For context, a quick look at the Charlottesville Area MLS shows that:

Over the past 21 years (in the MLS which is “accurate enough” for these purposes:

- 25 attached homes have sold.

- 1 attached home is currently on the market (and it’s under contract)

The Free Enterprise Forum reports (bolding mine):

The Greene County Board of Supervisors met with local developer Fried Companies, Inc., last week to hear the company’s consideration to build several hundred townhomes in the Ruckersville area. Mr. Steve Jones, chief operating officer representing Fried Companies, Inc., presented the developer’s ideas to the board regarding the possibility of rezoning the area proposed for the Creekside Subdivision, located on Seminole Trail/Route 29. 

The property is zoned R-1, which allows up to 800 single family homes, and according to Supervisor Jim Frydl (Ruckersville), the developer wanted to meet with the board to discuss possible rezoning to a PUD, or planned urban development. A PUD would allow the developer more flexibility in changing the planned development from 800 homes on one-acre lots to 1180 homes, 580 of which would be townhomes, and the remainder, single family homes on various-sized lots. Fried Companies is considering the change because of market conditions, which seem to favor townhomes and smaller homes in general that require less upkeep. In addition, Greene County does not currently offer new construction townhomes, and the belief is they would sell easily.

…

The developer also proffered a phased construction of 100 townhomes per year so as not to invade the market all at once.

See a large PDF of the proposed Creekside community in Greene County.

Features include:

Creekside is an 800 lot single family residential community located with three entrances on Preddy Creek Road. This planned community will have easy access to Route 29 and be within minutes of the NGIC/DIA facilities. The community will incorporate a community park with ball fields and walk trails. This project is approved and will be served by public water and sewer.

Copyright RealCentralVA.com, LLC. If you like this post, please, visit RealCentralVA.comwhere this was originally posted.

* I’m fascinated by neighborhood mobilization and I’m also curious as to 1) what percent of the neighborhood knows about this and 2) what percent is for/against it. And why.

The following was sent in by a reader (and I’m grateful):

“Don’t know if you’re repping any homes in Willoughby or any of your buyers are looking there, but there are some plans in the city and county that they may wish to consider.

Keith Woodard has submitted Part I of his plans for Willoughby Place Apartments to the City and it appears on the Planning Commission Agenda for June 14. He was also seeking a steep slope waiver to build the permitted number of by-right units (around 50, or 196 beds, if I recall correctly, for the entire city portion of the project) on his five acres in the city.

What makes this interesting is that he has also submitted plans to the county for the five acres adjacent to his city property. While I don’t have details on those plans, I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re talking anouther 50 units and around 200 beds.

All 100 units will enter and exit on Harris Road in Willoughby, as the property is constrained by Moore’s Creek and I doubt the County would give permission to build an automobile crossing into the Avon Center development, should it ever be built.

This would be a great opportunity for the city and county staffs and planning commissions to work together with the developer and the surrounding community for approval of the project. For the city or the county to consider its portion individually neglects the reality that when built, these adjacent parcels will appear part of one project and will be managed in that way. For either entity to consider the development before it in a vacuum would crystalize all the worst fears about the city and county being able to work together.

As you say, if you don’t own it, expect that it will change. “

…

Woodard had the city apartments approved five or six years ago but did nothing, so had to get the site plan reapproved. In the facebook era neighborhood mobilization is easier.*

Part I of the city plan looks to be about half the units and beds — 25 units/100 beds or so.

—

From Albemarle’s “County View”: (bolding mine)

ZMA 201100003, Willoughby Apartments
Planner: Claudette Grant

PROPOSAL: Rezone 5.671 acres from Planned Unit Development (PUD) zoning district which allows residential (3 – 34 units per acre), mixed with commercial and industrial uses to PUD zoning district to add residential density to plan. Proposed maximum number of units is 90 for a density of 15.87 units/acre.

PROFFERS: No

EXISTING COMPREHENSIVE PLAN LAND USE/DENSITY: Neighborhood Density Residential – residential (3-6 units/acre) and supporting uses such as religious institutions and schools and other small-scale non-residential uses; Parks and Greenways – parks, greenways, playgrounds, pedestrian and bicycle paths in Neighborhood 5.

