Monthly Archives: April 2023

Charlottesville awarded $7.1 million to upgrade natural gas system

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The Charlottesville City Council has been awarded $7.1 million funding from the federal  government to replace some of the remaining iron pipes that convey natural gas to customers in the city. 

The funding comes from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration in the U.S. Department of Transportation and ultimately from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. 

“The project will enhance the resiliency of the gas system along West Main Street, a central artery that connects downtown Charlottesville to the University of Virginia,” reads a press release sent out this afternoon. 

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A summary of active lawsuits against Charlottesville City Council

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Charlottesville City Council will go into a closed session today after their 4 p.m. work session. The topic is “legal consultation” and so I thought I would do some research into active cases in Charlottesville Circuit Court. This does not include federal lawsuits. Perhaps in the comments, you can leave some of the ones that are still open?

I lacked the ability on a Sunday morning to research how active ‘active’ is but it’s important to track what I can find on the Circuit Court portal. Only members of the Court can access legal documents remotely (except land use records and deeds).

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Council holds first reading of Dogwood Properties purchase

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Tonight Council will take up the second reading of a plan to give $5 million to the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority to acquire a large amount of housing that is currently rented to people with incomes much lower than the area median income. 

The purchase price for the units currently owned by Woodard Properties is $10 million and a “philanthropic donor” previously identified in CRHA documents as Riverbend Development will provide the rest of the funding for the 74 units spread across 26 locations. 

“The city would retain a half interest in this particular portfolio and the request would be for the portfolio to be preserved at 60 percent of the [Area Median Income] based on attrition of units so any individual that currently lives in one of the units would be able to remain in the unit but upon vacancy that unit would be converted to a 60 percent AMI unit going forward,” said Sam Sanders, Charlottesville’s deputy city manager. 

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Council hears first reading of appropriation for Charlottesville Area Transit

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When Charlottesville Area Transit provided information for the current fiscal year in the early 2022, officials sent over an estimate. On April 3, 2023, CAT Director Garland Williams appeared before Council for an appropriation to bring the budget closer to the actual numbers.  

“What you see before you is the operating side of the house for an additional $7,886,856,” Williams said. 

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