Tag: Planning & Development

C-VILLE Weekly’s planning and development coverage features regular stories on Charlottesville and Albemarle County real estate and local government actions.

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Change order

The Building and Grounds Committee will discuss the new Center of the Arts to be built in the Emmet-Ivy corridor (in yellow), the new home for the Fralin and Kluge-Ruhe art museums. Image by City of Charlottesville.

The University of Virginia has more influence and control over Charlottesville’s future than any other entity in the community. At this moment, UVA has more than a billion projects under construction, according to the packet for this week’s meeting of the Board of Visitors. 

The agenda of the Buildings and Grounds Committee is a good place to see what might be happening next. Rather than meeting at their usual Thursday afternoon time, the panel will convene Friday morning. This change comes because a “leadership discussion” is scheduled for the full 17-member board on Thursday and will be followed by a closed session.

Since becoming University president in August 2018, Jim Ryan has put a priority on building connections with the greater community. The President’s Council on UVA-Community Partnerships has led to several initiatives, such as a commitment to provide land for between 1,000 and 1,500 affordable units in the community. 

Another initiative in the Great and Good Strategic Plan adopted during Ryan’s tenure is to house all second-year students on campus. UVA recently announced plans to build up to 2,000 beds for this purpose on either Emmet Street or Ivy Road, with the first units planned for 2027. 

On Friday morning, the Buildings and Grounds panel will get an update on the 2024 major capital plan and will review the plans for a new North Grounds parking garage.

“This is a thousand-space structured parking deck which is going to be located at the northwest corner of Massie Road and Copeley,” says Michael Joy of the UVA Office of the Architect. “It will be adjacent to all of the competition venues and the John Paul Jones Arena.”

Joy says this will allow UVA to eliminate surface parkings for future development. Some of the apartment buildings at Copeley Hill will be demolished to make way for the parking structure. 

New projects to be added to the capital plan include the renovation of an engineering research facility on Observatory Mountain, a project called the Darden Global Innovation Nexus, and expansion of a child care center on Copeley Road. The lattermost project would see capacity grow from 115 children to a total of 285. 

Other new initiatives will have a big impact on Charlottesville’s Fifeville neighborhood. Last year, UVA purchased the Oak Lawn estate for $3.5 million, having already purchased several properties a block to the north in 2016. Planning studies are proposed for both.

“The Grove Street planning study will consider program options for these two sites, which are likely to include UVA Health and neighborhood clinics, community uses, and parking in a mixed-use format,” reads a description in the B&G packet. 

Written material for the Oak Lawn property hints at a future child care center on the 5.2-acre parcel. 

The buildings panel will also approve the location and design guidelines for the new Center of the Arts to be built in the Emmet-Ivy corridor. This would be the new home for the Fralin and Kluge-Ruhe art museums as well as the music department. There will also be a 1,200-seat auditorium. 

“Design is in the early stages and there will be ongoing funding efforts both
with the Commonwealth and with
philanthropic donors,” says Joy, who is a non-voting member of the city planning commission. 

Also on the full Board’s agenda this week is a trip to the new football operations center, which will be named for Molly and Robert Hardie, the co-owners of Keswick Hall who made a large gift to support the Virginia Athletics Master Plan.

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Public space

At the core of the 22-point Downtown Mall Action Plan is the idea of the Downtown Mall as a public space. Photo by Stephen Barling.

As the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Downtown Mall approaches in 2026, the city of Charlottesville is looking to make some improvements. The Downtown Mall Action Plan presented to city council outlines stakeholders’ priorities and suggested next steps, with a focus on the Mall as a public space.

“The goal was not to resolve, or even identify, every issue related to the Mall, which will be an ongoing process for the City,” reads an excerpt of the report, “but to begin to serve as a starting point for that process.”

The plan is the culmination of over a year of discussions by the Downtown Mall Committee, comprising more than a dozen local business owners, residents, nonprofits, students, and city leaders. 

