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‘Clear violation:’ Little High residents sue City Council

While objecting to the density of the 140,000- square-foot building, Kate Bennis says affordable housing is “something this neighborhood wanted more of,” adding that Jefferson Place’s four proposed units is a “minuscule amount.” Staff photo

Seventeen residents of the Little High Street neighborhood filed a suit against City Council July 5, and one of the plaintiffs includes former city councilor Bob Fenwick.

The residents object to how City Council approved a special use permit for Jefferson Place apartments at 1011 E. Jefferson St., and call it a “clear violation” of the process. They contend council “exceeded its authority and granted substantial changes” to the permit, according to the suit.

Gathering at the corner of Jefferson and 10th streets, where Jefferson Medical Building Limited Partnership and Great Eastern Management want to build 126 apartments on the 1.5-acre site that has housed doctors offices, the Little Highers held a press conference to voice their concerns about a “flawed process” and then walked their pro se—lawyer-less—complaint over to the Charlottesville Circuit Court clerk’s office.

The residents say that after the planning commission denied approval of the special use permit for a quadrupled density, four-story building October 11, 2016, the developer made substantial changes to the plans and submitted the application to City Council rather than back to the planning commission.

At the July 5, 2017, City Council meeting, the plaintiffs say they were short-changed their three-minute public comment time when, without advance notice, council reduced statements to two minutes. “This limited our right to petition our government for redress of our grievances,” says Little High Neighborhood Association President Kate Bennis.

Bob Fenwick

At the same time, the developer had added a fifth floor to the project, which council approved 3-2, with Fenwick and Kathy Galvin voting against the special use permit, say the plaintiffs.

While objecting to the density of the 140,000-square- foot building, Bennis says affordable housing is “something this neighborhood wanted more of,” adding that Jefferson Place’s four proposed units is a “minuscule amount.”

Bennis also accuses the developer of adding 12,000 square feet to the plans after City Council okayed the permit.

“That’s not true,” says Great Eastern Management’s David Mitchell. He says he tried to add 2,500 square feet to turn a couple of units into three-bedroom apartments and that “would have added one more affordable housing unit.”

Says Mitchell, “We followed all of the city’s regulations and procedures over a two-year period.”

He doesn’t anticipate the lawsuit will impact the project because the special use permit, which has up to 7,500 square feet of commercial space, and preliminary site plan have been approved, and the final site plan conforms exactly to the preliminary plan, he says.

“If we don’t get it approved, I guess I don’t have a lot of confidence in the city’s process,” says Mitchell.

As for the plaintiffs suing without a lawyer, says Mitchell, “That’s all you need to know.”

Legal expert David Heilberg says a declaratory judgment is not complicated and doesn’t have a lot of discovery. “It’s just asking for a statement of rights,” he says.

He also says that the Virginia State Bar now allows lawyers to offer advice without representing a party, which is less expensive. “That’s new,” says Heilberg.

The plaintiffs are seeking a declaratory judgment that would send the permit back to the planning commission.

“We’re not anti-growth,” says resident Jon Rice. “We are not opposed to affordable housing.”

Mitchell says Jefferson Place has been unfairly painted as luxury housing. “We don’t do high-end stuff,” he says.

“The city needs to decide if it’s going to be a city or a town,” he says, because people are moving here and there isn’t enough housing. “It’s supply and demand.”

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In brief: Taking back their streets, Cockburn controversy, Cantwell returns and more

Skyclad AP.com

Calming effect

“That’s the reason we did this—people fly down the street,” says Shawnee West as she watches a car drive through the intersection of Little High and 11th streets.

West is standing at the edge of the circular traffic-calming mural she designed with the help of one of her neighbors. Last fall, West and dozens of her neighbors painted the geometric eight-petal blue flower with pink-and-white butterflies surrounding it. The color scheme was inspired by the mural on the adjacent Charlottesville Day School. Some of the children who helped signed their names along one of the outer rings.

West, who spent about a month gathering signatures from neighbors for a project petition she then submitted to the city, says this intersection is a particularly dangerous one because it’s a main thoroughfare for both city and school buses, but is only a two-way stop. Neighbors asked for four stop signs but were denied. She says they’ve also tried to garner enough support to petition for speed bumps on both Little High and East Jefferson streets.

“Of course we dread the worst thing that could happen,” she says. “People wait until there’s a serious crisis before anyone does anything and we’re trying to prevent that.”

West and her fellow Little High residents will give the mural a second coat of paint in May, to ensure their efforts have a lasting effect.

“When you do something, people want to help, they want to be part of something,” she says. “And to be part of a community of people who say, ‘What can I do?’—it’s great.”

“Local news comment sections prove that SATAN IS REAL, Y’ALL.”—Congregate C’ville’s Brittany Caine-Conley on Twitter in response to the web comments on C-VILLE’s story, “Still here: White supremacy strikes again.”

