The charlottesville region continued to grow in 2021, and both Albemarle County and Charlottesville took several steps forward this year to increase the number of housing units and to improve the certainty of getting infrastructure in place to accommodate a bigger population.
“We continue to see robust building activity, with many projects in varying stages of development throughout the city, and including new residential and commercial buildings,” says Jim Freas, Charlottesville’s new director of neighborhood development services. “Of note has been the completion of a number of new buildings downtown, contributing to the ongoing vitality in this area of the city.”
Perhaps the biggest development story of the year wasn’t a single new construction, however, but rather the city’s preparation for the next chapter of development. On November 15, Freas presided over the final public hearing for a new Comprehensive Plan. The plan, which City Council passed unanimously, aims “to address the injustice in distribution of housing opportunities and access to affordable housing options” in the area. One key element of the plan is the Future Land Use Map, which builds on an affordable housing policy adopted in March to encourage construction of more, denser residential units in single-family neighborhoods across the city.
In 2022, those aspirational ideas will be turned into official zoning regulations. Some in those single-family neighborhoods remain concerned the process will not yield the affordability levels that supporters claim will happen by allowing more units per residential lot.
The Albemarle Board of Supervisors adopted a new housing policy in July, which also encourages building new dwelling units across the county. The Housing Albemarle framework increases the desired number of designated affordable units in new developments to 20 percent, up from the current 15 percent. In February, supervisors will consider an incentives package to induce developers to build more affordable units.
Albemarle too has begun a review of its growth management policy, as the first step in its own Comprehensive Plan review. Supervisors also updated the Crozet Master Plan, which included provisions that would allow for “missing middle housing” in certain areas.
But what specifically happened this year?
In the county
In march, the Piedmont Housing Alliance was awarded low-income housing tax credits to build apartments as part of Habitat for Humanity’s redevelopment of the Southwood Mobile Home Park. Construction is underway, and the first phase will consist of 207 total affordable units and 128 market rate units. In October, Habitat submitted an application for the second phase, which will include between 531 and 1,000 additional homes. Of those, 231 housing units would be affordable.
A plan to convert a different mobile home park near Hollymead Town Center into over 330 permanent units was met with initial resistance from neighbors in the Forest Lakes community. However, the out-of-town firm RST was approved by supervisors on a 5-1 vote in September after the developers agreed to 190 of the units being affordable for a period of 30 years.
This year, locally owned Stony Point Development purchased a 27-acre property near the intersection of the John Warner Parkway and East Rio Road, including the plans a previous developer had put forward for a 328-unit apartment complex. That project stalled after a deferral from the county government in July 2020, but Stony Point was ultimately able to get a green light this December.
Some neighbors continue to resist additional residential density in Albemarle’s designated growth areas. In October, supervisors approved a rezoning for a development near Glenmore for 80 units, down from an initial request for 200 units. Members of the Village of Rivanna Community Advisory Committee argue that even 80 units is out of scale with the Comprehensive Plan.
Meanwhile, at Stonefield, the number of total residential units will soon reach 700, with a 112-unit tower currently under review on a site that is now a surface parking lot. In 2022, there will be a rezoning for 490 units off of Old Ivy Road on currently undeveloped land. Work is underway to secure funding for transportation projects for both.
Other new development projects were conceived with more philanthropic aims. In late March, the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation awarded the Piedmont Housing Alliance $4.5 million for a project to work with Virginia Supportive Housing and the Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless to redevelop the Red Carpet Inn as a 140-unit apartment complex for people with extremely low incomes.
UVA also announced three sites where it plans to collaborate with a private developer to construct 1,500 affordable housing units. “We are committed to working with community partners to create more housing intended for local workforce and community members who have been priced out of the local housing market,” Jim Ryan wrote in an announcement about the project. Two of the sites are in the county, on Fontaine Avenue and at North Fork Research Park, and one is in the city, at the corner of Wertland and 10th streets.
In the city
While we wait to see how exactly Charlottesville’s Future Land Use Map will shape the city, there’s plenty that already happened in 2021.
One major residential development that could be coming down the pipe is a 170-unit rezoning on 12 acres in the Fry’s Spring neighborhood off of Stribling Avenue. After multiple rounds of negotiation, the Planning Commission, city staff, and Southern Development appear to have reached an agreement to move forward: Southern Development will front $2.9 million to upgrade the Stribling Avenue sidewalk, and will be paid back by the city through the increased property tax that will be generated by the development. Council will vote on that rezoning in 2022.
Redevelopment of the city’s public housing sites finally got to the construction phase after years of planning. Construction is underway for the first phase of South First Street, which will see 62 new apartments built on a former athletic field. However, renovation of the 105-unit Crescent Halls building hit a major setback in June, when a waterline break forced the evacuation of many residents who had anticipated staying during renovation. Planning work continues for a second phase at South First Street, at the expense of some green space: a four-story, 50-unit building at Sixth Street will displace a community garden.
The new affordable housing plan calls for the city to spend $10 million a year on housing, with a large portion of that intended for construction of new units. The five-year Capital Improvement Plan shows $13.5 million for public housing redevelopment and $15.8 million to support the Piedmont Housing Alliance’s redevelopment of Friendship Court. Ground hasn’t yet been broken on that project.
In the commercial sector, major office buildings that were skeletons in January have now been fleshed. The Three-Twenty-Three building on Fourth and Garrett streets and the CODE Building on the site of the former Charlottesville Ice Park are now occupied and open for business.