Albemarle and Charlottesville economic development authorities to hold joint meeting

Albemarle and Charlottesville are closely intertwined, but joint meetings of similar bodies have been rare in recent years. It’s been at least five years since the two Planning Commissions met and I vaguely remember a joint meeting of Supervisors and City Council sometime during the pandemic era. 

I cannot recall a joint meeting of the Albemarle and Charlottesville Economic Development Authorities, but that’s set to take place at 4 p.m. in CitySpace. This meeting will not be televised or live-streamed, and I’m trying to arrange a recording as I think this is a fairly historic meeting. (Albemarle meeting info) (Charlottesville meeting info) 

Ten years ago, Albemarle didn’t have an economic development office. Now, economic development is a major drive of policy in the county with the primary exhibit being the $58 million purchase of 462 acres of land around Rivanna Station to build a major industrial park for the defense sector. Since being announced last May, the county has moved fast to rezone the land for this purpose with the Board of Supervisors having a public hearing on Wednesday, June 12. 

There are two items on the agenda. 

The first is a presentation from the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission on the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy that was adopted in May. At that meeting, at least one city representative on the TJPDC Board expressed a lack of knowledge about the role the defense sector plays in the local economy. Again, this newsletter exists to provide that context as I did in May 2023 shortly before Albemarle announced their plans to invest $58 million to purchase 462 acres of land. (See also: Chamber official details defense sector’s $1.2 billion impact on community, May 10, 2023)

The second is a presentation on CvilleBioHub’s application for GO Virginia funding for something called Project VITAL: Region 9 Charlottesville Biotech Accelerator. Here are some articles I’ve written for background:

• CvilleBioHub awarded $100,000 for CvilleBioLab, March 27, 2023
• CvilleBioHub Director pitches sector to Albemarle EDA, July 16, 2023
• Albemarle EDA to sign off on providing $300,000 match for CvilleBioHub, March 19, 2024

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 is from the June 3, 2024 Week Ahead edition of the newsletter.