Dem caucusers

Localities in the 5th District held caucuses last week that gave Leslie Cockburn enough delegates to secure the nomination at its convention in Farmville May 5 to challenge Representative Tom Garrett in November, according to an unofficial tally.

Leslie Cockburn at the Charlottesville Democratic caucus April 21. Photo Natalie Jacobsen

Dem discord

The chair of the Greene County Democrats, Elizabeth Alcorn, announced her resignation April 21 and cited violation of campaign rules by Cockburn staff, who were asked to stop campaigning at the Madison County caucus, where Alcorn was an official. One of them was black and Cockburn accused the Madison caucus officials of a “racist incident,” according to Alcorn’s resignation letter.

TMI

Some Western Albemarle parents were hot and bothered over Laci Green’s video.

After the Sexual Assault Resource Agency showed a video on male sexual pleasure to Western Albemarle High School students, upset parents complained, and the school axed its years-long relationship with the nonprofit. County schools spokesperson Phil Giaramita says the video wasn’t reviewed first, but SARA documented the approval of its sex ed curriculum by the head P.E. teacher.

Crying in his beer?

Chris Cantwell, aka the Crying Nazi, was arrested March 31 in Loudoun County for public intoxication. Cantwell was out on $25,000 bond for alleged use of tear gas at the August 11 tiki torch march through UVA. He’ll be back in Albemarle Circuit Court April 26 for a judge to reconsider his bond.

Coach convicted

Charlottesville High School track coach Melvin Carter was sentenced to 180 days of suspended jail time April 20 when he pleaded guilty to assault and battery of a juvenile. The incident did not take place on school ground, according to Commonwealth’s Attorney Joe Platania.

Pilot identified

Kent D. Carr, 51, of Staunton was the pilot of the Cessna that crashed into Bucks Elbow Mountain in Crozet on April 15. Says his obituary, “He loved aviation and was flying home at the time.”

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Density issue: Big apartments near Little High chafe residents

Neighbors say 124 units at 1011 E. Jefferson St. are too much. Henningsen & Kestner

While official Charlottesville has embraced greater density and infill, some residents aren’t loving it, particularly when the density is happening in their neighborhood.

That’s the case for plans for 124 units in the East Jefferson Apartments between 10th and 11th streets on a site that currently houses doctors offices. Developers are seeking a special permit to up the density from 21 units per acre to 87.

“That’s four times the density it’s zoned for in B-1,” says Little High resident Greg Jackson. “Twenty-one units per acre would be big enough. This proposal goes way too far.”

The application filed with the city has a four-and-a-half story building that’s 45′ tall with a total  283,000 square feet.

“The architects state that the massing shown is by-right,” acknowledges Jackson. “The stickler is the increased density.” And that’s what requires a special use permit.

“The city is set up for this urban experience,” says architect Mark Kestner, whose firm did the design. “We’re asking for the increase in density to allow people to live close to downtown.”

Kestner says the city has enough large, luxury apartments, and that people want smaller one- and two-bedroom units. The apartments will range in size from between 900 and 1,000 square feet to between 1,300 and 1,400 square feet. He did not have estimates available on how much the rentals will cost, but says there will be some affordable units.

The project is being developed by Jefferson Medical Building LLC and Great Eastern Management. An additional 20 limited partnerships “must be kept in confidence,” according to the plans filed with the city.

Some residents are concerned that the architectural firm listed on the application is Atwood, Henningsen & Kestner. Architect Bill Atwood has riled residents in the Starr Hill neighborhood with his plans for the Atlantic on West Main, but he is no longer connected with the firm now known as Henningsen & Kestner.

“I’ve had a lot of calls,” says Atwood. “I will not be able to support any building that goes above the tree line in that neighborhood.” He questions the B-1 zoning, which is a transitional designation between residential and commercial. “This building is huge,” he says. “I think our building on West Main is smaller. I do not support it.”

East Jefferson neighbors are also concerned about traffic. The complex plans project 846 vehicles a day, up from the current average of 720.

“I suspect that the traffic projection is too low,” says Jackson. He says the Little High area gets a lot of cut-through and speeding traffic.

But Kestner thinks there will be less traffic because more people will be walking. “There’s some benefit to being this close to downtown where people can actually walk to work,” he says.

He also notes that his office is in the neighborhood, so his firm will be living with what they design. “We’re excited,” he says. “We’ve been doing this a long time.”

Jackson is not convinced. He bought his house knowing what the zoning was and says B-1 is right for the area. He objects to any increased density, and says this special use permit is unfair to those who live there. “Sometimes a special use permit is appropriate,” he says. “In this case, it’s grossly inappropriate.”

The project goes before the planning commission April 12.