This year much of my focus will switch to planning in Albemarle County now that Charlottesville has a new Development Code in place. To cover this community, it’s important to be able to look at the big picture as well as individual pieces of the puzzle.
There’s been a few surveys and a lot of correspondence from the county itself on AC44, but not a lot of third-party media coverage so far. I’ll try to add to the discussion this year, beginning with this first of several stories from an Albemarle County Planning Commission work session on AC44 from December 19, 2023.
Albemarle County is made up of 726 square miles and since 1980 the Comprehensive Plan has divided the land into a rural area and a growth area, which the growth area being just under five percent. A large theme of the current update of the state-mandated document is how to plan for when and if that number will increase.
One of the questions asked during Phase 2 of the AC44 process was whether land within what the county designates as “Crossroads Communities” could be used for more intense uses in the near future. This builds off an idea that’s included within the current plan, but not well-defined. There are currently seven of these.
“They are intended to ‘provide support services and opportunities to engage in community life’ for Rural Area community members,” reads a AC44 page on the Engage Albemarle website. “The Plan also encourages the adaptive reuse of historic structures in crossroads communities.”
One of these seven areas is Batesville, an unincorporated community on Plank Road in the Samuel Miller District south of Interstate-64. Holmes Brown is a life-long resident who submitted 11 pages of comments on Crossroads Communities.
“The question is what are the advantages of being designates a rural Crossroads Community?” Brown asked. “At this point it is simply meeting a county definition and so far there appear to be no material benefits.”
Brown wanted to know if Albemarle would take a passive approach where any enhancements are paid for by private interests or an active one in which the county would make investments. He also expressed concern about the use of groundwater at these locations.
“I think the county would do well to try and take a survey about water levels and the problem of development,” Brown said.
Disclosure: The Piedmont Environmental Council is a nonprofit advocacy organization for whom I briefly worked and a current sponsor with no input into my editorial process. Their Albemarle representative argues that there should be no more than seven crossroads communities at this time.
“PEC recommends that the county pause the designation of new crossroads community in the comp plan update,” said Rob McGinnis. “The county should include a recommendation in the rural area chapter for the completion of a rural area plan. During the process for completing a rural area plan, the county should engage rural communities regarding the designation of their communities as a crossroads community.”
PEC is working with a new organization that seeks to become a nonprofit to promote traffic calming on Plank Road. More on that story into the future.
Another of the Crossroads Communities is White Hall in the northwest quadrant of Albemarle and one person wants it to remain the same.
“In White Hall we have two country stores with gas stations, a Ruritan building available for community events, a post office, a vineyard, and an Inn” said Peggy Gilges. “White Hall is also very close to Crozet where there are many expanded services. So in the case of White Hall, I don’t think any more is needed and in general I worry that commercialization of crossroads in the rural area is going to be a bad idea.”
For many years, Tom Olivier of the Samuel Miller District has been trying to persuade Albemarle officials to stop economic development efforts and to consider a cap on population growth. He continues to make those arguments during the AC44 process, including a critique of the county’s $58 million purchase of 462 acres of land near Rivanna Station.
“In October, staff suggested the station could anchor the development of an eight mile technology business corridor,” Olivier said. “One day we could be like northern Virginia. There seems to be too much uncritical zeal for development in the corridors of the Albemarle County office building. This zeal is at odds with the value of most county residents as revealed in decades of surveys. And of course, economic growth will elevate the threats we face soon from the climate emergency.”
The current owner of the Batesville Market said the business dates back to 1880 and has gone through many transitions. She said Crossroads Communities can provide benefits for Albemarle.
“We appreciate the county looking at Crossroads Communities not only how can we sort of preserve what’s happening but how can we provide things and services that can make the community thrive and we all know that Crossroads Communities really are important hubs for those community members,” said Kristen Rabourdin. “It’s not just a pass-through to get from point A to point B.”
Rabourdin said the conversation should engage people around Batesville about potential new services. However, she said it is important to find ways to control traffic and create a safe place for residents and visitors.
“In Batesville, we want to make sure that it is walkable and is accessible to everyone,” Rabourdin said. “With that safety and accessibility we also want to address electricity and broadband. The electricity is out all of the time and we don’t have reliable broadband.”
Rabourdin said any zoning changes for Crossroads Communities should be tailored individually to each one.
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 January 9, 2024 edition of the newsletter and podcast. To ensure this research can be sustained, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or contributing monthly through Patreon
