McIntire Road Extended Easement Update

As a follow-up to my previous posting, I provide below the listing of all easements proposed by VDOT necessary to construct McIntire Road Extended. The data below are taken from the "Preliminary Right of Way Data Sheet" that is Sheet 1C of the plan sheets for the project. These data reflect data as of three months ago, and apparently some small changes in the amount of temporary easement is necessary for a more recent design update - triggering the need for city council to reconsider the granting of the specific easements to VDOT at the Aug. 18, 2008 council meeting.

The McIntire Road Extended project uses parts of two land parcels - both owned by the City of Charlottesville. One parcel (parcel 001) is land in McIntire Park that is located in the City of Charlottesville and contains 145 acres. The other (parcel 004) is land in McIntire Park that is located in Albemarle County but south of Melbourne Road and contains 3.5 acres.

The agenda material claims that only temporary easements need be transferred to VDOT, but the Preliminary Right of Way Data Sheet contains the following number of acres of easement in each parcel listed by type of easement. I believe the Utility category lists permanent easements, but these easements are to utility companys and not to VDOT. It is not clear to me when and how these easements are granted.

        --------------- Easement Type ----------
Parcel  Permanent   Permanent 
Number   Roadway    Drainage   Utility   Tempory

 001      1.73        2.80      2.79      14.88
 004      0.864       0.029     0.998      1.88

Total     2.6         2.8       3.8       16.8

If these data are current, they indicate that only 16.8 of the approximately 26.0 acres that are to be put under easement will actually be temporary easements with 9.2 acres being granted to either VDOT or utility companies as permanent easements.

And, as mentioned in my last posting, the Constitution of Virginia apparently requires that council needs at least four votes to reach the necessary super-majority for granting these permanent easements in McIntire Park.

The entire process of proposing to use only easements (whether temporary or permanent) is not the usual path taken by VDOT. My understanding is that VDOT typically acquires title to the land necessary for the construction of a road, and then after completing the project returns all of the land VDOT does not require for maintaining the road to the municipality. The McIntire Road Extended project may well be the only VDOT project that is following this process.

If you are interested in what is going on here, I recommend you bring your concerns to council on Monday Aug. 18 and present your thoughts at the public hearing scheduled early in the meeting. The meeting starts at 7:00 pm and the public hearing will likely begin about 30 minutes after the start of the meeting.

Late summer arrives - and again the city will consider giving away McIntire Park land to VDOT

If it is summer, then watch for some controversial action on the McIntire Road Extended project at city council. On July 16, 2007, city council last considered granting a temporary construction easement of roughly 22 acres to VDOT to construct the McIntire Road Extended project. A public hearing was held, but no council action was taken until October 1, 2007.

On Oct. 1, 2007, a resolution by council was passed 5-0 to grant a temporary construction easement to VDOT (in return for $1 payment). The relevant - and exact- wording included in the resolution passed by city council on October 1, 2007 is as below in italics:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council for the City of Charlottesville, Virginia that this Council hereby authorizes the City Manager to sign the following document, in form approved by the City Attorney, upon (1) certification from the Virginia Department of Transportation that the Commonwealth has acquired title to or a permanent easement over 49.1 acres of real property that will be dedicated for use by the City as replacement park land; (2) review and approval by City Council of the final design of the storm water drainage plan; and (3) written confirmation from the Virginia Department of Transportation that this temporary construction easement will not be used to construct an at-grade intersection at the intersection of U.S. Route 250 Bypass and McIntire Road Extended:

Agreement between the City of Charlottesville, as "Grantor" and the Commonwealth of Virginia, as "Grantee", granting a temporary construction easement across and through McIntire Park for construction of McIntire Road Extended, and related utility and drainage work.

On Aug. 18, 2008, another resolution to grant a slightly modified temporary easement to VDOT is under consideration and a case is to be made that all of the conditions from the previous resolution have been satisfied.

But, some issues are unresolved. Given that council has never approved a final design of a storm water drainage plan (only the concept was approved). And, the official southern terminus of the McIntire Road Extended project was moved from Route 250 Bypass to approx. 775 feet north of Route 250 Bypass. The project was shortened by approximately one-third in distance and the project only connects the roadway network at Melbourne Road. Clearly, McIntire Road Extended is dependent upon the so-called independent Route 250 Bypass Interchange at McIntire Road project. Yes, the interchange project is considered to be totally independent of the McIntire Road Extended project. I believe that VDOT is required to hold a new design public hearing when such a significant change in project terminus occurs - and when a project connects at only one point in the roadway network. This constitutes a significant change in project design scope. In fact a new design public hearing was held because of a change in design scope for Meadow Creek Parkway (in Albemarle County) when the project alignment changed after the Jones and Jones consultant's design was approved by Albemarle County Board of Supervisors. With all the changes to the McIntire Road Extended project, there hasn't been a VDOT location or design public hearing on this project since 1999.

