County Comp plan update considered

The Greene County Planning Commission will soon begin public hearings about what should be written into the Comprehensive Plan update due this year.

Currently, the county’s growth area is centered on the intersection of U.S. 29 and 33 in Ruckersville, and the north side of the Stanardsville bypass – but some would like that changed.

“Stanardsville is crying for denser, more compact growth, including affordable housing,” Commissioner William “Bill” Martin has said.

Martin made that remark in October, when he was challenging Clarence “Buggs” Peyton for the Stanardsville District seat on the Greene County Board of Supervisors.  At the time, he also said, “We have some very serious issues on Main Street; businesses are sluggish.”

But trade in Stanardsville has been sluggish for some time, and some advocating its revitalization might have had a hand in deterring residential development in Town.

“The decline began started in the late 1970’s or early 1980s, when Charlottesville started to develop, and people started shopping there,” said Larry Lamb of the Branch Corporation, which owns several buildings in downtown Stanardsville.

The Town’s infrastructure has declined as well. Its water and sewer systems have been described at various times as the size of a pencil, and held together with spit and glue.

For several years, Stanardsville Area Revitalization, or *STAR*, has been attempting to reverse that decline. *STAR* has been applying for – and had been awarded – several Virginia Department of Transportation Enhancement Grants to benefit the community. And, it has been applying for – but has not been awarded—Community Development Block Grants administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development.

At the same time, residential developers have been expressing interest in the Town.

In June 2005 Fried Companies, Inc. considered developing acreage abutting Grace Episcopal Church property and stretching southward behind homes along Main Street. The parcel consists of between 15 and 20 acres owned by George Haney and is zoned for multi-family use.

“We put the property under contract and had our engineer design a very nice project that would have had 160 townhomes priced in the mid $200,000 price range,” said Steve Jones, chief operation officer for Fried Companies.

Such a development might have led to the revitalization of Stanardsville:  “Brand the town a unique mountain village community and attract residents with disposable incomes,” suggested Stu Armstrong, executive director of Piedmont Housing Alliance in Charlottesville.

But Fried Companies was unable to come to terms with the group that consisted, in part, of *STAR* principles when it set about gaining viable access to the Haney property.

“There are two possible entrances to that property,” explained Larry Snow, Greene County Commissioner of Revenue. One is off Ford Avenue but that would not have been suitable for the additional traffic a 160-unit residential property would have generated. Another could have been constructed at 275 Main Street, where the ground is level.”

Originally, the Fried Companies project was to be accessed off Ford Avenue, “but after further study we felt we needed to have an entrance from Main Street,” said Jones – but he was unable to structure a deal.

According to Pamenter, plans had already been laid for the entrance to a walking and bicycling path at the 275 Main Street address. Fried Companies “expressed a willingness to create such a path if they decided to proceed with their development,” he explained.

But even so, when the property was put on the market in April of 2006, Pamenter and his wife Jackie, along with fellow Stanardsville residents Gary Lowe, who chairs *STAR*’s Design and Implementation Committee, and his wife Karen, and Blanche Whitlock of the Blanche F. Whitlock Trust formed Starpower LLC. The limited liability company purchased the property for $239,000 on May 4, 2006.

“I saw this as an opportunity for the Town to protect access for the path, if the property to the north was subsequently developed,” Pamenter said of the private investment.

“I contacted the owners to discuss buying that property,” said Jones. But “we could not agree on a price.”

In the end, Fried Companies did not exercise its option to develop the Haney property.

Pamenter told the Greene County Record that the developer “dropped its plans for the development, due to the lack of water and sewer.” But Jones said the Fried Companies were willing to work with the Rapidan Service Authority to upgrade the water and sewer lines.

After the developer moved on *STAR* continued to apply for – and receive – grants. The organization was, however, required to receive input from community members. During one public meeting, Pamenter said he would like to see a residential development in Stanardsville.

“Since Stanardsville has only 500 residents, they alone are unlikely to provide enough business to attract and sustain many retail stores,” he explained.

In 2008 Greene County was asked to sponsor *STAR*, and refused.

“The entire financial management of project would be placed on the County,” Chairman Steve Catalano explained at the time.

The grants won by *STAR* come with a requirement for a 20 percent match. VDOT has to approve all work before it is begun, the work must be paid for before it is begun, and *STAR*—or its sponsor – must then bill for reimbursement.

The reception and administration of those funds, Catalano said, meant that the county would essentially have to be a bank.

*STAR* entered into an agreement for sponsorship with TJPDC, but experienced another setback in 2009 when a proposed development fell just short of being written into a grant application without the property owner’s consent.

*STAR* had been working with Jefferson Area Board for Aging to help attract Community Development Block Grant moneys to Stanardsville, according to Chris Murray, JABA Director of Business Development.

“JABA’s proposal to build affordable senior housing in the center of town included a key element for CDBG approval – a demonstration that CDBG moneys would have been of direct benefit to help low and moderate income persons,” Murray explained. “CDBG moneys are one of the few funding sources available for infrastructure improvements. Given the water and sewer issues in Stanardsville, they are about the only game in town that could begin to pay for the necessary improvements.”

The land in the center of town Murray referred to consists of about nine acres at the corner of Main Street and Ford Avenue in a downtown area included in the *STAR* project. The land is owned by the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia.

About a year earlier Grace Episcopal Vicar Jane Piver, who, in her words, is “authorized to engage in discovery-type conversations,” entered into a memorandum of understanding with JABA. The agreement stated that the land would not be sold while the property was studied.

“The land was not for sale, so it was not an issue,” said Piver. So she was “taken completely by surprise” when informed that a proposed development on diocese-owned land was to be included in a grant application.

“Members of Grace Episcopal Church and I were willing to listen to initial ideas which involved community development because the church is an active and contributor—but not a primary—participant in the growth and betterment of Stanardsville,“ she explained. “(But) to be a viable partner in a community development corporation would take the consent of the Diocese and an appropriate business presentation for the Bishop’s consideration.”

That application would also have gone against Armstrong’s recommendation that Stanardsville be rebranded as a unique mountain village that will attract residents with disposable incomes.

But, said Pamenter, “We are planning a public meeting for early 2010 where we will attempt to develop a comprehensive plan for the coming years. We are working with the EDA, the Town, the County, TJPDC, Piedmont Housing Alliance and local residents and businesses to help us define a strategy.”