Charlottesville Tomorrow Blog

County Planning Commission denies Berkmar Business Park; cites connector road concerns

The Albemarle County Planning Commission has voted 6 to 1 to recommend denial of a rezoning of 5.67 acres on Berkmar Drive, citing a concern that the developer is not proffering enough to mitigate the impacts on traffic that will be caused by the mixed-use development.

Stonehaus Development wants the County to rezone the property from R-6 to Neighborhood Model District, which would allow for the construction of up to 275,000 square feet on the site of the former Planet Fun entertainment complex, as well as an adjoining forested area. County Senior Planner Elaine Echols said the development fits with the land use proposed in the proposed Places 29 Master Plan, which calls for a Neighborhood Center in that location. By right, only 39 residential units can be built on the site.

The scope of the project has increased since Stonehaus last brought the Berkmar Business Park project before the Commission in October 2006. Originally, residential use was not proposed, and the Planet Fun site would not have been part of the project.  Now both are part of the project.  Stonehaus is also responsible for the Belvedere mixed use development off of Rio Road East.

During the two and a half hour discussion, Commission and the developer ironed out several smaller issues, but could not agree on whether a connector road that would link Berkmar Drive to Route 29 was necessary to alleviate traffic issues. Stonehaus has offered to pay for the road, but not improvements to the existing signalized intersection to accommodate the additional traffic generated by the project.  Echols said that staff felt that Stonehaus had not fully addressed the requirements for a connector road, and had not shown that it was unnecessary.  VDOT, County Engineer Glenn Brooks and County Transportation Planner Juandiego Wade all recommend that Stonehaus should be responsible for paying for the intersection improvements, and for building the road straight through to Route 29.

However, actually building the road will be problematic for Stonehaus, given that an access road for the Better Living home improvement store is in the way, and the store’s owners would have to give permission to do so. VDOT is currently coordinating plans to reduce the number of entrances onto Route 29 as part of its Access Management Plan. A site plan for another nearby development, Rivanna Plaza, proposes moving the entrance for Kegler’s bowling alley to a new location that will also serve Schewel’s furniture. However, access to Better Living would have to be resolved, as they would lose access under this plan. Currently customers and employees use a frontage road, and there are currently no plans to redesign their commercial entrance.

VDOT has new regulations that require developers of large projects to perform a traffic study to analyze the potential impacts. Stonehaus performed such a study, and concluded they were not responsible for making those improvements, because according to their numbers the Berkmar Business Park would not generate enough vehicles to affect the existing traffic system.

Echols said staff had not had time to analyze the Stonehaus study before the Commission’s public hearing, and that VDOT was still in the process of conducting their review.

“But the indications we’ve gotten from them is that this particular development, according to the traffic study, generates the need for this connector road, because the connector road is being offered as the mitigating measure for the impacts, and so at the level of 275,000 square feet and 190 [housing] units, we believe that this road is necessary,” Echols said.

Frank Stoner, vice president of Stonehaus, said he did not suggest a connector to Route 29 as a way to mitigate the traffic.  Instead, he thought it was a way to assist the County’s goals. He showed the Commission a letter from Commonwealth Transportation Board member Butch Davies which he claimed showed that VDOT was responsible for the intersection improvements.

Joel DeNunzio, a VDOT engineer, said his agency is not responsible for the intersection improvements at Better Living, because VDOT did not build the original commercial entrance. He disagreed with Butch Davies. “I don’t believe it’s VDOT’s responsibility to upgrade this to road standard, and I think if you look back through the plans it was ever the intention of VDOT to do that,” DeNunzio said.

Nate Cunningham of Stonehaus said the firm is committed to building the connector road from Berkmar right down to Schewel’s entrance. Cunningham also presented the Commission with the results of their traffic study, which he said assumed a full build-out of 275,000 square feet.  He said the second study was done to correct errors made in the first one.

“What [the traffic study data] shows is that we have little if any negative traffic impacts and so our commitment to build the connector road was more out of wanting to support the County’s goals,” Cunningham said. “To date it has not been possible in large part because it is outside our control to force the [owners of Better Living] to move their access road.”

But County Engineer Glenn Brooks said he was bothered that the Stonehaus traffic study was presented to the Commission before being vetted by staff.

“The traffic study I saw was completely different,” Brooks said. He pointed out what he saw as several errors in the study, including what VDOT considers a failing level of service. He said VDOT also had not reviewed the newer traffic study, and would likely not be able to for at least four weeks.

Wayne Cilimberg, the County’s Director of Planning and Development, reminded the Commission that they have spent much of the last year discussing ways to ensure that necessary infrastructure is in place before  a new development is approved.

“With further information, it may be that this project can find that right place in terms of what is reasonable to have occur with the infrastructure that is possible to be built, and then future infrastructure is probably going to be in the hands of the County and maybe VDOT to get done or some future developer of the Schewel’s or Better Living site,” Cilimberg said.
Commissioner Jon Cannon (Rio) suggested the developer consider contributing cash to the intersection improvements at such time that they are required. Cilimberg asked a question which explained some of the logistical issues with that approach.

“How much development are you comfortable letting occur understanding that you have cash towards an improvement that’s not specified in terms of its timeframe to be accomplished?” Cilimberg said.

The yet-to-be adopted Places29 Master Plan shows a diagonal dotted line where the proposed connector road should go

Cannon acknowledged the potential danger in rezoning without considering the impacts on infrastructure. “There’s a tension here between getting the density of development we’re asking for in the growth area under our Comprehensive Plan… and the concerns about stressing already stressed  infrastructure which won’t accommodate that development,” Cannon said.

Edgerton said he thought the plan was a good one, but that staff needed the ability to study the traffic study. He said Stonehaus could come up with a phased development plan, but acknowledged that time was running out on the application.

Commissioner Tom Loach (White Hall) said he thought the issues should have been resolved before the public hearing, and that he would be taking a strict stance on requiring infrastructure before development.

Stoner said the rezoning needed to occur by June or the project will be dead.  He said he would be open to phasing, possibly limiting construction at the site to 120,000 square feet over the next five years.  “We’re not going to build 275,000 square feet in my life time,” Stoner said.

Cannon said he would support that, but did not see how the Commission could write those conditions during a meeting.  Commissioner Marcia Joseph (At-Large) said she didn’t have enough information to make a decision. “I want [Stoner] to be able to have the full amount that he wants, but I just want to have some sort of a phasing plan,” Joseph said.

Recently appointed Commissioner Linda Porterfield (Scottsville) said she thought the Commission should go ahead and recommend the rezoning given that the County wanted density in the area. While Strucko said he could agree with that, he also wanted staff’s full opinion on the second Stonehaus traffic study.