ENTRANCE CORRIDOR: No

LOCATION: on City/County boundary east of 5th Street and portion of Willoughby Apartments in City. Proposed access from Bent Creek Road

TAX MAP/PARCEL: 076M2000006800
MAGISTERIAL DISTRICT: Scottsville

—

I’ve been trying to find the permitting/planning information on the City of Charlottesville’s website, but their embarrassing lack of a GIS site is highlighted once again.

From an email circulating amongst the Willoughby residents:

Dear Willoughby Property Owners:

This morning I just received an email from the City about the Developer’s request to change the current zoning in the Albemarle County portion to allow him to build more apartment units. I don’t know when the zoning public hearing is yet but have an inquiry in to Claudette Grant. The application fee of $2500 was submitted on April 18th. I also asked Claudette if the Developer was granted an easement of right of way to access Bent Creek Rd. I believe Coran Capshaw and Hunter Craig own this adjacent property. I’ll let you know what I find out.

1. I need volunteers to spearhead being actively on top of the Albemarle County portion by attending relevant meetings, meeting with Claudette Grant, the assigned Planner with the County to be a voice and reporting back to Willoughby property owners. I am not in the County so I can not effectively take it on.

2. Please attend as many of these really important meetings as possible, even if you are a City resident attending a County meeting or vice versa.

3. I contacted an attorney who graciously bent his ear for 20+ minutes about the very possible encroachment or developing on Willoughby Common Property in the City without legal right of way and he said to hire a surveyor and have him/her survey the area, mark it and record it, then we will have an expert determine if this is true. This info can nip so much in the bud. Do we have support or interest in hiring a surveyor like, Roger Ray to get it done? We have to act quickly. Once it is approved for the Developer, it is done. I will call to get a rough estimate.

4. Please understand, the Developer is trying to put over 180 units (City and County combined), the equivalent of 360+ more vehicles going in and out of Willoughby at the entrance at the serpentine portion of the road which will mean cars lining up legally along Harris Rd.

Related reading:

Willoughby homeowners resist association

(Willoughby) Neighborhood on the line

Copyright RealCentralVA.com, LLC. If you like this post, please, visit RealCentralVA.comwhere this was originally posted.

Charlottesville Tomorrow, in typical detailed fashion, provides much more information on the public hearing.

If you’re interested (and you should be, if you live in the Pantops area), learn about this development. Start at Albemarle County’s site, this pdf of last night’s agenda, and then spend some time at Charlottesville Tomorrow’s site.

The traffic in and out of Pantops now is a daily bottleneck. That a developer would seek a rezoning of this scale that would add thousands of vehicle trips a day without submitting a traffic study is indicative of either ignorance, arrogance or indifference.

Don’t miss the eminent domain threat noted in the Charlottesville Tomorrow story, either:

However, Rooker said the proffer language calling for the road could be interpreted in such a way that the county would have to condemn property.

“If Spurzem makes an offer and the property owner declines, this puts the onus on the county to condemn the property,” Rooker said. “We don’t want to be in a mode where we’ve approved this and he doesn’t have to build the road because we won’t condemn the property.”

Copyright RealCentralVA.com, LLC. If you like this post, please, visit RealCentralVA.comwhere this was originally posted.

Copyright RealCentralVA.com, LLC. If you like this post, please, visit RealCentralVA.comwhere this was originally posted.

Copyright RealCentralVA.com, LLC. If you like this post, please, visit RealCentralVA.comwhere this was originally posted.

As with most questions that pertain to real estate estate, the answer to the question is usually, “it depends.”

1 – First, the traffic: The intersection at Hydraulic and 29 is a disaster. I don’t care if you are from northern Virginia and Charlottesville traffic is nothing compared to what you have; traffic there is an abomination. Adding the Whole Foods to the east side of Hydraulic and a Trader Joe’s + a couple million feet of retail surely isn’t going to help. Getting there may be a challenge.

One generation, we might get a grade-separated interchange or a flyover, but I’m not holding my breath (sarcasm intended). “A plan to build an overpass to carry Hydraulic Road over U.S. 29 has been debated for many decades.”

