AGENDA DATE: 5/7/2025
TITLE:
Title
AC44 - Draft Housing Chapter
BODY
SUBJECT/PROPOSAL/REQUEST: Staff will present and seek feedback on the draft Housing chapter of the Comprehensive Plan document.
ITEM TYPE: Regular Action Item
STAFF CONTACT(S): Richardson, Wall, Filardo, Barnes, McDermott, Swartzendruber, Benish, Kanellopoulos, Holt
PRESENTER (S): Tori Kanellopoulos, Principal Planner, Stacy Pethia, Assistant Director of Social Services
LEGAL REVIEW: Not Required
REVIEWED BY: Jeffrey B. Richardson
BACKGROUND: Albemarle County is updating the Comprehensive Plan through the Albemarle County 2044 (AC44) project. The project is in Phase 3: drafting language for the four-part Comprehensive Plan document and developing Plan actions.
The draft language for the Part III - Housing chapter in Attachment B is built upon community input and reflects the Planning Commission’s and Board’s feedback.
Housing that is affordable and accessible is a fundamental need for our community. Nationally and locally, community members experience profoundly different impacts from the housing market. The Charlottesville area is now the second most expensive housing market in Virginia, behind only Northern Virginia. Income growth is not keeping up with the pace of rising housing costs, especially for lower-income households.
Locally, there are many tools Albemarle County can use to increase the local housing supply and housing choice (access to a variety of housing types at a variety of price points). While increasing the housing supply can help stabilize housing costs and address market demand, there will always be a need for subsidies to bridge the gap for low-income households.
Housing choice enables community members to live near where they work, to remain in their community as they age, and to afford both the cost of housing and other household expenses without burdening household budgets. These benefits of housing choice are important for quality of life and mitigating climate change.
Housing Albemarle, Albemarle County’s housing policy adopted in 2021, ensures the County allows and provides sufficient and appropriate housing options in our community by using the policy’s implementation tools to meet the diverse housing needs of all county residents. It is a separate plan document and is adopted as part of the Comprehensive Plan in the Appendix. Housing Albemarle priorities and recommendations related to land use have been incorporated into this chapter. New recommendations since the adoption of Housing Albemarle have also been added to this chapter, including recommendations related to Activity Centers, more detailed guidance for Area Plan updates, adaptive reuse, and a greater emphasis on climate action. The Actions found in both this chapter and Housing Albemarle work together to implement the County’s Housing objectives.
For reference, Community input themes associated with this topic are summarized in Attachment C. A summary of previous Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors feedback on Housing is provided as Attachment D.
STRATEGIC PLAN: Quality of life - Encourage a vibrant community with economic and recreational opportunities that serve all community members.
DISCUSSION: An updated AC44 outline is provided as Attachment A. As a reminder, the topics within the red box will be the focus of today’s work session. This work session focuses on proposed comprehensive plan language within Attachment B, including the draft actions and the following questions:
1. Along with Activity Centers and mixed-use areas, what factors should we use to analyze other locations for allowing more housing with future Area Plan updates?
2. Given recent development applications, what factors should we consider for reviewing affordable housing proposals that are outside of the Development Areas?
The Planning Commission previously held a work session on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, to discuss the draft Housing chapter.
BUDGET IMPACT: There is no budget impact associated with this agenda item.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Staff requests the Board review and provide feedback on the Housing chapter.
ATTACHMENTS:
Att A - AC44 Outline
Att B - Draft Housing Chapter
Att C - Community Input Themes
Att D - Summary of Planning Commission and Board Feedback