In recent times, the Charlottesville City Council splits its meetings into work sessions and business sessions. There are three items on the work session agenda which begins at 4 p.m. in City Council chambers. (meeting overview)
This time around, the first work session will be a presentation on the Charlottesville Scholarship program that had been originally scheduled for January 16. That meeting had been postponed by inclement weather. (view the presentation)
Next is a presentation on the acronym CDBG.
Is that the Charlottesville Dubious Barcalounger Group? How about the Community Domino Barrier Games? Crypto Dynamic Bidding Games?
Of course, that acronym stands for Community Development Block Grant, referring to a funding mechanism used by the United States Department of Housing and Development.
“The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program provides annual grants on a formula basis to states, cities, and counties to develop viable urban communities by providing decent housing and a suitable living environment, and by expanding economic opportunities, principally for low- and moderate-income persons,” reads the HUD website.
There’s no staff report for this presentation but there is information available on the city’s website about the task force that reviews proposals. Applications for the latest round were due on February 8. And later on in the meeting there will be a proposal to use unspent CDBG funds.
The third presentation is on ranked-choice voting, and there’s also no new information in the packet yet. Council was last briefed on the topic in August 2023, as I wrote about at the time.
The regular session begins at 6:30 p.m. The consent agenda includes the minutes from the various work sessions on Council’s final deliberations on the Development Code and the public hearing.
The latter two are two pages each and contain no substantive information about what happened at those meetings. The adoption of the Development Code is one of the most significant changes in Charlottesville’s history for decades, and will have a major effect on how this place functions going forward.
If not for my work, there would be no written narrative of what Council discussed that gave an insight into what elected officials (and one appointed) were thinking as they went through their deliberations. Here’s my first rough draft of this history from my perspective.
- Dozens speak at City Council public hearing on the Development Code
- Charlottesville City Council holds final deliberations on Development Code, December 18, 2023
- City Council drops gross area cap, approves new zoning after two more hours of debate, December 22, 2023
Before you go: The time to write and research of this article is covered by paid subscribers to Charlottesville Community Engagement. In fact, this particular installment comes from the February 19, 2024 Week Ahead. To ensure this research can be sustained, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or contributing monthly through Patreon.
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