FBI assists local officials in arson inquiry

Investigators are still looking into the arson and vandalism that occurred last week on equipment being used to construct the Meadowcreek Parkway, Albemarle County officials said Tuesday.

The equipment, owned by Faulconer Construction Co. and other subcontractors, sustained about $110,000 in damages last week after the incident took place at a staging site on Melbourne Road. The equipment, including a backhoe, was parked on Melbourne Road near the Charlottesville High School football field, officials said, away from where construction has started off East Rio Road.
County officials say at this point there is no link to any organized group and no evidence has been discovered that indicates any particular motive. No one has claimed responsibility.

The county fire marshal is leading the investigation with assistance from county police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Work on the 2-mile parkway began in February on Albemarle’s 1.4-mile section, but controversy has continued to surround the project that sat on area planning boards for roughly four decades. Since construction began on the county’s $11.8 million portion, the Coalition to Preserve McIntire Park has filed injunctions in Charlottesville Circuit Court to stop the road from being built. The group claims that land being used for the parkway was conveyed illegally to the Virginia Department of Transportation.

John Cruickshank, a member of the coalition, said the group condemns last week’s incident.
“We are using the legal system and the political system to save McIntire Park,” he said in an interview Tuesday. “This was an act that was unacceptable.”
Anyone with information about the incident can call Crime Stoppers at 977-4000.