September 3, 2024: Albemarle Supervisors accept public-private partnership to move Home Depot closer to opening date
Plus: The Albemarle Planning Commission recommends denial of a rezoning from commercial to residential on Northfield Road
The official calendar of the Virginia General Assembly designates September as having fourteen specific concepts to recognize including Peripheral Artery Disease Awareness Month and Kinship Caregivers of Children Month in Virginia. This week there are three officials things to honor and mark. They are Resiliency Week, Virginia World War II Veterans Appreciation Week, and Textile Heritage Week.
By matter of chance, one of the stories in the September 3, 2024 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement is tangentially related to one of the above. I’m Sean Tubbs, leaving it up to you to make the connection.
In today’s installment:
There’s a new name for the organization that runs the Ix Art Park
The Albemarle Planning Commission has recommended against a rezoning of a residential property off of Rio Road to commercial
Another look at recent national statistics on unemployment, retail sales, and construction spending
More information about Project Julius, the public-private partnership to jump-start Home Depot’s new store at Fashion Square Wall
First-shout: Gazpacho in the Garden at Morven
In today’s first subscriber-supported shout-out: The Morven Sustainability Lab invites you to celebrate the new semester on Friday, September 6 for the annual Gazpacho in the Garden event at 5 p.m. There will be a summer meal harvested from a garden that’s all run by students at the University of Virginia. There will be family-friendly music, lawn games, and tours of the garden where you can learn something. There will be limited seating so do come prepared with picnic blankets and chairs. For ticket information, visit the appropriate page on EventBrite.
Group that runs IX Art Park and immersive museum rebrands
The organization that runs two arts-related entities in south-central Charlottesville has a new name and is looking toward a more sustainable future.
The Ix Art Park Foundation is now the Ix Arts Foundation after a year of reorganization and scaling back some of their programming. The non-profit group operates the IX Art Park as well as the Looking Glass Immersive Art Museum on the site of the former textile factory.
"Making those changes last year was not easy, but our Board of Directors knew they were necessary for our future," said Ewa Harr, the foundation’s executive director.
Harr said a year ago the organization was facing an uncertain future and has now focused on a core set of offerings including the weekly Farmers Market, free admission to the Looking Glass thanks to corporate sponsor FLOW Toyota, and a recurring trio of festivals.
Soon they will launch a fundraising campaign to be called "PhoenIX: Rising Together” intended to further secure continued arts events.
"Thanks to our supporters, we have not only weathered the storm but are now more energized than ever," said Susan Kuttner, the president of the Ix Art Foundation’s board of directors. "With this new fundraising campaign, we aim to build on our recent successes and ensure that IX remains a vital hub for creativity, connection, and community for years to come."
The Frank Ix and Sons textile factory closed in 1999 and the two parcels were purchased by the firm Monticello Associates LLC for $5.3 million. The firm’s partners include Ludwig Kuttner. In 2017, the firm and representatives of the Ix Art Park asked for a lower tax assessment based on a claim that civic uses were taking place.
The Board of Equalization denied the claim as I reported at the time for Charlottesville Tomorrow.
The tenth anniversary of Ix Art Park will be celebrated on September 21 followed by Fantasy Fest on October 26.
Albemarle PC recommends denial of request to convert house to commercial property
The Albemarle County Planning Commission has recommended denial of a request to rezoning a residential property on Rio Road to commercial to allow for a sandwich shop and motel.
“It’s at the two closely-separated intersections of Rio and Northfield at Hillsdale, and Rio and Old Brook Road,” said Kevin McCollum, a senior planner with the Albemarle County Community Development Department.
The owner of the 1.2 acre property wanted the rezoning and special use permit to be able to add more rooms for short-term rentals to the existing single house, which already has an existing homestay permit. They also want to build a 1,200 square foot sandwich shop on the property.
McCollum said staff and the Virginia Department of Transportation already have concerns about the two intersections.
