Charlottesville City Council to consider supplement for Premier Circle project 

The Charlottesville City Council will welcome Natalie Oschrin to the dais at a meeting that begins at 4 p.m. for a work session before the main event begins at 6:30 p.m. (meeting info) (meeting overview)

My reading of the agenda is uncertain. Will Council elect a chair at the 4 p.m. work session, or will they wait until 6:30 p.m. A strict reading would indicate the chair appointment happens at the very top. Will it be Vice Mayor Juandiego Wade or some other Councilor? Councilor Lloyd Snook has indicated previously he will not seek the position in 2024. 

Anyway, there will be a series of budget presentations at 4 p.m. Council will hear from constitutional officers and the voter registration office. The Constitutional officers are Commissioner of Revenue Todd Divers, Treasurer Jason Vandever, Clerk of Court Llezelle Dugger, and Sheriff James Brown. 

Divers will explain to Council about a request for new software to help track compliance with the city’s rules on short term rentals. 

The regular session begins at 6:30 p.m. The first item will be Council’s appointments to city and regional Boards and Commissions. 

After the consent agenda and the public comment period, there are two action items. The first will set meeting dates for 2024. The second follows up on a commitment City Manager Sam Sanders made in the fall to add additional support to a project on U.S. 29 intended to provide more places for unhoused individuals to live 

“[Premier Circle] is a mixed income project and would provide 80 permanent affordable housing units for very low-income households,” reads the staff report. “[Twelve] units at less than 40 percent [Area Median Income] and 68 units at incomes between 40 percent and 50 percent AMI.”

The $24 million project is being developed by Virginia Supportive Housing using Low-Income Housing Tax Credits on land owned by the Piedmont Housing Alliance. There is a $1.5 million funding gap, and Sander is proposing a transfer of $750,000 from the capital improvement program’s contingency fund. Construction is expected to start in May barring any additional shortfalls. 

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