Neither the Albemarle Board of Supervisors nor the Charlottesville City Council have substantive meetings this week, but there is no shortage of planning activity across the six localities covered by this weekly newsletter.
Our Region
PEC focuses on nine counties and one city in the northern Piedmont of Virginia: Albemarle, Charlottesville, Clarke, Culpeper, Fauquier, Greene, Loudoun, Madison, Orange, and Rappahannock.
We also team with local organizations to promote thriving communities and healthy natural resources in a much larger region, including the Shenandoah Valley, the central Piedmont, and the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Corridor. In addition, we are proud to serve as fiscal sponsor of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, an organization that focuses on land use and policy in the greater Washington D.C. area.
Week Ahead for April 4, 2022: Charlottesville City Council to take final vote on Grove Street rezoning; Pippin Hill seeks expansion of Crossroads Tavern in North Garden
Another week, another month, and another full roster of government meetings in and around Charlottesville. Every week this newsletter seeks to make sure as many people as possible know what’s coming up and to help me sort through what I’ll be covering.
Bluebell Walk on Cedar Run is about much more than bluebells
This Saturday, April 9, from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m., Mike and Margrete Stevens, the owners of Bonny Brook Farm in Catlett, will once again host The Piedmont Environmental Council’s Julian W. Scheer Fauquier Land Conservation Fund 14th Annual Bluebell Walk on Cedar Run (after a two year pandemic-related hiatus).
Data Center Proposed in Historic Stevensburg
I am reaching out to you today about a proposal to rezone nearly 250 acres of agricultural land to light industrial in order to allow the construction of a massive 427,000 square foot data center (2x the size of the Walmart Supercenter) along Route 3 in the historic Stevensburg area.
Rivanna Bridge Update
Update (August 1): The MPO submitted the Bridge proposal (with the Wool Factory terminus) to VDOT this afternoon for SMARTSCALE funding. We will find out if the project is approved in January of 2023.
Read the full project background here.
As you may know, the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Policy Board voted last week to pursue VDOT SMARTSCALE funding for a pedestrian bridge connecting Pantops and Woolen Mills at the end of Market Street (the Wool Factory). Allison Wrabel wrote a good story about the vote.
Getting a pedestrian connection over the Rivanna in this area is a big win for the community, and I’m excited for the next step. Although the public survey and MPO Technical Committee both preferred the Chesapeake Street location, Market Street has powerful logic of its own and some late-breaking and not-obvious factors were decisive in the vote.
For one thing, much of the support for Chesapeake Street was contingent on the bridge being an elegant suspension bridge, which came into doubt late in the process. Many people might well have voted differently if they had known the bridge style would likely be more industrial in nature. Of course, it would have been better to know this from the beginning, but the process did work in that it brought the issue to light before the final location was selected.
What’s more, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors has a strong preference for the Market Street alignment adjacent to the Wool Factory site, which locates the bridge entirely in the County. Albemarle is stringing together a series of projects that merge economic development and community wellness in Pantops, the Old Mills Trail, the Wool Factory and Broadway. The bridge at Market Street ties them all together.
Not only is Albemarle putting forth plans, it is putting money behind them. The existing improvements at the Wool Factory are one example. Also quite interesting is the fact that the county has recently juiced several transportation projects with millions from its Transportation Leveraging Program.
That kind of local support (or Economic Development funds) could help mitigate the cost difference between the two bridge location options and be of critical importance if unforeseen contingencies arise. Although both options had strong appeal, the Policy Board (with representatives from Albemarle, Charlottesville, and VDOT) selected the one that it would best be most able to get behind and push to completion.
For all those reasons, this is a very positive outcome.
April Tree Planting Opportunities
For the month of April, we have three new and fast-approaching volunteer opportunities to help us plant trees.
Week Ahead for March 28, 2022: Budget season continues with real estate tax increase likely in Charlottesville
No week is ever slow in local government, but this one appears to be a lot less intense. It’s the final week of a month, and the beginning of a new month and a new quarter. After an intense March, this is a good week to try to catch up. There are no meetings in Greene County or Louisa County this week, and only one in Fluvanna. The word of the week remains budget.
Week Ahead for March 21, 2022: Major redevelopment of Seminole Square Shopping Center to be presented at public meeting Wednesday
The next several days have crucial decision points as well discussion sessions about our region’s future.
On the Ground Updates – March 2022
A series of short updates from around the PEC region – Albemarle & Charlottesville, Clarke, Culpeper, Fauquier, Greene, Loudoun, Madison, Orange & Rappahannock.
A Potential Superfund Site?
Last year, we told you about a developer’s proposal for a 2,602-acre development across from Lake of the Woods on Rt. 3 in Orange County and next to Wilderness National Battlefield. With continued investigation, we found some unexpected and truly shocking information about the history of gold mining at the site.