Albemarle OKs university plans for research park

The University of Virginia Research Park will be expanding after the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved its rezoning request Wednesday evening.

Thirty acres will be added to the research park, providing a new main entrance off Airport Road, once Lewis & Clark Drive is extended from the other side of the park.

“This has been in development over the last four years,” said Fred Missel, director of design and development for the UVa Foundation, in an interview. “It started in 2006 after the rezoning for the [Hollymead] fire station.”

The expanded facility will allow an additional 700,000 square feet of development in the research park, roughly a 23 percent increase in its capacity. Today the UVa Foundation has built only about 500,000 square feet, or 17 percent, of the 3 million square feet allowed prior to the expansion.

Local developer Wendell Wood was the only member of the public to speak during the public hearing. He encouraged the board to approve the rezoning as one way to increase local employment options.

“We sold the land to the University of Virginia in 1985 and have been patiently waiting to see some results,” Wood said. “I think we should do everything we can to support the further development when we have a world-renown university.”

Valerie Long, a lawyer with Williams Mullen representing the UVa Foundation, told the board that the research park is home to 1,100 employees.

A number of defense subcontractors have established offices at the park to be near the Rivanna Station military base located on the other side of U.S. 29. UVa Foundation officials said that is a trend they expect will continue.

In 1996, the project was called the North Fork Research Park and it covered 525 acres. In addition to research park activities, the county has also approved special use permits to support laboratories, commercial uses such as restaurants and retail, and hotels.

Missel said this new rezoning has generated many questions about the university’s plans for a hotel and conference center.

“A lot of people are excited about a conference center, but that has been allowed in the zoning since 1998,” Missel said. He said the university has no immediate plans for a hotel or conference center anywhere in the park.

Supervisor Dennis S. Rooker said he was reminded in his review of the proffers, the contributions from the UVa Foundation to mitigate the effects of the development, that a recreational playing field had been promised in an earlier rezoning. Rooker inquired about the status of the field to be donated to the county.

“I’ve never noticed playing fields and picnic areas,” Rooker said. “We have a better system in place today for monitoring proffers … and I just want to make sure we are following the proffers reasonably carefully.”

Long said that there has not yet been a request from the county for dedication of the playing field.

County Executive Robert W. Tucker Jr. said he would bring the matter to the attention of his Parks and Recreation Department to see if the time was appropriate to receive the field donation.

Charlottesville Tomorrow is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization covering land-use and transportation issues in Charlottesville and Albemarle County.