Week Ahead for August 10, 2020
Dear reader,
This is a sample of a weekly newsletter I have been producing since the spring of 2019 to help myself keep track of local government as part of my work at the Piedmont Environmental Council. The enormity of the pandemic caused an internal need for me to cover events as a reporter, so I have now left PEC to pursue that calling.
However, PEC will be sponsoring the continued production of a version of this weekly newsletter, which as of today I am producing as an independent reporter. The version on this newsletter will be the first premium offering, but I am going to make it available for free subscribers for the month of August.
Now, onto the week ahead. This is a relatively quiet week after what has been a very busy summer of virtual government meetings. But every time I begin digging through agendas, I realize that there is no such thing as a quiet week in a community as dynamic as greater Charlottesville.
Monday, August 10
There are no meetings scheduled, but it is notable to point out that the group that provides advisory oversight of Albemarle’s eastern most growth area will not hold its regularly scheduled meeting today. The last available minutes for the Village of Rivanna Community Advisory Committee are for a community meeting from June 2019. That’s when the community meeting was held for the proposed Breezy Hill neighborhood. Southern Development has requested a rezoning for 160 units on 84 acres in land designated in the Comprehensive Plan as Neighborhood Residential Density. The Planning Commission recommended denial at its meeting on July 7.
Tuesday, August 11
The Charlottesville Planning Commission will convene virtually at 5:30 p.m. for a meeting with a presentation on three plans that are being put together by outside firms on a $926,000 contract. The Cville Plans Together initiative is intended to complete the Comprehensive Plan update, a new zoning code, and an affordable housing policy for Charlottesville. The Comprehensive Plan update began in early 2017 but was delayed due to civil unrest that summer as well as a renewed sense of urgency for solutions to the city’s housing problems. (agenda)
The Planning Commission will also get an update on the Starr Hill Community Vision Plan, the result of $500,000 City Council gave to the nonprofit New Hill Development Corporation for a small area plan for land that had once been the Vinegar Hill neighborhood. A plan was presented to Council in November 2019 and the idea had been to make it part of the Comprehensive Plan. However, that was delayed due to the pandemic. This is the first time the city Planning Commission has had a chance to review the plan after it went to Council. (register)
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The Albemarle Planning Commission will meet at 6 p.m. for a work session on an update of the creation of a housing policy for the county. (agenda)
“New residential development in the County has not kept pace with growing housing demand, leaving many County residents struggling to find housing they can afford that meets their needs,” wrote housing planner Stacy Pethia in a staff report.
Pethia has drafted a 41-page implementation plan with stated objectives including increasing the number of houses in the county to meet a growing population. Population forecasts created by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service estimate Albemarle going from the current 109,722 to 138,485 people by 2040. Pethia claims this increase will require 11,750 new units of housing. The county’s current development pipeline allows for 8,134 more units to be built, leaving the need for an additional 3,616 new units.
To get there, she suggests policies to “Allow, encourage, and incentivize a variety of housing types (such as bungalow courts, triplexes and fourplexes, accessory dwelling units, live/work units, tiny homes, and modular homes).”
Other objectives are to increase the number of units that can be rented or sold at prices that people can afford. (staff report)
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The Greene County Board of Supervisors will return from a closed session at 7:30 p.m. for a meeting that includes a public hearing on a rezoning for 14.5 acres of property on U.S. 33 for a new mobile home park as well as a special use permit for the expansion of an existing one. There will also be a public hearing to amend the county’s policy on communications towers to reduce the setback for the towers from 200 percent to 100 percent of the tower’s height. (staff report)
There will also be a presentation on a study for the future of Greene County’s fire and rescue services which calls for a review of whether there should be a career fire chief. Recently a contract ended where the University of Virginia provided emergency medical services. (report)
Wednesday, August 12
The Crozet Community Advisory Committee meets at 7 p.m. and begins with a discussion about Old Dominion Village. Developer Katurah Roell is requesting a rezoning of 14.259 acres from rural area to Neighborhood Model District for the creation of a new neighborhood. However, the land is not within the jurisdiction of the Albemarle County Service Authority. Currently only the existing structure on the property is allowed to connect to public water. The applicant will request that connection as well as to public sewer. The Crozet CAC will also discuss the results of community feedback on bike and pedestrian connectivity. (agenda)
Thursday, August 13
Charlottesville’s PLACE Design Task Force meets virtually at noon for the first time since the pandemic. The main item on the agenda is a discussion of the intersection of Preston Avenue and Grady Avenue. City Council voted in July to submit such a project for funding through the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Smart Scale Program. Chair Mike Stoneking has sought a broader discussion of the Preston Avenue Corridor, which has been redeveloping slowly. I produced a written report and podcast about Council’s vote that may be of interest. (PLACE agenda)
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The Charlottesville Police Civilian Review Board (PCRB) will meet virtually at 6:30 p.m. and will begin by speaking with two members of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus. The General Assembly will convene on August 18 for a special session that will include criminal justice reform. They will also discuss the board’s status, hiring an independent counsel, and the executive director position that will be filled in the near future. (agenda)
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Albemarle’s Solid Waste Alternatives Advisory Committee will meet virtually at 4 p.m. There is no agenda posted as of this writing. (register)
Friday, August 14
The Albemarle Broadband Authority is tentatively scheduled to go into closed session to discuss negotiations related to expanding internet in the county. (info)
“The Albemarle Broadband Authority is considering partnership offers from one or more ISPs for the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative Grant 2021,” reads the notice. “This meeting is being held in closed session to discuss the distribution of funds to assist two or more ISPs partnership requests.”