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You Call This Transparency?

Albemarle County doesn’t think it has a duty to tell citizens when its elected officials have private discussions with developers about public projects.

Do citizens deserve to know when its elected officials have private meetings with developers about potential rezonings and other decisions that affect Crozet?

Apparently not, according to Albemarle County’s office of Community and Public Engagement office.

As shown below, Crozet United sent an email to ask whether any of our six Supervisors or seven Planning Commissioners have privately communicated with Riverbend Development about Oak Bluff, a proposed high-density residential development spanning both sides of Lickinghole Creek between the neighborhoods of Liberty Hall, Cory Farm, Westhall, and Westlake Hills.

Out of thirteen elected officials, only one had the integrity and courage to respond to our email and publicly deny having any private communications with Riverbend Development. (In next week’s post, we will share the name of that individual and any others that decide to come forward so that they can be recognized for their commitment to being transparent with the public.)

The other twelve, including both of Crozet’s representatives, Ann Mallek and Lonnie Murray, failed to deny or disclose whether they had met privately with Riverbend. 

An example of the type of private communication that Supervisor Mallek did not voluntarily disclose to the Crozet community is a meeting she had Riverbend’s office on January 30^th to specifically discuss the Oak Bluff development, as shown in the email below.

We do not know what Supervisor Mallek discussed with Riverbend at this meeting and why she felt it was important to keep it confidential from the public.

Crozet citizens can contact their representatives with questions by emailing White Hall Supervisor Ann Mallek at [email protected] and Planning Commissioner Lonnie Murray at [email protected]. 

Crozet United will continue to encourage our elected officials to fully disclose details about their private communications with Riverbend Development and their affiliates regarding Oak Bluff and Project Heron. Readers are welcome and encouraged to copy [email protected] in their email requests for transparency from Albemarle County officials.

If you are new to this story, you can catch up by reviewing background information from last week’s Our Town section linked here and our detailed investigative story on Albemarle County’s Project Heron here.