Podcasts about stolzenberg

It is a common assumption that in Israel, Jews have sovereignty, and in most other places where Jews live today, they have religious freedom instead. As Simon Rabinovitch shows in this original work, the situation is much more complicated. Jews today possess different kinds of legal rights in states around the world; some stem from religious freedom protections, and others evolved from a longer history of Jewish autonomy. By comparing conflicts between Jewish collective and individual rights in courts and laws across the globe, from the French Revolution to today, this book provides a nuanced legal history of Jewish sovereignty and religious freedom. Rabinovitch weaves key themes in Jewish legal history with the individual stories of litigants, exploring ideas about citizenship and belonging; who is a Jew; what makes a Jewish family; and how to define Jewish space. He uses recent court cases to explore problems of conflicting rights and then situates each case in a wider historical context. This unique comparative history creates a global picture of modern legal development in which Jews continue to use the law to carve out surprising forms of sovereignty. Simon Rabinovitch is the Stotsky Associate Professor of Jewish Historical and Cultural Studies at Northeastern University. He teaches and writes on a range of topics in European, Jewish, Russian, and legal history. Geraldine Gudefin is a French-born modern Jewish historian researching Jewish family life, legal pluralism, and the migration experiences of Jews in France and the United States. She is currently a research fellow at the Hebrew University's Avraham Harman Research Institute of Contemporary Jewry, and is completing a book titled An Impossible Divorce? East European Jews and the Limits of Legal Pluralism in France, 1900-1939. Mentioned in the podcast: • Simon Rabinovitch, Jewish Rights, National Rites: Nationalism and Autonomy in Late Imperial and Revolutionary Russia (2014) • Maurice Samuels, The Right to Difference: French Universalism and the Jews (2016) • David Sorkin, The Religious Enlightenment: Protestants, Jews, and Catholics from London to Vienna (2008) • David Sorkin, Jewish Emancipation: A History across Five Centuries (2019) • Lawrence Rosen, The Rights of Groups: Understanding Community in the Eyes of the Law (2024) • Winnifred Fallers Sullivan, Church State Corporation: Construing Religion in US Law (2020) • Nomi M. Stolzenberg and David N. Myers, American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York (2022) • David Biale, Power & Powerlessness in Jewish History (1986) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

It is a common assumption that in Israel, Jews have sovereignty, and in most other places where Jews live today, they have religious freedom instead. As Simon Rabinovitch shows in this original work, the situation is much more complicated. Jews today possess different kinds of legal rights in states around the world; some stem from religious freedom protections, and others evolved from a longer history of Jewish autonomy. By comparing conflicts between Jewish collective and individual rights in courts and laws across the globe, from the French Revolution to today, this book provides a nuanced legal history of Jewish sovereignty and religious freedom. Rabinovitch weaves key themes in Jewish legal history with the individual stories of litigants, exploring ideas about citizenship and belonging; who is a Jew; what makes a Jewish family; and how to define Jewish space. He uses recent court cases to explore problems of conflicting rights and then situates each case in a wider historical context. This unique comparative history creates a global picture of modern legal development in which Jews continue to use the law to carve out surprising forms of sovereignty. Simon Rabinovitch is the Stotsky Associate Professor of Jewish Historical and Cultural Studies at Northeastern University. He teaches and writes on a range of topics in European, Jewish, Russian, and legal history. Geraldine Gudefin is a French-born modern Jewish historian researching Jewish family life, legal pluralism, and the migration experiences of Jews in France and the United States. She is currently a research fellow at the Hebrew University's Avraham Harman Research Institute of Contemporary Jewry, and is completing a book titled An Impossible Divorce? East European Jews and the Limits of Legal Pluralism in France, 1900-1939. Mentioned in the podcast: • Simon Rabinovitch, Jewish Rights, National Rites: Nationalism and Autonomy in Late Imperial and Revolutionary Russia (2014) • Maurice Samuels, The Right to Difference: French Universalism and the Jews (2016) • David Sorkin, The Religious Enlightenment: Protestants, Jews, and Catholics from London to Vienna (2008) • David Sorkin, Jewish Emancipation: A History across Five Centuries (2019) • Lawrence Rosen, The Rights of Groups: Understanding Community in the Eyes of the Law (2024) • Winnifred Fallers Sullivan, Church State Corporation: Construing Religion in US Law (2020) • Nomi M. Stolzenberg and David N. Myers, American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York (2022) • David Biale, Power & Powerlessness in Jewish History (1986) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

It is a common assumption that in Israel, Jews have sovereignty, and in most other places where Jews live today, they have religious freedom instead. As Simon Rabinovitch shows in this original work, the situation is much more complicated. Jews today possess different kinds of legal rights in states around the world; some stem from religious freedom protections, and others evolved from a longer history of Jewish autonomy. By comparing conflicts between Jewish collective and individual rights in courts and laws across the globe, from the French Revolution to today, this book provides a nuanced legal history of Jewish sovereignty and religious freedom. Rabinovitch weaves key themes in Jewish legal history with the individual stories of litigants, exploring ideas about citizenship and belonging; who is a Jew; what makes a Jewish family; and how to define Jewish space. He uses recent court cases to explore problems of conflicting rights and then situates each case in a wider historical context. This unique comparative history creates a global picture of modern legal development in which Jews continue to use the law to carve out surprising forms of sovereignty. Simon Rabinovitch is the Stotsky Associate Professor of Jewish Historical and Cultural Studies at Northeastern University. He teaches and writes on a range of topics in European, Jewish, Russian, and legal history. Geraldine Gudefin is a French-born modern Jewish historian researching Jewish family life, legal pluralism, and the migration experiences of Jews in France and the United States. She is currently a research fellow at the Hebrew University's Avraham Harman Research Institute of Contemporary Jewry, and is completing a book titled An Impossible Divorce? East European Jews and the Limits of Legal Pluralism in France, 1900-1939. Mentioned in the podcast: • Simon Rabinovitch, Jewish Rights, National Rites: Nationalism and Autonomy in Late Imperial and Revolutionary Russia (2014) • Maurice Samuels, The Right to Difference: French Universalism and the Jews (2016) • David Sorkin, The Religious Enlightenment: Protestants, Jews, and Catholics from London to Vienna (2008) • David Sorkin, Jewish Emancipation: A History across Five Centuries (2019) • Lawrence Rosen, The Rights of Groups: Understanding Community in the Eyes of the Law (2024) • Winnifred Fallers Sullivan, Church State Corporation: Construing Religion in US Law (2020) • Nomi M. Stolzenberg and David N. Myers, American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York (2022) • David Biale, Power & Powerlessness in Jewish History (1986) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

It is a common assumption that in Israel, Jews have sovereignty, and in most other places where Jews live today, they have religious freedom instead. As Simon Rabinovitch shows in this original work, the situation is much more complicated. Jews today possess different kinds of legal rights in states around the world; some stem from religious freedom protections, and others evolved from a longer history of Jewish autonomy. By comparing conflicts between Jewish collective and individual rights in courts and laws across the globe, from the French Revolution to today, this book provides a nuanced legal history of Jewish sovereignty and religious freedom. Rabinovitch weaves key themes in Jewish legal history with the individual stories of litigants, exploring ideas about citizenship and belonging; who is a Jew; what makes a Jewish family; and how to define Jewish space. He uses recent court cases to explore problems of conflicting rights and then situates each case in a wider historical context. This unique comparative history creates a global picture of modern legal development in which Jews continue to use the law to carve out surprising forms of sovereignty. Simon Rabinovitch is the Stotsky Associate Professor of Jewish Historical and Cultural Studies at Northeastern University. He teaches and writes on a range of topics in European, Jewish, Russian, and legal history. Geraldine Gudefin is a French-born modern Jewish historian researching Jewish family life, legal pluralism, and the migration experiences of Jews in France and the United States. She is currently a research fellow at the Hebrew University's Avraham Harman Research Institute of Contemporary Jewry, and is completing a book titled An Impossible Divorce? East European Jews and the Limits of Legal Pluralism in France, 1900-1939. Mentioned in the podcast: • Simon Rabinovitch, Jewish Rights, National Rites: Nationalism and Autonomy in Late Imperial and Revolutionary Russia (2014) • Maurice Samuels, The Right to Difference: French Universalism and the Jews (2016) • David Sorkin, The Religious Enlightenment: Protestants, Jews, and Catholics from London to Vienna (2008) • David Sorkin, Jewish Emancipation: A History across Five Centuries (2019) • Lawrence Rosen, The Rights of Groups: Understanding Community in the Eyes of the Law (2024) • Winnifred Fallers Sullivan, Church State Corporation: Construing Religion in US Law (2020) • Nomi M. Stolzenberg and David N. Myers, American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York (2022) • David Biale, Power & Powerlessness in Jewish History (1986) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

It is a common assumption that in Israel, Jews have sovereignty, and in most other places where Jews live today, they have religious freedom instead. As Simon Rabinovitch shows in this original work, the situation is much more complicated. Jews today possess different kinds of legal rights in states around the world; some stem from religious freedom protections, and others evolved from a longer history of Jewish autonomy. By comparing conflicts between Jewish collective and individual rights in courts and laws across the globe, from the French Revolution to today, this book provides a nuanced legal history of Jewish sovereignty and religious freedom. Rabinovitch weaves key themes in Jewish legal history with the individual stories of litigants, exploring ideas about citizenship and belonging; who is a Jew; what makes a Jewish family; and how to define Jewish space. He uses recent court cases to explore problems of conflicting rights and then situates each case in a wider historical context. This unique comparative history creates a global picture of modern legal development in which Jews continue to use the law to carve out surprising forms of sovereignty. Simon Rabinovitch is the Stotsky Associate Professor of Jewish Historical and Cultural Studies at Northeastern University. He teaches and writes on a range of topics in European, Jewish, Russian, and legal history. Geraldine Gudefin is a French-born modern Jewish historian researching Jewish family life, legal pluralism, and the migration experiences of Jews in France and the United States. She is currently a research fellow at the Hebrew University's Avraham Harman Research Institute of Contemporary Jewry, and is completing a book titled An Impossible Divorce? East European Jews and the Limits of Legal Pluralism in France, 1900-1939. Mentioned in the podcast: • Simon Rabinovitch, Jewish Rights, National Rites: Nationalism and Autonomy in Late Imperial and Revolutionary Russia (2014) • Maurice Samuels, The Right to Difference: French Universalism and the Jews (2016) • David Sorkin, The Religious Enlightenment: Protestants, Jews, and Catholics from London to Vienna (2008) • David Sorkin, Jewish Emancipation: A History across Five Centuries (2019) • Lawrence Rosen, The Rights of Groups: Understanding Community in the Eyes of the Law (2024) • Winnifred Fallers Sullivan, Church State Corporation: Construing Religion in US Law (2020) • Nomi M. Stolzenberg and David N. Myers, American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York (2022) • David Biale, Power & Powerlessness in Jewish History (1986) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/law

In der heutigen Episode ist die liebe Julia Stolzenberg von der "DoWhatYouLove Academy" zu Gast ❤️Julia hat es sich zur Aufgabe gemacht, überwiegend jungen Frauendabei zu helfen, ihren Traum von einem selbst organisiertem Auslandsjahr zu verwirklichen

Kleines Budget, großer Traum, so könnte man das Start-Up von Julia Stolzenberg beschreiben, denn sie möchte Schülerinnen ab der 11. Klasse helfen, den Traum vom Auslandsjahr zu verwirklichen. Eintauchen in eine andere Kultur und das selbst organisiert, mit eigenen Mitteln. Ihre eigene Geschichte hat ihr geholfen, nicht nur sechs Jahre auf der ganzen Welt zu leben und zu arbeiten, sondern auch sämtliche Kniffe und Tricks für alle zu sammeln, die selbst in die große weite Welt reisen möchten. Auch wenn das Bankkonto nicht so aufgefüllt ist, wie bei manch anderen.

In this episode of Mommy Brain Revisited I talk with Dr Danielle Stolzenberg, an Associate Professor at UC Davis, about the nonhormonal basis of parenting, modelling perinatal mental illness, and the 51 Foundation which she started. We also talk about the need to understand current treatments for perinatal mental illness (particularly SSRIs) and the importance of funding research in females. Yes! For more information on Dr Stolzenberg see https://psychology.ucdavis.edu/people/dstolzen Here is a link to the paper that we talk about: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34674243/ Paper citation: Rosinger ZJ, Mayer HS, Geyfen JI, Orser MK, Stolzenberg DS. Ethologically relevant repeated acute social stress induces maternal neglect in the lactating female mouse. Dev Psychobiol. 2021 Nov;63(7):e22173. doi: 10.1002/dev.22173. PMID: 34674243; PMCID: PMC10631567. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mommybrainrevisited/support

Kiryas Joel, a chartered municipality in New York State functions as a religious community and American village. Nomi M. Stolzenberg holds the Nathan and Lilly Shapell Chair at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. She is a legal scholar whose research spans a range of interdisciplinary interests, including law and religion, law and liberalism, law and feminism, law and psychoanalysis, and law and literature. After getting her J.D. at Harvard Law School in 1987 and clerking for the Honorable John Gibbons, chief judge of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, she joined the faculty at the USC Gould School in 1988. There, she helped establish the USC Center for Law, History and Culture, one of the preeminent centers for the study of law and the humanities. She is the co-author with David N. Myers of American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York (Princeton, 2022), and the author of numerous articles on law and religion, including the widely cited “He Drew a Circle That Shut Me Out: Assimilation, Indoctrination, and the Paradox of a Liberal Education,” published in the Harvard Law Review, “Righting the Relationship Between Race and Religion in Law,” and “The Return of Religion: Legal Secularism's Rise and Fall and Possible Resurrection.” She is spending the 2022-2023 academic year as a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and as a fellow at the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where she will be working on a new project on religious exemptions and the theory of “faith-based discrimination.”   David N. Myers is Distinguished Professor of History and holds the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History at UCLA, where he serves as the director of the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy. He also directs the new UCLA Initiative to Study Hate. He is the author or editor of more than fifteen books in the field of Jewish history, including, with Nomi Stolzenberg, American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York (Princeton, 2022), which was awarded the 2022 National Jewish Book Award in American Jewish studies. From 2018-2023, he served as president of the New Israel Fund.

On this day in 1967, Jimi Hendrix played his last show as the opening act for the Monkees. At least, that's one obscure fact about this day that serves as an ice-breaker for the July 17, 2023 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. But how do we know for sure? Is there a recording? Were any of you there? In any case, I'm skeptical but this is sadly not the focus of this installment of the program. In this particular edition: * A brief look at tonight's meeting of the Louisa County Board of Supervisors* Charlottesville opens up grant program for festivals and events* The search continues for a new fire chief* Some city departments will move into the S&P Building* Charlottesville City Council and the Planning Commission further discuss changes to draft zoning mapI like to write about this community. I really love when people read it. Sign up for free and I promise not to beg you for money. But I do appreciate paid subscriptions.First shout-out: Plant Northern Piedmont NativesSince the beginning of this newsletter, one Patreon supporter has dedicated their shout-out to an organization that seeks to draw awareness of the importance of native species to the ecosystem. As we approach summer, Plant Northern Piedmont Natives wants you to know they've printed over 9,280 copies of their guide Piedmont Native Plants: A Guide for Landscapes and Gardens. In this guide, Piedmont native plants are defined as those that evolved before the influence of European settlements shaped and changed the landscape. Plants included in the guide were selected from the Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora and occur naturally within the region. You can download your copy today for free! Louisa County Supervisors do in fact meet tonightThere's a public hearing on a 5 megawatt solar facility We begin today with a correction. Or rather, an admission of an omission on this mission to inform and illuminate decisions. The Louisa County Board of Supervisors will meet this evening. I'd reported incorrectly that they took the day but that was my error. Rather than repeat all of that, head over to today's Fifth District Community Engagement for an explanation of what happened.Visit above for all of the details, but there are four public hearings worth placing here before we get on with getting through the week ahead.  * There is no staff report for a resolution that would change Louisa County code to allow for the Board of Supervisors to issue a five percent real property tax rebate to citizens. (resolution)* There's a public hearing on a siting agreement for a 5 megawatt solar facility known as OCHS solar or Louisa Solar. This would bring $50,000 to the county if the project is approved. (resolution) (siting agreement)* There's a related public hearing for a conditional use permit for the above project. Go back and look at the meeting overview for a link to more information. * There's a request for a conditional use permit for an equipment sales and rental business in a General Commercial District. The Planning Commission recommended approval with eight conditions. (resolution)A glimpse at the latest report from the City Manager RogersCharlottesville City Council meets tonight and one item I did not include in yesterday's Week Ahead is the report from interim City Manager Michael C. Rogers. Rogers will soon hand over the position to Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders, and Council will vote on Sanders' contract tonight.One of the aspects Rogers' brought to the job when he began in early 2022 was the creation of a written report about what's happening inside of city government. Here are some stories from the latest report.City awarding $560,000 in grants for arts, culture, and festivalsLast August, City Council set aside $580,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act to help spur community events in the wake of the pandemic. The window is open for groups who want to try something new or sustain something existing.“The program is intended to promote citywide special events that will activate public spaces, enrich the lives of residents, encourage partnerships between organizations, foster a vibrant and diverse community, and stimulate economic activity,” reads the report. Applications will be taken in four separate windows and up to $10,000 will be awarded for each event. Take a look at the city's website for information about how to apply.  Search continues for a new fire chief for CharlottesvilleCharlottesville is a city that has had much turnover and many high profile vacancies. That includes the position of fire chief. Michael Thomas has been serving on an interim basis since Hezedean Smith left to take a position in Florida. There were 30 applications to become the new chief. “The in-house review committee, which included representatives of the Fire Fighters union, narrowed the field to eight who were invited to do online interviews. And after that review, four candidates are invited for in-person interviews,” reads the interim city manager's report. An appointment is expected in the next several weeks. City departments moving into S&P BuildingThe City of Charlottesville owns the S&P Building at 700 East Jefferson Street and the Charlottesville Economic Development Authority leases it to S&P. City Council was briefed on the terms of this arrangement last June.Just over a year later, a few city departments will be moving into the building on the 1st and 2nd floors. These include the Office of Community Solutions and Public Works' Engineering Division. A regional group will also move into the space. “The Emergency Communications Center will occupy most of the first floor as training and space for back-office operations to lighten the current pressure at the main office on Ivy Road,” the report continues. Other items:* A new proposed pay scale for city employees will be presented to City Council on August 7 followed by a first reading on August 21. * Melinda Crawford is retiring from her position as the Chief Executive Officer of the Charlottesville Regional Airport. Internal candidates for her replacement will be interviewed by the Charlottesville Albemarle Airport Authority in August. * There were a total of five complaints made to the Police Civilian Oversight Board between October 2022 and April 2023. Three were forwarded to the Police Department's Office of Professional Standards. One was referred to the traffic engineering division as it was about a crosswalk. One more complaint is still pending. The one complaint received in May will be closed because it involved a UVA police officer. No complaints were received in June. * An update on the decarbonization study for municipal gas will be given to Council in October with a final report to be ready in February. Council was briefed on the launch of the study in March. Second shout-out: eBike Lending Library In today's second subscriber supported shout-out, one Patreon supporter wants you to know that Charlottesville now has an eBike Lending Library!  E-bikes are a great way to get around the community but there are many brands and styles to choose from. Because many e-bikes are sold online, it can be a challenge to try an e-bike before buying one.The Charlottesville E-bike Lending Library is a free, not-for-profit service working to expand access to e-bikes in the area. They have a small collection of e-bikes that we lend out to community members for up to a week, for free. You can experience your daily commute, go grocery shopping, or even bike your kids to school, and decide whether e-bikes are right for you. Check out this service at https://www.ebikelibrarycville.orgCharlottesville City Council and the Planning Commission further discuss changes to draft zoning mapSpoiler alert. I'm still quite behind on writing about the latest on the draft zoning code in Charlottesville. I also really want to write up the discussion on the Comprehensive Plan in last week. Later this week I'll write up the three hour discussion from July 13, 2023 between the City Council and the Planning Commission. Near the beginning of the Charlottesville Planning Commission meeting held on Tuesday, July 11,  there was this bit of information from Missy Creasy, the deputy director of the city's department of Neighborhood Development Services. “Because we're going to be talking about the zoning ordinance at length on Thursday, we won't have any additional zoning ordinance discussions for this evening,” Creasy said.The Planning Commission has held two joint work sessions with the City Council on the work session. The first was held on July 5 and was intended to be a continuation of a May 23 work session on potential changes to the zoning map. That one lasted four hours, and I have a summary of that discussion. You can either listen to it here on Charlottesville Community Engagement or read the text-only version on Information Charlottesville. The July 13 edition focused on residential neighborhoods and I plan to write that up in detail. But the July 5 noontime meeting began with an exchange captured between Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook and Charlottesville Planning Commissioner Lyle Solla-Yates.“R-A, R-B, and R-C,” Solla-Yates can be heard before the meeting began. “I talked with staff about it just now, and that will be the next one that will be addressed at a work session…. Do you understand the issue?” “Well, I understand the issue, but I don't understand the resolution,” Snook said. “We will get there,” Solla-Yates said.“Okay,” Snook. “Which is a terrible answer, but that's my answer today,” Solla-Yates said. “Okay,” Snook. “Your concern is noted,” Solla-Yates said. What concern? What resolution? Maybe we'll find out. The July 5 meeting took two hours. The group went one by one through a series of specific requests recommended by members of the public. The following is some of what they discussed. Cedar Hills Road at District AvenueA two-block section of Hydraulic Road across from Stonefield in Albemarle County is currently listed as Corridor Mixed-Use 5 in the draft zoning code. One member of the public noted that currently some of those blocks are duplexes and other affordable places to live. Commissioner Philip d'Oronzio suggested switching those not fronting Hydraulic Road to Residential-A or Residential-B in order to preserve them. Councilor Brian Pinkston pointed out that the Commonwealth Transportation Board recently approved a roundabout at District Avenue at Hydraulic. That means some of those structures may be demolished to make way for that project. Snook, a member of the MPO Policy Board, said at least two buildings would have to go. (read that story)“Part of my concern is that I would hate to get to a situation where we are so determined to maximize housing that we don't allow for commercial uses in places where commercial uses make sense,” Snook said. d'Oronzio described the existing character of the land not fronting Hydraulic.“Once you get two steps back from Hydraulic you are in a quiet suburban neighborhood,” d'Oronzio said. The group reached consensus to make many of the changes to some of the properties. As this is a written and audio visual, I can't see precisely what was changed. Rugby / Grady and accommodating the student population Another request to the Future Land Use Map was for an area around Rugby Avenue and Grady Avenue designated for High-Intensity Residential. This is an area that's used for off-Grounds housing for students at the University of Virginia. “The current designation shows High-Intensity Residential for 3 owner-occupied homes, which seems to me like an encroachment of that student area into non-student land that won't be necessary if we densify within its current boundaries,” reads the request.  When the draft zoning map was drawn, these parcels were designated as Residential Mixed Use, or RX-3.At the work session, Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg suggested going in the other direction and increasing them by one grade to RX-5.“And the general philosophy of fitting as many students into existing student areas as we can so that they stop spreading out, Stolzenberg said. “That would leave a little more room to fit them in. I think 5 is also fairly consistent with some new development on Virginia Avenue that's four stories over there that is obviously higher than three.” However, Stolzenberg suggested some of the owner-occupied houses could be reduced to address the community member's concern. This topic comes up at a time when the University of Virginia is conducting a planning study for an initiative to house all second-year students on Grounds. Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook expressed skepticism. “That's just me trying to read tea leaves and it's not any inside knowledge,” Snook said. “And if it happens it's going to happen probably at least five years from now anyway and maybe more like ten. Who knows? By that time we'll have a different Board of Visitors and we may have a different president. We don't know.” Planning Commissioner Carl Schwarz pointed out that after 14th Street was up-zoned in 2003, many houses came down to make way for the large apartment buildings that have been built ever since. Schwarz served two terms on the Board of Architectural Review (BAR) before being appointed to the Planning Commission last year and has seen many applications in this specific area. “This area has been kind of a battle ground for the BAR,” Schwarz said. “It is a bit of a struggle because there are a lot of single family houses that are no longer single family houses. And it's a little frustrating because there's an elementary school and the library and you've got parks. It's set up as a neighborhood but it's almost exclusively lived in by students.” Councilor Brian Pinkston raised a concern that the city may not have the ability to handle the additional density. The properties adjoining a nearby intersection are either Residential-C or RX-3. “We're assuming a lot of things about vehicles, we're assuming a lot of things about the road network, and so where Rugby (Road) comes into Preston (Avenue) just north of there essentially in an area that for better or worse has been residential for many years, that's going to be essentially like a hub as we're looking at it and I have some questions about whether that's really feasible.” Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg said that was not the area he was considering for upzoning. He meant closer to the University on properties that are currently zoned either in the UMD or UHD category. “That is zoned for 50 feet, five stories,” Stolzenberg said. “So really what we're proposing in this map is really a downzoning from what we allow there now. RX-5 would be what's allowed now.”Snook asked if anyone had ever quantified the number of UVA students who live in areas designated in student housing. Bill Palmer works in the office of the UVA Architect and said they've studied the issue.“Generally what we've found for undergraduates especially is that they want to be as close to UVA as possible,” Palmer said. “I will say that this area and [Jefferson Park Avenue] are both serve by our [University Transit Service] and very walkable.” However, Palmer said many students do bring their cars and if there are no parking minimums in the future, there would have to be some management. Upzoning church propertiesThere has been a trend in Charlottesville for church properties to go through rezonings to add residential density. This has happened at Hinton Avenue Baptist Church in Belmont, Park Street Christian Church, and Mount View Baptist Church in Locust Grove.In the comments on the Future Land Use Map made so far there were two further requests for church properties to be designated for future residential growth. These are at the Greek Orthodox Church on McIntire Road and Mount Zion Baptist Church. The Greek Orthodox Church property has a draft zoning designation of Residential-C. The Mount Zion Baptist Church property is Residential-A and is in the Sensitive Communities overlay. Commissioner Karim Habbab suggested it could be increased.“The South First Street development across the street is RX-3,” Habbab said. “Would it make sense to make [Mount Zion Baptist Church] RX-3? It's right on Elliot Avenue.” Freas said doing so as part of this process would require an alteration to the Future Land Use Map, which may slow down the rezoning process. Upzoning north of the BypassCharlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook responded to community members suggestions that the area north of the U.S. 250 Bypass might not be suitable for medium-intensity residential. I'll point out that as I write this, I don't have access to the spreadsheet to which Planning Commissioners and Councilors made reference. For instance, the current draft zoning map designates properties along Meadowbrook Heights Road, Grove Road and Kenwood Lane as Residential-B matching the Medium-Intensity designation called for in the Future Land Use Map.  “One of the primary reasons why I really don't want to increase density right there unless we are going to solve the traffic problem,” Snook said. “That gets back to the question that I've been asking for a year now which is what responsibility do we have if we create a greater degree of intensity of use there?” Snook said the city has limited resources to put into infrastructure and the city might have to use eminent domain to buy right of way for more sidewalks. More on this topic in future editions of the program. Reading material:* Albemarle County plans study to address overcrowding, undercrowding in schools, Faith Redd, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), July 15, 2023* Around $20K collected in Charlottesville from plastic bag tax, NBC29, Jacob Phillips, July 16, 2023Here's what's at the end of #557:I write this edition in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. I'll be here a lot more. How much more? Doesn't really matter, but what does matter is that torrential rain hit here the other day and a family of seven died when their vehicle washed away in a flash flood. Pennsylvania is contemplating joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative while Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin is doing what he can to pull out. What should happen? I don't know. But the point of this newsletter is to make you pay attention to what's happening and I am disappointed I've not been able to cover this specific issue. Why do any of us do any of the things we do? What is this life? Is it mere trivia that Jimi Hendrix did in fact open for the Monkees? Who gets to decide what is interesting and what's worth knowing? What's really worth paying attention to? All of us. I thank you for choosing to read what I put together. Advertising returns next time. Please pay attention and learn everything you can about this very complex world that needs constant vigilance to survive. Charlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

We are now on the 173rd day of 2023 and have the ability to declare a snapshot in a fixed system of time. But what year is it and from what perspective? Each of us has different start and stop points, and it's my hope that by capturing as many stories as possible, more people will understand the viewpoints of others. That's some of the background radiation of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a little newsletter and podcast that could. On today's program:* Two incumbent Charlottesville Planning Commissioners have been reappointed to four-year terms* There will be a new co-executive director of an organization devoted to food justice* Albemarle County wants input on the second phase of the “Broadway Blueprint”* Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook is set to tread the boards of a play about people being pushed off their land in the 1930's* The Charlottesville Planning Commission will take up whether public infrastructure for a controversial apartment complex would be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Our Social Media Pages, follow us and engage with the Pill-grim community!Join our Entre CommunityInstagramTwitter YouTubeTikTokLinkedInAnd now, for this week's prescription:On this week's dose, we have Harris Stolzenberg, CEO and Co-Founder of Flok, a comprehensive corporate retreat planner tailored to remote tech companies. Harris's entrepreneurial journey began after a brief experience in investment banking post his graduation from MIT. He then served as Chief of Staff at the innovative startup Pando, where he gained valuable insights into founding a company.Seeking a deeper understanding of venture capital, Harris joined Pear VC, immersing himself for a year before pursuing his original aspiration of starting his own business. Seizing an opportunity that arose during the pandemic, Harris and an old friend embarked on a venture to assist remote companies in organizing offsite retreats, eventually leading to the creation of Flok.In the interview, Harris elaborates on how Flok works and shares upcoming milestones. He also discusses his fundraising philosophy and his perspective on taking the company from being bootstrapped to becoming a venture-backed startup. Stick with us as he provides valuable advice for those interested in breaking into venture capital, and offers recommendations for noteworthy books, podcasts, and startups to watch out for.It was a pleasure to have Harris in the studio this week, and without further ado, let's dive into the interview!Sources:https://goflok.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/harris-stolzenberg-44468b78/Music Credit: Chapter One by Cole Bauer and Dean Keetonhttps://www.colebauer.com/https://www.instagram.com/deankeeton/?hl=enDisclosure:The views, statements, and opinions,  expressed herein by the hosts and guests are their own, and their appearance on the podcast should not be construed as reflecting the views or implied endorsement of Independent Brokerage Solutions LLC or any of its officers, employees, or agents. The statements made herein should not be considered an investment opinion, advice, or a recommendation regarding securities of any company. This podcast is produced solely for informational purposes and is not to be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy a security.

This week's guest, Donna Stolzenberg, has done some amazing things for Melbourne's homeless community. Donna began the Melbourne Homeless Support Group, organising the collection of blankets and sleeping bags across 80 drop-off points. She can tell you a thing or two about 'shit people give to the homeless'. Donna also began the Melbourne Period Project, orgnanising period packs through donations from organisations and individuals. Donna has learnt a lot in this journey about period poverty and how menstruation is still not a safe experience for all women in Australia. The Melbourne Period Project currently has 180 drop-off points. Back in time, Donna opened The Kala Space, an op-shop employing people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. She is the Managing Director of the National Homeless Collective and has raised 5 boys. Donna hails from Kalgoorlie. In 2021, she won the Victorian of the Year. She is a bit of a legend and a lovely person to boot. Thank-you so much for joining us this week, Donna, and thank-you for putting your knowledge, empathy and skills to the support of others.National Homeless Collective: nhcollective.org.au Radical Australia Radiothon WEDNESDAY 14 JUNE 2023 I DONATE NOW I www.givenow.com.au/cr/radicalaustralia3crradiothon

Faith Borkowsky, Judy Boksner, and Mary McCool Berry discuss an article in the Atlantic (9/18/22)  by Nomi M. Stolzenberg and David N. Myers."Communities of faith should be able to pass on their traditions but must still meet basic state educational standards."Stolzenberg and Myers start the article with a question:Is it permissible for private schools in this country to disregard state standards of proficiency in English, math, and U.S. history? THE LITERACY VIEW TALK IS REAL AND PUSHES THOUGHT BOUNDARIES.TUNE IN AND DECIDE WHAT YOU THINK!

