This material is made possible by supporters of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a service of Sean Tubbs and his new media venture. Thanks to subscribers, Sean was able to spend some time putting together this summary. It will also available on the CCE website along with a podcast version.

All across the country, advocates of affordable housing have been combing through zoning codes to find ways to increase the number of homes in urban areas. 

One idea is to increase the number of duplexes, town-homes, triplexes and other types of housing that allow for more people to live in an area. Many zoning codes across America prohibit these so-called “missing middle” homes. 

“They’re called missing because these aren’t being built very often right now,” said Rachel Falkenstein, a senior planner with the county. “Often times we see both ends of the spectrum but you don’t see the middle housing types being built, primarily because these are prohibited by a lot of local zoning ordinances.”

The conversation about middle-missing housing has come to Albemarle as review of the Crozet Master Plan continues. On September 1, 2020, the Albemarle Planning Commission held a work session on the Future Land Use Map for Crozet, one of the county’s seven designated growth areas. (staff report for the meeting)

County staff are recommending new land use categories to the future land use map for Crozet, including the downtown area. 

“We first want to check in about two new land use tools we’re exploring with this master plan that we have not used before so we wanted to get the Commission’s buy-in first,” said principal planner Andrew Knuppel.

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This week’s update

Whither Crozet? Albemarle County is in the midst of an update of the master plan that guides development decisions in Albemarle’s western growth area. Tonight the Albemarle Planning Commission will hold a work session on potential changes to land use rules for Crozet, which consists of over 2,900 acres. The last master plan was adopted in October 2010, and the recent review got under way in 2019 and has been through two rounds of public participation. (full 2010 plan) (staff report)

This master plan revision has come at a time when there have been many conversations nationwide about increasing residential density within urban areas to increase the housing supply. The theory is that more supply will fulfill a need for “middle missing” housing units, or units that will provide affordable living choices. In return, county planners are recommending creation of a “Middle Density Residential” category on something called the Future Land Use Map. That map is what decision-makers will refer to in the future when making decisions about specific applications. 

“The ‘Middle Density Residential’ land use category is intended to support several goals staff has heard prioritized by community members, including to provide increased housing choice and affordability and to encourage smaller-scaled development patterns that are more consistent with existing neighborhoods and supportive of Crozet’s small-town identity,” reads the staff report. “While most are supportive of more affordable housing, some community members and CCAC members also expressed a desire to not see housing forms such as large apartment buildings within Crozet.”

That last point is one heard often in Charlottesville, with frequent complaints about the size of new apartment buildings on West Main Street. Staff have suggested that this middle density residential allow for between six and 24 units per acre. They have also said this conversation will also be held throughout the county’s development areas as time nears to update the county’s Comprehensive Plan.  

The Planning Commission will also consider a new “Downtown Neighborhoods Overlay” district which would provide guidance for the size and bulk of future buildings. 

“We heard from residents, including residents living in these neighborhoods, that there is concern about the possibility of developers tearing down existing homes to construct larger and more expensive homes,” county planners wrote. “The stated intent of the Overlay is to incentivize the maintenance and preservation of naturally occurring affordable housing, to protect historic neighborhoods, and to support the production of new housing units that have similar scales and forms as existing homes to help increase housing choice and affordability.” (Future Land Use Map)