Source: Albemarle County Community Development 2010 GROWTH MANAGEMENT GOAL: Albemarle County s Development Areas will be attractive, vibrant areas for residents and businesses, supported by services, facilities, and infrastructure. Growth will be directed to the Development Areas and the County s Rural Area with its agricultural, forestal, historic, cultural, scenic, and natural resources will be preserved for future generations. 3.1
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VISION: Albemarle County envisions a community with abundant natural, rural, historic, and scenic resources healthy ecosystems active and vibrant development areas a physical environment that supports healthy lifestyles a thriving economy and exceptional educational opportunity for present and future generations. Growth Management Relationship to the Vision Albemarle County s Growth Management Policy reflects the County s commitment to honor its rural heritage, scenic beauty, and natural resources. This Policy also has enabled the County to invest in infrastructure and services in its Development Areas to help create attractive and vibrant places. The Growth Management Policy has been in place for over 40 years and has been a key factor in maintaining the County s robust economy. Introduction Application of Albemarle s Growth Management Policy is the primary means to achieve the County s vision. ALBEMARLE COUNTY GROWTH MANAGEMENT POLICY Promote the efficient use of County resources through a combination of: A. Protecting the elements that define the Rural Area: Agricultural resources Forestry resources Land preservation Land conservation Water supply resources Natural resources Scenic resources Historical, archaeological, and cultural resources and B. Promoting the Development Areas as the place where a variety of land uses, facilities, and services exist and are planned to support the County s future growth, with emphasis placed on density and high quality design in new and infill development. This Growth Management Policy directs development into specific, identified areas while conserving the remainder of the County for rural uses, such as agriculture, forestry, resource protection, and others that rely on these uses. Resource protection is one of the basic purposes behind the County's Growth Management Policy; it is essential to preserve resources in order to pass on these Rural Area features to future generations. 3.3
The Growth Management Policy has been in place since 1971, when the County s first Comprehensive Plan was adopted. The 1971 Plan established both the growth areas and the policy that growth should occur in those areas, with the remainder of the County remaining rural. The 1977 Comprehensive Plan solidified the Growth Management Policy by reducing the area designated for development and establishing Development Areas boundaries based on the public water supply watersheds. The 1982, 1989, and 1996 Plans continued to build on the Policy. In 2001, as an outgrowth of the 1996 Plan, the County adopted the Neighborhood Model. The Neighborhood Model is made up of 12 principles that, when applied, create high quality urban places. The Growth Management Policy has been strengthened over time by consistent application and has given Albemarle a distinctive character when compared to the surrounding counties and most other non-urban counties in Virginia. The principle of watershed planning is a key part of growth management planning. Protection of the public water supply, which relies on impoundments fed by these watersheds, is essential to the County s growth. Except for the Community of Crozet and a very small area in the Places29 Development Area, the western edge of the Development Areas boundaries is based on the watershed for the public water supply. Figure 1 shows the relationship of the Development Areas to the public water supply watersheds. The Growth Management Policy is the basis for most of the recommendations in this Plan and is the primary means to achieve the County s vision for the future. What follows in this Chapter are recommended objectives and strategies intended to achieve the Growth Management goal. 3.4
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Objective 1: Continue to consistently use the Growth Management Policy as the basis on which to guide decisions on land use, capital expenditures, and service provision. As stated earlier, resource protection is a key purpose behind the County s Growth Management Policy, along with an emphasis on the intelligent use of Development Areas, public facilities, and resources. Planning efforts channel growth into designated Development Areas to facilitate economical service delivery in those areas, to promote a more compact form of development as the preferred design in those areas, and to conserve the Rural Area. One of the main threats to preservation of the Rural Area is subdivision of property for residential development, so planning efforts also focus on ways to help Rural Area property owners avoid the need to subdivide their land. Education, incentives, and voluntary and regulatory measures are intended to help achieve the desired outcome for the Rural Area and to preserve the land for rural uses. Livability Project Objective: Charlottesville and Albemarle County support neighborhoods and places that allow residents to live, work, and play near their homes, and where attention to the character of new development and redevelopment enhances quality of life: Strategies: 1. Encourage development and redevelopment in areas of the City identified for increased density and greater intensity of use, and in County Development Areas where appropriate in order to preserve open space, rural areas, and agricultural areas. 