The word today is “preantepenultimate” to describe the ordinal nature of this day out of the 30 days that go by the name September. Twenty-seven is also a cube of three, but that fact is not as relevant we are now on the eve of the eve of the eve of October. I’m Sean Tubbs, warning readers and listeners alike there will be more math in this installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement.
On today’s program:
City police are seeking leads on an investigation into an overnight stabbing at Market Street Park this past weekend
Amazon Web Services has filed a plan with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to disturb federal waterways to build one of two data centers
Albemarle County has begun the process of finding out what community members think about local government services
City Council is briefed on a financial sustainability plan for public housing sites and asked to consider $15 million in funding for redevelopment of Westhaven
First shout-out: Two important health events
In today’s penultimate subscriber-supported shout-out: There are two health-related events coming up in the community and perhaps you or someone you know should attend.
First, September is Sickle Cell Disease Awareness Month and there’s a blood drive taking place on September 29 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Mount Zion First African Baptist Church at 105 Lankford Avenue. Everyone is welcome but Black donors are especially asked to donate blood because one in three will match a patient with Sickle Cell disease. Four tickets to a UVA home football game will be raffled off at the drive.
The next day at the same location there will be a Men’s Day Health Event from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will be health screenings, tournaments, giveaways, and food catered by the Mount Zion First African Baptist Church Nutrition Ministry. Free transportation is available. Contact me for that contact information.
Charlottesville police seek info on stabbing in Market Street Park
As the number of tents in a downtown Charlottesville park continues to grow, the Charlottesville Police Department issued a request for information about an alleged stabbing believed to have occurred early Sunday morning in Market Street Park.
“Officers were dispatched to UVA Medical Center for a report of a victim who had suffered several stab wounds,” reads the press release. “The victim is currently in stable condition; this is not believed to be a random attack.”
Anyone with information is asked to call the Crime Stoppers tip line at 434-977-4000.
Tomorrow, Police Chief Michael Kochis will hold a press conference to release information about an allegation of police brutality earlier this month in the park when officers were enforcing the park’s hours of operations. That allegation was made at the September 18 City Council meeting.
Two days later, City Manager Sam Sanders lifted the curfew in the park while the investigation continues.
Amazon files for water permit for first of two data centers
A company called REB Investment Company has filed a joint application with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to disturb waterways in the footprint of one of two planned Amazon data centers in Louisa County.
The Lake Anna Tech Campus will be built on 153 acres on Kentucky Road in Louisa as part of an $11 billion investment in the county announced late last month.
“As proposed, the project would permanently impact 0.81 acre of palustrine forested wetlands, 0.07 acre of palustrine scrub-shrub wetlands, 0.09 acre of palustrine emergent wetlands, and 3,059 linear feet of stream channel,” reads the summary of the filing.
Such disturbances have to be avoided at all costs or mitigated and in this case, the applicant will purchase wetland and stream credits. They’ll also have to demonstrate to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality that water quality regulations will be followed.
The plans show a two-story administration building, two support buildings and seven buildings for the data center equipment.
A public comment period is open through October 26.
Hat tip to Data Center Dynamics for this story. (Amazon files for 1.7 million sq ft data center campus in Louisa County, Virginia, Dan Swinhoe, September 26, 2023)
Albemarle launches community survey
If you live in Albemarle County, check your mailbox to see if you’ve been selected to respond to a community survey. If not and you really want to grade the county, staff will open up an online survey later this fall.
“Survey responses help inform strategic planning, resource allocation, and program offerings, but most importantly, the survey allows us to formally check-in with our community to see how we are doing to deliver services,” reads a community notice of the survey.
Albemarle last conducted such a survey in late 2019 resulting in a 369-page report that showed high amounts of satisfaction for public safety services and the parks department, but a much lower amount of satisfaction with land use planning as well as recycling services. (read the report)
“Since that time, we initiated a comprehensive plan update and a zoning ordinance modernization project, and introduced electronic submission for many land use applications,” the community notice continues.
The notice also notes that solid waste convenience centers have been opened in Ivy and Keene with a third in the planning stages.
The Center for Survey Research at the Weldon Cooper Center at the University of VIrginia will once again prepare the results.
