The Daily Progress published a story today about cvillepedia, the new community wiki hosted by Charlottesville Tomorrow. We really appreciate their interest and hope the story motivates a lot of new users to sign-up and start contributing their knowledge to this collaborative project. We welcome your feedback and ideas.
Brian Wheeler
Charlottesville Tomorrow
By Julia Glendening
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Friday, July 3, 2009
The Virginia Coalition of High Growth Communities, is a membership association for local government officials from counties in Virginia with rapid residential development. Also known as the High Growth Coalition, the group met on June 29, 2009 in Culpeper to listen to speakers and discuss three major topics: the regulation of alternative onsite sewage systems; new stormwater management requirements; and VDOT’s secondary street requirements. The focus of the discussion was to examine how local governments will be influenced by changes in legislation approved by the General Assembly and speakers stressed how important it is for local officials to make their opinions heard. Albemarle County is a member of the Coalition and was represented by Supervisors Sally Thomas (Samuel Miller), Ann Mallek (White Hall), and Mark Graham, the County’s Director of Community Development.
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Alternative Onsite Sewage Systems (AOSS)
According to the Code of Virginia (§ 32.1-163), a conventional onsite sewage system consists of one or more septic tanks flowing to a gravity distributed drainfield. An alternative onsite sewage system does not have the characteristics of a conventional system and does not flow to a point source discharge, such as a pipe. An AOSS can treat sewage with a device other than a septic tank, such as a media filter, which uses other ways to separate the sewage, for example with peat, byproducts of coal, or foam cubes. Pressurized systems are also used instead of gravity to distribute the wastewater within a drainfield.
Earlier this year, the General Assembly passed two bills (HB 1788 and SB 1276) declaring that local governments cannot prohibit the use of alternative onsite sewage systems, both of which went into effect on July 1, 2009. Previously, a building permit could be withheld if the soil on site would not support a traditional septic system and public sewer was not available to the property. In compliance with the interim requirements of the new legislation, alternative systems installed after July 1, 2009 will have to be operated and maintained by the most stringent policies declared by the manufacturer, the local government, or the state. These will be replaced by the Board of Health emergency regulations in April 6, 2010 and final regulations at the end of 2010.
In an interview with Charlottesville Tomorrow, Jeff McDaniel, local Environmental Health Manager for the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), said in 2008 about 74 alternative systems were approved in Albemarle, Fluvanna, Louisa, Greene, and Nelson Counties. McDaniel said Albemarle did not prohibit the use of alternative systems prior to this year’s legislation and he thought the legislation would have more of an effect on other regions of Virginia.
Albemarle County's Mark Graham, told Charlottesville Tomorrow that, before the new legislation went into effect this week, alternative onsite sewage systems were allowed only when an existing conventional system had failed. Graham said a developer previously had to demonstrate a conventional system could be implemented in order to get a building plan approved. Under the new law, an alternative system could be specified up front and local government would not be able to deny a development right.
Supervisor Sally Thomas (Samuel Miller) expressed concern about the potential for increased residential growth on previously undevelopable land in an update she gave to the Board of Supervisors at their July 1 meeting.
“We have regarded whether land [percolates for septic] or not as a land use control,” said Thomas. “Now that will no longer be a controlling factor.”
McDaniel noted that about 5 to 10% of building permits with conventional sewage systems have been denied in the past year due to various limiting factors, such as soil or location limitations.
“I see it [alternative systems] as a positive thing,” said McDaniel. “Conventional systems treat the sewage, but alternative systems clean the sewage to a different level. There are places where alternative systems can be used to better treat the effluent.”
He emphasized the importance of properly maintaining all types of sewage systems and said he saw the new maintenance regulations as a way to improve VDH’s existing procedures.
“I think we’re going to clarify some better maintenance and monitoring of not just alternative but conventional [systems],” said McDaniel.
Panelists at the Coalition meeting, however, discussed potential problems with the AOSS regulations. Trapper Davis, from the Coastal Plains Environmental Group, LLC, said he maintains these systems and was also concerned with the cost for residential clients, which is currently $400 for a year of maintenance. He said that may deter people from keeping their sewage systems properly maintained. Davis also said he believed industry professionals do not have enough knowledge about proper maintenance for AOSS and this could be a problem once the interim regulations go into effect.
