Charlottesville PC to consider rezoning for massive project on Stadium Row, may make recommendation on development code

The seven-member Charlottesville Planning Commission will meet in City Council Chambers at 5:30 p.m. but there is often substantive discussion at the pre-meeting which begins at 5 p.m. in the conference room of Neighborhood Development Services. This part is not televised. (meeting files)

The agenda packet is 467 pages long and the Civic Plus interface for meetings gets some getting used to. Most jurisdictions that use Civic Plus chop up the meeting packets for meetings of elected officials. I would like to see this extended to Planning Commisson meetings. 

The regular meeting will begin with Commissioners’ Reports, a report from the University, a report from the Chair, and a report from the Department of Neighborhood Development Services. Then public comment followed by the consent agenda which this time consists of approval of two sets of minutes. These are at the very end of the packet, but I extracted the minutes from the joint planning commission and Council meeting from August 29, 2023 where they discussed how the Development Code would be adopted.  (view those minutes on cvillepedia)

In the first joint public hearing with the City Council, Neighborhood Investments CA LLC seeks a rezoning of a 0.62 acre parcel. The land is currently split between R-2U (Two-Family Residential University) and R-3 (Multifamily Residential). 

“The applicant is proposing a multifamily building with up to five units through new construction,” reads the agenda.

These units would be in addition to what’s already existing at the site. The property would be Residential Mixed Use 3 (RX-3) under the new zoning code.  

“The owner realizes that the enactment of a new zoning ordinance may allow the same potential for site improvements pursued in this request,” reads the narrative crafted by Mitchell Matthews Architects. “However, because of uncertainties about when the new ordinance will take effect, the owner requests the rezoning described here to allow improvement plans to proceed sooner rather than later.”

The second first joint public hearing is a Comprehensive Plan review for a 3.3 acre Planned Unit Development request that’s the subject of joint public hearings #3 and #4. For all three, VERVE Charlottesville seeks a rezoning of five properties on Stadium Road. The first action sought is to amend a previous vacation of a paper street known as Woodrow Street. Are relocations of utility easements consistent with the Comprehensive Plan? 

But what do they hope to build? One of the biggest residential projects in city history nestled right within the heart of the University of Virginia’s Central Grounds. 

“The applicant is proposing to redevelop the Subject Property and replace the existing (62) residential units (spread between nine different buildings) with one building containing between (524) to (550) residential units,” reads the agenda. “The proposed building will have a height range of (75) feet to (135) feet and stories that range from (5) to (12).”

The Planning Commission held a preliminary discussion in June which I had hoped to cover. 

After this, the Commission may take up the Development Code and may make a recommendation. Here’s my story from yesterday for more information. 

Before you go: The time to write and research of this article is covered by paid subscribers to Charlottesville Community Engagement. In fact, this particular installment comes from the October 9. 2023 Week Ahead. To ensure this research can be sustained, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or contributing monthly through Patreon.