Supporters of Confederate statues line up to speak at a House of Delegates subcommittee January 30.
Staff photo
Ultimately, no one was surprised that a House of Delegates subcommittee, made up of eight white men, killed a bill that would let Virginia localities decide what to do with Confederate monuments–not even the bill’s sponsor, Delegate David Toscano.
“They knew when we walked in what they would do with that bill,” said Toscano following the January 30 meeting. The subcommittee has five Republican and three Democrats, and one of the Dems joined in the 6-2 vote against the bill.
About a dozen Charlottesville supporters of the bill, including two elected officials, came for the 7:30am meeting of Counties, Cities and Towns Subcommittee #1. Some held signs during the proceeding: “Local authority for war memorials,” “Truthful history heals,” and “Lose the Lost Cause.”
And five opponents of the bill, none of whom were from Charlottesville, spoke against local control of Confederate monuments in public places.
Following the August 12, 2017, Unite the Right rally that brought hundreds of white supremacists to Charlottesville, ostensibly to protest City Council’s vote to remove the statue of General Robert E. Lee in what’s now called Market Street Park, Toscano carried a bill to give localities control over their own war monuments. Current state law makes it illegal for anyone to remove a memorial commemorating any war. That bill died a quick death in subcommittee in 2018, and this year’s version specified Confederate monuments only.
“It’s about local control,” Toscano told the subcommittee. “We give localities control of the cutting of weeds, but we haven’t yet given them control of monuments that might have a detrimental effect on the atmosphere and feelings of this community.”
The 1902 statute protecting war memorials “popped up just at the time of Jim Crow,” said Toscano, at the “height of the so-called Lost Cause celebration of the Confederate contribution to the Civil War.”
Subcommittee chair Charles Poindexter asked about the monuments, “Weren’t they also concurrent with the dying out of Confederate veterans?”
Toscano rejected the notion that Virginia was involved in a “heroic battle” during the Civil War. “This was an effort to destroy the Union.”
Justin Greenlee, who studies art and architectural history at UVA, told the subcommittee Confederate statues are “a monument to white supremacy,” and portray a “false story of history. They continue to intimidate.”
Lisa Draine, whose daughter was injured when self-proclaimed neo-Nazi James Fields accelerated into a crowd, killing Heather Heyer, said, “I couldn’t imagine that the statues brought this to our town.”
And Don Gathers, who served on the city’s Blue Ridge Commission on Race, Memorials and Public Spaces, implored the subcommittee: “Please recognize the hatred these statues brought to descend upon our city.”
Ned Gallaway, Albemarle Board of Supervisors chair, and City Councilor Kathy Galvin both stressed the importance of local control over Confederate monuments.
Richmond native Ed Willis said a bill to allow localities to remove Civil War monuments discriminated against his “Confederate national origin.” staff photo
Among the bill’s opponents was Chesterfield resident Ed Willis, who said the bill was unconstitutional. “It’s painfully clear that discrimination based on national origin—on Confederate national origin—is the purpose of this bill.” He also said the legislature couldn’t do anything that would affect the ongoing lawsuit against the city and City Council for its vote to remove both the Lee and General Stonewall Jackson monuments.
Virginia Beach resident Frank Earnest, who is a plaintiff in the lawsuit and “heritage defense coordinator” for Virginia’s Sons of Confederate Veterans, warned that like “other socialist takeovers, it’ll be Confederate statues today, but don’t think they won’t be back next year to expand it to another war, another time in history.”
He said it was the “improper actions of the city government of Charlottesville” that caused the events of August 12, and that he resented anyone saying Confederates were there. “They were not.” He presented the officials with what he said were 2,000 signatures of Virginians opposed to removing Confederate monuments.
One of the three Democrats on the subcommittee made a motion to move the bill forward, to no avail.
Toscano called the vote “disappointing but not surprising.” He said the “discrimination” objection was “unbelievable,” and joked about whether people would be checking a Confederate national origin box on their census forms.
A bill that would allow localities like Charlottesville to relocate Confederate statues failed in a House of Delegates subcommittee January 30. staff photo
UVA professor Frank Dukes, who also served on the Blue Ribbon Commission, said he was surprised the vote “wasn’t even close. I think it’s so hypocritical from people who constantly talk about local control.”
Nor was Gathers surprised, except for the one Democrat—Portsmouth Delegate Stephen Heretick—joining in with Republicans to vote against the measure.
UVA prof and activist Jalane Schmidt pointed out that it took 10 years to get the “Johnny Reb” statue erected in front of the Albemarle courthouse, and that it could take 10 years to remove Confederate monuments.
“It’s about changing hearts and minds,” she said. “It’s about changing representation.”
The General Assembly is held by a slim Republican majority in both houses, and all legislators are up for reelection this year.
For the moment, however, Confederate supporters had a victory they could savor. As they headed to the elevators, one expressed his thoughts: “Those people in Charlottesville are crazy.”
The latest iteration of a rebranding campaign to draw visitors to the area was better received than an earlier one, but its use of “C’villeization” still makes some local officials squeamish.
Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau
The word “civility” has become a bad word among some Charlottesvillians. Now a proposed tourism ad campaign touting “C’villeization” as a play on the C’ville nickname is also drawing fire.
Chapel Hill-based ad company Clean presented mock-ups of its “Welcome to C’villeization” rebranding campaign at a December 20 tourism board meeting. The ads feature images of attractive people eating local food, having a good time, and, in one, clinking wine glasses with the text, “C’villeization welcomes spitting. In the right context.”
Mayor Nikuyah Walker, who is not on the tourism board, is not a fan. She posted on Facebook, “This makes me so sad. This logo is unacceptable. Be Better! Do Better!” Walker did not respond to a request from C-VILLE for comment.
Supervisor Ann Mallek, a county representative on the board, says, “I’m not a tourism expert. I do know what stuck up and arrogant look like.”
And by “stuck up” and “arrogant,” she means “anybody who claims to be the center of civilization.”
At an October meeting, Clean learned that civility was not going to fly. At the December meeting, Interim City Manager Mike Murphy was wary of “C’villeization” and “C’villeized,” as well. “It’s still too close for me,” he said.
Councilor Kathy Galvin said, “C’villeization is a problem.”
And Councilor Mike Signer, the city’s alternate member, liked going with “C’ville” sans the play on civilization.
Despite those reactions, Adam Healey, the visitors bureau interim director, said the C’villeization campaign had gotten “highly positive” feedback. He proposed it for an ad campaign targeting 25- to 44-year-olds, dubbed “refined roamers,” in the Washington, D.C., and Research Triangle Park area in North Carolina. “The goal is to increase short getaways,” he said.
After Walker’s Facebook post, which Healey says he hasn’t seen, he says, “We have to understand our objective. We’re trying to draw visitors. We’re not on a social mission. We’re on an economic mission.”
Albemarle Economic Development Director Roger Johnson, who was elected chair of the reconfigured tourism executive board, says the C’villeization presentation “was definitely better received than the initial one.”
The visitors bureau board has gone through major turnover the past year, and will now include two elected officials from the city and county on its executive board.
That change was spearheaded by Mallek, who says, “For 11 years I was concerned the county was not getting the service it deserved for its million dollars.” Before, the county sent a staff member, who was one of 11 board members and was consistently in the minority when the county’s wish list was voted on, according to Mallek.
