We are now in the antepenultimate day of the first quarter of 2023, meaning the water rabbit has only nine more months to celebrate their rotation in one of the zodiacs that provide narrative for many of the eight billion people on the planet. Not enough research has been done to determine if that system or any other system has any effect on the creation of this or any other installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement. But I’m Sean Tubbs, always trying to keep an open mind.
On today’s program:
The second set of draft rules for future zoning in Charlottesville are out
A new working group will be formed to look at community safety in the region
Charlottesville is updating pedestrian signals to make them safer with those with visual impairments
The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority shares details of its plans to prepare to provide affordable units for decades to come
First shout-out goes to the Rivanna Conservation Alliance
In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out, the Rivanna Conservation Alliance wants wildlife and nature photographers to enter their second annual photography contest! They want high-resolution photos related to the Rivanna watershed and the winning entries will be displayed at the 2023 Rivanna Riverfest on May 20. The two categories are 16 and under, and those over the age of 17. You can send in two entries, and the work may be used to supplement Rivanna Conservation Alliance publications. For more information, visit rivannariver.org.
Second set of draft zoning rules released
The Cville Plans Together initiative has released the second set of rules for how Charlottesville’s new zoning code will work. Module 2 covers the development standards.
“The standards set requirements for things like vehicle and pedestrian access, automobile and bicycle parking, planting standards, tree removal, transitional buffers and screening, signs, and lighting,” reads the executive summary.
Here are direct links to the files:
Draft Development Standards (.PDF)
Draft Affordable Dwelling Unit (ADU) Monitoring and Procedures Manual (.PDF)
Recorded Overview Presentation (.PDF) (video link)
Executive Summary of Module 2 (.PDF)
Sensitive Community Area Considerations (.PDF)
I’ve not had a chance to review any of this yet but will do so for the next installment of the newsletter. I’d rather go through it before saying too much but take a look at the image below for the top highlights sans detail.
UVA Equity Center to facilitate working group on community safety
One of the biggest topics so far this year has been the increase in gun violence including several homicides. Now the area’s three governments are forming a new committee to come up with ideas to help.
“Facilitated by UVA’s Equity Center and co-chaired by UVA and community representatives, the working group will include representation from the City of Charlottesville, Albemarle County, UVA, nonprofit organizations, and other groups from across the community,” reads a press release sent out Tuesday.
The working group will make recommendations on how public safety organizations can better coordinate, how more programming can be created to give younger people more to do, and how to improve mental and behavioral health. The report to UVA will go to the President’s Council on UVA-Community Partnerships.
That group has several other initiatives currently underway and here are some updates:
Members of the affordable housing group are reviewing proposals from several nonprofit groups for redevelopment for 10th & Wertland in Charlottesville and the Piedmont site in Albemarle County. (Nonprofits have been asked to work on UVA housing projects, February 15, 2023)
A group working on the local economy released a report last June that seeks to find ways to increase purchasing of goods and services by UVA from minority and women-owned businesses. UVA has since responded. (report) (response)
The Pipelines and Pathways group released a report that made recommendations about how UVA could train and hire more community members. (report) (response)
The Early Childhood Education workgroup has not yet released a report but the website indicates that it is still in development.
A Public Health workgroup is also working on a report.
There is no work group for the provision of public infrastructure.
Audio signals being added to Charlottesville pedestrian signals
The City of Charlottesville this week is adding new technology to more than two dozen pedestrian signals to make it safer for those with visual impairments to cross the road. The city is installing an app called Polara that delivers this service,
“With this new system, a person approaching an intersection can open the app to listen to a voice that speaks with the pedestrian signal,” reads a press release sent out Tuesday. “This allows anyone to virtually activate the pedestrian signal from their phone—provided they are within five feet of the signal.”
The city is hoping to get 26 of the signals done this year and have another 50 done within the next six months. The total cost is around $600,000 and the funds come from the capital improvement program for infrastructure to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
In today’s other two shout-outs:
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 codeforcville.org to learn about those projects.
The final comes from another Patreon supporter who wants you to go out and read a local news story written by a local journalist. Whether it be the Daily Progress, Charlottesville Tomorrow, C-Ville Weekly, NBC29, CBS19, WINA, or some other place I’ve not mentioned - the community depends on a network of people writing about the community. Go learn about this place today and get as many perspectives as you can.
Council updated on CRHA’s sustainability plan
There’s a lot of activity happening at the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority as new housing units come on line and as the entity prepares to continue purchasing new properties. To guide the efforts, the agency hired a firm to help draft a sustainability plan. (view the presentation)
“It was a large process undertaking where we looked at our actual housing stock, current housing stock, the condition of that housing stock, and looked at what it would take to continue to maintain that property,” said John Sales, CRHA’s executive director. “And also what would happen if we redevelop and the options available for us to redevelop based on the market.”
The report is not yet finalized but City Council got a preview at their work session on March 20, 2023. This was led by Gina Merritt of Northern Real Estate Urban Ventures, a firm that acts as both a developer and an advisor.
“We have developed over 7,500 units of housing, over seven million square feet of development, valued at $2.1 billion,” Merritt said. “We’ve served over 19,000 residents and we have won 27 awards.”
Their work to date includes a physical assessment of existing conditions, a market analysis of affordable housing, and a review of case studies of best practices across the country. They’ve been working with residents and staff on two specific sites and will eventually deliver a phasing plan for future redevelopment efforts. All of this will culminate in a strategy.
