I wish I could have gone to this. From a Daily Progress progress article this morning.Miles of greenway trails connecting parks, homes and schools.A streetcar system in Charlottesville, quickly moving people and reducing car traffic.A new emphasis on locally grown food, increasing nutrition and decreasing oil consumption.These ideas were the focus of Albemarle County’s second Green Infrastructure Forum on Thursday. About 40 residents attended the event, which focused on the greenway trails system, downtown transportation and local food production.There are a lot of good ideas here, and I am sure there were more that didn’t make the paper. Does anyone out there have notes they would like to share?Radical ideas like this that seek to change not just how our community grows, but also how we live and behave on a daily basis need the right people to support them.
Date Archives September 2005
New listing in Ruckersville
Betty (my mom) has just put a property on the market in Ruckersville – 9 miles to the Target/Hollymead Town Center and 13 miles to Rio Road in the City.You can see more information at our website and a google map here.
October Forum Watch
IN THIS ISSUE: Important Dates Zoning Issues Master PlanningWater Supply Transportation Policy Other Land Use Editorial Important Dates October 3rd – Greene County Board of Supervisors Candidate Forum – 7:00 pm William Monroe Middle SchoolOctober 8th – Charlottesville Neighborhood Design Day 9:00 – 3:00 pm Various locations see article in Master PlanningOctober 10th – TJPDC MPO Transportation Improvement Program Public Hearing – 5:00 pm 401 E. Water StreetOctober 10th – Albemarle County Jack Jouett Supervisor Candidate Forum – 7:00 pm Jack Jouett Middle SchoolOctober 17th – Albemarle County Rio District Supervisor Candidate Forum – 7:00 pm Woodbrook Elementary SchoolOctober 27th – Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority Water Supply Community Outreach meeting – 6:30 Monticello HSOctober 31st – HalloweenOctober 31 – November 4 Places 29 Charrette #2 details to follow soon ACOBACOB – Albemarle County Office Building CCH- Charlottesville City HallGCAB – Greene County Administration BuildingFCGC – Fluvanna County Government Center Return to Top Transportation Policy Meadowcreek Parkway – The Free Enterprise Forum released a report indicating the Meadowcreek Parkway Project could be completed prior to the separate federally funded US 250/McIntire Meadowcreek Parkway interchange project…. Details and locations of the meeting can be found at http://www.charlottesville.org/content/files/2CCD2AF7-2578-49B6-9DA3-C82AB79DD19E.pdf Fluvanna County In what may be one of the most overreaching decisions to date, the Free Enterprise Forum has learned that Fluvanna County is requiring Army Corps of Engineers and Virginia Department of Environmental Quality approvals on yield plans (A yield plan is a fictitious development that indicates how many units could be built on a particular parcel by right) submitted to determine density of their required cluster subdivision…. A map of the study area can be found here http://www.albemarle.org/upload/images/Forms_Center/Departments/Board_of_Supervisors/Forms/Agenda/2005Files/20050504/Northerndevelopmentattachb.pdfReturn to Top Other Land Use Albemarle County Mountain Overlay Committee – This committee is now idle waiting for staff to draft proposed language for a Mountain Overlay District (MOD) Ordinance.
Local traffic is truly a regional issue
An interesting discussion at cvillenews.com yielded, in addition to a thoughtful and cogent debate, this link that gives direction as to where the Charlalbemarle traffic is coming from.Who knew that an estimated 99 people commute from DC to Cville? Continuing to focus on transportation/infrastructure/growth issues on a county-by-county basis is myopic, short-sighted and frankly, silly…. Transportation and infrastructure are matters that are driven by and have a direct impact on the real estate industry and profession. More vehicular traffic on the same infrastructure will affect our quality of life.
Free Enterprise Forum enters the Rich Collins fray
I wrote about this case here and here.The Amicus Curie brief fully supports the right to free speech but contends such a right does not supercede the right of a property owner to control his property. “The issue in this case is not whether the candidate has the plaintiff has a right to speak out about his candidacy, or the candidacy of others…The issue in this case is not the right to speak, but the location at which he can engage in that speech†according to the brief.The full press release is here or below and the brief can be found at the FEF’s website (PDF).Side note from today’s C-Ville -All’s well that’s OrwellWhether you agree with their politics, you’ve got to hand it to the right-wingers for one thing—branding…. The Amicus Curie brief fully supports the right to free speech but contends such a right does not supercede the right of a property owner to control his property. “The issue in this case is not whether the candidate has the plaintiff has a right to speak out about his candidacy, or the candidacy of others…The issue in this case is not the right to speak, but the location at which he can engage in that speech†according to the brief.“The Free Enterprise Forum is committed to the Freedom of Speech but the plaintiff goes too far in this case claiming the shopping center, which is open to the public, is therefore a public space,†said Neil Williamson, Executive Director of the Free Enterprise Forum, “A property owner does not surrender all of their property rights to the public merely because the property is open to the public.
Albemarle Place
From today’s C-Ville, written by John Borgmeyer – With the promise of 1.8 million square feet of new construction—including a hotel, restaurants, a cinema, retail outlets, a grocery store, a two-storey department store and up to 800 residential units—Albemarle Place would be the latest incarnation of Albemarle County’s “neighborhood model.â€Â Adopted in 2001, the neighborhood model asks developers to create more “urban†landscapes by building according to 12 principles, including “pedestrian orientation,†“buildings and spaces of a human scale,†“relegated parking†and “affordability with dignity.â€It seems the developers are fairly confident they will receive approval, yet not a word about infrastructure.