The report’s 22 recommendations are split into organizational, programming, and amenity categories. Four items of particularly high priority are: to have staff consistently on the Mall to bolster cleanliness and safety, to implement the Tree Management Plan, to create a lighting plan and guidelines that account for safety and aesthetics, and to “re-imagine the outdoor café spaces.”

“These four priority items, I think, [are] just a place of where do we start first,” says Greer Achenbach, Executive Director of Friends of Charlottes­ville Downtown and Downtown Mall Committee member.

At the core of all 22 action items is the idea of the Downtown Mall as a public space. When landscape architect Lawrence Halprin designed it in the early 1970s, there was significant emphasis on the Mall as a place for the community. Recommendations—including the installation of a permanent public restroom, increasing and improving public transit to the area, reconsideration of outdoor dining spaces, the restoration of Halprin chairs (movable wooden-backed seats designed by Halprin himself), and the addition of more public seating—are all aimed at improving the utility of the Mall as a communal space.

With more than a year spent considering the various elements of the Mall and its role in the community, it is now up to the city and other local actors to move from discussion to implementation.

“These are not new ideas; a lot of these things have been talked about in the community for a long time,” says Achenbach. “I’m just so thankful that we’re all getting together to specifically write it down and make a plan on how to make it happen.”

Many of the Downtown Mall Action Plan’s recommendations closely align with the goals of Friends of Charlottesville Downtown, and Achenbach anticipates working with the city on implementation.

“What I have learned over the past year is that we have a special amenity out there that has a lot of passion associated with it,” said City Manager Sam Sanders at the conclusion of the action plan’s presentation and discussion by councilors on May 20. “One of my priorities is … to recognize the Mall as the amenity that it is for the entire community.”

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Filling in 

The view looking north on 10th Street NW with a rendering of the bulk of the proposed six-story building. Image by GRIMM + PARKER.

Details are now known for the first of three UVA-initiated projects to build between 1,000 and 1,500 affordable housing units in the community. 

“This is a project being pursued by the University’s real estate foundation at the northeast corner of 10th Street and Wertland,” says Jeffrey Werner, the city’s preservation planner. “There are some opportunities here for architectural creativity.” 

UVA President Jim Ryan announced the general goal in March 2020, but work stalled during the pandemic. Three sites were selected in December 2021; they include the redevelopment of a faculty housing site on Fontaine Avenue and space at the North Fork Research Park. In all cases, developers will lease sites that will be owned by UVA’s foundation. 

The two-acre site in the center of Charlottesville is currently a parking lot and a three-story apartment building owned by the foundation. In February, UVA selected a partnership consisting of the Boston-based Preservation of Affordable Housing and the National Housing Trust. 

“Our goal is to design this in context and collaboratively with the University of Virginia with the surrounding community and [to create] something that is financeable,” says J.T. Engelhardt of NHT, an organization that co-owns Kindlewood with the Piedmont Housing Alliance. 

Under the city’s new CX-8 zoning, the developer could have gone as high as 11 stories. But on May 21, members of the Board of Architectural Review saw a six-story structure that would take up much of the two-acre site. 

“We’re assuming somewhere between 150 and 190 affordable rental units,” says Liz Chapman of Grimm + Parker, a local firm hired to actually design the building. “That … range is largely driven by wanting to work with community stakeholders to understand the types of residential units these should be.”

For instance, should they be built for individuals or for families? 

Under the initial plan, vehicles would enter the 80-space parking garage on 10th Street, the same street that retail spaces will face. 

Chapman asked BAR members to identify what architectural cues the project should take and whether there were nearby examples of adequate public infrastructure for pedestrians. 

BAR member James Zehmer pointed out that 10th Street is a very busy road and suggested the designers move the garage entrance to Wertland. 

“I think this wants to be part of West Main because of the massing and size, but we need to respect there’s a much more residential neighborhood behind it,” Zehmer says. 

Chapman said the preliminary idea is to build the structure as a concrete podium with wood construction because that’s the most feasible way to cover the costs. An internal courtyard would provide the outdoor amenity space in something referred to as a doughnut. 