Those at the December 21 meeting approved a 14-member board, with two elected officials each from Albemarle and Charlottesville, four city and county administrators, a UVA vice president, reps from the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which owns Monticello, and the Chamber of Commerce, two tourism industry members, and one representative from the arts community.
The size of the board drew some concerns. Signer favored a “nimble” decision-making group like the seven-member Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority Board. And Johnson said, “The larger we make this group, the harder it is to make decisions.”
Both the government officials and tourism representatives wanted more people with expertise from the tourism industry on the board.
The Board of Supervisors and City Council will vote on the changes to the board in January. As for the ad campaign, that will come back to the tourism board. Says Healey, “We’re going to incorporate feedback.”
A desperate mother needed to get her 5-year-old daughter out of Sierra Leone in 2003, and asked a stranger at the airport to take her child to her grandmother in the U.S. Fifteen years later, Zee Sesay learned that the man who brought her daughter to safety was former congressman Tom Perriello, according to BuzzFeed. Perriello calls it “one of the crazier experiences” of his life.
Another renaming?
City Councilor Wes Bellamy pounced on the last few moments of the December 17 City Council meeting to suggest renaming Preston Avenue, which gets its moniker from Thomas Preston, a Confederate leader, slaveholder, and former UVA rector. Is Jefferson Street next?
Big bucks
Local philanthropist Dorothy Batten—yes, the daughter of Weather Channel co-founder and UVA grad Frank Batten—will donate $1.35 million to a Piedmont Virginia Community College program called Network2Network, which trains volunteers to match community members with open job listings.
Quote of the week: “I have never been disrespected the way I have been here in Charlottesville.”—Police Chief RaShall Brackney
Bigger bucks
Following the Dave Matthews Band’s recent announcement that it, together with Red Light Management and Matthews himself, will give $5 million to local affordable housing, came the news that another $527,995 in grants will be doled out to 75 local nonprofits through the band’s Bama Works Fund, which awards similar grants twice a year.
Remains IDed
Police arrested and charged Robert Christopher Henderson with second-degree murder December 20 in connection with the death of Angela Lax, who was reported missing in August. County detectives, who found skeletal remains in the woods along the John Warner Parkway’s trails in November, suspect that Henderson killed Lax in June and dumped her body.
Clerk’s Office closing
Hope you don’t have any important deeds to file or a marriage license to pick up during the first week of the new year, because the Charlottesville Circuit Court Clerk’s Office is moving to new temporary digs during a massive courthouse renovation and will be closed December 31 through January 4 for the holiday and for the move.
Maybe a little bit of “vitriol”
What happens when City Council has a daylong retreat, and two people live tweet the gathering? Here are some excerpts from the December 18 event with Mayor Nikuyah Walker, councilors Wes Bellamy, Kathy Galvin, Heather Hill, and Mike Signer, as narrated by Molly Conger, aka @socialistdogmom, and Daily Progress reporter Nolan Stout. Click to view their threads.
while “retreat” is often used to mean an all day work session on something like the budget, it appears this time “city council retreat” means the worst, silliest kind of waste of time — ice breakers and trust building exercises pic.twitter.com/fntn4CqUrn
Michael Payne is urging the city to get rid of fossil-fuel investments. Photo by Eze Amos
In the wake of recent U.N. and U.S. government reports on the catastrophic environmental damage already attributable to climate change, the City of Charlottesville has been challenged to divest from investments in the fossil fuels industry.
Local activist Michael Payne proposed several steps the city could take to address climate change, including divestment from holdings in oil, natural gas, and coal at City Council’s October 15 meeting. And at the monthly meeting of the city’s Retirement Commission on November 28, he urged its members to consider divestment for both moral and financial reasons—claiming that, long term, the fossil fuels industry is not a sustainable financial investment.
There is precedent: City Council divested from companies doing business in South Africa in 1984 and 1988 and in Sudan in 2008.
Climate change divestment would put the city among a growing number of individual and institutional investors getting out of fossil fuels. Three years ago, divestment by small cities and colleges and universities accounted for about $50 billion in investment funds, according to the New Yorker. That figure has grown to about $60 billion, and divesting governments now include New York City and Ireland.
In 2016, a student group pressed the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors to divest, but the BOV declined.
Charlottesville has a significant amount of money under investment. Its operating fund ranges from $60 million to $100 million. And the city’s retirement fund holds around $150 million and is overseen by the Retirement Commission.
In making investment decisions, City Council, the Retirement Commission, and city treasurer Jason Vandever share a legal and fiduciary responsibility to the fund’s beneficiaries—the citizens of Charlottesville and retirees from city employment. Their primary charge is to protect the principal, but the second priority is to generate as much of a return as feasible within legal guidelines and professional financial management standards.
That means they can’t make investment decisions that would result in less money for the beneficiaries, even for a good cause. Socially responsible investment trends, however, have generated a wealth of investment options which use environmental/social/governance—ESG—criteria and still make money.
How much money are we talking about divesting? As of November 2018, Vandever estimates the operating fund held about $1.4 million in energy company bonds.
Calculations for the retirement fund are more difficult, as its holdings include index funds or mutual funds that might have large energy companies in their portfolios, but his rough estimate based on portfolio holdings in various energy sectors was well over $1.6 million.
A total of $3 million may seem like small potatoes next to the $5 billion that New York City has pledged to withdraw from energy holdings by 2023, but proponents of divestment say the moral leadership shown is just as important as the financial pressure.
“Divesting sends a signal,” says Payne. “What I’m trying to do is start a long-term conversation about how we as a city respond to climate change.”
Conservation is a start, he says, but efforts shouldn’t stop there. (Charlottesville has a goal of 10 percent reduction in greenhouse emissions by 2035 from 2000 levels, according to climate protection program manager Susan Elliott.)
Payne’s remarks at the council meeting got a positive response from Councilor Kathy Galvin, who cited the city’s sustainability programs, including a switch to hydrogen buses. But so far, the Council has taken no action to consider divestment.
The Retirement Commission, which is in the process of hiring a new investment consultant, agreed the issue merited further discussion, and Vandever confirmed the group “will be including questions in the request for proposal around divestment strategies and the consultant’s experience in working with plans who want to pursue ESG strategies in their investment approach.”
The other part, about $40 million, currently is managed by a vendor, PFM Asset Management LLC, chosen by Vandever, who oversees and approves its activities. Virginia Code sets guidelines for city investments—for example, the fund cannot own stocks in individual companies, although it can hold company bonds—as well as a fund balance policy. Because the city counts on the operating fund to pay its bills, Vandever explains, “We manage the fund on a short-term strategy.”
The retirement fund is far larger—roughly $150 million. About 75 percent of eligible city employees participate in the city pension plan, and its fund is overseen by the Retirement Commission. Five of the commission’s nine members are elected officials, including the treasurer. The other four represent retirees, employees, and citizens and are appointed by City Council.
While this fund does have to pay out current benefits, it is managed for a much longer term, and so can accommodate more volatility—and hopefully earn higher returns. Inflation, increases in city employment, and much longer payout spans as retirees live longer means the fund needs to generate a large enough return to stay solvent.
Charlottesville’s holdings
The city has two major funds under investment.
The operating fund, which holds the income from city taxes, licenses, fees, etc., ranges from $60 million to $100 million depending on the time of year. Part of this fund is managed by Jason Vandever, the elected city treasurer under guidelines set by City Council, and held in local banks or through a state-run investment pool.
JABA counselor Laurel Olson, center, helps Amy and Susan Hastings find the right health insurance.
