uvAggravator2.0

The city school system is thinking about shutting down Walker Elementary or Buford Middle, Rachana Dixit wrote in yesterday’s Progress. Walker serves solely fifth- and sixth-grade students, while Buford serves seventh- and eighth-grade students. By consolidating them—probably at Buford—the city could save up to $700k/year in salaries…but it would require $21M in capital costs.

From the late sixties until the late eighties, Buford and Walker were both middle schools. In 1988, they split the duty, with Walker taking the lower two grades, and Buford taking the upper two.

The school board will vote on this in mid-October.

Over at The Hook, editor Hawes Spencer has been writing about the latest in the slow-motion collapse of the whole Landmark Hotel / Halsey Minor / Lee Danielson thing, with the news of the moment being the Chapter 11 filing by Minor Family Hotels LLC. Within that piece, Spencer mentions that Minor started threatening The Hook with a lawsuit, and links to two e-mails [1, 2] that Minor sent to the newspaper in early July. The first one, sent July 2, reads:

Hawes you are the $7.5 mm man — so far. If it was not for you printing the outrageous comments from Lee and SFG I would not have done so well in court. You have clearly destroyed the value of the hotel with your series of inaccurate and in inflammatory stories based on completely false facts. SFG was horrible, and Lee was just as bad but with the hook accepting falsehood after falsehood as gospel you have made obvious the damages the bad actors can have in undermining a project and an important economic driver to a city like Charlottelsville.

As I said. Christies down $12.5.mm for fraud. Lee bankrupt. SFG bankrupt. You write one more story that is libelous and I have no choice but to go after the third leg of the stool, the Hook. Tell your people to quite inventing facts. Say you are sorry. Haas, I am suing you plain and simple to clear my name with one more nasty false story. Christies can afford to underestimate me. You cannot.

And the second one, sent July 3:

Hawes, trust me. When your down people start to pile on. You are just such an individual which is why you are generally disliked around town.

You need to publicly apologize to me. Divorce and a libel suit are not going to be a good plan for you.You apologize publicly or I am coming after you for lying about me when I was fighting my battles, which were for the sake of the city, not to sell sleazy papers.

The difference between you and I is you bug the fuck out of me, but I on the other hand can and will crush you if you don’t make amends for being such a lying asshole for the last 18 months — you, Lee and the FDIC. Your world is getting small fast and if you choose to take me on too you are not going to believe how far down the bottom really is. I crushed the jerks in my way. Good luck to you.

Wow. Those are scorchers. Minor never specifies what he believes to be falsehoods in The Hook’s coverage, so it’s tough to know what the merits are of his claims.

It’s safe to travel to Weyers Cave again: the serial mooner has been caught (in the act).

By Brian Wheeler
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Friday, September 3, 2010

Charlottesville’s City Council met in a two-hour work session Thursday to review recent studies about a 50-year water plan that has been in the works for nearly eight years, since the drought of 2002 underscored the need for a long-term solution.

After seven separate presentations, the council found it had run out of time for a substantive discussion about specific plan alternatives. Mayor Dave Norris said the council would find time at the next two regular City Council meetings being held in September, including a public hearing on the water plan scheduled for Sept. 20.


“Our purpose today was not for council to come to any decisions, but rather to give us a chance to review a lot of the studies that have been done,” Norris said.

“The data presented was very useful,” Councilor Satyendra Huja said after the meeting. “We have more data and opinions now than when I first started on City Council. I think we will have a better plan.”

Organizations advocating both for and against the 2006 water plan, which still has the backing of Albemarle County officials, were given the opportunity to make presentations.

The Nature Conservancy’s Bill Kittrell provided the council with background on his organization’s early work contributing to the water plan. He described the goal of balancing human and environmental needs by finding a plan that provided a big enough “bath tub” to provide drinking water in a severe drought and at the same time provide for improved stream flows in the Moormans and Rivanna rivers.

“Stream flows are important because water and wildlife that depend on rivers depend not just on the quality of the water, but also the quantity of the water,” Kittrell said. “Unfortunately, aquatic animals are the most imperiled animals in the world … and impacts locally are due primarily to excess sedimentation and altered hydrology.”

Dede Smith, Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan

Dede Smith, representing Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan, a group that favors dredging at the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir, presented data about water conservation that she has said demonstrates why the new dam in the water plan will be unnecessary.

“Given what we’ve seen and what we know about conservation trends, we can anticipate a conservation rate that is much closer to 30 percent,” Smith said. “I consider this quite a conservative estimate.”

Smith said water conservation would increase as more efficient water fixtures and appliances were utilized in the community and that the 50-year water plan was oversized. Smith said overall water usage in the city would continue to drop, and that while the University of Virginia was a significant city customer, she said Albemarle was a different matter.

“UVa will be put before you as a big threat, but I’ll tell you, UVa can’t even begin to compete with county growth,” Smith said.

The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority has scheduled a tentative meeting of the “four boards” for Sept. 21, the day after the council’s public hearing. The signatories of the four-party agreement that governs local water and sewer matters are the RWSA, the Albemarle County Service Authority, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors and the City Council.

Huja said he was “leery” that the council would have reached a decision by the time of that meeting.

“It could happen Sept. 20, but if history is any guide, I’m not so sure,” Huja said. “I hope I will be able to make a decision by then.”

Councilor Holly Edwards said she was weighing the benefits of improved stream flows and a sense of obligation to maintain the existing South Fork Reservoir with dredging. She said she still needs to look at all the information that has been collected before making her decision.

“On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being [at a decision] and 1 being not even close, we are still at a 5,” Edwards concluded.

Unemployment is getting worse locally.

By Brian Wheeler
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Thursday, September 2, 2010
 
Albemarle supervisors say they remain strongly behind the water supply plan approved in 2006, which includes a new dam at Ragged Mountain and a new pipeline connecting it to South Fork Rivanna Reservoir.

At their meeting Wednesday, Albemarle Supervisor Dennis S. Rooker said that new studies show dredging would neither provide sufficient water supply nor be cost effective.

Review Charlottesville Tomorrow's Water Supply Decision Matrix, an evaluation of many of the key criteria local leaders will be reviewing as they finalize a decision on the 50-year water supply plan.

“It seems to me that we had a series of questions that were answered way back, and those questions have been answered again,” Rooker said. “We have now had three studies that indicate that the capacity needed over the next 50 years is pretty much the same in all three studies.

“The cost of dredging to create capacity is somewhere between four and six times the cost of building the Ragged Mountain Dam,” Rooker added.

On Tuesday, the city released cost estimates by Black & Veatch, an engineering firm hired by Charlottesville to evaluate repairing or building on top of the existing dam at Ragged Mountain. The most expensive project they evaluated was to raise the pool at Ragged Mountain by 45 feet, as called for in the 2006 plan. That project was estimated to cost between $15.8 million and $21.4 million, well below the one-time costs of dredging South Fork, which HDR Engineering said in June would be between $34 million and $40 million.

Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris announced this week that he preferred dredging at the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir to meet the community’s water supply needs.

“The studies that the city paid for, and was responsible for, have demonstrated there may be a viable alternative that will give us the water we need, be significantly less expensive than the current plan and lessen the negative environmental impacts,” Norris said in an interview.

Supervisor Kenneth C. Boyd said it was time for the Albemarle County Service Authority to share with the public its negotiating position with respect to cost-sharing between the city and county for the $142 million water plan.

“From what I know of that formula, most of the costs of this new dam is going to fall on the county and not on the ratepayers in the city,” Boyd said.

“That’s one of the pieces of misinformation that gets flouted around,” Rooker said. “That your rates are going to skyrocket if this plan is approved.”

ACSA Director Gary O’Connell responded that the cost-sharing formula would be a topic for his board’s consideration at a September meeting. O’Connell reminded the supervisors of work that had gone into recent water rate decisions and the five year capital budget.

“There’s no increase in a customer’s bill to support the water supply plan that’s there,” O’Connell said.

Charlottesville’s City Council is slated to hold a work session today on the water supply plan.

By Sean Tubbs
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Thursday, September 2, 2010

The transportation section of Albemarle County’s Places29 Master Plan has been slimmed down to include only projects that have a reasonable chance of being constructed within its first five years. That means county staff will not perform any design work for a grade-separated interchange at the intersection of U.S. 29 and Rio Road.

 

Listen using player above or download the podcast:

Download 20100901-BOS-Places29

“The plan doesn’t eliminate the reference to grade separations but it emphasizes that the first step should be to prolong the need for [them] for as long as possible,” said county planner David Benish during a work session Wednesday with the Board of Supervisors.

Benish wrote in a staff report that the current capital improvement budget contains only $2.57 million for transportation improvements during the next five years, with only half of that designated for the Places29 area. He also added that the county does not expect to receive more than $320,000 each year in secondary road funds from the state.

 

Download staff report for September 1, 2010 Board of Supervisors' meeting

 

The draft Places29 plan now recommends that the county channel that money towards preliminary engineering studies to advance the widening of U.S. 29 to six lanes from Hollymead Town Center to the North Fork of the Rivanna River. The plan also calls for a study to determine where a bridge over the river would be located to allow Berkmar Drive to be extended.

“We’ve only got [limited] dollars for five years,” Supervisor Duane Snow said. “I’d rather take money we’re going to spend on studies for things we won’t do for 20 years … and [instead] put all our time and effort into these five things that we know will make a huge difference. Once those are accomplished, then we can come back and examine what we want to do in the future.”

