January 21, 2025: Details on what is in the Charlottesville’s draft Parks and Recreation Master Plan
Plus: Albemarle County Supervisors to consider further regulation of data centers
January 21 is in fact the 21st day of the year. Is it possible that everyone could agree on that piece of information? Is it possible to get anyone to agree on information in this second quarter of the 21st century? Today in 1793, French King Louis XVI was put to death as part of the French Revolution. Flash forward to 1919 when the Irish declared independence. Six years later, Albania declared itself a republic. Throughout history, humanity has been in conflict with itself. Charlottesville Community Engagement seeks to build stability through sharing of facts. I’m Sean Tubbs, and I’m committed to showing my work.
In today’s installment:
Charlottesville City Council took a look at the draft Parks and Recreation Master Plan back in December
Albemarle County Supervisors will vote tomorrow on a resolution to require special use permits for data centers above a certain size
Updates from the Rivanna Authorities including below-average production of treated drinking water in December
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.
Finishing touches underway on Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Master Plan
It has now been over a month since the Charlottesville City Council has met with the last occasion being a joint meeting with the Charlottesville School Board. You can take a look at that meeting here if you are so inclined.
The last regular meeting was held on December 16, 2024 and one of the items was a presentation on the status of the city’s Parks and Recreation Master Plan. A rudimentary look at other information outlets seems to indicate nobody wrote up what was said. There are draft minutes, but they do not have much detail.
The City of Charlottesville began work on a new master plan for parks and recreation in the fall of 2023 when the firm Pros Consulting was hired. The project manager for that company is Mike Svetz, who also served as the city’s parks and recreation director from 2004 to 2009.
“We are actually getting close to landing the plane on this master plan early next year,” Svetz said.
A community meeting was held on December 17 and Svetz had a chance the night before to give a preview of the concept of framework plans, a public desire for increased connectivity, as well as early cost estimates. (view the presentation)
Svetz said a proposed trail network builds on the city’s bike and pedestrian master plan.
“On working with staff and working primarily with Chris Gensic from Parks and Recreation, we've really identified significant opportunities to expand this system,” Svetz said. “Opportunities to take your system, which is only about seven or eight miles, to upwards of 20 miles.”
Svetz said the work does not include trails associated with the University of Virginia. More details about priorities will be presented as the plan comes closer to landing for its last inspection.
Framework plans have been developed for five parks, including a new one-acre public space that will be connected to Kindlewood. The others are Tonsler Park, Washington Park, Court Square Park, and Market Street Park.
“A couple of overarching things for all of these is shade, and really not just necessarily what we would call mechanical shade or people built shade, but really emphasising the need for trees, adding picnic shelters, improving ADA accessibility, adding outdoor fitness,” Svetz said.
The disused baseball diamond at Tonsler Park would be upgraded and a cricket pitch would be added. The tennis court there would be converted for use as pickleball courts and for use for the sport futsal.
Two picnic shelters would be added to Washington Park and a community garden would be added. The baseball diamond might one day be replaced with a dog park. There would also be a new restroom added to the lower side of the park.
What is now known as Court Square Park won’t really be developed as a park at all.
“This is a public grounds associated with a government facility, the court building, so to speak,” Svetz said. “It's meant to be a passive site. It's meant to be a historical site. It's meant to be a site of beauty with landscaping, shade and recognise the history, both the good and bad, associated with this site.”
Features could include a fountain or a plaza, but Svetz said many more conversations have to be had before there is an improvement plan. That would have to include Albemarle County, which operates its Circuit Court in Court Square.
Market Street Park might have features added to restore its use as an event park including adding mechanisms to allow bollards to be put on adjacent streets to close them.
“We want to establish it as an extension of the mall,” Svetz said “We want to establish it as extension, extension of experiences that people have at the library and the Historical Society.”
Another desired feature would be a dedicated restroom.
