Week Ahead for September 23, 2024: CRHA to purchase three properties including two in Fifeville; Greene County Supervisors to talk mandatory utility connections with Planning Commission
Plus: Charlottesville Planning Commission to discuss Development Code seven months after effective date
We have arrived now at the beginning of Autumn, a fancier way of saying Fall. There are just over three months left in the year, and already there’s talk about budget season. Every week I take a look at what’s coming up at local and regional meetings as part of a continuing campaign to inform the 250,000 or so people who live in the region around Charlottesville. The result is this newsletter which is lengthy but contains much to digest.
Here are some of the highlights for this week:
The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s Board of Commissioners will approve the purchase of three more properties
Greene County’s Board of Supervisors will meet with the Planning Commission to discuss mandatory connections to water and sewer in the growth area
Charlottesville’s Planning Commission is scheduled to discuss the new zoning code Tuesday as city staff continue to review the first submissions that build additional residential density
Albemarle’s new economic development director will preside Tuesday over a closed session in which the mysterious Project Olympian will be discussed
The Pantops Community Advisory Committee will learn about Sentara Martha Jefferson’s proposed child early learning centers
There are no meetings in Fluvanna County or Louisa County this week
Thanks to the Piedmont Environmental Council for their continuing sponsorship of this edition of the newsletter and the time it takes to go through all of the agendas. Check them out on Facebook, too!
Monday, September 23, 2024
While Charlottesville considers a land bank, CRHA to purchase three more properties
The seven members of the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority will meet at 6 p.m. in City Council Chambers. (agenda)
The CRHA Board of Commissioners will vote on a resolution to create an entity under Virginia law in connection with the redevelopment of the second phase of the South Sixth Street project. This is resolution #1479.
As with other redevelopment projects, the CRHA is seeking to convert units from “public housing” units as recognized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to units that are supported by project-based housing vouchers. A limited liability company is created for each project which can then be funded in part through low-income housing tax credits. (read the resolution)
Next, the CRHA Board will consider two resolutions for the agency to use funding from an agency called FAHE to purchase three properties.
The first is 407 Harris Road for $475,000 with funding from FAHE. The two-unit property has a 2024 assessment of $392,800. This comes at a time when City Manager Sam Sanders is considering a recommendation from the Housing Advisory Committee to create a new entity to serve as a land bank for the purpose of buying land for housing. (read resolution #1480)
The second resolution is to purchase both 212 5th Street SW and 217 5th Street SW in Fifeville for $2.2 million with the funding coming from FAHE. The terms are not included in the resolution.
212 5th Street SW is a multifamily apartment building constructed in 1972 that has an assessed value of $1,111,300. 217 5th Street SW has three residential structures built in 1945 and 1950. These have a 2024 assessment of $778,200. (read resolution #1481)
The purchases are included in the August 2024 redevelopment report.
“The units are currently priced at a naturally affordable rate,” reads the report. “Several of the units are currently occupied by voucher holders. The acquisition of this portfolio will allow CRHA to preserve the naturally occurring affordable housing units while giving CRHA the ability to redevelop the property to provide additional housing units soon.”
During the Housing Advisory Committee’s discussions of the land bank, the minutes show that CRHA Executive Director John Sales said he felt his agency should be the land bank and these are the latest purchases. Representatives from the Piedmont Housing Alliance and Habitat for Humanity thought the land bank should be a new entity. They prevailed on a 5-3 vote on May 1 but it appears the CRHA is going to proceed with more land purchases anyway in the future.
“We continue to look for other opportunities to preserve affordable housing units in the City of Charlottesville,” the redevelopment report continues.
According to the report, the CRHA plans to move its headquarters to the Downtown Mall property the agency purchased onFebruary 29 for $2.65 million. Two other non-profits will also relocate in the space which will be known as 310 HQ. The CRHA approved the purchase in late January.
“Based upon current construction timelines, CRHA is estimated to relocate its Central Office to HQ in October 2025,” the report continues.
There will also be a discussion of the CRHA’s eviction diversion program.
“This program will be the first step in the three-year process of transitioning CRHA to a Trauma Informed Housing Agency,” reads a slide in the presentation.