David McNair
Using ACA insurance? Read this first
Yes, the Affordable Care Marketplace is still here, and sign-up ends December 15. Counselors at the Jefferson Area Board for Aging have seen a few surprises in the process, and want residents to be aware they could face some unpleasant results if they simply auto-enroll this year.
One big difference: Optima was the only insurance carrier in the marketplace in 2018. This year Anthem is back, which provides more options, but also can affect the amount of the subsidy for those who qualify.
Joe Bernheim at JABA explains: With two carriers, the benchmark plan—that’s the second-lowest-cost silver plan—will be less than what consumers saw last year. That means that government subsidy will be lower, and those whose income allows them to qualify for the subsidy will see higher premiums.
What you need to know
Don’t auto-enroll. You may be able to get a better plan or lower premium.
Some people have received letters with estimates from the current carrier that are inaccurate and much lower than what the premium will actually be.
Consumers are being offered “direct” and “select” plans. The select plans exclude most of the doctors at UVA, while direct plans offer a broad network of local providers. If you auto-enroll, you could be put in a select plan.
People who aren’t eligible for the subsidy will see lower premiums and a broader network of providers.
If you’re signing up for newly available Medicaid, there’s no deadline, but JABA advises going to the Marketplace website (healthcare.gov) to cancel ACA insurance or you may be charged.
Can we say it again? Don’t auto-enroll, and do sign up before the December 15 deadline.
Quote of the week
“I feel like court’s going to be watching my daughter die again, over and over and over.”—Susan Bro, Heather Heyer’s mother, on NPR.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has suspended a permit necessary for the 600-mile, $6 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline to cross the 1,500 streams along its path from West Virginia to North Carolina, for concerns of harm to aquatic life. This is one of several setbacks Dominion has faced since it began building the pipeline this year, but a spokesperson says it’s still scheduled for completion by the end of 2019.
Censorship suit
Local attorney Jeff Fogel has filed yet another lawsuit regarding prison censorship. He’s now representing Uhuru Baraka Rowe, an inmate at Greensville Correctional Center, who claims his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated when prison officials at the Sussex II State Prison censored essays he wrote about conditions in the facility.
Win for Miska
Anna Malinowski at a 2017 protest. Staff photo
Local anti-racists like to scream at John Miska, a veterans’ rights and Confederate statue supporter. Recently, in Albemarle General District Court, a judge found Anna Malinowski guilty of abusive language for accosting him outside a school board meeting. At an earlier hearing in the city, a judge let Donna Gasapo off the hook for similar behavior.
Councilors’ credit line
In a much-discussed story that appeared in the November 25 issue of the Daily Progress, reporter Nolan Stout examined the $26,784 in charges (and taxpayer money) that city councilors have racked up on their city credit cards over the past year and a half. All five councilors have one, and four of them have a limit of $20,000—except for Mike Signer, who as mayor inherited the council’s original card, with a credit limit of $2,500.
Vice-Mayor Heather Hill hasn’t used her card, and Councilor Wes Bellamy, who has traveled extensively for various conferences, has spent the most, charging more than $15,000 from September 6, 2017, to October 29 of this year. Local activist group Solidarity Cville has called the article a racist “hit piece” on Bellamy, and said it wouldn’t have been written if white Councilor Kathy Galvin were the highest spender. All councilors were within budget and mostly used their cards for out-of-town meals, hotels, and travel, but here’s what some of the specific charges looked like:
Charged up
$1,418 spent by Bellamy at a Le Meridien hotel for a National League of Cities conference in Charlotte
$15.52 spent by Bellamy at Kiki’s Chicken and Waffles
$41.17 spent by Bellamy at Hooters
$1,000 spent by Signer on a hotel to speak on a panel called “Local Leadership in the Wake of Terror” at the SXSW Cities Conference in Austin, Texas
$307.19 spent by Signer, mostly for meals and Lyfts in Austin, “many of which were at midnight or later,” notes the reporter
$101.09 spent by Mayor Nikuyah Walker at Ragged Mountain Running Shop ahead of her event called “Get Healthy with the Mayor”
$132.22 spent by Walker at Beer Run
$706 spent by Galvin on a Hyatt hotel for a two-day forum in Washington, D.C.
$4.99 spent by former City Council chief of staff Paige Rice on an iTunes bill
As a local biologist and founder of the nonprofit Environmental Health Sciences, Pete Myers clearly knows a thing or two about environmental health. On Thursday, October 25, from 9am to noon, he’ll join three other experts at the Paramount to give us “The Real Dirt on Pesticides” (spoiler: it’s worse than you think).
If you can’t make the forum, where attendees will also learn alternative and sustainable methods of dealing with garden pests and weeds, here are three things Myers says you ought to know about the substances created to kill:
Because of wind, drift, water runoff from pesticide- sprayed fields, and the way that the sun’s heat evaporates the pesticide off the surfaces where they are sprayed, it is virtually impossible to limit their application to the pest they are being used to kill. This harms beneficial organisms, including people.
Almost no square inch on the planet is without measurable amounts of pesticides, and every human has measurable levels of pesticides in them.
The methods used by regulatory agencies to test for pesticide safety have deep and fatal flaws, so our understanding of what is safe, and what is not, is very limited. Among them:
Pesticide manufacturers submit test results, not regulatory agencies, and results are often withheld from independent scrutiny with claims of confidential business interests.
The tests are carried out on the ‘active ingredient,’ the one chemical thought to do the killing. But a pesticide is a mixture withmany other chemicals specifically added to the product to make it more powerful. The product as sold is never tested in the process of determining its safety.
Nikuyah Walker. Photo by Eze Amos
Quote of the week: “How civil and orderly were the community members who auctioned off black bodies in Court Square?” —Mayor Nikuyah Walker responds to a Daily Progress op-ed on bullying at City Council meetings
Mayor takes aim at Galvin… and Baggby’s?
In a Facebook response to the Progress editorial on heckling at City Council meetings, Mayor Walker accused Councilor Kathy Galvin of “white (civil) rage,” and described the “tyranny” that has ruled the city under the guise of civility: “I’m cruel and oppressive and unreasonable, but I do it in a suit and tie or a dress, while I eat Baggby’s. And I don’t yell…I slyly smirk.”
Big bucks from Bronco
Bronco Mendenhall. Photo by Jackson Smith
Bronco Mendenhall’s family ponied up $500K for new football operations center. UVA says it’s the largest gift made to the university by a head coach, but Mendenhall is also the university’s highest paid coach ever, pulling down around $3.5 million annually.
Free UVA tuition
Jim Ryan seems to be pretty popular among the students he now officially presides over, and he racked up even more brownie points at his October 19 inauguration, where he said in-state students with families earning less than $80,000 a year will be able to attend the university tuition-free.
Big tent replaced
A portable off-grid washing facility. Click to enlarge.
The bad news is that construction to replace the original fabric roof of the Sprint Pavilion will cut off all pedestrian access through the venue (and the tunnel under Ninth Street) until March. The good news is that the fabric will get a new life as a “portable off-grid washing facility,” which creates a reusable and environmentally friendly way to do laundry in refugee camps, according to Pavilion manager Kirby Hutto.
Deeds settles
State Senator Creigh Deeds settled a wrongful death lawsuit against former mental health evaluator Michael Gentry for $950,000 for allowing his son, Gus, to leave the hospital after determining he was a danger to himself and others. Gus stabbed his father multiple times before killing himself on November 18, 2013.