Second shout-out: eBike Demo Day
In today’s ultimate shout-out: Are you interested in a climate-friendly, family-friendly way to replace short car rides? Have you heard about eBikes? Wondering what kind might be right for you? Join Livable Cville on Sunday, October 8 from 2–4pm at Tonsler Park in Charlottesville for a fun afternoon with lots of eBikes owners you can talk to and several types of eBikes you can take for short test rides. Everyone is invited to their eBike Demo Day. Registration is recommended. To learn more, please visit livablecville.org.
CRHA seeks $15 million in city funds for redevelopment of Westhaven as part of sustainability plan
The agency that owns and operates public housing sites and other affordable housing units throughout Charlottesville wants a major investment from City Council to redevelop Westhaven in the 10th and Page neighborhood.
“The ask from the city will be 15 million,” said John Sales, the executive director of the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. “We’re projecting its going to be a $115 million project which is ten percent of the overall budget for that project.”
The redevelopment is part of a Sustainability Plan that’s been developed by the firm Northern Real Estate Urban Ventures. That same firm assisted the University of Virginia in selecting three sites for its commitment to develop between 1,000 and 1,500 affordable housing units.
This is the latest ask for CRHA an agency that will receive $9 million for redevelopment from the city over the next three years in the Capital Improvement Program.
Earlier this year, Council agreed to give $5 million toward CRHA’s $10 million purchase of the 74 units across the city known as Dogwood Housing. That purchase is not within the scope of the sustainability plan, nor are the other three land purchases made by CRHA within the last two years.
Council last reviewed the planning for the sustainability plan in March of this year. They got an update from the firm’s Gina Merritt at their meeting on September 18. (view the presentation)
“The intent of the study was to demonstrate the ability of the agency to be a viable agency over the long term and to prove that the agency’s plan for redevelopment hopes to elevate and stabilize the agency’s overall long term financial position,” said Gina Merritt of NREUV.
The work involved a thorough review of CRHA’s public housing stock as well as market research.
“We did conceptual plans for two sites,” Merrits said. “We researched and produced case studies. We developed a road map which included outlining goals for the whole study. We formulated along with CRHA a redevelopment strategy for the balance of the portfolio and then lo and behold we created a sustainability plan.”
Merritt said CRHA will work with development partners to redevelop specific sites and to renovate some of the existing low-density sites. CRHA would earn additional revenue from selling at least one property, collecting developer fees, and getting more money from the redeveloped properties. Overall, CRHA’s portfolio has aged over the decades.
“Essentially what we found is that in order to bring these assets up to par and extend their useful life, including all the deferred maintenance, it would cost CRHA $40 million in basically capital expenses,” Merritt said.
The sustainability plan suggests redevelopment by creating a series of privately owned developments that are still managed by the public Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority.
Under one scenario, CRHA would expand from around 376 units to 896 total units.
“One hundred of those units we’re estimating [at] Avon/Levy would be developed by a third party and so the net new units that CRHA would be responsible for would be about 796 units,” Merritt said.
Merritt referred to 405 Avon Street, a site of a former automotive repair shop purchased by the CRHA in 2010. The 1.2 acre site will be zoned Node Mixed-Use 10 under the future Development Code.
“Small site, but high value in terms of the ability for an outside developer to come and build say a market rate development that it could be worth selling that property and yielding a significant value for the sale of the land and being able to create a reserve for CRHA for the future,” Merritt said.
The two parcels that make up that site have a 2023 assessment of $2,649,400. One of the scenarios for this project assumes CRHA could get $11 million for the sale of the property. The other is for a long-term lease.
There are two scenarios for development in the packet neither of which would include a public subsidy.
A public subsidy would be requested to assist with the redevelopment of Westhaven, CRHA’s oldest residential complex. The sustainability plan has three scenarios.
“We looked at three different options in terms of density,” Merritt said. “All of them really need between $66 million and about $34 million in subsidy and so that’s what we looked at in terms of strategy. Can we do development plans with different densities to determine how much capital would be need?”
Merritt said the redevelopment plan would yield $23 million in developer fees, $11 million for the the Avon-Levy site, and $21 million in additional cash each year.