Pantops group to review school projects, Early Learning Center
Under Virginia law, certain appointed bodies can meet virtually more often and earlier this month the Places29-North Community Advisory Committee took advantage. The Pantops CAC will meet in-person at 6:15 p.m. at the Martha Jefferson Hospital Outpatient Center in the Kessler Conference Room. (agenda)
I mention the virtual nature of the Places29-North meeting because this newsletter was created during the pandemic when all of the meetings went virtually. This made it so easy to gather information because the CAC gatherings are filled with information. When the state of emergency was lifted, these meetings did not make the cut for what staff in Albemarle’s Community and Public Engagement had the resources to record.
So I was quite pleased to be able to report from the Places29-North virtual meeting and wrote a story last week on updates from the director of building services for Albemarle County Public Schools on construction projects. I was also glad to hear the housing discussion as well.
Matt Wertman of ACPS will present again to the Pantops CAC and after that there will be a presentation on the early learning center that Sentara Martha Jefferson wants to build. Destini Harris recently reported for 29NBC that the hospital plans to open the center in partnership with the YMCA. There will be 148 openings and Sentara employees will get the first priority.
In other meetings:
The Albemarle Historic Preservation Committee will meet at 4:30 p.m. in Room 241 of the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. They will discuss a local historic marker and will go through the September 2024 demolitions list. That includes a portion of the Flow Kia dealership on Route 250 on Pantops. (agenda) (meeting info)
Tuesday, September 24, 2024
Greene Supervisors to meet with Planning Commission on potential of mandatory utility connections
The five member Board of Supervisors in Greene County usually begins their meeting at 5:30 p.m. but this time around they’ll meet at 4:30 p.m. for a special meeting with the Planning Commission. (agenda packet)
Supervisors assigned the Planning Commission with the task of reviewing zoning regulations as they pertain to water and sewer. Implementation of some of this work has been delayed by staff turnover in the newly created water and sewer department. This joint session is an update on new regulations that would mandate several properties to connect to public system as well as setting up an appeals process.
There will be a public hearing for a request to rezone 14865 Spotswood Trail from Agricultural-1 to Business Highway and High Intensity, an undeveloped property very close to the crossroads of U.S. 29 and U.S. 33.
The property is 2.41 acres and the Planning Commission voted 5-0 on August 21 to recommend approval of the rezoning.
“The inadequate zoning has proven a deterrent for all potential buyers who have potential to develop a business that creates job and career opportunities, offers goods and services to meet the needs of our community, and generates taxable revenue to benefit Greene County,” writes applicant Jody Shifflett in a letter to the county.
After that, there will be a monthly water and sewer update from Tom Hutka, the new director of that department. Supervisors will also consider a September 11 letter from the Virginia Department of Health’s Office of Drinking Water. This document notifies the county that the state has noticed that water production has reached 80 percent of capacity for three consecutive months.
“The permitted capacity of the Greene County Water and Sewer Department waterworks is 904,820 gallons per day and is limited by source capacity,” reads the letter.
Greene County must now submit a written plan within 30 days about how their system is anticipating to address the issue.
Albemarle EDA to approve Project Julius, consider Project Olympian in closed session
What is Project Olympian? The Albemarle County Economic Development Authority will discuss this potential public-private partnership in a closed session at the end of their meeting Tuesday.
But before then, they’ll begin the meeting in open session at 4 p.m. They meet in the county office building at 401 McIntire Road in Room 246. (meeting info) (agenda)
Under new business, they will first discuss a match for a grant project through the GO Virginia Talent Pathways Initiative program. The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission is within Region 9, in addition to other counties to the north including Culpeper and Fauquier.
In March, the EDA agreed to provide a $300,000 match for a program called the Charlottesville Biotech Accelerator. Is that the same as the “BioBridge: Development Talent to Tomorrow’s Breakthroughs?” The latter is what’s listed on the agenda for a grant match.
Next will be the approval of a grant agreement with Home Depot which had been negotiated under the code name Project Julius. Home Depot will get $750,000 in real property tax rebates in exchange for completing their new store by December 24, 2024. Take a look at the details in my story from when the Board of Supervisors gave their approval.
There will be updates from staff including from Emily Kilroy. Kilroy has been serving as the interim leader of the office but will now be the permanent economic development director. I’ll have more on that in the next regular newsletter.
