How does a fish get through the water? It can’t do so very well without a fin, but it manages all of the same. It’s October 17, 2022, and as good a day as any to ponder the many ways people move through this life, and to express a sincere hope that everyone has the opportunity to get where they need to go. You’ve arrived at the 444th installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, so let’s dive in. I’m Sean Tubbs.
On today’s show:
Democratic challenger Josh Throneburg outraises Republican incumbent in latest campaign finance numbers for Virginia’s Fifth District race
Charlottesville announces funding opportunities for affordable housing initiatives
A member of the Fluvanna County School Board and Planning Commission has died
A look back at a site plan conference for more details on a plan to build 245 units on the floodplain on the Rivanna River off of East High Street
First shout-out: Rivanna Conservation Alliance Round-Up wrap-up
In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out: The Rivanna Conservation Alliance would like to thank everyone who participated in the recent Rivanna River Round-Up! In all, 243 helped remove 173 tires, filled up 148 bags of trash and attended to 27 miles of river and trail. To help cover the costs, the Rivanna Conservation Alliance is selling t-shirts. Want to get involved with ongoing clean-up efforts? On Saturday, October 22, the RCA will hold a stream buffer maintenance day at Crozet Elementary School to check in on how trees planted three years ago are holding up. Visit rivannariver.org to learn more.
Throneburg outraises Good in Virginia’s Fifth District
Election Day is now 22 days away and today is the final day to register to vote. As of yesterday, 256,417 Virginians have cast a ballot in early voting with 29,029 of those in the Fifth District. The Virginia Public Access Project is tracking that number each day.
The latest reports have been filed with the Federal Election Commission for activity between July 1 and September 30. Democratic challenger Joshua Throneburg raised a total of $272,549.88 in the period. The campaign spent $242,124.15 and had $156,473.54 of cash on hand. (read the whole report)
Republican incumbent Bob Good raised $211,569.23 in the period and spent $216,321.41, leaving a total of $316,670.66 of cash on hand. Take a look at Good’s report here.
Overall, Good has outraised Throneburg for the total campaign.
Cardinal News has a long profile of Good’s time in Congress and his reputation as being one of the most extreme conservatives in the entire House of Representatives. Take a read to learn more. The two candidates will hold a debate on October 26 at Hampden-Sydney College.
City announces new funding opportunities for affordable housing projects
Charlottesville City Council adopted an affordable housing plan in March 2021 and more than a year and a half later one of the recommendations is being implemented.
“Charlottesville should build governance structures that institutionalize an equitable and efficient implementation of the Affordable Housing Plan,” reads one goal on page 13 of the plan.
One strategy to achieve that goal is to create a standardized funding process. Yesterday the city issued a Notice of Funding Availability that lays out four several ways for organizations to apply for money for affordable housing initiatives.
“City preference identifies affordable housing initiatives as those that support long-term affordability for households earning up to 60% Average Median Income (AMI),” reads the announcement.
There is $414,970 available through the Community Development Block Grant program and $112,173 through the HOME program. A request for proposals is currently open with an October 31 deadline.
There is $575,000 available through the Housing Operations & Program Support category in the city’s Vibrant Communities Fund and that request for proposals will go out on December 1.
There is $835,000 available through the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund to be “used to directly support affordable projects or initiatives.” That request for proposals would go out on January 1.
The fourth category is for “Housing Development Project Investments” for “Housing developments projects requesting significant investment consideration by the City including [Low Income Housing Tax Credit] projects.” This one includes the least information with no preset amount of funds specified and with no date for when this funding would be available. The announcement states that this is intended to be “gap funding” for multi-family affordable housing projects.
Recent examples of the latter include a $5.5 million forgivable loan to the Piedmont Housing Alliance for the first phase of redevelopment at Friendship Court. Low-Income Housing Tax Credits are authorized by the entity formerly known as the Virginia Housing Development Authority and the next round of awards will be made next spring.
The Office of Community Solutions will issue the requests for proposals and details about each are in the notice that went out Thursday.
Fluvanna County School Board Member dies
A member of both of the School Board and Planning Commission in Fluvanna County has died. A Facebook group called Lake Monticello New has reported that Gequetta “G” Murray-Key died Tuesday after “a brief battle with leukemia.”
According to the Fluvanna Review, Murray-Key was elected to represent the Rivanna District on the School Board last November with nearly 53 percent of the vote. She also served on the Planning Commission. She was also the associate superintendent of the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail and an adjunct professor of police science at Piedmont Virginia Community College.
Second shout-out: The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign
Since the very beginning of this newsletter, one Patreon supporter who has been there since July 2020 has used his shout-out to draw your attention to the work of the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign. The campaign is a coalition of grassroots partners including motivated citizens and volunteers, partner organizations, and local governments who want to promote the use of native plants. We’re now in the autumn and if you’re already looking forward to the spring, this is the time to learn about what you need to plan to attract pollinators who’ll keep native species going. To learn more, visit plantvirginianatives.org to download Piedmont Native Plants: A Guide for Landscapes and Gardens.
Project to build 245 units at East High Street detailed at site plan conference
It is fairly common for planned developments in the community to become controversial. A plan to build 245 units in three apartment buildings in the floodplain along East High Street is attracting a lot of opposition, including a filing on October 4 with the Federal Emergency Management Agency challenging a recent flood map amendment.
Charlottesville’s Department of Neighborhood Development Services hosted a site plan review conference on October 5 to give members of the public the chance to have their say, even if the project is allowed under the city’s rules.
“Our team is excited about the opportunity to create a high-quality, multifamily residence at this strategic location in Charlottesville,” said Gray Poole, a partner with the Selwyn Property Group of Charlotte, North Carolina.
