Proffers, timing, smart growth and questions

The term “Smart Growth” has been bastardized. At one point it may have meant “to grow in an intelligent manner.” Now it seems to mean “no growth” to many.

Bacon’s Rebellion has an excellent story, with equally insightful comments on the ramifications of Tuesday’s elections on localities’ growth policies. Take the time to read it if you’re interested in growth issues in Virginia.

Tuesday brought a significant shift in the political makeup (archived: 2007) in Albemarle County. It will, however, take a long time for some of those impacts to be felt for many reasons, not least the fact that there are currently several thousand homes in the pipeline to be built (anywhere from 8,000 to 13,000, depending on which numbers one uses 15,800+ (archived: 2007), thanks to PEC for the comment). These have already been approved and are not subject to the new cash proffer policy on new homes. The new policy allows the County to accept, as a bribe/incentive/fee, for a new home a charge of up to $17,500 per unit.

This page > this page > this one > finally to this one on the cash proffer policy. (If I didn’t know what I was looking for, I might never have been able to find this document)

As has been noted elsewhere, the Board of Supervisors is now faced with a possible 4-2 split on many issues that will define the future, near and long-term, of Albemarle County.

Will we spend more money on transit (archived: 2010)?
What will happen to our property taxes?
How will our symbiotic relationship with the City of Charlottesville be affected?
If property rights are affected, what will happen to real estate values?

These are questions that will be be answered only over time.  It’s going to be an interesting few years.