“The project and this grant promote the economic development, improvement, and increased vitality of the Rio29 corridor and are consistent with several County plans and policies, including Project ENABLE, the Comprehensive Plan, the Places29 Master Plan, and the Rio29 Small Area Plan,” reads the Home Depot resolution. (the 17-page agreement)
Before the closed session, the EDA will move to Room 241. They have discussed Project Olympian twice this summer. So, what’s your guess?
Charlottesville Planning Commission to discuss zoning code at work session
There are two ways to find out about meetings in the City of Charlottesville.
The first is on the main website powered by the firm Civic Plus. (go look)
The second is a portal for meeting agendas and materials which is also powered by Civic Plus. Links from calendar #1 go to calendar #2. (go see)
Sometimes there are discrepancies. Both calendars list a work session of the Charlottesville Planning Commission at 5 p.m. Calendar #1 shows this as being in City Space and there’s a link to at least watch via zoom. Calendar #2, however, states it will take place in the Neighborhood Development Services Conference room at 610 East Market. This is what the agenda says, too, which means this meeting will not be recorded or televised.
According to the agenda packet, there will be a 30 minute discussion of the capital improvement program. Last week, the City Council got a briefing of the budget and I wrote a detailed account.
Staff is asking Commissioners for feedback on two questions.
Given the broad areas of the CIP (which include Education, Facilities, Public Safety, Transportation, Parks and Recreation, Affordable Housing, Technology Infrastructure), what areas should receive consideration in the upcoming budget?
Which priorities from the Comprehensive Plan should be highlighted during this budget cycle?
The Planning Commission will have another work session on the CIP on November 26 and a public hearing on December 10.
One change the city made in the last budget cycle was to stop pointing out that some capital projects are paid for through bonds and some are paid through direct cash payments. Projects that will be owned by another entity are not eligible to be paid for through municipal bonds, such as payments to the Piedmont Housing Alliance.
The rest of the work session will be on the Development Code that has been in effect since mid-February.
“The Commission requested an opportunity to share feedback on what has been heard from the community and individual commissioner experience with the Charlottesville Development Code since enactment,” writes NDS Deputy Director Missy Creasy in a staff report. “This is an opportunity to share information which will inform future discussions surrounding code refinement requests.”
There are no materials in advance for this item.
The new Development Code is intended to increased the total amount of dwellings within the City of Charlottesville by increasing the number allowed without seeking Council’s permission. All zoning districts but one received additional development rights.
Since the zoning went into effect on February 19, there have been eight applications made for “Development Plan Review - Major” though one of them seems to be a duplicate.
One of them is at 303 Alderman Road in the Lewis Mountain neighborhood. Evergreen Home Builders purchased the property this summer for $850,000 and filed their plan soon afterward. They can build six market-rate units on the property under the new Residential-B zoning and their plan is six townhouses with three fronting Alderman and three fronting Minor Road. The status of the permit is described as “Resubmittal Required.”
Another project at 2030 Barracks Road would see 24 units built on land that’s also Residential-B. The plan here is to subdivide the lot into two and build 12 on each. This would require half of the units to be designated as affordable. One thing I am trying to understand is how easily the public can access correspondence about each of these by-right projects.
I also want to know the quirks of the new portal, which this week shows a new major development plan for 1609 Gordon Avenue #1. As you can see in the image, the status of PL-24-0097 is shown as void. But if you click for more information, you can see there is another item, PL-24-0042. This one is under review and appears to be a resubmission.
The 0.172 acre property is now zoned as Residential Mixed Use 5 (RX-5). The version submitted in May was for nine units. If there was a tenth unit, it would be have been required by new inclusionary zoning.
The following paragraph was updated at 5:55 p.m. EDT on September 22, 2024
All projects must now submit an Affordable Dwelling Unit certification and the first of these is now available in the portal for this unit. I initially reported that the available document stated that there might be 20 units, but that was just the example provided by the city in the form letter. This project is for nine units, as was confirmed by a representative from Shimp Engineering shortly after this edition was posted.
There’s a lot for all of us to learn as the Development Code continues to be implemented. Charlottesville Community Engagement is committed to keeping track as much as possible.
