As this newsletter goes out, Charlottesville City Council is holding their public hearing on the city’s draft zoning code which will increase the number of development rights across the city. The exact extent won’t be known until after Council holds their deliberations and makes their adjustments based on feedback received tonight.
Council’s decision to spend $5.9 million to extinguish the development rights on over 23.8 acres of land along the Rivanna River has now been fully implemented as announced by City Manager Sam Sanders.
“0 East High, the set of properties we’ve been referencing as 0 East High that’s been the source of a lot of conversation is now officially owned by the City of Charlottesville,” Sanders said. “It will be maintained as a passive recreation area until we are able to find some capacity to figure out what to become of it but for now it will be what it is and you can all be happy that’s the case.”
Council made the decision to buy the property from developer Wendell Wood after ratifying a determination by the Planning Commission. In August and again in September, that body concluded that some of the public facilities that would be constructed to support the proposed 245 units would not comply with the Comprehensive Plan. The contract also included a clause that any legal claims would not be pursued in court as I reported on November 4.
The price per unit is $24,081.62 according to a rough calculation. That’s a relatively good deal compared to the $67,187 per unit that an entity associated with the Jefferson Scholars Foundation spent last November to buy 1.59 acres of land across from their headquarters. That property had been slated for 64 units. That transaction was $4.3 million in total.
A thought as the Development Code proceeds: Will other entities begin to buy up land in the city to prevent it from being developed?
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 December 5, 2023.
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