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.

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Good job, CharlAlbemarle.

See a full photo tour taken last year:

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

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In five years:

- The City of Charlottesville still won’t have built their portion of the Meadowcreek Parkway

- The County of Albemarle will still be approving developments with no regard for their impact on traffic, schools, water, sewer, quality of life.

- The City and County will still be unable to work together as well as they should for the benefit of CharlAlbemarle citizens.

I have long struggled with my opinions about growth in Charlottesville/Albemarle. In the nearly five years since I wrote that post, nothing has changed.

Don’t get me wrong; I love living in Charlottesville (actually Crozet, but we all refer ourselves as being from “Charlottesville”), but how can we achieve balance?

View Rio Rd in a larger map

(if you zoom in, you’ll see that even Google knows the Meadowcreek Parkway is supposed to be there)

Pulled from Albemarle County’s County View (the City of Charlottesville negligently has nothing similar):

Arden Place Apartments: (approved/under construction)

Request for preliminary site plan approval of 212 multifamily residential apartment units and a club house on the R15 residential zoned portion of Tax Map 61 Parcel 124 which consists of 11.350 acres. Associated waivers include section 4.2 (critical slopes) and section 21.7.c (disturbance of a buffer zone adjacent to a residential district). The subject property is located in the Rio Magisterial District on Rio Road East [State Route #631], about 900 feet from the intersection of Rio Road East [State Route #631] and Seminole Trail [State Route #29]. The Comprehensive Plan designates this property as Community Service in Urban Area 2.

Dunlora Gates: (approved in 2008)

Request for preliminary site plan approval to create 18 lots with open space on 7.9 acres. Associated with this request are requests for modifications for critical slopes, curb and gutter, sidewalks, and the approval of dedicated open space. The property is zoned R-4, Residential, described as Tax Map 62 Parcel 10 and is located in the Rio Magisterial District on Townbrook Crossing approximately 0.071 miles from the intersection of Shepherds Ridge Road and Townbrook Crossing. The Comprehensive Plan designates this property as Neighborhood Density in Urban Area 2.

Dunlora Forest: (Approved 2011)

PROPOSED: Request for preliminary approval of 93 units, including townhouses, single family, and duplexes at a density of 4.16 units per acre. Associated with this proposal are requests for a disturbance of critical slopes and bonus density increase for more units per acre than is allowed with the standard level development required for R4 zoning.

Dunlora, Phase 4: (approved in 2000)

Request to rezone 5.279 acres from RA to R-4. The property, described as Tax Map 62 Parcel 12 is located in the Rivanna Magisterial District between Dunlora Drive and Free State Road approximately 1/2 mile from the intersection of the railroad tracks and Free State Road. The Comprehensive Plan designates this property as Neighborhood Density Residential for 3 – 6 dwelling units per acre in Neighborhood 2.

Dunlora South: (approved in 2006)

Request for preliminary site plan approval to construct 24 single-family attached units on 6.02 acres zoned R4 (Residential). The property, described as a portion of Tax Map 62F, Parcel 0A, and Tax Map 62D, Parcel 1A is located in the Rio Magisterial District on Rio Road (Route 631), at the intersection of Rio Road and Pen Park Road (Route 768). The Comprehensive Plan designates this property as Neighborhood Density in Urban Area 2.

Treedale (currently under construction):

PROJECT: ZMA 2004-0022, Treesdale Park (Sign # 33). PROPOSAL: Rezone 6.60 acres from R4 residential zoning district which allows residential uses (4 units per acre) to PRD (Planned Residential District) – which allows residential uses (3 – 34 units/acre) with limited commercial uses. This request proposes a total of 90 units at a density of 14 units per acres and no commercial uses. PROFFERS: Yes. EXISTING COMPREHENSIVE PLAN LAND USE/DENSITY: Urban Density Residential (6 – 34 units per acre). ENTRANCE CORRIDOR: No. LOCATION: The property is located in the Rio Magisterial District at 640 E. Rio Road, south of Towne Lane on the west side of East Rio Road. TAX MAP/PARCEL: Tax Map 61, Parcels 182, 183, and 183A.

—-

Update: I forgot about the future phases of Belvedere.

Belvedere:

The Reserve at Belvedere: (Approved)

Request for approval of a final site plan to construct fourteen (14) buildings of attached condominimum units totaling 294 units. This application includes a request to modify Section 18-4.2 to allow for disturbance of critical slopes. The property, described as Tax Map 61, Parcels 157 and 158, is zoned NMD – Neighborhood Model District and is located in the Rio Magisterial District on Belvedere Drive, approximately 0.50 mile from its intersection with Rio Road. The Comprehensive Plan designates this property as Urban Density in Urban Area 2.

