The Charlottesville Planning Commission might not have liked everything about the upcoming South Lawn Project as presented at the September 13 meeting, but they had no power to do anything but voice complaints, and some praise, to UVA officials.
The Planning Commission used their only official opportunity to examine the project to level criticism large and small. The “three-party agreement” among City, County and University allows the City to review, but not alter, UVA’s plans.
“At a moment in which we as a city are asking developers to think creatively about mixing uses in buildings,” said Commissioner Craig Barton, also a UVA architecture professor, “I’m disappointed this is a monoculture in some ways… It misses an opportunity to essentially take on the challenges the University has, which is to marry tradition and innovation and provide a model for development.” Barton, like many commissioners, also complained that the pedestrian network didn’t link adequately.
The South Lawn Project takes a 350-car parking lot and turns it into a 110,000 square foot building to address what Dean of Arts and Sciences Ed Ayers calls a 300,000 square foot deficit of office and classroom space at UVA. To connect to the main campus, UVA will construct a bridge across Jefferson Park Avenue (JPA), covered with a second “Lawn” that will stretch from New Cabell Hall to the new structure.
Commission Chair Karen Firehock requested that the design make sure to minimize the “tunnel feeling” of the JPA overpass. And commissioners asked that UVA help complete the JPA sidewalk from Emmet Street up to the project’s western edge. The cost of retaining walls needed to put in a sidewalk make the price too exorbitant for UVA to bear alone, says David Neuman, architect for the University. (UVA is, however, in the midst of a $3 billion capital campaign and has already raised $1 billion.)
Other City officials, notably Mayor David Brown, picked up on a public comment that asked UVA to increase bridge height to 19′ in case Charlottesville ever gets a streetcar. Current plans have the bridge at the regulation height of 17’6".
The project earned praise from some commissioners, particularly for UVA’s willingness to work with the Jefferson Park Avenue neighborhood, as well as for its goal to win Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for the building, ensuring it is energy efficient and otherwise “green.”
City Councilor Kendra Hamilton lauded the inclusion of a monument to the Catherine “Kitty” Foster family home site and nearby burial ground, which will be the first tribute solely to African Americans on UVA’s campus. Kitty Foster was a free black woman who purchased the land in 1833, her home part of the 19th century community called “Canada.”
According to Neuman, this phase of the South Lawn Project is on budget and ahead of schedule. Plans call for the start of construction early next year, with the hopes of completion by fall 2010.