Month: March 2010

Dear Ace: Some friends of mine are passing through Charlottesville, but I don’t have enough room in my apartment to put them up for the weekend, and their shoestring budget—to say nothing of their enormous, shaggy beards—puts most local hotels, inns and bed & breakfasts out of their range. Where in this town might a group of young backpackers find fun, affordable lodging during their visit?—Banking-on-bunkspace-in-Charlottesville

It sounds to Ace like you’re describing a youth hostel. Ace would know—during his carefree youth, Ace spent a summer hitchhiking up I-95. Ah, those were the days: living out of a suitcase, wearing the same thing—a trench coat, mostly—day after day. Come to think of it, not much has changed.

Point is, Ace knows a hostel when he sees one. And of all the lodging options on offer in Charlottesville, only one establishment fits the category: the Alexander House, on 1205 Monticello Road in Belmont.

Alexander House has been operating since Mare Hunter, whose grandmother ran a boarding house in Charlotte, NC during the 30s and 40s, founded the business in 2005. On October 1, 2009, Hunter sold Alexander House to a group of young entrepreneurs, who currently run it as a co-operative. In other words, the house’s six-person staff equally shares ownership and responsibility for the property, as well as decision-making power regarding its operation.

Formerly a one-storey, three-bedroom inn, Alexander House is expanding next week to include an adjacent bunkhouse, featuring three sets of bunk beds in a single co-ed dormitory. The going rate for a bed is $30 per night, while private single rooms cost $75. Additionally, the entire house, entire bunkhouse, or both are available for rental. Price of a stay includes coffee, tea, bread, butter, jelly and fruit, and guests can store and make their own food in the house’s kitchen space.

So who what kind of people use a hostel in Charlottesville? In an e-mail, Alexander House shareholder Lun Brown describes the clientele as “a very eclectic crowd,” including cross-country cyclists, couples getting away for the weekend, prospective UVA students, and world travelers passing through town. Business, notwithstanding a winter slump and weather-related cancellations, has been “better than our projections,” according to Brown, who expects a busy spring and summer season, and says that the house has been booked solid for UVA’s graduation weekend for several months already.

Interested? Then don’t miss Alexander’s House’s grand opening of its bunk area on Sunday, March 14 from 1-5pm. Live music, refreshments, and local art on display—what more could a wayfaring traveler ask for?

You can ask Ace yourself. Intrepid investigative reporter Ace Atkins has been chasing readers’ leads for 21 years. If you have a question for Ace, e-mail it to ace@c-ville.com. 

In November 2009, when the Albemarle County School Board sat at a table with Delegate Rob Bell and informally gave him the nod to ask the 2010 General Assembly to revise the state’s school funding formula, members knew Charlottesville officials would not be happy. Bell’s proposed amendment would subtract $2.6 million in school funding from Charlottesville’s budget, starting in fiscal 2012, and add $2.6 million to Albemarle’s. The move not only caught the city’s attention, but it has spurred a round of political posturing and awakened the sleeping giant that hovers over city-county financial relations—that is, the revenue sharing agreement.

The state’s school funding formula determines how much is doled out to each school division based on its wealth. The formula counts the Albemarle-Charlottesville revenue sharing agreement’s transfer of money towards Albemarle’s wealth, even though the money goes into Charlottesville’s coffers.

As Bell’s proposal awaits a decision from the General Assembly, the question becomes: Has it exacerbated city-county tensions to the point of gridlock, or will it force a meaningful, productive debate beneficial to both parties? At this stage, the answers vary.

“It perpetuates the long-simmering distrust between the two localities,” Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris says of Bell’s proposal.

County Supervisor Ken Boyd, a supporter of the proposal, sees it differently. “If this sort of rift that has come up drives us to that negotiating table, then I think it might be very positive,” he says.

With the state cutting funding to both school divisions this year, city and county officials might benefit from finding more ways to share services between school divisions. But it remains to be seen whether the city will grab an olive branch so soon after having its coffers threatened.

The back story

Since 2007, county officials have worked with Bell and Delegate David Toscano to brainstorm approaches to convince the state to factor the revenue sharing agreement into its school funding formula. Under that agreement, Charlottesville officials promised not to annex valuable county land that would have added to the city’s tax base and pressured the county’s rural areas. In return, Albemarle agreed to transfer to Charlottesville 10 cents for every dollar of real estate property tax that it collects each year, which has grown to a substantial sum. When the agreement was established in 1982, that sum totaled $1.3 million. In the current budget cycle, the transfer amounted to $18 million. Altogether, Charlottesville has received $160.8 million from Albemarle since the revenue sharing agreement was enacted.

