For many years a group called Charlottesville EcoVillage worked on plans to develop six and a half acres on Rio Road East in Albemarle County into an intentional community.
Now a successor group has filed plans for a rezoning for the property to allow for a 75 townhouse development that would be called Lochlyn Commons. The proposal comes from the Housing Lab and Kennon Williams Landscape Studio.
“The proposed design provides diverse housing options, improves walkability and connectivity, creates a sense of community and place, creates a sense of community and place, creates three shared park spaces, reduces stormwater impact and land disturbance, and enhances the natural amenities of the site,” reads the narrative for the rezoning.
The site rises steeply above Rio Road East and currently contains two structures including one built in 1870. A previous plan listed on the Housing Lab website stated that the historic house would be turned into a common structure for residents of the co-housing initiative.
In 2023, Lochlyn Commons LLC and Berkley Apartments LLC paid $1.36 million for the site. EcoVillage Charlottesville purchased the property in November 2013 for $900,000.
The project needs a rezoning from Residential-4 to Planned Residential Density. The Future Land Use Map in the Comprehensive Plan designates the property as Neighborhood Density Residential. The project would have a gross density of 11.5 units per acre, well within the range for that land use designation.
The applicants are proposing to build connecting trails to adjacent property.
“The centerpiece of the pedestrian infrastructure is a multi-use trail along the Property’s northwestern edge connecting Alwood Lane and Rockbrook Drive that will be dedicated to the County, diverting pedestrians and bicycles from Rio Road,” the narrative continues.
There is a specific acknowledgment of the Charlottesville Ecovillage project and a by-right plan they had sought that would have allowed for 26 units.
Chris Fuller of Housing Lab was a member of the former group’s Board of Directors. For a glimpse into the previous proposal, Fuller is quoted in a May 2014 Charlottesville Tomorrow article.
“We envision this as a green, energy efficient, and environmentally and socially responsible community,” the narrative continues to continue. “This application for rezoning is based on the belief that rezoning the parcel from the current R-4 Zoning designation to PRD will allow for a more sustainable design and better serve the needs of Albemarle County and the Charlottesville metro community.”
The project would also provide a bus stop on Rio Road West. Of the 75 units, 60 would be three-bedroom units and the rest would be either studio or one bedroom. Twenty percent of the townhouses would be designated as affordable under the Housing Albemarle policy.
Traffic generation information in the narrative claims the project would create 578 vehicle trips a day.
The project is just to the north of two multifamily developments on Park Street in the City of Charlottesville, both being development by the Piedmont Housing Alliance.
Top photo caption: A map in the materials with the various zoning types surrounding the property (Credit: Housing Lab / Kennon Williams Landscape Studio)
Before you go: This story was originally posted in the April 1, 2025 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. For some reason there was a delay in posting it here. That’s likely because Town Crier Productions is the work of one person, a person who is increasingly uncomfortable referring to himself in the third person. Oh well. The information is still worth looking at I believe it is still up to date. Oh crumbs. I went to first person. In any case, no editors were harmed in the posting of this story.
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