There’s nothing like January 5, 2024 to have the 621st installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast that may or may not have had 620 previous installments so far. Anyone who wishes to conduct an audit should contact the management. That’s me, Sean Tubbs, increasingly working to bring more information through the polishing of more mirrors.
On today’s show:
Charlottesville Police have “diffused” a situation in Belmont where a heavily armed man caused a shelter in police order to be issued this morning
Duane Adams is once again the Chair of the Louisa Board of Supervisors
Charlottesville City Council approves $750,000 to help fill a shortfall for the first phase of the Premier Circle project to create 80 affordable units on U.S. 29 in Albemarle
The Albemarle Architectural Review Board takes a look a climbing gym planned for Old Ivy Road near the UVA baseball stadium
Albemarle County Supervisors consider amending the wording for the rules for public comment periods
First shout-out: ReLeaf Cville
In today’s first subscriber supported public service announcement: ReLeaf Cville exists to reverse a worrying trend. Since 2004, Charlottesville’s Tree Canopy has declined from 50 percent to 38 percent. Two-thirds of the city’s neighborhoods are below 40 percent. ReLeaf Cville aims to change that through a series of tree plantings, preservation efforts, and education campaigns.
ReLeaf is a public / private partnership between the city tree Commission, the Nature Conservancy, City of Promise, Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards, and the Van Yahres Tree Company. Their efforts are funded through donations so consider making yours today!
Charlottesville Police respond to reports of heavily armed man in Belmont
The Charlottesville Police Department issued a limited shelter in place order this morning after receiving reports of a heavily armed man walking around the Belmont neighborhood just before sunrise. There had been several calls reporting an individual carrying multiple rifles including an AR-15.
“Parts of our Emergency Response Unit immediately responded to the area and deployed drones and other resources to locate the individual,” reads the press release sent out in late morning. “Officers were able to locate the individual, take custody of the firearms, and provide mental health services.”
Information about the incident went out on the Charlottesville Police Department’s social media channels. A text alert was sent to people within a small geographic area who have signed up for the city’s emergency alerts. (sign up)
Charlottesville City Schools also sent out a note to parents and guardians saying students would be kept inside until the incident was resolved. Charlottesville Police gave the all clear on social media around 9 a.m.
A follow-up question on whether the individual was arrested has not yet been responded to, but I’ll be checking the city’s Open Data portal over the weekend.
Adams once again to chair Louisa Board of Supervisors
The seven-member Board of Supervisors in Louisa County got to work this week with their organizational meeting.
“And the first item thereunder is a resolution to appoint the Chairman of the Louisa County Board of Supervisors for 2024,” said County Administrator Christian Goodwin.
Goodwin opened the floor to nominations and the only name floated was Duane Adams of the Mineral District who was approved unanimously.
Adams was first elected in 2017 with 55.5 percent of the 1,692 votes cast. He had no opposition in 2021 and ran for the Republican nomination for Senate District 10 but lost to John McGuire. Adams was also chair last year.
Supervisor Tommy Barlow of the Mountain Road District was selected as vice chair.
After the organizational meeting, the Board went into closed session. Upon return, Adams introduced the audience to the two new Supervisors.
“From the Cuckoo District, Mr. McCotter, and from the Louisa District, Mr. Woodward,” Adams said. “We’re glad to have you here and we’re looking forward to a great four years from y’all.
Manning Woodward won election to the Louisa District in a three-way race with 41.69 percent of the vote.
Christoper McCotter was the only candidate in the Cuckoo District. Incumbent Toni Williams was the only candidate in the Jackson District.
For more thorough coverage of Louisa County, I recommend Tammy Purcell’s Engage Louisa.
City Council agrees to contribute half of Premier Circle’s $1.5M shortfall
Last fall, Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders outlined the beginnings of a strategy to help provide more services to unhoused individuals in the city and the greater community. On Tuesday, he brought forth one specific proposal for Council’s consideration.
“One of the discoveries in the work that came to pass in that October period when we were addressing Market Street Park was the full recognition that Premier Circle as a project had stalled,” Sanders said.
Premier Circle is both the planning name and location for a proposal to replace a 20th century motel with two residential projects reserved for low-income households. The first phase would be 80 units constructed by Virginia Supportive Housing. A second phase not subject to this appropriation would see 60 units built by the Piedmont Housing Alliance.
The former Red Carpet Inn had been used during COVID as an emergency shelter, an arrangement that ended last year in order to prepare for the new development. Sanders said there were concerns last fall that the project would not proceed even though money had been raised from a variety of sources including a $4.25 million contribution in 2021 from the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation.