“This development is going to have an off-site impact on the infrastructure, and I want to know what the infrastructure’s current capacity is, what the margin of change on that capacity will be as a result of this development, and what those numbers are. I’d like to see those numbers as part of this proposal, but I don’t see that tonight,” Strucko said.

Cunningham said that he would be hesitant to proffer the full cost of connecting the road to US 29, in part because of the complex access management issues  involved. “Part of the reason we’re concerned about [the intersection] is that there’s potentially a lot of money to correct the existing conditions there,” Cunningham. He said Stonehaus would be willing to pay for a portion, but without a firm cost estimate he could not feel comfortable even proffering a percentage.

The discussion went back and forth for nearly two hours before Commissioner Porterfield made a motion to recommend approval of the site, with several conditions. No one seconded the motion, and it died. 

Cannon said he could support a motion to recommend approval if Stonehaus agreed to pay for the entire connector road. “Traffic studies at the level of development at full build out indicate that the connector road will be necessary to avoid unacceptable traffic impacts,” Cannon said. “Seems to me the logic is, if they go back and reduce the size of this thing and are able to demonstrate to the staff and to VDOT that there won’t be impacts that necessitate a connector road that [it] will no longer be a requirement.” 

Cunningham said he agreed that developers should cover costs, but that there was no guidance from the state or local government about how the mitigation should be calculated. “I would much prefer for us to have this be a science, much like the proffer policy has become for [residential] units, in which its very clear once you drop below a certain [level of service], you provide money in order to offset those impacts,” Cunningham said.

“I know everyone on this Commission is struggling on this because this is exactly the kind of project we want to see there,” Edgerton said. “You have done exactly what we want to do. We want to finish it up but we want to do it responsibly and we cannot do it without more time and more study.”

But Porterfield said it was important to send a positive message to the developer, and so she again introduced a motion to recommend approval. And for a second time, there was no second and the motion failed.

Edgerton’s motion to deny was based on not having enough information on the connector road.  Commissioners voted 6- 1 to recommend denial, with Porterfield voting against.  The Board of Supervisors will consider the project on May 7, 2008.

Sean Tubbs

Army base expansion requires new sewer capacity; Report also recommends widening Route 29

The US Army has determined that an in-depth Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is not required for the expansion of the Rivanna Station Military Base on Route 29 north of Charlottesville.  However, the draft Environmental Assessment released by Fort Belvoir last month does shed new light on the Army’s plans for the current home of the National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC).  It also raises a number of issues related to sewer capacity, the ability to use leased space off-site, and the future of nearby land owned by local developer Wendell Wood.

COUNTY REVIEWS ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT

Albemarle County officials are just beginning their review of Fort Belvoir’s 130-page Environmental Assessment this week.  The County’s Natural Resources Manager, Tamara Ambler, tells Charlottesville Tomorrow that the County has requested an extension beyond the January 9, 2008 deadline to provide written comments to the Federal Government.  Ambler is collecting feedback from numerous County departments about the issues raised in the Army’s report.

Susan Stimart, Albemarle’s Business Development Facilitator, says the Federal Government has been a good listener to the County’s feedback on Rivanna Station thus far.  “They are taking a pretty good attitude in listening to our requirements for design standards and erosion/sediment control standards,” said Stimart.  She also noted, the Federal Government can decide on its own to not comply with any of Albemarle’s standards for new development.

Among the most significant items raised in the report are the following:

• The increased workforce at the base will double the sewage discharge.
• The Federal Base Relocation and Closure (BRAC) program which is moving jobs from Bolling AFB to Charlottesville prohibits any of those jobs to be located in leased space.
• The US Army intends to seek additional land as a buffer around their facility for both future growth and for enhanced security. 
• The Environmental Assessment suggests the widening of Route 29 to 6 lanes (3 northbound and 3 southbound) is desirable to bring relief to congestion expected to result from increased traffic at the facility.

SEWER CAPACITY

Charlottesville Tomorrow was the first to report last month that the North Pointe development near NGIC was stalled in part because of inadequate sewer capacity at the Camelot Waste Water Treatment Plant.  The current NGIC facility also uses the Camelot facility and the Army’s recent Environmental Assessment estimates that sewage discharge from the site will double as the result of the base’s expansion.  While the Army concluded the “increase in demand is well within the capacity of the [Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority (RWSA)],” their report was completed before the Albemarle County Service Authority (ACSA) could weigh in with specific recommendations on sewer infrastructure requirements. 

Peter Gorham, ACSA’s Engineering Director, told Charlottesville Tomorrow that the authority wants to eliminate the Camelot treatment plant and replace it with a regional pump station.  Gorham is trying to schedule a meeting by the end of January for area property owners and other interested parties.  Invitations will be extended to the University of Virginia Foundation (North Fork Research Park), the US Army, developer Wendell Wood, and those involved with the North Pointe development.  The meetings will review timing, costs, and engineering options for the pump station project.  The RWSA is expected to weigh in on the downstream impacts on their sewer network which is also having its capacity studied. 

The ACSA is providing written feedback for inclusion in Albemarle County’s response to the Army’s report. In the meantime, Gorham says the ACSA is working on an interim solution that can boost the capacity of the Camelot plant, however that solution will not be able to accommodate all the potential new users in the area.

BASE EXPANSION AND BUFFER

The existing NGIC facility sits on about 29 acres at Route 29 North and Boulders Road.  The Federal government purchased an additional 47 acres from developer Wendell Wood in 2006.  The expansion of the base of this combined 76 acres includes an addition on the NGIC building, construction of a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) facility, a warehouse and delivery facility, additional surface parking, and a new parking garage.

The Environmental Assessment also reveals the Army’s intention to further protect a zone around the base by purchasing an additional 50 acres on the north side of Boulders Road.  According to County records, this land is currently owned by Wendell Wood’s Next Generation LLC.  The report identifies the following purposes for the buffer:

“The purpose of the purchase of the land north and southeast of Boulders Road is to provide protection against encroachment on the Rivanna Station by industrial or residential development, and to allow for future expansion, if needed. It is critical that the Army provide sufficient buffers to meet [antiterrorism/force protection (AT/FP)] requirements and to prevent land uses that could eventually conflict with missions of the U.S. Government. Rivanna Station is currently located at the edge of a developing industrial area, which could ultimately lead to AT/FP and hostile intelligence risks to the facility and personnel through electronic eavesdropping and observation.”

WENDELL WOOD

In August 2007, local developer Wendell Wood received approval from the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors to have 15 acres near the NGIC facility rezoned for commercial offices and residential barracks.  According to the General Services Administration, on November 30, 2007 Wood was awarded a $14.76 million lease for non-residential buildings.  The Environmental Assessment notes that nearby land has been rezoned “for the construction of office buildings to support NGIC operations.” 

