The slide and sandbox structure has been removed to make way for a “Fairy Castle.”
PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR

Less than three years after McGuffey Park received a controversial $700,000 make-over, work has commenced on a $75,000 repair job to correct several design flaws with what was promised to be a “world class” park.

For decades, sleepy little McGuffey Park sat at the top of Beck’s Hill relatively undisturbed, its trees lush, its shade plentiful, its play equipment vintage but serviceable; but ever since the extensive 2007 renovation, the park, which gave up 13 mature trees in the process, appears to have rejected the change.

According to city parks and rec director Brian Daly, play equipment has deteriorated, a faulty drainage system has turned the entrance stairways into waterfalls during rain storms; and new trees, grass, and shrubs have simply refused to grow.

“We have had a very hard time keeping things alive without irrigation,” says Daly.

Supporters of the park’s renovation, namely a group called Friends of McGuffey Park, a trio of Downtown moms who sold the idea to city planners and raised over over $279,000 in (more)

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Glass House Winery grapes are ready to deliver.
PHOTO FROM SANDERS FAMILY WEBSITE

According to the Hook’s latest count, there are 31 area wineries, which is enough to give Dish a hangover just thinking about trying to visit them all. Indeed, we appear to be surrounded by an army of wineries!

Well, it appears we will now have 32 wineries.

In early December, the Glass House Winery in Free Union plans to have its grand opening. Owners Jeff and Michelle Sanders, who moved here in 2006 and were featured in a story about “the lifestyle farming trend” in USAToday, have thrown their hats into the grape smashing ring with a few unusual twists.

Michelle is a chocolatier, so visitors will also be able to enjoy hand-made chocolates. But that’s not all. The tasting room features some unusual architecture, including a giant wine barrel turned into a doorway (which will be stained to smell like wine during the early December grand opening), a geothermal heat and cooling system, and a glass conservatory attached to the tasting room to house (more)

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Schenk’s Branch fed into a gold fish pond on the Rock Hill property before the 250 By-pass cut through.
PHOTO COURTESY DANIEL BLUESTONE

As platoons of volunteers uncover the old bones of the Rock Hill gardens, the historic Park Street estate that’s now the overgrown back yard of the Monticello Area Community Action Agency (MACAA), also unearthed has been the property’s complex history as a genteel country estate, a unique experiment in landscape design, a segregation era school, and a victim of growth.

The restoration effort has been largely organized by former City Council candidate Bob Fenwick, who, along with other preservation-mined folks, wanted to draw attention to the property so that the City and the FHWA, the Federal Highway Administration, follow through on an agreement, according to a May 2010 memorandum, to restore the garden and add it to the park system as part of the new 250 interchange project.

The Rock Hill property in the late 1950s.
PHOTO COURTESY DANIEL BLUESTONE

“It’s important as the home of the violin playing brother of Jefferson’s master builder, James Dinsmore’s, and as (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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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.”

***

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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Come taste a variety of apples you won’t find anywhere else.
PHOTO FROM VINTAGE VIRGINIA  APPLES WEBSITE

Vintage Virginia Apples and the CoveGarden Ruritan Club are hosting the 10th Annual Apple Festival at the Albemarle CiderWorks on Rural Ridge Farm in North Garden on Saturday, November 6 from 10am to 5pm.

It’s going to be a real fall affair for the whole family, with hay rides, fresh cider, apple butter making and Brunswick stew by the Ruritans. There will also be a bunch of artisanal food and craft vendors, and an apple pie contest sponsored by In The Kitchen. Music? They got that too. Faster Than Walking, Jim Waive, and Applejack Jam will be jamming.

And adults can sneak away to the tasting room for some hard cider.

And you could learn something. Workshops on heirloom apple tastings, pairing artisanal cheeses and apples, growing a winter salad garden, planting your own trees and more will be offered throughout the day.

For more information go to vintagevirginiaapples.com or call 434-297-2326.

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Carter Mountain a week before the frenzy.
FILE PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

Cars backed up for miles on Saturday, October 9, snaking from Route 53 onto Route 20 South and then even further— onto Interstate 64 at exit 121. It prompted the temporary closure of  Route 53. But those who assumed an accident was to blame for the traffic-stopping snarl were wrong: it was the allure of apples and the call of Carter Mountain, where the annual Apple Festival was taking place.

“It probably was one of our best attended festivals,” says Cynthia Chiles, whose family owns both Carter Mountain Orchard and Chiles Peach Orchard in Crozet.

The mountain-top business doesn’t keep attendance records, says Chiles, but she believes the possibly record-breaking turnout was thanks to a confluence of events: a perfect fall day, the ripening of popular varieties Fujis and Granny Smiths, and the fact that there was no home UVA football game to distract families looking for some bonding time at a mountain that stands 1278 feet above sea level and over 400 feet above nearby Monticello. (more)

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September 2, 2010 cover image.
HOOK GRAPHIC

The way that a pilot named Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger saved all 155 onboard his disabled commercial jetliner was the feel-good story of 2009. Locally, however, the “Miracle on the Hudson” helped launch some bad feelings in the Forest Lakes neighborhood.

Since the incident and following a series of Congressional hearings and the release of previously confidential FAA data on bird strikes, thousands of the geese across the country have been rounded up and slaughtered as part of the airline industry’s efforts to make flying safer.

But the mass killing has outraged bird lovers and ruffled feathers at Forest Lakes where 90 Canada Geese were rounded up and killed in early July. Some Forest Lakes residents have come forward to say that despite their neighborhood’s proximity to the airport, Forest Lakes geese actually pose little risk to planes.

“It’s hypocrisy, and it’s all about money,” says resident Arthur Epp, who lives in a house overlooking a lake where the geese once swam and raised their young.

While federal officials say the geese killing will bolster the safety of the flying public, Epp says there’s plenty of data to back up the claim that the airline industry is most concerned with making people think they’re safer.

Who is right?

(more)

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Protest organizer Ryan McElveen, who enters a master’s program at Columbia this fall, meets the press.
PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

As global temperatures rise, so does Charlottesville’s profile in a worldwide debate. Two events last Friday highlighted the anger and frustration felt on both sides as Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli continues his quest to peek at the early musings of Michael Mann, the former UVA climate professor and creator of the doomsday-invoking “hockey stick graph.”

“Ken Cuccinelli wants to take away the most precious things we can leave to the next generation: a healthy environment and a healthy and strong university. Don’t let the history books read, ‘When climate scientist Michael Mann was ignored, the planet burned up.’”

So said Ryan McElveen. The 2008 UVA graduate had been hoping that at least 50 people would appear for the protest he launched with some emails and flyers. He chose Friday, August 20, because that was the day that a judge, just a mile away, was hearing arguments on whether Cuccinelli’s inquest could move forward. Turns out that’s also the eve of move-in for the fall semester at UVA.

“Bad timing,” McElveen admitted (more)

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