Wildfires burning hundreds of miles away have transformed the sky into a smoky haze that could be described as unsettling, yet yielding powerful sunrises and sunsets. Though Charlottesville Community Engagement is mostly about items that happen in a relatively small portion of the earth, nothing is not connected. I’m Sean Tubbs, seeking to offer as much information as I can.
Note: It is June 7, not July 7.
The email went out with the wrong title. I regret the error and am glad it’s not a month from now!
On today’s show:
Elected officials in Albemarle and Charlottesville break ground for the first phase of a court expansion in Court Square
Albemarle County releases draft criteria for when and if a decision is made to expand the growth area
A bridge in southern Albemarle County will soon close for a couple of weeks to replace the superstructure
Charlottesville City Council holds first reading on increased water, sewer, and natural gas rates for FY24
First shout-out: Plant Northern Piedmont Natives
Since the beginning of this newsletter, one Patreon supporter has dedicated their shout-out to an organization that seeks to draw awareness of the importance of native species to the ecosystem. As we approach summer, Plant Northern Piedmont Natives wants you to know they’ve printed over 9,280 copies of their guide Piedmont Native Plants: A Guide for Landscapes and Gardens.
In this guide, Piedmont native plants are defined as plants that evolved before the influences of European settlements began to shape and change the landscape. Plants included in the guide were selected from the Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora and occur naturally within the region.
You can download your copy today for free!
Ground broken for joint Albemarle/Charlottesville General District Court
After several years of planning, members of Charlottesville City Council and the Board of Supervisors picked up golden shovels this morning in Court Square for a joint project on land that’s long been slated for this purpose.
The combined General District Court is the first phase of an investment by Albemarle County for judicial and legal proceedings.
“The origins of this work today date back to 2001 and a jointly-funded study by the city and the county to envision the future of courts,” said Deputy County Executive Trevor Henry. “That work eventually lead to the acquisition of the property that we’re standing on by the city and county in 2005.”
That property is the Levy Opera House, a 19th century structure which had been purchased by the Perry Foundation in the 1970’s to protect it from demolition.
“This building was designed in 1851 as a town hall, constructed in 1852 in the Greek Revival style having seating for 600 people,” said Donna Price, the chair of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors. “Jefferson Levy remodeled the town hall into an opera house seating 800 people. It continued with that usage until closing in 1912 when it was occupied by the Jefferson School for Boys.”
The new building will be built in a parking lot between the Levy Opera House and the Swan Tavern. The first task during this construction project will be to remove an expansion from the 1980’s.
This building will be 58,000 square feet and will feature courtrooms for both localities as well as offices for the clerk of court for both Albemarle and Charlottesville. The cost of the first phase is $36.8 million, according to Henry.
Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook said he’s been working on this issue for many years as an attorney and as a one-time head of the Charlottesville Albemarle Bar Association.
“It didn’t get done until an agreement was put together about five or six years ago, but that agreement still had some problems with it,” Snook said. “When we actually tried to implement it, one of the pieces with it that there had to be a certain number of parking spaces.”
Those spaces for Albemarle were originally to have been in a new parking garage, but the agreement has been updated to have the county have the sole daytime use of a surface lot on Market Street. (Albemarle and Charlottesville reach new agreement on parking, December 8, 2022)
“This is a good example I believe of the kind of city and county cooperation at the court level that we see everyday, at the governmental level that we’re seeing more and more but quite frankly over the years has sometimes been a problem,” Snook said. “But this is the kind of thing we need to keep working on and I’m so glad we’re finally getting to this day and I’m looking forward to picking up one of those shovels and overturning a pile of dirt.”
The final word before the dirt was overturned came from Jeffrey Richardson, the Albemarle County Executive. He thanked interim City Manager Michael C. Rogers for approaching the parking agreement in a collaborative spirit.
“I don’t believe that citizens wake up, our community members wake up every day and think about their government unless they have something serious they need to deal with,” Richardson said. “But I do believe in general that our community and our citizens expect us to get things done and to try to work together.”
For information, visit the county’s website.
Albemarle releases new AC44 documents on growth area expansion criteria
This summer, Albemarle County continues to go through the second of a four-phase process to update a Comprehensive Plan that for many years has set aside roughly five percent of the locality’s land area for development.
