City of Charlottesville
MEMO
"A World Class City”
TO:
Fry’s Spring Neighborhood
FROM: James E. Tolbert, AICP, Director
Brian Haluska, AICP, Neighborhood Planner
DATE: November 6, 2007
SUBJECT:
Issues
Update
Below are various issues impacting the Fry’s Spring Neighborhood. Updates are in bold.
Brian Haluska, AICP, Neighborhood Planner – Brian Haluska has resumed duties as your neighborhood planner. He will take responsibility for site plan review, zoning changes, and all other planning related issues. I will be working on a special project for the City Manager for the next several months and will not spend much time in Neighborhood Development Services. You will see little change. Brian is experienced and will do a great job.
Fontaine Research Park Rezoning – The University of Virginia Real Estate Foundation has submitted an application to the County Board of Supervisors to rezone the Fontaine Research Park to allow an approximate doubling of the density of the Research Park. This action is consistent with discussions that occurred during the preparation of the Area B Study. The concept plan submitted with the rezoning does not show the proposed Fontaine/Sunset Connector going all the way through University property. However, Mr. Sandridge has written the Mayor and indicated that the University is committed to building the connector from Fontaine to their property line that adjoins the Granger Property. At this point they only show the road as necessary to service the development, but he is committed to build an additional road to extend to the property line when the project moves forward. They have not proffered to assist with the bridge over the railroad or Moore’s Creek at this time. At the PACC Tech meeting on 10/18, there was a discussion of an alternative solution raised by the University. The PACC Tech has recommended that both alternatives be further studied.
Center/Hill Development – A rezoning request for a Planned Unit Development for the Center/Hill property has been submitted to the Planning Commission and will be considered for preliminary discussion on September 11th. No action will be taken at this meeting, but instead issues and concerns will be raised. The development shows single family homes fronting on a street that connects Center to Hill Street. We understand that the applicant intends to revise the rezoning request for public hearing by the Planning Commission and the City Council at the December 11th Planning Commission meeting. Notices will be sent if the application is received and Brian will be in touch with the neighborhood committee. The applicant has requested to meet with two Planning Commissioners prior to the public hearing.
Old Lynchburg Road – The meeting held on September 19th to again meet the team and begin discussing the needs and concerns about Old Lynchburg Road was well attended. This was the first opportunity for adjacent property owners and neighborhood residents to talk about specific issues with the design team. No Change
JPA Bridge – There was a rescoping meeting held last month with all of the VDOT design team and City staff and a subsequent meeting with the neighborhood.. At this meeting, details were emphasized to VDOT to achieve the neighborhood concerns. No Change.
Huntley PUD – I met last month with the Beyers about the application for amendment to the Huntley Planned Unit Development, along with two members of the Planning Commission. At this meeting, we were advised by the Beyers that they no longer desire to pursue a rezoning, but instead intend to develop according to the already approved plan on this section of the site. Because they already have an approved site plan, that is their prerogative. We have emphasized to the developer that he needs to quickly submit his reforestation plan so that it can be approved and trees planted during this planting season. We have also suggested to them that the undersized street trees can be replaced without waiting on approval of the reforestation plan. They go to the Planning Commission on November 13th to ask approval to plant fifty 2-inch caliper trees rather than the forty 4-inch caliper trees previously agreed to.
Old Lynchburg Road Apartment Complex - We have been approached by the developer of an apartment complex in Albemarle County that has a small sliver of City land just across from Azalea Park. They have scheduled a meeting to talk with Tony and me about constructing an access to the apartment complex onto Old Lynchburg Road just across from Azalea Park. We have indicated to their engineers once and will continue to do so that access to a multi-family property is not allowed to be constructed on land that is zoned for single family or two family. We believe our ordinance will not allow this, but I wanted you to be aware that there was an effort underway to try to utilize this access point.
Since our last meeting, we have determined that the road rough-in point for surveying is actually in the County, just outside the City limits. If that is where they decide to access we will have no part in that approval process. However, we continue to make County staff aware of our concern. No Change
Zoning Changes: My interns have completed the neighborhood survey of the area zoned R-2. We have mapped this information and are ready to meet with the three neighborhood representatives to go over the findings and formalize a proposal to the Planning Commission. We will be meeting with your team of Terri Dicintio, James King and Andrea Weider to discuss in the next couple of weeks (November 12th ).
Cleveland/Highland and “The Thumb”: We had the pre-bid on the construction project on Cherry/Highland and on the improvements to the Cherry/Cleveland/Willard intersection on November 8th. Khadija Abdur-Rahman, our engineer, has given a start date of November 13th and completion date of December 21, 2007. We will do all we can to keep the contractor to this schedule.
Avon Center: This is a 43 acre commercial development in the County of Albemarle, just south of the Ridge Street neighborhood. The development would connect Fifth Street Extended to Avon Street. City staff has met with the developers to talk over the concerns the City has regarding the project, specifically regarding the traffic impact on 5th Street. This development would have an outlet to 5th street Extended via Bent Creek Road.
Fry’s Spring Neighborhood Association
RE: Issues Update Page 1 of 4