Need a ride to vote?
Don’t let a lack of transportation keep you from voting in the November 6 midterms.
An all-volunteer group called CAR2Vote, founded by Gail Hyder Wiley in 2013, provides free rides for voters to get an ID, submit an absentee ballot, or vote on election day. Approximately 75 drivers are on call this year.
Says Hyder Wiley about the upcoming election, “There’s a lot of pent-up frustration and polarization, and one of the best ways to make your voice heard is to vote.”
Sign up for a ride to vote at car2vote.weebly.com or call 260-1547.
This historic Woolen Mills property will become the new headquarters for WillowTree, thanks to developer Brian Roy's four-year dream of restoring the mill. Photo by SkycladAP
What a difference a decade makes. Ten years ago, the housing bubble had burst, the hottest area in real estate was foreclosures, and the Downtown Mall was littered with vacancies. Today, the county development scene is “white hot,” according to Albemarle Director of Community Development Mark Graham, and in the city, Director of Economic Development Chris Engel says the commercial market is “healthy and robust.”
Still, developer Keith Woodard’s washing his hands of his downtown West2nd project has roiled the landscape. City Councilor and architect Kathy Galvin offers a more nuanced description of development in the city in the wake of the West2nd implosion: “Confused: from bad to really good.”
The good news for the Charlottesville area is that people still want to live here. “We’re seeing the continuing trend of people who want to be close to urban centers,” says Nest Realty’s Jim Duncan. And he’s not just talking downtown Charlottesville. People are flocking to Crozet, U.S. 29 North, Pantops, and the 5th Street Station area anchored by Wegmans—the county’s designated growth areas.
“If you live and work on 29 North, there’s no reason to go to Charlottesville,” he says.
More than 150 projects that involve moving more than an acre of dirt are underway in Albemarle, according to Graham, and Crozet alone has eight active construction sites, he says.
Last year, 851 residential units, which include apartments, were permitted. This year, he says, by August the county had issued permits for 900 units.
And unlike the boom in 2005 through 2008, Graham says most building is taking place in the designated development areas. “Before, we saw a lot of McMansions being built in the rural areas.”
Since the 5th Street Station build out, “commercial development has cooled a bit,” says Graham, and 85 percent of what’s being built in the county is residential. “A ton of apartments are being built.”
In the city, Galvin provides a brief history of development this century. In 2003, neighborhood development focused on “expediting development reviews instead of long-range planning.”
During the redevelopment of West Main in 2012—and the construction of the behemoth Flats—“that’s when many of us realized our zoning was out of sync with our vision,” says Galvin in an email. “The public wants new rules of the game that give us more affordable housing, better buildings, and healthy, attractive places. Turn around times for development review must improve, but we have to get these rules right.”
Engel points to the 450,000 square feet of office space that will be available in the next few years in a city that hasn’t seen Class A offices built in the past 10 years. With 39,500 jobs and unemployment low, “We’ve become a regional job center,” he says.
Where those workers will live is another matter. Affordable housing continues to be an issue while luxury condos and rowhouses continue to be built.
The city would like to see more affordable and workforce housing, says Engel.
And there are a few. Galvin lists affordable housing projects that provide “healthy, well-connected neighborhoods” for residents with walkable streets and close-by essential resident services and amenities, like childcare, parks, and community spaces: Friendship Court’s resident-driven master plan for redevelopment without displacement; Sunrise Park on Carlton and Southwood in the county; Burnett Commons III; and Dairy Central on Preston.
West2nd fallout
Realtor Bob Kahn doesn’t see the “robust year” in commercial real estate slowing, despite interest rates ticking up.
The black eye in city development, he says, is Woodard’s “unfortunate cancellation” of West2nd after a Board of Architectural Review rejection that proved to be the “last straw” in Woodard’s five-year quest to break ground on a city parking lot that houses the City Market.
With West2nd’s demise, the city loses the affordable housing units Woodard planned to build on Harris Street, as well as nearly $1 million in real estate taxes, says Kahn. “The city really did a disservice to our community with that. There are no winners.”
He believes it will take years to get another project built on that lot with all the stakeholders involved and city “mismanagement of entitlements” pertaining to height, rezonings, and special use permits.
“It certainly doesn’t send a positive message about the economic vitality of downtown and will certainly hamper development on that lot with all those stakeholders,” says Kahn.
Engel’s perspective is not so dire. “We’ll see,” he says. “Stay tuned.”
With the City Market, residential, retail, and office components, “those types of projects are very complex” and make lenders nervous, he says.
Woodard did everything the city asked for in 2013, but it took five years instead of five months to approve, says Galvin. “In those five years, construction and financing costs rose, and Woodard needed another floor to pay for the increase. This project had to provide structured parking, housing, office space, and a plaza for the market all on a two-acre site, and build affordable housing off site.”
The good news for development in the city, says Galvin: “Most investors will not have that daunting a program or buy land from a public entity whose stewards are subject to staggered, four-year election cycles.”—Lisa Provence
With additional reporting by Samantha Baars, Bill Chapman, and Mary Jane Gore
Old mill, new purpose
Woolen Mills
Brian Roy, Woolen Mills, LLC
About 5 acres
120,000 square feet
Mixed office and commercial use
Approximately $18-20 million
Brian Roy has been nursing his vision of a completely restored mill—the Woolen Mill—for four years. He put in time solving problems with sellers, such as a flood plain difficulty, before his company, Woolen Mills, LLC, purchased the property. His dream is nearing fruition with the recently signed contracts with local tech giant WillowTree, which jumped ship from Charlottesville to Albemarle, to complete the office and commercial space.
Woolen Mills’ Brian Roy’s dream of a completely restored mill is nearing fruition, thanks to recently signed contracts with WillowTree, which will leave its downtown offices and anchor the redeveloped building at the end of East Market Street in Albemarle County. Photo by Amy Jackson
“We held an event for WillowTree employees, and began to work on a plan,” Roy says. “It’s been a work in progress to shape the space that would fit their needs the best. It’s great to have the opportunity to preserve this property.” Better yet, the county and the state are sweetening the pot with over $2 million in incentives to partner with Roy and WillowTree—and its 200 current jobs and 200 projected positions.
The builders, Branch and Associates, want to get started as soon as possible. Branch estimates it will be a 15- to 18-month project that could be completed roughly by the end of 2019 to March 2020, hinging on the start date.
“We’re very excited about this job of restoring a historic building,” says Michael Collins, project manager at the Branch Richmond office.
In early September, the design was about 70 percent complete, Collins says, and he hopes to be clearing space around the site by November.
The space will also house a restaurant, brew pub, and coffee shop, all affiliated with local coffee shop Grit, says Roy.
When asked about any concerns at the site, Roy immediately says,“The windows.” Ten thousand will need to be replaced with modern double-panes for efficiency, but in the original frames, for authenticity.
Rehabbing the rehab center
Musculoskeletal Center
UVA Health System
195,000 square feet
Outpatient care
The site of the former Kluge Children’s Rehab Center on Ivy Road is so discreet that some passersby haven’t noticed that the building John Kluge pledged $500,000 to get his name on, according to UVA Health System spokesman Eric Swensen, has been demolished and a new comprehensive facility that consolidates UVA’s outpatient orthopedic care is set to rise from the ashes.