The state’s school funding formula determines how much is doled out annually to each Virginia school division based on the wealth of a locality. As it stands now, the formula counts the revenue sharing agreement’s transfer of money towards Albemarle’s wealth, even though the money goes into Charlottesville’s coffers. Because the state credits the county with the money, the formula allocates less in school funding to Albemarle. In the current budget, the county would receive about $2.6 million more in state funding if the state counted the revenue sharing agreement in its formula.

Bell, whose 58th District includes only Albemarle, and Toscano, who represents both Charlottesville and about 18,000 voters in Albemarle, have sought different means to get that education money into the county’s budget. Bell has supported reducing Charlottesville’s state funding, while Toscano wants to reduce the school funding given to all other localities in Virginia. For the current General Assembly session, the County School Board and Board of Supervisors voted–4-3 and 4-2, respectively–to support Bell’s method.

Though the county has talked about changing the school funding formula to factor in the revenue sharing agreement since 2007, the issue has not ignited rhetorical fireworks until now. According to Bell, that’s because his latest proposal directly implicates city money, and only city money. “In this instance, there’s a winner and a loser,” he says.

And Bell is willing to accept the strain that his confrontational approach is having on city-county relations. “These are not two people we’re talking about,” he says. “It’s a business relationship. [City officials] certainly have the legal right at this point to keep revenue sharing, but it doesn’t mean it should be part of the [school funding formula].”

Albemarle’s case to the General Assembly is that changing the formula to reflect its available funds is an issue of basic fairness, not intended to undermine the legitimacy of the wider revenue sharing agreement.

“The fact that the city is going to be harmed by making it right for the county is unfortunate, but that’s not driving this,” Supervisor Boyd says. “It’s an area of principle and an inequitable circumstance that needs to be corrected.”

Fair vs. fair?

Charlottesville schools, led by Superintendent Rosa Atkins, above, spent $15,143 per student in  2008, while Albemarle spent $11,713.

City officials have responded to the county’s amendment as one might expect: with anger and concern. They hired a lobbyist to fight the proposal in front of the General Assembly, passed a resolution formally opposing Bell’s measure, and Norris made known his willingness to peruse joint city-county contracts to see where the city could recoup the $2.6 million if Bell’s proposal passes.

If the city were to act on Norris’ threat, an ugly clash with the county might ensue. The county could then look for its own way to recoup, according to County School Board Chairman Ron Price.

“I don’t think the city wants to go there,” he says. “Who uses the city’s retail industry and restaurants? Do you really want to make Albemarle County citizens angry enough where they say, ‘If you want to play that game, then we may not want to use your services?’”

The situation could easily deteriorate into a tit-for-tat, Norris acknowledges, but the county has put the city in a position “where the only other option is to find that money elsewhere,” he says. “We’re not just going to stand by as upwards of $30 million over the next 10 years is taken out of our schools.”

The city’s counter to the county’s “make the formula fair” case is a fairness argument of its own. Virginia’s school funding formula was put in place in 1974 —eight years before the revenue sharing agreement was struck—yet there is no record of county officials in 1982 asking the state to change the formula to include the agreement. If the formula was so unfair, city officials contend, why was it not brought up in 1982?

Norris sees the county’s push for a change 28 years later as a product of its dire financial straits. If Albemarle’s real estate tax rate remains unchanged, the school division may have to structure a budget for fiscal 2011 that is roughly $13 million less than the current year, according to Price. Charlottesville is also facing school cuts, but to a lesser degree.

“I think there’s a lot of frustration on the part of the county that each year they have to cut a substantial check toward to the City of Charlottesville when they see the city in decent financial shape,” Norris says. “We’ve been very well managed fiscally. We’ve made good choices so we’re not in fiscal stress. And the county is in severe fiscal stress. It bothers them that they’re having to make major cuts in services and yet they’re still having to send this big check to the city every year.”