2. Coordinate City and County Development Areas land use and infrastructure policies. 3. Maintain the distinct character of the Rural Areas. The County recognizes that provision of fire, rescue, and police protection, roads, utilities, school bus service, and other governmental functions are most efficiently and prudently made to smaller, more concentrated areas than to a large, dispersed rural population. To provide these services at the same level in the Rural Area as in the Development Areas is inefficient and contrary to the overall public interest in preserving the Rural Area for agricultural and forestal uses and to the wise use of limited budget resources. Limited service delivery, prevention of public water and sewer connections, and provision of public services at a rural rather than urban scale helps to reduce the potential for rural residential development. Strategy 1a: Continue to encourage approval of new development proposals in the Development Areas as the designated location for new residential, commercial, industrial, and mixed-use development. Only approve new development proposals in the Rural Area that are supported by Rural Area goals, objectives, and strategies. The County has a long history of making land use decisions that support growth in the Development Areas but not in the Rural Area. Existing zoning provides for by-right use of private property; however, occasionally requests are made to rezone Rural Area property for more intensive development. Such requests are rarely, if ever, approved because to do so would undermine the Growth Management Policy. This practice of approving development proposals in the Development Areas and not the Rural Area should continue in order to protect the County s Rural Area. More information on uses encouraged in the Rural Area may be found in Chapter 7. 3.7
Strategy 1b: To help promote the Development Areas as the most desirable place for growth, continue to fund capital improvements and infrastructure and provide a higher level of service to the Development Areas. The County has a very important role in providing necessary support services and infrastructure for existing development and residents. First, the County has a responsibility to provide the necessary new and amended ordinances and regulations to promote the Neighborhood Model form of development. The County also has the responsibility to provide the necessary infrastructure to make the Development Areas attractive to new residents. The desired increase in livability and density in the Development Areas requires an increased commitment by the County for public infrastructure improvements. It must also be recognized that provision of infrastructure to successfully implement the Neighborhood Model and density is highly dependent on infrastructure that has been programmed in the County s Capital Improvements Program (CIP). Traditionally, capital improvements have been funded primarily through County property taxes on a pay-as-you-go basis. However, CIP funding through these mechanisms alone is proving to be inadequate for needed infrastructure and facilities. In addition, the provision of infrastructure that is more concurrent with needs may require the use of longer-term debt that relies on the County s excellent bond rating and can be repaid from both property taxes and funding commitments from new development. Strategy 1c: Continue to recognize the shared responsibility between the County and new development to pay for infrastructure and improvements to the Development Areas to address the impacts of new development. Since it first designated the Development Areas as the preferred location for new development, the County has known that infrastructure and facilities would be needed there. On May 2, 2007, the Board of Supervisors adopted the Cash Proffer Policy for Public Facilities. This Policy states that development should pay for the full cost of providing infrastructure and services to it. The Policy also provides a methodology to calculate the impacts of residential development. The County continues to believe that the cost of providing infrastructure and facilities to support the Development Areas must be a shared obligation of the County and new development. The Cash Proffer Policy for Public Facilities, which has been updated for clarity for affordable housing, is found in the Appendix. The Cash Proffer Policy is currently under review for potential revision. More information about how the County implements its Growth Management Policy is found throughout this Plan and also in the Implementation Chapter. Through effective use of the Growth Management Policy, the County s Development Areas can continue to be active, vibrant places and important agricultural, natural, and scenic resources can be preserved for the benefit of future generations. 3.8