(This post originally appeared in the February 25, 2021 installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement) Albemarle County Executive Jeffrey Richardson unveiled a $466 million recommended operating budget for the Board of Supervisors to review over the several weeks. (review the recommended FY22 budget) “This year’s budget theme pulls forward the budget theme year from fiscal year 21…
Tonight, the Places29-Rio Community Advisory Committee will get a briefing on the Rio Road Corridor Study, a project underway in that is in part a response to opponents of recent rezoning proposals on Rio Road East. They argued Albemarle County needed to address congestion on the street before approving any more residential units. The firm…
Last night, a community meeting was held for a special use permit for a 60-acre utility-scale solar facility near Batesville. Sun Tribe Solar is applying for the 8-megawatt project on behalf of the Central Virginia Electric Cooperative, which purchased the property last year. Supervisors updated the zoning code to allow such facilities with a special…
The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s Board of Commissioners held their final meeting before groundbreaking will take place for the first new public housing units to be built in a generation. Jay Kessler has been working as the project manager on behalf of the CRHA in a position known as “owner’s representative.” Riverbend Development is the…
At their meeting on February 16, Council was briefed on a plan to remedy the city’s noncompliance with a mandate from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to spend previously funding on a timely basis. Erin Atak is the city’s grants coordinator. “City staff had identified an immediate program for funding to solve the…
At their meeting on February 16, Council discussed the future of capital funding for a 300-space parking structure, but took no action on whether $8 million in funding should be included for the project. The topic also came up at a meeting earlier on February 16 of the Charlottesville Parking Advisory Panel that featured an…
The prospect of the West Main Streetscape being implemented is still alive as City Council still wants more information about how the project could be salvaged. The project was split into four phases in order to secure funding from the Virginia Department of Transportation, but staff has recommended not fully funding the project. Council has…
On Tuesday, the Albemarle Planning Commission held a public hearing on a new zoning overlay district created by staff for the area around the intersection of U.S. 29 and Rio Road. The idea is to encourage the redevelopment of single-story shopping centers into a more urban form. The form-based code would be optional and would…
The Albemarle County Economic Development Authority has entered into a job creation agreement with Afton Scientific for that company’s expansion. Afton Scientific manufactures pharmaceuticals that are sterile and digestible and has around 60 employees. Their products include therapies for cystic fibrosis, immune diseases, and breast cancer. Tom Thorp, the firm’s CEO, told the EDA about…
Charlottesville City Council received several reports yesterday afternoon, beginning with an update on the city’s financial forecast. Senior Budget Analyst Ryan Davidson said nothing much has changed since the last one in January. (forecast) “We’re still looking at projecting our revenues to come in approximately $9.9 million lower than the FY21 adopted budget amount,” Davidson…