Is anyone surprised that the advice VDOT is offering is this?

“Rich suggested that acceptance might be the best response to distant construction dates.”

This seems par for the course in the Charlottesville – Albemarle area, when one of the three conditions set forth by the City of Charlottesville is to “have more meetings.”I’ve been working on a story on and off for the past weeks, the working title of which is “What sucks about living in Charlottesville?” Transportation politics is an early leader.

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

Between the House and the Senate, 169 bills have been filed so far. Everything from eminent domain to bicycles not needing to wait two minutes at an intersection, to forcing concealed weapon holders to carry proof of licensure to the “are you freaking kidding me?! – “Causing telephone to ring with intent to annoy. Raises offense from a Class 3 to a Class 2 misdemeanor for causing a telephone or digital pagerto (sic) ring with intent to annoy.”

While you’re getting up to speed, figure out who your legislators are – and then start tracking their bills and votes and contact them. Also, go to VPAP and figure out who’s giving money to whom – for example, the Virginia Association of Realtors’ PAC spent over $30k on entertainment. Politics are expensive. And time-consuming.

Pay attention folks – from the deadly serious to the blindingly stupid, these are our legislators, and we are responsible for them.

- I’m thinking HB 28 is a response to the MERS fiasco.

- The Castle Doctrine just makes sense.

- Good. This should pass.

- I’d like to see a ban on bills celebrating people.

If you’re curious, this is the public portfolio of bills I’m tracking.

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

Great news. I know that this is a service that is well used by friends and clients.

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

Charlottesville Tomorrow reports that “The Albemarle Board of Supervisors has voted to pay a consultant to determine if the county’s existing policy on cell towers will impede implementation of the next generation of wireless communications services.”

Infrastructure – wired and wireless is crucial for quality of life, competitiveness and economic development. Let’s hope the County figures this out.

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

But “walkable” means different things to different people.

Clarifying and pulling out buyers’ true intents is one of the most useful skills a good real estate agent brings to the table. For example, when a new buyer client tells me that he wants to be within “walking distance” of the Downtown Mall, I always follow up with:

“What is walking distance to you?”

“Your response of “less than 30 minute walking distance” is why I asked … my non-American-based clients have a much more liberal definition of close (usually less than 30 minutes or 2 miles) than do my American clients (less than 10 minutes or 5 blocks).”

So the question is – what does walkable mean to you?

As I do with a lot of the stories that make it to this here real estate blog, I started by asking on the social networks – Twitter, Facebook and Google+ and the responses were interesting and varied.

Urban living is in demand, and it’s possible to live in Charlottesville with either only one car or no car.

I’ve found that “walkable” to me means “bike able” – I’m usually on a tighter schedule than walking allows, and I’ve found Charlottesville and Crozet to be pretty bike able as long as common sense is exercised (something sorely lacking in too many drivers and bicyclists).

The City of Charlottesville has a lot of highly “walkable” homes, using Walkscore as the guide, and there are an awful lot of condos in the City of Charlottesville that offer walkability.

You can even search for homes in Charlottesville and Albemarle using Walkscore as a your guide, keeping in mind that it’s a guide - if a place has a score of 3, it’s probably not walkable. 93, you’re probably ok.

Update 5 December 2011:

@CvilleTomorrow points to this insightful article in the NYTimes that says

-

But what makes high-density neighborhoods pedestrian friendly?
Good public space, for starters.
The best public spaces encourage diverse urban experiences, from people watching to protesting, daydreaming to handball, eating, reading and sunbathing to strolling and snoozing.

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

- Your elementary schools need balancing and need to be redistricted. (always check your school district before you buy!)

(Update: these are the options for redistricting Hollymead and Baker Butler)

- Rob Bell is seeking to revisit the revenue sharing agreement between the City of Charlottesville and the County of Albemarle. (

- Albemarle County is working on its budget for the next fiscal year.

Now would be a good time to start paying attention to these three stories that will be bigger when they actually happen, as is usually the case.

Albemarle to hold meetings on school redistricting -

Albemarle County Public Schools will hold two public meetings this week on redistricting at a pair of county elementary schools. Parents of students at Hollymead and Stony Point elementaries will have a chance to address a redistricting committee tonight and Thursday.

Hollymead’s public meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. today (yesterday) at Hollymead Elementary. Stony Point’s meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, also at the school in question.