In the wake of https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/11/nyregion/hasidic-yeshivas-schools-new-york.html (the recent extensive New York Times investigation) into Hasidic yeshivas, a fierce and often acrimonious debate has emerged about the ethics of covering the Hasidic world from the outside, how private institutions that receive government funds are accountable to the broader public, and religious minority communities' right to insist on their way of life, even when it brings them into conflict with the state. On this episode, Jewish Currents Contributing Editor Joshua Leifer hosts a conversation between Naftuli Moster, executive director of Young Advocates for Fair Education (https://yaffed.org/who-we-are/ (YAFFED)), and Frieda Vizel, a writer and https://friedavizel.com/ (tour guide) of Hasidic Brooklyn. Moster and Vizel—who both grew up in, and later left, Hasidic communities—draw on their own educational experiences to offer very different perspectives on the Times article and reactions to it, on the best way to advocate for change in the Hasidic world, and on what's at stake in the fight over secular education. Articles and Podcast Episodes Mentioned: “https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/11/nyregion/hasidic-yeshivas-schools-new-york.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare (In Hasidic Enclaves, Failing Private Schools Flush With Public Money),” Eliza Shaprio and Brian M. Rosenthal, The New York Times “https://friedavizel.com/2022/09/13/thoughts-on-the-nyt-expose-on-hasidic-education/ (Thoughts on the NYT exposé on Hasidic education),” Frieda Vizel “https://jewishcurrents.org/progressives-have-abandoned-haredi-children (Progressives Have Abandoned Haredi Children),” Naftuli Moster, Jewish Currents “https://www.commentary.org/john-podhoretz/the-great-yeshiva-slander/ (The Great Yeshiva Slander),” Commentary podcast “https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/09/private-religious-schools-have-public-responsibilities-too/671446/?fbclid=IwAR3Teyc_1DNpkBy3RnELpMLHoAxPsx7Ku_4U8-DkGRMigva28-SUo_2Hif0 (Private Religious Schools Have Public Responsibilities Too),” Nomi M.Stolzenberg and David N. Myers, The Atlantic Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Professor Nomi Stolzenberg, who holds the Nathan & Lilly Shapell Chair at the USC Gould School of Law, and Dr. David Myers, a native of Scranton, who holds the Sady & Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History at UCLA, speaking about their recent study "American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, A Hasidic Village in Upstate New York," issued by Princeton University Press. The second segment of a two-part interview. www.press.princeton.edu/ www.davidnmyers.com/ www.gould.usc.edu/

Professor Nomi Stolzenberg, who holds the Nathan & Lilly Shapell Chair at the USC Gould School of Law, and Dr. David Myers, a native of Scranton, who holds the Sady & Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History at UCLA, speaking about their recent study "American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, A Hasidic Village in Upstate New York," issued by Princeton University Press. The first segment of a two-part interview. www.press.princeton.edu/ www.davidnmyers.com/ www.gould.usc.edu/

You can tell a lot about a person by what they think about the noise that emanates from the bagpipe, a woodwind instrument perhaps best associated with Scotland but with origins that might date back to the Hittite people from three thousand years ago. Even if are not a fan of the combination of melody and drone, July 27 is the day to appreciate this unique musical instrument. Perhaps this is the day you buy one for the enjoyment of your friends, family, and co-workers? I’m Sean Tubbs, and not a cent or shilling is being paid to Charlottesville Community Engagement by Big Bagpipe. Sign up to make sure each email finds its way to your inbox. Payment isn’t necessary but does tend to help keep the electrons flowing to make the work possible. On this version of the show:Charlottesville continues to prepare for a school year in which more students will not be able to catch a yellow school busTwo new members will soon join the Charlottesville Planning CommissionA former member of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors has diedCharlottesville City Council hears from the interim City Manager on how $14.8 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding could be spent First shout-out is for LEAP’s new Thermalize Virginia program In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out: Have you been thinking of converting your fossil-fuel appliances and furnaces into something that will help the community reduce its greenhouse gas emissions? Your local energy nonprofit, LEAP,  has launched a new program to guide you through the steps toward electrifying your home. Thermalize Virginia will help you understand electrification and connect you with vetted contractors to get the work done and help you find any rebates or discounts. Visit thermalizeva.org to learn more and to sign up!  Preparations continue in Charlottesville for more to walk to school Classes begin for Charlottesville City Schools in four weeks and work continues to prepare for a year in which more students will not be eligible to get a ride on a school bus. A driver shortage has led the school system to expand walk zones that are still being finalized. “We are hoping to let families know this week about their current bus eligibility and whether they have a bus request on files,” reads an email update sent to parents interested parties on Monday. “This status update will tell families if their child is in a walk zone or eligible for the bus.”The notice also states that priority will be given to families living further away from schools. The actual bus assignments will be released in August. Last week, the city administration told City Council that staff is recommending using $500,000 from the city’s share of the American Rescue Plan Act to help pay for safety improvements. “We’ve added $500,000,” said interim City Manager Michael C. Rogers. “Higher amounts were suggested. In talking with staff we believe that we have other funds in the budget that can actually exceed the amount that has been suggested in the past by some of the communications from people but this is a high priority area and we are offering that up for your consideration.” More on ARPA later in the newsletter. In their update, city schools say they are in conversations with the city, parents, and community members about sidewalks and intersections that need to be improved. Last week, Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders said the city government will follow the school system’s lead.“What we’re doing is working directly with schools and trying our best to make sure that their priorities are what we prioritize and what we do to help them through this process because we’re seeing this as everyone’s issue,” Sanders said. Sanders said the work to address safety concerns will continue past the first day of school. “And then to go beyond that and basically reboot our Safe Routes to School program,” Sanders said. “That’s what this is really synergized at this time by allowing all this focus on what we’ve been doing and what we’ve been talking about doing.” Sanders said there are also conversations with Albemarle about how to collaborate on pupil transportation for special needs students. The school system is also encouraging people to report problem locations using the MyCville app or by phoning 434-970-3333, option #2. Two other ways people can become involved are: Take a walk along a school route and make your observations known in a Google Doc created by the school systemApply to be a regular or substitute crossing guard or walking school bus leader - paid positionsThe school system will hold a final “walk and talk” this Friday at Mount Zion First African Baptist Church from noon to 2 p.m. There will also be an online Q&A session on August 10 at 5 p.m. (register)Council make two new appointments to Planning CommissionWhen the Charlottesville Planning Commission meets on September 13, two veterans of other advisory bodies will take their place at the makeshift dais in CitySpace. Carl Schwarz served two terms on the Board of Architectural Review from 2014 to the end of last year. He’s an architect in private practice who lives in the 10th and Page neighborhood. Phil d’Oronzio has been the chair of the Housing Advisory Council Committee since August 2014. He’s the CEO of Pilot Mortgage who lives in the Belmont neighborhood. The pair join three Planning Commissioner who were reappointed by Council at their meeting on July 18.“By some accident of history we wound up with five different Planning Commissioners whose terms expire on August 31, 2022,” said Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook. By Virginia law, the seats have to be staggered so that terms don’t expire all at once. To make that work, they had to technically reconstitute the body and reappoint everyone, even those who terms were not yet.Commissioner Hosea Mitchell was appointed to Seat One for a term expiring on August 31, 2023. Mitchell served a partial term in the late 2000’s before rejoining the Commission in June 2018 to fill an unexpired term. He is retired from a career in the medical business. Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg was appointed to Seat Two also for a term expiring on August 31, 2023. Stolzenberg first joined the Commission in October 2018.  He’s a software engineer with Lumin. Seat Three will continue the appointment of Lyle Solla-Yates whose term expires at the end of August 2024. Solla-Yates has been on the Commission since March 2018 and is the current chair. He works for the University of Virginia School of Architecture. Commissioner Liz Russell will continue in Seat 4 with a term that also expires at the end of 2024. Russell has been on the Commission since September 2020. She’s the director of planning, sustainability, and project management at the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. Seat 5 will continue to be occupied by Commissioner Karim Habbab until August 31, 2025. Habbab was appointed in June 2021 and is an architect with BRW Architects. The terms of Schwarz (Seat 6) and d’Oronzio  (Seat 7) and Schwarz will expire on August 31, 2026. The reconstitution of the Planning Commission comes at a time when the city is rewriting the Charlottesville zoning code to increase density. That’s a major objective of both of the Affordable Housing Plan adopted in March 2021 and the Comprehensive Plan updated in November 2021. Former Albemarle Supervisor Cooke dies at 90 A woman who served two terms on the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors has died. Patricia Cooke was elected in 1981 to what used to be called the Charlottesville District and was re-elected in 1985. According to her obituary in the Daily Progress, Cooke graduated from Lane High School in 1950 and opened a laundry business with her husband in 1956. She also had a bridal and formal wear company. A funeral service will be held on Friday.The Charlottesville District became the Rio District at some point during the tenure of Cooke’s successor, David Bowerman. Bowerman served four terms until retiring the Board at the end of 2004. He passed away in March 2020 while he was a sitting member of the Albemarle County Board of Zoning Appeals. In today’s other two shout-outs Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit codeforcville.org to learn about those projects. The final comes from another Patreon supporter who wants you to go out and read a local news story written by a local journalist. Whether it be the Daily Progress, Charlottesville Tomorrow, C-Ville Weekly, NBC29, CBS19, WINA, or some other place I’ve not mentioned - the community depends on a network of people writing about the community. Go learn about this place today!Council briefed on potential usage of ARPA funds Charlottesville has now received all of the $19.6 million in funding it will receive from the federal government as part of the American Rescue Plan Act fund. Interim City Manager Michael C. Rogers gave Council an update at their meeting on July 18.“It’s been a big help for local government in terms of recovery from the impact of the pandemic,” Rogers said. Council has already appropriated $4.81 million of the funding and has an unallocated balance of $14.8 million. Money spent so far went to four different categories recognized by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Of that $14.8 million, $2.28 million was already designated for various uses during the development of the budget for the fiscal year that began on July 1. For the balance, Rogers suggested the following uses:For economic development:$750,000 to the Charlottesville-Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau to make up for revenue loss from decline in meals tax revenue. Albemarle County is also being asked to make the same contribution. $300,000 for improvements to the Downtown Mall coordinated with Friends of Downtown Cville. The Mall turns 50 in 2026 and Rogers said a task force may be formed to help mark that occasion and prepare for the next fifty years$100,000 for updates to wayfinding One million for a strategic investment fund for economic development$500,000 for the Meadow Creek Trail to close a gap for a VDOT-funded projectInternal uses:$829,000 for equipment replacement$200,000 for facilities repair$270,000 to augment the Human Resources including hiring a deputy director and a recruiter$200,000 to fund Council’s development of a new strategic planPublic safety: $1.4 million for additional COVID spending should future surges have a greater community health impact$1.1 million to help Charlottesville Fire Department with its accreditation, including hiring three more battalion chiefs for two years$450,000 to help retain personnel in the Charlottesville Fire Department$50,000 to help retain personnel for the Sheriff’s Office$500,000 for the “Safe Routes to School Fund” Human service support:$700,000 for the Emergency Assistance - Pathways program which would include additional rental assistance$1.63 million for affordable housing and homeless services$500,000 for the Community Health Initiative $1 million for the Agency Investment Fund $580,000 for Community Arts Investment$176,000 for the Office of Human Rights to hire an investigator to look into claims under the Fair Housing Act $40,000 for an emergency generator for a city shelter that would be used in major catastrophes The combined $2.63 million for affordable housing and the agency investment fund would be disbursed through a competitive process separate from the “Vibrant Community” process the city has used since 2019 to allocate funding for nonprofits. The Community Health Initiative would support public health projects.“Think of this funding as being available for a previously floated idea of the Community Care Team or something of that nature in order to do a really needed and wonderful pilot to see what would be the best support for our community,” said Deputy City Manager Ashley Marshall.Council was to have discussed a proposal for a Community Care Team at its meeting on February 7 but the item was pulled. The topic did come up as part of a Council work session on May 2. Councilor Brian Pinkston noted that additional on-going positions were being proposed to be created with the one-time ARPA money.“Hiring people with one-off type of funding is something we’re trying to be careful of,” Pinkston said. Rogers said those positions would be proposed to continue into the future and the city would have to find other funds to cover them. Councilor Michael Payne questioned the use of $750,000 to go to the CACVB. The city’s economic development director said the money would help the destination marketing organization with a current cash flow situation caused by the way it is funded. “There’s a two year lag in the funding cycles so the money wasn’t needed two years ago,” said Chris Engel. “It’s needed now because that cycle is playing through.”Council got a briefing on the CACVB in June and learned that the agency received $680,000 from ARPA that flowed through the Virginia Tourism Council. (read the story)“Given that state support I’m a little skeptical about how much is really needed for the CACVB as well as whatever specific measurable deliverables we will get for that investment,” Payne said.  Council will be asked to take action on the appropriations at its August 1 meeting. There’s also an additional $2.52 million for which Rogers has not made any suggestions for how it should be spent. “We look forward to our dialogue on this,” Rogers said. “This is meant to be a first start to set us on a direction to address some things we really need to address in the coming months and thought that these funds would be a good way to do it.” Thoughts? Leave a comment below. Housekeeping items for episode #412That’s another program in the archives, and in a few days you’ll be able to read these stories on the Information Charlottesville website I created to help me keep track of what I’m reporting. Want to read articles on land use in Charlottesville? Click here!What about infrastructure updates? Click here!How about climate action? Elections in Virginia? The archive grows each week!All of this is supported by readers and listeners under the Town Crier Productions company I formed two years ago and am still learning how to operate. I’m breaking even, but I’d very much like to find a way to grow. There are ways to do that!For one, if you sign up for a paid subscription through Substack, Ting will match your initial payment! And, if you sign up for their services through this link you’ll get a free standard install, your 2nd month free, and a $75 downtown mall gift card! Enter the promo code COMMUNITY for full effect. Music on the podcast version of the show comes from the D.C. sensation Wraki, and you can support their work by paying whatever you want for the album regret everything on BandCamp.My sincere hope today, though, is that someone will go and buy a bagpipe. If you do, please let me know. If you have one already, record yourself and send me the audio! Or any exotic instrument, really. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Lucas and Jeremy welcome our buddy Sam Miller to the show, and we break down how the latest offseason moves affect each team.

Saturday’s all right for writing! That is, writing information about land use, transportation, economic development, elections, and more! This is Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast intended to let you know about a few things you didn’t know before, and intended to keep an eye on a great deal of things. I’m your host Sean Tubbs, exploring and exploiting my curiosity hopefully for your benefit. But please: No fighting! In today’s newsletter:The first campaign finance report is in for the race of the 55th House District, even if it’s still unclear when the election will be held Charlottesville Planning Commissioners seek action on safer streets in advance of the school A former Charlottesville school superintendent becomes Governor Youngkin’s permanent chief diversity officerThere’s one day left to fill out the latest questionnaire on Albemarle County’s growth management policy The head of the area’s aging services agency is elected to lead a statewide group First shout-out: Join me for a Cvillepedia training session - Brand styleIn today’s house-fueled public service announcement, the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society wants you to know about an upcoming exhibit at the Center at Belvedere featuring portraits of several historical figures active in the Charlottesville area in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Frances Brand was a folk artist who painted nearly 150 portraits of what she considered “firsts” including first Black Charlottesville Mayor Charles Barbour and Nancy O’Brien, the first woman to be Charlottesville Mayor. Brand’s work will be on display from July 5 to August 31 in the first public exhibit since 2004. And, if you’d like to help conduct community research into who some of the portraits are, cvillepedia is looking for volunteers! I will be leading three more Cvillepedia 101 training sessions at the Center July 18 at 2 p.m. Sign up at the Center’s website.Laufer outraises fellow Democrats in 55th District There is still a possibility that Virginia will have an election this year for the 100 seat House of Delegates. A second federal lawsuit arguing that legislators elected last November are in unconstitutional seats still awaits a final ruling and November 8 is 115 days away from today. That makes yesterday’s deadline for active candidates for the House of Delegates that much more compelling. There are currently three people seeking the Democratic nomination in the new 55th District, which includes most of Albemarle’s geography, as well as northeast Nelson County and western Louisa County. The Virginia Public Access Project has pulled together all of the filings, and former Charlottesville School Board member Amy Laufer outraised her opponents with a total of $61,731 raised in June. Fifty-seven donors contributed more than $100, requiring their identification. That includes a transfer of $7,327 from Laufer’s previous campaign for the Virginia Senate in 2019. There is one $10,000 gift from Hunter Bourne, and a pair of $5,000 gifts from Clean VA and the Morrill Family Investment. There were 68 contributions below the $100 limit. Emergency room nurse Kellen Squire raised $41,531 from March 8 to June 30. Thirty-four contributions were in excess of $100 with 406 below that threshold. There is one $20,000 contribution from Kay Ferguson.Albemarle County Supervisor Donna Price raised $11,798 with ten contributions above the $100 threshold and thirty below. Republican Rob Bell is the presumptive incumbent, currently representing the former 58th District. Bell began the year with a balance of $76,253 and has raised $5,250 so far this year. More on the status of the lawsuit in the next installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement. One days left to fill out Albemarle’s growth management surveyAs mentioned in the last program, a survey is about to close for Albemarle County’s growth management survey. The county is in the midst of updating their Comprehensive Plan, and this is the second questionnaire. Here’s more from a video produced by the office of Communications and Public Engagement (CAPE). “New development proposals that require a change in zoning or a rezoning are evaluated by recommendations in the Comprehensive Plan, including the growth management policy,” states the narrator. “As part of growth management, the Albemarle County Service Authority establishes a jurisdictional area where public water and sewer will be provided. This jurisdictional area mainly corresponds with the development area.” If  you’re interested in hearing more, the Albemarle CAPE has posted the latest episode of their Let’s Talk Albemarle podcast. The guest is Rachel Falkenstein, a manager in the Community Development department who oversees long-range planning.“Usually we look out 20 years and that number comes from the state of Virginia,” Falkenstein said. “They require localities to have a Comprehensive Plan that plans for 20 years out into the future so we use that for most of our planning documents.” As of Friday afternoon, 270 people had taken the survey, according to CAPE director Emily Kilroy. The Albemarle Planning Commission will have a work session on the Comprehensive Plan on July 26. To catch up on previous stories on land use issues in Albemarle, check out Information Charlottesville through this link. And if you’re in the mood to fill in another survey, the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission wants your input on the Regional Transit Vision Plan.. To catch up on all kinds of transit related stories, check out Information Charlottesville through this link. Youngkin appoints Atkins as chief diversity officerGovernor Glenn Youngkin has appointed former Charlottesville Superintendent Rosa Atkins to serve as Virginia’s Chief Diversity, Opportunity, and Inclusion Officer. Atkins has been serving in the position on an interim basis following the departure of his first appointee, Angela Sailor. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Sailor left in April for a family matter. Atkins served as Charlottesville’s superintendent for 15 years before retiring. Earlier this year, former Governor Ralph Northam appointed her to serve as the acting superintendent of public instruction for the Virginia Department of Education. In the Northam administration, Atkins’ position was known as the Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, but Youngkin changed the name in Executive Order #10 when he appointed Sailor. “We must strengthen and focus the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (ODEI) by including in its mission the promotion of entrepreneurship and economic opportunity for all Virginians — including Virginians with disabilities — as well as the promotion of free speech and civil discourse,” reads that order.Sailor’s name is still on the website for the office. In other appointments of note, a University of Virginia official has been named to the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. Pace Lochte is the assistant vice president for economic development. Youngkin also appointed Rob Rutherford of Nelson County to the Virginia Manufactured Housing Board. Rutherford is a manager with Pro Tech Builder, a maker of modular homes.JABA leader elected to Virginia aging services associationThe chief executive officer of the area’s aging services association has been elected as president of the state entity that represents all 24 such agencies across the Commonwealth. Marta Keane of JABA will begin a two-year term as president of the Virginia Association of Area Agencies on Aging (V4A).Keane has been CEO of JABA since 2013. According to a release, during that time she helped form the Charlottesville Area Alliance as an umbrella organization for various entities that work with senior services in the community. “With this comes challenges to meet their increasing and changing needs, and opportunities to identify and maximize the strengths that seniors bring to our communities,” Keane is quoted in the release. “During the next two years, I hope to continue our efforts with demographic services to better identify areas that have unmet needs, work with networks to identify new ways to meet the needs, and identify new funding sources to allow us to grow and sustain critical services."JABA was formed in 1975 as the Jefferson Area Board for Aging. In today’s other two shout-outs: Local media and Code for CvilleCode for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit codeforcville.org to learn about those projects. The final comes from another Patreon supporter who wants you to go out and read a local news story written by a local journalist. Whether it be the Daily Progress, Charlottesville Tomorrow, C-Ville Weekly, NBC29, CBS19, WINA, or some other place I’ve not mentioned - the community depends on a network of people writing about the community. Go learn about this place today!Charlottesville Planning Commissioners seek Council action on safer streets on school routesAs of today, there are 39 days left until the first day of school in the City of Charlottesville. Yesterday, the school system held a Transportation Talk and Walk Session to discuss a recent alert from Superintendent Royal Gurley that the bus driver shortage has worsened and walk zones will be expanded. This past Tuesday, the city Planning Commission was briefed on a request from one of its members that city government take steps to make routes to school. They got an update from Missy Creasy, Charlottesville’s assistant director of the Neighborhood Development Services office (NDS). “The city has a pretty robust program that they’re putting together to address how they are addressing the shortage at this point in time and some pretty innovative things on there,” Creasy said. These include encouraging older students to take Charlottesville Area Transit routes, hiring more crossing guards or finding more volunteers, and buying smaller buses that don’t require drivers to have commercial licenses. NDS director James Freas said the shortage provides an opportunity to apply goals of the recently adopted Comprehensive Plan to a real life problem. “Wrapped up in this challenge is an opportunity to explore those options,” Freas said. “The flip side of that is that it’s a little early for us right now in that we are in the process of building out a transportation planning program.” In May, Council was briefed by Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders on a series of problems with how the city has run its transportation planning program. For instance, transportation planners have had too high of a workload, and the city has been unable to move some projects forward. There’s also a vacancy in the position of bike pedestrian coordinator after the last person left the job at the end of 2021 to work for a consultant. “We expect that position to post very soon and see that position as really being able to take a lead role in doing exactly this type of work and that is coming up with innovative, innovative, and low-cost ways of improving pedestrians, particularly children’s safety, in the neighborhoods around our schools,” Freas said. Creasy said that the traffic engineer and the Safe Routes to School coordinator no longer work in NDS. Instead they work for the Public Works department, a decision made by former City Manager Tarron Richardson. Creasy said NDS does coordinate with public works, but more people are needed to implement what’s in the Comprehensive Plan. “We do have really good support for continuing to move forward in this direction,” Creasy said. “We have tools in place but we just need to fill them with humans so that we can keep the work going.” Creasy said she is aware of grassroots efforts to make things better, but coordination with the city is needed. Freas said that one remedy would be to paint bump-outs at curbs to provide more space for people. “It’s a significant safety improvement and you can do that with paint and potentially flex-posts, but even to do just that, you do have to do some engineering design, you do need to coordinate with public works street folks,” Freas said. Freas said that there’s a possibility of maybe having something done within six weeks, but he cautioned that it will be hard to do in that time frame. “I think, A, the school department’s plans are really good, I think they have some good solutions in place, and B, I think we can build towards that and start contributing the safety improvements we need to make as we go forward,” Freas said. Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg said he supported the idea of an official letter to City Council, but also said funding needed to be in place to implement the solutions.  “Is it safe to assume there is not within the currently allocated budget enough money to really address the things that staff would potentially want to address?” Stolzenberg asked. “Or potentially to hire outside traffic engineers to take some of the load of our in-house resources?” Freas said he would need to have a scope of work before answering that question. “We don’t have an identified line item for that right now so we would be cobbling together money from other sources,” Freas said. Stolzenberg said he would like the Planning Commission to recommend identifying money in the current fiscal year so incremental improvements can be made throughout the school year. He pointed out that Council voted in late June to purchase property for parking.“Council just spent $1.65 million on a parking lot with 40 spaces,” Stolzenberg said. “It seems to me that we can find money within the currently allocated [Capital Improvement Program] that could be reallocated to make sure that kids don’t get run over by cars on their way to school.” Stolzenberg also asked if the city has explored the ability to install cameras in school zones to capture people who speed. Freas and Creasy said they did not know if the city has done that research. The Commission agreed to send a letter to Council seeking support for the work. Stolzenberg said he would draft that document. The discussion took place just before the Commission’s joint public hearing with City Council. Vice Mayor Juandiego Wade said he heard the message.“It doesn’t have to be a war and peace type of document,” Wade said. “We understand the issues and we’re hearing a lot of from the citizens now.” Two more Talk and Walk sessions are scheduled this month. Do you have a specific concern? Drop me a line and I’d like to hear about it. Housekeeping notes for the conclusion of today’s newsletter:Thanks for reading! Today’s show is a rare Saturday show. Coming up next is the Week Ahead for July 18, as well as the Government Glance at the Fifth Congressional District. That’s a separate Substack. Music in the podcast version is composed by an entity currently going by the name Wraki. You can purchase the latest tracks on Bandcamp in an album called regret everything.  I certainly hope you will check it out! Finally, I can’t say enough positive things about Ting’s generous sponsorship. If you sign-up for Ting service, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here!Charlottesville Community Engagement is free to receive, but supported by paid subscriptions. If you subscribe, Ting will match your initial contribution! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Lucas and Jeremy chop it up about the NBA draft, offseason, and catch up on the latest NBA headlines.

We are now half of the way through a month that some may consider half way through the year. Many of these observations are arbitrary, but it is definitively June 15, 2022 and this is the equivalent installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement. What shall we learn today? Stay tuned and let me know if you did. On today’s program:The Charlottesville Economic Development Authority learns more about the city’s lease for space the S&P Global building downtown A key document for the third phase of the Cville Plans Together initiative will be released tomorrowA major toy manufacturer is set to open a factory in Chesterfield providing over 1,700 jobsThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issues a warning on “forever chemicals” in drinking waterAnd the Charlottesville Planning Commission recommends a special use permit for 11 homes in the section of the Belmont neighborhood inside a mixed-use urban zoning district First shout-out: The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign It’s getting very close to the technical end of springtime, and one Patreon subscriber wants you to know the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign is a grassroots initiative of motivated citizens, volunteers, partner organizations, and local governments who want to promote the use of native plants. Did you know that National Pollinator Week is June 20th-26th this year? There are many ways to celebrate and learn more about our native pollinators, and here's a great one to start with:Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is hosting an in-person/virtual Pollinator Power Symposium on June 23rd, and there is an excellent line up of speakers scheduled for the day! There are plenty of resources on the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Facebook page, so sign up to be notified of lectures, plant sales, and more! City details terms of S&P Global’s lease for downtown buildingCharlottesville’s Office of Community Solutions continues to review leases the city has with third parties who rent space. Council held a work session on the topic in May and learned that until now there was no central place in city government entrusted with keeping track of leases for about 145,275 square feet of floor space and about 50 acres under ground lease. (view the presentation)One of those buildings is a five-story structure currently occupied by a branch of S&P Global, an international company that does research into economic and business issues. According to the May presentation, the city’s Economic Development Authority takes in $240,000 annually in rent but the property’s market value could be as high as $1.58 million. “The S&P Global building started its life as the National Ground Intelligence Center,” said Chris Engel, the city’s economic development director. “Essentially it was built in the 60’s by the federal government and occupied by the Army.” In the 1990’s, NGIC moved to a larger and more secure location at the Rivanna Station in northern Albemarle County. “At that time the city was concerned about the loss of activity that building created and went and petitioned the federal government and the General Services Administration to have them gift the building to the city,” Engel said. The city entered into a lease with the Economic Development Authority and the EDA offered a 30-year lease to a company that used to be called SNL Financial, which then took the space to consolidate its offices into one place rather than be scattered across multiple locations. A company that would later be renamed S&P Global purchased the company in July 2015 for $2.2 billion. Engel said the EDA’s lease with S&P Global is about two thirds of the way through. “The way the lease is structured is that all the burden is on them to manage the facility and maintain the facility, everything,” Engel said. “We essentially do nothing from a physical standpoint.” Engel said S&P Global has earned upfit credits for about $9 million worth of investments put into the building at the beginning of the lease. “Those credits are nearly running out,” Engel said. “Those credits are nearly running out. They’re not quite all the way run out. They have actually just qualified for about $3.5 million in additional rent credits. They replaced the boilers. They replaced the roof, the chiling system, the elevator system. They added fire protection.”When the credits do run out, Engel said S&P Global will pay closer to market rate. Council will have a further discussion on city-managed leases.Charlottesville’s zoning rewrite is about to enter next phaseOn Thursday, the city will publish a document intended to set the stage for the final portion of the Cville Plans Together initiative.“So this is the diagnostic and approach report,” said James Freas, the city’s director of neighborhood development services. Freas briefed the Charlottesville Planning Commission at the beginning of their meeting on Tuesday. An open house to explain the event will be held on June 27 at the Charlottesville Pavilion, an event for which Freas said the city would validate parking. “We look forward to a lot of conversations with the community, with all of you, and whoever else chooses to show up at that meeting,” Freas said.The new zoning code is expected to make it easier for more dense development in the city. That’s a major goal of the new Comprehensive Plan adopted by Council last November. The zoning rewrite may also offer more guidance for rules and regulations about housing affordability. Direction for that comes from the Affordable Housing Plan adopted by Council in March 2021. “This first report kicks off our three-step process for the zoning rewrite,” Freas said. “As I’ve referred to it before, this is kind of the conceptual plan of the new zoning ordinance and it lays out the ideas. It talks about what we need to do to change our zoning ordinance in order to advance implementation of the affordable housing plan.” A joint meeting of the City Council and the Planning Commission will be held in September to confirm the next steps in writing up the new ordinance. A first draft will be the second step, followed by a review of a final draft next spring. In May, Planning Commissioner Hosea Mitchell got a preview at the closed-door meeting of the Land Use and Environmental Planning Committee that consists of top planning staff from Albemarle, Charlottesville, and the University of Virginia. “The rewrite of our code is not form-based code but as Mr. Freas mentioned a couple of times, it does contain form-based elements,” Mitchell said.In general, form-based code refers to a series of rules and regulations to govern building envelopes. We’ll hear much more about these details as the conversation continues. Meanwhile, there is an active lawsuit in Charlottesville Circuit Court against the City Council for adopting the Comprehensive Plan. Among other things, that suit argues that the city failed to provide a transportation plan. There’s a hearing on July 15 on a motion to force the plaintiffs to identify themselves, followed by another hearing on August 26.See also:Anonymous group of city property owners files suit against Comprehensive Plan adoption, January 12, 2022Charlottesville served with suit against the Comprehensive Plan, March 20, 2022City responds to Comprehensive Plan lawsuit, April 12, 2022Charlottesville zoning info slightly delayed, May 13, 2022Environmental Protection Agency sounds warning about PFAS in drinking waterThe United States Environmental Protection Agency today has issued four advisories on the potential for “forever chemicals” in water supplies. The term PFAS covers per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances which are used in the manufacture of many products people use every day such as non-stick cookware, food packaging, electronics, and more. These substances do not break down and can accumulate in the human body and blood over many years and have been linked to cancer and diseases that affect the immune system. The four advisories are for specific substances.“The updated advisory levels [for PFOA and PFOS], which are based on new science and consider lifetime exposure, indicate that some negative health effects may occur with concentrations of PFOA or PFOS in water that are near zero and below EPA’s ability to detect at this time,” reads a press release announcing the steps. “The lower the level of PFOA and PFOS, the lower the risk to public health.”This fall, the EPA will issue new regulations on drinking water related to PFAS. There’s also $1 billion in funding for states and localities to install equipment in drinking water supplies to filter out the substances. The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority has applied for a $21 million grant to remove the contaminants by upgrading filtration systems, according to the May agenda. Youngkin announces LEGO factory in ChesterfieldWill everything be awesome in Chesterfield County’s near future? Governor Glenn Youngkin has announced that the LEGO Group will open a 1.7 million square foot manufacturing plant in Chesterfield County’s Meadowville Technology Park.“This transformational project will create more than 1,760 jobs and bolster Virginia's manufacturing industry, which continues its renaissance with major investments by high-caliber corporate partners like the LEGO Group,” Youngkin is quoted in a news release. The $1 billion investment is spurred by $56 million from the state’s Major Employment and Investment Project grant program. Such a fund has been established by the General Assembly  and that figure depends on LEGO providing every one of those jobs. There’s also another potential for $19 million in state funding for site development costs that will require approval by the legislature. The LEGO Company was founded in 1932 and remains a family run company headquartered in Denmark. Their primary product is plastic construction blocks. “These cherished play experiences are being made in factories across the world, keeping up with the continuously high demand and soon they’ll be manufactured right here in Virginia,” says the narrator of an announcement on a new website for people who’d like to work thereApplications for positions will be taken later this year and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership will use the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program to recruit potential applicants. Second shout-out is for LEAP’s new Thermalize Virginia program In today’s second Patreon-fueled shout-out: Have you been thinking of converting your fossil-fuel appliances and furnaces into something that will help the community reduce its greenhouse gas emissions? Your local energy nonprofit, LEAP,  has launched a new program to guide you through the steps toward electrifying your home. Thermalize Virginia will help you understand electrification and connect you with vetted contractors to get the work done and help you find any rebates or discounts. Visit thermalizeva.org to learn more and to sign up!  Planning Commission recommends approval of 11 units at 1000 Monticello Road The Charlottesville Planning Commission has recommended approval of a special use permit for additional density at 1000 Monticello Road in the Belmont neighborhood that would allow for 11 units and a small commercial space on the ground floor.A split City Council denied a similar permit in February 2021 with the majority expressing concern about adverse impacts on the neighborhood. At the time, five of the units were being proffered as affordable to households and individuals whose incomes at around 65 percent of the area’s median. This time around, two additional units would be restricted to tenants at 80 percent of the area median income. Neither is required by existing city code.“This project does not trip the standard in Section 34-12 of our zoning ordinance, the requirement for affordable housing, so this condition is offered by the applicant above and beyond what is required under our code,” said city planner Brian Haluska. The property in question already has an apartment building with 23 units that was purchased by Core Real Estate and Development in January 2018 and then sold to Piedmont Realty Holdings a year later. The special use permit is required for additional residential units on the 0.81 acre property. An existing curb cut into a parking lot would be removed. “The proposed new building footprint, which will house 11 units and a small commercial tenant space, is proposed directly adjacent to the existing building fronting along Monticello Road,” said Kelsey Schlein with Shimp Engineering.  (view the presentation)Schlein said the project has been brought back because Council adopted both an Affordable Housing Plan and a Comprehensive Plan that calls for more housing. “The purpose of the land use section of the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Plan states that ‘land use policies shape where housing is located, what housing looks like, and how much housing is built,’” Schlein said. Schlein said in this case, the developer would not be seeking any city funds to help subsidize the development. She added the site is within walking distance to eight bus stops, is an example of infill development. The length of the affordability period is at issue. The developer is offering the below market rates for ten years, but the city wants more.“I think a 30 year period would be more in  line with city policy and then also the lack of mention of a willingness to accept vouchers,” said Alex Ikefuna, the interim director of the Office of Community Solutions. The last time this project was before Charlottesville officials, there were several speakers who argued the special use permit should be denied because the rents at 1000 Monticello Road were increased. Schein said the current owner should not be punished. “There was a longtime owner, and then there was a short-term owner, and now we have this third owner in place who has been in place since 2018,” Schlein said. “During the short-term owner… I believe 11 of the units had already gone to a rental rate that somewhat more of a market rate.” Schlein said there are six tenants left at 1000 Monticello Road who are renting below market rate. She said the project would take federal housing vouchers. She said she knows the city would like to see longer terms, but her interpretation of the Affordable Housing Plan is that those would be triggered by the acceptance of public funds. “When an applicant utilizes city funds, there should be a standard by which they adhere to,” Schlein said. “In this case, ten years is what we can commit to on this project.” Councilor Michael Payne voted against the proposal the first time and said he wanted it to be known that Piedmont Holding has displaced some of the former owners. Only one person spoke at the public hearing. Brandon Collins worked for the Public Housing Association of Residents when this permit was last before the city. He now works for a government entity but last night he said he was speaking for himself. “As it stands I’m going to ask you to deny this special use permit for this property,” Collins said. “A special use permit is going outside of your existing rules. The property is already outside of your existing rules and in order to do so you have to show that there’s a benefit to the community and that there’s not a negative impact on the community and I think it’s really crass to hear the development team talk about their commitment to affordable housing and affordable housing crisis when this exact property has contributed to the crisis in Charlottesville when it comes to affordability.” However, the Commission recommended approval. “I do think it is a good infill proposal,” said Commissioner Karim Habbab. “I do like the commercial. I think something creative can happen there to extend that Downtown Belmont feeling.” “I’m of the opinion that this is a good project,” said Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg. “Certainly if you look at it in a vacuum ignoring the site its possibly the best possible project you can imagine. It’s replacing a redundant driveway and curb cut with 11 units of housing, seven of which are affordable.” Stolzenberg pointed out that Council is not permitted by law to consider previous actions by previous owners, or the current one, as it considers the permit. “If we’re denying those homes as punishment to the property owner, when does that punishment end?” Stolzenberg asked. The Council recommended the special use permit on a 5-1 vote with Commissioner Jody Lahendro voting no and Commissioner Taneia Dowell not present. Charlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Ting will match your initial payment! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

