October 10, 2024: Charlottesville transportation staff will conduct a city-wide study of speed limits following pedestrian fatality
Plus: Nelson County Supervisors agreed to fund Sheriff’s request for traffic enforcement officer
If a less-than-meticulous count is correct, then this is the 743rd edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. What does that particular number bring to mind for you? For me, I think about Route 743 which runs for about 13 miles through Albemarle County from Hydraulic Road to Advance Mills Road. Turns out, there are 34 other counties in Virginia that have a Route 743. Perhaps one day someone will write a novel that ties all of them together? Until then, it’s time for the October 10, 2024 edition of the program. I’m Sean Tubbs, and Albemarle’s 743 is the longest. (see for yourself!)
In today’s installment:
Nelson County’s Sheriff asks for and receives funding for a dedicated traffic enforcement officer for U.S. 29 and
Several city residents are calling on Charlottesville City Council to drop speed limits in the wake of a pedestrian fatality earlier this month
The latest numbers on inflation are posted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Nelson County Supervisors agreed to fund work on a Virginia Tech regional housing study
There’s a new name for the agency that runs the Crossings at Fourth and Preston
A look at some new businesses coming up in Albemarle County
Charlottesville Area Transit will delay some long-awaited schedule changes until November 9
First-shout: Stand-up comedy night at Rapture on Tuesday
In today’s first no-strings-attached shout-out: On Tuesday, people who want to make other people laugh will take the stage at Rapture on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall. The Tip Top Twins and Jemar O’Neal will host the R.O.F.L. Stand-Up Comedy Showcase at 8 p.m. on the Downtown Mall. To learn more, take a listen to a recent radio interview on WTJU.
Nelson agrees to fund additional Sheriff’s Deputy for speed enforcement
Since taking office as the Nelson County Sheriff on January 1, Mark Embry has made it a priority to keep public highways safe.
“The U.S. 29 corridor and the Route 151 corridor see the most law enforcement activity due to the amount of traffic that we see in those areas and we've seen the amount of crashes that have come through that,” Embry said.
There were four fatalities on U.S. 29 Nelson County in August and Embry wants to step up enforcement activity. He needs the personnel to do it.
“We are very fortunate and blessed to have a fully staffed office and that our deputies are doing the absolute best they can do,” Embry said. “But at the end of the day, the reality of it is they can't be everywhere at one time.”
Embry said his deputies often get pulled away from traffic enforcement and so he asked for funding for a dedicated position that would only serve U.S. 29 and Route 151 during school hours. The position will begin on January 1, 2025.
Last December, Supervisors rejected a request to install speed cameras in the school zones. Central District Supervisor Ernie Reid voted for that initiative
“Putting financial resources into the department, into staff, into having a physical presence instead of a camera and lights on these corridors is, I think absolutely the best that we could possibly do and I think that this would be money well spent,” Reid said.
Funding for the position will come from forfeiture assets and court fines. The yearly cost for the position will be $76,426 according to a staff report.
City Council discusses pedestrian safety in wake of pedestrian death on Elliott Avenue
Days after a woman was killed crossing Elliott Avenue after sunset on the evening of October 3, her death permeated much of Charlottesville City Council’s first meeting of the month.
“A 64 year old woman, Mamawa Samai, was killed in the incident,” said City Councilor Natalie Oschrin. “I hope I speak on behalf of all of us up here that we were heartbroken to learn of that, and that we are going to try to do what we can to continue making improvements to bike pedestrian infrastructure in this city.”
Several speakers during the City Council’s public comment period urged the city to invest more in sidewalks and other ways to make pedestrians safer.
“There's going to be a lot of work to do and it's going to be quite expensive,” said Peter Krebs with the Piedmont Environmental Council. “But this is what cities do. Cities build sidewalks and it's our collective responsibility to do it. Let's remember also that not fixing this stuff is even more expensive. What's the value of a human life? It's incalculable.”
Dan Miller, a resident of Avon Street, called for raised crosswalks to be installed at locations such as the location area where Samai was killed.
“If you go up to Alexandria, you can see these crosswalks all over their arterial roads,” Miller said. “They allow for emergency vehicles to travel through the area at full speed, but they slow down normal traffic.”
Frankie Allen, a resident of Green Street, is a nurse who called traffic safety a public health concern. She called for additional lighting but also a reshaping of Elliott Avenue itself.
“I would also argue that the width of the road at that point is part of what is so dangerous,” Allen said. “If you are driving, it is so hard to see both the traffic that's coming towards you, as well as to actually be able to see whether or not there are people who are trying to cross.”
When it came time for him to give his regular report, City Manager Sam Sanders acknowledged Samai’s death.
“There are multiple issues that contributed to the loss of Miss Samai and I submit that we can do better,” Sanders said.
For many years, the city has struggled to implement sidewalk projects, but the relatively new administration is beginning to make progress.
