Three major apartment buildings under review at Charlottesville PC meeting 

The seven member Charlottesville Planning Commission will meet in CitySpace at 5 p.m. for a pre-meeting followed by a regular meeting at 5:30 p.m.  (meeting info) (agenda and packet)

The consent agenda includes a major subdivision for the fourth phase of the Lochlyn Hill development as well as a zoning text initiation to remove the Individually Protected Property status for 104 Stadium Road. The former would be to create six lots. More on the latter in a moment. 

At some point in the meeting, the Planning Commission will also become the Entrance Corridor Review Board and will consider a certificate of appropriateness for 2005 Jefferson Park Avenue. 

The main item on the agenda is a special use permit request from Heirloom Development to modify the stepbacks for 218 West Market Street, a previously approved project for a 101 foot tall mixed-use building with up to 134 dwelling units.  

“The application requests a modification of the 25-foot minimum required stepback after 45-feet in height… to authorize a 10-foot minimum stepback after 45-feet in height on the West Market Street frontage and a 5-foot minimum stepback after 45-feet in height on the Old Preston Avenue frontage,” reads the agenda. 

The narrative for the application argues that the requirement to have step backs on Old Preston Avenue limits the project’s potential. 

“The double 25-foot stepback on this parcel results in a building footprint that makes it impossible to achieve the type of density the Special Use Permit allows, and that the City desires as it works to expand its overall housing stock generally, and in particular its affordable housing stock and options as specifically set forth in this SUP,” reads the narrative written by staff at Williams Mullen. 

Eight of the units are to be affordable with four at 80 percent of area median income, two at 60 percent of AMI, and two at 50 percent of AMI. Six of them have to remain affordable for eight years and two have to be affordable for sixteen years. The units can also be built off-site. 

There are also two preliminary discussions for two projects that are seeking rezonings. The first is the aforementioned 104 Stadium Road which is being developed by a firm called Subtext. They are pursuing a Planned Unit Development under the existing zoning rather than wait for the future zoning. 

“Subtext is looking to redevelop the six properties between Stadium Road, Emmet Street, and Jefferson Park Avenue into a multifamily building with up to 350 units,” reads the staff report. “The proposed development would be approximately 105 to 115 feet in height with structured parking and improvements to City infrastructure.” 

However that level of density is consistent with the Corridor Mixed-Use 8 designation in the draft zoning ordinance. 

The project would be called VERVE Charlottesville. 

“This is a phenomenal location for high density residential development immediately adjacent to UVA grounds and has the potential to be a gateway project along the Entrance Corridor, while also furthering the goals of the Citywide Comprehensive Plan, the Draft Zoning Ordinance, and the Streets That Work Plan,” reads the applicant’s narrative. 

Up next is another project to be built within the University of Virginia’s general footprint. In January, Council agreed to allow Planned Unit Development proposals for properties less than two acres. That was requested by RMD Properties, a firm seeking to develop 2117 Ivy Road. 

“The applicant is proposing to construct a ten-story multi-family apartment building with ground floor commercial space and underground parking,” reads the staff report. 

The property is between many others purchased by the University of Virginia Foundation for eventual use by the University of Virginia. Properties owned by the foundation are on the city’s tax rolls but anything owned by UVA are exempt. 

The new zoning is also Commercial Mixed-Use 8. Properties owned by the University of Virginia are subject to the city’s zoning code. 

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