During the County’s review of this rezoning in 2007, Wood was told water and sewer services were available and, according to ACSA’s Peter Gorham, Wood’s project will be grandfathered into the Camelot treatment facility until the regional pump station is available.  ACSA’s interim sewer capacity measures will only help a limited number of new users, and only those accessible by gravity feed to the existing Camelot facility.  Other buildings and developments not already tied into Camelot will have to wait for the new pump station.

The Federal Base Relocation and Closure (BRAC) program which is moving jobs from Bolling AFB to Charlottesville prohibits any of those jobs to be located in leased space.  Thus, the expansion of NGIC and the construction of the new Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) facility will take place entirely on the federally owned land at the site and not on the recently rezoned 15 acres which is expected to house other support facilities.

Since he sold the 47 acre parcel to the government in 2006, Wood has also been expecting the Board of Supervisors to carry through with a resolution of intent that would move yet another 30 acres nearby into the County’s designated growth area.  Wood’s Next Generation LLC owns almost 1,000 acres near the military base.

The 30 acres of land were proposed to be removed from the rural area to allow for more intense development such that Wood could recoup money he felt he lost on the original deal with the government.  Wood and a number of Supervisors believe this deal ensured NGIC would not leave Charlottesville as it looked for room to expand.  That matter will be considered by the Board of Supervisors as it reviews the Places29 Master Plan in 2008.  The County Planning Commission has already recommended against adding Wood’s land to the growth area.

WIDENING ROUTE 29

The Environmental Assessment suggests the widening of Route 29 to 6 lanes (3 northbound and 3 southbound) is desirable to bring relief to congestion expected to result from increased traffic at the facility.  The Route 29 and Boulders Road intersection is projected to go from a level of service (LOS) C in 2007 to level of service F in 2015 during peak evening traffic.  According to the report, “LOS F is used to identify that point where the facility has reached maximum capacity and a complete breakdown of service occurs.”

The Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) recently approved the use of over $2 million to begin preliminary engineering on the widening of another section of Route 29, the area between Polo Grounds Road and Airport Road.  The US Army’s report suggests that widening should continue at least another 2 miles North to Rivanna Station and possibly all the way to Greene County.  Between Rivanna Station and Airport Road is the proposed North Pointe development which will add an estimated 30,000 vehicle trips per day to that portion of Route 29. 

Brian Wheeler

Top-10 Growth & Development Stories of 2007

In my weekly appearance today on WINA AM 1070 on the Charlottesville Right Now program, Coy Barefoot and I counted down Charlottesville Tomorrow's top-10 growth and development stories of 2007.

Podcast produced by Charlottesville Tomorrow * Player by Odeo

Listen using player above or download the podcast: 20080103-RightNow.mp3

Charlottesville Tomorrow's Top-10 Growth and Development Stories of 2007

1. County Elections 2007—Ann Mallek elected Supervisor in White Hall District
2. 4,800 new homes approved at Biscuit Run, Hollymead Town Center, and Rivanna Village
3. Wendell Wood’s projects around National Ground Intelligence Center on Route 29N get new scrutiny by media, public, and local government
4. Albemarle Supervisors set new cash proffer expectations
5. Proposed rural area protection ordinances stalemate Board of Supervisors
6. Lack of rain leads to drought warnings
7. City Planning Commission debates ethics, communications with the public and developers, impartiality, and starts holding pre-meetings off camera
8. Water and sewer infrastructure needs get increased community attention
9. City approves another nine-story downtown building and receives recommendations to limit future building heights in some areas
10. Major capital projects continue facility improvements at the University of Virginia

Brian Wheeler

Commission recommends denial for McCauley Crossing

The Albemarle County Planning Commission split 3-3 on a recommendation to approve the McCauley Crossing development, a proposed rezoning for property off Proffit Road.  In the case of a tie, the recommendation to the Board of Supervisors is for denial.  McCauley Crossing would feature 30 townhouses in an undeveloped area between Forest Lakes and the proposed North Pointe Development. The property is currently zoned R-1, which would allow only one housing unit per acre. 

The applicant made many changes to the plan since the last work session on the rezoning. First, the name has changed from Mermac Crossing. Next, four more units have been added after the Commission asked for more density in the area. The Draft Places 29 Framework shows the area as being urban residential. The applicant also agreed to include the road through the complex as the first component of a network of public roads to support the area. They also agreed to designate five of the units as affordable under the County's evolving proffer policy.

That affordable housing component triggered the concerns of two men from Lighthouse Worship Center, which borders the property. The Pastor and the Church Secretary both appeared before the Commission to express their concern that the affordable housing units would attract sexual predators to the area, threatening the children in their daycare.

Commissioner Eric Strucko (Samuel Miller) said while he thought the plan was a decent one, he could not support any rezoning at this time because the County has not acted on rural ordinances. Strucko has not approved of a rezoning for several meetings.

Commissioner Marcia Joseph (At-Large) said she could not support the rezoning due to a lack of information about whether the Albemarle County Service Authority can support the additional density.

The additional no vote was from Duane Zobrist (White Hall), who felt that putting a condominium complex in the midst of churches was perhaps inappropriate.

Voting to approve were Jon Cannon (Rio), Pete Craddock (Scottsville) and Bill Edgerton (Jack Jouett). Edgerton said that the plan had improved significantly, and he thought its increased density met with the County's expectations for the growth areas. Commissioner Cal Morris was absent, and motions fail in the case of a tie.

The proposal will go before the Board of Supervisors on January 16, 2008.

Sean Tubbs

Supervisors receive update on Rivanna Station Military Base expansion

At their meeting on November 7, 2007, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors received an update on the U.S. Army’s expanding National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) located on Route 29 in Northern Albemarle.  The NGIC site, expanded in July 2006 through the federal government’s purchase of 47 acres from developer Wendell Wood, will grow to include a new facility for 1,000 employees to accommodate defense jobs relocated from the Washington, DC area.  The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) estimates 650-800 jobs will be created in Albemarle, that figure includes jobs for related defense subcontractors.  The growing defense facility will be known as the Rivanna Station Military Base.  The Federal Base Relocation and Closure (BRAC) program indicates that the relocation of defense jobs to Albemarle will be completed by September 2011.

