In February 2011, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded $999,000 to the Charlottesville Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) to develop a Livability Implementation Plan for the MPO area. The process to develop this plan, referred to as the Livable Communities Planning Project, builds upon the region’s 1998 Sustainability Accords and other area planning documents to integrate crosscutting strategies for land use, transportation, housing, economic vitality, air and water quality, and energy use.
The Livable Communities Planning Project provides an avenue for intermunicipal coordination, education and community participation in updates to the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County Comprehensive Plans and the Charlottesville-Albemarle Long Range Transportation Plan. The process seeks to identify common ground between City and County planning goals and to give community members the opportunity to provide feedback. Each locality will use community input received through this process to inform updates to their respective comprehensive plans.
