Albemarle County & the City of Charlottesville

The staff in PEC's Charlottesville office works with citizens to solve the many land use and conservation challenges facing the Charlottesville and Albemarle area.

Winter Updates from Albemarle & Charlottesville

Posted on by Faith Schweikert

This text was taken from an email sent Jan. 30, 2025. Sign up for email alerts →

Biscuit Run Park covered in snow. Photo by Peter Krebs/PEC.

Dear Supporter,

In the last week, I’ve wandered around the County’s new Biscuit Run Park and advocated for data center reform in Virginia’s General Assembly Building in Richmond. Both feel like the right kind of places to spend a winter: enjoying easy-to-access nature and taking action on environmental issues that impact us all. Read on to learn about ways PEC has been working with community members to make Albemarle and Charlottesville better.

And if you’re interested in hearing about all of this directly from us, mark your calendars to join PEC’s Charlottesville staff for an Open House next Mon., Feb. 3 from 4 – 7 p.m. RSVP or swing by to hear about all the land use, conservation, and transportation and mobility work we’re working on this year. 

Conservation: Impact of 2024 Conservation Easements in Albemarle

Permanently conserved farmland in Albemarle County. Photo by Kim Biasiolli/PEC. 

As an accredited land trust, PEC helps Virginia realize its conservation, climate, and biodiversity goals by partnering with landowners who wish to permanently protect their lands by placing a conservation easement on their property. In 2024, Albemarle County landowners protected 665 acres through conservation easements held by PEC, the Albemarle County Easement Authority and the 500 Year Forest Foundation.

Eighty-three percent of land in Virginia is privately owned, and these private lands contain irreplaceable waterways, prime agricultural soils, forest blocks, scenic viewsheds, historic resources and wildlife habitat. Locally, examples of this impact include over 500 miles of streams, 1,500 acres of wetlands, 76,00 acres of forests, and over 40,000 acres of prime farmland protected by conservation easements in Albemarle County alone.

Protecting these conservation values and a myriad of other public benefits that conserved lands give the community, such as climate and flood resiliency, is crucial. This is why we’ve been advocating for increased support for conservation programs in Albemarle County to advance more conservation locally and ensure that landowners of all income levels can participate.

Take Action: Support Conservation Programs

Land Use: Albemarle Comprehensive Plan Update

The Albemarle Comprehensive Plan update process (AC44), which seeks to outline the vision for the County for the next 20 years, will soon wrap up discussion about land use decisions in the Rural Area, the Development Areas and the Growth Management Framework. The Board of Supervisors will hold a work session Wednesday, Feb. 12 on these topics, so we’ll share our comments with those signed up for our AC44 update emails beforehand. Throughout this process, PEC has continued to wave the flag for smart growth, access to nature, and protection of the rural areas for biodiversity, water supply and the rural economy. 

Next topic up is Parks, Recreation, and Open Space. The Planning Commission will hold a work session Tuesday, Feb. 11, and a Board of Supervisors work session is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 19. As for all community topics, we encourage you to write to your supervisor if you have an opinion on parks, recreation and open space. County planning staff will continue to consolidate information as they work through the draft chapters before producing a draft document this summer. 

Parks & Trails: Biscuit Run Park Opens to the Public

Albemarle County Board of Supervisors and supporters cut the ribbon to open Biscuit Run Park in December. Photo by Hugh Kenny/PEC.

Two decades in the making, 1,190 acres of woodlands and meadows has opened to the public as the new Biscuit Run County Park. PEC had a direct hand in ensuring this land be publicly accessible green space and in pushing the project forward along the way. We’ll continue to be involved as we work toward:

  • Connecting the park to Southwood via a new bridge and trailhead at Hickory Street
  • Designing a greenway connection to future Monacan Nation Tribute Park
  • Expediting walk & bike connections to the rest of the community, including the City of Charlottesville

This new park is located in the heart of the community. Its many offerings, including seclusion, diverse habitats, more than 8.5 miles of well-marked trails, and abundant fresh air, are now available to far more people within a walking, biking or a short drive’s distance. Its heritage trees, multiple streams, a pond with beavers, historic home sites and much more can now be part of people’s everyday lives.

At this year’s Charlottesville / Albemarle Mobility Summit, March 6 and 7, we’ll be celebrating this and continuing to work toward greater access to the outdoors, including launching the study of a path that extends from Charlottesville to the Afton Tunnel near Waynesboro. 

Upcoming Events

Our PEC and Buy Fresh Buy Local signs on East Water Street. If your business would like to be added to or support this year’s Buy Fresh Buy Local Guide, please email [email protected]. Photo by Faith Schweikert/PEC.

E-Bike Voucher Registration
Registration ends Friday, Jan. 31

E-Bikes could be game-changers as ways to get people out of cars, while dramatically reducing emissions, congestion, and parking. They transform cycling in some fundamental ways that are particularly important in our region, which is hilly with four very distinct seasons. To reduce barriers to entry, the City of Charlottesville is offering a $1,000 voucher for e-bike purchases. Register for several drawings throughout 2025. The first registration period will end this Friday, Jan. 31. Learn more at https://cvilleebike.com/

PEC’s Charlottesville Office Open House
Mon, Feb. 3, 4–7 p.m., 410 East Water Street #700

Come join us in celebrating the past year and learn about our work going forward. We’ll gather in community with drinks, light bites, and conversation about PEC, the community, and how we can all work together to make it better. Let us know you’re coming and stop by the King Building anytime that evening. 

