Monthly Archives: July 2011
Albemarle County Schools’ Populations Are Growing. Unexpectedly. ?!
Is anyone other than the politicians surprised?
The question is – would you support an Adequate Public Facility ordinance?
Aaron Richardson at the Daily Progress reports:
Some Albemarle County schools could exceed their capacity sooner than expected, thanks to rapid growth.
Supervisor Ken Boyd curiously chooses the word “adequately” when referring to funding*
“We’re committed to providing adequate educational opportunities in this county, but we’re going to have to look at what other capital improvement projects we have going on,” Boyd said. “We’d have to take a more holistic view than, ‘Gee, have we got $46 million more to spend on education?’”
“Curious” because either:
1 – He thinks the County should offer merely “adequate” education rather than “world class”.*
2 – He’s laying the groundwork for a conversation about adequate public facilities (which tend to be opposed by Realtors) , the long-debated ordinance that would essentially prevent new homes’ construction before adequate infrastructure/fire & rescue/school/etc was in place.
Better schools increase house prices.
At some point, the politicians and the people need to understand that our population is growing, and they need to plan accordingly.
What is an adequate public facilities ordinance? I found the following definition in 2005:
An Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO) is a law adopted by the local government that allows it to defer the approval of developments based upon a finding by the governing body that public facilities would not be not adequate to support the proposed development at build out.
What are the components of an effective APF ordinance?
• Identifies the types of public facilities to be considered.
• Limits the period of time during which the deferral on development imposed by an APFO can be in force.
• Requires the locality to have in place a capital facilities plan to remedy the infrastructure inadequacy that has been the basis for the development deferral.
Uncertainty Sucks.
Dear Congress: You kinda suck. And you’re negatively affecting the economy, just by being there.
From a client:
All of this debt ceiling nonsense has me a little freaked out that no matter what those fools in Washington wind up doing, the interest rates on mortgages are going to climb and I fear they will climb a lot by next spring…
I know I’m not alone in having unsettled clients thanks to Congress’ incompetence. Continue reading
Did You Notice? Search the Charlottesville MLS on your Phone
The MLS search provider for RealCentralVA.com (and thousands of others around the country) recently released a mobile search option for those of you driving around searching for homes in Charlottesville.
It’s simple: go to my search for homes page and you should be given the option to redirect to the mobile-optimized page.
Read those HOA Docs – They Might Give Others Right to Trespass
Finding conversion between two distant stories with one major point:
Lesson #1: Read the HOA Docs and any neighborhood Covenants and Restrictions before you buy a home.
Should an HOA have the ability/right to override the First Amendment?
And here’s the conflict: an HOA’s Covenants and Restrictions may override the First Amendement; are you reading the docs before you buy?
Monday Links – 07-25-11
Trying to make sense of things this morning –
- Delusional Home Sellers? Interestingly, half of the comments are noting Zillow’s inaccurate conclusions.
- via Twitter: “If you pay attention to ONE thing about the debt ceiling fiasco… listen to this. It’s 5 mins & will open your eyes.” Amazing.
- Behavioral economics fascinate me: Honest Tea Declares Chicago Most Honest City, New York Least Honest. I wonder how Charlottesville would fare, and if there would be different results in different parts of town, say, The Corner versus the Downtown Mall.
- City dwellers aren’t so green
- Look out below, Debt ceiling version
- Are you on Google+ yet? 
Money, Money, Money – In Charlottesville and Albemarle Elections
Local elections matter. So does money. This is a big year for Charlottesville and Albemarle elections. VPAP released data that shows who’s giving money to whom in our elections. Spend some time digging in … it’s always funny to transparently follow the money.
Western Bypass Moving Forward. (?)
The debate on the Western Bypass was fairly well summed up today in a tweet:
CTB member Peake “this has gone on too long. It’s time to move on this project it’s a US Highway not Charlottesville’s” #WesternBypass
The Western Bypass isn’t the perfect road, and may not even be a good one, with it northern terminus being south of Forest Lakes. But this area needs transportation improvements.
See the proposed bypass in 3D. Continue reading