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Housing more

The University of Virginia’s Great and Good strategic plan helped guide the public institution to recently surpass a $5 billion fundraising goal. One item in the plan calls for the creation of a Good Neighbor program. “Affordable housing is one of the six issues that was identified by the community as being important to work […]

Sean Tubbs | March 6, 2024

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Producing the goods

The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank served nearly 118,000 people in the last fiscal year, all while relying on aging equipment at the space it rents at 1207 Harris St. The City of Charlottesville is planning to invest $215,000 in unspent federal funds to help the organization solve a crisis. “BRAFB’s current refrigerator unit was […]

Sean Tubbs | February 21, 2024

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Later date

As part of the adoption of the development code on December 18, 2023, a divided City Council set a date of August 31 for when projects would be reviewed under the new rules and would be subject to new affordability requirements. Councilor Natalie Oschrin was in the audience as a community member in December, but […]

Sean Tubbs | February 16, 2024

News Real Estate

A denser city

Of all the streets in a changing Charlottesville, Cherry Avenue may be one to watch closely to see how the new Comprehensive Plan might translate into a denser Charlottesville.   While the stretch from Ridge Street to Roosevelt Brown has always seemed ripe for eventual redevelopment, all of the properties from the 1000 block to […]

Sean Tubbs | January 11, 2023

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To build or not to build

After a public hearing last week, the Charlottesville Planning Commission sent a proposal for 170 new housing units back to the developer for updates.  Southern Development is asking the city to rezone 12 acres of land in the Fry’s Spring neighborhood to allow the construction of a new complex of townhomes and apartments. Fifteen percent […]

Sean Tubbs | September 22, 2021

News

Map quest

The latest version of the Future Land Use Map, a much-debated document that will guide Charlottesville’s development as the city begins to rewrite its zoning code, is out for review. The map is intended to steer Charlottesville toward a future with more affordable places to live.  “We believe this draft continues to support the goal […]

Sean Tubbs | September 1, 2021

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Red tape

As the greater Charlottesville-Albemarle area continues to feel the effects of a housing shortage, a panel of developers argued last week that localities in the area can incentivize new construction through land use reform.  “We intentionally, through our comprehensive plans and our zoning ordinances, limit the supply of land for new homes,” said Charlie Armstrong, […]

Sean Tubbs | March 24, 2021

News

If you build it: Despite pandemic, land use projects moved forward in 2020

In a year where many of us followed guidelines to stay at home, the skies of downtown Charlottesville were marked by cranes building new spaces for the 21st century. In their shadow, projects to provide more affordable units moved through the bureaucratic process required to keep them below-market. Before the clock strikes 2021, let’s look […]

Sean Tubbs | December 22, 2020

News

Take the bus: Is this public transit’s moment?

Charlottesville is a growing city. We’ve added 5,000 residents since 2010, with another 10,000 in the county. And by 2040, projections from the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service show an additional 6,000 people in Charlottesville and 33,500 in the county (roughly), bringing our total population to more than 196,000. Now imagine if all of […]

Sean Tubbs | May 8, 2019