This week and next are relatively slow, but there will always be something going on. Here are some highlights for this week:

• Albemarle’s Planning Commission will consider a rezoning Tuesday for land on U.S. 29 currently occupied by an Asian foods store and a former auto repair shop
• Greene County’s Tourism Council will ask Supervisors to use a share of the county’s transient occupancy funding to pay for several projects
• Nelson County’s Planning Commission will take a look at a site plan for nearly 150 new units at Wintergreen, 40 percent of which will be reserved for households making less than 80 percent of the area median income
• The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission will hold a public hearing on continued participation in a federal program that provides preservation grants to owners of houses in rural areas
• The Rivanna Solid Waste Authority will consider new names for the Ivy Materials and Utilization Center
• There are no Charlottesville meetings this week, but the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority meets on Monday 
• There’s just one meeting in Fluvanna County and there isn’t even an agenda posted 
• There won’t be any meetings in Louisa County until August 5

Thanks as always to the Piedmont Environmental Council for their sponsorship of this newsletter and the hours of research that go into it each week. 

Monday, July 22, 2024

CRHA to gather in City Council Chambers for July meeting

The Board of Commissioners for the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority will meet at 6 p.m. in City Council Chambers. These meetings are now televised on the city’s streaming services and are listed on the city’s meeting calendar. However, the agenda is not posted there at publication time, so all links but the first go to cvillepedia. (meeting info) (agenda)

There are no resolutions on the agenda so it’s just a meeting of updates. Executive Director John Sales will give his verbally so look for coverage from journalists or maybe the minutes to find out what he said. Another option is to review the city’s streaming meeting page as the CRHA meetings are now televised. You can look up previous minutes here if they are posted. 

From the Board Report, we learn that there are 502 households currently participating in the housing choice voucher program maintained by CRHA. There are 1,706 households on the waitlist. 

I did not receive several other reports that are usually sent out via email in advance of the meeting. The only other document I got this month the CRHA’s accounting from April to June. You can take a look at that here. 

The CRHA will next meet on August 8 for a work session. The July work session was postponed. 

In other meetings: 

• The Albemarle Board of Equalization is scheduled to meet from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Room 235 of the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. (meeting info)
• Fluvanna’s Solar Ordinance Review Committee will meet at 5 p.m. in the Morris Room in the County Administration Building at 132 Main Street in Palmyra. There’s no agenda posted. 
• Both the Albemarle Historic Preservation Committee meeting and the Pantops Community Advisory Committee have been canceled. (meeting info)

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Greene Tourism Council to ask Supervisors to fund several projects

The five-member Greene County Board of Supervisors will meet at 5:30 p.m. in the administration building in Stanardsville for a closed session followed by a regular session at 6:30 p.m. (agenda)

The meeting will begin with a presentation from Dave Hundelt, the director of water and sewer. Note that there is no longer an interim by his name. Hundelt took over in that capacity back in April after two previous department heads left. Did he get the official nod? 

That will be followed by a presentation from the Tourism Council. The group wants Supervisors to designate them as the entity that advises on how to use some of the revenue collected through the transient occupancy tax. State law requires revenue collected that exceeds the transient tax rate of two percent be used for tourism marketing or other initiatives intended to increase travel. (staff report)

Greene County recently increased their transient occupancy rate to eight percent of all hotel and short-term rental bills. Of this amount, three percent is to go tourism and the other five go to the county’s general fund. 

In June, the Tourism Council approved a list of projects they wanted to request be paid for through the transient occupancy tax. These include $15,000 for informational kiosks, $100,000 for bathrooms at Greene Commons, and $100,000 for improvements to the water tower in Ruckersville on Route 29 that would allow the painting of a logo. 

Other potential ideas that don’t have dollar amounts tied to them: 

• The Tourism Council proposes working with the developer of Creekside to access Preddy Creek Park in Albemarle
• Purchase of developable land in the foothills along U.S. 33 for future low impact hiking and biking trails
• Planning for a public park along the future White Run Reservoir, if it is built
• Purchase of land on the border of Shenandoah National Park to increase access

On the consent agenda there are few interesting items: 

The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission seeks a letter of support for a grant application from “Virginia Housing” for a “Regional Housing Needs Assessment and Strategies Study.” There’s both Virginia Housing and the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). The two are separate. Virginia Housing recently dropped the words Development Authority from its official title in a rebranding that leads to situations like this. 

In this case there’s a third entity involved. According to the letter from Board Chair Marie Durrer, the assessment would be conducted by the Virginia Center for Housing Research at Virginia Tech. That entity is located within the College of Engineering. 

