What will 29 look like in 5 years?

CvilleTomorrow has an excellent summary of the recent North Pointe hearing, highlighted (in my opinion) by Supervisor Ken Boyd’s question;

“I have [a question] for staff and the applicant.  On the one side you feel like you have met the neighborhood principles, and staff says you haven’t met the neighborhood principles.  Just curious, what is the dividing line?

Superb question.

Sean Tubbs with CvillePodcast
continues his superlative efforts to inform the public with this interview with Senior Planner senior planner Judith Wiegand and Harrison Rue of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District. Podcast is here.

More can be found at the Places 29 website. I missed the hearing last night, but look forward to the accompanying analyses by the local media and bloggers. Heck, even my minister sent out an email to the congregation alerting us to the meeting. Everybody is impacted by 29 – the email I received from a potential buyer searching for a weekend home is telling –

Driving back on Sunday, we ran into hellacious traffic starting in Culpepper (sic) that continued until we exited the beltway.  Our feeling is that the benefits that you reap from having a place in the country are vitiated by the tortuous drive back to D.C.  We’re now thinking about a place farther away for longer stays. 

In light of this re-evaluation, you can take me off the mailing list for now.  I will contact you in the event that our plans change.  Thanks for your assistance and advice.

Granted, he was referring to the Gainesville/66 area, but hopefully the planners, et. al. will learn from the mistakes that NoVa have made. Good development can be attained if there is sufficient compromise and cooperation between the parties. Growth should not be an adversarial process. We all live here (even the transplants). For an enlightening interview with a developer, listen to Charlottesville-Right Now’s interview with Barbara Fried.

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1 Comment

  1. Jim duncan May 20, 2006 at 06:51

    From an off-line commenter:

    ” I think right now, Culpeper is making the same mistakes that Albemarle County has made over the twenty years. Allowing for new stop lights, gunking up a major U.S. highway, without planning proper roadways to allow for through-traffic. It now takes an extra half-hour to get to DC because of all the new lights through Culpeper, which is exploding. Nelson County’s first traffic light will spawn more. I’m not against the develop, but what about frontage roads? There needs to be a conversation now about building a new interstate highway to replace 29, or we’re going to be choking in traffic. Okay, I’ll stop ranting now.”