It is troubling that the city council resolutions only discuss temporary construction easements. On the most recent VDOT plans for McIntire Road Extended, land is clearly identified with proposed permanent easements as part of the storm water management plan. If city council approves the proposed resolution, it appears that only the temporary easements will be granted. Perhaps city council should consider this issue along with the final storm water design before they authorizing granting of any easements.

Charlottesville resident Stratton Salidis has spoken often at city council about the need for council to have a super-majority vote to grant permanent easements as apparently required by the Virginia Constitution. I believe he is correct. This would mean that a 4-1 vote in favor of granting a permanent easement would be required on council.

Lastly, the condition council passed about not using the granted easement to build an at-grade intersection has become moot due to the change in project terminus. McIntire Road Extended might better be called something else in that it no longer even connects to McIntire Road. This is our local equivalent of the Alaska bridge to nowhere project although that proposed bridge actually connected to something. As of now, there is no commitment to build an interchange to bridge the gap. Technical and funding problems are yet to be resolved, and preliminary engineering and interchange designs are not yet complete. The environmental review of the project is still underway and no final action is likely to occur until late spring 2009. Council may well be building a multi-million dollar road to nowhere through McIntire Park.

I expect better attention to detail on project development from the city, and VDOT when so many millions of dollars and over 22 acres of McIntire Park are in jeopardy - plus added community noise, air pollution, and loss of or impact on natural, historical, and cultural resources.

I hope you will consider the details of this and the related projects and share your thoughts on this project with VDOT, and the city council and staff. There will be a public hearing on this matter early on the Aug. 18 council agenda. The resolution being considered on Aug. 18 is as follows:

A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CONVEYANCE OF A TEMPORARY CONSTRUCTION EASEMENT IN MCINTIRE PARK TO THE COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

WHEREAS, the City of Charlottesville is the owner of McIntire Park; and,

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth of Virginia, through its Department of Transportation, has requested a temporary right and easement to use approximately 22.2 acres within McIntire Park for the construction of McIntire Road Extended, also known as the Meadow Creek Parkway, and related utility and drainage work; and,

WHEREAS, by Resolution adopted October 1, 2007 City Council authorized the granting of the easement upon the fulfillment of certain conditions; and,

WHEREAS, in accordance with the prior Resolution the Virginia Department of Transportation (“VDOT”) has certified that it has acquired title to or a permanent easement over 49.1 acres of real property that will be dedicated for use by the City as replacement park land, and that this temporary construction easement will not be used to construct an at-grade intersection at the intersection of U.S. Route 250 Bypass; and,

WHEREAS, the storm water drainage system has been designed in accordance with the concept previously approved by the Council.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council for the City of Charlottesville, Virginia that this Council hereby authorizes the Mayor to sign the following document, in form approved by the City Attorney:

Agreement between the City of Charlottesville, as “Grantor” and the Commonwealth of Virginia, as “Grantee”, granting a temporary construction easement across and through McIntire Park for construction of McIntire Road Extended, and related utility and drainage work. The approximate location of the easement area is shown on a drawing dated June 23, 2008 and entitled “Proposed McIntire Road Extended U000-104-V02, PE-101”.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Resolution is enacted with the expectation that Albemarle County, in response to the granting of this temporary construction easement, will:

1) Commit to a continued and substantial increase in funding for public transit;
2) Commit to making extensive pedestrian and bicycle improvements within the urban ring;
3) Commit to building a transportation connector between Sunset Avenue and Fontaine Research Park/29-250 Bypass that would divert traffic from Old Lynchburg Road; and
4) Commit to continued development of alignment and funding scenarios for the Eastern Connector.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Charlottesville City Council requests that the Virginia Department of Transportation use any means at their disposal to ensure that Albemarle County is capable of meeting the City Council’s expectations as expressed herein.

A terrific - Taste of Ghana - both music and food!

Last night (July 24) was a special treat for me and upward of 100 others attending Chihamba's 19th Annual African American Cultural Arts Festival presentation of "A Taste of Ghana" featuring Okyerema Asante at the Burley Middle School.