The new Musculoskeletal Center—sounds like naming rights are available here—broke ground September 10. It will hold six outpatient operating rooms and allow surgical patients to recover for up to 23 hours before they’re shipped home. It will also house imaging services—MRIs, X-rays, CT scans, ultrasound, and fluoroscopy—as well as comprehensive physical and occupational therapy services. Surrounding fields and walking trails will boost that wellness-environment feeling.
The $105-million center is expected to open to patients in February 2022.
Banking on office space
Vault Virginia
James Barton
25,000 square feet
38 offices, event spaces and board room
Perhaps no one is more excited about the unveiling of Vault Virginia than C-VILLE Weekly staffers, who have endured construction overhead for the past year. What seemed to be unending jackhammering in the former Bank of America building has produced an array of office spaces on the Downtown Mall that are part of the latest trend of collaborative workplaces.
James Barton. Photo by John Robinson
The 1916-built structure already houses Sun Tribe Solar, and by the time this issue hits stands, construction mercifully will be complete. “We’re fully ready to occupy,” says James Barton, who hatched the Vault as well as Studio IX.
The new spaces include the marble and stone from former financial tenants, a theme that’s incorporated into a deluxe women’s bathroom with marble countertops and its own soundtrack.
One of the perks of membership, says Barton, is access to conference rooms and event spaces. And those renting the former board room can offer a private meal overlooking the bank’s grand hall that’s now Prime 109, home of the $99 steak.
Barton isn’t worried about the sudden influx of shared office space, especially Jaffray Woodriff’s 140,000-square-foot tech incubator, now dubbed CODE—Center of Developing Entrepreneurs—that will be built on the site of the Main Street Arena.
Creating the Vault hasn’t been without its struggles, and builder CMS filed a $316,000 complaint over an unpaid bill, but Barton and CMS attorney Rachel Horvath say that’s been settled.
“We had great investors come in early and great investors along the way to take this iconic building and give it a purpose for this community,” says Barton.
The influx of office space will make downtown Charlottesville really attractive to businesses that attract top talent and “show Charlottesville has the style and infrastructure,” says Barton.
“This should be the envy of cities trying to create this type of dynamic,” he says, that of a “vibrant, integrated community.”
More incubation
Center of Developing Entrepreneurs
CSH Development
0.99 acres on the Downtown Mall
170,000 square feet
Office, retail
Local angel investor Jaffray Woodriff wanted to build a spot for entrepreneurs and innovators to come together to bounce ideas off one another and scale their startups. And while many in the community wished he’d wanted to build it elsewhere, he bought the buildings that housed the beloved Main Street Arena, the Ante Room, and Escafé to redevelop it and make his vision a reality.
The Center of Developing Entrepreneurs, a 170,000-square-foot tech hub that will replace the Main Street Arena, is at the center of several major transformations on the Downtown Mall.
CODE will allocate 23.5 percent of its square footage for tech/venture space, and 26 percent goes toward a common area for events and presentations. An unnamed anchor-tenant will use 35 percent of the space, with the remaining saved for smaller offices and other retail.
The folks at Brands Hatch LLC, which is owned and controlled by Woodriff, are keeping it green: Look for high efficiency heating and cooling systems and rooftop terraces. Construction is scheduled to be complete by the summer of 2020.
Apex of development
Apex headquarters
Riverbend Development
1.28 acres
130,000 square feet
Office and retail
Wind farm developers Apex Clean Energy have a different kind of development in the works: an office building planned in conjunction with Coran Capshaw’s Riverbend Development and Phil Wendel’s ACAC fitness club.
Apex Clean Energy is developing an office building on the north side of the downtown ACAC, and the new structure will also house rental office space for other companies, and ground-floor retail. Courtesy Riverbend Development
Filling in the semi-improved large parking lot on the north side of ACAC’s downtown location, the building will also house rental office space for other companies, and some ground-floor retail.
Architect for the project is the 1990s-era “Green Dean” of the UVA School of Architecture, Bill McDonough, who now specializes in sustainable corporate HQs around the globe.
Yes, they promise, club members will have access to the parking deck once complete. But during construction? Valet parking is one option being considered.
Behind the Glass Building
3Twenty3
Insite Properties
About .67 acres
120,000 square feet
Office space
Developer Jay Blanton of North Carolina-based Insite Properties probably gets this question a lot: “Where exactly is that office building you’re planning downtown?”
And casual observers should be forgiven because this by-right 120,000- square-foot structure did not need to go through any public entitlement meetings. There were really no vocal neighbors to speak of, and the exact site is hard to describe.
The nine-story building will replace the back half of the Glass Building where Bluegrass Grill has long been a tenant, but the grill and other food-related-tenants along Second Street will still be in place.
The 120,000-square-foot, nine-story 3Twenty3 building will replace the back half of the Glass Building. Courtesy Insite Properties
One prominent tenant (with 17,000 of 110,000 square feet leased) will be white-shoe law firm McGuireWoods, which will vacate what has become known as the McGuireWoods Building in the Court Square area north of the mall.
Expect to see cranes on the skyline soon, says Blanton, who plans to break ground in October and finish by early 2020.
Tarleton didn’t camp here
Tarleton Oak
James B. Murray, Tarleton Oak LLC
2.75 acres
86,000 square feet office space
56 apartments
A longstanding gas station and food mart on East High Street get the boot in this deal from venture capitalist/UVA Vice Rector Jim Murray.
Construction is scheduled to begin on the two-phase downtown project this year. A five-story office building and approximately 300-space parking garage will be built first, with a two-story residential building including nearly 60 apartments coming later atop the parking structure.
This project, called Tarleton Oak, will take the place of the current service station with the same moniker, which is named after the space’s first tenant—a humongous oak tree long gone to the mulch pile. Local myth put Colonel Banastre Tarleton camping there after his failed raid to capture Thomas Jefferson, but a historical marker now points to a spot down East Jefferson Street.
Live, work, eat
Dairy Central
Stony Point Design/Build
4.35 acres
300,000 square feet
Office, residential, and food hall space
The planned multi-phase renovation and expansion of the old Monticello Dairy building at the nexus of Preston and Grady avenues and 10th Street NW is underway, and the battery shop, catering operation, and brewery tenants already have decamped for other sites around town.
Phase 1 of the project promises a complete overhaul of the 37,000-square-foot original dairy space into Dairy Market, a 20-stall food hall (think Chelsea Market in NYC or Atlanta’s Krog Street Market) with around 7,000 square feet of open seating. Developer Chris Henry of Stony Point Design/Build traveled as far as Copenhagen to research best practices for what he hopes will be “the region’s social and culinary centerpiece.”
Behind the dairy, 63,000 square feet of office space on multiple floors will be added. Expect all this to open in January 2020.
A multi-phase renovation and expansion of the old Monticello Dairy building includes a complete overhaul of the 37,000-square-foot original space into Dairy Market, a 20-stall food hall, with about 7,000 square feet of open seating. Courtesy Stony Point Design/Build
Phase 2 is the residential component, featuring 175 apartment units that are a mix of both market-rate (read: expensive) and affordable units aimed at households earning less than 80 percent of the area median income. City planning regulations require five such units as part of the approval here, but the developers plan 20 (or more if certain grants are approved).
Asked how he plans to decide who gets to live in the affordable units, Henry says he doesn’t know yet, as there is little or no precedent for such units ever being built in the city. Most developers opt instead to make cash payments into the city’s affordable housing fund. This residential phase, along with 500 onsite parking spaces, should be complete by 2021.
