Albemarle Supervisors defer vote on increased zoning fees

By Connie Chang
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Friday, December 4, 2009

The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors voted Wednesday to defer a decision to increase zoning ordinance fees. The proposal would have increased fees by 30 to 35 percent, fees which have not been adjusted in the past seven years. Several of the Supervisors expressed their hesitations about making a decision at the meeting and felt that more time could help them to better understand the application review process and its associated costs.

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The issue of raising zoning fees has undergone a two year review process and the proposed fee schedule has been through several iterations before it reached the Board on Wednesday. The County’s zoning fees have not undergone a comprehensive review since 1991. In 2002, a fee adjustment was made that implemented a general 25 percent increase, which was considerably lower than the amount required to recover the costs of service.

Jay Willard, member of the Blue Ridge Home Builders Association, comments during public hearing

Supervisor David Slutzky (Rio) pointed out that the higher costs within the County can be attributed to a higher standard of review and level of public participation.

“The challenge here is Albemarle County has chosen to have a fairly tough standard before we approve development activities and I think it is driven largely by a desire for quality urban development versus haphazard urban development,” said Slutzky. “For that intention to be implemented, it requires a longer checklist with a lot more particularity. There is a cost associated with carrying out good public purpose.”

Supervisor Ken Boyd (Rivanna) questioned why costs are so high in the County to process applications and felt that more time could be devoted to streamlining the review process and finding efficiencies.

“I’m interested in reducing costs in everything we do in government,” said Boyd. “I’m not sure we’ve taken a real hard look at that.”

Slutzky’s opposition to vote on the fee proposal emerged from a realization, he said, that an increase in fees was not a matter of revenue recovery, but of cost allocation in the community. Under the fee proposal, the costs would be split between the applicant and taxpayers, but Slutzky expressed his skepticism over the degree applicants should be shouldering the burden of costs. Because of the public benefit gained from stricter regulations, he felt it was reasonable to place more of the cost burden on taxpayers rather than developers.

Supervisor Dennis Rooker (Jack Jouett) noted that Slutzky’s decision to oppose the fee proposal was a “significant disservice to the County, to the people in the County, and to people who will ultimately have to bear the costs.”

While there has also been concern that an increase in application fees in the current economic climate would negatively impact business development in the County, Supervisors and County staff maintain that the proposed fees are comparable to other localities in the region.

Under the proposed fees, a residential preliminary site plan would cost $1,200 plus $15 per dwelling unit. In comparison, Charlottesville charges $1,300 plus $20 per dwelling unit, Fluvanna County charges $1,100 and Greene County $1,000.  Today Albemarle charges $1,190 plus $13 per dwelling unit for a site plan.

With the deferral of the proposal to February 1, 2010, newly elected Supervisors Duane Snow and Rodney Thomas will have the opportunity to weigh in on the issue and make adjustments to the cost allocation currently being proposed.

Both Supervisors have been critical of any additional burdens being placed on taxpayers and local businesses, but Slutzky cautioned the next Board against “softening up the quality standards for development in the community” in order to reduce costs for the County.

TIMELINE FOR PODCAST

• 01:00 – Director of Community Development Mark Graham gives presentation
• 08:15 – Supervisor Ken Boyd asks whether staff looked at ways to reduce cost
• 09:34 – Supervisor Dennis Rooker comments on increased public participation
• 14:00 – Supervisor Lindsay Dorrier comments on speed of applicant review process
• 15:56 – Supervisor Sally Thomas comments on fee comparison with other localities and public participation
• 17:32 – Boyd discusses cost recovery
• 18:17 – Supervisor David Slutzky discusses community engagement in application process
• 21:05 – Boyd discusses specific charges
• 21:35 – Graham discusses home occupations
• 25:11 – Thomas discusses costs of activities
• 27:00 – Boyd discusses quality assurance
• 29:30 – Slutzky discusses staff time
• 32:15 – Rooker discusses fee standards with previous County developments
• 33:16 – Boyd discusses reducing costs
• 34:25 – Rooker discusses Development Review Task Force
• 39:40 – Slutzky opens public hearing period
• 40:00 – Jay Willard comments
• 43:30 – Jack Marshall comments
• 46:57 – Rodney Thomas comments
• 47:52 – Neil Williamson comments
• 50:10 – Slutzky closes public comment period
• 51:10 – Dorrier discusses deferral of vote
• 51:50 – Rooker discusses costs of previous County developments
• 54:30 – Supervisor Ann Mallek comments on standards for review
• 58:20 – Thomas comment on taking action on the issue
• 59:10 – Slutzky discusses deferring his vote
• 1:02:20 – Rooker discusses that fees need to be changed
• 1:06:35 – Thomas discusses the County as an attractive development area
• 1:08:28 – Mallek discusses comparison with other localities
• 1:10:28 – Rooker moves to defer the item
• 1:12:30 – Vote passes unanimously

