The YMCA is dramatically shrinking the size of their planned McIntire Park facility, Rachana Dixit reports in the Progress. Recall that the city gave away $2M of public park to the Young Men’s Christian Association after the group agreed to build the facility and allow the Charlottesville High School swim team to have priority to the $1.25M lap pool (which the city paid for). The 75,000 square foot facility has shrunk by a third to 50,000 square feet, which the organization says is a result of a lack of donations because of a tight economy. They need to raise $15M, but they’re stuck at $7.5M. The good news is that the softball fields aren’t going anywhere. The smaller size of the building means that there’s no longer any reason to tear them up.
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The developers behind the massive Biscuit Run project say it’s on hold, Tasha Kates writes in today’s Daily Progress, a result of the collapsed housing market. You’ll recall that Biscuit Run was sold to developers by the Breedens for $46M three years ago, and that the county calculated that the development would cost us the taxpayers $222M, but that we’re basically powerless to prevent it, so it was approved a year and a half ago. The planned 3,100 houses are to be located just south of town, but since nobody appears to be able to sell any existing houses right now, building new ones wouldn’t make any sense at all.
The Albemarle Planning Commission gave the thumbs-up to windmills, Fania Gordon reports for Charlottesville Tomorrow. In a unanimous vote, they directed staff to come up with an ordinance to let people put up small-scale windmills to generate power. County engineer Mark Graham explained that the conflict will come from wanting to preserve viewsheds and trees, but also wanting to generate sustainable energy. (For a windmill to be useful, it’s got to be above the treetops, whether by making it tall or chopping down some trees.) And four members of the public attended, all speaking out in favor of allowing wind energy in Albemarle. There’s no law in place yet, but there’s a consensus that they need to move towards allowing windmills. The next step is to massage a proposal from county staff into something that’s politically tenable, which will likely come in the next few months.
Should city and county schools consolidate into a single school system? That question gets raised periodically, and Will Goldsmith is chewing it over in the latest C-Ville Weekly. The city’s recent school efficiency study didn’t address the topic, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth considering. City school board member Llezelle Dugger tells the paper that it’s just not viable, but Albemarle school board member Brian Wheeler thinks it’s well worth spending some time looking at it.
The notion of combining services has been around for a long time, as has the idea that we should just combine the two entities entirely. The word “reversion” still prompts shudders in the veterans of the mid-90s township wars, when some folks were pushing to have the city demoted to a town in order to force cooperation between the entities. Some sort of large-scale collaboration may allow the revenue sharing agreement to be set aside, or at least absorbed into the largest costs of running joint services, and that might be good for everybody.
Charlottesville Sheriff Cornelia Johnson won’t be running for reelection, CBS 19 reports. First elected in 1998, the former down beat cop became the city’s first black, female officer in 1976 and was only the second female sheriff in the whole of the state. Her third term wraps up at the end of this year.
Reader J.L. tells me that Capt. Mike Baird, who works for Johnson, will be running for the seat, announcing his candidacy on Friday at 11 AM at the circuit court.
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. #
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. #
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 #
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