A year ago today I took a leap of faith to begin bringing you information about what’s happening in the area in and around Charlottesville, with a focus on local meetings. I’m Sean Tubbs, and I’m glad to say that I’m grateful that you and many others have become listeners and readers. The world doesn’t have to be a scary place if people are armed with information and the power of critical thinking.
In today’s Substack-fueled shout-out, Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit the Code for Charlottesville website to learn more, including details on projects that are underway.
In this episode of the program:
The Albemarle County Economic Development Authority endorses ownership change at a section of Southwood
Community members ask questions at Barracks/Emmet public hearing
Several area companies receive funding from Virginia for early-stage research
In a sign that the pandemic continues to be dormant, Albemarle County reopened its office buildings to the public yesterday. Though regular business hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. have resumed, community members who need to transact business are asked to call 434-243-7929 to ensure that the service is available. The last day the buildings were open to the public was March 27, 2020. Public meetings will remain virtual now as the county continues to operate under a local emergency.
At the same time, the Virginia Department of Health today reports another 346 new cases of COVID-19 and the seven-day percent positivity is at 2.3 percent. Today’s count is the highest since May 28 when 404 new cases were reported.
Governor Ralph Northam has announced that his first budget proposal for the Virginia government’s share of federal American Rescue Plan Act funding will be to use $353 million for small businesses and industries that were hit hard by the pandemic. Part of that will be $50 million to assist the Virginia Tourism Corporation with a Virginia Tourism Recovery Program. Another $250 million will be added to the existing Rebuild VA program. The balance of the funding will to the Industrial Revitalization Fund and the Virginia Main Street program. (release)
Two local recovery programs currently have open windows for grant applications. Albemarle County is receiving applications for its Agribusiness Resiliency grant program through July 26 for awards of up to $10,000 through July 26. (apply)
Charlottesville’s Office of Economic Development is accepting applications for the second round of their BRACE Grant for small businesses. BRACE stands for Building Resiliency Among Charlottesville Entrepreneurs and offers up to $2,500 for businesses to “gain resiliency and adapt in response to a threat such as the COVID-19 pandemic.” (more information)
Several area researchers and entrepreneurs will receive an infusion of funding from the state government to advance development of new technologies. Governor Ralph Northam has announced the inaugural recipients of the Commonwealth Commercialization Fund, which seeks to boost research in a variety of fields including autonomous systems, clean energy, cybersecurity, and data analytics. Grants of up to $100,000 will go to firms engaged in stage technology. (click for full release)
“Facilitating research breakthroughs and getting new technologies out of the lab and into the hands of consumers is key to driving economic growth and creating jobs in the Commonwealth,” said Governor Northam.
Recipients in the area include:
Advary of Charlottesville will receive $100,000 for Progress Toward Commercialization of a Novel Hydrogen-Based Product for Pelvic Brachytherapy
AgroSpheres, Inc of Charlottesville will receive $100,000 for Commercialization of Reliable, Sustainable Crop Protection Products
Bonumose, Inc of Charlottesville will receive $100,000 for Making Healthy Sugar Affordable for the Mass Market
Caza Health LLC of Earlysville will receive $99,898 for Improving Women's Health Outcomes – A New Diagnostic Research Tool
Cerillo, Inc of Charlottesville will receive $100,000 for Development of a Low-Cost, Miniaturized, Field-Deployable ELISA Reader
Contraline, Inc of Charlottesville will receive $100,000 for Development of Market Access Strategy for a Novel Male Contraceptive
Icarus Medical LLC of Charlottesville will receive $99,989 for Determination of Clinical Outcomes for a Novel Multi-Compartment Unloader Brace
Laser Thermal Analysis LLC of Charlottesville will receive $50,000 for Steady State Thermoreflectance in Fiber Optics: SSTR-F
Leading Edge Advanced Fibers, Inc. of Charlottesville will receive $100,000 for Development of Ultra-Lightweight Materials for Use in Satellites
Metaform of Charlottesville will receive $97,547 for System for Effectively Integrating Disparate Information Sources
One of several major transportation projects intended to make Charlottesville an easier place to bike or walk passed a milestone last week. In 2017, the city was awarded $8.6 million in Virginia Department of Transportation Smart Scale funds for a project at the intersection of Barracks Road and Emmet Street. The design public hearing was held on July 7, 2021.
