Look Back for December 31, 2023: UVA's building boom, preparing for a transit authority, and Sam Sanders becomes city manager
A third and final look back at the past 12 months
The holiday period is nearly over and I can sense a big year about to unfold.
After years of developing a new zoning code, Charlottesville officials will begin to oversee implementation of guidelines intended to increase development across the entire city. Albemarle will continue to move through the AC44 Comprehensive Plan process to prepare for a future with more people. The University of Virginia will continue to grow.
But what about the year that wraps up today? Let’s take one last look back! This will be the last installment of this series as I have to get the next set of stories ready.
There will be a Week Ahead on Monday and the return of regular editions early next week. This look back at the recent past has been very illuminating and will prepare me for the next 366 days.
Building boom continues at the University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is in the midst of a building boom that will define Charlottesville’s built environment for decades to come. The Emmet-Ivy Corridor is being transformed into a 21st century urban landscape. The $350 million Manning Biotechnology Institute will anchor an expanded Fontaine Research Center. Plans are underway to expand the North Fork Discovery Park.
In 2023, the UVA continued to be the biggest driver for local land use, but officials also began to express concern about Charlottesville’s trend towards large apartment buildings. The year ended with City Council approving two rezonings on the periphery of the University of Virginia over the objections of the state institution.
On November 1, the University of Virginia Architect sent a letter to Charlottesville City Council expressing concern about the impacts Verve Charlottesville would have on the World Heritage Site as recognized by the United Nations.
“Redevelopment projects near the Academical Village have never proposed new conditions that would diminish the site until now,” wrote Alice Raucher in a letter about Verve Charlottesville.
The University of Virginia Foundation wrote a letter on November 13, 2023 with thoughts about a proposed private development at 2117 Ivy Road, adjacent to the Ivy Square Shopping Center they purchased in late 2021.
“The retail and commercial tenants who operated in these buildings are iconic local businesses with long records of commitment and service to the neighborhood and Charlottesville community,” wrote Maryellen Dolan, the Foundation’s director of Real Estate Management.
The projects were approved anyway, but is this story over?
Shortly before the vote on December 18, UVA Architect Alice Raucher wrote to the city on December 15 to inform officials that the University’s representative to the Planning Commission would be stepping down at the end of the year.
An 1986 agreement between the city, Albemarle County, and UVA called for non-voting members to sit on each locality’s planning body. Bill Palmer has served in the position for five years and will be replaced by Michael Joy. Joy is the Associate University Architect.
Luis Carrazana, Joy’s colleague in the Office of the Architect, sits as a voting member of the Albemarle Planning Commission. Fred Missell, director of development of the UVA Foundation, is also a voting member of that body. There is currently no non-voting member from UVA.
In mid-March, Palmer gave a brief overview of construction projects in the planning stages within city limits with a major transformation underway in the Emmet/Ivy Corridor. These include the Karsh Institute of Democracy, the School of Data Science, and the Virgina Guesthouse hotel and conference center.
I took that opportunity to write a story to remind the public that UVA plans a big impact in Albemarle County at the Fontaine Research Park. How do the local plans of all three entities fit together? Start here at this story.
In March, the Buildings and Grounds Committee of the UVA Board of Visitors were told there would be $7 million in the capital plan for planning and design for additional beds for undergraduates to live in order to fulfill a strategic plan goal of housing second-year students on Grounds. A report had been due by the end of the year, but was not presented at the December meeting. I will have a story in the near future about student housing at the Darden School of Business.
In June, the Board of Visitors panel also confirmed the name “Virginia Guesthouse” for the new hotel being built in the Emmet/Ivy Corridor. The group also endorsed the design for the Karsh Institute of Democracy after some tweaks had been made at their request.
In June, I wrote about the draft Grounds Framework Plan, the long range planning document for the University of Virginia. One notable detail is that the University’s property on Grove Street in Fifeville is slated for housing. The geographic scope does not include Oak Lawn on the southern side of Cherry Avenue, a property UVA purchased for $3.5 million in October. UVA is also seeking firms to make recommendations for how to use 2.63 acres of land on Grove Street and King Street purchased for $8.73 million in August 2016.
