Editor’s note: I accidentally sent yesterday’s email to the wrong setting, so you most likely didn’t get it. I caught this well after sending it out and there’s no way to send it again without creating a new post. I’ve reused some of the info in today’s newsletter, so some of you may have seen this twice! Do take a look at yesterday’s edition if you missed it.
Today’s shout-out is for the Parent-Teacher Organizations of the Charlottesville City Schools, and their request for donations to the Reopening Fund: Ready to Teach, Ready to Learn. Visit their website for more information and to make a contribution.
There are another 1,005 new cases of COVID-19 reported today by the Virginia Department of Health and another 23 new deaths. The seven-day positive testing rate remains at 6.4 percent statewide. There is one more death reported in Charlottesville for a total of 46 to date in the Thomas Jefferson Health District. The district reported 25 new cases today with 12 from Albemarle, eight from Fluvanna, three from Charlottesville and three from Greene. In the district the seven-day positive testing rate is at 5.5 percent. That figure was at 6.4 percent on August 18.
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The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s Board of Commissioners last night got an update on the redevelopment of public housing sites in the city. The long-awaited renovation of Crescent Halls as well as the first phase of new units at South First Street are getting closer to breaking ground. Dave Norris is the director of redevelopment at CRHA.
“We’re making good progress in getting to closing on our first two projects and there’s a number of hoops we have to jump through but one of the final hoops was a approval from the fair housing office at HUD,” Norris said.
HUD is the acronym for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and their approval was for something called the Site and Neighborhood Standards Review Process. Norris said the city has assisted CRHA in getting bonds to finance the project, and that closing on all of the financial paperwork should take place by October 1.
“And then it will take a little bit of time to mobilize and get some construction activity going but we’re still hoping to break ground this calendar year, and that’s to be determined, but we’re getting there,” Norris said.
There are currently 58 vacancies among the city’s 376 public housing units as of August 24, with 26 of those at Crescent Halls in order to prepare for those units to be upgraded as part of the renovation. Executive Director John Sales said they are working on ways to get those units refurbished so they can be returned to service.
“So right now we are working with Habitat,” Sales said. “Habitat has pledged us some construction managers and possible volunteers to assist us with a few units. We currently have a contractor going through some of the units as well.”
Sales said 49 of the CRHA’s housing vouchers are in use with families living in an affordable living arrangement, and there is a goal of adding 20 more in recent weeks. However, there are obstacles to doing so.
“Unfortunately, the more vouchers we put on the street, the harder it is for individuals to find housing units and we already have low numbers of being successful in finding units in a short amount of time,” Sales said, adding it takes between 90 and 150 days for a housing voucher recipient to actually move in.
The CRHA has been discussing ways to incentivize property owners to accept the vouchers.
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The Charlottesville Chamber of Commerce has been identified as a world leader for the way it has helped local businesses adjust to the COVID-19 pandemic. The International Association of Facilitators will give the Chamber one of 17 Facilitation Impact Awards for the Project Rebound program. The recognition also goes to the Organizational Excellence program at the University of Virginia. In May, the Chamber held over three dozen meetings to get input before launching its Blueprint for Economic Resiliency in the Greater Charlottesville Region on June 25, 2020. The facilitation work is credited with translating business concerns into concrete ideas embedded in the plan. The award will be handed out at a virtual ceremony on October 26.
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Virginia’s coastline was hit fairly hard earlier this month by Tropical Storm Isaias which spawned several tornadoes on the eastern shore and caused flooding throughout much of the Commonwealth. That’s part of a continuing trend toward a more turbulent climate. This fall, the Northam administration will release a master plan to deal with rising sea levels, which are experienced now in the form of more frequent sunny day flooding.
Part of that will include greater data about where flooding occurs, data coordinated by the Commonwealth Center for Recurrent Flooding Resiliency. Retired Navy Admiral Ann C. Phillips is Northam’s Special Assistant for Coastal Adaptation and Protection.
“You can go in and look at coastal Virginia using this new nuisance flood overlay data and the intent is that it will help localities and communities better understand the context of nuisance flooding which we are seeing more and more and more of and which we will see more and more and more of in our future, and then overlay that with sea level rise projections and also with a cat 1 or a moderate Northeaster storm,” Phillips said.
Phillips said nuisance flooding today in some places will lead to permanent inundations but there can be remedies that also improve water quality. Earlier this year, the General Assembly passed legislation that strengthens the role the plan will play in Virginia’s conservation programs. Phillips made her comments Friday at the annual meeting for Resilient Virginia. The group aims to increase planning for and awareness of adaptation to a changing climate.
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The word of the day in government meetings today is “reservoir.” First, the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority will meet at 2:15 p.m. One topic will be the unveiling of a master plan for land that had been purchased in the 1980’s for the Buck Mountain Reservoir. That project never went forward because of the presence of an endangered species. Some original landowners have requested the land to be sold back to them. (master plan) (full agenda)
The Greene County Board of Supervisors will get an update on the proposed water supply plan that was to have been undertaken by the Rapidan Service Authority. Last month the Madison County and Orange County representatives on the RSA Board voted to stop collecting facility fees to pay for impoundment along White Run for a new reservoir. Prepare for this by reading Terry Beigie’s latest story in the Greene County Record.
Another meeting today is the Charlottesville Housing Advisory Committee which meets at 1 p.m. The Rivanna Solid Waste Authority also meets shortly before the RWSA. The two will hold a joint strategic planning meeting as part of the RWSA agenda. (full agenda)
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Thanks for reading or listening! Why not do both? Sometimes you will see differences between what I record and what ends up in the text. Either way, I’m really glad you are here. Please consider sending on this edition to a friend, family member, co-worker, or elected official.
August 25, 2020: Charlottesville public housing update; Chamber facilitates its way to an award