Albemarle PC to review proposed county incentives for affordable housing 

The seven member Albemarle Planning Commission is set to meet at 6 p.m. in Lane Auditorium in the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. (meeting info)

The first item on the agenda is a work session on the missing link in the Housing Albemarle policy adopted by Supervisors in July 2021. The policy calls for the provision of over 10,000 affordable units but mandatory requirements to do so have been delayed while a package of incentives for developers has been worked out. Conversations have gone and back and forth with the most recent public meeting being one on December 4 between Supervisors and the Planning Commission facilitated by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission.

The current proposal centers around a grant program run by the county. Projects with more than 11 rental units would be eligible for grant funds from the county. If they get grants, 20 percent of the units have to be affordable for a period of 30 years. Eligible households would have to be under 60 percent of the area median income. 

“The total amount of grant funding to be provided each year would be equal to 11 percent of the property’s real property tax increment,” reads the fourth bullet of the summary. More details are in the draft ordinance. 

There are two public hearings. 

• One is to rezone 2.22 acres of land on Dickerson Road in the Hollymead development area from Rural Areas to Light Industrial. That’s what’s called for in the Comprehensive Plan. The land is adjacent to property owned by the University of Virginia Foundation and the property owner wants to operate a contractor’s business. One issue is that the property is not currently connected to water and sewer. (staff report)
• The second is a request for special use permit for a storage for a landscape contractor at 163 Patterson Mill Lane in the Samuel Miller District. (staff report)

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