At last the ghost of a 150-year-old beech tree may be laid to rest. At their November 14 meeting, the City Planning Commission conditionally approved a landscape plan amendment for the Watson Manor project at 3 University Cir., a project that has been halted since its manager, David Turner, violated the site plan by cutting down an aging 48” caliper beech tree on the property.
“We did not respect the process, we did not respect the work of the commission,” said Joseph Davis, who has now assumed leadership for the Watson Manor project. Davis is a UVA professor with the Institute for Advanced Studies and Culture, which is renovating the rundown boarding house at 3 University Cir. for office space. “That was wrong, it was foolhardy considering our immense stake in that property.… It’s no understatement to say that the faculty of the institute is ashamed to be in the position that we’re in tonight.”
The City swiftly issued a stop-work order following the tree cutting in August, which Turner appealed to the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA). At that October 26 meeting, Turner’s attorney, Fred Payne, accused the City of violating the law by stopping site work.
But Turner resigned as project manager after the appeal was denied, and Davis exchanged sharp words and accusations for abasing apologies and reconciliation. The commission, facing the choice of either leaving the construction site in limbo by revoking the special-use permit or allowing the construction to proceed, chose the latter option with blessing both from City staff and University Circle neighbors.
“Our support for them was based completely on the new project person [Davis] and a very mature landscape plan,” said Karen Dougald, a representative of her “small but feisty” neighborhood. The neighbors negotiated for an 8” caliper beech tree to take the place of the old one. The Institute for Advanced Studies and Culture will also pay the neighborhood $5,000.
Some commissioners shared concerned of setting a lenient precedent that future developers might take advantage of. The City only levied a combined $200 fine—the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office didn’t want to press criminal charges.
The matter still requires City Council’s stamp of approval.