Not West2nd
925 East Market Street
Guy Blundon, CMB Development
About .25 acres
20,000 square feet
of office space
52 luxury apartments
Originally a preschool, the property at 925 East Market Street inspired Guy Blundon and business partner Keith Woodard to launch new plans for the property.
They envision five stories, and the first level will contain office space, Blundon says.
“It’s downtown, near the Pavilion and the Downtown Mall,” he says. “There are beautiful views from all of the upper floors, in every direction.”
The developers of 925 East Market Street envision five stories, with the first level containing office space, and 52 luxury apartments with “beautiful views from all of the upper floors, says CMB Development’s Guy Blundon. Courtesy DBF Associates Architects
Another amenity will be a covered parking space. “You could live and work in the same building,” he says.
The city has passed a resolution allowing 10th Street to be narrowed to allow for sidewalk and landscape buffers, and specified that the building be open to the public in the commercial use areas, with handicapped entrances on 10th and Market streets.
Construction should begin soon. “I have been focusing on other projects, mainly in Richmond,” says Blundon, and up until recently, business partner Woodard had been busy with the ill-fated West2nd.
Infilling
Paynes Mill
Southern Development
7 acres
25 single family homes
Starting at $400,000
Site work just started off once quiet Hartman’s Mill Road in a historic African American neighborhood.
At about a mile south of the Downtown Mall, Southern Development vice president Charlie Armstrong calls the houses at Paynes Mill “a rare find” because most of them back up to private wooded areas.
Charlie Armstrong. Photo by John Robinson
The U-shaped community offers houses with three to five bedrooms, two-and-a-half to four-and-a-half bathrooms, and 2,147 to 3,764 square feet. Lots range from an eighth of an acre to a half-acre, and the first home is scheduled to be completed this spring.
Straddling the urban ring
Lochlyn Hill
Milestone Partners
35 acres in the city and county
210-unit mix of single family, townhomes, and cottages
8 Habitat for Humanity homes plus affordable accessory dwellings
Low $400,000s to north of $700,000
Located off East Rio Road, Lochlyn Hill will have architecturally diverse homes and a wide variety of lot types and sizes, with the aim of accommodating everyone from couples to families to empty-nesters. Courtesy Milestone Partners
Nest Realty’s Jim Duncan touts the hometown aspects of Lochlyn Hill off East Rio Road, which encompasses both the city and county and borders Pen Park, Meadowcreek Golf Course, and connects with the Rivanna Trails system. Milestone Partners’ Frank Stoner and L.J. Lopez redeveloped the historic Jefferson School, and are working on turning the Barnes Lumber site in downtown Crozet into a town center. Nest is doing the marketing, and all the builders are local, says Duncan.
He notes its location in the popular Greenbrier district, and its diversity of architectural styles. “It’s not just white houses along the street,” he says.
Crozet for rent
The Summit at Old Trail
Denico, part of Denstock
11.51 acres
90 apartments
29 affordable 1-bedroom units
From $1,100 to $1,600 per month
Development firm Denico conducted a market study in western Albemarle and saw a gap in the marketplace for apartments in that part of the county.
“Given the growth, zoning, and access to [Interstate] 64, we felt that building apartments in Old Trail was a good opportunity, says Robert F. Stockhausen Jr., a co-principal at parent company Denstock. “It is a nice alternative for families and others to have.”
While the firm had originally looked in other locations, Old Trail won out with its location and amenities: golf, walking trails, stores, restaurants, the Village Center, views of the mountains, parking behind units, and nearby I-64 access.
The one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments in Summit at Old Trail will feature stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, a private theater, clubroom, a business center, and rooftop sky lounge, says Stockhausen, as well as an amenity that sounds super swanky: valet trash service.
Bald eagles included
Fairhill
Southern Classic
120 acres
2- to 6-acre lots plus 60-acre preservation tract
$400,000 to $450,000 lots
Fairhill off U.S. 250 in Crozet is not a cookie-cutter development. With mountain views from “about every” one of the 13 lots for sale, and half of those near Lickinghole Creek Basin, the custom homes—once built—will be in the $1.2 million to $1.5 million range, according to Southern Classic owner David Mitchell.
“You get the best of both worlds,” he says. “It feels like rural living and it’s five minutes from Crozet.” Roads have been built and paving will take place in September.
Fairhill’s first publicity came more than a year ago, when an anonymous source tipped off the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department—and C-VILLE Weekly—that a pair of bald eagles had made a nest for their two eaglets along the Lickinghole Creek Basin, a popular site for birders and waterfowl.
A storm in February destroyed the nest, says Mitchell, and within a month, the eagles built it back. His permit requires him to keep an eye on the eagles for an hour every two weeks, and it has some restrictions about when work can take place, but those “are not the worst thing in the world,” he says.
Glenmore’s new neighbor
Rivanna Village
Ryan Homes
95 acres
290 units
Starting in upper $300s
Nestled next to Glenmore, Rivanna Village will be a community of nearly 300 villas, townhouses, and single-family homes—and they’re all maintenance-free, so you’ll never have to mow your own lawn.
So far, 27 villas have been approved, and the remaining 263 units are still in the proposal process.
The one-level homes are specifically designed with the bedrooms, a laundry room, kitchen, and family room on the ground floor, and the proposed neighborhood will have its own trails, dog park, sports courts, and picnic shelters.
Ryan Homes reps didn’t respond to multiple requests for information, but according to their website, the ranch-style homes are “intimate, but spacious” and “built to last.” So that’s good.
Urban Pantops
Riverside Village
Stony Point Design/Build
Retail and residential
8 acres
93 units
Four years in the making, Riverside Village on Route 20 north—Stony Point Road—was the coming-out party for development firm Stony Point Design/Build, run by Chris Henry (son-in-law of local baby-formula magnate Paul Manning).
This “village” along the river just south of Darden Towe Park features a little bit of everything: residential condos, detached homes, and side-by-side attached homes.
Riverside Village will feature a little bit of everything: residential condos, detached homes, and side-by-side attached homes. Courtesy Stoney Point Design/Build
Under construction now are The Shops at Riverside Village, where Henry promises wood-fired pizza, craft beer, and a cycling studio. Rental apartments, four of which will be affordable, will occupy the second story above the commercial spaces.
Henry, who originally had 18 acres, but deeded 10 to the county to expand the size of Darden Towe, points to the site’s mix of uses, river access, and residential density as examples of Stony Point’s commitment to “urban planning, placemaking, and walkability,” something his firm is already focusing on at other sites around the county and in the city at Dairy Central.
All tired up
Scottsville Tire Factory
McDowellEspinosa Architect, with the University of Virginia
61.47 acres
185,721 gross square feet
Pricing as of July 2017:
Plant and 41.31-acre lot (along James River): $1,169,600
19.97-acre parcel: $795,000
The tire factory at 800 Bird St. in Scottsville has been empty since early 2010, when Hyosung shuttered its plant there, and the Town of Scottsville is trying to drum up interest in repurposing the nearly 186,000-square-foot space.
Town Administrator Matt Lawless has partnered with architect Seth McDowell and UVA’s Andrew Johnston to imagine what might happen to the site now owned by land magnate Charles Hurt.
While the factory site is for sale as two lots, it does not have a buyer. The town surveyed residents to think ahead 20 years and invited ideas for uses for the old factory building. Among these were residences, health and fitness programs, a go-cart track, and swimming pools. Some of those ideas will make their way into early renderings.
McDowell, who is working with up to three UVA students on the project, says comment and feedback on what town leaders call “a key asset for the town” will begin with a September 27 town meeting.