In addition, city officials argue that $2.6 million means much more to a school division with a proposed fiscal 2011 budget of $69.4 million and a student body of which 54.2 percent are eligible for free and reduced lunch, according to 2008 figures, than it does to a division with a proposed budget of $145.9 million and a student body that’s only 22.1 percent eligible for free and reduced lunch.

“The loss for the city is significantly more than the gain for Albemarle,” City School Board member Ned Michie says.

This is really about that

Is school consolidation a solution? Delegate Rob Bell’s school funding amendment has incited city-county rancor, and it has also jostled officials to attention.  That jostling, combined with state funding cuts that have imperiled both school budgets, has led officials to at least confront the grandest City-County cooperative idea of them all: consolidating the two school divisions into one. The idea is not new, but with both localities feeling budgetary strain, at least some officials seem more open to it. Albemarle County School Board member Brian Wheeler, who has suggested the idea before, asserts that such a consolidation would save “tens of millions of dollars. “It’s the biggest part of both localities’ budgets, and it’s the biggest duplication of effort,” Wheeler says. In fact, Charlottesville devoted 32 percent of its fiscal 2010 budget to its schools—the city’s single largest expenditure—while Albemarle allocated 46 percent for its schools, by far its largest cost. Like Wheeler, County Supervisor Ken Boyd sees the potential cost efficiencies in consolidating. “I certainly would encourage [debate on consolidation],” Boyd says. “We’ve got to start thinking about this as a community, not just the city versus the county.” By combining school divisions, the city and county could share expenses for transportation and information technology and combine their two central offices.  In addition, county schools have seen an increasing enrollment in recent years to the tune of a 5 percent rise since the fall of 2004, while city schools have declined 6.6 percent during that time. Therefore, consolidation could lead to mutually beneficial solutions, as city school board member Ned Michie points out. “[City] school buildings are underutilized, and [the county] has had to consider expanding or building more schools,” he says.  “I think you ought to save some money there by finding efficiencies.” Despite the potential benefits of combining school divisions, some officials are reluctant to embrace such a drastic change and question whether it will actually save money in the end.  “Anytime you talk about shipping kids to different schools, it’s a very divisive conversation,” Michie says. The two divisions have different spending priorities. Charlottesville spent $10,010 per student in local funds in fiscal 2008, while Albemarle spent $8,425 per student, according to Virginia Department of Education figures.  If the two merged, something would have to give. The county would have to spend more per student, or city students and teachers would have to adjust to larger class sizes.  “People in the city are very strongly in favor of their low [student-to-teacher] ratios,” Michie says. Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris isn’t convinced that school division consolidation is the right solution for saving money, “but I’m willing to have that discussion,” he says. Short of consolidation, Norris said he is open to finding city-county cost overlaps within schools. However, with Bell’s proposal so directly aimed at city school coffers, Norris acknowledges how relations between the two localities are less than hunky-dory right now. "This recent effort by the county School Board to pull money out of the city schools doesn’t send a strong signal to city school parents and officials that the county is looking out for the best interest of the city school system,” he says.—M.D.

Though the instigator of this school funding brouhaha was Bell’s proposal, the roots of the friction lie elsewhere: in the differing levels of budgetary scrutiny demanded by taxpayers; in the county’s relatively low tax rate; and in a Virginia system dating back more than 100 years that makes conditions ripe for city-county tension.

The differences in the city and county tax rates point to a contrast in priorities among the localities’ taxpayers. For the current fiscal year, the Board of Supervisors set the real estate tax rate at 74 cents per $100 of assessed value, while the City Council agreed on a rate of 95 cents per $100 of assessed value. In recent budget seasons, county taxpayers have pressured the school board to justify spending and to work toward cutting unnecessary spending. The city’s school board, meanwhile, has not faced nearly as much resistance; taxpayers are more willing to pay the higher tax rate to fund certain services.

That sentiment is further played out in the amounts the school divisions spend per student. Charlottesville schools spent $15,143 per student in fiscal 2008. Meanwhile, Albemarle schools spent $11,713 per student, according to Virginia Department of Education figures.

How then do the differing sentiments tie in with the debate surrounding Bell’s proposal? The economic climate has caused the state to cut funding for education, and county officials acknowledge that the cuts have compelled them to look for new revenue streams, all the while balancing the schools’ needs versus taxpayers’ spending sentiment. “The pressure is mounting to save more money, and the climate has become more dour,” says Price, who sent an unbalanced schools budget to the Supervisors last month.

