Date Archives August 2005

Villages

in Albemarle Growth Politics on

This post at Bacon’s Rebellion pointed me to an editorial in the DP (I tend to forget that they have their editorials online).The county not only establishes strangely worded rules to rezone by, it sets up so many hoops for developers and nearby residents to jump through that all the hoop-jumping may disorient residents as much as it improves, or modifies, developers’ proposals.All the hoop-jumping probably has improved the Old Trail Village project about to gobble up land next to Crozet, but the county remains slow to make the necessary improvements to streets and sidewalks that could integrate the new development into the existing community.Whenever I hear the word “village” in this context, I am reminded of this…. A good summary of of APF’s is at the Virginia Conservation Network’s site – What is an adequate public facilities ordinance?An Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO) is a law adopted by the local government that allows it to defer the approval of developments based upon a finding by the governing body that public facilities would not be not adequate to support the proposed development at build out.What are the components of an effective APF ordinance?

…Anti-Growth Measures Defeated Once AgainVAR faced another year of numerous Adequate Public Facilities (APF) and impact fee proposals that would unreasonably restrict growth and drive up the cost of housing. APF ordinances allow local governments to defer approval of new development based on their finding that the existing infrastructure (such as roads and schools) is “inadequate” to support it.

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A way to make New Urbanism work

in Off-topic on

My decision to inhabit just 100 square feet arose from some concerns I had about the impact a larger house would have on the environment, and because I just do not want to maintain a lot of unused or unusable space. Nifty concept – Tumbleweed Tiny Houses; heard it on NPR this morning. Encircle the Downtown Mall, anyone?

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This should prove interesting

in Charlottesville Politics on

in the wake of the larger trend of the vanishing-downtown, that portions of mall parking lots and/or sidewalks (infrastructure often paid-for thru proffers and government-aided gimmes) remain public spaces, free to those that choose to speak out within agreed-on modes of behavior…. Redistribution of this power remains wrong, even if the “victim” is “the little guy being able to have a place to meet the public.”The VACLU says“Shopping centers, particularly in suburban areas, have for all intents and purposes replaced the traditional town centers where people shop, mingle and exchange views,” said ACLU of Virginia executive director Kent Willis. “The framers of the Virginia Constitution clearly intended to protect free speech in such places.”“If the free speech clause of the Virginia Constitution protects my right to hand out campaign literature outside a store in Charlottesville’s downtown mall or Old Town Alexandria, then I should also be able to stand outside a store in a large shopping center and do the same. One space may be publicly owned and the other privately owned, but they are both used in exactly the same way by the public.”I don’t know; I remain open minded and look forward to reading the merits of both sides.

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