Buffer zone
Albemarle moving full speed ahead with a plan to develop land for defense contractors
By Sean Tubbs
Ten months ago, Albemarle County Supervisors authorized County Executive Jeffrey Richardson to proceed with the purchase of 462 acres around the Rivanna Station military base.
In late March, Richardson filed for a rezoning with the county’s Community Development Department to rezone just over a third of that land for economic development purposes.
“A key element of Rivanna Futures is the establishment of an Intelligence and National Security Innovation Acceleration Campus, a place for public sector organizations, private sector businesses, and academic institutions to work together to cocreate solutions to the biggest challenges facing our nation and the world,” reads the executive summary for the request to convert the land to light industrial.
The county hired Line and Grade to make its case to staff and the Board of Supervisors, and the rezoning application builds off a previous study the firm conducted before the deal with developer Wendell Wood closed.
Albemarle paid $58 million for the land to serve as a buffer for the National Ground Intelligence Center, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and other related government agencies. Albemarle wants to improve the site’s marketability.
According to the Weldon Cooper Center at the University of Virginia, the de-
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fense sector is now the second-largest industry in the region, with an annual impact measured in 2023 at $1.2 billion. Albemarle sees development of a portion of the land as an investment in the future.
“Initial estimates suggest that when fully developed, Rivanna Futures could provide nearly 873 new jobs with median incomes of $81,000 a year,” the summary continues.
At this time, the county does not anticipate residential units on the land, according to an impact statement. Just under two acres of the land is outside of the county’s development area.
David Swanson is a Charlottesvillebased peace activist who is troubled by Albemarle’s investment in the property. If the military wants protected land, he says, it should pay for it themselves.
“If anybody else wanted to buy land, for a hospital or affordable housing or a park or a nature preserve or a gas station, they’d have to pay for it themselves,” Swanson says. “Why should the county pay for the wealthiest institution there is?”
Albemarle already receives revenue as a result of the purchase. On Wednesday, April 3, county supervisors will appropriate $65,000 in rent from parking lots it purchased that had been owned by Wood.
Next steps for the rezoning application include a community meeting with the Places29-North Community Advisory Committee, before a public hearing with the Planning Commission.
“If anybody else wanted to buy land, for a hospital or affordable housing or
a park or a nature preserve or a gas station, they’d have to pay for it themselves.”
DAVID SWANSON
18 April 3 –9, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly REAL ESTATE WEEKLY
Albemarle County seeks to rezone over a third of the land recently purchased to serve as a buffer for the defense intelligence agencies based at Rivanna Station.
ALBEMARLE COUNTY
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19 April 39, 2024 c-ville.com facebook.com/cville.weekly WWW.MCLEANFAULCONER.COM 503 Faulconer Drive| Charlottesville | VA 22903 | office: 434.295.1131 | email: homes@mcleanfaulconer.com
