Date Archives December 2009

Thoughts on Crozet Library’s Further Delay

I suspect no one has or will move to Crozet because of the library, but having a good library, as we do now, is a component of a community with a high quality of life. … Based on those standards, if Crozet’s service area population (that is, the population within 6 miles of the library) reaches 25,000, the public library should be in the square foot range of 15,000 SF – 20,000 SF. … John Halliday, Library Director Jefferson-Madison Regional Library 201 East Market Street, Charlottesville Virginia 22902 Mike Marshall at the Crozet Gazette noted last month : County leaders have notified the Crozet Library Steering Committee that they will recommend to supervisors that the project be pushed back yet again (it was originally slated to open in 2011) and not be considered for funding before 2015. … The County should take advantage of currently depressed construction costs by either borrowing money, getting a slice of the $787 billion the federals are looking to spend on “shovel ready” projects, or by suspending the County’s annual tribute payment to Charlottesville—the so-called “revenue sharing agreement” in which only the County does the sharing—a sum which next year will run about $18 million.

Read More

Friday Chart – Price Changes in Charlottesville MSA – 12-4-2009

Looking at a wider timeline, this time 1 November through 4 December 2009 and 5 December 2008: For 2009 versus 2008, for the previous seven days – there were 262 price changes this year versus 157 during the same time period last year.

… PDFs : Price changes – Charlottesville MSA – 2009 Price changes – Charlottesville MSA – 2008 The data below is still not as accurate as it will be, as the Charlottesville and Albemarle real estate markets do not have (and didn’t in the “boom” years) sufficient transactional volume to make all of these charts as trend-able as they are in other markets. … Frames not supported * “Condo” in this context = attached + condo Frames not supported Frames not supported Frames not supported If you’re interested in receiving these reports every month, please sign up below. Honestly, I think these charts are useful and cool; while they are still a work-in-progress as the data is still being analyzed, I think the trend lines are becoming more accurate.

Read More

Time for Government to Get out of the Trash Business?

Dave Mcnair at The HooK has a great story about the impact the Vanderlinde single-stream recycling facility has had on the government’s own trash business. There are two issues – 1) The lawsuit 2) The future of the government-run operation – the RWSA – in light of what seems to be competition that, left to the open market would close down the RWSA’s trash business. … So, will Van der Linde’s MRF become our area’s landfill of the future? … Do we, as trash-producing, tax paying citizens need or want government to keep doing what’s obsolete?

Read More

Vineyards in Albemarle are Good – Right?

It seems that well enough may not be left alone ; Cathy Harding reports in this week’s C-Ville: Recent discussions between the Albemarle County Planning Department and county wineries raise questions about exactly what comprises normal activity at a winery—and even, to a degree, what constitutes a farm winery, itself. Planners want to bring the county’s current zoning ordinance in line with the State Code that regulates farm wineries. It seems that, so far at least, the language and stipulations they’ve come up with are leaving a sour taste in the mouths of some local wine professionals. It boils down to three areas of concern: hours of operation; limits on numbers of people that can attend winery events without a zoning variance; and, as mentioned, the definition of farm wineries as well as agritourism.

Read More

What’s Your Neighborhood’s Friendliness Score?

Here’s how my clients and I assess neighborhoods perceived friendliness factors: if you’re driving through a neighborhood, how many people walking on the streets wave to you? … It’s something that when I moved to Charlottesville 20 some years ago, my mom and my sister were driving through a neighborhood and after we went through the neighborhood my mom looked at us and said: “kids, what did you all think about that place?” and one of us, either my sister or I said: “you know, we didn’t like it mom because those boys didn’t wave at us” and it was really simple, but quite profound and we didn’t end up moving there, but we did move to a neighborhood that was quite friendly and still is frankly. So my question is for buyers and sellers: what is your neighborhoods or the neighborhoods that you’re searching perceived friendliness value?

Read More