The controversial deal has drawn the ire of State Senator Creigh Deeds.
FILE IMAGES

Any homeowner seeking a loan or a refinancing might be wise to hire Patricia Filer. If her appraisal of Biscuit Run is any indication, she has an ability to find value above and beyond what the market will bear.

Biscuit Run— a massive undeveloped neighborhood saddled with debt and trapped by an unforgiving housing market— appeared to be rescued by a year-ago deal that hinged on a mysterious appraisal. When Courteney Stuart penned her investigative cover story two months ago, she theorized that the only way the tract’s wealthy investors could have paid off their delinquent loans and retained their investment was finding an appraiser willing to value the place four times higher than one arm of the state did.

Apparently, they found such an appraiser in the form of Filer at Orange-based Piedmont Appraisal Company. A story by freelance reporter Will Goldsmith asserts that Filer valued the land at $87.7 million.

“That’s a big number,” says State Senator Creigh Deeds. “That’s just a big number.”

But as Goldsmith reports (more)

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Unshoveled sidewalks like this one on Water Street were common last winter. Officials hope the new ordinance will prevent a repeat.
FILE PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE

No one teaches a lesson quite like Mother Nature, and last winter’s epic snowstorms revealed flaws in the city’s snow removal laws that Charlottesville officials hope have been addressed in a new ordinance approved in August.

“We absolutely think it’s going to make a difference,” says Jim Tolbert, head of the Neighborhood Planning Department on Wednesday, December 15, the eve of the area’s first snowstorm.

The old snow removal ordinance required residents and business owners to clear the sidewalks around their properties within 24 hours of the last snowflakes falling. Failure to do so was considered a crime, a Class One misdemeanor carrying the possibility of a jail sentence up to 12 months and a fine up to $2,500.

As it turned out, the threat of jail didn’t have the desired effect. After the city failed to clear its own properties, police enforcement was  practically nonexistent. Sidewalks remained impassable for weeks following the December 18, 2009 storm dubbed “Snowpocalyse” that dropped around two feet and the 18-inch February 6, 2010 “Snowmageddon.”

When police finally did begin to issue citations in February, the charges didn’t stick after judges ruled the ordinance was in violation of state law.

“Public Works did a terrible job and didn’t seem to learn lessons from the first snowfall,” says Kevin Cox, an avid pedestrian and outspoken critic of city’s handling of snow issues last year. Cox says he’s now hopeful that this is the year snow removal will finally be taken seriously in Charlottesville. (more)

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The president tried to save Perriello’s old job with a Charlottesville rally on Friday, October 29.
PHOTO BY TOM DALY

Nothing’s official yet, and the president has even delayed his announcement to the new year, but a report by the influential Politico news service suggests that outgoing Fifth District Congressman Tom Perriello could be in line for job with the Obama Administration.

“The administration is looking for fresh blood and is super-grateful to Congressman Perriello,” says Politico’s Mike Allen. “So I can see him getting a great offer if he decides to serve in the federal government.”

Charlottesville-based pundit Larry Sabato notes the midterm elections created quite a swarm of ousted Democrats. Of the two outgoing governors that Politico depicted along with Perriello to illustrate its story— Ohio’s Ted Strickland and Michigan’s Jennifer Granholm (the latter turned out not by voters but by term limits)— Sabato contends that each would get precedence over Perriello as Barack Obama prepares to hire.

“I’m sure Perriello’s on the list,” says Sabato, “but there’s a long list.”

Perriello is a native of the Albemarle County community of Ivy, and his (more)

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New Albemarle police chief Steve Sellers starts work January 18.
PUBLICITY PHOTO

Fairfax Deputy Police Chief Steve Sellers will be the next Albemarle County Police chief, county exec Bob Tucker announced Monday..

Sellers, a 28-year-veteran of the Fairfax County, has led the investigations division for Fairfax including heading a task force that successfully investigated snipers John Mohammed and Lee Malvo, who terrorized Northern Virginia in 2002.

Sellers succeeds John Miller, who retired September 30 after 21 years as chief.

“We are very happy to bring someone of Steve Sellers’ caliber,” says Tucker in a release.

Sellers, 49, says he’s wanted to be in law enforcement since he was five years old. He got both his B.A. in business administration and master’s in public administration at Virginia Tech. He’s also a graduate of the FBI National Academy.

