According to one way of looking at the world, January 2024 is now over 83 percent of the way to its completion. Charlottesville Community Engagement, however, will likely be sorting through meetings that have been held so far with the goal of weaving together narratives of how decisions were made. I’m Sean Tubbs, and it’s in this manner that I’ve come to terms with reality.
On today’s show:
A boil water advisory remains in place in the Hollymead area in Albemarle County following a water main break yesterday afternoon
Albemarle County will send out real property reassessment notices today and the average increase is 4.07 percent for 2024
Charlottesville seeks applicants for Boards and Commissions
The Albemarle Board of Supervisors weighs in on the goals and objectives of the Environmental Stewardship chapter of the county’s next Comprehensive Plan
First shout out: WTJU Folk Marathon
Come gather ‘round, people, wherever you roam: From February 5 – 11, WTJU’s 2024 Folk Marathon will air round-the-clock folk and roots specials from around the globe.
WTJU is gathering friends for a raft of musical deep dives. From Richard Thompson’s soundman Simon Tassano to local favorite Michael Clem. From Virginia Folklore Society recordings to a celebration of Kevin Donleavy’s 25 years sharing Irish and old-time music. Plus dozens of artist features and deep dives. Check out the full schedule at wtju.net!
Their sound techs are setting up mics for eight live performances in seven days. We’re excited that the line-up includes Buzzard Hollow Boys, Terri Allard & Gary Green, Mama Tried, Erik “Red” Knierim, Barling & Collins, Uncle Henry’s Favorite, and Silo! Oh, and live squeezebox!
WTJU is here for you – and your donation makes the station available to everyone! Visit wtju.net to give your support to the Folk Marathon.
Water main break in Hollymead area prompts advisory to boil water
The agency that provides water and wastewater service in Albemarle County’s designated growth areas has issued an emergency notice to customers advising them to boil water before using it for drinking or cooking.
“Due to a water main break along Route 29 south of Camelot Drive, low pressures occurred in the water system,” reads the emergency notice sent out late afternoon on January 25 to Albemarle County Service Authority customers.
The advisory is required by the Virginia Department of Health because there is a large chance that untreated water got into the water distribution network, which could mean the presence of bacteria.
“[The Albemarle County Service Authority] flushed the lines in order to get chlorinated water through which will hopefully eliminate any bacteria and we are now testing the water in that line to ensure that there is no bacteria present,” said Betsy Nemeth, the director of administrations and communications for the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority.
“If the testing verifies that there is no bacteria present, then the advisory will be lifted,” Nemeth continued.
In this community, the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority treats raw water for drinking and sells it to the ACSA and the City of Charlottesville.
The advisory covers thousands of commercial and residential customers ranging from Airport Acres to Willow Glenn. Customers are also asked to restrict water use while the repairs are made.
“In order to properly boil the water, bring tap water to a ‘rolling’ boil, boil for one minute, and cool before using,” the advisory continues. “Boiled water should be used for drinking, making ice, washing dishes, brushing teeth, and preparing food until further notice.”
The advisory was in place as the day began and is still in effect at publication. More information in future editions of the newsletter.
Albemarle reports just over four percent increase in real estate assessments
We’re in the time of year when localities across Virginia are well along the way of putting together budgets for the next fiscal year which begins on July 1. For localities that assess their property each year, a major driver in the budget development process is the release of new data on the fair market value for every parcel of land.
On January 17, Albemarle Supervisors were briefed on new property values for 2024. The overall average increased by a single-digit figure after double-digit increases in 2022 and 2023.
“This year what we’re looking at is a 4.07 percent overall increase to the tax base based on the reassessment,” said Peter Lynch, Albemarle County’s assessor.
That’s based on 1,856 validated sales in 2023 which is also the lowest number in the past seven years.
County Executive Jeffrey Richardson noted that this will provide less revenue growth to Albemarle for the next budget cycle.
“That’s after two years of 8.4 percent and 13.46 percent, which is an average of 10.93,” Richardson said. “So we’ve seen assessments go down approaching about seven percent.”
Richardson said this will be part of a challenging budget process.
A total of 386 new parcels were created bringing the total to 49,498.
Different sections of the county performed differently with the 341 parcels in the Town of Scottsville having an overall average increase of 10.31 percent, followed by 6.89 percent for the Scottsville Magisterial District which has 7,034 parcels.
At the low end, property assessments were up an average of 2.48 percent in the 10,027 parcels that make up the White Hall District.
The figures in the middle are:
2.64 percent for the 8,444 parcels in the Rivanna District
3.16 percent for the 7,535 parcels of the Rio District
4.86 percent for the 3,806 parcels in the Jack Jouett District
5.24 percent for the 9,272 parcels in the Samuel Miller District.
