Charlottesville Virginia Real Estate

I think this is probably a good compromise bill, but it seems pretty heavy handed:

Senate Bill 268 to the Local Government Committee, which voted 14-0 to approve the scaled-back compromise measure allowing the city to collect money from a developer in lieu of affordable housing units on or off the site of a high-density project.

Under the bill, the city could approve a rezoning or a special-use application for a high-density residential or residential and mixed-use project and collect money from the developer as a contribution to the city’s affordable housing fund.

The phrase “collect money from the developer” is code for “put an enormous tax on development to further drive up housing prices”.  It seems self-defeating to tax housing to get more money for affordable housing.  As I understand it, this bill applies to larger developments, so the tax – or mandatory payment from the developer for the privilege of doing business if you prefer — wouldn’t necessarily effect smaller, custom home builders.

The DailyProgress has a story today about how Eco-friendly homes are the hot new thing.  The idea is to use less pollutant and more sustainable (easily replacable by the earth) materials when building a home.  There are three major development projects in Central Virginia underway that the article mentions that will use these principles:

The Belvedere project off East Rio Road in Albemarle County will eventually be a community of 700 homes that are certified as energy efficient. The developer, Stonehaus, broke ground on the project May 10.

South of Charlottesville, in North Garden, a 2,300-acre property called Bundoran Farm is being developed into an environmentally friendly community, in which 90 percent of the land will be conserved.

And in Zion Crossroads in Louisa County, a Utah developer is planning a 650,000-square-foot outlet mall, with office, retail and restaurant space. The project will include green building aspects, including solar power, recycled building materials and preservation of the 119-acre site’s existing wetlands.

This is such a Charlottesville thing to do.  I wonder to what extent this is happening nationally?  When sustainablility gets cost neutral, that’s when these efforts will really start to make a difference.

At Yahoo News a local builder got a shout out this morning.  Building Homes For A Lifetime: Interest In Accessibility Is Rising mentions custom-home building Charlottesvillian Randy Rinehart and his practice of building accessible custom homes for the elderly.

That 10,500 Americans turn 55 every day is a fact not lost on Randy Rinehart, 60, a custom builder in Charlottesville, Va. “About half of the eight homes we build each year are for active adults,” he said. “It’s not unusual for these people to walk in and pay cash for a $2 million house.”

I wonder how some smalltown person building 8 houses a year get’s an expert mention in an out of town publication?  Kinda fun.