The United Land Corporation filed a rezoning in April to amend the southern portion of the Hollymead Town Center, a mixed-use development created through five applications in the early 2000s that created sections A-1, A-2, B, C, and D.
For a quicker recap, here’s a story I wrote for C-Ville Weekly in late April.
United Land took the lead on Area A-1 and Area A-2 in the southern portion.
- A-1 consists of 31 acres and was rezoned to Planned District – Mixed Commercial for up to 258,000 square feet of retail and office with no residential.
- A-2 consists of 44.5 acres and was rezoned to Neighborhood Model District with up to 1,222 residential units at 26 units an acre. Another 368,000 square feet of non-residential units were authorized.
Tonight the Places29-North Community Advisory Committee will review the rezoning today in what the meeting agenda describes as a “process update.” This is not the same as a “community meeting” that is required for rezonings in Albemarle County.
The United Land Corporation is seeking to add another nearly 74.2 acres of land with most of this being for residential.
“The original A2 and expanded A2 area would combine to provide an estimated range of residential housing between 1,500 and 2,400 units, establishing an average density of 18.2 units per acre,” reads the narrative.
The narrative also suggests that without the rezoning the land would be developed at a lower density.
“Although this could certainly be profitable from a development stand point, this would not align with the County’s goal of maximizing build out potential in the development areas,” the narrative continues. “This approach would also struggle to sustain the existing commercial and certainly would not be the density levels needed to justify further commercial investment.”
On June 2, Albemarle planner Cameron Langille sent a letter to Collins Engineering with notes from a preliminary review of the application. The Future Land Use Map in the Comprehensive currently designates much of the land as industrial.
“At this time, it is staff’s position that maintaining the land for future light industrial uses is appropriate based on long-range plan recommendations, including the Albemarle County Economic Development Strategic Plan,” reads page 2 of the 28 page letter. “This application will need to go before the Planning Commission for a work session to evaluate this topic.”
Staff in the Community Development Department had that same concern nearly 20 years ago. Here’s an article I wrote for Charlottesville Tomorrow back in the fall of 2007.
The letter also instructs the applicants to update the narrative with additional expectations for rezonings created after the adoption of a new Comprehensive Plan last October.
Other notes from staff:
- The application does not fully explain how the development would help the county absorb the impacts of an additional 1,000 public school students.
- There is an insufficient number of “tot lots”
- Housing staff stated that the project would produce between 300 to 480 affordable units which “would make a positive impact on the County’s affordable housing goals, and provide a mixture of housing types for a range of household income levels.”
Staff recommended that the applicant take a deferral while the issues can be worked out.
The Places29-North Community Advisory Committee meets at 6 p.m. at North Fork. Instructions for how to get there can be found here.
Before you go: The goal of Town Crier Productions is to increase awareness about what is happening at the local, regional, state, and federal government levels. Please share the work with others if you want people to know things. Paid subscribers cover the cost of conducting research for this article which was originally published in the June 11, 2026 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. You can either subscribe through Substack or make a charitable contribution.
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