IN THIS ISSUE: Important Dates Zoning Issues Master PlanningWater Supply Transportation Policy Other Land Use Editorial Important Dates October 3rd – Greene County Board of Supervisors Candidate Forum – 7:00 pm William Monroe Middle SchoolOctober 8th – Charlottesville Neighborhood Design Day 9:00 – 3:00 pm Various locations see article in Master PlanningOctober 10th – TJPDC MPO Transportation Improvement Program Public Hearing – 5:00 pm 401 E. Water StreetOctober 10th – Albemarle County Jack Jouett Supervisor Candidate Forum – 7:00 pm Jack Jouett Middle SchoolOctober 17th – Albemarle County Rio District Supervisor Candidate Forum – 7:00 pm Woodbrook Elementary SchoolOctober 27th – Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority Water Supply Community Outreach meeting – 6:30 Monticello HSOctober 31st – HalloweenOctober 31 – November 4 Places 29 Charrette #2 details to follow soon ACOBACOB – Albemarle County Office Building CCH- Charlottesville City HallGCAB – Greene County Administration BuildingFCGC – Fluvanna County Government Center Return to Top Transportation Policy Meadowcreek Parkway – The Free Enterprise Forum released a report indicating the Meadowcreek Parkway Project could be completed prior to the separate federally funded US 250/McIntire Meadowcreek Parkway interchange project…. Details and locations of the meeting can be found at http://www.charlottesville.org/content/files/2CCD2AF7-2578-49B6-9DA3-C82AB79DD19E.pdf Fluvanna County In what may be one of the most overreaching decisions to date, the Free Enterprise Forum has learned that Fluvanna County is requiring Army Corps of Engineers and Virginia Department of Environmental Quality approvals on yield plans (A yield plan is a fictitious development that indicates how many units could be built on a particular parcel by right) submitted to determine density of their required cluster subdivision…. A map of the study area can be found here http://www.albemarle.org/upload/images/Forms_Center/Departments/Board_of_Supervisors/Forms/Agenda/2005Files/20050504/Northerndevelopmentattachb.pdfReturn to Top Other Land Use Albemarle County Mountain Overlay Committee – This committee is now idle waiting for staff to draft proposed language for a Mountain Overlay District (MOD) Ordinance.
Browsing Category Growth
Local traffic is truly a regional issue
An interesting discussion at cvillenews.com yielded, in addition to a thoughtful and cogent debate, this link that gives direction as to where the Charlalbemarle traffic is coming from.Who knew that an estimated 99 people commute from DC to Cville? Continuing to focus on transportation/infrastructure/growth issues on a county-by-county basis is myopic, short-sighted and frankly, silly…. Transportation and infrastructure are matters that are driven by and have a direct impact on the real estate industry and profession. More vehicular traffic on the same infrastructure will affect our quality of life.
Albemarle County BOS elections
There are several local elections this fall, none more contested and interesting than the open seat in the Rio District of the Board of Supervisors, which pits Gary Grant, Thomas Jakubowski and David Slutsky against each other…. Another potentially very interesting campaign is the Jack Jouett District election which sees the incumbent, Dennis Rooker against newcomer Christian Schoenwald. I expect that Mr. Schoenwald will soon rectify his bio information, as it is in his best interest to have the best, most accurate information in the public’s purview…. It is in every Albemarle citizen’s best interest to 1) inform and educate themselves and 2) preferably when sufficiently educated on the candidates and pertinent issues, vote.Read more about the candidates at Charlottesville Tomorrow’s Election Watch page.
Regional Transportation Poll
I am trying out a new feature – a poll to the right. Our transportation/infrastructure issues are not isolated to the City of C’Ville, County of Albemarle, Greene, Fluvanna, et…. If you have the time and inclination, please take a moment to vote …… If you have any ideas or additions to the poll, please post your comments below.
Quote of the Day
Referencing Old Trail in Crozet -“No plan is perfect, but it’s probably the best plan I’ve seen,†Supervisor Dennis S. Rooker said. When a citizen addressed the familiar concern that the Crozet area and the 250 Bypass will sprawl and become the next Route 29N or Pantops, Rooker responded, “Houses don’t create people. They’ll come whether or not the houses are here.â€â€” courtesy of this week’s C-Ville.If they don’t build the houses, where would they live?
Bubble editorial, etc.
Here’s why: While house prices over the last decade have gone through the roof, the annual cost of owning a house has not.This is an excellent editorial that takes to time to explain some of the basic fundamentals of the “bubble.” I believe that there is certainly room for a decrease in the local market’s rapid rate of appreciation. From Rismedia – In a study covering 46 single-family housing markets from 1980 to 2004, Charles Himmelberg, Christopher Mayer (Columbia Business School), and Todd Sinai (Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania) confront misperceptions about the underlying drivers behind the decade-old real estate boom. The researchers find that recent growth rates of house prices do not reflect a bubble — and, in fact, are largely explained by basic economic fundamentals such as low interest rates, strong income growth among high- income Americans, and unusually low housing prices in the mid-1990s.I think that the market’s future remains in the middle.
Charlottesville Tomorrow
If pictures say one thousand words, this organization has and will have a lot to say.The press conference held today at the Paramount announcing their launch was attended by several members of their Board of Directors, politicians and, of course, the media…. They are a refreshingly non-biased organization whose goal is to educate the public on issues in a clear, concise manner that will foster discussion, public knowledge, involvement and action.Realizing that young people are not involving themselves due to choice or apathy, yet expect to have conversations about growth, environmental issues, transportation, issues, etc., the site has a blog. Blogs have proven to be an excellent and efficient format to engage young people and the public in general.Seeing Mitch van Yahres pitch his idea for a Ruckersville Parkway, Meredith Richards pitch cvillerail.org and Connie Brennan of the Nelson County Board of Supervisors ask for a regional partnership showed the level of interest and head start this group has already.In the words of Chairman Michael Bills, Charlottesville Tomorrow aims to be “profoundly non-partisan,” provide information that is “lucid, graphic and compelling” and an “advocate that people act.” Brian Wheeler mentioned the barriers to the public getting involved and their goal to help remove those barriers and that they want to “enable the public to learn more about the issues.”This group has high aspirations, more than adequate funding and superior leadership.