The Albemarle Planning Commission has denied Wendell Wood’s request to add land into the growth area, Jeremy Borden writes in the Daily Progress. Wood sold the land to NGIC for what he says is $9M less than it’s worth, a result of Supervisor Ken Boyd’s claim that he received a phone call from an NGIC employee — he won’t say who it was — saying that they’d pack up and leave town if they couldn’t expand. (Boyd’s campaign now says that this was a fabrication on the part of C-Ville.) Wood says the county owes him for taking a hit, and figures that having 30 acres reclassified from rural to growth area would be fair. NGIC has the land, and they’re expanding, so that’s not a concern anymore. Of course, the BoS is forever overruling the planning commission — they wouldn’t let a little thing like a unanimous vote stand in their way.
Borden also had a pair of articles today about Boyd’s reelection bid — one about Boyd and one about his challenger, Marcia Joseph.
Disclosure: I’ve contributed $50 to Marcia Joseph’s campaign, and I live in the Rivanna district.
One shouldn’t really be surprised that the Marcia Joseph led Planning Commission has had another temper tantrum. Time for the adults on the BoS to straighten out yet another of the Planning Commission’s messes.
What mess? Everybody knew the land was not in the growth area and it is still not in the growth area. The owner hasn’t lost a dime. What mess? The mess comes about when the zoning changes every year. People buy land with certain expectations (defined in the zoning) and, when changes are made arbitrarily to suit certain individuals, the naive buyer can suffer. That is why we have zoning in the first place. Supposedly, they are the rules that most people have agreed upon, so stick with them. No wonder people think that politicians are bought… always catering to certain individuals.
Temper tantrum quoth Falstaff.
I saw no evidence of this. The Commission was unaminous (less one absent) in their vote and voiced nothing to warrant the category of a “tantrum”.
I like it when Joseph sharply questions county officials. I wish media types would do the same instead of leaving gaps in their stories which could have been filled with astute questioning(or drawn a lame excuse for not responding).Not referring to this particular case.
For the record, I’ve just added a parenthetical statement calling up that Ken Boyd’s campaign denies that he ever claimed to receive a call from NGIC, and linked to Jayson Whitehead’s original C-Ville story on the topic.
I want to thank Waldo for making the correction and need to add a bit of clarity and context for why the correction was requested. A phone call occurred but it did not come from anyone working for NGIC. It was our concern that folks might think that this information was leaked by a current employee, which was not the case. Considering the nature of the work done there I hope everyone will understand.
If you simply remove the word “at NGIC” from the line about the phone call the quote would be correct. The C-ville Weekly did not fabricate the quote, it just got this fact wrong.
Man, it’s a way more intriguing story if it’s actually someone from NGIC making that call to Boyd.
Both Ken Boyd and Wendell Wood both have now recanted their statements to Jayson Whitehead. Wood called Whitehead months after the Canar mention was made–most certainly not as immediately as one might expect if Whitehead was wrong. Wood recanted his statement about Canar as the source for the appraisal number. Canar, now retired and whose wife was affiliated with MZM, contributor to Virgil Goode, who in turn requested Congressional citations of merit for Canar. MZM was later busted over NGIC bribes. Few, if any of the higher ups in the Army Corps of Engineers are still around now who were presiding in April of 2006. Ken Boyd is most anxious to shut this story down now by corroborating Wood, as Canar would have been the most likely source of the canard that NGIC would leave. The only fabrication came from Ken Boyd when he told the Board that Clara Belle Wheeler was fine with giving up her growth area land in order for Wood to be compensated for selling supposedly discounted land to the government. It is no coincidence that Dillard Horton, the Army Corps of Engineers man responsible for convincing the Board that NGIC would leave, has refused to respond to multiple FOIA requests for the appraisal that would cooborate Wood, and will reply only upon court order. The County may yet be hoodwinked by this deal, but I am proud of the planning commission for getting this one right.
“Both Ken Boyd and Wendell Wood both have now…”
Wow! Have they BOTH done that? That’s brilliant. Thanks for illuminating that for the rest of us.
And thank you for reinforcing the need to edit before posting. There are other mistakes. Can you find them?
Scandal!
Perhaps if you do-gooders and know-betters could string a couple of literate sentences together in your cloying, grasping desperation to replace the people who’ve built this county I’d have a little bit more faith in your ability to run the joint.
Actually, Joe, that was the most coherent, useful explanation that I’ve seen of the situation yet — it’s precisely the sort of contribution that makes me glad cvillenews.com exists. I’m sorely tempted to post the whole thing to the front page of the site.
Oh, and Falstaff? Ken Boyd is a freshman on the BoS. He hasn’t “built this county.”
In a democracy, Falstaff, who’s supposed to run the joint? 125,000 people live here and are supposed to run these joints, not just six people in the county and five in the city. Most of them will tell you that they can not walk across water.
Thanks Waldo, I have done the editing I should have prior to offending Falstaff’s tender sensibilities. If you want to feature it somehow, here it is again in two parts:
I: Both Ken Boyd and Wendell Wood have now recanted their statements to Jayson Whitehead. Wood called Whitehead months after the Canar mention was made–most certainly not as immediately as one might expect if Whitehead was wrong. Wood recanted his statement about Canar as the source for the appraisal number. Canar is now retired. His wife was affiliated with MZM, contributor to Virgil Goode, who in turn requested Congressional citations of merit for Canar. MZM was later busted over NGIC bribes. Few, if any of the higher ups in the Army Corps of Engineers are still around now who were presiding in April of 2006. Ken Boyd is most anxious to shut this story down now by corroborating Wood, as Canar would have been the most likely source of the canard that NGIC would leave.
II: The only fabrication came from Ken Boyd when he told the Board that Clara Belle Wheeler was fine with giving up her growth area land in order for Wood to be compensated for selling supposedly discounted land to the government. It is no coincidence that Dillard Horton, the Army Corps of Engineers man responsible for convincing the Board that NGIC would leave, has refused to respond to multiple FOIA requests for the appraisal that would corroborate Wood, and will reply only upon court order. The County may yet be hoodwinked by this deal, but I am proud of the planning commission for getting this one right. The Board’s daisy-chain two by two meetings with the government debased our Albemarle County public meeting rules. This comports tidily with Lindsay Dorrier’s repeated statements that the specifically worded comprehensive plan is merely a “guide.” There is a strong whiff of arrogance here.