With Bell’s proposal, city officials say the county is avoiding its own tough choices of possibly raising taxes or revising its land-use taxation program that gives tax relief to landowners and acts as a tool for limiting development in more rural areas. “I’m happy to look for ways Charlottesville and Albemarle can logically save money through more collaboration,” city school board member Michie says, “but the keys to the county’s financial straits are in its own hands, because it is a wealthy locality with a well-below-average tax rate.”

Price and at least one county supervisor agreed that raising taxes has to be seriously considered during this budget cycle. “If not adjusting the tax rate means we have to significantly reduce the educational experience we offer our students, we would have to look at it,” Supervisor Dennis Rooker says. “It’s got to be on the table.”

Some of Rooker’s colleagues, however, do not share his view. A majority of the newly configured Board of Supervisors, which includes two new Republicans, has indicated a preference to keep the tax rate at 74 cents, which would effectively lower taxes for citizens due to the drop in the average assessed value of county homes.

“I’m not in favor of raising taxes at all,” says Boyd, who is running to unseat Tom Perriello in the 5th Congressional District. “In this economy, we have a lot of constituents who are hurting, it’s not just the county [government] feeling the pain. I’m much more in favor of getting our spending under control to make sure we’re operating as efficiently as possible.” 

This tension between adequately funding education and setting a politically palatable tax rate is not unique to Albemarle County. According to Rooker, it will only get more acute, in many localities, in the coming years, and hard, politically inconvenient choices will need to be made.

“What we’re seeing right now, in a way we haven’t seen in the last 50 years,” he says, “is the biggest tension between services and taxes at federal, state and local levels that we have ever seen—and I don’t see it getting better any time soon. You have an exploding federal deficit, you’re seeing a huge chunk of expenditures going out to medical expenditures and those programs are going to continue to grow and take more revenues. That’s going to leave fewer revenues for other programs and unless you raise taxes, you’re going to see a huge squeeze going on in the not so distant future. And voters want to believe politicians who say, ‘I will enhance your services and lower your taxes.’ I think they will see in the coming years that hard choices need to be made.”

Aside from the politically volatile issue of taxation, another, more apolitical factor is at the heart of the clash engendered by Bell’s proposal. Under the state’s constitution, all municipalities in Virginia categorized as cities are “independent cities” and are, therefore, not politically part of a county, even if they might be entirely surrounded by one, as is the case with Charlottesville and Albemarle. Norris calls it a “thoroughly dysfunctional system of local government” that creates an “artificial divide” between cities and counties.

“In the 49 other states, Charlottesville would be a city within Albemarle County, it would be drawing from the tax base of Albemarle County and sharing its services. You wouldn’t have two separate parks and recreation, two separate police, two separate public works and so on. That ultimately needs to be changed, but it’s unlikely to happen in our lifetime.”

Footnote or start of real progress? 

The tension between raising the tax rate and providing services will worsen in years to come, says County Supervisor Dennis Rooker. “Voters want to believe politicians who say, ‘I will enhance your services and lower your taxes.’ I think they will see in the coming years that hard choices need to be made,” he says.

A perusal of the actual language agreed upon by the negotiators of the revenue sharing agreement points to a fluid approach to balancing county versus city needs.

The agreement notes that it is “an equitable solution, which permits both jurisdictions to share fairly in the property tax revenues created by future economic growth in the community, regardless of whether that growth occurs in the city or the county.”

The answer to what is fair varies with who you ask, especially during trying economic times, in which localities are attempting to juggle the need for services with an agreeable tax rate. 

Bell’s proposal, whether it passes or not, has sparked conversation between the city and county. At the moment, there’s a sense of local officials pushed to one extreme or the other.

Toscano expresses concern about the lasting impact this posturing will have on city-county relations.

“You are seeing the beginning of a major conflict that will potentially undo much of the regional cooperation that we’ve seen over the last 30 years,” he tells C-VILLE.

Delegate Rob Bell is willing to accept the strain that his confrontational approach is having on city-county relations. “These are not two people we’re talking about,” he says. “It’s a business relationship.”

In an attempt to steer the conversation productively, Toscano is mediating a meeting April 24 with members of both school boards, the City Council and the Board of Supervisors. He recently sent a letter to all local officials urging them to air their arguments at one table, and they have agreed to the idea.

