By Connie Chang & Sean Tubbs
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Sunday, November 22, 2009
On Tuesday night, the
Albemarle County Planning Commission
unanimously voted to recommend approval of the
Village of Rivanna master plan
to the Board of Supervisors. The
Village of Rivanna
, which includes the
Glenmore
sub-division is one of Albemarle’s designated growth areas and is located on Route 250 East.
The County adopted the
Crozet Master Plan
in December 2004 and the
Pantops Master Plan
in March 2008. The Board will also take up the
Places29 Master Plan
next year. Work on a master plan for the County’s southern urban area, which includes Biscuit Run, has been postponed indefinitely due to budget cuts according to County Executive
Bob Tucker
.
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At Tuesday night’s meeting, the four Commissioners in attendance,
Linda Porterfield
(Scottsville),
Calvin Morris
(Rivanna),
Eric Strucko
(Samuel Miller), and
Bill Edgerton
(Jack Jouett), said they were very enthusiastic to see the Rivanna master plan reach this stage.
In previous Planning Commission work sessions
, Commissioners and local residents voiced concerns that the necessary infrastructure and transportation improvements would not be in place to adequately accommodate a growth of this magnitude.
According to the draft master plan, the number of additional units which may be approved for development will depend on the sewage treatment plant’s capacity. If water and sewer usage continues at the same level of usage in the
Glenmore
development, staff expect that a range between 300 and 400 units may be added to the area.
Approvals of any developments by rezoning within the Village will also be dependent on the completion of several transportation improvements that will improve the volume to capacity ratio of US 250 between Louisa Road and the City of Charlottesville.
These improvements include:
Senior planner Elaine Echols presented the updated draft which also included clarifications regarding service standards for fire/rescue and police.
During the public comment period, Shadwell resident William Orr commented that a true village should include those who live in other surrounding areas and not just those on the east side of 250.
“A true village should have more landowners involved,” said Orr.
However, the Commissioners all agreed that development should not be expanded into nearby rural areas.
“I think the community has really spoken, decades ago, and more recently here, that there is a lot of concern about road capacity, sewer capacity, water capacity, school capacity and that we as a community made a commitment that we want to do good planning,” said Chairman
Eric Strucko
. “We want to develop our growth areas, we want to engage in rural area protection and preservation, but we want to do it in a way that doesn’t impose burdens.”
The Board of Supervisors will review the master plan draft in 2010 at a date to be determined.
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