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County releases annual SPEAR report, tracking its own progress

County releases annual SPEAR report, tracking its own progress

The county's annual SPEAR report was released Tuesday. Photo: Unsplash/Mike Barber


CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Albemarle County released its annual Strategic Plan Execution Analysis Report on Tuesday, evaluating the progress it has made toward the goals it laid out in its strategic plan.

“The second year of Albemarle County’s SPEAR report reflects an organization that is committed to high performance and willing to confront areas where improvement is needed,” said Albemarle County Chief Operating Officer Kristy Shifflett. “The results show that while we have many successes to celebrate, there is important work ahead to fully realize the vision of the strategic plan.”

In the area of affordable housing, the county had a goal of adding or having construction plans for 5,600 units since 2019. The current number is 5,353, just under the goal. The county’s long-term goal is to 10,070 such affordable units by 2040.

Albemarle also added 9.75 miles of multi-use trails, exceeding its goal of 8 new miles.

In terms of job growth, the county exceeded it goal of growth in the Life Sciences area, seeing an actual growth of 7% there, 5% more than its target. But it fell short in the Defense/IT area, checking in at 1.6%, just under its 2% goal.

On the infrastructure front, the county saved residents $252,200 on broadband costs through federal and local aide programs, just short of its $300,000 goal. It aimed to have 100% of the county served or under a grant receive broadband service, and came in at 99.9% there.

In the area of community engagement, the county exceeded its goal for traffic on its website and interactions at its “Let’s Talk Albemarle” pop-up events. It also came close to or exceeded goals in its Climate Action Plan work, and stormwater management facility inspections.

As previously released in the county police’s mid-year crime statistics report, response time in rural areas remains a challenge for the ACPD. In that area, the county had a goal of police responding to all priority 1 calls (the most serious calls for service) in 10 minutes or fewer. That only happened in 49% of the incidents.

The urban response time was much better, but still, 26% of urban priority 1 calls saw a response time over the 5-minute goal.

“This year’s report shows both progress and challenges in areas central to community well-being,” the county’s release said.

The full report can be viewed here.

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