Albemarle Career Exploration Academy Lambs Lane

Building Construction

1. Building Services Demolition: COMPLETE
2. Excavation and Foundation: March 2025 - May 2025
3. Structural Work: May 2025 - October 2025
4. Building Envelope: August 2025 - February 2026
5. Geothermal Well Drilling: September 2025 - January 2026
6. Interior Work: August 2025 - May 2026

New Campus Entry Road

1. Sitework: March 2025 - May 2025

2. Road Construction and Paving: May 2025 - June 2025

New Parking Lot/Practice Fields

1. Sitework: April 2025 - July 2025
2. Parking Lot Construction and Paving: July 2025 - September 2025

The primary goals of the Loop Road are to provide a second means of access to the Lambs Lane campus for emergency vehicles and to help alleviate traffic congestion. To achieve this, the first phase of the Loop Road will connect to Lambs Lane east of Journey Middle School and continue to the southeast between the Albemarle High School football stadium and baseball field. The road will then continue to connect with Hydraulic Road.
The study examined several different routing options, as shown below.

To determine the alignment of the proposed Loop Road, the first step was to analyze and determine the type of intersection needed with Hydraulic Road. Based on engineering analysis during the traffic study using VDOT’s VJuST Tool, it was recommended that a continuous green-T (CGT) intersection be constructed where the new Loop Road and Hydraulic Road meet. Based on this determination, the next step was to decide where a logical end point for the new Loop Road would be along Hydraulic Road. Because a continuous green-T requires a minimum of 520 feet of acceleration lane and taper and VDOT requires adequate vehicle storage space at the existing northbound left turn lane at Hydraulic Road and Lambs Road/Whitewood Road intersection, the only end point that works is for the new Loop Road to end at the existing Hydraulic/Georgetown Green intersection (i.e. the dark blue and light blue options).

Selecting a Loop Road intersection with Hydraulic Road to the north of the existing Georgetown Green intersection would have required that the Georgetown Green intersection be converted to right-in/right-out only. This option was not selected because the County was interested in preserving access for Georgetown Green residents.

When looking at the remaining two routing options, the project team factored in VDOT turning radius requirements, bike/pedestrian safety considerations, stormwater impacts, grading, buildable area, and minimizing costs associated with road construction. Based on all these factors, the project team determined that the light blue option was the best option and most consistent with the overall intent of the Lambs Lane Master Plan. For example, the dark blue option would require longer road lengths, more costly stormwater improvements, and would reduce the buildable area available for ACE Academy-Lambs Lane. All of these factors would have increased road construction costs for that routing option and would likely have a negative impact on building costs associated with the new school.

The new road will be a two-way road built to VDOT standards. The portion of road built with ACE Academy-Lambs Lane will include a sidewalk along the north side. The remaining portion of the proposed road has provisions for a 10-foot, shared-use bike/pedestrian path on the north side of the road.

The graphic above shows a typical proposed section for the future unbuilt portion of road. It should be noted that as the design progresses, it may be necessary to shift the shared use path to the south side of the road. If this occurs, the edge of that shared use path would be approximately 18-20 feet from the property line. The ACE Academy-Lambs Lane project has preserved the necessary green space should that shift become necessary.

There will be a 36.5-foot strip of land between the portion of road and the property line. This area will consist of fencing and landscaping for screening purposes. The buffer on the remaining unbuilt portion of road will vary as there is a proposed curve in the road.

Only a small portion of the Loop Road will be constructed as part of the ACE Academy-Lambs Lane project. The existing roadway in front of the old Building Services space will be converted into a bike/pedestrian shared-use path. A new “internal connector road” will be built to the west of ACE Academy-Lambs Lane and connect to the roadway in front of AHS. The roadway between AHS and the tennis courts will become three lanes of multi-directional traffic, as that area will be used for student drop-off/pick-up in an “airport style” arrangement. A new traffic circle and a “slip-lane” to Lambs Lane will be built to allow drivers multiple options to exit the campus. All proposed improvements included in the ACE Academy-Lambs Lane project and the proposed student drop-off/pick-up traffic patterns are shown below.

