“It’s the death of humanity,” local activist John Salidas exclaimed, and as he did so, he leaned in, giving his already harsh assessment an extra push. His pale eyes burned. Tara Rowan Boyd, general recipient of the tirade, stood fast, deflecting his intensity with a smile. As an attorney for LeClair Ryan, Boyd is old hat at defending developers’ interests—in this case, the proposed 3,100-unit Biscuit Run project (www.albemarle.org). For the last 90 minutes, she had canvassed the room in the Albemarle County Office Building at Fifth Street, stopping to chat amiably with nearby residents who filled the project’s open house Saturday, February 10. Roughly 100 people showed up for the event, perusing oversized maps scattered across a U-shaped set-up of plastic fold-out tables.
“Why is this meeting all the way out here on Fifth Street Extended?” Salidas demanded.
“Well, to accommodate residents of Old Lynchburg Road,” Boyd said. Just a few miles down the road is the rolling, wooded 828-acre property, sold by Elizabeth and David Breeden in 2005 to Hunter Craig and the other investors that comprise Forest Lodge LLC.
 One of the maps on display for interested locals at the Biscuit Run info session February 10, this shows potential bus stops along the proposed connector road between Old Lynchburg Road and Route 20. |
Across the room, Bob and June Baxter peered at oversized maps of southern Charlottesville. Red dots spotted them, marking “troubled intersections,” or those that will require improvements in light of Biscuit Run. The maps also emphasized the sheer enormity of the development. From this vantage, Biscuit Run looked to be one-sixth the size of Charlottesville. “Charlottesville is not very big,” said June. The Baxters moved to the Mill Creek development from Florida three years ago. The road they live off almost abuts Biscuit Run and was proposed as a possible connector to be called the Southern Parkway. That would have interminably altered the quiet cul de sac they call home.
Right now, the Baxters have more immediate interests. “We have young grandchildren who are in Cale Elementary School,” June explained. She’s concerned about whether the glut of children will overcrowd the school, though Biscuit Run developers have offered Albemarle County a school site on the property. “It may be something that is not being planned for,” June fretted. “I have no idea.”
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