Online biographical notes describe Okyerema Asante as "a master drummer from Ghana, famous for performing all parts of a traditional five-person drum group by himself. He attaches percussion instruments to various parts of his body and simultaneously plays drums, a balafon, and many other instruments. He has as many as 85 instruments in one performance. Coming from a family of drummers, Asante is an expert of traditional Ghanaian talking drums."

Asante has also toured with Hugh Masekela is playing with Paul Simon on his Graceland album and is well worth seeing in the future if you missed yesterday's performance.

I think it is James Brown who was called something like the hardest working man in music (I don't think that is correct - but close). But, Okyerema Asante might now fit that description. He was constantly in motion - shaking the bells and nuts strung around his lower legs while playing a huge ensemble of drums, the balafon (a xylophone sort of instrument) and a host of other hammered, struck, shaken or plucked instruments - often while telling a story. Incredible.

I and about 10 others joined in on two audience participation numbers playing a variety of percussion instruments while marveling to the drum rythms of Asante.

Asante was dressed in much the manner in the album cover image above, but with a different set of horns. I guess when one tours the world and wear horns as a regular costume item one set might not be enough. Or, perhaps, with strict limits on bringing animal parts into the US, perhaps the ones in the album cover had to remain in Ghana.

There were also several poetry readings by members of our local African-American community, awards to community members and local business sponsors and a great sense of community among all who were present.

But, there was more than the music concert an poetry worth noting. There was a fabulous assortment of traditional dishes from Ghana for all to sample. The menu included Peanut Paste Soup with Chicken, Jjolof Rice, Rice Balls, Ghanaian Pancakes, Ghanaiaan Meat Pie, Fried Red Plantain, Spinach Stew with Meat, Spinach Stew with Fish and Shrimp (my personal favorite), Wakye, and Akala. Perhaps you can check these out on Google search and try them at home. Some of the ingredients in the dishes was grown at the QCC Farm at Sixth Street SE and Monticello Avenue. Now that is definitely eating local!

I had such a good time that I am disappointed this is the first Taste of Ghana I have attended. Be sure to consider attending next year's Taste of Ghana. If it is to be anything like this year's it is worth putting on your calendar now. Iaren Waters, Executive Director of QCC Inc. was the mistress of ceremonies and I am sure put in a great deal of organizational effort along with the rest of her team to make this a memorable community event. Thank you Karen for your efforts and for alerting me to this year's Taste of Ghana. I definitely plan to attend again next year.

But, that is not all....... The African American Cultural Arts Festival will be continuing on Saturday at Booker T. Washington Park starting about 10:00 am and ending at 5:00 pm or so. I will be there too for storytelling, music, dance, and yes - more food. I hope to see you there too.

Yes you can get visitor information through the mall entrance

Yes, you should be able to get into the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau through the doors on the east end of downtown mall whenever it is open. I am delighted that the city took my concern (see previous blog entry) expressed to city council about these doors being blocked by the Charlottesville Pavilion fencing on Saturday afternoon July 5 when we had lots of visitors in town - even though the Visitors Bureau was still open for another hour and the Pavilion concert wasn't to begin until later that evening.

I presented my concerns on Monday, July 7 during 'Matters from the Public' and got an email from Aubrey Watts, Charlottesville's Director of Economic Development on Friday, June 11 stating that he met with Pavilion staff, Convention & Visitors Bureau leadership, and Transit Center staff to discuss the matter. The email stated that the door to the Convention & Visitors Bureau "must be accessible whenever they have the CVB office open." In addition, the policy is that "they must open the area anytime a person with the need to use the elevator request it."

I thank Aubrey Watts for addressing this concern so promptly and ensuring that all of the groups involved had a clear understanding of the access policy for the future. I wasn't aware of the elevator access policy, so I even learned something new from this conversation.

Many people still believe that "you can't fight City Hall," but I find that you can bring a concern to the city leadership and if you present a clear argument for action on their part you can get a prompt and positive response. With interaction like this, there is really no need to even consider needing to fight City Hall."

Graphic: Logo of the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau

Is the Pavilion sensitive to Charlottesville's visitors

In my last Squeaky Wheel column in the May 24, 2007 HooK entitled "Pavilion creep: Speak up about Mall takeover' addressed the issue of the Pavilion claiming an increased area of public space for its events over that specified in the Pavilion agreement with the City. But it appears that there is a continuing effort by the Pavilion to expand even further into the public space.