The plan also acknowledges that the Hillsdale extension and improvements to the U.S. 250/29 intersection are key components to reduce congestion on U.S. 29. Those projects are being shepherded by Charlottesville.

Additionally, lines depicting potential road connections will be removed from maps, except in cases where they have been proffered as part of rezoning or agreed to by existing property owners.

Neil Williamson of the Free Enterprise Forum has long campaigned against Places29 but welcomed the changes.

 

Carter Myers

“It is possible to take the good out of Places29 and get something done,” Williamson said.

Carter Myers, a former member of the Commonwealth Transportation Board who owns several car dealerships on U.S. 29, said grade-separated interchanges would threaten Albemarle County’s bottom line.

“Jobs and taxes come out of U.S. 29,” Myers said. “That needs to be our engine for our economic development and our economic income.”

But Jeff Werner of the Piedmont Environmental Council said the interchanges would provide a way for motorists to cross U.S. 29 without stopping, a necessary step in alleviating traffic congestion.

“Those cars cannot get across 29 and it’s going to get worse,” Werner said. “For whatever reason, the business community … prefers gridlock.”

Morgan Butler of the Southern Environmental Law Center was disappointed the interchanges would not be actively planned for several years.

“We have to keep in mind this is a master plan,” Butler said. “It requires we identify land use designations and the transportation projects that we need to handle the growth that we know is coming. … If we start taking off road projects, all we’re going to have left is the growth, with no plan to handle the traffic.”

Supervisors discussed whether to honor a request from Timothy Hulbert, executive director of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce, to remove all references to the interchanges. At issue was whether a small group of stakeholders could begin discussing what a Rio Road interchange might look like.

“I think to be intellectually honest we have to say all the traffic studies indicate that we should put the interchanges in,” Boyd said. “But I think I’d rather simply say at this time there’s no funding and no intent to do it.”

Supervisors also voted 4-2 to include an expansion of the county’s growth area to accommodate more commercial development north of the river. Developer Wendell Wood has offered to contribute towards the bridge’s construction if the Comprehensive Plan is amended. A second expansion to expand the growth area near the Rivanna Station military base will also be considered.

Supervisor Dennis S. Rooker explained his opposition to the Hollymead expansion.

“We can create ghost towns in the existing commercial areas by continuing to improve more and more greenfield development,” Rooker said. He said the county should not consider zoning more land for commercial use until Albemarle Place, North Pointe and Hollymead Town Center are built out.

Boyd disagreed on philosophical grounds and said Berkmar won’t be extended as a parallel road unlessWood’s land is brought into the growth area.

The Places29 Master Plan will go to public hearing in November. Supervisors will have more chance to review the plan’s language before that occurs.

TIMELINE FOR PODCAST:

TIMELINE FOR PODCAST:

• 01:00 - Staff report from David Benish
• 12:45 - Supervisor Ken Boyd asks about planning for improvements at Rio Road
• 14:00 - Supervisor Dennis Rooker describes how planned improvements at U.S.29/250 will prolong Hydraulic Road intersection
• 16:00 - Supervisor Duane Snow calls for plan to be amended to include only projects that will be built
• 17:00 - Supervisor Lindsay Dorrier says he can't visualize what a grade-separated interchange would look like
• 19:15 - Benish explains modifications to how Rio Road small area plan are presented in the plan
• 22:15 - Benish concludes his presentation and Board discussion begins in earnest
• 24:45 - Dorrier asks when Berkmar Bridge would be built
• 33:15 - Benish     prompts discussion about other roads being eliminated from the plan
• 46:00 - Discussion of growth area expansions at Hollymead and Piney Mountain
• 1:16:00 - Public comment from Timothy Hulbert of the Chamber of Commerce
• 1:19:00 - Public comment from Carter Myers
• 1:23:00 - Public comment from Jeff Werner of the Piedmont Environmental Council
• 1:26:00 - Public comment from Neil Williamson of the Free Enterprise Forum
• 1:28:00 - Public comment from Jo Higgins
• 1:31:00 - Public comment from Lloyd Wood of the North Charlottesville Business Council
• 1:34:30 - Public comment from Morgan Butler of the Southern Environmental Law Center
• 1:38:00 - Further discussion by the Board

 

Former Progress staffer Maria Sanminiatelli has been named the AP’s North American editor.

By Brian Wheeler
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Albemarle and Charlottesville officials are hoping to come to terms soon on a 50-year water plan that has been in the works for nearly eight years, since the drought of 2002 underscored the need for a long-term solution.

Originally approved in 2006 at a then-projected cost of $142 million, the 50-year water plan has since been heavily scrutinized after questions were raised about inflated costs for a new dam and the merits of dredging an existing reservoir.

Review Charlottesville Tomorrow's Water Supply Decision Matrix, an evaluation of many of the key criteria local leaders will be reviewing as they finalize a decision on the 50-year water supply plan.

With a revised design for an earthen dam at Ragged Mountain Reservoir in hand and county leaders supporting its construction, the City Council will hold a work session Thursday to discuss a group of water-supply studies completed over the summer.

The latest new information surfaced Tuesday, when a consultant issued new projections on the cost and viability of repairing and building on the existing dam at Ragged Mountain — yet another potential alternative in the overall water plan.

If the City Council seeks to amend the 2006 water plan, any change would require a majority vote at a future Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority board meeting. Should city and county representatives on the RWSA board reach a stalemate, the community may be faced with the prospect of having an approved water plan that can’t be implemented.

The city and county have three votes each, with a seventh belonging to a jointly appointed chairman, currently Mike Gaffney, who is in his fourth two-year term in that position.

Ann H. Mallek, chairwoman of Albemarle’s Board of Supervisors, said in a recent interview that there needs to be a joint meeting with the City Council to plan the next steps.

“The city needs to resolve where it is and come to that meeting with its position and concerns, otherwise we have no way to figure out what to discuss,” Mallek said. “It is very difficult when people don’t agree on the facts.”

Thomas L. Frederick Jr., the RWSA’s executive director, said in a recent interview that one difficulty in developing a plan such as the water supply is “the possibility that community goals can change while you are doing it.”

“I am not convinced that they have changed,” he said.

City Councilor Kristin Szakos said in a recent interview that she has yet to finalize her position heading into Thursday’s meeting.

“Before I solidify my view, I want to wait for the work session. [The City Council is] also meeting with Mr. Frederick individually to get his perspective, and that will be really helpful to me,” Szakos said. “When those are done, I don’t see anything standing in the way of making a decision.”

At the last City Council meeting, after spirited public comment on the water plan, several councilors said the debate needed to be “fact-based.” They said personal attacks against members of the community with a position for or against the plan had been both unpleasant and ineffective.

The water plan represents the largest joint project ever pursued by these localities since the formation of the RWSA in 1972. At that time, state and federal regulators pressured Charlottesville and Albemarle to combine their water and sewer systems.

Gerald Fisher served on the county Board of Supervisors from 1972 to 1987 and was chairman during the contentious 1982 debate over the land acquisition for the Buck Mountain Reservoir in Free Union.

“I am very glad there are current leaders who can work this out. I just hope they can make the right decisions and go on with it,” Fisher said in an interview. “Sometimes I feel like a lot of time is spent going back over things that have already been decided.”

Fisher worked with then-Mayor Frank Buck in months of cost-sharing negotiations before an agreement on Buck Mountain was reached in 1983. That reservoir was expected to be needed by 2015, but it was never built, in part because the property was later found to be habitat for the James spinymussel, a federally listed endangered species.

Twenty-eight years later, city and county officials are once again about to negotiate cost-sharing matters and the overall approach to preparing the community for future droughts and population growth.

Specifically, officials must consider whether to satisfy the projected needs fully through construction of a new dam at Ragged Mountain versus partially through dredging to restore capacity at the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir. Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan has advocated for dredging South Fork, which it says will meet the community’s water supply needs for at least the next three decades.

Regardless of how the storage problem is solved, decisions are also looming for other major projects to maintain the existing water supply system. These include upgrading water treatment plants, replacing aging pipelines, and fixing or replacing the 1908 dam at Ragged Mountain. These projects are all part of the 2006 plan that the RWSA now says has a total price tag of $142,623,500 in capital costs alone.

Szakos was not on the City Council when the water plan was approved unanimously in 2006. She indicated in an interview that the city can’t ignore the county’s future needs.

“I don’t really see us dropping in water demand here,” Szakos said. “We will have population growth, maybe not within the city limits, but we are all one community and we can’t just take our marbles and go home.”

The council is expected to follow up its work session with a public hearing in late September. Cost-sharing is one issue Szakos expects to be raised.

“There are some real serious concerns by city ratepayers that they will bear a disproportionate cost for this project, one which wouldn’t be necessary if it was only for the city,” she said. “We have to be responsible to our taxpayers.”

By Brian Wheeler
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
 
Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris said Tuesday that he will not support the construction of the new dam contemplated for the Ragged Mountain Reservoir as part of the community water supply plan approved in 2006. Norris said he favors first dredging of the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir.

“We don’t need a 45-foot dam anytime in the near or immediate future. We do need to fix our leaky pipes and take better care of our rivers and streams,” Norris said.

Download Black & Veatch's feasibility study and cost estimates

 Norris shared his position while discussing the cost estimates released earlier in the day by Black & Veatch, an engineering firm hired by Charlottesville to evaluate repairing or building on top of the existing Lower Ragged Mountain Dam, which was built in 1908.

