Council hopefuls share visions on city growth

Five candidates for City Council offered sharply contrasting views during a Wednesday forum on how growth and subsequent investments in infrastructure and transportation should be managed and addressed in Charlottesville.

“I would define sustainable growth as growth that the politicians support,” independent Bob Fenwick said. “Growth has far outstripped our infrastructure.”

The event was hosted by area organizations Charlottesville Tomorrow and the Free Enterprise Forum, both of which also co-sponsored a Council candidate forum in the spring for the three Democratic candidates seeking their party’s nomination.

On Wednesday, the five candidates answered seven questions distributed prior to the forum. Audience members were also allowed to submit questions in writing to the forum’s moderators, Brian Wheeler of Charlottesville Tomorrow and Neil Williamson of the Free Enterprise Forum.

All five candidates agreed that infrastructure spending in Charlottesville has been deferred and that more money needs to be spent on the city’s water, sewer and public transportation systems. But candidates were less clear on how those projects would garner the necessary funds to proceed.

“Really, the only way to go about doing that is smart budgeting,” said Democrat Dave Norris, the current mayor.

Independent Andrew Williams said, “If something isn’t working we have to reallocate funds on the most important elements in our city that benefit the major populous.

He added: “We need to move forward on our most reasonable initiatives,” such as dredging the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir for the area’s long-term water supply, affordable housing and increased investments in transit.

The idea of a proposed interchange at U.S. 29 and Hydraulic Road, brought about varied responses — Democrats Kristin Szakos and Norris said they supported the new interchange to unclog the intersection, and that it would provide more bike and pedestrian paths than that area currently has.

“We need to really recognize that a lot of traffic goes through there,” Szakos said.

“The city itself, I don’t picture the population growing strongly over the next few years,” she said. “What I look for more than the growth of the population in the city is how we deal with that growth.”

On bicycle and pedestrian amenities, Norris added, “that is an area where we have dramatically underinvested in over the years.”

Independent write-in candidate Andrew Williams said, “We need to have constant assessments of our goals” to manage the city’s growth and protect its residents. Williams said that he also supported the interchange.

The two other independent candidates, Fenwick and Paul Long, vehemently objected to the intersection’s creation.

Long has been a strong advocate of increasing investments and the frequency of public transit in the city, and discouraged funding any new projects that would encourage automobile use.

He also said that he would likely not support any added development in the downtown area — where the city government has pushed for more density — because it would not contain an appropriate number of affordable housing units.

“I have no real desire for density,” Fenwick added. “I always thought it was important to keep the character of the neighborhoods as they were.”