Audio Player

Thursday, October 10, 2013

FSNA Is Pressing the City to Hold Hearings Related to the Downzoning of the Neighborhood

The following email was sent on October 6th, 2013

Dear Charlottesville City Council,

The following letter is what the FSNA Board approved to send to Jim Tolbert, Director of NDS. I am sending this to you directly as during a phone conversation I had with Jim on Friday, he explained to me that your direction for this study would be required and we should send this to you directly to have placed on Council's agenda for approval of this direction. So please review the letter approved by the Fry's Spring Neighborhood Association Board below and direct Neighborhood Development Services to proceed with the Survey and Public Hearing for rezoning.

Dear Mr. Tolbert:

The Fry’s Spring Neighborhood Association is in receipt of your recent letter indicating that our official request to pursue rezoning of properties within the Fry’s Spring neighborhood from R-2 to R-1S will not be taken to the Planning Commission or City Council for consideration.

Your decision appears to be based on the research and legal opinion of the city attorney Rich Harris that a downzoning would be unlikely if challenged in court. However, Mr. Harris does note that there has been successful downzonings in Virginia (Seabrooke) and, as we must point out, not too long ago in Charlottesville and in the Fry’s Spring neighborhood.

As we have repeatedly noted this issue has been a long standing one in the Fry’s Spring Neighborhood and has been included in a minimum of two previous comprehensive plans. We have reached a number of homeowners of R-2 properties to educate them as to what a rezoning would mean for them and believe we have a critical mass of support from them as well as the larger community to move forward with the rezoning process.

At this time we are asking for a proper pursuit of the rezoning process to include a prompt Survey and Public Hearing for rezoning. We have the right to have this issue placed before the Planning Commission and City Council for their consideration. John Santoski, the planning commission member who resides in the Fry’s Spring neighborhood supports our bringing the idea of a study forward to the Planning Commission for consideration. He has noted that his support for the process did in no way commit him or any other commissioner to endorse the idea rather he believed the FSNA should have the opportunity to be heard in the public forum.

We hope that you will reconsider your position on this matter and schedule a time for the issue of rezoning in the Fry’s Spring neighborhood to be brought before the Planning Commission. We offer our assistance in this matter and look forward to a positive outcome.



No comments:

Post a Comment