Black & Veatch reported that a 45-foot increase in the reservoir pool could be accomplished for between $15.8 million and $21.4 million — an amount, according to city officials, that is at least $9.6 million less than the projected cost to construct the all new earthen dam proposed in May.

The firm also reported that the existing dam could be raised 13 feet for a cost between $8.8 million and $12 million or just repaired for $5.5 million to $7.4 million.

HDR Engineering said in June that a one-time, seven-year dredging project could be done at South Fork for about $34 million to $40 million. The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority has said that dredging produces only 13 percent of the water storage provided by a new dam.

Norris is the city’s elected official on the RWSA’s board of directors. His counterpart in Albemarle is Supervisor Kenneth C. Boyd.

“I have not fully read the [Black & Veatch] report, but we need not be short-sighted in our water planning,” Boyd said Tuesday. “It concerns me a lot that … they are in control of the county’s destiny, yet they are not the ones expected to grow. I don’t want to come up short because of short-sighted city councilors.”

Liz Palmer serves on the Albemarle County Service Authority’s board and has been a vocal supporter of the water supply plan approved in 2006, which includes a new dam at Ragged Mountain and a new pipeline connecting it to South Fork.

“I am all for building something for less, if I am getting the same thing,” Palmer said Tuesday. “As long as the volume is the same, I don’t care how you do it. I want to know it is as safe and will last as long [as an earthen dam]. From this study by Black & Veatch, there is not enough information to determine that.”

The City Council will review the water plan at a special work session at noon Thursday at the new Charlottesville Area Transit building on Avon Street. A public hearing on the next steps for the water plan is expected to be held Sept. 20 at the council’s regular meeting.

By Sean Tubbs
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Wednesday, August 18, 2010

The two boards met at CitySpace to begin the FY2012 budget process

As Albemarle County begins another budget cycle, members of the county’s two elected bodies sat down Tuesday to discuss ways to improve communications. Supervisors and school board members aired their grievances about how the current year’s budget was developed.

In April, the School Board approved a $142.9 million budget for FY2011, $6.1 million  less than the previous budget. Some of the savings came from eliminating more than 40 staff positions, including the equivalent of 22 full-time teaching positions.

The Board of Supervisors kept the property tax rate at 74.2 cents per $100 of assessed value. Because property values declined, the average tax bill was around $90 lower than the previous year.

The session was facilitated by Bill Bosher, executive director of the Commonwealth Education Policy Institute at Virginia Commonwealth University. Bosher’s group has conducted management reviews of the school system and Albemarle County government.

“One assumption is that a school system works in the context of budget projections and needs to offer a budget that is balanced within those projections,” Bosher said. “For us today, I believe you want to talk more about what are the mechanisms we can use to confront that process.”

Listen using player above or download the podcast: Download 20100817-BOS-SB

During the three hour session, Supervisors and School Board members discussed how to better improve how they communicate information about each other’s needs.

Supervisor Ken Boyd, who served on the school board from 1999 to 2003, said he thought the school board members didn’t understand the constraints placed on local government by the recession.

“You didn’t really do a good job of explaining to us why you needed [an] additional two or three million dollars,” Boyd said. “You never told us what your expenditures were and how much you anticipated them to be.”

Bill Bosher of the Commonwealth Educational Policy Institute

For the next hour, school board members and supervisors argued over the details of last year’s budget and pledged to do a better job of relaying information as next year’s budget is developed. It is anticipated that the School Board will need to make further cuts in the FY2012 budget due to continued reductions from state government.

One outcome of Tuesday’s retreat is likely to be increased meetings between the two bodies, especially during when the budget process gets underway. Supervisor Dennis Rooker said he thought that would go a long way towards increased trust.

“If someone on our board has a perception that they’re wasting money or they should find savings someplace, let’s put it on the table and talk about it,” Rooker said. “It’s very easy not to like somebody you never sit down and talk with.”

The two boards will next meet in October to further discuss the budget. Bosher advised that the boards not to negotiate about money at that meeting, but simply provide each other with information.

“If you have a chance to fairly put your stuff in front of the body that funds you, and they say no, all you really asked for was a fair hearing,” Bosher said. “There’s always going to be a next season.”

TIMELINE FOR PODCAST:

• 01:00 - Introduction from Bill Bosher of the Commonwealth Educational Policy Institute.
• 23:30 - Comments from Lane Ramsey
• 31:00 - Bosher asks elected officials why they are proud of Albemarle
• 43:30 - Bosher asks what elected officials can do to create mechanisms to work through difficult times
• 54:30 - Conversation on previous year's budget process begins
• 1:34:00 - Bosher asks elected officials to suggest ways of ensuring communications stay open
• 1:41:00 - Bosher re-opens session after break
• 1:49:00 - Bosher gives feedback on what he's heard listening to the conversations

By Sean Tubbs
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Friday, August 20, 2010

The Swartz report suggests a permanent reduction in demand occured after the 2002 drought, but population increases will drive consumption in the future

An engineering firm hired to review the demand projections in the Charlottesville-Albemarle water supply plan has determined that there was a one-time drop in water consumption in the aftermath of the 2002 drought but that the area’s long-term supply needs are largely unchanged.

The analysis addresses a major question raised by the City Council about the accuracy of the 2004 demand analysis prepared by engineering firm Gannett Fleming. The water plan was originally approved in 2006 with a price tag of $142 million but has been the subject of contentious debate over costs and design ever since.

“We believe the data to date suggest this is a one-time reduction in demand rather than a new trend in water demands,” wrote Steve Swartz in the report prepared by Swartz Engineering Economics.

 

Download Swartz report on the 2004 demand analysis

 

The engineering company, based in Stuart, also concluded that the 2004 demand analysis was conducted using sound engineering principles.

However, the report also recommends that the Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority establish a new demand goal of 18.45 million gallons a day for the year 2060, a lower figure than that set by Gannett Fleming in 2004.

Swartz adjusted the figure because of a drop in water demand since 2002, but concluded long-term water usage would continue to grow because of projected population increases.

“We see no basis in the data for concluding that the likely long-term rate of growth in demand as projected by the 2004 study has changed,” Swartz wrote.

In June, the RWSA hired Swartz at a cost of about $25,000 to review Gannett Fleming’s 2004 study. Their demand analysis set a goal that the authority needed to be able to provide at least 18.7 million gallons a day by 2055 to meet “safe-yield” requirements.

Federal and state permits were issued for the community water supply plan, which met that goal with a new dam at the Ragged Mountain Reservoir as well as a new pipeline to connect it with the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir.

Opponents of the plan have argued that a drop in water demand since 2002 is indicative of a long-term trend, and that the community should develop a new plan that is less expensive, factors in greater conservation, and relies more on dredging than dam building.

In 2000, the average annual daily demand for water was 11.04 million gallons per day. For 2009, that number had dropped to 9.105 mgd, well below the projected trend calculated in the Gannett Fleming analysis.

Thomas L. Frederick Jr., executive director of the RWSA, said trend lines in long-term projections are not expected to predict the future with 100 percent accuracy.

“We all know that in the real world, things work in cyclical manner. There are periods of up and periods of down,” Frederick said. “You don’t look at a demand forecast like someone would look at a prophecy.”

The group Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan has indicated on its Web site and in recent presentations that by its calculations, the RSWA will need to provide only 14 million to 14.5 million gallons a day in 2055. The group’s Kevin Lynch, a former member of Charlottesville’s City Council, said he needed more time to review the Swartz report. Other representatives of the group said they would issue a statement on Saturday.

Analysts with Swartz concluded that the drought of 2002 led to a reduction in overall demand equivalent to 1.4 million gallons a day because of water restrictions imposed by the city and the Albemarle County Service Authority. Restrictions were also mandated in the summer and fall of 2007.

The Swartz report says the 2002 drought also led the University of Virginia to take steps to reduce its water usage, leading to what Swartz calls a one-time “permanent step-down” in UVa’s water use.

However, the report concluded that increased enrollments at UVa and an increased presence in Albemarle County by the nation’s defense sector will drive population growth and thus water demand.

Swartz said the recession has also played a role in depressing water demand.

“Historically, economy-based reductions in water use have proven to be temporary, with water use recovering rapidly with renewed economic activity,” reads the report.

The Swartz report is one of the final pieces of information requested by the RWSA board during a review of the components of the water supply plan. The RWSA is awaiting results of a study evaluating the embankment along Interstate 64, which would be inundated by water if the Ragged Mountain Reservoir is enlarged. Also, the City Council is waiting on a cost estimate for safety improvements and expansion options at the existing Lower Ragged Mountain Dam.

“I think in the end the [RWSA] board has to look at what’s available, including public input, and make a decision,” Frederick said. “What are we going to build now and what are we going to build later?”

The City Council is expected to hold a work session on the issue in mid-September before making a decision on how it wants to proceed. Mayor Dave Norris was unavailable for comment.

Kenneth C. Boyd, an Albemarle County supervisor who also serves on the RWSA board, is calling for a larger meeting of all the boards with jurisdiction over the community’s water supply infrastructure.

“Our board feels it is time to sit down as four boards in a work session to look at all the studies,” Boyd said in an interview.

 

By Bridgett Lynn
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Sunday, August 22, 2010

A group that oversees planning in Crozet has endorsed a new concept to redevelop a lumber yard on the Square into a walkable and livable community similar to Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall.

