Cville Tomorrow News

Happy campers: Commission smiles on pool-to-camp plan

02/26/11 * The Hook [full story]

Field Camp founder Todd Barnett is one step closer to buying the historic Blue Ridge Swim Club after the Albemarle County Planning Commission recommended approval of a special use permit February 22. While commissioners cited dozens of letters from Swim Club neighbors supportive of Barnett's plan, other neighbors say they're willing to fight to keep the camp out of the neighborhood.

"It is not an acceptable use of the property," says Frazier Bell, a 33-year neighbor to the Blue Ridge Swim Club-- a 13-acre parcel featuring a unique, century old, hundred-yard-long spring-fed pool.

 

Remembering Emily: Sister Katie helps unveil Couric Cancer Center

02/26/11 * The Hook [full story]

Nearly a decade after losing her battle to pancreatic cancer, state senator Emily Couric was commemorated Saturday by the dedication of a 150,000 square-foot University of Virginia medical building bearing her name. Headlining the dedication was broadcast journalist Katie Couric, who, several years before losing her sister, lost her husband, Jay Monahan, to colon cancer.

"I have personally witnessed the ravages of this disease and the importance of treating not the disease but the patient and his or her family," said Couric, a 1979 University graduate. Now anchoring the CBS Evening News, Couric has long tried to highlight cancer even letting millions of Americans watch in 2000 as she received a colonoscopy and, five years later, a mammogram.

 

Albemarle budget proposal holds line on tax rate

02/25/11 * Daily Progress [full story]

Albemarle County would increase police manpower modestly and boost rainy day reserves under a fiscal 2012 budget proposal that holds the tax rate steady.

The county executive’s $301 million plan is $8.8 million heftier than the budget approved for the current fiscal year.

It calls for an average pay increase of 1 percent for general government employees, the first raise in three years. And $1.2 million more local money would be provided for school operations, compared with the budget approved for the current fiscal year.

UVa displays new cancer center

02/24/11 * Daily Progress [full story]

The University of Virginia will soon have a new place to offer high-tech cancer treatment to patients.

The $74 million Emily Couric Clinical Cancer Center will open its doors to patients April 4, but the public can get its first look at the building this weekend. A community open house will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday.

The 150,000-square-foot outpatient cancer center, located across from the hospital, will bring all of the university’s cancer experts and state-of-the-art technology and treatments under one roof.

Martha Jefferson puts downtown properties on the market

02/23/11 * Daily Progress [full story]

Martha Jefferson Hospital took another step toward its eventual exit from downtown Charlottesville Wednesday when it announced that 26 properties surrounding its main building have been put up for sale.

The properties, mostly acquired as the hospital expanded in the 1970s and ’80s, range from single residences priced around $250,000 to packages spanning entire blocks and priced at more than $2 million.

Six individual properties and five packages, used mainly as office space for hospital support services and physicians, will be on the market until an April 20 offer deadline. The properties include historic houses used as office space which could be converted back into homes.

Paving imminent for dusty West Main lot

02/22/11 * C-Ville Weekly [full story]

Three months after the city approved fixes planned for the unpaved and heavily trafficked parking lot adjacent to the Amtrak station on West Main Street, lot owners Gabe Silverman and Allan Cadgene have lined up a contractor, met with city officials and obtained a land disturbance permit to begin construction. According to city planner Nick Rogers, the owners “are shooting for a start date of sometime next week to begin the work on the parking lot.”

“Hurray!” says Peter Castiglione, co-owner of Maya Restaurant on West Main Street. “I’m excited. I look forward to seeing the dust disappear. It’s going to be a big improvement for West Main Street and Midtown.”

The Trump Card

02/22/11 * C-Ville Weekly [full story]

Until business colossus and “The Apprentice” star Donald Trump cuts checks for Patricia Kluge’s foreclosed properties—the 45-room Albemarle House mansion, the unrealized luxury real estate development Vineyard Estates and the 900-acre Kluge Estate Winery & Vineyard—the three parcels belong to three separate banks, which hold combined liens totaling $65 million. However, sources close to negotiations say The Donald could move quickly to purchase all three properties from the banks—and could potentially keep Kluge and husband William Moses involved in winery operations.

At a foreclosure auction last Wednesday, local attorney Steve Blaine and Washington, D.C.-based business advisor Les Goldman cast a few bids on Trump’s behalf for Albemarle House, former residence of Kluge and Moses and subject of a $22.8 million Bank of America lien.

 

Council denies William Taylor Plaza plans

02/22/11 * Daily Progress [full story]

Charlottesville’s City Council rejected a proposal Tuesday that would have modified the development plan for the William Taylor Plaza mixed-used project at the corner of Cherry Avenue and Ridge Street.

The council voted 3-2 to reject changes proposed by the developer that would have expanded the project’s overall size and modified an affordable housing agreement included in the original plan. Mayor Dave Norris and Councilor Kristen Szakos voted in favor.

The rezoning application filed by Southern Development would have increased the number of residences from 50 to 80 units and expanded the project’s size by 10,000 square feet, bringing its total to 110,000 square feet.

City's Edwards won't run for re-election

02/21/11 * Daily Progress [full story]

City Councilor Holly Edwards announced Monday that she will not seek re-election, opting to step down when her term expires at the end of the year.

“There is a time for everything, and everything on Earth has its special season,” Edwards said during an emotional news conference at the Crescent Halls public housing building, where she first announced her candidacy in April 2007.

PVCC swells with increasing enrollment

02/19/11 * Daily Progress [full story]

More students than ever are studying at Piedmont Virginia Community College.

PVCC’s total headcount for the fall 2010 semester was 5,551 students, or 2,793 full-time-equivalent students. In fall 2005, PVCC had 4,163 students, or 2,217 full-time-equivalent students. Those are the highest enrollment numbers the 38-year-old school has ever had.

Frank Friedman, Piedmont’s president, said the increased enrollment is part of a larger trend that is fueled in part by the Great Recession.