Category: riverine

Circus grounds

What’s old is new again

City Manager Sam Sanders
2008 September, Planning Commission identifies the Rivanna as a work plan item for 2009
Identify strategies to maximize the presence and value of the Rivanna River in the life of the City of Charlottesville
1/27/2009 Staff presents Rivanna River Corridor Plan Project Outline
Rivanna River Corridor-Charlottesville
Issue: The 3.7 mile River Corridor is an under-realized resource for the City of Charlottesville. “Identify strategies to maximize the presence and value of the Rivanna River in the life of the City.”
Outcome: River Corridor District defined for the City. Various components ready for inclusion with 2013 Comprehensive Plan—March 1, 2010 CPC Work Plan Report

Last night Charlottesville City Council approved purchasing floodplain acreage next to the Rivanna River.
Several of the Councilors and the City Manager spoke thoughtfully about the purchase.

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There has been much talk about the Rivanna Corridor in the last two decades. I hope, this time, City leadership, staff and elected, will get serious. Spending five million dollars is a serious move. Other moves, like rewriting the zoning code for the acreage in the flood plain, should be undertaken post haste.

Cow Oak

3 swamp chesnut oaks
Named for French botanist, Frances A. Michaux, who wrote a three volume treatise on the trees of eastern North America. Called “Basket Oak” because baskets were woven from fibers and splints obtained by splitting the wood. These strong containers were used to carry cotton from the fields. The sweetish acorns can be eaten raw, without boiling. Cows consume the acorns, hence the name “Cow Oak.” Swamp chestnut oak is considered an early succession species with mature trees retarding growth of understory vegetation due to an allelopathic effect.–Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Quercus michauxii- in its final Autumn the progenitor swamp chestnut oak had a prolific mast year, it created and released thousands of acorns, too many for the squirrels and bluejays to carry away. Several hundred of the acorns sprouted and made it to yearling status. Deer grazed many of the saplings out of existence. These three remain, the largest individuals in a thicket of QUMI.

stony prominence

power plant
The story of Charlottesville’s most famous mill complex is also the tale of a section of Albemarle County, specifically the plot of land approximately one mile east of Charlottesville’s original downtown. “At that point,” wrote Harry E. Poindexter, “Moore’s Creek empties into the [Rivanna] river from the southwest, forming a narrow triangle of land which rises rapidly to a rocky crest some one hundred feet high.”– Britton

3. Community Meeting – ZMA 202200013 Power Plant Residences
PROJECT: ZMA202200013 Power Plant Residences
MAGISTERIAL DISTRICT: Scottsville
TAX MAP/PARCEL(S): 07800-00-00-021B1
LOCATION: South side of E. Market Street, approximately 60 linear feet southeast of the municipal boundary between the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County, VA
PETITION: Rezone 0.61 acres of Preserved Steep Slopes Overlay Zoning District to Managed Steep Slopes Overlay District on TMP 07800-00-00-021B1. No changes to the underlying primary R4 Zoning District are proposed with this application.

5th & Avon Community Advisory Committee

Date: 05/18/2023 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Location: 5th Street County Office Building, Room B
1600 5th Street Ext
Charlottesville, Virginia 22902

Application materials available

Rivers

Tilly has a defined route in the morning. One stop is visiting with neighbor dog Rivers.
3 dogs
Running by the river, on occasion we stop and make the acquaintance of new canines
A swim followed by rolling in the dirt provides a capstone experience.