For instance, city crews recently closed a sidewalk gap on the northern side of Elliott Avenue south of Ridge Street.
On Friday, Deputy City Manager for Operations James Freas called together the city’s transportation planners to identify what can be done in the short term. One will be a city-wide study of the speed limits.
“Compare those in relation to our Streets That Work plan and the designated design speeds for those streets, and then propose back to council speed limit adjustments citywide,” Freas said.
Freas urged members of the public to visit the Move Safely Blue Ridge initiative being spearheaded by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. (visit the website)
Sanders said Council will next review transportation at the November 4 work session. He also said this will come up in the development of the FY26 budget.
“Capital improvement program work will be discussed by the planning commission also in November and then finalized in December,” Sanders said.
The city is still trying to fill a vacant traffic engineer position, a task Freas said has been difficult due to competition for skilled employees. One option might be to outsource the work.
To learn more about transportation planning in Charlottesville, here are some resources:
Charlottesville now provides an update on upcoming projects on its website, something that has not been consistent during my time as a reporter. (go look at the site)
In May, city staff described how they feel they must earn back the city’s trust on transportation issues. Here’s a story I wrote.
For many years, the city accepted funding from the Virginia Department of Transportation for a series of projects that have not yet been built. Two years ago, they canceled two projects and the Commonwealth Transportation Board discussed the matter. Take a look at that story, too.
Charlottesville’s Comprehensive Plan has a transportation chapter. Have you read it? It begins on page 55.
There’s an appendix to the Comprehensive Plan with a whole narrative on the city’s roadways. (read that document)
Any questions?
Consumer Price Index up 0.2 percent in September
For the third time in three months, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics is reporting a 0.2 percent increase in the national metric that tracks costs of goods and service.
The Consumer Price Index has now increased 2.4 percent over the last 12 months. That’s the smallest yearly increase since February 2021.
The cost of housing increased 0.2 percent in September and the index for food went up 0.4 percent. The cost of medical care, clothing, airline fares, and motor vehicle insurance increased while the cost of energy decreased 1.9 percent over August.
Every month, the CPI is calculated by collecting data from a wide variety of sources.
“Prices are collected each month in 75 urban areas across the country from about 6,000 housing units and approximately 22,000 retail establishments (department stores, supermarkets, hospitals, filling stations, and other types of stores and service establishments),” reads an explanation in this morning’s announcement.
Prices include taxes paid by the purchaser. Revisions to the CPI are made frequently and next month there will be a change in the way physicians’ services and outpatient hospital services are collected. Learn more on the BLS site
Are you an economist? Do you have any insight into these numbers and would like to offer some information? Drop me a line as I’m looking to cultivate people who can put national metrics in perspective for a local and regional audience.
Second shout out: Charlottesville E-bike Lending Library
The rolling topography of the Charlottesville area keeps some people away from choosing cycling as an option to get around. Perhaps an e-bike is in order?
That’s where Charlottesville’s eBike Lending Library comes in! 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!
Nelson Supervisors agree to contribute $10,000 to housing study
The cost of housing has risen in the localities of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission over the past few decades due to a variety of factors. In 2021, the regional body adopted a plan called Planning for Affordability that identified potential solutions. (read the document)
The implementation of plans is often only as good as the data that follows. The TJPDC is now in the early stages of conducting another study with more details. The last data was collected in 2019 as part of a housing needs assessment. (view the assessment)
“The median household income at the time was $53,000,” said Laurie Jean Talun, Regional Housing and Community Development Grants Manager for the TJPDC. “There were 485 renter-households and over 1,000 owner-households who were paying more than 30 percent of their income on housing, which we know is cost burdened.”
Just two years later, the Planning for Affordability report captured Nelson’s median household at $64,313. The TJPDC now wants to do a follow up to see what other changes have occurred.
“We want to have a really up to date picture of all of the housing markets in our region, but this one also is going to break out each locality in a lot more depth we did before,” Talun said.
The TJPDC wants Nelson County to contribute $10,000 to the study which would be conducted in partnership with the Virginia Center for Housing Research at Virginia Tech. The work will take place over two years and will include community listening sessions.
“They're really adamant that they want to help localities like ours,” Talun said. “And they've worked with lots of different parts of Virginia, covering a lot of the rural areas and understanding the different housing needs of each different rural county.”
The two-year process would coincide with a review of Nelson County’s zoning code to implement parts of the Comprehensive Plan. The Berkley Group has been hired to continue their work to assist Nelson’s long-term planning efforts.
“I think it's a small investment into a big project that we need the information, especially at this point,” said West District Supervisor David Parr.
TJPDC officials also asked Greene County to support the study this week. What happened? Stay tuned to Charlottesville Community Engagement.
Virginia Supportive Housing rebrands as Support Works, renames U.S. 29 project
An organization that developed and continues to maintain a 60-unit supportive housing facility in Charlottesville now has a new name.