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How should we get around in the future? What should our transportation network look like? Those are some of the questions that feature heavily in today’s installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, and this will be a focus in future versions as well. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs, and I’ve been writing about transportation planning for nearly thirty years. Even if you don’t think you’re interested, you probably might be if you have access to stories about these issues. That’s the point of Charlottesville Community Engagement, and I’m grateful to the hundreds of supporters who are helping me track all the pieces in motion. Help this newsletter grow by signing up for a paid subscription. Ting will match your initial payment! Sign-up is free, but I need a roof over my head to keep paying attention to all of the things! On today’s program:Charlottesville officials weigh in on potential plans to address safety concerns on Fifth Street The nation’s top court paves the way for the federal government to calculate the “social costs” of greenhouse gas emissions An American Elm has been honored by a local non profit that does such things faceFirst shout-out: The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign It’s springtime, and one Patreon subscriber wants you to know the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign is a grassroots initiative of motivated citizens, volunteers, partner organizations, and local governments who want to promote the use of native plants. This spring the group is working with retailers across the region to encourage purchase of plants that belong here and are part of an ecosystem that depends on pollination. There are plenty of resources on the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Facebook page, so sign up to be notified of lectures, plant sales, and more!U.S. Supreme Court clears way for federal study of greenhouse gas emissionsIn a one-sentence order issued last night, the United States Supreme Court has cleared the way for the federal government to study the “social cost” of greenhouse gas emissions. “It is essential that agencies capture the full costs of greenhouse gas emissions as accurately as possible, including by taking global damages into account,” reads Section 5 of an executive order issued by President Joe Biden on January 20, 2021.That order set up an interagency working group to resume the work of calculating those costs, work that had been stopped by the previous administration. Ten states led by Republicans sued to stop the Biden administration from moving forward, and Judge James Cain  of the Western District of Louisiana agreed with them in a February ruling granting an injunction. (read that ruling)In March, the Fifth Circuit allowed the study to proceed and the matter was appealed to the high court. According to Courthouse News, the one-sentence concurrence allows the study to proceed pending further executive action. Locally, work continues on efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and also to prepare for the effects of climate change. The city of Charlottesville will hold a community workshop on June 9 on the Climate Vulnerability Assessment. More info on the city’s website.Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards honor their 15th landmark treeAt the corner of Elliot Avenue and Monticello Avenue stands an American Elm that a nonprofit group honored in late April as part of Arbor Day. Now, a plaque has been installed marking the Elm as the 15th Landmark tree. The Charlottesville Tree Stewards were on hand at Sojourner’s Church on Arbor Day this past April 29 to mark the occasion.City transportation planners present ideas on Fifth Street ExtendedIn the next few installments of this program, there’s going to be a heavy focus on transportation. Today we look at one specific project in the heart of Charlottesville. On Tuesday, Charlottesville’s elected officials met with the appointed Charlottesville Planning Commission to give feedback on a set of proposals to slow down traffic on Fifth Street Extended. Several groups have called upon to Council to take action to increase safety conditions on the roadway following a string of fatal crashes in 2020. “Our consultant team and staff have been working for the last couple of months to expedite a design plan to improve transportation safety,” said James Freas, the city’s director of Neighborhood Development Services. The city is working toward an August 1 deadline to submit the projects to the Virginia Department of Transportation for funding through something called the Smart Scale program. Candidate projects from all across Virginia are scored according to how well they will achieve certain outcomes, such as increasing safety and reducing congestion.For many years, Amanda Poncy was the city’s bike and pedestrian coordinator. She left that position last year to work for EPR PC.  “EPR was hired by the city in February to help with the development of that grant application which is due on August 1,” Poncy said. “The segment that we’re looking at is between old Ridge Street and Harris Road. Our scope of work really involved looking at the crash data, conducting a speed study, developing concepts for public review and ultimately arriving at a final feedback that we can really flesh out with cost estimates and better understanding of some of the engineering issues and things like that for the Smart Scale submittal.” The roadway has been studied before, including a 2018 study conducted by EPR that resulted in two successful Smart Scale applications. These are for a turn lane on Cherry Avenue as well as multimodal improvements on Ridge Street. (read the 2018 study)“A third project that involved pedestrian improvements at the Cherry / Ridge intersection was also funded by VDOT outside of that project study but is being lumped into these other two because there is some overlap there,” Poncy said. Since that study, there have been a series of fatal crashes and EPR’s work concludes that many of those are related to intersections. All of the fatalities were related to speeding. Poncy said a survey was conducted this spring which yielded over 700 responses. “Really the top thing we heard was concern about people’s driving behavior whether it is reckless driving or redlight running,” Poncy said. There are several potential solutions, such as a roundabout, a restricted crossing U-turn, and guardrails to prevent people from hitting trees. Another option would be to remove the trees, which Poncy said would go against the spirit of the Streets that Work plan. Restricted crossing U-turns have been used in Virginia. Poncy explains how one would work on Fifth Street. “People coming from the side streets, so for example Bailey Road or Old Ridge, they would first make a right turn,” Poncy said. “The median openings that are currently there would be closed for through traffic and people coming out of the side streets would have to make a right hand turn and then go up to the next median opening to go in the direction they wanted to travel.”Another potential solution is a roundabout at Bailey Road which is the entrance to the Orangedale section of the Fifeville neighborhood. That would likely mean the taking of some property to accommodate the geographic scope.Another overarching concept is to put Fifth Street on a road diet, which would mean reducing travel lanee and giving that space over to wider sidewalks or shared-use paths. Bike lanes could be protected with a physical barrier, but those details have not yet been worked out. In one of the scenarios, the road diet would include a dedicated bus-lane in each direction. Second Shout-out: RCA working on restoration of Riverview ParkThe first Patreon-fueled shout-out today is for the Rivanna Conservation Alliance and their work with the City of Charlottesville on the restoration of Riverview Park. The RCA aims to restore a 600-foot section of the Rivanna riverbank in an area that’s designated for public access to the waterway as well as a 200-foot section of a dangerously eroding stormwater channel nearby. Another community meeting will be held in the near future to get your feedback on the work should be prioritized. Visit rivannariver.org to learn more about the project, which seeks to help Riverview Park continue to be a welcoming place to exercise, cool off, paddle, fish, play, explore, observe nature, and escape from the day-to-day stresses of life.  Skepticism of bus lanes, support for roundabout, more data needed on road diet detailsAfter the overview, Commissioners and Councilors had the chance to provide feedback. During their discussion, they appeared to want more detail about what a road diet would entail, expressed support for the single-lane roundabout, and stated concerns about dedicated bus lanes. Let’s begin with the Planning Commission’s non-voting representative from the University of Virginia wanted to know if the needs of the emergency health system had been taken into account.“From the UVA perspective, this is a pretty major corridor for emergency vehicles coming to the hospital,” said Bill Palmer with the Office of the Architect. Bill Wuensch of EPR said if the bus lanes were dedicated, they would be available for use by emergency vehicles. “Whether it’s an ambulance, fire truck, police, whatever, they would still be able to use and access that bus lane in that single lane option,” Wuencsch said. Palmer asked what the Future Land Use map designations were for the roadway and said whatever alternative is selected should anticipate future development. Much of the corridor is designated now as Medium Intensity Residential with other portions as Higher Intensity Residential. During the conversation, at least three Councilors were skeptical about reducing capacity by eliminating travel lanes. “In plumbing, you’ve got to be careful of going from big to little,” said City Councilor Sena Magill said. Magill added she would support some form of a dedicated bus lane, but said she would be concerned it might be difficult for those vehicles to merge back into traffic on either end. “Refining some of those details about the transitions is kind of the next step,” said Jeannie Alexander, another EPR employee who used to work for the city. “Getting into those design details. Yes, you’re right, it’s very important and will be the make or break for many things.”Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook said he was skeptical about the bus lane concept. The Route 2, Route 3, and Route 6 operated by Charlottesville Area Transit regularly use the corridor. “And we’re devoting the largest share of asphalt to something that only takes… 30 vehicles a day,” Snook said. “That strikes me as being a very difficult thing to justify.”  Snook said he was concerned that constricting Fifth Street would route more vehicles through Bailey Road up to Prospect Avenue, or onto Harris Street through the Fry’s Spring neighborhood. Vice Mayor Juandiego Wade used to work as a transportation planner for Albemarle County. He echoed Snook’s concern.“I know what’s going to happen,” Wade said. “They’re going to filter through the neighborhoods and then we’re going to get calls about complaints of cars speeding in front of Jackson-Via [Elementary School] and in front of Buford [Middle] School because that’s where they’re going to go if they get off of I-64 and see the traffic.” Planning Commissioner Jody Lahendro said he was skeptical of many of the options.“The conclusion I’m coming to is that this is very difficult to come up with one static solution for a road that has various issues,” said Commissioner Jody Lahendro. Commissioner Hosea Mitchell was also concerned about the road diet and the potential for congestion. “I’m not too geeked out about the two-lane roundabout either,” Mitchell said. “I’ve worked and lived in lots of big cities and those two-lane roundabouts can be confusing. Mitchell said he could support a single-lane roundabout but wanted to know more information. He also said he supported the pursuit of low-cost measures such as guardrails and photo enforcement. Planning Commissioner Karim Habbab said he would support some form of a road diet but only if it didn’t lead to too much congestion. He also said he could support a roundabout.“I know those are great at reducing crashes or the severity of crashes at those intersections and I’m for a roundabout,” Habbab said.  Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg supported the road diet because he said a change in design would stop the conditions that lead to the three fatal crashes in 2020. “In off-hours, Fifth Street becomes a drag strip and it’s just a wide open road, a total straightaway, and people can speed recklessly,” Stolzenberg said. “Yes it’s a small minority of people but road design is how we stop that.” Stolzenberg said the road concept needed to be fleshed out further. City Councilor Brian Pinkston said he supported studying the road diet and doing a study. That would likely mean a delay in applying for the Smart Scale funds. The next round will be in 2024. Magill said she wanted to know more about a road diet would work, and that she could support a single-lane roundabout but not a double one. She also said people need to understand Charlottesville’s geographic role. “We cannot get away from the fact that we are the urban center for a large rural community and that’s something we have to plan with,” Magill said. Councilor Michael Payne said he supported the roundabout at Bailey Road to break up the speed. “You know I think I would lean toward the road diet but I do have concern of us doing with the level of information that we have now,” Payne said. “It does seem that more study and information is needed.” Planning Commission Chair Lyle Solla-Yates said he wanted the city to pursue all of the options.“In general we need to be thinking bigger and more systematically so we can get at these connections about these issues,” Solla-Yates said. City traffic engineer Brennan Duncan said he heard the concern about a two-lane roundabout but said unless the number of lanes was reduced through a road diet, that would have to be the case.“Just for a roundabout, in order to build one for the road we have today, it would have to be a two-lane roundabout,” Duncan said. Council will return to this matter at their meeting on June 21.There are other projects nearby. Albemarle County and the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission are working on a Smart Scale application for an area south of Harris Road (read those application details)A TJPDC application for something called the Fifth Street Trail hub was successful in the last Smart Scale round and received nearly $10 million in funds (read the application)The city was awarded $8.74 million in Smart Scale Round 4 for Ridge Street improvements (read the application)The city was awarded $6.1 million for the Cherry Avenue turn lane improvements in Smart Scale Round 3 (read the application)More transportation-related items in the next Charlottesville Community Engagement. Always in motion, we are! Sign up for Ting - Support Town Crier productions!For over a year one year now, Town Crier Productions has had a promotional offering through Ting!Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

There is a month and a week left until the summer solstice, and the time when the days begin growing shorter. Until then, there are now over 14 hours of sunlight in the section of the Earth on the day when the May 16 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement is produced. That’s enough time to ensure that this newsletter and podcast at least tries to bring as much information as possible. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs. On today’s program:Charlottesville Planning Commission recommends a seven-story building on Jefferson Park AvenueA fatal crash on U.S. 29 near Greenbrier Road has claimed the life of a Charlottesville manAn Augusta County elections official is the latest appointee to the State Board of ElectionsA quick update on COVID-19 from the UnivToday’s first shout-out goes to LEAPWe’re now well into spring, and many of us may have already turned on our air conditioning units for the first in months. To see what you can do to get the most out of your home, contact LEAP, your local energy nonprofit, to schedule a home energy assessment this month - just $45 for City and County residents. LEAP also offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If someone in your household is age 60 or older, or you have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!COVID cases still increasing; UVA Health urges renewed maskingAs the week begins, the Virginia Department of Health this morning reports a seven-day average for new COVID-19 cases at 2,750 a day and the seven-day percent positivity has increased to 14.6 percent. The actual amount of spread is likely higher due to the number of home tests that have become common as a first diagnosis for many people. “There are many people calling saying they’re COVID positive and importantly and interestingly, a fair number of those people have been vaccinated,” said Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiology for the University of Virginia Health System. With more cases in the community, UVA officials say its time to take precautions again.“Personally I’m masking back up and I think a lot of people are making the decision,” said Wendy Horton, the CEO of the UVA Health System. “It’s people that have been really careful, been vaccinated, and I think we’re just in this interesting time where we’re really tired of masking but I think it’s alive and well. We know it. We see it in our workforce. We see it in our patients.” The latest COVID model from the UVA Biocomplexity Institute was released on Friday. “Models forecast a significant surge of cases in the coming weeks,” reads the model. “Case rates are not expected to reach levels seen during the January wave. But they will likely exceed those seen in pre-Omicron waves.” Dr. Sifri said ebbs and flows are likely to continue as COVID-19 continues to transition from pandemic to endemic. He said the same public health advice exists. “In a period of time like now where we’re starting to see a surge in cases, this is the time to say okay, in this time and place right now, wearing a mask is helpful to prevent transmission,” Dr. Sifri said. “It’s also important because with COVID it still remains the case that probably half or more than half of cases are in people who are asymptomatic or have such mild symptoms that they don’t recognize that they’re sick.” This week the Virginia Department of Health is retiring several dashboards and ways of reporting COVID. People who seek to know cases by vaccination status will need to go to the Centers for Disease Control website. Cases and Deaths by Date Reported will also be phased out. The changes will take place on May 19. The VDH already has stopped reporting cases by locality on its website. Learn more about the changes on their website.Fatal crash on Seminole TrailAlbemarle County police are investigating the cause of a fatal crash last night in the 1200 block of U.S. 29 near Greenbrier Drive. Thirty-six-year old Justin Michael Tilghman of Charlottesville died at the scene of the crash which happened at 9:21 p.m. last night. The driver of a second vehicle was taken to the University of Virginia hospital. The Albemarle County Police Department’s Fatal Crash Reconstruction Team is leading the investigation. This is the fourth fatality on Albemarle County roads so far in 2022. Augusta County official named to State Board of ElectionsGovernor Glenn Youngkin has named a member of the Augusta County Board of Elections to serve on the Virginia State Board of Elections. Youngkin named Georgia K. Alvis-Long to the position. A press release identifies her occupation as a registered nurse instructor. Under Virginia law, the State Board of Elections is a five-member body that will have three members from the political party that won the Governor’s mansion in the last election. “Each political party entitled to an appointment may make and file recommendations with the Governor for the appointment,” reads Section 24.2-102 of Virginia Code.Alvis-Long fills a position left by the resignation of Jamilah D. LeCruise. For more recent appointments, take a look at the full release. Second shout-out: Charlottesville Jazz Society spotlighting benefit show for UkraineIn today’s second subscriber supported shout-out. The Charlottesville Jazz Society is spotlighting a benefit event to support the people of Ukraine at the Whiskey Jar this Wednesday from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Young jazz students near the besieged city of Mariupol sent guitarist Royce Campbell a plea to help, and several area musicians have jumped into help. Vocalist Monica Worth has organized the event, and Campbell will play for Ukraine with bassist Andre La Vell and drummer Jim Howe. Many of Charlottesville’s best jazz musicians will sit in. Donations will be collected and sent to Global Giving’s Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund, and you can also go ahead and support this effort with a payment online. That’s We Play for Ukraine at the Whiskey Jar this Wednesday from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Divided Planning Commission approves seven-story building on Jefferson Park Avenue A divided Charlottesville Planning Commission voted 4-3 on May 10 to recommend that City Council approve a special use permit for additional height and density for a seven-story U-shaped building at 2005 Jefferson Park Avenue.  They’ve also recommended reducing parking requirements by 22 percent over what would otherwise be required.“The [special use permit] is required to accommodate a development being proposed for 119-units of multifamily dwellings within one building with underground parking,” said city planner Matt Alfele. This project was filed after the city adopted a new Comprehensive Plan and Future Land Use Map created as part of the Charlottesville Plans Together initiative, which is still underway. There are currently 17 units across multiple structures across the property. “The Future Plan Use Map, the Comprehensive Plan that we went through, is increasing density and increasing density in certain areas of the city, and this area of the city is one that is looking to increase density and to increase density at especially this scale is going to create a big building,” Alfele said. The developer would pay $500,000 into the city’s affordable housing fund rather than provide required affordable units on-site or at another location nearby. They’ll build 125 parking spaces in an underground garage with access on Washington Avenue. Residents would not be eligible to park on that street or Observatory due to restricted parking. The building would be seven stories taller from JPA and would be five stories tall at the back. “The biggest concern I think staff had was the rear elevation, the five story building going down into the mainly single-family, two-family neighborhood,” Allele said. This request comes after City Council adopted a new Comprehensive Plan with a Future Land Use Map that encourages more residential density, but before the new zoning rules have been written. “Do you happen to know and can you remind me what in our Future Land Use map, what this area is designated as, and what the by-right height would be in that corridor?” asked City Councilor Michael Payne. “This is Urban Mixed Use Corridor and the height is five stories or up to eight at key intersections,” Alfele said. “This is one of the areas where our Comprehensive Plan land use conflicts with our current zoning because our Comprehensive land use map is anticipating our zoning changing. The Future Land Use Map measures in stories and not feet.” Under the existing zoning, the structure could be 35 feet tall without a permit. This is one of the areas that will be clarified in the zoning rewrite. The term “key intersection” is also currently not defined. Payne pointed out the Comprehensive Plan seeks to encourage more units that would be rented to people below market. “The framework that we’ve adopted for that is that if we’re going above the by-right height, the reason we’re doing that is to have an inclusionary zoning program that’s going to required affordable housing as part of that,” Payne said. Payne also suggested $500,000 as an affordable housing contribution would not go far. “I know it’s their choice and we don’t have any control over it but I would just note for the record that we got an affordable housing report that included data on the total subsidy needed to construct a new affordable unit, and I can’t remember the exact number but I know in Virginia that total subsidy to build one new unit could be around $300,000,” Payne said. Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook noted that there had been a lot of concerns during the Future Land Use Map from other neighborhoods such as North Downtown, but he had not heard much from the JPA neighborhood at that time.“The one area where it seemed clear that everyone was willing to agree we should have increased density was along JPA yet there was no basically no public discussion of that fact,” Snook said. Until the rezoning is finalized, individual applications like this are the forum for how the city will look in the future. The project will need a certificate of appropriateness from the Entrance Corridor Review Board, which is also the Planning Commission. They’ll get to influence the design. The developer said the area was already predominantly occupied by renters, and that this level of density is served by transit. “We are one block away in each direction from the trolley stops,” said Erin Hannegan with Mitchell + Matthews Architects and Planners. Hannegan acknowledged the Future Land Use Map designation of Urban Mixed Use Corridor and said this project meets the goals of the Comprehensive Plan.“The further definition is ‘higher intensity mixed-use development’ for this area and that’s exactly what we’re trying to do,” Hannegan said. “A higher intensity development. Mixed use is not allowed under the R-3 mixed-use currently designated.” Hannegan acknowledged that the new building would be out of scale with what is currently there, but anticipated the future conditions of JPA.“This building might be taller than its current neighbors but it won’t be out of character with the future implementation of the Comprehensive Plan and the implementation of the vision that’s been in the works for over 20 years for this particular neighborhood,” Hannegan said. At the public hearing, Nina Barnes of the Jefferson Park Avenue Neighborhood Association said the Comprehensive Plan compels Council and the Planning Commission to take adverse effects into account when considering a special use permit. “Adverse impacts may include traffic or parking congestion, undue density and population, and massing and scale,” Barnes said. “This project has adverse effects in all of these ways.”Barnes said the seven-story building would block the sun from existing one and two story buildings.Ellen Contini-Morava said the staff reports seemed to be in favor of the developer, and noted the gap between an adopted Comprehensive Plan and older zoning. She said this undermines the spirit of the Cville Plans Together Initiative. “This application treats the rezoning that’s proposed in the Future Land Use Map as if it were already in place,” Contini-Morava said. “This application not only aims to short-circuit the rezoning process but even requests a height that is two stories higher than the five stories suggested in the Future Land Use Map for the JPA corridor.” Fifeville resident Matthew Gillikin spoke for the group Livable Cville, which is not a registered entity with the State Corporation Commission but is active in promoting higher density in the community. Gillikin said the answer to affordability in Charlottesville is more housing. “And the developer is planning to contribute nearly $500,000 to the Charlottesville affordable housing fund as a condition to build,” Gillikin said. “This will fund groups like [Charlottesvile Redevelopment and Housing Authority], LEAP, [Albemarle Housing Improvement Program], [Piedmont Housing Alliance], and Habitat for Humanity in the work to address local housing issues.” Gillikin said approval of this project would prevent students from moving into local neighborhoods such as Tenth and Page and Fifeville. These units would have no affordability provisions. For comparisons let’s look at the Standard, another building designed by Mitchell + Matthews Architects. According to their website, the lowest rent for a room in a four-bedroom unit goes for $1,029 a month. Double occupancy in a single bedroom in a three bedroom unit can go for $845 a month. One and two bedroom units in the Standard are sold out. Pricing is not available online for the Flats at West Village. The Lark on Main has a one bedroom unit with a study for $1,879 a month. A room in a four bedroom, four bathroom costs $955 a month. Garage parking is an extra $100. Commission discussionAfter the public hearing, Commissioner Hosea Mitchell said he supported the project, but did want the massing to be a little more consistent with the rest of the neighborhoods. “We do need more housing in Charlottesville and we do a bit of relief valve,” Mitchell said. “We need housing in Charlottesville that is closer to UVA so that the housing that is further away from UVA can be used by the rest of our citizenry,” Mitchell said. Commissioner Taneia Dowell said if the developer is going to additional density based on the future zoning for the property, the spirit of the Affordable Housing Plan must also be honored. “That’s where I’m really having some heartburn,” Dowell said. “If we’re going to go off future endeavors for this project and this special use permit, then we need to go off future endeavors for everything related to this.” Commissioner Jody Lahendro said he could not support this level of density in the area and especially with a building with that much massing. He said the Comprehensive Plan also calls for development on Entrance Corridors to be compatible with existing neighborhoods. “I am not in favor of sacrificing a long term neighborhood for providing student housing for the University,” Lahendro said. “I think the people who have lived here and the single-family homes in this neighborhood deserve… we can’t just pretend that they’re not there.” Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg said he was reviewing the permit request under existing rules and not looking ahead to the new zoning. Quoting the standards of review, he noted that the Commission must review whether a proposal would be “harmonious with existing patterns of use and development in the neighborhood.”“But it will shock you guys to learn that harmonious is not actually defined in the code so the question I think before us is whether a five-story building can co-exist near or next to even smaller buildings including detached houses,” Stolzenberg said. “I’d note there’s already a four and a half story building at the head of the street.” Bill Palmer is with the Office of the Architect at the University of Virginia and sits as a non-voting member of the Planning Commission. He said UVA is not in an era where they are being required by the Commonwealth of Virginia to increase enrollment. According to the UVA office of Institutional Research and Analytics, there was an on-Grounds enrollment in Fall 2021 of 16,793 undergraduates and 6,928 graduate students. (enrollment data)“If you look at our official projects, they are flat,” Palmer said. Palmer said UVA is building additional housing on Grounds, including a second new structure in the Brandon Avenue Corridor. He also said the UVA initiative to build up to 1,500 new affordable units in the community includes a site further down from 2005 JPA in Albemarle County at the Piedmont housing site. “In terms of having affordable housing close in the future, that will be a place where the University is trying to provide something,” Palmer said. Council thoughtsCouncil will have the final decision, but did not vote during what is their first reading.Councilor Payne said he was frustrated that the affordability rules of the future are not yet in place. “This happened with another [special use permit] a few weeks ago where we’re in this strange situation where we’re sort of evaluating the Future Land Use Map and zoning map rewrite in mind, but if we’re using that in our evaluation, that will include our framework of inclusionary zoning and affordable housing overlays which are critical to the success of that plan for affordable housing,” Payne said. Councilor Brian Pinkston said he is learning toward support because it did provide more housing close to the University of Virginia. “I’m not able to fully articulate how we square that with point number one which is whether it is harmonious,” Pinkston said. “To some degree I think harmoniousness might be in the eye of the beholder. I will say that in terms of how the design was laid out and that you have seven stories in the front and five stories in the back, I thought there was some care and attention to trying to integrate into the neighborhood.” Snook also said he had issues with the word “harmonious” and said the traditional form of land use control known as “Euclidean zoning” is not good at dealing with change. “It doesn’t allow for us to grow gradually from a little bit of density to a little bit more density,” Snook said. “It allows us to say okay, we’re going to rezone the entire block of the entire neighborhood but it doesn’t let us go bit by bit.” As the Entrance Corridor Review Board, the Planning Commission voted unanimously on a motion to acknowledge there would be an adverse impact, but those impacts can be mitigated through the design process. As the Planning Commission, they consider a motion made by Stolzenberg to recommend approval. The was 4-3 with Stolzenberg, Mitchell, Habbab, and Commission Chair Lyle Solla-Yates voting in favor. Lahendro joined Dowell and Commissioner Liz Russell in voting no.  Help Ting help support Town Crier productions!For one year now, Town Crier Productions has had a promotional offering through Ting!Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to the only Friday the 13th of all of 2022! Many consider the day to be unlucky, a tradition that goes back many centuries. Rather than go through all of that, I’m more curious to know what you think of this day. Do you take precautions? Did you even notice? Do other days in a Friday the 13th’d month also have powers? In any case, those questions aren’t the purpose of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a podcast and newsletter whose host still wonders why. Charlottesville Community Engagement is mostly free but your financial support will help it growing! On today’s program:Governor Youngkin orders flags at half-mast to commemorate one million Americans who have died from COVIDThere are five vacancies on the Charlottesville Planning Commission, and the city is seeking applicantsAn update on the city’s zoning process as well as an update a lawsuit claiming the Comprehensive Plan is invalid under state lawAnd a quick preview of a conversation between the Reverend Alex Joyner and the author of a book on Virginia’s eugenics movement Shout-out to Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards In today’s subscriber-supported Public Service Announcement, the Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards continues to offer classes this spring and summer to increase your awareness of our wooden neighbors and to prepare for the future. Coming up on June 7 is a tree identification course taught on Zoom by tree steward Elizabeth Ferguson followed by a separate hike on June 11 at the Department of Forestry’s headquarters near the Fontaine Research Park. That’s followed by a tree identification walk at the University of Virginia on June 12 for the public. On June 14, Rachel Keen will give a lecture on Zoom on the Social Life of Trees. Do trees really communicate with one another? What is a 'mother tree'? Can a tree do anything to repel a pest? Learn more at charlottesvilleareatreestewards.org.One million Americans have died of COVID since pandemic beganGovernor Glenn Youngkin has followed the direction of President Joe Biden and has ordered that the United States and Virginia flags be flown at half-mast until Monday to commemorate the milestone of a million Americans who have now died of COVID in the past 26 months. I’ll have more on the pandemic tomorrow.On Thursday, the Virginia Department of Health reported another 3,144 new cases, and the seven-day average for new cases is 2,441. The seven-day percentage for PCR tests is 13.7 percent, up from 11 percent on May 6 and 9.1 percent on April 29. None of those numbers include tests taken at home. This morning the Virginia Healthcare and Hospital Association reports 325 people in hospitals are currently COVID positive, but many of those patients may have been admitted for other reasons. Forty-five COVID patients are currently hospitalized in intensive care units and 20 of those are on ventilators. Nationwide, the trend is toward more cases with 84,778 new cases reported through PCR tests according to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control. Hospitalizations are also trending upward across the country with a seven-day average of 2,603 new admissions a day. It’s important to remember that the number of COVID fatalities continues to trend downward with a current seven-day average of 272 deaths. The highest seven-day average during the pandemic was 3,420 in mid January of 2021 and 2,709 in early February of this year. Charlottesville hires two department headsThe City of Charlottesville has promoted two employees to take over their departments, and has also filled the position of Human Resources Director. Mary Ann Hardie will move to Charlottesville from Washington state to take the human resources position, which has been vacant since November 2020 when Michelle Vineyard left after just over a year of service. Hardie has served for the past three years as human resources director in Lacey, Washington. That’s a suburb of state capital Olympia that grew from 42,393 people to 53,526 from 2010 to 2020 according to the U.S. Census.Hardie starts work on May 16.Misty Graves has been with the city of Charlottesville’s Human Services Department for 16 years and has been the interim director since Kaki Dimock left the city to work for Albemarle County. “I am humbled by the opportunity to build on the existing work of the Department," is quoted in a press release. "Our Department is comprised of dedicated staff that are committed to creating a more equitable and just community so all of our residents may thrive, and it’s my honor to work alongside them.”David Dillehunt has been the interim deputy director of the Office of Communications and Public Engagement since soon after former director Brian Wheeler stepped down late last year. Deputy Director Joe Rice left soon afterwards. Dillehunt began working for Charlottesville in 2005 as a consultant has won two Regional Emmy Awards for work he’s produced for the city. In 2004, Dillehunt also produced a documentary on the children’s program You Can’t Do That On Television. (play the trailer) The city is still looking to fill the director’s position for the Office of Communications and Public Engagement. The position closes May 18 if you want to throw your hat in the ring. (see the vacancy)Vacancies opening up on Charlottesville Planning CommissionIf you have an interest in advising Charlottesville City Council on land use decisions, and have time to devote to the effort, you may get your chance. “There are spots on the Planning Commission that are coming open this summer,” said Missy Creasy, the Deputy Director of the city’s Department of Neighborhood Development Services. “And right now we are in the window for applications.” There are five terms ending this summer, and at least two current members cannot reapply. They are Jody Lahendro and Taneia Dowell. Commissioner Karim Habbab is filling an unexpired term which runs out on August 31. The terms of Hosea Mitchell and Rory Stolzenberg are both running out on that day. Stolzenberg is also filling out the unexpired term vacated when Hunter Smith resigned in 2018 after a handful of months in the position. Apply for the position here.Charlottesville zoning info slightly delayed Work on the next phase of the rewriting of Charlottesville’s zoning ordinance continues, but it’s slightly delayed. Neighborhood Development Services Director James Freas told the Planning Commission Tuesday that a “diagnostic and approach” report was not ready in time for their May meeting, but he hopes it will be out by the end of this month. (previous coverage)“As this point we are anticipating that the joint meeting between the Council and the Planning Commission to eventually make a decision on moving forward with that report, we’re projecting that happening in September at this point in time,” Freas said. Freas is now referring to this report as a conceptual plan for the new zoning ordinance. “It’s going to lay out what the approach is towards bringing our zoning into consistency with our Comprehensive Plan and its meant to include within it both modeling of potential building outcomes, so what type of buildings might be buildable under the policies articulated in the Comprehensive Plan, and how the market might respond to this new zoning,” Freas said. Freas said a public meeting will be held two weeks after the report with other community engagement events happening over the summer. The new Comprehensive Plan was adopted in November 2021. Consult Information Charlottesville for a series of property transactions in city limits since then. That joint City Council and Planning Commission meeting in September will be after a pair of judicial proceedings related to a lawsuit filed by anonymous Charlottesville property owners challenging the validity of the Comprehensive Plan. A hearing on the initial motion will be held in Charlottesville Circuit Court on July 15 with Judge Richard E. Moore presiding. A hearing on a city-filed demurrer to require the plaintiffs to identify themselves will be held on August 26. Alderman Library construction reaches milestoneThe tallest portions of the new Alderman Library have been installed, and the University of Virginia marked the occasion with a “topping out” ceremony. UVA Today reports that over a hundred workers were on hand to witness the placement of two steel beams that had been signed by UVA officials and more. “The two beams are part of the steel-framed clerestory roof structure, an architectural feature that will allow natural light to reach the study and reading rooms inside the library,” writes Matt Kelly in an article posted yesterday. The library itself is only two thirds of the way to being completed. When it’s done, there will be a new entrance that faces University Avenue. Bill Palmer is with the UVA Office of the Architect and he gave an update to the Charlottesville Planning Commission on Tuesday. “That’s a big milestone of a transformative project over there that will really open up the library towards University Avenue as you’re going up and down that thoroughfare,” Palmer said. The original library opened in 1937, but was closed off to University Avenue in 1967 when the “stacks” were built. I’ll have more from the Planning Commission in a future edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. In today’s other three shout-outsCode for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit codeforcville.org to learn about those projects. In the middle, I’d like to take the opportunity to wish my brother, Steve Tubbs, a happy birthday for tomorrow. The final comes from another Patreon supporter who wants you to go out and read a local news story written by a local journalist. Whether it be the Daily Progress, Charlottesville Tomorrow, C-Ville Weekly, NBC29, CBS19, WINA, or some other place I’ve not mentioned - the community depends on a network of people writing about the community. Go learn about this place today!Eugenics and the Making of Modern VirginiaThe newsletter and podcast you’re experiencing stems from a website I created in 2005 to bring lectures, interviews, and audio segments to the public as an experiment. The Charlottesville Podcasting Network has been in the hands of my friend Dan Gould for several years, but he recently retired and passed the baton back to me. From time to time, I’ll end this newsletter with a small taste of what you might hear there. The Reverend Alex Joyner is the pastor of Charlottesville First United Methodist Church, and he wants to ask questions about what it takes to make a place more whole. One thread in his questioning is the future of Market Street Park in downtown Charlottesville. In February, he interviewed Elizabeth Catte, the author of Pure America: Eugenics and the Making of Modern Virginia. Catte said she wrote the book after learning about some of the history of Western State Hospital. After the original structure closed in 2005, the site was turned over to the Staunton Industrial Authority for redevelopment as apartments. At one point, the facility was known bluntly as the Western State Lunatic Asylum. “Its history became part of its branding identity and that was a really interesting transformation to me,” Catte said.“Yeah, that’s a long stretch to pull those two things together,” Joyner said. “So 200 years of history had to get condensed into something that could be about two paragraphs on a website and could also be anchored to branding material for tourism, for community development, so it developed this really cozy kind of positive story about early physicians who committed themselves to the humane treatment of mental illnesses,” Catte said. “That was certainly one of the chapters of that sites’ history but the larger chapter that I knew as a historian was the history of the institution during the eugenics era.”Eugenics was the legal practice of sterilizing those thought to be inferior so they would not reproduce. The 1927 United States Supreme Court ruling of Buck v. Bell cleared the way for the practice, with Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes delivering the line “three generations of imbeciles is enough.” The practice was legal until the 1970’s.“At least 1,700 people were sterilized against their will at Western State Hospital,” Catte said. “The longest serving superintendent was a vocal leader of the Virginia eugenics movement and it has a very harrowing history.”To hear more from Alex Joyner’s interview with Elizabeth Catte, visit the Charlottesville Podcasting Network.Or view the interview on YouTube. Help Ting help support Town Crier productions!For one year now, Town Crier Productions has had a promotional offering through Ting!Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

It’s been three months since February 2, prompting the question: Has anyone checked to see how the groundhog is doing? Still, May 2 is the 122nd day of 2022, and we are now mathematically one third of the way through. Perhaps nothing is still. In any case, this is Charlottesville Community Engagement and I remain Sean Tubbs, here for another week and another months of newsletters and podcasts that are hopefully informative. On today’s program:Charlottesville crews are taking down dead Ash and Oak trees this yeCOVID cases are up sharply across Virginia this morningCharlottesville has a new Fire MarshalA Buckingham County resident has died following a fatal crash this morning in Albemarle County City Council will take up two land use items tonight, one of which would double the already approved residential density on a property near the University of VirginiaFirst shout-out goes to the Piedmont Master Gardeners for their annual plant saleIn today’s first subscriber-supported shout-out, the Piedmont Master Gardeners are pleased to announce the return of their annual plant sale! That’s happening on Saturday, May 7, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Albemarle Square Shopping Center. The sale will offer thousands of annuals, perennials, shrubs, vegetables, herbs and houseplants, including a large selection of native plants.In addition, shoppers can purchase garden implements, yard ornaments and other “Green Elephants”; have their tools sharpened by an expert; and drop off their surplus plastic nursery pots for recycling. The sale will also feature a Help Desk for gardening questions and information tables on native plants, soil and composting, invasive plants, conservation landscaping and much more.For more information, visit piedmontmastegardeners.org. COVID-19 update: Numbers trending upward again? As the week and month begin, it’s worth checking in with the COVID-19 pandemic statistics in Virginia. Brace yourselves for this number. The Virginia Department of Health reports another 4,192 new cases today, and the seven day average for positive PCR tests is at 9.8 percent. The seven day average for new tests is at 1,870 new cases a day. However, these cases have not yet resulted in a higher number of people in the hospital for COVID. According to the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, there are 166 COVID patients currently in hospital care across Virginia and 28 are in intensive care units. Eleven are on ventilators. Those numbers are drastically lower than three months ago when the Omicron surge was at its peak. On Friday, the VDH reported 1,705 new cases. That’s the same day the UVA Health System held its weekly briefing, which included Chief Executive Officer Wendy Horton. She encouraged vigilance. “Among our employees and our workforce, we are seeing an uptick in community exposure in COVID so it isn’t going away in our community and I think a lot of friends and family are experiencing that this week,” Horton said. Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia, said the actual case counts are likely higher due to the number of home testing and due to the spread of a variant in Omicron. “They are increasingly more transmissible and because of that it’s very reasonable to take precautions,” Dr. Sifri said. “Masking works. It’s always worked. It will continue to work.” Dr. Sifri also encouraged people to investigate whether it is a good time for them to take an additional booster if eligible. “I think the first and foremost thing is to make sure that you are fully vaccinated and that you have completed what we consider the three dose vaccine series,” Dr. Sifri said.With allergy season in play, Dr. Sifri recommends self-testing to protect those you spend a lot of time around. “Your sniffles or scratchy throat that you may wish to attribute to hay fever may not be that but it could be a sign of COVID and to test yourself,” Dr. Sifri said. The Friday briefing also covered another emerging medical issue across the globe. So far there are no cases at the University of Virginia of severe unexplained cases of hepatitis in children, but doctors are keeping an eye out. Dr. Debbie-Ann Shirley is a pediatric infectious disease specialist who says more study is needed after an alert went out in late April.“Both the Centers for Disease Control and the Virginia Department of Health put out health advisories to notify health care providers about an increase in clusters of cases of severe liver diseases in children which we call hepatitis,” Dr. Shirley said in a briefing last Friday. One potential commonality is an adenovirus which can cause a variety of different ailments. The United Kingdom has seen a relatively high number of cases, some of which have required liver transplants. “It’s really the severity of these cases in young children that is causing concern and alarm and the reason that we want to investigate urgently to find out more information,” Dr. Shirley said. Local physicians are encouraged to reach out to UVA Health officials if they see pediatric patients with elevated levels of liver enzymes that are otherwise unexplained. “For parents who are trying to understand what to do when they hear this message, if they see signs and symptoms of hepatitis then to talk to their health care provider,” Dr. Shirley said. That includes yellowing of the eyes and skin, belly pain, and fatigue. I’ll have more on both issues as time moves on. Fatal crash at Hillsdale and Rio intersection this morningA 20-year-old from Dilwyn has died following a fatal crash this morning at the intersection of Rio Road and Hillsdale Drive. According to the Albemarle County Fire Rescue department, Mr. Kyjuan-Shallah Anthony Maurice Bell died at the scene after a collision with another vehicle. “The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the Albemarle County Police Department’s Fatal Crash Reconstruction Team,” reads the press release. “This is the third traffic fatality investigated by ACPD in 2022.”City to remove dead treesThe biological war between the Emerald Ash Borer and ash trees is still being waged, but it’s very much in the favor of the invasive species. That’s been confirmed by the city’s new urban forester, Steve Gaines.“The beetle larvae tunnel under the bark, and damage nutrient and water flow throughout the tree – basically girdling the tree,” Gaines said in email Friday afternoon. “Once infested, the trees usually die within 2-5 years after initial infection.”This morning, Charlottesville’s Parks and Recreation Department began removing six dead ash trees at the intersection of McIntire Road and West Main Street. That will take place Monday through Wednesday between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. and motorists can expect delays. Gaines said it is hard to tell how many more ash trees across the city will die but there will be a focus on removing ones that can cause harm. “It is safe to say that the city will be removing Ash hazard trees for quite a while,” Gaines said. “Standing dead Ash trees are particularly dangerous because the dead limbs are brittle and can easily break and fall during wind/weather events.”Gaines said the city is seeking to treat some ash trees with injections, but this often requires a landowner or organization to help cover the cost of treatment. Later in the week, crews will remove three dead Oak trees from Belmont Park. Gaines said there are many possibilities for why they have died. The Charlottesville Tree Commission meets virtually Tuesday at 5 p.m. (meeting info)Fire Captain Phillips elevated to Fire MarshalA veteran with 23 years of experience on the Charlottesville Fire Department has been named as the city’s new fire marshal. Joe Phillips will replace Deputy Chief Joe Powers, who had been in charge of Community Risk Reduction. According to a release, Phillips joined the department in January 1999 as a firefighter and medic. He has served as a battalion chief and has been in the Fire Marshal’s office since 2017. That’s where the fire department’s Office of Community Risk Reduction is located. A national search is underway for a new Deputy Chief for risk reduction. In today’s other three shout-outs Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit codeforcville.org to learn about those projects. In the middle, I’d like to take the opportunity to wish my nephew, Ryan Craig, a happy 29th birthday. Where did the time go? The final comes from another Patreon supporter who wants you to go out and read a local news story written by a local journalist. Whether it be the Daily Progress, Charlottesville Tomorrow, C-Ville Weekly, NBC29, CBS19, WINA, or some other place I’ve not mentioned - the community depends on a network of people writing about the community. Go learn about this place today!Council to review two land use items this eveningLast month, the Charlottesville Planning Commission recommended approval of one land use item and recommended the denial of another at a joint public hearing with City Council. Tonight, City Council will hold final votes on both of them.The first is on the consent agenda. Southern Development seeks an increase of residential density at 209 Maury Avenue near the University of Virginia. Here’s city planner Matt Alfele.“The subject properties were rezoned from R-2U (residential two-family University) to R-3 with proffers in December 2019,” Alfele said. “The original plan called for residential development with 33 units. The new proposal calls for the same configuration but removes the parking underneath building 2 to accommodate additional units.”The new maximum count would be 64 units. As part of the proffers, six affordable units would be built by Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville at the Flint Hill development in the Fry’s Spring neighborhood. Flint Hill is also being developed by Southern Development and that required eight affordable units. Habitat will be building those, as well. Charlie Armstrong is vice president at Southern Development. “Yes, it would create more units if we have more density on this site,” Armstrong said. “It does create more affordable units. Those will need to be off-site and we like the idea of doing them with Habitat at Flint Hill. We need to get Flint Hill through the approval process and built.”Armstrong said University of Virginia students do not drive as much, but the company has agreed to develop a parking plan for the site. They’ll also build a seven-foot sidewalk along Maury Avenue.  An existing structure on the property will be kept as part of the project. The Commission voted unanimously to recommend the increase. Council has opted to put it on their consent agenda rather than discuss it in open session tonight.Planning Commission recommends denial of conversion of apartments to hotel useIn the other matter, developer Bill Chapman sought permission to convert an apartment complex on 14th Street into a hotel. Here’s city planner Dannan O’Connell. “The subject property is currently developed with a 21-unit multifamily condominium use and the applicant wishes to renovate the existing building to accommodate a 19-unit hotel with one residential apartment,” O’Connell said. The structure was originally built as a hotel in 1964 but converted to apartment use some time later. Tonight’s consideration by Council comes just over a year after the city adopted an Affordable Housing Plan that seeks to increase the number of units and nearly six months after a new Comprehensive Plan was adopted.“The proposed redevelopment does meet some of the 2021 Comprehensive Plan’s goals regarding sustainable reuse of existing buildings, protecting the existing identity of city neighborhoods, and retaining successful businesses and jobs,” O’Connell said. “The proposed change of use would also result in a reduction of available rental housing within the city and this area. However, the existing apartment use is non-conforming in nature and located in an area of dense residential apartments geared towards short-term student housing.”Much of the discussion at the Planning Commission was whether the residential units should be removed from circulation. Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg noted that the units rented at what would appear to be what’s known as “naturally occurring affordable housing.” “The studio rents for $770 a month and that includes utilities,” Stolzenberg said. “And then I go look at what that is in terms of [Area Median Income] and it’s right at the 45 percent AMI range for a one-person household.” O’Connell said the application made clear that none of those units were participating in a subsidized program requiring the rents to be that low. “The reason these units are affordable is because they are older and so people can afford to live in them,” said Planning Commissioner Liz Russell. Developer Bill Chapman said the conversion would be similar to what he and his business partners did at the Oakhurst Circle and Inn project at the corner of Jefferson Park Avenue and Jefferson Park Avenue. “My partners and I own nine buildings over here on the south side of UVA in the Oakhurst Gildersleeve Historic District and some of them are apartments and some are private homes and some are hotel rooms,” Chapman said.Chapman said he thought the end result of the renovations of those buildings has made some of those streets better than they been. He said he wants to do the same at 207 14th Street.“The block just down the hill from this property on 14th Street is one of the dirtiest blocks in the whole city in terms of trash and we’re going to transform that a little bit because being in the hospitality business it needs to look good,” Chapman said. Chapman said the apartments are run down and cheap because they are old hotel rooms. He is a contract purchaser, and does not currently own them. He said financing their renovation as an apartment would result in much higher rents. “This property was built as a motel and I think it’s best operated as a hotel especially since it needs this new life brought to it,” Chapman said. “Now, could it go for a few more years as an apartment building? Yeah. Could it go for 20 more years as an apartment building. No.”Russell said she did not think the people living in the apartment were necessarily students. “We have to remember that not just students live in the area around the University but it seems like a pretty great proximity to the UVA Health System,” Russell said. “So many people can’t live in this community let alone proximate to UVA. Russell said she would vote to recommend denial because she housing is more important than hotel rooms. Commissioner Karim Habbab also could not support it.“This is currently exactly the missing middle housing that we are trying to develop in the city and given our affordable housing issue, I cannot see how this would help with that,” Habbab said. The Commission voted 4-2 to recommend denial. Now it’s up to Council to make a decision. Help support Town Crier Productions with a paid subscription to this newsletter!For one year now, Town Crier Productions has a promo with Ting!Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

