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Charlotesville and Albemarle Elections Are Getting Interesting

Dennis Rooker is running again for Albemarle County Board of Supervisors , and Rodney Thomas is challenging incumbent David Slutzky , with John Lowry running for the seat held by longtime incumbent Sally Thomas in the Samuel Miller district. … I love local elections – they are the only place in politics where a relative few people can have a significant impact on how their lives are affected; by this I mean that local elections matter – property taxes, growth policies, transportation politics, schools – all of it affects the local real estate market and our daily lives.

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Albemarle County now has TWO Curbside Recycling Options

If you end up filling your containers too early, just let us know and we will be happy to pick the containers up the next time your day of the week comes around (this is considered an unscheduled pickup). … Pricing: Startup Fee (includes up to 3 containers) $40 ($10 extra for every additional 3 containers) Price per scheduled pickup $10 ($5 extra for up to 3 additional containers) Price per scheduled pickup (with 6 month prepaid agreement) $9 ($5 extra for up to 3 additional containers) Price per unscheduled pickup $14 ($5 extra for up to 3 additional containers) We will try and accommodate any requests you may have so just let us know!

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“SB768: Conditional zoning; replaces cash proffer system with system of impact fees.”

When the Republican Chair of Albemarle County’s Board of Supervisors, who has a history of siding with real estate interests, says that “that he had already been making personal calls in opposition to the bill,” something is amiss….  This bill will impact everybody in the state – homeowners, landowners, renters – by forcing (from what I have read) localities to seek other sources of revenue – read: property taxes – to make up the difference.  This is exactly the type of bill that Realtors need to come out against, in my opinion, but politics is like the show Survivor; sometimes distasteful compromises are met with the expectation that the next round will require another allegiance….  The bill has 10,230 words and was written at a grade level for those who graduated 18th and 19th grades (per Flesch-Kincaid).Coincidentally, an Adequate Public Facilities bill shows up on the page as a “related bill.”

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Albemarle County property assessments are out

Witness today’s Daily Progress article; getting ahead of the curve is valuable.The average reassessment increases or decreases, by magisterial district, are:- Rio: .81 percent- Jack Jouett: .43 percent- Rivanna: .57 percent- Samuel Miller: minus 1.18 percent- Scottsville: 1.4 percent- White Hall: minus .79 percent- Town of Scottsville: minus .46 percent.The County’s website has not yet been updated, but hopefully will be shortly.Contrast the above numbers with last year’s assessments -The average annual increases for specific magisterial districts are as follows (biennial increases are in parenthesis):- Rio 13.57 % (27.14 %)- Jack Jouett 11.27 % (22.54 %)- Rivanna 14.98 % (29.96 %)- Samuel Miller 15.64 % (31.28 %)- Scottsville 15.54 % (31.08 %)- White Hall 16.72 % (33.44 %)- Town of Scottsville 15.93 % (31.87 %)Get caught up on assessments with this story from last week, this one from two weeks ago (with my offer to homeowners for help contesting assessments)….  Visit Brian’s excellent school board blog for the context of this quote:So, depending on how you look at it, the school system is 45%, 47%, or 61% (adding debt, capital, self-sustaining) of the County budget and property taxes contribute either 62% or 45%.I’d argue that we’re all adjusting to the new economy – meaning working with less money….  As a first step, property owners are encouraged to contact the appraiser responsible for the appraisal, and owners have until the last business day of February to appeal their reassessment to the Assessor’s Office.  If satisfaction is not achieved, a second option is available to owners through an appeal to the Board of Equalization, which is comprised of Albemarle citizens who have completed instructional training from the Department of Taxation.

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One of the differences between Albemarle and Greene Counties

Albemarle County has an Architectural Review Board that micromanages minutiae.Greene County does not.Both Wal-Mart and Lowe’s said they will begin building their new stores there in the spring and fall, respectively. They will serve as anchors for the Gateway Center, a new retail shopping center in Greene County.Unlike other shopping centers, there isn’t an artist’s rendering available for the Gateway Center; the future of the site’s appearance depends on which businesses move in….“There will be space for smaller retail stores to lease, but the exact location and design have yet to be determined,” Hughes said….Officials know the layout of the site, said Steve Catalano, chairman of the Greene County Board of Supervisors. However, the county doesn’t have an architectural control committee….Catalano said the board did request that the site have “a tasteful appearance.”… The closest “big-box” stores are in Culpeper, about 45 minutes north and Charlottesville, about 20-30 minutes south.

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