Bob Lee, from the Loudoun County Health Department, said many homeowners are unaware their sewage system is an AOSS, which could create a problem for trying to identify systems for inspection. Lee also emphasized the importance of establishing quantitative performance standards.
Allen Knapp, from the Virginia Department of Health, said the frequency and cost of monitoring are major issues for the implementation of AOSS.
Stormwater Management Requirements
The state is currently changing storm water management regulations for construction, local programs, and permit fees in order to increase water quality standards, in compliance with EPA standards for the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The Virginia Stormwater Management Program (VSMP) was created in 2004 with House Bill 1177, which authorized local authorities to implement stormwater management programs. The Soil and Water Conservation Board proposed amendments to parts I, II, III, and XIII of VSMP regulations on September 25, 2008. The amendments are still being discussed and there will be a 60-day public comment ending on August 21, 2009.
Ryan Brown, Policy and Planning Assistant Director for the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, described these amendments and said there will be a stricter phosphorous standard for new development from 0.45 lbs per acre per year to 0.28. The amendments also propose a decrease in nutrient levels for land redevelopment. Currently the standard is a 10% reduction to the predevelopment load and the amendments will require a 20% reduction in nutrients from the predevelopment load.
“This addresses new development and prevents us from making the situation worse,” said Brown.
Lisa Ochsenhirt, of Aqualaw, PLC, described the obligations for local governments in order to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay. She stated the three year milestone goal is to increase the pace of reduction by 86% for nitrogen and 52% for phosphorous during 2009-2011. She said this reduction would cost Virginia’s state government a projected $1.2 billion. Ochsenhirt stated the consequences would include a tightening of regulations and permits, an increase in reporting and auditing, and an increase in lawsuits by the EPA, state, or citizens. She warned the High Growth Coalition that the restrictions would hit the high growth communities the hardest.
Mike Flagg, Director of Public Works for Hanover County, said Hanover had calculated the expense to retrofit areas with stormwater treatment from 2005 data and determined it would cost $1,525 a person. Flagg also declared it would cost $500 or more per lot to maintain the nutrient regulations for stormwater, all of which could create more expensive growth areas.
“We may actually be promoting sprawl with some of these rules,” said Flagg.
Thomas also commented at the Board of Supervisors meeting on how the stormwater regulations will affect Albemarle County.
“Our main concern I think in this community is that if you regulate stormwater in the city or in the urban area more stringently you’re just going to squish development out into the rural area because it will be a lot less expensive in the rural area,” said Thomas.
VDOT Secondary Street Acceptance Requirements (SSAR)
Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has developed Secondary Street Acceptance Requirements (SSAR), which will become mandatory July 1, 2009. The SSAR includes three goals: ensuring the connectivity of road and pedestrian networks; minimizing impervious surface area; and addressing performance bonding needs of new secondary streets. The Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) approved the SSAR in February 2009 and a transition period was instated from March 9 to June 30.
Ted McCormack, the Director of Governmental Affairs for the Virginia Association of Counties (VACo), outlined the requirements, which included a calculated interconnectivity index for each neighborhood. He stressed the importance of interconnectivity and said it would lead to less construction, increased pedestrian safety, a faster emergency vehicle response time, and a more efficient network overall. He said VDOT has determined that on average throughout Virginia, 10% of all trips are walking trips, demonstrating the lack of pedestrian accessibility.
Nick Donahue, Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Virginia, said VDOT has taken a position of not widening the right of way
to reduce congestion because they believe connectivity is a more successful solution.
“It’s much more cost effective for us to have connectivity so that people’s trips to school, the grocery store, etc. are on the local roads than it is for VDOT to widen the main roads,” said Donahue.
Donahue also answered questions about the impact a reduced state budget has had on VDOT. He said there have been cutbacks in many areas due to the decrease from $8.7 billion in revenue in FY2008 to $5.4 billion in FY2010.
