Planning Commission gets update on implementation of Development Code

Charlottesville’s new Development Code has been in effect for two months and so far there have been no applications for major developments. Staff in the Department of Neighborhood Services continue to process a handful of applications submitted under the old rules. 

The city Planning Commission met frequently in late 2023 to make their recommendations to the new rules which significantly increase the development rights of most properties across the city’s 10.4 square miles. However, they’ve not had a single work session in 2024.

“We’re kind of slowly getting ourselves back into that because we were meeting once or twice a week for a number of months,” said Missy Creasy, the deputy director at NDS.

Creasy said that the planning team has been working with developers in pre-application meetings for future projects that will be built under the new rules. 

“We’ve definitely found some things that we need to work on to try and see if we can get projects to fruition but it’s been very fruitful,” Creasy said.

Creasy said there are currently no plans for any projects to come before the Planning Commission in the next few months. There will be a public hearing on May 14 on recommendations on how to spend the city’s allocation of Community Development Block Grant funding. On April 9, the Planning Commission reviewed the design of Verve Charlottesville as the Entrance Corridor Review Board. 

Creasy’s boss at NDS is James Freas, who has been recently been promoted to be the Deputy City Manager for Operations. 

“I will remain as interim director of NDS until we fill that position and that position has been advertised,” Freas said. 

Take a look at the position here if you want to know what the person will be expected to do. Starting salary begins at $130,000 a year and pays up to $174.720 annually. 

Freas also said there would be a new position of planning manager that will soon be advertised. One task for this new position will be revamp the way staff approaches the development review process under the new rules. 

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