CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Albemarle County’s Board of Supervisors will consider a special exception to allow AstraZeneca to build a 140-foot-tall building in Rivanna Futures.
The current county code for areas zoned as light industrial areas limits building heights to 65 feet, and anyone who wants to build taller must have an approved special exception.
The Supervisors’ agenda item notes locations near the development.
“Surrounding uses include the Rivanna Station federal complex to the south. Residential development, Briarwood, is located on the west side of Route 29. Properties to the north and east are rural with a mixture of open and wooded land with scattered residential development. A high-voltage power line defines the limits of the industrial zoning to the north and east.”
The item also includes the fact the property is about on third of a mile off Route 29 on an “entrance corridor.”
County Executive Jeff Richardson writes the applicant’s analysis notes, “the majority of the property adjacent to the area zoned light industrial is owned by Albemarle County and/or is part of the Rivanna Futures industrial area. This unique configuration helps to protect properties that are located beyond the Rivanna Futures area.”
A Department of Community Development staff report says the terrain and distance from 29 will mitigate impact on Route 29.
The area immediately east is a high-voltage power line with a distance between that line and the adjacent property to the east “100 feet or greater”.
That provides enough area for any landscaping and screening to mitigate the visual impact of the building from that direction.
Staffers write “the manufacturing requirements of the pharmaceutical industry necessitate a building height in excess of 65 feet and a waiver of the building step back.”
Because the special exceptions “allow intensive development of the property identified for employment generation consistent with the County’s Comprehensive Plan and economic development goals,” staff recommends Supervisors’ approval.
