Cville Tomorrow News

Ice Park to close doors today

6/29/2010 * Daily Progress [full story]

Emily Hivick is one of 16 figure skaters who returned from a competition last weekend in Ohio, beaming from her troupe’s performance in a national skating contest.

But the group — Charlottesville’s Virginia Ice Box Ensemble — was also facing the reality that it was returning to a city whose ice rink’s remaining days could be counted on one hand, despite its fourth place awards in the 2010 National/International Theatre on Ice Competition.

“I’m very sad,” said the 13-year-old Hivick, who practices several times a week with the theater-on-ice group that one parent describes as being “Disney on Ice” without the huge budget. “It feels like we’re all a huge family.”

Crozet Square dispute still unresolved

6/29/2010 * Daily Progress [full story]

Crozet business owners had been struck with panic — witnessing a railroad company claim ownership of their shopping center parking lot and erecting a fence — and the property dispute remains unresolved now a month later.

The Buckingham Branch Railroad initially fenced off the bulk of The Square parking lot, later opening all but one row of parking to business customers. Buckingham Branch, which found a document several weeks ago indicating it’s renting the property, relocated the fence as a temporary agreement.

The agreement made shop owners at least temporarily responsible if anyone were to get injured in the parking lot.

Fixing Albemarle's Draft Economic Action Plan

Will a county boom accommodate local concerns?

6/29/2010 * C-Ville Weekly - News Opinion [full story]

The proposed Albemarle economic development action plan has been drawing much attention. The initial version was developed by members of the local business community in meetings with supervisor Ken Boyd and staff. The meetings took place without the knowledge of supervisors Dennis Rooker and Ann Mallek, chair of the Board of Supervisors. To the surprise of supervisors Rooker and Mallek, the action plan appeared on the agenda for discussion in a work session in May.

Time overruns of previous agenda items resulted in a short work session in May. A longer work session in June included public comments, sharp exchanges between supervisors and proposals for revisions. A public hearing on the plan now is scheduled for July 14. Support from supervisors Boyd, Lindsay Dorrier, Duane Snow and Rodney Thomas is driving this fast-track handling of the plan.

At the June work session, environmentalists raised many concerns about language in the initial draft. A revision of the action plan is available now at the Albemarle County website.

The cost of dredging South Fork

Reservoir could take up to 7 years, $40 million

6/29/2010 * C-Ville Weekly [full story]

During a June 22 meeting of the Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority (RWSA), Casey Burch, a project manager for HDR Engineering, shared results of the firm’s Dredging Feasibility Study. All told, Burch wagered that a one-time dredge of the South Fork Reservoir could cost between $34 million and $40.2 million—and subsequent dredging might be more expensive. He added that hydraulic dredging could remove an estimated 1.4 million cubic yards of sediment—a haul that would require roughly 100 acres to dewater.

Asked by Albemarle County Supervisor Ken Boyd for a time estimate, Burch answered seven years—one or two for final designs and permits, three or so for dredging, and the remainder to “reclaim” dewatering sites used to capture reusable sediment. During the process, residents located near dredging and dewatering sites might hear the sound of a diesel motor powering the hydraulic dredge, along with the sound of trucks hauling dewatered materials to storage sites, said Burch.

Waterhouse moves from "tower" to "village"

Developer Atwood lowers mixed-use design to six stories

6/29/10 * C-Ville Weekly [full story]

By his own estimation, architect Bill Atwood is the sort of guy who puts too many ornaments on the Christmas tree. During a recent meeting of the city’s Board of Architectural review—in which he presented a new, significantly reconfigured design of his five-year-old Waterhouse project—the board confirmed as much.

“The whole thing needs to be simplified, really massively,” said board member and UVA preservation planner Brian Hogg. Fellow BAR member Eryn Brennan, president of Preservation Piedmont, agreed.

“I’ll just say briefly: Corbusian cruise ship meets ziggurat Frank Lloyd Wright,” said Brennan.

Water Street fully functional by July

6/29/10 * C-Ville Weekly [full story]

The shortest distance between any two points—crosswalk signals, for instance—is a straight line. The same goes for a stroll down Water Street, from the front doors of Second Street Gallery to the rear entrance of CVS Pharmacy. Or, that’s how it worked before the Landmark Hotel.

During construction of the would-be 10-story hotel and ongoing excavation work at the dormant site, the path is a bit longer, thanks to the wooden and concrete construction barriers that eliminate a half-block of sidewalk and one westbound lane at Second Street SE. Pedestrians cross Water Street at Third SE, walk a block beneath the awning of the parking garage, and round the two-crosswalk elbow at Second SE into the home stretch.

And that’s the path of the patient man. Last week, a reporter watched more than a few locals move diagonally from the intersection’s southeast corner to the northwest, including one man wheeling a stroller.

Revenue matching funds for roads cut

6/27/2010 * Daily Progress [full story]

A state funding program that matches local dollars for transportation projects will see a drastic cut next fiscal year, which could spell trouble for localities that use the grants to advance high-priority projects.

The state’s revenue-sharing program will be cut from $50 million to $15 million in fiscal 2011, which begins July 1. The Commonwealth Transportation Board approved the smaller funding amount at its meeting earlier this month, along with the state’s final Six-Year Improvement Plan for the next fiscal year.

“The funding for the initial $50 million pool for the last two years has been funded from bond issue funds,” John J. “Butch” Davies III, who represents the Charlottesville area on the Commonwealth Transportation Board, wrote in an e-mail. “This will no longer be true.”

City authority to host community meeting on public housing

6/24/10 * Daily Progress [full story]

The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority is hosting its last community meeting on the redevelopment of the city’s public housing sites.
The meeting will take place from 6 to 7:30 p.m. July 13 at the Carver Rec-reation Center, at 324 Fourth St. NW.

Hotel homeless? Police investigate Landmark squatting

6/24/2010 * The Hook [full story]

City officials had once hoped the Landmark Hotel would attract wealthy and sophisticated visitors to the Downtown Mall with luxurious accommodations and spectacular views of the City, but since the project was unceremoniously halted over a year ago, the unfinished structure appears to have attracted a different clientele.

Already dealing with nine months of construction on an $800,000 streetscaping project, Chas Webster, owner of The Box on Second Street SE, says that homeless people squatting in the Landmark have created another headache for his restaurant.

“They shout at people and throw beer bottles down in the street at night,” says Webster. “We’ve called the police about it a number of times.”

Charlottesville Ice Park close to sold?

6/23/2010 * Daily Progress [full story]

The Charlottesville Ice Park has moved a step toward being purchased and operated by a new owner instead of departing as the anchor of the Downtown Mall’s western end.

The ice park is under contingent contract, meaning that if certain conditions are met then the parties involved could move toward a closing. The contingent phase is the first of two parts that are necessary before a deal is settled.

“The buyer and seller have worked exceptionally hard to save this community asset,” said listing agent Bob Kahn of Bob Kahn Realty & Investment, which is overseeing the ice park’s sale. “The contingent contract represents a glimmer of hope that that outcome may be achievable.”