May 24, 2024: UVA to build up to 2,000 beds for second-year students on Emmet Street and Ivy Road
May 24, 2024: UVA to build up to 2,000 beds for second-year students on Emmet Street and Ivy Road
Plus: Know a dangerous intersection? The TJPDC wants you to put a pin on it
If a community newsletter is sent out the Friday before a federal holiday on the Monday, will anyone read it? That’s a risk that will be taken as this edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement finds its way into thousands of email boxes in the hopes of informing people through stories about the built environment. I’m Sean Tubbs and I forgot it was Memorial Day until I just remembered.
In today’s installment:
UVA is seeking firms who want to partner on building up to 2,000 beds as part of an initiative to require second-year students to live on Grounds
A new survey wants to know where unsafe intersections are and where there is inadequate infrastructure
There’s potentially new life for a former open-air establishment in Downtown Charlottesville
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!
UVA to build two new residence halls with 2,000 units on Emmet Street, Ivy Road
The University of Virginia has laid out plans for how it will work to implement a strategic initiative to require all second-year students to live in residence halls.
“UVA is committed to helping address the housing challenges our collective community is facing and as such this development proposed 2,000 beds in apartment-style units along with associated food service venues at two potential sites,” said Michael Joy, UVA’s non-voting representative on the Charlottesville Planning Commission.
One of the sites is at the intersection of Emmet Street and Massie Road and the other is at the intersection of Emmett and Ivy Road. Both are identified in UVA’s master plan as suitable places for residential life.
“The University’s preference is to have the first phase of these new beds delivered for Fall 2027 occupancy,” reads a request for qualifications (RFQ) issued in late April. The deadline for requests was Wednesday and shortlisted firms will be invited to respond to a request for proposals on June 12.
The firm Brailsford & Dunlavey will serve as the development advisor for the project. The consultant has previously worked with UVA on studies to expand housing options for undergraduate students. That work led to the construction of Bond House as well as Gaston House and Ramazani House that’s nearing completion.
According to the RFQ, UVA has around 17,000 undergraduates and 8,300 graduate students.
“Nearly 7,300 students live on Grounds, including approximately 4,000 first year students,” the RFQ continues.
The RFQ is intended to fulfill the UVA strategic plan for 2030 which includes an initiative to require second-year students to live on campus, which UVA refers to as Grounds.
The Emmet North project will be on a 16-acre site next to Lambeth Apartments on the eastern side of U.S. 29. The RFQ describes the site as being ready for development once the Afghan Kabob restaurant is demolished.
“The site will border the University Circle neighborhood, and Proposers are encouraged to consider scale and fit within the context of the neighborhood,” reads a description in the RFQ. “The design must signal the entrance to UVA, referencing architecture and design of symbolic UVA landmarks.”
This will be the site of between 900 and 1,200 units as well as a “food-court dining program” with a coffee shop, a convenience store, and a restaurant.
The RFQ refers to a “temporary parking area” where the University Gardens apartment complex used to exist. Those were demolished in late 2022 after being deemed to be too costly to renovate.
The second site would be located on 2.25 acres in the Emmet Ivy Corridor.
“The proposed site sits at the westernmost parcels closest to Copeley Road,” said Joy.
Joy said both sites have been shown to the Lewis Mountain, University Circle, and Venable neighborhoods.
The Emmet-Ivy Corridor is already the home of the School of Data Science and will soon be the site of the Virginia Guesthouse, the Karsh Institute of Democracy and a possible Center for the Arts.
“The University envisions that the design and scale of the housing Project would fit within the fabric of the Emmet Ivy Corridor district,” the RFQ continues.
The existing University Forum apartments on this site will be demolished. There are to be between 600 and 800 beds in apartment-style units in buildings between six to eight stories.
This second site is also across Copeley Road from a private development on one acre that will be the only property on Ivy Road that the City of Charlottesville will collect property tax revenue. All of the land that UVA is building on was once owned by private companies. UVA is exempt from paying property taxes.
The Emmet North site is along the path of two city-run streetscapes that are among a number that have been plagued with delays.
UVA responded to questions posted after the initial RFQ was published. One of them asked whether UVA or Charlottesville had jurisdiction. The response doesn’t mention the city.
“All University projects are subject to the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code,” reads UVA’s response. “The University Building Official’s office will provide applicable review and, in collaboration with the Project Manager, coordinate additional reviews and permitting applications.”
Another question sought a definition of “apartment-style units”
“Bedrooms should be single occupancy and be of a scale that comfortably fits furniture but encourages residents to spend time in the shared spaces in their apartment,” reads the response to question #17. “The University is primarily interested in 4-bedroom apartments but will consider alternative configurations.”
A number of one bedroom apartments are also expected to accommodate individuals under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The occupancy rate of UVA student housing was 99 percent in 2024.
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Regional planning body seeks input on road safety initiative
The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission has taken the lead on coordinating a federal initiative that seeks to reduce injuries and fatalities from vehicular crashes. The Move Safely Blue Ridge project will create a formal plan to guide public investment in road improvements and other mitigations.
“The Safety Action Plan is a part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets and Roads for All Discretionary Program and will center on safety improvements for multi-modal means of transportation,” reads a press release.
To inform the plan’s creation, the TJPDC is seeking input through a survey that has a heavy visual component. People are asked to look at a map of the six localities in the TJPDC and identify areas where there are unsafe intersections, places prone to unsafe driver behaviors, inadequate infrastructure and other concerns.