On September 18, Virginia Supportive Housing began calling itself SupportWorks.
“Building on 35 years of experience working to end homelessness in Virginia, our new name, logo, and graphic platform reflects our continued commitment to combining professional property development and management with integrated support services to deliver measurable results for individuals and communities,” reads a Facebook post from that day.
Under the old name, SupportWorks opened The Crossings at Fourth and Preston in March 2012. That project came with $1.55 million in funding from the city to allow the organization to buy land from Region 10.
A project to create an 80-unit supportive housing facility at the site of the former Red Carpet Inn on U.S. 29 in Albemarle County has been slow to get off the ground. Supervisors approved a rezoning in February 2021 for what has been called Premier Circle. Increasing construction costs lead to budget gaps that have been filled partially with local funds.
Now SupportWorks has rebranded their 80-unit project as Vista 29 and ground will be broken on October 30. That’s according to a story from Emily Hemphill in today’s Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall).
Southwest Mountain Vineyards cleared to hold weddings and other events
Every now and then, I check Albemarle County’s land use database to see what new zoning clearances have been granted.
“To open a commercial or industrial business in Albemarle County, you need a Zoning Clearance (CLE), no matter what size or form your business takes,” reads a page on the county’s website.
Here’s some of what I’ve found this week:
On August 5, 2024, the county approved a zoning clearance for a Discount Tire franchise to operate at the site of a former Wendy’s on Seminole Trail near the Rio Road grade separated intersection. The address is 1636 Seminole Trail. (CLE202400100)
On September 11, 2024, the county approved a zoning clearance for Harold’s Chicken to replace the Wingzone at Stonefield. On that same day the company sent out a press release. (CLE202400111)
On Tuesday, Albemarle approved a zoning clearance for Southwest Mountain Vineyards to hold weddings and other events at their location off of Route 231 in Cismont (CLE202400115)
The Charlottesville Catholic School is holding a 5K race this Saturday. The county approved a zoning clearance on September 12. Sign up here! (CLE202400117)
South Paddock Winery in the White Hall Magisterial District requested a permit for outdoor amplified music and this was approved on October 4. A zoning clearance had not been granted as of Wednesday. (CLE202400120) (CLE202400121)
A company called Wendell House LLC has filed for a zoning clearance for a small convenience store at 1160 Old Trail Drive. (CLE202400130)
CAT delaying service changes to November 9
Charlottesville Area Transit has postponed upcoming service changes for two weeks in order to ensure that online tools are ready to reflect the many adjustments.
“This will allow us to ensure that all our partners, including ETA Spot, are updated, and fully tested by that date,” said Garland Williams, the CAT director.
ETA Spot is the vendor who provides real-time monitoring services that allows used to virtually locate vehicles.
The release also states that Route 6 will not be adjusted to eliminate service between Willoughby Shopping Center and the UVA Medical Center at Pinn Hall.
Reading material for #743
Community event focused on Albemarle's agricultural history coming up, CBS19, October 9, 2024
Climate change boosted Helene’s deadly rain and wind and scientists say same is likely for Milton, Associated Press (via WVIR 29NBC), October 9, 2024
Fairfax County awaits clarity from state on new Chesapeake Bay protection rules for developers, Scott McCaffrey, FFX Now, October 9, 2024
High water damages Pleasant Grove bridge, Heather Michone, Fluvanna Review, October 10, 2024
Fluvanna fills trucks for Hurricane Helene relief, Heather Michone, Fluvanna Review, October 10, 2024
About 38% of Americans think mental health isn’t adequately treated [and] Va.’s working to change that, Charlotte Rene Woods, Virginia Mercury, October 10, 2024
#743 has a start point and an end point
This newsletter takes a fairly direct approach at covering government, emerging from a philosophy that government relies on entities that keep an eye on what’s happening. I’ve spent many years writing about transportation including a desire for some to slow down drivers. Some may recall my coverage of this in 2016, when a retired UVA Computer Science professor installed a camera system to track speeds in real-time.
Almost every newsletter is produced on a street in Charlottesville that’s perhaps like any other. I’ve witnessed vehicles speeding past at more than 60 miles per hour, right next to a city park. Somehow in 16 years of living here, I’ve only seen one collision but I’m bracing for the day when a pedestrian is killed.
I hope it never happens, and I urge anyone who routinely exceeds the speed limit on neighborhood roads to please stop doing so. Today’s heavier vehicles have dramatically increased the likelihood that someone struck will get killed.
I want a better world, and that includes fewer people dying unnecessarily. And that’s part of why I do this work.
No selling of the newsletter today, but I’m going to put the Ting logo up as well as the usual cut-and-paste verbiage.
If you sign up for service and you are within Ting’s service area, enter the promo code COMMUNITY you’re going to get:
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A second month for free
A $75 gift card to the Downtown Mall
