In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
This is your annual warning: this is UVA move-in weekend! Avoid the University area if at all possible. #
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And this is the first time anyone realized this? Don’t the Council members go down West Main more than once a year? And what about the building inspectors – did NO ONE notice the discrepancy? Or did everyone assume ti was someone else’s problem?
I am going to bet the developer doesn’t get penalized for this.
I think the disconnect is between what Council actually approved (the Special Use Permit), and what the BAR approved (the design, colors, etc.). Council didn’t approve what got built. If you think Council meetings are bad now, just wait until they get into the minutiae of building design for real. Now if Council wants to complain that BAR approved something they shouldn’t have, that’s fair and Council has any number of ways of rectifying that — appointing new members to BAR, providing BAR with better guidance, disbanding BAR and assigning those duties to the Planning Commission or itself. But for now, everything worked as the process is designed to: Council approved a building, BAR approved what it looked like. If neither of these two newer members of Council understood their role in the process, that’s a bigger problem.