Rivanna authorities to meet
Both the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority and the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority will meet beginning at 2:00 p.m. The RSWA goes first and there will be an update on various projects. This include a new baling facility as well as a convenience center for the northern half of Albemarle County. (RSWA agenda) (RWSA agenda)
The two bodies will meet together for some of the meeting in order to get an update on safety procedures.
Wednesday, September 25, 2024
Public hearing for a non-public garage in Nelson County
The Nelson County Planning District will meet at 7 p.m. in the General District Courtroom of the Nelson County Courthouse in Lovingston. (agenda packet)
The main item on the agenda is a public hearing for a special use permit for a garage on land at 4365 Tye River Road zoned Agriculture-1.
“The owners are proposing to construct a 1,200 sf garage to utilize for automotive repair of 2 to 3 vehicles a year,” reads the staff report.
The applicant states that the operation is to rebuild a handful of cars a year.
“I will not be open to the public and the average time to rebuild a damaged automobile is less than 100-man hours,” reads the application from Donna Hogston.
Because the use is commercial, the appropriate use category is “public garage” under the zoning code.
This blurb was updated soon after publication to clarify the “public” in “public garage” is an artifact of the zoning code.
In other meetings:
The Charlottesville Retirement Commission will meet at 8:30 a.m. in CitySpace. (agenda) (packet)
The Albemarle Broadband Authority will meet at 5 p.m. in Room 241 of the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. One item on the agenda is a discussion of legislation that passed the 2024 General Assembly related to rules for attaching to existing telecommunications poles. (the legislation) (meeting info)
The Albemarle County Fire and Emergency Medical Services Board will meet at 1800 hours atthe county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road in Room 246. On the agenda is an update on the budget process for FY26 as well as a discussion on speed cameras. There are also field operation guidelines for review for townhouses and high-rises. (meeting info) (agenda)
Thursday, September 26, 2024
Places29-Rio group to review modifications to Belvedere rezoning
One of the purposes of Albemarle County’s growth area panels is to serve as a forum when there is a need for a community meeting. Albemarle’s current rules require these for special use permits and rezonings and that includes when a developer comes back for amendments.
That’s the case at this meeting of the Places29-Rio Community Advisory Committee which meets at 6 p.m. in Albemarle’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. They’ll be in Room 235. (meeting info) (agenda)
At one point, what’s now known as the John Warner Parkway was planned to travel north of Rio Road. This portion of the roadway was known as the North Free State Connector Extension Road and the rezoning for 206.682 acres at Belvedere had a condition that right-of-way for the alignment. The Places29 Master Plan adopted in 2011 includes a 2008 transportation study that still modeled a “North Free State Road” so it’s technically still in the Comprehensive Plan.
While not technically dead, Albemarle is not pursuing this roadway and it is not on a list of transportation priorities. So the developer is seeking to change the condition.
“In lieu of dedicating a 100-foot strip of land to the County for a future roadway that may never be constructed, the Applicant is proposing a modification to the proffers and application plan to remove this reservation of land,” reads the narrative.
In exchange, Greenwood Homes is offering to dedicate other land for other interconnection purposes including a shared use pathway that will cross onto land in Belvedere that is not subject to the rezoning but is being developed by-right due to the R-4 zoning. They’ll also build one new section of roadway.
After this discussion there will be a presentation from the Albemarle County Police Department.
Friday, September 27, 2024
Rivanna River Basin Commission to hold annual conference
If you have any interest at all in water quality and land use policies aimed at keeping pollutants out of the watershed, consider attending the Rivanna River Basin Commission’s conference this Friday at 9:30 a.m. It will be held in the Carver Recreation Center Gymnasium on 233 Fourth Street NW, Charlottesville, VA, 22903.
“This year's conference features speakers and panelists from local organizations, including the Rivanna Conservation Alliance, Albemarle County Parks and Recreation, Charlottesville Parks and Recreation, the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau, Piedmont Environmental Council, Rivanna Trails Foundation, VA Department of Health, Rivanna River Company, and the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission,” reads a press release.
The cost to attend is $10 but lunch will be provided. If you want to attend, register here: https://tinyurl.com/RRBCConference2024
This post was updated shortly after publication to clear up the unit count at 1609 Gordon Avenue and to add a line about how a "public garage" being requested wouldn't actually be open to the public.