Albemarle Planning Commission now chaired by two top officials in UVA land use

The first meeting of 2024 for the Albemarle Planning Commission was initially chaired by Michael Barnes, the county’s new planning director. The first item on Tuesday was a resolution to allow White Hall Commissioner Lonnie Murray to participate in the meeting remotely due to weather conditions.

“I would like to join remotely due to the circumstances of my road being flooded out,” Murray said. 

That requires a vote by the members present in Lane Auditorium. Jack Jouett Commissioner Julian Bivins asked a question first.

“For someone else who lives in a rural part of the county, is this what living in the country is like nowadays for those of us who live farther out into the reaches of Albemarle County?” Bivins asked. 

“Pretty much,” Murray responded. “Particularly those of us who are surrounded by rivers.” 

Commissioners voted to allow Murray to participate remotely. 

No one took advantage of the public comment period so the third item of business was to select a chair and vice chair for the year. 

Samuel Miller Commissioner Karen Firehock nominated Scottsville District Commissioner Fred Missel as chair, seconded by at-large Commissioner Luis Carrazana. The vote was unanimous. 

“I appreciate everyone’s confidence and I really do respect this group incredibly, largely, a great deal and I’m glad to have the opportunity to work with everybody for another year at least,” Missel said. 

Missel’s day job is as the director of design and development at the University of Virginia Foundation, the separate nonprofit organization that purchases real estate for UVA. Missel previously spent many years on the county’s Architectural Review Board before being named to the Planning Commission in early 2022.

Unlike the Board of Supervisors, the Albemarle Planning Commission has a seventh at-large member that represents the entire corner for a two-year term. In early 2022, the associate architect of the University of Virginia was named to serve in this position. 

Supervisors reappointed Luis Carrazana to a second term at their organizational meeting on January 3. On January 9, Bivins nominated the architect to the position of vice chair and he was elected unanimously. 

The 1986 Three Party Agreement between Charlottesville, Albemarle, and UVA calls for the state institution to name a non-voting member to the local planning commissions. UVA’s non-voting slot on Albemarle’s Planning Commission has been vacant since Carrazana and Missel were named by the Board of Supervisors to be voting members. 

In researching this story, I asked the county’s Director of Communications and Public Engagement whether Carrazana and Missel had to recuse themselves from votes related to UVA or the UVA Foundation.

“The standard for a Commissioner to disqualify themselves from an application is whether or not they have a ‘personal interest in the transaction’ under the Conflict of Interests Act,” said Abbey Stumpf in a January 12, 2024 e-mail. “Applications of one’s own employer would likely meet that standard; however, specifics would need to be reviewed. Another point of note, the University and its Foundation are separate entities. Therefore, University employees do not have to disqualify themselves from Foundation applications and Foundation employees do not have to disqualify themselves from University applications – unless there was some other ‘personal interest in the transaction.'”

Things are different in Charlottesville where one of Carrazana’s colleagues in the UVA Office of the Architect recently began his tenure as UVA’s non-voting representative on the city planning commission. Michael Joy is also an Associate University Architect and he introduced himself at their meeting on Tuesday. 

‘I’m a licensed architect in the Commonwealth of Virginia and I’m very honored and pleased to be here,” Joy said. 

Joy made his comments in the time period when Commissioners provide updates to the public and each other about what committees they sit on. One of those groups is the Land Use and Environmental Planning Committee which is a closed-door body that consists of staff and appointed officials from Charlottesville, Albemarle County, the University of Virginia, and the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority.

(This paragraph was corrected after publication)

The city’s representative is now Rory Stolzenberg who did not attend the November meeting but was present on December 15. Thanks to the posted minutes,  we learn that UVA Architect Alice Raucher is the chair of LUEPC in 2024.  

There were also presentations worth reviewing:

• Albemarle and Charlottesville officials gave a presentation on the Resilient Together initiative to jointly work on adaptation to climate change (view the presentation slides)
• Albemarle’s Chief of Environmental Services gave a presentation titled “Flood Resilience through Investments in Infrastructure” (view the presentation)

These were not public meetings so any discussions are not a matter of public record. 

Things are different in Charlottesville where one of Carrazana’s colleagues in the UVA Office of the Architect recently began his tenure as UVA’s non-voting representative on the city planning commission. Michael Joy is also an Associate University Architect and he introduced himself at their meeting on Tuesday. 

‘I’m a licensed architect in the Commonwealth of Virginia and I’m very honored and pleased to be here,” Joy said. 

Joy made his comments in the time period when Commissioners provide updates to the public and each other about what committees they sit on. One of those groups is the Land Use and Environmental Planning Committee which is a closed-door body that consists of staff and appointed officials from Charlottesville, Albemarle County, the University of Virginia, and the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority.

The city’s representative is now Rory Stolzenberg who did not attend the November meeting but was present on December 15. Thanks to the posted minutes,  we learn that UVA Architect Alice Raucher is the chair of LUEPC in 2024.  

There were also presentations worth reviewing:

• Albemarle and Charlottesville officials gave a presentation on the Resilient Together initiative to jointly work on adaptation to climate change (view the presentation slides)
• Albemarle’s Chief of Environmental Services gave a presentation titled “Flood Resilience through Investments in Infrastructure” (view the presentation)

These were not public meetings so any discussions are not a matter of public record. 

Let’s go back to the Albemarle Planning Commission. After selecting a chair, the group went through the list of assignments to various county boards and commissions. 

“Before you in your package you’ve got 15 committees there,” Barnes said. 

In his capacity at the UVA Foundation, Missel serves on the Land Use and Environmental Planning Committee. In the information before the Planning Commission, Bivins is also listed as a liaison to the UVA Master Planning Committee.

“I’m not quite sure where the University of Virginia master planning committee, where it stands today,” Bivins said. “I just don’t know. So, until we have a sense of that, maybe if the vice chair knows has a sense of where that might be, but I don’t believe it’s met in a bit of time.” 

Carrazana said he would seek out more information about the master planning committee’s status. Bivins confirmed his continuing appointment to the Land Use and Environmental Planning Committee. 

One item decided on Tuesday is who will be the liaison to the working group working on AC44, the county’s Comprehensive Plan update. Carrazana had been serving in that capacity, but Murray will be the next representative. 

In the discussion, the Planning Commission and Barnes also noted that the Capital Improvement Oversight Committee has been disbanded. 

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 12, 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.

This story was updated on February 25, 2024 to add the comments from Abbey Stumpf.