The remaining portion of the Lambs Lane Loop road is still in the conceptual phase of design, but the traffic study completed by Timmons Group identified several other recommendations that could be implemented to assist with the management of traffic along this stretch of Hydraulic Road. Some of these improvements include:

• Coordinated traffic signal timing
• Installing a continuous green-T at the Hydraulic/Georgetown Green intersection
• Improved bike/pedestrian facilities
• Implementing a thru-cut intersection at Hydraulic Road/Georgetown Road with an overlap phase

It should be noted that at its January 15, 2025 meeting, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors directed local government staff to prepare a Revenue Sharing application for some of these proposed improvements along Hydraulic Road. That work would be separate from the ACE Academy-Lambs Lane project. That application is due later this year, with funding not becoming available until FY 29 and FY 30 if the project is awarded.

The back of the curb will be approximately 36.5 feet from the property line on the portion of the road that will be built with ACE Academy-Lambs Lane. This is further than the Building Services parking lot that previously existed.

The Lambs Loop Road will provide a second entry/exit point for the entire Lambs Lane Campus once constructed. This improvement is critical to help alleviate traffic congestion and to provide a second means of access for emergency vehicles. Currently, the entire study area operates at a “C” Level of Service (on a scale of A-F, with “A” being the best and “F” being the worst). Per the Timmons study, there was no significant difference in traffic before and after the proposed development was constructed, and providing more means of access to the site helped better distribute traffic.

Vehicular operational analyses were completed with traffic volumes projected out to 2033 for the potential Loop Road alignment scenarios with the addition of new traffic associated with the proposed development of ACE Academy-Lambs Lane and the relocation of existing traffic. The results indicate that the level of service at the study intersections does not change significantly compared to 2033 background conditions. Delay at the Hydraulic Road/Georgetown Road intersection was considerably reduced by implementing the recommended thru-cut intersection mentioned above. In each of the alignment scenarios, a continuous green-T intersection at Hydraulic Road/Proposed Loop Road can handle the projected traffic volumes without excessive delay or major impacts to through traffic along Hydraulic Road.

The reason that the existing intersections maintain existing level of service operations rather than show improvement is related to the expected moderate increase in traffic volumes for ACE Academy-Lambs Lane and the overall development of the Lambs Lane Campus in the long-term. With the addition of the Lambs Loop Road, there will be new traffic pattern options which will allow more options for motorists (i.e. distributing the traffic more evenly).

No, there will still be three (3) entrances to the Lambs Lane campus (Note: This is a deviation from the Lambs Lane Master Plan and an example of how items may change as they are studied further). However the Hydraulic Road Corridor & Loop Road traffic study recommended that the primary entrance to AHS (Ben Hurt Drive) be converted to a “right-in/right-out” only entrance. In other words, people leaving the site will not be able to make a left-hand turn onto Hydraulic and northbound traffic on Hydraulic will not be able to make a left-hand turn onto the campus at that location.

A small portion of the Loop Road, the “internal connector road,” and the revisions to the student drop-off/pick-up will be constructed as part of the ACE Academy-Lambs Lane project (as shown in Graphic 10). The overall ACE Academy-Lambs Lane project timeline is articulated above. The timeline for construction of the remaining portion of the Loop Road and other proposed improvements is unknown at this time, as there is no funding currently identified for those improvements.

Availability of parking will change throughout construction. At times, Albemarle High School will have less parking than they typically have available, but these times will be temporary. The greatest impacts on parking will be during the construction of the new parking lot behind Albemarle High School and when the geothermal wells are being completed. Per zoning regulations (ZMA202300008), 127 additional parking spots must be provided to accommodate the new school. After the project is completed, there will be approximately 140 parking spaces added.

The Lambs Lane Master Plan was used as a guiding resource throughout the design of ACE Academy-Lambs Lane, but it should be noted that the Master Plan is also conceptual, and minor tweaks/adjustments will be made as each component is studied further. The master plan called for the relocation of Building Services and the construction of a new school facility, which is illustrated by Building “X” in the Master Plan (indicated by the lime green circle). This is where ACE Academy-Lambs Lane is being built.