“In 2024, there have already been six crashes at this location,” McCollum said. “VDOT traffic volume data shows that approximately 30,000 vehicles pass through these intersections each day.”
A recent corridor study of Rio Road called for specific improvements at the intersection and Albemarle has applied for funds through VDOT’s Smart Scale program in the current cycle.
“The rates of crashes at these intersections combined is much higher of what we would ever expect at a similar type intersection, so much so that it was ranked the 4th worst intersection in the Culpeper District in the 2014 to 2018 five-year period,” said Kevin McDermott, the deputy director of planning for Albemarle County.
McDermott added there has been one fatality at the intersection this year as well as another in 2022. He said one reason is that the two traffic signals are too close together. The Smart Scale rankings will be known in January.
In their application, the applicant did not guarantee the plan that was shown to the Planning Commission but a representative said the concept is what would get built.
“The business owner’s commitment is that no change whatsoever to the business,” said a person named Pham. “Gas station? No. Something manufacturing? We should stick to a small business, food and drink only.”
Tim Miller of Meridian Planning Group, also representing the applicant, said the owner is not opposed to proffering the concept plan. The chair of the Planning Commission explained why they might be desirable to the county.
“There’s a concern that you may just turn down everything that’s there,” said Fred Missel, the Scottsville District representative. “A proffered plan would limit the ability to… to what’s there, basically.”
There were many speakers from the Raintree neighborhood who asked the Planning Commission to recommend denial of the plan. The first mentioned many have legal concerns with the case, including a recent case tried by the Virginia Supreme Court.
“I think when you fully read these materials as well as review it with Mr. Herrick, the county attorney, it will demonstrate that if this rezoning moves forward you would be going against and contrary to the rule of law in Virginia in this particular case,” said David Corbin.
Corbin said both the Raintree and the Carrsbrook neighborhoods were both created by Dr. Charles Hurt in 1959 and there were a number of restrictive covenants that would stop commercial uses. He said they were upheld in 1999 when another developer wanted to commercialize lots in Carrsbrook that front on U.S. 29. That case is River Heights Limited Partnership Association v. Batten and you can read it on FindLaw.
Herrick is currently serving as the interim county attorney and he addressed the case.
“I think it’s worth noting that private restrictive covenants and the zoning ordinance are separate tracks,” Herrick said. “It’s up to the county to enforce the zoning ordinance but the county is not in a position to enforce private restrictive covenants. To the extent that there is an alleged violation of a private restrictive covenant, it would be up to the neighborhood to enforce the terms of its own restrictive covenant.”
A half-dozen other speakers also argued against the rezoning due to traffic concerns.
Rio District Commissioner Nathan Moore said he makes decisions based on whether it’s something the community needs.
“We do need a lot more housing, so I am supportive of those,” Moore said. “But on this one, do we need to convert a non-compliant homestay to an inn? It’s not that compelling.”
Moore also said he is not often persuaded by neighborhood complaints and traffic, but this is the exception given the tough intersection and future plans to reconfigure it.
“When it comes to the neighborhood character argument, I would say that twenty times out of twenty I don’t find that particularly compelling,” Moore said.
Moore said he would support small-scale commercial uses in residential neighborhoods. Samuel Miller District Commissioner Karen Firehock had a different view.
“The neighbor has a residential home and has an expectation they are not buying a home next to a convenience store or a sandwich shop where people are coming and going, slamming car doors,” Firehock said.
The Commission voted unanimously to recommend denial of both the rezoning and the special use permit.
Today in statistics: Employment up in Charlottesville MSA
Many of the segments included in Charlottesville Community Engagement are experiments as I look for regular items to help flesh out each edition. One simply reports statistics releases from the U.S. government. My memory of watching broadcast television news in the early 80’s was hearing these included in the 30 minute broadcasts at 6:30 p.m.
On August 28, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released employment figures for July 2024 and the Charlottesville region has so far bucked one trend.
“Unemployment rates were higher in July than a year earlier in 350 of the 389 metropolitan areas, lower in 22 areas, and unchanged in 17 areas,” reads the news release.