Watch the video below:

The staff report presented to the Supervisors included the following key facts:

• An RFP was issued on September 24, 2007, for construction of the new Joint Use Intelligence Analysis Facility with a target award date of February 14, 2008
• The RFP specifies a facility not to exceed 167,000 sq ft in the budget range of $61 - $62 million
• Estimated construction start date is August 15, 2008, and estimated date of construction completion is December 8, 2009
• DIA has expressed a commitment to constructing a “world class facility” and is intending for the new facility to be LEED compliant
• The facility is being planned to accommodate the operations of approximately 1000 employees – this number will be a combination of approximately 200 existing NGIC employees to relieve overcrowding in the current NGIC facility and between 650 and 800 new DIA and National Geospatial Intelligence employees
• The relocating workforce will be a mix of military and civilian employees
• While there may be some small impact on the local job market, this should be viewed as a workforce relocation program and not a significant job creation opportunity – all jobs associated with the relocation require high level skills and education and security clearances and are currently filled by employees who will be offered the opportunity to maintain their employment
• The majority of the subcontractors required to support the new operations are included in the 650 – 800 count
• The specific work groups from DIA that will be relocated are in the process of being identified and notified after which a comprehensive survey will be conducted among those employees to provide more specific demographic data

Lee Catlin, County Communications Manager, explained to the Board that the jobs being added in the community were expected to largely be filled by new residents with specialized job skills. “It’s important to realize that, while there may be some small impact on the local job market, this is really being viewed by the federal agencies as a workforce relocation program and not necessarily a significant job creation opportunity for local residents,” said Catlin.

Edward Nelson, an Intelligence Officer with the Defense Intelligence Agency, said “It is a highly trained, professional workforce that…will have advanced degrees and/or prior military experience.  There will be worldwide recruiting efforts.”

In their discussion, the Supervisors asked questions related to the project’s environmental mitigation measures, the demographics of relocated employees, and the need for more information to make local land use decisions. 

Supervisor Sally Thomas (Samuel Miller) commented that the Board did not have complete information from the federal government as to their needs for housing and office space when the Supervisors reviewed a rezoning request in August from developer Wendell Wood.  Thomas expressed surprise that the employment numbers presented included sub-contractors and contrasted that with information coming to the board in recent rezoning requests.  “Boy is that not what we are being told by some developers,” said Thomas. “Maybe I am the only one that is frustrated, I feel like we are working in the dark in ways that we shouldn’t be working in the dark.”

This prompted Supervisor David Slutzky (Rio) to share his experience of attempting to contact the base commander directly, rather than taking a developer’s word for the need to expand space available to NGIC on other nearby land.  Slutzky said he was frustrated by the NGIC base commander office’s response: “I put a call in to the Commander…so I didn’t have to make a decision through the filtering lens of a local developer who has an economic interest that’s predictable. I was told ,‘No, No, No. If you are with the Board of Supervisors, the Commander will not talk to you,’” said Slutzky.  “And I was really offended by that.”

The DIA’s Nelson explained to the Board that he was not representing NGIC, but expressed his interest in partnering with the County and getting the Supervisors the information they needed for future decisions related to his organization’s project on the 47 acres purchased last year from Wood.

Slutzky asked for assistance getting in touch with the right contacts in the government who could help Albemarle.  “As a Board member, where I had to make a land use decision, I got a stone wall….We’ve been asked, reasonably enough by NGIC, to make some decisions already that run in the face of our existing policies for land use in the rural area vs. the urbanized area….We need to have full access to information to know we are making the right decision.”

Slutzky has been a vocal supporter of the County supporting the base’s expansion needs having been convinced in the past that NGIC might leave the community if land were not available to them.  The Supervisors have been swept up in a series of other land use issues around the existing NGIC site and the new DIA facility.  However, there was nothing in this report to the Board to indicate that land outside of what the federal government already owns is needed for the Rivanna Station Military Base.

On August 1, 2007, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a “NGIC expansion project” rezoning 15 acres of land so Wood could construct two 4-story office buildings and a 3-story 120-unit residential building.  In the deliberations on that project, Supervisor Dennis Rooker (Jack Jouett) cited a letter from NGIC which indicated they had no immediate plans for using buildings being proposed by Wood, but that they were not opposed to them being built.  Other Supervisors said their conversations with NGIC staff had left them with the impression the base needed access to more land.

The Supervisors did not discuss the action last month by the Albemarle County Planning Commission, as part of the draft Places29 Master Plan review, in which Commissioners recommended against expanding Albemarle’s growth area around the military base to include yet other land owned by Wood.  The Board of Supervisors passed a resolution of intent in May 2006 indicating their preference to have 30 acres of land owned by Wood moved into the growth area (aka "the NGIC land deal").  That matter is expected to come up before the Board of Supervisors when they receive the Places29 Master Plan in early 2008.

Brian Wheeler & Kendall Singleton

Albemarle County candidates state positions on Route 29 bypass

In the weeks leading up to Election Day, Charlottesville co-sponsored candidate forums for Charlottesville City Council and the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors races.

In the County, candidates were asked about their position on a limited-access bypass for US 29 around Charlottesville and Northern Albemarle County.

Our Election Watch 2007 website and this blog feature comprehensive coverage of our local elections.  The verbatim responses below are excerpted from the candidate forums.

Do you support a limited access bypass for Route 29 around northern Charlottesville and, if so, where would that be located?

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David Wyant (R) – White Hall – Incumbent: “I prefer probably not to call it a bypass, but it's that parallel road again. I think we ought to really seriously consider that. I know folks say it's a large amount of money... The design of that road is critical... VDOT has already replaced everybody in the right of way, acquired all the right of way. It’s pretty disturbing that we have a large amount of tax base, out of our tax system, for non-collection. VDOT rents the parcels that are there.  So I am very supportive. Like I said [in response to another question], we have 82 percent of the local traffic getting to UVA. The alignment might need to be just a little bit different, but we need to be able to figure out a way to get the traffic around to the University and even those 18 percent that goes through town.”

Ann Mallek (D) – White Hall – Challenger: “My response is aimed at the design which is currently before the community... and no, I do not support that...In the environmental impact statement prepared years ago in support of its construction, disclosure was made that within 50 years, at least one truck carrying chemicals harmful to our water supply would wreck and discharge its contents into the water. Not if, but when. That concept is not compatible to me with a location providing water to over 60,000 residents of Charlottesville and the urban ring of Albemarle County. The road is already outdated due to its location and to growth on the northern end. At $287 million dollars, it would require all the money we might get from the federal government for the next twenty years for all road projects. That is not a reasonable investment in my opinion for a road that might carry eight to 12 percent of the traffic. Route 29 is busy because we as a community of drivers need to be in the area for our business use. Not because of travelers from DC to Lynchburg. Commonwealth Transportation Board has taken the road off of the state transportation improvement plan. The only local dollars on the [Transportation Improvement Plan] are for completion of right of way negotiations and purchases. At some point that right of way might be used for transit or it may be returned sooner to the market. That’s a decision that will have to be made by the local elected officials and the state highway department coming up.”

Marcia Joseph (D) – Rivanna – Challenger: “I really don’t.  I think that the Places29 [Master Plan] has determined that we don’t need that. I mean, I haven't heard that as part of their recommendations, and again, I'm relying on experts but I'm not an engineer and haven't done any traffic modeling, but they say we don't need it, so I don't support it.”

