Housing sales have been down for five consecutive quarters in the region covered by the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors. The group released their quarterly report today.
“There were 1,206 home sales in the CAAR region during the third quarter of 2022,” reads page 2 of the report. “This is 192 fewer sales than this time last year, which is a 14 percent drop.”
Read moreThe effort to link the Blue Ridge Tunnel in Afton to Charlottesville with a continuous shared-use path has received a major boost from the federal government. A $2 million grant authorized by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will be awarded to Albemarle County for the Three Notched Trail Shared Use Path Plan.
“A ‘shared use’ path is typically a 10’ wide paved trail that is physically separated from the motor vehicle travel way and allows bi-directional pedestrian and bicycle traffic,” reads a website for the project. “Once built, the TNT will provide local residents and visitors with car-free transportation and recreational opportunities.”
Read moreThe number of sales in the Charlottesville housing market continues to drop as the median sales price continues to climb. That’s according to the latest report from the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors. (view the report)
“There were 1,380 homes sold in the CAAR area in the second quarter,” reads one of the bullet points in the CAAR Home Sales Report for the second quarter. “This is an eleven percent drop from the second quarter a year ago, which is 165 fewer sales.”
Read moreThe final public meeting for the development of a Regional Transit Vision will be held tonight in an online format. The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission is overseeing the study, which seeks to come up with an aspirational document for enhanced public transportation throughout the entire Charlottesville area including Buckingham County.
The draft document has gone before the Charlottesville City Council and the Albemarle Board of Supervisors, as I’ve reported. But the Regional Transit Vision also has been to the outlying counties. Last week, Boards of Supervisors in both Fluvanna County and Greene County had a briefing.
“It started in the summer of 2021 with assessing the situation,” said Lucinda Shannon, a planner with the TJPDC. The $350,000 study was conducted by the firms AECOM and Jarrett Walker + Associates.
Read moreConsultants hired by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission are moving into the second phase of a community engagement effort for a $350,000 plan to create a regional transit vision to make public transportation a more attractive option.
They have developed both a constrained plan that would anticipate around $26 million funds that might be generated through becoming a regional transportation authority with taxation power, as well as one that assumed funding would be found to increase the frequency of service. That has an estimated annual price tag of $70 million.
Read moreThis is Ag Week in Virginia, and Governor Glenn Youngkin has announced the latest recipients of the state Agriculture and Forestry Industry Development grant program. The program provides matching grants to small agricultural producers such as Potter’s Craft Cider which used a $50,000 grant as part of a package to move operations into Neve Hall off of U.S. 29 in 2019.
This time around the grants focus on infrastructure. Nelson County requested financial assistance for Deep Roots Milling to upgrade a water-powered grain mill built in the late 18th century. According to the press release, the $22,500 in state funds will help pay for a new sifting room and new bagging equipment.
Read moreWork is nearing completion on a conceptual study for how public transport might work better across the entirety of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District. Today the Board of Supervisors will get an up close look at the $350,000 Regional Transit Vision.
Last week, an appointed body consisting of elected officials and transit officials got an update on the Regional Transit Vision.
“The project is a collaborative effort to evaluate and establish a clear long term vision for transit service in the region, and not just the urbanized area but also the rural areas surrounding Charlottesville and Albemarle County,” said Tim Brulle of AECOM is the project manager for the vision plan.
Read moreConsultants hired by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission to craft a vision for how public transportation might work better in the Charlottesville area will present more details next Thursday.
The firm AECOM is the lead consultant with Jarrett Walker and Associates serving as a subcontractor. The study may recommend the eventualtransition to a unified regional transit authority. (meeting info)
“There will be a 90 minute presentation from the consultants to go over what we’ve done so far, survey the results of the first round of public engagement, and then also what they found for the vision for the community,” said Lucinda Shannon, a transportation planner for the TJPDC.
Read moreA lower inventory of available homes continues to drive up the sales prices in some parts of the region. That’s according to the latest quarterly report from the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors covering the first three months of this year.
“In the first quarter, the median sales price was $389,900, which was up 13 over a year ago, a gain of nearly $45,000,” reads the report.
Read moreThe Nelson County Board of Supervisors heard from the public Tuesday on a proposal to build a mobile home park near the Ridgecrest Baptist Church on U.S. 29 north of Lovingston. Civil engineer Justin Shimp needed a special use permit for the project.
Shimp said he was pursuing the project to help provide more housing that can be affordable to households with lower incomes.
“Five years ago, I would not have thought about this and didn’t think it would be needed because of affordability, but such are the increases in cost that achieving housing for folks who don’t make $100,000 a year is very difficult,” Shimp said.
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