Charlottesville Planning Commission briefed on environmental reviews underway

The City of Charlottesville has invited companies to bid on a project to rewrite stormwater regulations in order to fit more houses on the landscape. This is one aspect of a review of the city’s environmental policies to update them to reflect the 2021 Comprehensive Plan and a new zoning code approved in December 2023.

“Potential project outcomes include city code updates, updated policies for the five year [Comprehensive Plan] review, updates to city programs and policies, and coordination on related projects and plans,” said Tori Kannellopolous, a long-ranger planner with the city’s Department of Neighborhood Development Services.

Other aspects of the environmental review will cover flood management, tree canopy preservation, stream buffers, critical slopes, and energy efficiency. The Charlottesville Planning Commission was briefed last October but got an update at their meeting on May 12.

Kannellopolous said the work is also informed by elements of the Charlottesville Climate Action Plan which was added to the Comprehensive Plan in 2023. For instance, the action plan called for an update to the urban forest management plan and asked that tree canopy be considered while conducting transportation planning.

The invitation for companies to bid is one of the first concrete steps of the environmental review.

“The primary purpose is looking at increasing the feasibility of smaller infill developments that have landfill disturbance under 10,000 square feet, balancing the Comprehensive Plan goals of housing choice with a protected and restored natural environment,” Kannellopolous said.

Any changes recommended by the consultant will have to be approved by the State Water Control Board, one reason why proposed regulations might take over two years to implement.

One perceived obstacle is that the city’s standards are higher than the Commonwealth of Virginia’s.

“The City’s threshold for water quantity is 6,000 square feet of land disturbance, while the State threshold is 10,000 square feet,” reads the invitation for bids. “Similarly, the City’s threshold for water quality is 6,000 square feet of land disturbance, while the State threshold is one acre.”

Planning Commissioner Danny Yoder said that might take too long and prevent housing from being built in the short-term.

“I just wonder if there’s anything that we could do sooner than 2029 to sort of mitigate some of these things that we know about here today that are making an impact on the city,” Yoder said. “I understand trying to be comprehensive about it and to really understand the full picture. I just question that there are items that we know today are creating real hindrances to the creation of housing.”

Kannellopollous did not have an answer.

Another step that’s been taken to move the environmental review forward is to open up a section on the Connect Charlottesville website for an update to the city’s Urban Forest Management Plan. A survey is open through June 7.

“The UFMP will provide recommendations for street trees, prioritizing tree planting locations, tree preservation and maintenance, and tree canopy expansion on both public and private properties,” reads that website.

Last October, Charlottesville City Council agreed to settle a lawsuit against the new zoning code by agreeing to conduct a study of the effects of a larger population on the city’s transportation infrastructure. An invitation has not yet been put out to bid, but is affecting the timing of work on changes to the water protection ordinance, steam buffers, and critical slopes.

“For next steps, staff needs to determine what the overall staff capacity would be and then ideally have results and data from the build out analysis and infrastructure study that’s going on in parallel to these projects and then looking at the results from that and evaluating potential priority areas to protect,” Kannellopollous said.

As for energy efficiency, City Council adopted high performance building standards earlier this spring.

Several Planning Commissioners wanted to hear more information about other aspects of climate planning, such as moving people out of cars. Commissioner Josh Carp noted that “waste diversion” was listed on one slide in the presentation and suggested improved transportation could play a larger role in reducing greenhouse gases.

“In general, talking about the city’s mitigation and adaptation plans,” Carp said. “I’m surprised not to see more discussion about how people get around the city, about transit, about whether people can live closer to places that they’re going to. It’s probably out of scope.”

Kristel Riddervold, the city’s sustainability director, said that Charlottesville Area Transit is taking steps.

“There’s all kinds of transportation related issues,” Riddervold said. “It just happens that these align with some of the policy and regulation challenges or gaps that were identified for this project.”

In March 2024, City Council agreed to pilot both battery-electric vehicles as well as hydrogen fuel cell vehicles as fuel sources to replace diesel. Two battery-electric vehicles are anticipated to be on the road this summer. However, the pathway for hydrogen is not as clear.

“We were just in a conversation this morning acknowledging that the supply of hydrogen is more questionable today than it was when this zero emissions bus plan was presented. And so I think it’s, you know, we owe it to the process to revisit what’s realistic and practical,” Riddervold said.

Riddervold said planning for the future should not stop just because the current administration is not interested in making generational investments in new technology.

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