“The purpose of the project is to improve the operational performance of the Barracks Road and Emmet Street intersection while also enhancing bicycle, pedestrian and transit facilities serving the adjacent neighborhoods,” said the narrator of a presentation shown at the virtual meeting. (watch the full presentation)
The work will include a new northbound right-turn lane on Emmet Street, an additional west-bound left-hand turn lane on Barracks Road, upgraded traffic signals, increased medians, and a shared-use path up Barracks Road. Part of the work will involve something called a “pedestrian refuge” to allow slower walkers to cross Emmet Street and take a break.
“The scope of bicycle and pedestrian improvements on Barracks Road were less somewhat less defined which provided an opportunity to involve local citizens in the early planning and decision-making process,” the presentation continued.
One man expressed concern that this plan seemed to have come from nowhere and that it may not actually work.
“This has been a long time question for me about Charlottesville and planning and development,” said Joel Bass. “How do we actually develop in this town without working with [the University of Virginia] and getting feedback from them on their plans?”
Bass said what was needed from westbound Barracks Road was a right-hand lane.
Before we hear from city staff, some background. In 1986, Albemarle, Charlottesville and UVA signed a Three Party Agreement and until 2019 there was a public body known as the Planning and Coordination Council (PACC) where projects and planning were discussed in the open. Since late 2019, a private body called the Land Use and Environmental Planning Committee meets and those events are closed to the public. This LUEPC group last met on June 25, 2021 and there is one page of minutes. (read those minutes)
Back to the Barracks/Emmet project. There is a steering committee that includes a member of the UVA Office of the Architect and those meetings are open to the public. Kyle Kling in Charlottesville’s public works department.
“In our department, we meet quarterly with the University to discuss projects the city is administering as well as projects that the University has throughout their Grounds and during those conversations we always discuss how things will trend during the future and how projects may supplement each other so that coordination is ongoing,” Kling said.
Two other Smart Scale projects are in the planning states to the south on Emmet Street. The Emmet Street Streetscape had its design public hearing in December 2019. The Commonwealth Transportation Board just approved $20.6 million in funding for a second phase of that project that would span between Arlington Boulevard and Barracks Road.
There was some concern at the public hearing about the shared-use path that will travel about a third of a mile up the hill on Barracks Road to Buckingham and Hill Top roads. Gregory Kastner was appreciative to get a dedicated facility, but had a question about how that fits into a larger network.
“As you’re on the bike lane coming up the road, how does that transition to the current sidewalk?” Kastner asked. “With it ending at Hill Top, there’s still a fair bit of up to go where the rider is going to be going pretty slow and it really wouldn’t be a great place to get dumped out on the road.”
Kastner said he hoped the scope of the project extended up to Rugby Road where the hill flattens.
Kling said in the short-term, a sharrow would be painted on the road in the short-term as VDOT has strict rules about extending Smart Scale projects past the boundaries outlined in their initial application.
“I do know that there are some plans in the works on the city’s end to kind of continue bike and pedestrian upgrades further into town along this stretch,” Kling said.
About another two-thirds of a mile up Barracks Road is another Smart Scale project to address the intersection of Preston Avenue and Grady Avenue. That project has also not yet begun.
Next steps for the project include final approval by City Council this summer and completion of the design in the winter of 2022. If all goes according to schedule, construction would begin in the spring of 2023.
Now time for another reader-supported public service announcement. The future of passenger rail in Virginia got a lot more brighter this year as the Commonwealth of Virginia signed agreements with CSX to purchase hundreds of miles of railway corridors for three billion dollars. Virginians for High-Speed Rail are holding a transportation town hall on July 15 at 1 p.m. on the “True Story of the Virginia-CSX Deal: Lessons Learned and the Future of Passenger Rail.” Virginia Transportation Secretary Shannon Valentine and Amtrak President Stephen Gardner are the speakers. (register)
Later on tonight, the Albemarle County Planning Commission will get an update from Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville on the redevelopment of Southwood. The 5th and Avon Community Advisory Committee got an update in late June, as reported in this newsletter.
The first phase of construction is underway based on a rezoning granted by the Board of Supervisors in August 2019. Part of the project involves construction of apartments that will be required to be rented to families below sixty percent of the area’s annual median income.