All of this depends on CHRA continuing to change the way it does business with a mixture of different revenue streams from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and by improving upon rent collection. The sustainability plan assumes positive redevelopment will yield financial results.
“For the next 20 years, 30 years, you will see that the agency actually starts making a lot more money because one, you’re creating new voucher opportunities, you’re collecting more rent, you’re collecting fees on those vouchers, and again you’re redeveloping the properties, collecting developer fees, as well as being able to sell an asset, yields a lot of cash for the sustainability for the agency.”
Merritt said CRHA has a very generous development partner. A name wasn’t mentioned, but it’s Riverbend Development .
“The housing authority has a great partner in Charlottesville that they work with that helps support big transactions from a financial perspective and allows the housing authority to collect all of the developer fee, which is just awesome,” Merritt said. “What you typically see is housing authorities are making 25 percent of 50 percent of the developer fee.”
Later in the discussion, Sales explained more about what these fees actually are.
“Developer fees are captured when you develop a project,” Sales said. “Crescent Halls and South First Street Phase One are the first project CRHA has developed since public housing was created.”
Sales said in those projects, half of the developer fees were put back into the project to cover cost overruns to avoid asking the city for more money to more funds to complete.
Now back to that $15 million ask for funding for Westhaven. That request was not within the packet of the work session but was the main point of Council’s discussion.
Sales said Westhaven will be redeveloped with input of existing residents.
“We’ve been engaging with them already,” Sales said. “We’re looking to hire an architect. We’re getting ready to put that out now so through the engagement process so far we’ve talked to residents about economic opportunities in the site. Child care facilities, recreational facilities, and of course more housing including homeownership opportunities.”
Such a homeownership opportunity will be part of the second phase of CHRA’s redevelopment of the 6th Street properties.
A nonprofit called simply Preservation of Affordable Housing will develop a two acre site at 10th & Wertland as part of UVA’s initiative. Sales said he’s been in talks with that entity already about possibly having some of those units be used to relocate some of the existing residents on a temporary basis during construction. In addition, CRHA is partnering with Piedmont Housing Alliance for the redevelopment of the Piedmont site on Fontaine Avenue.
Sales said the local investment is necessary due to gradual reductions in federal funding over time. He also said he will ask Merritt and her team to add revenues from the non-public housing CRHA now runs.
“That portfolio, Dogwood alone, just the 74 units, produced more than all of our public housing units combined in a month,” Sales said.
Sales said CRHA also collects a small fee for allowing bonds for the redevelopment of Midway Manor to be issued under its legal authority.
“We’re talking to two other developers about doing that for their project where CRHA is going to get a small fee every year for providing tax bonds,” Sales said.
Sales said the $15 million in city investment would be leveraged to raise up to $150 million to apply for grants such as HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods program.
“We think Westhaven will be a great candidate based upon its history and so we’re going to put in an application for that and that will be for $50 million,” Sales said.
Vice Mayor Juandiego Wade said he wanted to support the $15 million but wanted to know when the money would be required. Sales said the official ask would be for $3 million a year beginning in FY26. The capital improvement program currently shows $3 million for that year.
Other stories:
Public housing projects move forward after Council talks on CRHA financial sustainability, CCDC property tax liability, October 24, 2020
Council approves HUD-required recovery agreement for Charlottesville public housing, October 26, 2020
Reading material:
First full-time school board attorney announces retirement, CBS19, September 26, 2023
Legal analyst says homeless encampment at Market Street Park could set a precedent, Garrett Whitton, CBS19
The end of 582 comes in a few paragraphs:
I’ve been wanting to write up that CRHA story since I previewed it in the Week Ahead last week and now I’ve finally had a chance to do so. I don’t think any other entity is covering this story in-depth and I really would have liked to have had it out recently. There’s a lot of activity happening in local government as elected and appointed officials work for solutions. These solutions are usually complex, and that’s what I aim to try to break down in a meaningful way.
Hundreds of you are paying for it, and there are now thousands reading and maybe dozens listening. If you’re reading this, I hope you do know you have the opportunity to hear people speak in their own voices, like you might hear on public radio.
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September 27, 2023: City Council briefed on CRHA's plan for sustainability including a $15 million request for funding for Westhaven redevelopment