Tag: Department of Neighborhood Development Services

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In brief: Turkey time, planner peace out, and more

Volunteers hand out birds at the We Code, Too turkey drive on Saturday. PC: Zack Wajsgras

Turkey time

Community is hard to come by these days, especially as we’re all hunkering down for a long winter indoors. But at the Jefferson School on Saturday, the community put on an impressive show. During the annual We Code, Too turkey drive, 200 birds were handed out to those in need ahead of the holiday. Some of the turkeys were contributed by retailers, and many more were purchased using money from individual donations. Cars snaked through the parking lot, as recipients remained socially distant during distribution. It’s the seventh year in a row that the drive has taken place, proving that even in difficult times, some things remain constant.

Planner says peace out 

Charlottesville city government’s staffing woes continue. On November 4, the city announced that Parag Agrawal had been hired as the Director of Neighborhood Development Services. Agrawal even made an introductory appearance at a press conference the next day. But less than two weeks later, Agrawal is gone, after announcing last week that he’s taken a job as the planning director in Prince William County instead. There’s been a lot of turnover at City Hall recently, but this is a new record.

Looking on the bright side, at least the city won’t have to pay Agrawal a severance package. Mike Murphy got nine months of additional pay after spending a year as interim city manager, and former city manager Tarron Richardson got a $205,000 lump sum after less than a year and a half at the helm. Maybe it would’ve been in Agrawal’s best interest to stick around for another week or two—who knows what he might have walked away with.

After 16 months on the job, former city manager Tarron Richardson walked away with $205,000 in severance pay. PC: Eze Amos

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Quote of the week

“Quite honestly, I just don’t have the time to address every crazy thing she says. It would be a full-time job.”

—Virginia Senate Republican Mark Obenshain, when asked to respond to Republican gubernatorial candidate Amanda Chase’s latest remarks

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In brief

White House bound?

After just two years as UVA president, Jim Ryan may be moving on to the White House—at least, if Nicholas Kristof has his way. The New York Times columnist floated Ryan as a secretary of education pick for Joe Biden’s cabinet last week, praising his “strong moral compass” and more than a decade of experience in higher education. Ryan was “flattered” by the mention, but said, “My focus has been and will continue to be leading the University of Virginia.”

Durty deal

You can get anything on Craigslist—even a much-loved Charlottesville bar. Durty Nelly’s Pub is for sale, and last week the whole shebang was briefly posted on the online classified board with a price tag of $75,000. Durty Nelly’s is still open and doesn’t plan on closing, but the post suggested that the owner is looking to move on.

Pass it around

After Governor Ralph Northam’s recent announcement that he would support marijuana legalization in next year’s General Assembly session, State Delegate Lee Carter proposed that money generated from pot sales be spent on reparations for Black and Indigenous Virginians. It’s “a moral commitment our history demands of us and a necessary first step in Virginia,” Carter wrote in a press release.

Bottom lines up

It’ll come as no surprise that one business in particular is thriving during the pandemic: Virginia ABC stores have reported record sales through the last few months, turning in $22 million more in revenue in October 2020 than during October 2019. Usually, restaurants make up roughly 20 percent of the ABC stores’ businesses, but the liquor shops are having no trouble making ends meet even with that flow interrupted.

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Get out of the zone: Outdated zoning in Rose Hill leaves some lots vacant

A property at 902 Forest St. in Rose Hill (above) was put up for auction in 2003, and eventually demolished. It’s now one of 18 vacant lots in the neighborhood. PC: Staff Photo

Back in 2013, Julie (who asked that we not use her last name) bought a house in Rose Hill, a small, historically African American neighborhood roughly bordered by Preston Avenue, Madison Avenue, and Harris Street. The house had gone into foreclosure during the housing market crash, and had been neglected for a while. 

After determining that bringing the house up to code would be too expensive, Julie considered demolishing it and turning it into a small brewery. But the property was zoned B-3, a type of intensive commercial zoning that would require her to provide more parking than seemed feasible for the mostly residential neighborhood, along with other requirements like making retail sales and staying open till 1am.

While a majority of Rose Hill is zoned for single-family residences, and parcels along Preston Avenue are zoned for mixed-use, others are still zoned B-3 for major commercial uses—what planning commissioner Lyle Solla-Yates calls “our worst zoning.”

Business zoning “is the least efficient…and least useful for the city,” says Solla-Yates. “It’s been thought for a long time that mixed-use is the better way to do cities. If you have housing above and businesses below, that’s more pedestrian-friendly, welcoming, [and] prettier. And it gives you housing in areas where you need housing.”

That was the intention of another owner in the neighborhood, Julie says, who originally submitted a site plan for an office space below, and residential above. “But his site was not zoned for that,” she says, “so he went back to [Neighborhood Development Services] with an office space.”

Julie ultimately decided to submit a site plan for a small warehouse, but after learning from a neighbor that the site planning process could take months to complete, she called it quits.

Lately, she’s noticed more and more houses like hers being demolished in Rose Hill—“and the lot just sits there.” There are currently 18 vacant lots in the neighborhood, six of which are zoned B3. 

“I’ve attended a couple of [site plan reviews],” she says, “and it just seems like they don’t go forward.”

Some projects run into issues with sewer and property lines, Julie says, but others, like hers, have faced restrictions with zoning. 

Since the ’90s, the city has gotten rid of “almost all of its B zoning,” Solla-Yates says. He guesses that it kept B zoning in Rose Hill because “it was small.”  