“We need a pedestrian mall in Crozet,” said Mike Marshall, chairman of the Crozet Community Advisory Council. “This comes into Crozet’s life at a very fortunate time for us.”

Listen using player above or download the podcast: Download 20100819-CCAC

The CCAC voted Thursday to recommend rezoning the 14.74-acre J. Bruce Barnes Lumber Yard and CSX railroad property to allow for future development as part of the Crozet Master Plan.

Member Kelly Strickland abstained because he helped to draw the plans for the property.

Katurah Roell

“If you imagine Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall, it’s a complete mixture of uses,” said Katurah Roell, president of President of Piedmont Development Group and a representative of the lumber yard. “This is a very small scale, a version of that, but what it does create is the ability to have a gathering space and some place where people love to go [in] Crozet.”

Under this concept, the lumber yard would be redeveloped into a space that would be open to a mixture of uses. The concept provides 100,000 square feet of light industrial building space and would account for almost one-fifth of development for light industrial use in the Master Plan, according to Roell.

“From [research and development] business to office space, restaurants, retail [and] some housing,” Roell said, “it will provide a variety of opportunities for people to locate their businesses, live, work, play and entertain each other.”

Click to enlarge

Crozet’s downtown is also under pressure to compete with other mixed-use neighborhoods such as Old Trail Village, which has a shopping village, golf course and other amenities.

“There are many existing businesses … that have considered going to Old Trail,” Roell said. “[We want] to be able to provide an office complex in here somewhere, where literally several hundred people can be employed.”

Some CCAC members were concerned that parts of the concept would not fit the area.

“It looks like there is a lot of on-street parking, and I don’t think that’s been thought out very well for that area,” member Charles Mitchell said. “I don’t want us to do something stupid.”

“There is close to over 700 parking spaces shown here,” Roell said. “That’s based on square footage, density, no particular use, and it’s also tied to Crozet downtown and/or light industrial zoning district parking requirements that are county ordinances.”

Some members of the public were concerned that the plan could disrupt their privacy.

“I’m wondering what kind of buffer zone there is going to be between these two- and three-story buildings and my backyard,” said Ellen McKenna, a resident of Hill Top Street. “I have a very private backyard and whenever this plan is fully implemented, I’m going to have buildings looking down into my yard. So my sense of privacy will be pretty much gone.”

“[The buildings are] 60 feet away from the property line,” Roell responded. “[And] those large trees along the back of the boundary of the property were intended to be left intact.”

“If anything, the downtown plan [makes] it more flexible for people to build buildings,” said Tom Loach, a member of Albemarle’s Planning Commission. “We should try and actively get employment in the downtown area.”

“I think it’s a very intelligent plan,” Marshall said. “I think it’s drawn by people who know what they’re doing. I think it’s highly in sync with what we hoped would happen in downtown when we designed the downtown zoning district.”

According to county planner Elaine Echols, county staff will submit a report to the Planning Commission presenting the CCAC’s input on the proposal. The county Board of Supervisors is expected to hold a work session on the updated Crozet Master Plan on Sept. 1.

“I’m very glad that we’re thinking about all of these issues because having something as wonderful as [this] is going to bring people to [Crozet],” said Ann H. Mallek, chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors.

By Brian Wheeler
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Opponents of the community’s long-term water supply plan on Monday blasted the conclusions reached by an engineering firm hired to review the demand assumptions that serve as the basis of the document.

Dede Smith, Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan

“We were disappointed when we read the report,” said Dede Smith of Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan. “The actual water usage data that we have seen in the last 10 years, with the full impacts of water conservation, should have been factored in when in fact it was not.”

The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority board is expected to discuss the report at its meeting today.

RWSA Executive Director Thomas L. Frederick Jr. disagreed with the critical assessment.

“From my review of the report, it does take into account conservation of all types that have occurred in the last eight years,” Frederick said in an interview.

Prepared by Steve Swartz of Swartz Engineering Economics, the report recommends that the RWSA establish a new demand goal for the water plan of 18.45 million gallons a day for the year 2060.

Swartz reviewed the 2004 study completed by consultant Gannett Fleming, which had previously set a goal of 18.7 mgd for 2055. He concluded in the report that the community experienced a “one-time reduction in demand” caused by a variety of factors, including the 2002 drought, and that “data from the past 16 years do not indicate any change to long-term trends.”

The report indicates that increased enrollment at the University of Virginia, combined with increased commercial and residential growth in Charlottesville and Albemarle, will drive local population growth, and thus water demand.

Smith emphasized in her remarks the importance of the 1992 federal Energy Policy Act, which she said would significantly reduce household water usage by requiring more efficient toilets, showerheads and faucets.

“The report does not even mention federal [water efficiency] mandates that have come into place since the 2004 demand study that have dramatically impacted our water use,” Smith said.

Frederick said the Gannett Fleming “trend line from 2004 also took into account future conservation.”

Chart by Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan comparing Swartz's demand trend to that of a linear trend of actual water usage since 1983.

At Monday’s news conference, group member Rich Collins characterized the RWSA as “so committed to its early permitted activity that it is unwilling to explore, much less to decide on, a better option.”

Collins said his group’s alternative water plan, which has dredging as its centerpiece to create more storage capacity, would provide 14 million gallons a day to 16 million gallons a day in “safe yield” for the water supply in 2060. Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris, who also sits on the RWSA board, has indicated the City Council should soon be ready to make a decision on the next steps for the water plan.

“I personally am reserving judgment until I have heard from Mr. Swartz,” Norris said in an interview. “If he is not able to demonstrate how his report adequately incorporated … conservation and efficiency, that would give me pause with regard to proceeding with a massive new dam that we may not need.”

“That’s the beauty of the [alternative] plan, we know because of studies we have done that dredging will produce a significant amount of water and the first phase can be done at relatively low cost,” Norris said. “While I am not endorsing it yet, there is an argument to proceed with dredging in the short run.”

Ann Mallek, the chairman of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors, said she was comfortable the Swartz study was pointing the community in the right direction to satisfy its long term water needs.

“Demand needs to be based on a long period of time, not just a short period that supports your point of view,” Mallek said in an interview.

“The extra use anticipated by the University of Virginia and future industrial needs all show that we are in the right ball park,” Mallek said. “It wouldn’t bother me to have a water supply that would last to 2060 or 2070. That’s what our citizens want us to do, to plan for the infrastructure that we need.”

By Sean Tubbs
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Wednesday, August 25, 2010

For the past several months, the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority’s Board of Directors has been reviewing all of the components of the community’s long-term water supply plan adopted in 2006. On Tuesday, board members heard details on the final two pieces of information they had requested.

Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris said the City Council will review the information at a September work session before deciding on how to proceed.

“We absolutely need to get council on record, given this new information,” Norris said. “Do we still stand by the original vote or do we modify the plan in one direction or another?”

Acting city manager Maurice Jones said the council would also hold a public hearing in September to get further input from citizens.

Listen using player above or download the podcast: Download 20100824-RWSA

Albemarle County Supervisor Kenneth C. Boyd said he had been concerned when the cost estimate of the new dam at the Ragged Mountain Reservoir tripled in September 2008. However, Schnabel Engineering has since recommended a design for an earthen dam with a cost estimate ranging from $28.5 million and $36.6 million, which includes final design and engineering work. Boyd said at the meeting that he was ready to vote in favor of the revised plan.

Norris said he had not yet made up his mind.

“I’ve personally been swayed by some of the new data that’s come in,” Norris said. “We need to give each councilor a chance to go on record of saying whether they’re behind the original plan or if they want to see it modified … We all want to come to a decision and move forward.”

 

Steven Swartz

At Tuesday’s meeting, engineer Steven Swartz gave a presentation of his review of the 2004 demand analysis on which the plan is based. He said his revised figure that the community will need of 18.45 million gallons a day in 2060 was not a precise prediction, but was adequate for planning purposes.

“Projecting 50 years ahead with precision is difficult at best,” Swartz said. “The best strategy is to use the best information and sound judgment based on professionals in that field.”

Members of Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan took issue with the methodology used by Swartz.

Group member Dede Smith said his report was as flawed as the Gannett Fleming analysis because it did not factor in recent water conservation trends.

“No longer can we assume those trend-lines of water use apply,” Smith said. “We will see even more dramatic reductions in our water supply.”

Swartz said the trend line represents both upward and downward pressures on demand. On one hand, water conservation efforts will reduce demand on a per capita basis. On the other, population increases will be a significant driver.

“Planners in the city tell me they’re expecting an influx of baby boomers who will be seeking less land to mow, and more communal type of living,” Swartz said.

On the same day of the meeting, city officials announced that the business research firm Kiplinger had named the Charlottesville area as the No. 1 place in the country to retire.

The other study reviewed by the RWSA on Tuesday was one conducted to determine what improvements would need to be made to strengthen the Interstate 64 embankment and to protect the reservoir from hazardous materials if a tractor-trailer crashed near it.

I-64 Embankment on the south side (Source: Volkert)

Engineers with the firm Volkert analyzed traffic and concluded the likelihood of such an event is one incident every 110 years. Even so, Volkert recommended that a floating boom be placed downstream of the embankment. They have also suggested the boom could be installed as part of a 350-foot floating footbridge so pedestrians could continue to walk the entire perimeter of the reservoir. Strengthening the embankment and installing the boom would cost around $2.2 million. There is no cost estimate for how much the pedestrian bridge would cost.