TIMELINE FOR PODCAST FROM JULY 1, 2009 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS MEETING
By Julia Glendening
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Greg Harper, Water Resources Manager for Albemarle County |
Greg Harper, the Water Resources Manager for Albemarle County, presented an update on the Crozet stormwater management system to the Board of Supervisors on July 1, 2009. The Board originally approved the system on November 7, 2007, however, the design was further developed and the 2009 cost estimate is larger than the 2007 estimate. The Board indicated their support for the stormwater project and agreed to reexamine the cost estimate at a future meeting.
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Harper described the goals of the project, which included stormwater management planning for future growth, especially a denser downtown area which he said could increase runoff. He also said the project would help to protect water resources by addressing areas currently without stormwater management. Harper stated the engineering plans are 80% complete and emphasized that staff hopes to provide stormwater management at the lowest cost possible.
A cost estimate was first provided in 2007 by Kimley-Horn Associates, the consultant for the project, and totaled $350,000. However, the estimate was changed in 2009 to $694,176. This was an increase of $344,176 and almost double the original cost. A staff report explained the cost estimate was raised due to an increase in land parcel size, a re-alignment of the storm and sewage system, and the addition of contingency costs, which were not originally included. Harper expressed hope for a lower final cost because of the favorable construction market.
“We’re hoping to be under construction within about six months,” said Harper. “There’s 15 acres of impervious area that we can immediately treat and prevent those pollutants from reaching our water supply.”
Harper also said a grant had been awarded to the Rivanna River Basin Commission and $120,000 would be provided to help fund the Crozet stormwater management project. However, Harper warned the Board of the lengthy process to receive the grant.
Supervisor David Slutzky (Rio) said he was concerned with the total balance of the Stormwater Control Improvement Fund due to pending improvement of Sun Ridge Road. The Board approved the renovation of Sun Ridge Road on March 7, 2007 and drainage issues were to be addressed and financed by the Stormwater Fund. Slutzky said the drainage improvements have not been dealt with at the present time and wanted to confirm there would be sufficient funding in the future.
Harper told Slutzky he did not know the balance of the fund but assured him there would excess money left in the fund after the stormwater project. County executive Bob Tucker said the Sun Ridge Road project money had been set aside and its funding would not be depleted by the stormwater project.
Supervisor Ann Mallek (White hall) commented that the Birnam Basin project in 2004 was similar in cost and did not have as many features.
Harper agreed and said the Birnam Basin, a detention basin near Charlotte Humphris Park, cost $720,000 and was much simpler than the stormwater project, which will serve 30 impervious acres.
TIMELINE FOR PODCAST
By Sean Tubbs and Brian Wheeler
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Every three months, the Executive Directors of both the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority (RWSA) and the Albemarle County Service Authority (ACSA) appear before the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors to give an update on current water and sewer issues. Gary Fern, Executive Director of the ACSA, and Tom Frederick, Executive Director of the RWSA, made their latest visit on July 1, 2009, the first day of the new fiscal year.
One highlight of the meeting was Fern stating that the opening of both Whole Foods and the proposed Trader Joe’s for Albemarle Place may face further delays until the Meadowcreek sewer interceptor is replaced.
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FERN UPDATES BOARD ON THE ACSA
Gary Fern, Executive Director of the ACSA |
Gary Fern told the Board that the ACSA implemented a four-tier rate system on July 1st that encourages conservation by only charging the ACSA’s wholesale rate to residential and irrigation customers using less than 3,000 gallons a billing cycle. The second tier charges users at two times the wholesale rate, the third tier charges users at three times the wholesale rate, and the fourth tier charges at four times the wholesale rate. The fourth kicks in after 9,000 gallons are used.
“We hope our customers will understand how we developed the rate,” Fern said. “What we’re trying to do is encourage people to conserve and try to stay in that second-tier and third-tier.” Commercial users will still play a flat-fee for each 1,000 gallons. Apartment complexes also will pay a flat-fee because Fern said it was too complicated to determine individual family amounts in multi-family dwellings.
Supervisor Dennis Rooker (Jack Jouett) questioned whether it was good practice to not charge anything additional to customers who only consume enough water to keep them in the first tier.