Planning Commissioner Carl Schwarz says he understands the reason for the design, but he doesn’t like that it looks like a fortress. 

“It does feel like it’s walled itself off a little bit,” Schwarz says. “It makes a safe public space for the residents, but it’s not very welcoming to the neighborhood.”   

BAR member Cheri Lewis encouraged the designers to create a way for vehicles to drop people off at the new building. 

“You can’t stop on 10th Street,” Lewis said. “There’s no way. And I don’t think you can turn very easily without being backended anyway, so maybe there’s an opportunity there.”

In the near future, the redevelopment of Westhaven could mean additional affordable units. City Council has morally committed at least $15 million to the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

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Neighborhood remodel?

The single-story office structure within the yellow boundaries will be redeveloped as a four-story mixed-use building with up to 15 apartments. Line and Grade via Albemarle GIS.

Twenty-three years ago this week, Albemarle Supervisors officially adopted a policy called the Neighborhood Model to encourage construction of a more urban fabric in the county’s designated growth areas.   

“We were proud of the tremendous efforts put into developing the Neighborhood Model by a committee of local residents and staff,” says Sally Thomas, who represented the Samuel Miller District at the time. “It was ‘smart growth’ before that was a common moniker.” 

Since that time, developers have gotten approval from the Board of Supervisors by demonstrating how their projects satisfy twelve principles intended to avoid suburban sprawl by using land more efficiently. Albemarle also created master plans for each area to signal to property owners what the local government would like to see happen. 

Dr. Jay Knight operates his dental practice on a one-acre parcel on Woodbrook Drive near the intersection with Berkmar Drive in a building constructed in 1996. 

“Our building pretty much needs to be updated at this point,” Knight says. “I have been thinking for some time about redesigning the office and the building and thought it would be a great idea to also be able to have some residential components with the property.”

According to the plans drawn up by the firm Line and Grade, the one-story building would be demolished to make way for a four-story structure with a footprint of 6,698 square feet. 

“Currently the plan is for ground-level dental office space with three stories residential above, at up to 15 units,” reads the narrative for the application written by Line and Grade. 

Knight is a native of the area who says he appreciates Albemarle’s work to limit development into the rural area to attain what he described as a “great harmony.” This property is designated in the Places29 Master Plan as “urban density residential.” 

However, comprehensive plans are advisory and landowners must comply with zoning. The current classification for this property is commercial (C-1) so a special use permit is required for residential use. Two special exceptions to building placement rules are also requested to allow the site to be reused. 

The property is adjacent to Agnor-Hurt Elementary School, and plans show an easement for a future pathway to the school should the county decide to build one. Knight said that came at the suggestion of planners in Albemarle’s Community Development during a preliminary meeting before the application was filed. 

Albemarle has amended its Comprehensive Plan several times since 2001, including the addition of the Housing Albemarle plan. This plan has a clear goal for developers: More places to live are required for the county to support anticipated population growth. The Places29 Master Plan, adopted in 2007, called for an extension of Berkmar Drive north, and VDOT has plans to connect that roadway to Airport Road where it joins the UVA Discovery Park. 

Another principle in the neighborhood model is to provide residential density in places where there are sidewalks, bicycle infrastructure, and public transit. People who live in the space would have access to at least one Charlottesville Area Transit route. Knight said residents could walk to the Rio Hill Shopping Center for groceries and could easily make their way to jobs. 

“I think a concept like what we’re talking about would really fit in,” Knight says. 

The permit and the special exceptions will need to go through the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors. Knight hopes to be able to move to construction between two and five years. 

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Circling back

According to Sunshine Mathon, “Permanent supportive housing is intended to be a permanent housing solution for folks seeking a permanent home.” Supplied photo.

Construction is on the horizon at Premier Circle. The former Red Carpet Inn was transformed into an emergency shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic, and helped nearly 100 people exit homelessness. The facility closed in June of 2023, leaving a gap in Charlottesville’s network of shelter services, but construction on the next phase of the project is expected to begin by the end of September.