Download presentation given by Volkert on I-64 embankment

The RWSA board agreed to hold a meeting of the four boards only if the council decides it wants to modify the plan. RWSA board secretary Mary Knowles was directed to go ahead and schedule that meeting.

The final item remaining is the cost estimate for repairing and/or building on top of the existing Lower Ragged Mountain Dam. That study, by Black & Veatch, was requested by the City Council.
One city resident defended the plan.

“I’m afraid we’ve been led into a tangle of distracting arguments,” said James Nix.

He pointed out that the dredging plan would also require eventual replacement of the Sugar Hollow pipeline, upgrades to water treatment plants as well as continued costs associated with storing dredged material.

Also at the meeting, the RWSA approved an extension of permission to the University of Virginia rowing teams to continue using the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir for practice and meets. As part of the condition, UVa is required to research electric-powered boats as a way to reduce the risk of contamination by gas-powered engines. They’ve spent $40,000 to date, according to coach Kevin Sauer.

TIMELINE FOR PODCAST:

• 01:00 - Meeting called to order by Chair Mike Gaffney
• 02:30 - Public comment from Rich Collins of Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan
• 06:20 - Public comment from Dede Smith of Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan
• 10:00 - Public comment from Kelton Flinn calling the Swartz report's methodology into question
• 13:45 - Public comment from Richard Lloyd of Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan
• 17:10 - Public comment from Tom Olivier of the Piedmont Group of the Sierra Club
• 20:00 - Public comment from city resident Jim Nix
• 22:23 - Public comment from Kirk Bowers, Albemarle County resident
• 26:15 - Public comment from Neil Williamson of the Free Enterprise Forum
• 28:40 - Public comment from Liz Palmer of the Albemarle County Service Authority
• 32:30 - Response from Albemarle County Supervisor Ken Boyd
• 34:00 - Response from Tom Frederick, executive director of the RWSA
• 36:15 - Consideration and approval of the consent agenda
• 36:30 - Consideration of extension of waiver for UVa rowing teams
• 43:00 - Review of Swartz review of demand study
• 1:13:20 - Mayor Norris asks Swartz questions about his study
• 1:31:00 - Presentation of Volkert report
• 1:50:30 - Discussion of next steps in the water supply plan

By Sean Tubbs
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Friday, August 27, 2010

The Rivanna Solid Waste Authority has amended the agreement by which Albemarle County and Charlottesville will pay for the continued operation of the McIntire Recycling Center and the Ivy Materials Utilization Center. Included in the new agreement is a provision that neither locality is required to keep paying after Dec. 31.

The RSWA’s executive director, Thomas L. Frederick Jr., said in an interview that he cannot rule out the closure of both facilities.

“We have to know what the revenue sources will be to continue the programs,” Frederick said.

To save money, the RSWA cut back hours at the recycling center and stopped accepting hazardous materials such as paint, batteries and compact fluorescent bulbs.

Frederick told the RSWA board at its meeting Tuesday that there has been a substantial increase in complaints related to the cutback in services. The RSWA will offer a one-day collection of hazardous materials next spring, but many board members expressed concern that is not a long-term solution for a community that has grown accustomed to disposing materials safely.

“It’s an issue that all communities are dealing with,” said Judy Mueller, the city’s director of public works. “There’s no magic answer that anyone’s come up with.”

“Hazardous materials are very expensive because there are rigorous federal regulations that have to be complied with,” Frederick said. He added that the nearest landfill permitted to handle such materials is in South Carolina.

The RSWA has traditionally funded operations through the sale of recycled materials collected at McIntire and tipping fees made by trash trucks that use the Ivy facility. However, tonnage received at Ivy has reduced dramatically in the past several years as haulers have chosen to use other, private facilities.

In fiscal year 2005, 105,593 tons of municipal solid waste and other items passed through the Ivy facility. In FY2009, that number had dropped to 69,636 tons.

“In years prior, the RSWA was charging a higher tipping fee at the Ivy transfer station and had rights to control customers from Albemarle and Charlottesville at BFI’s transfer station,” Frederick said. The surplus went toward funding public services such as the McIntire Recycling Center.

In 2007, the city and county signed the local support agreement to address the RSWA’s ongoing operating deficits. The RSWA board also directed Frederick to lower the fees at Ivy because private facilities, such as the one operated by van der Linde Recycling at Zion Crossroads, could provide the service at a lower rate, in part because they do not have to subsidize the free recycling services offered to the public.

In June, the RSWA board passed a $2 million budget for fiscal year 2011, a 47.5 percent decrease from the previous year. Under the new terms of the agreement approved Tuesday, the county is now responsible for paying 85 percent of the cost of continued operations at the Ivy facility and 67 percent of the cost of running the McIntire Recycling Center with the city picking up the balance, 15 percent and 33 percent, respectively. The percentages represent the approximate split by which residents of each jurisdiction use RSWA services.

“My sense of [the City Council] is that we’re interested in exploring continuing to be part of the recycling center at McIntire,” Councilor David Brown said. However, Brown added the city had no reason to continue contributing to the Ivy facility.

In addition to the Ivy and McIntire centers, the RSWA also administers the environmental remediation at the now closed Ivy Landfill. The University of Virginia also contributes to the landfill cleanup. The city, county and UVa are expected to pay $875,480 on the cleanup this year. That direct contribution to the RSWA is governed by a separate 2005 memorandum of understanding, which would continue in effect even if the city ended its support for the RSWA’s other activities next year.

Maurice Jones is shooting to be the city manager, Rachana Dixit writes in the Progress today. He became acting city manager when Gary O’Connell stepped down in April. Before that he was assistant city manager. Jones is perhaps best known for his time as a sportscaster for NBC-29 in the mid-nineties and, after that, serving as the city spokesman. An outside search firm is trying to find a replacement for O’Connell; Jones has not yet formally applied, but intends to shortly.

As this process unfolds, keep in mind that Charlottesville has a strong city manager form of government. The city manager is in charge of the city—basically a mid-sized business—the equivalent of mayor in many other cities.

Just a few months after Gary O’Connell departed as Charlottesville city manager, Bob Tucker has announced he’s stepping down as the county executive, NBC-29 reports. In the equivalent role to O’Connell’s, Tucker has run the county for twenty years. His retirement is effective December 31. Expect a search firm to be hired and a national search to be conducted. Presumably this puts the county in the awkward position of competing with the city for the same talent.

Plan 9 is looking for a smaller location to move to from Albemarle Square.

Brian Wheeler timed his school board resignation to avoid being replaced via an election. There are upsides and downsides to that decision.

A homeless man was beaten half to death overnight, the Daily Progress reports. Robert Kartheiser was found in the bushes between the Omni and the federal courthouse. He’s hospitalized, unconscious, and it’s not clear that he’s going to live. Police don’t have any suspects, and are looking for leads in the case.

Three new whale tails are going in, courtesy of ArtInPlace.

In the current Hook is one of the longest articles that I recall them publishing: Dave McNair’s investigation into the suicide of VQR’s Kevin Morrissey. There’s a lot more information, and better sourced information, than in the Chronicle of Higher Education piece, published last week. Perhaps the most interesting revelation in the article is that there was a 32-year veteran of the UVA-published magazine who says she was forced out by editor Ted Genoways in 2005; after she filed a harassment complaint against him, the university gave her a severance package. She calls Genoways “a danger” who “should not be in charge of other people.”

Obligatory disclaimer: I work for VQR, I’ve accepted a new job elsewhere at the university, this is super awkward to write about, and I’ve lost all perspective as to when I should write about this on cvillenews.com and when I shouldn’t. Based on the explosion of comments on The Hook’s site this afternoon and evening, though, it looks like people are still pretty interested.

Here’s your annual warning: the students return this weekend.

The story of the death of VQR Managing Editor Kevin Morrissey two weeks ago has become a topic of great interest. The Chronicle of Higher Education today features a weighty investigative piece entitled “What Killed Kevin Morrissey?”. Author Robin Wilson repeats claims that magazine editor Ted Genoways is rarely at work, that he has left his staff completing much of his duties, and that years of bullying Morrissey culminated in the employee’s suicide. (Genoways denies the charges.) And over at C-Ville Weekly, Brendan Fitzgerald updates his coverage with basically a whole new layer of the story, reporting that Genoways is now directing inquiries to an attorney.

I must again point out that I am one of the four people on the staff of VQR working for Genoways, and that it remains awfully uncomfortable for me to write about this here. Based on the sheer volume of press inquiries I’ve been getting from local and national media outlets in the past two weeks, we can expect to see quite a bit more coverage of this story in the days ahead.

By Sean Tubbs
Charlottesville Tomorrow
stubbs@cvilletomorrow.org

When the former Jefferson School opens next year as a community center, there will not be a hotel, a laundry or an auto-repair shop in the site’s future. That’s because the developer has agreed to waive the right to those potential uses as part of the rezoning process.

“It was the will of the Planning Commission that hotel use is inappropriate at the site,” said L.J. Lopez of Stonehaus, the firm working with the Jefferson School Partnership on the former all-black school’s transformation.

The partnership and Stonehaus are seeking rezoning from B-1 to B-2, which does allow for restaurants. A rezoning is required because the Jefferson Area Board for Aging has signed a letter of intent to operate some services in the new building, including a cafe.

The item was deferred from the Charlottesville Planning Commission’s July meeting when representatives of Stonehaus were not willing to give up the right to use the property for certain types of businesses allowed in B-2 zoning. Lopez was willing to do so at the commission’s meeting Tuesday.

