Last night, the County of Albemarle held an information meeting to discuss how the Keswick area will grow. From Jessica Kitchin’s story in the DP (no longer available):
The meeting was intended to be an information session for those who live in the Village of Rivanna – one of Albemarle County’s five growth areas and the only designated village in the county. County spokeswoman Lee Catlin, Planning Director Wayne Cilimberg, Planner Elaine Echols and Community Development Director Mark Graham all spoke to those in attendance about the planning process and what is expected to come.
In light of last week’s quiet revelation (no longer available) that the County may have mismanaged the Crozet Master Plan,
The supervisors asked county staff to look into whether the Old Trail Village development in Crozet includes significantly higher densities than those included in the Crozet Master Plan. (bolding mine)
“If there is substantially more density, perhaps we can look [to cut back growth] in other areas of Crozet,” Rooker said.”
If the above is an accurate, and Tom Loach is correct when he says on CvilleTomorrow’s blog:
The question of a huge difference between what was in the Crozet Master Plan and what was before the BOS for rezoing (a 103% increase by my calculations in housing units and 78% increase in commercial development) was raised as early as the Planning Commission by members of the community. The very night of the vote on the rezoning each member of Board was given a copy of the calculations from the Crozet Master Plan. It’s just that no one in the County bothered to look at the data or if they did, it didn’t seem to matter.
My question is this – What credibility does the County government have left?
Please don’t misread me; as a Realtor, growth is ostensibly good for my business, but if the County truly is playing with the numbers to such a dramatic degree, shouldn’t someone be held accountable? Also, I happen to live here and care about my and my family’s quality of life.
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I have been been representing buyers and sellers in Charlottesville, Albemarle, and Central Virginia since 2001. Get local insight born of experience.
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