So far there are only a handful of comments and those left by others are visible.
The written survey asks questions on transportation safety and should take between five to eight minutes to complete. Both components of the survey are open through June 25.
There will also be a series of community meetings with one in each locality. Details are on the website at movesafelyblueridge.com.
According to data on that website, there were 18 pedestrian fatalities in the entire TJPDC region between 2018 and 2022 and 157 people driving or riding in vehicles died. Of the latter, 90 people were not wearing a seatbelt and 75 people died in crashes where speeding was a factor.
Public notice: Skybar to rise again?
The future of a space briefly used as Charlottesville’s so-called Skybar may be a bit more clear now that a new application has been filed with Virginia’s alcohol regulators.
Downtown Skybar LLC has filed with the Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority for a mixed beverages license for 422 East Main Street, the site of the former Commonwealth Restaurant and Skybar.
The application states the business will trade as “Monks” and restaurateur J.R. Hadley is listed as the contact in a public notice printed in the Charlottesville Daily Progress. Hadley had been involved with the former Champion Restaurant Group which operated the now-closed restaurant Passiflora on the first floor.
The structure was built in 1920 and originally had two stories until a fire occurred some time in the 1960’s, according to a June 5, 2019 C-Ville Weekly article. That allowed a place for an open-air bar to open in the fall of 2011. When that operation went out of business, subsequent restaurants that took over the first floor did not open the SkyBar.
A public notice of the application was published in the Charlottesville Daily Progress on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, the second of two required publications. The first was on May 14.
Here are some other things in recent public notices. You’ll have to search for them, I’m afraid:
The Albemarle County Planning Commission will have a public hearing on a special use permit to allow Flow Hyundai to have outdoor sales at its new showroom that will be constructed between 2070 and 2150 Seminole Trail. More details in Monday’s edition of the Week Ahead newsletter. (Charlottesville Daily Progress, May 23, 2024)
There will be a public auction on July 17, 2024 at the Circuit Court in Albemarle County for a two acre piece of land referred to in the public notice as Parcel-X. There is more information on a law firm’s website, but I couldn’t get it to load. (Charlottesville Daily Progress, May 21, 2024)
On June 3, 2024, Charlottesville City Council will hold a public hearing on whether to establish a connection fee of $340 for new gas service. (Charlottesville Daily Progress, May 21, 2024)
On June 5, 2024, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing on changes to the Water Protection Ordinance to reflect changes in state law. More details in the June 2, 2024 edition of the Week Ahead newsletter. (Charlottesville Daily Progress, May 23, 2024)
Also on June 5, 2025, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing on a rezoning for the Holly Hills division which seeks a total of 410 residential units on 30.821 acres. This would be at the southeast corner of the intersection of Route 29 and S. Hollymead Drive. (Charlottesville Daily Progress, May 23, 2024)
The Buckingham Branch Railroad is seeking firms to bid on the installation of 160,000 linear feet of “New CWR on the North Mountain Subpision, Richmond & Alleghany Division of the Buckingham Branch Railroad.” Bids are due June 6. (Charlottesville Daily Progress, May 14, 2024)
Reading material:
Greene Co. agrees to pay over $6K for sewage violations, Keagan Hughes, WVIR 29NBC, May 14, 2024
Mid-Atlantic commercial real estate firm establishes Virginia base in Charlottesville, Emily Hemphill, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), May 15, 2024
Louisa County intersection becoming a roundabout, CBS 19, May 16, 2024
Two area buildings included on list of endangered historic places, CBS19, May 17, 2024
Charlottesville schools weighing security options, Luke Jordan, WVIR 29NBC, May 18, 2024
U.Va. Alumni Association submits plans for new Alumni Hall building, Caroline Hagood, Cavalier Daily, May 18, 2024
Computer issues delayed tax bills, Rittenhouse says, Heather Michon, Fluvanna Review May 22, 2024
Dems say budget compromise falls short without RGGI, Patrick Larsen, VPM, May 22, 2024
#681 is heading out of the station
This is where I confess I don’t have a subscription to the Charlottesville Daily Progress anymore solely because I find interacting with their subscriber interface to be ridiculously difficult. I want to rectify that and pay the $15 a month for a digital subscription, something that has value as their reporters cover a lot of ground and I want to read what they have to write.
Four-fifths of subscribers to Charlottesville Community Engagement are not paying for the service. That’s okay, because one-fifth are because they know that there is a value to the material I’ve been publishing for the past four years. There is a very small amount of premium content, and I believe those who pay know they’re helping to pay the way for others to learn what should be public information. Thanks for allowing me to have no paywall.
Town Crier Productions exists to do all of this work because making sure people know what’s happening is a big component of my journalistic philosophy. Every day I get to wake up and write about things that interest me in a way that others can learn from.
I know not everyone wants to pay. And that’s okay. I hope you learn something anyway, and share the information so I can continue to grow. I want to keep doing this. Please consider a Substack subscription. Eventually you will get a personalized thank you! You’re all valued!
While paid subscriptions aren’t mandatory for people to read the material, the material can’t be written if there aren’t enough paid subscribers. So, maybe today’s the day to support detailed information what’s happening?
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No kidding about the Daily Progress's subscription interface! We tried to support local journalism until we were unable to reach anyone with any interest in fixing the problem: being denied access to the e-edition, even though we should up as having a subscription that was up to date, so many times that I gave up. Subscribing to you has been far more satisfactory anyway!