How walkable will Albemarle County be?
November 21st, 2009 categories: Albemarle County, Charlottesville, Communities, First Time Buyers, For Buyers, For Sellers, News, STR Market Info Blitz
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Albemarle residents want more use out of their sneakers
Years ago, folks in Albemarle County decided that they wanted to pursue a plan of real estate development that would lead to more urbanized, walkable neighborhoods. Albemarle decided that they wanted to make it a priority that new real estate developments would have a more mixed-use, urban feel, and part of that meant that they would planned in such a way as to encourage walking and biking.
Now that it has been a few years since the focus shifted towards walkability of neighborhoods, C-Ville Weekly decided to see just how walkable new neighborhoods in Albemarle have become.
Their cover story this week, titled, “Where the Sidewalk Ends,” is a first-hand account of what it is like to walk around one of Albemarle’s newest, and largest neighborhood areas– Hollymead Town Center. For those of you who might not be familiar with where that is, the Hollymead Town Center is where the Target is located on Route 29. The neighborhood by the center has grown quite a bit over recent years, and it is designed around the principal of walkability.
What is walkability?
Basically, walkability is exactly what it sounds like– a measure of how easy it easy to walk around a neighborhood and do everyday, essential tasks like shopping and such.
There is a website called Walkscore that will tell you just how walkable your neighborhood, all you have to do is enter your address. Interestingly, if you plug the address for the Charlottesville Target into Walksore, it gets a score of 62 out of 100, or “Somewhat Walkable.”
How walkable is Albemarle?
Well, that all depends. The reporter in the article encounters many of the obstacles to walkablity that you might expect to find, especially in a neighborhood that is still under construction– sidewalks aren’t finished, drainage issues, etc.
Having been to Hollymead Town Center quite often, it is certainly one of the more walkable neighborhoods in the Charlottesville area. While there are obviously challenges to walkability now, the powers that be are hard at work removing many of the obstacles that exist.
How can Albemarle be more walkable?
As county officials mention in the article, there are some planning rules that will need to be changed or added to encourage developers to put in sidewalks and do many of the things that create smart density and enhance walkability. Albemarle County is definitely committed to achieving the goal of more walkability, and having widespread buy-in from county officials is a major component of their plan that seems to have already been achieved.
Much of the future of Albemarle’s walkability lies in the hands, or rather the feet, of residents. The Charlottesville area hasn’t historically been a very walkable area. People around here are very accustomed to getting in their cars and going where they need or want to go. Consequently, decades of generation and infrastructure has been built around people and their car-centric lifestyles. That isn’t going to change overnight. It will take time, and a shift in the habits of Albemarle residents.
Ultimately, Albemarle’s goal of increased walkability is both a lofty and appropriate one. Having walkable urban centers will go a long way to improving the already high quality of life that Charlottesville area residents enjoy.
If you’re interested in learning more about walkability, and the numerous new, more walkable, neighborhoods in the Charlottesville area, just let us know! We’re happy to get you walking on the right path!
Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28481088@N00/ / CC BY 2.0
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