I was walking toward the Pavilion on the downtown mall at 4:00 pm on Saturday July 5, 2008 and was blocked at the Pavilion fence that blocked the entire east end of the mall to pedestrian traffic. I was not even able to access the Charlottesville Visitor's Center - which was open for business at the time. I saw the several groups of visitors being instructed that they could enter through the Water Street entrance. But, that requires walking down 30 steps, then back up those steps again to the Visitor's Center desk, then down and up again to get information that shouldn't require the 120 step trip.

I did the hike and chatted with several visitors at the desk who also did the detour demanded by the Pavilion staff. I also learned from the Visitor's Center staff that they knew nothing about the blocking of their entrance but that this was the first time their doors had been blocked. I chatted with the person operating the Pavilion ticket table who told me that if I had any problem with the fencing, I should talk to City Council. Never being shy about bringing my concerns, ideas, suggestions, etc. to City Council I presented my concerns last night during 'Matters from the Public' at beginning of the council meeting. I am counting on councilors, our city manager, and our city attorney to review this in light of the Pavilion agreement and ensure that visitors to the mall have access to the information they need when they visit Charlottesville in a convenient manner.



What I find most disconcerting about this blocking of mall level access to the Visitor's Center is that the Pavilion management is claiming their need to post a permanent information sign for mall visitors. How odd to believe that access to Pavilion event information on the east end of the mall is important, but access to visitor information is not.

Perhaps there is a misunderstanding about where the Pavilion event area has been set, and I hope this is a matter that will not happen again, but I look forward to a clear statement from the city or the Pavilion management once our city leaders work out a solution. I do believe that access to the Visitor's Center must be available to our visitors whenever the Center is open to the public. Simply placing the plastic fences in a slightly different location would solve the access problem.

Should the new downtown mall brick be placed in mortar or sand? Or is it best to repair the current bricks?

The most recent public discussion about how the bricks on the Charlottesville downtown mall should be repaired or replaced brought out a standing room only crowd at the city design space. The MMM consultants promoted the idea of replacing all of the bricks with new brick and placing them in sand rather than using mortar as the original bricks were installed. Apparently, MMM has determined that placing the bricks in sand is the current standard installation technique around the country. But, if we look at the recent brick and stone installed in sand at in the crosswalk at East High Street and Fourth Street NE, there is obvious damage to both bricks and stone due to automobile traffic.


This is already the second installation of these bricks. The first installation had significant settlement of the bricks and stone, and many of the brick and stone elements were chipped. But, the two photos of this crossing taken on July 5, 2008 show similar damage (but no further settlement). The stone pieces are loose and the sand between the stones and the bricks is no longer in the joints. Is this what we will see on the two vehicle crossings of the mall?



Another problem with the sand joints is evident in the sidewalk bricks by the Albemarle County Sheriff Office. The bricks have only been in place for a few months in the entrance to the Sally Port (where prisoners are loaded and unloaded behind the just installed steel gates), but the sand joints have lost most of the sand. And, in the sidewalk section near Jackson Park on East High Street, crab grass is growing in the joints.

I am curious what the difference in installation would be between these installations and that to be done for the hundreds of thousands of bricks proposed for the downtown mall. My guess is that there will be a significant maintenance requirement to keep the sand joints in good order. Is the sand installation better or worse than the mortar installation? I can't tell. The mortar installation on the mall lasted over 25 years with not much routine maintenance. Can sand installation really do better than that? Clearly the vehicle crossings won't do well if the installation is similar to the 'improved' installation at the pedestrian crossing at East High Street and Fourth Street NE.



I hope MMM and the city will make sure they consider if the problems shown in these photos will occur on the mall, too. Maybe repairing and replacing the mortar in the existing bricks is the best solution after all.

On Being Independent - suggested reading

A thought on July 3, 2008

I find that some documents are worth reading many times - and that I learn or understand the meaning of that document more each time. The declaration of independence is one such document. With the anniversary of the signing of that document upon us, I thought you might spend a few minutes re-reading it - or maybe reading it for the very first time. There is an online copy of the Declaration of Independence (along with other "Organic Laws" of the United States).

An online presentation of the Declaration of Independence is available on the U.S. House of Representatives Office of the Law Revision Council website for easy access.

I am always intrigued by how many of the very same issues addressed in this document in 1776 still are being discussed, and fought in many places around the world - and in the United States, too.

I encourage you to spend the few minutes it will take to read this document and consider what being a free and independent people means in the 21st Century.

Enjoy the read! I just did, and will plan to do this again next July if not before.