County’s water director leaving for engineering firm

By Sean Tubbs
Friday, December 4, 2009
Charlottesville Tomorrow

Gary Fern will leave his position as executive director of the Albemarle County Service Authority to take a position with an engineering firm that has ties to the organization. Fern will go to work for Whitman, Requardt & Associates  (WR&A) in their Richmond office. 

“I will be working on engineering design of water and wastewater projects for municipal clients,” Fern said in an e-mail to Charlottesville Tomorrow. His last day at the Authority will be on February 26, 2010.

Fern will be working on projects similar to the proposed North Fork Regional Pump Station, which was designed by WR&A. The $10.7 million project will replace the aging Camelot Wastewater Treatment Plant. WR&A is involved in other ACSA projects as well, including several water main replacements, extensions and various water systems improvement projects.

The ACSA Board of Directors held an executive session to discuss the naming of an interim executive director. They also discussed the details of a search committee that will be formed to find a permanent replacement for Fern. The Board opted not to hire a headhunting firm, but to instead conduct the search in-house with human resources manager Katrina Thraves.

While discussing the advertisement for the position, ACSA Board member John Martin (White Hall) said it was important for the replacement to know that the authority will be expanding dramatically over the next ten years as Albemarle County grows. Liz Palmer (Samuel Miller) said the position description should make clear that the executive director sits on the Board of Directors for the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority. The ACSA, along with the city of Charlottesville, is one of the RWSA’s two customers.

Chairman Don Wagner expressed the concern that the controversy over the adopted community water supply plan “would not be a plus for us.”

“I am positive that people in the water and sewer business in the state of Virginia know what’s been going on with Rivanna for the past two years,” Wagner said. “It’s got to be a huge minus.”

City staff working to address $2.81 million deficit in next budget

By Brian Wheeler
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Friday, December 4, 2009

At a budget work session Thursday evening, Charlottesville City Manager Gary O’Connell said he was certain his funding request would not include a real estate tax rate increase.  O’Connell also told City Council he was not yet prepared to make a recommendation on whether city employees should receive salary increases.

The current Charlottesville tax rate is 95 cents per $100 of assessed property value.  Even with the rate held steady, the city’s revenue from real estate taxes is projected to fall as property values are forecast to decline over the next two years.  On average, that means city property owners will get a small effective tax increase since the rate is not being lowered as property values drop.

In an interview after the work session O’Connell said funding the retirement system would be his top priority for city employees and that his staff had not yet discussed compensation.

(L to R) Councilor Holly Edwards, City Manager Gary O'Connell, Mayor Dave Norris, and Councilor Satyendra Huja

“I suspect our employees are not expecting an increase,” O’Connell told City Council.  “The emphasis will be on maintaining a sound retirement system.” 

City budget director Leslie Beauregard said this was the first time city council has held a budget work session in advance of the city manager presenting his budget.  O’Connell said the meeting was scheduled at the request of the mayor so council could take some time to review financial forecasts and council funding priorities.

“We are still in the very preliminary stages of planning the 2011 budget,” said Beauregard.  She described the challenges facing the city as unprecedented. “It is kind of scary looking down the road.”

Councilors learned that the projected gap between revenues and expenditures for fiscal year 2011 has increased to $2.81 million.  Staff said that they will be working over the next two months to eliminate the deficit in their budget proposal. 

Staff also showed projections of how the deficit would hypothetically grow to $9.86 million over the next five years if no adjustments were made.  The budget that city council will approve in April will ultimately have to be balanced.  City Manager Gary O’Connell is scheduled to present his financial plan to council and the public on February 11th.

