City of Charlottesville MEMORANDUM To: Charlottesville Planning Commission From: Ebony Walden, Neighborhood Planner and Missy Creasy, Planning Manager Date: November 15, 2012 Re: Comprehensive Plan Fall Meeting Feedback In the fall of 2012 Neighborhood Development Services hosted a series of meetings to get feedback on the Comprehensive Plan chapter goals and the draft Land Use map. The meetings were held on three evenings at Buford Middle School, Venable and Clark Elementary Schools. All three meetings had the same content, which included: An overview of the planning efforts and principles of the recent past. Citizen feedback on a condensed version of each of the Comprehensive Plan chapter visions and 4-6 overarching goal themes. Staff reviewed each of the chapters to create one sentence goals that captured the spirit of the chapter goals. Participants used a real time selection tool and were asked to select 2-3 of the goals from each chapter as priorities for implementation and early action. A gallery of posters and maps explaining the draft land use map changes and feedback stations for citizen comment. Below is an overview of the feedback received from both the chapter priorities session and land use gallery. The charts and graphs of the combined results are attached. Part I. Comprehensive Plan Chapter Priorities Attendance: From sign in sheets, staff tallied 72 attendees at the three meetings combined. There were 69 different attendees, as a few citizens attended more than one meeting. The results from the keypad selection tool show between 61 and 64 respondents. Some participants either arrived late or did not answer every question which accounts for the range of participants. Demographics: Gender: Roughly 50 % male and 50% female. Age: 0-19 (3%), 20-34 (36%), 35-44 (11.5%), and 45-59 (29.5%), 60 + (20%) Race: Black (7%), White (90%), Other (3%) HH Income: <$25K (17%), $25K-$50K (23%), $50K-$75K (15%), $75K-$100K (18%), >$100K (27%) Previous Process Participation: Yes (28%), No (68%), don t know (4%) Charlottesville Connection: Live (28%), Work (4%), Live & Work (68%)
Early Action Priorities Below are the top 2-3 priorities chosen by participants from the overarching goals presented from each of the chapters. This includes the percentage of the participants that selected these goals as priorities for early action/ implementation. The percentages have been rounded for simplicity. Land use: Protected Environment (40%) and Zoning Ordinance that supports mixed use (26%) Environment: Improved Resource Efficiency (33%) and Greenway Trails (24%) Housing: Affordable Housing that is similar to market rate, accessible and close to transit (28%), Quality Housing Stock (25%) and 15% affordable by 2025 (12%) Urban Design and Historic Preservation: Enhanced character of older neighborhoods (27%), Incentives for historic preservation (18%) and Coordinate Preservation Efforts (17%) Economic Development: A well prepared successful workforce (28%) and an entrepreneurial environment (25%). Community Facilities and Services: Well-designed trail system (21%), Water system infrastructure (18%), Wastewater infrastructure (18%) Transportation: Safety and quality of life within the community (30%), Multi-modal safety and connectivity (27%) Part II. Land Use Map Poster Gallery Below are the raw comments received from the three meetings regarding the draft Land Use Map. Comments have been broken down into general comments about land use, comments on the administrative changes to the map which were numbered, those regarding the changes to the business and technology category, those that address comprehensive plan chapters and additional comments. General Comments 1. 12 DUA seems like low density for urban city use. Would suggest 21 DUA as the minimum for high density. 2. These maps give no indication of what is happening in the county and how it impacts on the urban plan. 3. Second the above statement.showing country zoning would help put things in perspective. 4. Where did park go? At N. Belmont along tracks near Belmont lofts, LUP, 1990, 95, 2001. 5. Suggestions: add a color (code) on Land Use Plan and zoning maps to show property grandfathered exemptions. Doing so would provide a more accurate picture. 6. I like using simplified low-density residential. Attached townhomes should be allowed here as well. 7. No increase in Neighborhood Commercial 8. Do not want to see commercial moving into the neighborhood 9. Please show the Rivanna and other significant waterways on the Land Use Map. Specific Changes #6 Public to Development?
