Charlottesville Tomorrow Blog

Senior Statesmen discuss the challenges of growth and development

(L to R) Jack Marshall (ASAP), Jeff Werner (PEC), Neil Williamson (FEF)

On April 11, 2007, the Senior Statesmen of Virginia (SSV) held their monthly meeting at the Northside Library in Charlottesville, VA.  The three invited panelists, among the community's most familiar faces when it comes to discussions of local growth and development issues, shared their views on topics including land use, transportation, population growth, government regulation, and property rights. 

The panelists were:

Jack Marshall, Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population
Jeff Werner, Piedmont Environmental Council
Neil Williamson, Free Enterprise Forum

Before an audience of about forty people, each panelist made a presentation about the role of their organization and provided their assessment of the growth and development challenges facing local government and our community at-large.

President Don Wells, described the Senior Statesmen "as a vehicle for senior citizens to get together to learn about issues, to discuss them, but also to potentially take action... to influence the political process."

Podcast produced by Charlottesville Tomorrow * Player by Odeo

Listen using player above or download the podcast: Download 20070411-SSV-Growth.MP3

Audio pointers and representative quotes:

• 00:08:30 -- Jack Marshall, ASAP
  • "A small but powerful group has been delighted with the relentlessly expanding local population.  For its members enjoy profits from land speculation and construction, or from an expanding market for whatever they sell."
  • "Although 'smart growth' is necessary, ASAP argues that it's not sufficient. Smart growth addresses where and how a community's population expands, but not whether it should expand. Over the long haul, smart growth merely accommodates growth. ASAP's approach goes beyond smart growth by contending that every community should try to identify its optimal population size, then work to reach and maintain a stationary size at that point."
  • "The only thing more radical than stopping growth is not stopping growth."
• 00:21:35 -- Jeff Werner, PEC
  • "We support growth and development at a pace and in a pattern that is fiscally responsible and not a burden on taxpayers."
  • "In total, the current residential pipeline for the [County's] growth area and for the [City of Charlottesville] is now over 18,000 units.  This does not include the rural area...which is another 30,000 to 50,000 lots. That 18,000 units in the growth area and the City is enough for approximately 42,000 additional people.  In other words, while the development community argues that the growth area needs to be expanded, their own proposals clearly indicate that such an expansion may not be necessary for at least another generation."
• 00:37:14 -- Neil Williamson, FEF
  • "As a purpose, [the Free Enterprise Forum] strive to provide balance to the public debate.  We feel that without such balance issues are often skewered by special interest groups which may not have a full understanding of the community ramifications for the solutions they propose."
  • "It is true that we would like to see more development in the development area.  That is clear. That's where the infrastructure should be placed.  It is also true that property rights are important."
  • "Right now the rural areas, for the past three or four years, probably the past seven years, have been at or above the [level] of development in the development areas.  I firmly believe that is due to government regulation making it difficult to develop in the development areas. This is something I see starting to change."
  • "Jack [Marshall] had mentioned, 'Are there limits to growth in our future.'  I think that is a very relevant question.  The other question is who should place those limits....Placing an arbitrary number [on population] is digging a moat around the County.  And who gets to man the bridge?"
  • "There are some in Albemarle County that want to place this population cap.  I find that elitist and it would be the equivalent of digging a moat."
• 00:48:20 -- Q&A

Brian Wheeler

 

County Planning Commissioner Jo Higgins Stepping Down

At last night's meeting of the Albemarle County Planning Commission, Jo Higgins (White Hall) announced that she was moving to Augusta County and would be stepping down from the Planning Commission.  Ms. Higgins was appointed in early 2004 by Supervisor David Wyant (White Hall).  Mr. Wyant is expected to recommend a replacement to complete Ms. Higgins' term at an upcoming meeting of the Board of Supervisors.

