Author: caitlin-speaker

Like mushrooms after the heavy rains, SAVE McINTIRE PARK signs are popping up on lawns along McIntire Road and elsewhere near the park, distributed to residents by members of the Coalition to Preserve McIntire Park. The coalition, led by Independent City Council candidate Bob Fenwick, is attempting to stop the construction of the Meadowcreek Parkway and the YMCA adjacent to the park’s softball fields.

Currently, the Coalition is waiting for a decision from Judge Jay Swett about whether the land the City of Charlottesville gave to the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to construct the parkway was transferred legally. Though many of the people who sport the signs on their lawns want to save McIntire Park, many of them are not actively involved with the campaign.

“Some man came down and put it up after asking me,” says Roy T. Banks, a McIntire Road resident.  He says he agreed to have the sign put in because he “doesn’t want them to take no more land,” but adds that “someone will have to give up something.”

Billy Hunter says a problem with the construction plans is that there have not been any plans released to replace the open space that will be lost in construction.

“The park is something everyone can enjoy,” he says. “For example, the small golf course is something the city thinks people can do without, but it’s the only place for people who can’t afford much to learn how to play golf. I’d like to see things like that remain an option.”

Some residents want more than just a replacement for the land lost to construction.

“I don’t think the Meadowcreek Parkway needs to be made at all,” says McIntire Road resident Melanie Barnum. She says the money should be put toward improving the city’s public transportation infrastructure. “It doesn’t make sense not to have reliable public transportation, especially transportation to Richmond and D.C.,” she says. “That boggles my mind.”

Fenwick, who spearheaded the sign campaign, maintains that residents like Banks, Hunter and Barnum, who are not involved with the Coalition but support the cause, are in the majority. At most, he says, 10 percent of residents participating in the sign campaign are also active with the coalition. 

Colette Hall, President of the North Downtown Neighborhood Association, says one way she hopes to get more people involved, in at least the neighborhood association, is to tap more renters.

As a member of the Coalition, Hall says that one location where residents may not be as open to the sign campaign is on Park Street, where some support parkway construction in hopes that it will reduce traffic on other city roads.

Fenwick agrees. “There are a few people who are for the parkway on Park Street, but it’s not a universal thought,” he says. “There is room to make the case that the parkway is not going to be as beneficial as they think.”

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After recently saving $30 million in debt by pushing forward the demolition date for the Watson House dormitory, UVA Housing is hoping to put some of that money—about $300,000—toward renovating upperclassmen housing, says Housing Division Accommodations Director John Evans.

“It’s the best news we’ve had in a long time,” he says.

University officials decided to demolish Watson House along with Dobie and Balz Houses during Phase II of the new freshmen student dorms construction on Alderman Road, rather than during Phase III in 2011. That’s because of a drop in construction prices.

These savings, however, will come at a price for some freshmen students.

A group of 142 students who would have been placed in the Watson House will be placed in Gooch and Dillard dormitories away from other freshmen in the Alderman Road dorms and Hereford College.

“It allows us to expand and accelerate the kind of projects we want to accomplish,” says Chief Housing Officer Mark Doherty.

And University Housing has some stiff competition. Off-Grounds housing is often much closer to Grounds than on-Grounds housing and amenities include washers and dryers in apartments, says Lauren Curley, Marketing Manager of the main Charlottesville office for Management Services Corporation (MSC), the largest property managers in Central Virginia.

Doherty says that the University is hoping to accelerate plans to improve on-Grounds housing with the $300,000. 

“We are trying to level the playing field so everything is equally desirable,” he says. The Copeley Apartments are on a short list for renovation. Located near the Law School, they are the least desired housing location along with the nearby Faulkner Apartments. Though the location is ideal for law and business graduate students, Doherty says that many rooms are left empty each year in both complexes, because students choose to live in other locations. As a result, the University does not receive any revenue from those rooms.

In order to remedy the situation, Doherty says the Housing Division will try to do renovations similar to the work going on right now at the Lambeth Field Apartments near the University Art Museum.

“We did a few model apartments at Lambeth and let the students give feedback before we made any decisions,” he says. “If you’re going to do something, you need to ask the people it’s going to affect.”

In order to maintain the dorms and accrue needed revenue, the University’s Board of Visitors recently approved increases for on-Grounds housing prices that totaled as much as $270 per semester for some accommodations. Students can pay anywhere from $4,440 to $5,320 for a single room on-Grounds per semester. Meanwhile, off-Grounds a one-bedroom apartment with MSC can cost anywhere from $605-$890 a month plus utilities.

In order to maintain a competitive edge and low prices, Doherty told C-VILLE the University is renting out some of its dorms to camps, programs and people interested in one-night stays at the University.

This ‘hotel’ system has been in place for a few years now and houses about 100 different groups per summer and 85,000-90,000 one-day stays, he says. That money goes straight to holding down prices on student housing.

“In the end, our facilities need to be brought into the early 21st century for our residents and that’s what we are incorporating into our renovations,” he says.

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