The official review process for Albemarle County's new shopping center development, The Shops at Stonefield, is slowly making its way through red tape. That process has developers asking if all of the review steps are really necessary.
Albemarle County's Architectural Review Board (ARB) is in charge of making sure everything looks just right along Charlottesville's entrance corridor. But the process for The Shops at Stonefield has taken many months and is nowhere near finished.
Fred Missel with the Albemarle County ARB said, "I think on something of this scale, it does take time to iron out the details."
The Shops at Stonefield is going up fast, but the project's details keep dragging the discussion on.
"Ideally, I think you'd like an applicant to come to you with a fully thought out plan, very detailed plan," said Missel.
Chuck Lebo, also with the Albemarle County ARB, said, "Well it's a very large project, so it has gone through a lot of scrutiny, but that's just based on its size."
There are 17 pages of just sign plans for elements such as facade signs, projecting signs, canopy signs. But the ARB says these details are going to prevent further work down the road.
Missel said, "It also prevents the applicant from continuing to come back...every time there's a new tenant that might come into one of the buildings."
But for now, work continues. The review process has dragged on for almost a year, and has caused some serious frustration on both sides.
"It sort of falls back on the applicant to provide us with something that's comprehensive and works together as a whole, as the individual parts. Sometimes we don't see that," said Missel. "There are many buildings there that are yet to be developed, and my guess is that we will continue to see this come in over the next year or so."
While many small details are still up in the air, it is obvious things are moving at full speed ahead at The Shops at Stonefield. We're expecting more announcements from the developers this week, which could confirm when some of these retailers will officially open for business.
