As the controversy over the University's planned 1,200 car parking garage escalates, local political leaders have gotten involved in mediating the dispute and preventing future arguments.
Charlottesville Mayor Blake Caravati, Virginia State Sen. Creigh Deeds and Del. Mitch Van Yahres met Monday with community leaders as well as state officials to compile and disseminate information to all parties involved about the causes of the controversy.
"It's a bigger issue [than the parking garage]," Deeds said. "It relates to how growing universities and growing state institutions can grow and provide the services they're supposed to provide within the context in which they're supposed to exist."
Deeds said he and other leaders have become involved "not to criticize, but to build a better process so that in the future we will not get to the point where we are ... I'm afraid there are some hard feelings."
One of the chief points of contention among community members and the University is the garage's expected effect on traffic congestion in the area.
Leonard W. Sandridge, University executive vice president and chief operating officer, announced this week that the University will commit $425,000 toward synchronizing seven traffic lights in the area in an effort to improve traffic flow.
According to a University-commissioned study, the garage will not increase traffic congestion in the area, said University Architect Samuel "Pete" Anderson.
The people who will utilize the garage are those people who currently park along Massie Road, Anderson said.
"Their traffic patterns will remain the same as they are today," whether they will travel north, east, south or west out of the garage, he said.
But Arthur Lichtenberger, Lewis Mountain Neighborhood Association president and a University engineering professor, said the traffic report is flawed.
"Of the 21 different traffic counts that were taken, 10 of them were taken in the fall when first years cannot drive cars," he said. "Another six counts were taken only one day before Thanksgiving break for both U.Va. and the city."
He added that another three counts were taken when city schools were closed for Spring Break.
"Common sense just tells you that [the parking garage] is not going to improve traffic," said former president of the LMNA Jonathan Einbinder, a University Medical Center professor.
Einbinder said neighborhood residents "would like to see some serious discussion about other options, [including] site, size and traffic management. But those are exactly the things that we have been told by the University are not negotiable."
In a letter to University President John T. Casteen III, Caravati asked the University to consider arbitration to remedy such community concerns.
The disputes have arisen because the University and Charlottesville community each hold differing interpretations of the meaning of a 1986 Three-Party Agreement, which requires that the University cooperate with the city and Albemarle County on such issues.
Community members and leaders said the agreement requires the University to gain city rezoning and site plan approval before deciding upon any projects.
In a June 14 response to Caravati, Casteen wrote that the University rejects that interpretation on the grounds that Virginia law does not give localities the power to approve or reject projects from state agencies.
"We have involved the City exactly as agreed in the Three-Party Agreement," Casteen wrote in his response. "We believe that you agreed for more than a year with the propriety of this way of proceeding."
"The 'meaningful dialogue and City input' you recommended in that letter is taking place," he added.
According to Einbinder, the ideal situation would be for the University to discuss planning and construction of the garage with neighborhood leaders and residents before continuing with its plans.
"We understand the need for parking ... but what's the rush?" Einbinder said.
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