Staff also recommended that the City Council initiate a process in which the building might be listed as an “individually protected property.” Such a designation would require the property owner to go before the Board of Architectural Review to request permission for demolition or exterior changes.

Lopez said the status isn’t necessary because the partnership is applying for tax credits related to the school’s status as a historic resource. A condition of the credits is that the property must be unchanged for a period of time.

One commissioner thought that was insufficient.

“I would be more comfortable [with individually protected property status] because if it’s just under the tax credits, it could potentially be demolished after five years,” Commissioner John Santoski said.

However, Lopez said the partnership would not stand in the council’s way.

“While we think [individually protected property status] may be overkill, we’re happy to work with staff towards working towards that goal,” Lopez said.

Commissioner Dan Rosensweig said he was not sure if the step was necessary.

“I’d like to have more dialogue with the property owner to get a sense of their intent,” Rosensweig said.

The commission voted 3-0 to recommend approval. Commissioners Genevieve Keller and Kurt Keesecker recused themselves from the vote as they are both involved with the project. Commissioner Michael Osteen was not present.

The item will next go before the City Council for a public hearing. Ordinarily the council holds a joint public hearing with the Planning Commission but a quorum of councilors was not available.

Other tenants at the redeveloped school will include Piedmont Virginia Community College, the Piedmont Family YMCA and the Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville-Albemarle. If the council approves the rezoning, construction on the $17 million project could begin this fall.

By Sean Tubbs
Charlottesville Tomorrow
stubbs@cvilletomorrow.org

Jason Pearson

While the Charlottesville City Council is currently accepting applications for the Planning Commission vacancy left by Bill Emory, there is a possibility that current Chairman Jason Pearson may also depart.

Commissioners Genevieve Keller and Michael Osteen were reappointed to their seats by the City Council earlier this month, but Pearson’s term ends Aug. 31 and the council has yet to take action on his seat.

“I recently stepped down as president and CEO of GreenBlue, and this has provided me an opportunity to explore some independent projects and new avenues for professional engagement and public service,” wrote Pearson in an e-mail to Charlottesville Tomorrow.

“As I explore these further, I am uncertain whether I will be able to dedicate sufficient time to the work of the commission,” he said.

Pearson said he would continue to play a role in the ongoing revision of the city’s steep slopes ordinance as well as a review of how the Cherry Avenue mixed corridor is being planned.

At this time, the council has chosen to simply not fill Pearson’s seat when his term expires at the end of the month. According to Mayor Dave Norris, that will allow Pearson to continue serving. The commission’s bylaws specify a term can be extended in this fashion.

“Jason is a very valuable member of the Planning Commission and if there’s a way to keep him in the role, we’d like to see him continue,” Norris said.

Meanwhile, the city is continuing to take applications for the seat vacated by Emory. He resigned in May for personal reasons.

The deadline for applications is Aug. 20, with interviews before the council tentatively scheduled for the last week of the month. Applications can be sent to the clerk of council. The new commissioner is expected to join in September.

“I hope that council will reflect on the mix of current commissioners and attempt to identify commissioners who can enhance and broaden the diversity of viewpoints and expertise already present on the commission,” Pearson said.

The commission is currently made up of an architectural historian (Keller), two practicing architects (Osteen and Kurt Keesecker), two nonprofit leaders (John Santoski and Dan Rosensweig) and Pearson.

Norris said he would particularly like a candidate who has a vision for helping the city become more pedestrian and bike friendly.

“I’d personally like to see someone who is going to ask the hard questions about how planning decisions are going to affect our neighborhoods,” Norris said.

A new chair and vice chair will be appointed at the September meeting. Pearson has also said he is not sure if he will continue in a leadership position.

“I think we have some excellent candidates for chair among my colleagues, and I would welcome an opportunity to support any of them,” Pearson said.

Planning commissioners receive $2,900 a year for their service. The chair receives $3,500.

Jim Noble beat Bank of America in small claims court.

Help create 3D models of local buildings in Google Earth. I love it!

By Bridgett Lynn & Sean Tubbs
Charlottesville Tomorrow
August 10, 2010

Opponents of the adopted community water supply plan held a forum on July 29 to explain why they feel dredging the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir is the best solution to meeting the community’s future water needs.

Listen using player above or download the podcast: Download 20100729-dredging

Dede Smith, of the group Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan, provided a presentation to explain why the group is against the plan adopted by City Council and the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors in 2006. That plan, which has received state and federal permits, calls for an enlarged Ragged Mountain reservoir as well as a new pipeline to connect it to the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir.

“In a nutshell, it’s over priced, oversized, and based on faulty data,” said Smith.

The plan is based on a 2004 demand analysis conducted by Gannett Fleming that established the water supply would need to be able to provide a “safe yield” of 18.7 million gallons a day. The analysis factored in population estimates, water consumption trends and historical data on rainfall.  It did not incorporate changes to the city and county comprehensive plans made after 1997.  Albemarle County completed its first master plan for a designated growth area in 2004.

Former City Councilor Kevin Lynch argued the community is using less water today and that the demand analysis does not account for these changes in behavior.

Former City Councilor Kevin Lynch

“It was relevant once,” Lynch said. “It’s not that it’s false stated, it’s just no longer relevant data.”

Lynch voted for the plan when he was on City Council, but has said since that he did so because the estimates for dredging provided by Gannett Fleming were too high.  In March 2008, the firm estimated that dredging continuously for the 50-year period of the water supply plan could cost as much as $223 million.

City Council asked for several studies to examine various components of the 2006 plan. The firm HDR Engineering was hired to evaluate the feasibility and costs of dredging the South Fork to restore it as close as possible to its original storage volume. The firm is recommending a multi-phase, one-time dredging project that would cost $34 million to $40 million and take about seven years.  HDR said resale of the dredged materials could reduce the dredging costs by as much as $12.7 million.

Another reason the community water supply plan’s implementation has been delayed is due to the rising cost estimate for the new dam at Ragged Mountain Reservoir. In September 2008, Gannett Fleming announced that the cost estimate for a concrete dam had increased to over $70 million. The RWSA hired another firm, Schnabel Engineering, who concluded that switching to an earthen dam would save money, and could be accomplished for a cost between  $28.5 million and $36.6 million.

Members of the group also took issue with a recent draft study from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality which assessed an alternative water plan at the request of Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris.

“What it says is that if we dredge the South Fork Reservoir and build a 13 foot dam … that we can increase the safe yield of our system by about 4 million gallons a day over and above what we have now and still meet the existing flow requirements into the streams that are spelled out in the 45 foot dam permit,” Lynch said.

Banner displayed at forum

However, according to Scott Kudlas, a DEQ director responsible for surface and groundwater planning, the Norris plan would not meet stream-flow requirements in the community’s previously approved permits.

“Our conclusion is that the safe yield of the alternative will not meet the demand,” Kudlas said in a July interview. “In order to meet the in-stream flow requirements in the permit, the locality would have to be in voluntary [water] conservation [mode] all the time, and they still wouldn’t meet the in-stream flows from the original permit during the full range of conditions.”

The draft study by DEQ also indicates that the dredging of South Fork Rivanna Reservoir, combined with a renovation and expansion of the existing 1908 dam at Ragged Mountain, would deliver a safe yield of approximately 16.8 million gallons a day, 1.9 million gallons short of the original goal of the community’s 50-year water supply plan.

Richard Lloyd, a representative of Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan and a board member of Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population, also discussed an alternative dredging plan he is recommending for consideration.  Lloyd wrote in a recent advertisement featured in The Hook that a study of his ‘Small Bites’ alternative would “probably find that this method costs less, is more environmentally friendly and produces a much better long-term result.” 

In an interview with Charlottesville Tomorrow, Lloyd could not provide the exact actual costs of his dredging plan nor the amount of water storage in “safe yield” that would be provided.  His ‘Small Bites’ advertisement claims that dredging would “cost about $1 million a year” and provide enough water supply for 30-50 years. 

“It’s time for us to go out and find out what that cost would be. It’s time to issue an inquiry and have a competitive situation where different companies would bid,” Lloyd said.

In August, the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority (RWSA) Board of Directors will get the results of a new review of the 2004 demand analysis to determine if changes in consumption and community growth might raise or lower the safe yield target. Swartz Engineering Economics was paid $24,000 to conduct the review.

A brand new demand analysis could cost as much as $100,000, according to Tom Frederick, executive director of the RWSA.

TIMELINE FOR PODCAST:

00:45 – Bob Fenwick talks about recent goals and accomplishments of the group Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan
05:00 – Rich Collins of Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan disputes claims in the media about the water supply issue
14:05 – Kevin Lynch interprets the DEQ report as supporting dredging the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir and building a 13 foot dam
22:10 – Dede Smith presents a power point comparing water supply alternatives and information on water consumption
46:25 – Hawes Spencer, editor and publisher of The Hook, questions if Rivanna’s sewer service is equal to the water service
47:45 – Lynch addresses question from a retail perspective and at the wholesale perspective
51:37 – City resident Rebecca Quinn, one of Charlottesville’s citizen representatives on the dredging firm selection committee, questions how much of Rivanna’s treated water is lost through old infrastructure via seepage out of the system
52:13 – Smith addresses question
53:43 – Richard Lloyd talks about the amount of water available and his alternative dredging plan called 'Small Bites'
1:15:01 – Quinn argues that the economy will never be favorable to build the proposed dam
1:19:43 – Conclusion

C-Ville Weekly is raising questions about the death of VQR’s Kevin Morrissey.

