February 24, 2025: Jim Andrews will not seek second term on Albemarle Board of Supervisors, endorses Fred Missel as successor
Plus: A look at new plans filed in Charlottesville, including 14 units on Harris Road where one house currently stands
What were you doing on this day in 1582? Pope Gregory XIII was busy releasing a papal bull known as Inter gravissimas that would establish the Gregorian calendar later that year. This ended the tendency of certain events to drift because the Julian calendar was slightly off. The direction from the leader of the Catholic Church ended centuries of concern, a concern that is perhaps long forgotten. February 24 is the 55th day of the year, but will it always be so? This is not the point of Charlottesville Community Engagement, but what else might you expect from Sean Tubbs?
In today’s installment:
A top official at the University of Virginia Foundation has launched a bid for the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors
Plans for two new residential developments have been filed under Charlottesville’s new zoning code
Albemarle County’s Planning Commission will hold a public hearing Tuesday on changes to the zoning code related to data centers
Members of an emergency House of Delegates committee get some information on how a dramatic reduction in the federal workforce may affect the Commonwealth of Virginia
First-shout: 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.
Missel to run for Samuel Miller seat on the Board of Supervisor
There will be at least two new people on the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors when they meet for the first time in 2026.
Supervisor Jim Andrews will not seek a second term on the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors. He has also endorsed the current chair of the Planning Commission to serve as his replacement.
“Fred Missel, a dedicated public servant and experienced planner and landscape architect, has announced his candidacy for the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors representing the Samuel Miller District,” reads a fact sheet for the candidate.
Missel is director of design and development of the University of Virginia Foundation, an organization that purchases real estate on behalf of the University of Virginia. He was named to the Planning Commission in 2022 after service for several years on the Architectural Review Board.
“I’m thrilled that Fred is running,” Andrews said in an interview. “He’s got the experience. He’s been a leader on the Planning Commission and is well-respected by his peers and has a lot of institutional knowledge and understanding of the county’s needs.”
In an interview, Missel said he would add value to the Board of Supervisors because he has spent time at his day job trying to get development projects through local government. For instance, he’s currently working to get an affordable housing project at 1000 Wertland Street through Charlottesville’s land use process.
Supervisor Diantha McKeel announced in January she would not seek a fourth term representing the Jack Jouett District. Both Sally Duncan and David Shreve have announced their candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the seat. Duncan will make a public statement on February 25 at 11 a.m. at the Albemarle County Office Building at 401 McIntire Road.
Three new major development plans filed in Charlottesville, plus one special use permit
Under Charlottesville’s new Development Code, most new construction does not require a special use permit or a rezoning. Instead, a property owner submits a “development plan” which describes the extent of improvements that are to be made. This is followed by a final site plan which must be approved before construction can begin.
The Development Code itself does not appear to have a glossary that defines what makes one of these plans “major” or “minor” but according to the application portal, there have been over a dozen submitted since late February of last year.
For details on how to use the Development Code, there’s a 34-page manual that states a major development plan must be “prepared, sealed, signed, and dated by an architect, professional engineer, land surveyor or certified landscape architect licensed to practice within the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
Three of these have been submitted in February of this year.
One of them submitted on February 12 is for 1107 Myrtle Street in the Belmont-Carlton neighborhood. There is currently a three bedroom house on the property, and plans prepared by the firm Shimp Engineering would add three additional units. Each of these would be on a sublot. The 0.172 acre parcel is in the Residential-A zoning district and can have four units if the existing structure is kept.
The property is owned by Llandaff Farm LLC who paid $319,000 for the property on July 30, 2024. On that same day, Hanover Home Buyers LLC paid $257,000.
Another submitted by Shimp Engineering on the same day is for 117 Harris Road in the Fry’s Spring neighborhood. This project would see the 0.821 acre lot subdivided into two lots with seven units to be constructed on each for a total of 14 rental units. The existing house built in 1957 would remain on one lot.
The other lot would see a new structure with a 528 square foot garage with a residential unit above it. Both lots would see a new structure with a total of six units. This is within Residential B which allows for a total of six units before affordability bonuses kick in, but there is not yet documentation in the land use portal that explains why the seventh unit would be justified for each lot.
An entity called 117 Harris Road LLC paid $406,000 for the property on June 24, 2022.
The third major development plan is not for additional residential development at all, but to build a work building at 1114 East High Street. A former member of the Board of Architectural Review is behind the project.
“Our plan is to build a Studio Workshop space in the rear of our property at 1114 E High that will serve as a carpentry workshop, fitting into the use of Low-impact industrial and manufacturing (up to 4,000sf), which is by-right according to Use Permissions,” writes Mike Ball.