The project is a by-right development, meaning the current zoning supports that level of density. Selwyn Property is partnering with Southeast Apartment Investors on this project.
“We’re also pleased to be partnering with our second project with Charlottesville-based Seven Development which has developed numerous properties in Charlottesville and Albemarle County,” Poole said.
The project is being shepherded through the review process by Shimp Engineering.
“Essentially there is a field that is behind Caroline Avenue between the [Rivanna] River and the Rivanna Trail,” said Justin Shimp.
The site plan is to construct the buildings at this site on fill dirt that will elevate the foundation out of the flood plain with a fifteen foot retaining wall.
“There will be anywhere between 15 and 18 feet of fill placed to elevate these buildings above the floodplain elevation.
The trail itself would remain and would be buffered by open space in the floodway.
“The proposed access points for vehicular traffic would be through High Street and over on Caroline Avenue,” Shimp said. “On Caroline Avenue we will build a public right of way to our property.”
The Rivanna River Company would be allowed to stay where they are located. Shimp suggested the apartments could provide new customers.
“But the zoning has been in place for a long time for this particular type of use and we’re the development team that has come along now to construct it,” Shimp said.
Shimp said this is a preliminary site plan so details such as final location of sidewalks and the exact stormwater infrastructure would be worked out through the final site plan process.
Many people took advantage of the opportunity to ask questions. The first got right to the point and mentioned a legal challenge being mounted by an opposition group known as the Free Bridge Floodplain Advocacy Group.
“In 2021, FEMA issued a Letter of Map Revision on a request by Shimp Engineering that moved the floodway away from the proposed site of this development and further onto the Albemarle bank of the Rivanna,” said Lise Stoessel. “Neighbors have submitted a petition to FEMA for reconsideration of this change. It would be inappropriate for the city to approve this site plan while it is under legal challenge.”
That petition was filed on October 4 and claims that Shimp did not disclose a financial interest in a property that would be affected. (view the petition)
“FEMA subsequently deflected the City’s technical questions on the grounds that FEMA relied instead on the engineer’s professional, independent expertise,” reads paragraph 1 of the petition.
Stoessel asked the direct question: How would this development be affected if FEMA was persuaded to grant the request.
Shimp did not respond right away or at the end of the meeting.
Next, group member and landscape architect Zoe Edgecomb said the development would make flooding worse on both side of the river, as well as other negative effects.
“Increases in water pollution due to the high amount of impervious area and asphalt, traffic congestion, decreased air quality due to the increase in traffic, increased chance of personal injury or death due to inadequate infrastructure, displacement of wildlife, loss of tree cover contributing to climate effects, and diminishment of public space,” Edgecomb said.
Edgecomb requested the Charlottesville Planning Commission look at the site plan and the city explore all avenues to deny the project. She didn’t ask a question.
More people asked similar questions and made similar observations expressing concerns. One positive voice in favor was Peter Krebs of the Piedmont Environmental Council who said there was a lot to like about the proposal.
“Leaving aside the technical questions, I think it’s important to point out that this is a great place for housing,” Krebs said. “Now, those technical considerations are super important.”
Krebs said people from this location could walk to a grocery store, schools and transit. But he said the project could only reach its potential if connectivity between High Street and the Rivanna Trail is improved. He also had questions about the material that will be used to lift the buildings out of the floodway.
“What is the composition of this fill?” Krebs asked. “Is it going to be clean fill? How does it contribute to the nutrients, and general health of that surrounding soil scape?”
Disclosure: The Piedmont Environmental Council is a sponsor of the Week Ahead newsletter but they have no input into my editorial process.
The owner of a nearby business expressed concern about that much vehicular traffic would be on East High Street. She asked for a traffic study to be done.
But nothing about this development would require one to be conducted because it is a by-right development.
City Councilor Michael Payne was almost on the call. He noted that the Thomas Jefferson Planning District has been doing a series of plans for the Rivanna River corridor for many years. Take a look at them yourself.
“Have you looked at this plan at all?” Payne asked. “Are you looking to incorporate the goals of that plan into this development in any way?”
Payne urged Shimp to reach out to City Council and staff.
“There are absolutely very real community concerns,” Payne said. “We are not looking to just put out any reasons out of thin air to deny any project that there is but there are some very real concern that I think can be worked on.”
Several dozen more speakers also had their say.
Shimp responded to some of the concerns at the end and repeated many of them regarding sidewalks and traffic would be worked out in through the final site plan.
“We certainly understand that there’s more traffic coming out of this development but there are measures in place to help control that, where entrances are, how they have to be built, there are limited right-in, right-out,” Shimp said. “These are all part of the city code already that will take us a year or more to work through.”
Shimp said there would be net benefits to the city with this development by providing housing close in.
But, he also addresses the Letter of Map Revision before the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He said any landowner has the right to ask for the review based on more accurate data than collected by FEMA during its general survey.
More on this by-right development as more comes to be known. I’ll also soon have the rest of the September 27, 2022 meeting between the Planning Commission and the City Council about a zoning rewrite that when completed might see a Charlottesville where almost all developments would be by-right.
You can review the site plan meeting on the city’s website. You’ll have to enter a passcode that’s provided in the title of the video.
Housekeeping notes for #444
Episode #444 is in the bag, and what a good number that is. Now it’s on toward #888 and possibly even #161616. But, let’s see how this week goes first. Please do take a look at the Week Ahead for this week and let me know what you would like covered. I’d love to get different perspectives as I can.
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October 17, 2022: Throneburg outraises Good in latest campaign reports; Charlottesville lays out opportunities for affordable housing initiatives