Bell to re-introduce bill on city-county revenue sharing

Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle, confirmed Tuesday that he will re-introduce a budget amendment that would send more funding to county schools. Bell’s amendment would adjust the state’s composite index to take the revenue-sharing agreement between Albemarle County and the city of Charlottesville into account.

The agreement, signed in 1982, was originally designed to keep the city from annexing county land. In return for keeping its land, the county agreed to give the city an annual payment equal to 10 cents of the real estate property tax rate collected in the county. The contribution is capped at 10 percent of the total assessed real estate values.

And … they are having discussions about property taxes for next year, as determined by the Albemarle County budget:

As proposed by the County Executive (see the Five Year Financial Plan for yourself (PDF) )

(bolding mine)

First Scenario (Status Quo)

- Addresses essential components
- Balances the plan at the current rate of 74.2
– Provides tax reductions for the average homeowner when compared with FY09
– Minimal increases to schools to address new mandates
– Unable to make progress in funding capital program
– Minimally addresses core public safety needs
- Continues delay in improved library services in Crozet/Ivy
– Provides modest support for our evolving workforce

Second Scenario (Addressing Strategic Priorities)

– Addresses essential components
- Balances the plan at the equalized rate of 76.5
– Holds the line on taxes for the average homeowner when compared to FY09
– Assists school system in addressing new mandates
- Begins modest steps to address delayed capital needs
– Increases transfer, dedicates 1⁄2 penny to capital
- Provides new library services to the Crozet/Ivy areas
– Assures adequate level of EMS service in Pantops area through partnership with MJH, meets other public safety priorities
– Better recognizes staff and supports our evolving workforce

Wed, Dec 7th, 9:00 am — BOS Work Session at the County Office Building — Public Comment opportunity This work session will provide further discussion of the County’s Five-Year Financial Plan

Wed, Dec 14th, 4:00 pm — BOS Work Session at the County Office Building — no opportunity for public comment
This work session is scheduled to approve the Five-Year Financial Plan

The Albemarle County budget making process is lengthy. The BOS began their planning meetings in October, the first public hearing on the County Executive’s recommended budget will be held in late February and the tax rate will be set in April.

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

1: Anything to stimulate investment in the US could be construed as a good thing.

2: Per usual Congress doesn’t understand reality; there is a distinct difference between appraisals and assessments.

3: The want Canadians to visit, too.

In order for the housing market to be allowed to find bottom and thus find its way to balance and recovery, the federal government needs to get out of the way. Let the market work. Stop trying to “fix it.” You can’t. You’re neither competent nor disinterested enough to make intelligent, rational decisions with respect to the housing market (or anything, really).

But … If this bill gets passed, I will gladly represent buyers who choose to take advantage of what it has to offer.

I couldn’t find much about this bill online, but this is one perspective – Misguided Schumer-Lee Bill Offers Visas for Foreign-Born Homebuyers

Read the whole bill – HR 1746 – on OpenCongress.

SEC. 8. INCREASING HOME OWNERSHIP BY PRIORITY VISITORS.

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

We vote on Tuesday in what’s termed an “off-off election” meaning … fewer people vote, so your vote will matter more. Please vote.

Here are a few resources:

- Charlottesville Tomorrow’s Albemarle County Board of Supervisors Candidate information

- Charlottesville Tomorrow’s Charlottesville City Council Candidate information

- The Daily Progress rounds up all of the local elections. (great job)

- Unfortunately, Charlottesville Tomorrow doesn’t cover the other important races, but luckily The HooK offers snapshots of the various races, including Albemarle County School Board (I’m endorsing Ned Gallaway for this race), Soil and Conservation District (I like Lonnie Murray)

- cvillenews gives a succinct rundown of which races are on the ballots. I’d clip a bit of Waldo’s post, but really, just read the whole thing.

I’ve done the googling so you don’t have to:

- Albemarle County provides sample ballots for each district.
- Fluvanna County has sample ballots as well.
- The City of Charlottesville has a sample ballot

If you’re trying to figure out what’s on your ballot (and really, you should be) the State Board of Elections provides and excellent resource for figuring out who’s running for what. (I had no idea this was there)

Photo courtesy of

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

If you’re not registered to vote, why not?