According to Toscano, “I think folks have said, ‘Let’s take a step back, take a deep breath and see if we can build on what we’ve done in the past so we can do more in the future.’”

Even with a firm time now set for a city-county discussion, Toscano acknowledged that it is going to take more than one meeting to spur progress. “We’re beginning a dialogue,” he said “and there’s going to be lots of arenas where this dialogue is going to occur. Some of it will be in public, some of it will be in private, some of it will be in business circles.”

The lingering question, however, concerns Bell’s proposal and how it will affect the potential for a kumbaya moment. The April 24 meeting date falls after the General Assembly adjourns, meaning a decision will already have been made about Bell’s amendment.

“If the amendment were to pass, I can’t predict what the city folks would do,” Toscano said. “If it were to fail, I’m not sure what the county folks would do. The amendment has created a lot of division in this community, and I represent both jurisdictions, so I can facilitate a process of cooperation, but I don’t have a vote on any of these boards. Ultimately, it’s up to them.”

Will the $2.6 million debate be remembered as another flare-up in city-county relations? Or as a catalyst for productive conversation as to how both localities can save money between its two school divisions? Stay tuned.

To be honest, even we didn’t see this coming. Sure, as practiced impassionate political observers, we knew in our hearts that the unprecedented lurch to the left represented by Barack Obama’s Virginia presidential win would almost certainly be followed by a corresponding backlash bounce to the right. But never in our wildest dreams did we suspect that, barely a year later, our beloved commonwealth would be on the vanguard of an incipient secessionist movement, with our newly-elected attorney general gleefully salivating at the chance to fight the federal government all the way to the Supreme Court.

Leader of the pack: Is Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli encouraging the wild side of the state legislature?

How did this happen? Well, there can be no doubt that a sizable portion of President Obama’s voters—on both the left and the right—have been disappointed by the slow pace of reform in Washington, and completely disgusted by the ongoing profiteering in the bailed-out banking sector. But the true culprit, in our very humble opinion, is the fatal combination of a catastrophic recession and a completely shameless opposition (aided and abetted by Fox News). Buffeted by the triple whammy of declining income, poor job prospects, and a conspiratorial cavalcade of fear mongering and hyperbole from the right, many of Virginia’s low-information voters have done one of two things: tuned out, or grabbed their guns and started spit-polishing their tinfoil hats.

 

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And no one in Richmond has done more to fuel this paranoid populism than Virginia’s new AG, Ken Cuccinelli. From the digital pages of his e-mail newsletter, the “Cuccinelli Compass” (where he jokes about “30+ inches of global snowing” and warns his supporters that sinister Congress critters “have made incandescent light bulbs illegal. So, stock up now!”), to the welcoming environs of the Fox Business Channel (where he told Neil Cavuto that he was “looking forward” to taking on the U.S. Government over healthcare), Cuccinelli has become a one-man Tea Party message machine.

The problem with having such a fringe figure as Virginia’s top cop, however, is that all of the loons in the legislature feel emboldened to be even crazier than usual. Thus we’re treated to the spectacle of Delegate Mark Cole trying to outlaw the implantation of microchips in humans because, as he told the Washington Post, “there’s a prophecy in the Bible that says you’ll have to receive a mark, or you can neither buy nor sell things in end times. Some people think these computer chips might be that mark.” Or, even nuttier, Delegate Bob Marshall recently opining that children born with disabilities are actually God’s punishment for having an abortion. (His comment? “Because when you abort the first-born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children.” Outrage and apologies ensued.)

Yes, this is the level that our public discourse has sunk to. And believe us, we’re nowhere close to hitting the bottom of the cuckoo bin. In fact, we wouldn’t be at all surprised if, this time next year, the Old Dominion has gone from voting Barack Obama into office to arguing Virginia v. United States in front of the Supreme Court. Crazy times, indeed.

 

VIDEO BY LANCE WARREN

“People come in here and ask, ‘Why are there so many vacancies?’ It gives them the impression that the Mall is going under,” says George Benford, owner of Siips Wine Bar and board member of the Downtown Business Association of Charlottesville (DBAC). Benford explains that increasing vacancies on the Downtown Mall are fueling a vicious cycle: Empty storefronts weaken the Mall’s image and hurt sales, which in turn causes more stores to go out of business, leaving more vacancies.

