Cville Tomorrow News

$850K earmark: Jeff School needs Senate OK

10/28/2010 * The Hook [full story]

You’ve seen photos of giant check presentations, but that shot wasn’t available at a recent Jefferson School event because the $850,000 heralded for the African-American Heritage Cultural Center hasn’t exactly landed in anyone’s happy hands. The appropriation has passed a House of Representatives subcommittee, and while it’s expected to pass the full House, it’s still got to get through the U.S. Senate.

Despite that uncertainty, several dozen Jefferson School alumni and supporters showed up October 19 to celebrate with Congressman Tom Perriello, who has been pushing the appropriation.

Martin Burks, president of the private citizen-owned entity that’s going to rehabilitate the school into a multi-purpose civic center, announced that some demolition will start in November and that a $3 million private donation has been made to the Heritage Center foundation. Anticipated occupancy date: spring 2012.

Top secret: Did taxpayers get burned by Biscuit Run?

10/27/2010 * The Hook [full story]

It seems like a simple question: How much will taxpayers pay to make Biscuit Run a Virginia park?

Nearly a year after the state’s under-the-wire purchase of the 1,200-acre tract that had been slated to become Albemarle’s biggest subdivision, the would-be developers and state officials appear to have successfully deflected inquiries about the value of tax credits that made the deal possible— even as the Virginia state senator who penned the legislation establishing such tax credits now calls the secrecy “disturbing.”

Meanwhile, tranquility-quashing plans remain to build 100 houses within the new park’s perimeter.

Taxpayer State Park

10/26/2010 * C-Ville Weekly [full story]

How Biscuit Run investors got a government bailout and emerged looking like heroes.

Five years ago, local investors bought 1,200 acres of Albemarle County land for $46.2 million. The developers promised to build the county’s biggest and best neighborhood, and after two years of review, a plan for 3,100 housing units won approval and accolades. The county government said it was a good thing.

Nine months ago, the Commonwealth of Virginia bought the same 1,200 acres for $9.8 million and an undisclosed amount of tax credits. The land would forever be preserved as open space, and the Charlottesville area would finally get a state park. The state government said it was a good thing.

But the Biscuit Run acquisition process, from start to finish, was a hasty affair that involved no public input and a network of businessmen and politicians with close ties. No one who negotiated the deal could control how much taxpayers paid—the decision is left to a few unelected bureaucrats in the state tax department. It very well could have bailed out businessmen who had made an ill-timed real estate investment at the height of the bubble.

City Market vendors pay 150 percent more in state fees

10/26/2010 * C-Ville Weekly [full story]

The manager and food vendors of the Charlottesville City Market received an unpleasant surprise upon opening the bill for their annual Food Safety fee this month. The required fee had jumped 150 percent, to $100 from $40.

“I was shocked when I opened this month’s bill,” says market manager Stephanie Anderegg-Maloy, who pays a separate fee for each of the three city markets, located at Meade and Pen parks and the Water Street metered parking lot. The fee applies to retail food processors of any size, from snack food warehouses to lemonade stands, and is payable to the Virginia Department of Agricultural and Consumer Services (VDACS).

“I got a letter along with the bill, noting the increase and that the bill is payable within 30 days,” says Planet Earth Diversified’s Michael Clark, whose City Market stall sells produce as well as specialty popsicles and frozen drinks.

Assessment: 3,000 jobs lost in area

10/28/2010 * Daily Progress [full story]

The Charlottesville region shed more than 3,000 jobs in 2009, a result of private sector losses, according to the latest Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce’s jobs assessment.

The 2010 Chamber Jobs Report said the area’s private sector lost 3,063 jobs in 2009 but government employment increased by 53 jobs, leading to a net loss of 3,010 jobs.

The findings state, “While this report shows that our greater Charlottesville region’s overall private enterprise economic engine has a good measure of economic vitality, job shifts and relocations raise important questions. Our greater Charlottesville region is not immune to national and international economic forces.”

