Jody Lahendro has led a lot of curious locals up the 61′ of creaking scaffolding that has surrounded UVA’s Rotunda for a year. Most recently, it was a group that had won a private tour at an auction to raise money for the iconic structure’s ongoing renovation. Once the visitors emerged at the lip of [...]
Planning & Development
Manslaughter charge, Coke building off the market again, and more on the Bypass: News briefs
Check c-ville.com daily and pick up a copy of the paper Tuesday to for the latest Charlottesville and Albemarle news briefs and stories. Here’s a quick look at some of what we’ve had an eye on for the past week. Manslaughter charge in Semester at Sea death Police in Dominica have arrested a man there [...]
County sees turnaround on capital expansion
When the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors voted last week to push ahead with a plan to spend $11.8 million to turn an old building supply warehouse into the new home of the Northside Library, it added to a growing list of capital projects planned in the county for the next five to 10 years. [...]
Electric Tuesdays
05/21/2013 8:00 pm Electric Tuesdays The Hot Spot, Waynesboro VA
New library heralds era of growth in Western Albemarle
After years of discussion, planning, and vigorous fundraising, construction of the new Crozet Library, a big step in the effort to expand the town’s downtown area, is nearing completion. The two-story building on Crozet Avenue still smells like sawdust, but the power tools and paint cans will [...]
Judge says state devalued Biscuit Run property
An Albemarle judge has handed a big win to developers in the battle over Biscuit Run, ruling last week that the state under-appraised the 1,200-acre parcel south of Charlottesville by $45 million in a deal that traded tax credits for development rights. “This is a huge victory,” said Craig [...]
Monticello’s big gift, shooting indictment, and the Stonefield suit: News briefs
Check c-ville.com daily and pick up a copy of the paper Tuesday to for the latest Charlottesville and Albemarle news briefs and stories. Here’s a quick look at some of what we’ve had an eye on for the past week. Monticello gets $10 million donation The Thomas Jefferson Foundation announced [...]
End of the road for Rooker, happenings at UVA, and disgruntled homeowners: News briefs
Check c-ville.com daily and pick up a copy of the paper Tuesday to for the latest Charlottesville and Albemarle news briefs and stories. Here’s a quick look at some of what we’ve had an eye on for the past week. Rooker announces retirement from Board of Supervisors During last week’s [...]
Woolen Hills? City Walk development bringing big changes
It’s a few minutes before the lunch rush at Beer Run, and from a table near the front of their restaurant, stepbrothers and co-owners Josh Hunt and John Woodriff can see a line of white contractor’s pickups parked along Carlton Avenue, and behind it, a mountain of red dirt rearing up where just [...]
Legal battle over Stonefield stormwater raises questions about how to deal with runoff
The developers of The Shops at Stonefield are again ensnared in a dispute over stormwater, and this time, the county and city are also under fire in a case that could highlight changes in the ways municipalities are expected to deal with runoff. Great Eastern Management Company, which owns [...]
New suit filed against Stonefield developer
Only days after The Shops at Stonefield developer and Charlottesville City Council came to an agreement that ended a long legal dispute over stormwater management, a new lawsuit has been filed in the Albemarle County Circuit Court that may halt construction of the shopping center’s second [...]
HUD report criticizes foundering, divided housing authority
The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority (CRHA) got a thrashing last week with the release of a highly critical report on its operations by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and since then, parties on all sides of the debate over how to fix public [...]
What will it take for Dominion to bury power lines?
Before the end of the winter storm that dumped more than a foot of snow in central Virginia and put the Commonwealth into a state of emergency last week, 233,000 Dominion Power customers around the state were without electricity in freezing temperatures, including tens of thousands in [...]
Should VDOT reroute the Bypass around graves of slave descendants?
Jesse Scott Sammons was born a free black man in 1853, eight years before the Civil War and 10 years before Emancipation. A descendant of Monticello slave Mary Hemings—sister of Sally—Sammons attended what is now Charlottesville’s Jefferson School. He went on to become the first principal of [...]
What’s in a comprehensive plan?
Few local government topics are as mired in planning jargon—or more likely to cause eyes to glaze over at public meetings—than the revision of a comprehensive plan, the massive guidance document that lays out broad ground rules for a municipality’s growth and development. “It’s sort of this [...]
City makes Section 3 position permanent with eye to moving redevelopment forward
City Council voted unanimously last week to permanently fund its Section 3 coordinator, a previously temporary position that bridges the gap between the city and the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. Despite differing opinions on where the money should come from, city [...]
Judge clears way for Biscuit Run suit to go to trial
The original purchasers of the 1,200-acre Biscuit Run tract just south of I-64 have been battling Virginia’s Department of Taxation for years over a $20 million tax credit claim, and on Tuesday, a county judge denied a challenge from the state, clearing the way for a spring trial date. “It’s [...]
Site prep for future Wegmans shopping center scrutinized
Plans for a shopping center with a Wegmans grocery store just south of Charlottesville are marching forward, despite recommendations of caution from staff and the qualms of some neighbors. Last week, the Albemarle County Planning Commission gave its stamp of approval to a special use permit [...]
What’s coming up in Charlottesville the week of 2/4
Each week, the news team takes a look at upcoming meetings and events in Charlottesville and Albemarle we think you should know about. Consider it a look into our datebook, and be sure to share newsworthy happenings, too. The Charlottesville City Council meets Monday night at 7pm at City Hall. [...]
Extreme makeover: McIntire Park is about to look a whole lot different
If 2012 was the last year of the battle over McIntire Park, 2013 is the year of the build. Several long-awaited, much-debated projects—some of which survived legal challenges last year—are now entering the home stretch. Love ’em or hate ’em, they’re on the way. Here’s what to look out for in [...]
Charlottesville-Albemarle MPO grows to include Crozet
The Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Policy Board voted unanimously last week to redraw its boundaries to include Crozet, an expansion officials say could mean more federal dollars for public transit linking Western Albemarle to the area’s urban core. Like its [...]
What’s coming up in Charlottesville the week of 1/21
Each week, the news team takes a look at upcoming meetings and events in Charlottesville and Albemarle we think you should know about. Consider it a look into our datebook, and be sure to share newsworthy happenings, too. It’s a short week because of MLK Day, so a lot of city and county [...]
Habitat, partners roll out first plans for mixed-income housing on Elliott
Last spring, the City Council agreed to sell 3.5 weedy acres of former dirt dump next to the Oakwood Cemetery off Elliott Avenue to a development team for $10. The group—made up of Habitat for Humanity and for-profit builders Southern Development and Community Results—would assume cleanup costs [...]


















