Build-out

For many years, aspirational plans adopted by elected officials have called for Route 29 to become more than just a shopping destination or a way for travelers to pass through the city. “The Hydraulic Small Area Plan seeks to identify opportunities for a more sustainable mixed-use development pattern that departs from the historic, suburban patterns […]

Automotive zone

When Albemarle County supervisors adopted a Small Area Plan in December 2018 for the intersection of Rio Road and Route 29, the idea was to reimagine it for a less car dependent 21st century.  “We invite our partners to work with us and to think creatively about the future of Rio29, because doing so can […]

Worship again?

In 2019, City Council rezoned a church site in Belmont to allow for subsidized apartments to replace parking on the three-quarter acre lot. The project never materialized, and four and a half years later, a new faith-based institution has purchased 750 Hinton Ave.  The Church of the Good Shepherd currently rents space at the Music […]

Up less

Albemarle County is reporting another increase in average property values for 2024, but its not as high as in the past two years.  “This year what we’re looking at is a 4.07 percent overall increase to the tax base based on the reassessment,” says Peter Lynch, Albemarle’s assessor.  Albemarle switched to annual assessments in 2009, […]

Now what?

Nearly a month has passed since Charlottesville City Council approved a new development code intended to increase the number of places for people to live. But the city still has several finishing touches to put in place before the code goes into effect on February 19.  One of them is the adoption of a manual […]

More beds at ABC

Rezonings for large, mixed-use complexes include a legally binding document called a “code of development” that lays out what can be built in a given project and how much the public can expect.  In October 2020, the Board of Supervisors approved the Albemarle Business Campus, a mixed-use development on Fifth Street Extended that allowed for […]

New year, new process

Now that 2024 is here, one of the challenges for a land-use reporter will be how to cover potential buildings as they make their way through Charlottesville’s new rules for building. City Council adopted a zoning code on December 18 that eliminated most discretionary review of land-use applications.   One day later, Charlottesville’s Board of […]

Due diligence

On Wednesday, December 13, Albemarle supervisors will get an update on a study of the 462 acres near Rivanna Station that the county wants to preserve for a major employer.    The defense sector is the number-two industry in Albemarle, Charlottesville, and Greene, with a $1.2 billion a year impact, according to a report from […]

Ever expanding

Members of the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors who drive to Charlottesville along U.S. 29 from points north for this week’s meeting will pass the latest purchase made on behalf of the public institution.    The UVA Foundation has paid $3 million for nearly one and a half acres off of Earhart Street. That’s […]

Manufacturing affordability

Albemarle hopes to build over 10,000 units by the year 2040, and civil engineer Justin Shimp has an idea for how the county can reach its goal.   “Within the last 15 years, four manufactured home parks in the Charlottesville/Albemarle area have been sold and redeveloped,” Shimp wrote in an application for a rezoning of […]