The new fiscal year brought new appointments to the Board of Visitors, and John Nau became the chair of the Buildings and Grounds Committee in September. In December, Nau made an observation about the local context for planning.
“I would bet that the Board is going to begin to become aware of what the city is doing and the impact on height, on traffic, and making our expansions in the future even more difficult and certainly more expensive,” Nau said.
At this first meeting, he pushed back on the massing of the proposed Manning Institute of Biotechnology at the Fontaine Research Park. At the same meeting, the panel voted to expedite work on upgrading the Montesanto headquarters of the Center for Politics. That work will include a driveway that leads to Leonard Sandridge Road as opposed to Old Ivy Road.
Later that month, Council accepted $5 million from the University to be put toward streetscape projects, confirming a March 2018 promise made by a former chief operating officer at UVA.
To try to keep track of it all, I try to keep an eye out for what the Land Use and Environmental Planning Committee is doing. In July, they got an update from the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority on a pipe across the South Fork Rivanna and an update from the UVA Foundation on plans for Birdwood.
This year, UVA selected two nonprofit developers to build affordable housing developments at two of three sites. The Piedmont Housing Alliance will work at the “Piedmont” site off of Fontaine Avenue and Preservation of Affordable Housing will build at a site at 10th and Wertland. A developer has not been selected for the site at the North Fork Discovery Park but that will happen some time after the property is rezoned.
Albemarle continues AC44 review and update of growth management strategy
The update of Albemarle’s Comprehensive Plan is intended to guide the county through a deal with a big question. How can Albemarle’s long-standing growth management policy be adjusted to accommodate anticipated population increases? Does the growth area have to be expanded to provide enough places for people to live?
“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 a story map developed for the first part of the AC44 process. “However, achieving ‘full buildout’ is dependent on development at the high end of recommended density and intensity.”
To prepare for a scenario where development continues to be below the maximum level allowed, Albemarle planners prepared four areas to frame discussion about reusing land differently to accommodate additional growth. Three were unveiled in June with a fourth later in the summer.
The county held a virtual meeting on July 12 to go through all of the above information, as I reported.
The Planning Commission had a work session on Activity Centers on August 8. At that meeting, Commissioner Nathan Moore noted that participation in the process has been on the low side. In late June, Albemarle released the results of the first round of public input for the second phase of the plan.
“The AC44 team reviewed community input from the first round of engagement in Phase 2, from 532 questionnaire responses, six pop-ups in each magisterial district, and approximately 130 participants in 15 community chats,” reads an email sent out on June 30.
I calculated that response rate at around 0.4 percent of the total population of Albemarle.
Later in the August 8 meeting, Commissioners were asked their position on what criteria would need to be in place before the Development Area is expanded. There was a diversity of opinion as I reported. There was also a discussion on Crossroads Communities at the same meeting.
I’ve not been able to keep up with what the Board of Supervisors has been saying about AC44, but hope that can change in 2024.
The Albemarle Planning Commission was to have held a public hearing in February for a special use permit for an expansion of the Crossroads Tavern in North Garden. I have to confess I never followed up on what happened, but the AC44 process contained discussions on how “Crossroads Communities” can help meet some of Albemarle’s land use goals.
Meanwhile, Supervisors were briefed in October on a new methodology for how transportation projects are prioritized. While separate from the AC44 process, the AC44 process seeks to coordinate transportation planning with creation of activity centers.
Phase 2 is winding down or may have already wound down. I wrote a short update in mid-November as well as a summary of the Planning Commission’s discussion of housing and economic development goals. At least one member supports a broad upzoning like the one that just occurred in Charlottesville, while others do not support such a move.
There was a long conversation at the Planning Commission in December that I hope to write up before the second week of January. Here’s the preview for that article.
TJPDC continues oversee study to prepare for a Regional Transit Authority
Work toward the creation of a Regional Transit Authority proceeded throughout the year as the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission continued to lead a regional transit governance study. The second of five phases looked at potential structures with a report to local officials in March. City Council was briefed on the study in August. The MPO Policy Board had a report in October.
