June 11, 2025: Charlottesville eliminates Office of Community Solutions and its director no longer works for the city
Plus: An update on construction projects at the University of Virginia
And now we’re up to June 11, 2025 and you may have heard of Henry VIII of England, he who had VI wives. On this day in 1509, he married Catherine of Aragon, I of those six. But have you heard of the Marcomannic Wars when the Romans faced the Quadi and how troops led by emperor Marcus Aurelius subdued them during a rainstorm on this day in 173 AD?
Closer to our time, on this day in 1776, the Continental Congress appointed a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence. How did it turn out? The answer will not be revealed in this edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. I’m Sean Tubbs and I still want to know.
And if you’ll forgive a third paragraph today, today in 1963, Alabama Governor George Wallace personally tried to stop two people with brown skin from registering as students at the state university. He failed because the National Guard had been called in to make sure they were able to do so.
In today’s installment:
The Charlottesville Office of Community Solutions has been disbanded and its director no longer works for the city
The Charlottesville Fire Department is warning people about the fire hazards of lithium batteries
A representative of the University of Virginia’s Office of the Architect briefs the Charlottesville Planning Commission on current construction projects
A plan to put term limits on garden plot rentals in Charlottesville is on hold
First shout-out: Charlottesville E-bike Lending Library
The rolling topography of the Charlottesville area might keep some people away from choosing cycling as an option to get around. Perhaps an e-bike is in order?
That’s where Charlottesville’s eBike Lending Library comes in! 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!
Charlottesville dissolves Office of Community Solutions; Ikefuna no longer works for city
A man originally hired to serve as Charlottesvillle’s planning director no longer works for the city and the office he was promoted to no longer exists.
That’s according to an email sent to members of the city’s Planning Commission on Friday, June 6.
“The City Manager has decided to close the Office of Community Solutions,” said Deputy City Manager James Freas. “We will be reassigning staff from this office to other offices within the City.”
Freas also told the Planning Commission that OCS Director Alexander Ikefuna no longer works for the city. Ikefuna was hired in August 2015 to serve as director of Neighborhood Development Service. Former City Manager Chip Boyles hired Freas in September 2021 for that position and Ikefuna was elevated to the new Office of Community Solutions.
“The Office of Community Solutions works to serve as a catalyst for positive change in Charlottesville by advancing equitable access to affordable housing, revitalizing commercial districts, and applying for and administering grants to support community development initiatives,” reads the website for the soon-to-be-defunct office.
Those who work in the office will be transferred to other city departments, but the housing functions will go back to NDS where they had been prior to the creation of OCS.
“We believe integration of our Housing Division into NDS will facilitate collaboration between housing staff and planners in both the current planning (development review) functions as well as our long-range and policy development functions,” Freas wrote.
The city hired Kellie Brown last September to serve as the director of Neighborhood Development Services.
Charlottesville Fire Department warns about danger of lithium-ion batteries
Last month, the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority’s Board of Directors were told about a string of fires at the Ivy Solid Waste and Recycling Centers caused by improperly discarded batteries.
Today the Charlottesville Fire Department put out an alert warning about the dangers of a certain kind of rechargeable battery.
“During a recent emergency response, CFD found that a fire had started in the basement of a home after lithium-ion batteries were left charging unattended,” reads the release. “The batteries overheated and ignited, quickly spreading flames throughout the basement.”
In this case, the fire melted a water line which helped to extinguish the flames.
Lithium-ion batteries power all sorts of electronic devices such as phones as well as scooters and power tools. The fire department is offering a series of safety tips.
Leave the area immediately: If you notice warning signs such as popping or hissing sounds, excessive heat, an unusual odor, or wisps of smoke, evacuate immediately.
Do not attempt to extinguish the fire: Fires involving lithium-ion batteries are highly unstable and can reignite or explode. Water and most standard fire extinguishers are ineffective.
Call 911: Report any fire promptly and wait for trained emergency responders.
Store batteries safely: Keep batteries away from flammable materials and never leave them in hot environments, such as inside a parked car.
Use the correct charger: Only use chargers specifically designed for your device to prevent overheating or overcharging.
Check for damage: Stop using any battery that shows signs of swelling, odd smells, or unusual heat.
Dispose of batteries properly: Recycle batteries at designated facilities or follow local disposal guidelines.
Second-shout out: Design Develop
In today’s Patreon-fueled shout-out, architectural firm Design Develop is offering a new service aimed at the development community that the rest of us might want to know about , too — 3D point cloud scanning! This technique uses specialized equipment, such as 3D scanner systems, to gather a large amount of data points that represent the surface of the scanned object or scene. This really comes in handy when working with historic structures, as the firm knows from its experience in Baltimore and Charlottesville. Read their blog post for more information!
The applications of 3D point cloud scanning are extensive and cover various fields, including architecture, construction, cultural heritage preservation, virtual reality, industrial design, manufacturing, and more. These applications require accurate 3D spatial information, and Design Develop’s workflow provides precise and comprehensive results, all while being more cost-effective than traditional methods.
Design Develop has expertise in this workflow for their own needs and now has a dedicated team offering this service in the Charlottesville and Albemarle Area. If you're involved in the real estate, design, or construction industry, contact them for more information or a free quote.
