Charlottesville PC gives broad direction on capital improvement program

While Charlottesville awaits the ruling of Circuit Court Judge Claude Worrell on whether a trial can proceed against the city’s new zoning code, the body that helped write the transformative rules spent time in late September going through how they have been applied so far. 

But members of the Charlottesville Planning Commission also had the chance to give input into the development of a capital improvement program (CIP) for FY26.  Usually they won’t be involved until November but City Manager Sam Sanders wants the appointed body to play a role earlier in the process.  

“This is an opportunity to just kind of hear from commissioners about CIP thoughts and ideas at the early phase of things,” said Missy Creasy, the deputy director of the city’s Department of Neighborhood Development Services. 

City Council had their first look at a work session on September 16. (read or listen to my story)

Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg urged the city to invest in completing several transportation projects funded through the Virginia Department of Transportation that have not yet gone to construction.

“I think what we found from the [Comprehensive Plan] process and the zoning process, is that a thing a lot of people are concerned about is the city’s ability to build the infrastructure that’s needed to make this denser city work,” Stolzenberg said. “And our execution has not quite hit the mark over the last number of years, but we’re really turning things around.”

One recent improvement is that the city now has all of the projects listed on the transportation portion of its website. 

Both phases of the Emmet Streetscape are now listed as one and the project is in the land acquisition portion of the process with a completion date of Winter 2028. The first phase is in right of way acquisition and the second phase is waiting for funds so design can begin. 

This project “provides a shared use path, improved bus stops, landscaping, improved pedestrian crossings, and a tunnel under the railroad tracks between Ivy Road and Barracks Road” according to the website. 

The East High Street streetscape is in the right of way acquisition phase and will extend multimodal improvements built as part of the Belmont Bridge all the way to Locust Avenue. This project is expected to be completed in winter 2026. 

The Fontaine Avenue Streetscape is expected to be completed in the summer of 2026 and this project “provides enhancements to the streetscape that provide sidewalks on both sides of the road, bike lanes, curbs, and well-marked on-street parking from [Jefferson Park Avenue] to the City boundary.” 

A project that will modify the intersection of Barracks Road and Emmet Street is anticipated to be completed in the fall of 2027. This will also see construction of a shared use path halfway up Barracks Road to Hilltop Road. 

Michael Joy, a non-voting Commissioner who represents the University of Virginia, wanted more details on Sanders’ forthcoming homeless intervention strategy. He also wanted a status update on efforts to turn Walker Upper Elementary School into a pre-K facility. There was also a question about whether elementary schools are prepared to accommodate the return of fifth grade students when Charlottesville Middle School opens in the late summer of 2025. 

But Joy also said he thinks the city should do what it can to fund a recent downtown mall tree management plan put together by the firm Wolf Josey. City Council had a work session on September 3, 2024. (view the presentation). 

“I thought that was a very well put together report,” Joy said. “It feels very instantly actionable. It doesn’t seem like that it’s something that we don’t have the people in place to do.”

The Planning Commission will next see the Capital Improvement Program in November during a work session followed by a public hearing in December.

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 October 1, 2024 edition of the newsletter. To ensure this research can be sustained, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or contributing monthly through Patreon.