Water Street Extended – C-VILLE Weekly

In brief: Truck-eating bridge, teens climb Mt. Landmark and more

Welcome to the Sprint Pavilion

With Sprint affiliate Shentel’s $640 million acquisition of nTelos complete, look for a new moniker for the Coran Capshaw-leased downtown facility as soon as City Council approves a new name, according to Shentel.

So we take away your driver’s license because you can’t pay court costs

In 2015, 900,000 Virginians had suspended driver’s licenses because of unpaid court costs, which makes it harder for low-income citizens to get to work and pay off those costs and fines, says a Legal Aid Justice Center report. Most Virginia general district courts ignore Judicial Council of Virginia recommendations to consider an individual’s financial circumstances before setting payment plans.

First woman, youngest councilor elected in Scottsville

Of the town on the James’ 369 registered voters, 122 of them came out to elect Nancy Gill mayor and six town councilors, including 19-year-old Joshua Peck, who may be the youngest to sit on council, according to Scottsville Weekly.

Evangelical endorsement

Focus on the Family founder Dr. James Dobson endorsed Republican 5th District congressional candidate Michael Del Rosso because he “understands the threat from Islamic terrorism” and “secular political culture.” The 5th District GOP convention is May 14.

Climb every mountain —or hotel

Three teens aged 14, 15 and 16 were spotted on top of the Landmark Hotel on the Downtown Mall around 2:15pm May 7. Police, with the help of the Charlottesville Fire Department, escorted them to the police department for parental pickup, and the girls face trespassing charges. “They were taking photos and listening to music,” says police spokesman Steve Upman, who declined to say how they scaled the structure.

Quote of the week

“To tell you the honest truth, I was sure this was such a compelling narrative and I thought this would be easy to find one or two funders interested in telling the other narratives that are about our history.” Elizabeth Breeden on raising only $20,000 in four years for the $300,000 sculpture to honor Vinegar Hill, according to the Daily Progress.

Delayed extension: What’s up with Water Street?

Exactly one year ago, Water Street Extended was expected to open by the end of the year. Twelve months later, city officials are saying it could be accessible soon.

“We’re hopeful that it will be open later in the autumn,” says Miriam Dickler, the city’s director of communications. The developer in charge of the extension is still working to meet city standards and Dickler says lights and underground utilities will be the finishing touches. Then, when everything is “close to perfect,” she says the city will okay the extension and it’ll finally be ready for traffic.

Some nearby businesses are excited for the long-awaited street opening and hope it could bring more people to their shops.

“We would keep checking and checking and eventually we just stopped,” says T.J. Shaver, an employee at Mom and Pop’s Vape Shop, which is beside Beer Run and Pad Thai at the end of Water Street Extended. He says most of his clientele frequent the Downtown Mall and often complain about the street’s unfinished status, because once it opens, it will be easier and faster for customers to drive back and forth from the mall.

“In this corner, parking is limited,” says Santi Ouypron, owner of Pad Thai, adding that he hopes people will be able to park along Water Street Extended when it opens. “It might help.”

Until everyone can access the extension by way of car, residents living in City Walk apartments continue using Water Street Extended and Water Street Trail—a halfway-finished walking trail that runs parallel to the street—on foot.

“I definitely don’t like having the street be dark,” says Alexa Witcofsky, who has lived in City Walk for four months and was told upon moving in that the extension would open once the developer put up streetlights. “The [Downtown Mall] is so close to where I live that it just makes sense to walk…But now that it’s getting darker sooner, I have to plan around that.”

Walking near the unfinished project at night makes Witcofsky uneasy.

“As a female, you try to have more situational awareness than to put yourself on a dark, empty road,” she says, “but you can’t really avoid it if you’re trying to walk back from dinner.”

City Councilor Kathy Galvin says the lights on Water Street should be up this month.

The walking trail is “unofficially open,” according to Carrie Rainey, an urban designer from Charlottesville’s Neighborhood Development Services, but the department of parks and recreation is pursuing a grant to build the remaining trail section to the Belmont Bridge. The existing part of the trail was developed by City Walk and will be accepted by the city concurrently with the approval of Water Street Extended, but Galvin expects the final section of the walking trail to be opened in 2016. Along with the new section will come more lights, more trees and bioretention plantings.

And the extension and walking trail won’t be the only new additions to the street. Water Street Promenade, Riverbend Development’s plan to build two dozen homes along Water Street Extended, will go to the planning commission later this month. Bonds will be posted, a pre-construction meeting will be held and work on the newest project will begin.