Entirety of Belvedere: (Approved)

Request to rezone approximately 206.682 acres from R-4, Residential to NMD, Neighborhood Model District, to allow up to 775 dwelling units, with an overall density of 3.74 dwelling units per acre, ranging from a density of 1.6 dwelling units per acre in some areas to 9.4 dwelling units in others.

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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.

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This is why I ride my bike to the Main Street Market: “Main St. Market: Christ. I once carried an eighteen pound roast of beef and a bottle of whiskey far, far down W. Main just to avoid parking here.”

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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.

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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)

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Read at RealCrozetVA about the efforts to get children to walk to Henley Middle School.

It’s a damn shame that:

1) Our society has gotten to a place where this can be said with seriousness in a public forum.

2) Parents aren’t outraged about this.

3) Sidewalks and infrastructure are “needed” in order to walk to school. See the path for yourself. It’s fine.

My daughter has scraped her knees on sidewalks. What’s the alternative to sidewalks? Hermetically-sealed Bubble-wrapped paths

As an aside, I love Storify for reporting these meetings.

• Note, I’m not picking on Josh Davis; he’s the one that was sent to the Crozet Community Advisory Council meeting, when the Council has been asking for months for principals to visit.

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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.

Read all about the full funding of the Bypass at Charlottesville Tomorrow.

See the proposed bypass in 3D.

Call me crazy, but I really hope they put in bike lanes.

.Here’s the question I ask myself and anyone who will listen – if not the Western Bypass, what road should be built?

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I remain unconvinced that:

1) If we were to build a new road, this is the one to be built. Just because it’s been talked about for so very long.

2) That a new road will ever be built, and by the time it is it is likely to be functionally obsolete based on emerging human settlement and transportation patterns.

Traffic is only getting worse.

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In other news, Huja announced that VDOT has agreed to open up the county’s portion of the parkway to cyclists and pedestrians by the end of July. Another agreement between the city, county and VDOT prevents the road from opening to vehicular traffic until the interchange and both road sections are all completed.

Beautiful. I might try riding my bike to the Belvedere neighborhood from Downtown Charlottesville … but I’m not looking forward to the hill on Rio just past Melbourne.

Update: I talked with Lou Hatter with VDOT for clarification on the timeline and to ask why they couldn’t open it now. He responded very quickly:

Although the recreational trail appears to be finished there is one segment of the trail where the top layer of asphalt still needs to be applied. Even after that final asphalt work is done, the trail is part of the larger Meadowcreek Parkway project, which is still under construction. Due to liability concerns VDOT will not open the trail to public use until the entire project is completed and accepted by VDOT. The contractor is ahead of schedule and at this time it appears construction is likely to be finished by the end of July.

.

Update 11 July 2011: 

Just kidding.

“A multi-use trail built alongside Albemarle County’s portion of the Meadow Creek Parkway will not open at the end of this month as previously announced.”

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The Albemarle Board of Supervisors voted Wednesday to remove the proposed Eastern Connector from a list of potential road projects to be considered by the county.

Don’t worry. The probably won’t build any other roads either.

For a hint at the likelihood of them building the Eastern Avenue in Crozet, have a look at their “coming soon” sign.

Sometimes I think that the City and County would be better off focusing on building a monorail.

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It’s National Bike Month and Bike Charlottesville has organized a slew of events:

- Monday, May 16th, 12-1pm: Cross Town Ride, News Conference, Award Ceremony

- Tuesday, May 17th, 6-8pm: Charlottesville Community Bikes Open House + Intro to Biking

- Wednesday, May 18th, 6:15-8:00pm: Ride of Silence – Charlottesville

- Thursday, May 19th, 12-1pm: UVa Lunch & Learn “Bike Commuting 101″

- Friday, May 20th, 7-9pm and 4-6pm: BIKE TO WORK DAY Energizer Stations

- Saturday, May 21st, 10am – 1pm: Tour de Coop
- Saturday, May 21st, 3-5pm: Bike Rodeo

Bike Charlottesville’s Call to Action on Facebook:

We don’t have an advertising budget, but we have hundreds of enthusiastic cyclists. With your help, we’ll succeed at spreading the news by word of mouth and decentralized flier distribution. We hope you can join us all week long! If you can only come to a few events, please come out on Mon, Wed, and Fri.

