The Piedmont Housing Alliance last week submitted a new draft of its redevelopment plans for the publicly supported Friendship Court apartments, though it has not yet settled on how many homes and how much non-residential space the project will encompass. The preliminary site plan is remarkably different from an initial ...

Geraldina Gonzalez found out about her current home in Charlottesville through a lucky accident. When Gonzalez was about to close the deal on one house, her Realtor sent her a group email meant for other clients. “As soon as I saw the house, it clicked. It was the perfect location ...

After announcing last week that it will not renew the city manager’s employment contract (which ends in December), the Charlottesville City Council on Tuesday decided to delay hiring for an assistant city manager position that was added in the current-year city budget. City officials last week said they were ...

On Monday night, City Council considered whether to establish a land bank corporation, a nonprofit entity that could buy and sell land to increase the number of affordable housing units in Charlottesville. After 40 minutes of presentation and discussion, City Council deferred the decision on the land bank corporation to ...

After discussing litigation in closed session Monday, the Charlottesville City Council approved a resolution granting the City Attorney’s Office blanket authority to retain outside legal counsel on a pro bono basis for any pending litigation or matter requiring legal advice. The council also was expected to discuss a matter ...

Construction will begin this summer to replace the Main Street Arena in downtown Charlottesville with the technology-focused Center of Developing Entrepreneurs. Some stakeholders hope to use the spotlight on CODE to put plans for the adjacent Vinegar Hill Park in motion.   In late 2016, the City Council set aside $15 ...

The Charlottesville City Council will work with City Manager Maurice Jones on a search for the next leader of the city’s legal team. “We don’t have a whole heck of lot of positions that we directly hire,” Councilor Kathy Galvin said at a meeting last week, adding that ...

Fluvanna County held a memorial ceremony on Tuesday for William Young, a victim of an 1892 lynching in Palmyra. A similar commemoration is gaining momentum in Charlottesville. On March 19, Charlottesville’s City Council voted, 4-0, to expedite its plans to memorialize John Henry James, the victim of an 1898 ...

The Charlottesville City Council is in the midst of a review of City Manager Maurice Jones' recommended $179.3 million operating and capital budget for fiscal year 2019. The first public hearing will be held at Council’s meeting tonight. Council held their first work session on the budget on ...

The Charlottesville Office of Human Rights should get a revenue boost in the next city budget, but activists say it needs even more money and an increased ability to investigate discrimination complaints. The citizen requests and the proposed $38,000 funding increase to bump a part-time position to full time ...

The Charlottesville City Council on Monday approved a $75,000 grant to the Downtown Business Association of Charlottesville, but stipulated that the association must match the grant with $30,000 in cash and in-kind support. Mayor Nikuyah Walker was the only councilor to vote against the grant, which passed on ...

The Charlottesville City Council on Monday voted, 3-1, to award a one-time grant of $75,000 to support marketing efforts by the Downtown Business Association of Charlottesville. Mayor Nikuyah Walker voted against the resolution, while Councilor Wes Bellamy was absent.   City Councilor Kathy Galvin said the grant would help stores ...

Bus service JAUNT expects to get money from Charlottesville and Albemarle County for the coming fiscal year to help pay for raises for its drivers. JAUNT Executive Director Brad Sheffield said the pay increase will help the organization maintain its level of service and recruit high-quality drivers. The community as ...

What would happen to the administration of justice if the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors chose to relocate their general district and circuit courts outside of downtown Charlottesville? That was the subject of a panel discussion held at the February 17 breakfast of the city and county Democrats. "We came ...

Developer Keith Woodard already had won Charlottesville City Council’s approval for adding density to his West2nd project on Water Street in December 2014. However, recently he returned to request a change to the building’s design in order to accomplish that: Adding a floor, eliminating a level of underground ...

After the Charlottesville City Council showed last year that it was interested in moving ahead with two major developments downtown, two recent votes have rankled some officials and developers who are concerned that the city is abandoning potential tax revenue and jobs. Though the votes dealt blows to the projects ...

Charlottesville City Council will hold a public hearing Monday on proposed changes to the way meetings are conducted. Councilors spent much of its recent annual retreat discussing alterations to the meeting schedule to include more participation and to allow more interaction between Council and the public. Council last made major ...

Participants will learn construction, maintenance skills in new partnership If all goes according to plan, 20 units of affordable housing in Charlottesville that are currently uninhabitable due to disrepair will be brought back to life in a collaboration between two local nonprofits, the area’s community college and the city ...

The Charlottesville City Council will be making changes in 2018 to the way its meetings are conducted in order to encourage more civic participation and dialogue among its five members. “We need to make sure we don’t limit time spent any time on any item, that we remove limits ...

Some say politeness insignificant compared with need for change Since the deadly Unite the Right rally Aug. 12, locals have come before Charlottesville’s City Council to demand answers about the summer, air their grievances and press for change from their government. Over the past six months, meetings have been ...

The first person to be elected as Charlottesville’s first independent City Councilor since 1948 has also become the city’s first female African-American mayor. “The journey getting here for me personally was pretty intense,” said Nikuyah Walker, who received 7,926 votes in the November election.  “Luckily I had ...

The Charlottesville City Council has denied a rezoning request on Park Street that officials with the Monticello Area Community Action Agency have claimed is necessary for the survival of the organization. “To me, it comes down to neighborhood protection,” said City Councilor Bob Fenwick shortly before the unanimous vote late ...

As Charlottesville officials discuss ways to improve communications with city residents, the PLACE Design Task Force was briefed recently on lessons learned by another Virginia city. The task force was created in 2012 to advise the City Council and inform the community on urban design issues. One of its tasks ...

Area transportation officials have held the first-ever meeting of a non-binding governmental body that seeks to improve public transit in the community through comparing notes and relationship building. “This is the first official meeting of the Jefferson Area Regional Transit Partnership,” said Will Cockrell, a planner with the Thomas Jefferson ...

After allocating approximately $120,000 last spring for a new, high-level position to oversee long-range urban plans and engage with neighborhood leaders and property developers, the Charlottesville City Council and City Manager Maurice Jones continue to discuss what they want out of the position.   Councilor Kathy Galvin proposed the position ...