The Planning Commission and City Council will not get involved with any of the above unless they are somehow directed to do so by the zoning administrator. This can happen if two members of the Planning Commission ask for a review or if there is an appeal of the zoning administrator’s decision. For those who want to look this up, Section 5.2.9.D.1.b. Try here.
Under a special use request, the Planning Commission will hold a public hearing. The owners of 401 Ridge Street want to turn the residential structure into a bed and breakfast for up to five rooms homes. That takes a special use permit for properties in Residential-C.
Albemarle County PC to hold public hearing on zoning for data centers
There has been a proliferation of data centers across the Commonwealth of Virginia to handle the needs of a society with many functions dependent on access to the Internet. Louisa County is currently working with Amazon to build two data center campuses.
“Data Centers are a rapidly growing industry with unique impacts, including energy demand and associated infrastructure, sound, water consumption, and visual impacts, among others,” reads the staff report. “There are currently no specific regulations to address the unique impacts of Data Centers.”
To anticipate the potential for future requests, Albemarle County’s Department of Community Development is reviewing the zoning code to update the current rules for data centers.
The Planning Commission will review various changes at its meeting on February 25. These include:
Requiring all data centers to be on public water and sewer, a requirement that cannot be waived. That would keep them out of the county’s designated rural area.
Any water used to cool the data center systems would require a closed loop with recycled water
A special use permit would not be required in commercial zoning districts.
Data centers up to 40,000 square feet would be by-right in industrial districts. Anything over that size would require a special use permit.
There would be a new definition of data center and the elimination of a use called “Data Processing Facility.”
The staff report also notes that there were several pieces of legislation filed in the Virginia General Assembly this session related to data centers, many of which were defeated. Materials in the packet have a summary of how zoning in other Virginia localities addresses data centers.
Second shout-out: Charlottesville Community Bikes
In today’s second subscriber supported shout-out, Charlottesville Community Bikes strives to provide wheels to anyone who needs a ride. That includes:
There’s a Kid’s Bike program for people under the age of 12 (learn more)
Several social services organizations refer people to Charlottesville Community Bikes for access to reliable transportation (learn more)
Keep an eye on their calendar for the next mobile repair clinic (learn more)
There’s also a workforce development program that “blends mentorship and comprehensive training in bicycle mechanics” (learn more)
Visit the Charlottesville Community Bikes website today to learn more!
First meeting held for House Emergency committee on impacts of federal layoffs
The Virginia General Assembly finished up its regular session over the weekend, but a new committee set up to monitor and assess the impact of massive cuts to the federal workforce got to work Saturday morning. (committee page)
Don Scott, Speaker of the House of Delegates, formed the bi-partisan committee earlier this month as the Trump administration’s fast-pace firings of federal employees continued to mount.
“Things are moving rather quickly at the federal level and so we did not want to lose this opportunity while we were still in Richmond to be able to get together and do the very important work of this committee,” said Delegate David Bulova (D-11), the committee’s chair.
Bulova said people who work for the federal government provide services to 335 million Americans, both urban and rural.
“For instance, broadband deployment in the rural areas, support for family farms and rural economic development initiatives, are all state and federal partnerships,” Bulova said.
He said the scope of the cuts will have a ripple effect across Virginia, and acknowledged that the House of Delegates has no direct control over the cuts being proposed and implemented by the federal executive, but Article 10 of the Virginia Constitution requires a balanced budget each year.
“And likewise, we are each and every one of us up here fiercely protective of our AAA bond rating,” Bulova said.
Bulova said the committee also has a responsibility to help people whose jobs are being cut.
The first speaker before the committee was Clark Mercer, the executive director of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. That’s similar to the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission.
“We represent and work with local governments in Northern Virginia, the District and suburban Maryland, everything from Loudoun and Prince William up to the District of Columbia and suburban Maryland,” Mercer said. “So your chairs of board of Supervisors, your mayors, and you've got legislative and executive branch serving on our board.”
Mercer said his agency coordinates 24 public safety programs including mutual aid agreements, clean water programs, transportation planning, procurement on behalf of local government, and many other programs.
Mercer said there are around 400,000 federal government workers in the national capital region, or about 17 percent of the workforce. That number is a lot lower in the Charlottesville metropolitan area where 3.4 percent of the workforce is federal..
He said one of the stated aims of the unofficial Department of Governmental Efficiency being run by unelected billionaire Elon Musk is to reduce the federal workforce by 75 percent. If that occurs, the unemployment rate could spike to 9.6 percent up from a baseline figure of 2.8 percent.
“I would note that at the height of COVID in the [COG] region it was 9.4 percent,” Mercer said.
Mercer said the Trump administration also seeks to cut programs such as SNAP and Medicaid. The Defense Department wants to cut 40 percent of its budget. Federal formulas for transportation are being slated to change to favor states with higher birth and marriage rates.
