CHARLOTTESVILLE (WINA) – City Council has deferred votes on two large student housing projects at UVa until a “to-be-determined” time after hearing feedback from UVa, affordable housing advocates, and supporters and opponents of the projects. 2117 Ivy Road would replace the out-of-business Truist Bank building at Ivy and Copeley with a 10-story, apartment building with about 1000 units; and the VERVE project at the Stadium, Emmet, and JPA intersection would be 12 stories with 1500 units. Mayor Lloyd Snook indicated on Morning News he’d prefer a vote next year.
Snook says the city is working on a new comprehensive zoning unit with housing affordability a major priority, and the current ordinance doesn’t even allow projects like these. So Snook says we’re operating “in sort of a no-man’s land” until the new ordinance is passed. And the problem he has with both of these projects, which could be addressed in the new zoning ordinance, is the developers seem to want to chock as many housing units into these huge buildings as possible, which could be a detriment to landscaping around the project, and what the buildings look like in regard to the rest of the neighborhood. He says we likely don’t want monolithic structures that are not particularly attractive.
