Everybody’s talking about it -Albemarle County is seeking the public’s feedback on the development process. One thing is true – the County does an excellent job of soliciting the public’s input. Now, if only the public will speak.From a discussion at Cvillenews:I’m not sure these are the metrics you ask for, but from 2002 to 2004 in a poll done by the county the level of satisfaction of growth area residents dropped by 17 percent . I assume this is a (reflection) of how people view their quality of life.Now, if we can only get a regional survey that incorporates all of the impacted counties …
Browsing Category Growth
Clustering, phasing and more
Clustering and Phasing shelved (WINA) – link may not work, WINA’s permalink structure is bothersome.Phasing and Clustering proposals fail to move forward (Cville Tomorrow)Ok. Efforts to address land-use fail, and the BoS approves more developments within the growth area. Crozet Rezonings move forward (CVille Tomorrow) The County BoS could not have set up the following any better, and I am sure that the groups would offer their thanks – Groups appeals for growth limitsI have said many times before – if these groups were to be successful and shut down development and growth within Charlottesville/Albemarle (CharlAlbemarle), the surrounding counties will benefit and suffer whereas CharlAlbemarle will only suffer the consequences.
State oversight over local development?
Listening to friends and clients, it is a rare (and usually misinformed) person who thinks that growth management has been responsibly implemented – locally and throughout the Commonwealth.The WP has an interesting article today that neatly summarizes the issues we face as we move forward.It comes down to trust. To a man woman person, not one to whom I have spoken believes that the politicians, the builders, the NIMBYs (add your pejorative here) is trustworthy enough to look beyond their own selfish, short-sighted self interests. In a vacuum, each is right.Commonwealth Commonsense has a good analysis today, from whom I have cribbed this snippet of the pertinent legislation: Note: if you don’t read the legislation, it’s hard to determine whether you’re “for” or “against” it.Provides that prior to adoption of any comprehensive plan or amendment the locality shall submit such plan or amendment to the Department of Transportation for review and comment. The Department shall provide written comment on the proposed plan or amendment within 90 days of receipt thereof. Also, upon submission to a locality of an application for rezoning, the locality shall submit such application to the Department of Transportation within 10 business days of receipt thereof…. Within 45 days of its receipt of such application, the Department shall either (i) provide written comment on the rezoning application, or (ii) schedule a meeting, to be held within 60 days of its receipt of the application, with the local planning commission or other agent and the applicant to discuss potential modifications to the application to address any concerns or deficiencies.Whom do you trust to do the “right thing?”… then I come back from a home inspection to this news: There will be a Special Session of the General Assembly to discuss/act on/remedy/pander about Transportation 27 September to 30 September. (Thanks to Waldo for the tip)I’m hoping that anything that comes of the Special Session will be reflected in the General Assembly RSS Feed (and of course throughout the VA blog world).For further reading, visit Charlottesville Tomorrow’s post and podcast on local transportation priorities.
Growing in the growth areas
In spite of much of the angst surrounding BoS member David Slutzky, he seems to be the only one expressing the opinion that is lacking from the discussion (courtesy of the DP):Supervisor David Slutzky said he wonders whether master planning each growth area separately is actually impeding some of the efforts to effectively guide growth. “If it were up to me, I’d master plan all the growth areas simultaneously,†he said. “I understand the practical challenges of doing that, but the danger of doing them sequentially is you lose the continuity, of the transportation structure in particular. We must relate transportation planning to the land-use planning or we’ve failed miserably.â€Rather than look at each individual area within the County, we must look at the big picture, the picture that includes Madison, Louisa, Waynesboro and the rest.The County of Albemarle has done a good job of providing some good PDF maps of the growth areas (PDf, P. 5) and the specific segments within. I have found it most useful to look at the growth areas by elementary school district – by far the most efficient way to drill down into the specific segments of the market. (PDF)I’ve asked this question before, and ask it again -if we don’t grow in the Growth Areas, where will we grow?
A few links – 08-17-2006
Vacation has been good – I’ve read three books so far, but staying out of touch with the world is a skill I have not yet allowed myself to master. Merv’s aggregate analysis of the market is spot-on.Kickball?… Who doesn’t love kickball?Brian Wheeler provides the most comprehensive analysis of Albemarle’s district growth out there. The decisions the City of Charlottesville make today will impact the lives, both financially, socially and in many other ways we haven’t even conceived of yet. Are they doing the right things? Are tall buildings the way to go?Not guilty. And, on a side note, the victim’s brother is a Realtor. If you’re a blogger and have at least 30 minutes, Pew Internet has an interesting survey on blogging.
Growth in Albemarle
Fresh off her recent accolades, Jessica Kitchin with the DP brings us two excellent stories this morning on Growth. First up is an overview of where Albemarle County is today. The second story is the first in a series of growth articles to come this week. Albemarle is becoming much, much more segmented and defined as such by the various developments associated with those segments – Old Trail in Crozet, Biscuit Run to the (slightly) South, 29 North and Pantops Mountain. One thing to be added (for now) is this -County officials have said the issue was merely one of miscommunication, and they hope that as the vision of the Master Plan plays out – and as they seek more funding to provide infrastructure – residents will find renewed faith.When government asks the public to have faith in their actions rather than form opinions based on their prior actions – watch out.There are so many desired and unintended consequences related to growth – it is excruciatingly difficult to manage them all.I am left with two questions – if we don’t grow, what happens? And – what do we do and talk about after the growth?
Clustering, Phasing and Mountaintop Roundup
There has been much discussion in the past several days and weeks about the future direction of Albemarle County’s growth. The decisions about to be taken by the BoS may have a profound impact not only on the Albemarle County real estate market, but that of the surrounding counties as well. If Albemarle becomes more of a no-growth zone and CharlAlbemarle remains the employment hub of the region, house prices will be impacted, roads will be impacted and discretionary income will as well, due in no small part to rising fuel prices.If the BoS does in fact make building in the growth area easier/more streamlined and restricts building in the rural area, we will see different patterns of development than we have seen for the past several years. These very local decisions will have regional implications.Bacon’s Rebellioncvillenews (Cascadia)cvillenews (North Pointe)CvilleTomorrow (Crozet & Cascadia)CvilleTomorrow (North Pointe)Fascinating Podcast – if you do nothing else, take the time to listen to this.