Virginia Supportive Housing will start work on 80 units of permanent supportive housing at the site this year, followed by 40 to 50 units of low-income housing constructed by Piedmont Housing Alliance. The 80 housing units are slated to open in the first half of 2026, with the low-income housing expected to open two years after, in 2028. 

The housing project has taken the combined effort of a number of cooperating partners. Piedmont Housing Alliance purchased the property in 2021 with a $4.25 million grant from the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation. A commitment of $700,000 from Albemarle County and $750,000 from the City of Charlottesville allowed Virginia Supportive Housing to begin construction this year. 

Although Premier Circle initially was a low-barrier overnight shelter, the long-term goal has always been to transition the site into permanent housing. 

“So the operative word is permanent,” says Sunshine Mathon, executive director of Piedmont Housing Alliance. “Emergency shelters really are that, they’re for emergencies. Permanent supportive housing is intended to be a permanent housing solution for folks seeking a permanent home.”

Permanent supportive housing is an approach to alleviating homelessness that falls under the housing-first model. The idea is that stable housing is the first requirement and foundation from which individuals can address other causes that may have led to a period of homelessness.

“It’s not a panacea for every person,” Mathon explains. “There are people for whom the PSH [permanent supportive housing] model won’t be the perfect fit, but it is widely regarded across the nation as the primary tool to provide that stepping stone for people to transition from being in an emergency context into longer term permanent housing.”

In its strategic plan to end homelessness, the Blue Ridge Area Coalition for the Homeless says a lack of affordable housing is one of the primary problems in the community, and recommends new permanent supportive housing units as a solution.

As a long-term approach, permanent supportive housing is geared toward those for whom homelessness has been persistent, long-lasting, or recurring. Last year, on January 25, 2023, the area’s point-in-time count recorded 191 people experiencing homelessness in Charlottesville and the surrounding counties. About a quarter of them (53) met the criteria to be counted as chronically homeless.

On its website, Virginia Supportive Housing says Premier Circle aims to functionally end chronic homelessness in the community. That means there would be enough housing units available for all of those who need one. 

Numerically, while that goal seems within reach, things can be more complicated, and the need is often more than predicted. However, Virginia Supportive Housing does have a model to demonstrate the kind of impact this project can have. The organization also manages The Crossings on Preston Avenue. That 60-unit facility opened in 2012 and for the next four years there was a downward trend in the number of people experiencing homelessness in the area. The region’s PIT count reached a low point in 2016, with many pointing to The Crossings as a key factor. 

Premier Circle hopes to repeat that success. The 80 units of permanent supportive housing will be studio apartments supported by a voucher system. People with vouchers pay 30 percent of their income in rent, allowing a sliding scale based on what individuals can afford. 

“Our preference would be to lease to chronically homeless individuals first, those most likely to die on the streets,” says Julie Anderson, director of real estate development with Virginia Supportive Housing. “But also, we can lease to individuals who are experiencing sporadic homelessness as well as low-income individuals.”

Low-income apartments, both in the 80-unit development and the subsequent project, are separated into income brackets based on the area median income. There will be apartments reserved for incomes that are 30 percent of AMI and below, some for 50 percent, and some for 60 percent, with the aim that each of those brackets would pay no more than 30 percent of their income in rent. In Albemarle County, the median income for households is $97,708, according to data collected by the U.S. census.

The model also includes wraparound services for accessing other supports that residents may need, whether it’s acquiring disability benefits, medical support, substance abuse counseling, or reconnecting with family and friends. The building will have two case managers that residents can go to for help navigating the supportive services available.

“One thing that’s important is that our average length of stay is four to six years for everybody, although we don’t have a timeline, [and] residents can stay as long as they need to.” Anderson says. “Ninety-five percent of our residents don’t return to homelessness.”

Permanent supportive housing projects demonstrate a real and lasting impact, not just for those experiencing homelessness, but also for those at risk of entering homelessness. It’s a long-term safety net. 