So, plan for more traffic, more congestion, more frustration and more northern-virginia-ification of that part of Charlottesville.

For more context, I’d encourage you to listen to the podcast from June 2010 in which the former Albemarle Place development was described as being “twice the size of Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall.”
Regardless, I’m sure another study or twelve will be called for and done, rather than actually improving any infrastructure.

2 – Local shopping and tax revenue: Talk to any of the cashiers at the Trader Joe’s in Short Pump and they will tell you that a significant number of their customers currently come from Charlottesville. Keeping those shoppers local will benefit our localities. But … which ones?

One corner of the Hydraulic Road intersection is in the county (of Albemarle) at the current location of a 7-Eleven store. The other three corners are all in the City of Charlottesville.

Heh. That pretty much sums up the County/City relationship. I wish they could just get along.

3 – Further geographical segmentation of the CharlAlbemarle region – while a lot of people will make the trip to Stonefield Shops (I really wish they’d gone with Ye Olde Stonefield Shoppes) å la Short Pump, a lot of consumers will opt for an easier drive to Short Pump; less traffic = more happiness.

Back to Trader Joe’s in Charlottesville:

I think the store in and of itself will be a boon to the region. They’re going to bring jobs, hopefully more locally-sourced foods, thus helping Central Virginia farmers and will satiate a demand that has existed for years. Two of the more common questions my relocating buyers ask are:

a – Do you have fiber? (answer: yes, in limited areas)

b – Do you have a Trader Joe’s? (new answer: hopefully soon)

Update from the excellent Facebook comments at CvilleFood … two major issues I neglected:

“722 retail jobs, 1700 construction jobs are a ton of openings which will help lower the local unemployment rate. This is a huge impact!”

and

“… Jim talks about some positives and negatives, but surprisingly leaves out the 135-room hotel. This kind of hotel will bring tourists to our area and they will spend their dollars at our local stores/restaurants. A hotel in that location is excellent …”

4 – Environmental impact: I have absolutely no idea how to go about beginning to think about this aspect. More people are staying local, but more trucks are coming to deliver food …

5 – Adjacent residential real estate impact: Mixed bag; some will benefit, some won’t. I predict that those accessible neighborhoods will benefit more than those who don’t. I do think that the Turtle Creek condos will benefit. This is an opportunity for a new urban core in the center of the Charlottesville-Albemarle region. But traffic is going to suck. If the County and City don’t advocate for/demand bike lanes and pedestrian impact, they will be grossly negligent.

Looked at through the lens of simplicity, folks who choose to shop locally should end up spending less on gas.

