Supervisors approve rezoning for Granger property in Albemarle’s southwest urban ring

The Albemarle Board of Supervisors has approved a rezoning for a 69 acre site that represents one of the largest undeveloped tracts of land within the county’s urban area. They did so after a public hearing on August 7, 2024 for a request from Riverbend Development on behalf of Greenwood Homes. 

“The property is located just to the southwest of the City of Charlottesville on the northern side of Interstate-64,” said Kevin McCollum, a senior planner with the county. “It’s just to the south of the [University of Virginia] Fontaine Research Park. The property is bounded by Sunset Avenue Extended, Interstate 64, a railroad track, and two creeks.” (presentation from staff)

That means it would be very expensive to build a roadway to connect to the park, so vehicles will enter the site on Sunset Avenue Extended, an area covered by Albemarle’s Southern and Western Urban Neighborhoods Master Plan. (view the plan)

That plan was adopted in June 2015 at the same time when Supervisors last adopted an overall Comprehensive Plan. One of the transportation components was a connector road between Fontaine Avenue and Sunset Avenue Extended.  There is currently a section of Stribling Avenue that goes underneath the railroad that loops east back to Jefferson Park Avenue Extended in Charlottesville through the Fry’s Spring neighborhood. 

This road will be considered an emergency access roadway, but will also be used as a multi-use pathway for bikes and pedestrians to travel between the new community and points to the north. 

“While the application does not propose a Sunset-Fontaine Connector road as described in the master plan, these multiuse trails along the property frontage and throughout the site provide significant and safe connections for pedestrians and cyclists through the site into the surrounding areas,” McCollum said. 

There would be no fixed-route existing transit service to the location with the nearest stop at least half a mile away on Fifth Street Extended. A representative from Greenwood Homes, Chris Schooley, acknowledged that there’s no transit routes that will directly touch the property, but the development will come with pathways where people can walk to nearby bus stops. 

The 2015 comprehensive plan designated the land as Neighborhood Density Residential.

“Neighborhood Density Residential calls for single-family detached, single-family attached, and townhouse units at a density of three to six dwelling units per acre,” McCollum said. 

Riverbend and Greenwood filed an application to take advantage of that recommended density by building a maximum of 203 units with a mix of of housing types. They’re setting aside 15 percent of units as affordable under the county’s previous policies.  

This is not the first proposal that’s been submitted for the land. 

“This is a tricky site,” said Chris Schooley, vice president of land development for Greenwood Homes. “It’s bordered on three sides by water. We have an interstate. We have a railroad. We have a significant stream that cuts right through the property. We’re very pleased at this point for the iterative process that we’ve gone through and the solution that we’re presenting today to the Board that it represents where the market is today, where the goals and direction from the county and the Board have evolved over the years.” 

Schooley said Greenwood Homes has been building in Albemarle County since 2021 and many of the home types at this development will be similar to those at Brookhill, Belvedere, Galaxie Farm, Archer North, and Glenbrook. That includes the townhomes.

“We’ve spent a significant amount of time refining what we call our two over one product,” Schooley said. “It’s a three to four bedroom townhouse which has what we call an English basement below it which is a two bedroom apartment. This is our mechanism for addressing affordable housing.”  

However, that means there are no garages for all of the units which require additional surface parking.

The only speaker during the public hearing was from the Piedmont Environmental Council who commended the project for the trails it would build.  

The only significant pushback from the Board of Supervisors came from Jack Jouett representative Diantha McKeel who wanted a plan to accommodate transit on site. 

“Many of the developments that we have been approving have identified a place for transit,” McKeel said. “We have public roads and you said there’s no transit that goes to this community. Well, there’s no transit to this community because there’s no people there. But if you put people there, we will have transit eventually.” 

Schooley said they could provide the infrastructure if requested but pointed out that Sunset Avenue Extended is a fairly tight road. On the other hand, he said transit service to that location would have many potential riders in neighboring communities that are already built. 

Supervisors approved the rezoning unanimously.  McKeel supported the project but wanted to be kept in the loop regarding transit accommodation in the future. 

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