Best use of an apology: Hunter Craig. The county Planning Commission unanimously recommended denial the first time around on Biscuit Run, the largest residential development proposed in county history with 3,100 housing units. Enter Craig, one of the leading developers, who hadn’t officially spoken for the project. With a few mea culpas, and a lot more money and parkland, Craig turned unanimous rejection into unanimous approval. Now if he can just find some way to apologize to those supervisors….
Best use of "green" to try to get in the black: Belvedere. With thousands of other houses ready to spring up around Charlottesville, the 675-unit Belvedere needed some way to stand out. So developer Stonehaus ditched the gated community clubhouse scheme and went all environmental on our ass, to better sell their homes off Rio Road. They launched a big PR campaign in the spring to let folks know about a proposed organic farm and rainwater harvesting and EarthCraft building standards. As Chris Schooley, Stonehaus’ director of land development, told C-VILLE: "We can make money and do a really good thing."
Best threat from a neighborhood: Shutting down Old Lynchburg Road at the county line. The Fry’s Spring Neighborhood in the city is known for their fiery speeches against developments, particularly those that look to add cars to their central street, Old Lynchburg Road (OLR), which connects the south side of town to UVA. When relief didn’t seem in sight, the Fry’s Spring neighbors asked City Council to consider closing OLR at the county line (as the neighborhood did successfully with Sunset Avenue many years ago). They didn’t get the road closed, but they did get Biscuit Run developers to promise $1.5 million for OLR road improvements—and won neighborhood of the year from the city Planning Commission to boot.
Best topic to rile a developer: Cash proffers. Cash proffers are most folks’ idea of a snoozefest, but mention cash proffers to someone who wants to turn hay fields into housing units and he might start spitting and cussing to beat the band. Cash proffers are supposedly voluntary contributions from developers to local governments in order to help build roads, expand schools and stock libraries for all those new people. This year, the county Board of Supervisors set a cash proffer policy that expects around $17,000 for every single family home. Developers say it makes housing less affordable, but that hasn’t stopped most of them from ponying up in order to get county approval.
 Wendell Wood takes the acting prize for "exasperated tones." |
Best dramatic performance by a developer: Wendell Wood. Earning the first gaveling in quite some time, Wendell Wood paced the room in frustration, interrupted a commissioner and employed exasperated tones. But he got his way, and the county Planning Commission approved a rezoning request so that he can cash in on the expansion of the National Ground Intelligence Center by leasing them building office space and an apartment building. He turned in a slightly more subdued performance for the Board of Supervisors a couple weeks later. But the result was the same: approval.
 Dennis Rooker and other county supervisors were treated to a more subdued performance by Wood, but still applauded (so to speak). |
Best whipping boy: Hollymead Town Center. Whenever reviewing a new development proposal, county planning commissioners keep coming back to Hollymead—particularly the mass grading of the site in 2003—as an example of how not to do things. Other developments, from North Pointe on Route 29N to Biscuit Run on the south side of town, have to jump through a lot more hoops now when it comes to erosion and sediment control plans, thanks to Wendell Wood and company’s missteps. And because the Target appeared much sooner than the housing, county leaders want promises that developers will build both housing and commercial buildings at roughly the same time.
C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.
