There is new leadership at the Charlottesville Planning Commission as two members with many years of experience as appointed officials have been selected to run the meetings. Commissioner Karim Habbab read the report from the nominating committee at the group’s meeting on September 12.
“The chair is Commissioner [Hosea] Mitchell and the vice chair Commissioner [Carl] Schwarz,” Habbab said.
Mitchell thanked outgoing chair Lyle Solla-Yates for his work in implementing the Cville Plans Together initiative.
“Two of the most important things that you’ve gotten done is that you got Council to vote yes on the Comprehensive Plan that we developed,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell used a football metaphor in thanking Solla-Yates to getting the Development Code into the red zone, referring to the last fifth of a football field where one team can score six points by running or throwing the ball across the goal line.
“Now the red zone if you watched football this weekend, you know that the red zone is the most difficult part of the field to navigate,” Mitchell said. “You often settle for a field goal or maybe there’s a turnover through interceptions or a turnover through a fumble or maybe a turnover after four downs. We do not want to accept a field goal and we absolutely cannot tolerate a turnover.”
Mitchell was recently appointed to a new four-year term. He also served on the Planning Commission for one term in the late 2000’s before joining the Board of Commissioners for the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority.
Schwarz served two terms on the Board of Architectural Review before being appointed to the Planning Commission in August 2022.
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