“It just seems to me that every tier should contribute something towards administrative overheard,” Rooker said. “You could drive everyone down to the bottom tier and the system would go bankrupt.”
Fern pointed out that all ACSA customers pay a service charge, and administrative costs are included in that fee. He added that ACSA rates have generally been increased to help pay for new infrastructure and maintenance of existing lines.
Supervisor Sally Thomas (Samuel Miller) asked Fern if he was able to balance the ACSA’s budget for FY2010 based on the new rates. He responded affirmatively.
Supervisor David Slutzky (Rio) asked if there was a way to change the rate structure to make it more affordable for growth area residents who are not currently connected to the ACSA sewer system. Those homes could pay up to $11,200 to be connected under the existing fee structure. Fern said that the ACSA is considering terminating the local facilities charge, which could help reduce the one-time cost for those citizens by $2,500. Fern said the ACSA will hold a public hearing on all of its connection charges in August.
FREDERICK UPDATES BOARD ON THE RWSA
Tom Frederick, Executive Director of the RWSA |
Tom Frederick was on hand to update the Board on the status of the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority’s many projects. First, he told Supervisors why the RWSA has decided to hire another firm to design the proposed new dam at the Ragged Mountain Reservoir. The decision is one of the outcomes that stems from the RWSA’s hiring of a panel of dam experts to revisit Gannett Fleming’s original design after its cost estimate more than doubled in September of 2008. He told the Board that he is aware of criticism in the community that, by dropping Gannett Fleming’s services, important data will be lost. Frederick said those fears are unfounded.
“We own all the work that we produce, so we have a right to request it all and we have received everything that we are aware of,” Frederick said. “Nothing has been lost in terms of the data and the information.” He acknowledged that the RWSA will likely have the new designer provide their own analysis of the data collected by Gannett Fleming.
“We want to have someone who can give us the closest interpretation we can get to a pragmatic viewpoint that recognizes the safety and importance of the structure, but who is also looking for innovative and exciting ways to keep the costs as economical as possible,” Frederick said.
Supervisor Ken Boyd (Rivanna) pointed out that Gannett Fleming’s main role to date has been in leading the public input process that led to the adoption of the 50-year community water supply plan. Frederick said that was true, and added that the consultant also played a role in getting the permits from the Army Core of Engineers and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
“The goal was to get a permit from both the state and federal agencies, something this community had never accomplished before in its previous water planning,” Frederick said. The permitting process began after the City Council and the Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted the plan in June 2006.
Since then, the RWSA has responded to City Council and community interest in revisiting the dredging of the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir as a way to restore water storage capacity. In May 2009, the Board voted to issue an RFP for that purpose, and so far eight proposals have been received. They will be reviewed during a public meeting on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at the County Office Building South.
Frederick also reported that construction is under way for upgrades at the Moores Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, but he alluded to the possibility of Virginia not meeting the deadline for cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay despite efforts to upgrade treatment plants. He also said the Meadowcreek sewer interceptor replacement, which is still in the right-of-way acquisition process, could go to bid this fall with construction taking fourteen months after the winning bid is awarded.
Near the end of his briefing, Frederick reported that the RWSA was in the process of conducting a wastewater master plan with the City of Charlottesville and the ACSA. The idea is to better link the approval of new commercial and residential developments to the provision of sewer capacity. Inadequate sewer infrastructure has delayed both the North Pointe and Albemarle Place projects in Albemarle County. By contrast, subsequent rezonings at Hollymead Town Center and Biscuit Run have included up-front written agreements for the developers to pay for their share of sewer infrastructure upgrades.
“The idea of the master plan is to plan to get ahead of the process so that things [like this] don’t happen again,” Frederick said. One of the obstacles to developing the plan will be to decide who is responsible for paying for efforts to prevent stormwater from getting into the sewer system, a problem known as inflow and infiltration. Stormwater entering the sewer system increases the load at water treatment facilities.
Rooker asked what restrictions might be placed on new connections until the Meadowcreek Interceptor is complete. Frederick said that there is no additional capacity available until that project is finished.
“The system works very well under dry periods,” Frederick said. “But it is not always where we need it to be during wet weather periods.”
