the replacement of the Belmont Bridge will take a break today, Thursday and Friday. The Caton Construction Group has been working on removing the eastern span of the bridge, but will take some time off for the holiday, according to a press release from the city.
However, work on a waterline between East South Street and Old Avon Street will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday. The work began this past summer after several years of planning and after Council agreed to spend $7.5 million in capital improvement funds to make up a cost over-run. Learn more at the project website at belmont-bridge.com.
In today’s second Patreon-fueled shout-out:
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Nelson County Comprehensive Plan
Fans of Comprehensive Plan reviews can rejoice now that Nelson County has hired the Berkley Group of Bridgewater to conduct the first update of their plan since 2014. Dylan Bishop is the county’s director of planning and zoning. They’ll be paid $160,000 for the work.
“When I first accepted this position two and a half years ago, I was aware that the Comprehensive Plan update was on the horizon,” Bishop said. “Over the last couple of years there have been a few roadblocks with that but it’s also given me a good opportunity to become familiar with the current Comprehensive Plan, zoning ordinance, and subdivision ordinances.”
The current plan was written by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission with an entity at the University of Virginia known as the Design Resources Center. (read the 2014 update)
Bishop said the current plan does not lead the county’s land use and development decisions, and that that occurs now in the zoning ordinance.
“When it’s done correctly, it should be an economic development tool,” Bishop said. “It’s often used as reference for grant applications such as Smart Scale, Virginia Outdoors Foundation grants, when you have something to point to that says our county already supports this.”
Nelson County sent out a request for proposals this fall and receive three submissions. Two of the firms were interviewed and staff chose the Berkley Group. Public engagement will begin with a meeting in January.
“Once the final plan is adopted, they will follow it up with another diagnostic of the zoning ordinance and subdivision ordinances,” Bishop said. “They’ll generate recommendations that will make it consistent with our Comprehensive Plan. That will be the enforcement tool to set the vision of the comp plan as the years go on.”
The Berkley Group is currently working on the Comprehensive Plan updates in Richmond County and Greensville County. They’ve recently concluded work in Northampton County and the city of Lexington. (Watch the Nelson BOS meeting)
Charlottesville, Scottsville, receive flood-prevention funds
Governor Ralph Northam has awarded an additional $24.5 million to help Virginia localities prepare for weather events associated with a changing climate. The money comes from Virginia’s proceeds from participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin has said he would end through an executive order after he takes office.
In the meantime in this round, Charlottesville will receive $94,276 for “resilience planning and staff training” and the town of Scottsville will receive $123,346 for a planning study. Both communities were among 30 applicants for the second round of the Community Flood Preparedness Fund. In October, Charlottesville was awarded $153,500 in the first round for a project to create a two-dimensional model for the Moores Creek watershed. (Charlottesville awarded $153K for flood study from RGGI funds, October 6, 2021)
Virginia became the first southern state to join RGGI in 2020 and has received $227,636,583.52 in the four auctions it has been a part of so far. Utility generators have to purchase credits to exceed a certain threshold of carbon emissions. Forty-five percent of the proceeds go to the Community Flood Preparedness Fund.
According to their application, the city will put the money towards a Charlottesville Resilience Plan that will include taking an inventory of existing plans, identifying hazards and threats, and assessing vulnerabilities.
“The City is applying for these grant funds to contract with an expert consultant to facilitate plan
Development,” reads the application. “The consultant will co-create the plan at facilitated workshops with the City’s Resilience Team staff to increase staff expertise and capabilities.”
The schedule anticipates the plan will be ready in mid-April.
Scottsville will use the plan to develop to modernize its plans for dealing with floods. According to the application, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed a levee project in 1988 after a series of devastating floods in the mid-20th century.
“This project connects to the town’s history and its future, assuring the continued safety from flooding, and laying the groundwork for new economic development,” reads the project narrative.
The document goes on to state the town would like the Federal Emergency Management Agency to adjust the floodplain map to remove the designation for the former Kyosung tire factory in order to make it more attractive to redevelopment. They also want a new hydraulic model for downtown Scottsville.
The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation will need to approve both documents.
Resources:
Full list of recipients on the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s webpage
Albemarle tree recycling
Beginning today, Albemarle’s Parks and Recreation Department will operate seven places where county residents can drop off Christmas trees for recycling. People are asked to remove all decorations, lights, stands, and nails before they are added to the pile. The trees will be chipped and converted into mulch. That mulch will be available beginning January 24 at both Darden Towe Park and Claudius Crozet Park.
The locations:
McIntire Recycling Center* – 611 McIntire Rd. Charlottesville, VA 22902
Claudius Crozet Park – 1075 Claudius Crozet Park, Crozet, VA 22932
Greenwood Community Center – 865 Greenwood Rd. Crozet, VA 22932
Chris Greene Lake Park – 4460 Chris Greene Lake Rd. Charlottesville, VA 22911
Darden Towe Park – 1445 Darden Towe Park, Charlottesville, VA 22911
Scottsville Community Center – 250 Page St. Scottsville, Va 24590
Walnut Creek Park – 4250 Walnut Creek Park North Garden, VA 22959
Community members are asked not to bring any other yard waste, and are warned that the McIntire Recycling Center may be congested.
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December 27, 2021: Groups sue Charlottesville to stop Jefferson School Center from receiving Lee statue; Charlottesville planning for resilience with RGGI funds