Charlottesville-Albemarle Project

The secret is out: the Charlottesville-Albemarle area, with its vibrant culture, rich history, and picturesque landscapes, is now widely considered one of the country’s best places to live. But an influx of new houses and retail space is changing the look and feel of the area. Traffic is on the rise, water quality is declining, and farms and forests are giving way to buildings and pavement. SELC’s Charlottesville-Albemarle project is tackling these problems head on and, in the process, creating a model for preserving a community’s natural resources and special character in the face of intense growth pressures.

Promoting Sensible Growth

SELC is working with local decision makers and developers to ensure that new projects comply with local ordinances, follow the community’s comprehensive plans, and protect as much of the natural environment as possible. Recently we were successful in working with local allies and informed citizens to counter a push by developers to expand designated growth areas for two damaging new projects.

Improving the U.S. 29 Corridor

One of the most difficult challenges facing the Charlottesville-Albemarle area is how to rein in congestion and destructive development patterns along the U.S. 29 North corridor. To begin addressing this issue, SELC played a direct role in crafting Albemarle County’s Places29 master plan. We are advocating a more interconnected road network that eases backups, takes much of the local traffic off the main thoroughfare, and promotes the development of pedestrian-friendly, transit-accessible shopping areas, rather than more big-box stores. At the same time, we are pushing back against persistent pressure to build a western bypass around Charlottesville, which would fuel more sprawl and waste scarce transportation dollars on a project that would do little to improve the flow of traffic on Route 29.

(Unfortunately, political pressure has moved the proposed 29 western bypass - one of the most wasteful and destructive highays in the country - back on the table; read about it on SELC’s case page.) 

Safeguarding Local Waterways

One of the biggest threats to the area’s water quality is polluted runoff, which increases with every acre of land that is cleared and paved. SELC and its partners are providing common-sense solutions for stemming pollution in local waterways, and in response, local leaders are taking action. In August 2009, for example, the county adopted a proposal we introduced to limit the time that denuded construction sites can remain destabilized and exposed to the elements. This ordinance will reduce the muddy runoff that smothers aquatic habitat and fills reservoirs with sediment. We continue to promote other measures to control runoff and limit the damage it inflicts on the area’s rivers and streams.

Protecting Charlottesville’s Charm

From encouraging less pavement to keeping building heights in sensible bounds, SELC is doing its part to protect Charlottesville’s open, sunlit cityscape and to maintain the community’s distinctive qualities. We are also defending clean water and green space by advocating stronger restrictions against building on the city’s hillsides and within stream buffers.