Ken Boyd (R) – Rivanna – Incumbent: “Well, just so everybody understands, the so-called Western Bypass as it is more commonly referred to was not, was taken out of the [Places 29] study group, so they were not allowed to look at that as an alternative, so that was the recommendation, that was a majority of the Board that did that. I in fact do support a connector road. I would rather call it a western connector rather than a western bypass. I think that if we follow the route of the existing, proposed bypass, by which they've bought most all of the land already for that, and then if we had a road that would dump in right across from Leonard Sandridge Road, that this would be an excellent help to us to route traffic off of 29 and we could then possibly have 29 become truly that main street that we want it to be because people that want to pass through to get from Greene to the University or Forest Lakes to the University or Hollymead to the University, taking a limited access road allowing them to do that, I think it would be a tremendous benefit  for this area.  But, for right now, there's not enough support on the Board to do that so that's not a road that's even being considered as part of Places29.”

Lindsay Dorrier (D)  – Scottsville – Incumbent: “It’s an interesting question. One time there was a recommendation for a western bypass, but the Board didn’t support that for a number of years... It's in too close to be workable... I would support a bypass around Route 29, around northern Charlottesville. I guess I would probably favor it running from Airport Road to Route 64 on the eastern side. I think it probably has to come on the eastern side and that it would be probably the least built up area would be on the other side of Keswick, or at least, I don’t know where the road would go. You’d have to look at the configuration, but I think that would probably be less expensive than it would be to try to build it on the west side of 29. But we do need some bypass for Route 29... Warrenton has a bypass, Lynchburg has a bypass, Danville has a bypass, and eventually Charlottesville is going to have to have a bypass for the northern part of the city that’s right now a bottleneck for the thirty percent of the traffic that goes through on a regular basis.  Once again, paying for this is going to be problematic and I don’t have any answer for that, and it’s a multimillion dollar, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of money involved. So I think we do need to talk about it.  We need to make darn sure we put it in the right place and we know what we're doing, but all the time we spend on traffic matters and, we're still talking about Meadowcreek Parkway and it's been thirty years we've been talking about it, and I don’t expect we’ll have any bypass for Route 29 in the near future...”

Denny King (I) – Scottsville – Challenger: “I’m glad you mentioned the Meadowcreek Parkway Lindsay because every time I travel up or down Rio Road I look at that great tombstone there that says ‘Meadowcreek Parkway Rest In Peace’ – 30 years? More like 35 years. And we’re talking about a bypass for 29. Is this going to be another 30 or 35 years? We have to start making decisions.  I disagree a little bit Mr. Dorrier. I believe the bypass should run from out near the airport west, towards Crozet, and have the access on Earlysville Road and Garth Roads and intersect at 250, east of the 240-250 intersection, and then continue southward down 29 near Plank road... To even consider building the Meadowcreek Parkway today I think would be totally ludicrous. It's antiquated. Why, why attempt to spend that money today when the results won't be what they would have been had it been built when it was originally talked about thirty or thirty-five years ago? Once again I have to say that we have to have a vision, we have to understand how we’re going to pay for these visions, and we have to let infrastructure guide growth. And infrastructure and roadway systems and adequate water supplies have not guided growth. We’ve reversed everything, and it’s time that we get back and do things the proper way, and not backwards.  We have to approach it in a forward positive method. I would love to see a bypass. I think all of us would love to see a bypass... But how many of us in this room would be able to enjoy the 29 bypass when it’s completed 35 years from today?

Kevin Fletcher (I) – Scottsville – Challenger: “I think it’s interesting that the Attorney General recently came down with a ruling that was brought up by a delegate from Lynchburg that says Charlottesville owes the state something like $45 million if they do not move forward on this plan that has been sitting idle for a number of years,  it’s been looked at in many different ways and I would say that I would not support it just because I do not believe it's ever going to happen. I think by using the bridge network we discussed before I think we do an adequate job of moving quickly down 29. There may have to be some sort of extra work, a ramp work done at Best Buy to get the traffic, to get tractor trailers and things moving quickly up through there, an extra lane. It might be the nearest fix for the problem, but like I said, I don’t foresee it ever happening. Certainly it probably will happen at some time in the future but as of right now, I don’t think that I could support that because I think we have much greater traffic needs that need to be funded right now. “

     

According to the transportation analysis in the DRAFT Places29 Master Plan, VDOT believes that only 12% of the traffic on Route 29 North is through traffic.  These are trips where "both the origin and destination are outside the urbanized portion of Albemarle County.

Sean Tubbs

Business Council hosts the County Supervisor Candidates

Tim Hulbert of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce moderated the forum

The seven candidates running for three seats on the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors took questions from the North Charlottesville Business Council (NCBC) at a forum held on October 17, 2007, at the Doubletree Hotel. The NCBC is a division of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce, and many of its members are concerned with how the Places29 Master Plan might affect their business. Among other questions, candidates were asked to describe their vision of the role Route 29 plays in the community.

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In his introduction of the candidates, NCBC Chairman Michael McGowan cited his group's Workplace29 report, the results of which shows that $800 million in salaries are paid to the 20,000 people who work along the 29 corridor. McGowan wanted candidates to comment on the study, and also told them about a University of Virginia class project on low-cost pedestrian safety alternatives the NCBC commissioned earlier this year.

“We'd like to see things like that done by the County and done by the community to promote the local character of 29,” he said. “Because we see 29 as being the main street of the County, the central focus of our mixed-use urban area, and we're concerned about plans that make it into more of an expressway.”

TIMELINE FOR PODCAST:

• 1:05 – Opening remarks from Michael McGowan of the NCBC
• 4:03 – Opening statement from Ken Boyd (R) – Rivanna District – Incumbent
• 7:44 – Opening statement from Lindsey Dorrier (D) – Scottsville District – Incumbent
• 11:20 – Opening statement from Marcia Joseph (D) – Rivanna District – Challenger
• 14:12 – Opening statement from Denny King (I) – Scottsville District – Challenger
• 16:45 – Opening statement from Ann Mallek (D) – White Hall District – Challenger
• 20:03 – Opening statement from Kevin Fletcher (I) – Scottsville District – Challenger
• 22:39 - Opening statement from David Wyant (R) – White Hall District – Incumbent
• 25:34 – Question 1: What is your vision for what Albemarle County should be in the future?
• 42:00 – Question 2: What is your vision for the character of US 29, a national highway? Should it be an expressway or a main commercial boulevard? Do you think it can be both?
• 52:19 – Question 3: The North Charlottesville Business Council has shown ways to make pedestrian safety improvements on Route 29 that would cost tens of thousands of dollars, as opposed to millions of dollars. As a supervisor, would you be willing and prepared to have the County make those capital investments beginning in 2008?
• 59:11 – Audience question 1: “Could you share with us your thoughts on the recent report from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition on racial discrepancies in mortgage lending rates?”