“This might seem obvious,” Mathon says, “but I think it’s important to state it. The solution to homelessness is homes. And sometimes we struggle, in our society and in our communities, to really make that direct line of association.”

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Upon this rock

Holy Temple Church of God, located on the corner of 12th Street and Rosser Avenue, was built by contractor Charles Hunter Brown, who also served as the church’s pastor. Supplied photo.
By Yasu Shinozaki

The neighborhood of Preston Heights is deeply linked to the legacy of one man: Charles Hunter Brown. Brown was one of the first Black contractors in the Charlottesville area and built many of the houses in the neighborhood located between Preston and Grady avenues. He also built Holy Temple Church of God, located on the corner of 12th Street and Rosser Avenue, where he served as pastor for decades.

The church has been an important fixture in the Preston Heights community since it opened its doors in 1947, providing a place of worship to countless parishioners, a community to Black UVA students, and meals to neighborhood families.

But in recent years, a lack of maintenance has caused parts of the building to fall into disrepair. Leaks have created substantial water damage in the basement and attic. The building needs a new roof and water remediation.
Brown’s daughter, Angie Jefferson, is administrator of the church, and she’s started a GoFundMe page to raise money for the renovations, with a goal of $75,000.

To Jefferson, the preservation of the church is linked to the survival of the Preston Heights neighborhood amidst threats of gentrification and redevelopment.

She describes Preston Heights as the “last true African American neighborhood in Charlottesville,” saying it is one of the few places in town where many Black families have long ties, some going back three generations.

The neighborhood is still predominantly Black, but the majority of houses that were once owned by Black residents have been acquired by LLCs. Silk Purse Properties LLC owns every structure on one side of Rosser Avenue except for two houses and Holy Temple church, according to Charlottesville tax data.

C.H. Brown was born in 1907 in Proffit, Virginia. He was one of 13 children and received little formal education. He worked for a time in the kitchen of a downtown restaurant—but Brown wanted a different career, and started working in carpentry.

“We’re talking about a period when there wasn’t much in Charlottesville for Black men to do, except maybe sweep the floor or clean somebody’s house or something,” Jefferson says. “So for him to have those kinds of aspirations said a lot about who he was.”

C.H. Brown’s company built countless houses in Charlottesville, at least half a dozen churches in the surrounding counties, and numerous commercial buildings. Brown is credited with allowing many African Americans in Charlottesville to become homeowners.

Church Clerk Clinton Johnson says Holy Temple’s construction was remarkable for another reason: The ground beneath it is solid rock, and Brown had to use dynamite to excavate the foundation.

“I’ve heard that they didn’t believe that church would ever be built because Reverend Brown built that church on a boulder of some sort,” Johnson says. “So to me, it also had a Christian outlook that … on this rock he would build this church and the gates of hell would not prevail. So when other preachers and people were coming by and saying that there was no way he was going to bless that rock and build a church on it, he proved them wrong.”

C.H. Brown’s son, Ralph Brown, is the pastor at Holy Temple, and runs the C.H. Brown Christian Center, which is dedicated to continuing his father’s legacy through mission work and preservation. Ralph is also attempting to protect his dad’s work by law—in early 2021, he filed to make six houses built by his father and the Holy Temple church a historical preservation district. But he needs the consent of property owners, and the buildings keep changing hands.

Ralph Brown and Johnson stress the importance of C.H. Brown’s legacy as a pastor, as well as a contractor. Johnson says that when Brown was preaching, sometimes every parking spot would be taken on Rosser Avenue, as well as nearby sections of Grady and Preston.

The doors to the church were always left unlocked when her father was pastor there, Jefferson says. The building served as a place of solace for community members.

“Before my dad passed in 1996, he spent a lot of time in the church,” she says. “And so people knew they could always find him there. Women who had been abused, children who had run away from home, there were a myriad of situations where people came to the church.”

While its congregation has waned over the years, Holy Temple is still an important meeting place in the community. Ralph Brown serves free meals twice a month at the church.

But he is concerned that the purchase of nearby properties by outside firms makes the neighborhood vulnerable to redevelopment. He also fears lack of home ownership will lead to community members having less of a say in local politics.