Charlottesville / Albemarle Active Mobility Summit
Two days! Thurs., Mar. 6, 5:30–8 p.m. + Fri., Mar. 7, 9 a.m.–noon,
The Wool Factory (1837 Broadway St.)

The fifth annual Charlottesville / Albemarle Active Mobility Summit invites cyclists, walkers, runners, and people interested in promoting active lifestyles for an evening of presentations, followed by morning work sessions. This year’s Summit will be the unofficial launch of the Three Notch’d Trail study — an 18-month process to determine the best route for a paved, shared-use path connecting Charlottesville to the Afton Tunnel and beyond. 

You don’t need to attend both sessions to benefit, but it is encouraged. Both sessions will include snacks and drinks. The Mobility Summit is free but registration is required.

Lastly, these emails are meant to inform, to engage and to remind our members and readers that their participation can make a difference in issues that are important to them. In the midst of great change, local action matters. As always, we encourage you to get involved.

Hope to see you at the Open House next week,

Faith Schweikert
Communications Specialist
[email protected]

Biscuit Run Park: First-Rate Outdoors Experiences for More People, Everyday

Posted on by Peter Krebs
On Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, Albemarle County opened its newest and largest park: Biscuit Run. Photo by Peter Krebs/PEC.

At nearly 1,200 acres, Biscuit Run is twice the size of the County’s next largest park, the Patricia Ann Byrom Forest Preserve. Apart from its enormous size and diverse ecosystems, what makes Biscuit Run Park so special is its location. It is both close to Charlottesville and in the part of the county where most of its people live. While the park itself is a work in progress, PEC is collaborating with the County and neighboring communities to make the park better connected — and more accessible — to area residents.

Albemarle County has several gorgeous local parks, as well as one of the nation’s premiere national parks: Shenandoah. Because most of those places are located in the rural area or on the county’s edges, most area residents have had to pack up and make a daytrip to enjoy these parks. That’s if they have the time and the wherewithal to do so.

Biscuit Run changes all of that. 

This new signature park is located in the heart of the community. Its many offerings, including seclusion, diverse habitats, more than 8.5 miles of well-marked trails, and abundant fresh air are now available to far more people within a walking, biking or a short drive’s distance. There are heritage trees, multiple streams, a pond with beavers, historic home sites and much more. These assets can now be part of people’s everyday lives.

We know that regular exercise and everyday access to nature improve our lives in myriad ways, from improving kids’ grades to lowering blood pressure to driving economic growth. We also knew that many existing parks and privately managed preserves are beginning to feel over-crowded. This vast new park can absorb many visitors, offering educational and stewardship opportunities that can bring the love of the outdoors and a sense of stewardship to more area residents, with benefits in both the present and the future.

Albemarle County leaders cut the ribbon to open Biscuit Run Park. Photo by Hugh Kenny/PEC. View the video of full ceremony.

What’s Next for the Park

Albemarle County is taking a phased approach to developing Biscuit Run Park and will be adding recreational amenities (such as trails and a few flat fields) while also strengthening stewardship through the protection of designated natural and cultural resources.

The next phase will include basic infrastructure (like a maintenance yard and more parking), many more trails (including a mountain bike skills area), and a second entrance and pedestrian bridge close to Southwood, for which PEC and our allies fought hard and won.

At the same time, Albemarle County is undertaking an ambitious project to restore a mile of the stream valley from which the park derives its name. These projects are being done thoughtfully and intentionally to minimize disruption of vital ecosystems.

Albemarle County Parks poster: Active Projects in 2025 & Beyond. View other posters: An Introduction to Biscuit Run Park | All About the Trails

Because the underlying land is owned by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, the landscape has multiple layers of protections. Most of the park shall forever remain predominantly forest and meadows. The County must follow best practices in everything it does there (such as trail building) and it is committed to the removal of invasive species, which arrived during the decades of transition from working farm to abandonment to public park.

What we see now is only the beginning. I encourage you to spend some time reading the county’s website about the park. It’s packed with details.

What’s Next for PEC

PEC has been advocating for this park for more than 15 years and we are far from finished.

For example, we led the design of that second entrance at Southwood, with support from the Anne and Gene Worrell Foundation, plus Southwood and other area residents. Surplus funds from that grant are now being used to design a mile-long streamside greenway that will connect the trailhead to Southwoods’s future Monacan Nation Tribute Park.

Photos of the existing condition of Biscuit Run stream valley trail and an example of a well-built greenway in a similar landscape (VA Creeper Trail). Photo by Peter Krebs/PEC.

PEC is also working with the County and residents of the surrounding neighborhoods to expedite the creation of walk/bike connections to the rest of the community and the wider greenway network. Our next push will be to construct a greenway path along the stream valley to connect the park to the neighborhoods downstream, including Mill Creek, Foxcroft as well as Fifth Street Station and the City of Charlottesville.

Further Advocacy is Needed

After hundreds of conversations with area residents, we are convinced that the overwhelming consensus is that they do want well-designed connections to the park and elsewhere. This is particularly true if the trails are done in a way that is both useful for getting around and if they maintain a bucolic natural setting. But it is by no means a sure thing that these connector trails will be built —– particularly the Biscuit Run Greenway. That is what we propose and we need your support.

Here are some things you can do right now:

We have gotten this far because, as a collective, we have been dogged in our advocacy. The County has delivered extraordinary results. But this is just the first step. Much more needs to be done.