March 2019 Meeting Minutes

FSNA Meeting Notes March 13th 2019

Invited guests:

  • Carolyn Dillard, UVA Community Liaison

  • Lyle Solla-Yates will be attending to discuss the Planning Commission’s vision for the City of Charlottesville Comprehensive Plan.

6:30pm: Carolyn starts off introducing herself; pastor in Keswick, has to leave meeting early. People raise questions about parking on JPA, the memorial to slave labor, higher ed scandal.

6:38pm: Lyle Solla-Yates introduces himself to discuss the Planning Commission’s vision for the City of Charlottesville Comprehensive Plan. Affordable housing is a relatively new goal of the commission. This comprehensive plan has not been a straightforward negotiation like others before.

6:45pm: JPA traffic complaint is raised. More complaints about the city not picking up yard waste and condemned homes on JPA that have not been dealt with. Lack of protection for historic housing and green space / trees in Charlottesville comes up. The perception of the group is that there is a lack of planning in the comprehensive plan, and developers and money seem to dictate what happens in the neighborhood. Status of Fontaine streetscape comes up. Scooters and how they are left on the sidewalks. Lyle mentions that industrial zoning is required for affordable housing.

6:57pm: Lyle’s presentation starts and discussion of Charlottesville Land Company ensues. Development in Charlottesville has been mostly done by private companies rather than people. 1912; racial segregation in housing is voted down by Cville city council, this does not stop legal contracts being drawn up with segregation included. At end of WW1 race riots break out across the country, single family zoning is introduced by Harland Bartholomew to “protect property values”. In the 1920s many of the most powerful people in Charlottesville are in the Klan, Daily Progress promotes the Klan.

7:10pm: History of the first comprehensive plan (done by Bartholomew) in 1956 or thereabouts.

7:20pm: Current comprehensive plan discussion starts. The original plan was rejected by City Council. There are height restrictions on most housing (35 feet).

7:32pm: Discussion of the new developments like Belleview in Fry’s Spring neighborhood starts. Sewers, tax easements, Flint Hill.

7:45pm: New Comprehensive Plan will be done by a permanent City staff member since the Commission is not allowed to do any more work on the comprehensive plan. Form based code discussion comes up. It’s more site specific than regular zoning.

7:55pm: announcements include information about the unity days, scooters, deer culling.

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