Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Economic Development topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
County says $32M in grants support Rivanna Futures site-readiness; AstraZeneca footprint remains under concept design
Summary
County staff and applicants told the Planning Commission the Rivanna Futures effort has secured about $32 million in grants and that AstraZeneca has committed to an approximate 82-acre footprint; applicants said engineering and concept work is ongoing and the slope reclassification request is narrowly focused.
County and project staff told the Planning Commission that multiple grants and state funding sources have supported early site readiness at the Rivanna Futures property, which Albemarle County purchased for development. "Collectively, they represent about $32,000,000 worth of funding that we've been fortunate enough to get from other sources," said Blake Applinelp, Rivanna Futures program manager, describing transportation, site-readiness, and design grants.
Applinelp and consultant Daniel Hyer said the county purchased 462 acres in December 2023 and that AstraZeneca’s planned portion of the site is roughly 82 acres. Hyer described repeated iterations of concept and footprint planning and said that some design decisions — for example, internal road grades and truck queuing — drove the narrow slope reclassification request. "From a topographical standpoint… the grades were very difficult to make that work," Hyer said of initial concept-level road layouts.
Staff and applicants said detailed due-diligence materials exist and can be made available to the public; the consultant’s engineering work was described as ongoing. The applicants said the 0.46-acre slope area under reclassification is a small portion of the larger slope system and that the request is intended to enable internal road geometry and reduce tree clearing.
The Planning Commission’s recommendation to approve the slope reclassification now goes to the Board of Supervisors; staff noted that stream perenniality and buffer rules will be resolved during site-plan review, and that final site protections will be applied if the stream is determined to be perennial.
