All manner of development activity afoot in Charlottesville. One of the Planning Commissioners commented on it last night, I didn’t write the exact number down, but there are something like a thousand “dwelling units” fixing to appear on the real estate market. Another Planning Commissioner asked how we were coming on meeting the proposed Comprehensive Plan goal of having 15% of that new housing affordable. There wasn’t an answer readily available to that question. Most of the housing being built near UVA is constructed to do liposuction on the students’ parents wallets. No one ever builds affordable housing for UVA workers near the U. There is some affordable housing coming on line, JABA’s Timberlake Place in the Woolen Mills and Habitat’s Sunrise Park, 1/4 mile south of Timberlake, in east Belmont-Carlton. (so roughly 5% of the 1000 units are affordable)
Not all the development is residential. CFA remodeling is rocking along at the former Martha Jefferson.
Not all the development is roofs for sleeping/working people. Over on the sewer side of town Big doings. RWSA has been successfully addressing multiple issues. They have increased Phosphorous and Nitrogen removal from their effluent, an excellent development for the Rivanna River, the James and the Chesapeake Bay. Additionally, they’ve constructed a wetland, they are fixing to unleash a tunnel boring machine and they have made major strides in odor control, keeping the stink on site.
In every direction there are people planning…
…tackling long range issues. How do we reconnect the people to the river. How do we make the street a place that’s good for more than squashing possums and exercising fire engines? How do we restore streets to their commons status?
How do we incorporate green infrastructure and low impact development practices into our cheat the cookie building culture?
How do we move to excellent urban planning?
Category: Charlottesville
Water Street extended
The purpose of this report is to help to establish guidelines and a strong basis for a street tree planting master program for the city of Charlottesville .
Most people in Charlottesville recognize the value of trees in the cityscape, and the fact that much of the existing beauty and character of this city is due to its mature trees. As the city has grown, however, this aspect of its growth has been neglected…We therefore feel that the solution to the problem is within reach at this point, and we are convinced that now is the time to act to correct the problem where it already exists, and to reverse the trend in future development before it becomes too extensive and costly.–excerpt from the introduction of the Guidelines For A Street Tree Planting Master Program For Charlottesville Virginia (1975)
parade
We have a “dogwood festival parade” in Charlottesville. I love a parade. People in the street. Music.
A communal celebration, in the daylight. The nearest we get in the Old Dominion to a second line.
Charlottesville High School band
Bring you flag, your dog, your children your vehicle
I saw a former work colleague getting ready with the lion suit. Woody has been a Lion’s Club member for 32 years.
Great anticipation rules. Wearing the tiara.
A perfect day for a parade, cool temperatures, California quality light.
The main excitement was some vapor and engine noise from a biking contingent. Alas, breaking traction is frowned upon in the Old Dominion.
special election
Democrat Jason Vandever won a special election for Charlottesville treasurer in a landslide Tuesday, defeating independent John Pfaltz 1,280 votes to 397. A total of 1,683 voters hit the polls, said registrar Sheri Iachetta. There were four write-in votes, and two people cast blank ballots.–Daily Progress
Charlottesville
a place worth caring about
High Street
John S. White house
The John S. White House at 854 Locust Avenue was built by the prominent real estate lawyer and postmaster John S. White in 1903, just after he purchased the land from G. R. B. Michie. White was in business with William F. Long, for whom Long Street was eventually named. In 1910, White lived in the house with his wife, an infant son, his single brother-in-law, and two female African American servants who acted as nurse and cook, respectively.
Set far back from the street on a large lot and shaded by mature trees, this two-story, two-bay, house … has a hipped roof and is constructed of brick laid in common bond and painted. The north bay of the facade projects slightly and has a full pediment filled in with fish scale shingles; a hipped-roof, semi-hexagonal bay is attached to the north elevation; and a two-story, hipped-roof, two-bay addition is attached to the south elevation, set back from the facade and facing the street. A hipped-roof porch with slender Tuscan columns shades the recessed south bay and abuts the north bay of the facade. The south bay features the double glass doorway and a two-light transom. The 2nd floor of the south bay has a pair of narrow one/onesash
windows. The north bay features a single two/two-sash window on the 1st floor and a narrower one/one-sash window on the second. All of the windows have louvered shutters. The fully pedimented gable of the north bay retains the overhanging eave and cornice that characterizes the rest of the building, is filled in with wooden fish scale shingles, and has a small fanlight at its center. The roofs of both the porch and the house itself are covered in asphalt shingles. A modern, wooden ramp leads to the front entrance from the north side of the house. A one-story kitchen wing and a back porch are attached to the rear of the house.– (excerpted from the Martha Jefferson Historic District National Register of Historic Places registration form authored by Lydia Mattice Brandt PhD)
0734 hrs
message in a bottle
Municipal Band plays to crowd assembled at the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society to celebrate the “birthday” of CHO 250 years ago, 12/23/1762
A time capsule was gathered up, a box to be opened in 2062. Citizens were encouraged to leave a note for the future.
Photographer Ed Roseberry, a man whose images comprise a powerful record of more than the past fifty years, was on the job. Shooting with his trusty twin lens Rollieflex.
John Crow
The Town of Culpeper is having a “buzzard problem”. Big birds are hanging out doing their business where the town doesn’t want them.
Forty miles southwest, the City Council of Charlottesville discussed a perceived problem with assemblages of humanoids on their mall, at their meeting November 19. Members of the public made colorful use of language in defense of the humanoids right to sleep on the sidewalk, use base language and solicit funds from passers-by.
What options are in a town’s toolbox for dealing with unwanted wildlife?
Occasionally, a dead vulture (or a replica thereof) may be hung upside down from a tree or tower to get the vultures’ attention. “Using effigies deters roosting,” said town Public Works Director Jim Hoy.–Free Lance-Star
That would make for interesting photos. Other means:
Beginning Dec. 3, town employees (not police), along with officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will make another attempt to run the unwanted residents out of town.
An aerial bombardment, with loud firecracker-type devices, will be used to get the birds to move their roosts to rural areas. If that fails, some of the more than 70 buzzards will probably be shot.–Free Lance-Star
I have a liking for turkey vultures. They consume animals killed by automobiles. They are a working part of the eco-system. They are monogamous, they live a long time, they soar, they don’t talk. They can projectile vomit on you if you get in their space but generally, they do their business, cleaning up (their species name, Cathartes aura, means “cleaning breeze” in Latin).
So, the Town of Culpeper might shoot the offending birds? What about protection conferred by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 (MBTA)? What is the exception?
My favorite vulture site, the Turkey Vulture Society
Charlottesville TVs