Driving needs
On behalf of Senior Center, Inc. I want to clarify our position on the Hillsdale Road Project [“Hillsdale Could Spur New Building,” Development News, April 11]. Senior Center, Inc. has not “long opposed the Hillsdale Extension” as stated in your article. Our position since the inception of this project is that a well-designed Hillsdale Drive extension would be beneficial to the community and to the Senior Center’s ability to provide programs for area seniors by improving access to the Center. Poorly designed, however, the Hillsdale Extension could severely limit our ability to provide for seniors and make it untenable for us to stay on Pepsi Place.
Your article correctly states that one of our primary concerns is the need to improve neighborhood safety. Particularly, the design must accommodate pedestrians, bicyclists and mass transit, and improve sidewalks, crosswalks, etc. in our neighborhood. The design must accommodate the reality of a large proportion of seniors living, and utilizing the programs, in this neighborhood.
Moreover, we continue to ask those who drive through this neighborhood to adhere to posted speed limits (e.g., 25 mph on Greenbrier Drive and Pespi Place), stop signs and crosswalks to ensure the safety of all of us who live in and use the services in this neighborhood.
Your writer neglected the other primary concern we have. The road design must account for the parking needs in the Hillsdale neighborhood. We, along with the Laurels, and Rosewood Village utilize existing Pepsi Place every day for parking for access to our programs and services that our vital to a healthy community. With our senior population projected to grow by 30 percent in Albemarle by 2010, our Senior Center, a resource for the entire community, must have adequate access to our facility to meet this population growth. Existing parking on Pepsi Place must be retained in order for the Senior Center to meet our mission to involve, enrich and empower seniors in our community.
As the Hillsdale Steering Committee designs this road project, our Senior Center will continue to work to ensure safety and parking issues are improved in our neighborhood.
Peter M. Thompson
Executive Director, Senior Center, Inc.
Flip the script
Just a short note to clarify the term “flip.” [“Craig Plans to Flip Biscuit Run,” Development News, March 14.] “Flipping” a property means reselling it immediately after purchase at a profit to the seller, without adding any value. “Developing” a property can mean a variety of things, but always requires the developer to add value to the land. This usually means articulating a plan, gathering investors to finance the project, negotiating government approvals and often constructing some or all of the community facilities.
The owners of the Biscuit Run property have already added value by proposing a plan that implements the County-designed Neighborhood Model, investing in significant engineering, design work and studies, and initiating the public approval process. They are, in a word, developers.
Steven W. Blaine
Charlottesville, VA
The writer is an attorney who represents Hunter Craig, the Buscuit Run developer.
CORRECTIONS:
In the April 11 cover story [“The 2006 Muzzle Awards”] the name of William Paterson University was misspelled.