By Bridgett Lynn
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Tuesday, August 10, 2010

A federal pollution crackdown meant to protect the Chesapeake Bay likely will spell major changes for local governments and area growth, officials said Monday.

“We’re concerned … local governments are going to be required to increase [their] attention to existing regulatory efforts, that there will also be increased regulatory requirements, [and] … that the new pollutant loadings resulting from growth will need to be offset,” said Steve Williams, executive director of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission.


The Environmental Protection Agency is announcing, for all levels of government, mandates to limit the Total Maximum Daily Load, which refers to the total amount of pollutants and sediment allowed to enter into a body of water before water quality becomes impaired.

The forthcoming changes were discussed at Monday’s meeting of the Rivanna River Basin Commission. Albemarle County Supervisor Ann Mallek, a commission member, said that the new pollutant loadings have important implications for local growth patterns.

“For the last 20 years, any of the gains that we’ve made procedurally [in watershed protection] … have been demolished by the growth,” Mallek said.

(Source:Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation)

“If [the mandate] doesn’t end up being enforced by EPA, the state, or the local governments, [then] it’s going to end up being enforced by the courts,” Williams said. “There will be some sort of lawsuits brought that will ultimately force this down our throats in one way or another.”

The basin commission recommends programs to enhance the water and natural resources in the Rivanna River watershed, a tributary of the James River, which forms Albemarle County’s southern border. The James River watershed accounts for one-fourth of Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay drainage area.

“The major reason that communities should consider being prepared is that, regardless of this federal and state mandate, we have water quality issues in our watershed as well throughout the entire planning district commission,” said Leslie Middleton, the commission’s executive director. “It’s not just in the Rivanna.”

In September, the commission and the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission will begin facilitating focus group meetings with pairs of elected officials from each of the six member governments. Meetings for other stakeholder groups will be held during next three months.

Additional information can be found on the commission’s Web site at www.rivannariverbasin.org.

By Sean Tubbs
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Thursday, August 5, 201

The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors has upheld a decision by the deputy zoning administrator that developer Wendell Wood is required to comply with a proffer made by the original developer of Hollymead Town Center.

Listen using player above or download the podcast: Download 20100804-BOS-proffer-violation

The arrow indicates the location of the right of way to connect Hollymead Town Center to Willow Glen as called for in the proffe

When the board approved a section of the Hollymead Town Center in September 2007, developer Octagon Partners agreed to dedicate right of way for a connection to an adjoining subdivision known as Willow Glenn. The dedication was to be made whenever the county made an official request, which the county did in April 2009.

Wood’s Route 29 LLC acquired the Hollymead Town Center property in 2009. Neither he nor Octagon Partners complied with the county’s request.

“We were informed they did not want to do that in the form the proffer calls for,” said Ron Higgins, the county’s deputy zoning administrator.

Download presentation on the proffer violation

In an official appeal to Higgins, Woods wrote that the proffer had been “forced” upon the previous owner and had caused many problems with the project’s development.

“As the mortgage holder and subsequent owner, I did not approve the proffer,” Wood wrote in his letter. “This proffer was for the sole benefit of an adjoining property who is not participating in the cost of construction.”

However, the developer of Willow Glen agreed as part of that rezoning to pay for construction of the road. The land was rezoned from industrial to neighborhood model, allowing for the construction of 234 homes.

Supervisor Dennis S. Rooker said Wood was legally bound to comply with the proffer, which is a legal contract between the county and whoever owns the rezoned property.

“If you go down that road, every proffer that’s ever made is subject to people walking away from it,” Rooker said. “We would not have approved this without this kind of connection.”

Wendell Wood

Before the Board of Supervisors Wednesday, Wood said a stormwater retention pond is located where the right of way is to be dedicated.

“I don’t think Willow Glen wants to build a road over top of [the pond],” Wood said.

Wood claimed the language in the proffer allowed him to suggest another location for the right of way. Last week, he filed an application to do so with county planners. They have not had a chance to review the plan yet.

Valerie Long, an attorney for Willow Glen’s developer, said the project cannot get financing until the right of way is dedicated.

“We are happy to hear that [Wood] is willing to work with us,” Long said. “We just want to be able to build the connection at our expense and enable Willow Glen to move forward.”

The board voted unanimously to uphold Higgins’ decision.

By Sean Tubbs
Charlottesville Tomorrow
stubbs@cvilletomorrow.org

Chart depicting the old versus the new fees. Click to enlarge.

For the first time in nearly 20 years, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors has completed a comprehensive review of zoning fees and increased the fees paid by applicants seeking rezoning or special-use permits in order to recoup processing costs. The County’s zoning fees have not undergone a comprehensive review since 1991. In 2002, an across the board 25% fee increase was implemented.

“The cost of doing this is borne by somebody,” said Supervisor Dennis S. Rooker. “Most of it is being paid for with property taxes today.”

The process to increase the fees was put into motion in December 2007 when the board held a work session on adjusting the fees. The supervisors directed staff to develop a new fee structure comparable to other localities, and to attempt to recover a “significant” part of how much it costs the county to process the applications.

Listen using player above or download the podcast: Download 20100804-BOS-fees

The Planning Commission recommended the changes in November. The board deferred action in December and again in February due to concerns that the development community could not pay the additional fees during a recession.

The issue came back to the board because Mark Graham, the county’s community development director, did not have further direction on how to proceed.

Graham said if the county had adopted the fees in December, it would have collected an additional $170,000 in fees.

During his presentation to the board Wednesday, Graham used a hypothetical rezoning to demonstrate how costs are calculated. He said that application would cost the county $4,425 for reviews required by state law, such as traffic studies and a public hearing before the Planning Commission. That would also covers staff time at public hearings, review by the county attorney and assistance with questions from the public.

However, the current fee for that ideal rezoning application would be $1,250, translating to a 28 percent cost recovery.

“For a significant reduction in the costs, the county would need to greatly reduce its expectations and/or greatly reduce services,” Graham said.

Currently, an applicant who seeks rezoning of 9 acres would pay $1,020. Under the new fee structure, the fee will be $2,500, plus an additional $1,250 per review by staff in the case of multiple resubmissions.

“Applicants who come in with the approach of following the regulations and getting it done [get] through very quickly,” said board Chairwoman Ann H. Mallek.

The fee for a final site plan application will increase from $1,130 to $2,000.

Rooker pointed out that the fee increases are not as high as had been originally recommended by the Planning Commission.

“In two and a half years, we’ve gone from 100 percent recovery to what now is about 35 percent recovery,” Rooker said. He called on the board to adopt the fees rather than continue to debate them.

Jack Marshall, president of Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population, said his group wanted the fees to recover 100 percent of the cost of rezonings.

“The need for community oversight is created by developers,” Marshall said. “They should pay the full cost. Anything less than 100 percent foists the burden onto taxpayers.”

The board unanimously adopted the new fees without making any changes. The new fees will go into effect Jan. 1. The fee structure will be reviewed again in two years.

Boyd said the review should include a requirement that staff account for how much their time costs the county to make sure the fees are fair.

“I think it’s only good practice for us to have a good cost accounting system for this department,” Boyd said.

 

By Sean Tubbs
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Thursday, August 5, 2010

Participants split into different break-out groups to come up with new ideas

How can non-profit organizations work together to help build a better community? That was the general question underlying “Civic Action,”, a recently concluded collaboration between the Charlottesville Community Design Center (CCDC) and the Center for Non-profit Excellence (CNE).

“The CCDC’s purpose is to use design as a process of engaging citizens and shaping the future of the community,” said Mandy Burbage, CCDC’s executive director. “We see design as a real tool to enlist citizens in becoming catalysts for positive community change.”

Twelve advocacy organizations in the community were paired with designers to develop messages to support their mission. A panel selected 12 finalists from a pool of 48 applicants. The CCDC hosted an exhibit this summer to show off posters that were developed.

The project generated ideas including the creation of a local food policy board, a “speed-dating event” to link non-profits with potential funders, and proposals for improving regional transportation planning.

The project culminated in a forum held on July 27, 2010 where representatives of the non-profits brought their ideas before City Councilors for feedback.

Listen using player above or download the podcast: Download 20100727-Civic-Action

TIMELINE FOR PODCAST:

• 01:00 - Introduction from Mandy Burbage of CCDC and Cristine Nardi of CNE
• 12:00 - Report from groups who were paired together to talk about local food
• 16:00 - Report from groups who were paired together to discuss social capital
• 19:30 - Report from groups who were paired together to discuss creating opportunities for adults
• 22:15 - Report from groups who were paired together to discuss ensuring educational opportunities for all children
• 25:21 - Report from groups who were paired together to discuss ways to reduce area's carbon footprint
• 29:00 - Description of 'transition towns'
• 32:00 - Feedback from City Councilor Holly Edwards on local foods
• 36:30 - Feedback from City Councilor Kristin Szakos on local foods
• 42:45 - Szakos describes the Promise Neighborhoods campaign run by the U.S. Department of Education
• 49:30 - Szakos indicates support for a centralized database to connect mentors with students
• 54:00 - Question and answer period

 

By Bridgett Lynn
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Friday, August 6, 2010

At a transportation work session Thursday that attracted a couple of dozen people, Charlottesville city councilors heard from community and staff members about ways to increase bicycle safety.

Listen using player above or download the podcast: Download 20100805-city-council

“The emphasis that I took away from this is more on-street or off-street facilities for bicyclists and public education,” said Jeanie Alexander, the city’s traffic engineer.