City to enlist aid of 'tree advocates'

10/27/2010 * Daily Progress [full story]

Charlottesville could soon organize a group of “tree advocates” tasked with keeping a watchful eye on the city’s foliage, officials say.

“That’s really what they do in other communities,” Jim Tolbert, Charlottesville’s director of Neighborhood Development Services, said of having a tree commission in Charlottesville.

City councilors have shown support for establishing such a group, with Mayor Dave Norris saying to city staff last week that the council was giving a “big thumbs up” to the idea. Tasks for the potential commission could include serving in an advisory capacity to the Planning Commission, the City Council and city departments, recommending ordinances related to tree care and establishing guidelines for tree preservation in the city.

Silverman plots West Main biz amidst dust-up

10/26/2010 * C-Ville Weekly [full story]

Gabe Silverman and Allan Cadgene have a vision for the stretch of West Main Street near Sixth Street. The local developers want to turn the former C&R Auto Service—thousands of square feet arranged in three neighboring buildings, currently vacant, dark and dirty—into a medical and retail hub for the adjacent communities.

But while neighboring businesses applaud the developers’ idea, some of the same neighbors could bring legal action against Silverman and Cadgene for another property owned by the pair—the West Main parking lot at the Amtrak train station.

When vehicles move through the unpaved lot, they create dust clouds that cover parked cars, windows and patios of neighboring West Main businesses and residences. “I can get on the patio to set up all the tables on a really windy day, and I blow parking lot dust out of my nose when I go to the bathroom,” says Peter Castiglione, co-owner of Maya Restaurant. Castiglione has photographed and filmed his struggle to keep his property dust-free.

On October 12, Castiglione’s lawyer, Edward Lowry, sent a letter to Silverman and Cadgene that gives the parking lot owners 10 days to respond with a “binding assurance” that the dust problem will be fixed. The letter is co-signed by other business owners and residents. According to Castiglione, Silverman and Cadgene have contacted Lowry, and are in conversations regarding the lot.

Students, officials gather to dedicate South Lawn

10/25/2010 * Cavalier Daily [full story]

University administrators, students and faculty members gathered Friday to dedicate the South Lawn, an event that represented the culmination of a project more than 10 years in the making.
Plans to build the South Lawn were first conceived during the late 1990s. The official groundbreaking was celebrated in 2006, and the entire complex opened for the fall 2010 semester.

A crowd gathered at the terrace crossing of the South Lawn for an hour-long ceremony celebrating the project. The event featured speeches from President Teresa A. Sullivan, Gov. Bob McDonnell, College Foundation Board of Trustees President Locke Ogens, University Rector John Wynne, College Dean Meredith Woo, fourth-year College student Jeffrey Webb and two primary donors for the project, University alumni David Gibson and John Nau.

Woo called the project a huge achievement for the College, one that will help build a brighter future for the school.

Redevelopment to change little of Martha Jefferson's exterior

10/24/2010 * Daily Progress [full story]

The main campus of Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville won’t look much different from the outside even after the site is redeveloped, those involved with the project say.

“We were definitely left with the impression that the main hospital site and what you see certainly from High [Street] and Locust [Avenue] will not change,” said Ellen Wagner, president of the Martha Jefferson Neighborhood Association.

The $6.5 million sale of the hospital’s main building, parking deck and surface parking lots went through last month, with a group of investors now owning the site. The redevelopment is being managed by local developer Octagon Partners.

Will city-county tensions hurt residents of both?

10/23/2010 * Daily Progress [full story]

Despite promises to work together to save money and build goodwill, the relationship between Charlottesville and Albemarle County has been increasingly tested by tensions over the area’s water supply plan and other regional projects.

Some say those tensions could hurt residents in both localities, delaying major projects and potentially costing taxpayers money.

One key event came in September, when the City Council broke with a long-term water supply plan approved by both the city and county in 2006. While the City Council has affirmed its support for the bulk of the 2006 plan, councilors now want the plan to include reservoir dredging and a smaller dam.