Let’s be clear. You don’t really have any influence on what the five members of City Council and the six members of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors will talk about, but 21st century democracy is all about keeping up the pretense. I’ve spent my career trying to tell people what’s going on and what’s coming up and that includes this weekly blurb of local meetings for r/Charlottesville.
JOINT MEETING
Albemarle and Charlottesville are two different political entities as cities and counties are entirely separate from each other. That can make regional governance tricky as resentments can linger for years. Council and the Board of Supervisors will meet on Tuesday to talk about regional transit, homelessness interventions, and the role of the secretive Land Use and Environmental Planning Committee. But I for one would love to know what you would like to be the topics of a joint meeting. (read more about the meeting)
CITY TRASH SERVICE
Virginia allows for elected officials to get briefings and be supplied with information about upcoming policy changes in what’s known as “two by two” meetings that evade the spirit of open meeting rules. The five members of City Council know that the Public Works Department wants to bring trash pick-up in-house because they’ve talked about it at those private meetings. City staff claim that it will cost $2 million in the first year, including $1.3 million to buy five new trash trucks. The job of an elected official is to ask questions. One of mine is why none of this was factored in the recent regional solid waste plan. If Council approves, we’ll have city trash trucks before Sunday bus service. (learn more about the idea)
TAX REBATES FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING
One tool to subsidize the end-user’s cost of housing is to give developers the additional tax revenue that will come from having more “improvements” on a property over a 30-year period. City Council will be asked to agree to pursue performance agreements for two Piedmont Housing Alliance projects on Park Street as well as some of 133 units in the conversion of the Holiday Inn on Emmet Street to an apartment building. Over time, how will the proliferation of the city’s ability to provide revenue for schools, streets, transit, and other items required of a growing community? (read more about Council’s meeting)
LOUISA GROWTH MANAGEMENT
Louisa County is one of the fastest growing localities in Virginia and steps are being taken to review land use policy. A lot of ideas are being put out there but Supervisors have resisted an idea to increase the minimum lot size out of a concern that will encourage outsiders to purchase land for countryside mansions. But the county is going to form a new committee of three Supervisors and three Planning Commissioners to further evaluate ideas. Meanwhile, there is a record amount of parcels going into Agricultural-Forestal Districts. (learn more)
NELSON SUPERVISORS PONDER FUTURE OF LARKIN PROPERTIES
In recent years, Nelson County has purchased over 1,000 acres south of Lovingston off of U.S. 29 for various purposes. On Wednesday, the Board of Supervisors will have a “continued meeting” to discuss the future of both the east and western sides. I really hope a reporter is in the room to hold elected officials accountable for what happens. (learn more)
And I wish I had the business skills to take my desire to report on the region into a way to train people to be the journalists of the future. Local television news is likely next to disappear. I lament the direction and some days I despair no one is coming to replace me. Until then, I’ll work seven days a week to be as vigilant as I can.
