The holiday season is well underway this week with local and regional governments slowing down for Thanksgiving. Yet, there are a couple of significant meetings this week before things mostly come to a halt on Wednesday.

Here are the highlights:

• The Albemarle Planning Commission will get a briefing Tuesday on county staff’s attempts to track how efficient growth area land is being used
• The Charlottesville Planning Commission will get a first look Tuesday at a Capital Improvement Program that includes $36 million for a pre-K center
• The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority will set new rates for housing vouchers on Monday
• There are no meetings in Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, or Nelson this week.

I’m thankful to the Piedmont Environmental Council for their ongoing support of this newsletter! Check out their website to find out what they are up to.

Monday, November 24, 2025

CRHA to adopt voucher rates for 2026

The Board of Commissioners for the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority will meet at 6 p.m. in City Council chambers. (agenda)

There are two resolutions on the agenda. One is to establish payment standards for housing vouchers based on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s latest fair market rates. Federal law allows a housing authority to set its voucher payment between 90 percent and 110 percent of that value.

CRHA picks the highest level.

“It has been determined that an additional increase in payment standards is necessary to keep pace with regional rental market trends and limit shelter burden,” reads Resolution #1492. “Increased payment standard amounts will Affirmatively Further Fair Housing objectives in the Charlottesville City region and surrounding counties.”

Those rates are:

• $1,544 for a studio apartment
• $1,635 for a one-bedroom apartment
• $1,901 for a two-bedroom apartment
• $2,370 for a three-bedroom apartment
• $2,883 for a four-bedroom apartment
• $3,315 for a five-bedroom apartment

The other is to set rates for utility allowances under the federal housing voucher policy. Take a look here.

There will also be a discussion of a revised parking policy. Take a look here.

Another resources for this meeting is the property management report for November 2025.

In other meetings:

• Albemarle’s Architectural Review Board will meet at 1 p.m. in Lane Auditorium of the city’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. On the agenda is a request for an amendment for a certificate of appropriateness for 400 West Rio Road. (meeting info) (agenda)
• Fluvanna County’s Social Services Board will meet at 3 p.m. in the 1st Floor Conference Room at 8880 James Madison Highway in Fork Union. No agenda is posted. (meeting info)

Tuesday, November 25, 2025

Albemarle PC to review build-out analysis

The recently updated Comprehensive Plan for Albemarle County did not include any expansions or contractions of the designated growth areas.

“Longer term, there may come a time when the Development Areas no longer have sufficient capacity to accommodate future housing and employment needs,” reads page 7 of the growth management policy.

To measure that capacity, Albemarle County will continue to update a document called a “build-out analysis” which tracks how new developments attain the maximum possible allowed under existing zoning.

The firm Kimley Horn produced an analysis in 2022 and Line and Grade did one in 2025 based on the same methodology.

“Data from both the 2022 and 2025 Land Use Buildout Analyses estimated that the Development Areas contained enough theoretical capacity to accommodate projected growth (both residential and business) for the next 10 to 20 years,” reads more from the AC44 document.

After two public hearings at their November 25 meeting, the Albemarle Planning Commission will be presented with the build-out analysis as well as a plan to track capacity on a running basis as each new development application comes in. (agenda) (meeting info)

The data in the 2025 build-out analysis is updated through April 2025. That’s the last time Albemarle County was able to update the “development dashboard” intended to provide a quarterly update of the development pipeline.

“This data is currently being rebuilt due to the recent cyber security incident,” reads the dashboard website.

For years, Albemarle County has provided quarterly reports on building permits as well as certificates of occupancy. However, this information only goes through 2023 and has not been updated since. Why not? That’s a question that I will ask on Monday.

Before the work session, there are two public hearings.

• The first is for a special use permit for Funk Brothers Furniture to relocate at 3756 Richmond Road, a property in the rural area. (staff report)
• The second is a request from Greater Charlottesville Habitat for Humanity for a rezoning at 5546 Three Notched Road in Crozet from Residential-2 to Residential-4 to allow for construction of a two-family structure. (staff report)

Charlottesville Planning Commission to review Capital Improvement Program

One annual task of the Charlottesville Planning Commission is to review the Capital Improvement Program.

“This fund is used to account for all financial resources that are needed in the acquisition or construction of capital assets,” reads a definition in Charlottesville’s adopted budget for FY2026. “Revenues for this fund are obtained from bond issues, a transfer from the General Fund, a contribution from the City Schools for their small capital projects program, and contributions from Albemarle County for shared projects.”

The only item on the November 25 agenda is a discussion of the CIP. This will take place at CitySpace at 5 p.m. (agenda packet)

The materials for this work session is often one of the first times the public gets a glimpse at the upcoming budget. For now, City Manager Sam Sanders is proposing to spend around $48.7 million in FY27 with a total of $201.5 million in the five year plan.

By law, City Council can only adopt a budget that covers one year. The current fiscal year programmed nearly $36 million in capital spending.

Some highlights of what is in the CIP:

• The city proposes spending $1.25 million a year to replace heating, cooling, and ventilation systems for city schools.
• There is $10 million programmed in FY27 for a pre-school center at what has been Walker Upper Elementary School. There’s an additional $26 million anticipated in FY28. While the city now has control over the Oak Lawn site, a determination has not yet been made on how to proceed.
• Charlottesville will increase the amount that goes toward new sidewalks from over $1.2 million in the current year to $2.533 million in FY27, nearly $2.35 million in FY28, $3.4 million in FY29, and nearly $1.72 million in FY30.The packet outlines what is expected to be accomplished each year as you can see in the image below.
• The amount for Downtown Mall infrastructure repairs will increase from $100,000 in the current year to $250,000 a year through FY30. This is listed in the document as an item still under discussion.
• There’s an additional $5 million payment to the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority in FY27 as well as one in FY28. There’s another $5 million in the current fiscal year which had not been disbursed as of September 30.

A public hearing will be held on December 9.

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This post was contributed by Sean Tubbs. Sean is a journalist working to build a new information and news outlet centered around Charlottesville and Virginia. In 2020, he launched a daily newscast and newsletter and also created a semi-regular podcast on the pandemic.

Support for Sean’s “Week Ahead” update comes from The Piedmont Environmental Council.