The Charlottesville metropolitan statistical area is one of those areas with lower unemployment with 3.1 percent in July 2024. More people are in the workforce as well, with 121,000 people employed in July 2023 compared with 126,800 in July 2024, or a 4.8 percent increase. The MSA includes the city of Charlottesville as well as Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, and Nelson Counties. Louisa County is not within such an area.
Another report released last week is the monthly retail trade summary for May 2024. Total sales in Virginia were up 2.8 percent above the previous year.
Finally, construction spending across the nation was slightly lower in July 2024 than it had been in June.
“Construction spending during July 2024 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2,162.7 billion, 0.3 percent below the revised June estimate of $2,169.0 billion,” reads a press release sent out today.
The July 2024 figures are 6.7 percent above those from July 2023. The press release further breaks down construction spending on private residential, private commercial, and public projects.
Second-shout out: Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival
This September, the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival turns 25 with a series of concerts and events that will build on a musical journey of 24 years. They’ve explored a breadth of music, mined the core repertoire, discovered new sounds and rhythms.
Chamber Music involves instrumental music played by small groups of musicians.This year, 17 virtuoso musicians from North America and Europe will perform multiple concerts around Charlottesville from September 8-19. The Festival begins with a Sunday afternoon concert at the Paramount Theater at 3 p.m. on September 8, followed by two more on the evenings of September 9 and September 12.
Want to try out Chamber Music? The Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival will also offer a free community concert at the Paramount at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, September 13.
Then the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival moves to Old Cabell Hall at UVA, with performances on Sunday, September 15 at 3 p.m. and Thursday, September 19 at 7:30 p.m. Visit cvillechambermusic.org to get tickets and to learn more about the musicians and what’s being played.
Supervisors ratify Project Julius to support Home Depot’s development of Fashion Square Mall
In recent years, Albemarle County has used its Economic Development Authority to help broker various negotiations to obtain various grants and incentive packages. For instance, Project Leopard helped the firm Bonumose obtain a state grant to incentivize the creation of dozens of jobs. Project Bee Friend helped Siller Pollinator secure another grant from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
On August 21, the Board of Supervisors took an official action on Project Julius, a $750,000 tax incentive package intended to help a major retailer as they begin redevelopment of Fashion Square Mall.
“I think as a community member, you think of the Fashion Square Mall property as one contiguous property,” said Emily Kilroy, Albemarle’s interim director of economic development. “It is actually several different parcels that comprise that area.”
Home Depot purchased the former Sears building in September 2022 as well all of the retail space inside the mall. Belk owns their store, and developer Richard Hewitt owns the former J.C. Penney and leases part of that space to Albemarle County for a public safety fleet operations center.
“The former Sears at Fashion Square Mall is the location for that new Home Depot,” Kilroy said. “A few years ago, the county adopted the Rio / 29 Small Area Plan and a form-based code overlay district. The plan identifies the Rio / 29 intersection as the heart of urban Albemarle County and it designates the four quadrants as critical for the commercial corridor’s future.” (view the plan)
That plan was adopted two and a half years after the signalized intersection at Rio Road and U.S. 29 was converted to an underpass and there were many catalyst projects envisioned to help guide public investments. Kilroy said the plan calls for partnerships to implement some of the infrastructure and return people to the area for commercial purposes.
“Redevelopment of this parcel will correct what has been a stark decline in property values for this area,” Kilroy said. “I share this context because we have an opportunity to support the Home Depot as a first catalyst project for the redevelopment of what could be a majority of this quadrant.”
That project is a realignment of Hillsdale Drive to travel across the property with the first phase upgrading a roadway through Fashion Square Mall’s parking lot to public road standards. County officials approached Home Depot about the possibility of a multi-faceted partnership and company officials described what they needed.