Recognizing the growing number of empty spaces on the Downtown Mall, the city’s Office of Economic Development began conducting a semi-annual “vacancy report” in July 2008, when the Mall faced a 3 percent storefront vacancy rate. By July 2009, the rate had jumped, and 9 percent of the Mall’s 193 storefronts were vacant.

According to Chris Engel, the city’s Assistant Director of the Office of Economic Development, January 2010’s numbers are right around that 9 percent mark, which represents 18 empty storefronts of the 193 total. While that percentage might not sound like much, the sight of bare windows and consecutive “For Lease” banners along the Mall makes the increase in Downtown Mall vacancies since 2008 far more apparent. Throw in the Charlottesville Ice Park, which recently went on the market for $4.1 million, and the threat of empty space looms a bit larger.

Though the economic downturn is a key factor, it is not solely to blame for slower business, says Benford. This winter’s record snowfall and the structure of the 2009 calendar year also played a part. The December snowstorm, which occurred the week before Christmas, kept many consumers from trekking to the Downtown Mall. Also, with Christmas, New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day falling on weekends, mid-week sales did not enjoy the boost that holiday shopping typically provides. 

A recent study by Charlottesville’s Office of Economic Development identifies 18 vacant storefronts among the Downtown Mall’s 193 total, roughly consistent with a July 2009 count.

“We’re struggling to get to April. I’m hearing it from so many businesses,” says Benford.

Local realtors, on the other hand, largely see the vacancies as a product of the nationwide economic slump. “Those spaces will fill up when demand returns, and the tenants and landlords find the level of pricing that works for both parties,” says Bob Kahn, of Bob Kahn Realty and Investment. In fact, city spokesman Rick Barrick says a few businesses have already seized some empty spaces. 

“We are aware of three new businesses coming to the Mall area in the next two months,” wrote Barrick in an e-mail. “In the old Order from Horder space, a popcorn retailer and an iron works art gallery, and in the 500 block of East Main a toy store will arrive next to the Hallmark store.” 

Also, many realtors are advertising reduced rents on their online listings as a way to adjust pricing to meet demand. For example, commercial realtors Kabbash, Fox & Gentry recently reduced their 422 East Main Street property to $10 per square foot from $14 per square foot.

However, price reduction is an option dependent upon the specific space, says Kahn, referencing his agency’s listing at 104 East Main Street, which has received “quite a number of inquiries” without reducing the price from $17 per square foot. 

Benford still sees the general increase in vacancies as a concern that deserves attention from the city. He cites tax credits, low-interest loans, and hiring a full-time business developer (the DBAC is run on a volunteer basis) as ways other cities have actively worked to improve business. 

Currently, the Office of Economic Development serves more as a liaison between property owners and potential tenants; its mission is “to serve as a catalyst for public and private initiatives.” According to Engel, budget constraints limit the city in providing more direct assistance to local businesses. “I’m sure we could do more with additional resources,” he says. “With this level of sustained vacancies, it might become more of a priority.” 

C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.

On February 3, Judge Daniel Bouton of the Orange County circuit court heard arguments from attorneys concerning the proposed Wal-Mart to be built on Route 3 near Fredericksburg, on the hillside that overlooks the Wilderness Battlefield, where 29,000 casualties were sustained during the Civil War.

READ MORE Battling again History repeats itself as Wal-Mart eyes the Wilderness Battlefield

“We as preservationists can’t move the Battlefield,” argues Zann Nelson, spokesperson for the Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield (FOWB). “They can re-locate a building that hasn’t even broken ground yet.”

The special-use permit was approved by the Orange County Board of Supervisors 4-1 in August, after which time the FOWB, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and six Locust Grove residents filed suit against the Board, claiming that its decision to grant permits was arbitrary, lacked valid recommendation from the planning commission and that the zoning fails to comply with state code.

Sharon Pandak, an attorney representing Orange County, argued that the plaintiffs had no standing to bring suit against the Board, and what their case ultimately boiled down to was that “the board didn’t listen to ‘them.’” Robert Rosenbaum, attorney for the plaintiffs, argued that the Board failed to consider dozens of recommendations from planners and experts, as well as the Governor and the House of Delegates.

Is a 19th century Civil War site an ideal spot for a 21st century retailer? An 1864 map of the Wilderness Battlefield shows the land that saw 29,000 casualties, and may see a Wal-Mart.

