Proposed Rezoning OrdinanceI came away from both the Walker School and Fry's Spring open meetings with strong feelings.First, the city proposes to zone all of our park land as R1! There is little enough provision for protecting the few remaining open spaces in the city, e.g. McIntyre, Riverside, Azalea Parks, or the Rivanna Trail (where it is on public land). It makes no sense to zone it R1. There should be an "open space" zone which would prohibit construction of roads, buildings, or other structures unrelated to park use. Imagine City Council deciding to use some of our precious park land for "affordable housing" (which in itself is quite desireable). It would be permitted "by right". Second, the goal of encouraging denser residential use in the areas adjacent to the University, as well as some mixed use commercial development makes sense. The vision of an area where students can walk to classes, to convenience stores, restaurants and laundromats without requiring cars is extremely attractive. The Planning Commission should be commended for tackling this problem head on. However, is building 7 story apartment houses the right way to achieve this? This would be allowable "by right". Drive down JPA now and look at some of the massive 5 story apartment complexes (the maximum currently allowed "by right"). Do we need two more stories to attain denser student accomodations? Is our image of Charlottesville one crowded with 7 story buildings? Or is it an university city with surrounding attractive residential neighborhoods? Be sure, denser development along JPA (which I do think is desireable) will put more intense pressure on the other neighborhoods of JPA (across the Norfolk & Sothern tracks), Fontaine Avenue further out, and Lewis Mountain. Several studies conducted when I was Chair of the University Housing Committee, showed that construction of new dormitories never decreased the student pressures in nearby neighborhoods; it only brought students in from further out in the county. The proposal to allow construction of 7 story apartments along JPA "by right" is simply wrong. We should fight it. Moreover, this ordinance is quite uneven in how it proposes to achieve its vision of a largely pedestrian student concentration. For example, the zone east of Emmet Street opposite Baracks Road shopping center would be ideal for this kind of development. Restaurants, grocery stores, Kinko's, etc. already exist. It is on University and City bus lines. And, the University plans to to enlarge its student storage parking just across the street. Students who live in this area already predominately walk to class. There exist large developable lots adjacent to existing student concentrations in University Gardens and Lambeth housing. Yet, the proposed zoning for this region is "3 story commercial, no residential"! It forbids increasing any student density there. That makes no sense whatever. Towards the end of the Fry's Spring meeting there emerged a sense that tall 7 story buildings are not how most citizens envision Charlottesville. Most of us moved here because we saw it as a desirable college/residential town that contrasted with the cities we left. There was an expression that 5 stories should be the absolute maximum in a residential area such as JPA. Many accept that higher densities will come to precincts such as JPA as the University expands; but, a 5 story max should be more than enough to accommodate that growth. Permitting 7 stories simply appears to be a sop to developer greed. I urge citizens and City Council to insist that the Planning Commission to (a) zone park land as "park land". It should never be developed. and (b) set a cap of 5 stories throughout the city as "by right", but allow a taller development in certain, specific properties where the terrain makes is appropriate with a "special use permit" (as in the current ordinance).
John Pfaltz, UVa Professor Posted
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