“They learned of increased costs associated with this particular site and those costs were estimated to be anywhere between $850,000 to a million dollars and It was primarily associated with the demolition of the former Sears and the Sears Auto Center, which had a requirement for asbestos abatement as well as brownfield remediation,” said J.T. Newberry, deputy director of the Albemarle Office of Economic Development.
Newberry said those higher costs may have been a barrier to Home Depot proceeding. The county and its Economic Development Authority negotiated terms for a tax increment financing agreement under the codename Project Julius to grant up to $750,000 in real property tax rebates over 10 years.
“The company would agree to really accelerate their investment in this site,” Newberry said. “They would complete the retail store and garden center by Christmas Eve of next year. They would reserve and dedicate up to 50 feet of right of way for the Hillsdale Drive realignment.”
As part of the deal, Home Depot will also actively seek to find a tenant for the Red Lobster restaurant that has recently closed.
The connection between the public and private in this partnership is related to the increase in property value that would be generated under the new development.
“As investment into the site would happen, the value of the site would increase and as the company paid those increases in taxes, we would rebate them back to the company to support the additional investment there and help cover those increases in costs,” Newberry said.
Newberry said Home Depot will invest $26 million in building out their new store. He said in addition to property taxes to be generated from the site, Albemarle expects the new store to produce between $400,000 and $500,000 a year in local sales taxes. He said the store is expected to create 100 jobs.
The idea had the unanimous support of the six members of the Board of Supervisors.
“This to me is a good example of locking in a business to get it put in place, get them committed to a timeline to get it up and running, and a low risk investment for us and we’ll see a return on it in a very short time,” said Rio District Supervisor Ned Gallaway.
Scottsville District Supervisor Michael Pruitt said he was excited about the project because it will bring about redevelopment. However, he also expressed frustration.
“While I recognize the proposal that we are voting in favor of is the best decision based on the position we are in, it is still a frustrating position that we are put in because we are in a situation where you basically have patient capital operating at a scale that they can afford to have losses by [not] developing their own property which they can then use that ability to be patient to extract certain concessions from us as the community,” Pruitt said.
Supervisors unanimously adopted the support agreement.
Other investments in the area have not had a public component. Earlier this year, the Carter Machinery Company purchased a 4.67-acre property to the east of the Northside Library for $3.53 million. It has since opened a rental store for construction and lawn equipment, eliminating parking spaces that had been rented for library patrons.
Reading material for #725
James River Water Project holds groundbreaking, Heather Michon, Fluvanna Review, August 22, 2024
Sheriff talks policing and fraud, Heather Michon, Fluvanna Review, August 22, 2024
Good to pay localities $88,918 for 5th district recount, Kate Nuechterlein, NBC29, August 28, 2024
Supervisors look at changing voting district name, Heather Michon, Fluvanna Review, August 28, 2024
Albemarle parents take anti-racism case to Virginia Supreme Court, Luca Powell, Richmond Times-Dispatch (via Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), August 29, 2024
Nelson Sheriff & Commonwealth Attorney Make Statement on Traffic Fatalities & Violations, Blue Ridge Life, August 30, 2024
#725 is published under a half-circle at Union Station, D.C.
I am not sure how many editions I am going to get out this week, but I’m hoping for one more. I’m heading to Chicago for a conference put on by Local Independent Online News Publishers, a trade group of which Town Crier Productions is a member. Just over four years ago, I launched this quickly and there are many aspects of the business I still need to better understand.
I’m writing this at Union Station about two hours before I get on board a train that will head west. I could have flown, but I very much wanted to experience traveling to the Midwest a little more slowly. I’ll be on the way back in six days, and between now and then I’m hoping to learn a few things and meet some colleagues.
I may do a bonus issue for paid subscribers and Patreon supporters. Anyone who is chipping in money is helping the creation of something that will one day be bigger than just me. I want to write about what I’m learning, but aware that most people likely just want the information and don’t really care how it is made.
This is the unnecessary sentence where I state this is the first time I have been to a Pizzeria Uno since I quit during a training shift at the one in Georgetown back in 1998.
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