Azalea Cottages (formerly Belleview)
A site plan/subdivision and critical slope waiver request were submitted to the City, but they were rejected due to a lack of information. Once the City has acceptable applications (unclear when that might happen) Matt Alfele will pass that information along with the plans to the neighborhood. No plans are currently under review.
Flint Hill
The final site plan for Flint Hill PUD has been resubmitted to the City for review. It will be under review until March 4th when comments will go back to the applicant. Here is a link to the plan that was submitted:https://avenue.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1ea94e924a&id=35c306504d&e=b82431bf6f. Please let the City Planner for Fry’s Spring, Matt Alfele (alfelem@charlottesville.gov) know if you have any questions.
240 Stribling
The applicant is in the process of getting public street concepts approved from Public Works (the innovative design section of the Standards and Design Manual). The first submission was rejected by PW. The rezoning request cannot move forward until PW signs off on the innovative design, or the applicant proposes standard streets.
5th Street
5th Street Corridor Study from VDOT The Virginia Department of Transportation has completed a study of safety of the 5th Street Corridor. This study evaluates ways to potentially make the roadway safer and can be viewed here: https://avenue.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1ea94e924a&id=54c9ce4512&e=b82431bf6f. The project to study the OLR/5th Street Corridor began in 2010 and the project website can be found here:https://avenue.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1ea94e924a&id=ed3a48ffa0&e=b82431bf6f. Smart Scale Albemarle County has a Smart Scale Application in for the intersection of OLR and 5th Street Extended: https://avenue.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1ea94e924a&id=9873382b0f&e=b82431bf6f.
Comprehensive Plan
Local journalist Sean Tubbs describes where this stands very eloquently in his free newsletter:
“Charlottesville began review of its Comprehensive Plan four years ago. There are many reasons for delay, but one of them is a disagreement between newer commissioners who wanted to increase densities across the city, especially in areas predominated by single family homes.
The intent of the “future land use map” is to designate what types of uses and what level of intensity is desired by the community. These Comprehensive Plan designations are intended to guide decisions on rezonings and special use permits, but the City Council is not required to use it in making decisions. The intent is for the new comp plan, the new affordable housing plan, and the new zoning code to encourage the construction of more residential units to create more units affordable to people who make far less than the area median income.”
His continued discussion of the Comp Plan Update can be found by visiting this link:https://avenue.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1ea94e924a&id=033b1a96ae&e=b82431bf6f . Sean routinely sends out a free Charlottesville Community Engagement newsletter that provides informative updates on local planning, zoning, and government meetings: https://avenue.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1ea94e924a&id=0cf0a5b543&e=b82431bf6f . Several members of the FSNA Board currently subscribe and find it to be a valuable resource to help stay on top of local issues.
Big Decisions Looming On Capital Improvement Plan, City Budget, and Taxes
City Council is reviewing big ticket items such as the West Main project and another parking garage because they can’t do it all and update school infrastructure. West Main seems to be most councilors favorite to cut, but the new parking garage also isn’t very popular. Councilors are also looking at needing to raise the property tax rate by $.10 of assessed $100 value (from $.95 to $1.05) over 5 years to balance the budget and make the capital investments needed without losing the coveted AAA bond rating.
The Comprehensive Plan review and Affordable Housing Plan are generating discussion. Likely medium-long term impact to the neighborhood would be from the push for “soft density” through upzoning to R2 or R4 of the whole neighborhood plus potential higher density near the University/5th street corridors. Additionally, the easing of permitting and incentives to build more Accessory Dwelling Units is another change likely to catalyze more housing being added in the neighborhood.
Fry’s Spring Neighborhood Association priorities like pedestrian safety improvements to Stribling Ave. and JPA STILL are not included in the CIP! We will continue to advocate for neighborhood priorities and we encourage everyone’s participation in these public processes. See here for the Budget process schedule: https://www.charlottesville.gov/DocumentCenter/View/4584/FY22-Budget-Public-Meeting-Calendar-PDF