Beauregard said in an interview that there were no plans yet to increase the salaries of city employees in the next budget.  “We are already in the hole almost $3 million without [cost of living] increases,” explained Beauregard.

In the current budget, the city has a $2.8 million economic downturn fund.  Beauregard said a similar fund would be in next year’s budget.  In the first five months of this fiscal year, the city has already utilized $2 million from the fund.

City Councilor-Elect Kristin Szakos & Councilor David Brown

The city is going to have increased pressure from unmet social service needs,” said councilor David Brown in an interview.  “I think we are going to face a lot of pressures in the next couple of years and at the same time have less and less money.  I think it is going to be a really hard time, so the more things we can avoid committing to the better.”

City leaders also discussed a balance of $1 million remaining in surplus from FY2009.  Council decided to set aside $500,000 for a down payment on land know as Davis Field near Northeast Park in the Locust Grove neighborhood. 

Brown said this was a unique opportunity he felt he had to support.  Staff told council the property was assessed at $802,000.  If purchased by the city, the land would be used for park and playing field purposes.

The remaining $500,000 in surplus was set aside for consideration later in the budget process when additional information is expected to be available about state and local revenues.

Councilor-elect Kristin Szakos participated fully in the work session raising a number of questions of staff about their presentations.  Szakos takes office January 1st replacing councilor Julian Taliaferro. 

Szakos said in an interview that even with the financial challenges, she thought the lengthy budget process would lead to a positive outcome for the city.

“You have to set your priorities and really concentrate on that,” said Szakos. “It’s painful, but that’s how you get a budget that reflects your priorities.”

County water official to step down

By Sean Tubbs
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Thursday, December 3, 2009

Gary Fern appearing before the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors

Gary Fern, the executive director of the Albemarle County Service Authority since March 2006, will publicly announce his resignation today.

A special meeting of the ACSA Board of Directors will be held this morning to discuss establishing a search committee to find his replacement.

Fern will continue as the ACSA’s director through the end of February.

The search for a replacement will be directed by Katrina Thraves, the Authority’s human resources manager. Thraves was also in charge of the committee that selected Fern to replace Bill Brent, who had held the position since February 1980.

Fern’s resignation is not the only change that will come to the ACSA. The terms of three members of the Board of Directors expire at the end of this year. Each newly elected Supervisor will choose if those members will be reappointed or replaced. Supervisor Dennis Rooker (Jack Jouett) said in an interview with Charlottesville Tomorrow that he will retain Richard Carter in the position. Carter was appointed to fill the expired term of Robert Humphris who retired earlier this year.

Supervisor-elect Duane Snow (Samuel Miller) and Supervisor-elect Rodney Thomas (Rio) have instructed county clerks to publicly advertise the position. Liz Palmer said she will apply but has not yet spoken with Snow. Snow said he has not yet seen any applications, but would consider reappointing Palmer.  Thomas said he is considering three candidates for the position, one of whom is Don Wagner, the current Chairman.

Wagner worked with both Fern and Brent, and said Fern brought an engineer’s knowledge to the position. He added that Fern’s expertise has come in useful at a time when the ACSA is planning several capital projects.

“Gary is an experienced engineer who had run a business, so he brought both backgrounds to the position,” Wagner said. “If we can do as good a job hiring someone this time as we did last time, we’ve done well.”

Facing new state cuts, County officials hope to avoid delay for Jarmans Gap road improvements

By Sean Tubbs
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Thursday, December 3, 2009

An excerpt from the brochure handed out at VDOT's March 2006 design public hearing (Source: Albemarle County/VDOT)

For years, Albemarle County and the Virginia Department of Transportation have been planning to add sidewalks and bike lanes on Jarmans Gap Road in western Albemarle County. Those improvements are anticipated in the Crozet Master Plan, which was adopted five years ago to address how that community would grow.

However, rising cost estimates and decreased funding from the state have repeatedly pushed back the project’s start date. The delays could continue if the county cannot close what VDOT officials say is a $900,000 gap that must be filled before the project can be put out to bid.    

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In 2004, Jarmans Gap Road had a traffic count of 2,500 vehicles per day. That number is expected to grow to at around 5,800 by 2020.

