It’s the day before an election, though we live in a time when the actual voting is stretched out over several weeks. Today’s the last day before the votes get counted and we prepare for any changes that may occur. Charlottesville Community Engagement seeks to document whatever happens and to get ready for all of the editions that have yet to be written. I’m Sean Tubbs, because I’m contractually obligated to be.
On today’s program:
The Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors report that the trend of lower volumes of home sales continues, but so does the trend of higher sales prices
The University of Virginia is seeking firms who want to help study the future of two sites it owns in Fifeville, as well as the eventual fit-out of the UVA Hospital’s South Tower
The Charlottesville City Council will hold a public hearing on the Development Code on December 5 and will consider much of what the Planning Commission recommended in their approval
First-shout: ACHS to hold event on the Virginia Lewis & Clark Legacy Trail
In today’s first subscriber supported shout-out: Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville are connected to the legacy of Lewis and Clark Virginia story, providing an opportunity for further collaboration with local community partners to add to visitor options and increase tourism in our community.
To explain more, the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society are hosting a presentation on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Center at Belvedere on the Virginia Lewis & Clark Legacy Trail. Several board members will provide a brief history of the trail project, the why and how for its development, and a review of documented historic sites and recent discoveries along the trail.
The presentation will explain the Trail’s new program, conducted in partnership with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and Department of Transportation resulting in new signage installed on existing state historical markers throughout Virginia and in our local area.
RSVP in advance to attend in person. If you can’t make it, the event will be streamed live on Facebook Live.
CAAR report: Sales remained slow in 2023’s third quarter
The Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors has released its report on the real estate market for the third quarter of 2023 and a trend of lower volumes continues.
“Sales activity remained slow in the CAAR region,” reads the executive summary. “There were 980 homes sold in the CAAR market during the third quarter, 226 fewer sales than a year ago, reflecting a 19 percent drop.”
That figure is down from 1,460 sales in the third quarter of 2020.
Meanwhile the median sales price continues to climb with a nine percent year-to-year increase to $440,000 per home. There were fewer homes on the market with an 11 percent decrease from the third quarter of 2022.
“Tight inventory conditions are driving up home prices as buyers compete for a limited number of homes on the market,” the report continues. “Statewide, the median sales price in the third quarter of 2023 was $395,000, which rose five percent from a year ago.”
The median sales price for new construction continues to increase. The average price in the third quarter of 2019 was $403,350 and that’s increased to $510,494 in this latest period.
The report notes that building permits are down across the region with 840 issued across the CAAR footprint, down from 1,247 from the previous third quarter.
The report also notes that interest rates are at their highest level since 2000 with the average rate of 7.63 percent for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage as of the third week of October.
Sales were down in all six localities in the CAAR footprint.
UVA seeks firms to conduct planning study for Grove Street properties
The draft master plan for the University of Virginia calls for the redevelopment of its properties in the Fifeville neighborhood south of the railroad track. Now the state institution has issued a request for qualifications for a firm to conduct a study to prepare for the future.
“The purpose of the planning study is to assess potential program uses of the sites to support UVA Health and the community, and explore potential density, access, and related impacts,” reads the request for proposals.
UVA paid $8.73 million in August 2016 to buy 2.63 acres of land on Grove Street and King Street. Now the RFQ divides the land into two sites, both of which are designated as Redevelopment Zones in the 2023 Grounds Framework plan. (Grounds Framework Plan points way to future of UVA’s built environment, June 18, 2023)
“Redevelopment zones provide for potential growth and were designated based on their location, size, and potential opportunities to contribute to the University at large,” the RFP continues. “Since these sites are on the southern edge of Grounds, an important aspect of this planning study will be neighborhood engagement with the Fifeville community early in the process of developing the study.
Uses suggested for the future include neighborhood clinics, child care, housing, community uses and parking.
The RFQ does not include the recently purchased Oak Lawn property which UVA bought for $3.5 million in October. Responses from firms are due on November 27 with a final proposal due to UVA by January 22, 2024.
Meanwhile, UVA has also issued a second request for qualifications for a firm to plan for the eventual occupation of the top three floors in the UVA Hospital’s south tower.
“Completed in 2020, the new 440,000-square-foot bed tower includes 84 private patient rooms with the capacity to accommodate 84 additional beds in the future,” reads that notice.
Both notices can be found on the UVA Facilities Management page.
Second shout-out: eBike Lending Library
In today’s second subscriber supported shout-out, one Patreon supporter wants you to know that Charlottesville now has an eBike Lending Library! 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!
Council discusses next step Development Code catch-up continues
A machine to stop time has either not been invented or I am not in possession of such a device. As such, I’m a little behind on my attempt to create a thorough account of the creation of a new zoning code for Charlottesville. As you know, that’s the third step in the Cville Plans Together initiative.
