For fans of mathematical precision, we are now 2.74 percent of the way through the current year, but this is a metric that almost no one wants to hear. Yet, this is a way of conceptualizing the passage of time albeit one that may be premature. Either way, you are likely about the same amount of the way through this installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement. I’m Sean Tubbs, and I’m the producer and writer of these brief looks into some of what’s happened so far this year.
On today’s program:
Fluvanna County keeps Booker and Eager as Supervisor chair and vice chair
Charlottesville City Council holds first reading on readoption of Comprehensive Plan
Another look at pre-filed legislation including a watering down of penalties for passing a stopped school bus
Council allows preliminary work on a potential nine-story building on Ivy Road to proceed
Veo gets a 90-day extension to keep operating scooters and e-bikes within city limits
First shout-out: Haven to hold open house on January 30
In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out: The Haven will host its first ever Community Open House on Monday, January 30! The event is free and open to the public. With the goal of demystifying their work and the experience of homelessness, this will be an opportunity to learn more about what The Haven does and why they do it. Stop by for building tours, small bites, and an informal meet-and-greet with staff. The event begins at 112 West Market Street at 6 p.m. with remarks from the Executive Director at 7:00.
Fluvanna County Supervisors reappoint Booker as chair
The first item on the agenda for the January 4, 2023 meeting of the Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors was to select officers for the current year. Mozell Booker of the Fork Union District served as chair last year and Patricia Eager of the Palmyra District served as vice chair. This year, both of their seats are up for election.
The audio for the meeting on the YouTube channel did not pick up the initial part of the meeting but the recording begins as a discussion of who should be chair is underway. One Supervisor noted that Eager has never been chair before, but she did not appear to want the position.
“I abdicate to Ms. Booker,” Eager said before a nomination had even been made.
Before a nomination was made, consensus was made that Booker would hold the gavel for another year.
“I’ll make a motion that we make Mozell the chair of the Board of Supervisors for the coming year,” said Supervisor Chris Fairchild of the Cunningham District.
The motion passed 4-0 with Booker abstaining. She then took the gavel from county administrator Eric Dahl.
“I’m going to say that I’m very honored,” Booker said. “I don’t think that there are any other words to say other than I’m very honored and I thank you I be here for the year to do my very best.”
The next step was to nominate a vice chair. Eager will hold that position for another year.
“Two women!” Booker said. “Look out, y’all!”
According to her cvillepedia page, Booker spent many years as principal at Jackson-Via Elementary School.
Charlottesville poised to re-adopt Comprehensive Plan
Charlottesville City Council has held first reading of an updated version of the Comprehensive Plan that was altered in response to a lawsuit.
The re-adoption did not come without changes.
“There are substantively two items in fact,” said James Freas, the city’s Director of Neighborhood Development Services. “The adoption of the Climate Action Plan and amendments supporting manufactured housing as a form of affordable housing.”
Freas said the second item brings the Comprehensive Plan into compliance with state law. That was one of four counts in a lawsuit filed against the plan in late 2021.
Last August, Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Claude Worrell threw out three out of four counts in the suit that had been filed by anonymous plaintiffs. At the time, he said he would consider further arguments on a claim that public notice for the Comprehensive Plan’s adoption on November 15, 2021 was not sufficient. This re-adoption will render that argument moot.
Council agreed to put the second reading on the consent agenda on their January 17 meeting. More from Freas in just a moment.
Legislative round-up: A ban on blue highway lights? Extension for Bay TMDL?
This is the penultimate day before the General Assembly session of 2023 and there are currently 776 bills pending. How will that number change over the course of the 45 days when legislators will be in Richmond. I shall try to cover what I can, but for now let’s go through some more of the bills that have been filed that may be of interest.
Delegate Buddy Fowler Jr. would require that every city and county “ensure that essential medical services are maintained throughout the entire locality.” Currently the law is more aspirational. (HB1472)
Fowler has another bill that would eliminate the requirement that localities include a descriptive summary of a rezoning or other land use application in the required public notice. (HB1473)
Delegate Michael Webert has filed legislation to allow law enforcement officers to refuse to give their address, telephone number, or other personal information in connection with an investigation. (HB1474) (link fixed)
Webert has another bill that would extend the deadline for Virginia to comply with pollution reduction targets for the Chesapeake Bay from January 1, 2026 to the same day in 2030. (HB1485)
Webert would also expand the types of property that farms could exempt from local taxation authority. (HB1486)
Delegate Marie March would require localities to make live broadcasts of their meetings available. (HB1487) (link fixed, Delegate corrected)
Delegate Tim Anderson is carrying a bill to allow small businesses to get a tax credit for child-care expenses that they incur up to $300,000 per year. (HB1479)
Senator Lionell Spruill Sr. has a bill to prohibit the use of blue lights for vehicles ranging from cars to scooters. (SB855)
Spruill has another bill that would require school boards to develop a comprehensive school counseling program. (SB856)
The City of Hampton Roads would be able to install traffic control device violation monitoring systems if a bill from Senator Mamie Locke makes it through. (SB861)
Another year, another bill from someone to study Virginia’s continued use of daylight savings time. This time from Delegate Joseph McNamara. (HB1483)
Finally, Senator John Cosgrove has a bill that would water down the law that allows localities to use video-monitoring devices to catch motorists who illegally pass stopped school buses. Under SB868, the penalty would drop from $250 to $50 and would not allow the violation to be used for insurance purposes.
