County considers overruling landowner

Bordered by Route 20 to its east and Darden Towe Park to its south, a 77-acre parcel owned by Clara Belle Wheeler is largely wooded except for the grandiose 1862 house she lives in and a few adjoining buildings. Down a rise and located in a small cow pasture is a log house—the reconstructed site […]

Mall hotel strikes bargain for parking

So here’s a fun little problem: You’ve got plans for a 101-room boutique hotel on the Downtown Mall. The Mall has almost everything your upper-crust hotel dweller could ever want. Jewelry store? Check. High-end stationery? Oh yeah. Fine dining? Yup. Buskers to get you some of that local flavor? Sure. Parking? Well… For all of […]

Water Street design contest wins big

When I agreed to report on the results of the city’s design contest for the Water Street parking lots, little did I know the Charlottesville Community Design Center (CCDC) would receive a whopping 63 submissions from six countries. Wait, what? How many ways can you redesign a parking lot? Especially when you have to comply […]

Board of Supervisors Race: Focus on White Hall District: The issues

Big development: Approvals of Biscuit Run and Old Trail have caused some grumblings, as well as the Crozet Master Plan, which many are afraid means a dramatic increase in town population. Just about everyone wants developers to pay their fair share. Wyant supporters would say he’s working toward it, while Mallek supporters would say he’s […]

State confirms: Cow dung in Hardware River

One of the most poignant and revealing quotes from Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation is, “There’s shit in the meat,” referencing the extremely unsanitary conditions at a beef cattle slaughterhouse in Colorado. Here in Albemarle and Fluvanna counties, beef cattle are excreting in another undesirable location: the Hardware River. In 2006, an estimated 590,000 pounds […]

City seeks customer care director

The City of Charlottesville is looking for, in language that can only be described as compassionate corporatism, a “director of customer care.” The job requires a bachelor’s degree in business or public administration and pays anywhere from $80,000 to $100,000 a year. Think you got what it takes? C-VILLE lists what we think the potential […]

Police seize $11,400 in drugs

The Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement (JADE) task force made two arrests September 27 and seized approximately $11,400 worth of cocaine and marijuana in two separate undercover operations.