“The insights gained from this assessment will be instrumental in guiding our future housing policies and strategies,” Durrer writes. “It will help us to identify current and projected housing needs, prioritize areas for development, and create a more inclusive housing environment for all residents.” 

Also on the consent agenda is another grant application being pursued by Albemarle County’s Broadband Accessibility and Affordability Office for all localities in the Thomas Jefferson Planning District. They’re seeking funding from the DHCD for a digital inclusion planning grant.

“The funds will aid the localities in developing strategies for addressing the communities’ broadband needs,” reads the cover letter

Finally on the consent agenda is an authorization to spend $51,757 in proffered funds to complete engineering work for the new emergency medical services building as well as the vehicle maintenance facility school bus parking lot. This includes purchase of nutrient credits. (read the letter) (meeting info) 

Albemarle PC to hold public hearings on private school, mixed-use development on U.S. 29

The seven-person Albemarle Planning Commission will meet at 6 p.m. in Lane Auditorium in the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. (meeting info) (agenda)

There are two public hearings. The first is for a request from the Community Christian Academy to construct modular buildings where a parsonage building currently stands in order to accommodate increased students. A previous request to increase from 85 to 150 students was approved last year. 

The private school operates at 1410 Old Brook Road at Crosslife Community Church and its representatives say it has been hard to find an affordable place that is stable.

“As a school that focuses primarily on the working class, we have a very small budget for facilities and rely on the generosity of landlords to allow us to use their facilities for a minimal cost,” reads the narrative. 

As part of a multiple phase plan, three 3,000 square foot buildings would be constructed behind the current building. These would eventually be replaced with a permanent addition that would be the subject of a future land use application. 

In the second public hearing, RMD Properties will present their rezoning of 3.23 acres on U.S. 29 at the border with Charlottesville for the redevelopment of several commercial businesses into a 165-unit apartment building with 10,000 square feet of non-residential use. This will displace the C’Ville Oriental grocery store. 

The Planning Commission held a preliminary discussion about the development in October 2022 and many members encouraged a tall building with many apartment units. 

Now those units will be provided in a C-shaped building to be constructed at the eastern side of the property. The retail would front U.S. 29 in two buildings. RMD would build a ten-foot section of shared use path on the highway. 

The application does not depict an interconnection to any other parcels. RMD has asked for a special exception to be excused from the requirements of the Neighborhood Model District zoning that there be at least two types of residential units. 

While the staff report lists 165 units, the narrative has a different number and describes the residential structure as “a four-story building multi-family apartment building with a maximum of 130 dwelling units with surface parking and modern amenities.” 

That’s because at this point the developer anticipates building 130 units but wants the ability to increase that to 165 as the project. I anticipate at least one Commission will lament the lack of height. 

A visual in the application depicts the Hibachi Grille and Supreme Buffet to the south in the City of Charlottesville, but that site is also slated for redevelopment. There are no official meetings between appointed or elected officials in Albemarle and Charlottesville to discuss projects on the borders. 

New name expected for Ivy Materials Utilization Center

There are two governmental bodies in the community with similar names and similar Board structures that occasionally meet on the same day. The Rivanna Solid Waste Authority (RSWA) meets quarterly and the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority meets monthly (RWSA). Both meet at the Rivanna Administration Building in the 2nd Floor Conference at 695 Moores Creek Lane in Charlottesville. 

The RSWA goes first at 2 p.m. There are several items on the consent agenda for anyone interested in the finer details of solid waste management. Then there’s a presentation and potential vote on a new name for the Ivy Material Utilization Center. The facility has been called that since 1998 when it was renamed from Ivy Sanitary Landfill. (agenda)

“‘Materials Utilization Center’ is not a commonly used name in the solid waste industry and does not reflect the services offered to the public at the facility,” reads one of the slides in a staff presentation floating the idea. 

Potential names are:

• Ivy Solid Waste Center
• Ivy Solid Waste Center
• Ivy Refuse and Recyling Center
• Ivy Solid Waste Center McIvy McSolid McWaste McCenter

The last one isn’t actually true but I thought I’d see if anyone’s paying attention today.

And then the RWSA and RSWA will meet at the same time to hear items germane to both such as a presentation on the strategic plan, human resources, and an amendment to the by-laws. 

The two bodies will also go into closed session to discuss cybersecurity. There’s no note in the packet if this is related to the CrowdStrike-induced outage on Friday, but I suspect we could see similar closed session discussions at other bodies. 

After the joint Rivanna meeting ends, the RWSA meeting will carry on alone. After public comments, there is a consent agenda with lots of items of interest to people with an interest in the details of water and wastewater. 

