Planning Tool: Activity Centers

Activity Centers are places with various businesses, services, and housing (now or in the future) where we can gather, shop, stroll, work, and meet our daily needs. They can be small or large—a neighborhood corridor or a downtown. Ideally, walking, biking, and transit are the main ways people get around in an Activity Center. There are four draft activity center place types that range in scale: Local, Community, Employment, and Regional Centers.

The purpose of Activity Centers is to promote density within the Development Areas, help prioritize public projects, encourage redevelopment of underutilized areas, and improve coordination between land use and transportation planning. Higher density development makes multimodal transportation, especially transit, more cost-effective and feasible.

The updated Comprehensive Plan proposes to consolidate the 50 centers that are currently designated across the five Area Plans (Places29, Southern and Western, Pantops, Crozet, and Village of Rivanna) into 30 Activity Centers. Many of the current 50 centers are small and not currently or expected to be mixed-use. These 30 Activity Centers would update and replace the 50 centers in the Area Plans when the AC44 Comprehensive Plan is adopted. This would create a consistent set of center place types across the Area Plans and better focus future investments and projects.

Types of Activity Centers

Local Centers

Local Centers are intended to provide smaller-scale areas of activity that support surrounding neighborhoods. They may not necessarily have a more intense ‘core’ area (like Community and Regional Centers), as they generally serve a smaller area than the other types of Centers.

KEY FEATURES BUILDING HEIGHTS UP TO 4 STORIES ACTIVE GROUND-STORY USES WITH WINDOWS SMALL CIVIC AND OPEN SPACES, SUCH AS SMALL PLAZAS AND POCKET PARKS BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN CONNECTIONS ON-STREET OR BACK-OF-BUILDING PARKING

Community Centers

Community Centers are intended to serve as a focal point for commercial and cultural activities that are accessible by a variety of transportation options for surrounding neighborhoods and areas.

KEY FEATURES BUILDING HEIGHT FROM 2 TO 6 STORIES ACTIVE GROUND-STORY USES WITH WINDOWS PUBLIC CIVIC AND OPEN SPACES, SUCH AS PLAZAS, COMMUNITY GARDENS, AND NATURAL AREAS TRANSIT STOPS, WIDE SIDEWALKS, BICYCLE CONNECTIONS STRUCTURED OR BACK-OF-BUILDING PARKING

Employment Centers

Employment Centers are intended to serve as areas that support economic development goals and employment-generating uses. Employment Centers typically contain a high concentration of areas with Office/R&D/Flex/Light Industrial or Industrial uses.

Limited locations are designated for primary employment in the Development Areas (the Office/Flex/Light Industrial/Research + Development and Industrial land use categories). An economic development analysis that was done as part of the 2022 Land Use Buildout Analysis found that only 39 Development Areas parcels could support significant non-residential development within an 18-month timeframe that would be attractive to job-creating land uses. The report recommended that designating employment uses be reviewed with Area Plan updates to confirm that they align with the location and infrastructure needs of the County’s targeted economic sectors.

KEY FEATURES BUILDING HEIGHT FROM 2 TO 6 STORIES SAFE CONNECTIONS FOR WALKING AND BIKING STRUCTURED OR BACK-OF-BUILDING PARKING VERTICAL OR HORIZONTAL MIXED-USE INDUSTRIAL USES INSIDE OF BUILDINGS

Regional Centers

Regional Centers are intended to create community focal points with high-density, compact, mixed-use development patterns. They should be vibrant urban areas with goods, services, and entertainment.

KEY FEATURES BUILDING HEIGHT FROM 3 TO 8 STORIES ACTIVE GROUND-STORY USES WITH WINDOWS LARGE PUBLIC CIVIC AND OPEN SPACES, SUCH AS LARGE PLAZAS, AMPHITHEATERS, ATHLETIC FIELDS, AND COMMUNITY GARDENS FREQUENT TRANSIT STOPS, WIDE SIDEWALKS, HIGH BICYCLE CONNECTIVITY STRUCTURED PARKING STRONGLY ENCOURAGED

Additional Resources:

• Posters from the 10/30/24 Community Check-In