In American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York (Princeton University Press, 2022), Nomi Stolzenberg and David Myers tell the story of how a group of pious, Yiddish-speaking Jews created a thriving insular enclave and a powerful local government in upstate New York. While rejecting the norms of mainstream American society, Kiryas Joel has been stunningly successful in creating a world apart by using the very instruments of secular political and legal power that it disavows. Nomi M. Stolzenberg holds the Nathan and Lilly Shapell Chair at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. David N. Myers holds the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History at the University of California, Los Angeles. Schneur Zalman Newfield is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York, and the author of Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Temple University Press, 2020). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York (Princeton University Press, 2022), Nomi Stolzenberg and David Myers tell the story of how a group of pious, Yiddish-speaking Jews created a thriving insular enclave and a powerful local government in upstate New York. While rejecting the norms of mainstream American society, Kiryas Joel has been stunningly successful in creating a world apart by using the very instruments of secular political and legal power that it disavows. Nomi M. Stolzenberg holds the Nathan and Lilly Shapell Chair at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. David N. Myers holds the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History at the University of California, Los Angeles. Schneur Zalman Newfield is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York, and the author of Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Temple University Press, 2020). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

In American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York (Princeton University Press, 2022), Nomi Stolzenberg and David Myers tell the story of how a group of pious, Yiddish-speaking Jews created a thriving insular enclave and a powerful local government in upstate New York. While rejecting the norms of mainstream American society, Kiryas Joel has been stunningly successful in creating a world apart by using the very instruments of secular political and legal power that it disavows. Nomi M. Stolzenberg holds the Nathan and Lilly Shapell Chair at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. David N. Myers holds the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History at the University of California, Los Angeles. Schneur Zalman Newfield is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York, and the author of Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Temple University Press, 2020). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

In American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York (Princeton University Press, 2022), Nomi Stolzenberg and David Myers tell the story of how a group of pious, Yiddish-speaking Jews created a thriving insular enclave and a powerful local government in upstate New York. While rejecting the norms of mainstream American society, Kiryas Joel has been stunningly successful in creating a world apart by using the very instruments of secular political and legal power that it disavows. Nomi M. Stolzenberg holds the Nathan and Lilly Shapell Chair at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. David N. Myers holds the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History at the University of California, Los Angeles. Schneur Zalman Newfield is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York, and the author of Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Temple University Press, 2020). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

In American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York (Princeton University Press, 2022), Nomi Stolzenberg and David Myers tell the story of how a group of pious, Yiddish-speaking Jews created a thriving insular enclave and a powerful local government in upstate New York. While rejecting the norms of mainstream American society, Kiryas Joel has been stunningly successful in creating a world apart by using the very instruments of secular political and legal power that it disavows. Nomi M. Stolzenberg holds the Nathan and Lilly Shapell Chair at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. David N. Myers holds the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History at the University of California, Los Angeles. Schneur Zalman Newfield is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York, and the author of Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Temple University Press, 2020). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

In American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York (Princeton University Press, 2022), Nomi Stolzenberg and David Myers tell the story of how a group of pious, Yiddish-speaking Jews created a thriving insular enclave and a powerful local government in upstate New York. While rejecting the norms of mainstream American society, Kiryas Joel has been stunningly successful in creating a world apart by using the very instruments of secular political and legal power that it disavows. Nomi M. Stolzenberg holds the Nathan and Lilly Shapell Chair at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. David N. Myers holds the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History at the University of California, Los Angeles. Schneur Zalman Newfield is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York, and the author of Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Temple University Press, 2020). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

In American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York (Princeton University Press, 2022), Nomi Stolzenberg and David Myers tell the story of how a group of pious, Yiddish-speaking Jews created a thriving insular enclave and a powerful local government in upstate New York. While rejecting the norms of mainstream American society, Kiryas Joel has been stunningly successful in creating a world apart by using the very instruments of secular political and legal power that it disavows. Nomi M. Stolzenberg holds the Nathan and Lilly Shapell Chair at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. David N. Myers holds the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History at the University of California, Los Angeles. Schneur Zalman Newfield is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York, and the author of Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Temple University Press, 2020).

In American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York (Princeton University Press, 2022), Nomi Stolzenberg and David Myers tell the story of how a group of pious, Yiddish-speaking Jews created a thriving insular enclave and a powerful local government in upstate New York. While rejecting the norms of mainstream American society, Kiryas Joel has been stunningly successful in creating a world apart by using the very instruments of secular political and legal power that it disavows. Nomi M. Stolzenberg holds the Nathan and Lilly Shapell Chair at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. David N. Myers holds the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History at the University of California, Los Angeles. Schneur Zalman Newfield is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York, and the author of Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Temple University Press, 2020). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

After today, the year 2022 will be 22.7 percent complete, a statistic that appears both appropriate and confounding. This is the 353rd edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a program that only contains a fraction of the stories that I would like to be telling, but efforts to increase efficiency are on an upward trajectory. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs. Sign up to make sure every installment makes it to your inbox! CCE is free but your support helps keep it going! On today’s program:Charlottesville City Council appears poised to approve a 28 unit apartment complex on a cul-de-sac in FifevilleGovernor Glenn Youngkin summons the General Assembly to return to Richmond on April 4 to complete a budget The Charlottesville Human Rights Commission holds a town hall meeting tonightAnd the Great Eastern Management Company offers the public a chance to weigh in on a plan to redevelop Seminole Square Shopping Center to add 352 apartmentsFirst shout-out goes to a March 29 event happening at MorvenIn today’s first subscriber supported shout-out, the Morven Summer Institute at Morven Farm wants you to know about a seminar coming up on March 29. How are UVA students, faculty, and community partners collaborating to tell the stories of Morven? Researcher Scot French has spent over ten years studying Morven’s history and will provide glimpses into a course he’ll be teaching this summer on Recovering the Stories of Morven’s Enslaved and Descendant Communities.  The March 29 event is a chance for the public to get a preview of the four week course. If you’re interested, visit morven.virginia.edu to fill out an interest form. Governor Youngkin calls special session to resolve Virginia’s budgetThe Virginia General Assembly adjourned earlier this month without completing work on a budget. They also left several bills pending. Now the head of the executive branch has called them back to Richmond to complete the work early next month.“I, Glenn Youngkin, Governor of Virginia, do hereby summon the members of the Senate and the House of Delegates, constituting the General Assembly of Virginia, to meet in Special Session commencing the 4th day of April, two thousand and twenty-two for the purpose of the completion of the 2023-2024 biennial budget.In a statement, Youngkin said he wants the budget to include a tax cut, but also an increase in spending on education, law enforcement, and the behavioral health system. Youngkin also wants the General Assembly to pass legislation that would suspend Virginia’s 26-cent gas tax for three months. Graham Moomaw reported in the Virginia Mercury last week that that could cost $437 million in transportation funding. The Legislative Information System lists 48 bills still pending, including the budget bill. A total of 166 bills were carried over to the 2023. Youngkin has signed 31 bills into law including one that makes switchblade knives legal again. Other blackjacks such as throwing stars remain illegal. Another approved bill will change the process by which “accommodations intermediaries” pay their transient occupancy taxes, though guidelines won’t be published by the Department of Taxation until August 1, 2022. Human Rights Commission Town Hall tonightThe nine-member body appointed by City Council to “provide citywide leadership and guidance in the area of civil and human rights” wants you to consider attending a meeting tonight. City Councilor Michael Payne made this announcement at Monday’s Council meeting.“The Human Rights Commission would like to hear from the public on Emergency Housing Access and the quality of affordable, public, and subsidized housing,” Payne said. That will take the form of a virtual town hall meeting to be held tonight at 7 p.m. They’ll be working off of a community survey that got 128 responses. The top two responses are the subject of the meeting, where people will have up to three minutes to discuss. Learn more in a press release. City Council adopted an affordable housing plan on March 1, 2021 as the first step in the Cville Plans Together initiative. The three major themes in the plan are a commitment to spend $10 million each year on affordable housing programs, reforming the governance for how that funding is allocated, and to adopt reforms to encourage more housing all across the city. (read the plan)Council supportive of rezoning for 28 units on Valley Road ExtendedCharlottesville City Council appears willing to support three land use applications to allow 28 units to be built on about two thirds of an acre on a cul-de-sac in Fifeville. Lorven Investments needs a rezoning, a special use permit, and a critical slopes waiver. “The development being proposed are for four low-rise apartment buildings with eight one-bedroom units and 20 two-bedroom units for a total of 28 on site,” said city planner Matt Alfele. By right, the developer could have gotten three duplexes, but only with a boundary line adjustment. “Six houses down there versus 28 when we desperately need housing?” Councilor Sena Magill wondered. “It’s very hard to say no to.”However, both Magill and City Councilor Michael Payne had questions about the terms of affordability provisions, and the item will come back to Council for a second reading at their next meeting on April 4. The out-ot-town developer has agreed to contribute $48,000 to build pedestrian improvement somewhere off-site, as well as to commit eight of the units to be income-restricted for a period of at least ten years. The Planning Commission voted 4-3 earlier this month to recommend approval.“Traffic, affordability of units, [and] scale of the buildings were the main points of focus from the Commission,” Alfele said. “In addition, members of the community who spoke brought up character of the development as it relates to the surrounding neighborhood, anticipated problems with parking, and the poor condition of Valley Road Extended.” Civil engineer Justin Shimp represented the applicant and he said the affordability proffer echoes the city’s housing policy and it is legally binding. “There are terms spelled out within on how much the rent will be, and also the rent limitations in both income and on what the rental price is,” Shimp said. Shimp said there was no subsidy involved and that the developer will assume the costs of providing the units below market. “It depends on what you calculate market rent in the area but I think it’s something like a $250,000 to $300,000 commitment on this project to affordability,” Shimp said. One question is how the city will enforce the affordability. The city has been without a housing coordinator since the summer of 2020. “Whether or not someone is compliant will need to be determined by the zoning administrator down the road,” said City Attorney Lisa Robertson. “This proffer statement does not obligate the city to pay any money.”Vice Mayor Juandiego Wade had a question about the length of the affordability period. “I mean, ten years, is that typically what we use as the time period?” Wade asked. “It seemed kind of short.” Robertson said there is no standard length for Charlottesville, and that in this case the developer was offering the affordability on a voluntary basis above and beyond the minimum requirements of the zoning code. That will change as the zoning code is rewritten to include provisions where this kind of density would be allowed only if units were provided below market. “We don’t really have a standardized program yet,” Robertson said. Wade also wanted to make sure that University of Virginia students do not end up taking units that he thought should go to low-wealth families.“Will [federal housing] voucher holders be able to take advantage of this location?” Wade asked.“Yes,” Shimp responded. “And that’s part of what we were encouraged to look into by the Planning Commission. Part of the units being split is that all eight of them become voucher eligible.” Before the discussion, one member of the public argued that the subsidized low rents that would be provided at Grove Street would outweigh any concerns over traffic. "With more apartments on that street, the cars will drive slower but I think that's okay," said Joshua Carp said.Councilor Michael Payne noted that this use appeared to be in excess of what’s allowed under the new Future Land Use Map that designates this as General Residential. “What justification and where in the project in terms of affordability are we at in terms of justifying going beyond our adopted land use map that did have density increase throughout the city, but had land use designations that we decided on?” Payne asked. Shimp said that was up to the City Council to decide. In this case, he said the undeveloped nature of the three lots are a perfect opportunity to add density. “This site in particular, there’s not a tree on it,” Shimp said. “There’s a degraded stream we’re going to fix. This is one site that clearing it all and building housing on it is 100 percent improvement for all parties involved.” Shimp said the proposal fulfills the spirit of the new Comprehensive Plan. Strategy 1.3 of the Land Use Chapter is to “implement zoning changes needed to support the creation of more housing, including affordable housing opportunities throughout the city.” Mayor Lloyd Snook said the city does not have enough money to make major improvements to Valley Road Extended.“What’s concerning generally is the narrowness of the street or the fact that there’s no street definition on one side,” Snook said. “There is street definition on the other side because there’s a guard rail to keep you from going into the creek.” Snook said if Council approves this project, they should expect that neighbors will report issues in the future. He said on balance, he would support the project because of the provision of new houses. The item will come back to Council on April 4 for a second reading. There were at least three votes to approve. Second Shout-out goes to Mulch Madness! In today’s second subscriber-supported shout-out, are you ready for Mulch Madness? The Rivanna Solid Waste Authority has a free mulch giveaway through April 16. In between all the big games, the RSWA wants you to get your yard ready for spring. If you have a way to transport mulch, head on over to the Ivy Material Utilization Center between 7:30am and 4:00pm, Monday through Saturday, where you can pick up up to two tons free. Rivanna staff are available to help load, but ask that you bring a covering. Mulch is double ground and derived from vegetative materials brought to Ivy for disposal. That’s Mulch Madness at the Ivy Material Utilization Center. Visit rivanna.org to learn more. Great Eastern Management Company presents plans for mixed-use redevelopment of Seminole Square Members of the public had the opportunity Wednesday to ask questions of the developers of Seminole Square Shopping Center. The Great Eastern Management Company has submitted plans to convert the former Giant store and other commercial sites. “What we have here actually are four individual structures,” said David Mitchell is with GEMC. “We’re staying in the existing development area and we’re not going down into any of the slopes or any of the critical areas. We’re staying up on the platform that we built 30 years ago.”Mitchell said this is a by-right plan and will not require a rezoning or special use permit. One structure will be a mixed-use building and the rest will be all residential. Parking would be underneath and Mitchell said the minimum requirements would be met. Another commercial building will be built along Hillsdale Drive but Mitchell said there are no identified tenants. Planning Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg asked how the project was different from the previous plan. GEMC filed for a rezoning in early 2019 for eleven five story buildings with around 500 residential units. “Obviously the building configuration looks a little bit different,” Stolzenberg said. “In particular, what caused the number of units to drop?” Mitchell said the reduced number comes down to parking requirements and construction costs.“When we started to look harder at this after that initial plan you saw three years ago it became obvious to us that these buildings are already going to be five to seven stories with underground parking,” Mitchell said. “To get any more than that… this is not downtown New York. There are limitations on the economics.” The units would either be one-bedroom or two bedroom units. Five percent will be affordable under the city’s existing affordable housing policies. “It’s not required because this is by-right but we’ve just decided we’ve done it on another project that was a special use permit so it was required,” Mitchell said. “We think we can provide that within the economic structure of the project.” Two public streets would be created as part of the project. In addition to Stolzenberg, only one other person actually spoke. Peter Krebs of the Piedmont Environmental Council asked questions about connectivity. Mitchell said GEMC would like to move forward with the project as soon as possible. The company is also offering an easement for a trail connection to the Meadow Creek stream corridor. Talking real estate tomorrow on Real Talk with Keith SmithIt’s been some time since I have appeared on the Real Talk with Keith Smith program, but I will be on tomorrow with Neil Williamson of the Free Enterprise Forum. There are multiple ways to watch what will hopefully be an informative conversation. I believe you can watch beginning at 10:15 a.m. tomorrow on Facebook Live and YouTube. Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

This is the 78th day of the year, otherwise known as March 19, 2022. We are days away from the spring equinox, and there’s no turning back the clock in our future for some time. Sunlight and warmth fuel an explosion of vegetation, as well as the production of every installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast that seeks to keep you up to date on things trivial and things substantial. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs.Sign up to not miss an installment in your inbox! Payment is optional but very much appreciated and makes future installments much more likely! On today’s program:A plan to build four seven-plexes on 0.62 acres in Fifeville gets the Planning Commission’s approval for a second timeA lawsuit seeking the voidance of the city’s new Comprehensive Plan moves forwardAnd the City Tree Commission presents ideas to the Planning Commission. First shout-out goes for a Charlottesville United for Public Education eventToday’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out goes to Charlottesville United for Public Education who want listeners and readers to know about an event happening Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Ix Park in collaboration with the Black Parents Association. They’re looking for people who want to show support for local public schools and speakers will provide updates on school reconfiguration and the city’s budget cycle. There will be art activities, bubbles, poster making, Kona ice, and an appearance of the Free Book Bus. Visit charlottesvilleunited.org to learn more.Charlottesville served with suit against the Comprehensive Plan The city of Charlottesville has been formally served with a lawsuit that seeks to overturn the Comprehensive Plan adopted by City Council last year. Seven anonymous parties filed the suit in Charlottesville Circuit Court in mid-December arguing that the city did not follow state law when adopting the plan. (visit the code) However, the city had not yet been formally served with the suit, which requires a response from the city. Interim Deputy Communications Director David Dillehunt confirmed receipt of the suit on Friday, meaning the city has until April 8 to make a response to the court.The suit argues four points of failure, one of which is an alleged lack of “designation of new and expanded transportation facilities… that support the planned development of the territory covered by the plan.” The anonymous property owners include people who own land on Rugby Road, Altavista Avenue, Davis Avenue, Locust Avenue, and Rugby Avenue. They claim the Future Land Use Map is too specific in nature and argues the additional density called for in the plan is affecting property values. “For example, a house located at 507 10th Street NW, which is currently assessed at $315,000, is being marketed at $485,000 due to its development potential based on the higher density prescribed in the plan,” reads paragraph 16 of the suit. There are actually two houses at that address, and both and the 0.19 acre property sold for $475,000 to Bloom Hill LLC, which has an address in Somerset, Virginia. The transportation argument claims that rather than writing a new transportation plan, the plan adopted in November 2021 recycles previous plans such as the 2015 Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan and the 2016 Streets That Work Plan. “Despite radically upzoning all of the real estate in the City, which will result in significant population increases, the Plan fails to include transportation infrastructure improvements to support the increased density,” reads paragraph 22.The suit also alleges that the city failed to provide public notice that a vote would be held after the November 15, 2021 public hearing. The Comprehensive Plan was the second achievement of the Cville Plans Together initiative, following on the heels of an affordable housing plan that Council adopted in March 2021. While the lawsuit makes its way through the legal process, staff in both the city’s Neighborhood Development Services Department and consultant Rhodeside and Harwell are working on the zoning code. The next step in the process is release of an assessment of whether the approach they are taking will yield the desired results. Tree and Planning Commissions discuss loss of Charlottesville treesVirginia State Code assigns the task of overseeing the Comprehensive Plan to the Planning Commission. Earlier this month, members of the Tree Commission urged Planning Commissioners to consider the importance of woody perennial plants. “Our tree canopy is declining at an increasing rate,” said Jeffrey Aten, the vice chair of the Tree Commission. “We have good intentions and are planning for a robust urban canopy in our Comprehensive Plan. But we believe more needs to be done to ensure this is the case as we build for more affordable housing and adjust streets to be more friendly for pedestrians and cyclists.” The city is finalizing a tree canopy study that appears to indicate the total tree canopy is at 40 percent of Charlottesville’s 10.2 square miles, down from 47 percent in 2008. The most recent report is based on data from an aerial survey conducted in 2018. Aten said that there are improvements that could be made to the city code to protect trees. “We believe that there are code issues that we can work with the Planning Commission on revising and updating,” Aten said. “Development in the city has been happening per code and staff is enforcing code but we believe the code does need to change to help preserve some existing high value trees and to really incentivize developers to work with the city to keep those trees and or plant new ones when existing ones must be removed.” Tree Commission Peggy Van Yahres said her group also wants to make sure there is better protection for trees during construction and greater costs to disturbing a public tree such as oaks on Garrett Street that were recently removed to make way for the redevelopment of Friendship Court. “In Richmond, they have an ordinance when a developer is allowed to take down a public tree they have to pay into a fund for more planting around the city and this can result in hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Van Yahres said. “Those oaks would be conservatively estimated at $25,000 a piece so eight times 25 would be $200,000!”Van Yahres said the Tree Commission wants the zoning ordinance to be updated to make sure trees are considered a vital asset. That means maintaining requirements that buildings be set back from the property line. The Standard on West Main Street is an example of a building constructed right to the sidewalk and public realm. “Some people think that means you’re going to lost a lot of land,” Van Yahres said. “We’re not talking about huge set backs. Ten feet, fifteen feet.”The Tree Commission also wants to be able to look at site plans for large projects like Friendship Court. Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg said during the code review, he wants consideration of ways to plant more trees in the right of way of streets by reducing space for cars.“And I wonder if we can look at our rules to make it make more sense to be able to fit trees in front of buildings even without increasing set backs by using that right of way,” Stolzenberg said. Commissioner Jody Lahendro said the city could learn a lot from the University of Virginia regarding the treatment of trees. “They’ve been treating their ash trees for many, many years now to save them,” Lahendro said. “They’re adding trees all the time. They have an arboretum committee that reviews any proposal to remove a tree. Has to be approved. They have two arborists on staff.” Bill Palmer works in the Office of the UVA Architect and sits on the Planning Commission as a non-voting member. He acknowledged that there has been canopy loss associated with at least one major construction project at the Emmet-Ivy corridor.“There was a landscape of trees there that is no longer there,” Palmer said. “We’ll be putting them back but trees take a long to grow. But the end result thirty years from now will be much better than what was there before and also meet UVA’s mission.” If you want more on this topic, go watch the Tree Commission’s Codes and Practices Subcommittee on Charlottesville’s streaming media portal. (watch)Second Shout-out goes to Mulch Madness! In today’s second subscriber-supported shout-out, are you ready for Mulch Madness? The Rivanna Solid Waste Authority has a free mulch giveaway through April 16. In between all the big games, the RSWA wants you to get your yard ready for spring. If you have a way to transport mulch, head on over to the Ivy Material Utilization Center between 7:30am and 4:00pm, Monday through Saturday, where you can pick up up to two tons free. Rivanna staff are available to help load, but ask that you bring a covering. Mulch is double ground and derived from vegetative materials brought to Ivy for disposal. That’s Mulch Madness at the Ivy Material Utilization Center. Visit rivanna.org to learn more. Divided Planning Commission recommends Grove Street rezoning There was a slightly different vote this month when the Charlottesville Planning Commission once again recommended approval of a rezoning that would allow 28 units to be built on just under two thirds of an acre on a cul-de-sac in the Fry’s Spring neighborhood. In October, the Charlottesville Planning Commission voted 4-2 for the rezoning, a vote at which Commissioner Taneia Dowell was not present. However, Dowell joined Commissioners Hosea Mitchell and Liz Russell in voting against the proposal, which also required a special use permit for additional density and a critical slopes waiver. The public hearing for all three had to be held a second time, as city planner Matt Alfele explained at the March 9 Planning Commission meeting.“In preparing to move the application forward to City Council it was discovered one of the tax map parcel numbers was mistyped in the public ad,” Alfele said. “To ensure accuracy, all three applications have been readvertised and returned to the Planning Commission for action. No information has been changed or been updated in the application materials.”As was the case in October, the developer will contribute $48,000 to construct pedestrian improvements in the Fifeville neighborhood and 28 percent of the units will have some affordability provision for at least ten years. Civil Engineer Justin Shimp is working on behalf of property owner Lorven Investments. “Twenty-eight percent in total affordable, which is eight units,” Shimp said. “Of those, four of the them, the rent including the utilities is capped at the [U.S. Department of Health] fair market rate.” (learn more from HUD about fair market rent)The other four would be called at 125 percent of the fair market rate, which is the upper limit for a unit to be eligible to receive housing vouchers. The Comprehensive Plan designation has changed since the October 2021 review.“The Comprehensive land use map for this area calls for General Residential which recommends up to 2.5 stories in height, up to three units per lot, or four units if an existing structure remains,” Alfele said. This application would have four seven-unit buildings with some three-story and some four-story buildings for what Shimp called a sevenplex that provides bonus density in exchange for providing housing at a below-market price. That’s a basic tenet of the Affordable Housing Plan Council adopted in March 2021. “We ended up with buildings that are basically three stories in the front and then kind of three stories but with units in the attic that backfill and have units in the roof system,” said civil engineer Justin Shimp. “So, trying to keep it at that 30 to 35 unit building height.” Alfele had recommended denial of the rezoning in part because of the conditions on Valley Road Extended. “Valley Road Extended on the east side you have Rock Creek and on the western side you have a fully developed neighborhood with limited sidewalks and with parking,” Alfele said. “Any improvements to Valley Road for pedestrians and foot traffic would be a major undertaking and would remove parking from existing homeowners.” Only one community member spoke during the public hearing. Paul Benneche was concerned about the potential for Valley Street Road to handle additional vehicles.“By my count, I counted the houses on that road currently and this would seem to increase the total number of people on that road by 30 to 40 percent potentially,” Benneche said. “It just seems like that road is already not wide enough. It’s only about one and a half lanes wide.” Vice Mayor Juandiego Wade was not on Council when the matter was last before a joint  meeting. In the late 2000’s, Wade worked for Albemarle County as a transportation planner. “I’m trying to figure out from my planning days, even back then, $48,000 doesn’t get you much sidewalk,” Wade said, “Or is there a new way to build them cheaper now? What are we getting for $48,000? Why not $40,000 or $50,000? What’s magic about $48,000? Is it a formula or something?”Shimp said $48,000 did come from the formula that the city uses to calculate what a developer would pay if they got a waiver from having to build a sidewalk in front of their development. In this case, they are also building a sidewalk in front of the new units. “The site plan ordinance requires us to build our own sidewalks and then we would offer the money up for some improvement down the road,” Shimp said. “We talked last time about maybe something at the entrance of Valley Road Extended. That would be up to the city. We tried to make the proffer sufficiently vague so it could be used where in that neighborhood it made sense.” Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg said he supported the plan because it is an example of what should be built under the General Residential designation across the city. “There’s no buildings to demolish on this site so that’s a fourplex by right, and then we have provisions for bonuses at affordable housing,” Stolzeberg said. Stolzenberg said there are other thin roads that lead to cul-de-sacs such as Altamont Street in North Downtown. “People kind of manage and people walk in the street and then people slow down when they see them,” Stolzenberg said. Commissioner Liz Russell had a different interpretation of General Residential. “My take on the General Residential category is three units per lot with an additional bonus and we haven’t defined what that bonus is, but presumably it would be another unit,” Russell said. “So we have three parcels here and the max would be four units per parcel, twelve units max. And this is a proposal that proposes  no more than 28.”After some discussion, the vote was taken again and resulted in a 4 to 3 vote on both the rezoning and the special use permit, but Commissioner Hosea Mitchell did vote for the critical slopes waiver. The matter will next go to before City Council at a later date. The original plan pointed to a concept in the city’s 2016 Bike and Pedestrian Master Plan which showed a tunnel underneath the railroad track to what is now the University of Virginia’s Brandon Avenue precinct. The end of Valley Road Extended is only 250 feet away from an access road behind Bond House, one of UVA’s newest residence halls. Valley Circle is a few more steps away. However, there are no actual plans for such an underpass. Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

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Hosted by Andrew Keen, Keen On features conversations with some of the world's leading thinkers and writers about the economic, political, and technological issues being discussed in the news, right now. In this episode, Andrew is joined by Nomi Stolzenberg, the author of American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York. ________________________ Nomi Stolzenberg‘s research spans a range of interdisciplinary interests, including law and religion, law and liberalism, law and psychoanalysis, and law and literature. A strong proponent of multidisciplinary research and teaching, she helped establish and co-directs the USC Center for Law, History and Culture, which involves scholars and students from throughout USC's campus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Settled in the mid-1970s by a small contingent of Hasidic families, Kiryas Joel is an American town with few parallels in Jewish history—but many precedents among religious communities in the United States. This book tells the story of how this group of pious, Yiddish-speaking Jews has grown to become a thriving insular enclave and a powerful local government in upstate New York. While rejecting the norms of mainstream American society, Kiryas Joel has been stunningly successful in creating a world apart by using the very instruments of secular political and legal power that it disavows. Nomi Stolzenberg and David Myers paint a richly textured portrait of daily life in Kiryas Joel, exploring the community's guiding religious, social, and economic norms. They delve into the roots of Satmar Hasidism and its charismatic founder, Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum, following his journey from nineteenth-century Hungary to post–World War II Brooklyn, where he dreamed of founding an ideal Jewish town modeled on the shtetls of eastern Europe. Stolzenberg and Myers chart the rise of Kiryas Joel as an official municipality with its own elected local government. They show how constant legal and political battles defined and even bolstered the community, whose very success has coincided with the rise of political conservatism and multiculturalism in American society over the past forty years. Timely and accessible, American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York (Princeton UP, 2022) unravels the strands of cultural and legal conflict that gave rise to one of the most vibrant religious communities in America, and reveals a way of life shaped by both self-segregation and unwitting assimilation.