Where to Vote in Central Virginia (from 2010)Again, Neil said very well –

This election will select those who serve the government closest to you, your local government.  The candidates who are successful in this campaign will be the ones to determine the vision for the locality as well as the ordinances; they will develop the budgets and set the tax rate.

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

There’s a lot at stake – growth, infrastructure, taxes … power.

So far, nearly $150k has been raised in the race.

Update: today, VPAP released the updated campaign disclosures.

- More than $150k just in the Rivanna Race.
- Nearly $84k in the Scottsville race.

Local politics are where your vote, your time and your influence can really have an impact, and their decisions absolutely affect how we live.

All for positions that pay less than $15k per seat. (citation – pdf) I’m offended.

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.

Three thoughts:

1. I doubt the developer is going to just accept this recommended denial.

2. Everything changes.

3. It depends on what “open space” means …

“We agree there is confusion about what open space means,” Blaine said to the commission after the public hearing. “Does there need to be a major re-education of our real estate agents? Yes, I think we have heard that tonight.”

I wonder who he’s referring to … “our” real estate agents meaning the agents representing the developer or the buyers agents representing the buyers …

I’m making no judgements here. If a space is represented as open space, is it reasonable to expect buyers to verify that the property is deeded as open space?

(Search for homes for sale in the Redfields neighborhood)

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

An unofficial estimate for construction of the Western Bypass is more than double the amount members of the Commonwealth Transportation Board were told by Virginia Department of Transportation officials in July before they voted to resume funding of the 6.2 mile highway.

Internal documents released under the Freedom of Information act reveal that VDOT engineers calculated a cost estimate of $436 million in late June, several weeks before CTB members voted to allocate $197 million to the project.

1 – Great analysis at cvillenews.
2 – Without the fine folks at Charlottesville Tomorrow, we likely wouldn’t know about this boondoggle.
3 – Wouldn’t it be cool if we’d devote federal funds to building American infrastructure rather than prisons in other countries?

Here’s the problem in a nutshell with infrastructure planning and implementation in Charlottesville and Albemarle:

Our localities are brilliant at planning. And studying. And planning. By the time they finish studying and planning, the plan is outdated, not viable and more expensive. And it’s time for another plan.

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

Very related article I wrote in 2006 – Are there Two Charlottesvilles?

Also: Patience Crabstick wrote earlier this year a detailed account of the Charlottesville Bus system. (and I wrote about her writing about the bus system)

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

1) Provide tremendous value to the community.

2) Try to get the public engaged in the political process.

Using Google Moderator they’re asking voters for their questions.

Here’s one way to find out: this month, we’ll be co-hosting with The Daily Progress a series of candidate forums. This time, we don’t just want you to come – we want you to create the audience questions we’ll ask. Follow this link to our elections page, where you’ll have the opportunity to submit questions and vote on questions submitted by our community. The questions with the most votes will have the best chance of being asked!

I don’t know how to frame this any differently – local elections matter. The water supply, the Western Bypass, the Meadowcreek Parkway, affordable housing for the homeless, monorail, zonings, rezonings … these are all issues that affect how we live every day.

Except for the monorail. But I’d wager the City would approve it given the opportunity.

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

The Charlottesville City Council and Albemarle County Board of Supervisors races are going to be interesting this year. Take note: local politics matter.

What’s VPAP?

The Virginia Public Access Project is a non profit group that demonstrates how technology can improve public understanding of money’s role in Virginia politics.

VPAP was formed to address a long-standing problem with Virginia’s system of financing state and local election campaigns. Virginia imposes no limits on campaign contributions. The sky is the limit, as long as candidates file reports that identify donors who give more than $100. For decades, however, the public had no practical way to view — much less analyze — the paper disclosure reports on file at the State Board of Elections and local voter registrars.

Albemarle County on VPAP

City of Charlottesville on VPAP

If you don’t think local politics matter, read this story in yesterday’s Daily Progress about the proposed ramp at Best Buy … you have City of Charlottesville, Albemarle County and VDOT folks discussing a transportation project that will affect how many of us get around.

Heck, John Grisham is mighty involved in local politics, having given $20k to local candidates over the past two years. So are Realtors. One gentleman has given over $600k in the past two years to Republicans across Virginia.

Note: The awesome Charlottesville Tomorrow donates to VPAP to keep our local election data there and transparent.

