On Wednesday, December 13, Albemarle supervisors will get an update on a study of the 462 acres near Rivanna Station that the county wants to preserve for a major employer.
The defense sector is the number-two industry in Albemarle, Charlottesville, and Greene, with a $1.2 billion a year impact, according to a report from the Weldon Cooper Center released in May. That’s in part due to the presence of the National Ground Intelligence Center and other military assets at Rivanna Station. And Albemarle hopes to grow that impact on the area through the creation of the Intelligence and National Security Innovation Acceleration Campus.
A study overseen by civil engineering firm Line and Grade has informed a proposed adjustment to the boundaries of the 462 acres that Albemarle will purchase from Next Generation LLC, a firm associated with developer Wendell Wood. This could adjust the final purchase price of a reported $58 million.
Supervisors agreed to purchase the land on May 24.
About 77 acres of the land is considered unsolicited, meaning it was not originally for sale. The purpose of this additional land is to “ensure a natural buffer around the proposed development to prevent the encroachment by incompatible land uses and bad actors.”
The buffer will also include land that is outside of the county’s development area. The Line and Grade study sets out how the land will need to be rezoned to light industrial, or perhaps to a new zoning category for defense or government facilities.
Line and Grade also recommends a master plan be created for the new development, a plan that could help Albemarle County prepare the site under the Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s business readiness program. Such a master plan would build on a 2017 concept commissioned by the Virginia Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs.
That concept called for a future road network through the area, which would utilize a property on U.S. 29 at Austin Drive that Albemarle bought in 2018 for $250,000. Line and Grade note that a special use permit would be required because a portion of Boulders Road Extended is in a flood plain.
Rivanna Station is within a stretch of U.S. 29 where the Virginia Department of Transportation wants to limit additional traffic signals. The report also indicates that the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority does not currently have water and sewer capacity to support expansion, so planning should begin for that.
The due diligence study included a preliminary but informal National Environmental Policy Act review, including a check on endangered species and an inventory of waterways. There’s also a review of cultural resources and recommendations to protect two cemeteries, as well as instructions on what the county will need to do to manage dams on the property.