CAPACITY PROBLEMS FOR TRADER JOE’S AND WHOLE FOODS?
Click for a larger map of the interceptor's alignment |
Rooker asked if the new Whole Foods in the City on Hydraulic Road could be connected to the system before the Meadowcreek Interceptor is upgraded. He also mentioned that a Trader’s Joe grocery store is being proposed for Albemarle Place in the County. Gary Fern of the ACSA said if any one new customer submits a connection request to use more than 40,000 gallons a day, the ACSA must request that capacity from the RWSA. Fern said that at this time, that additional capacity is not there.
“At this point in time, if there is not capacity within the Meadowcreek Interceptor, they will not get an approval from the [ACSA],” Fern said. “We don’t want to be put in a position where we would grant approval to a development and then we have no place to put the wastewater.” Fern said grocery stores usually use produce more than 40,000 gallons of wastewater a day.
Rooker asked if Whole Foods, which will be built within Charlottesville’s city limits, would be in the same situation. Fern said he did not know the status of that project. Rooker said he wants to make sure that the County gets equal access to sewer capacity. The City Planning Commission approved a revised preliminary site plan for the store just last month.
“The City has to go through the same process of requesting [capacity],” Fern said. Fern said he had not seen a site plan for Trader Joe’s yet. Frederick said he was also not aware of any requests from either Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s.
The Supervisors were informed at a briefing in September 2008 that the sewer capacity should be available by December 2009, a schedule that was expected at the time to accommodate the new Albemarle Place development schedule. The delays in the Meadowcreek Interceptor project mean the sewer capacity will now not be available until late 2010 or early 2011.
TIMELINE FOR PODCAST:
01:00 – Introduction from Gary Fern, Executive Director of the ACSA
By Sean Tubbs
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
At their meeting on June 24, 2009, the MPO Policy Board considered whether to spend additional funds on hiring a consultant to help with the formation of a Regional Transit Authority (RTA), viewed the results of two surveys conducted on the Charlottesville Transit Service and endorsed a letter asking for earlier service for an additional passenger train that will commence in October.
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Listen using player above or download the podcast: Download 20090624-MPO
The basic framework for the proposed RTA has been put in place through work conducted by the firm Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, and specifically, transportation expert Frank Spielberg. The City and County both contributed $50,000 to match a $90,000 grant from the Federal Transit Administration to pay for their services.
Their 45-page report outlines several different scenarios by which such an authority might be formed, and details different governing structures under which it might operate. Even more intricate details about how the community could proceed are featured in the 12 appendices that accompany the report.
In August 2008, the City Council and the Board of Supervisors affirmed their willingness to create the RTA during a joint work session. They set up a working group of two Councilors and two Supervisors to help guide the process. Throughout the fall of 2008, this group spent most of their time at several meetings to determine what sort of legislation should be pursued. They decided to ask the General Assembly to pass two pieces of legislation. The first would create the RTA (HB2158), and the second (HB2161) was for permission to ask citizens in a referendum if they would support a sales tax increase of up to 1 cent to fund the RTA’s operations. The General Assembly approved the first bill, but did not approve the second.
On May 14, 2009, the working group met once more to discuss whether it was worthwhile to continue pursuing the RTA’s creation without the favored method of funding. At that meeting, consensus was reached to have Barlow and her staff prepare recommendations on RTA governance issues and to draft a budget to retain a consultant to guide the RTA’s formation and system design. That consensus was ratified by the MPO later that month. Barlow contacted Spielberg to find out how much his services would cost to address some of the remaining issues, and gave four points of his action on which his firm should base a cost estimate:
A representative from VHB wrote back and said that the first bullet would likely consist of resolving the issues defined in the initial report’s Appendix J. While that section of the report contains an implementation schedule that largely assumed approval of a funding mechanism, many of the questions asked have yet to be answered or fully addressed, such as:
The letter from VHB says that the above questions, along with others in Appendix J, would be a starting point for a first meeting with Frank Spielberg. It then proposes his attendance at an additional five meetings. VHB’s initial cost estimate assumes using 14 days of Spielberg’s time for meetings as well as an additional six days for research. Spielberg bills at the rate of $215 an hour, suggesting a budget of $40,000.
