Charlottesville Community Engagement
Charlottesville Community Engagement
May 30, 2023: Albemarle Planning Commission looks through Equity/Climate Actions lens
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May 30, 2023: Albemarle Planning Commission looks through Equity/Climate Actions lens

Plus: Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce picks a new leader

What’s five times six! Thirty! As in, the thirtieth day of the fifth month of 2023. And what’s five times 30? 150! And somehow, May 30 is the 150th day of 2023. Does any of this matter, or would it simply be better to say this is the penultimate day of May, a month that sounds so polite. Charlottesville Community Engagement is a newsletter and podcast that has nothing to do with any of that, but yet it does. 

On today’s program:

  • Charlottesville has released greenhouse gas emissions data for 2020 and 2021

  • There’s a new president for the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce

  • Another UVA employee joins the Albemarle Planning Commission

  • The Albemarle Planning Commission takes a look at the Equity and Climate Action lens, a major component of the new Comprehensive Plan

We’re not cutting back publication so sign up to see where this experimental newsletter goes next!

First shout-out: eBike Lending Library 

In today’s first subscriber supported shout-out, one Patreon supports wants you to know that Charlottesville now has an eBike Lending Library!  E-bikes are a great way to get around 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 we 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 releases latest data on greenhouse gas emissions 

The three major governments in the area all have ambitious plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to eliminate fossil fuels by 2050. Those plans are measured by inventories and the city of Charlottesville has released data for the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021.

“Due to stay-at-home orders and the reduction of GHG-producing activities, emissions levels dropped significantly,” reads a press release on the topic. “In fact, community-wide emissions were 45 percent below the 2011 baseline, which meets the City’s 2030 reduction target.” 

However, emissions began to increase again in 2021 and 2022 levels are also expected to be higher. City officials maintain they’re on the right track. 

“Ongoing efforts to reduce emissions remain relevant and timely, and new initiatives are ramping up as we move to implement the [Climate Action Plan] to permanently reduce our collective GHG emissions,” the release continues. 

Data collected is submitted to CDP, a global non-profit organization that runs a reporting platform used by localities participating in the Global Covenant of Mayors Commitment. Information comes from Dominion Energy, Charlottesville Gas, the Virginia Department of Transportation, both the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority and the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority, Amtrak, and the U.S. Census Bureau.

 

Chamber of Commerce selects new president

A woman who has spent many years working for the United States Chamber of Commerce has been selected to serve as next president and chief executive officer of the local counterpart. 

Natalie S. Masri will begin work leading the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce this Thursday. Masri has spent the last 12 years at the Center for Women in Business at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. 

“Businesses play a vital role in making our communities stronger, and the Chamber is the voice of the business community, serving as a champion, convener and catalyst,” Masri is quoted in a press release. “Having worked with chambers around the country as they tackle local challenges, I’m eager to apply those lessons in my home community.” 

Masri is also the founder of Brave May LLC according to her LinkedIn profile. That’s a consulting firm. Her appointment caps off a five-month search to replace Elizabeth Cromwell. Cromwell served in the position for four years before stepping down earlier this year

Interim president Andrea Copeland will become the Chamber’s chief operating officer. Copeland began work for the Chamber as a volunteer nearly 20 years ago. 

Natalie S. Masri

Albemarle Planning Commission up to full strength

After nearly a year of being down to six people, the Albemarle Planning Commission is back to having a full complement of seven voting members. Earlier this month, the Board of Supervisors selected Nathan Moore to represent the Rio District. 

“My day job is that I manage WTJU Radio,” Moore said in his introductory comments at the May 23 meeting of the Planning Commission. “That’s the University of Virginia’s community radio station as well as our student sister station.” 

Moore has spent the last three years representing the Rio District on the Albemarle County Service Authority. That is a six-member body that approves policy for the county’s public utilities. 

“And I also spent misspent youth playing SimCity and City Skyline so I’m looking forward to putting that to real world use,” Moore said. 

The terms of the Three Party Agreement call for the University of Virginia to have a non-voting representative but that position is vacant. The last person to hold that role was appointed last year to serve as the at-large member. 

Luis Carrazana is employed by the University of Virginia Office of the Architect as the Associate University Architect. He was appointed to the Planning Commission in January 2022 alongside Fred Missel, the director of development for the UVA Foundation. Missel now represents the Scottsville District.  

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.

Albemarle PC reviews tool to measure policy effects on equity, climate action

The development of a new Comprehensive Plan for Albemarle County puts equity and climate action as major drivers of government policy. At their meeting on May 23, the Planning Commission reviewed a new mechanism that will be used to help guide decisions.

“Understanding the purpose of equity and climate action ties back to our county mission overall,” said Jesse Brookins, the county’s director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Albemarle County. “To enhance the well-being and quality of life of all community members through the provision of the highest level of public service consistent with the prudent use of public funds.”

Brookins said the county needs to hold itself accountable in terms of how equitable county services are delivered. 

“In addition to that, having that consideration for climate change and how it would exasperate many existing challenges faced by our community and how responding effectively to climate change can benefit the community overall,” Brookins said. 

