July 2, 2025: City manager Sanders calls voidance of zoning code “terribly disappointing” and pledges Council will restore the rules

Plus: UVA Board of Visitors schedules a meeting and then cancels it

What can be gained from learning about history? The United States of America will celebrate the 249th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in two days from publication of this edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. Yet ties with Great Britain were formally severed on July 2, 1776, with the passage of the Lee Resolution by the Second Continental Congress. Does this detail matter? What’s the point of asking questions?

I’m Sean Tubbs, and I ask questions because I don’t know what else to do.

In today’s installment:

• Charlottesville City Manager responds to the voidance of the city’s zoning rules and says answers will be forthcoming as the city identifies next steps

• The University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors scheduled and then cancelled a virtual meeting today

• Former UVA Rector Robert Hardie has been served with a lawsuit seeking to block Ken Cuccinnelli’s continued service as a member of the Board of Visitors

• UVA community members plan an event on Friday at the Rotunda to protest the forced resignation of President Jim Ryan

• UVA Health plans to quadruple the size of their geriatric care clinic in Albemarle County

• JABA seeks volunteers to help older residents navigate how to get Medicare benefits

• A local transportation body is briefed on a forthcoming travel demand management study

First shout-out: Cville Village

Can you drive a neighbor to a doctor’s appointment? Change an overhead lightbulb, plant a flower, walk a dog for someone who is sick, visit someone who is lonely? If so, Cville Village needs you!

Cville Village is a local 501c3 nonprofit organization loosely affiliated with a national network of Villages whose goals are to help seniors stay in their own homes as long as possible, and to build connections among them that diminish social isolation. Volunteers do small chores for, and have gatherings of, professors and schoolteachers, nurses and lawyers, aides and housekeepers. Time and chance come to all – a fall, an order not to drive, failing eyesight, a sudden stroke. They assist folks continue living at home, with a little help from their friends.

Cville Village volunteers consult software that shows them who has requested a service and where they are located. Volunteers accept only the requests that fit their schedule and their skills.

Volunteering for Cville Village can expand your circle of friends and shower you with thanks.

To learn more, visit cvillevillage.org or attend one of their monthly Village “meet-ups” and see for yourself. To find out where and when the next meetup is, or to get more information and a volunteer application, email them at info@cvillevillage.org, or call them at (434) 218-3727.

Charlottesville responds to voidance of city’s new zoning code

A zoning ordinance that went into effect on February 19, 2024 was in place for 497 days before a ruling from Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Claude Worrell on June 30 rendered the new rules invalid.

The city responded two days later.

“This ruling creates a major disruption to the planning and zoning operations of the City government, but it is a situation that can be managed,” reads a statement sent out at 12:35 p.m.

The city employed the legal services of the firm Gentry Locke to defend a lawsuit filed in January 2024 by a group of property owners who argued the city had not followed state law and regulations in preparing the new zoning code. The plaintiffs in White v. Charlottesville specifically argued that the city did not comply with §15.2-2222.1 and §15.2-2284.

A trial scheduled for June 2026 would have allowed arguments on both sides of that claim to proceed in court. A written order from Judge Worrell from April 30 clearing the way for the trial gave the defense 21 days to file a written response to the latest version of the plaintiff’s written complaint.

Gentry Locke did not respond in time and attorneys for the plaintiffs filed a motion for default judgement on June 2. The city responded on June 3 with a motion seeking to file late but that was not granted.

“It is terribly disappointing that a technical error of filing paperwork could lead to the City not having its development regulations available to the 50,000 residents and property owners in Charlottesville,” said Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders. “Our internal staff, at multiple levels, have been working since learning the court’s ruling to evaluate the impacts of this decision and to determine how to function in the interim.”

Sanders said staff is seeking to develop answers for projects that are under construction as well as those waiting for approval.

“We are considering procedural changes we may need to enact to manage the period of actually having no ordinance in effect,” Sanders said.

The minutes from the December 18, 2023 City Council meeting when the Development Code was adopted (Credit: City of Charlottesville)

Council adopted the zoning code on December 18, 2023. The resolution was to repeal the previous zoning and “reordain” the new one. Both are considered Chapter 34.

Council then voted to allow several projects to proceed under the old code. These include a project for a 250-unit apartment building at 1185 Seminole Trail that will soon go before the Planning Commission in their capacity as the Entrance Corridor Review Board. (read my story in C-Ville Weekly)

“City Council has determined that orderly transition from the prior ordinances to the new requirements of Chapter 34 will be assisted by allowing these certain other projects to continue to diligently pursue approval under the repealed ordinance for a limited time,” reads a portion of the resolution. Take a look here.

Back to now.

Sanders said GentryLocke has been asked to help with understanding the impacts of the error.