City Council transportation work session

Improving bicycling safety has come to the forefront after a 23-year-old University of Virginia graduate student was hit and killed in a collision with a truck on West Main Street in April.

Leo Connally, a teacher at St. Anne’s-Belfield School, said at the meeting that he was hit by a car in April and has also had a bottle thrown at him by an angry motorist when riding his bike in town.

“There’s this animosity between drivers and cyclists when the cyclists don’t follow the rules,” Alexander said.

Lanes that can be striped within the existing roadways to separate bikes and vehicles, as well as other efforts such as “share the road” signing, have been made to improve safety.

Download presentation made by Traffic Engineer Jeanie Alexander

City staff also put together a number of sign options to alert motorists and cyclists to the rules of the road.

“One is this ‘Bicycles may use full lane’ sign,” Alexander said. “It’s just another way to alert a motorist to the fact that it is legal for the bicycle to take over the lane and, in many cases, the cyclist should take over the lane for their own safety.”

Existing conditions of Preston Avenue Photo Simulation depicting "road diet"

Additional projects are also under way in the city to create more safe routes for bicyclists.

“We do have funding from [the Virginia Department of Transportation] to design a bridge over the railroad tracks that would connect the two sides [of McIntire Park] for bike [and pedestrian] use, and that would tie into the 250 Bypass trail,” said Chris Jensic, the city’s trails planner.

New ideas to increase bike travel lanes included lane narrowing and “road diets.”

“There are some opportunities where we can narrow the travel lane,” Alexander said. “This is something that we haven’t really done in the past, but it’s an option in some of these places where we can’t fit the bicycle lanes with the standard 12-foot lane [and the] 5-foot bike lane.”

To illustrate lane narrowing, Alexander used Meade Avenue as an example of where an existing road could accommodate a 10-foot-wide, shared-use path.

“Road diets” is another new idea that staff presented as a way to create safer bicycle travel lanes. Preston Avenue was used as an example to show how its four lanes could be reconfigured to serve vehicular, transit and bicycle traffic.

“[One option is] we’re only going to leave one of those lanes for vehicular traffic,” Alexander said. “We’re going to use the other lane in one case for a shared bus and bike lane.”

Jim Tolbert, director of Neighborhood Development Services, also said he expects a draft sidewalk prioritization plan to be brought to the City Council sometime this fall after receiving feedback from the Planning Commission.

Mayor Dave Norris recommended that staff evaluate results from a recent survey by Bike Charlottesville and the Alliance for Community Choice in Transportation.

“There are some suggestions about legislative change that can’t be done at the local level,” Norris said.

By Bridgett Lynn
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Friday, August 6, 2010

Albemarle County has collected $955,000 worth of roll-back taxes from a land-use taxation revalidation program adopted by the Board of Supervisors in 2008.

The report was shared with the board Wednesday.

“It was important that we put in place a revalidation program so that the public has confidence that the parcels receiving the land-use tax benefits were using their land for agricultural purposes,” said Supervisor Dennis S. Rooker in an interview.

Since 1975, the county has used a land-use program to give reduced assessments to landowners who use their property for agriculture, horticulture, open space or forestry. The program was started to help protect rural land from development.

With the revalidation program, property owners who receive a tax break have to submit proof every two years that they continue to qualify.

“I was disappointed that the county had never done a revalidation,” said Glenmore resident Paul Accad in an interview. “Now they are in the process of completing the first one and look how much money has been, and will continue to be, collected due to the revalidation.”

“My thoughts on the program are that it needs to be run as cheaply as possible given the program’s goals,” Accad said. “I’d like to see those goals posted on the Web site since I’m not sure what they are.”

In 2009, owners of each of the 4,927 properties in the land-use program were mailed revalidation applications and approximately 98 percent of the forms were returned by the December deadline. The applications that were not submitted or that no longer qualified for the tax break were removed from the land-use program and had to pay the roll-back taxes.

The result was a loss of 177 parcels of land and the collection of $955,000 worth of roll-back taxes. The county also received an increase in taxable land value of $46,254,500 and new real estate revenues of $343,208.

Although Supervisor Rodney S. Thomas said he supports the land-use program, he said that he does not necessarily agree with the policy on roll-back taxes paid by people losing eligibility.

“What if I want to get out of this land-use program?” asked Thomas in an interview. “Does that mean I don’t have to pay for the roll-back taxes even if I gave a five-year notice? No, I would have to pay for it. [That’s] one thing I didn’t like about the program.”

The General Assembly has capped the roll-back tax period at five years. Property owners leaving the program have to pay the difference between what they paid under land use and the taxes they would have paid at fair market value. Albemarle County has been unsuccessful in past attempts to get the General Assembly to extend the roll-back penalty to 10 years.

According to Bob Willingham, the county’s assessor, the Real Estate Division is now two months into a field review process to ensure that the parcels in the program meet qualifying standards. The goal is to review the remaining 4,800 parcels over the next two years.

Because the review process just started recently, information on the number of parcels verified has not been collected yet, according to Willingham. Preliminary findings indicate about 33 percent of the applications need additional follow up to verify a qualifying use.

Each property owner will be given an opportunity to provide documentation of a qualifying use before the property is removed from the land-use program and the owner is billed for roll-back taxes.

By Sean Tubbs
Charlottesville Tomorrow
stubbs@cvilletomorrow.org

Charlottesville’s City Council has reaffirmed its interest in two stalled road projects.

 

At a work session Thursday, the council directed staff to continue listing the Sunset-Fontaine Connector and the Eastern Connector as local priorities for the Virginia Department of Transportation.

Even with limited funding for road construction, VDOT asks all localities in the state to prioritize potential construction projects. These are coordinated with the agency’s six-year improvement program.

 

Staff had argued that removing the two roads from the priority list might be more realistic given that the Eastern Connector is on hold and there is disagreement over whether a road to connect Sunset Avenue with Fontaine Avenue should even be built.

Both the city and Albemarle County opted to put further study of an eastern connection between U.S. 29 and U.S 250 east on hold in the fall of 2008. In the summer of that year, a task force selected a route through Pen Park as its choice for an alignment, but elected officials opted to wait until more is known about future traffic patterns before committing funds toward preliminary design.

Download presentation made by Traffic Engineer Jeanie Alexander

The Sunset-Fontaine Connector was called for in a 2004 joint study between the city, the county and the University of Virginia. However, cost estimates of the road are high because of a need to cross steep terrain and a railroad line.

Albemarle officials had been hoping UVa would contribute to the cost to complete the road as part of a rezoning for Fontaine Research Park. In May 2009, UVa executive vice president and chief operating officer, Leonard W. Sandridge, told county officials that UVa would not pay for any portion of the road off UVa Foundation property.

This summer, the UVa Foundation reduced the size of its planned expansion of Fontaine Research Park in order to eliminate the need for a second entrance. The Albemarle Board of Supervisors will consider the rezoning on Sept. 8, following a recommendation for approval from the Planning Commission last month.

Jim Tolbert, the city’s director of neighborhood development services, said it might be against the city’s best interest for UVa to build a smaller research park.

“We tend to think that maybe the density in the research park and the jobs that close to the city where you can serve them with transit is a good thing,” Tolbert said.

Mayor Dave Norris said he would like to keep Sunset-Fontaine as a priority because UVa is at least planning to build a section of the road through the new park.

“I worry if we take it off of our list, UVa will feel less of an obligation to factor in that portion of the connector as they’re fleshing out their plans,” Norris said.

A conceptual drawing for the Pen Park alignment, as developed by PBS&J

Norris was not as convinced that an Eastern Connector would ever happen and said he agreed with staff’s recommendation to remove it. One of his colleagues disagreed.

“I’ve not given up on it yet,” said Councilor Holly Edwards. “We have to do something about that whole area.”

No votes were taken Thursday but council members reached consensus to have the projects stay on the table for future discussion.

Councilor Kristin Szakos said the city needs to consider improvements to Free Bridge to help improve traffic flow on U.S. 250.

“If [the Eastern Connector] is not happening, then we need to figure out something else,” Szakos said.
Other current road priorities on the city’s list include the replacement of a railroad bridge on Jefferson Park Avenue Extended, the Belmont Bridge replacement, Hillsdale Drive and the city’s portion of the Meadowcreek Parkway.

The council requested that city, county and UVa planning staff discuss the future of both of the connector roads. That meeting is expected to occur in October.

Brian Wheeler is resigning from the Albemarle School Board, WINA reports. He says he both wants to spend more time with family and wants to spend more time on Charlottesville Tomorrow, the non-profit that he runs. Wheeler holds the only at-large seat on the board, which will be filled by the remainder of the board appointing somebody to complete his term. Wheeler was first elected in 2003 by a 0.65% margin and reelected by a healthier 12.5% margin in 2007. His term seat is up for reelection in November of next year.

In what is presumably a coincidence, on the same day that Brian Wheeler announced his resignation from the Albemarle School Board, Alvin Edwards announced that he’s resigning from the Charlottesville School Board, Rachana Dixit writes in the Daily Progress. That resignation is effective at the end of October. The former mayor cited only personal reasons. Dixit did the math, and points out that Edwards has missed a great many board meetings in the last few years—one third of them since January 2008—and even disappeared without explanation for two months early last year. Edwards was elected in 2007, and his seat is up for reelection in November of next year. His term will be completed by whomever is appointed by the board.