Although the population of Fairfax recently topped the one million mark (to Albemarle’s less than 100,000), Sellers says Albemarle and Fairfax share similar demographics as far as an educated population. The two jurisdictions also face similar crime trends, economic uncertainty, and traffic issues.

“There’s a lot,” he says, “I can transfer from Fairfax.”

In November, two of Albemarle’s six supervisors said that personal integrity would be an important quality they’d seek in a new chief. Earlier this year, in March, four officers were disciplined for unspecified “inappropriate” behavior “while on the clock.”

“I don’t support or condone any behavior that erodes the public trust,” says Sellers. “I have 28 years with a highly regarded, ethically sound police department. Truthfulness is an absolute must. Truthfulness, integrity, and public trust are very high on the list.”

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Maurice Jones elbowed out 80 other candidates to take the top city job.
PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE

After a four-month job search that drew over 80 applicants from all over the country, City Council went with the tried and true and picked Maurice Jones, the acting city manager, to become Charlottesville’s CEO.

Former NBC29 sports reporter Jones has spent much of his career at City Hall, starting as director of communications in the late ’90s, a position he held for six years. After a stint at the Miller Center, where he served as director of development, Jones came back to Charlottesville as assistant city manager under Gary O’Connell, who left the city manager slot open earlier this year when he took a job with the Albemarle County Service Authority.

Although speculation swirled that Jones was the top pick earlier this week, it wasn’t until Friday that the city officially announced that Jones will take the $170K-a-year position.

How big a role did being ensconced (more)

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Sandy Cason pulls out a grass he likes to use in his wreaths from his greenery-laden truck.
PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE

“My uncles, my grandfather, me sat out here on the Downtown Mall,” says lifelong wreath-maker Sandy Cason, as he points out the boxwood, the tezzle, and the deer berry he collects to make his holiday creations at the farmer’s market founded by his father and brothers. But he won’t be there this year. He’s been banned.

“They have a personal vendetta against me,” declares Sandy Cason. “They don’t like me because I’m boisterous.”

Cason admits he told the assistant market manager to “go to hell” November 13 when discussing the fact that an anonymous jury had passed him over this season.

How did it happen that a scion of the Cason brothers— George, Jack, Billy, and Sandy’s father, Ezra, who founded the popular Charlottesville institution, the City Market— came to be black-balled?

According to Cason, he first drew the wrath of City Market management in late October when he lambasted a woman driving the wrong way down one-way South Street.

“Do you always do stupid things like that?” he concedes he said when she pulled into the market’s lot, and that remark led her to “cuss” him. Market manager Stephanie Anderegg-Maloy and her assistant, Lucy Lamm, asked (more)

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Tom Perriello concedes to boisterous supporters.
PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE

In one of the most closely watched congressional races, Democrat Tom Perriello conceded defeat to Republican challenger state Senator Robert Hurt shortly after 9pm on November 2.

“It’s been my honor to serve the people of the 5th District,” said Perriello to a packed room of the party faithful at Siips. “I’ve given it everything I’ve got.”

Freshman incumbent Perriello trailed Hurt throughout the race, and despite poll numbers putting him within the margin of error, Hurt showed a healthy lead of 10 percent as soon as returns started coming in.

Once all the ballots were counted, (more)

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The McIntire Recycling Center gets an extra lease on life.
PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

Despite recent cuts to its operating schedule and limits on what it will accept, the McIntire Recycling Center will continue to get the support of Charlottesville taxpayers— about $28,000 until the end of the calendar year— even while its usage has plummeted as more convenient options abound.

The City Council voted its position Monday, November 1 after the County of Albemarle, which also funds the operation, issued a request and City Public Works Director Judith Mueller explained how usage was dropping.

The Ivy Landfill closed in 2001, leaving the RSWA with no revenue stream other than a tax on all area waste, but a lawsuit settlement ended that.
PHOTO BY RSWA

“The tonnage is down,” said Mueller. “For the current calendar year, it’s going to be about half of what it was in 2007.”

Mueller told the four present Councilors (Councilor Holly Edwards was absent) that even though the City offers free curbside recycling pickup, about a third of the McIntire’s traffic still comes from City residents.

A private firm called Van der Linde Recycling continues to accept the items banned from McIntire.
PHOTO BY ALAN SMITHEE

“There’s a social atmosphere at McIntire that many people consider very special,” explained Mueller.