Customize price charts Area 1:  USA Average Canada Average Akron, OH Alabama, AL Alaska, AK Albany, NY Alberta, AB Albuquerque, NM Allentown, PA Anchorage, AK Arizona, AZ Arkansas, AR Atlanta, GA Austin, TX Bakersfield, CA Baltimore, MD British Columbia, BC Birmingham, AL Boise, ID Boston, MA Bridgeport, CT Buffalo, NY Calgary, AB California, CA Charleston, WV Charlotte, NC Chicago, IL Cincinnati, OH Cleveland, OH Colorado, CO Colorado Springs, CO Columbia, SC Columbus, OH Connecticut, CT Corpus Christi, TX Dallas, TX Dayton, OH Delaware, DE Denver, CO Des Moines, IA Detroit, MI Durham, NC Edmonton, AB El Paso, TX Florida, FL Fort Worth, TX Fresno, CA Gary, IN Georgia, GA Grand Rapids, MI Greensboro, NC Halifax, NS Hamilton, ON Hartford, CT Hawaii, HI Honolulu, HI Houston, TX Idaho, ID Illinois, IL Indiana, IN Indianapolis, IN Iowa, IA Jackson, MS Jacksonville, FL Kansas, KS Kansas City, MO Kentucky, KY Knoxville, TN Lansing, MI Lexington, KY Lincoln, NE Little Rock, AR London, ON Long Island, NY Los Angeles, CA Louisiana, LA Louisville, KY Madison, WI Maine, ME Manitoba, MB Maryland, MD Massachusetts, MA Memphis, TN Miami, FL Michigan, MI Milwaukee, WI Minnesota, MN Mississippi, MS Missouri, MO Mobile, AL Modesto, CA Montana, MT Montgomery, AL Montreal, QC Nashville, TN Nebraska, NE Nevada, NV New Brunswick, NB Newfoundland, NF New Hampshire, NH New Haven, CT New Jersey, NJ New Mexico, NM New Orleans, LA New York, NY New York, NY North Carolina, NC North Dakota, ND Nova Scotia, NS Oakland, CA Ohio, OH Oklahoma, OK Oklahoma City, OK Omaha, NE Ontario, ON Orange County, CA Oregon, OR Orlando, FL PEI, PE Pennsylvania, PA Philadelphia, PA Phoenix, AZ Pittsburgh, PA Portland, OR Providence, RI Quad Cities, IA Quebec, QC Quebec City, QC Raleigh, NC Regina, SK Rhode Island, RI Richmond, VA Riverside, CA Rochester, NY Salt Lake City, UT San Antonio, TX San Bernardino, CA San Diego, CA San Francisco, CA San Jose, CA Saskatchewan, SK Saskatoon, SK Scranton, PA Seattle, WA Shreveport, LA South Carolina, SC South Dakota, SD Spokane, WA Springfield, MA St. Louis, MO Stockton, CA Syracuse, NY Tacoma, WA Tallahassee, FL Tampa, FL Tennessee, TN Texas, TX Toledo, OH Toronto, ON Trenton, NJ Tucson, AZ Tulsa, OK Twin Cities, MN Utah, UT Vancouver, BC Las Vegas, NV Ventura, CA Vermont, VT Victoria, BC Virginia, VA Virginia Beach, VA Washington, WA Washington DC, DC Waterbury, CT West Virginia, WV Wichita, KS Wilmington, DE Winnipeg, MB Wisconsin, WI Worcester, MA Wyoming, WY Time Period:  1 Month 3 Month 6 Month 9 Month 1 Year 18 Month 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Year US $/G Area 2:  USA Average Canada Average Akron, OH Alabama, AL Alaska, AK Albany, NY Alberta, AB Albuquerque, NM Allentown, PA Anchorage, AK Arizona, AZ Arkansas, AR Atlanta, GA Austin, TX Bakersfield, CA Baltimore, MD British Columbia, BC Birmingham, AL Boise, ID Boston, MA Bridgeport, CT Buffalo, NY Calgary, AB California, CA Charleston, WV Charlotte, NC Chicago, IL Cincinnati, OH Cleveland, OH Colorado, CO Colorado Springs, CO Columbia, SC Columbus, OH Connecticut, CT Corpus Christi, TX Dallas, TX Dayton, OH Delaware, DE Denver, CO Des Moines, IA Detroit, MI Durham, NC Edmonton, AB El Paso, TX Florida, FL Fort Worth, TX Fresno, CA Gary, IN Georgia, GA Grand Rapids, MI Greensboro, NC Halifax, NS Hamilton, ON Hartford, CT Hawaii, HI Honolulu, HI Houston, TX Idaho, ID Illinois, IL Indiana, IN Indianapolis, IN Iowa, IA Jackson, MS Jacksonville, FL Kansas, KS Kansas City, MO Kentucky, KY Knoxville, TN Lansing, MI Lexington, KY Lincoln, NE Little Rock, AR London, ON Long Island, NY Los Angeles, CA Louisiana, LA Louisville, KY Madison, WI Maine, ME Manitoba, MB Maryland, MD Massachusetts, MA Memphis, TN Miami, FL Michigan, MI Milwaukee, WI Minnesota, MN Mississippi, MS