A central corner

With a new zoning code on the horizon, Charlottesville’s built environment is poised to continue its transformation into a slightly larger urban community. There are many corners that could change in the near future due to the possibility of new ownership, as well as public investment.   Consider the intersection of Ridge and West Main […]

Expanding growth areas?

For decades Albemarle has put a premium on protecting rural land by concentrating development in about 5 percent of the county’s 726 square miles. But as the review of the Comprehensive Plan continues, community members are being asked to weigh in on where future development might go.  “There will be places that we recognize it’s […]

More Dairy Market?

There has been a lot of building activity on Preston Avenue in the last 10 years, with the redevelopment of older structures into spaces for the 21st century.    The biggest of these has been the transformation of the Monticello Dairy into a mixed-use project with a 30,000 square-foot food hall, 50,000 square feet of […]

UVA’s future home-building boom?

It has been more than three years since the University of Virginia launched an initiative to help build between a thousand and 1,500 affordable housing units. Three sites have been selected, and the next step is to announce the nonprofit developers that will design and build new homes for households below certain income levels.  “We […]

How many solar fields?

Both Albemarle and Charlottesville have pledged to be fossil fuel free by 2050. But how will the county balance a need to allow for more electricity through solar fields with a long tradition of preserving rural land?  “A good rule of thumb is … generally seven to 10 acres per megawatt, in terms of a […]

Zoning crossfire

A divisive battle continues over Charlottesville’s next set of rules for where buildings can go, and how many housing units are allowed within them.   City Council and the Planning Commission are expected to hold public hearings later this year to conclude a public process to increase both the number of homes and the number […]

Preserving affordability

Sometime this month, the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority will officially take the keys for more than six dozen homes across the city that since the 1980s have been rented to low-income households.   Woodard Properties is selling 74 units that collectively go by the name Dogwood Properties, the name of the entity founded by […]

Buying out?

At the recent Rivanna River Fest held on privately owned open space that meanders with the waterway, several organizations staffed booths to promote their activities to passersby.   However, two affiliated groups seeking to prevent the development of a 245-unit apartment complex on that property had their own table set up just outside the boundary […]

Generational investment?

Should Albemarle County supervisors pay a single landowner $58 million for 462 acres of land to help preserve the future of the area’s growing intelligence community? That’s the question for a June 21 public hearing.   “We know this project is a generational investment in our community’s vibrancy,” says J.T. Newberry, Albemarle’s interim director of […]

Questioning the zoning

Voting in this year’s Democratic primary has already begun, but the five candidates seeking three nominations for Charlottesville City Council will continue to answer questions at forums between now and primary day, June 20.   That was the case at a May 17 forum put on by the Greenbrier Neighborhood Association, which featured many questions […]