He adds that the city “hasn’t given a lot of love and attention to Rose Hill.” Like 10th and Page and Fifeville, two other historically African American neighborhoods, “there’s some pretty serious social justice issues with [Rose Hill] not getting infrastructure and services at the same level as the rest of the city for decades,” Solla-Yates says. “Which is also part of why we’re a little bit slow to think about [its zoning] seriously.” 

The city’s upcoming zoning overhaul will get rid of business zoning, as well as other out-of-date zoning practices, Solla-Yates says, and will have an “integrated look at zoning and housing.” While consultants are still in the process of reviewing the zoning, he predicts that business zoning will be replaced with mixed-use.

“Business-only zoning doesn’t have a future in Charlottesville,” Solla-Yates says. “We are not fine-tuning the existing zoning. We are replacing the zoning. We want something better, and we’ve waited long enough.” 

Read Brodhead, a zoning administrator with Neighborhood Development Services, agrees that mixed-use zoning is generally more practical, but doesn’t think the city should get rid of business zoning entirely, as “there’s traditionally been a lot of commercial uses of it.” He points out, for example, that MarieBette Café & Bakery, on Rose Hill Drive, is zoned B-3, and that the four vacant parcels across the street from it (also zoned B-3) could also be used for a business “that’s significant for the neighborhood.”

But until any type of new zoning is approved, Julie remains concerned about the future of Rose Hill. Every week, she receives phone calls and postcards from developers wanting to buy her property, and is ultimately concerned that a large developer will come in and buy up all of the vacant lots and create a large commercial business, since a developer would have “the time and resources to go through the whole approval process.”

“That would just be out of scale with the neighborhood,” she says. 

And as for the other property owners with deteriorating houses or vacant lots, “they are sitting there and wondering what other people are going to do,” she says. 

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In brief: Barefoot is history, first-gen funds, Daily Progress staff unionizes, and more

Barefoot is history

The executive director of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society has resigned less than two years into his tenure. Coy Barefoot, a well-known local author and media personality, was hired in March 2018 after his predecessor Steven Meeks resigned amid questions of mismanagement.

 Coy Barefoot

Barefoot told at least one person, who later described the conversation to C-VILLE, that his pay was being cut among fundraising difficulties. Shelley Murphy, who’s serving as interim executive director, declined to comment on why Barefoot resigned, and C-VILLE was unable to reach Barefoot by press time.

“ACHS has accepted the resignation of Mr. Coy Barefoot, with appreciation for his work as Executive Director over the past 18 months as well as his contributions to our understanding of local, state, and national history over the past 3 decades,” the society wrote in a Facebook post.

In February, the historical society was granted a three-year extension of its subsidized lease by City Council. According to the January 22 meeting agenda, the city agreed to rent the society its space in the McIntire Building across from Market Street Park for $750 per month, costing the city $105,090 per year when compared to market value. The city has the option to cancel the lease after this year.

Per the February 4 meeting minutes, Mayor Nikuyah Walker had suggested a one-year lease instead, so the agreement could then be discussed with the new city manager, but Barefoot pushed for a three-year commitment in order to meet the requirements of a grant.

Rise in crime reports at UVA

Reported incidents of burglary, rape, dating violence, domestic violence and stalking increased at the University of Virginia from 2017 to 2018, according to the school’s annual safety report. A total of 141 incidents were reported to the University Police Department, including 28 rapes—with 20 occurring in student housing. 

The rise in reported sexual assault and domestic violence can be attributed “in part to outreach and education efforts by many University offices,” says University Spokesperson Wes Hester. The University has worked to make the reporting process more accessible by allowing students to submit a Title IX complaint over the phone, in person, or through the online Just Report It system.

The University’s new LiveSafe safety app also allows students, faculty, and staff to report incidents, suspicious behavior, and emergencies; communicate with police officers; and alert a friend when they have arrived safely at their destination.

In the coming weeks, the University will be publishing its AAU Sexual Assault Campus Climate Survey results, as well as updated Title IX statistics.

Quote of the week

“Ironically, the reporters covering the area’s affordable housing needs don’t even make enough to live here.” — Nolan Stout, the Daily Progress’ local government reporter, in a statement about the unionization of the paper’s journalists

In brief

Read all about it

The staff of the Daily Progress has announced its plans to unionize, citing poor pay and increased workloads. Since the Daily Progress was acquired by billionaire Warren Buffett’s BH Media Group seven years ago, staff has noticed cuts across the board. The union, Blue Ridge Guild, hopes to increase the bargaining power of the staff, and gain greater pay equity and better working conditions. The union will either be voluntarily recognized by BH Media, or it can seek recognition from the National Labor Relations Board.

Closer look

This winter, the Department of Neighborhood Development Services will conduct a survey of the 10th and Page neighborhood. Funding from both the state and city will back the study of the historically black neighborhood—one of the last in the area to be surveyed. The project brings with it the possibility of a historic designation, which could result in increased funding to the neighborhood.

First-gen funds

New York real estate mogul David Walentas and his wife, Jane, have donated $100 million to UVA, with $75 million going toward scholarships and fellowships for first-generation college students, according to a university announcement. Walentas, who attended UVA (Class of ‘61) on an ROTC scholarship, was the first in his family to go to college, and told the Washington Post that UVA “completely changed” his life. The university plans to roll out the program by 2022.

That’s a mouthful

UVA announced on October 11 that it has established the Democracy Initiative Center for the Redress of Inequity Through Community-Engaged Scholarship—or the Equity Center, for short. Headed by law professor Dayna Bowen Matthew, the center seeks to bolster town-gown relations and address racial and socioeconomic inequity through sustained collaboration between the university and its surrounding community. The Equity Center plans to open its doors November 14 or 15.