Enter the Equity / Climate Action Tool. Brookins said its purpose is to incorporate different perspectives while policies are crafted and adopted. He first began with a definition. (view the presentation

“The term equity describes the continuous process of action, reflection, and analysis of what is fair and just for all,” Brookins said. “This term is distinguished from equality. Whereas equality means providing the same to all, equity is a process that acknowledges an unequal starting place and continues to correct and address the balance.” 

The four aspects of equity according to the presentation (view the presentation)

And then there’s climate action, as defined by climate protection program manager Gabe Dayley.

“Climate change refers to drastic shifts to global weather patterns including increasingly extreme weather events due to average warming over time of the Earth’s surface temperature,” Dayley said. “And then climate action has kind of two main aspects. One, the technical term that’s used is mitigation and that really refers to reducing the severity of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.” 

The second aspect is adaptation and resilience, which Dayley said means preparing to withstand the increased severity of weather events. 

The tool asks several questions of a potential policy or new initiative. Here’s the broad overview.

“Do policies, programs, and projects align with climate action or equity?” Dayley asked. “The tool contains three preliminary questions and seven main questions.”

Dayley said the first three questions are a gut check.

“The first one just asks if there is an awareness of preexisting disparities and potential climate impacts in the community that intersect with that issue of the topic that is being addressed?” 

Then there are more deeper questions which seek to get further into the issue. Each answer is scored from 1 to 3 with 1 representing the status quo, 2 meaning an incidental impact, and 3 believed to have a meaningful impact. 

In addition to the score there would also be a written justification for why this score was given as well as how the score could be improved. 

“We also don’t want this to be critique for the sake of critique,” Dayley said. “We want this to improve the work that we all do in local government.” 

The first time the tool will be used is in development of the Comprehensive Plan. 

Commissioner Julian Bivins (Jack Jouett) said he was on board with the idea of a tool but has concerns about the practicality of the exercise. 

“This sounds like a fantastic sort of Ph.D seminar that you’re putting together,” Bivins said. “What’s the decision matrix on either what the Comprehensive Plan should do and what we would expect the results of the Comprehensive Plan to be. But what I haven’t seen and perhaps at some point you will be able to point out with some examples is how we would get to that score 3 position and what would that look like?” 

Bivins pointed out the most recent greenhouse gas inventory conducted by Albemarle indicated that 52 percent of emissions come from vehicles and 39 percent comes from heating and cooling buildings. He added that the Comprehensive Plan has many strategies to address that but the county isn’t fully in control. 

“We don’t own the transportation network,” Bivins said. “It’s going to say a bunch of things about where we can develop. We’re not even developing at the type of density at this community that would allow us to mitigate some of those two issues right there. And so, I’m trying to understand what’s the big lift from this other than it’s the appropriate thing to have.” 

Commissioner Luis Carrazana (At-Large) acknowledged there is a lot to do to develop the tool but said he was having difficulty seeing how there would be any outcomes. 

Commissioner Karen Firehock (Samuel Miller) said she works on these issues in her job as director of the Green Infrastructure Center. 

“I am really glad that our county is not shying away from the word equity,” Firehock said. “As we’re seeing at the Governor’s level, as well as some of the other localities in Virginia that we’re not going to hide under a rock and pretend that everything was always equal.” 

Firehock said she is hopeful that the work will result in outcomes that help guide policy. But she pointed out there will always be conflicts when there are competing goals and strategies. 

Commissioner Fred Missel (Scottsville) said he felt the purpose of the tool needed more clarity and explanation. 

“In my mind, a lens is something you can either use to see something closer or more clearly with and if I’m doing that I need to know what I’m focusing on so I’m not quite sure from this discussion yet what we’re focusing on,” Missel said. “What is that target that we’re looking to see more clearly with the lens?” 

Missel said the county also has to consider what the land use implications will be. Will it result in  more in-fill development? Development of more land that’s currently preserved? 

“Does that mean initiatives or incentives for developers to preserve certain areas to increase the open space that’s part of a Neighborhood Model District zone?” Missel asked. “All of those big questions about what does this really mean?” 

Missel also suggested the lens could add more time to the development review process. 

Commissioner Lonnie Murray (White Hall) had a suggestion. 

“It would be great to see some current policies run through this to see how they score,” Murray said. “Today someone mentioned land use valuation. I would love to see that if this a new program that we were passing today, how would that score?” 

Land use valuation is the practice where rural landowners are assessed a lower property tax rate if the land is used for a bona fide agricultural purpose. 

Brookins said he appreciated the feedback and he and Dayley would return with more information. 

Other articles by local journalists to read:

539 is ending now and here’s the last of it: 

This edition of the newsletter was written and produced in the emergency room of Lynchburg General Hospital and the podcast was recorded in the parking lot. All is well but it’s been a day of waiting on tests for a family member. They’re going to be okay.

The recent decision by Lee Enterprises to cut back print versions of the daily newspaper has me thinking a lot about what it means to cover a community. What could be done differently?

I’m hoping to find out and Town Crier Productions exists to put into action vague words about better community coverage. You can help by becoming a paid subscriber. Four people have done so since Sunday, and Ting will match their first 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!

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