Economic Development in City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County
Friday, January 16th, 2026
The speakers were introduced by Board member, Frank Friedman, who moderated the session. Chris Engel, Director of Economic Development for the City of Charlottesville, spoke first reporting that the City is lucky to have a growing economy that is expected to continue growing. He noted that the local government role in economic development is not well known or understood so promoting awareness is part of the effort. The City provides training programs for those starting businesses and works with businesses to find and train employees. The University of Virginia provides pathways of opportunity with many tech startups spun off from the work of UVa professors. He added that “place making” to make the community attractive to businesses is an important city government role and he highlighted the downtown mall as an example of this.
Emily Kilroy, Director of Economic Development for Albemarle County, opened her comments by pointing out that Albemarle County did not start work on economic development until 2016. The mission of her office is to strengthen and diversify the County tax base, promoting growth without compromising the quality of life for residents. The demographics of the area pose a challenge in that there are lots of young people and retirees but fewer prime working-age people. Strong economic growth in the county is focused on intelligence and national security and particularly life sciences where UVa investments are making this a premier destination for biotech firms. The third element is a diverse agricultural sector with wine, cider and production for farm markets. Albemarle County is 95% rural with just the remaining 5% set aside for development. She stressed that the city and county share goals on jobs, education and training and provided examples of joint efforts.
The speakers then answered audience questions concerning worker shortages in agriculture due to immigration restrictions, the potential local impact of federal cuts to research, the benefits of the huge AstraZeneca project and the bigger question of why economic growth is important. There was also a question about data centers in Albemarle which Ms. Kilroy explained were controlled by a recent county ordinance that limits their size without a special use permit requiring public input in a two-year process.