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Albemarle planning staff outline changes to Rio/Route 29 form‑based code; commission presses for clearer incentives and maintenance rules
Summary
Staff and consultants presented amendments to the Rio/Route 29 form‑based code, proposing smaller core areas aligned to shopping centers, a new 'destination street' type, and more agent‑level flexibility. Commissioners generally favored added flexibility but pressed staff for clearer incentives, VDOT maintenance arrangements, and green infrastructure standards.
Mariah Gleason, senior planner in Albemarle County’s community development division, presented the second of two work sessions on proposed amendments to the Rio/Route 29 form‑based code, saying the revisions respond to what staff and the development community have learned since the code’s 2021 adoption.
Gleason said staff want to shift the code’s core areas to align with existing shopping centers such as the Bridal Hill Shopping Center, Albemarle Square and Fashion Square Mall, and to introduce a new “destination street” type — roughly 1,200 feet in length — to concentrate ground‑floor commercial uses where the market supports them. “The proposed changes recommend tailoring requirements for ground‑floor commercial to these destination streets rather than every street in the core,”…
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