Settled in the mid-1970s by a small contingent of Hasidic families, Kiryas Joel is an American town with few parallels in Jewish history—but many precedents among religious communities in the United States. This book tells the story of how this group of pious, Yiddish-speaking Jews has grown to become a thriving insular enclave and a powerful local government in upstate New York. While rejecting the norms of mainstream American society, Kiryas Joel has been stunningly successful in creating a world apart by using the very instruments of secular political and legal power that it disavows. Nomi Stolzenberg and David Myers paint a richly textured portrait of daily life in Kiryas Joel, exploring the community's guiding religious, social, and economic norms. They delve into the roots of Satmar Hasidism and its charismatic founder, Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum, following his journey from nineteenth-century Hungary to post–World War II Brooklyn, where he dreamed of founding an ideal Jewish town modeled on the shtetls of eastern Europe. Stolzenberg and Myers chart the rise of Kiryas Joel as an official municipality with its own elected local government. They show how constant legal and political battles defined and even bolstered the community, whose very success has coincided with the rise of political conservatism and multiculturalism in American society over the past forty years. Timely and accessible, American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York (Princeton UP, 2022) unravels the strands of cultural and legal conflict that gave rise to one of the most vibrant religious communities in America, and reveals a way of life shaped by both self-segregation and unwitting assimilation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

Settled in the mid-1970s by a small contingent of Hasidic families, Kiryas Joel is an American town with few parallels in Jewish history—but many precedents among religious communities in the United States. This book tells the story of how this group of pious, Yiddish-speaking Jews has grown to become a thriving insular enclave and a powerful local government in upstate New York. While rejecting the norms of mainstream American society, Kiryas Joel has been stunningly successful in creating a world apart by using the very instruments of secular political and legal power that it disavows. Nomi Stolzenberg and David Myers paint a richly textured portrait of daily life in Kiryas Joel, exploring the community's guiding religious, social, and economic norms. They delve into the roots of Satmar Hasidism and its charismatic founder, Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum, following his journey from nineteenth-century Hungary to post–World War II Brooklyn, where he dreamed of founding an ideal Jewish town modeled on the shtetls of eastern Europe. Stolzenberg and Myers chart the rise of Kiryas Joel as an official municipality with its own elected local government. They show how constant legal and political battles defined and even bolstered the community, whose very success has coincided with the rise of political conservatism and multiculturalism in American society over the past forty years. Timely and accessible, American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York (Princeton UP, 2022) unravels the strands of cultural and legal conflict that gave rise to one of the most vibrant religious communities in America, and reveals a way of life shaped by both self-segregation and unwitting assimilation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

Settled in the mid-1970s by a small contingent of Hasidic families, Kiryas Joel is an American town with few parallels in Jewish history—but many precedents among religious communities in the United States. This book tells the story of how this group of pious, Yiddish-speaking Jews has grown to become a thriving insular enclave and a powerful local government in upstate New York. While rejecting the norms of mainstream American society, Kiryas Joel has been stunningly successful in creating a world apart by using the very instruments of secular political and legal power that it disavows. Nomi Stolzenberg and David Myers paint a richly textured portrait of daily life in Kiryas Joel, exploring the community's guiding religious, social, and economic norms. They delve into the roots of Satmar Hasidism and its charismatic founder, Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum, following his journey from nineteenth-century Hungary to post–World War II Brooklyn, where he dreamed of founding an ideal Jewish town modeled on the shtetls of eastern Europe. Stolzenberg and Myers chart the rise of Kiryas Joel as an official municipality with its own elected local government. They show how constant legal and political battles defined and even bolstered the community, whose very success has coincided with the rise of political conservatism and multiculturalism in American society over the past forty years. Timely and accessible, American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York (Princeton UP, 2022) unravels the strands of cultural and legal conflict that gave rise to one of the most vibrant religious communities in America, and reveals a way of life shaped by both self-segregation and unwitting assimilation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Settled in the mid-1970s by a small contingent of Hasidic families, Kiryas Joel is an American town with few parallels in Jewish history—but many precedents among religious communities in the United States. This book tells the story of how this group of pious, Yiddish-speaking Jews has grown to become a thriving insular enclave and a powerful local government in upstate New York. While rejecting the norms of mainstream American society, Kiryas Joel has been stunningly successful in creating a world apart by using the very instruments of secular political and legal power that it disavows. Nomi Stolzenberg and David Myers paint a richly textured portrait of daily life in Kiryas Joel, exploring the community's guiding religious, social, and economic norms. They delve into the roots of Satmar Hasidism and its charismatic founder, Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum, following his journey from nineteenth-century Hungary to post–World War II Brooklyn, where he dreamed of founding an ideal Jewish town modeled on the shtetls of eastern Europe. Stolzenberg and Myers chart the rise of Kiryas Joel as an official municipality with its own elected local government. They show how constant legal and political battles defined and even bolstered the community, whose very success has coincided with the rise of political conservatism and multiculturalism in American society over the past forty years. Timely and accessible, American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York (Princeton UP, 2022) unravels the strands of cultural and legal conflict that gave rise to one of the most vibrant religious communities in America, and reveals a way of life shaped by both self-segregation and unwitting assimilation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

Settled in the mid-1970s by a small contingent of Hasidic families, Kiryas Joel is an American town with few parallels in Jewish history—but many precedents among religious communities in the United States. This book tells the story of how this group of pious, Yiddish-speaking Jews has grown to become a thriving insular enclave and a powerful local government in upstate New York. While rejecting the norms of mainstream American society, Kiryas Joel has been stunningly successful in creating a world apart by using the very instruments of secular political and legal power that it disavows. Nomi Stolzenberg and David Myers paint a richly textured portrait of daily life in Kiryas Joel, exploring the community's guiding religious, social, and economic norms. They delve into the roots of Satmar Hasidism and its charismatic founder, Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum, following his journey from nineteenth-century Hungary to post–World War II Brooklyn, where he dreamed of founding an ideal Jewish town modeled on the shtetls of eastern Europe. Stolzenberg and Myers chart the rise of Kiryas Joel as an official municipality with its own elected local government. They show how constant legal and political battles defined and even bolstered the community, whose very success has coincided with the rise of political conservatism and multiculturalism in American society over the past forty years. Timely and accessible, American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York (Princeton UP, 2022) unravels the strands of cultural and legal conflict that gave rise to one of the most vibrant religious communities in America, and reveals a way of life shaped by both self-segregation and unwitting assimilation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

Settled in the mid-1970s by a small contingent of Hasidic families, Kiryas Joel is an American town with few parallels in Jewish history—but many precedents among religious communities in the United States. This book tells the story of how this group of pious, Yiddish-speaking Jews has grown to become a thriving insular enclave and a powerful local government in upstate New York. While rejecting the norms of mainstream American society, Kiryas Joel has been stunningly successful in creating a world apart by using the very instruments of secular political and legal power that it disavows. Nomi Stolzenberg and David Myers paint a richly textured portrait of daily life in Kiryas Joel, exploring the community's guiding religious, social, and economic norms. They delve into the roots of Satmar Hasidism and its charismatic founder, Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum, following his journey from nineteenth-century Hungary to post–World War II Brooklyn, where he dreamed of founding an ideal Jewish town modeled on the shtetls of eastern Europe. Stolzenberg and Myers chart the rise of Kiryas Joel as an official municipality with its own elected local government. They show how constant legal and political battles defined and even bolstered the community, whose very success has coincided with the rise of political conservatism and multiculturalism in American society over the past forty years. Timely and accessible, American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York (Princeton UP, 2022) unravels the strands of cultural and legal conflict that gave rise to one of the most vibrant religious communities in America, and reveals a way of life shaped by both self-segregation and unwitting assimilation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Settled in the mid-1970s by a small contingent of Hasidic families, Kiryas Joel is an American town with few parallels in Jewish history—but many precedents among religious communities in the United States. This book tells the story of how this group of pious, Yiddish-speaking Jews has grown to become a thriving insular enclave and a powerful local government in upstate New York. While rejecting the norms of mainstream American society, Kiryas Joel has been stunningly successful in creating a world apart by using the very instruments of secular political and legal power that it disavows. Nomi Stolzenberg and David Myers paint a richly textured portrait of daily life in Kiryas Joel, exploring the community's guiding religious, social, and economic norms. They delve into the roots of Satmar Hasidism and its charismatic founder, Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum, following his journey from nineteenth-century Hungary to post–World War II Brooklyn, where he dreamed of founding an ideal Jewish town modeled on the shtetls of eastern Europe. Stolzenberg and Myers chart the rise of Kiryas Joel as an official municipality with its own elected local government. They show how constant legal and political battles defined and even bolstered the community, whose very success has coincided with the rise of political conservatism and multiculturalism in American society over the past forty years. Timely and accessible, American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York (Princeton UP, 2022) unravels the strands of cultural and legal conflict that gave rise to one of the most vibrant religious communities in America, and reveals a way of life shaped by both self-segregation and unwitting assimilation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

We’re now less than a week away from the solstice, which takes place at precisely 10:59 a.m. on December 21 on the eastern coast of the United States. Until then we’ve got a few more days of lengthening night before the pendulum shifts back to light and the march to 2022 continues with new energy. Between now and then there will be a few installments of Charlottesville Community Engagement and this is the one for December 16, 2021. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs.Charlottesville Community Engagement is a great way to find out about what’s happening and how you can get involved It’s free to sign-up, but there are many opportunities to support the work!On today’s show:Brian Pinkston and Juandiego Wade are officially sworn in as City Councilors, as well as members of the Charlottesville School BoardVirginia Tech and a Richmond consortium have both been awarded half-million grants for economic development A pair of transit updates, including the fact that Charlottesville Area Transit will remain fare-free for four years The Charlottesville Planning Commission provides direction on Charlottesville’s next capital budget In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out, Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit codeforcville.org to learn about those projects. COVID UpdateThe number of new COVID cases in Virginia continues to climb, but the percent positivity has dipped slightly. This morning the Virginia Department of Health reported another 3,688 new cases and 102 of those are in the Blue Ridge Health District. Statewide the seven-day percent positivity is 8.5 percent and in the BRHD it’s at 7.2 percent. New elected officials sworn-inThere are still 15 days left in 2021, and City Councilors Heather Hill and Nikuyah Walker have one more meeting on Monday. The near future became a little closer on Wednesday as two incoming City Councilors and three members of the Charlottesville School Board took the oath of office on the steps of Charlottesville Circuit Court. The School Board went first with newcomers Emily Dooley and Dom Morse sworn in individually with family members at their side. Second-termer Lisa Larson-Torres went next. Then it was time for City Councilor-elect Brian Pinkston followed by Juandiego Wade. I asked both if they are ready to take on the task. “You know, I think I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” Pinkston said. “I joke that it’s a little like getting married or having a kid. You think what you’re getting into but it’s not what you expected. There’s good part and bad parts to that and so the short answer is yes. I’m ready. I’m excited about it. I’m going to roll up my sleeves and try to make a difference.” “I’m ready, I am prepared,” Wade said. “I feel like I’ve been preparing for this for the last years being connected and involved in the community. I feel like now is an opportunity for me to take my service and my commitment to the city to a different level.” In a separate ceremony that also took place yesterday morning, the members of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors were also sworn in, including newcomer Jim Andrews, who will represent the Samuel Miller District. Andrews joined third-term Supervisor Diantha McKeel (Jack Jouett) and two-term Supervisor Ned Gallaway (Rio). Transit updatesIn yesterday’s newsletter, there’s a lot of information about planning for a Regional Transit Vision that may include formation of an authority that could raise funds for expanded service. There’s also a second study underway to determine the feasibility of additional routes to serve urbanized portions of Albemarle County as well as Monticello. The results are in from a survey conducted on two potential scenarios according to Lucinda Shannon, a transportation planner with the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. (project website)“They found that most of the services that people selected in that public outreach was scenario 2 for all three of the areas which is a lot of microtransit connecting with some fixed routes,” Shannon said. The study also found that 98 percent of people who travel to Monticello do so in a car that they either own or rent. That’s based on 51 respondents. The U.S. 29 North survey got 104 responses and the Pantops survey got 54 respondents. The consultants hired for this project are Michael Baker International and Foursquare ITP. The next step is a Board of Supervisors meeting on January 19, according to Shannon. Charlottesville Area Transit will remain fare-free for the next four years. The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation awarded a $1.07 million grant through the Transit Ridership Incentive Program. CAT had already put some of the American Rescue Plan Act funding for this purpose, and the new grant covers fares for an additional year. CAT Director Garland Williams said he anticipates planned route changes will soon be implemented. The adjustments have been through the public process. Williams briefed the Regional Transit Partnership at their meeting on December 2. “We’re still moving forward and hoping to be able to implement in January unless something changes,” Williams said. Learn more about those route changes on the Charlottesville Area Transit website at catchthecat.org. In other news, Jaunt’s new chief executive officer has named Karen Davis the transit agency’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer. Davis served as interim CEO for exactly a year after the Board asked former CEO Brad Sheffield to resign. Ted Rieck started work as CEO earlier this month after heading a similar transit agency in Tulsa, Oklahoma. *Infrastructure grantsTwo entities in Virginia have been awarded $500,000 planning grants from the federal government to increase infrastructure necessary to increase commerce and trade. The U.S. Economic Development Authority awarded Build Back Better Regional Challenge awards to Virginia Tech and the Virginia Biotechnology Research Partnership Authority for initiatives that seek to create “regional industry clusters.” Virginia Tech’s application is called The Future of Transportation Logistics and covers a wide section of southwest and southern Virginia. The idea is to accelerate the adoption of electric and automated vehicles. “Projections by the World Economic Forum expect freight demand to triple by 2050,” reads their application. “This growing demand poses challenges from environmental degradation to a strained transportation workforce.”The New River Valley region includes three truck manufacturers, including the national headquarters for Volvo. The work will involve building a coalition to share information as well as demonstration projects such as upgrading a section of Interstate 81 between Salem to Dublin to accommodate automated vehicles. The Virginia Biotechnology Research Partnership Authority covers the Richmond and Petersburg area and is intended to create an Advanced Pharmaceutical and Research and Development cluster. “A staggering 73% of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-registered active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) manufacturing facilities are located outside the United States,” reads that application. ”Overseas pharmaceutical manufacturing not only poses a security risk but also takes essential jobs away from the U.S.”Both entities will now be eligible to apply for additional funding from the U.S. Economic Development Authority to implement the projects. Thanks to Route 50 for the information on this grant program. (read their article)In today’s second subscriber-supported public service announcement: The Charlottesville Jazz Society at cvillejazz.org is dedicated to the promotion, preservation, and perpetuation of all that  jazz, and there’s no time like now to find a time to get out and watch people love to play. The Charlottesville Jazz Society keeps a running list of what’s coming up at cvillejazz.org. Sign up for their newsletter today. Tree canopy declineAt their meeting on Tuesday, the Charlottesville Planning Commission held three public hearings on three big topics. But first, they got updates from various committees. Commissioner Jody Lahendro and he relayed news from the Tree Commission about the forthcoming tree canopy study. A preliminary report states that the percentage of the city covered by trees has shrunk by at least four percent since 2015. “Because of COVID, the flyover for this tree canopy study was done in 2018 so it’s dated now,” Lahendro said. “The news is not great as you might imagine.” Lahendro said the city had a tree canopy of 50 percent in 2004 and that declined to 47 percent in 2009. “In 2014 it went down to 45 percent and in 2018, this latest, it’s to 40 percent,” Lahendro said. When you break the city down by neighborhood, nine out of 19 recognized areas are below 40 percent. Lahendro said that is the point where both health and economic development is affected.“And then two of our districts — Starr Hill and 10th and Page — are below twenty percent,” Lahendro said. “Those are where significant detrimental effects are happening.” Lahendro said the city is projected to lose 360 ash trees to emerald ash borers over the next five years. The city can only afford to treat 30 trees. Charlottesville’s FY23-27 CIP discussionThe Charlottesville City Planning Commission has made its recommendations for how to amend the draft capital budget for the next five years. That came at the end of a public hearing Tuesday that featured a discussion with City Council. Elected officials will make the final decision next spring as they adopt a budget that will be prepared under the supervision of a yet-to-be-named interim city manager. (draft FY23-FY27 CIP presentation to Planning Commission) (adopted FY22 budget)The Commission got a look at the information at a work session on November 23, and heard it a second time from Senior Budget Analyst Krissy Hammill in advance of the public hearing. To recap, the capital budget is close to capacity due to the increase of spending in recent years, including a $75 million placeholder for the reconfiguration of middle schools. Council has also authorized a reorientation of priorities to find more money for the schools project. (previous story)“There were some large projects that were previously authorized to use bonds for that we unfunded essentially to be able to move them to get us to a place where we could increase the $25 million for the school project,” Hammill said. “That was the West Main Street project which was originally in the CIP at $18.25 million and the 7th Street Parking Garage which we unfunded about $5 million of that project.”Hammill said to pay for the projects, the city will need additional revenue and will not be able to add any more capital projects for many years unless they are paid for in cash. The city has had a AAA bond rating from Standards and Poor since 1964 and from Moody’s since 1973. “Essentially the AAA bond rating gives the city the opportunity to borrow money at the lowest cost available so that means that more dollars are going to the projects and less dollars are going towards interest,” Hammill said. Hammill said the city is in good financial shape, but funding future investments will be a struggle. At the work session, Hammill invited ideas for further reallocations from other projects. She also said that the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will likely not be a salvation for the city. “Many of us in finance have sort of been waiting in the wings to find out what would be available and it’s actually not a one size fits all and it doesn’t deliver on a lot of what we already have in our CIP,” Hammill said. “So it not going to help us address our financing problems largely.”Another issue is that many of the funding sources will require local matches. She pointed out one opportunity for Charlottesville Area Transit to raise up to $37 million, but the city would have to provide a $2 million match.“That’s not in our curent CIP,” Hammill said. Revisising the Strategic Investment AreaThe two bodies discussed many aspects of the capital budget, including whether or not several general interest line items should be given additional funds in the next year’s budget. Councilor Lloyd Snook questioned one of them related to a 2013 small area plan known as the Strategic Investment Area. “One example would be that we’re suggesting another $200,000 for this coming year and three years beyond that for the [Strategic Investment Area] immediate area implementation,” Snook said. “And that balance in that account is over a million and has been as far as I can tell over a million dollars for quite a while.”Alex Ikefuna, the interim director of the Office of Community Solutions and former director of Neighborhood Development Services, said that balance has been used to pay for a $228,000 study of a form-based code for the area. Nolan Stout reported in the February 4, 2020 Daily Progress on the current Council’s decision to put that plan on hold indefinitely. Ikefuna pointed to one example of how the funding in the account will be used.“We have a Pollocks Branch pedestrian bridge which is currently being finalized for construction,” Ikefuna said. “There are several other project within the SIA that consume that balance.”One of them is a project to upgrade the streetscape on Elliot Avenue in an area where dozens of new homes have been built in the Burnet Commons area. The public housing site at South First Street is also expanding in residential density. Ikefuna also said the SIA fund could also be used for additional costs that may be incurred at Piedmont Housing Alliance’s redevelopment of Friendship Court. “Part of the Friendship Court project includes infrastructure improvement because they have to break up that neighborhood and then integrate that into the city’s grid,” Ikefuna said. “And they may have a cost overrun.”Council approved $5.5 million for the project in October 2020. (read my story)The current year’s capital budget allocated $2 million in cash for the line item of “Friendship Court Infrastructure Improvements” as well as $394,841 for Phase 1 and $750,000 for Phase 2. The draft five-year capital plan anticipates spending $2.5 million on Phase 2 in FY23, and a total of $3.25 million for phase 3 and $4.5 million for Phase 4. Ikefuna also said there’s a project called the Elliott Avenue Streetscape for which a design is almost complete. Snook said Council is not given information about what any of these plans are. “I assume somebody has a plan but it’s not been revealed to us,” Snook said. “I look at the next item. Small area plans. We’re putting in another $100,000 in and the balance of the project is $496,000.” Outgoing City Councilor Heather Hill had one suggestion for where that funding could go. In July 2020, Council chose to proceed with a Smart Scale project over the opposition of some nearby residents and businesses. (July 22, 2020 story on Information Charlottesville)“The Grady / Preston / 10th intersection area related to one of the VDOT projects for Smart Scale funding was identified at that time as something we would want to have more planning around because there was a lot of resistance that there wasn’t a lot of community engagement when that proposed plan was coming to fruition,” Hill said. According to the application for that project, the preliminary engineering phase will not begin until December 2025. There is no design for the Smart Scale project, which was funded on a set of parameters. “Preston Avenue will be realigned to create a consolidated intersection at Preston Avenue / Grady Avenue / 10th Street,” reads the application. “New sidewalks will be constructed throughout the project limits.”Hoping for a sales tax referendumSeveral commissioners expressed concern about the enormity of the school reconfiguration project. The draft plan shows $2.5 million in FY23 and $72.5 million in FY24. Hammill has previously said the money needs to be in place when a contractor is hired for new construction and renovation of Buford Middle School. The school project has not yet come directly before the Planning Commission. “The amount of that project is the entirety of the five-year [capital] FY2017 budget,” Stolzenberg said. “It’s this elephant in the room but it does seem like Council and the School Board have approved the project.” The idea of a dedicated one-cent sales tax increase has been floated to be dedicated funding for the project, but the General Assembly will have to approve a bill allowing Charlottesville voters decide on whether to impose it.“I really, really hope that if we go through with it that the sales tax comes through and frees us from this burden,” Stolzenberg said. Later in the meeting, Commissioners discussed several potential recommendations. One was whether to recommend increasing the amount for affordable housing. Here’s what’s in the proposed CIP. $3 million for the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority in FY23, and $9 million in the out yearsA base of $925,000 a year into the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund $900,000 a year to the CRHA to administer additional housing vouchers $2.5 million for the second phase of Friendship Court In March, Council adopted an affordable housing plan that set an ambitious spending target for each year, as noted by Stolzenberg. “It’s recommendations are pretty clear,” Stolzenberg said. “Ten million a year. $2 million are tax relief. A million to administration. So it’s really $7 million in direct subsidy and that’s all on page 49 of the plan for reference.” Here’s what the PC’s recommendations are:Reduce funding for the 7th Street parking structure funding to the minimum amount necessary to satisfy Charlottesville’s commitment to provide parking for Albemarle County per a 2018 agreement related to the joint General District Court that will be under construction.Find more more funds for the line items of tree planting, new sidewalks, and bicycle infrastructure, and hazardous tree removal. Reduce funds going to the line item for economic development strategic initiatives, small area plans, and Strategic Investment Area implementationFully fund the Stribling Avenue sidewalk project that Southern Development has agreed to pay upfront for as part of a rezoning that Council will consider in early 2022.Explore ways to add enhancements to the Drewary Brown Bridge to honor the Bridge Builders, potentially using a portion of funds for the West Main Streetscape. Increase budget for Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund and find ways to fund housing requests that were requested but not included in the draft budget, possibly directing any budget surpluses for this purpose. On Monday, City Council will hold first of two readings on a proposal to reallocate the $5.5 million surplus from FY21 to employee compensation and bonuses. They’ll also consider the transfer of $6.7 million in cash from a COVID reserve fund into the Capital Improvement Plan Contingency Fund. (staff report) This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Happy Not-Really-Pie Day! November 10 is the 314th day of the year, which is an association that many have not yet made. There have been 241 days since the most recent March 14, which many so associate with a mathematical constant, and there are 124 days until the next 3/14. What does it all mean? Are these correlations, causations, or just random bits of trivia? And who gets to decide? None of this is relevant to the calculus of Charlottesville Community Engagement, but all of it is at least worth puzzling out.On today’s show:Charlottesville Planning Commission recommends rezoning for 170 units in Fry’s Spring neighborhood, conditioned on a deal between the city and Southern Development to build a sidewalkBrian Wheeler is leaving as Charlottesville’s Communications Director Fire marshals determine a deadly house fire in July was accidental Highlights from November’s meeting of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out, Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit codeforcville.org to learn about those projects. The city now has another high-level vacancy. Several media outlets are reporting that Brian Wheeler will leave his position as Communications Director later this month on November 19. Wheeler said the city has no further comment on his departure. There is currently no city manager, but Deputy City Managers Ashley Marshall and Sam Sanders are still in office and will remain so after Interim City Manager Marc Woolley begins work on December 1. In recent months, both the city’s parks director and public works director have left. The assistant economic development director is also leaving the city to take a job in the private sector. In a follow-up, Wheeler said offers are being made this week for parks, public works, and human resources. Charlottesville is not alone in job turnover. The Deputy Clerk of Virginia Beach has resigned, citing “toxic energy” within city government. That’s according to a report on WVEC. Consumer prices in the United States rose 0.9 percent in October. That brings the increase over the past year to 6.2 percent. That’s the largest yearly increase since November 1990. “The monthly all items seasonally adjusted increase was broad-based, with increases in the indexes for energy, shelter, food, used cars and trucks, and new vehicles among the larger contributors,” reads the press release that accompanied today’s numbers. The cost of energy rose 4.8 percent, with gasoline increasing 6.1 percent. Energy costs are up 30 percent over the past 12 months, and food costs are up 5.3 percent. Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin has launched a website with information related to his transition to become the 74th chief executive of Virginia. If you’re interested in a position in the next government, this is where you would go to apply. The website is also where to go for information about the inauguration. The Charlottesville Fire Department has found that a fire this summer in July at a home in the 1000 block of Cherry Avenue was accidental. The fire on July 21 killed two people and critically injured a third. Fire marshals found that flames started in an unoccupied bedroom and the presence of home oxygen cylinders contributed to the fire’s intensity. “Every family should have a home escape plan with a specific meeting place outside,” reads the press release. “Practicing your family's plan will ensure that everyone evacuates your home and reunites at the designated meeting place during a fire emergency.”The two fatalities are the first in Charlottesville since a fire in the summer of 2010. The Thomas Jefferson Planning District will mark its 50th anniversary next year. The public entity’s creation stemmed out of reform in Virginia. David Blount is the deputy director of the TJPDC and he explained the passage of the Regional Cooperation Act in 1968.  (state code)“[Planning District Commissions] and the framework for them is laid out in state code,” Blount said. “It’s encouraging and facilitating not only that local government cooperation, but also providing that link between the state and localities for addressing issues on a regional basis.” TJPDC formed later than other similar bodies. The body last met on November 4. Executive Director Christine Jacobs said the agency has been awarded $2 million in funding from the Virginia Housing Development Authority to distribute to groups who can build affordable housing units. “We have cast a very wide net to make sure we are reaching out to potential public, nonprofit, private developers to submit proofs of concept so that we can see what types of projects are eligible under this funding,” Jacobs said. Applications are due on November 29 and the application can be found on the TJPDC website.The TJPDC continues to oversee the creation of a “regional transit vision” with a meeting scheduled for November 18. “We want to make sure we get as much as the public’s voice in that regional transit vision plan as possible,” Jacobs saidTo add your voice, there are two surveys you can fill out before participating in that November 18 meeting. (surveys are here)November RoundtableTJPDC meetings offer the opportunity for members to share what it happening in their localities. Yesterday I reported on Albemarle’s $13.2 million unaudited surplus from fiscal year 2021. Except, Albemarle doesn’t call it that. Here’s Supervisor Donna Price. “We don’t really see it as a surplus, but we do see it as a positive variance and that’s really a difference there because when that pandemic first hit we cut back on our spending substantially,” Price said (cut bite).The chair of the TJPDC Board of Commissioners is Jesse Rutherford, recently re-elected to another term on the Nelson County Board of Supervisors. He appreciated Price’s distinction. “You taught me something that I’m going to bring with me to my tax accountant,” Rutherford said. “Positive variance. I’m already texting my account and we’re getting rid of the word net income.” City Planning Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg noted that the seven member advisory body recommended approval of the city’s Comprehensive Plan update on October 12. He also provided an update on the redevelopment of public housing. “The very first buildings, the phase one of South First Street building in the empty ballfields, the first two buildings are just about complete structurally,” Stolzenberg said. “They have roofs and walls and are topped out. So they just need to be finished and that means building 3 can start.”The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority will hold a work session on November 11 on the draft annual plan that must be submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (presentation) (draft plan) (register for 5 p.m. meeting)2021 began with Chip Boyles as the executive director of the TJPDC, a position he left to become City Manager. He resigned on October 12, citing professional and personal abuse in the wake of the firing of Police Chief RaShall Brackney. City Councilor Michael Payne reported the news. “I won’t sugarcoat it,” Payne said. “It’s probably the biggest challenge we face. Just the turnover there. We’re in a maybe unique situation where this internal stuff has a major impact on our ability to execute a lot of the things we want to begin, Comprehensive Plan, housing, climate action planning. It makes it difficult for our ability to do long-range planning as well.” Rutherford offered the services of the planning district.“Of course if there’s anything that we can do as an organization to assist in whatever way, we’re here for you,” Rutherford said. “What happens to Charlottesville does have a regional effect.” Time for a second Patreon-powered shout-out! The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign, an initiative that wants you to grow native plants in yards, farms, public spaces and gardens in the northern Piedmont. The leaves have started to fall as autumn set in, and as they do, this is a good time to begin planning for the spring. Native plants provide habitat, food sources for wildlife, ecosystem resiliency in the face of climate change, and clean water.  Start at the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Facebook page and tell them Lonnie Murray sent you!Sidewalk progressA rezoning of 12 wooded acres in Charlottesville’s Fry’s Spring neighborhood moved one step closer to approval last night. The seven-member Planning Commission recommended approval of a project that goes by the name 240 Stribling that would see 170 units. On September 14, the developer asked for a deferral of a decision following a public hearing. City Planner Matt Alfele has this recap.“During the public hearing, the Planning Commission heard from 16 members of the public,” Alfele said. “Most speakers raised concern about the safety of Stribling Avenue and how additional dwelling units on the subject property would be detrimental to public safety.” At that meeting, Southern Development’s vice president and the city’s Economic Development director discussed the details of an agreement in which Southern Development had agreed to pay up to $2 million for sidewalk improvements. City Engineer Jack Dawson said that figure was too low to cover the cost, and in October, he told Council his estimate would top out at $2.85 million. (Council Balks At $850k Cost For Stribling Sidewalks) “As I stated to Council, it’s not a complete estimate, it’s just an improved upon estimate but it is likely to be higher than that would be my guess,” Dawson said last night. The city’s Capital Improvement Plan budget is at capacity with expectations of spending millions a year on affordable housing projects as well as tens of millions over the next five years for reconfiguration of the city’s elementary and middle schools. Southern Development has agreed to increase their upfront funding to $2.9 million. “Though we feel that this work can be completed for significantly less, we do think it is important enough that we want to make sure our amount jibes with the city engineer’s estimate,” said Charlie Armstrong, vice president at Southern Development. “We want to get those sidewalks built,” he added. “We want to provide the funding so that it could be put into the [capital improvement program].”Armstrong said Southern Development is ready to move on the sidewalk project and his team has worked on a survey of the corridor. So has the city engineer. “There are some differences but I think we have a pretty good idea of a basic what would be needed,” Armstrong said. “There’s a lot of details in the detailed engineering that will come later.”Southern Development will be paid back by getting the incremental difference between the current value of the land and what it will be like after the units are built.“Our development obviously significantly increases the value of the real estate at 240 Stribling so the taxes go up,” Armstrong said. “And we’re not talking about just a little bit. They go up a lot. In twenty years, this produces, conservatively, eight and a half million dollars of new tax revenue. And that’s after paying for the sidewalks.” Armstrong said 25 units would be designated as affordable with rents or sale prices held below market for households with incomes below 60 percent of the area median income. Next up will be a vote by the City Council. The Planning Commission will have a work session on the next Capital Improvement Program budget on November 23. Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP? The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Zwei absolute Raritäten erklingen bei der 76. Folge des Lyrikpodcasts Seelenfutter. Wer von Helmina von Chezy und Georg Stolzenberg von nie etwas gehört hat - das ist keine bedrückende Bildungslücke. Susanne Garsoffky und Friedemann Magaard aber sind beglückt von diesem Fund und garantieren: Es lohnt sich sehr! Seelentrost vom Feinsten, zugleich aufregend und wohltuend.