PROS Consulting has split the various amenities into three categories which are critical “Sustainable Projects”, sustainable “Expanded Service Projects”, and Visionary Projects. The total estimated cost is $75,729,672.
“Overall it’s not a light price tag but it’s not one of the greatest ones I’ve ever seen,” Svetz said.
City Manager Sam Sanders said Council will not be considering adding that full amount during the development of the FY26 budget.
According to a summary of Sanders’ December 18, 2024 meeting with neighborhood leaders, the final plans will be posted on the website on January 28. Comment will be taken through February 14. City Council is scheduled to hold a first reading on March 17 and a second reading on April 7.
Albemarle Supervisors to consider further regulation of data centers
In local government, an elected body’s “consent agenda” is a list of items that are all voted on at once. These can contain items for information or items for action.
On the Albemarle Board of Supervisors’ agenda for January 22, 2025 agenda, there are six items for approval including three amendments to personnel policy, a stepback waiver for the Overlook Hotel planned for Pantops, and a resolution to change the start time for the February 5, 2025 meeting to 5 p.m.
There’s also a resolution to schedule a public hearing for the proposed conveyance of a sewer easement on county-owned land to allow for a new roadway. Those details are here.
Another item is for a letter of support for a grant Albemarle County is seeking to help cover costs of a planning study for the new Charlottesville Albemarle Regional Transit Authority (CARTA).
The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission is seeking funding from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation’s MERIT program, with MERIT standing for Making Efficient and Responsible Investments in Transit.
“As recommended by the Regional Transit Governance Study, Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville activated and joined the Charlotteville Area Regional Transit Authority (CARTA) in order to continue efforts to improve regional public transportation services,” reads a letter from County Executive Jeffrey Richardson to DRPT Director Tiffany Robinson.
Albemarle Supervisors voted to join the study in December as did the Charlottesville City Council.
Albemarle will contribute up to $50,000 in funds toward the $200,000 project. TJPDC staff will provide labor for the study.
“We anticipate that the results of this study will guide our community to develop a regional implementation plan to coordinate and support transit expansion,” Richardson continued.
The Regional Transit Partnership is the precursor to the CARTA and they will meet on Thursday, as I reported in the Week Ahead on Sunday.
The final item for approval is a formal approval to direct county staff to study the zoning code in order to regulate data centers.
“The Albemarle County Code allows data centers of unlimited size by-right in the Light Industry, Heavy Industry, and Planned Development Industrial Park districts and by special use permit in the C-1 Commercial and Commercial Office districts, among others,” reads the first paragraph of the resolution.
“The Albemarle County Code allows data centers of up to 4,000 square feet by-right, and over 4,000 square feet by special exception, in the Highway Commercial, Planned Development Shopping Center, and Planned Development Mixed Commercial districts,” reads the second paragraph of the resolution.
“The Albemarle County Code Board of Supervisors desires to consider regulations that would better address the impacts of data centers,” reads the fourth.
This is the first of two planned “zoning text amendments” and the first would require a special use permit for data centers over a certain size to be determined. The second would add other standards.
The Planning Commission would hold a public hearing on the first amendment on this in February 2025 followed by a public hearing before the Board of Supervisors in April 2025.
Second shout-out: Plant Virginia Natives
Many parts of the ground are still covered with snow, but that’s not going to last for long. If the winter weather has you down, perhaps you can get ready for spring and what to plant. If so, check out Plant Virginia Natives!
Plant Virginia Natives is part of a partnership with ten regional campaigns for ten different ecosystems across Virginia, from the Northern Piedmont to the Eastern Shore. Take a look at the full map below for the campaign for native species where you are in the Commonwealth. For the Charlottesville area, download a free copy of the handbook: Piedmont Native Plants: A Guide for Landscapes and Gardens.
Rivanna updates: Central Water Line to get under construction this year
Another item on the consent agenda of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors’ meeting on January 22, 2025 is a quarterly report from the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority or the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority. Here are some highlights:
Homes and businesses on public water used less water in December than in previous years.
