Podcast for August 2, 2025: Developing Albemarle County's next economic development strategic plan

Program note: Every Saturday at 6 a.m., an audio version of this newsletter airs on WTJU. The copy for this newsletter is the for the one that aired today Good morning and welcome to another archive edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement for August 2, 2025. I’m Sean Tubbs, the publisher at Town Crier Productions. For the past five years, I’ve been writing stories about the community from a close-up perspective, documenting all manner of stories.Today’s edition is going to feature several of those about economic development. Albemarle County is updating their strategic plan for attracting business to the community, and the Board of Supervisors may adopt the plan later this month.Here are the stories:* In January, the Albemarle Economic Development Authority got a briefing on the Broadway Blueprint (learn more)* In June, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors denied an application to fill in the flood plain for an industrial building in the Broadway Blueprint (learn more)* Later in June, the Board of Supervisors got an update on the economic development strategic plan (learn more)* On July 8, the Albemarle Planning Commission got a briefing on the implementation chapter of the Comprehensive Plan, but heard from members of the public concerned about the economic development strategic plan (learn more) Continuity copyAlbemarle County has dramatically increased efforts to boost business in the area over the past 15 years with the creation of an economic deve nlopment office and adoption of a strategic plan called Project Enable.Efforts to update the plan got underway this January with the opening of a survey to “better understand the perception of Albemarle County’s past economic development efforts and to identify future opportunities that should be considered in the strategic planning process.”In recent years, Albemarle County has bet heavily on expanding the defense and intelligence and in May 2023 the Board of Supervisors approved the purchase of several hundred acres of land around the Rivanna Stations for $58 million. The goal is to build a campus for those industries and they’re seeking to get it ready for development.There are other places where the county is seeking to focus development. Here’s one story from February 2025.(Broadway Story)However, just because there’s a strategic plan doesn’t mean that Albemarle Supervisors won’t make decisions. Here’s a story from early June.(Flood Plain Denial)Later this month, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors will have a joint work session with the Economic Development Authority about that economic development strategic plan. The Board had a briefing in June.(EDSP Briefing)Ad-lib(Planning Commission AC44 implementation)The draft EDSP can be viewed here and feedback is being taken through August 8.The end of #901AI’ve spent a lot of time with my parents this week helping them be together for their 62nd anniversary. That’s meant I’ve not been able to spend much reporting, but I’m a person with many deadlines. I’m very fortunate I’m able to work when I can and these times of eldercare have forced me to become more efficient.Today I’ll be working on the next Week Ahead as well as the next Fifth District Community Engagement. This next week should see a return of “normal” newsletters, but at any point I may have to put all of this aside. In any case, thanks for your patience this week. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe