Meadowcreek Parkway foes step up fight

Plans for the Meadowcreek Parkway are becoming more concrete, but some Charlottesville residents are doing everything in their power to stop the controversial route from being built.

“It’s a flawed project from the start,” city resident Stratton Salidis said.

The 2-mile parkway would connect East Rio Road in Albemarle County to the U.S. 250 bypass and McIntire Road in the city, and in so doing would take 22 acres of McIntire Park — to the dismay of many area residents.

Nonetheless, the project has been making steady progress. On Tuesday, the Virginia Department of Transportation began seeking bids to construct the county’s portion of the thoroughfare, for which officials have budgeted $25.4 million.

Work on the city’s piece, which costs roughly $30 million, is set to begin in May, trailing the county’s part by three months. But Peter Kleeman, a steadfast opponent of the parkway, said many of the project’s details remain shrouded in vagueness.

One such detail, he said, is the effect the roadway will have on historic properties, including McIntire Park and its golf course. Both are eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The examination of the possible impacts, Kleeman said, should have been done before the project was granted any sort of approval — instead, it is just now beginning.

“How can you go out and make a commitment to some contractor to build a road if in fact the review process is not complete?” Kleeman asked.

Under federal law, state transportation agencies cannot approve paving public parkland for roads unless there is no feasible alternative and the project includes plans to minimize harm to the property. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and VDOT have just begun to study the proposed construction before necessary permits are granted, and Kleeman was invited to participate in a committee that will study the potential adverse effects on the park and its waterways.

“It’s very hard to argue that this is early in the process,” Kleeman said. He added that he thinks the push for the road originates in financial concerns. Building the road, he said, is not going to get any less expensive and current transportation budget woes are making officials act in haste.

Others attest that there are legal issues to be ironed out. Salidis said that the project should never have proceeded after the City Council’s vote in August. A provision in the Virginia Constitution, he said, clearly specifies that a 4-1 vote was needed to let the project move ahead. But councilors were split 3-2 in granting VDOT a temporary construction easement.

“They’re trying to disenfranchise the people of Charlottesville of their parks,” Salidis said.

In an attempt to contest what happened in August and halt the parkway, Salidis said the resident-driven Coalition to Preserve McIntire Park is raising funds to file suit against city officials.

He added, “We should not be giving up our central park for this, to increase sprawl in the county.”

City Attorney Craig Brown disputed the need for a 4-1 vote because the city will retain ownership of the property.

“An easement lays on top of the property. The ownership of the underlying property never changes,” Brown said. “The city is not selling anything.” Once construction of the parkway is complete, Brown said, the easement will expire and the parkland will remain under the city’s control.

Paige Mattson, owner of the Blue Ridge Eco Shop, said the uncertainties surrounding the project need to be resolved.

“There’s a lot of groups and organizations out there that are still trying to at least make sure the community is aware of what’s going on,” Mattson said. Since plans for the parkway began — four decades ago — the amount of green space in the city has shrunk and other alternatives should be reexamined, she said.

“As [citizens], we should all get involved,” Mattson said.