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 Politics
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.
Monday reading -09-11-06
Bloggers and JournalistsLiving in the richest county …You need good credit for a mortgage … and a job.If I had $1.3 million dollars … I’d buy a farmlet.Regional tax plans – good!Interesting development in rural areas -v- need for power. Merv has moreGas prices drop – but why is gas in Charlottesville/Crozet still thirty cents higher than Waynesboro?
Friday links 1 September 2006
The end of the housing boom might not be a bad thing.Property rights -v- human rights – Rick Sincere takes a letter-to-the-editor writer to taskTim Kaine on the upcoming Transportation Session – aside from the interesting interview with Governor Kaine – this is an example of the power of the blogosphere (we really need to work on a new name for this) – a conference call with bloggers!?Free books!Option ARMs are the single most frightening loan product I have ever seen. Depending solely on a property’s appreciation combined with a lack of a commensurate rise in pay … Who is going to be left holding the bag on these things? Because clearly it’s not the consumer’s fault … Clustering is mandatory? Thanks to Channel 29 for the heads-upA mini-milestone: just over 15,000 hits to this blog last month – made less significant because tabbed browsing has made this stats somewhat irrelevant/obsolete.
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.
Are ethics stronger today?
I disagreed somewhat in class, but vehemently inside.In a very-unscientific analysis, I turn to Google Trends to see what trend, if any exists – perhaps a slight downward curve across the board.I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – the most simple business practice is to be honest in all that one does – at the very least a track record will be there to call upon in the future.When the “The University” starts negotiating various degrees of honor with regards to the “seriousness clause,” something is terribly wrong.Why bother with an honor system at all? This story, from the UVA Magazine, is a fascinating read.“I think a lot of people are unwilling to hold someone accountable for an honor offense unless it’s a serious one,†one juror told the Cavalier Daily…. Why so much reluctance to nip it in the bud?Realtors are held to a high standard and deservedly so. The transactions we manage and consult on frequently represent the single-largest transaction an individual or family will ever do. The Realtor Code of Ethics is eight pages long.The perception of the deterioration of ethics is not endemic in any one industry – be it real estate or the corporate world. It’s just that we seem to have lost our way.A Google search reveals very few posts that discuss Realtor ethics in a positive light…. Real estate is just like any profession – there are good Realtors and not-so-good ones…. Best to be one of the “good ones.”Greg makes some good points about the Realtor Code of Ethics at Blue Roof.
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?