“John Maddux, the City’s newly appointed City Attorney, has taken the reins and is working to resolve the issues resulting from this representation and directing the course of the City’s next steps,” the release states.

Sanders said the voidance of the code was not due to the merits of the zoning.

“We are confident the City Council will have the opportunity to ensure the bold zoning provisions will again be enacted to guide future development of the City,” Sanders said. “We have been considering actions on how to proceed with securing a zoning ordinance for the City that is unimpeachable on any front.”

Staff in Neighborhood Development Services had anticipated spending this summer working on a series of revisions to the zoning code. The lawsuit did not come up during staff briefings to the Planning Commission or the City Council.

• Charlottesville Planning Commission briefed on forthcoming updates to zoning code, June 13, 2024

• City Council briefed on Neighborhood Development Services work plan, forthcoming zoning changes, June 20, 2024

University of Virginia Board of Visitors schedules and then cancels a virtual meeting

The YouTube stream that carries the live streams of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors was supposed to have begun at 11:30 a.m. this morning. A virtual meeting had been scheduled sometime yesterday afternoon, but time moved to 11:31 a.m. and beyond.

At about five minutes, the page changed to state that the meeting had been canceled.

“A special meeting of the Board of Visitors to discuss a faculty resignation personnel matter was cancelled, as it was no longer needed,” said UVA Deputy Spokesperson Bethanie Glover.

The image of the UVA live stream soon after today’s meeting was canceled

Last week, a group of Democratic state Senators sued former UVA Rector Robert Hardie and two the heads of other public university bodies for continuing to allow members of their Boards of Visitors to stay in office despite a failure to be confirmed by the General Assembly.

Attorney General Jason Miyares, a Republican, has given advice that the June 9 Senate vote does not count and that Ken Cuccinelli should remain in place on the UVA Board of Visitors.

The suit was served against Hardie on July 1 even though his term on the Board of Visitors expired at midnight that day. Also served were Charles Stimson of George Mason University and Thomas E. Gotwald of Virginia Military Institute.

The group also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction on July 1. So far none of the defendants have responded.

Protest against Ryan resignation scheduled for Friday at 1 p.m.

A coalition of groups is planning a gathering on Friday at the statue of Thomas Jefferson on the University Avenue side of the Rotunda to protest the ongoing situation at the University of Virginia.

“We call on the UVA Board of Visitors to defend the independence of the University on behalf of the people of Virginia and beyond

The event is being organized by Uprise! Creative Collective of Charlottesville and co-sponsored by Indivisible Charlottesville.

“While the world watches to see what we do in response to this outrage, we will assert at the Rotunda evolving visions of democracy and academic freedom – reclaiming them at the very place on these Grounds where torch-bearing white supremacists and antisemites converged in August 2017,” reads an information release.

According to the release, Uprise! Creative Collective C’ville was created in February of this year.

Second shout-out: Supporting the Keswick Heritage Fund’s Love Better Project

The Keswick Heritage Fund is a partnership of several churches in Albemarle County that provides education support and opportunities for professional development. One of their outreach programs is the Love Better Project, which provides scholarships to Black students in the Keswick area. The fund was created soon after the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 2020.

Grace Episcopal Church, Union Grove Baptist, Union Run Baptist, Zion Hill Baptist and St. John Church are united for growth through community partnership and education. To learn more about the fund, the scholarships, and the churches themselves, visit their website at keswickheritagefund.com.

UVA to open expanded geriatric care clinic in December

Over 25 percent of the population in the jurisdiction of the Jefferson Area Board of Aging is over the age of 60 according to data processed by the Weldon Cooper Center.

To prepare for an increasing number of older Americans, the University of Virginia Health System will open an expanded geriatric care clinic in northern Albemarle County this December.

“Our goal is to eventually be able to serve three to four times as many patients as we can accommodate at our current clinic,” said Dr. Karen Starr, the clinic’s medical director, in an information release.

The current clinic at 674 Hillsdale Drive only has three exam rooms and the new one at 2325 Seminole Lane will have a dozen.

“We will be expanding both our primary-care services as well as our geriatrics-consultative services that include fall prevention, caregiver concerns and managing multiple health conditions and medications,” Starr continued.

The new location is next to UVA Health’s pediatric neurodevelopmental and behavioral health clinic.

Credit: UVA Health

JABA seeks volunteers for insurance counseling

There are just over three months until the open enrollment period begins for Medicare and the Jefferson Area Board for Aging is seeking volunteers who can assist people who need help.

“With more than 80 volunteers already supporting this program, we’re proud of what we’ve built, but we still need more caring individuals to meet the growing needs of our community,” said Randy Rodgers, the manager of JABA’s insurance counseling program.

One of JABA’s roles is to help people connect with available benefits and the organization helps thousands of people navigate Medicare each year. Volunteers can take on a number of tasks according to an information release.

