City Council approves Verve Charlottesville and 2117 Ivy Road 

Shortly before they adopted a new zoning code, Council also approved rezonings under the old system for mixed-use buildings near the University of Virginia. Both projects had been deferred at the December 4 meeting. 

The first is known as Verve Charlottesville which would replace 62 existing apartments with between 524 and 550 units.  The project is located at the intersection of Jefferson Park Avenue, Emmet Street, and Stadium Row. 

“You gave the applicant two weeks to come back with something better and before you tonight is what they’re bringing back to you,” said Matt Alfele, a city planner.  

The concept for Verve Charlottesville had been altered between the Planning Commission public hearing and Council’s first consideration. Here’s a memo outlining those changes. Since December 4, developers Subtext Acquisitions offered to pay more into the city’s affordable housing fund. 

“The new proffer statement that has been provided to City Council and signed offers four and a half times that which would be required under City Code Section 34-12-D-2 based on the approval of the final site plan up to a maximum of $6,800,00,” Alfele said.  (view the statement) (view the code)

The amount on December 4 had been a maximum of $6 million. The exact figure will be determined via a formula that’s associated with the existing city code that uses total square footage as one of its inputs.  

The new Development Code will have a new mechanism for calculating cash-in-lieu payments and are expected to be much higher. That will be covered in the Affordable Dwelling Ordinance manual which City Council will have to approve. 

Councilor Michael Payne wanted to know more about how Subtext came up with their number. Attorney Valerie Long responded that they used the RKG “rate of change” report which recommended changes to the calculation. 

“It’s not an arbitrary number pulled out of the air,” Long said. “It is based on the analysis as best we are able to do with the information that we have.” 

Payne said he could support the project.

“As best as I can, looking at RKG’s analysis and the change they’ve made I think were made in good faith,” Payne said. “Particularly compared to this when this began at $4 million, it’s much closer to what I think the payment in lieu likely would be under the draft inclusionary zoning.” 

The vote to rezone the property to Planned Unit Development was unanimous. 

The project will also have to go through the Entrance Corridor Review Board, which is also the Planning Commission. 

The second project is a rezoning request for 2117 Ivy Road, one of the only properties on the northern side of that street that is not owned by the University of Virginia or its real estate foundation. This project would include up to 241 units and was also deferred at the December 4 meeting. 

“And in that time, the applicants have revised their proffer statement, they have increased the cash-in-lieu payment to a maximum of $3,250,000 and they have also added a second proffer to reflect proposed design changes to their pedestrian streetscape and building stepbacks,” said city planner Dannan O’Connell. (view the proffer statement)

In this case, RMD Properties has not yet decided if they will pay into the fund or actually build the units. 

Attorney Valerie Long also represented developer RMD Properties. She said those design changes for the streetscape have been made in response to UVA.

“We’ve also moved the building back as far as possible from Ivy Road to address some comments that you all provided at the last meeting,” Long said. 

Councilor Michael Payne said it is a good location for housing and will not displace anyone. 

“Obviously the University has bought up most of this corridor and is going to transform it and it’s going to be different in terms of their architecture and height and I think that’s okay,” Payne said. “I think it always has to be on our mind that the University continues to buy property and it’s now well north of $15 million a year that we don’t get in tax revenue because of that.”

Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook repeated a comment he’d made previously that there is too much trying to be packed into less than one acre site. 

“I guess I’ll cast a reluctant yes,” Snook said and the vote was unanimous. 

This project will also have to go through the Entrance Corridor Review Board, which is the Planning Commission. 

What might this project have looked like if City Council and the Board of Supervisors did not agree to dissolve the Planning and Coordination Council? There is no longer any public forum where the three members of the Three Party Agreement can discuss ideas and share concerns openly. Instead, that happens behind closed doors.

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