Visit their website for an introductory video that captures the 3D point cloud scanning of the Downtown Transit Center and a booklet that will explain more!
UVA provides update on construction projects to Charlottesville Planning Commission
A valuable role played by the Charlottesville Planning Commission is to serve as a clearinghouse for information on what is happening around the community.
Since 1986, a non-voting member has represented the University of Virginia’s Office of the Architect. Currently that’s Michael Joy who had an update on various projects.
“The Darden graduate housing is currently under construction and that's still on schedule to be completed by the fall of 2027,” Joy said. “And that's just to remind people that's 348 beds will be included there.”
This will be the first time Darden has had its own housing for students. The idea came from a recent update of the vision for the Graduate School of Business, as I reported back in September 2025.
Construction is also underway on an undergraduate housing building in the Emmet-Ivy Corridor for 780 beds as part of an initiative to build enough places to require all second year students to live on Grounds. Virginia’s Art and Architectural Review Board recommended approval of the design at their meeting on May 2.
That’s also expected to wrap-up in the fall of 2027.
This fall, the new 1,250 space parking garage at the Fontaine Research Park will open.
“A lot of the work happening right now is not parking garage related, but it's the access roads and some of the utility hookups outside of the garage,” Joy said. “So you should see a dramatic shift when it comes regarding parking, particularly with our health system workers.”
Construction of the North Grounds parking garage is also underway and should be completed in 2026. That’s near the Olympic Sports Center which will also open this fall.
“With the completion of that facility, the teams that are currently located in modular units along Copeley Bridge near the railway, those will be removed with the plan to restore that area as a grass practice field,” Joy said.
Heading back to Fontaine, Joy said the Manning Institute for Biotechnology will be completed to open in the fall of 2027. Another project underway is construction of a new heat plant at the Fontaine Research Park.
“This is kind of a first for uva, but also sort of a fairly innovative project at higher education institutions,” Joy said. “It’s a non-combustion geothermal plant, so it'll be providing the thermal energy to power the Manning Institute biotechnology. So it's a lot of excitement. It's an incredibly efficient way to help the university meet its carbon goals.”
There should be a topping out ceremony sometime this July for the Karsh Institute of Democracy in the Emmet-Ivy Corridor.
“The exterior skin of that will start to appear later this summer and fall. And so that will be on track to open in the fall of 2026,” Joy said.
The new hotel and convention center known as the Virginia Guesthouse will open early in 2026.
More on UVA development coming up in a future newsletter as I go through the recent meeting of the UVA Buildings and Grounds Committee.
City parks and recreation put garden plot term limits on hold
The Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Department has four locations where people can rent small patches of land to plant a garden. Recently the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board has been reviewing a proposal to place term limits.
“How long can you be a steward of a garden plot?” asked Hosea Mitchell, the chair of the Charlottesville Planning Commission and member of the advisory board. “Because we think that maybe other people want to to get involved because once you get a garden plot right now you pretty much got it until you say I don't want anymore.”
Mitchell said people showed up at meetings to protest the idea and so the idea is on hold for now. He said there many reasons given why the idea needs more thought.
“You think about crop rotation and things like that, it takes a little while to cultivate the ground to get a garden plot to do what you made the investment to have it do,” Mitchell said. “We're going to give it a little more thought just to be respectful of all the work that other people have put into the garden plots.”
To learn more about the garden plots, visit the city’s Parks and Recreation site.
Reading material:
Albemarle County files site plan to grade land for Rivanna Futures, Sean Tubbs, C-Ville Weekly, June 10, 2025
C-VILLE’s guide to everything and everyone on this month’s primary ballot, C-Ville Weekly, June 10, 2025
Albemarle County considering new data centers, Mark Gad, CBS19, June 10, 2025
One fact about #879
I really wanted to take today off, but I wrote the opening segment last night and it was too good and date-specific that I had to get an edition out. So, that’s this edition and it’s why it’s one of the shorter ones.
I’m less grumbly than I was yesterday, but summer is my least favorite time of the year. I know it’s many people’s favorites, but I will begin to feel some relief when the solstice happens and the sun’s position on the horizon at sunrise and sunset will shift south. We’ll be on our way to the beloved winter!
Thank you to those who wrote yesterday. I am still in soul-searching mode about the future of this operation. I want to say I’ll do this the rest of my life, but is that really something I can commit to? I’ve lived in this community for 23 years now. There are other places.
Yet, I’m aware of how much this work nourishes me and how the systems I’ve put in place behind the scenes help me sustain. I just have to work on expanding capacity.
I’ll get there. Maybe I’ll even take time off, though that never seems to take.
Anyway, enough of this today. Today’s song is Bow Wow Wow, a band that I’ve never heard until the last two months. I love the sound of this so much, and this particular song stirs emotions in me. Being alive isn’t that bad if there’s always music to explore.
Sean, like many of us, I know that you like structure and predictability. Here's a thought for you. Look back at recent years and identify the 3 or 4 weeks of the year where there is the least going on in our community—it might be the fifth week of a month, or just predictable holiday schedule adjustments. Then pick 2 or 3 of those weeks to block off in the next 12 months for vacation. Adjust your content calendar accordingly and enjoy a week off! (Or, if a week feels daunting, make it a 4 to 5 day weekend instead.)