Albemarle County’s Architectural Review Board voted Dec. 8 to forward staff recommendations for the initial site development plan for the Gastro Health Clinic at Peter Jefferson Place to the county’s site review committee.

Margaret, a county staff planner, told the board the one-story medical office building is set back about 380 feet from Route 250 East and that existing and proposed trees are expected to largely screen the building from the entrance corridor. “Our recommendation is for approval of the initial site plan, and we’ve made a few recommendations for revisions for the final submittal,” Margaret said.

The applicant, Shannon Drake of BA Wolpert, described the clinic as an outpatient facility and ambulatory surgery center for Parcel D in the Peter Jefferson Place development. Drake said the project team intends to use glazing with a visible light transmittance at or under 6 percent and a neutral gray crystal color to avoid a blue tint, and proposed metal screening integrated with a mansard roof to conceal rooftop mechanical equipment. “Our intent is to use as a basis of design a glazing that’s got a visible light transmittance of under 6% or at 6%,” Drake said.

Board members generally expressed support for the design while asking for additional documentation on specific items. Tara said the proposal “meets the criteria laid out in the entrance quarter design guidelines.” Board member Dave asked for a site section or similar documentation to confirm how the building’s varied roof forms would read from the entrance corridor, particularly in leaf-off conditions: that, he said, could address whether the roof forms appear coherent from the corridor in winter.

Frank asked about the proposed two-tone masonry, noting the white unit appeared large; Drake replied that the design team is working through whether the white-tonal element would be an architecturally finished large-format masonry unit and that the intent is a masonry palette compatible with nearby brick and Jefferson Place regulations.

After discussion, the board’s chair moved to forward the staff recommendations to the county’s site review committee; the motion was seconded and passed with recorded 'Aye' responses from Mister Vanderwerf, Mister Mitsuno, Mister Stoner and Mister Henningsen.

In other business the board approved an item described in the transcript only as “the December” (the record does not specify the document or agenda description). Staff reviewed scheduling and the board agreed to move items slated for Dec. 22 to Dec. 15 and to cancel the Dec. 22 meeting. The board confirmed its next meeting for Monday, Dec. 15, 2025.

The ARB did not receive any public comments on the Gastro Health Clinic project during the meeting.