The name of the initiative is Cville Plans Together, but an attempt to update the Charlottesville Comprehensive Plan to increase the number of affordable places to live at times seems like it could tear the community apart. Here’s one of over 50 community members who spoke this week during a five-hour work session on the topic.“I wish this whole thing had been approached in a different way because it’s been so divisive and I’m sad to hear citizens of our community so upset with one another and I also wish we’d been able to talk in person,” said Mary Whittle. On this installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a summary and recap of the review and preparation of an aspirational map intended to guide future development. I’m your host and guide, Sean Tubbs. Most people in the community are unfamiliar with much of the jargon, but I’ve spent a good chunk of my career trying to explain the terms required to explain how the pieces fit together. Societies are complex organisms that have no instruction manual, but the goal of this newsletter and podcast, each and every time, is to help you better understand what’s happening. Thanks for listening.In today’s first Substack-fueled shout-out, Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit codeforcville.org to learn about those projects, and to sign up for a new volunteer orientation coming up this Saturday, September 4, at 4 p.m. With four months to go until the end of 2021, the chair of the Charlottesville Planning Commission is hopeful Council will adopt a Comprehensive Plan before the clock strikes 2022. That will mark two years since the launch of the Cville Plans Together initiative. The firm Rhodeside & Harwell is leading the completion of the Comprehensive Plan, and subcontractor HR & Advisors has created an affordable housing plan that Council adopted in March. Preliminary work is underway on a rewrite of the zoning ordinance. All of the work is done to fulfil a previous City Council’s request in the spring of 2019 to hire a firm to complete work on all three. Before we begin, let’s review the languages in the request for proposals. (read the RFP). “Housing is at the root of historical structural inequity and oppression in the United States, and it came to be this way deliberately,” reads the request for proposals. “As we build a strategy to achieve a local housing landscape that is healthy, ample, high quality, and affordable, we must be equally deliberate in dismantling the dynamics and the structures that perpetuate continued inequity—structures that often go unnoticed by those of us who benefit from them or don’t directly experience their harm.”In Late August, Rhodeside and Harwell released the third version of something called the Future Land Use Map which is intended to guide future development. In late March, the Planning Commission directed Rhodeside & Harwell to increase potential residential density allowed across the entire city but mostly in single-family neighborhoods. Some in those neighborhoods pushed back, and a third map balanced the two previous drafts. At a work session on August 31, the Planning Commission met for over five and a half hours to weigh in on the map. While not a public hearing, nearly sixty people spoke during the virtual meeting. At the outset, RHI Project Manager Jennifer Koch stressed they were not reviewing a final product.“This is a draft and we expect there may be adjustments that may be made to it,” Koch said. “If we do make revisions to the map after tonight, the Future Land Use Map, we will make it clear how and why those changes were made.”The Commission also reviewed the Land Use chapter of the Comprehensive Plan, which is connected to the Future Land Use Map. “The land use map is connected to a variety of not only goals and strategies but also this overall chapter vision statement of what Charlottesville wants to be in the future related to land use, urban form, and historic and cultural preservation,” Koch said. During her review of public engagement, Koch summarized two major camps that emerged during the input process earlier this spring.“People who live in neighborhoods that are currently single family neighborhoods, there was a lot of expression of concern related to community character, development scale, and whatnot,” Koch said. “But I want to note there were a lot of comments and support for more housing, affordability and density in the city.”Koch said the Future Land Use Map is intended to implement the major tenets of the affordable housing plan. The current map dates back to 2013 and most of the city’s land is designated for low intensity residential. Beginning with the second draft map released in late April, that base level that has been renamed to General Residential.“What we were talking about at this point was to allow up to three units on those sites and a lot of those right now are currently zoned for single family use only,” Koch said. “So that represented a potential tripling of what was allowed in those areas.”Another change to General Residential is the ability for a property owner to build a fourth unit on a lot if that unit were kept below the fair market rent. Corridors and nodesBefore we get too much further, a little bit of history. You might want to take a look at the implementation chapter from the city’s 2001 Comprehensive Plan. The word “corridor” is used over four dozen times. Here are a few examples from a plan adopted by City Council 20 years ago. “We will support initiatives to increase commercial, retail and residential growth opportunities in our commercial corridors,” reads a progressive economic center vision principle. “We will increase the amount of market rate, higher density residential housing downtown and along the economic development corridors,” reads a residential opportunities principle. “Adopt zoning changes and urban design criteria to implement the recommendations of the Corridor Study,” reads a section on land use and zoning changes. That study refers to a December 2000 Commercial Corridor Study that heavily influenced the last major zoning citywide zoning change in 2003. If you’ve ever wondered why there are taller buildings on West Main Street or dense apartment complexes on Jefferson Park Extended, that rezoning is why. (read about the study on cvillepedia)Koch and her team of planners built all three drafts of the Future Land Use Map on the 2013 land use map, which builds off of the one from 2007 Comprehensive Plan. The review process never really ends.But, a new plan has to be adopted, and on August 31, 2021, Koch wanted to explain a bit more about corridors and nodes. “I want to be clear that when we’re talking about corridors and nodes in the city, we do have those land use categories that are called mixed-use nodes, mixed-use corridors,” Koch said. “But when we talk about a development pattern that is sort of node and corridor centric, we are also looking at things like residential corridors, you know, nodes of residential intensity.”For instance, maps designate a section of Cherry Avenue west of Roosevelt Brown as increasing to Medium Density Residential. That’s within walking distance to Buford Middle School, a facility proposed to be upgraded in the near future to accommodate 6th graders. That area is also near Forest Hills Park and Fifeville Park. “We’ve looked at how can we put potential intensity near schools and near parks, and that’s been important from the beginning of this process,” Koch said. In the second version of the map, most of the Lewis Mountain neighborhood was designated as Medium Intensity Residential as were portions of the Greenbrier and Barracks / Rugby neighboorhoods. However, feedback led the consultants to scale back some of those to General Residential. “We heard concerns about some locations of the medium intensity residential and the mixed-use nodes, and we heard concerns about the city’s ability to plan for infrastructure in advance of development, and that includes traffic, transportation, utility, stormwater, and other types of infrastructure,” Koch said. Koch said others are concerned that simply allowing more housing units will not lead to reduced prices. “We heard a lot of people who said density does not equal affordability and we 100 percent agree with that,” Koch said. “The land use map alone will not get to the housing goals that we have for Charlottesville.”There has been concern about people being displaced from neighborhoods that have historically been home to Black residents and people with lower-incomes. For many years, real estate investors and wealthier households have purchased single family homes in 10th and Page, Fifeville, and Rose Hill and invested in them. A feature of the third draft of the Future Land Use Map would seek to restrict intense development in these areas.“In the Future Land use map, to reduce the allowable intensity in those areas, we are proposing this Sensitive Community overlay that could then potentially include less development intensity in the zoning,” Koch said. “But we have heard mixed opinions on whether allowing less development in those areas would be preferable for those who may be in those at-risk communities. We want to make sure we’re not impacting potential wealth-building in those communities.” We’ll hear more details about the changes in this third iteration of the map as Commissioners ask questions.  For now, Koch said the changes made to the map, including the conditional allowance of a fourth unit in General Residential, could help the city attain its housing goals.Over fifty people speak at public commentKoch spoke for nearly an hour before members of the public were allowed to give their inputs. At that point in the call, there were 238 people watching the Zoom call. Over the course of the five hours meeting, nearly sixty people would speak. There’s not enough time to go through it all, but before we hear what Commissioners and the City Council think, let’s hear some voices skeptical opposed to the map. “We had no idea that the ultimate goal of Charlottesville was to have this high density area,” said Michelle Rowan. “We specifically looked for something close to the hospital, R-1, coming off of acreage. That’s what we were looking for.”“Is it really an issue of affordable housing or is it really an issue of poverty?” said Fred Borch. “Is the issue of poverty whether or not housing is affordable?”“Census data has shown that construction of new homes in the city has outpaced the city’s population growth,” said Kaki Pearson. “If the city of Charlottesville is serious about redressing housing and racial injustices, they could create a program to target individuals and families much like the voucher program created in Evanston, Illinois, where aggrieved African-Americans only need to show that they were descendants of residents during a certain time period,” said someone who was on the zoom call as Mary Simpson. “Instead, our government is proposing to dismantle single-family neighborhoods like mine. Yes, I will be punished twice. Let me be clear. I don’t want 12-unit buildings or commercial establishments in my neighborhood. I don’t want the traffic, the trash, the noise, the crime, and all of that which naturally accompanies denser neighborhoods.”“I really would like to just make a huge plea to slow down the process and expand it,” said Martha Smythe. “We are still living in a pandemic which has changed everything and we’re talking about a rezoning which projects to alter everything in the city and I see no reason to rush it.”“This plan being presented by the consulting team is what I believe to be an ideological blueprint for pro-density interests,” said Philip Harway.“I want to confess that I do not share your goal of increasing density in the city and I don’t recall ever that ever being on any ballot presented to the citizens,” said Andrew Grimshaw. There were also many comments in favor of the plan.“I’m a little puzzled at all the outrage behind what’s being proposed given that the unit that I live in currently is pretty emblematic of a lot of the proposed changes, which is a converted house that looks just like all of the other houses on the block,” said Brendan Novak. “The only difference is that I can afford to live there whereas I could not live in an entire single family home for example.” “Something that we noticed when were looking at the side-by-side slide of the August map and the May map is that there is in general a lot less gray in the historically exclusionary neighborhoods, the white neighborhoods,” said attorney Caroline Klosko with the Legal Aid Justice Center, speaking on behalf of the Charlottesville Low-Income Housing Coalition. “North Downtown, Lewis Mountain Road. Locust Grove. Barracks / Rugby. There’s less allowance for medium density than under the May version of the map and we think this is a step backwards and we’re disappointed by this. “I hope we can move back in the direction that the first Future Land Use Map was going,” said Chris Schopper. “I feel like we’ve taken a step back.” “I think that cutting down the General Residential stories from 3.5 to two is going to create issues in the long run,” said Tim Giles. “We’re going to have houses that can’t even be built in existing R-1 neighborhoods.”“It’s important that this process considers to take the needs of renters and center them as we are fifty percent renters and probably will grow as that demand grows with the University of Virginia’s growth,” said Oliver Platts-Mills, a developer with several holdings in the Fifesville and Rose Hill neighborhood. “I think you need to support a version of this plan that increases density across the city and allows all sorts of people who want to live here to be able to move here,” said David Singerman. “I’d just like to express my support for the May revision that had more substantial changes to density across the city and I’d like to express my support for greater density in historically exclusionary neighborhoods as well as neighborhoods across the city,” said Jamelle Bouie. You’re reading a special edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement on the Charlottesville Planning Commission’s August 31 work session on the Future Land Use Map and the Comprehensive Plan. In today’s second Substack-supported public service announcement: The Charlottesville Jazz Society at cvillejazz.org is dedicated to the promotion, preservation, and preservation of jazz, and there’s no time like now to find a time to get out and watch people love to play. The Charlottesville Jazz Society keeps a running list of what’s coming up at cvillejazz.org. This week, find out that the Charles Owen Trio plays at Miller’s Downtown on Friday at 9:30 p.m., Zuzu’s Hot 5 will play the WTJU Free Fall Concert on Saturday, and the Beleza Trio plays at Potter’s Craft Cider also on Saturday. For details, visit cvillejazz.org.But what did the Commissioners think? When it was their turn, Commissioners had five minutes to ask questions and make comments. Commissioner Jody Lahendro has served on the advisory body since August 2014 and is one of the most critical voices on the Commission. “I have been doing a lot of reading and most of the literature that I’ve come across has concluded that simply adding density does little to nothing to adding affordability to a city, or affordable units to a city,” Lahendro said. The current draft allows a fourth unit in General Residential if it is subsidized or sold below its market value. Lahendro expressed skepticism. “Why wouldn’t developers simply turn single family parcels into three residential units and take the money and run?” Lahendro asked. “Is the fourth unit based on some kind of data?”Koch repeated that the Future Land Use Map and the zoning would not be enough, and that tools in the affordable housing plan would be required. But, size of units could play a role in bringing down housing costs. “There is an opportunity to provide units that are more sort of naturally affordable if they are at a size that is not available in a neighborhood right now,” Koch said. The zoning rewrite will be overseen by subcontractor Code Studio. Lee Einsweiler is the founding principal. “You’re right, Jody,” Einsweiler said. “There’s no specific evidence that that fourth unit is somehow magically more affordable. It is just a trade-off we felt was reasonable for adding to our original three that if you were going to add more we needed some guarantee that some portion might be affordable.” Lahendro said he could not support the additional density without precautions. He said developers will purchase existing homes, tear them down, and build three units where they can. “The land has become more valuable now than the buildings that are on it,” Lahendro said. “Given the opportunity to provide more housing units on the same parcel of land through upzoning, developers will build more units but at market rates that will not meet the affordability definition.”Lahendro said he could support the density of or three additional units in single-family zoning in if the units were guaranteed to be rented or sold at affordable levels. As a general rule, households who pay more than 30 percent of their income for the roof of their head are considered distressed. Commissioner Lyle Solla-Yates said areas near the University of Virginia such as the Lewis Mountain neighborhood should be places where children in low-income families can live and have opportunity. He studied the changes to the Future Land Use Map over the weekend. “And I only saw really large reductions in potential affordable housing there,” Solla-Yates said. “I didn’t understand it. I understand there has been public comment calling for less, especially among the highest-income homeowners. That’s really the big group that’s been pushing this story.”Commissioner Taneia Dowell went next. She also supported Lahendro’s idea of an overlay district for additional units only if all are affordable. “I too have some heartburn about the density in this plan,” Dowell said. The newest Commissioner is Karim Habbab, who joined the advisory body earlier this summer. “I think we need more assertive language regarding affordable housing and the affordability of the affordable housing throughout all different intensities and zoning requirements, not just the General Residential one,” Habbab said. “I think it could apply to most of them.”Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg began his comments with a pointed question to the consultants. “How do you decide whose opinions matter?” Stolzenberg said. “We’ve heard many hundreds of people’s feedback. Many people are arguing for one thing while many others are arguing for the direct opposite.”Koch said the consultants have tried to strike a balance between multiple points of view. “In terms of who we are listening to, we are trying to make that equity and affordability piece maintain strength and we think we have while also making compromise,” Koch said. “We are not swinging wildly one way or the other. I would say if we did that, if we really listened specifically to certain neighborhoods, a lot of these neighborhoods outside of those sensitive communities would not have any additional increase in potential density at all.”Back to affordability. Stolzenberg said the city needs to provide incentives to developers if anyone is ever going to build the fourth unit. He said the nonprofit housing groups may not be interested unless they can build certain kinds of units in more places. “My understanding in talking to our local housing nonprofits is that we have a couple of rental-oriented ones that don’t build buildings that size and you need at least 40 or 50 to get to a [Low-Income Housing Tax Credits] application,” Stolzenberg said. “And then we have homeownership ones like Habitat and the Community Land Trust.  And for them, I think what they’re really seeking is for townhomes and in particular stacked townhomes. They keep saying stacked townhomes. That’s the fastest path to get affordability because land is so expensive and you can half the cost of land.”Stolzenberg also said he did not favor a reduction in the number of stories allowed in General Residential from 3.5 in the second draft to 2.5 in the third. Commissioner Liz Russell picked up on this thread.“It seems that the definition of missing middle housing is 2.5 to 3 stories, so if that’s what we say we want then that explains the reduction from 3.5 stories,” Russell said. Russell said the process should result in a city that provides choices in housing. “A range of housing opportunities in a way that is sensitive to the built form of our existing neigborhoods,” Russell said. “I think that’s what Cville Plans is working toward and I think it’s our role as Planning Commisioners to guide the density more specifically and not leave it to the market to decide what is built and what is affordable.”This was Hosea Mitchell’s last meeting as chair. As such, he thought he would be candid in what said about the latest draft. “The latest iteration disappoints,” Mitchell said. “The affordable housing plan that the consultants put together was designed to promote zoning and development that increased multifamily development in a way that buoyed equity and buoyed affordability in Charlottesville.”Mitchell said the latest draft does not do enough to combat the long history of exclusionary zoning. Mitchell said he would support four stories in General Residential in places where it would make sense. Three City Councilors weigh-inThe Commission’s role is advisory. Elected officials will make the final call. Let’s hear from three of them. First, Councilor Lloyd Snook. “We have to remember that the Future Land Use Map is part of the Comprehensive Plan,” Snook said. “It is only about three pages of the Comprehensive Plan. The purpose of the Comprehensive Plan is to plan to deal with current and emerging problems. It is not particularly frankly to only preserve existing neighborhoods, though in some instances that could be a problem that we’re trying to address.”Snook said the three values the Comprehensive Plan should address are racial equity, climate change, and affordable housing. “Number three is dealing with all varieties of affordable housing,” Snook said. “We have to recognize that at the moment Charlottesville is becoming increasingly unaffordable for virtually everybody and that includes people who are making 100 percent of [area median income], not just 80 percent or 40 percent of 50 percent.”Snook also said he wanted to see more information about the costs of building multiple units within one building. Mayor Nikuyah Walker was on City Council in February 2019 when the decision was made to hire a firm to finish the Comprehensive Plan. “I understand that a lot of people are challenged by Charlottesville, what has happened with past developments, the increase in pricing of housing and land, but there are certain members of our population who without us prioritizing them and especially the lower [area median income] they won’t be able to figure out in Charlottesville or existing areas,” Walker said.Councilor Michael Payne said the Comprehensive Plan gives the change to change Charlottesville’s ecosystem for the better.“Opening up the opportunity for more affordable homeownership and rental opportunity throughout the entire city and directly confronting the reasons that those opportunities aren’t available and allow more affordable duplexes, triplexes, townhomes to be built instead of having a system where you can only build a single family homes that’s selling for $600,000 or $700,000 in many cases,” Payne said he was concerned that the latest version of the map was a step back in terms of meeting the city’s affordable housing goals. He said the longer the delay, the worse the housing ecosystem will get. “Every day, week, month, and year the status quo continues and we know exactly what the status quo is, it’s gentrification, it’s displacement, it’s all the things that people continue to highlight as problems in our city,” Payne said.Next steps?Koch said she and her team will return to the Planning Commission at their regular meeting on September 14 for that review, and there is a work session slot reserved for September 21. The official public hearing will take place in October. Between now and then, what are you going to do if you’re a Charlottesville resident? Have you taken a look at the map? Have you talked to your neighbors? As you’ve heard in this program, there are many opinions and thoughts. As you continue to read or listen to Charlottesville Community Engagement, I’ll continue to track this story, alongside the many other stories I write about land use, growth, economic development, and more of what makes this community function. Or not function. It’s a matter of perspective, but I’ll be here, documenting from as many views as I can. Was this newsletter and podcast useful to you? Please consider support if you’ve not done so already. Here are some ways to do so:Support general research by making a donation through PatreonSign for a subscription to Charlottesville Community Engagement, free or paid. Ting will match that amount!Pay through Venmo This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out is for the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign, an initiative that wants you to grow native plants in yards, farms, public spaces and gardens in the northern Piedmont. Native plants provide habitat, food sources for wildlife, ecosystem resiliency in the face of climate change, and clean water.  Start at the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Facebook page and tell them Lonnie Murray sent you! On today’s show:An update on the Urban Rivanna River Corridor planAdvice and information from the Blue Ridge Health District Two Albemarle beaches remain open this weekend, and but another is done for the summerCharlottesville is cracking down on boat storage at the Ragged Mountain natural areaThis morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports another 2,244 new COVID cases and the seven-day percentage of tests that come back positive is now at 8.5 percent. Six months ago on February 17 that figure was 8.9 percent when the winter surge was beginning to recede. Now the figure has been climbing as the Delta variant of COVID continues to spread. Ryan McKay is the director of policy and planning at the Blue Ridge Health District.“We have been seeing an increasing number of cases on a daily basis really for about the last month or so so this current surge that we’re experiencing has happened somewhat quickly,” McKay said. McKay said the end of mandated social distancing and mask wearing means there are more close contacts than before, which adds to the tracing efforts. “Those who are testing positive are largely those who are unvaccinated, whether they are those who aren’t currently eligible to receive a vaccine, so children under the age of 12,” McKay said. “Or adults who for whatever reason medically can’t get vaccinated. And then obviously individuals who have not yet received their vaccine. So this Delta variant is much more contagious than we’ve experienced so far.”McKay said many of the new cases are tracing back to indoor settings, which is why health officials are recommending masks indoors especially for unvaccinated individuals. In the past week, Governor Ralph Northam has mandated facial coverings in Virginia schools, though some systems across the Commonwealth still plan to defy that order. McKay hopes people will do voluntarily in other indoor settings.“So anytime we’re indoors, individuals regardless of vaccination status, we want to make sure those individuals are wearing masks in indoor settings particularly if it’s a setting where there are a large number of individuals in an enclosed area to really try and minimize or reduce the spread,” McKay said. McKay said the Blue Ridge Health District expects cases to continue rising. With that, that means COVID testing is increasing. But, if you get a test at one of their events or facilities, you will not get notified if the result is negative. Here’s Kathryn Goodman, communications and public relations manager for the BRHD. “Instead we’re encouraging everybody to sign up for [the University of Virginia’s] MyChart and that’s where they can receive their test results within 12 to 24 hours,” Goodman said. People who have positive results will be contacted.Last Friday, the Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency authorization for a third dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine for certain people who are immunocompromised. Here’s Dr. Denise Bonds, the director of the Blue Ridge Health District. “We are now offering third doses to anyone who is moderately or severely immunocompromised,” Dr. Bonds said. “This third dose of vaccine should be 28 days from their second dose of either Pfizer or Moderna and moderately to severely immunocompromised individuals who meet that category might be individuals who had an organ or a stem cell transplant, or who have advanced or untreated HIV infection, individuals who are currently undergoing treatment for cancer, or certain medications that an individual might take that might weaken the immune system.”Dr. Bonds said the recommendation is to get the same kind of vaccine as the first two doses, but that’s not a requirement. Anyone who got the Johnson and Johnson vaccine should not get one of these doses, and health officials are reviewing a strategy to provide boosters to those individuals. To get the third dose, you will need an appointment. Dr. Bonds recommends talking to your doctor. Visit the Blue Ridge Health District site to learn more. Officials do not anticipate supply concerns at this time. Later in the evening, Dr. Bonds and other district officials presented to both the Places29-Hydraulic Community Advisory Committee and City Council. Dr. Bonds said she knew that some members of Council are concerned about the ailment known as Long COVID where symptoms seem to remain. She cited a recent paper in Nature. (read the paper)“They looked at lots and lots of papers and tried to combine all the data to summarize it in a cohesive fashion and what they found was that 80 percent of individuals who have had a confirmed COVID infection continue to have at least one symptom two weeks following their acute infection,” Dr. Bonds said. Dr. Bonds said the most reported of those symptoms is fatigue, followed by headache, attention issues, hair loss, and shortness of breath.Mayor Nikuyah Walker said she is concerned that many students returning to classes do not have masks designed to prevent airborne transmission of viruses. She also expressed concern that many who have not received a vaccine so far may not do so if they are treated negatively.‘We in this community are doing the same thing that people around the country are doing, and I’m sure the world, where we’re treating the vaccine hesitant as the vaccine hostile and pushing those people from even considering it or changing behaviors,” Walker said. Teletha Howard is leading up the Blue Ridge Health District’s community outreach to people who are vaccine hesitant, including Black community members. “I’m very honest when I talk to people,” Howard said. “I tell them my story and my story is that I did not get vaccinated as soon as everybody did because I was hesitant. So it took me a while and the reason why I was hesitant was because I wanted to have conversations with more people and with the medical professionals before I was confident in getting the vaccine.”Walker thanked Howard for the way she is approaching her work. Dr. Bonds said the district is there to provide vaccines when people are ready.“Everyone needs a different amount of information,” Dr. Bonds said. “Everyone needs different questions answered. And, really, the way to help people who are vaccine hesitant is to help feel them reassured and answer their questions, not to be antagonistic towards them.”In today’s second Patreon-fueled shout-out: The Rivanna Conservation Alliance is looking for a few good volunteers to help out on Clean Stream Tuesdays, a mile and a half paddle and clean-up to remove trash and debris from popular stretches of the Rivanna River. Trash bags, trash pickers, gloves, and hand sanitizer/wipes will be provided, though volunteers will need to transport themselves to and from the end points. Kayaks for the purpose can be rented from the Rivanna River Company. Visit the Rivanna Conservation Alliance's volunteer page to learn more about upcoming dates.The rest of today’s show logs information related to water. If you have a boat stored at the Ragged Mountain Natural Area, you’ll need to remove it by September 17. That’s when the city of Charlottesville will begin to enforce a ban on doing so that’s codified in the city’s ordinance. Non-motorized boats are allowed on the city-owned reservoir. They just can’t be stored there. The swimming beaches at Chris Greene Lake and Mint Springs Valley in Albemarle County will be open this weekend for one last hurrah, but the season is over at Walnut Creek. These places are open Thursday through Sunday. The Rivanna River serves as the boundary between eastern Charlottesville and the Pantops area of Albemarle County. To the north is the Pen Park within Charlottesville, and the river meanders south to the Sentara Martha Jefferson complex. The area has been studied for many years, and the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission has been working on a study intended to unify future planning and implementation efforts. Nick Morrison is a planner with the TJPDC who updated the Charlottesville Planning Commission at their meeting on August 10. (TJPDC page on the plan)“The goal of this phase of this planning project was to develop a vision and an action plan for that urban section of the corridor,” Morrison said. Morrison said a vision statement makes the argument that the Rivanna River is one of the community’s “greatest assets.” On the Charlottesville side, there’s a new apartment building nearing completion on River Road. Planning is moving forward with at least one pedestrian/bicycle bridge over the Rivanna. On the Albemarle side, apartments are planned along State Farm Boulevard and the fate of the State Farm headquarters building remains unknown. Their employees no longer have to report to work to do their duties. The idea of the plan is to coordinate infrastructure, and to make sure attention is being paid to the impact on the environment. “In terms of environmental protection, high-level, looking for approaches to protect any sort of sensitive biological or ecological areas, any sort of improved ongoing coordination between the city and the county, particularly in water quality and conservation,” Morrison said.   Commissioner Jody Lahendro noted that the report contains dozens of action items. “Where do you go from here?” Lahendro asked. “I’m worried about creating yet another report that is just overwhelming with so many action items that are so disconnected that it goes back on a shelf. What’s the implementation for this?”Sandy Shackelford, the director of planning and transportation for the TJPDC, said that before the plan is finalized, her staff will identify short-term goals as priorities. “My thought was that we focus on sort of the foundational action items that are going to be needed to build off of these other ones, so focusing on things like inventorying existing infrastructure or conditions, or systems, or things like that,” Shackelford said. Lahendro said he felt the cultural inventory conducted to date does not go far enough to protect certain areas that may have been Monacan sites. “You just assume that everybody wants to be able to visit all these cultural sites,” Lahendro said. “I expect there’s some prehistoric sites along this river that we don’t want to have people going with metal detectors ravaging and destroying.”Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg suggested the plan should take note of desire from many to limit additional parking spaces. He also said the plan should address transit. “The only thing that actually about transit is about signage from transit stops, which I think is good, but I think it would make sense to have stuff about connections to the river area both transit and pedestrian and bicyclist,” Stolzenberg said. “I’m also a bit confused by this idea that adding pedestrian facilities means we must add more parking as well.”The TJPDC is also helping Albemarle County with a study of how to expand transit, with the Pantops area being one of the study areas. (check the August 11 CCE for that story)Commissioner Liz Russell said language should be more clear about helping community members and visitors learn more about the history of the river, if it’s going to include a section on that topic. She noted the plan already includes examples from how other communities have utilized their riverfronts, such as Greenville, South Carolina and Richmond.“You know the Richmond case study really I think says very beautifully that ‘helping visitors develop a fuller understanding of different aspects of people’s lives throughout the history of the region will help them understand strong connections and understanding.’ I really think we’re not quite making that point in like why are we talking about the history, and what could that mean in anyone experiencing any of these opportunities within the corridor.”This is the second phase of the planning process. So far, there’s not a concrete plan for a third, but Shackelford said it would be more to design future infrastructure. “If you look at the Richmond plan, they ended up with a master plan where they put things on paper,” Shackleford said.Shackelford and the draft Rivanna plan refer to the Richmond Riverfront Plan, adopted by that city council in November 2012 and amended nearly five years later. Commission Chair Hosea Mitchell cautioned the plan should not be to create an urban environment such as in Richmond or Greenville. “We don’t want to be that developed I don’t think based on the emphasis on protecting the environment, protecting the river, being the prime directive,” Mitchell said. Commissioner Stolzenberg said he felt developing along the river in a way that put more eyes on it could be beneficial. “If you had apartments or restaurants that kind of fronted the river and had access to it, that would create a positive feedback loop where we would care more about the quality of the river, and more people would be able to use the river,” Stolzenberg said. “That might detract somewhat from the sense of being out in the wilderness but you can get that on the James, right?”The plan was originally to have been adopted by December 2020 but the pandemic affected the timeline. The Albemarle County Planning Commission has not yet had a presentation on the latest draft.What do you think about the Rivanna River plan? Let us know in the comments. I’ve spent a lot of time writing about plans, and this newsletter was created in part to keep the plans from being put on shelves and forgotten. I’m not here to say what should happen, but I want to shed light on previous studies, plans, decisions, and all sorts of things about what I’ve seen in my time as a reporter. Please consider becoming a subscriber through Substack or a Patreon contributor to help ensure I can keep doing this. And definitely share with someone you think might be interested! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

In today’s Patreon-fueled shout-out: What’s your perfect holiday weekend in Charlottesville? Hanging with friends outside... Great live music... Maybe breaking a Guinness world record? Then mark your calendar for WTJU 91.1 FM's Freefall Music Festival -- Saturday, September 4 starting at 3 p.m. at IX Art Park. Live performances by Zuzu's Hot Five, Susie and the Pistols, and Good Dog Nigel. We'll attempt to form the world's largest human music note at 7:30 p.m. Plus, a hot dog and veggie dog cookout for our whole community. Find out more at wtju.net.On today’s show: Albemarle County is looking for a consultant for to help update their zoning codeU.S. Census Bureau releases population figures for 2020Charlottesville Planning Commission gets an update on the Cville Plans Together initiativeThe University of Virginia plans to increase the number of opportunities for people to get vaccinatedThe Virginia Department of Health reports 2,270 new cases of COVID-19 today, the third straight day with one-day totals in excess of two thousand. The percent positivity has increased to 7.7 percent. In the Blue Ridge Health District, there are 37 new cases today and the percent positivity is at 4.6 percent. There have been 244,944 cases of COVID since mid-January, and of that amount, 98.34 percent of cases were in people not fully vaccinated. Of 2,838 deaths, that figure is 98.17 percent. (The above paragraph was corrected to fix a typographical error)In Albemarle County, 73.2 percent of adults are fully vaccinated, or 63.6 percent of the total population. In Charlottesville, 61.8 percent of adults are fully vaccinated, or 54.7 percent of population. The numbers in outlying counties are lower. For instance, in Louisa the figures are 54.4 percent of adults and 45.5 percent of the total population. In Fluvanna those numbers are 64 percent and 54.5 percent. In Greene, those numbers are 63.3 percent and 56.8 percent, and in Nelson 65.3 percent of adults are vaccinated and 55.6 percent of the total is fully vaccinated.The University of Virginia Health System has announced they will make vaccines available in their outpatient pharmacies by appointment, weekdays between 11 a.m. and six p.m. Justin Vesser has helped lead the health system’s vaccination efforts. “So we’re at this time when we sincerely hope everyone makes the decision to become vaccinated and there’s a lot changing on the vaccine front and a lot changing on the COVID front with the Delta variant and the current surge that we’re in,” Vesser said. These are in addition to the vaccinations at the COVID clinic.“We have community pharmacies that are UVA pharmacies in Zion Crossroads, we have them in Fishersville, we have them at UVA Cancer Center at Pantops, one in the UVA Bookstore, and one at student health clinic on the UVA campus,” Vesser said. Masks are now required indoors at all public schools in Virginia, per a public health emergency order issued yesterday by Governor Ralph Northam. Even though the state of emergency has elapsed, the public health emergency is still in place. One whereas clause in the order point out that children under the age of 12 are not eligible for a vaccine yet. (read the resolution)Among the others: Only 40.3% of 12-15 year-olds and 51.7 % of 16-17 year olds in Virginia are fully vaccinated as of August 10, 2021Universal and correct mask use is an important COVID-19 prevention strategy in schools as part of a multicomponent approach and has been shown to be associated with lower incidence of COVID-19 in schoolsThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors in K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination statusExceptions are made for anyone eating or drinking, exercising, for participation in religious rituals, and for those with health conditions that prevent wearing a mask. The U.S. Census Bureau has released population and demographic data from the tally in 2020. According to the count, Charlottesville officially has 46,553 people, a 7.08 percent increase from 2010. Albemarle’s population is 112,395, a 13.56 percent increase since 2010. Louisa County’s population increased by 13.4 percent to 37,596, Greene increased 11.68 percent to 20,552, and Fluvanna grew 6.06 percent to 27,249. Nelson County’s population shrank by 1.63 percent to 14,775. Overall, the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission increased by 10.4 percent to 259,120.Virginia as a whole has an official population of 8,631,393, a 7.9 percent increase since 2010. There are 218.6 people per square mile. Charlottesville has a density of 4,544 people per square mile, and that figure is 156 people per square mile in Albemarle County. (population and housing data viewer)A major purpose of the Census is to allocate seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Virginia will continue to have 11 members. Albemarle County is looking for a consultant to help update its zoning order. On Tuesday, Planning Director Charles Rapp hosted a briefing for representatives of firms interested in doing the work. “The zoning ordinance exceeds probably 30, 40 years of life and its in need of an update,” Rapp said. The chosen firm will enter into a multi-year contract to do the work in phases.  “We have an initial phase outlined in this [request for proposals] that focuses on zoning district land use clarifications and setbacks as kind of the first two sections,” Rapp said. Subsequent phases will be undertaken as Albemarle begins to update its Comprehensive Plan. “As we finish sections of the Comprehensive Plan, we will identify sections of the zoning ordinance that correspond with that topic,” Rapp said. “So an easy one to talk about is natural resource planning. So a zoning ordinance that might relate to natural resources would be landscaping, lighting, stream buffers, all of that kind of stuff.”Back to that first phase. Rapp said this would be an update to transition toward a more modern zoning code that is easier to use and better organized. “We would like to get a consultant on board by October,” Rapp said. A second request for proposals will be released soon for a consultant to work on the Comprehensive Plan. After this brief break, catching up with the Charlottesville Planning Commission. You’re reading to Charlottesville Community Engagement. In this subscriber supported public service announcement, over the course of the pandemic, the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society has provided hours and hours of interviews, presentations, and discussions about interpretations and recollections of the past. All of this is available for you to watch, for free, on the Historical Society’s YouTube Channel. Some examples:June 7, 2021 event on a report on how to improve cvillepediaJanuary 28, 2021 event on the Jefferson Madison Regional Library’s historyDecember 17, 2021 Speaker Series with Jordy Yager of Mapping CvilleLater on Tuesday, the Charlottesville Planning Commission met for their regular meeting in August. They’ll have two work sessions coming up, and the agenda for this one was relatively light. As always, the meeting began with updates from Commissioners, including the nonvoting representative from the University of Virginia, Bill Palmer. “I don’t have a whole lot to report other than just the reminder that fall semester starts on August 24 and we’ll be in pretty full swing around Grounds with first years coming back for orientation and all that,” Palmer said. Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg noted the finalization earlier this month of a key global update of how the entire world’s climate is changing. “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has released the first part of its sixth assessment report and most of the stuff in there is bad news and some of it is tentatively good news if we act on it and I would encourage all of you to read it,” Stolzenberg said. Stolzenberg said the report shows the global temperature will likely continue to rise above the 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming considered to be an important threshold. Efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are intended to keep that number lower.“And we’re most likely looking at three degrees or more unless we can get very significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions,” Stolzenberg said. Stolzenberg said the good news is that if the world can get to net zero, temperatures could eventually begin to go down. (view the various reports on the IPCC website)James Groves, an associate professor in the Department of Engineering and Society at the University of Virginia, spoke about the report during matters from the public. He said it is the first update from the IPCC since 2013.“Without surprise, the report states that our lifestyles are dangerously eroding the natural world around us, setting the stage for increasingly difficult living conditions for everyone and everything,” Groves said. Groves said he hopes the Comprehensive Plan needs to have specific recommendations related to climate change such as recommending specific financing mechanisms to replace heating and cooling systems. “Investments in sustainability solutions like [Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy] financing, a green bank, and micromobility could put critical dollars in the pockets of our most needy neighbors, year after year, while stabilizing the climate for all of us,” Groves said.Speaking of the Charlottesville Comprehensive Plan, the firm Rhodeside & Harwell updated the city Planning Commission on the next steps for the Cville Plans Together Initiative. In February 2019, a previous Council opted to spend nearly a million dollars on a firm to complete the Comprehensive Plan, rewrite the zoning code, and adopt an affordable housing plan. That last step was completed in March. Jennifer Koch is with Rhodeside and Harwell.“What we’ve heard from you all is that you’d like to see us have a Comprehensive Plan to Council this year,” Koch said.The consultant team continues to review the feedback submitted this spring in six-week public input window on the Future Land Use Map and some of the draft chapters of the Comprehensive Plan. There’s an upcoming work session on August 31. “We’ll come to you with what we’re proposing as some adjustments to the Future Land Use Map and the Land Use, Urban Form, and Historical, Cultural Preservation chapter to respond to what we heard,” Koch said. Planning Commission Chair Hosea Mitchell said he thinks it is crucial to get a Plan for the current City Council to vote on before the end of the year.“Slippage is not an option,” Mitchell said. “We do not want to have to educate a new Council. If it slips, we could be looking at another couple of years.”More to come in the near future. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out: If you're curious and want to dig deeper, there's another podcast you might want to try. Especially if you ask why, and not just what. And if you belive that politics should be about making communities better.If so, check out Bold Dominion, a biweekly podcast from WTJU 91.1 FM. Bold Dominion is a state politics explainer for a changing Virginia. Their latest episode asks: Where does Virginia’s trash come from and who does it get dumped on? Check it out at BoldDominion.org.In today’s newsletter:The Charlottesville Planning Commission learns more about a proposal from nonprofit housing groups on an affordable housing overlay in the Future Land Use MapThe seven-member appointed body also recommended a request from Charlottesville’s public housing authority to drop a condition of a critical slopes waiverAnd there are now two fatalities from a house fire in Fifeville early Wednesday morningA second person has died after a fire in a home in Fifeville early Wednesday morning. Crews were called to the 1000 block of Cherry Avenue to a structure fire. According to a release, firefighters rescued one person who was trapped. That person and two others who escaped were taken to the University of Virginia Medical Center, and one died soon after arrival. This afternoon the Fire Department reports a second person has since died and the third occupant is still hospitalized. The Fire Marshal’s office is investigating. Time to catch up with activities this month from the Charlottesville Planning Commission, who met on July 13. I previously reported two other items from the meeting in the July 16 installment of this newsletter. Now it’s time for the rest. (download the agenda packet for details)Commissioners got details on an alternative version of the Future Land Use Map that is part of the Cville Plans Together initiative. If you’re unfamiliar, check out previous coverage:Charlottesville Planning Commission gets first look at draft Future Land Use Map (April 13)May: A busy month for Charlottesville to plan together (May 9)Oversight group discusses Cville Plans Together initiative; Democratic Council candidates offer their views (May 25)Charlottesville Planning Commission briefed on public comment for Cville Plans Together initiative (July 12)The idea for an overlay district for affordable housing stems from members of the Housing Advisory Committee, one of whom is the executive director of the Piedmont Housing Alliance.“The proposal we are going to discuss tonight reflects our effort to distill the common ground from the spectrum of insights, concerns and hopes that we have heard,” said Sunshine Mathon. “Consistently across all of the discussions we’ve heard the following. We’ve heard common praise for protecting and preserving historically Black and low-income neighborhoods. We’ve heard common support for addressing affordability broadly across the city and that mostly everyone is okay with future affordable housing in their neighborhoods. And lastly we’ve heard concern that density for density’s sake alone doesn’t serve anyone well.”The proposal suggests creation of a new low-intensity residential category that would limit density in historically Black and low-income neighborhoods like Fifeville, 10th and Page, and Rose Hill. “This land use would be the base land use for historically Black and low-income neighborhoods to reduce development pressures by essentially keeping in place the existing density allowances in these neighborhoods,” Mathon said.One of three recommended adjustments to the Future Land Use Map that has been discussed by the city’s Housing Advisory Committee. Proposed high-intensity areas are in dark brownA second concept is that the rest of the city would have the General Residential land use category which as described by the consultant would allow three units per lot. “Recognizing that growth has been historically accommodated on the backs of low-income neighborhoods, this would shift growth patterns to higher income areas,” Mathon said. “To some extent.”The third concept would be to only allow higher-intensity residential to developments that kept a portion of the units below-market. “This proposal recommends that medium-intensity residential be a by-right use in all parts of the city if and only if affordable housing is part of a proposed development,” Mathon said. “This recommendation privileges affordable housing and guides density with purpose in all neighborhoods.”Mathon said acceptable practical constraints include topography, lot sizes, and infrastructure. He said the revised maps that have been developed are not final and also need to be refined. “Our proposal is intended to establish common principles that set the stage for the next level of detailing,” Mathon said.  Mathon also said the proposal does not currently define affordability but he set out what needs to be known. The minimum percentage of affordable units in a particular developmentThe depth of affordability of units The length of time those units must stay affordableDan Rosensweig, the executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville, said there are areas of the city where it should be easier for developers to build a lot of units.“There may be areas of the city for example that don’t want to be general residential, but they are really the areas of the city, and I’m not going to name specific places but we know, a lot of people know where they are,you really don’t want to put the extra restrictions on them, where you just want density, intensity, and volume to happen,” Rosensweig said. Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg said he supported the suggested framework because it builds upon language from other documents such as the recently adopted affordable housing plan. “In the affordable housing plan it says explicitly under the multifamily by-right zoning ‘establish a mandatory inclusionary zoning as part of any revision to the multifamily zoning,’” Stolzenberg said. “To me I think it does make a lot of sense to add that directly into our descriptions in the map.”Stolzenberg also supported the idea of more density throughout the city if below-market housing is required. A reminder that medium-scale would allow between eight to 12 units per lot. “I also think it makes a lot of sense to allow that possibility of medium-scale apartments everywhere with that requirement for affordability,” Stolzenberg said. “And that saves us a lot of kind of fine-grained picking out of things in the map versus letting that go to the site plan level requirements in making sure that for lots where that is proposed the infrastructure is actually in place and the physical constraints and that is doable.” Stolzenberg said this way decisions about infrastructure would be made at site plan level. He did suggest a name change from “low-intensity” to “sensitive neighborhood.” Rosensweig said the goal was to create more affordable housing.“You can’t do a mapping exercise without thinking about the history of the map and the intentionality of the zoning map to calcify what had been put in place with restrictive covenants,” Rosensweig said. “To me, what is really important as somebody who is a champion of affordable housing and who has also tried to develop affordable housing is that it should be available, opportunities for affordable housing should be available throughout the city. A family’s zipcode shouldn’t be their destiny. I think one of the primary purposes of this map is to create the conditions by which affordable housing can happen in every neighborhood.”Commissioner Jody Lahendro said he liked the idea, but still has concerns about the map provided by Rhodeside & Harwell. He posed several questions as the concept continues to be shaped. “Who establishes whether a development is compatible within the context?” Lahendro asked. “What are the benchmarks? What are the requirements? Is it done on a project by project based on the context directly around that project? Or is it done by a zoning district, or a district of some kind?”Commissioner Chair Hosea Mitchell offered these comments to the consultant.“Density for the sake of density is dumb,” Mitchell said. “Density with a purpose, density that is smart, density to borrow from Sunshine, density that privileges affordability is good and the overlay as it has been presented does just that, it provides density with a purpose, the purpose being affordability.”City Councilors were also on the call. Commissioner Michael Payne said he supported the framework. “It’s a good framework for addressing some of the concerns a lot of people have over ensuring that density is actually promoting affordability to the maximum possible extent,” Payne said.However, Councilor Payne had concerns the regulations aren’t too restrictive that developments can’t work out financially. “I just want to make sure we don’t end up in a situation where projects don’t pencil out and we have a de facto downzoning for some neighborhoods that have racial covenants and redlining,” Payne said.  “And then likewise, how do we ensure that we’re actually monitoring and keeping units affordable as part of the requirements of any overlay.”Commissioner Stolzenberg said many of the details about affordability can be answered while the next phase gets underway. But he said the proposed overlay will help guide that conversation. “Clearly the real details of levels and all that needs to be pushed to the zoning ordinance rewrite where we’ll have the map done,” Stolzenberg said. “But it is also important now to basically for your small projects that are just getting into this overlay, in determining what your base level is, you’re going to be setting those levels implicitly, right? So if general residential allows triplexes, if you’re building a fourplex, you’re saying that it has to be 25 percent affordable, which might preclude fourplexes all together. So I think that while the bulk of the details should be pushed out later, there is some amount that you should need to be thinking about now.” The consultants with Rhodeside & Harwell continue to go through the feedback from the official community input process, which ended on June 13. The next official meeting with the Planning Commission is tentatively scheduled for August 31. Jennifer Koch is the project manager for the Cville Plans Together initiative and she said they will take the proposal into consideration as it fits in with the overall strategy. “We have met with at least Dan and Sunshine a couple of times just to make sure we understood what was being proposed,” Koch said. “Like Sunshine said, some of these thoughts about an overlay we have in the chapter of Comprehensive Plan as part of the next step was zoning.”  Mitchell said he wanted to complete the Planning Commission’s role in the Future Land Use Map this by October so the currently elected Council could take a vote. Two Council seats are up this November.  Draft language in the Comprehensive Plan draft calls for an overlay for affordable housing. “It’s also referenced under Goal 4, Strategy 4.1.,” Koch said. (read the chapters)*But we’re not done with the Cville Plans Together initiative just yet today! This past Monday, Council held the first of two readings on approval of additional $165,000 to expand the scope of the project. Specifically, they’re to be directed to study how the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund is used, as well as a further study of inclusionary zoning. Some of the funding would come from the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund, which was created in 2007 as a dedicated account for housing projects. Alex Ikefuna is the director of the Department Neighborhood Development Services. “This request is essentially a fund transfer to enable staff to complete a couple of related projects designed to implement the affordable housing plan that was endorsed by the City Council a couple of months ago,” Ikefuna said. The work will include a review of the performance of the past ten years of the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund.  “The program is designed to evaluate whether the city’s investment is actually producing the desired outcome,” Ikefuna said. Ikefuna said the additional funding for the inclusionary zoning study is not related to the affordable housing overlay presented by Habitat for Humanity and the Piedmont Housing Alliance. He did offer this caveat to Council about expectations for this process.“Everything that comes out of the Future Land Use Map and perhaps the zoning ordinance and maybe portions of the overlay that would be integrated into the Future Land Use Map has to be what the market can respond to,” Ikefuna said. “We have to be cognizant of that.”Councilor Heather Hill has been a member of the Housing Advisory Committee and is glad to see the review of the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund will be conducted.“I just think this is really long overdue,” Hill said. “I know the Mayor and I have discussed throughout our time on Council and just making sure we have a process in place that does have that accountability but also just looking back historically and understand what has and hasn’t been working so that we can have the most effective use of city dollars moving forward.”I’m in the midst of conducting my own review of the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund, and if you’re a paying Substack subscriber, you’ll get that report as soon as I’m done with it. After that it will be posted to the Information Charlottesville website. About a quarter of you are paying, and I’m grateful for your support to help me keep an eye on things for all of us. You’re reading Charlottesville Community Engagement. In today’s second Patreon-fueled shout-out: Help support Black-owned business in the Charlottesville area. Check out the Charlottesville Black Business Directory at cvilleblackbiz.com and choose between a variety of goods and services, ranging from beauty supplies, professional services, and e-commerce. Visit cvilleblackbiz.com as soon as you can to get started.Phase 1 is the site currently under construction, and the areas in pink are defined as critical slopes waivers. Pollocks Branch is the waterway in blue flowing to the southwest from downtown CharlottesvilleEarlier in the Charlottesville Planning Commission meeting, Commissioners voted unanimously on a proposal from the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority to alter one of the conditions in a critical slopes waiver they were granted in early 2019 for the first phase of the redevelopment of South First Street. Carrie Rainey is a planner with the city of Charlottesville.“The previously granted critical slopes waiver allows for construction and land disturbing activities within critical slopes for a development that would include 62 multifamily residential units in three buildings and a community resources center,” Rainey said. City code defines a critical slope as one that has a grade of 25 percent or higher, and also contains either a horizontal run greater than 20 feet or is within two hundred feet of a waterway. The idea is to prevent erosion and prevent sediment from entering waterways, which kills macroinvertebrate life. The waterway Pollocks Branch is within the latter. After construction at South First Street began, CRHA notified the city it would not be able to comply with a condition of the slopes waiver that required a phased construction so that two buildings on First Street would be built first “in order to create a better stabilized site during construction and to facilitate more effective erosion and sediment control measures.” “The purpose of that is building three is placed on the trap that serves to treat the sediment from the areas where [buildings] two and three are being built,” said city engineer Jack Dawson. CRHA officials maintain that because of supply issues, they need to construct all three buildings at once in order to lock in costs. On the day of the Commission’s discussion, CRHA’s engineers suggested that a combination of enhanced silt fences and placement of mulch to slow the flow of stormwater runoff that would go to Pollocks Branch, which flows into Moores Creek, which flows into the Rivanna River. “That’s mostly not acceptable for this type of application and there are sort of some further concerns I have with that as well,” Dawson said. After spending a few minutes detailing what he felt was problematic about the plan, Dawson reached a conclusion, though he said he understood the importance of this project. “It’s going to be difficult to ensure that what’s done here is actually enforceable and carried out,” Dawson said. “There’s been significant problems on the site so far with conforming with the erosion and sediment control scheme.”City Attorney Lisa Robertson said the critical slopes waiver process happens at the legislative level, sometimes long before a site plan will be submitted.  “So the situation you wind up with is that you vote on these things and you adopt conditions such as let’s sequence the buildings to make sure we provide extra protections for the critical slopes areas and minimize disturbance and then you find out when you get closer to construction through the process of doing the erosion and sediment control plan that certain things can or can’t be done with that,” Robertson said. Robertson said if the Commission granted the waiver, CRHA and city staff would still have to work to ensure the plan complies with Virginia’s erosion and sediment control regulations. “What you really need to decide tonight is whether or not you’re going to get rid of the construction sequencing condition and whether or not you need to get rid of any other conditions,” Robertson said.Robertson suggested this is one area to review as the zoning code is updated. Ashley Davies of Riverbend Development led the CRHA’s presentation. The request is centered on a need to build all three buildings are materials are found due to supply chain issues related to the availability of lumber during the pandemic.“We certainly don’t have any ill intent and we are just as committed to protecting Pollocks Branch as anyone else,” Davies said.Davies said the disturbance of slopes has all occurred and stabilization methods are in place, but the condition on phasing does not work in order to meet the project schedule. “We’ve also think I spent a lot of time working with staff to try and make adaptations on site as we’ve discovered issues but basically what we found is that staff is like, ‘well, we can’t make any of these recent adaptations because this was a Planning Commission and City Council condition’ so it doesn’t really allow the [erosion and sediment process] to adapt or be amended with staff,” Davies said. Davies said she did not feel Pollocks Branch would be in any danger of environmental harm. Scott Collins, a civil engineer working on the project, said the sediment trap would still be in place during construction. “We are still achieving 100 percent stabilization on the site from the parking lot up,” Collins said. “For everything that would go to that sediment trap, before we remove that sediment trap we are stabilizing that per Virginia stormwater and erosion and sediment control standards.”  Dawson said in a recent site visit, he saw sediment being discharged into Pollocks Branch and that construction was outside of the limits of disturbance outlined in the plan. Dawson also said he chose not to take immediate action.“We certainly could have issued a stop work order immediately,” Dawson said. “That’s not what we did.The Commission voted unanimously to recommend dropping the waiver. It will next move on to City Council. Thanks for reading! Please send it on to someone else, or leave a comment. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

