University of Virginia Library

Phil Chabot

Faulty Diplomacy

Thomas Jefferson was a
devoted advocate of local
government. His legacy, the
University of Virginia, today
follows few of Jefferson's
principles – and respect for
local government is no
exception. Suffice it to say
that the U. is not known for its
good relations with the City of
Charlottesville or the County
of Albemarle.

It is not difficult to
understand why.

One example: The U.
embarked on an expansion
program, adding several
thousand students to the
Charlottesville area in five
years without building
additional housing itself and
without notifying
Charlottesville officials of the
need for it; this in a city that
was already experiencing a
housing shortage – particularly
among low income units.

Students who pointed out
such faulted diplomacy were
assured that cooperation was
constantly improving.

It may have been.

But a momentary folly can
wreak asunder the toil of ages.

As a state agency, the U. is
not required to abide by local
zoning ordinances and the like.
That is why they are able to
build an 11-story building in an
area where zoning prohibits
anything bigger than 2 or
3-story apartments.

In the summer of '71, the
U. made a tremendous step in
an area of
University-Community
relations when they actually
informed City officials that
they had decided to construct
a second major parking lot
opposite University Hall – fiat
accompli. At least they
informed them.

In August of this year the
U. began clearing the new
parking lot. Now this site
happens to lie within the
jurisdiction of both the City
and the County. Normally, a
private developer would not be
permitted to begin work such
as this until a land use plan was
submitted and approved.

The local governments
customarily recognize the
University's legal right to
dispense with such mere
formalities.

But, in this case, lower level
bureaucrats finally recognized
a moral obligation for the
University to abide by local
regulations. They issued a
"cease and desist" order
against further development of
the property until a land plan
was submitted.

The City and County had
no legal basis for the order.
The University quietly ignored
it and went ahead with their
work. Meanwhile there was a
mad rush by more prominent
public servants to rescind the
order against the Almighty U.

What is truly comic is that
the University only had to
submit a land use plan in order
to show its willingness to
adhere to the spirit if not the
letter of the laws of the local
governments. Surely it must
(or should?) have had such a
land use plan made before
work was begun on the site.
The the University did not
even attempt to abide by the
spirit of the law — which they
could easily have done simply
to avoid a hassle — is more than
just curious.

So much for cooperation.