• There’s the approval of engineering services for the reconstruction of the Rivanna Pump Station from Short Elliot Hendrickson Engineers. (learn more)
• There’s the approval of a “betterment agreement” with the City of Charlottesville’s utilities department for a water line being built as part of the Emmet Streetscape. The RWSA will reimburse the city $5.14 million to build a bigger pipe than is currently in place to increase capacity. (learn more)
• There’s the approval of engineering services for rehabilitation and expansion of both the Observatory and South Rivanna water treatment plants. (learn more)

Other than that, the RWSA has no independent business listed on the agenda. Expect an update on the drought, at least. 

In other meetings: 

• The Albemarle Police Citizens Advisory Committee meeting will be held at 9 a.m. in Conference Room C in the county’s office building at 1600 5th Street. (meeting info)
• Charlottesville’s Parks and Recreation Department will hold a master plan meeting for Booker T. Washington Park at the Carver Recreation Center beginning at 6 p.m. (learn more)

Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Nelson County PC holding public hearing on tool to help construction of private school

The Nelson County Planning Commission has two items of business on its agenda for the July 24, 2024 meeting. They gather in the General District Courtroom in the Nelson County Courthouse at 7 p.m. (agenda)

The first item on the agenda is for a special use permit for a portable saw mill to be operated to help construct St. Dunstan’s Academy at 452 Modoc Lane in Roseland. 

“According to the application, there is approximately 110 acres of forest on the property that is available to selectively harvest,” reads the staff report. 

Staff are recommending a condition where any processed timber could only be used on-site. 

St. Dunstan’s Academy is planned to be an Anglican boarding school for males in 9th through 12th grade. 

The second is a site plan review for a portion of the Renaissance Ridge subdivision at Wintergreen that was approved by the Board of Supervisors in 2004. 

“The new Renaissance Ridge neighborhood has been designed to support the county’s NEW Comprehensive Plan by way of a unique partnership that includes a seasoned builder, Greenwood Homes, and two non-profits, the Piedmont Housing Alliance and the Nelson County Community Development Foundation,” reads a letter to the county from Stu Armstrong, the project manager. 

There will be around 150 units on about 29 acres, and Armstrong writes that 40 percent of the units will be for households making less than 80 percent of the area median income. 

“This new development is the last undeveloped Multiple Use Sector zoned property in Wintergreen’s Stoney Creek,” Armstrong continues. 

The Nelson County Planning Commission will next meet on August 28. 

In other meetings:

• The Albemarle Broadband Authority meeting scheduled for today has been canceled. 
• The Regional Housing Partnership’s executive committee will meet at 2 p.m. in the Water Street Center in Charlottesville. (learn more)
• The Albemarle Fire EMS Board meeting is being held at 6 p.m. in Room 235 of the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. There is no agenda at publication time. (meeting info)
• The Albemarle County Electoral Board will meet at the 5th Street Office Building at 6 p.m. There’s no agenda listed. (meeting info)
• The Nelson County Agricultural and Forestal District Committee will meet at 3:30 p.m. in the old Board of Supervisors meeting room in the county courthouse in Lovingston. They’ll take up an application related to the Fork Mountain district in the Montebello area. (meeting info)

Thursday, July 25, 2024

TJPDC to hold virtual meeting for public hearing on rural housing preservation program

The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission skipped their July meeting and will skip their August meeting. But, there’s business to be had so they’re having a virtual gathering at 6 p.m. (meeting info)

The purpose of the meeting is to learn about a grant for housing preservation that the TJPDC wants to pursue from the United States Department of Agriculture. Funding of up to $5,000 can be used for roof replacements, repair of structures, rewiring, adding accessibility features, and other things homeowners can do to increase the life of their improvements. 

The TJPDC received $212,435 in the current program year which runs the federal fiscal year from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024. The funding is passed down to other agencies such as the Albemarle Housing Improvement Program, the Fluvanna-Louisa Housing Foundation, the Nelson County Community Development Foundation and Skyline CAP which covers Greene County. 

To be considered for funding in the next program year, a public hearing needs to be held and a pre-application is due on July 29. That means the TJPDC has to meet to take action. That public notice was made in the Daily Progress on July 9. 

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This post was contributed by Sean Tubbs. Sean is a journalist working to build a new information and news outlet centered around Charlottesville and Virginia. In 2020, he launched a daily newscast and newsletter and also created a semi-regular podcast on the pandemic.

Support for Sean’s “Week Ahead” update comes from The Piedmont Environmental Council.