Photo: Jack Looney
Westhaven was built in 1964 as Charlottesville’s first public housing site and will soon become the latest property to be reimagined and rebuilt by the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority.
“The redevelopment will include the phased demolition of existing housing and construction of
apartment buildings, townhouses, a community center/recreational mixed-use building, and
outdoor community common spaces, all with associated surface parking,” reads a section of a site plan submitted earlier this month to the city’s Department of Neighborhood Development Services.
In the past few years, CRHA has built new units at South First Street and completely renovated Crescent Halls, with some of the funding coming from the City of Charlottesville. City Council has also agreed to contribute $15 million to the cost to redevelop Westhaven. Other funding comes from the sale of low-income housing tax credits.
For the past few years, Westhaven residents have been working alongside architects to redevelop the site.
“Efforts on this design and visioning process started more than three years ago with community
engagement and resident planners to develop an understanding of the process to plan their
own community with help from the design consultants,” wrote Bryan Cichocki of the Timmons Group in a May 8 letter to the city.
The work will take place on a single 10-acre parcel on land zoned Residential Mixed Use 5. The site plan calls for a total of 264 units, which consists of 102 townhouse units, 80 one-bedroom apartments, and another 82 with two bedrooms. That comes in at 25.3 dwelling units per acre. Currently there are 126 townhomes.
The new zoning code allows buildings to be up to 72 feet, but the proposed structures in the plan would be capped at 48 feet. There would be 199 open parking spaces and 80 spaces in a garage.
Cichocki’s letter sought exemptions from provisions in the new zoning code that require new development to contribute to a “well-connected street network,” and CRHA wants to avoid building a public street through the new development.
“A through movement across the site does not add value to the surrounding street grid as 10th and Eighth are the through routes between West Main and Preston,” Cichocki continues.
Roadways within the redeveloped Westhaven will remain private. The project will also need a traffic study because it is in excess of 50,000 square feet.
When construction gets underway, it will take up to two and a half years. The first phase will see demolition of buildings on the western half of the property
CRHA is represented by Riverbend Development, the same firm that has been working with the public entity since 2019 to implement construction of a new generation of housing.
Under Charlottesville’s zoning code, City Council plays a much reduced role in approving the rules of development projects. For instance, council will play no role in a proposal to build more than 700 beds at 843 W. Main St., adjacent to Westhaven.
The Public Housing Association of Residents is leading a campaign to get City Council to change the zoning code so LV Collective won’t be able to build as high as 11 stories. The Board of Architectural Review will eventually have to issue a certificate of appropriateness because that property is in a design control review district.
