On March 1, a group of 17 people from a range of city and county groups—the Piedmont Environmental Council, the League of Women Voters, Citizens for Albemarle and others—sent a letter to Charlottesville Mayor David Brown and Albemarle County Board of Supervisors Chair Dennis Rooker outlining their concerns with the James River pipeline and the water planning process in general…. “With the addition of the water from Beaver Creek… this community would feel no shortfall of water supply even during the most severe drought through the year 2018.â€
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U.S. real estate affordability improves
Inman Real Estate News – U.S. real estate affordability improves (link requires paid subscription) Housing affordability conditions have improved for two consecutive quarters, keeping housing within reach for people in most of the country, the…
New stores announced for Hollymead Town Center
Other ventures making their initial foray into the local market are the pet-centric supermarket PetsMart, Chevy Chase Bank, and the restaurants Bonefish Grill, Sakura Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar and TGI Friday’s. Familiar names expanding into the complex include Starbucks, Gamestop, Bubbles Salon and Spa, Hair Cuttery, Wells Fargo Financial and Nextel…. According to Alan Roth, vice president of Regency Centers, one of the developers of the project, the firm next hopes to attract local stores that will give the development a “local feel.  The next phase, which will be about three times the size of the 25-acre plot featuring Target and Harris Teeter, is slated for completion around October 2006.
Lots of good stuff in C-Ville
C-Ville Weekly – Charlottesville’s Best Weekly Newspaper: Over the past 30 years the RWSA has tried, unsuccessfully, to expand the local water supply, which currently provides Charlottesville and Albemarle about 13 million gallons of water per day (that figure does not include the Beaver Creek Reservoir that supplies Crozet up to 2 million gallons per day)…. The RWSA has identified four options for expanding the local water supply: 1) raise the dam of the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir; 2) dredge the sediment out of the South Fork, thereby getting more out of existing capacity; 3) raise the dam of
the Ragged Mountain Reservoir; or 4) build a pipeline to the James River from Charlottesville. Few dispute that the Charlottesville area, with a population of about 125,000 and growing by about 1,500 people annually, needs more water to satisfy residential and business demand. But as the options for increasing supply come into focus, the matter of where our water comes from is becoming an ever more pitched battle.
Lowes and Home Depot interior designers
RealEstateJournal | Home Improvement: When it comes to interior decorating, the big buzz is coming from an unlikely creative community — designers whose nametags read Ikea, Lowe’s, even Ace Hardware. Hoping to boost their share of the $196 billion home-remodeling industry, national chains are expanding their ranks of full-service designers and taking on some fancy jobs. Lowe’s, which added more than 50 locations in the past year, says its in-store kitchen designs have sold so well it is now branching out into deck-planning services. The Great Indoors, Sears’s home-décor chain, did 54% more kitchen designs in 2004 than in the previous year.
Pending real estate sales gain momentum
Inman Real Estate News – Pending real estate sales gain momentum: An index that measures U.S. pending home sales dipped 0.3 percent from February to March but is up 1.7 percent since March 2004, the National Association of Realtors reported today…. An index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001, the first year to be analyzed and the first of four consecutive record years for existing-home sales. The level of sales in 2001 is fairly close to the higher level of home sales expected in the coming decade relative to the norms experienced in the mid-1990s, the association reported, and an index of 100 coincides with a historically high level of home sales activity…. In developing the model for the index, it was demonstrated that the level of monthly sales-contract activity from 2001 through 2004 closely parallels the level of closed existing-home sales in the following two months.
Owners Hold Off On Sales Of Homes
Owners Hold Off On Sales Of Homes: Traditionally, home ownership has been about trading up…. Then, as their families grew or their incomes rose, they moved to a bigger house or a tonier neighborhood. But the hot local real estate market is disrupting that pattern…. The link above requires a somewhat onerous registration, but Bugmenot to the rescue!