“This is about traffic, noise and pollution,” Rosenbaum told reporters on February 3. “Real concerns for someone near the project and cause for study.”

“Even if you take their complaint at its very best,” says Pandak, “all it shows is another school of thought for that piece of property.”

But preservationists aren’t giving up that easily. “We have no axe to grind with Orange County, the Board of Supervisors or even Wal-Mart,” says Nelson. “We are opposed to any super-structure of this profile on this location.”

Established by an Act of Congress in 1927, the Wilderness Battlefield is part of the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park (FRSP). The park-owned portion of the Battlefield comprises 2,774 acres, and offers visitors driving tours, walking trails, and tours of the Ellwood Manor, its lone remaining structure on Wilderness.

“If you ask residents if they want a Wal-Mart,” says Nelson, “the answer will be a resounding ‘yes’. But ask them if they’d rather have a Wal-Mart closer to the town of Orange or at the Wilderness Battlefield, and you might get a different answer.”

Judge Bouton must first rule on whether the plaintiffs have standing to even bring this case to trial. Pandak’s first move was to file a demurrer calling for dismissal. She argues that even if what the plaintiffs say is true, the Board of Supervisors was well within its rights to grant Wal-Mart its permits, and that there are no legal grounds for the case.

“As far as the matter of standing goes,” argues Nelson, “one of the elements of Virginia code is that you have a monetary investment in the outcome. Well, for 15 years the FOWB has had a formal agreement with the National Park Services to manage the Ellwood Manor. We have an investment of almost $600,000 raised, which we are responsible for, and which we’ve put back into that house to allow it to be offered to the public as a place of history.”

After hearing arguments from both attorneys for more than three hours, Judge Bouton handed down no opinion on the matter, admitting that it could take several weeks until a final decision is made. 

C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.

After Albemarle County executive Bob Tucker finished his hour-long budget presentation for Fiscal Year 2010-2011—the proposed grand total is $293.85 million, for you eager readers—he asked members of the Board of Supervisors if they had any “general questions.” Board chairman Ann Mallek responded first: “Sobering news.”

Likely, plenty of tax payers will pore over Tucker’s 240-page budget recommendations to sober up for the first public hearing on the recommended county budget, scheduled for March 3. The budget—available in its entirety online at albemarle. org/budget and covered on c-ville.com last week—arrives at $10.3 million less than last year’s adopted budget. And while a drop in real estate assessments and a tax rate of 74.2 cents per $100 will likely lower taxes for a majority of county residents, the recommended budget also includes those other, less pleasant types of reductions. 

While county schools are slated to receive 61 percent of expenditures, the state is still considering changes to the composite index that determines school funding. 

“Remember, state funding is a moving target,” says Peter Wurzer, director of research for the Albemarle Truth in Taxation Alliance, about education funds. “Every time you turn around, it’s going down.”

Twenty-three additional government staff positions will be eliminated, frozen or offset, making for a total of 78 positions suspended in some form or another since 2007—a return to 2002 staffing levels. Five police officer positions remain frozen. Both the Scottsville and Crozet libraries would see 5 percent cuts, county beaches would see reductions in operating hours, and Albemarle’s Capital Improvements Program would stick solely to maintaining infrastructure.

Wurzer says that concern over the county budget is “something that really has to bring us back to virtually questioning every assumption that we make when it comes to spending.”

“If you’re going to ask me the obvious question of what I think the tax rate should be, frankly I don’t know,” he adds. “That’s what this budget process is all about.” 

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It’s been a tough couple of weeks for Patricia Kluge and husband William Moses. To wit: The couple is involved in a lawsuit and a foreclosure sale, and the price of their Georgian-style estate has been slashed in half.

On Monday, a foreclosure auction was held for Lot 5 of Meadows Estates, assessed at $2.7 million and developed by Vineyard Estates, LLC—Bill Moses and Patricia Kluge. The couple ultimately bought back the lot for $3.6 million.

Let’s start with the lawsuit. Last Friday, Albemarle County Circuit Court Judge Thomas H. Wood decided that a $1.9 million breach-of-contract lawsuit brought by real estate agency Frank Hardy, Inc. against Vineyard Estates, LLC—a concern of Kluge’s and Moses’—would advance to an April 2 trial date.* Hardy filed the suit in February 2009 after Vineyard Estates contracted another real estate firm, Sotheby’s, on two listing agreements inked by Hardy and Vineyard Estates in 2007.