#3 The crossings is already mixed use Do not waste time and effort to change from industrial # 5 not consistent with entrance corridor #26 Why remove possibility of school? Housing is the same? #19 Love it! More of this #14 Yes # 24 Cabell Avenue why change to low density when it s just an island in the middle of a High Density area. It was low in 2001, high in 2006 and now low. Need a better reasoning. Higher density in Altamont street area.no way- Would have to raze existing older houses, not historic overlay district. Business and Technology 1. Bring business and technology across 250 adjacent to High Street. 2. Access for business/tech use needs to consider vehicle travel and keep neighborhoods free from extra truck traffic. Buffers to business/tech need to be in place to protect existing homes 3. Industrial includes B & T but B & T excludes small assembly lines. Seems almost anti-low income jobs 4. Why change industrial on comp plan to Business and Technology Doing so simply removes all assembly lines/manufacturing from even considering moving here??? Of course we want to attract high tech clean stuff but so does every other community on the planet. We should not minimize job possibilities, especially for the low-skilled folks who live in neighborhoods near, for example, Rose Hill, when 10th and Page folks are looking for jobs they would walk to. 5. Business and Technology zone is the right step. We need to encourage small scale entrepreneurship in bio tech and other emerging markets. Create the space then brand it aggressively. 6. Please be careful about creating Business and Technology corridors along stretches of the Rivanna. I recommend coming up with a plan for how such uses can and will be consistent with improving the Rivanna s water quality before inviting more intense development to the river s edge. Comp Plan Chapter Comments Housing Housing goal (1.2) 15% supported afford housing is unrealistic. Too high! Housing: Look at creating way to provide housing clusters near UVA that are appropriate and affordable for UVA employees with families. (E.g. small lot single family with 2-3 BR, 1.5+ BA). Transportation Transportation: Rather than provide adequate parking consider managing parking demand through market rate pricing. Also look at TDM strategies to provide outreach to individuals about travel choices. Is there a way to do a bike-only raised system as in Rt. 29 increased safety? Traffic circle, wants to see part of Long term planning.
1. Decrease the amount of free parking in the city will encourage people to use alternative modes of transportation. 2. Bicycle only raised highway Safe for bikes, might be faster than driving Would set C ville part from other progressive cities 3. More traffic circles create a unique sense of place/give character to an area better energy efficiency in terms of mpg increased livability because less stand still traffic 4. Park and Ride for bicycles A park and ride designed or retrofitted with bike racks Commuters could park and bicycle to avoid downtown traffic 5. Light Rail What happened to street cars? 6. Increase green space and trails 7. Increase tree cover 8. Present gentrification and maintain affordable housing Keeps Charlottesville diverse 9. Make urban gardening and keeping of chickens etc. easy for citizens 10. Make the use of grey water legal Environment Increase green space and trails Increase tree cover Make the use of grey water legal Please show the Rivanna and other significant waterways on the Land Use Map. Land Use Make urban gardening and keeping of chickens etc. easy for citizens Additional Comments Clicking votes was extremely biased and implies that every voter agrees with the goals. *there should have been a none of the above choice. Charlottesville should be a model for the state of Virginia for planning. We need to drastically improve our walkability and bike-ability as a community. Currently we are NOT a very bike or pedestrian friendly city. There is so much potential to create a city-wide biking path that links across the city so that families can go on a long bike ridge in nature yet also link commercial areas. Connect to the river. We need to be the model for sustainable, green livable cities; we have a long way to go. We need more green spaces.
We also need to do a much better job of supporting entrepreneurial energy, look at Boulder, Co which now is coming a new hub of tech start-up energy. This process should be done with the seniors at the High School (government class) middles school also Would do well to decrease and get rid of the biases in the polluting processes used. Conclusion Staff will be taking these comments and integrating them into the Comprehensive Plan Chapters.