Month: October 2022

In 2018, 54-year-old Joseph Mark Audia was killed when he was crushed between two cars in the Jak ’n Jil restaurant parking lot on East High Street. The Louisa County man was standing next to his car when a pickup truck ran off the road and crashed into several parked cars, trapping Audia between his car and another one. 

More pedestrians could be injured or even killed if critical improvements are not made to East High, fears Dwight Corle, owner of Charlottesville Glass & Mirror. 

“What we have is people cutting through parking lots starting at Jak ’n Jill, [who] will try to turn onto Hazel [Street] cutting through our lot, endangering the lives of myself, my employees,” explains Corle, who has owned his business for over 40 years. “Almost everybody who works here has had their life in jeopardy multiple times over the last 15, 20 years—it’s just gotten worse.”

For decades, Corle has asked the City of Charlottesville to rebuild the curbs and gutters that have eroded away in front of his shop, and create an adequate entrance. Because there are no barriers separating Jak ’n Jil and Charlottesville Glass & Mirror from East High Street, impatient drivers can easily cut through the business’ parking lots to get to Hazel Street. Curbs would also help divert stormwater runoff coming down Hazel Street into drains, instead of his store’s parking lot.

“If the curbs and gutters were there, it would be much more difficult for people to drive into the parking lot,” says longtime pedestrian advocate Kevin Cox, who became a school crossing guard at East High and Hazel streets this fall. “[Drivers are] not going to want to jump a four- to six-inch curb and damage their car potentially to cut through a parking lot.”

On September 25, Mayor Lloyd Snook joined Corle, Cox, and other concerned residents for a walk on East High to see the infrastructure issues that plague the street. The advocates also hosted a bake sale in front of Corle’s store, and collected around 34 petition signatures in support of the street improvements.

In addition, pedestrian advocates are pushing the city to move the bus stop and crosswalk located in front of the glass shop near the intersection of East High and Hazel streets—where they have seen multiple people almost get hit by cars—to a location further down the road. They suggest widening the new crosswalk, and adding plastic pylons and signs that remind drivers to yield to pedestrians. 

Once pedestrians walking down East High toward Tubby’s get near Fisher Auto Parts, they have very few sidewalks. In front of the former AT&T building, located next to Charlottesville Glass & Mirror, there is only a rough dirt path—a danger to those with disabilities.

“If [they’re] using a wheelchair to get around, people will go into the street because that dirt path is so rocky, and they don’t want to fall over,” says Cox. “I’ve literally helped people off the ground multiple times,” adds Corle. 

Some improvements to the street may be coming soon: “The consideration of moving the bus stop has been initiated, and I am awaiting staff reports on how soon we might be able to affect the change,” said Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders in an email to C-VILLE on September 28.

However, the city does not have a funded project yet for additional improvements, like sidewalks or curbs. “E. High is on the priority list of corridor projects in the city, [but] does not rank in the Top 5. … In the meantime, we continue to look at E. High because of the Safe Routes to School priority that aligns with this roadway, [and] are committed to exploring additional fixes in the interim,” said Sanders in his email.

As a temporary measure, the city recently provided Corle with plastic barriers to put between his store and Jak ’n Jill—but some people still drive around them. He hopes city leadership will implement more permanent solutions soon, and suggests they completely redesign East High after the Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority installs a central water line under the street in two to three years.

“If they’re going to be ripping all of this pavement up,” says Corle, “what a great time to put it back and put it back right the way it should be.”

For decades, two of Albemarle’s toniest enclaves—Farmington and Ednam Forest—have lived in proximity to a less desirable neighbor. Charlottesville Oil, built in 1950, has long been known for the junked vehicles and debris outside. And inside, when it rained, it poured.  

Albemarle County finally noticed. On April 22, it sent Charlottesville Oil president James F. “Phil” Dulaney Jr. a preliminary determination that “the property at 2839 Ivy Road is blighted.” Among the 10 violations cited are “overall lack of any or no maintenance to the building and outside property,” holes in the roof and floor, hazardous materials, mold and mildew, “unsanitary conditions” inside the building, and no heat for employees.

That was followed by an April 27 letter from county Assistant Fire Marshal Micaiah Ledford, who noted “continuing violations” of fire codes, as well as local and state statutes. He set out a timeline for hazardous materials cleanup, asbestos abatement, and demolition permits for unsafe structural sections.

On July 13, county Zoning Administrator Bart Svoboda sent Dulaney an official notice of violation. He listed the accumulation of tires and trash, multiple inoperable vehicles, structures, and a roofing contractor whose business was not a permitted use. Svoboda warned Dulaney the violations could be subject to criminal and civil penalties, and to bring the property into compliance by August 15. 

Albemarle’s deadline for compliance has been extended because Charlottesville Oil is “making forward progress,” says county spokesperson Emily Kilroy, who clarifies that the property has not been condemned. The county has taken the owners of blighted properties to court, but “that’s not where we want to be,” she says, noting the cost to taxpayers. “The opportunity to address real safety and health issues is a better outcome.”

The fire marshal was involved, she explains, because “unsafe structures pose huge risks to firefighters.” 

In an emailed statement, Dulaney says, “We have completed the asbestos removal phase and are coordinating with Albemarle County to take down what needs to be taken down and fixing up what needs to be fixed up. We look forward to a completed project in the near future.”

Dulaney owns a large portfolio of properties in prominent locations, the most notorious at Rockfish Gap where the Blue Ridge and Shenandoah national parks meet. The Howard Johnson restaurant and Holiday Inn there were thriving businesses when he took control of the primo real estate 50 years ago. 

The site included a gas station and the Skyline Parkway Motor Court, which became the target of arsonists in the early 2000s and has been partially demolished. Dulaney also faced fire code violations in 2011 and 2012 at the former Holiday Inn, by then known as the Afton Inn.

Today, only the orange HoJo’s roof seems to have survived the half century intact, and a popcorn truck is the only business in operation.

Swannanoa, a 1912 palace on the Virginia Landmarks Register and National Register of Historic Places, is also Dulaney-owned, as are the parcels housing Wayside Chicken and the former Toddsbury in Ivy. 

Bruce Kirtley ran the Ivy convenience store for 25 years, closing it in 2019, he said, because Dulaney refused to do any maintenance. A faulty septic system was the breaking point for Kirtley, who told C-VILLE, “If I owned it, I’d fix it. That’s what rational people do. His properties speak for themselves.”

Anderson’s Seafood and Catering has resided under a canopy in the Charlottesville Oil parking lot for eight years. That use is not within the parameters of the zoning violations, says Kilroy.

“So many customers have been concerned that we’d have to move,” says Ted Anderson. “It’s the best location we’ve ever been in.” He says he has five times the business he’s had in previous locations. Dulaney and his associate, Mike Jones, “have been fantastic to work with,” Anderson says, but he does acknowledge that inside the building, “it wasn’t in very good shape.” 

The closer scrutiny of Charlottesville Oil came about after a complaint earlier this year, Kilroy says. C-VILLE Weekly did a story on Dulaney’s properties in 2015 called “The ruins of Afton Mountain: Eyesores along a scenic byway,” which reported—with photographs—the busted-up vehicles at Charlottesville Oil, and asked the director of zoning about the county’s junked vehicles ordinance.

“It’s a fair question,” concedes Kilroy about the lack of action seven years ago. She says the county was unaware of the mysterious “Crozet hum,” a noise ultimately linked to Yancey Lumber in 2018, until a Crozet Gazette reporter got in touch. “If folks see something that needs addressing, they should reach out to us.”

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article misspelled the name of county Zoning Administrator Bart Svoboda.