November 20, 2024: First new grass athletic field installed at Darden Towe Park but needs some time before it can be used
Plus: A look at Albemarle County’s development pipeline
On any given day, there have been other days that shared the space on the calendar. For instance, on this day in 1776, British troops attacked Fort Lee and the Continental Army fled across New Jersey. Thirteen years later, New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights. Several decades later, Kentucky filed for secession. What will happen both on November 20 of this year and for those to come? This is Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and sometimes podcast that likely won’t be able to tell the full story. I’m Sean Tubbs, and I’m going to try to accomplish as much as I can.
In today’s installment:
The Virginia Public Access Project takes at how localities across Virginia turned out for the recent election
The developer of a parcel of land across from Fashion Square Mall will resubmit a proposal for a rezoning to allow less development on a portion of their 7.71 acre property
A look at Albemarle County’s development pipeline
Work has been completed for the first athletic field at Darden Towe
First shout-out: Supporting the Keswick Heritage Fund’s Love Better Project
The Keswick Heritage Fund is a partnership of several churches in Albemarle County that provides education support and opportunities for professional development. One of their outreach programs is the Love Better Project, which provides scholarships to Black students in the Keswick area. The fund was created soon after the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 2020.
Grace Episcopal Church, Union Grove Baptist, Union Run Baptist, Zion Hill Baptist and St. John Church are united for growth through community partnership and education. To learn more about the fund, the scholarships, and the churches themselves, visit their website at keswickheritagefund.com.
VPAP has more complete picture of turnout in 2024 elections
Fifteen days have passed now since the 2024 election and now attention turns to future elections. There are races for governor in both Virginia and New Jersey as well as all 100 seats in the House of Delegates.
The results of the November 5 election are still unofficial until being accepted by the State Board of Elections at their meeting on December 2. But there’s a more accurate picture of how many people participated in the election.
The Virginia Public Access Project has put together a map that visualizes turnout from 2024 compared to the statewide average. Across the entire Commonwealth, 70.2 percent of registered voters cast a ballot.
The counties of Goochland, Powhatan, and Hanover had the highest participation rates with 83.2 percent, 82.8 percent, and 81.7 percent respectively.
The City of Petersburg had the lowest turnout with 53.2 percent. The City of Emporia is next at 54.3 percent. The City of Hopewell was at 55.9 percent.
In the localities of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District, Nelson County had the highest turnout with 78.2 percent. Louisa County is next with 76.8 percent of registered voters casting a ballot. Fluvanna was close to that amount with 76.7 percent.
Greene County was next with 76.3 percent.
Turnout in Albemarle is at 72.9 percent.
Charlottesville follows the trend of most Virginia cities having a lower turnout than the statewide average. The rate in the city is at 65.7 percent.
Only the cities of Fairfax and Staunton had turnout above the statewide average with 72.1 percent and 71.3 percent respectively. In the Fifth Congressional District, turnout in Lynchburg is at 58.8 percent and Danville is at 60.9 percent.
Developer seeks more time on request to to change Rio Road form-based code
One of the topics in Albemarle County’s Comprehensive Plan update relates to the role of what planners call “activity centers.” These are areas where the county wants developers to build as much as they can in order to concentrate growth into specific areas.
“These centers are locations where higher density and intensity of uses are expected and the goal is to create walkable mixed-use centers and major employment hubs,” reads the draft land use chapter in what the county calls AC44.
One of those centers is the intersection of Rio Road and U.S. 29 where Supervisors adopted a form-based code in late 2019 to encourage that sort of use. This plan includes a “core” area.
“The Core character area has the highest intensity and most urban form of development within the District,” reads a definition of the Core in the form based code. “Development encompasses a mixture of uses and an active street life, encouraged by transparent façades, taller ceiling heights, and non-residential uses on the ground floors of buildings.”
Earlier this year, the Charlottesville Realty Corporation asked for a rezoning of 7.71 acres along Rio Road across from Fashion Square Mall to change the plan from “core” to “flex” on a portion of the property to allow for smaller buildings.
“Additional challenges with the core designation include the requirement for ground floor commercial, or buildings built to accommodate ground floor commercial on all sides,” reads the request for an amendment. “Preliminary development studies have revealed that development of the entire parcel in accordance with the core requirements would not be feasible.”
However, the developer has asked for a deferral which pauses staff review of the proposal after a meeting with county staff earlier this month.
“I am in the process of working through updated application materials per our meeting last week and we will resubmit in the next few weeks,” said Chuck Rapp of the firm Collins Engineering in a November 13 email. Rapp served for a brief time as Albemarle’s planning director.
In August, Albemarle County Supervisors ratified an economic development agreement to incentivize Home Depot to move more quickly on construction of a new store at the location of the now demolished Sears section of Fashion Square Mall. What was referred to as Project Julius is a $750,000 tax incentive that requires the new store to be open by December 24, 2025. Take a look at that story here.
Pipeline report: Nearly 4,000 housing units under review in Albemarle
If you ever want to know details about what is happening with a specific land use project in Albemarle County, staff regularly publish snapshots of data on what they call a development pipeline.