This week the county’s engagement team released a document intended to guide the next round of conversations. One of them sets criteria for how that growth areas might be expanded in the future.
“We need to consider the possibility that at some point the current Development Areas may no longer have sufficient capacity to accommodate future housing and employment needs,” reads the website for the draft document.
Those criteria are contained in a 40-page document titled “Drafting Recommendations to Implement the Plan Framework.” This is based on information that came out during Phase 1 such as analysis of how dense Albemarle’s growth area has been developing to date.
In general, the criteria for how and where expansion might occur include transportation capacity, school capacity, access to public water and sewer, access to public safety resources, and environmental features.
“Areas with no existing development or underlying by-right zoning that would allow development should be avoided if there are feasible alternative locations,” reads page 24 of the report.
The “when” of expansion depends on that land use buildout analysis and is based on a projected 2044 population of 143,379, about 31,000 higher than the 2020 Census.
“Based on the buildout analysis, there appears to be sufficient land available to accommodate 20 years of growth and demand in the existing Development Areas when considering the land uses recommended in the Comprehensive Plan,” reads page 27 of the topic briefing. “However, achieving ‘full buildout’ is dependent on development at the high end of recommended density and intensity of uses.”
However, the report concludes that rezonings between 2016 and 2021 only utilized about 58 percent of the total possible development. It also found that only about seven percent of the development area has capacity for new development. That’s 0.3 percent of total county land.
“Not realizing full buildout of the Development Areas and limiting the supply of available housing can drive up costs and push new residential growth into surrounding localities,” reads page 28 of the report.
In addition to the expansion topic, county engagement staff seek feedback on:
What do you want to know? What do you think? Tell the county in the links above.
Batesville area bridge to close June 12 through June 27
Those who use Plank Road to get through southern Albemarle County may want to plan for other routes later this month.
The Virginia Department of Transportation has announced a bridge over the Mechums River near Batesville will be closed from June 12 through June 27 to allow for a replacement of the superstructure.
“During the closure traffic on the west side of Batesville will detour using Route 692 to U.S. 250 (Rockfish Gap Turnpike) to Interstate 64, exit 107 at Crozet, east to exit 118 U.S. 29 (Seminole Trail), then south to Route 692,” reads the press release. “Traffic east of Batesville will reverse the detour route. Access to all private entrances will be maintained on both sides of the bridge.”
The bridge has a current capacity of 17 tons and carries an average of 970 vehicles a day.
Many residents of the Batesville area have expressed concern that more tractor trailers will use the road after the bridge is expanded. For more information, read Lisa Martin’s April 7 article in the Crozet Gazette.
In May, Supervisors formally requested that VDOT conduct a study on issuing a restriction on through trucks on Plank Road.
Sponsored message: Buy Local
Charlottesville Community Engagement’s continued existence means that many of you support local information. Want to support some local businesses as well? The Buy Local campaign is in full swing, and both the Albemarle and Charlottesville Offices of Economic Development want people to consider spending locally as they shop throughout the year.
The Buy Local campaign highlights small businesses within Charlottesville and Albemarle County through a multi-channel, multimedia promotional and educational campaign designed to reinforce how important supporting area small businesses is to the local economy.
Locally-owned, independent businesses with a brick-and-mortar presence in the City or County interested in being featured in the campaign should visit www.showlocallove.org or contact info@showlocallove.org.
For more information on the Buy Local campaign, visit www.ShowLocalLove.org or follow us on Facebook and Instagram @BuyLocalCvilleAlbemarle or on Twitter @BuyLocalCville.
Council holds first reading of utility rates for water and sewer
On Monday, Charlottesville City Council held the public hearing and the first of two readings on utility rates. That includes water, sewer, natural gas, and stormwater fees.
“Eighty-seven percent of city residents receive these four utilities in some way, shape, or form,” said Chris Cullinan, Charlottesville’s finance director. “For the average customer who uses the average amount of water and generates the average amount of wastewater, and uses the average amount of natural gas and has an average lot size, we are looking at a monthly increase of less than $10.”
If approved, the rates would go into effect on July 1. Cullinan acknowledged that $10 a month may be a lot for some community members but that the additional money is an investment in safe and reliable drinking water.
“What we always think about is the value proposition,” Cullinan said. “What are you getting for what you pay for?”
For those who may have trouble paying, there are assistance options available for water and sewer as well as natural gas.
