Paying for infrastructure is a complex process that involves a lot of financial planning and budget balancing. On Monday, Charlottesville City Council took action related to two ambitious projects.
“So you have a multi-year funding plan that’s been put together by staff in the last year or so with regards to the Stribling Avenue sidewalk and the Buford School reconfiguration projects,” said Sam Sanders, Charlottesville’s Deputy City Manager for operations. “In both instances we have been working with staff and identified a need to make sure that funds are available in this fiscal year.”
The Stribling Avenue sidewalk is associated with the rezoning of 240 Stribling Avenue, a development in Fry’s Spring Council approved last April for up to 170 units. One of the conditions of the Planning Commission’s recommendation for approval was that a sidewalk be built along a roadway which is not up to urban standards.
Here’s some background:
- Stribling improvements key to Fry’s Spring, September 29, 2021
- Council balks at $850K cost for Stribling sidewalks, October 19, 2021
- Southern Development agrees to contribute $900K more to Stribling sidewalk, PC recommends rezoning approval, November 10, 2021
- Council approves rezoning for 240 Stribling, new agreement to pay for sidewalks, April 28, 2022
- NDS: Extent of design work for Stribling Avenue sidewalk improvements not known, September 30, 2022
Sanders said the project is now moving into the design phase and that an additional $500,000 needs to be added to the budget, bringing the total to $5.4 million. That was one resolution. The other was for the Buford project.
“The second is a $1.5 million more or less an advance of [Capital Improvement Program] allocation so that the funds are made available as the team is working,” Sanders said.
The total budget for the renovation and expansion of Buford Middle School remains the same at just over $91,813,410.
“It’s just reorganizing where the money appears so that staff can continue to do that work and keep the project on time and moving forward for a July 2023 start,” Sanders said.
Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook noted that there is a legal challenge against the rezoning at Stribling Avenue.
“What’s the current status of the litigation, the construction?” Snook said.
“The litigation has not actually made it to court yet so it has not gone for a hearing at this time,” Sanders said.
That hearing will be on May 12 at 2 p.m. according to the online portal of the Charlottesville Circuit Court.
“And the litigation is only in regards to the instrument that you approved that we could use with Southern Development, so whether that happens or not, you allocated the funds,” Sanders said.
Council held the first reading and agreed to place the item on the consent agenda for the May 15 meeting.
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