This work builds on a previous plan called the Regional Transit Vision Plan which offers a conceptual framework for increased transit for the entire TJPDC region. The big question is how to pay for additional funding.
Albemarle County is planning for a much larger population by 2050, and transit is a big component of accommodating increased residential density. In April, Supervisors got an overview of the where the county’s existing funds for transit go. At this meeting, Supervisors were told there would be new service to Mill Creek in Charlottesville Area Transit on Route 2. That has not yet been implemented as December approaches its end.
Albemarle Supervisors indicated in November they would support a move toward an authority, especially if it would allow the county to have more say about how fixed route transit service is planned. Supervisors also got a report from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute which offered an independent review of existing services. City Council heard directly from CAT on November 20 and learned FY23 ridership was 1,147,016 “unlinked passenger trips.” That’s down from just over a reported 2.4 million in FY2013.
Under the existing set-up, Charlottesville Area Transit is responsible for operating the MicroCAT microtransit pilot that’s been underway since October.
In July, Charlottesville Area Transit kicked off community engagement for a new transit strategic plan, a document required by the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation.
“The main goal of a TSP is to create a strategic blueprint outlining desired changes that will improve the provision of transit services throughout each agency’s service area within existing funding structures,” reads the DRPT website. “This is an opportunity for each agency to look at its system as a blank slate, reexamine the priorities of stakeholders and riders, and make difficult choices concerning where and how to provide services in an efficient and cost-effective manner.”
This plan comes two years after Council had been briefed on route changes that have not yet been implemented. This plan is separate from the Regional Transition Vision Plan. There is no update on the CAT website about the status of the transit strategic plan.
There’s also been no update on the use of $1 million from the city’s FY22 surplus to buy additional buses for Route 6. City officials seemed unaware about this in July when asked a question from a Fifeville resident about potential transit changes.
In December, Jaunt CEO Ted Rieck resigned and has been replaced in the interim by former interim City Manager Mike Murphy. Emily Hemphill has a story on the transition in the December 30 Daily Progress worth reading.
But the transit story that received the most attention at public meetings has regarded the future fuel source for CAT buses.
CAT has been studying this issue since the summer of 2022 with assistance from the firm Kimley-Horn. Councilors were presented with a feasibility study in July that had several options. The Community Climate Collaborative has been leading an advocacy campaign to get Council to agree that battery-electric vehicles are the only choice. Sanders reported in September that the study would be completed in October, but that has been delayed to a January 15 work session.
I have other questions I’d like to follow up on.
This year, a new face took over as the face of UVA transportation. Becca White stepped down as director of parking and transportation and has been replaced with Scott Silsdorf. Silsdorf previously had held a similar job at Old Dominion University.
Has the Afton Express expanded its service? I reported in February that it would but I’m more interested to see what ridership has been. What does the Regional Transit Vision Plan have to say about routes to the west? In fact, there’s a lot on transit I’d like to follow-up on. How has the University Transit Service’s night service performed? What about the four electric buses they were to have received? I confess here that prioritizing coverage of the Development Code took me off this beat.
Sanders takes over as Charlottesville City Manager
As 2023 began, one of the biggest questions was who would be Charlottesville’s City Manager? The city had hired the Robert Bobb Group to provide executive services in the wake of the resignation of Chip Boyles in the fall of 2021, and former D.C. administrator Michael C. Rogers began work in January 2022.
Rogers had applied to be appointed to the position outright, but withdrew his name from consideration in early July.
Shortly afterwards, Council selected Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders to take over the position.
“It’s a big job and I’m ready to give it my all,” Sanders said.
Rogers said he left Charlottesville better than he found it.
“My assignment was to stabilize government operations, present the budget, fill a number of critical vacancies, and present to Council programs and policies necessary for the efficient working of government,” Rogers said.
Sanders moved quick to name a replacement to his position by elevating Steven Hicks as interim deputy city manager for operations. Hicks had been in the Public Works Department.