Kendall Singleton and Sean Tubbs

 

Supervisor candidates answer questions from local non-profits

The seven candidates for three seats on the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors gathered at Westminster Presbyterian Church on October 18, 2007, for a forum hosted by several non-profit environmental and transportation groups in our region. Over fifty people attended.

The co-sponsors were Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population, Alliance for Community Choice in Transportation, the Rivanna Conservation Society, the Piedmont Environmental Council, and Citizens for Albemarle.

Candidates took questions on the impact of population growth on the community, how to slow traffic growth on the region's roads, and how to protect the quality of ground and surface waters in Albemarle County.

The moderator is Len Schoppa, President of the Alliance for Community Choice in Transportation. The format for this forum was fairly unique. There were no opening or closing statements. After each of the three questions prepared by the organizers, Len Schoppa briefly summarized the ideas that he heard, and asked a follow-up question.

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SCOTTSVILLE DISTRICT CANDIDATES

Lindsay Dorrier (D) – Incumbent (interview on Charlottesville Tomorrow)
Denny King (I) – Challenger (interview on Charlottesville Tomorrow)
Kevin Fletcher (I) – Challenger (interview on Charlottesville Tomorrow)

WHITE HALL DISTRICT CANDIDATES

Ann Mallek (D) – Challenger (interview on Charlottesville Tomorrow)
David Wyant (R) – Incumbent (interview on Charlottesville Tomorrow)

RIVANNA DISTRICT CANDIDATES

Ken Boyd (R) – Incumbent (interview on Charlottesville Tomorrow)
Marcia Joseph (D) - Challenger (interview on Charlottesville Tomorrow)

Question 1:
The concept of "intergenerational justice" asks what the living owe those who come after them.  It suggests that present generations may be obligated by considerations of justice not to pursue policies that create benefits for themselves but impose costs on those who will live in the future. Intergenerational justice, essentially a fairness issue, examines the moral side of sustainability.

Population growth imposes costs - financial, environmental, and social - on future generations of residents.  At our current rate of development, in fifty or 100 years there will be less open space, more traffic, higher taxes to pay for needed infrastructure, and - in the minds of many - generally a less attractive quality of life.

• To what extent would you, as a County Supervisor, consider your vote for additional growth and development to be a moral issue involving our obligations to future Albemarle County residents?
• How would your answer to this first question inform your votes on specific growth-related issues where individual property rights may clash with community efforts to limit development potential?

Question 2:
Traffic on Route 29 is projected to increase considerably in the coming years, to as many as 100,000 cars/day by 2025.  This traffic projection is driven, in part, by the 17,832 housing units that have already been approved in Albemarle County and Charlottesville since 2000.

The Places 29 Master Plan proposes to solve the projected traffic and pollution problems on Route 29 through the creation of a better network of parallel roads, Bus Rapid Transit, grade-separated interchanges, and better facilities and access for pedestrians and bicyclists.   

• Do you support these plans?
• If so, how do you propose to fund these improvements?  If not, how do you think our community should solve these transportation problems?

Follow-up: “If you are not going to build grade-separated interchanges, how are pedestrians and bikes going to safely get across Route 29?

Question 3:
Current land use trends pose growing threats to the quality of ground and surface waters in Albemarle County and throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed.  Meanwhile, residential and commercial water demand is steadily increasing.

What measures would you support to:

• Protect and improve water quality?
• Pay for necessary water supply and pollution control infrastructure improvements?
• Manage and conserve limited water resources during times of drought?

Audience Question 1: Will you work to construct the footbridge across the Rivanna at or near the Riverside Park?  Will you create a greenway near Key West within your term of office, and how will you make that happen?

Audience Question 2: Isn’t it true that the growth never really pays for itself?  If true, is it possible to be for a continuation of growth AND low taxes?  If not, which do you choose?

Audience Question 3: When considering all these growth and development questions, how can you reconcile that goal with having more affordable housing?  Relatedly, why should lower income people bear the cost of solving this [transportation] problem?

TIMELINE FOR PODCAST

1:00 – Introduction of the candidates from Len Schoppa, ACCT
6:11 – Question 1
22:05 – Len Schoppa summarizes responses to question 1, and asks a one-minute follow-up
23:49 – Candidates begin to answer follow-ups
31:00 – Question 2
46:18 – Len Schoppa summarizes responses to question 2 and asks this follow-up: “If you are not going to build grade-separated interchanges, how are pedestrians and bikes going to safely get across Route 29?
56:53 – Question 3
1:12:33 - Len Schoppa summarizes responses to question 3 and asks a one-minute follow-up
1:21:55 – Audience Question 1
1:29:30 – Audience Question 2
1:38:21 – Audience Question 3

Kendall Singleton and Sean Tubbs

Rivanna District Candidates Forum

On October 17, 2007, the two candidates for the Rivanna District on the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors appeared at a candidates forum sponsored by the Free Enterprise Forum and Charlottesville Tomorrow.

Republican incumbent Ken Boyd and Democratic challenger Marcia Joseph answered ten questions on land use, transportation, and growth in the County. The candidates  also answered several questions submitted by members of the audience. About fifty people attended the forum, which was held at Baker-Butler Elementary School on Proffit Road. The event was co-moderated by Neil Williamson of the Free Enterprise Forum and Sean Tubbs of Charlottesville Tomorrow.

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OPENING STATEMENTS

Ken Boyd (R): “I'm a 26-year resident of the County. I'm married and I have four children, all of whom were educated in the public schools here. I spent 23 years as a professional in the banking business before starting my own financial planning company 16 years ago, and that's what I do today, I'm a financial planner. Because I was very interested in my kids and their schools, I have a real passion for education, so in 1999, I decided to run for the School Board. I ran, was elected, and served four years as the School Board representative from this area... After that, my youngest son had graduated from Monticello High School, and he had moved  on to JMU, and I didn't have any more kids left in school, so I decided to move up to the Board of Supervisors and ran for that in 2003, and have served, this is my fourth year. I'm currently the Chair of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors. There's really a number of things that we've accomplished in the last four years... I'm going to touch on just a couple of them... One is in water, and I know it seems to you like it does to me that nothing has been done about our water situation since the 2002 drought, but the Board of Supervisors and the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority have been actively working to put together a 50-year plan, and we're about a month or two away from getting that approved. I'm real happy with that. I was particularly pleased that I was able to work with Dave Brown, the Mayor of Charlottesville, and he and I went to Washington and got the money for the completion of the Meadowcreek Parkway, and if you've been reading the paper, we're actually going to get that road built here in the next year, I think we'll put it out for bids... Lastly, I think that one of the things I'm really happy about that's just come out recently is, you know, we weren't able in either the Planning Commission or the Board of Supervisors to approve the first SOCA location for their complex, but I've been working closely with them ever since, and we've now come up with an alternative location which we feel will work for both them and us, and we're really excited about that.”

