Charlottesville–Right Now with Coy Barefoot

Brian Wheeler is the Executive Director of Charlottesville Tomorrow, a non-partisan organization that covers growth and development issues in our community. He appears on Tuesdays on Coy Barefoot’s program. On the October 14, 2008 edition of the show:

• Charlottesville has the most expensive gas in the state. (Daily Progress)
• Brian explains that Citizens for a Sustainable Water Supply Plan are concerned that the task force is not doing what it was originally told to do. Tom Frederick, Director of the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority recommended to his board that the four chairs create a task force and that two studies be done on a parallel track.  Experts will study what to do with the dredged material and the task force will figure out if dredging is the best solution.  (Charlottesville Tomorrow)
• Brian reports that three out of the four chairs felt that dredging should not change the 50 year water supply plan. Mayor Norris said that the task force should see if we can build a smaller dam if we can recover enough capacity in South Fork.
• Betty Mooney called in to say that Mr. Frederick fails to mention that without the new pipeline, the expanded Ragged Mountain Reservoir cannot fill itself.  Betty feels that Gannett Fleming’s assumptions as to how much capacity can be recovered from dredging and whether that will be sufficient to meet our needs are incorrect and said that the stop work order is evidence that we should not trust their numbers. Brian says that the water supply plan has always mentioned the pipeline.
• The four chairs feel the first question the task force needs to answer is “should we dredge and if so why?” But, they should not consider dredging as in thinking it will change the water supply plan.
• The task force is seeking public input.  He gives the website www.albemarle.org/southforkreservoir for a survey regarding the issue. (Charlottesville Tomorrow)
• Keith calls in and says that estimates for water demand were 11.08 MG/D but then after the drought and new water saving fixtures were put in the actual demand was 9.98 MG/D. The model used to justify need for the reservoir used thewas 11.08 MG/D even though demand had been significantly reduced.  When that difference is compounded 7% each year for 50 years the difference is >30%.
• Kevin Lynch says that Brian fails to mention the charge of the task force being water supply. Feels like it’s a joke to think about using the reservoir primarily for fishing and rowing.

 

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On the June 10 edition of WINA’s “Charlottesville–Right Now!” Coy Barefoot speaks with Brian Wheeler, the Executive Director of Charlottesville Tomorrow. The topics include:

• Meadowcreek Parkway- City Council has identified their preferred interchange design for the intersection of the proposed parkway and the Route 250 Bypass; Brian and Coy discuss the government strategy of treating each portion of the parkway as a separate project, potentially in order to avoid review of the project as a whole.
• Rivanna Station Military Base- The military is proposing the construction of a DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) facility that will accompany the expansion of the National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC). The Joint Use Intelligence Analysis Facility (JUIAF) would involve the expanded NGIC, the DIA facility, and civilian support offices built by local developer Wendell Wood.
• Light Rail transportation to Washington DC- The State of Virginia is looking into competing proposals for rail transportation from Charlottesville to Washington DC. According to Kevin Page, Chief of Rail Transportation for Virginia’s Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT), said that the largest obstacle at the moment is the lack of funding.
• County Board of Supervisors to vote on dredging and conservation- The Board of Supervisors will vote on a resolution to explore dredging and increase water conservation efforts that will bring the Board’s intent in line with the City Council’s.
• Albemarle County Board of Supervisors considering change to minutes- County staff currently publish verbatim minutes of the Board of Supervisors meetings, but the Board is set to discuss the possibility of publishing “action minutes”, a greatly condensed version, in order to save money.

 

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On the June 3 edition of WINA’s “Charlottesville–Right Now!” Coy Barefoot speaks with Brian Wheeler, the Executive Director of Charlottesville Tomorrow. The topics include:

• New water supply developments- The RSWA today received a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authorizing the construction of the new dam re-approved at the last City Council meeting.
• New bank on Route 29- Chevy Chase will be constructing a new branch on the corner of Emmett Street and Barracks Road
• New shopping center discussion delayed- Planning Commission discussion on proposed Northtown Center deferred until June 17
• Eastern Connector Update- The Eastern Connector Steering Committee has decided to recommend as their preferred alignment a four lane road through Pen Park connecting Rio Road to Route 20.

 

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Listeners of the May 27th, 2008 edition of WINA’s “Charlottesville Right Now with Coy Barefoot” heard two sides of the continuing debate over Albemarle County’s land use taxation program. Carl Tinder, President of the Albemarle County Farm Bureau, and Tom Loach, who represents White Hall on the Albemarle County Planning Commission, debated the merits of the program, which lowers the tax burden for land used for agriculture, open space and forestry.

 

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A full write-up of this story by Ben Doernberg is available at Charlottesville Tomorrow.