Yet two councilors gave other reasons why city residents should support McIntire, which typically sees people unloading materials from inside gas-chugging automobiles after painstaking sorting— a growing rarity in this area ever since a private firm began operating a MRF so efficiently that it won a City contract to sort and process the stuff left at curbside.

“We recycle so much,” said Councilor Kristin Szakos of her own household, “that we only put out garbage about once every four weeks. Ours is one of those cars coming in and unloading everything.”

Councilor David Brown pointed out that only by sorting can citizens and companies ensure that their old office paper becomes new office paper. “You can’t use newsprint or cardboard to make this,” said Brown, holding up a sheet of office paper.

The operator of the McIntire Center, the Rivanna Solid (more)

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President Barack Obama appears in shirtsleeves on a chilly October evening in Charlottesville to rally support for Tom Perriello. —>SLIDESHOW
PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE

They waited for hours. By 4pm— an hour before the gates to the Pavilion opened— the line of people waiting to see President Barack Obama stretched to the Omni on the other end of the Downtown Mall, soon to wrap around to Water Street.

More than two hours after the gates to the Pavilion opened, at 7:40pm, a roar went up from the crowd as Congressman Tom Perriello came on the stage to introduce the man he hoped would inspire voters to say “yes we can” in the hotly contested 5th District Congressional race.

“I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop by to make sure you go vote Tuesday for the best representative Charlottesville has ever had,” said Obama to the enthusiastic crowd.

The President acknowledged that he and Perriello, who is seen as one of the most vulnerable congressman in this year’s midterm elections and has trailed his Republican opponent, (more)

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Richard Brown and Bruce Kirtley object to plans for another gas station across the street on U.S. 250 in Crozet. PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE

For decades, “Protect the rural areas” has been the veritable mantra of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors. That spirit has helped anyone driving on U.S. 250 west of Charlottesville view grazing cows instead of the clustered subdivisions that been popping up around Crozet, a designated growth area. But sometimes the ideals of the Comprehensive Plan collide with reality.

Take, for instance, the strip of U.S. 250 between Western Albemarle High and Interstate 64. Long dotted with commerce, it includes gas stations, an auto body shop, a chain-fenced equipment storage yard, the Moose Lodge, and a lumber mill. And yet it’s zoned rural.

That’s why when Will Yancey tried to a build a light industrial park behind the heavy industrial R.A. Yancey Lumber site two years ago, he (more)

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October 28 Hook cover image.

It seems like a simple question: How much will taxpayers pay to make Biscuit Run a Virginia park?

Nearly a year after the state’s under-the-wire purchase of the 1,200-acre tract that had been slated to become Albemarle’s biggest subdivision, the would-be developers and state officials appear to have successfully deflected inquiries about the value of tax credits that made the deal possible— even as the Virginia state senator who penned the legislation establishing such tax credits now calls the secrecy “disturbing.”

Meanwhile, tranquility-quashing plans remain to build 100 houses within the new park’s perimeter.

Such revelations come as sources point out that the 850-acre Panorama Farms– a recreation-ready tract owned by a family eager to protect scenic terrain from development– was passed over for the honor of becoming Albemarle County’s state park. Yet, it’s the secrecy surrounding the Biscuit Run deal that has drawn fire from both sides of the political spectrum.

“It ought to be transparent,” says State Senator Creigh Deeds, who served as patron of the land preservation tax credit system that became law a decade ago. “People ought to be able to judge for themselves whether its a good deal or not.”

In a rare occurrence during politically polarized times, conservative radio show host and former Republican city councilor Rob Schilling agrees.

“It would be one thing if the developers just decided they weren’t going to build it,” says Schilling. “But for the state to get involved, and then start wheeling and dealing behind closed doors? I don’t think that makes many people very happy.”

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A carved wood sign marks the entrance to Biscuit Run, which for decades was the site of a weekly get-together that brought artists, musicians and others to David and Elizabeth Breeden’s home.
PHOTO BY COURTENEY STUART

Located south of Charlottesville, sprawling Biscuit Run farm was purchased in 2005 for a record-shattering $46.2 million by a group of investors called themselves Forest Lodge LLC. Publicly headed by developer Hunter Craig and including Dave Matthews Band manager Coran Capshaw and at least one member of the Dave Matthews Band, the team justified the gasp-worthy price by the promise of a 3,100-home development inside the County’s designated growth area. The plan promised— in addition to giving the developers a return— to give Albemarle $41 million in proffers (deal sweeteners such as money and roads) in addition to a 400-acre park and a permanently expanded tax base.