The biggest story in land use in Charlottesville this year continues to be generated by the Cville Plans Together Initiative, an effort by a consultant hired by City Council to update the Comprehensive Plan and produce a new zoning ordinance to encourage and implement the creation of additional housing units. Council adopted a new affordable housing plan in March. That was the first item the firm Rhodeside & Harwell was tasked to complete. In this installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, the sole item is a rundown of the Charlottesville Planning Commission’s June 29, 2021 work session on the plan. (download the presentation to follow along)*Support for this program comes from the quarter of the audience that has opted to make a financial contribution. My company is called Town Crier Productions, and the idea is to continue making podcasts and newsletters about the community, continuing on my career doing nuts and bolts journalism about how things work. Or don’t work! I do know my work proceeds better if I can pay my bills, so do consider subscribing through Substack or becoming a contributor through Patreon. If you go the Substack route, Ting will match your contribution. And if you have already, or you can’t do so? Please let your friends, family, and co-workers know about the program and let’s grow the audience together!The Cville Plans Together era of the update of Charlottesville’s Comprehensive Plan has been underway now since January 2020. Community engagement plans suffered when the pandemic struck America two months later, forcing public input sessions to be virtual. Despite that, the City Council adopted an affordable housing plan in March, and the initiative held a six-week public input process which concluded on June 13. On June 29, Cville Plans Together held another virtual work session with the Charlottesville Planning Commission to go through what they learned. But that work session began with an introduction from the newest member of the seven-member advisory group. Let’s hear from him.“Hi everyone! My name is Karim Habbab and I’m honored to be part of the Planning Commission. I moved to Charlottesville in 2011 as a UVA student and graduated from the architecture school there in 2015 and started working with BRW Architects in town. It’s been six years with them and I’m excited to join this Commission at an exciting time.”Habbab is the latest Planning Commissioner to join the process while it is underway. Liz Russell joined the Commission last September to replace a vacancy around the time the initiative was in its second round of community engagement. There are only two Commissioners remaining from when the review began in January 2017. Jennifer Koch of the firm Rhodeside & Harwell is the project manager for Cville Plans Together. “This was our third engagement period for Cville Plans Together, but we’re building on earlier work completed by the Planning Commission from 2017 and 2018 with this Comprehensive Plan update process,” Koch said. There were multiple ways to communicate, including an online survey, direct correspondence with the engagement team, and the ability to leave comments on an interactive version of the Future Land Use Map. More on that in a moment.For the first time in the Cville Plans Together era, the receding of the pandemic meant there could be some in-person events in this third period.“We held six pop-up events over two weekends, mostly between May 14 and May 16 and we had a lot of face-to-face conversation at these events,” Koch said. There were also two webinars during the public engagement session. A meeting with interested neighborhoods was held on May 18 and the project’s steering committee met on May 19. (read an article about the latter)More than 400 people responded in an online survey but the majority of comments were made via direct correspondence“We received about 1,130 emails,” Koch said. “This is a lot of email comments and that’s great. It’s a lot more than we received in previous phases.”This is a slide from the June 29 work session. Numbers may change as the consultants continue to go through the information. Koch said the Charlottesville Low Income Housing Coalition led a campaign that generated about 500 of that number through June 13. A new group skeptical of the plan called Citizens for Responsible Planning sent in a petition with about 400 signatures, but that number is not reflected in the count. There were over 700 comments from about 225 individuals on the interactive map, and around 430 responses to the survey. A full engagement summary is coming at a later date, so for now I’ll refer you to the slides for the preliminary breakdown. Another slide from the work session. Did you submit a comment?There were also specific comments on the draft housing chapter of the Comprehensive Plan.  “A lot of the revisions we made in the housing chapter were focused on pulling in those recommendations from the affordable housing plan,” Koch said. “Sort of the main theme we heard about this chapter was a general support for increasing housing density or intensity, but then similar to the land use piece we heard some concerns about what that potential increase in density or intensity might mean, particularly related to community character.”Ron Sessoms of Rhodeside & Harwell went through some of the feedback. He noted some of the feedback from the campaign by the Charlottesville Low Income Housing Coalition.“There were concerns about displacement particularly among Black and low income residents throughout the city,” Sessoms said. “There was a desire for more density in historically exclusionary white communities. We received some comments that this Future Land Use Map wasn’t going far enough.”Sessoms said there was also a push from this campaign to increase the number of units allowed per lot from three as depicted in the current draft to four or five. Critiques of the plan were also received.“There were concerns around transportation and infrastructure, particularly considering the increase in density,” Sessoms said. “There were quite a bit of concerns about developer intentions in implementation. Citizens are very skeptical of developers so there were concerns about whether or not with the increase in density and whether or not developers would take advantage of that and have negative impact to the community.” Sessoms said there are also concerns about height in many of the newly created land use designations. He also said the feedback gives geographic data on areas that are not as sold on the plan.“Neighborhoods that are proposed to be experiencing the most change had the most negative feedback so communities like Barracks/Rugby, Greenbriar, Lewis Mountain, north of downtown, Rugby Hills, those communities did have more negative sentiment around the future land use map,” Sessoms said. Another theme in the survey demonstrates that how one feels about the Future Land Use Map depends on one’s financial relationship to where they live.“Looking at homeowner versus renters, there was a higher degree of support for the Future Land Use Map from renters,” Sessoms said. “And less support from homeowners, again with homeowners citing concerns around property values, community character, and other concerns that directly impact the places that they live and they own. And renters see this as an opportunity to diversify where they can live in the city. Perhaps there are more opportunities to rent in communities and neighborhoods that were traditionally out of reach.” Planning Commission Chair Hosea Mitchell opened it up to public comment before the seven Commissioners were allowed to give their thoughts. Let’s just hear two at the moment before hearing Maddy Green, a new appointee of the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s Board of Commissioners, wanted the Commission to know where comments critical of the draft map came from. “Just noting that they came from a lot of communities that were exclusionarily zoned and had racial covenants in the houses and I think that we can see that residents are still advocating for those same policies and quite frankly they are racist policies in Charlottesville,” Green said. “Saying you don’t want affordable housing in your back yard or any kind of density is effectively saying you don’t want people who make less money in your backyard.”As part of the engagement process, eleven neighborhood associations submitted a petition with over 400 signatures asking for the planning process to be slowed down. One of those associations was Johnson Village, where Kevin Hildebrand lives.“It has gotten very expensive in the last few years as house prices have gone up but most of the single-family houses are still there and they are a vehicle for wealth development for families who have invested there and I think the idea of transitioning most of the city to apartments in multifamily dwellings where people don’t have the ability to improve themselves through home ownership is short-sightedness on the part of the city,” Hildebrand said. Comments went back and forth on this line for a while before it went back to the Commission for questions and comments . They will be asked to recommend or not recommend the plan at a future public hearing. They first had the chance to ask questions. Later on we’ll hear their direct input. Liz Russell went first and she had a question based on what one of the speakers had asked about the relationship between density and affordability. “One thing I heard was questioning, one resident was questioning of upzoning that has occurred in places like Minneapolis and I think Chicago,” Russell said. “My understanding was that it’s sort of too soon to say but it sounds like there’s sine other reports out there and I’m wondering if the consultants could provide any insight.”Jennifer Koch said the results are not yet in. “In several of those locations I think some of those changes were done quite recently which does make it difficult to say as you mention,” Koch said.  Lee Einsweiler of the firm Code Studio will be taking the lead on rewriting the zoning code. He agreed with Koch’s assessment. “I’m afraid that I have to agree with you,” Einsweiler said. “We don’t have a lot of information right now that points to any one given solution being the answer to this question but all of the ideas that are being presented begin to tackle the same problem. If you don’t have to have a car you can save $8,000 a year on average. If you can live in a smaller home, you’re paying less for your total square footage.”On the same, Commissioner Taneia Dowell wanted a direct response to a related question. “It was mentioned tonight during public comment and also as I’ve spoken to all different residents throughout the city is that I’m finding that our residents are feeling that the increased density and intensity that has been proposed is not actually going to solve our affordable housing crisis,” Dowell said. “What is your response for our constituents?”Koch said that land use policy alone will not be the solution.“I think it is great people are recognizing that and flagging that, but we’re trying to use lan d use potentially allowing for increased intensities or some mix of uses that will need to be paired with financial support and initiatives and other support in other ways from the city,” Koch said. The director of the city’s Department of Neighborhood Development Services agreed with that sentiment. “Land use is just a piece of the pie,” said Alex Ikefuna. “I’m encouraging the public to go out and read the draft affordable housing plan which is on the website. It spells out several recommendations, one of which is land use. Land use is just one of the few recommendations.”  (read the Affordable Housing Plan)The executive summary of the 158-page states that other recommendations are the designation of $10 million in city tax-payer funds to affordable housing projects each year and making the process more inclusive. The third major recommendation is devoted to land use under the name “Adopt Progressive and Inclusionary Zoning Reforms.”Recommendations in the affordable housing plan’s executive summary (read the plan) Representation in responses? One of the reasons a previous Council voted in February 2019 to spend nearly a million on the Cville Plans Together initiative was a lack of involvement with Black residents of Charlottesville. As part of the presentation for the June 29 work session, the consultants broke down previous efforts for the entire Comprehensive Plan review so far since the first public input session in May 2017. At several events that month, 156 people signed in and 65.71 percent identified as white and 34.29 percent identified as Black. In a survey conducted in September and October 2018, there were 1,182 responses. Nearly three quarters identified as white and 15.84 percent identified as Black. The first community engagement phase of the Cville Plans Together initiative continued a trend toward less participation among Black residents. A survey conducted online in May and June 2020 yielded 1,172 responses. Sixty-three percent identified as white, 11 percent identified as Black, six percent preferred not to answer and another 12 percent left the question blank. An online survey conducted in November and December last year had much fewer participants with 274 responses and over a third left the box for race and ethnicity blank. 108 of the respondents said they were white and 44 said they were Black. In the current survey, sixty-six of 430 survey respondents identified themselves as white and 24 percent left the item blank. Only 2.3 percent identified as Black. This raised a question from one Planning Commissioner. “A big concern from 2017 was diverse representations especially for Black and low-income representation,” Solla-Yates said. “What do we do?” LaToya Thomas of sub-contractor Brick and Story said there was a lot of skepticism in the community built up over decades. “I think particularly among the Black residents that we have spoken with, there’s a lot of skepticism around the public process over all,” Thomas said. “There’s a lot of skepticism around the city and obviously a very long time frustration for what many folks feel is a system that’s set up to not serve them adequately.”Thomas said the pandemic made it difficult to do many of the community engagement activities that had been planned.  Demographic information from the latest round of the online surveys put out by the Cville Plans Together initiative When it was his turn, Commissioner Jody Lahendro noted that the Future Land Use Map depicted some areas currently designated as “low intensity residential” to the “medium intensity residential” category which would allow up to eight to 12 units per lot with building heights of up to four stories. In his question, he quoted the provision in Virginia code that requires Planning Commissions to prepare and adopt Comprehensive Plans. (read the code)“For me as a design professional, this seems like a drastic change that’s a conflict,” Lahendro said. “Please help me understand as professional planners how this represents as the code of Virginia says ‘a Comprehensive Plan that’s ‘a coordinated, adjusted, and harmonious development’ based on good land use practices.”Koch said the goal is to increase housing stock based on public input.“We have heard an urge to have additional housing types allowed or available to people in some neighborhoods where they have not been available,” Koch said. “The way we have decided to show it is along corridors because we feel that can help to facilitate transit-oriented growth where we are potentially allowing additional density that could also help to facilitate other infrastructure improvements that may be needed to go with that.” The corridor approach expands on the last major rezoning in 2003 which created specific zoning districts such as West Main Street, Cherry Avenue, High Street, and more. This followed the 2001 Comprehensive Plan, which frequently refers to a 2000 study called the Commercial Corridor Study. (read about this study on cvillepedia)Map from the 2000 Commercial Corridor Study that depicts the areas of study. Some such as West Main became specific zoning districts. Sessoms said the details will come as detailed work on the zoning takes place. “In the future land use map, it’s very general and we have ranges in heights of up to four stories, up to 12 units per lot, and that allows this greater flexibility to define more specific zoning districts in the zoning phase,” Sessoms said. “It certainly would not appropriate to have four stories in every location that we show in medium-intensity residential because it would be out of character, out of scale and just not befitting.” Lahendro also asked what tools were in place to prevent displacement and further development in Black and low-income communities. Koch said there are tools identified in the affordable housing plan.“You know, providing tax abatement, or support for owner-occupied rehabilitation, support for people who may want to add an [affordable dwelling unit],” Koch said. Koch said that allowing density in other sections of the city could assist with the issue as well. Meanwhile, it is instructive to note that many properties in those neighborhoods continue to sell to owners with the ability to pay large amounts of money for the existing single family homes that are currently there. Here are some recent examples. A home in the 300 block of 5th Street SW in Fifeville sold on May 28 for $520,000, which is 32.35 percent over this year’s assessment. A home in the 800 block of Anderson Street in the 10th and Page neighborhood sold for $575,000, which is 75.73 percent over the 2021 assessment of $327,200. In the Rose Hill neighborhood, a home in the 900 block of Henry Avenue sold for $255,000, or 82.8 percent over the 2021 assessment. Commissioners weigh inCommissioner Liz Russell wanted more information on the possibility of an affordable housing overlay district, something that will be discussed at the July 13 meeting of the Planning Commission. “I have concern that density for density’s sake will not result in what we are trying to achieve but that something like an affordable housing overlay could tip the scales in favor of affordable housing,” Russell said. Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg pushed back on comments from the Lewis Mountain neighborhood about additional residential density that would be allowed under the middle intensity residential category.“To me I think that a 12-unit apartment building or a six-plex or an eight-plex is small enough that it doesn’t really have any super appreciable adverse impacts on the neighborhood and an apartment building, a small apartment, is not going to hurt you,” Stolzenberg said. “And as well there are some concerns about physical constraints on lots. We have site plan review processes that will ensure there’s adequate infrastructure, sewer, and water.”Commissioner Dowell returned to the theme of protecting Black neighborhoods from further investment from outsiders. “We do not want them to be gentrified out of the neighborhood and we also know to make sure that we reiterate time and time again that homeownership does create generational wealth,” Dowell said. Commissioner Lyle Solla-Yates brought up a transportation matter.“A major concern that I’m seeing from very high income people is traffic,” said Solla-Yates. “They live in their cars. They think most people live in their cars and for many they’re right. They are skeptical that we are going to make a transition and based on our past, they’ve got a good argument.”A lot of the conversation was influenced by an alternate Future Land Use Map that has been put forward by members of the Housing Advisory Committee outside of the formal public comment period that closed on June 13. The idea was discussed at the June 16 HAC meeting. (watch the meeting)Here’s a brief overview: Much of Fifeville, 10th and Page, and Rose Hill neighborhoods would be designated as a “low intensity residential” category with “a range of housing types scaled in context with the existing single-family character.” The idea would be to preserve homes in the center of the city in neighborhoods historically populated by low-income housing. The proposed medium-intensity residential designation would apply to every single residential district across the city if a certain amount of below-market units are provided by the developer.High-intensity residential would be allowed in more site-specific areas, if a yet-to-be-determined number of below-market units are provided. Commission Chair Hosea Mitchell had positive thoughts about the idea, which will be discussed by the Planning Commission at the end of their meeting on Tuesday, July 13. “The ability to protect the low-income communities but be a little more thoughtful in the way we increase density in places like Greenbrier and Lewis Mountain,” Mitchell said. Mitchell also said he supports efforts to work with other communities in the Planning District. The Central Virginia Regional Housing Partnership has a draft plan called Planning for Affordability that is going through the approval process. (read the plan) The meeting concluded with over an hour of additional public comment. To finally get this newsletter out, I’m going to skim through this for now. There will also be more opportunities for public comment as the plan continues to move through the various public hearing processes. If you want to watch the public comment from the June 29 work session, here’s the link to do so. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

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At the age of 22 Victoria's Australian of the Year, Donna Stolzenberg was homeless with two young children. Today she runs nine charities for people affected by homelessness, domestic violence and social disadvantage. She talks about the conversation that changed her life.