As for Sanders, he demonstrated he would weigh in on items that received a lot of attention at public comment periods. In August, he told Council he expected the Stony Point Development Group to do a better job in their plans for the third phase of the Dairy Market project on Preston Avenue. In September, Sanders waived closing times at Market Street Market allowing unhoused people to camp there until PACEM opened up for the winter season. In October, Sanders defended his decision and laid out a strategy for the city to pursue to increase shelter space. Closing times were restored on October 21 without incident. At a meeting in January, Sanders hinted at investments.
Sanders also presided over a project to build a sidewalk on a stretch of East High Street that did not have such a pathway. Nearby residents have been calling for new infrastructure for years as evidenced by a story I wrote in May 2014. In December, Sanders provided a three-month update for his work plan and announced a reorganization.
Greene County moves ahead with water and sewer department
Greene County is proceeding with plans to build a reservoir at White Run to provide water storage to supply the development areas. In July, Supervisors held a public hearing on water and sewer rates.
Supervisors were given a status update on September 26 including a review of cost estimates.
Louisa County preparing for Amazon data centers
In August, Amazon Web Services announced the company would invest $11 billion to build two data center campuses. This built on the creation earlier in the year of a Technology Overlay District to incentivize economic development. In September, Louisa Supervisors considered an alternate tax rate for data center equipment. They’ll also need a permit from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to disturb wetlands and streams.
Louisa Supervisors also agreed to increase the transient lodging occupancy tax rate from two percent to seven percent.
More stories about 2023
Albemarle had a bit of turnover at the executive level. Doug Walker announced his resignation as Deputy County Executive early in the year. Economic Development Director Roger Johnson left. Finance Director Nelsie Birch left. By December, new personnel were in top positions such as new Deputy County Executive Ann E. Wall and new economic development director Barry Albrecht. Interim finance director Jacob Sumner was promoted to the top position.
Albemarle Supervisors were briefed in January on potential concepts to transform Free Bridge into a car-free or car-light zone. In April, they agreed to a pilot plan for the car-free version.
The Virginia Department of Transportation and Nelson County embarked on a study of 14 miles of Route 151 earlier this year. I had a very small report in late November pointing to some of the concepts. What do people think? I don’t know yet but hope to keep following this beat.
Collective bargaining was to have begun in the City of Charlottesville.
Albemarle County began clearing land for Biscuit Run Park in March.
The A in CATEC will be switched to “area” rather than Albemarle to reflect the city’s purchase of the county’s share of the vocational school. Details on the transition were made in March.
In March, the Board of Architectural Review had an early look at a hotel proposed at 843 West Main Street, adjacent to Westhaven. The project has since been abandoned according to a civil engineer who worked on the plan.
In March, Charlottesville City Council was briefed on a study to decarbonize the city’s natural gas utility. That should be finalized in 2024.
In June, the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission kicked off the development of the long range transportation plan in a process to be known as Moving Toward 2050. Public comment was sought in July and the first results came out in August.
In June, Albemarle County kicked off the second phase of a planning study for county land within Charlottesville’s boundaries on the western side of the Rivanna River. There’s no update on the Engage Albemarle website for what’s known as the Broadway Blueprint, but a next step is work sessions with the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors. ‘
In late June, the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development awarded $300,000 to the Venture Central initiative. The money from the Growing Opportunity is intended to create a regional entrepreneurship initiative. In December, the General Assembly’s research arm issued a report on the GO program that may be worth reviewing. (read the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee report)
After approving a 138 megawatt utility-scale solar facility in April, Albemarle County began a review of the way it processes land use applications related to solar fields. Supervisors had a work session in July which I also wrote about for C-Ville Weekly. I have not done a follow-up.
In July, Charlottesville put out a call for organizations to apply for $580,000 in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act to spend on festivals. Have any been funded yet?
In August, Albemarle County awarded the first climate protection grants to five local organizations.
Estimates for transportation projects continued to escalate, with a much higher than expected cost to complete the Eastern Avenue project in Crozet, as Supervisors learned in August.
Looking ahead to 2024, the Charlottesville Planning Commission will have a public hearing on the five-year capital improvement program on January 9. I wrote up a summary of a November 28 work session.