Cville Tomorrow News

Crozet leaders ask county to advance historic district

7/31/09 * Daily Progress [full story]

Community leaders say residents would benefit from part of Crozet becoming a historic district, and though the first steps were taken to make that happen, paperwork has been stalled. And uncertainty lingers about when the application will be completed and who’ll pay for it.

Michael Marshall, chairman of the Crozet Community Advisory Council, said that such a request should be filed by Albemarle County, particularly considering that most of the work is already done and part of the expenses were paid by the county. But Margaret Maliszewski, the county’s principal planner for architectural review and historic resources, says that the county doesn’t have the money or staff to finish the work.

“It’s just sitting on a shelf now,” Marshall said. “At a recent CCAC meeting, [county officials] said, ‘Well, you guys have to come up with $5,000 to package this report in an application to the feds.’”

Scottsville unveils farmers’ market. Town’s pavilion idea bears fruit.

7/31/09 * Daily Progress [full story]

Scottsville cut the ribbon on a new farmers’ market pavilion on a humid Thursday evening under threatening skies.

Vendors weren’t concerned about the rain, though. The consensus opinion was the pavilion is wonderful and a definite upgrade from the tent it replaced.

“I thought the tent was going to come down on us several times when the wind got high,” Ben Poindexter, owner and operator of Ben’s Baked Goods, said.

Shadwell farewell: Old store demo provokes memories

7/30/09 * The Hook [full story]

Sometimes the loss of an old building, even an unremarkable one, can feel like loosing an old friend. So it goes with the old Shadwell Store, the small, white-bricked building that stood on a one-acre spike of land at the intersection of Louisa Road and Route 250 for nearly 80 years, which was finally demolished earlier this month.

Until last year, the store was being run by the owners of Foods of All Nations, but they decided not to renew their lease, says owner Lloyd “L.F.” Wood, whose family (which includes his brother, developer Wendell Wood) has owned the store since the 1930s. Wood has an approved plan for a bigger, more modern store, but he has yet to find a willing tenant. In the meantime, he figured it was best to demolish the seriously deteriorating structure.

“I didn’t want it to become an eyesore,” says Wood, who operates another local landmark, the Putt-Putt minuature golf course on Rio Road. “So we decided to put it to bed.”

Down 22%: Water thrift backfires on RWSA

7/30/09 * The Hook [full story]

Local households appear locked in a decade-long pattern of lower water consumption that, while paradoxically driving up their bills, has plunged the waterworks into deficit spending, according to a new financial report released Friday, July 24.

The new numbers show the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority finishing its fiscal year with a $606,000 deficit primarily because urban water sales fell about four percent below projections. In his financial report, Authority director Frederick concedes the deficit but makes no statement about how the Authority or its customers will cover it. However, in an emailed response to a reporter’s question, Frederick notes that the Authority maintains various reserves including a “rate stabilization fund” designed for just such purposes.

“RWSA has adequate reserves to cover the deficit,” Frederick says in the email.

Fry’s Spring group to talk park’s future

7/30/09 * Daily Progress [full story]

The Fry’s Spring Neighborhood Association will host a meeting Saturday about the future of Azalea Park, which is about to have a master plan created by city officials to map out possible improvements.

According to Charlottesville’s fiscal 2010 Capital Improvement Program, $500,000 is projected to be spent on Azalea Park during fiscal 2012 and fiscal 2013.

The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. and participants should gather at the entrance of the park, located on Old Lynchburg Road. Results of a neighborhood survey judging residents’ feelings about the park also will be discussed.

‘I want those Yankee dollars’

7/29/09 * Culpeper-Star Exponent [full story]

A new Amtrak coming to Culpeper Oct. 1 is not intended to serve commuters.

But the addition of a second, shorter-running daily passenger train is expected to improve reliability, free up seats on the other daily Amtrak and attract tourists from the north.

Though the time schedule isn’t exactly what some working people may have wanted, local officials are supporting the pilot rail initiative made possible with a three-year, $17.8 million subsidy from the state.

“This is not a commuter train,” Jay McArthur, principal officer with Amtrak, told the Culpeper Chamber of Commerce at its board meeting Tuesday morning in the Depot. “The bread and butter of this train is not the business traveler, it’s the leisure traveler — 60 percent of riders are going north of D.C.”

Youths in public housing ask for green areas

7/29/09 * Daily Progress [full story]

In many ways, youth and elderly residents of public housing offer contrasting desires for their neighborhoods’ futures. Yet the same wants for safe, appealing community spaces were suggested in recent meetings as the puzzle of redeveloping Charlottesville’s sites is being put together.

During a youth gathering at South First Street, requests of adding parks or little gardens in common areas were voiced as large, Monopoly-type house pieces were shuffled and stacked on papers showing neighborhood blocks.

“I think some of you really like living here,” said Gil Rosenthal, who works for Wallace Roberts & Todd, the consultant working with the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority on redevelopment plans. “For many of you, the land is more important than the buildings.”

Water authority: Larger pipe unnecessary

7/29/09 * Daily Progress [full story]

The Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority has received a report that concludes that enlarging the diameter of the new pipeline connecting area reservoirs wouldn’t decrease the water storage space needed for the area’s 50-year water supply plan.

“In our opinion, it would not be wise to spend the money to increase the size of the pipe because you get no comparable savings in the size of the reservoir,” said RWSA Executive Director Thomas L. Frederick Jr.

The report was presented at the RWSA Board of Directors meeting on Tuesday. Officials had sought the information as part of a re-evaluation of the approved water supply plan.

Downtown grocery store to open in September

7/28/09 * C-Ville Weekly [full story]

To all those who are impatiently waiting for Trader Joe’s to open in Charlottesville and had once hoped it would locate downtown, don’t despair. Market Street Market, a grocery store and deli is getting closer to its grand opening in early September.

Owners Steven Strumlauf and son Raphael (pictured) searched for the perfect spot to open a small business and found it on the corner of Market and Fourth streets.

“Downtown needs a grocery store,” he says.

Places29 implementation puts transportation first

7/28/09 * C-Ville Weekly [full story]

The redevelopment of the Route 29 corridor has been under discussion for years. Albemarle County has recently released the implementation chapter for Places29 Master Plan that lists the top priorities for transportation improvements and land use management, among others. Yet, these priorities are deemed necessary whether or not the master plan for the Route 29 corridor is adopted. To complicate things, although funding sources for these improvements were decided upon, the actual federal or local funds are nonexistent.

Morgan Butler, with the Southern Environmental Law Center, says the implementation chapter is vital for the future vision of the corridor. “The situation is this: [the chapter] is showing us that transportation improvements are needed along that corridor to finally deal with the hole we dug ourselves into,” he says. But, what Places29 does, he says, is set a land use pattern “that can actually reduce congestion when compared with sprawling development, and moreover, can be used if implemented as the plan set forth.”

According to the chapter, a backlog of transportation, infrastructure and community facilities and services already exists. “Almost all of the improvements in the master plan could be considered ‘back log’ as they either address existing demands or demands that will occur regardless of whether the master plan is approved,” says the county in an e-mail. “Most of these projects have been planned or anticipated for years.”