Albemarle EDA agrees to spend $500K on Boulders Road Extension

In recent years, Albemarle County has increased the amount of emphasis placed on economic development as a way to diversify the county’s resources. That includes four staff members who work on the topic, as well as a seven member Economic Development Authority that has some financial power.

At their meeting on January 20, 2026, the EDA approved the spending of half a million dollars on an infrastructure project and agreed to two incentives for an industrial building the firm Southern Development wants to build on U.S. 29 by the Charlottesville Albemarle Airport.

Before they got started, a former member of the body wanted to reflect on his term. Jeffrey Morrill had represented the Samuel Miller District and was serving last October when AstraZeneca announced the investment of $4.5 billion at the county’s Rivanna Futures project.

“If you think about the billions of dollars of investment per staff member on the Albemarle EDA, the figure is just staggering,” Morrill said.

AstraZeneca’s announcement last October accelerated one of the county’s transportation projects. The Places29 Master Plan adopted in September 2011 called for an extension of Boulders Road, also known as the Piney Mountain Loop, that would connect to a traffic signal at Austin Drive.

The project was not a high priority until the company showed interest according to Economic Development Director Emily Kilroy.

“It was one thing during our initial site visit with AstraZeneca out in July that they identified very early as a real need for them to have the theoretical line on the map actually become a real road in order to better accommodate the truck deliveries and you know, the shipping of product off site once it’s finished,” Kilroy said.

The project will require a stream crossing, partially explaining the $42 million cost estimate. Learn more in a January 14 memo on the roadway.

Albemarle County applied for $20 million from a fund controlled by the Office of the Governor through the Virginia Partnership for Economic Development. In January, the Commonwealth Transportation Board approved the transfer which requires a $10 million match from Albemarle. AstraZeneca is contributing the rest.

However, Albemarle County’s current capital improvement program does not yet have the funding, so the EDA was asked to spend $500,000 to get the project moving. Albemarle’s primary contribution will eventually come through the sale of bonds.

Kilroy said the roadway will also provide access to another large parcel of land for a future tenant at Rivanna Futures.

Some members of the EDA wanted more certainty on the estimate and the possibility of having some of their money returned if the actual project cost ends up being lower. David Storm of the Scottsville District wanted to proceed.

“I don’t want to be holding up a $4 billion dollar plus investment in Albemarle County in terms of breaking ground and getting things built and getting things done and getting things open when the longer term benefit to the tax base,” Storm said.

The EDA voted to approve the transfer.

The Boulders Road Extension is not included in a written transportation report that the Albemarle Board of Supervisors received at their meeting on February 4.

After a closed session, the EDA agreed to two pieces of business with Southern Development. That company is building a 72,000 square foot light-industrial warehouse flex building on Northside Drive in the Places29-North area on two parcels of land.

“This is right near the airport and directly behind the second parcel is the North Fork Research Park,” Kilroy said.

Kilroy said her office receives many calls from businesses seeking this kind of space, but this particular property has not been developed yet because of some challenges.

“Some of the challenges associated with this parcel are the cost of getting sewer service to it based on rock conditions of the adjacent sewer line as well as entrance corridor requirements that involve that require different landscaping and material choices than may otherwise have been made for a building of this nature,” Kilroy said.

Kilroy cited Goal 5 of the recently adopted Economic Development Strategic Plan which calls for steps to increase the number of sites that are business ready.

To that end, economic development staff worked out a plan where Southern Development would enter into a tax increment financing arrangement. That means they will pay their real property taxes but the county will pay a percentage to the EDA. The EDA would then grant a portion of that money back to Southern Development.

“The synthetic TIF performance agreement that would be for consideration by the EDA today would provide a payment to Southern Development of equal to 75% of the amount paid for a period of up to 10 years in an amount up to $350,000, contingent on the owner staying in good standing with the county, delivering quarterly progress reports, receiving all of the approvals and permits necessary for the project, and that the purchase and development of the parcel would occur by June 30, 2027,” Kilroy said.

The Albemarle Board of Supervisors approved the agreement at a closed session on January 14 and the resolution is here if you want to read it.

The second agreement is the EDA’s support of the project’s application for $250,000 from a building reuse grant under a program established under Project ENABLE, the county’s first economic development plan. Staff are recommending this strategy even though there is no building currently there.

“While the name of the program doesn’t feel like the strongest alignment, when you look at what are the things that you have a property has to approve to, you know, to accrue the points in the application, this one came away with a strong scoring,” Kilroy said. “And so we felt like it was a good fit for a program that again, has not gotten any use since it was adopted in 2022.”

Kilroy said if the EDA approved the application, staff will likely study changing the name of the program.

As the most recent meeting, the EDA also elected officers for 2026 and once again Donald Long will serve as chair and Steve Hood will serve as vice chair.

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