Earlier this decade, County officials made the project a priority in order to support development in Crozet. Ever since, a portion of the county’s share of secondary road funds have gone into a fund to pay for the road’s design and construction. Currently there is a balance of $12.6 million in the fund, according to Allan Sumpter, the administrator of VDOT’s Culpeper District.

When a design public hearing was held on the project in March of 2006, the project’s cost was estimated at $10.3 million. By October of this year, that estimate had climbed to $16 million.

Next week, the Commonwealth Transportation Board will vote on a $850 million reduction in funding for the state’s six-year road improvement plan. Nearly $7 million in funding is slated to be reduced from the Jarmans Gap project through 2015.

Sumpter said he has been carefully monitoring financing for the project in order to build what he called an “insurance buffer” against the increasing estimates and anticipated funding cuts. He said if the county had actually received the full amount in the six year plan, the project would have a $3.5 million buffer today.

In October, the County was awarded $1 million from VDOT’s revenue sharing program because it put up $1.1 million of its own money. That leaves a $900,000 gap, according to Sumpter. 

Supervisor Dennis Rooker (Jack Jouett) said VDOT should put the project out to bid now in order to take advantage of the recession. He said contractors are dramatically reducing the price of their bids in order to find work.

“We may be able to obtain a bid that in and of itself would be $900,000 less than the estimate,” Rooker said.

However, Sumpter said VDOT policy is to require projects to be fully-funded before they can be allowed to proceed to construction. The first step in that process is to ask for bids from contractors.

Rooker said VDOT should consider changing its policies.

“In the current climate, that approach is ridiculous,” Rooker said. “The policy made more sense during a time of inflation and right now we’re in a time of deflation.”

Sumpter said VDOT’s policies are in place to make sure that contractors can be paid. He said VDOT had previously allowed projects to be debt financed, but the agency was paying too much in debt service.

“We just have to make sure we have the money in the bank,” Sumpter said.

VDOT policy also doesn’t allow a project to go to bid until all right of way has been cleared for a road project. Sumpter said all of the required properties should be cleared by early summer and it will take another six months of administrative work before the project can be advertised for bidders.

One of the County’s other active secondary road projects, its portion of the Meadowcreek Parkway, is under construction with an anticipated completion date of fall 2011. Faulconer Construction won an $11.8 million bid for the project, which Sumpter said was lower than had been anticipated for construction.

Amid growth in Crozet, Albemarle seeks to maintain US 250 as a scenic byway

This article is the third in a four-part series on the future of Route 250 published jointly by The Daily Progress and Charlottesville Tomorrow.  Part: One, Two, Three, Four

By Brian Wheeler
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Stacy and Jonathan Hunt looked all over Albemarle County to find their first home. On Free Town Lane, just off U.S. 250 west in Crozet, the young couple found a small home built in 1925 on a lot of less than a quarter acre.

In a wooded area between Western Albemarle High School and R.A. Yancey Lumber Corp., their two-story home had a price and location that were just right.

“We didn’t buy a home in an established development. We bought a home that had been here since the 1920s,” said Jonathan Hunt. “We liked Crozet for what it is today. We didn’t come here saying we wanted more restaurants and stores.”

Five years later, the Free Town neighborhood now finds itself in the middle of a debate about the future character of both Crozet and the U.S. 250 west corridor. The Hunts’ neighbors, who include a number of lifelong residents who trace their ancestry to former slaves who settled there, are concerned about new development, traffic and their quality of life.

It’s a story of concerns that can be found along U.S. 250’s length from Keswick to Crozet, a key stretch of highway that has come under pressure from increasing traffic, but has little state funding for improvements to help drivers or pedestrians and bicyclists.

A new gas station has been proposed for a now vacant lot on the highway that is 300 feet from the Hunts’ front yard. Across the street is the Old Trail Village development in the Crozet growth area. And now, neighbors are also concerned about a proposal to build the Yancey Mills Business Park on 184 acres of mostly rural land that buffers their homes from Interstate 64 to the south.

“It is death by 1,000 cuts and it happens one little development at a time,” said Hunt at a recent neighborhood gathering. “First a gas station, then a Harris Teeter, and before you know it, the character of your community is gone.”

Part of the charm

U.S. 250 in western Albemarle is a Virginia Scenic Byway known today for its rural charm, limited development and mountain views. The highway’s 9.5-mile stretch from Broomley Road near Farmington to Yancey Mills in Crozet features two travel lanes and a central turning or passing lane in all areas except the narrow stretch through Ivy.