Council’s fourth work session on this topic was held on October 25, 2023 and was not intended to be an exhaustive discussion of what will be in the final product.
“The goal of the work session is for us to decide on the Charlottesville Development Code text and map which the Council will advertise for public hearing,” said Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook. (review the materials)
Council set that public hearing for December 5. The legal advertisement to be published on November 21 will include the two new districts created to fulfill the Comprehensive Plan goal of providing some protection from speculative development for certain areas of the city that are known in the Future Land Use Map as “Sensitive Communities.”
Council may decide not to proceed with the two districts after their deliberations, but that information will be included in the legal notice to satisfy Virginia law on public hearing requirements.
“We’re going to err on the side of inclusivity of provisions and that does not mean that merely because we are adding it in or agreeing to put it in a particular provision that reflects Council’s decision that we know where the five votes are,” Snook said.
The Planning Commission recommended its version of the Development Code on October 18 and included two new zoning districts that had not been included in their public hearing from September 18. One of them is Residential Core Neighborhood-A District.
“It identifies a set of core neighborhoods that have served as a location for workforce housing historically and there’s a desire to see them continue to provide that use going forward,” said James Freas, the city’s director of Neighborhood Development Services.
In the draft that went before the Planning Commission, the least permissive zoning district was the Residential-A neighborhood which allows property owners up to three units as a base.
Under the RN-A district, that would be restricted to one unit with two additional units allowed only if the existing structure is kept.
“The idea there is to keep the opportunity and the space for accessory dwelling units,” Freas said. “The RN-A district would allow up to six units where all of the bonus units are affordable to 60 percent of the area median income.”
Freas said these RN-A areas would also not allow as much building footprint as Residential-A.
The second district is called a Core Neighborhoods Overlay District and would require developers on portions of Cherry Avenue and Preston Avenue to get a special exception permit if they wanted the same amount of building space allowed in similar areas elsewhere.
“The underlying premise of that district is that the starting point is that we lower the proposed density to the [Corridor Mixed Use 3] in those corridors and then apply the overlay,” Freas said. “If you want additional stories, you have to provide a minimum of two items on a community benefit list.”
Vice Mayor Juandiego Wade said he understood that both are seen as temporary measures while small area plans are conducted to further gauge community expectations.
“And I understand we can’t say let’s just put things on pause until we do the study because things will continue to roll,” Wade said.
Council opted to advertise just the text for those districts but not to advertise a map at this time to allow for maximum flexibility.
Council also went through the various changes that the Planning Commission recommended to see if they wanted to proceed.
First they discussed map changes.
Councilor Michael Payne expressed concerns about increasing intensity in the Venable neighborhood as well as other areas recommended to increase from Node Mixed Use 5 to Node Mixed Use 10, but said he was comfortable advertising them. Other were fine to go with what the six appointed Planning Commissioners recommended.
“I can say that I don’t know of anything that I would want to do that would increase the intensity of the use over what the Planning Commission recommended,” Snook said.
Council also agreed to advertise changes that the Planning Commission recommended, such as allowing commercial uses by-right on corner lots in Residential-B and Residential-C districts. That doesn’t mean Council has agreed to support that in the final zoning code.
Under the new zoning, building sizes will be set by standards and it will ultimately be up to the zoning administrator to sign off on what’s proposed. That includes granting additional height if affordable units are provided. Neighbors would not have a say in that process, but would not entirely without a voice.
“If the neighbor believes that the zoning administrator has not properly applied the ordinance by granting the additional stories, then the neighbor could conceivably if they can demonstrate they’re an aggrieved party, they can appeal it to the Board of Zoning Appeals,” said Sharon Pandak, an outside counsel hired to assist City Council with the vote.
The Council had a more in-depth discussion of the two overlay districts at their meeting on November 1. That will be next in this series. When will that one be published? Good question.
Can you believe we’re at the end of #597
In a perfect world, there’s one of these newsletters posted each day because there’s enough information to get to. However, at this moment in time it’s just me to get all of the writing done as well as running all the management aspects required to keep Town Crier Productions going.
That will change in the future, and the audio version today once again features a sound bite from Jenn Finazzo, who earns a shout-out for Fiori Floral Studio. Unfortunately there’s no copy editor for this one.
I’m hoping to get another edition out tomorrow, but if I do not, you can get a production update on my page on Substack Notes. Substack is a great platform for independent writers like me, and paid subscriptions are always welcome.
If you do so, Ting will match your initial subscription as part of a unique sponsorship agreement. I’m grateful to Ting for their support of my style of community journalism.
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November 6, 2023: CAAR reports home prices continue to increase in market with decreasing inventory