The assessment data can be looked at in different ways. For instance, properties are all classified by the state of Virginia under different categories such as Urban Residential.
“The Urban Residential at the top is any property that has county water and sewer,” Lynch said.
The 23,093 parcels in that classification increased an average of 4.49 percent. Here are some more:
The 226 parcels designated as Apartments increased an average of 5.63 percent.
The 1,387 commercial / industrial properties increased an average of 3.09 percent.
The 3,382 rural properties between 20 acres and 99.99 acres increased an average of 2.41 percent.
The 840 rural parcels over 100 acres increased by an average of 1.1 percent.
Lynch cautioned that these are averages and do not represent everyone’s experience.
“It’s really easy to talk about averages with any one of our groups but the actual experience can vary greatly,” Lynch said.
The Office of the Assessor also runs the county’s land use taxation program.
“The whole point of the land use program is to maintain uses, qualified uses on a property, and qualified for a lower land use tax assessment and protect that land from being developed,” Lynch said.
Lynch said 2023 was a revalidation year, which meant participants had to demonstrate they still qualified. The number of parcels in the program dropped from 3,938 to 3,744.
“Now some of this will reapply and they’ll get back in the program as long as their use has continued,” Lynch said. “The revalidation process is just kind of a step and then a reapplication will cause them to go back under. Some of those have fallen out and the revalidation just brought it to our attention.”
Revalidation happens every two years.
The overall amount of deferred real property taxes for 2024 still increased to $14 million. But, in 2023, 139 parcels had to pay a roll back tax yielding $1,222,463 for the county.
Tax bills are to be sent out on January 26, which happens to be today.
“When you receive your notice and you see your value, give us a call and we can explain the process to you especially as it relates directly to your property,” Lynch said. “Your property and your neighborhood.”
Lynch said some of these calls may result in a formal review. Requests must be made by February 28. Property owners have until March 30 to appeal to the Board of Equalization if they are not satisfied. Those public hearings begin in the late spring.
Charlottesville still seeks applicants for Boards and Commissions
There continue to be many openings on appointed bodies in Charlottesville, including an open seat on the Planning Commission that has been vacant since last June. Applications are due on February 7 with Council expected to make appointments at their meeting on February 20.
This week, the Parks and Recreation Department sent out a notice seeking people to join a board that advises City Council and the Planning Commission.
“The Advisory Board shall consult with and advise said bodies in matters affecting Parks and Recreation: marketing, membership, planning, programming, promotion, and other related leisure services,” reads that release.
You can apply for one of those positions in an online form. (available here)
Other openings include:
The Board of Architectural Review has an opening for an owner of a business in a Design Control District. (learn more)
The Community Development Block Grant Task Force needs a representative from the Ridge Street neighborhood and the 10th and Page neighborhood as well a “public service program” representative. (learn more)
The Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund Committee has two vacancies for people who are beneficiaries of subsidized housing. (learn more)
There are two vacancies on the Charlottesville Economic Development Authority. (learn more)
There is one vacancy on the Historic Resources Committee. (learn more)
There are five vacancies on the Housing Advisory Committee which has many seats filled by leaders of nonprofit developers. The committee seeks another representative from a nonprofit, two at-large representatives, and two people who currently benefit from subsidized housing. (learn more)
There is one vacancy on the Human Rights Commission. (learn more)
There is one vacancy on the Minority Business Commission. (learn more)
There is still that one vacancy on the Planning Commission. Anyone who gets the job must fill out a conflict of interest form and I’ll be pulling those shortly for inspection. (learn more)
There is a vacancy on the Police Civilian Oversight Board for an at-large representative. This position closes on January 31, and not February 7. (learn more)
The Sister Cities Commission is looking for Higher Education representatives. (learn more)
There is an unexpired term on the Social Services Advisory Board. (learn more)
There are three vacancies on the Tree Commission. (learn more)
Second shout-out: eBike Lending Library
In today’s second subscriber supported shout-out, one Patreon supporter wants you to know that Charlottesville now has an eBike Lending Library! E-bikes are a great way to get around the community but there are many brands and styles to choose from. Because many e-bikes are sold online, it can be a challenge to try an e-bike before buying one.
The Charlottesville E-bike Lending Library is a free, not-for-profit service working to expand access to e-bikes in the area. They have a small collection of e-bikes that they lend out to community members for up to a week, for free. You can experience your daily commute, go grocery shopping, or even bike your kids to school, and decide whether e-bikes are right for you. Check out this service at https://www.ebikelibrarycville.org!
