In today’s Substack-fueled shout-out, would you like to use your tech, data, design, or research skills in the name of community service? Code for Charlottesville may be the place for you! Code for Charlottesville will be holding an orientation session on April 21 where you can learn more about their streetlight mapping project, criminal record expungement data analysis, or their pro-bono tech consulting for local nonprofits. Learn more on the Code for Charlottesville website.
On today’s show:
Charlottesville City Council gets an update on the current year’s financial shorta
Albemarle’s Places29-Hydraulic Committee gets updates on Boys and Girls Club, Charlotte Humphris park, and Stonefield
Even though the Charlottesville City Council meeting from April 19, 2021 was the shortest in recent memory, the next two newsletters will include info from that event. They were finished with business by 8:30 p.m, something that almost never happens.
Last week, Charlottesville City Council adopted a $192.2 million budget for the fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2021. Yesterday the five Councilors got an update on efforts to plug the revenue shortfall expected in the current fiscal year due to declines in meals and lodging taxes.
“We’re now projecting revenues will come in at approximately $8.3 million lower than what our adopted budget amounts are,” said Ryan Davidson, a senior budget management analyst with the city of Charlottesville.
That estimate is based on meals tax revenues that are $3.7 million less than anticipated and lodging taxes that are $2.73 million less. This is the last quarterly report of the fiscal year, which now means staff will have to identify ways to make up the shortfall.
“We’ve talked about the COVID reserve of approximately $6.7 million and and on top of that there was also CARES funding from the first round of federal funding that came through that was previously authorized for FY21 operating expenses,” Davidson said. “We have some revenue decreases that should have some corresponding expenditure decreases.”
The budget will be further reconciled as actual revenues come in, as well as the city’s first receipt of proceeds from the American Rescue Plan. Davidson said he would share more about that with Council and the public as more information become available.
Council also got a preview of the United Way of Greater Charlottesville’s Envision campaign. Ravi Respeto is the organization’s president.
“It’s really about looking to the future of what Charlottesville can be while we work together to look at reducing poverty in our community, working as nonprofit partners and peers toward a common goal,” Respeto said.
The plan has two strategic goals. One called Financial Stability seeks to help 1,800 families out of poverty by 2026 by getting them to a household income of $45,000, which is considered the threshold for survival in Charlottesville. The second is a School Readiness goal to increase the number of kindergarteners who pass literacy benchmarks.
“We’ve been doing school readiness in our community for many, many years but financial stability is becoming really our key focus and sort of the bedrock for all of the work that we’re doing,” Respeto said.
Respeto also detailed the United Way’s increasing move toward providing direct services in collaboration with governments and other nonprofits. She said the Community Emergency Relief Fund helpline receives between 250 and 300 calls a day.
“And we suspect that the need isn’t going to go away any time soon,” Respeto said.
Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker noted that one resource known as the Pathway Fund is running out of money. She wanted the city to find a way to provide additional revenue out of a sense of urgency.
“One thing can set a family back and it could be some one thing as simple as a car repair but it has that kind of domino effect,” Walker said.
“It absolutely does,” Respeto said.
“Families who are already living under constant poverty, it’s hard for them to get out of it,” Walker said.
Later in the meeting, Council discussed replenishing the Pathway fund. We’ll have more from that discussion in a moment.
At the same time Charlottesville City Council’s work session was wrapping up, the Places29-Hydraulic Community Advisory Committee was getting underway. They learned that the Boys and Girls Club of Central Virginia is going to break ground in June on their new facility at the Albemarle County’s Lambs Lane Campus. James Pierce is the CEO.
“We’re very excited about all of the county support we have received to this point,” Pierce said. “That means we have a target date for completion and opening with the school year of 2022.”
The facility is expected to provide after-school education and activities for around 300 people a day who are between the ages of 13 and 16. A special use permit request will be made to turn the area into a community center that can be used by more than just the Club.
The CAC also got an update on an effort to refurbish Charlotte Humphris Park, one of the largest parks in Albemarle’s growth area. Kimberly Swanson is a member of the Places29-Hydraulic CAC.
“So the park itself is 23 acres without about one and a half miles of paved trails,” Swanson said. “There’s a forested portion. Towards the back is a meadowed, more open area and there’s also a wetland area.”
Benches and a natural play area are two of the amenities that have been added to the park.
The CAC also got an update from the manager of Stonefield, Samantha Strong. The commercial area’s main tenant is just about to reopen after over a year of being shutdown for the pandemic.
“We do have a date for the movie theater,” Strong said. “We are less than a month away so we are working diligently away on getting everything ready.”
Strong said Splendoras will reopen in Stonefield and is working on inspections. The space formerly used by Pier One will be divided into three spaces, one of which will become a Torchy’s Tacos franchise.
“They’re out of Texas and this is their first location on the east coast area here,” Strong said.
Stonefield was rezoned by the Board of Supervisors in 2003, but ground was not broken until May 2011 for many reasons including the Great Recession. The original developer had rezoned the land for a 65 acre development that was originally promoted to have more of an urban form, with multiple story buildings.
A second developer brought the property and first built single-story retail establishments. A third development firm, O’Connor Capital Partners, purchased the property in late 2016 and has since returned to the original vision. Construction of new multifamily apartments has also led to more pedestrian interconnectivity to nearby streets. Supervisor Diantha McKeel had this description, though the handrails aren’t yet installed.
“If you think about where the Thai restaurant is, down, there’s a staircase there you can walk down into Stonefield, which is pretty cool,” McKeel said.
Albemarle County has agreed to participate in a partnership to build below-market units for people at risk for being homeless at the site of the Red Carpet Inn. Albemarle’s Office of Housing will commit 80 of its federal housing vouchers to Virginia Supportive Housing, one of three nonprofits working to redevelop the site in a project now known as Premier Circle. Virginia Supportive Housing worked with the City of Charlottesville on the 60-unit Crossings at 4th and Preston which opened in March 2012.
Virginia Supportive Housing has submitted an application for low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC) for their portion of the Premier Circle project, which also includes 60 units being pursued by Piedmont Housing. Last month, the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation awarded a $4.25 million grant for the project. For all of the details on the project to date, there’s this article from Allison Wrabel in the Daily Progress.
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