Charlottesville Tomorrow reports that Albemarle’s Board of Supervisors are going to vote in September on whether to expand the growth area by 82 acres to the southwest of US 29 and 64.

There is just too much meat in Sean Tubb’s article to accurately summarize here, so I’ll recommend you read the whole darn thing.

After you’ve read the whole article, ask questions.

• For which company/business are the Board considering fast-tracking this approval? Sweetspot of Albemarle County?
• Which 19 businesses have opted to not come to Albemarle County, causing Albemarle to “lose” 785 jobs?
• Will the County factor in necessary infrastructure improvements as part of this rezoning?
• Who will initiate the rezoning? The Board or the applicant? Apparently if the Board does so, proffers then become unavailable.

Why this?

However, no information has been shared publicly about what company might be looking at the site. Supervisors have met at least twice in closed meeting to discuss the expansion area.

Is this a guarantee?

“There may be those will stand before you who say traffic at that intersection is a reason not to allow business growth,” Lowry said. “There may eventually be yellow blinking lights and slower highway speeds but [there will be] no highway traffic lights for sure.”

Always interesting.

Look, growth is fine. Growth that is put forth in a fast-track manner with little public transparency may be fine, but government has an obligation to keep the public informed, and to plan effectively for the future.

One last note – this is one of the many reasons that it is critical for buyers to look well beyond the four corners of the property they are considering.