Charlottesville Will Have “Several” Downtowns

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Jim Duncan

Ugh.

The homogenization and segmentation of Charlottesville continue.

I’ve been thinking about this story for the past week – Struggles with Growth in Charlottesville/Albemarle and beyond – in which I discussed the challenges faced by the visioning of the “plan” for growth and the implementation of same.

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  • meg

    but it’s okay in crozet where you live, right? to have a new grocery store, mudhouse coffee, restaurants. they might not be big retail in the typical sense, but old trail and the like are still creating another “downtown” in albemarle county.

    • http://www.realcentralva.com Jim Duncan

      I have been struggling with this quite a lot over the last few weeks in Crozet.

      As a real estate agent, ostensibly new growth is good. But I fear that with where things are going, we are losing much of what makes our area special.
      I don’t know yet what the answers are. And I probably never will. And I certainly know that there’s nothing I can do about these changes that are coming.

      In Crozet, while I absolutely enjoy and appreciate some of the changes that we have experienced: coffee shops, grocery store etc., I moved there knowing that those things did not exist.

      That said, I don’t have an issue with various urban cores. In fact, I think they are becoming more of a necessity as people desire to commute shorter distances.

      The growth per se does not disturb me personally, it is the homogenization that does.

      –

      Please excuse any perceived brevity or curtness. Sent from my iPhone.

      RealCentralVA.com
      434-242-7140

      • meg

        yes, it’s true. although through the comprehensive plan designated areas for growth are identified, and these developments are not in the “rural areas” per say. it is hard when charlottesville, and i think more so, crozet is now, are such desirable areas, and people don’t want to travel far distances to have certain amenities, and feel that these certain retail stores should be provided and not have to travel to short pump or nova to get to them. but i know i certainly would rather travel to those places then have the crazy traffic and lack of “place” that these developments bring.

  • Sean Tubbs

    The audio for the event on which the Daily Progress article was based is available at the Charlottesville Podcasting Network.

    • http://www.realcentralva.com Jim Duncan

      Thanks, Sean!