Disclosures:

I will be sitting on the local Realtors’ candidate funding task force this year in which we choose to fund and I have donated very small amounts to VPAP over the years. In fact, you too can donate to VPAP.

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

I don’t see how “blaming others” is a position I’d want to run on in Albemarle County : (bolding mine)

Because, you see, one of the things I learned right away about Albemarle County is while in many ways the leadership of the County had gotten ahead of the curve in planning for the future, the plan wasn’t always clearly understood and pressures between growth and development, traffic, infrastructure requirements and quality of life have been at play. I learned the hard way that a major development, North Pointe, was planned for the large parcel of land across the street from me, which was a surprise and not disclosed by the real estate agents. I learned that much of the conflict between residents and developers grew from a lack of understanding of the comprehensive plan for the County and future landuse. I also learned that sometimes the process wasn’t as transparent as it should be and that financial pressures made for strange bedfellows between developers and the County.

- The Four Corners Principle

- If You Don’t Own it, It’s Going to Change

- This is why I tell my clients that everything can change

Real estate agents are an easy target … but really?

.

Virginia is a caveat emptor state. I try my best to advise my clients that if they don’t own that field over there that it’s going to be a Wal-mart or condos or a road, but beyond that, with growth in Charlottesville and Albemarle (and the US in general) “what’s going to happen?” is always an unknown risk. Assuming otherwise is just silly, short-sighted and a little bit absurd.

- The first time North Pointe was mentioned on Charlottesville Tomorrow was February 09, 2006.

- Cynthia Neff closed on her house May 3, 2006. (see for yourself on Albemarle’s GIS site)

- The first reference I can find to North Pointe on Albemarle’s outstanding County View is March 9, 2004.

- And North Pointe is all over Albemarle.org.

Money in this campaign :

Ken Boyd (her opponent) has raised over $30k so far.

Cynthia Neff has raised nearly $40k so far.

Disclosure:

I will be sitting on the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors’ candidate funding task force this year in which we choose to fund candidates.

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

Is “How will my potential neighbors vote” one of your criteria when evaluating where to buy (or rent) a home?

I don’t think that the last Presidential election was quite as representative of the areas’ political proclivities, but this is a start, thanks to the Virginia State Board of Elections:

The 2009 gubernatorial election was mighty close in Albemarle County:

And the City of Charlottesville was, shall we say, a bit more one-sided:

For a current example, look at the current City Council election season:

The Democratic nominees will eventually compete with at least five independents in the general election, but in a city long dominated by Democrats — and where all five current councilors are Democrats — the primaryis a key milestone in the election cycle.

Looking at the results from the Virginia State Board of Elections reveals some interesting things:

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

Albemarle County Board of Supervisors race

White Hall:

- Ann Mallek ($10k)

Rivanna:

- Ken Boyd ($8k)

- Cynthia Neff ($16k)

Scottsville:

- Christopher Dumler ($10k)

- Jim Norwood ($1k)

Charlottesville City Council race … the Daily Progress had a story this week on fundraising in the Charlottesville City Democratic race. (in the City, all they have are Democratic races)

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

And it’s a damn shame. I find it inexplicable and infuriating that, if everything that is reported is true – that Friday was the owners’ first notice that they were in violation – then the State’s choice to enforce their rules and shut down the store is inexcusable and unacceptable. The Batesville Store is part of what makes Albemarle Albemarle.

The Batesville Store is was an integral part of the community. Personally, I’d like to see the community of Batesville, if they were so inclined, refuse to let the state shut the store down.

At RealCrozetVA – read the letters from the owners.

Update 13 June – Perhaps the best explanation comes from a Newsplex comment:

If you take time to read the letter provided by the Batesville Store to its clients, which is linked in the story, the reason for closing is clearly explained. They had been operating as a country store and were under the governance of the state’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. However, it was determined that the store did too much business to remain a country store. The only option available was for them to become a restaurant and to comply with all Virginia Health Department regulations. The owners state in their letter that the requiremetn (sic)to operate as a restaurant was not viable for many reasons.

At cvillenews – read insight from Waldo into the possible rationale, including a link to the County’s discussions about Country Stores as well as a question as to whether Country stores are economically viable (the government should either ensure that country stores do fit within code or choose to ignore them)

At the Newsplex – read about the State’s rationale; don’t miss the comments.

Read a couple of their newsletters:

From October 2009

What will happen to the Batesville Broadband?

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