Anyone in the Charlottesville media want to localize this story?
This story from Bacon’s Rebellion - The Transportation Debate and the Unreported Land Use Revolution, is screaming to be localized and told about how Charlottesville/Albemarle will be affected.
The land use provisions of (HB 3202) seem to be holding up better than the road-funding pieces, even if their impact has yet to be fully felt. The legislation called for the creation of Urban Development Areas that would steer growth in fast-growth counties into districts where jurisdictions were prepared to concentrate their investments in roads and infrastructure — and allowed localities to assess impact fees to help pay for it.
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Got that? An alternative financing mechanism to pay for building secondary roads already exists. One of the reasons that General Assembly Republicans are adverse to new taxes is that HB 3202 significantly has already increased the ability of local governments to raise funds through impact fees. The refusal to pile on new taxes before the impact of last year’s legislation is understood does not make the Republicans anti-tax Neanderthals.
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The Solution to Sprawl
Higher gas prices.
From NPR (thanks to C-Ville), featuring a friend and fellow blogger, Danilo Bogdanovic:
Stiff says home buyers’ attitudes have changed. The old rule was, “Drive ’til you qualify” — meaning they should go out from the city until they could get what they wanted at a price they could afford.
Stiff says buyers are now asking different questions: “What is the cost of gasoline? What is the cost of my time?”
Recent studies suggest that buyers underestimated the costs of their long commutes. Those expenses can add up to more than the buyers saved on the home. Developers also miscalculated, lured by cheap land and rising home prices. They overreached, “partly because the bubble collapsed, but partly because these developments were just bad ideas to begin with,” Stiff said.
Many of the projects were simply too far away from places that people need to go.
As I said on Inman’s blog yesterday:
I firmly believe, to my core, that this (higher gas prices) is going to drive human settlement and development patterns toward properties that are close to “stuff that is within walking distance.” Buyers who buy today and are within a mile of grocery/coffee/gym - even if in the suburbs - will be grateful and thankful for their decision in three to four years. I filled up on Tuesday it was painful - $61 for a fill-up.
And I drove 120 miles today showing property. 
My tips - work from home at least once a week, combine errands, walk or ride my bike wherever I can, and encourage walkable decisions by my clients and political representatives.
More discussion at Bacon’s Rebellion
————–Map of Charlottesville areas, and a corresponding explanation of these sub-areas:
————–Map of CharlAlbemarle Town Centers, and an explanation of these sub-regions.
Transparent politics in Virginia
Politics, as distasteful and unsavory as they may seem sometimes, matter in our lives. (Darn it)
Virginia is lucky and privileged to have access to some fantastic resources for investigating local and state-wide politics and politicians.
Yesterday, the Virginia Public Access Project just got even better. Just look at what you can find out about Albemarle politics (read: money).
Combine VPAP’s work with Richmond Sunlight for insight into the Virginia General Assembly and Charlottesville Tomorrow for growth and politics information focused on Charlottesville and Albemarle and you have much of what you need to be an informed, involved and responsible citizen.
Why learn about politics? Because the decisions they make often directly impact housing values and our quality of life.
If you don’t own it, it’s going to change
Witness the new approvals from the Albemarle Board of Supervisors; pay attention to the “interconnection conundrum.” If you live on a cul-de-sac, it may not always be one - one day it will likely be a through-road.
New residential developments must comply with the County’s standards for, among other things, sidewalks and street trees. Allowing cars from these new “walkable” neighborhoods to connect through the pedestrian unfriendly streets in existing neighborhoods has been a point of concern of County residents from Crozet, to Biscuit Run, to Glenmore.
Supervisors that find these conflicts in their district often side with the existing constituents and oppose interconnection or only allow it for emergency vehicles. Other Supervisors point out that it is an important principle of the County’s Neighborhood Model. Even the General Assembly is starting to suggest they will be less likely to pay for maintenance of roads in cul-de-sac developments and will instead create funding incentives for interconnected neighborhoods that better mitigate traffic congestion.
Related posts:
BOS still hasn’t met a subdivision it didn’t like (RealCrozetVA)
This is why I tell my clients that everything can change
Technorati Tags: albemarle, charlalbemarle, growth, growth area, politics
“I guess I’ve got the traffic, and now I’ve got the convenience”
The title quote from Hugh Underwood in today’s Daily Progress accurately sums up the approval of the Avon Center.
The segmentation of our region continues …
One of the greatest negatives about living on the east side (Mill Creek, Lake Reynovia, Marshall Manor, etc.) or south side of Charlottesville is the lack of shopping; now that problem will be no more.
The Fifth Street-Avon Center development will bring a grocery, home improvement store and large discount retailer, along with a promenade of smaller shops and restaurants. It will be located just south of Charlottesville between Fifth Street and Avon Street Extended.
Even better -
The entire project will be LEED certified, a nationally recognized standard of green building, said the project’s lawyer, Steven Blaine. Greenways would connect to the Rivanna Trail system, and rain would be harvested off roofs, all aspects supervisors praised Wednesday.
And a theater too!
Generally, I think this type of development, if it is effectively integrated into the surrounding community, will cause real estate values to increase, and it likely will raise the intrinsic value of living nearby (not next to - nearby).
In fifteen years, will residents of this part of Charlottesville even know about the 29 North Corridor? Will they have any reason whatsoever to go there?
Update 03/13/2008: In typical fashion, Charlottesville Tomorrow has an extensive report.
Update 03/14/2008: Good discussion at cvillenews.
Thank you, Ken Boyd
For helping to bring the annexation debate to the forefront.
Bribing the City of Charlottesville clearly made sense when the agreement was made; it’s time to revisit the debate.
The agreement ended Charlottesville’s annexation of County land and was approved by County voters in a referendum on May 18, 1982. Soon after it went into effect, the General Assembly placed a moratorium on further annexations in Virginia. Charlottesville will receive $13.6 million in revenue sharing funds from the County in FY2009.
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Slutzky encouraged his fellow Supervisors to stop discussing the legalities until a closed session could be held, but made the observation that revenue sharing means the County has an effective tax rate (this year) of 58 cents per $100 of assessed property. According to the formula that calculates the payment, ten cents per $100 goes to the County.
An agreement made a generation ago surely warrants revisiting once in a while, if only to reaffirm its efficacy.
We share many things now - merging would hopefully simplify the political process and remove some of the divisiveness that currently exists. I’ve long thought that the two localities should merge … why not?
For some background -
The Daily Progress, the DP again, Cville Tomorrow and Jennifer’s blog.
Technorati Tags: albemarle, charlalbemarle, charlottesville, growth area, politics
Government = Higher Housing prices
Interesting.
Graphic and story found at Seeking Alpha, who found it at Cafe Hayek, who refers to the actual original story.
Charlottesville’s Free Enterprise Forum released a comprehensive study last year enumerating some of the local impacts of government regulation on housing costs (PDF). This is a good conversation from last year about growth and housing in Charlottesville/Albemarle and beyond.
Technorati Tags: charlalbemarle
Transfer of Development Rights bill moves forward
The Transfer of Development Rights bill, HB 991, is moving forward in the General Assembly. From the Daily Progress today:
Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle, said his House Bill 991 would help create a pilot project to allow a market for the sale of development rights through a broker. It would allow landowners to sever their rights and sell them for use elsewhere.
Creating a market for intangible development rights? Creating a value for these is going to be very challenging.
Learn more about TDRs at Charlottesville Tomorrow, and these are a few stories from RealCentralVa - October 2006, January 2007, October 2007
It’s worth noting that the Realtors support this bill.
Technorati Tags: albemarle, charlalbemarle, growth, politics
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