The marketing survey showed that 75 apartments may be needed in the coming 20 years, and plant plans may include all 75 units, 40 or even 20 units in the space. It’s a question of whether it is possible to rezone for residential purposes in the industrial area.
“There’s not one set vision,” says McDowell.
Whatever happened to…
Blasted plans
Developers of Belmont Point on Quarry Road were excavating away for 26 single family homes starting in the upper $300,000s when they got stuck between a rock and a hard place. Literally.
In June, neighbors got wind that Hurt Construction had hired a company to blast through bedrock, some of which was within 300 feet of neighboring homes.
“There’s no chance the city is going to allow the blast,” says Andrew Baldwin with Core Real Estate and Development, who was developing the site. The subterranean rock affects six lots that will require chipping or homes on slabs without basements.
That decision, says Baldwin, will be made by owner Charles Hurt’s Stonehenge Park LLC and Southern Development. But Southern Development’s Charlie Armstrong says he isn’t buying lots until they’re ready for building. And Hurt did not return a phone call from C-VILLE.
Lawsuit hurdle
One of the few apartment projects in the downtown area that has affordable units is at 1011 E. Jefferson St., but the project has whipped the Little High Neighborhood Association into a lawsuit-filing frenzy because City Council denied the 17 plaintiffs their three-minute right to petition their government when the special use permit was considered during a July 5, 2017, hearing, according to the pro se suit. And one of the plaintiffs suing council is former councilor Bob Fenwick.
The suit, filed one year later, has run into its first hurdle, according to the response from the city. “We missed the deadline,” says Fenwick. “You have to appeal within 21 days.”
He adds, “That might be a big mountain. We figured this would probably be a learning experience.”
Little High neighborhood resident Bob Fenwick is suing the City Council upon which he once sat. Staff photo
Meanwhile, Great Eastern Management’s David Mitchell (who also owns Southern Classic) says the special use permit and the preliminary site plan for the 126-unit building have been approved and the company has submitted a final site plan. But there’s still more work to be done before the current medical offices on the 1.5-acre site come down.
“We have to find a place for the doctors to move and move the doctors before demolition can begin,” says Mitchell.
Dewberry stays dark
Charlottesville’s reigning eyesore, the Landmark, is approaching its ninth birthday. In the ensuing near-decade since construction stalled on the former Halsey Minor/Lee Danielson project, Waynesboro-born John Dewberry bought the property in 2012 and has continued to keep it in its skeletal form.
The Landmark. Photo by Matteus Frankovich/Skyclad AP
In December, City Council quashed plans to give Dewberry a $1 million tax break over 10 years, but Dewberry Capital allegedly is moving forward. In March, the Board of Architectural Review approved additional height and massing. Since then, who knows? Dewberry and his VP Lockie Brown did not return multiple calls.
Rising from the ashes
The owners of the Excel Inn & Suites that burned May 4, 2017, are working on a reincarnation that bears no resemblance to the 1951-built Gallery Court Motor Hotel that hosted Martin Luther King Jr., but which shares a similar name.
Earlier this month, the Planning Commission approved a special use permit to build the Gallery Court Hotel.
The Planning Commission voted 5-2 on September 11 to approve Vipul and Manisha Patel’s special use permit to build a seven-story Gallery Court Hotel replacement on Emmet Street, where the original flamed out. The new hotel will have 72 rooms, including a rooftop snack bar and ground-level cafe.
29 Northtown
Brookhill—located between Polo Grounds Road and Forest Lakes—could be the successful pedestrian friendly urban model of which the county has long dreamed. Its town center sounds like a mini-Downtown Mall with an amphitheater—hello Fridays After 5—a movie theater and restaurants, according to Riverbend Development’s Alan Taylor last year.
Added to the mix this year: A deluxe ice park that’s guaranteed to be a hit with displaced skaters from the soon-to-be demolished Main Street Arena.
Last fall, the county’s Architectural Review Board approved an initial site plan, and Brookhill’s first phase includes four apartment buildings. We’d like to tell you more about when those will be available to lease, but Taylor did not return multiple requests for information.
Correction September 25: The original version misidentified the location of Apex headquarters, which will be in the parking lot on the north side of ACAC.
Clarification September 26 on the Little High Neighborhood Association lawsuit.
Councilors Wes Bellamy, Kathy Galvin, Heather Hill, and Nikuyah Walker have to figure out how to fund the city’s affordable housing goals. Staff photo
By Melissa Moody
This is a story about numbers.
The number of families currently served by public housing and rental assistance vouchers: 826. The number of people on the waitlist for public housing or assistance: 1,866. The number of units Charlottesville needs to serve low-income residents: 3,975—or 20 percent of the city’s housing supply—in a city where 54 percent of the households qualify as low-income, very low-income, or extremely low-income.
And now there is a new number—$50 million.
That’s the amount of a bond the Charlottesville Low-Income Housing Coalition requested for affordable housing redevelopment and improvement that was discussed at a City Council capital improvement program budget work session September 6.
“At this point, housing for low-income residents within the city, outside of subsidized units, is pretty much non-existent,” said neighborhood planner Brian Haluska. “The rental vacancy rate in the city is 1.7 percent, while a healthy vacancy rate is around 5 percent.
“It’s hard to see a path forward using just market forces to provide additional housing for low-income residents.”
City Manager Mike Murphy and city staff briefed councilors on existing projects, unfunded improvements and new projects, and deferred maintenance for the city to be included in the CIP plan for the next five years. Increased funding for new affordable housing initiatives was a major focus of the session, as was expansion and modernization of city schools, both of which would cause substantial increases in the city’s budget over the next five years.
City staff briefed councilors on the current budget, including $131 million of debt that is paid by taxes and utility revenue, and the city’s policy of maintaining a 9 percent debt service to operating expense ratio, with a ceiling of 10 percent. According to staff, an increase in the city’s debt to fund new affordable housing initiatives would increase the debt service ratio or need to be backed by an increase in revenue streams.
But the issue also is a story about people and the repercussions of a history that echo across generations—from the work of enslaved people at the University of Virginia 200 years ago to the displacement and destruction of Vinegar Hill just 50 years in the past.
“Affordable housing is an issue of our city’s values,” said Elaine Poon, managing attorney of the Charlottesville office of the Legal Aid and Justice Center. “The city—the residents, the developers and those who need affordable housing—know that the history of systemic and institutional racism in Charlottesville and the country are directly linked to affordable housing needs today.”
The low-income housing coalition’s goals, aligned with those of the Public Housing Association of Residents, are that the city: prioritize extremely low-income housing; increase funding for the Redevelopment and Housing Authority, including issuing the first $50-million bond; earmark revenue for CRHA so that it has a stable source of income; increase funding for the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund to support nonprofit developers of affordable housing by at least four-fold; upzone areas of high opportunity for affordable housing; purchase and dedicate land for CRHA and nonprofit developers; and collaborate with major players in the area to develop workforce housing.
Murphy emphasized the need for council to prioritize projects to meet its goals—particularly in light of the fact that some of the goals exceed the current budget. Mayor Nikuyah Walker and councilors Wes Bellamy, Kathy Galvin, and Heather Hill agreed on the need to plan the budget strategically, to specifically address major projects like affordable housing and school modernization and expansion through more work sessions devoted to those topics in particular, and to bring in internal and external partners for input.