It costs money to run a municipal water and sewer system and to keep it up to date. Charlottesville has around 14,800 customers according to Lauren Hildebrand, the city’s utilities director.
“We deliver 4.6 million gallons of water daily,” Hildebrand said. “We maintain 179 miles of water line, 116 miles of wastewater pipelines, and last year we worked over 8,300 work orders in the utilities department.”
Hildebrand said the city has been working since 2008 to replace aging infrastructure and 23 of those miles of water lines have been upgraded to new materials. That’s about 12.8 percent of the water system.
“We’ve spent $30.6 million of total construction cost,” Hilderbrand said. “In the wastewater system we’ve replaced or rehabilitated 65 miles of the system, or 38 percent. We’ve spent about $33.6 million.”
That money comes from rate payers. Rate payers also cover the city’s purchase of water and sewer services from the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority. That agency builds and maintains water treatment plans and major pipelines, and also processes effluent at the Moores Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The RWSA’s five-year capital budget is currently $326,125,000, including about $75 million in contingencies for inflation and if any scope changes need to be made. Some of the charges include an acceleration of a long-anticipated pipeline between the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir and Ragged Mountain Reservoir. The goal is to have that two-way water line in place by 2030 rather than 2033.
“It will enhance the capacity, reliability, and resiliency of the community’s water system,” Hildebrand said. “We decided to really accelerate the completion of this project because you never know with climate change occurring and we certainly don’t want to experience what we had back in 2002 with the large drought we experienced back then.”
The total cost is $80 million and the city’s share is 20 percent.
Another project that RWSA is building is the Central Waterline Project through Charlottesville to connect the Observatory Water Treatment Plant to Long Street.
“It improves hydraulic connectivity and efficiency of the urban water system,” Hildebrand said. “It’s estimated right now at $41 million and the city’s portion is 48 percent.”
Overall, the city is responsible for paying about a third of the RWSA’s capital plan.
Hildebrand said one initiative underway is a federally-mandated inventory of utility lines to determine if there’s lead in them. That includes privately-owned pipes.
“But we need some help from the community and we have a lead service inventory survey that’s been created and a video that people can look and figure out what material they’ve got on the private side of their system,” Hildebrand said.
You can fill out that survey here.
Only one person spoke during the public hearing. Martha Smythe had this question related to the Cville Plans Together land use initiative:
“I’m wondering what sort of excess capacity is in our water system and in our sewer system to handle the growth that could come from the large upzoning?” Smythe asked.
Hildebrand said her staff are communicating with the Department of Neighborhood Development Services on the topic.
“We’re kind of confined to this ten square miles and the systems we have in place are really very, very sufficient and the improvements that we’re making and things we look at, they’re very sufficient to handle the zoning,” Hildebrand said.
Cullinan explained that the city also charges connection fees for new development that are earmarked to pay for new capacity.
The second reading will be on the consent agenda for the June 19, 2023 meeting.
Reading material:
Black Empowerment Coalition to sponsor one last chat with primary candidates before Election Day, Eileen Goode, Charlottesville Tomorrow, June 6, 2023
Summer Is Construction Season on Grounds, Matt Kelly, UVA Today, June 6, 2023
Charlottesville airport again offering direct flights to Chicago, NBC29, June 6, 2023
Buying out? Neighbors of a 245-unit Rivanna River apartment complex hope city will purchase the land, Sean Tubbs, C-Ville Weekly, June 6, 2023
Ending #542 with information about this publication
Today’s installment is an example of why I do this work. I envision Charlottesville Community Engagement as an afternoon newspaper with a mixture of information about what’s happening. The newsletter and podcast is sort of like a 15-minute newscast that used to run on WVTF Public Radio when I was an intern there beginning in 1995.
They don’t do that anymore, and there’s no afternoon paper. So my vision for the future is to grow into a reliable daily resource. That’s why there’s a Patreon account for Town Crier Productions, and why Ting matches the first payment of Substack subscribers. This is what I think I’m supposed to do in the world, and I’m grateful to all of you who are helping to support that.
If you do subscribe on Substack, Ting will match your initial payment!
And 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
Thanks to Wraki for incidental music in the podcast, which you can’t hear unless you listen to it. Check out the work on BandCamp!
June 7, 2023: Groundbreaking held for joint General District Court; Council holds first reading of FY24 utility rates