Scenic 250 formed as a grassroots organization in 1997 to protect the rural character of the highway. According to steering committee member Scott Peyton, it was a coincidence that the Virginia Department of Transportation launched a pivotal study of 250 that same year.

“It was a watershed moment,” Peyton said. “We had been previously unaware of VDOT’s plans to widen the road.”

VDOT’s final report in January 2000 recommended the widening of 250 west to four lanes between the US 29/250 Bypass near the Bellair neighborhood all the way to the railroad trestle crossing the Mechums River.

Scenic 250 vigorously opposed the road’s widening, a recommendation that VDOT made over the objections of the citizen committee participating in the study. The public argued that it made no sense to widen 250 when it ran parallel to the existing I-64.

With the strong support of Supervisor Sally H. Thomas, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution in May 2000 that committed the county to protecting the road as a two-lane scenic corridor all the way west to the county line. VDOT conceded that 250 was used largely for local traffic, and if residents wanted to deal with the congestion, that could be a local choice.

Since 2001, the traffic on 250 west has increased on all the sections measured annually by VDOT. Near Yancey Mills and Old Trail, traffic is up by 28 percent as of 2008. However, the section from Miller School Road to the Mechums River is up 48 percent over the same period, and from there to Ivy it has increased 41 percent.

New developments

Peyton thinks new homes being built in the rural area along 250 pose the greatest threat to the corridor.

“If you look at risks to scenic beauty of 250 west, it is not all tied to commercial development,” Peyton said. “Arguably, high-density residential development poses greater risks.”

In recent years, members of the county’s Route 250 West Task Force have petitioned unsuccessfully for the Architectural Review Board to gain more authority to regulate the appearance of residential developments visible from the corridor. Current and former task force members cited Cory Farms and Foxchase as examples of neighborhoods they wish had been visually buffered from 250.

Other observers interviewed for this story say it is Crozet’s growth and new projects on land zoned long ago for highway commercial that are the critical challenge facing U.S. 250 west.

Justin Beights is vice president of the Beights Development Corp., which is developing Old Trail Village. Old Trail and its adjoining neighborhoods have been approved for about 2,500 homes. According to Beights, the development has around 210 occupied residences today.

Beights said his thinking has changed about U.S. 250’s relationship to his development, because it once was where he wanted more of the commercial activity.

“We proffered a buffer along Route 250, so hopefully at the end of the day you won’t see too much more of Old Trail than you see today,” Beights said. “One of the Crozet master plan’s key components was the limitation of development along Route 250, and that has led us to the first phase of a successful village center [in Old Trail].”

Beights said the higher standards for development should apply to anything new on U.S. 250.

“We were held to a very high standard, and because of that, we have a quality product,” Beights said. “I would be frustrated if someone was not held to those high standards, particularly in a visible place like 250.”

Will Yancey, who has asked the county to consider a proposal to develop rural land outside the growth area and behind the saw mill as a new business park, said he also wants to be sensitive to “visual pollution” along 250.

“Our development would be invisible from Route 250,” Yancey said. “Furthermore, in a growing area like Crozet, which already has potential to double in size, you will need more jobs in and around Crozet, or you face the specter of having to widen 250 from Yancey Mills all the way to Charlottesville.”

Driveway jam

A neighbor of the Hunts, Vicki Whiting, was born and raised in Free Town. Whiting said she has reached the point where she is considering moving.

“I am caught between progress and familiar surroundings,” Whiting said. “The other day I left the house and there was a wall of cars on Route 250 and I couldn’t go either direction. I sat in my driveway for 30 minutes.”

Whiting said Crozet’s growth has made her feel like she is being “bombarded with an influx of people.”

“I feel like I live on a major interstate in the city and that 250 has become just insane,” she said. “I used to walk on 250, but it is not safe anymore.”

Crozet resident Barb Franko is a member of the Route 250 West Task Force who favors greater attention being given to the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists, while at the same time keeping 250 west a two-lane road.

“I would like to see more greenways and bike trails connecting Crozet to Charlottesville,” Franko said. “That would help keep it more scenic in the future, protect the sides of the road from development, and increase the awareness of the people that this is a valuable asset.”