Marcia Joseph (D): “I'm the current chair of the Albemarle County Planning Commission. I'm a 23-year resident. I do also have children who graduated from Albemarle High School, and thanks to Mark Curry, our chemistry teacher at Albemarle High School, are now chemists, so I'm very proud of them. There's a lot of things that have gone on in my life in Albemarle County, and I've done a lot of public service, I've worked for 12 years either on one board or another commission. I've been on the Architectural Review Board, I've been chair of that, I've been on the Ag-Forest District Committee, and I've also served on the Acquisition of Conservation Easements Committee. All of these very important issues to me. I think that it's extremely important for us to have transparency in government, which is exactly what I plan on doing. I think it's important to have all kinds of communication go on between Rivanna, between the Albemarle County Service Authority, between the City and the County. I work currently with, and have friends in, City government and Rivanna. I think it's not just the fact that they're friends, but the important aspect that I feel that we've been lacking is communication. I think that's extremely important. I think that it's time that we started looking at how we develop in this County, and make sure that anything that comes down the pike is not what we develop, or is not what we approve, but we only approve things in this County that improve the conditions for the existing residents of Albemarle County. I think that we've found that our infrastructure now is failing, and needs help, and now its time to pay the piper and we're going to have to figure out how we're going to do this. So, that's why I'm running.

Question 1: How would you assess Albemarle County’s growth management strategies? What other steps would you advocate be taken to discourage development in the rural countryside and encourage development in the growth areas?  Are the existing incentives adequate?

Marcia Joseph (D): “I think that what we've done is we've managed to definitely encourage growth. We've got over 1400 residential units that have been created, and just in our neck of the woods, along 29 corridor, we've got over a million square feet of retail space that's been approved, which according     to our latest Comprehensive Plan, is a whole lot more than we're going to need by the year 2015. So, I don't think we've done a real good job in measuring how much we're putting into different areas. We also have not really done a good job with discouraging growth in the rural areas. We've had several     items that have come before the Board of Supervisors in the last few years that would just slow down growth, just slow it down a little bit. One was phasing, and that would not allow so many units, so many lots to be created in a year, and the other night had to do with critical slopes, family division, and stream buffers. And those were very benign things, and were just not approved by the Board, and I think it's really important that those sorts of small steps be taken so that we can discourage a lot of growth in our rural areas because that really helps create the character of our rural areas, and the character of Albemare County as a whole.”

Ken Boyd (R): “First of all, I want to comment on the rather benign ordinance changes that we put before the Board of Supervisors the other night because we had over a hundred speakers come out that spoke until 1:00, til 12:30 in the morning, that didn't feel like they were very benign changes... The Board of Supervisors did not, did not vote those down. They felt they just needed more work, and so that's what we're going to do with these, we're going to  have some more work done, try and get more people to buy into it. Now, I have here, I think that our growth management activities are working. I have here, the spring 2006 Clarion, which is put out by the Piedmont Environment Council, and it says, Albemarle landowners set conservation record, and it goes on to talk about how in 2005, we put 10,500 acres into conservation easements, and that brought up the total acreage to around 60,000, and this kind of lauds what we're doing. I know that there's a lot of perception being put out there, but I like to deal in real numbers. I'm a numbers type guy, I'm a financial type person, so, what I did was I went back and I got the building report, the latest building report for the 2nd quarter of this year. And if you compare it to a similar building report in 2004, 46% of the new housing starts... was in the rural area. In 2007, through the second quarter... it's 16%... These issues are beginning to work and beginning to take hold now. It's very soon in the process, and I'd be the first to admit that it's early on to be declaring that we've really shut down all the level of growth we want in the rural areas...”

Question 2:   How important is creating new jobs to the future of Albemarle County?  Should particular businesses be encouraged or discouraged from coming to or remaining in Albemarle County?  Who?  How?

Ken Boyd (R):  “This was an issue on jobs that I ran on 4 years ago, because we were coming off of the year in 2003, a period of time when we had a number of closings of manufacturing jobs. ConAgra, Comdial, Technicolor... We constantly need to be trying to promote job growth in this community... I think we can all agree that what we want are good clean industries here.... Biotech would be an excellent thing for us... I was part of the people on the Board who promoted us joining the [Thomas Jefferson] Partnership for Economic Development and the Chamber of Commerce, and the reason for this is that those people thinking about bringing jobs to our area were concerned with the fact that when they were talking to the University of Virginia, when they were talking to the Partnership, that the County of Albemarle wasn't there... In addition to that, we've also set up a $250,000 jobs opportunity fund, which we haven't had to use yet, but I certainly hope that we have some opportunity come up that we can use those funds for job training or for other things that might attract jobs to our areas.

Marcia Joseph (D): “We have an unemployment rate that is 2.7%, around 3%... I think what I hear     more from people is not so much that we need jobs here, but we need some jobs that are higher pay and     better quality and that goes hand in hand also with affordable housing... We have some really good     resources in town, people who have made some home-grown businesses: MusicToday, SNL Securities,     Biotage, Crutchfield. There's a bunch of people who have stayed right here and made some money, and     created some businesses. What I'd like to do is talk to these folks... and find out what is it about     Albemarle County that made you do this, how can we make it easier for you, and how can we create     some jobs here? I'm not so sure that it's important that we attract all kinds of things, though Albemarle     County has never turned down anything to my knowledge...

Question 3: How will you deal with neighborhood opposition to rezonings in our growth areas that are in line with the goals of Albemarle’s Comprehensive plan?

Marcia Joseph (D): “I've really had some real interesting experiences while being on the Planning Commission, and one of them is that normally we have neighbors come in, and they're really concerned  and they speak to the developers and they say why these things shouldn't happen, but recently in the last couple of years we've actually had some developers come in because something has come that wants to happen, some rezoning next to their properties, so I'm finding it kind of comical that we have this sort of thing happen, because it's human nature. People don’t like change.  People don't like the fact that what their expectations are, this piece of property was going to stay the same, it makes it difficult. Our comprehensive plan is our plan.  It helps guide us with growth, if growth is necessary in any particular area... I think it's important to listen to people.  They're the people who live in that neighborhood. I listen to those developers that came in and complained, just as much as I listen to any other neighbor that comes in, and talks about and explains to me how this will have an effect on their property.... I think it's important that we also look at our Comprehensive Plan and look at the Community as a whole... there's some sort of middle ground that we have to come to when we're doing something like that...