“Unless you’re a property owner,” Ralph says, “you can’t move the needle a whole lot about what can and cannot be done.”

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A new pathway? 

A conceptual site plan depicts the location of the Center for Politics and its proposed layout. Image by the UVA Office of the Architect.

At this point in the community’s development, nothing happens in isolation. A forthcoming renovation to the home of one of the University of Virginia’s most well-known institutions could lead the way toward providing a new pathway in a congested area. 

“While the Center for Politics has been very successful in developing and running its extensive roster of programs, the size and layout of the existing house hampers the Center’s daily operations, and prevents them from fully engaging students and community in hosting larger seminars and events,” said Alice Raucher, architect for the university, at a recent meeting of the Board of Visitors. 

That house is Montesano, a mid-19th-century structure that was expanded in 1907. More than a century later, the 4,700-square-foot building is nestled within an area that will transform as the 21st century unfolds and UVA continues to grow.  

“The project includes modest renovations to the main house, including converting the first-floor conference room to a collaboration hub and combining small rooms on the second floor into an open office space,” Raucher said. 

The renovation will also be among the first redevelopment projects within the geographic scope of a master plan for the redevelopment of Ivy Gardens. UVA’s real estate foundation purchased the 17-acre site in 2016, and plans to convert it from a 20th-century apartment complex to a mixed-use area with more housing, academic space, and room for businesses. 

Vehicular access to the Center for Politics is currently via Old Ivy Road, which is within the scope of a Virginia Department of Transportation pipeline study to determine ways to address current and future congestion. Over the past two decades, the university has built multiple office buildings along a stretch of two-lane roadway constrained by a narrow railroad underpass at the eastern end. 

UVA has not been the only source of the gradual addition of new neighbors for Montesano over the years. The multistory University Village was built in the early 1990s, and has room to up its existing 98 units. 

In March, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors approved a rezoning that will add 525 apartments next door. The board did so after being told about the pipeline study of potential ways to address the less-than-urban quality of the roadway. 

University Village is accessed by Crestwood Drive, a road that is owned by the homeowners association, and the Center for Politics’ use is by permission. The new schematic design for Montesano shows a new connection to Leonard Sandridge Road. 

L.F. Payne is a local developer and former congressman who sits on the BOV’s Buildings and Grounds Committee. He’s also a member of the task force that’s overseeing the pipeline study. 

“One of the big issues there is going to be how do the people, between the two, many of whom are UVA employees, get out of there,” Payne said. “I think the connection between Old Ivy Road and Leonard Sandridge Road is going to be really important.”

Raucher said there’s no current plan to make a road connection to Old Ivy Road, and reminded Payne and the committee that Crestwood Drive is privately owned. 

That pipeline study is expected to be completed next summer, and will result in potential alternatives for transportation solutions for all modes of travel. 

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Zoning in

James Freas plans to bring new draft language for the zoning ordinance to the next Planning Commission work session. Photo by City of Charlottesville.

After hearing feedback from supporters and opponents at its September 14 public hearing, the Charlottesville Planning Commission held a September 19 work session to consider the draft zoning ordinance. The commission, which hopes to adopt a new zoning ordinance by the end of the year, continues to consider changes to key elements of the law, including the anti-displacement overlay.  

Formerly called sensitive community areas, the anti-displacement overlay is an effort to identify and protect areas particularly at risk of displacement and displacement pressures in the city. 

Director of Neighborhood Development Services James Freas, who introduced the question of whether to include the overlay in the ordinance, highlighted some potential pros and cons.

“Anything we do that reduces the potential for development in the areas certainly reduces that potential for displacement, but also reduces that potential for additional value in those homes and those properties,” he said. Additionally, Freas noted the inability of the overlay to address single-unit flips, which are a significant contributor to displacement.

“I don’t think that we need an overlay in a certain section of the city,” said Planning Commissioner Hosea Mitchell at the beginning of the discussion. “But I do think that some sort of protections need to be in place in separate or different timelines.”