VHB's report contains multiple references to potential funding sources. This chart refers to revenues available to localities under HB3202 , a transportation funding bill passed in 2007. Click to enlarge. (Source: VHB) |
During the MPO’s meeting, Barlow said she wanted to get input on whether this proposed estimate matched the MPO member’s expectations of what Spielberg’s future involvement should be. She also said her contact at the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (VDRPT) said there are least two grant-funding opportunities to help pay for VHB’s additional work. One would be a “technical assistance” grant where VDRPT would pay half of the costs with the rest coming from local sources. The second would be a federal planning grant in which 80% of funding would come from the federal government, 10% from VDRPT and a required 10% match from localities.
Councilor Satyendra Huja said he was more interested in getting additional information about how to fund the RTA, given that the state denied the sales tax referendum. Barlow referred him to Appendix H of VHB’s RTA plan, which lists several other potential funding mechanisms. She said some of these were discussed at the May 14 meeting of the RTA Working Group.
“Before moving in any direction on how to fund the RTA, the question arose as to exactly what is it going to cost us to develop this in terms of what bridges we need to cost, what we do with employees, what we do with assets,” Barlow said. Huja is also a member of the RTA working group.
Councilor Julian Taliaferro, who is not a member of the RTA working group, asked if Albemarle County would “put up any money” to purchase some of the assets currently owned by City of Charlottesville.
Routes 5 and 7 serve Albemarle County and run twice an hour from 6:00 AM to midnight, Monday through Saturday. Route 7 is one of only two routes that run at all on Sunday. Albemarle County currently pays for the enhanced service |
“I guess the question is, are we going to do a study if we don’t know what [Albemarle County’s] commitment is,” Taliaferro asked. “It perplexes me a little bit that we’re going to do a study and we really don’t know if anyone is going to join in.”
Neither Supervisor David Slutzky (Rio) nor Dennis Rooker (Jack Jouett) was present to respond. The County’s Chief Planner, David Bennish, was the County’s lone representative at this meeting and he said the purpose of the additional study by VHB would be to determine if there’s a way for the City and County to work together to plan for future transit.
CTS Director Bill Watterson said that the study is a “work in progress” to determine how hard it would be to resolve some of the remaining questions. He said the further study’s scope of work could be expanded or reduced.
Barlow suggested that the discussion should be postponed until the MPO’s July meeting. Huja concurred.
MPO VIEWS TWO PRESENTATIONS ON IMPROVING CTS
At the May 2009 meeting of the MPO Policy Board, Chair David Slutzky had mentioned that a class at Monticello High School had conducted a survey of CTS passengers. Their basic recommendations focused on adding more buses at night, adding more stops at night, and to expand bus service further in Albemarle County.
Download Anna MacIntosh's presentation
Source: Southeastern Institute for Research |
Some of these findings were echoed in a more complex survey conducted by the Southeastern Institute of Research. Anna MacIntosh, Program Director for the firm, related the results of her group’s marketing study, which was conducted under the brand “Transportation Tomorrow.” The project was paid for in part by a grant received by the MPO to assess interest in forming a Regional Transit Authority. MacIntosh said the project was designed to increase public awareness of transportation planning. Outreach efforts included a telephone survey, an on-board passenger survey, a widely-promoted online survey as well as a paper survey handed out at places such as Charlottesville’s Senior Center. As a result, MacIntosh claimed 4,385 citizens participated in the process.
Some of the findings from the random phone survey of 300 citizens:
MPO ADOPTS RESOLUTION CALLING FOR EARLIER AMTRAK TRAIN
Earlier this year, the Commonwealth Transportation Board approved three years of funding to launch new daily Amtrak passenger service from Lynchburg to Washington. At the time, it was believed that the service’s schedule would allow for citizens to conduct a full day’s business in the nation’s capitol.
However, when the schedule was released, it depicted the train leaving Lynchburg at 7:43 a.m., with the train not arriving at Union Station until 11:20 a.m. This is because a railroad line owned by the CSX Corporation cannot accommodate the earlier schedule, which is considered a “peak-hour” slot.