Albemarle Supervisors begin review Comprehensive Plan chapters
At their meeting on January 17, 2024, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors reviewed draft goals and objectives for five of the eight chapters in the update of the Comprehensive Plan. The process is called AC44.
“AC44 is organized into four phases,” said Tori Kanellopoulos, a principal planner for the county. “In the first phase we developed the AC44 Framework for an Equitable and Resilient Community.”
This first phase also included taking a look at the county’s designated growth areas to see if there is enough land in the development area to provide for thousands more residential units. This build-out analysis was completed in September 2022. (view the document)
The second phase has involved development of what the county refers to as “toolkits” to help think through how Albemarle should consider expansion of the development area or allow more uses in some parts of the rural area.
“We asked for the Board’s direction on these toolkits and we heard that we should find ways to encourage more density and mixed-use development in the development areas and prioritize using development area land efficiently over expansion,” Kanellopoulos said.
Supervisors also gave direction to provide health services and community centers in the rural area.
Some of the names of chapters have been changed.
“Environmental Stewardship is the new name for the Natural Resources chapter and there are separate Rural Area and Development Areas chapters,” Kanellopoulos said. “But they each have the Land Use and Transportation elements combined so there’s not a stand-alone transportation chapter.
Kanellopoulos said revisions will be made after feedback from the Board, feedback that followed engagement with the Planning Commission and other bodies.
Phase three will begin later in the spring with specific action steps for each chapter of the plan. Phase four will be the creation of a single Comprehensive Plan with public hearings before Supervisors and the Planning Commission.
Here’s a link to a summary of feedback from the Planning Commission.
Supervisors on Environmental Stewardship goals and objectives
The first chapter is one renamed during the AC44 process and has the goals of Climate Action, Climate Resilience, Healthy and Resilient Waterways and Water Supplies, Biodiversity and Habitats, and Sustainable Materials Management. (view the draft goals and objectives)
Goal 1 relates to efforts to meet ambitious goals for climate action.
“Goal 1. Albemarle County will undertake robust local climate action by implementing the County’s Climate Action Plan (2020) and future updates to meet the Board of Supervisors’ targets to reduce community greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent from 2008 levels by 2030, achieve zero net emissions by 2050, and bring multiple benefits to the community and environment.”
There are then four objectives. Supervisor Bea LaPisto-Kirtley had a suggestion.
“When we talk about Goal One, what rose to my mind is maybe asking our developers to use solar roof panels on developments,” LaPisto-Kirtley said. “I don’t know if that’s feasible or not but maybe. I don’t know it could be required or suggested.”
LaPisto-Kirtley also suggested language to push Albemarle to build solar roofs on its facilities and to use reflective paint in surface parking lots to reduce the heat island effect.
Supervisor Ned Gallaway said he appreciated a specific metric in objective 1.1 to reduce transportation emissions by at least 37 percent by encouraging walking, cycling, transit, telecommuting, and transitioning to electric vehicles.
“Walking, cycling, and transit,” Gallaway said. “I can see why those three would be lumped together. In my mind as a Supervisor, that goes to our [Capital Improvement Program] and are we providing the infrastructure to be able to increase the use of walking, cycling and transit. So it leads me to pragmatic standpoints of are we going to put the infrastructure in place to be able to increase the use of this? Are those going to show up in the action steps? Or is this just going to be educating the public that you should walk more?”
Gallaway said he is concerned about making government decisions that will force people to change their behavior. He also said the county was limited in its ability to provide transit given that Albemarle does not have a vote in how Charlottesville Area Transit is run.
Supervisor Ann Mallek agreed with a suggestion from the Planning Commission that language about limiting light pollution needs to be present in what had been called the natural resources chapter.
“The Dark Skies needs to be an Environmental Stewardship issue as well as a scenic issue as well as an economic development issue because there are communities in Texas and New Mexico and Nelson County who are now welcoming visitors who want to be able to see the stars,” Mallek said.
Mallek also made a pitch for Goal 4, which calls for the implementation of Albemarle’s Biodiversity Action Plan.
“It has not been well respected in our decision making and it needs to be in the checklist of things that are regularly considered,” Mallek said.
Mallek also raised caution about losing forests to solar fields, suggested requiring tree conservation plans as part of developments, and reminded Supervisors that one reason to preserve land is that so food can be grown.
“If we can figure out a way to recognize soil for food production I think that will be a good thing for our Comprehensive Plan,” Mallek said.
Supervisor Michael Pruitt supported Malleks’ point on Dark Skies and added he thought the draft goals and objectives needed to have language about equity.