“There was still a $1.5 million gap and Virginia Supportive Housing was in need of not only dollars but vouchers,” Sanders said.
Sanders said Albemarle will consider their half of the project at their meeting on January 10.
“That brings forward 80 permanent affordable housing units to very low income households at 40 percent of [Area Median Income] as well as 50 percent of AMI,” Sanders said. “As we all know, those are the hardest units to come by. The goal would be to make something that is this close to being done to move forward and this would ensure that that project could start in May as scheduled.”
As for the vouchers, Sanders said there would be another request before Council in the future. He also reminded Council that he will be coming back with suggestions on how to use a $21 million surplus from FY23.
City Councilor Michael Payne said this is the kind of item he hopes to see more of in the future.
“This is one of those issues like a lot where I think people in the community understandably get frustrated thinking nothing is happening but there’s just so much that happens behind the scenes and by staff,” Payne said. “Not just with the Premier Circle project in general but proactively identifying this funding gap and working with the county to bring this item forward.”
Construction would be expected to take between 18 to 20 months once it gets underway. Council agreed to put a final vote on this appropriation on the consent agenda for their January 16 meeting.
ARB reviews Climbing Gym on Old Ivy Road
In their first item of 2024, the Albemarle County Architectural Review Board had a preliminary review for the redevelopment of an office building on Old Ivy Road into a new fitness facility. That use requires legislative action by the Board of Supervisors.
“The climbing gym use requires a special use permit for an indoor athletic facility,” said Margaret Maliszewski, a planning manager with Albemarle County.
The climbing gym will feature 30 foot walls, as well as a yoga studio, strength and conditioning areas, and a meeting room.
“A focus of the gym will be on introducing the sport [of] rock climbing to children, youth, and at-risk youth,” reads the narrative for the pre-application. “The benefits of rock climbing include physical fitness, mental strength, stress reduction, improved confidence, fun and enjoyment, social interaction, and outdoor adventure.”
The gym use itself is not up for the ARB to consider, but the property is within the viewshed of the county’s entrance corridor guidelines for Ivy Road, which the ARB took a general look at in March 2021. That means any external renovations visible from the entrance corridor have to be reviewed by the ARB. (review the materials)
“In early meetings with the applicant about the project, we discussed visibility and we learned that the addition was planned to have a very contemporary design so we recommended that the applicant get to the ARB early so you call could take a look at the architecture to identify if there were any potential big issues,” Maliszewski said.
The building cannot currently be seen from Ivy Road, but Maliszewski said the proposal is to add 15 feet of height to accommodate the new use. She recommended the ARB make a finding of no objection for the preliminary submission.
Architect Robert Nichols of Formwork appeared before the ARB to make the presentation.
“The function is highly utilitarian in a way,” Nichols said. “Volume is needed. Daylight is not.”
Nichols noted that the design of the addition responds to the University of Virginia’s baseball stadium, which is right across the street but not accessible via Old Ivy Road.
The ARB approved a motion recommending no objection but with several comments including one that the existing screening would continue to be in place.
Sponsored message: Buy Local
From Crozet to Barracks Road, the Downtown Mall to the Shops at Stonefield, and everywhere in between, Albemarle County and Charlottesville’s Offices of Economic Development encourage you to Buy Local as the New Year unfolds.
Buying locally supports our neighbors and community members and makes a big impact for our local economy. Local businesses are more likely to reinvest in our community and their goods and services contribute to the unique character of our community.
Learn more about how you can support local business at ShowLocalLove.org and on socials at “BuyLocalCvilleAlbemarle”
Albemarle Supervisors decline to amend language governing public comment periods
As one of their first acts of business for 2024, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors adopted rules of procedures for the calendar year. Such changes are routine, according to County Attorney Steven Rosenberg.
“When we make changes to these documents from year to year, we are doing it largely on the basis of our experiences over the preceding year,” Rosenberg said.
Rosenberg has been the county attorney since late June 2022 when he left his previous position as the City Manager of Staunton.
Many of the changes include more clarity about how proclamations are to be handled. Another specifies that public hearings for zoning map amendments can’t be advertised before all documents are finalized. Another suggestion was to change the wording for the section that governs Matters from the Public.
“My understanding is that before I arrived, there was a considerable discussion amongst the Board members about eligible topics for matters from the public,” Rosenberg said.
The suggested change was to remove the phrase allowing anyone to speak at the general public comment persons on any “topic of interest” to any “matter on the agenda.”
Rosenberg said this change more accurately reflected a previous discussion on parameters for public comment.
