CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – While some are calling for Albemarle County to at least slightly expand its development zones, data in a 2025 Buildout Analysis report delivered Wednesday to the Board of Supervisors finds sufficient capacity in the current zones for residential and non-residential land use over the next 2o years. However, Board Chair Jim Andrews told WINA Morning News Thursday that data is subject to more regular review. Prior to the presentation Wednesday, the previous Buildout Analysis Report was done in 2022. But Andrews said, in this latest report, “The biggest takeaway I would say from this is staff talked about efforts to not have a new report every few years, but to develop a tool so as they review projects, they can determine right then this is where this fits and this is how this looks in our overall plan.”
“We currently have sufficient capacity in the development area for anticipated needs, but we have built into this process regular review of that and recognition needs can change, and we may need have to look at this in the future.”
An analysis said, “In early 2022, the AC44 Comprehensive Plan update began with Phase 1, which evaluated the County’s existing Growth Management Policy. Part of this evaluation examined if the existing boundaries of the Development Areas could accommodate future residential and non-residential growth over the next 20 years. The 2022 Land Use Buildout Analysis concluded that the existing limits of the Development Areas appeared to provide sufficient capacity to meet projected future demand of residential and non-residential land uses over a 20-year time horizon when considering maximum theoretical buildout.”
Andrews says overall, “Some areas where we hadn’t thought they would be building, they’re now building, and other places where maybe they were going to build ended up with a smaller number of units.”
“And it all in the end comes out so that if you add together how many units have been approved since 2022, and what available space there is now, it comes out about where it was.”
Click here for the 2025 Buildout Analysis Report.