Brian Wheeler

City has a new website

Sometime in the past month the City of Charlottesville rolled out a new website.  I must have missed all the fanfare, but I did find all my links to their old site broken today!  So with the links repaired, I'll encourage residents to check out the new resources online.

Here are a few goodies on the much improved site:

• Sign-up for the City's E-Notices e-mail alerts here: http://www.charlottesville.org/Index.aspx?page=263
• Community calendar: http://www.charlottesville.org/Index.aspx?page=265
• Check you gas bill: http://www.charlottesville.org/Index.aspx?page=8

I have not found any RSS feeds or ways to track page modifications.  I hope we can get that functionality added in the near future.  If you find something interesting or want to critique the upgrade, please make a comment below!

Brian Wheeler

Two reports released on local growth

I have not done an analysis of these two reports yet, but I wanted to provide a link to them both since Coy Barefoot just had me on WINA talking about them.  I expect they will be widely discussed in the community.  More analysis to follow.

Free Enterprise Forum [website]
Locked Out: The Impact of Local Regulation on Affordable Housing [Revised version] [Original]
Update: Revised version posted on Free Enterprise Forum website May 10, 2006.

"Albemarle County ranks lowest in housing affordability in the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) according to a new report issued today by The Free Enterprise Forum.  The “Locked Out” report finds that just 16% of Albemarle homes are available to families earning median income. The report also finds Albemarle County has the largest planning department staff, the largest comprehensive plan and the longest approval time for subdivisions. Fluvanna County had the highest percentage of homes available to families earning median income."

Southern Environmental Law Center [website]
Too Much of a Good Thing? Retail Overload in Albemarle

"Albemarle County has approved or is currently reviewing plans for at least 3.3 million square feet of new shopping centers and other retail space – an over 70% increase in existing retail space and about 2.5 to 3.5 times what its own staff and consultants say the community can reasonably absorb, according to a report released today by the Southern Environmental Law Center. This explosion in retail development could have severe consequences for existing businesses, traffic congestion, air and water pollution, and quality of life in the region."

Brian Wheeler

WINA invites Wheeler to discuss growth and development issues

Charlottesville Tomorrow executive director Brian Wheeler returned to the WINA studio on March 27, 2006 to discuss local growth and development issues for the radio program "Charlottesville Right Now."  Wheeler discussed with host Jay James specific topics including transportation and the MeadowCreek Parkway, population figures and the Crozet Master Plan, new ideas on phasing (or time-released development) for the growth areas, and the local water supply.

Listen to the podcast: Download WINA20060327.MP3

Here are the highlights
1:34 -- Current reservoir conditions
4:37 -- Meadow Creek Parkway and  transportation planning issues
9:44 -- Crozet Master Plan and growth in Crozet
15:50 --  Current development/rezoning projects
17:30 -- Phasing in the growth areas
21:31 --  Water supply plan and pipeline proposals
25:44 -- Zoning issues
27:15 -- Traffic problems around Georgetown and Hydraulic Roads

Andrew Owen

Cville Podcasting Nominated for VPTC Tech Award

The Virginia Piedmont Technology Council (VPTC) has released the list of nominees for the 2006 Tech Awards and Charlottesville Podcasting's Sean Tubbs is a finalist for the Community Award.  Congratulations Sean!  [I'll provide a link to the full list of nominees as soon as I can find them online]

The winners will be announced at the Tech Awards dinner on May 11, 2006.

Sean Tubbs has been instrumental introducing Charlottesville to the world of podcasting.  It has been like a ripple in a pond.  The wave of community engagement it has helped engender has been phenomenal.  He volunteered to teach me how to podcast and that led to Charlottesville Tomorrow's podcasts of local government meetings and candidate forums as featured on this weblog.

Sean has spent countless hours of his time recording and editing numerous important events and programs, some for a modest fee, most for free.  He generously shares his equipment with an informal group of local podcasters.  Visit his site and take a look at all the programs he has produced.  It is an impressive accomplishment for one short year of existence.  I wish him continued success and hope others in town will consider sending him some business.