Those units will be constructed by Piedmont Housing Alliance, who are contracting with Habitat to purchase 4.74 acres of land within the first rezoning phase. Habitat had entered into a performance agreement with Albemarle County and the Albemarle Economic Development Authority to provide the below-market units in exchange for up to $1.8 million in funding from the county tied to specific milestones. Under the terms of the agreement, Habitat would also receive tax rebates for either a period of ten years or until Habitat got $1.4 million in rebates. (original performance agreement)
That agreement has to be amended to reflect the new arrangement. The Albemarle Economic Development Authority met on June 30, 2021 to discuss the matter. Richard DeLoria is the assistant county attorney.
“The redevelopment plan is going to work towards 700 to 800 new dwelling units,” DeLoria said. “Four hundred of those units will be affordable dwelling units… The plan is to develop phase one first because that will not displace the residents who are now in the mobile homes.”
DeLoria said the EDA is serving as a conduit for the funds that Albemarle is putting forward, both up-front and through the rebate process. He also said it was always anticipated as a possibility that Habitat would involve another partner.
“From my recollection and discussions before the Planning Commission and before this board is that in order for this project to be viable, Habitat would sell a portion of it to a third-party,” DeLoria said.
In late June, the Virginia Housing Development Authority awarded Piedmont Housing Alliance over a million in Low Income Housing Tax Credits for 70 units in what will be known as Southwood Apartments. The cost to build the remaining 51 apartments in the project that are shown in a conceptual drawing of the Southwood project will be supplemented by another affordability mechanism. (2021 LIHTC rankings)
In order to close the deal, the EDA had to adopt a resolution approving a certificate that determined Piedmont Housing is an entity that will implement some of the terms of the affordability agreed to in the original performance agreement. The resolution was crafted to acknowledge that the EDA was solely serving as a conduit and had no independent verification of the contents of a letter the EDA chair will sign acknowledging the EDA’s endorsement.
“The reason for that is that you never know where these letters will end up or when it’s going to become a problem,” said Jim Bowling, the attorney for the EDA. “My role is to ensure that the board members don’t become entangled in any future disputes.”
DeLoria said that Housing Coordinator Stacy Pethia indicated no issue with a draft endorsement letter, but deputy county attorney Andy Herrick had raised a flag.
“I will say that the attorney for the Planning Commission has had some comments on it, and the significant comment is on page 2, clause number 2 that indicates that the 30-year minimum period of affordability may be shortened in the event of the sale of property,” DeLoria said,
The agreement doesn’t anticipate that as a possibility. That language is required by federal regulations related to Low Income Housing Tax Credits. (approved resolution)
Attorney Tara Boyd represented the Piedmont Housing Alliance at the EDA meeting and explained the apartment complex will be built on Hickory Street in the northeast corner of the property.
Boyd said her job is to do due diligence for PHA, which is a newcomer to the performance agreement.
“We reviewed this and we saw some things that we wanted to get comfort on to make sure that we weren’t stepping into liabilities that either we weren’t intended to have or didn’t make sense for us,” Boyd said. “And one of the things that jumped out was this description of the LIHTC [affordable dwelling units], the 80 LIHTC ADUs, and this 30-year requirement. In order to get the Low Income Housing Tax Credits for these 80 units, the federal [regulations] governing those credits, they provide a 15-year point during the affordability period when the ownership can turnover.”
Boyd said the plan is for Piedmont Housing Alliance to retain ownership for the 30 years but the technicalities of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit require an amendment to reflect that possibility. Piedmont Housing Alliance took advantage of such a point a few years ago to become the majority partner in a consortium that owns Friendship Court.
The Board of Supervisors will consider this matter at an upcoming meeting.
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Finally today, I mentioned at the top of the show that today, July 13, is the anniversary of the first edition of the program. I created this show and newsletter because the pandemic woke up a calling to describe what was happening. I’m fortunate that when I was about 19 I lucked out and found a pathway forward that allowed me to apply my curiosity about the mundane into a career.
If you’re interested, check out the first newsletter. The podcast version is less than five minutes long. (July 13, 2020 Community Engagement Newscast)
I hope to do this for a very long time. Thank you for your support, and for reading. There was a brief time I strayed off the pathway and I’m glad to be back now. I can definitely do so if I can continue to grow the audience and get more people to help cover the cost of me working tirelessly to get this work done:
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I’d like to thank my very good friend Jeffry Cudlin for his contribution of music that you hear throughout most of the shows. He makes me sound good, and I’m grateful for his work. I owe him vocals to finally get the musical act we’ve been practicing on for over 35 years.
July 13, 2021: Barracks/Emmet project moves forward; Area businesses get state funding for early research; Southwood details