At the May 2009 meeting, the MPO Policy Board directed staff to write a resolution asking the VDRPT to “closely monitor the ridership performance during the first year… to determine if it is meeting expectations.” A fear held by some in the community is that the three-year experiment will not be extended if it is not useful for business travelers. The resolution also asks for state transportation officials, including Governor Tim Kaine, “to do everything within the state of Virginia’s legal power and authority to negotiate an additional peak hour slot” for the service.
Service is expected to begin this October.
FEDERAL & STATE OFFICIALS CONFIRM UNJAM 2035 IS ‘FISCALLY CONSTRAINED’
As area planners and elected officials formulate and adopt plans for the community’s future infrastructure, one issue they face concerns how to best represent cost estimates for large capital projects. Critics of the adopted community water supply plan have repeatedly said that plan is unsound because some elements lack definite cost estimates. In June, the Free Enterprise Forum released a critique of the Albemarle County Planning Commission for using current year dollars for road improvement projects called for in Places29 rather than figures adjusted for inflation.
At the MPO’s May 2009 meeting, former City Council candidate Peter Kleeman questioned how the UNJAM 2035 long range transportation plan factors in the costs related to maintenance and upgrade associated with Interstate 64. He said that because that funding can only be used for that purpose, it artificially misleads the public into thinking that the community has more money to spend on transportation projects then it really does.
“There was something on the order of $100 million of funding in the long-range plan that are Interstate dollars that have been distributed for non-Interstate projects,” Kleeman said at the June 2009 meeting. He claimed that as a result, the UNJAM 2035 plan cannot be implemented or approved by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).
Acting MPO Director Melissa Barlow said she reviewed federal regulations after receiving Kleeman’s comments, and said her interpretation was that the federal requirement for “fiscal constraint” takes all sources of funding into consideration: federal, state and local.
“There is no direction that I could find that you needed to financially constrain yourself to a particular system,” Barlow said. She then checked with VDOT and FHWA officials who agreed with her assessment. Unwanna Dabney, the FHWA representative on the MPO Policy Board, said the MPO met her agency’s basic requirements for showing fiscal constraint.
“That is the demonstration that a cumulative amount of funds are reasonably expected to be available over the 20 year timeframe [of the long range plan],” Dabney said. She said that some MPOs across the nation do break down the funding sources in their long-range plans, but that the goal of such documents is to serve as a planning document. Dabney also pointed out that much of the federal funding that comes to local communities comes through the SAFETEA-LU Act, which expires this year.
“It’s asking a bit much to constrain everything by program when we really have no idea what the next federal legislation [for transportation] is going to look like,” Dabney said.
OTHER NEWS:
This was the last meeting for Melissa Barlow, who will leave the MPO and the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission for a job with the Federal Transit Administration. The TJPDC’s new Executive Director, Steven Williams, has been officially certified as the Director of the MPO
TIMELINE FOR PODCAST:
By Brian Wheeler
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Monday, June 29, 2009
The University of Virginia’s rate of public water usage has increased by about 42.1 million gallons from the previous year. In the fiscal year that ends this week, the University reports that it has used about 511.6 million gallons of water during 2008-09, that is an increase of almost 9% from the 469.5 million gallons used during 2007-08. The 42.1 million gallons of additional water used would fill a pool the size of a football field to a depth of about 117 feet.
In a November 2008 article, Charlottesville Tomorrow assessed the University’s water usage trends. This past month, the University provided Charlottesville Tomorrow with updated data covering the past school year. In their response, the University reported that a meter error had been corrected in fall of 2008 which added another 65.8 million gallons to their water bill from the City of Charlottesville. According to Ric Barrick, the City’s Director of Communications, Charlottesville collected $167,440 in additional water fees from the University once the discrepancy was resolved. The adjustment also led the University to restate its FY 2007-08 water usage, increasing the total for that year by 3.89%.
Because the University uses approximately 7 - 8% of the total water distributed by the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority (RWSA), these updated usage estimates are relevant to the ongoing discussion over the 50-year community water supply plan.
The University of Virginia provided the following additional information about water usage in the 2008-09:
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