The issue of an unbuilt road in the Hollymead Town Center, hotly contested when it came before the County Planning Commission, fizzled out in a rushed hearing with little controversy when the Board of Supervisors heard it at their November 1 meeting. They granted developers a one-year extension to build a connector road behind the Target shopping center on Route 29.
When the County approved Hollymead Town Center, developer Wendell Wood and his partners promised to build several connector roads in order to accommodate future development in that area and ease the traffic grid. But a section of that road, now called “Meeting Street,” is still not built despite a deadline this summer.
The Planning Commission denied a two-year extension request at their September 5 meeting. “This is an example of exactly what we don’t want to happen in Albemarle County,” said Commissioner Bill Edgerton. “I’m afraid we’ve been had by this application.”
But the tone has changed in two months. “Considering the change in circumstance,” said Wayne Cilimberg, planning director, “we believe that the concerns of the staff and the Planning Commission at the time of the hearing of the commission have been substantially addressed, and so we can now recommend approval” of the proffer extension.
After viewing pictures of the road construction, Supervisor Ken Boyd commented, “I don’t know what we’d be accomplishing by not approving this, given the fact that the pictures indicate that the road is being built as we speak.”
No member of the public spoke. The only sour note was sounded by Supervisor Sally Thomas, who cited a 1989 project, River Heights, which was developed by Wood and which also was late fulfilling promised site improvements. “Because of that history, I’m not inclined to give leeway” on this project, said Thomas. County Attorney Larry Davis pointed out that because the projects were built by separate legal entities, that history was “not a valid reason to approve or disapprove this particular application.”
“I think it’s a classic example of actions speak louder than words,” says Steven Blaine, attorney for the applicant. “We had always fully intended and committed to [build the road], but I think County officials just needed to see it in place, and that’s what’s happened."