Supervisor Ann Mallek said the language should be broad enough to allow people to come before the Board without worrying about being told their comment isn’t permitted.
“Comprehensive planning, planning in general, old zoning decisions, all those kinds of things, climate change,” Mallek said. “These are all items where we’ve occasionally had very effective presentation from the public and often they are actually presenting something they really hope we will work on but we haven’t yet.”
Mallek reminded the Board that a group of students from Peabody School appeared before the board frequently to push for action on climate change before the county was actively considering adopting one. She added that matters of global politics or foreign policy would not be germane.
Supervisor Mike Pruitt also had concerns about the language change.
“It seems to me like it puts the Chair in a position of actively vetting while someone is speaking about whether something is falling within the… considerable ambit of things that are before the Board or have previously been before the Board,” Pruitt said.
Supervisor Diantha McKeel said the change had been intended to limit discussions of matters to items the Board could address, including climate change.
“I agree with you that we don’t want to limit ideas and thoughts that people can bring to us,” McKeel said. “At the same time, trying to stay out of the global, political realm that is very partisan and that we have nothing to do with.”
Supervisor Jim Andrews said he was concerned about matters from the public becoming politicized in this presidential election year, but suggested the language could be adjusted.
“And I do agree that there is some way we could finesse language so that it became clear that anything that could possibly come before this board is open for public comment to this Board,” Andrews said.
Supervisor Ned Gallaway said he supported the language change and trusted Andrews’ ability to make calls from the center of the dais as the new chair. Andrews agreed, but also made a motion to move forward without the language changed.
“We have operated on the expectation that we could limit discussion if we felt that the discussion was far from germane to the actions to be taken by the Board, and that’s I think the attempt here by the county attorney to give us clarity on that,” Andrews said.
Supervisors also felt the title of the section was enough to allow the Chair to make a determination.
That title is “From the Public: Matters on the Agenda but Not Listed for Public Hearing or on Matters Previously Considered by the Board or Matters that are Pending Before the Board.”
The first speaker of 2024 was Ryan Estes.
“I’m here today to discuss foreign policy,” Estes said. “Just kidding.”
Estes really wanted to discuss U.S. mail delivery. He said Supervisors have a role to play in helping to improve service, which he said has been declining for years, affecting his relationship to his health care providers.
“The delay in getting bills from UVA, the delay in having my payments received by UVA has been really hard for me,” Estes said.
Supervisors had no response to Estes comment.
After the Board of Supervisors adopted its rules and policies for the year, County Executive Jeffrey Richardson wanted to lay out the protocol for communication with the media.
“Our [Communications and Public Engagement] division asks reporters that when they need an interview from a county employee or Board member to please contact CAPE and they’re going to coordinate that,” Richardson said. “That’s our request of the local media.”
Richardson said the idea is to prevent multiple staff members from doing the same work to coordinate information. This applies to elected Supervisors as well, who are asked to not communicate directly with members of the press.
“If it is a matter of Board business, and so if we receive it for Board items, our practice is to first connect to the Board chair, and if the Board chair isn’t available, we’ll connect to the vice chair, and if the vice chair is not available then we’re going to work down the list specifically looking for the next Supervisor, and it most likely will be based on topic and how it connects to a specific district or a Board or Commission,” Richardson said.
For instance, a topic on tourism would go to the Supervisor who sits on the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau. Richardson wanted to check in with the Board to see if they supported this approach.
Supervisors agreed to continue this approach.
Reading material:
Charlottesville airport loses direct service to Philadelphia, Emily Hemphill, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), January 4, 2024
Board of Supervisors loses Purcell and Gentry, Mitchell Sasser, Central Virginian, January 4, 2024
Public hearings scheduled on Nelson draft Comprehensive Plan, CBS19, January 5, 2024
The epilogue for #621
It’s quite likely that only five percent of the audience makes it to this point of the newsletter and podcast, and that is fine! This section exists to give a little overview of how you can help support the work and how you can keep up with the somewhat irregular production schedule.
To keep up, take a look at my Notes page on Substack. That’s the best place to keep up with what I’m up to, because some days I opt to skip a deadline. On those days if you’re looking for something else to read, why not check out this newsletters archives on infocville.com? There’s quite a lot there to review.
And all of it is paid for by subscribers either through Substack or Patreon. All of the revenue from subscribers helps make sure this is my full-time job and this is perhaps the year I’ll be able to hire someone. If you subscribe through Substack, Ting will match your initial contribution.
If you sign up for Ting at this link and enter the promo code COMMUNITY, you’ll get:
Free installation
A second month for free
A $75 gift card to the Downtown Mall
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