Attorneys for Vineyard Estates say that a series of e-mails in April 2008 acted as a termination agreement that would release Hardy from his role in exchange for $25,000. 

“When they dismissed Frank Hardy, there was some discussion about a settlement and they claimed that that discussion can constitute a legal settlement in the case,” says D. Brock Green, Hardy’s attorney. “And we claim it does not, that there was never any kind of meeting of the minds that they would pay a certain amount of money by a certain time and that Frank Hardy would therefore release his rights under both of the contracts.”

Ronald Tweel, attorney for Vineyard Estates, disagrees. After the hearing, Tweel said that his client would be “open to all possibilities,” as far as out-of-court settlement goes. In the event the case goes to trial, Green says he will bring “many witnesses” to testify. Both sides agree that no money—neither a $25,000 termination fee nor the $1.9 million that Hardy now seeks—exchanged hands.

The recent Kluge-Moses financial woes don’t end there. A foreclosure sale for Lot 5 of the Meadows Estates was held on Monday in front of the Albemarle County Circuit Court. The property is assessed at $2.7 million, and the auction required a deposit of $360,000 from interested bidders. (For a recap of the foreclosure sale, read the This Just In blog at c-ville.com.)

In a prepared statement, Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard spokeswoman Kristin Moses Murray says the sale “is on only one of the 24 lots and will reduce the debt overhang for purposes of reconfiguring and restructuring the full project for Kluge’s future development interests.

“Like most real estate projects, it was developed with partners,” continues Murray’s statement. “As a result of the collapse in the real estate market, some of those other partners went bankrupt, and many of the remaining investors abandoned their continuing obligations. In short, they have gone under and we have not.” 

Anyone looking for signs of collapse on the real estate market need look no further than Patricia Kluge’s local estate, Albemarle House. In October, the estate was put on the market for a nearly record-breaking $100 million. The 300-acre estate—complete with barn, a guest house, eight bedrooms and 13 bathrooms—is now listed by Sotheby’s International Realty at $48 million, a price reduction of more than 50 percent.—with additional reporting by Cathy Harding

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*Clarification: A previous version of this story read "…Vineard Estates—Kluge and Moses…"

While both the city and county continue to grapple with unprecedented budget cuts—especially within their school systems—University of Virginia administrators are trying to capitalize on the positive outcome of the recession: competitive construction prices.

Cheryl Gomez, UVA’s director of energy and utilities, calls lowering annual carbon emissions at the school “a 152,000 ton challenge.”

In fact, during last Thursday’s Board of Visitors (BOV) meeting, the BOV finance committee approved a plan to accelerate the construction of Phase IV of the Alderman Road Housing Project—a fifth dorm building, expected to open in the fall of 2014, priced at $30 million. The first phase of the project, Kellogg House, was approved by the board in 2005 and opened to students in the fall of 2008. Phase II buildings are expected to open in May 2011, followed by Phase III in 2013. 

The finance committee also approved the renovation and expansion of Newcomb Hall Dining. The project, estimated between $16 million and $18 million, is designed to add 45 percent more seating capacity, about 500 additional seats, to the second floor dining area. On the first floor, the plan calls for additional retail spaces and the renovation of existing ones. 

“We are going to take advantage of the opportunity to make it a more efficient space, make it a little bit more inviting for people,” said Colette Sheehy, UVA vice president for Management and Budget. 

University Architect David Neuman told the board that the Newcomb Hall landscape will also be improved, and the terrace area will have a green roof with access via the Newcomb ballroom. Another $15 million renovation of student spaces in Newcomb Hall is planned, “so there is a good opportunity to coordinate these two projects together and have them maximize the benefit for the student spaces,” said Sheehy. 

Competitive pricing aside, UVA’s present and future construction plans have contributed to a rise in energy consumption. Cheryl Gomez, director of energy and utilities, told the board that UVA’s carbon emissions currently stand at 325,000 tons annually. Projected emissions for 2020 total 412,000 tons. 

“We would like to go down and stay at about 260,000”—20 percent lower than the 2008 levels, according to Gomez. “We have a 152,000 ton challenge in front of us.”

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