“The Development Pipeline is a term for a project’s progression through Albemarle County Community Development’s permitting process and build-out,” reads one answer on the FAQ section of the website.
The development dashboard has information on both residential and commercial units and has running tallies of what has been approved and what is still in the development process.
As of October 1, 2024, there are a total of 3,988 housing units under review by staff. These range from a rezoning request for 70 units for a project called Berkmar Flats in the Rio District to a rezoning request for 53 units in the expansion of the Beaver Hill Manufactured Home Park.
The latest report also shows that there are 134 residential by-right units approved but not yet built as well as 11,255 unbuilt units authorized through the legislative review process.
“By-right projects are those that can be built per a property’s current zoning district,” the FAQ continues. “Legislative review projects are for proposed developments that require either a different zoning district (rezoning) or are only allowed by special use (special use permit) in order to be permitted.”
The pipeline breaks out the approved list by planning neighborhoods, seven of which are numbered.
Neighborhood 1 includes Stonefield where 686 out of 800 approved units have been built. This also covers the 140 units at what had been called Premier Circle and is now Vista29. There are also the 250 units on Rio Road West and the 244 Woodbrook Apartments.
Neighborhood 2 includes Belvedere where 638 units out of an approved 775 units have been built. There’s also Parkway Place which used to be known as Rio Point. A total of 328 units are authorized there. There are 22 units not yet built in the fourth phase of Lochlyn Hill. That’s a rare development that straddles the border into Charlottesville.
Pantops is Neighborhood 3. A total of 93 units have been built at Riverside Village with another 12 unbuilt.
Neighborhood 4 includes Galaxie Farm where 61 out of 65 units have been constructed. A planned residential development at 1805 Avon Street allows for 85 units, none of which had been built by October 1, 2024.
In neighborhood 5, there is the potential that 100 units could still be built on a remaining portion of the Biscuit Run neighborhood. So far 131 units have been built in the first phase of Southwood with another 39 allowed. There are a total of a thousand units allowed at the second phase of Southwood. There’s also the Granger property to the south of the Fontaine Research Park where 203 units have been enabled.
Neighborhood 6? Zippo!
Neighborhood 7’s biggest project is the Old Ivy Residences project where a total of 525 units have been approved.
Then there’s Crozet. Unbuilt projects include the 122 units at Montclair. A group of neighbors filed suit on February 1, 2024 in Albemarle County Circuit Court against the developer and Stanley Martin Homes. The suit is listed as active but no hearing dates have been set. Another 115 units are expected at Old Dominion Village. So far, 56 of 106 units have been built at Wickham Pond II.
The listing for Old Trail Village is misleading. Originally 2,200 units were approved there, but the developers later came for a rezoning to lower the minimum number of homes that would be built.
“Expected buildout is approx 1,200 units,” reads the entry in the development pipeline.
So far 1,155 units have been built.
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!
First phase of Darden Towe grass fields completed
The first phase of a project to rebuild grass fields at Darden Towe Park has been completed. In April 2023, the Board of Supervisors agreed to pursue that project rather than install synthetic turf fields.
“This phased rebuilding of the fields consists of one of the four fields being taken out of use at time for the rehabilitation process to minimize disruptions to recreation activities,” reads a quarterly report from Albemarle County’s Facilities and Environmental Services division.
The fields are used for soccer and are strained by frequent use. The new fields will be built over a drainage system with stormwater management and irrigation. One change has been that sod has been installed rather than planting sprigs of grass into prepared soil.
“A resulting benefit of using sod is that the time the new field needs to establish and remain unused is reduced from 12 to 6 months,” the report continues.
More from the report in future editions of the newsletter.
Reading material:
Crozet, Greenbrier elementary schools recognized, CBS19 News, November 19, 2024
What Would Trump's Transportation Secretary Nominee Mean for Trucking?, Deborah Lockridge, Heavy Duty Trucking, November 19, 2024
Here’s where voters delivered climate wins at the state level, Leah Garden, Trellis, November 20, 2024
#765 even made the big city papers
The above is an example of a non sequitur. That means it’s not meant to mean anything. It’s a reference to a lyric from a Dead Milkmen song. This afternoon I’m taking the Northeast Regional from Trenton back to Charlottesville and that group is from Philadelphia.
I’ve spent at least five weeks this year up here and can feel my accent changing a little. My perspective on being an American has changed, too, as I am seeing much more of the country. Two trips to Chicago, too. I want to see more and try to understand.
Yet, throughout it all, I remain committed to writing this newsletter. There wasn’t going to be one today but I woke up at 6 a.m. ready to get writing. In four and a half years I’ve built up this newsletter as a way of communicating items that I think people want to know. Local journalism across the country has been gutted. Why? To what effect?
That’s not the point of Charlottesville Community Engagement or Information Charlottesville. I have an opportunity now to report what I think is important, and people can decide if they want to pay for it.
I want to get this newsletter out quickly before I leave because I want to spend the train ride home thinking about the future. What can I do differently as a business to make sure I can expand? What would it look like if I could hire someone? How can I find someone who wants to learn to cover a beat?
And a one, and a two…
Anyway. Off I go. Back tomorrow with another edition.
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