“The team will take the work product from all of these tasks and run financial models using a variety of financial sources and deal structures to determine the best financial approach for redevelopment and income generation,” Merritt said.
The plan lists all maintenance and capital projects that need to occur in the near- to mid- future and offers opportunities to make planning choices about how to proceed.
“What can you do with an asset if you are not going to redevelopment it right away, but you’d like save some money?” Merritt said. “If you had capital improvement dollars for example and you needed to wait five or ten years to redevelop a complete asset, there are things you can do in the interim to save yourself some money.”
For instance, lights could be updated with newer bulbs to reduce energy costs, as well as replacing doors and windows.
One of those two sites is the CRHA-owned property at the intersection of Avon Street and Levy Avenue. It’s a former automotive garage.
“So, Avon/ Levy? Excellent location,” Merritt said. “Six minute walk to downtown. There’s no grocery store within two miles so that is an opportunity. The challenge is that the site is small and compact and because of that requires structured parking.”
Merritt said that construction costs are currently higher than usual, which makes it harder to get deals done in the current climate. She presented two concepts for this site including a 100-unit four-story building with commercial space. That would require about 240 parking spaces under current zoning.
The other site look is at Westhaven, where Merritt said there is the opportunity to build many more units should CRHA want to, but she listed one challenge.
“There’s no direct access to Main Street and as you know the site backs up to some parcels that do connect to Main Street so that’s a challenge,” Merritt said. “Definitely looking for opportunities to connect there. There’s a site that one of CRHA’s partners owns that hopefully we can work that to be able to connect to Main Street.”
That site is 835 West Main Street which is owned by Fluvanna Holdings LLC which traces back to Riverbend Development. Merritt said if the population there were tripled, it would put a strain on the utility infrastructure.
There are three options for Westhaven with 354 units and 89,000 square feet of commercial space in the first one option. That would include 553 parking spaces.
What will actually be built will depend on resident engagement as well as figuring out what is economically feasible.
“So now that we have multiple options we’ll run numbers on all of the options and figure out what makes sense,” Merrritt said. “Especially because Westhaven is so large and we have to figure it out over time and there is a variety of product types. It’s going to take a little bit of time and effort to play around with the numbers and figure out what works.”
The full report complete with a funding strategy will be presented to Council and the CRHA Board in the next few years.
Sales said that Westhaven will likely be redeveloped as a site with below-market units, but Avon Street could be developed at market rate in order to provide revenue to subsidize the cost of other housing units in the CRHA portfolio.
“We don’t see that as an opportunity for a lot of affordable housing due to the cost of developing that site,” Sales said.
City Councilor Brian Pinkston wanted a definition of what “sustainability” means in connection with CRHA properties. Sales was able to provide one.
“Looking at the units but also looking at the market,” Sales said. “Based upon our waitlist for [housing choice] vouchers and public housing and the studies that have been completed by the city, how many units are needed and at what income levels? And then how does CRHA’s mission fit into the number of units needed and what resources we can bring to the table to provide those units?”
Sales said the work is part of CRHA updating its revenue model to allow for more sources rather than just rent from tenants and funding from the federal government. This involves a lot of changes to the way business has been done.
“When a housing authority exits the public housing program they are given opportunities to build either new units or they can receive a voucher as a replacement unit for that public housing unit,” Sales said. “The housing authority has opted into receiving a voucher and then we’re using that voucher to place it on that site.”
Current examples are Midway Manor and the current Friendship Court where units are subsidized by the federal government but the units are not public housing. When Crescent Halls finally reopens later this spring after its renovation, Sales said half of the units will be split between traditional public housing and vouchers.
“The voucher units are doubling or tripling the income that Crescent Halls was producing pre-development,” Sales said.
However, public housing units provide more protections for tenants according to Sales.
Toward the end of the discussion, Sales hinted at the forthcoming acquisition of more properties. He said these will also have vouchers added to them which will bring in more revenue for CRHA. That’s already the case with properties the CRHA bought last year on Coleman Street and Montrose Avenue.
The sustainability plan being created by Northern Real Estate Urban Ventures will not cover the proposed acquisition of Dogwood Properties. Charlottesville will have to contribute $5 million but has not yet approved that expenditure.
Reading material:
CATEC to get new name as Charlottesville pursues takeover, Charlottesville Daily Progress, March 26, 2023
CRHA to purchase 74 affordable housing units at a total of $10 million, Dryden Quigley, NBC29, March 27, 2023
CCS superintendent: Albemarle students won't see change as city takes ownership of CATEC, Felicity Taylor, CBS19, March 27, 2023
Allison Spillman launches campaign for Albemarle County School Board seat, Alice Berry, Charlottesville Daily Progress, March 28, 2023
Concluding paragraphs for #515
There’s so much more to go through from the second set of zoning, and I will be getting to that in the very near future. The good thing about doing a regular newsletter and podcast is that there’s always another one. That’s because one in four subscribers pay something to keep Town Crier Productions afloat. I am grateful and hopeful that ratio will continue as this venture continues.
A sponsorship from Ting is one way that the venture will continue. They match initial payments for Substack subscribers which is fantastic.
If you sign up for Ting at this link and enter the promo code COMMUNITY, you’ll get:
Free installation
A second month for free
A $75 gift card to the Downtown Mall
Thanks to Wraki for incidental music in the podcast, which you can’t hear unless you listen to it. Check out the work on BandCamp!
March 29, 2023: Second set of draft zoning rules for Charlottesville released; Council briefed on CRHA's sustainability plans