Sanders provides updates on Stribling Avenue sidewalk project

When Charlottesville City Council approved a rezoning in April 2022 for 170 units on 12 acres of wooded land near the Fontaine Research Park, one of the conditions was that Stribling Avenue be upgraded with a sidewalk and other improvements to handle the additional pedestrian and vehicular traffic. 

Southern Development agreed to loan the city a portion of the money necessary to advance the work, a loan to be paid back through refunding property taxes on land that will be assessed at higher levels due to the new uses on the property. The current fiscal year sets aside just over $4.2 million and design work is well underway.

Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders provided an update at the August 19 City Council meeting. 

“There’s been a series of community meetings that have led to the neighborhood [identifying] a specific option that we’re going to move forward with,” Sanders said. “That has been priced and we are now looking to determine when we get started.”

Sanders said Council will learn more about the project during a work session scheduled within the next month on the status of infrastructure projects across the city. 

Five alternatives were presented at a community meeting on July 30 and the selected alternative has a cost estimate of $5.5 million and would feature a lane width of nine feet and a sidewalk on one side of the road. A chart states that this could be completed within 38 months. 

After publishing the story to Charlottesville Community Engagement, I asked the city if the loan from Southern Development was still part of the equation.

“A potential loan from Southern Development to provide some of the funding necessary for this project is still an option and still included in the [Capital Improvement Program] as a potential revenue source,” said Afton Schneider, the city’s director of communications and public engagement.

Work on the 240 Stribling project won’t be built for at least two years according to the narrative for a rezoning Southern Development is seeking to amend the proffers that are part of the April 2022 land use change. They want to build some of the 26 affordable units required at a separate project instead.

“This request is to amend the 240 Stribling PUD proffers to allow a portion of the affordable units to be built in Flint Hill, which will mean they are produced sooner because Flint Hill is already under construction vs. an unknown timeline for construction at 240 Stribling,” reads the unsigned narrative written on June 20, 2024.

The Charlottesville Planning Commission is expected to hear that matter on September 10, 2024. For more information on the story, check out a story I wrote for the June 26, 2024 C-Ville Weekly.

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