We call on the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors to:

1. Reject the Woolen Mills Light Industrial Park's request to permanently fill in a portion of the Franklin Street floodplain for development.
2. Partner with the City, community and the developer to remediate and reimagine the Franklin Street lot for environmental and public benefit, and to manage the stormwater runoff from their substantial development on the slope of Moore's Creek Lane.

Why this matters:

• Filling floodplains causes flooding.

This lot was originally intended for stormwater management, not construction. The large underground culvert that outlets on the corner of this site services the entire east facing slope of Belmont. We're seeing erratic, intensifying storms with much more frequency and need to be developing more buffers, not removing them.

• Moore’s Creek is ecologically sensitive.

Moore’s Creek is a designated impaired waterway and a tributary to the Rivanna River. It supports endangered aquatic species and plays a critical role in regional water quality. Its shorelines are collapsing with erosion. This site outlets at the terminus of Moore's Creek at its confluence with the Rivanna River.

• The Woolen Mills Light Industrial Park

This developer's already-approved plan is enormous – 160,000 square feet. Only roads, retaining walls, and the scaffolding of one building are constructed so far. Stormwater systems, traffic patterns, and other environmental impacts remain untested.

• Franklin Street Can't Take the Heat

Franklin Street (the City of Charlottesville's informal eastern bypass) is residential. Right turns off Franklin onto Moore’s Creek Lane, and also onto Broadway, heavily used by trucks and trailers, are now inevitable; creating another turn in the middle of Franklin Street makes no sense and is preventable by voting “No” to this request.

• Carlton is a community worth protecting. 

Directly across from the floodplain site is the Carlton community recently purchased by Habitat for Humanity for $7.5M to ensure long-term affordability for working families. The County should protect the quality of life in one of the last remaining affordable neighborhoods in all of Central Virginia.

• This is a chance to do better.

The site could be remediated and reimagined as a green space, with eventual connections to the Rivanna Trail, the Old Mills Trail, and opportunities to educate the public on the area’s environmental, industrial, and Indigenous history (as evidenced by archaeological findings on the site).

• The County Is Being NIMBY

Conservation easements limit development countywide — that’s no reason to sacrifice environmentally vulnerable land on the city’s doorstep.

• It’s time for the County to coordinate with the City.

These projects belong to the County, but can only be accessed by City streets through City neighborhoods. Let’s plan like neighbors.