But as the real estate market tanked in the years following the purchase, Forest Lodge found itself shouldering an immense debt load and unable to move forward on the development. By November 2009, Bluefield, West Virginia-based First Community Bancshares alerted shareholders that the Biscuit Run loan was in “early stage delinquency” but assured that it was “adequately secured” by the large tract of undeveloped land.

Were wealthy developers about to get bailed out by high-level politicians? (more)

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Jefferson School Community Partnership prez Martin Burks, Vice Mayor Holly Edwards, and Congressman Tom Perriello stoke hopes for a revitalized Jefferson School.
PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE

You’ve seen photos of giant check presentations, but that shot wasn’t available at a recent Jefferson School event because the $850,000 heralded for the African-American Heritage Cultural Center hasn’t exactly landed in anyone’s happy hands. The appropriation has passed a House of Representatives subcommittee, and while it’s expected to pass the full House, it’s still got to get through the U.S. Senate.

Despite that uncertainty, several dozen Jefferson School alumni and supporters showed up October 19 to celebrate with Congressman Tom Perriello, who has been pushing the appropriation.

Martin Burks, president of the private citizen-owned entity that’s going to rehabilitate the school into a multi-purpose civic center, announced that some demolition will start in November and that a $3 million private donation has been made to the Heritage Center foundation. Anticipated occupancy date: spring 2012.

“Soon it will be a destination for people coming to Charlottesville,” said Vice Mayor Holly Edwards.

Already, the City has committed nearly $6 million in economic development funding, and last month, City Council approved an option that will let the Jefferson School Community Partnership buy the historic school for $100,000, an amount the city is funding through another economic development pot.

The city will rent back the bulk of the space as a renovated Carver Recreation Center. According to an October 18 letter of intent, the City’s rent will start at $32,442 a month for 33,133 square feet, a price of $11.75 per square foot.

PVCC president Frank Friedman and the YMCA’s Dennis Blank, whose non-profit organizations plan to become future tenants of the so-called Jefferson School City Center, were among the several dozen attendees. Still needed, however, is an $11.5 million construction loan.

“We hope to have it wrapped up this week or next,” says Partnership member Frank Stoner.

The celebratory event came just four days after Perriello wrecked his 2005 Ford Ranger (and was charged with an improper lane change). So how did the barnstorming incumbent get there? The old-fashioned way: he borrowed his brother’s Mercury Mountaineer.

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Superintendent Pam Moran (left) listens to one of more than a dozen parents decrying an Albemarle  School Board move to save money.
PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE

In a county where over 60 percent of the high school students receive advanced studies diplomas, anything that gets in the way of relentless achievement can send angry villagers, er, parents, to confront the creators of the Frankenstein creature known as block scheduling.

The Albemarle School Board got a more than hour-long earful during an October 14 meeting, as 16 parents and students denounced block scheduling— also known as 4×4— and demanded that the board renounce classes compressed into one intense semester.

“I don’t want the kids to be guinea pigs,” protested pediatrician Lori Balaban.

“My daughter cannot keep up,” said Dawn McCoy of her ninth grader.

“I see no clear justification for this program, which has been abandoned by many other school systems,” said parent Mark Echelberger. Invoking Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, he added, “I fear teachers and students have been left standing on the shore.”

At press time, 369 people had signed an electronic petition on the website of the organization formed to fight squeezing a formerly year-long class like algebra 2 into just one semester.

The plan gives students four 90-minute classes every day for a semester instead of spreading out shorter classes every other day throughout the school year, and it has created something of an uproar— at least among a group known as CASE: Citizens of Albemarle Supporting Education.

“We knew it would be difficult,” says Superintendent Pam Moran. In the face (more)

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When you mentioned “The Family” it used to mean something like the Sapranos, but for author Jeff Sharlet it means a group of political power wielding Christian fundamentalist, and some members of Congress, who are trying to change America. Join Sharlet at the Miller Center on October 22 at 11am to discuss his book, The Family: the Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. 

A contributing editor for Harper’s and Rolling Stone, he co-founded an online literary magazine, KillingTheBuddha.com, in 2000. This led to a travelogue based on the year Sharlet and co-author Peter Manseau spent exploring the margins of faith in America. Sharlet has also served as an associate research scholar at New York University’s Center for Religion and Media, and he joined the Dartmouth College faculty this year. A book signing will follow his Forum.

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