Checking in with AC44 as update’s third phase looms

There are a lot of moving parts with Albemarle County’s update of its Comprehensive Plan and the process known as AC44. At the moment, AC44 is in the second of four phases and the county is seeking public input through a series of questionnaires including one for housing. Surveys are also open for economic development, environmental stewardship, parks and recreation, and historic, scenic, and cultural resources.

What follows is a primer of sorts for where we are at the moment. 

The first phase included a review of the county’s growth management policy, an update on whether there is enough land in the development area to support future growth, and to update the plan with new county values adopted since the last Comprehensive Plan update in June 2015 such as equity and climate action. 

The county held a virtual meeting on November 6 to provide a chance for people to learn more about the plan.

“During phase 1 of last year, we created a framework and we called that a Framework for an Equitable and Resilient Community,” said Ben Holt, a planner with Albemarle County. “This serves as a guide for the rest of the AC44 Comprehensive Plan project.” 

That framework is available for review here. 

Phase 2 is winding down and includes the aforementioned questionnaires. Activity has included reviews of “planning toolkits” intended to inform discussion of such questions such as where should the county expect future expansion of the development areas should Supervisors proceed to eventually adjust the boundaries.

The toolkits are: 

• Draft Criteria for Future Development Areas Expansion
• Draft Activity Centers in the Development Areas
• Rural Crossroads Communities
• Rural Interstate Interchanges

These are to inform the creation of new goals and objectives, the stuff of any planning document. 

“Phase three will begin next year and that’s where we will start drafting the action steps that fall underneath the goals and objectives,” Holt said. “Phase four is to finalize and adopt the plan and that should be late 2024.” 

But Holt said that we’re now in step three of phase two which is to release all of the draft goals and objectives for the plan. In October, the Planning Commission reviewed:

• Environmental Stewardship (survey)
• Parks and Recreation (survey)
• Historic, Scenic, and Cultural Resources (survey)

I was unable to review that meeting from October 10, 2023 but the discussion is available on YouTube.

The Planning Commission took up the Housing and Economic Development chapters at their meeting on November 14, 2023.

• Housing
• Economic Development

The goals and objectives for the Land Use, Transportation, and Community Facilities chapters will be released in December. 

A review of results from previous surveys might indicate that participation has been relatively low so far. There were 528 responses to the survey that went out as step one of phase two. The trend toward low participation continued in step two of phase two.

“Our questionnaire response was a little bit lower for step two than it was for step one but the AC44 website where we share this information still had a lot of visitors,” Holt said.

That number is about 5,000, Holt said. Here are some other numbers. 

“There were a total of 148 responses across the four questionnaires, with 19 responses for Activity Centers, 52 responses for Criteria for Development Areas Expansion, 39 responses for Crossroads Communities, and 38 responses for Rural Interstate Interchanges,” reads a summary of public engagement. 

In comparison, the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia estimates that Albemarle’s population as of July 1, 2022 is 115,495. That number is expected to increase to 138,523 by 2040.

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 November 13, 2023 edition.

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