In addition to plans for 914 Monticello Rd., Riverbend Development has plans for a major development project across Carlton Road, 206 units that would be constructed across five buildings. Supplied photo.
Riverbend Development intends to use Charlottesville’s new development code to bring as many as 239 apartments to an area of the city that street signs refer to as Downtown Belmont.
In late September, the company filed plans with Neighborhood Development Services to demolish a former church at 914 Monticello Rd. and replace it with a 33-unit apartment building.
That would be the second phase of a project Riverbend is developing in the neighborhood. The first will be across Carlton Avenue and will either be 130 or 206 units depending on how Riverbend moves forward.
NDS approved a final site plan for the concept with 130 homes that was developed under the city’s prior zoning code. Riverbend has also filed a major development project for 206 units that would be constructed across five buildings. A first plan has been denied and Riverbend submitted a new version this week.
Either way, five acres of land have been cleared for the first phase, including demolition of some houses.
The half-acre property at 914 Monticello Rd. for phase 2 is zoned Corridor Mixed Use 3, which allows unlimited residential density as long as the structure fits into the allowed building footprint. Buildings in CX-3 can be as tall as five stories if enough units are designated as affordable, but this project will only be three levels high.
There would be 19 one-bedroom units and 14 two-bedroom units, and the building would be 53,062 gross square feet. That’s enough to trigger rules that require the creation of a traffic demand management plan.
Officials with Riverbend Development did not respond to a request for comment.
According to the conceptual site plan, the building’s front will be on Monticello Road, with a 42-space parking garage entrance on Carlton Avenue.
The existing building was constructed in 1948 for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and used for that purpose until the mid-1970s when the congregation moved elsewhere. It has since been used as an office. The property has no historic protections under city code and demolition does not have to be approved.
Under the new zoning code, decisions on what gets built are now granted by NDS staff if all technical requirements are met. Elected officials play no role unless a special exception is required. In this case, the city’s zoning administrator has agreed to waive the requirement that both Monticello Road and Carlton Avenue be treated as primary streets.
“Of the two frontages available, Monticello has an established urban form with a more built-out street wall,” wrote Deputy City Manager James Freas in April 2024. “Monticello is also more of a connecting street as in the next block it is effectively the ‘main street’ of downtown Belmont.”
A relatively new building that forms that street wall is at 1000 Monticello Rd. In August 2022, City Council voted 3-2 to allow a special use permit for a new structure with nine units. Representatives from the Public Housing Association of Residents argued for denial because the developer had raised rents, displacing some residents.
Under the new zoning code, council plays a much more limited role in development issues, and its approval is not needed for 914 Monticello Rd.