Missouri, MO Mobile, AL Modesto, CA Montana, MT Montgomery, AL Montreal, QC Nashville, TN Nebraska, NE Nevada, NV New Brunswick, NB Newfoundland, NF New Hampshire, NH New Haven, CT New Jersey, NJ New Mexico, NM New Orleans, LA New York, NY New York, NY North Carolina, NC North Dakota, ND Nova Scotia, NS Oakland, CA Ohio, OH Oklahoma, OK Oklahoma City, OK Omaha, NE Ontario, ON Orange County, CA Oregon, OR Orlando, FL PEI, PE Pennsylvania, PA Philadelphia, PA Phoenix, AZ Pittsburgh, PA Portland, OR Providence, RI Quad Cities, IA Quebec, QC Quebec City, QC Raleigh, NC Regina, SK Rhode Island, RI Richmond, VA Riverside, CA Rochester, NY Salt Lake City, UT San Antonio, TX San Bernardino, CA San Diego, CA San Francisco, CA San Jose, CA Saskatchewan, SK Saskatoon, SK Scranton, PA Seattle, WA Shreveport, LA South Carolina, SC South Dakota, SD Spokane, WA Springfield, MA St. Louis, MO Stockton, CA Syracuse, NY Tacoma, WA Tallahassee, FL Tampa, FL Tennessee, TN Texas, TX Toledo, OH Toronto, ON Trenton, NJ Tucson, AZ Tulsa, OK Twin Cities, MN Utah, UT Vancouver, BC Las Vegas, NV Ventura, CA Vermont, VT Victoria, BC Virginia, VA Virginia Beach, VA Washington, WA Washington DC, DC Waterbury, CT West Virginia, WV Wichita, KS Wilmington, DE Winnipeg, MB Wisconsin, WI Worcester, MA Wyoming, WY Show Crude Oil Price Canadian c/L Area 3:  USA Average Canada Average Akron, OH Alabama, AL Alaska, AK Albany, NY Alberta, AB Albuquerque, NM Allentown, PA Anchorage, AK Arizona, AZ Arkansas, AR Atlanta, GA Austin, TX Bakersfield, CA Baltimore, MD British Columbia, BC Birmingham, AL Boise, ID Boston, MA Bridgeport, CT Buffalo, NY Calgary, AB California, CA Charleston, WV Charlotte, NC Chicago, IL Cincinnati, OH Cleveland, OH Colorado, CO Colorado Springs, CO Columbia, SC Columbus, OH Connecticut, CT Corpus Christi, TX Dallas, TX Dayton, OH Delaware, DE Denver, CO Des Moines, IA Detroit, MI Durham, NC Edmonton, AB El Paso, TX Florida, FL Fort Worth, TX Fresno, CA Gary, IN Georgia, GA Grand Rapids, MI Greensboro, NC Halifax, NS Hamilton, ON Hartford, CT Hawaii, HI Honolulu, HI Houston, TX Idaho, ID Illinois, IL Indiana, IN Indianapolis, IN Iowa, IA Jackson, MS Jacksonville, FL Kansas, KS Kansas City, MO Kentucky, KY Knoxville, TN Lansing, MI Lexington, KY Lincoln, NE Little Rock, AR London, ON Long Island, NY Los Angeles, CA Louisiana, LA Louisville, KY Madison, WI Maine, ME Manitoba, MB Maryland, MD Massachusetts, MA Memphis, TN Miami, FL Michigan, MI Milwaukee, WI Minnesota, MN Mississippi, MS Missouri, MO Mobile, AL Modesto, CA Montana, MT Montgomery, AL Montreal, QC Nashville, TN Nebraska, NE Nevada, NV New Brunswick, NB Newfoundland, NF New Hampshire, NH New Haven, CT New Jersey, NJ New Mexico, NM New Orleans, LA New York, NY New York, NY North Carolina, NC North Dakota, ND Nova Scotia, NS Oakland, CA Ohio, OH Oklahoma, OK Oklahoma City, OK Omaha, NE Ontario, ON Orange County, CA Oregon, OR Orlando, FL PEI, PE Pennsylvania, PA Philadelphia, PA Phoenix, AZ Pittsburgh, PA Portland, OR Providence, RI Quad Cities, IA Quebec, QC Quebec City, QC Raleigh, NC Regina, SK Rhode Island, RI Richmond, VA Riverside, CA Rochester, NY Salt Lake City, UT San Antonio, TX San Bernardino, CA San Diego, CA San Francisco, CA San Jose, CA Saskatchewan, SK Saskatoon, SK Scranton, PA Seattle, WA Shreveport, LA South Carolina, SC South Dakota, SD Spokane, WA Springfield, MA St. Louis, MO Stockton, CA Syracuse, NY Tacoma, WA Tallahassee, FL Tampa, FL Tennessee, TN Texas, TX Toledo, OH Toronto, ON Trenton, NJ Tucson, AZ Tulsa, OK Twin Cities, MN Utah, UT Vancouver, BC Las Vegas, NV Ventura, CA Vermont, VT Victoria, BC Virginia, VA Virginia Beach, VA Washington, WA Washington DC, DC Waterbury, CT West Virginia, WV Wichita, KS Wilmington, DE Winnipeg, MB Wisconsin, WI Worcester, MA Wyoming, WY