“The production of drinking water for the Urban area averaged 8.07 million gallons per day (MGD) in December 2024 (FY 2025), which is slightly less than the five-year average for December (8.13 MGD),” reads the report.
Wastewater flow was also down with an average of 8.65 MGD, down from the five-year December average of 10.2 MGD.
A year has now passed since high volumes of rain caused a pump station on the Rivanna River to become submerged. A temporary bypass was installed, but will be removed by April as the replacement pumps come online.
“An independent engineering firm completed an assessment of the submergence and determined the primary cause of the submergence was a malfunction of the complex automated pump control system,” reads the report. “We continue to coordinate with our property insurance company to recover restoration costs totaling about $10 million.”
This year, several projects related to the water supply plan will get under construction including replacement of four miles of iron water pipeline that carries untreated water from the Ragged Mountain Reservoir to the Observatory Wastewater Treatment Plant. This has a cost of $62 million costs split fairly evenly between the Albemarle County Service Authority and the City of Charlottesville.
Another major project this year will be the installation of the new “Central Water Line” for the urban area.
“This five-mile-long piping project with two railroad crossings will extend from the Stadium Road area to the Long Street / E. High Street bridge,” reads the report.
Neighborhood meetings will soon be held in the areas that will be affected. This project has a $70 million cost.
Volumes at the transfer station at the Ivy Solid Waste and Recycling Facility have increased from 119 tons per day in December 2020 to 175 tons per day in December 2024.
“Our contract hauler is driving about 15 trailer loads of refuse to Henrico County for disposal each day, Monday – Friday,” the report continues.
The next e-Waste Collection day will be held on April 19 and pre-registration will open on March 19 at this website.
Reading material for #796
Transportation nominee Duffy: ‘We will usher in a golden age of travel’, Dan Zukowski, Automotive Dive, January 17, 2025
Transit ridership is growing but still down from a decade ago: FTA report, Dan Zukowski, Automotive Dive, January 17, 2025
Abused Albemarle dog surrendered to county, Jacob Phillips and Forrest Holt, 29News WVIR, January 18, 2025
Virginia rail authority selects design-build joint venture for Long Bridge project, Progressive Railroading, January 20, 2025
Trump's anti-transgender order defines 'male' and 'female', Diane Weber, National Public Radio, January 21, 2025
Housing proposals spark clash over state and local roles in Virginia, Charlotte Renee Woods, Virginia Mercury, January 21, 2025
#796 is at an end
As I type this, I have three stories written. I could begin pursuit of a fourth, but I think I’m going to just go ahead and hit send. I’ll be back on WINA this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. to talk about local government. Before then I’ll be hitting record on two meetings at 4 p.m. which will end up in further news stories this week.
I had hoped that debate on the Virginia Senate floor on three Constitutional amendments would be over, but arguments are being made. In fact there’s currently a cooling down period because of conflict between Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears and Democratic Senator Scott Surovell. Sears did not like how Surovell characterized what happened after Antonin Scalia died in late 2016. That may be in tomorrow’s newsletter, but it may not be germane. I’m just explaining why the fourth story didn’t happen.
For some reason, I also have the audio feed of Charlottesville Fire Department on another speaker because I recognized the address of a structure fire and wanted to follow-up. I may begin a process of having that run in the background 24 / 7 like a real newsroom.
While I’ve waited for debate to continue, I’ve created a spreadsheet to help get my thoughts out on another story I don’t think is ready yet. I would rather be right than get something wrong. And yes, I know of the frequent mistakes a copy editor would pick up!
So I’ll just bring this one to an end and get ready to write the next one. And I’ll spare you any marketing efforts! But rest assured, they will be back tomorrow!
Today’s YouTube video is an experiment from May 2022 when I thought I would do more video stuff. I’m considering doing this again, but I also don’t know if it’s worth it.