RIO DISTRICT SAMUEL MILLER DISTRICT
In what
David Slutzky (D) Madison Cummings (D)
Incumbent
If we hope to encourage workable development, like we have
circumstances
There are…limited circumstances under which I would sup-
just discussed in Places29, and walkable development as
port an expansion. I am a big believer in protecting rural ar-
well, we really can’t expand the growth areas. I would like to
eas…by not letting development occur outside of our growth
keep the rural area as pristine as possible. Multiple Boards
would you support
areas. However the precise boundaries that were drawn in
of Supervisors over the last 25 years have tried to maintain
1980 made sense at that point in time, but as conditions
the rural area, except for by-right development, which is
evolve and circumstances change there are sometimes good
something you can’t stop but have tried to focus the smart
an expansion of
reasons to either adjust to the existing boundaries or to ac-
growth in the urban ring and it’s been zoned that way and I
tually expand the growth area. And while I don’t want to ex-
think that their decisions have been correct. Frankly I am in
pand it just because somebody says well we need to have
favor of perhaps more. Therefore, I am not sympathetic to
Albemarle County’s
more land, there may be specific locations like, for example,
any expansion in the growth area. I am informed by a mem-
that little bit of land right along 29 between Hollymead Town
ber of the Board of Supervisors there’s still plenty of areas
Center and the River. That’s a place that probably should
for development in the already-zoned urban ring and I would
designated growth
have been in the growth area all along….
like to stay with that. I am a strong advocate of reasonable
smart growth. Growth is inevitable but it should be smart
I brought out a proposal a few years ago in my [transfer of
and it should be targeted to the urban ring.There’s plenty of
areas?
development rights] TDR proposal, the purpose of which was
area to focus on there.
to protect 94% of the County’s rural areas by shifting all
those development rights into a new location so that the
land owners could sell the development rights and they
John Lowry (I)
JACK JOUETT DISTRICT
could be used in a better place. And my vision said that we
needed to increase the size of the growth area by about the
The growth area has been conceived as a way for our county
Dennis Rooker (I)
equivalent of 1% of the County in order to accommodate all
to stay, basically rural in character, but allow for economic
Incumbent of those rural area development rights in a way that would
activity, only in areas that are deemed appropriate....I don’t
be fair to the rural area land owners and create a valid mar-
see any circumstances where that growth area would be ex-
I would only support an expansion of the growth areas in
ket. That was an example of, for a good reason, the County
panded. I think it is a matter of policy. The attitude needs to
what I would call special circumstances. I think we had that
might have chosen to expand the growth area. We haven’t
be, it’s set up and defined with bright lines. Hypotheticals of
when the Crozet Master Plan was completed. It indicated
resolved that issue once and for all, but certainly there was
how you might change that, I think, are inappropriate. You
that there was an area nearer to Downtown which better fit
strong resistance/reluctance to expand the growth area that
need to have a policy that is very firmly set...you never say
into the concept of the growth area there. There was an area
way. But I think it’s healthy for us to explore those options.
never, but as a matter of policy, [I do not support] expansion
out along 250 that probably did not fit into the current con-
of the growth area.
cepts for master planning for the area and the growth area,
and I supported making what I would call a growth area
swap. We took some land out and we put some land in that
Rodney Thomas (R)
Duane Snow (R)
made more sense. When the [National Ground Intelligence
Challenger
There is adequate opportunity to serve the community with
Center] (NGIC) expansion was approved, there was a resolu-
Considering current economic conditions and with the existing designated growth areas. That said, I would con-
tion of the board to consider increasing the growth area by
Albemarle’s [population] growth rate around 1%, I can see sider more parks and recreational facilities for our citizens
about 30 acres, I believe, out in an area that would border
very little, if any, demand for the designated growth area to along the edge of the existing growth areas. Parks and recre-
the NGIC project, and I supported that resolution. That did
increase for the next four years. There is very little public ational areas serve as good buffers between urban and rural
not approve an increase in the growth area, it approved
support for increasing the growth area. We will first have to lands.
looking at an increase in the growth area. I think in that res-
have major improvements in transportation and water supply
olution, at the time it was passed, we also discussed that
in Albemarle before even considering any expansion of the
there was property that was off of Route 20 that we thought
growth area.
probably didn’t fit into that growth area as well as the prop-
erty on 29 North. In fact, when the Pantops Master Plan was The answer is not the use of Transfer of Development Rights.
approved we took some property out of the growth area. So I TDR's are not supported by the majority of the board, and
think half of that concept was achieved at that time. should TDR’s be approved, they would hurt the Rio District by
adding more growth and traffic than Rio would get without
Generally, as I said, I don’t think we need to increase the
TDR’s. This would reduce the quality of life in Rio and I'm
growth area. We have a growth area of 35 square miles,
against that.
that’s 5% of the County’s land but it’s about three and a half
times the size of the City of Charlottesville. I think that within
that growth area we can accomplish most of what needs to
be accomplished by way of effectively handling growth over
the next 20 years. To continue to expand the growth area
every time an idea comes in for a development means that
we would basically be legislating sprawl….
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