During the commission’s discussion of the anti-displacement overlay, concerns about adjacent corridors, interim protections for at-risk neighborhoods, and the Dairy Market expansion and Stony Point Development Group were highlighted. After completing the ordinance, the commission plans to create Small Area Plans for each of the identified sensitive areas. However, commissioners worry about the lack of protection while creating these plans, which could take more than a year to develop.

With few interim solutions identified that could be achieved through zoning, the commission reconsidered the anti-displacement overlay.

Acknowledging the urgent need to address displacement, the commission ultimately decided that the overlay, and zoning more broadly, was not the best solution, but should be an element in the ordinance.

“Zoning isn’t the strongest tool in the toolbox,” said Freas. Despite the limitations of the anti-displacement overlay, Mitchell emphasized the importance of keeping a visual reminder of at-risk areas. “We want to keep the overlay on the map just as a guiding light to keep us focused on protecting those neighborhoods,” he said.

Though much remains up in the air with the draft zoning ordinance, what is clear from jargon-filled discussions is the need to address displacement in the city and its contribution to the housing crisis, and the need to involve communities experiencing high levels of displacement in discussions.

The exact timeline for the Planning Commission sending the draft zoning ordinance to City Council is still unknown. At press time, items still under consideration by the commission include additional dwelling unit ordinances and a land trust.

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Plan of attack

For the draft zoning ordinance to move forward, the Planning Commission must recommend it to City Council for a hearing and a vote. Image by City of Charlottesville.

After years of effort, the Charlottesville Planning Commission finally entered the formal review process for the draft zoning ordinance. Though the city has emphasized community involvement throughout the project, the September 14 public hearing to discuss the draft lasted more than five hours. City leadership hopes to adopt the zoning ordinance by the end of 2023, but Charlottesville residents remain divided on how to best balance affordability, density, and current communities. 

The city has been working since 2017 to address the area’s progressively worsening housing crisis through changes to zoning, including priorities outlined in comprehensive and affordable housing plans.

Planning Commissioner Hosea Mitchell opened the public hearing by emphasizing that the meeting would not be a dialogue, but rather a listening session for community members to voice their thoughts on the draft zoning ordinance.

Before opening the floor for public comment, Director of Neighborhood Development Services James Freas said that though the project has come a long way, much work remains. “I don’t believe this draft that we have before us is our final draft,” he said. “As we hear new ideas, as we hear new perspectives, I think it’s important that we are able to respond and make tweaks as necessary or as appropriate.”

City Council chambers were at capacity at the start of the meeting, and residents came prepared to comment.

Though the current draft attempts to increase the amount of affordable housing available in the area, some opponents expressed concern that increasing density and allowing for more areas of mixed use could negatively impact existing residents. They voiced their opinions about the plan’s impact on neighborhoods, traffic, parking, tree cover, land value inflation, and more.

Diane Walkett, who lives in the Greenbrier neighborhood, showed up with a signed petition from her neighbors that urged the commission to not change the current zoning. “[It’s] a family-focused part of Charlottesville that is populated by those who want their children to safely walk to Greenbriar Elementary School, who want to walk their dogs and ride their bikes along the road without having to dodge cars that drive fast … who want to have yards and space to live in,” she said. “To change this street and to subject our families to more traffic, less safety, the density of multiple unit complexes, and to change the nature of our property is not a wise, appropriate, or necessary decision by the Planning Commission.”

“My worry is that the impact of the zoning is gonna change our entire Greenbrier neighborhood. It’s so safe right now,” said Gerry Scott. “It’s just a good neighborhood. And good neighbors.”

Other critics of the current draft zoning ordinance support the project’s work to improve access to affordable housing and address inequities, but are concerned that well-intended provisions may not be as effective as imagined without further protections against gentrification. “Increased density across the city does not necessarily mean increase in affordability,” said Al Pola. Comparing the proposed Dairy Market expansion and Cherry Avenue developments, Pola claimed the plan does not adequately address infrastructure and protect communities.

