Monthly Archives: June 2022

Charlottesville Council briefed on city-owned property

Posted on by One comment

Council denies conveyance of one parcel; Councilor Magill seeks policy on conveyance of paper streets

The city of Charlottesville owns 170 pieces of property and another 18 in conjunction with Albemarle County. Does it need all that land and space? That was one of the undercurrents of a discussion and briefing Council had at a work session on June 21. 

“The approximate acreage of city-owned properties within the city is 798 acres and over 2,800 acres of city-owned properties located within [Albemarle] County,” said Brenda Kelley, the city’s redevelopment manager based in the Office of Community Solutions. 

Read more

Former Staunton City Manager to serve as Albemarle County Attorney

Posted on by Leave a comment

After a months-long search, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors has hired the former City Manager of Staunton as its next county attorney. Steven Rosenberg will start work on July 27. 

“The Board has taken a lot of time to find somebody that not only possesses the skills and the abilities that we seek in a county attorney but also is the person that joins our organization at the right point in the progression that we are attempting to achieve as an organization,” said Supervisor Ned Gallaway who headed up the search. 

Read more

Legal drama continues in second suit to force 2022 House of Delegates election 

Posted on by One comment

There are 131 days until the general election and a new lawsuit to force a Virginia House of Delegates race is still alive. Richmond resident Jeffrey Thomas Jr. filed a suit against the Board of Elections in the Eastern District of Virginia earlier this month that picked up a dismissed complaint that the legislative boundaries in place for the 2021 race were unconstitutional. 

As I reported earlier this month, Judge David Novak had set up a schedule for how information related to the case was to be filed. That schedule has not been followed.

Read more

RWSA to vote today on Central Water Line project

Posted on by Leave a comment

Today the Board of Directors for the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority will meet to select an alignment for a five mile pipeline that the organization says is necessary to help secure drinking water infrastructure. Last week, Charlottesville City Council got a briefing on the project. (view the presentation)

“So we call it the Central Water Line project because it was recommended to be located in the central portion of the city to provide the greatest water benefit to our regional water supply system,” said Bill Mawyer, the executive director of the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority. 

Read more

Speakers express multiple views on renaming of library system

Posted on by One comment

JMRL name change requires support from all five localities

The Board of Trustees of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library met yesterday at the Northside Library on Rio Road for the usual things such as a five year plan and a budget. But the main item throughout the meeting was whether the system’s name should be changed. 

“I don’t expect that we will have a vote on the issue of the library’s name change today,” said Thomas Unsworth, the chair of the JMRL Board. “In fact the Board would be able to call a public hearing if need be to collect further feedback from commentary on that issue.”

Read more

Around 200 people turn up at Pavilion to get details on the city’s zoning process

Posted on by One comment

When the Cville Plans Together Initiative began in early 2020, there were plans to engage people at a series of meetings while the work of crafting an affordable housing plan and the Comprehensive Plan update was conducted. However, the pandemic forced all of that public engagement work to go online. 

Council adopted the Affordable Housing Plan in March 2021 and the Comprehensive Plan last November. Both call for additional residential density across the city and an update of the zoning code is the next step. 

Read more

May 2022 Real Estate Transactions in Charlottesville

Posted on by 3 comments

Another month, another summary of property transactions in Charlottesville. I’ve written about land use issues in the city and Albemarle County for many years, and this is an exercise I began doing toward the end of my time at Charlottesville Tomorrow. I wanted to better understand the finances involved with the business of land development as the Comprehensive Plan review got underway in early 2017.

Real estate is complicated, and now that I ‘m an independent journalist, I want to broaden my knowledge. The way I’ve done that for the past 17 months has been to go transaction by transaction. Each of these is an anecdote, but I’m finding it very interesting to learn what I can and share it with you.

Read more

Albemarle Republicans choose Anderson in 7th Congressional District

Posted on by Leave a comment

Voters in Albemarle’s “Small Sliver” within Virginia’s new 7th Congressional District went to the polls Tuesday in the Republican primary. Eight people in all voted in the six way race and half selected Derrick Anderson, the candidate who came in second-place overall.

There were two votes for State Senator Bryce Reeves who came in third and two votes for the winner. Yesli Vega received 10,878 votes and will face incumbent Democrat Abigail Spanberger in November. 

Albemarle County is otherwise entirely within the new Fifth District.

Read more

Next steps for Charlottesville Area Transit route changes outlined at partnership meeting 

Posted on by 3 comments

Before the pandemic, Charlottesville Area Transit hired the firm Nelson Nygaard to take a look at its routes to suggest changes to optimize service. The study was done but nothing has been implemented so far. The Jefferson Area Regional Transit Partnership got an update at their meeting yesterday.

“CAT planned on implementing that system optimization plan last year but they’ve been dealing with driver shortages like every other transit agency in the country so that’s been postponed,” said Jim Baker of Nelson Nygaard. 

Read more

Council makes appointments, but not yet to Planning Commission

Posted on by Leave a comment
Plus: An update on city’s shortage of building inspectors

On Tuesday, City Council appointed Laura Knott and Sally Duncan to the city’s Historic Resources Committee and Dashad Cooper to the Police Civilian Oversight Board. Other appointments included members of the Sister Cities Commission, the Region 10 Board, and the Retirement Commission. 

However, they did not fill all the open positions.

“Appointments to the Planning Commission have been postponed until the July 18 Council meeting,” said Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook. “There were a few people we needed to interview and didn’t have time to do it today and at least one person was not available.”

Read more
« Older Entries