One of the final land use stories in Charlottesville in 2025 is one that will continue as this year continues to get underway. There were several voices at the January 5 meeting of City Council calling on the elected body to make changes to the city’s zoning to restrict heights on West Main Street and nearby neighborhoods.
Many of the arguments were also made at the December 16, 2025 meeting of the Charlottesville Board of Architectural Review. An ownership entity called LCD Acquisitions is seeking to build an apartment building to be marketed to University of Virginia Students on five parcels in Fifeville on land zoned Residential-Mixed Use 5. That allows for a seven story building with unlimited density. That is a major feature of the new zoning code adopted in December 2023 that has since survived a legal challenge from a group of city property owners.
Two of those parcels are designated as “individually protected properties” which means the BAR must grant permission for any alteration to the exterior or demolition of any kind. The two houses on 7th Street SW trace back to the mid 19th Century and are associated with a builder named James Hawkins…