The cost to meaningfully address affordable housing redevelopment and maintenance and school expansion and modernization each exceed the current five-year CIP budget, Hill said. “Working with CRHA, Charlottesville City Schools, and other stakeholders to flesh out the actual costs and required timelines is critical to setting priorities.”
Community contributions to these conversations are also vital, according to council members.
Bellamy noted the importance of continuing discussions about how to fund affordable housing redevelopment and maintenance. “I think we at the very minimum, because of the history of our community and things that have transpired, we owe that much to our public housing residents.”
Council is planning to meet with housing representatives by late November. The budget discussions will continue across departments and come back to City Council in March 2019.
City Council chose Assistant City Manager Mike Murphy to sit in the interim manager hot seat by a 3-0 vote.
photo eze amos
After more than a week of heated exchanges between city councilors and Mayor Nikuyah Walker over the hiring of an interim city manager, there was 10 minutes of public notice before a 3-0 vote in closed session at 1:15pm resulted in Assistant City Manager Mike Murphy taking the job effective 5pm today, just hours before City Manager Maurice Jones cleaned out his desk.
Councilors Wes Bellamy, Kathy Galvin and Mike Signer formed the quorum to give Murphy the thumbs up. Mayor Nikuyah Walker and Vice-Mayor Heather Hill were out of town, according to city spokesman Brian Wheeler.
Council had been threatening to name the interim city manager since last week, after the candidate who had been offered the job, Sidney Zemp, withdrew from consideration, listing Walker’s “contrived” controversy over how his name entered the process, “questionable motivations” and flaunting of state statutes on hiring practices. Both Murphy and the other assistant city manager, Leslie Beauregard, were interviewed for the position.
It’s unclear whether all five councilors would have voted to appoint Murphy had they all been there. “Who knows?” asks Galvin. “We needed three bodies to vote and we got a quorum.”
Says Galvin, “It was really important to have someone here before Maurice left today.” With the upcoming August 12 anniversary, “now we have all the bases covered.” The police and fire chiefs report to the city manager. “It’s a relief,” she says. “We’re very thrilled he took the job.”
Walker, reached out of town, says she still has concerns. “The hiccup was in the contract negotiations,” she says. “When Maurice was interim city manager he didn’t have a contract.” And a one-year contract Zemp requested was a concern to her, Walker revealed in a Facebook Live.
Murphy, she says, “should be able to keep things afloat until we get a permanent city manager.”
Hill says that had she been in town, she would have supported Murphy’s appointment.
Before taking the assistant city manager job in 2015, Murphy was director of human development.
When asked if he was surprised to be named to the job after so much public council bickering, Murphy said, “I’ve been here 24 years. Nothing surprises me.”
Council announced May 25 it would not renew Jones’ contract. He has taken a job as town manager in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
The hiring of an interim city manager, an event that usually takes place behind closed doors, has become heated and public, with reports of shouting at a July 20 closed City Council session. Mayor Nikuyah Walker has gone on Facebook Live twice to express her concerns that the process is part of the old boys’ network because someone suggested a candidate for the position to Vice Mayor Heather Hill, which she calls a “white supremist practice.”
On July 23, councilors Hill, Mike Signer and Kathy Galvin issued a five-page response to Walker’s Facebook Live video. “We regret that our rules requiring confidentiality about closed session discussions for personnel choices—which are in place under Virginia law, to protect local elected officials’ ability to discuss and negotiate employment agreements—were broken by the mayor.”
The search for an interim city manager became more urgent when Maurice Jones took a town manager job in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, leaving the city without a chief executive as the anniversary of August 12 looms.
Chris Suarez at the Daily Progress reports that three sources have confirmed U.S. Army Human Resources Command Chief of Staff Sidney C. Zemp has been offered the job.
In the councilors’ response, all three say they’ve never met the candidate, and that review panels are not used when filling interim positions.
In her July 20 video, Walker walked back a comment she made on Facebook and Twitter July 19: “We might have to protest a City Council decision. Are y’all with me?” She said she didn’t want supporters to shut down a council meeting, but did want them to pay attention to the process.
Walker was back on Facebook Live July 23, blasting her fellow councilors for their “very privileged” backgrounds and questioning their integrity.
She says she favors an internal candidate—the two assistant city managers and a department head have been floated—which councilors Wes Bellamy and Signer initially favored.
Bellamy issued his own statement: “Elected bodies agree and disagree all of the time” and that can lead to “healthy debate.”
Will council actually vote for an interim city manager at its August 6 meeting? Stay tuned.
Mayor Nikuyah Walker expressed concern in a July 20 Facebook Live video about the hiring process for an interim city manager.
In brief
Too much heritage
The Louisa County Board of Zoning Appeals said the giant Confederate battle flag on I-64 must come down because its 120-foot pole is double the county’s maximum allowable height. Virginia Flaggers erected the “Charlottesville I-64 Spirit of Defiance Battle Flag” in March and argued that after putting up 27 flags across the state, they wouldn’t have spent $14,000 on this one without confirming county code.
Controversial hire
A petition with more than 2,000 signatures of UVA faculty and students objects to the Miller Center’s hiring of Trump legislative affairs director Marc Short as a senior fellow. The petitioners are opposed to Trump administrators using “our university to clean up their tarnished reputations.”
Presidential paychecks
New UVA president Jim Ryan commands a higher salary than his predecessor, but can’t touch Brono Mendenhall’s paycheck. Photo UVA
Outgoing UVA prez Teresa Sullivan’s base pay of $580,000 and total compensation of $607,502 last year makes her one of the higher paid university chiefs, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Her successor, Jim Ryan, starts with a $750,000 base pay, but to put those numbers in perspective, remember that UVA football coach Bronco Mendenhall makes $3.4 million—with a possible $2 million-plus bonus. At this week’s ACC Kickoff event, media members predicted—for the fifth straight year—that UVA will finish last in the conference’s Coastal Division.
New tourism director
Adam Healy, the former CEO of online wedding marketplace Borrowed and Blue, which closed abruptly last October, will now serve as the interim executive director of the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Standoff on Lankford
A state police vehicle on the outskirts of the standoff.
About 50 city, county and state police and SWAT team members were on the scene of a four-hour standoff with 29-year-old Alexander Rodgers, who had barricaded himself inside a Lankford Avenue home on July 19. Someone called police around 8am and reported shots fired. Rodgers, who has a history of domestic violence and was wanted on six outstanding warrants, eventually surrendered and was charged with three felonies and a misdemeanor.
Quote of the week:
“The fish rots from the head.”—Senator Tim Kaine, after U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security and UVA alum Kirstjen Nielsen said about last summer’s violence in Charlottesville at a July 19 press briefing, “It’s not that one side was right and one side was wrong.”
County crime report
The Albemarle County Police Department released its annual crime report for 2017 last month. Here are a few things that caught our eye.
-Police misconduct has been reframed in a new “cheers and jeers” section, where police complaints are compared side-by-side with commendations.
-Albemarle County had the second-lowest crime rate in the state while Charlottesville had the highest. Crime rate is measured by tallying the number of crimes committed per 100,000 people.
Fairfax: 1,273
Albemarle: 1,286
Prince George: 1,334
Arlington: 1,355
Prince William: 1,370
Chesterfield: 1,450
James City: 1,611
Roanoke: 1,638
Henrico: 2,548
Charlottesville: 2,631
-County police officers made 2,296 arrests and used force “to overcome resistance or threat” on 14 occasions.
-Assaults on police officers have gone up and down.