• Administrative Assistant Volunteers answer phones and schedule appointments.

• Zoom Host Volunteers welcome clients to their virtual appointments and connect them with the right Medicare counselor.

• Zoom Assistant Volunteers help clients get connected to their virtual appointments using our computer at in-person JABA Centers.

• Receptionist Volunteers greet clients at in-person locations, check them in, and make sure they’re directed to the right counselor.

• Medicare Counselor Volunteers guide clients through a wide range of Medicare questions and concerns.

No training is required. Those who are interested can fill out an application.

Medicare dates back to 1965 when it began as a program of the Social Security Administration.

“At the end of 2022, the [Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance] program was providing benefit payments to about 66 million people: 51 million retired workers and dependents of retired workers, 6 million survivors of deceased workers, and 9 million disabled workers and dependents of disabled workers,” reads the 2023 annual report for the program.

One question beyond the scope of this article is how the “Big Beautiful Bill” might affect the program.

MPO briefed on Travel Demand Management study

The Policy Board of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization is an obscure body that makes decisions related to transportation spending.

At their meeting on June 25, two elected officials from Albemarle and two elected officials from Charlottesville were briefed on a proposal to study the way people move around the community for work and other purposes.

“The intention is to reduce vehicle miles traveled or VMT specifically within the Charlottesville downtown area, increase trips made by other modes, and enhance connections to our existing multimodal transportation,” said Taylor Jenkins, said Taylor Jenkins, director of transportation for the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission.

The MPO Technical Advisory Committee had a briefing on June 17. Jenkins told officials that TJPDC staff would create something called an origin and destination study work using data from a firm called Streetlight. One of the tasks would be to come up with suggestions of how to reduce the number of people who drive alone.

“Some of the strategies that could be considered here could be related to land use policies, Rideshare parking programs,” Jenkins said. “It doesn't just have to be infrastructure. We understand how all these things work together to encourage or discourage the mode that someone chooses to take.”

Albemarle Supervisor Ned Gallaway said one thing to consider is that there are people who have to drive into Charlottesville from outlying communities and then there are people who live here who drive alone as well.

“I'm just wondering, does this get at that conflict? Gallaway asked. “You can make the city as much of an alternative mode as you want, but you still have to deal with vehicle traffic.”

There will also be a public engagement portion of the work.

City Councilor Natalie Oschrin asked if certain information could be collected.

“If there's a question that says, well, ‘would you prefer to live closer?’ that could be a data point, not necessarily for this study, but to be used in other studies about housing,” Oschrin said.

Jenkins and other staff will review the feedback from the MPO and come back at the next MPO meeting for a vote on whether to proceed.

Reading material:

• New Missing Middle ruling creates big obstacles for lawsuit, but it’s far from over, Dan Egitto, June 30, 2025

• At Northern Va. rally, GOP statewide ticket shows unity after months of party turmoil, Markus Schmidt, Virginia Mercury, July 1, 2025

• Judge throws out Charlottesville’s new zoning code after city fails to respond to order on time, Sean Tubbs, C-Ville Weekly, July 2, 2025

• Court rules talk-based conversion therapy is legal in Virginia, Charlotte Rene Woods, Virginia Mercury, July 2, 2025

• Energy demands, regulations and federal funding challenge Virginia Clean Economy Act, Shannon Heckt, Virginia Mercury, July 2, 2025

• State’s first-ever audit of campaign finance report leaves many questions unanswered, David Poole, Cardinal News, July 2, 2025

Now is the time for #890 to add another number

How did this get written? I just did a cursory edit and don’t remember writing everything in here. I know that I did because I remember waking up and sitting at the keyboard after doing morning errands. I always try to walk at least a mile before I work, but lately I’m ready to get going because there’s so much to get to each day.

This got written and it’s out earlier than usual. When it’s done I’ll get to work on the next set of stories. Tomorrow’s edition will feature another story about water supply plans, as well as whatever else I can write about when I go into tomorrow’s trance.

I’m able to do this because I am a professional journalist. I have skills that used to be much more common but then the entire profession was gutted. One day I think I want to study how that happened, but for now I’m devoting my everything to reporting the changes in this community.

I’m grateful for paid subscribers for helping me get to this point. There are many new subscribers this week, too, and I hope many of you will stick around. I’m an actual human being who has been writing stories for a long time now, stories based on fact-checking and trying to explain complex topics.

I also apply the same fact-checking to myself. I dislike selling myself and you will never hear me say I am the best. I am not. I’m just one person who is lucky and stubborn enough to have kept going when friends and family said I was foolish for pursuing this career.

Well, I’m definitely a fool. An idiot, too. I won’t go as far as moron. But definitely a fool and an idiot.

Today’s video is mostly a reminder to me to pull this audio into my device so I can write it up. This is what I do, and I’m grateful for your support!