Virginia Historical Gas Price Charts Provided by GasBuddy.com

Next up: contest regarding the over/under for their opening.

* I’m posting my response here rather than on facebook for two reasons:

1 – They’re my words; I want to own them rather than loan them, interest-free to facebook.

2 – This type of heavily-linked and researched post is impossible on facebook.

Copyright RealCentralVA.com, LLC. If you like this post, please, visit RealCentralVA.comwhere this was originally posted.

First, the Blue Ridge Swim Club pool, located in Ivy in a (by others’ standards) rural part of Charlottesville/Albemarle has the opportunity for another phase of its long life.

Albemarle County planning commissioners voted Tuesday in favor of allowing a summer camp to take up residence at the Ivy-based Blue Ridge Swim Club— one of the country’s oldest continually operating commercial swimming pools supplied by natural waters.

The camp is seen as a way to revitalize the swim cluband preserve the local treasure after years of declining revenue and mounting maintenance.

Giving kids the opportunity to live and play outside is crucial. It’s funny; while many believe that it takes a village to raise kids, too often they want that village to be someone else’s, over there.

Second, vineyards in Albemarle County are faced with a challenge:

The Albemarle County Planning Commission voted Tuesday to recommend that the police department enforce violations of the county’s noise ordinance stemming from events held at farm wineries.

The move comes after strong signals were sent by the Albemarle supervisors that they were expecting a different outcome.

The action would make excessive outdoor amplified music subject to civil penalties as a criminal offense. If approved by the supervisors, the changes would require the police to determine if the music is audible 100 feet from a vineyard’s property line or within a neighbor’s building.

There’s even a petition to Help the Vineyards (on Facebook).

The hyperbolic alternative may be to have all non-conforming uses bulldozed and turned into cookie-cutter neighborhoods notthattheresanythingwrongwiththatiliveinone.

These interesting and unique features make Charlottesville just that – interesting and unique. A balance can be struck, and I would ask for everybody to think about the bigger picture. Do we want Northern Virginia or Charlottesville*?

Of course, this is all easy for me to say. I live in a cookie-cutter development next to a soccer field, baseball diamonds, playgrounds and a pool; if Crozet Park were up for some kind of redevelopment, I’m sure I’d be upset.

* Charlottesville in this case being ‘CharlAlbemarle’ or ‘Charlottesville-Albemarle’

Copyright RealCentralVA.com, LLC. If you like this post, please, visit RealCentralVA.comwhere this was originally posted.

Charlottesville’s City Council rejected a proposal Tuesday that would have modified the development plan for the William Taylor Plaza mixed-used project at the corner of Cherry Avenue and Ridge Street.

The council voted 3-2 to reject changes proposed by the developer that would have expanded the project’s overall size and modified an affordable housing agreement included in the original plan. Mayor Dave Norrisand Councilor Kristen Szakos voted in favor.

The rezoning application filed by Southern Development would have increased the number of residences from 50 to 80 units and expanded the project’s size by 10,000 square feet, bringing its total to 110,000 square feet.

See a rendering of the proposed mixed-use development at Charlottesville Tomorrow.

In general, I think higher density is a good thing. People want to live close to thing; they want to be able to walk or bike to work and play. This project will allow for that. Walkability is a key factor to resale and purchasing decisions. But … trees and greenspace are important concerns and factors to quality of life. Balancing growth is a tightrope.

One question: what percentage (all?) of these units will be rented? Is this a step away from a push for homeownership by owner-occupants and a step towards renter nation?

For full background, read at Charlottesville Tomorrow.