Albemarle ARB to review plans for two car dealerships 

The Albemarle County Architectural Review Board will meet at 1 p.m. on February 19, 2024, in Lane Auditorium of the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road in Charlottesville. Unlike Charlottesville and Louisa County, Albemarle County does not appear to be closed for business for Presidents’ Day. (meeting info) (agenda)

The two items for review are both car dealerships on U.S. 29. 

In the first, the ARB will conduct an advisory review of new construction of a Flow Hyundai dealership to be located on undeveloped land about 1,280 feet south of the intersection of U.S. 29 and Hilton Heights Road. The applicant is seeking a special use permit to allow for outdoor sales and the property is within the Entrance Corridor. The ARB also reviewed this use at their meeting on December 18, 2023. 

“The applicant has also requested an exception from the supplementary regulation (5.1.31) that requires vehicles awaiting repair to be located where they will not be visible from any public street or residential property,” reads the staff report. 

The property is within the scope of the Places29 Master Plan, a document adopted by the Board of Supervisors in February 2011 to guide growth in Albemarle’s northern development areas. One story I would like to write would check to see how the plan has turned out. The company that seeks to buy the property sees the continued future of the 5.73 acre site as automotive.

“The proposed use of the property is consistent with the uses of adjacent properties that are used as auto dealerships,” reads the narrative prepared by Shimp Engineering. “Car dealerships typically require locations on high visibility and heavily traveled corridors.”

The narrative notes that an estimated 46,000 vehicles per day travel past the site. The property is zoned Highway Commercial and the narrative also notes that other dealerships were established prior to rules that required the special use permit.

The Places29-Community Advisory Committee will review the special use permit at a community meeting on Thursday. 

Much of U.S. 250 on Pantops is also zoned Highway Commercial. Flow also has a Kia dealership at 1390 Richmond Road and there’s a proposal to demolish and replace the southern portion. 

“The Kia building is the last remnant of popular mid-century roadside architecture that once predominated along this street,” reads that staff report.

That building was designed by local architect Stanislaw Makielski as part of the Town and Country Motor Lodge that stood nearby. The ARB approved removal of a dome on the building back in 2016.  

“Within a half-mile radius of the parcel, there are currently eight other new-sale automotive dealerships and three used-car dealerships,” reads the narrative in the architectural drawings prepared by the firm Design Develop. “As one travels along the Richmond Road, the proposed renovation would feel neither out of scale nor incompatible with it’s context [sic],” 

This is within the Pantops Master Plan which was intended to help the area become more walkable. How did that one turn out? (view the plan)

Before you go: The time to write and research of this article is covered by paid subscribers to Charlottesville Community Engagement and people who support through Patreon. The goal of Town Crier Productions is to create ways for people to learn more about what their local government is doing. All of this is a bit of an experiment, and this particular installment will be included in the February 19, 2024 Week Ahead. That’s not going to be published until tomorrow, but I wanted to get this particular item out on Sunday. Is there a method to this madness? Keep reading and find out!