Council approves Charlottesville’s purchase of CRHA property on Avon Street

The Charlottesville City Council has authorized Sam Sanders to spend up to $4.181 million to purchase two properties from the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. The funding comes from the American Rescue Plan Act but no final decision has been made about whether the property will be used as a homeless shelter. 

“It’s a real estate transaction,” said Charlottesville Mayor Juandiego Wade. “There’s been no determination at this point as to what’s going to be done with it. I know what’s out there.”

The topic was first raised by City Manager Sam Sanders at the Planning Commission’s January 9, 2024 meeting when he was asked what was planned for addressing calls for a permanent shelter. 

“I had a question on the things up for discussion, the homelessness strategy, do we have any ballpark cost numbers?” asked Planning Commissioner Karim Habbab. 

In response, Sanders told Habbab that there was no specific strategy or cost associated with it yet, but he had a small preview of an item that would come up at Council’s January 22 meeting, one that had been postponed by inclement weather. 

“Not to get ahead of Council, but I’m sharing something with them this week for action that we might able to take to move this particular initiative forward but there’s a lot to be determined in what is the right approach,” Sanders said. 

Here’s how the staff report for the January 22 meeting reads:

“This acquisition supports the City Manager’s commitment to homelessness intervention as it could become the site of a facility that serves to meet that need among others,” reads the report. “The intention is to hold the property until a comprehensive assessment of homeless service needs – including shelter beds -is completed, along with a feasibility study to operate 24/7, 365 days a year.”

The second reading on the matter was on the consent agenda. Between the two readings, the total amount of ARPA funding to reallocate toward the project had increased to $4,181,000. 

Members of the public are given the opportunity to comment on consent agenda items before one vote is taken to approve them all. 

Nearby resident Alex Ommaya expressed concern that the site had been a gas station for many years before being purchased by the CRHA and that there had been previously been a petroleum leak from a tank when the property had the business of Kenny and Jeff’s Auto Repair. 

“In terms of fully understanding what you’re getting into, I think it’s important to populate the environmental issues associated with the site,” Ommaya said.

Ommaya also called on the city to engage with city residents who he said were not consulted before Council selected a potential location for a future homeless shelter. He said if the city proceeds with this site as a place for a permanent shelter, services would be needed to support residents and that cost would need to be covered.

“I think budget should be considered and evaluated for support of those services because if you don’t provide the full suite of services, the problems of the residents become city residents basically and we want to make sure they are adequately addressed,” Ommaya said. 

Ommaya had been the first speaker, and Mayor Wade made his comments before the second speaker.  He said a final decision on what to do with the property would come after the comprehensive study has been completed. 

“What does this community need? What is the real need, the number of beds that is needed?” Wade asked. “We don’t know that yet and once we have that information we will then work with the community, our partners, to determine what that would look like.” 

The consent agenda gave the opportunity for people to offer their thoughts on the purchase and several other people spoke on this topic. 

Rebecca Ellison is an adjacent resident on Hinton Avenue who expressed support for the city purchasing the lot for the stated purpose. 

“While I understand that shelter services are necessary at times, I hope the redevelopment plans also include deeply affordable housing and permanent supportive housing units for those who may not be able to meet the requirements of a residential shelter while they stabilize and move towards permanent housing,” 

Catherine Walden is also an adjacent resident on Hinton Avenue and also supported the city purchasing the land to provide services and that could be an asset.

“But, and you have said you will do this, I want to hold you all to the promise that you will conduct robust community engagement for this process,” Walden said. “It’s a big site. People walk past it every day. School kids get off the bus and walk down to Kindlewood right by it. There’s a lot going on at that site and there’s a lot of potential so I’m going to hold you to your promise.”

Walden also suggested other properties may be more suitable for the purposes of a homeless shelter. 

“A shelter has an element of danger, of uncertainty, potentially with it that can be extremely disruptive for any residential neighborhood, not just this particular one,” Walden said. 

Walden suggested the city instead consider purchasing 310 West Main Street, the former location of the Greyhound Bus station that was purchased in January 2023 for over $2.42 million and is currently on the market.

Assuming the purchase price will be the full amount Council authorized, the city would purchase the land from the CRHA for 52.62 percent above the assessed value.

When asked about this at Council’s meeting on January 22, Sanders responded that a sustainability study commissioned by CRHA estimated that CRHA could have gotten between $7 million and $11 million on a sale to the private market. 

“I’ll add that there are additional community benefits that will come later as CRHA unveils what they would do with the resources that they will receive for this site,” Sanders said at the time. “It checks additional boxes to benefit the city and its economic development strategies.”

On January 26, the CRHA Board of Commissioners, which includes City Councilor Michael Payne, voted to authorize executive director John Sales to purchase 310 East Main Street for up to $2.65 million for a future headquarters and other uses.

The city’s purchase reflects a city government willing to spend money to obtain land and property. In the past year, Charlottesville has:

• Spent $5.9 million to purchase nearly 24 acres of land on the Rivanna River
• Contributed $5 million to the CRHA for half the cost of purchasing 74 units known as Dogwood Housing from Woodard Properties
• The School Board purchased Albemarle’s share of the Charlottesville Area Technical Education Center for $5.3 million

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