Ken Boyd (R): “I am on record saying... that  I will do everything possible as a Board of Supervisor representative to preserve our existing neighborhoods, even if that means going against issues that are in the comprehensive plan.  I personally don't believe that we should do things like put connector roads through existing neighborhoods where the existing roads are not set up to handle that...I think an example of that is the stand that I took on  Ashwood Boulevard, which I did not want to connect to Polo Grounds Road, and we heard from over 800 residents in the Forest Lakes area saying they were opposed to that particular road... We've now got that taken off of the plan for Places29.... I much prefer the alternative of taking the new neighborhoods and putting parallel roads through them if we need to do it...If we build a neighborhood with the idea that they're going to have a road that is a commuter road that's taking people through their neighborhood... then at least they bought their house knowing what's going on...”

Question 4: Albemarle County has dedicated $2 million towards priority transportation projects. With the state unable to fund critical road projects, what do you see as the responsibility of local government bodies to fund road projects? 

Ken Boyd (R): “I guess since I am the Supervisor who originally promoted the idea of putting more money into transportation, that I would have to say that I think that, unfortunately, we have to step up. We have to step up here locally because we have transportation problems that are not being dealt with by the state so we have no alternative but to put money into our own transportation... One of the things that we've done is we've recently put a proffer policy, where we are going to get from developers money up front for every house that's built that will go into paying for infrastructure costs, things like schools and roads and transportation...There's something we have to be very careful about. In my opinion, VDOT or let's just say the state, would very much like to turn over road-building to the counties, and road-maintenance to the counties. We can't do that. We can't put that kind of burden on property taxes... They have been giving us less money and we get less money today than we got ten years ago...One of the things you'll probably see next year from the Board of Supervisors is a proposal for a bond issue so that we can go ahead. We've been paying as you go for most of the time that we've been funding infrastructure in this area, and we can't keep up with the inflated cost of it...

Marcia Joseph (D): “I think our responsibility is to find out what our  priorities are... If we're going to do bond referendums and we're going to do general obligations, we'd better find out from people if this is what they want to happen, or if these are the improvements that they want to happen at this point in time.  I do think there are some important things. We do hear a lot about traffic and we're going to have to do something about it. There are other ways we need to look at this, too. If it's traffic related, maybe we can still looking at other modes of transportation. Maybe we need to think about doing somethings a little creatively, like using transit, and trying to figure out some ways that we can really get people to use mass transit... Maybe we need to talk about other forms of transportation like bicycles...  What's the best way to spend our money? If we're going to go out and we're going to ask some financial institution to lend us some money, what do we want to spend it on? So I think we really need to start talking about those things. I think this is an opportunity for us to become a very unique community... It is not just roadways.  I think we need to think about other means of transportation, and how we might handle that... I do think we may have to borrow some money, but I would certainly make a point of coming to the community and making sure that's exactly what they wanted to happen.”

Question 5: Albemarle County has expectations for the development community to build or pay for affordable housing.  Do you agree with that approach?  How do you believe the County should address the need for not just affordable housing, but also workforce housing?

Marcia Joseph (D): “I have worked with Habitat for Humanity, and so I know what goes on in some of the lower realms, you know, 50% of median income.  Affordable housing in our community is defined as 80% of median income. I think that this is an absolutely wonderful opportunity for us to do public-private partnerships... There's a group out there that's talking about community land trusts... I've been involved with those people... it's just really exciting because it's a way to provide affordable housing by using private funds and if we can get, if I'm on the Board, I would like to encourage other board members to also endorse and commit to providing some funds for this... Right now what we've got going in our affordable housing is that the proffers that we have are for five years only. So, that piece of property would stay affordable for five years and that's it... This would leave it so that it would stay forever...”

Ken Boyd (R): “I want to first address the land trust idea... That's been presented to our Board with encouragement from our existing Board for them to get the act together and come back and tell us what  they want to do there... That's something I'm very intrigued with and I think it's an excellent idea. I think that we've got a good start on the affordable housing project. But, as Marcia says, what we've done, and I'm not sure why we did it this way, but we sort of identified our affordable housing policy around  80% of median income... That does not touch the workforce housing needs in this community... These things are driven by market-rates. We're very very concerned about what's going on with the sub-prime markets now and what that's going to do to the lenders... It's a much more complicated issue than that. I'm looking for great results out of our task force. It's a City, County, University task force  that's looking at it, and they're trying to define what the problem is so that we can break it up into manageable pieces and tackle it.”

Question 6: “The Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission have both had work sessions on the, transportation elements of the Places29 Master Plan.  Will you support Berkmar Drive Extended from the Sam’s Club to Hollymead Town Center and grade separation on Route 29 as major components of that plan?  Why or why not?”

Ken Boyd (R): “First of all, I have been a big supporter of Berkmar Drive Extended for a long time... We've actually had the opportunities in the past to try and get that done but our Board has decided to hold off zoning applications that might have accomplished at least getting some of that road built until such time as the master planning process is over... I think that's an important parallel road  to 29 that we need to build. We're going to have to come up with a bridge, and it's going to be expensive for that bridge, but it needs to be done. Now, I'm not sure that I'm ready to turn Route 29 into an expressway... We've got...  12 percent that's through-traffic. So why would we want to build an expensive expressway  with a bunch of overpasses that are going to handle just 12 percent of the traffic?

Marcia Joseph (D): “The consultants have looked at this in any number of different ways and have come to the conclusion that [Berkmar Extended] is the way we can move traffic most effectively on 29... I do support that. It's going to be a real huge challenge to try to come up with the money for that bridge. I've heard anywhere between $14 million and $40 million... The grade separated  interchanges have been a problem in a lot of people's for many many years. I met with one of the members of the North Charlottesville Business Council today and I'm going to sit down with him next week and try to figure out what it is about that whole process or that whole design that is so problematic to people... It's hard for me to say I don't agree with it, because we've got engineers and experts that we're paying an awful lot of money, that are telling us that that's the way to solve our problems. I realize that we're the people who are leaders and we're supposed to look at this and make sure that it's  right, so that's what I'm doing now...

Question 7: Do you support a limited access bypass for Route 29 around northern Charlottesville and, if so, where would that be located?

Marcia Joseph (D): “I really don’t.  I think that the Places29 [Master Plan] has determined that we don’t need that. I mean, I haven't heard that as part of their recommendations, and again, I'm relying on experts but I'm not an engineer and haven't done any traffic modeling, but they say we don't need it, so I don't support it.”

Ken Boyd (R): “Well, just so everybody understands, the so-called Western Bypass as its more commonly referred to was not, was taken out of the study group, so they were not allo