I’d like to see a Bike Charlottesville/Albemarle.

Me? I’ll be bringing my good bike to town and riding as much as possible.

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Don’t Say the City doesn’t plan ahead … the City of Charlottesville is going to try eminent domain to get the final piece of land to make the Hillsdale Connector a reality.

I find this funny:

The phrase “eminent domain” was not uttered in the council chambers until resident Colette Hall stood and asked for an explanation.

“Are you saying this is eminent domain?” Hall asked.

“Yes,” Brown answered, saying he uses the terms “condemnation” and “eminent domain” interchangeably.

Call it what it is – eminent domain.

Keep in mind that “the city likely will not begin saving money for the road’s construction until after 2016.”

Good at planning. Bad at doing. I’ll be 50 before this road is built. (that’s just less than 15 years)

Curiously, it’s taken nearly two years to get to this point; Rachana Dixit reported in the Daily Progress June 15, 2009:

Charlottesville officials will attempt to exercise eminent domain to acquire the land necessary for Hillsdale Drive Extended’s first section, which is being built as a part of the new Whole Foods grocery store.

The city is trying to get roughly 1.5 acres that are privately owned to start the multimillion-dollar road project, which would begin before the store’s construction. Those behind the new Whole Foods — Meadowbrook Creek, LLC is developing the property at 1801 Hydraulic Road under a 99-year ground lease that began in 1964 — agreed that the first portion of Hillsdale Drive Extended would be built as a condition of the project.

But the road, designed to connect Hydraulic Road through the Seminole Square shopping center to Hillsdale Drive in Albemarle County, cannot be constructed until the land has been designated for public use.

“It is a major public right of way,” Councilor Satyendra Huja said in an interview, referring to the road.
“We would have preferred that it would have been [negotiated]. But the negotiations haven’t been fruitful so far,” he added.


The City Council will take up the matter at tonight’s meeting, because state law requires that the governing body of any locality authorize condemnation proceedings only after a public hearing. If councilors adopt the resolution, the action will be filed in Charlottesville Circuit Court.

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The poll is on the City of Charlottesville website. I’d like to see an “other” option.

Other: Real cooperation between the localities on infrastructure collaboration that is inclusive of all forms of transit – pedestrian, bicycle, vehicle – that is focused on what is good for the entire community.

“… in the next 5 years …” I don’t know if that’s optimistic, delusional or dishonest.

Note from the comments: it’s an informal poll, not a survey.

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CBS19 has learned that the City of Charlottesville has signed an agreement to begin construction on the Meadow Creek Parkway, known as McIntire Road extended.

Apparently the agreement was signed a week ago.
NBC29 has a bit more, including the PDF of the McIntire Road Extended Agreement.

For some historical context:

- Read Cvillepedia’s Meadow creek Parkway entry

– (at least) 38 years of debate/discussion on the Parkway.

- What if the Meadowcreek Parkway didn’t exist?

- Maybe the City should say no to the Meadow Creek Parkway (this time the timeline was 43 years)

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I’d love to think that we are close to being able to easily bike everywhere around Charlottesville and Albemarle’s urban ring, but these two paragraphs from Chiara Canzi’s article say a lot:

“This commuter trail will extend from Lewis and Clark Drive in Northern Albemarle County into the City of Charlottesville’s Downtown,” running parallel to Route 29 North, according to the project’s report. That’s 14.1 miles of dedicated, non-stop bike and pedestrian infrastructure.

“This facility will provide a viable alternative travel mode for communities along the Route 29 North corridor, particularly Downtown and the Hollymead commercial area,” it reads. Yet, upon a closer look at the plan, Northtown Trail is connected to and contingent upon the completion of some major, and controversial, transportation projects. They include the Meadow Creek Parkway (MCP), Berkmar Drive Extended, the Belvedere development, North Pointe and the Places29 Master Plan. Most of the projects are currently unfunded.

Our region is pretty good at planning. Doing is much more of a challenge. Much of the planning in this area never makes it past the “on paper” stage.

I’m still looking for buyer clients who want to look at houses while riding bicycles. The time will come …

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The American Community Survey, conducted from 2005 to 2009, shows that 59 percent of Charlottesville residents drive by themselves to work, as well as 77 percent of Albemarle workers.

On a related note, I’ve been looking for updated Journey to Work data for a couple years now, but haven’t been able to locate it anywhere. The most recent datasets are from 2000, and I have a feeling that human settlement and commuting patterns have shifted since then.

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