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 for the site, but there was more to [...]
Planning & Development
City Council steers public redevelopment money to nonprofits
Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority officials weren’t surprised when the city reallocated $400,000 of their redevelopment funds to local nonprofits last week. A cash-strapped agency with a revolving door of leadership for over a decade, the housing authority is unable to use the money this year, and both sides agreed that other organizations with housing [...]
Jefferson School reopens as cultural community center
The new Jefferson School City Center officially opened its doors to the public on Monday, January 7, kicking off a costly and hopeful experiment to preserve local history and provide services for underserved communities close to Downtown. After a year-and-a-half of renovations, the center is offering an African American heritage center and other cultural, multi-generational [...]
Maggie Edwards
05/23/2013 7:30 pm - 10:30 pm Maggie Edwards Durty Nelly’s, Charlottesville VA
Project underway to add Claudius Crozet’s Blue Ridge Tunnel to National Register of Historic Places
When the Blue Ridge Tunnel opened in 1858, its narrow 4,273′ passage through the mountains near Rockfish Gap created a corridor connecting Richmond to the Shenandoah Valley. Engineered by French civil engineer Claudius Crozet, it was a feat at the time, constructed in the most difficult [...]
For residents of The Crossings, Christmas is a time for thanksgiving
“This will be the first Christmas I haven’t been on the street in years,” said Shawn Bradley, 42, a Desert Storm veteran who moved into The Crossings last spring. “I basically was homeless, on the streets and in the woods for about four-and-a-half years.” The Crossings, a housing complex of 60 [...]
Charlottesville’s new GIS viewer makes it easier to search property data
Local governments are repositories for vast amounts of useful information that often never see the light of day. The City of Charlottesville’s new Geographic Information System web viewer changes that. Remember the first time you Google mapped your own house? The city’s GIS viewer works a bit [...]
What’s coming up in Charlottesville the week of 12/17
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 Albemarle County Architectural Review Board has CANCELLED its [...]
Planning Commission approves permit for an even bigger Plaza on Main Street
The Plaza on Main Street, an eight-story, 595-bedroom apartment building proposed for the property between the Hampton Inn and Amtrak station, is seen as the final piece of the West Main development puzzle. But while developers, city officials, and the media have been discussing the project’s [...]
Albemarle County approves new police training facility despite neighborhood opposition
The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors approved a controversial plan last week to build a police training facility and firing range in a quiet corner of Albemarle. Officials agreed to construct the center at the site of the 169-acre, county-owned Keene landfill off Route 704, despite loud [...]
The shopping mall battle: Stonefield vs. Barracks
After a decade of planning, the largest development project in Albemarle County’s history is finally almost open for business. Last Friday Pier One Imports made its debut as the first retailer to open at The Shops at Stonefield, the new upscale shopping center on the corner of Hydraulic Road [...]
West Main Street is starting to look very different, but can the growth keep up?
After years of sluggish growth, a string of new projects is poised to transform West Main Street from an underutilized row of dead buildings into a thriving retail corridor. A new annex to the bustling Main Street Market is now home to restaurants and shops, and there are plans for an [...]
What’s coming up in Charlottesville the week of 10/15
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 holds its regular third-Monday meeting [...]
Young architects take on income gap with Green Dot job hub project
An architect’s challenge usually hinges on the limits of space and scale, but a team of young Virginia professionals has spent the last nine months tackling a very different task: closing Charlottesville’s income gap. The Emerging Leaders in Architecture program, run by the Virginia chapter of [...]
Is another fight over agricultural land use brewing in Keswick?
The Albemarle County Planning Commission voted 5-1 last night to approve an annual cider festival and new regulations at Castle Hill Cider, a 600-acre property in Keswick—a place where businesses and residents have clashed over agricultural land use in the past. Like other “farm [...]
What’s coming up in Charlottesville the week of 10/8
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. On Tuesday, the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission holds a [...]
City Council’s Moto Saloon vote overturns compromise
When the Charlottesville City Council denied a live music permit for Matteus Frankovich’s Black Market Moto Saloon property near the Woollen Mills neighborhood on Monday, the move came as something of a surprise to those who had worked to reach a compromise between the bar owner and local [...]
County considers scaling back cell tower regulations to improve coverage
Among the things Albemarle County likes to claim it’s known for, its cell tower ordinance is probably the most unlikely point of pride. The county’s long-standing regulations are credited with forcing wireless structures to keep a low profile, and they’ve been duplicated by other jurisdictions. [...]
What’s coming up in Charlottesville the week of 10/1
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 at 7pm Monday in Council chambers. [...]
Bypass forum draws hundreds
Hundreds of local residents packed the cafeteria at Jack Jouett Middle School Thursday night for VDOT’s public information forum on its environmental assessment of the long-planned Western Bypass around Charlottesville, lining up to leave written or dictated comments on the controversial [...]
Notes from the news desk: What’s coming up in Charlottesville the week of 9/24
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. Charlottesville Area Transit holds a public meeting from 7 to 9pm tonight [...]
Notes from the news desk: What’s coming up in Charlottesville the week of 9/17
Each week, the news team will be taking 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 will vote on whether to spend [...]
This week in Charlottesville: What’s coming up the week of 9/10
Each week, the news team will be taking 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. Both the city and county Planning Commissions meet Tuesday at 6 [...]