Second shout-out: Charlottesville Community Bikes
In this second subscriber supported shout-out, Charlottesville Community Bikes believes that bicycles can be a means to social change, addressing issues of equity, access, and inclusion. They provide free bikes to adults who need one, and have a special program that provides free bikes to children. Want to learn more or support their work? Charlottesville Community Bikes currently is seeking matching funds for a grant from the Outride Fund. Visit charlottesvillecommunitybikes.org to learn more.
Council agrees to allow potential zoning change for nine-story Ivy Road
The University of Virginia Foundation has slowly purchased properties on Ivy Road for future use by the University of Virginia. The owners of one holdout property are seeking permission from the city to develop their property as a private development.
“This proposed zoning text amendment was submitted on behalf of RMD properties and seeks to reduce the lot size for a Planned Unit Development within the Urban Corridor zoning district,” said James Freas, the city’s Director of Neighborhood Development Services.
Freas said RMD wants a way forward to develop the one acre property with a nine-story building. This is one of the last remaining properties on Ivy Road to be privately owned rather than be under the control of the University of Virginia.
“Now I want to be clear that this pathway has many steps in it and the action tonight is in no way an approval of the project,” Freas said.
Freas said the Planning Commission would make a recommendation on whether this exception be allowed. The current rewrite of the zoning code is intended to eliminate Planned Unit Development projects as one way to reduce barriers from proposal to construction. In the meantime, this request is active and falls under the soon-to-be-old rules.
“Staff will be doing an analysis to understand the full implications of this change and reserves the right to develop a recommendation on the amendment,” Freas said.
In December, Freas said the review of the zoning code could be delayed if there was a slowdown in legal review. Later that month, City Attorney Lisa Robertson resigned.
“We anticipate and we certainly hope that we’ll be able to move forward in a timely manner with that zoning ordinance amendment but in the meantime, [Planned Unit Developments] do offer an opportunity for a more flexible approach to zoning that could be consistent with our efforts with the Comprehensive Plan,” Freas said.
Freas said there will be ways to accomplish flexibility in the future zoning.
The project is directly across Copeley Road from UVA’s Emmet-Ivy Corridor which will see a 214-room hotel and conference center, the Karsh Institute of Democracy, the School of Data Sciences, and many more as-yet unprogrammed buildings.
Council voted unanimously to send the request to the Planning Commission.
Council extends contract for dockless scooters; Veo wants to add more vehicles to fleet
Charlottesville City Council has taken action to allow the firm Veo to continue operating personal vehicles across the City of Charlottesville. On January 3, they voted to extend the company’s dockless mobility permit.
“This dockless mobility permit is how we have managed the for-profit scooter and bike-share programs around the city since 2019,” said Ben Chambers, the transportation planning manager for the city.
There were previous vendors that have come and gone and now only Veo has a permit. The company approached the city before the pandemic about changing some of the terms and conditions. They still want to negotiate those terms, but needed to extend the existing permit to March 31 to keep their wheels in motion.
“The key incentive for the city to grant this 90 day extension and continue discussions with Veo is that this provides us some time to address the community feedback that we’re heard about this program, particularly around parking, [Americans with Disability Act] issues, and safety,” Chambers said.
Chambers said that would give the city time to hire a bike and pedestrian coordinator to administer the program. That position has been vacant since the end of 2021.
Chambers said some of the community concerns are being worked out, such as parking. He said the University of Virginia uses Veo as well and has worked out arrangements that can be copied by the city.
Councilor Brian Pinkston said his initial opinion on the scooters is that they are terrible.
“Because they are always in the way and they are a safety hazard and most people aren’t wearing helmets and they are in the way of sidewalks and that does happen,” Pinkston said. “I work at UVA and that does happen and that’s still an issue over there too. But as I’ve spoken with people, there are many people that this has become an integral part of how they get around.”
Pinkston said his past year being on the Regional Transit Partnership makes him realize the scooters and bikes are needed. But he said they have to learn to coexist with other users of sidewalks and roads.
“I do hope in the next 90 days that you all can sort of cut the Gordian knot on how to make this work so people in wheelchairs aren’t having to negotiate one of these lying in the way,” Pinkston said.
Council approved the extension to 90 days. What’s your experience with scooters or bikes? To longtime readers who may have followed me on Facebook… I miss Scooty.
Reading material:
Legislation in the General Assembly could relieve ACPS bus driver shortage, Madison McNamee, NBC29, January 9, 2023
Historic Number of Black Candidates Running in #Virginia in 2023, Black Virginia News, January 10, 2023
Final paragraphs for installment #482
I’m not sure if I’ve sufficiently stated how much the podcast experience drives each and every edition of this newsletter. Most of the quotes you see are actually soundbites that are excerpted into an audio package not unlike what you’d hear on public radio. In fact, I would argue that these podcasts out-public radio public radio!
There is currently no visual version of Charlottesville Community Engagement, nor one you can feel, smell, or taste. But, when communications pathways open along those lines, I shall be glad to experiment.
Those who pay for the work on Patreon are fueling my experimentation, such as the emerging Fifth District Community Engagement which so far does not have an aural component. But the work is giving me new perspectives on what local government looks like across all 24 localities within the Congressional district.
But, there are now over 500 paid subscribers, and all of this has been done by word of mouth. I am hopeful this will continue to grow and I really appreciate all of you who have paid for a paid Substack subscription. You’re really fueling something I think is important. Selfishly, I want to see how all of these stories play out.
What would that nine story building look like?
What will the University of Virginia’s response be?
Will the burned-out ruins of the hotel on Emmet Street ever be developed according to the terms of the special use permit approved for a nine-story building?
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