On March 30, 2021, the Charlottesville Planning Commission once again took up discussion of a map which is intended to signal to property owners and the public what uses are desired for specific properties across the city’s 10.3 square miles. The firm Rhodeside & Harwell unveiled a draft of what is known as the Future Land Use Map in the same month that Charlottesville City Council endorsed an affordable housing strategy they put together that is intended in part to find more locations to build new units to increase the overall housing stock. “This is where the conversation will get more difficult,” said Jennifer Koch of Rhodeside & Harwell. “We know this is a first draft and there’s going to be refinements and revisions as we move forward.” Commissioners clashed in 2018 over a previous version of the map. Some commissioners insisted on designating more land for intense residential use. Others wanted a more gradual approach.  All materials for the March 30, 2021 meeting are available here. The March 30, 2021 presentation was led by Ron Sessoms, a Rhodeside & Harwell veteran who previously worked on the West Main Streetscape project. One change from the 2018 draft future land use map is that colors correspond to specific parcels, rather than a gradient that had been used. “The parcel-based approach is very similar to what was developed in 2013 when you had crisp lines between different land uses based on parcels,” Sessoms said. “The land use gradient approach would be more of a fuzzy boundary. There’s not hard edges. It wouldn’t be defined by parcels themselves, but it allows flexibility in the future because the lines are not as crisp as a parcel-based map.” Sessoms said RHI is recommending a parcel-based approach because that will more clearly inform the rewriting of the zoning code, which is the next step in the Cville Plans Together initiative. He also said a gradient-approach would involve less certainty for developers. Individual land use decisions in Virginia most always take the Comprehensive Plan into account, but its guidance is not legally binding. All materials for the March 30, 2021 meeting are available here. Sessoms said changes in this map have been with nine principles in mind. The first is to build upon recent studies and the recently endorsed affordable housing plan. “We’re providing more housing opportunities including affordable housing and we’re including those areas where people want to live,” Sessoms said. “This would be places near parks, schools, transit, city services, and employment centers.” Sessoms said an emphasis is placed on the need to provide a variety of different housing types. One of the equity considerations that is being taken into account is to increase “the availability of housing in single-family neighborhoods that have historically had exclusionary zoning, while minimizing community disruption and displacement pressures in low-income neighborhoods.” “We’ve heard a lot about how we can begin to provide equitable housing distribution throughout the city and doing that through introducing a variety of housing types in different areas of the city who historically have not included that type of approach,” Sessoms said. However, Sessoms cautioned against seeing the future land use map as the only way to accomplish these goals. And already locations of various nodes have been shifted around the draft map from February to March. They will further shift as the map is discussed by more people.“This is the first draft of the land use map,” Koch said “We know there are going to things that need to be adjusted.” One note from the Planning Commission was for the consultant to use actual images of Charlottesville rather than examples from elsewhere.The most intense use shown on the map is dark purple for downtown core. Sessoms said that building heights in this area could be as high as 10 stories to match the Landmark skeleton. He said that future development should include residential uses to offer people the chance to live there. Commissioner Jody Lahendro noted that the downtown core is also covered by the downtown historic and architectural district. He said the Landmark is anomaly in the historic district. “What is there in here that references the historic districts and their coordinated overlays for your intense urban mix and residential and commercial uses?” Lahendro asked. “There are opportunities provided by those historic districts that if they are delisted due to inappropriate development, it takes away economic opportunities for landowners in those districts.” Sessoms said the map takes a high level approach to the city’s land uses, but would incorporate existing districts. “With the building heights, we do say range up to 10,” Sessoms said. “We note there is always a ten story building in downtown and we will have to have architectural control over for these new developments that will control the character and scale of these buildings.” What buildings from Charlottesville be used in the next update of these slides? But the city is more than downtown. The second most intense node in the draft map is “urban-mixed use” which is being used in the Strategic Investment Area (SIA) as well as the U.S. 29 / Emmet corridor. Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg said he thought one of these two areas might have been painted too broadly.“I feel like this is a little bit too aggressive in places to go with the entire SIA for example,” Stolzenberg said. Stolzenberg added that much of the SIA is built out as low-density and that a smaller designation there might be more appropriate. “I think in the SIA plan, it’s a little bit more nuanced than that,” Stolzenberg said. “It really sees the redevelopment being focused in the big grayfield areas sites like Ix and then stepping down from there.” Stolzenberg said other areas should receive this urban mixed-designation such as the area around the former Martha Jefferson Hospital which has been redeveloped as a mixed-use site. He also suggested the site of a scrapyard on Carlton Avenue would also be appropriate.“So put as much density into there as we can in order to help alleviate the pressure on the rest of the city,” Stolzenberg said. Stolzenberg said he thought the city should designate the Vinegar Hill Shopping Center and the City Yard as a more intense use. “The Starr Hill Vision Plan that recently passed calls for that to be the most intensely developed part of that area,” Stolzenberg said. Earlier this month, the City Council added that plan as an appendix to the city’s 2013 Comprehensive Plan. The draft map currently insteads shows the City Yard as “neighborhood mixed use node” which calls for buildings up to four stories. “Four stories because we don’t want to get too high where it becomes out of context with these finer-grain residential communities that surround many of these areas,” Sessoms said.    Other mixed-use nodes designated on the draft land use map include the Fry’s Spring Beach Club, the intersection of Grove Road and Melbourne Road, and Market Street/Carlton Road east of Meade Avenue. The recommended heights for both neighborhood mixed use corridor and neighborhood mixed use node are four stories. Commissioner Lyle Solla-Yates said that four stories is not enough in these areas.“Some of these should be way over four stories,” Solla-Yates said. “Some of them probably under four stories. When we talked about this in 2018, we said five stories as sort of… frankly it’s all arbitrary and it doesn’t make much sense.”Sessoms said one factor limiting heights in buildings is the need to provide parking to people who live there.“The higher you go, the more surface parking you get,” Sessoms said. “So if we start going up to five stories, even four, four stories, with that residential or office component, and the commercial on the ground floor, you’re going to need a lot of parking.” Koch said requirements for parking will come up later in the Comprehensive Plan and zoning re-write. “The other thing we will be considering these nodes and these corridors is that I think as we’ve said before is how we can provide multimodal access to all of these and along them,” Koch said.Solla-Yates still wanted the heights to be at least five stories for the neighborhood areas. “I’m asking why none of them could be five stories,” Solla-Yates said. “What is the public harm?”Sessoms said there is no public harm, but that there are other considerations to take into account. One of them is thoughts from people who would live nearby. “We can look at maybe some areas where it may be appropriate to go up to five stories, particularly looking at some of these areas where we have wider parcels that could have more of that potential,” Sessoms said. “We also take into consideration shading and buildings adjacent to residential areas. I remember when we did the future land use framework for West Main Street, there was a lot of concern from the community about looming buildings next to adjacent residential areas. So when we start to suggest these lower heights in the fabric of these communities, we want to be careful how tall we get.” The 2001 Comprehensive Plan began the process of prioritizing corridors for more intense development. You can read the page for the 2001 plan on cvillepedia. Planning never really ends and this draft Future Land Use Map incorporates smaller plans that have been adopted, as well as ones underway such as the Urban Rivanna River Corridor plan which is being shepherded by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District. Reviewing the draft map and a little bit of research reveals all kinds of plans for specific neighborhoods.As stated earlier by Sessoms, the goal of this future land use map is to encourage the production of more housing. Let’s review the definition of “missing middle” housing, which is one of the purposes of the “medium-intensity residential” category. “These are beginning to encompass many of those missing middle housing types including row houses, townhouses, multi-unit buildings, small house size multi-unit buildings that are compatible with low-intensity neighborhoods,” Sessoms said. “The height of these range up to two and a half stories. That is a residential scale so that they fit.” How would you describe where you live? Under the draft map, the low-intensity residential category would also include more density through duplexes, triplexes, and accessory dwelling units. The map will be revised following input from the Planning Commission before a round of community input begins in April. Commissioner Liz Russell, appointed last September, expressed the concern that higher heights would encourage tear-downs of existing units. “We need to say that unless a neighborhood has an existing historic district overlay… it’s going to be ripe for tear-downs to build density and not result in affordability,” Russell said. At the meeting, Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg sent around a map which depicted the city by assessed property value. He said many of the wealthiest areas in the city are being depicted as low-intensity residential. He suggested that should change.“All of those bright red areas in north downtown in particular which is so close to all of the jobs and amenities, and in the Rugby Hills areas and to a little less extent Lewis Mountain, those are all kept as low-density residential in this new map and I think in particular for North Downtown, that really needs to go a lot more of it in a lot higher,” Stolzenberg said. Stolzenberg provided this map of assessed properties in Charlottesville to illustrate a spoint (Source: Rory Stolzenberg) Commission Chair Hosea Mitchell said many Black households live in neighborhoods that are zoned for single-family residential. He warned of unintended consequences.“So as you guys begin to think about increasing our density, just remember that you need to also bring equity into the equation and think about how much of the Black community in certain parts of the city are living in R-1 areas, and we to make sure we protect [them],” Mitchell said. Next stepsKoch and Sessoms said they would take the feedback from Commissioners and will revise the draft land use map once more. The next step will be to begin another round of community input by the end of March. But the beginning of that process began at the tail end of the March 30 meeting with comments from the public. Cecilia Mills of the Locust Grove neighborhood said many of the people in her aeighborhood are shocked at being designated as middle-intensity core.“I know that the consultants are doing their best but there still needs to be better outreach so people know this is coming,” Mills said.  Andrea Massey, a representative of the Charlottesville Low Income Housing Coalition, said the draft map did not go far enough to address what the organization describes as racist zoning practices. “We need you to go further,” Massey said. “The map right now looking at side by side looks almost exactly the same as it has for decades following the same segregationist lines that were intentionally drawn.” Thank you for reading. This summary first goes to paid subscribers of Charlottesville Community Engagement and will be posted publicly on April 14. This is a public episode. 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Welcome to a somewhat irregular installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement that brings you a condensed version of a Planning Commission meeting where the full weight of a neighborhood was brought out to oppose a multifamily development next door. I’m your host Sean Tubbs, and the intent of this episode is to document what happened. We’ll be back to the regular format next time, but when I first started doing podcasts in 2005, I wanted to capture conversations in the public realm. This one seemed important to spend time on.The area within yellow is the site of the proposed development On March 2, 2021, the Albemarle County Planning Commission was just moments away from recommending denial of a rezoning of nearly 20 acres of land on U.S. 29 to make way for 370 housing units. The land is currently zoned for single-family residential and the county’s Comprehensive Plan designates future uses could have a residential density of between 6 and 36 units per acre. The proposal from RST development came in just under 20 units per acre.  At the end of the meeting, Attorney Valerie Long asked to defer a vote in order to give RST Development time to make adjustments after the Forest Lakes Community Association mounted a campaign to stop the development. According to their November 2020 newsletter, a portion of a proposed increase in homeowners association fees for Forest Lakes residents was used to hire a consultant to conduct an “independent, professional review” of the proposal. Many of these materials are available on the FLCA website. At the same time, Albemarle County is updating its affordable housing policy with a public hearing on the draft plan set for March 17 before the Board of Supervisors. Plans are one thing, but the actual ability for Albemarle to meet its housing goals depends on specific applications being approved. Before we begin, let me let you know what you’re about to read or hear is an edited portion of the meeting. You can watch the whole thing on the county’s YouTube page. You can also take a look at the staff report on the county’s website. Staff had recommended denial of the project at this time. Every land use application contains a recommendation from staffWhat you won’t find in that staff report are new details about provisions and subsidies that would have kept the rental prices below market-rate.  The federal definition of “affordable” is that rents would be no more than 30 percent of the occupants household income, based on a metric known as the Area Median Income (AMI). On the day of the hearing, I asked attorney Valerie Long for more details about the affordability and got them. “The Owner will commit to: at least 75% of the apartment units will be affordable to those making between 30% and 80% AMI, with an average of 60% AMI, for 30 years.“The project proposes 254 apartment units. 75% of 254 apartments is 190 units“In addition, it is our hope that the 108 for-sale townhouse units proposed will be affordable to those making 80% AMI.”In her email, Long acknowledged staff had not yet received the material. Now, let’s get to the tape from Tuesday night. Following a brief staff report from planner Andy Reitelbach, an official with RST Development explained the intent was to provide housing to people with a wide range of incomes.  “The opportunities that we’re creating for ourselves with this wide range does provide for that opportunity with teachers and firefighters and first responders,” said Scott Copeland of RST Development. Affordability came up several times during the two-hour public hearing, but the tenor of the discussion was set by a nearly 90 minute presentation where different representatives from the Forest Lakes Community took turns reading from a prepared script. They were led by Scott Elliff, the treasurer of the Forest Lakes Community Association. In all, six out of seven of the FLCA’s Board of Directors would speak. Elliff has previously led campaigns against interconnectivity with other neighborhoods. In 2016, the neighborhood was successful in preventing a trailhead from being built as part of the Brookhill neighborhood which was approved by the Board of Supervisors that November. However, the neighborhood was not successful in stopping a road connection that leads north from Brookhill onto Ashwood Boulevard. (April 2015 story) (August 2016 story) (October 2016 story)Elliff kicked off a long string of comments from Forest Lakes residents who all took turns reading from a slideshow supplied to the county in advance. “We have a lot of ground to cover because there are so many issues regarding this proposal that we have,” Elliff said. “It’s deficient  and unacceptable in numerous different areas and you’re going to see that in great detail.” At first, the county struggled to display the presentation provided by the FLCA and a brief break was taken to address technical errors. Carolyn Shaffer runs the meetings for the county.“Can you go ahead and get started on what you are talking about? All of the commissioners have seen…” Shaffer said. “We’re all going to want to use the visuals that we created specifically for this, of course,“ Ellif said. “Many of our comments relate very specifically to the charts and analysis and examples that we’ve created just specifically for this tonight.” The visual presentation was highly coordinated and stage managed by Elliff. “In introducing each person, we have a page with their name on it so you don’t need to use the other name stuff,” Elliff said. “I set that up so you could just roll through this presentation, kind of fully contained.” “I still have to do the three-minute timer,” Shaffer said. “Of course, and our people all know that as well,” Elliff said.  Before we go further, let’s review the rules of procedure for the Planning Commission. Especially two lines which are worth noting here.Each other person speaking on a matter shall be allowed one appearance not to exceed three minutes. A speaker may not reserve any time for rebuttal or transfer any time to another speaker. After several minutes of getting the presentation to be visible, the clock started. Elliff was the first of 27 speakers who were part of the presentation. He was also the 7th and the 14th. “Our HOA Board presidents will speak and you have a number of volunteer residents who are going to talk about very specific topics and have done a bunch of research,” Elliff said. “We’re going to have charts and analyses and examples and all kinds of things including a couple of areas where we actually contracted our HOA for outside professional support just for this meeting.”  Elliff said the FLCA acknowledges the parcel is in the county’s growth area, but that the current proposal was out of scale. He said the new affordability provisions had no effect on the FLCA’s opposition to the project. He spoke for nearly four minutes before Shaffer cut him off. “This is going to create just a tremendous amount of traffic potentially between Brookhill and…”“Because there are so many speakers I have to stop you,” Shaffer said.“Yes, thank you, so, happy to go on,” Elliff said. Speaker after speaker explained how they felt this development would hurt their community.“The 350 additional new housing units at this time I think is simply too much and too soon,” said Mike Turbidy, a member of the FLCA Board of Directors. “I would be looking at those big, quite frankly ugly buildings,” said Sheila Katz. Katz read aloud from comments made from those who signed the petition against the development. “Traffic is going to be backed up actually to my development. I don’t know how I’m going to get out in the morning. This is a poorly designed ugly and excessive development that benefits no one except for a handful of opportunists ignoring what is best for our special community.” Helen Marie Field also read from other comments from the petition. “I am very passionate about my opposition to this proposed development,” said Helen Marie Field. “I grew up in Northern Virginia specifically Vienna and I have watched the terrible over development over the years. After graduating from UVA, I stayed in Charlottesville specifically because of its charm and the character of Albemarle County but this is being threatened more and more each year.” Cat Smith called the current proposal “heavy-handed and ham-fisted.” “We used a balloon and raised it up to the height of the buildings as the developers have indicated they would be and you can just barely see it there on that slide on fullscreen but it is well above what is an 8-foot wide privacy fence which is directly behind some of the homes in Cricklewood Court,” said Cat Smith. The next speaker was George Pearsall but he had difficulties being heard, so Scott Elliff was given the chance to take his turn to keep the slide presentation running on track.“Scott, would you like to take George’s comments, since we can’t hear him?” Shaffer asked. “Sure, I can do that,” Elliff said. “It’s just two pages.”“Your time starts now,” Shaffer said.“He’s the president of the HOA Ashland,” Elliff said. “George’s point primarily is that the scale of this just as Cat mentioned beforehand is overwhelming and huge compared to the one story residential townhouses that are in this area.” Elena DeLisoe objected to the density and asked that the development include more open space.“Green space is important for people’s physical and mental wellness,” DeLisoe said. “A less crowded environment results in a better community, reducing the potential for conflicts related to disputes over noise, parking spaces, traffic, snow removal, pets, and other situations created by packing more people into smaller areas.” One of the consultants hired for the project is also a resident of Forest Lakes.“FLCA hired us to do a visualization and analysis of the proposed development,” said Vlad Gavrilovic of EPR PC. “We were all also asked to do a professional assessment of the proposed plan and there are some concerns we found from the plan and where it deviated from what I call professional best practices.”Gavrilovic said EPR PC rewrote the plans and found that a maximum of 200 units were all that would fit on the property. “We think that’s a much more reasonable yield for the property using professional design standards,” Gavrilovic said. Forest Lakes resident Alice Keys compared the proposal to the Places29 Master Plan.“This proposed development may meet the density required in the Comprehensive and Places29 Master Plan, but it does not respect the scale and character of the existing surrounding neighborhood,” Keys said.   Lifelong Albemarle resident Paul Merrell said he was one of the first to move into Forest Lakes back in 1993.“The proposed development is definitely not similar to this neighborhood or the livability,” Merrell said. “It is instead an example of urban sprawl not in character with the neighborhood that we have now.” Merrell acknowledged that growth is going to occur. He said there were other locations for affordable housing in Albemarle and Charlottesville. “It only really benefits the developers’ profit and outcomes from this development,” Merrell said.Sue Friedman recently concluded ten years on the FLCA Board, and was just appointed to the Places29-North Community Advisory Committee. She raised concerns over equity. The development as proposed requires special exceptions, which are common in the land use application process. “What is the trade-off in harming an existing development, Forest Lakes, versus giving a developer concessions?” Friedman asked. “What is the expense that we’re willing to have those who are already live here bear for this new development, particularly looking at the traffic and the aesthetics open scale? So in terms of how the county and the planning process addresses equity. Those who are here, we in Forest Lakes, do we deserve to be harmed? Do we deserve to have challenges and expenses to benefit a new development?”Source: Traffic Impact AnalysisThe next scheduled speaker was not available, so Elliff was given another chance to read someone else’s remarks. “Next we have, it was supposed to be Bob Jones but Scott is going to speak again because Bob was not able to make the meeting,” Shaffer said. Elliff proceeded to speak about the traffic study the FLCA commissioned from EPR to challenge the traffic study RST had developed. He said the developer’s study did not factor in new development in the Brookhill community under construction to the south. “We actually asked the developer to run an alternate scenario for us just so we could understand the potential and they frankly declined to do that specifically, so we spent our own good money to contract it,” Elliff said. “Same model, just some different inputs. Next slide please.”At this point, Elliff is the 14th speaker reading from the same presentation. The 15th consecutive speaker is Jane Keathey, another member of the FLCA Board.  “I feel like this RST development as planned is a poor fit for the space at that intersection,” Keathley said. “There are too many planned units and it will not be able to be adequately accommodated by the local surroundings as we’ve been describing here this evening.” “Could I have the first slide?” asked Paula Grazzini as she took her turn in the coordinated presentation. She said the Planning Commission needed to take into consideration the additional traffic that will come from the Brookhill development as units are occupied by new residents. Grazzini detailed the EPR traffic study. “We feel that the majority of people living in those areas are going to choose Archer Avenue and Ashwood Boulevard as their morning rush hour route to reach 29 whether they’re going north or south,” Grazzini said. Bill McLaughlin, the 18th speaker, is another new member of the Places29-North Community Advisory Committee and sits on the board of directors of the Hollymead Citizens Association. He also said the density of the proposed development raised health concerns. “My concern is for the health of the people who will be living there in relation to the threat posed by airborne viruses similar to the one causing the current pandemic,” McLaughlin said. “As we are all well aware, the current pandemic has struck most heavily at essential workers who cannot work from home and often work closely with the public. And of course it is just these people who most often live in high-density housing.” Deborah Bremmer was the 20th speaker named to speak in the powerpoint. We are now 70 minutes into the presentation. “I’m concerned that if this development is approved that our overcrowded schools will become more overcrowded and our property values will be negatively affected,” Bremmer said. Speaker 21 was Tamera Hammond, who said approving the development would be against the spirit of the recently adopted Climate Action Plan. “One of the main themes of the Climate Action Plan is to protect our local natural environment,” Hammond said. “It also states that the plan is as much about the kind of place we want to live in here in Albemarle County as it is about reducing the community’s contributions to greenhouse gas emissions.” Dick Billings is another member of the FLCA Board and as the 22nd consecutive speaker, he showed a topographic overview of the property.“This represents first of all the highest ground in the local area so every bit of rainfall that hits this development has to run off to somewhere,” Billings said.Billings reminded the Planning Commission that the development of the Hollymead Town Center in the 2000’s resulted in stormwater that carried dirt and sediment into Lake Hollymead. “We don’t want to see that again,” Billings said. “What we would like to see is any plan going forward have a requirement for 100 percent remediation of any damage to the local area.” Gail Hayes does not live in the development, but her parents do. We’re now at 80 minutes into the presentation.“You’ll hear me echo some of what Vlad Gavrilovic, Tamera Hammond and Dick Billings said,” Hayes said. “The bottom line up front is that I believe the plan is not acceptable as it has been presented and should not be moved forward until substantial changes have been made.”The 24th speaker, Todd McGee, is a realtor who also sits on the FLCA Board.“Unfortunately this project would have a negative impact on the value of the homes that border the site,” McGee said. “The proposed development will have a negative impact on the value of any home that is directly adjacent to the site.”The 25th speaker was Donna Cameron who along with her husband chose Forest Lakes because of its amenities. “I’m here to address the intangible and unmeasurable human impact that this proposed development has upon the Forest Lakes residents,” Cameron said. “We knew that the area behind us was zoned residential and would someday be developed but we trusted in the integrity of the 29 Master Plan. We never dreamed that waivers, special exclusions, or expanded stepbacks would create austere, concrete high-rises that would breach our privacy, invade the dark skies, and potentially cause run off flooding.”The 26th speaker is Paul Moruza, the president of the Hollymead HOA. He said his neighborhood would also be affected by the development. “We are really all part of one community,” Moruza said. “I would like to represent our Hollymead neighbors to you. We are 468 families and individual residents. We have single-family homes, condos, and townhomes. Hollymead is the older brother of the developments in the Forest Lakes.” Moruza gave this description of the development. “It is a very block Soviet-style construction which will be seen from all over,” Moruza said. The final speaker on the unified presentation was Jimmy Baranik, the current president of the Forest Lakes Community Association. “For those of you who don’t know, Forest Lakes is the largest homeowners’ association in Albemarle County, 1,500 homes and about 5,000 residents and as Paul mentioned previously, we are one big happy neighborhood.”Baranik thanked the other speakers who had spoken as well as the hundreds who signed a petition against the development. In all, the total presentation took nearly an hour and a half. The public hearing was not over. Crystal Passmore is a city resident who wanted to weigh in. “My comment today is just that I would like people to have homes,” Passmore said. “I want people to have affordable homes. I want people to live in the town where they work. I don’t want people to have to commute from Ruckersville if they work in Charlottesville or if they work in downtown Albemarle. I don’t know anything about viewsheds or intrusive lighting. I just want people to have homes they can afford.” Passmore said the voices of those who would one day live in the development could not be heard under this arrangement. “Everyone who has spoken before me has convinced me that this is a lovely place to live,” Passmore said. “I would love it if you guys would allow more people to  live here.”A few more city residents spoke in favor of the project, including Josh Carp. He questioned the notion that the new development would hurt property values. “I think it’s more important that people have affordable housing then that property values continue to go up,” Carp said. “These houses in the neighborhood are worth half a million dollars plus. If you want to deny affordable housing to maximize property values for people who have that much money, maybe you can come to my kids’ daycare and explain to the teachers why they can’t live in the area.” Many opponents of the project cited the county’s Comprehensive Plan. City resident Rory Stolzenberg read other portions. “First, land use objective 5 - promote density within the development area to help create new compact urban places,” Stolzenberg said. “Encourage developers to build at the higher end of the density range on greenfield sites provided that development will be in keeping with design guidelines in the Neighborhood Model. Encourage developers to build within the density range recommended in the master plan on infill sites. Ensure that housing is available to all populations.” City resident Matt Gillikin called attention to the organized opposition from Forest Lakes residents. “It’s really remarkable to see how consistently affluent neighborhoods in the county gather their resources together to fight against housing for people who don’t have the resources that they have,” Gillkin said. After those four spoke, another previous speaker had a second chance to speak, in violation of the Rules of Procedure which Chair Julian Bivins corrected. “Hello, my name is Jimmy Baranik, I spoke earlier,” Baranik said. “I just want to point out that we are not opposed to underfunding anybody, we’re not opposed to having people who can’t afford wages in our neighborhood. We are opposed to the buildings. That’s what we said. The building environment. We just need to overhaul the plan. I want to make sure everyone is crystal clear on that.” Jason Inofuentes, a former member of the Pantops Community Advisory Committee, spoke in favor of the project.  “Affordable housing is an imperative that cannot be set aside for the interest of a select few homeowners,” Inofuentes said. “The development would represent an incredible value across 30 years to those who aren’t in the position to buy a well-manicured lawn on a quarter-acre lot.” That was the end of the public hearing. You can watch the whole thing here.Deliberation and deferralAfter a brief recess, Valerie Long had five minutes to respond according to the Rules of Procedure. “Obviously we cannot in five minutes rebut all of the comments that were made tonight so first let me say that we have very clear responses and rebuttals to absolutely every single point that was made in opposition,” Long said. Long sought to address concerns about the traffic input, the visibility of the buildings from existing neighborhoods, and claims of full clear-cutting.“So the images that you saw from the criticisms of the project are entirely inaccurate,” Long said.After more explanations, Shaffer informed Long she was over time.Next, the Planning Commissioners had the chance to discuss a matter. Commissioner Jennie More went first as she prepared to ask a question.“I just want to be clear that I want to figure out a way to get to yes,” More said. More asked another question about the view from the development. She wanted to see a slide that Long had shown during rebuttal. “I guess there’s a more generous area there than I had imagined and seeing that slide from her helped me understand the possibilities with buffering that could happen there,” More said. However, the slide was not shown and Long was not offered a chance to respond. During a series of questions from commissioners about the affordability component of the project, staff responded about county policy. At one point, Scott Copeland with RST sought to make a clarifying point. “Mr. Chairman, can I address the question about the affordability?” Copeland asked.“No thank you,” Bivins said. “Not right now, thank you very much.”The planner for the project, Andy Reitelbach, was invited to respond.“Regarding the new proposal that Ms. Long presented this evening, that hasn’t been submitted to staff yet so I really can’t say on the 75 percent that I believe she mentioned, what those numbers are,” Reitelbach said. “I haven’t seen any plan or anything like that so I don’t know if Ms. Long may be able to expand on that more.” Long wasn’t given the chance to respond.The University’s non-voting representative on the Planning Commission, Luis Carrazana, wanted to know more about how stormwater would be treated on the property. “I don’t remember seeing a [topographical map] in the application, but we did see one from the residents,” Carrazana said. Reitelbach responded. “There [are] at least conceptual stormwater management facilities up here in the northeast corner of the site,” Reitelbach said. “I know our county engineer has reviewed at least the conceptual grading and stormwater management and had no objections but stormwater is something that would have to be addressed at the site plan stage and would have to meet all of the state requirements.”Commissioner Karen Firehock said she had hoped for a more innovative proposal that went further to mitigate stormwater by allowing more open space.“I am very supportive of the need for affordable housing in our community,” Firehock said. “I am really disappointed at the notion that means we have to sacrifice green space and adequate recreational areas.” Firehock said she was inclined to recommend denial, but also reminded everyone watching that the Planning Commission’s vote is advisory. “And the developer would certainly have ample opportunity to amend their application,” Firehock said. “Whether we end up voting for or against it.” Commissioner Corey Clayborne was concerned about one aspect of infrastructure he thought was lacking in the proposal. “I was a little concerned I didn’t hear about public transit and this notion to work with the county,” Clayborne said. “If we’re going to have all of these affordable housing units, there’s no public transit there. Do we just leave it alone, or do we just turn a blind eye to it?” To step out of the meeting for a second, in the current fiscal year, Albemarle County is contributing $87,500 toward creation of a regional transit vision, as well as $53,107 toward a “feasibility study and implementation plan for expanded transit service to population and employment centers within Albemarle County.” Last week, members of the Regional Transit Partnership were told by TJPDC staffer Jessica Hersh-Ballering that the goal of the study was to inform a second grant application to pay for funding of an actual project. This information was not conveyed to the Planning Commission at the time. Commissioner Rick Randolph represented the Scottsville District on the Board of Supervisors from 2016 to 2019. He compared the proposed project to an infamous public housing project in Chicago.“Twenty years from now, what will this development look like?” Randolph asked. “Will it be like another project like Cabrini Green in Chicago?” Randolph said the project would supply affordable housing, but fell short on one intangible metric.  “They didn’t satisfy the need of a community to have a soul, and therein lies my concern,” Randolph said. “I can’t find a soul to this project.”  Randolph also said the residents would need to be responsible for covering the cost of maintain certain services and he was skeptical they could do so.“There needs to be clarity how residents can afford to maintain the roads within this community, plow them when it snows, and to cover the annual cost through their HOA fees for pool and exercise facilities when now 75 percent of the units are going to be affordable housing? Where does the money come from? These are not inexpensive?”More said she was frustrated that details about the affordability for the units were not made available. “When you bring us brand new information especially when it’s really important information that is a change of substance the night of the Planning Commission, I think it’s something that’s great to add to the conversation but it leaves staff not able to respond because he hasn’t had that submitted, and it leaves us with questions about something I think is key and important.”The public hearing last over two hours, with the Forest Lakes Community Association getting almost 90 minutes of consecutive time. “The level of public comment, which is great, also does tend to wear us down a little bit so then maybe we aren’t asking the great questions we could ask,” More said. “We have staff here that could answer stuff about traffic and these types of things and I think that’s too bad because as I said before I’d like to figure out how to get to yes.” After More’s comment, Bivins asked Commissioners what they wanted to do. Commissioner Corey Clayborne responded. “I move to recommend denial of ZMA202000007-RST Residences for the reasons stated in the staff report and the reasons stated within the conversation that we’ve had amongst the Commission,” Clayborne said. At this point in a regular in-person meeting, the applicant’s representative might stand to request a deferral. A vote by the Planning Commission to recommend denial doesn’t kill a project, but Supervisors often follow the lead of the advisory body. Let’s hear what happens next.“Obviously there’s been a lot of comments made,” Long said. “I will reiterate we are prepared to address all of those if asked but if that is not the preference of the Commission tonight, we would be more than happy to take the comments that we’ve received tonight and go back and amend our plans and certainly update the affordable housing, work on the precise location of the transit, and…”“I thought you were asking about something else, but that’s not what we’re doing here,” Bivins said. “I’m sorry?” Long said.“So, you’re asking about you will take whatever we decide and go forward,” Bivins said. “I thought you might be asking for a different kind of situation.”“No, in fact Mr. Chairman, I think we would like to ask for a deferral at this point so that we can take the comments that we’ve received and see if we can do our best to address those so that we could come back to with you an application that could gain your support and recommendations,” Long said. After a few minutes of parliamentary procedure, the motion to defer was adopted unanimously. Commissioners had some parting comments. “I do think that this development can be fixed in terms of the things that we have recommended,” Firehock said. “I just think that we need a much more quality development with more green space, more attention to fitting in with the character of the neighborhood, public transportation.” “You’ve heard the thoughts and the cares of the Planning Commission, and I think I can say that each of us wants this to be a successful project but many of us felt that we were not provided with enough information for us to fall directly in the most positive way of supporting the project,” Bivins said.   UPDATEShortly after publication, I received this response from Emily Kilroy, the county’s director of communications and public engagement:The Board of Supervisors has as part of their adopted procedures the following regarding visual/audio presentations: “The speaker may include a visual or audio presentation, provided that the presentation is received by the Clerk at least 48 hours before the Matters from the Public session at which the speaker plans to speak.” You can find this online here: https://www.albemarle.org/government/board-of-supervisors/public-meeting-participation-guide (FAQ for What are the speaking rules for Matters not Listed for Public Hearing?) Prior to the Planning Commission Public Hearing for this application, the Forest Lakes HOA contacted the Planning Division to request to provide a Powerpoint and this was submitted in advance.The County Attorney’s Office did review the request to provide a list of speakers and a presentation that each speaker would speak to a part of and found it was consistent with practice. For in-person meetings, a speaker could upload a Powerpoint or other visual up at the podium and use that during their 3-minutes. Understanding that every speaker could do that individually, and knowing the transition time that takes when that action is taken individually, a combined presentation was deemed permissible.Allowing an individual to speak multiple times was a procedural error and has been addressed. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

In today’s Patreon fueled shout-out: The Local Energy Alliance Program, your local energy nonprofit, wants to help you lower your energy bills, make your home more comfortable, and save energy. Schedule your Home Energy Check-Up to get started - now only $45 for City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County residents. You’ll receive energy-saving products and expert advice customized to your needs. Sign up today!On today’s program:Charlottesville Planning Commission makes recommendations to trim city’s capital budget Charlottesville seeks information on entities who want to take the Lewis, Clark and Sacajawea StatueAnother candidate enters the race for Charlottesville City Council *You may have noticed I’ve not been reporting the COVID numbers each installment of this newsletter. There’s been so much to get to, and I often report the numbers on Twitter. Every now and then I think it’s important to take stock and track where we are in this ongoing pandemic. Today the Virginia Department of Health reports another 3,203 cases of COVID, and another 34 deaths. The total number of fatalities since last March is now 6,932. The seven-day average for positive PCR tests is now 10.1 percent. That number was 11.3 percent a week ago. Source: Virginia Department of HealthIn the Blue Ridge Health District, there are another 107 cases today, with 30 of those from Albemarle and 47 from Charlottesville. The death count in the district is now 116 people since the pandemic began. The University of Virginia returned to in-person instruction on February 1, and their COVID tracker now lists 178 active cases with 161 of them being students. The dashboard has been updated recently. As of today, 1,156,117 vaccine doses have been administered and almost one of ten Virginians has received at least one shot. The seven-day average for doses given each day is at 33,520, still below Governor Northam’s goal of 50,000 a day. *The Charlottesville Planning Commission has weighed in on cuts and other amendments they would like to see made to the city’s proposed capital improvement program. Hosea Mitchell is the chair of the body. “There are at least four hot potatoes,” Mitchell said.One of these hot potatoes is an additional $8 million in funding in FY22 for a parking structure on land purchased by the city in January 2017 at 9th and Market Street to support the joint courts complex with Albemarle County. Others are $50 million as a placeholder for middle school reconfiguration and the of previously-approved millions in city funding for the West Main Street.  All told, the draft five-year plan totals $160 million, or about double what the CIP was ten years ago. (draft CIP)“What is outlined in the documents we’ve got is not sustainable,” Mitchell said. “The budget cannot be achieved without significant revenue enhancements. Tax and fee increases.”There have been many words written about the West Main Streetscape, a project whose cost estimate has increased to as much as $52 million to build out the full scope of a design put together by Rhodeside & Harwell. Staff has recommended not proceeding with funding for two of the phases for which Council has already authorized the sale of municipal bonds. Krissy Hammill is a senior budget management analyst with the city. “West Main Street, there was $4 million that was removed,” Hammill said. “The $18 million that was previously approved in prior CIP’s remains intact and would be available.”To pay for this draft CIP, Hammill said the tax rate would need to be annually increased by two cents for five years beginning next year. If Council proceeds with this version, they would be using up all of the city’s debt capacity for years to come. “That would mean that future Councils or Commissions would also be limited in what could be recommended or added to future CIP budgets,” Hammill said. After a public hearing, Commissioners began their discussion. Many questions had to do with the status of state funding for the West Main Streetscape, a project that was broken into multiple phases in order to secure funding. Phase 1 has a cost estimate of $16.7 million, of which $3.275 million comes from VDOT’s transportation revenue sharing program.  Jeanette Janiczek is the manager of the city’s Urban Construction Initiative. “When the city submits a grant application, we have to identify what we’re going to do with the funds,” Janiczek. “With revenue-sharing it’s a little bit more open ended. That would be on phase 1 only. There are no Smart Scale funds on it.”Screenshot from recent value engineering reportSmart Scale is a process where VDOT funds projects based on how they would accomplish different criteria such as public safety. The city received just over $2 million in Smart Scale funding for Phase 2, as well as another $2 million in revenue-sharing. The rest of the $11.15 million would come from the sale of municipal bonds, which ultimately would be paid by city taxpayers. VDOT staff have recommended the city receive $10.8 million for the third phase of Smart Scale, which is a standalone project that would not require a city match. Much of the city funding would cover the cost of undergrounding overhead utility lines, which VDOT will not cover. Another big ticket item in recent CIPs has been funding for affordable housing. Previous Councils have approved line items for specific projects as well as general contributions to the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund. One of these calls for $13.5 million in funding for the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority to redevelop various sites. That includes $1.5 million for fiscal year 2022. Commissioner Liz Russell asked why that figure is lower for next year, but increases to $3 million in future years. The city’s redevelopment manager, Brenda Kelley, explained.“The housing authority, CRHA, is not planning on making a [Low Income Housing Tax Credit] application this coming March,” Kelley said. “I don’t know if they have any proposals for March 2022 yet.”The CRHA has received tax credits for the redevelopment of Crescent Halls as well as the first phase of South First Street. Construction of the latter is expected to break ground later this month. Kelley said the specifics of how city funding would be used for future projects has not been worked out, but including the overall figures in the CIP tells the CRHA of the city’s commitment. “South First Street Phase 2 will probably start construction about this time next year and right now there aren’t any proposed projects in the future planned, but they are looking at all of their other sites,” Kelley said. “There’s just nothing definite on board right now.”Russell and Mitchell both said they would like to see some way to salvage the West Main Streetscape. Mitchell suggested reducing the amount for the parking garage, and using that to help cover some of the costs for West Main. So did Commissioner Gary Heaton who said he would support paying to place the utility lines underground. “I think [there is] not a lot to be gained by just completely wiping off improvements that need to be made that have residual benefits to the community long into the future,” Heaton said. “If you’re spending that kind of money and you’re doing that kind of renovation work, you underground while you’ve torn up the street.” Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg asked his colleagues if they had read through the value engineering study which reviewed the Rhodeside & Harwell design to find cost savings. “It is appalling,” Stolzenberg said. “You’ve got half a million dollars in there for rocks. Literally just a boulder that is sliced into pieces for decorative purposes. You’ve got half a million dollars for custom concrete benches that look incredibly comfortable where you could have bought regular benches for like $20,000. I think with the streetscape project, we really have to get back to what’s important.”Stolzenberg agreed with a decision to close the slip lane that allows vehicles to turn right from eastbound West Main to southbound Ridge Street but said the city did not need to invest in a pocket park at that location at this time. Commissioner Lyle Solla-Yates also weighed in. “I’d like to see increases in funding for the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund, increased funding for tree planting, and providing more funding for essential parts of West Main for best use, matching funds for health, safety, and cost and risk prevention,” Solla-Yates said. Solla-Yates suggested delaying funding for more small area plans, implementation of the Strategic Investment Area, and delaying spending on the parking garage for at least one more year. He also suggested deferring $6 million on the General District court anticipated for next year until at least FY23. An agreement between Albemarle and Charlottesville for the courts complex includes a section on how the county “shall” begin construction of the parking garage by May 1, 2022 and deliver 90 spaces for use by the county by November 30, 2023. If they do not, then the city must either provide 100 spaces in the Market Street Parking garage to the county or sell back a share of land on East Market Street.  (correction has been made to this paragraph post publication. See comments) After the commission’s discussion, Vice Mayor Sena Magill asked a question.“I keep hearing everyone talking about how we [might] move forward with the garage but it just being the absolutely least necessary and I just think that needs to have some definition for what is considered to be the least necessary,” Magill said. City economic development director Chris Engel said he did not have a good question but the total $10 million figure was derived from a preliminary study of a 300 space garage with 10,000 square feet of commercial space. Mitchell said he would support spending an amount to satisfy the terms of the agreement to provide 100 spaces. “I do think that there are creative ways to meet out commitment without spending [$10] million bucks,” Mitchell said. Stolzenberg said he envisioned a one or two story building with parking on the bottom with enough structural support to eventually build housing units on top. He also suggested asking the county if they would consider amending the agreement to delay the project. After a discussion, Mitchell suggested a recommendation to make a motion to make amendments. The motion they voted upon calls for:Prioritize local West Main Street funding to match state funding for transportation for health and safety while not spending money on aesthetics Delay funding for small area plans until the Cville Plans Together initiative is completedDelay further funding on SIA improvements until the Cville Plans Together initiative is completedDelay some funding for garage, courts complex, and $1 million for East High SignalizationReduce overall funding for the garage and study ways to otherwise fulfil commitment to Albemarle County Delay $150,000 in additional funding for economic development strategic initiativesIncrease funding for the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund from the $800,000 a year proposed Increase funding for tree planting and pursue donation program for this purposeIncrease funding for sidewalks The commission voted unanimously to approve the motion. Their recommendations are purely advisory. Council will be presented with a budget later this month. On Monday, they will further discuss what to do with the West Main Streetscape. *Want a statue? Check out the Request for InformationSpeaking of West Main Street, the city is requesting information from entities and organizations that might be interested in removing the Lewis, Clark and Sacajawea statue at the intersection with Ridge Street and McIntire Street. “The assumption by the City of Charlottesville is that any prospective recipient would be responsible for the safe removal and relocation of the statue, including all of the associated planning and logistical work required,” reads a press release. “The recipient would also bear all of the associated financial costs related to this work. In return for this service, the City of Charlottesville would transfer full ownership of the statue to the recipient at no cost to the recipient.”Council directed staff to proceed with plans to remove the statue at a work session in November 2019. Responses to this request for information are due by March 12. *There are now two challengers seeking two Democratic nominations for Charlottesville City Council. Brian Pinkston is a facilities manager at the University of Virginia who previously ran in 2019 but failed to secure the nomination. City School Board member Juandiego Wade announced his candidacy in January. City Councilor Heather Hill has not announced whether she will seek a second term, which would require getting one of the two nominations in the June primary. Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker announced last year that she would seek another term. As an independent, Walker only has to qualify for the ballot by submitting the correct number of signatures to the city’s registrar. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Yesterday marked the 6th month anniversary of this program, which I launched to help explain various things that happen in and around Charlottesville. That’s hours of podcasts and thousands and thousands of words about this community, and many of them belong to the various people in local government, and the citizens that participate. I thank you for reading and listening, and I want to acknowledge the many people who have provided financial support. At the end of this post, you can find out how you can join them. For now, though, it’s more important to get to the information.Planned for today’s show:Charlottesville hires regional administrator Chip Boyles to serve as City ManagerCharlottesville Planning Commission begins its work in 2021 Albemarle County Schools transitioning to all virtual learningAfter a tense start to 2021 that included over a dozen hours spent in closed emergency session, Charlottesville City Council has named a city manager. City Councilor Michael Payne read from a prepared statement. “We would like to announce that Mr. Chip Boyles has agreed to join the organization as City Manager,” Payne said. “After carefully balancing the needs of the city at this current time, we are offering Mr. Boyles the City Manager position with the goal of stabilizing the organization and rebuilding the leadership team within City Hall.”Chip Boyles has been executive director of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District since April 2014Boyles came to the area in the spring of 2014 when he was hired to be executive director of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District, a regional agency that provides government services to the city as well as five surrounding counties.“I look forward to working with all of the city staff and I especially look forward to working with all of the Charlottesville community,” Boyles said. “I know that there are a number of citizens that were looking for a different direction as a City Manager but I’m trusting the City Council and your commitment to the city to lead all of Charlottesville to a much brighter future. I hope that over time I will build the support of all the community for all of us to work together to work toward a more unified community and Charlottesville.” Boyles will not be known as an interim city manager, though Payne said Council will reopen a search for city manager sometime next year with the goal of getting public input. If successful, Boyles would be able to participate in that process. The joint statement also acknowledges recent dysfunction and said solutions won’t happen overnight. “Over the past several months, city government has experienced significant turnover, uncertainty, and instability,” Payne said. “This has occurred at a time when our community is facing historic challenges created by a global pandemic, economic instability, and the need to address long-standing inequities within our community.”During his tenure, Boyles has helped promote regional cooperation in public transit, affordable housing, and many of the various issues that face our overall community. The TJPDC has overseen the creation of the Cherry Avenue Small Area Plan, created the Ruckersville Area Plan in Greene County, and is currently planning on a similar study for Zion Crossroads. Boyles received a Master’s in Public Administration from Clemson University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of South Carolina. He served for five years as city manager in Taneytown, a small town in western Maryland. In 2000 he became assistant city administrator of the city of Clemson in South Carolina, a position that gave him eight years working in a community in a university town not unlike Charlottesville. Other positions include urban development director in the city parish of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and a vice president at the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Administration.In April 2014, Boyles succeeded previous TJPDC executive director Stephen Williams. William’s contract was not renewed following fall-out from allegations of financial mismanagement related to a federal grant. Mayor Nikuyah Walker said she supported Boyles serving in the new position. She’s worked with him from her position as a board member of the Regional Transit Partnership and the TJPDC Board. “My thoughts here was that we had wanted someone who is neutral,” Walker said. “Chip has been here in the community for a number of years but he hasn’t been in the organization and it will provide us an opportunity to just look at any issues that were brought up through a neutral lens and I thought that was very important.”Interim City Manager John Blair will leave the city to take a job as city attorney in Staunton. Councilor Heather Hill thanked him for his service. “Mr. Blair’s departure is a great loss for the organization and the community that we serve,” Hill said. “I would be remiss to not acknowledge the sacrifices that he and his family have made for this organization during his tenure and most notable in his time as acting City Manager.”Blair took over as interim in September after Dr. Tarron Richardson resigned that month after a brief tenure that lasted little over a year. Councilor Lloyd Snook also thanked Blair for serving as interim manager. “As Charlottesville goes, so goes our region as well, so it will not be a complete change but just more of a difference in a way to focus on the the city of Charlottesville but keeping the region in mind as well,” Boyles said. A longer version of this story will be forthcoming in a special edition of this program for premium subscribers. They’ll get to see it first, and then it will be made public. *Albemarle County reports 48 new cases of COVID today and one of the two core indicators used by the Centers for Disease Control to gauge transmission risk is at the highest level. The total number of cases per 100,000 people over the past 14 days is at 557.4 and the percent positive rate over 14 days is at 8.5 percent. The higher case counts have led Superintendent Matthew Haas to order county schools to go back to all-virtual instruction beginning Tuesday, January 19. He sent this email to family and staff.“While schools remain among the safest places in our community in helping to prevent the spread of the virus, given what is occurring around us, now is not the time to be recommending that we continue with or increase the thousands of students now receiving their instruction face-to-face,” Haas wrote in an email addressed to families and staff. Haas writes that all-virtual will continue through at least February 1. That’s the date for which the school system had been planning to move more students into face-to-face instruction. The day is significant because it marks the beginning of a new grading period. Haas said he will change his planning targets. “The uncertain and highly volatile nature of this illness requires us to be instantly flexible and proactive in our decision-making,” Haas said. “I no longer will be making recommendations tied to marking periods. I will continue to rely upon the health data in our county, the advice of our health department, and the views of our parents and employees to determine when a change in our instructional plans should be recommended to our School Board. An announcement about whether they will return to the current tier of stage 3 will be made on January 27. That will occur on the school system’s Stages of Returning webpage. Source: Virginia Department of Health*Albemarle’s case count of 48 is included within the 5,294 new COVID cases reported by the Virginia Department of Health today. The seven-day average of positive PCR tests has declined slightly to 15.5 percent. There are another 74 deaths reported, bringing the total to 5,626 in the past ten months. Albemarle is within the Blue Ridge Health District, which reports 112 cases today. That also includes 20 cases in Charlottesville, 19 in Louisa, 11 in Nelson, nine in Fluvanna and five in Greene. Source: Virginia Department of Health*The tradition of long meetings that Charlottesville City Government is famous for has continued into the new year. The Planning Commission met for four hours Tuesday. Commissioner Gary Heaton said at the beginning of the meeting that he welcomed the work ahead.“I did want to say to everybody how encouraging it is to show up to a civic meeting at a time where there is a lot of conversation about what government is,” Heaton said. “And here it is right on the computer screen. Thank you everybody for your participation.”The commission also got an update on the status of a new format for another regional planning body that consists of Charlottesville, Albemarle and the University of Virginia. What was a public body called the Planning and Coordination Council is now something different. Bill Palmer is with the Office of the Architect at the University of Virginia, and sits on the city Planning Commission as a non-voting member. “What used to be the PACC-Tech or PACC and has now been reiterated as LUEPC,” Palmer said. “Don’t make me say what that acronym is because I don’t remember exactly.”I don’t blame Palmer, because the Land Use, Environmental and Planning Committee doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Still, it will provide the same function as what it has replaced.“That’s kind of the coordination committee for the city, county and University of Virginia to talk about planning issues,” Palmer said. The group meets for the first time this year on Friday. That event is not subject to open meeting rules because it consists of staff. Currently there is no agenda available online. Another city committee charged with thinking about planning is the PLACE Design Task Force, upon which City Planning Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg sits. City Council voted last year to stop having PLACE report directly to Council. “At this point the general idea is to reform as a general sort of think tank or bodies of experts that the city can draw from in order to create ad hoc task forces for any problem it wants to solve,” Stolzenberg said. “Things like lighting plans, or whatever.”One idea would be for the group to address specific problems in the city. Stolzenberg had one suggestion. “Since Council is debating the future of the West Main Streetscape which is a very expensive budget item, and we don’t have lots of room in the budget, one thing that we’re trying to brainstorm is kind of tactical urbanist improvements that we could make to the street at very low cost in order to make it a safer better experience in the near term without spending $50 million dollars.” One possibility for community engagement may come in the form of informal walking tours to gather input, but of course, only when it’s safe to gather again. Commissioners also got a brief update on the Cville Plans Together initiative, which seeks to update the Comprehensive Plan, create an affordable housing strategy, and update the zoning code. Jennifer Koch is the project manager with the consultant, Rhodeside & Harwell. There will be a work session on January 26 to discuss something known as the Future Land Use map, which signals to developers and property owners desired levels of density and intensity. “We’re convening several times as a consultant team this week to determine that we have the right program… for that meeting so we can have a really productive and effective discussion,” Koch said. “We will let you know as soon as possible this week if we need to delay that a little bit but right now I am looking forward to speaking with you more about land use on the 26th.” *After that, the Commission got into the Cherry Avenue Small Area Plan, a document created by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission.  I’ll have a story on that for paid subscribers first later on in the week. They also recommended approval of a special use permit to add additional density at 1000 Monticello Avenue, a project that drew opposition from many in the neighborhood as well as from housing advocates. For more on that, read Nolan Stout’s account in the Daily Progress.*Thanks for reading today. As I mentioned, I’ve passed the six month point of creating this newsletter for the community. If you would like to support its continued production, consider one of many ways. All proceeds go to my company Town Crier Productions. Support my research on local government by making a donation through PatreonSign for a subscription to Charlottesville Community Engagement, free or paidMake a contribution through VenmoContact me about a commercial sponsorship This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe