City Hunting for Time Capsule

Published by Waldo Jaquith on January 25, 2011 in General News. 8 Comments

The city is getting closer to figuring out where they buried a time capsule 50 years ago, Ted Strong reports in today’s Daily Progress. On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of Charlottesville’s founding, a steel box was buried somewhere in the city, but the city neglected to keep a record of where. A group of children attended the burial in 1962, charged with reminding the city where it was buried come 2012; good idea, but it didn’t pan out. Luckily, some folks’ memories have been jogged, and it’s been narrowed down to an area next to the Charlottesville Circuit Court. But somebody seems to remember that it was moved for construction, and it’s not clear exactly where under the sidewalk it is, if it’s there at all. Anniversary celebrations don’t start until next year, so there’s still another year to track it down.

If we bury a new one, maybe this time GPS coordinates?

Council Chooses Dam Over Dredging

Published by Waldo Jaquith on January 19, 2011 in Development and Government. 23 Comments

Last night City Council voted 3-2 in favor of increasing the height of the reservoir by thirty feet, Hawes Spencer writes in The Hook, rather than dredge the reservoir. (Dave Norris and Holly Edwards were the dissenting voters.) Now that the question is apparently settled, they’ve got to figure out if it’s an earthen or a concrete dam and figuring out how much each municipality is going to pay for it.

If you’re confused in recalling Council voting 5-0 in favor of dredging in September, and wondering what’s going on now, join the club. What was that vote last September? How is this one different? Will there be any more? This is like the Meadowcreek Parkway—every time a final vote is held, there’s another final vote.

Vineyard Neighbors Annoyed by Loud Music

Published by Waldo Jaquith on January 19, 2011 in Business and Law and Justice. 5 Comments

Keswick Vineyard’s neighbors are no fan of their noisy events, Sean Tubbs writes for Charlottesville Tomorrow, but the winery wants county law amended to change the language of the noise ordinance. Like many wineries, Keswick Vineyards rents their place out for special events, frequently weddings—it’s something that state law actually encourages, as a means of wineries generating extra revenue. But since most vineyards are located in semi-rural areas, loud music can constitute a heck of a rude surprise for neighbors who may have been accustomed to hearing nothing more than barking dogs, braying donkeys, the odd tractor, and the sounds of nature. That’s just what happened in Keswick, leaving neighbors happy to see the county amend the noise ordinance last spring. The vineyard complains that the language of the law is too vague—it requires that amplified music not be audible inside any neighboring structures—and wants a decibel-based measurement, since that’s something that they can measure. Neighbors complain that Keswick is just trying to change the law to favor them.

The Planning Commission plans a public hearing, after which they’ll decide if further action is necessary.

Transit System Moving to Hybrids

Published by Waldo Jaquith on January 18, 2011 in Transportation. 4 Comments

Charlottesville Area Transit is starting to transition to hybrid buses, the city writes in a press release today. Functioning very much like hybrid cars, only with diesel engines, they seem ideally suited for the stop-and-go nature of bus travel. CAT (née CTS) has 35 buses in all—only 2 have been swapped out for hybrids, and it’ll take a decade for the remaining 33 to age out and be replaced. Although they’re not showing the whole balance sheet of added costs and savings, CAT points out that each bus will use $10,500 less fuel annually. Of course, the 25-30% reduction in fuel usage results in commensurate reductions in pollution. Noise pollution drops off more sharply, though—at 79 decibels, they’re only half as noisy as a standard bus.

Some may recall the city’s failed attempt to move to electric buses in the mid-nineties. As best as I can remember, it was a flop because the buses weren’t designed to handle hills, even the mild ones that we have in Charlottesville. They ran out of juice midway through the day, and the time that it took to charge the batteries took them out of service until the next day. More than a few people, recalling that old trolley system used a mule to haul the cars up Vinegar Hill, suggested that the arrangement could have been salvaged with the addition of some livestock.

Biscuit Run “Donation” Keeps Getting More Expensive

Published by Waldo Jaquith on January 6, 2011 in Development, Government and Taxes. 8 Comments

The specifics of how the Biscuit Run deal went down have been trickling out over the past couple of months, but The Hook got a real break recently when somebody gave them some confidential documents detailing some of the finances behind it. In this week’s cover story, Hawes Spencer writes about the ever-increasing cost to taxpayers of the state’s acquisition of the failed housing development. Hunter Craig, Coran Capshaw, and Boyd Tinsley were all investors (among others) in the 3,100 unit housing development on 1,200 acres just south of town. But spending $46.2M to buy that land only made sense in the crazy logic of the housing bubble. They put the planned “Fox Ridge” development on hold two years ago, and wound up selling the land to the state for $9.8M. Which is probably about what it was worth. But then they started negotiating tax credits—which is to say, taxpayer dollars—and that’s where the latest story unfolds. We’ve got a suspicious appraisal ($87.7 million), ever-increasing valuations, developers who may manage to turn a profit on this boondoggle, and what generally looks like a serious lack of accountability. Although it looks like the state should really investigate this apparent abuse of the open space donation system, both the governor and the attorney general have close ties to Craig, so that’s probably not going to happen. Read the article—it looks like quite a story is unfolding.

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