But many proponents of the draft ordinance said it takes key steps in addressing the area’s housing crisis.

Speaking in support of the plan, Liam Keough argued against allowing “the privileged desires of older residents to outweigh the needs of potentially thousands of new residents, low-income residents, and non-white residents.” He added that “dog whistles such as protecting the safety, the charm, and the peace of their neighborhoods inhibit the change. We cannot let these dog whistles also dissuade the change needed to address the vast increase in population in Charlottesville. We cannot let quaint neighborhoods impede change.”

Andrew Shelton, a lifelong Charlottesville-area resident, spoke about being priced out of town. “The existing housing market is simply not sustainable for young people who don’t have existing investment in their home that’s been built for 30 years,” he said. “We don’t have enough housing for the amount of people who want to live here. … I would like to live in town, the town I grew up in, I’m not able to.”

With the current state of housing in the city, Shelton urged the commission to not only adopt the plan, but to consider the recommendations outlined in the housing coalition letter released earlier this year. “I would like to ask you to particularly pay attention to the need to not displace further Black neighborhoods, and to hopefully expand density in the neighborhoods that have historically had exclusionary zoning.”

The commission anticipates that consideration of the zoning ordinance could continue into October.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to better clarify that opponents of the draft zoning ordinance vary in their opinions and criticisms.

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Community building

The proposed development, on the site of the former Estes IGA grocery store, is located at 501-507 Cherry Ave., 0 Fifth St. SW, and 0 Sixth St. SW. Staff photo.

After getting a recommendation from the Planning Commission, Woodard Properties’ proposed Cherry Avenue development went before the Charlottesville City Council on September 5. The proposal includes affordable housing, space for local nonprofits, and was created with input from the Fifeville Neighborhood Association.  

Located at the site of the former Estes IGA grocery store across from Tonsler Park, the proposed development would include a four-story apartment complex with 60 to 70 units of housing and approximately 24,400 square feet of commercial space. Included in that commercial space are spots for local nonprofits Twice is Nice and the Music Resource Center.

Before work can start, Woodard Properties needs City Council to approve a change in zoning for the area and a special use permit application.

Under the proposal, zoning would change from Residential Small Lot and Residential Mixed Use to Commercial B3 zoning with proffers. The proffers include commitments to affordable housing through a partnership with the Piedmont Housing Alliance, nonprofit spaces, possible space for a grocery store, land use and building height restrictions, and a restriction to ensure mixed usage. The special use permit application would increase the allowed density from 21 to 87 dwelling units per acre and modify setbacks and parking requirements.

While city councilors and the Planning Commission now seem optimistic about the development, it took substantial revision for the project to gain widespread support.

When Woodard Properties introduced its original plan in March, Fifeville community members and city leaders were concerned about the limited amount of affordable housing, size of buildings, location of buildings, and traffic impact of the development. Under the original proposal, only five units would have been designated affordable housing for those earning less than 60 percent of area median income.

After consulting with community members and the Fifeville Neighborhood Association, Woodard Properties introduced the second version of the development plan at an August 8 Planning Commission meeting.

Though elements of the original proposal remain, the new version includes an updated traffic plan, reduced building heights, buildings further back off of Cherry Avenue and residential properties, and a comprehensive memorandum of understanding signed by Woodard Properties, PHA, and FNA setting guidelines for affordable housing.

Under the memorandum of understanding, all of the proposed units would be affordable.

“I think it’s a great project … I think the folks from [the Woodard team] show creativity in trying to find a solution that checks a lot of boxes. I’m grateful as well for PHA and their willingness to step up and be a partner in this,” said Councilor Brian Pinkston. “Goes to show what you can do when you’ve got good intent and you’re really willing to roll up your sleeves and try to find something that works. I would love to see this on the consent agenda.”

Despite the high level of support for the project, some community members remain skeptical, especially given the non-binding nature of the memorandum of understanding.

Editor’s note: The original version of this story said that, “the proposed development would include a four-story apartment complex with 118 units of housing.” The correct number of units is 60 to 70.