“When you look at my district, the people who are paying disproportionately more for their utility costs, the people who are experiencing higher heat indexes, people who have less tree canopy are people who are living in neighborhoods that are currently and or historically more racially diverse and more impoverished,” Pruitt said. “That seems like it bears explicit lampshading and highlighting in our plan and how we think about addressing issues of environmental quality.”
Pruitt also wanted more acknowledgment of how the county can help individuals who are affected by climate change.
Supervisor Diantha McKeel echoed support for dark skies but said the county needed cooperation from other institutions.
“It seems like to me with dark skies, we’re not going to accomplish dark skies in this community unless we have [the University of Virginia] and the city at the table with us,” McKeel said.
McKeel suggested that the Land Use and Environmental Planning Committee take up the issue, referring to a closed-door group of planners from all three entities and the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority that meet once a month on planning issues. The meetings are not open to the public but agendas and minutes are posted online.
McKeel also called for the ability to expand public water and sewer to rural area properties off of Hydraulic Road in her district to address failing septic systems.
“I’m not talking about an expansion of the development area,” McKeel said. “I’m talking about trying to figure out how to deal with failing septic systems that are 60 years old that sometimes have people see sewage bubbling up. I actually have constituents that don’t even know they have a septic system.”
Supervisor Gallaway also wanted to have a better sense of what is expected of particular words.
“When I see things like ‘protect’ and ‘support’ and ‘increase’ and whatever the verbs are that we’re going to use, then the how are we doing to do what becomes important,” Gallaway said. It’s great if its aspirational! That means we don’t have to pay for it. But if it’s achievable, then the Comp Plan is supposed to say ‘here’s now the back up of how we’re going to get in to the doing of these things.’”
For this next one, let’s hear Goal 4.
“Goal 4: Albemarle County will achieve better local biological diversity, ecological integrity, and ecosystem resilience, including by implementing the Biodiversity Action Plan.”
Gallaway has critique of the language in objective 4.5.
“When I see objectives like ‘increase native plant species on County-owned properties,’” Gallaway said. “Bam! Clean. We’ve got control of our property. It’s doable. Let’s get at it. But not it seems like we throw a tag on this objective. ‘And support adoption of these actions on private land.’ Is that just a high five? Let’s say to our community that the county is specifically stating that we’re going to do this on our land. And then if we think it’s important to encourage or support or whatever the word is on private land then that should probably be set up under a different category in my opinion or maybe it gets worked out in the action steps again.”
At this work session, Supervisors also went through goals and objectives of the Parks and Recreation chapter, the Historic, Scenic, and Cultural Resources chapter, the Housing chapter, and the Economic Development chapter. I’ll eventually circle back to those as I try to broaden my coverage of AC44 in 2024.
Reading material:
Nine Charlottesville residents have sued the city to stop it from implementing its new zoning ordinance, Erin O’Hare, Charlottesville Tomorrow, January 23, 2024
One Albemarle company graduates VALET, another begins export trade program, CBS19, January 24, 2024
Standoff ends: Charlottesville man charged with running sex ring, Jason Armesto, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), January 24, 2024
New mass communications system coming to Greene County, CBS19, January 24, 2024
Maurice Cox wins 2024 Henry Hope Reed Award, Carrie Rulli, Notre Dame News, January 25, 2024
Data Center Industry Sees Increased State-Level Legislative Efforts in Virginia, Scott Adams, Tracy Baynard, Christopher Lloyd, Gregory Riegle, JD Supra, January 25, 2024
Grant funding for projects, programs around Grounds, CBS19, January 25, 2024,
Water main break in northern Albemarle prompts boil-water advisory, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), January 25, 2024
Community shares thoughts on ACRJ renovation project, Garrett Whitton, CBS19, January 25, 2024
#628 is now complete
Sometimes in the course of producing these reports I get stuck. That happened this week as I chose to write about Albemarle’s assessments for C-Ville Weekly, which is a separate gig from this work. That scrambled me, as did writing up two property transactions for Charlottesville.
I am grateful for your patience as I try to find ways to ensure that this publication comes out like clockwork. I am hopeful that with time and with additional people helping me out, I’ll be able to provide information more quickly. This is all an experiment whose aspirational outcome is to be producing material seven days a week, or even eight if the Beatles ever get their way.
I’m grateful for the people who are paying for a subscription through Substack or making a contribution through Patreon. I’m really fueled by all of it, including a sponsorship with Ting where they will match the initial Substack payment.
And maybe you’re in the market for new Internet? Check out Ting to see what they have to offer, and if you decide to proceed, enter in the promo code COMMUNITY to receive:
Free installation
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A $75 gift card to the Downtown Mall
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