Council to hold public hearing on formally ending biking at Ragged Mountain Natural Area

The regular meeting of Charlottesville City Council begins at 6:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers. (meeting overview)

One of the items on the consent agenda is a second reading of an additional $1.4 million to go into the Parking Fund to cover the cost of the city needing to pay the Charlottesville Parking Center more money under the terms of a new lease agreement. This is a story I will write out in more detail this week as I go through the appraisal conducted on behalf of the city’s Office of Economic Development and the appraisal conducted on behalf of Mark Brown, the sole shareholder of the Charlottesville Parking Center since he bought the company in August 2014. (staff report)

There are two public hearings but they are not consecutive. 

The first is on one of my favorite acronyms – the CAPER. That stands for the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report and it lists how the city has used federal funding from the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME funds. The CAPER is how the city communicates progress to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

“Through public review and discussion of the CAPER, the City of Charlottesville seeks to provide a meaningful forum for community engagement with the goals and activities of the CDBG and HOME programs to ensure that these programs are designed to address core needs within the community and continue to bring meaningful benefits to City residents,” reads the staff report. 

One of the tables in the program states that the city exceeded its goal of having a hundred people experiencing homelessness to be assisted through CDBG funds. The figure given is 258. 

HOME funds are distributed with the participation of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. 

Earlier this year, the Public Housing Association of Residents commissioned UVA students to produce a report for how the funding should be used. 

Council will also adopt a resolution with priorities for the upcoming program year. (read the resolution)

Next, Council will hold a second reading of a proposal to increase Council salaries from $18,000  to $34,000 and the Mayor’s salary from $20,000 to $37,000. The public hearing has already been held, as I reported earlier this month. 

Will a higher salary lead more people to run? The 2023 General Election was uncontested, something that had not happened since the first Council election I covered in 2006 in which Republican incumbent Rob Schilling lost in a three way vote to Dave Norris and Julian Taliaferro. 

Perhaps the next item may encourage others to run, too. 

Council will hold the first reading of an ordinance to use “ranked choice voting” for the June 2025 City Council primary. The 2023 primary was contested with five candidates under the traditional system. There will also be a resolution to appropriate an additional $26,460 to cover the costs of buying new software and conducting an education campaign. 

Ranked choice allows voters to select more than one candidate by first choice, second choice, and so on. Arlington County already uses the practice, and to learn more about the mechanics I wrote about how Julius “J.D.” Spain was selected after four rounds as the Democratic candidate for the open County Board seat. 

The next item on the agenda is not listed as a public hearing but yet there was an advertisement in the August 10, 2024 Charlottesville Daily Progress that states the following:

“LEGAL NOTICE On Monday, August 19, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. the Charlottesville City Council will hold a public hearing in the Council Chambers of City Hall, 605 East Main Street, Charlottesville, Virginia to consider adoption of the following: AN ORDINANCE repealing Sections 18-24(b) and 18-25(f) of the City Code pursuant to the Settlement Agreement between the City of Charlottesville and the County of Albemarle resolving the Ragged Mountain Reservoir litigation. The proposed ordinance will impact permitted recreational activities at the Ragged Mountain Reservoir. This notice is given pursuant to Virginia Code §15.2-1427.”

Yet the staff report does not mention a public hearing. This is not the first time I have noted the lack of the phrase “public hearing” in a staff report for a public hearing. Is this deliberate or an oversight? 

In this case, the decision to adopt a resolution formally banning cycling at the Ragged Mountain Natural Area was already decided in March when Council agreed to a settlement to end a lawsuit. (See also: No bikes on Ragged Mountain Natural Area trails after Albemarle prevails in lawsuit settlement.)

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 August 19, 2024 Week Ahead edition of the newsletter.