Mercer advised the committee to continue to monitor the exact number of personnel to be cut.
“The numbers coming out of the Office of Personnel Management just are not clean and crisp,” Mercer said. “There's not as much transparency as to who is being laid off, [who is being] bought out and what their skill sets are.”
Mercer said a goal should be to find jobs for those who have been put out of work by the executive branch of the government. For instance, Fairfax County has put together a website on this topic. Another needs to be to identify state jobs that are funded with federal money and find ways to prevent them from being cut.
The Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service also provided analysis of the federal workforce in Virginia and demographers estimate that at least 25,000 employees moved to other parts of the Commonwealth during the pandemic.
“There are some parts of rural Virginia where they actually saw some significant increases in federal workforce so we’ll have to see how that plays out potentially,” Eric Scorsone, executive director of the Weldon Cooper Center.
The Weldon Cooper Center recently began producing a quarterly economic forecast and the effects of cuts will begin to be felt when the next version comes out in April.
The Committee next heard from Mitch Melis, the Commissioner of the Virginia Employment Commission. He explained how unemployment insurance works.
“The program is funded solely through employer paid taxes, not by employees,” Melis said. “The financial assistance provided is temporary while they seek and pursue alternative work.”
Individuals have to demonstrate on a weekly basis that they are seeking employment. When the federal government fires workers, the federal government reimburses the Virginia Employment Commission. So far, claims have not been high.
“As of [February 22] we have less than 300 initial claims for unemployment insurance filed since February 1 by separated employees of a federal agency,” Melis said, adding that he estimates around 120 claims by contractors who have been laid off.
The VEC has also set up a special page regarding federal workers.
Delegate Marcus Simon (D-13) said that much of the correspondence between new federal leaders and workers may have some of those severed employees feeling they are ineligible for benefits.
So the fork in the road, these options, these buyouts and so forth, how are we going to distinguish between a voluntary resignation if it wasn't really voluntary?” Simon asked. “So if somebody says, I'm going to take the buyout, I'm going to take the fork, does that mean they're now, you know, voluntary, voluntarily unemployed, or would they be treated differently?”
Melis said anyone who feels they are eligible for unemployment insurance should reach out to the VEC.
“The voluntary resignation aspect, you know, we would, we would evaluate what documents the individual has,” Melis said. “Part of this is simply looking at what are they provided with. I don't know for sure what 75,000 people received the same exact document. Did 10,000 receive something slightly different? I think that's, that's where we are on that. On the voluntary resignation. If someone elected to not be there, on a general sense without any other information, they would probably not qualify if they elected.”
The maximum amount someone can receive through unemployment is $378 a week for 26 weeks, no matter what their salary had been.
Melis said that many severed employees continue to be paid, but much of that information is anecdotal at this time.
I’ll have more from this meeting in the next edition of the newsletter. If you want to see the presentations and see the rest now, take a look here.
Reading material for #818:
Long Bridge Rail Partners Awarded Long Bridge South Project, Virginia Passenger Rail Authority, January 16, 2025
Amtrak Maps Out Infrastructure Plans to Industry Partners, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, February 21, 2025
Under threat of a federal freeze, city staff says they’re staying the course on infrastructure grants, Miles Wall, Austin Monitor, February 24, 2025
Trump mulls bringing US Postal Service into Commerce Department, Max Garland, Supply Chain Dive, February 24, 2025
The things to recall about #818 before it disappears
I’m supposed to go on a trip on Wednesday, but everything in me is telling me to stay home. For the past two years, I’ve been going up and down the mid-Atlantic for family reasons and I’ve managed to weather the disruption. I’ve taken it in stride but I’ve lost a lot of time. I had to cut back on this newsletter a lot in the summer of 2023, but I’ve managed to work out a way to keep going.
But this particular time around, I’m finding myself wanting to stay in the community where I work and where I live. I have this immense need right now to be ready to work at a moment’s notice. After all, this is my job and hundreds of you are paying me. Thousands of you are reading. That’s something I honor and I’m fueled to work even harder each week.
This one wasn’t an easy one to put together because nothing in me wanted to work on anything substantive today. But that’s not how this works. I generally find the rhythm to get through and today’s musical encouragement came in the form of two Rolling Stones albums, one Kraftwerk song, an Australian psychedelic band with a name that might trigger spam filters, and now two Pere Ubu albums I’ve not heard before.
There are so many reasons to be alive and curious, and that’s in part why the opening paragraph is often now about history. I write that blurb first each time and it almost never has anything to do with the content. But, my hope is to get people to think about something they’ve not thought about before.
And now I’ve got an hour before the radio show on WINA. The show is shorter now than it was in the past, and I talk about whatever’s happening this week. This week is a busy one, and I’m set up to bring you information. I’m hopeful this will be a prolific one. I’m just glad to begin to think about the next one.