On January 11, Albemarle Housing Coordinator Stacy Pethia briefed the Village of Rivanna Community Advisory Council on Housing Albemarle, a project to update the county’s affordable housing plan.
“The county has had an affordable housing policy that was adopted in 2004 and that’s what the county has been working on since then,” Pethia said. “It was readopted with some minor updates in 2015 with the Comprehensive Plan update. Then in April of 2019, the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission released a regional housing assessment and that really highlighted what the affordable housing and market rate housing needs will be today. So where we have a gap in housing provision and it projected what that gap will be heading out until 2040.”
The report found that Albemarle needs 11,750 additional units by 2040 to meet population projections, and that includes new legislative approval for about 3,616 units. The public comment period will begin sometime in the coming weeks or by the middle of February. (draft plan)
Albemarle limits dense growth to only around five percent of its total land mass. One member of the committee had this observation.
“Since Albemarle County has only really five or six growth areas, five or six growth areas cannot absorb that many homes no matter what you and it certainly would influence the quality of living as well,” said Dottie Martin.
Martin asked Supervisor Donna Price if the county would consider adding more growth areas. Price said she was not.
“It’s my understanding right now that the Board is not open to expand the development areas,” Price said. “My belief is we need to complete development within our development areas before we look to expand.”
You can watch the rest of the discussion on the Albemarle County YouTube channel.
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