The project will also add two new practice fields and additional parking near the central part of the campus behind Albemarle High School. Although the full Lambs Loop Road is not being constructed with this project, an additional drive access path to and from the new parking lot will allow vehicles to exit campus from the signal at the Lambs Road/Whitewood Road Intersection. Both of these items are illustrated in the graphic above.

Lastly, the “internal connector road” in front of AHS, indicated by the letter “S” in the Lambs Lane Master Plan, is included in the ACE Academy-Lambs Lane project. No other components of the master plan are included in the project at this time.

Crews will construct a curb and gutter along the road that will capture stormwater and direct it to the existing storm maintenance facility on ACPS property. This will be a notable improvement over conditions prior to the demolition of the Building Services facility, as there were no previous facilities dedicated to stormwater runoff on that portion of the site. The topography to the south of the power lines nearest the property line will be generally unchanged aside from the privacy fence. However, disturbed areas will be seeded and mulched to achieve stabilization per the Erosion Sediment Control Plans.

There is a super silt fence along the property line within the construction fencing. Additional silt fencing has been installed outside the construction fencing to mitigate the effects of stormwater and erosion runoff. The contractor has spread additional grass seed and installed an erosion control blanket along the perimeter to assist with mitigating erosion until the grass is re-established.

No. Additional fiber lines have been buried beneath the existing power lines.

Yes, there will be a 6-foot tall composite privacy fence. There will be American Basswood trees, a more than 40-foot-tall deciduous tree with dense foliage, planted every 40 feet between the road and the property line for additional screening. Renderings and details of these can be seen in the graphics below. Please note that we are continuing to study the exact location of the proposed fence to ensure that it will be located in a place that maximizes screening for the Georgetown Green community.

ACPS will remove any dead trees and tree limbs near the property line that are not to remain. The exact timing of this will be dependent on the contractor’s schedule and their sequence of activities, but will be completed before the project is fully completed.

Georgetown Green residents first expressed interest in the Ace Academy-Lambs Lane project during the Places29-Hydraulic CAC meeting on September 11, 2023. ACPS staff held several meetings for Georgetown Green residents for updates and to gather feedback after being made aware of residents’ concerns and interest. Staff took their feedback into consideration throughout the design process and incorporated many feasible items. Notable meetings specifically for the Georgetown Green community were held on November 6, 2023; November 16, 2023; and April 15, 2024. Examples of improvements that were incorporated into the project based on feedback received at those meetings include: improved stormwater drainage, locating all new parking further away from the Georgetown Green community, and privacy/screening landscaping along the property line.

Per Albemarle County, Virginia Code Ordinance Sec. 7-105, construction, demolition, and maintenance activities are prohibited between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

The following presentations and proposals have been shared with various groups throughout the community.

• July 13, 2023: School Board Presentation
  • July 13, 2023 School Board Meeting Recording
• August 31, 2023: Community Summit Presentation
• September 11, 2023: Places29-Hydraulic Community Advisory Committee Presentation 
  September 28, 2023: School Board Presentation
  • September 28, 2023 School Board Meeting Recording
• November 6, 2023 Georgetown Green Community Meeting Presentation
• November 16, 2023 Georgetown Green HOA Meeting Presentation
• November 21, 2023 Albemarle High School PTSO Meeting Presentation
• November 28, 2023 Planning Commissions Meeting Presentation
• January 11, 2024, School Board Schematic Design Presentation
• January 17, 2024, Board of Supervisors Rezoning Presentation
• January 25, 2024, School Board Schematic Design Approval Presentation
• May 9, 2024, School Board Presentation

The ACE Academy Lambs Lane Rezoning Application was submitted in August 2023.

• ACE Academy Lambs Lane Rezoning Application
• ACE Academy Lambs Lane Rezoning Resubmission - November 2023

Updates on Construction

• February 10, 2025: Albemarle County Public Schools Breaks Ground on the Albemarle Career Exploration Academy at Lambs Lane Campus