Brian Wheeler

Crozet Master Plan Town Meeting

In a town hall meeting called by Albemarle County staff members to address infrastructure projects currently underway in Crozet, more than three hundred Crozet residents gathered at Western Albemarle H.S. Thursday night to listen and express concern for the status of the Crozet Master Plan.  The meeting was an opportunity for county staff to make presentations and answer questions specifically on road projects, downtown sidewalks, downtown parking, green infrastructure, and the Crozet Library project.  It was also an opportunity for staff to comment on the recent population figures that has caused public outcry from the Crozet community.

Earlier this year, County staff delivered a report estimating Crozet’s maximum population could reach 24,000.  During 2002-2004, Crozet residents worked tirelessly with county officials during a master planning process to set the stage for a twenty year plan that would increase Crozet’s population from its current population of 3,600 to 12,000.  At the town hall meeting this week, County staff restated their analysis that a “twenty-year build-out” population of 12,000 isn't the same as the "theoretical ultimate build-out" which could reach closer to 24,000 sometime beyond 2024. County staff’s expectations and the public’s expectations have now diverged on this critical interpretation of "build-out."

Assistant County Executive Tom Foley responded by saying "that confusion is really the result of the county's work on the Master Plan.  And we really accept responsibility for that confusion.  I don't think there is any question that there are some things that could have been more clear about the population projections."  Foley also stated: "We don't think 24,000 is realistic."  Supervisor David Wyant (White Hall) declared to audience members that the Board of Supervisors has confirmed "the twenty year population is 12,000, for Crozet." 

Charlottesville Tomorrow has produced two podcasts of the meeting.  The first is the bulk of the evening's session featuring county staff's infrastructure presentations and the question and answer period following.

Listen to podcast #1: Download CrozetTownMTG20060209.MP3

Presenters can be found at these times in the recording:
David Wyant - 6:02
Tom Foley - General comments 9:40
Susan Stimart - Library 25:05
Juan Wade - parking 30:04
David Benish - roads 35:24
George Shadman - sidewalks 42:47
Pat Mullaney - Greenways 52:43
question and answer - 1:08:03
Hugh Meagher - 1:25:00

The second podcast is the recording of community member comments which concluded the evening.

Listen to podcast #2: Download CrozetTownMTG20060209b.MP3

Kaine's plan and local government

Charlottesville Tomorrow's focus is purely on local government and issues in the City and County.  However, I do get lots of questions about Governor Kaine's ideas on land use and transportation issues and his interest in having the General Assembly grant more authority to local governments.  I thought today's article in the Washington Post provided the best explanation I have seen of what Kaine's proposal would and would not address. 

Northern Virginia officials say one likely effect of the plan would be to give localities greater leeway in directing growth into areas where their planners have intended it, such as near rail stops.

There are also things the proposal wouldn't do. The plan would give local governments clearer authority in reviewing developers' requests to rezone land but not more power to reject plans in areas where zoning allows what a developer is proposing. For that reason, the plan wouldn't affect many building projects on the horizon. [i.e. what is called by-right development]

In that regard, Kaine is not going as far as states such as Maryland, where localities can judge projects by whether there are "adequate public facilities" to support them, even in areas where projects are allowed under existing zoning. In Maryland and many other states, local authorities assess impact fees on developers to cover the cost of public services.

In Virginia, a strong tradition of property rights and constitutional limits on local governments has led most localities to make do with a less formal system in which developers offer money for school or road improvements. Such proffers are negotiated only for rezonings and not for cases in which the zoning allows for the developer's plans.

Brian Wheeler

Who funds Charlottesville Tomorrow?

A question that came up at our launch event on September 15, 2005 about the source of funding for Charlottesville Tomorrow.  All of our significant donors have agreed to have their names displayed on the website.  That information can be found on the Donors page.  A link to this information has also been added on the About Us page.  Brian Wheeler