Council to take up agreement to partially fund redevelopment of Carlton Mobile Home Park

There are a lot of items on Charlottesville City Council’s first meeting in August which begins at 4 p.m. in City Council Chambers with a work session on the transition plan related to the Americans with Disabilities Act. (meeting overview)

The U.S. Congress passed the ADA in 1990 and the legislation expanded discrimination protections to those with disabilities. Title II of the ADA requires localities and state governments to evaluate their infrastructure and come up with plans to guarantee accessibility. 

“In April 2023, the City of Charlottesville awarded a professional services contract to

[Precision Infrastructure Management] to engage in a self-evaluation and to deliver an updated ADA transition plan to move towards current and full ADA compliance by the City under Title II,” reads the staff report for the work session. 

Council will get a briefing. 

The regular meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. and there is a proclamation for Farmers Market Week from August 4 to August 10 and a proclamation for Soul of Cville 2024 on August 16 and August 17. 

There are some key items on the consent agenda:

• There is the first reading of $420,000 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus program to cover more than half the cost of purchasing two electric school buses. The total cost is $808,576 to purchase the two vehicles, about $65,218 more expensive than purchasing two diesel school buses. (learn more)
• There is the first of two readings of a federal grant of $7,120,650 that will go to replace a 100-year-old cast-iron natural gas pipeline with newer materials. (learn more)
• There is the second reading of a resolution to appropriate $123,614 in funds from the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services for the Victims of Crime Act. The funding will go to the city’s Department of Human Services for their Evergreen program. (learn more)
• There is the second reading of a resolution to amend the Emergency Medical Services Agreement that will see the Charlottesville Albemarle Rescue Squad become a designated component of the Charlottesville Fire Department. (learn more)
• There is second reading of a $3 million grant from the city to the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority toward the $31 million first phase of redevelopment of Sixth Street. (learn more)
• There is second reading of $750,000 in funding for Virginia Supportive Housing’s project at Premier Circle. (learn more)

There are two public hearings. 

The first is on an ordinance to extinguish a natural gas and waterline easement to allow the 130-unit Belmont Condominium apartment development to move forward. (learn more)

The second is on the increase of salaries for the five elected legislative possessions. 

“Current salaries for City Council are so low that they create a potential barrier to candidates that may not be able to serve on Council due to financial concerns,” reads the staff report. “The increase to salary may give people with less financial means the ability to serve, which would broaden the pool of potential candidates for office.”

Learn more in a story I wrote last week as a preview. Legislation filed by Delegate Katrina Callsen increased the maximum cities can pay, but the law that took effect July 1 did nothing to increase the caps for counties. (staff report)

The next item under regular business will amend the city’s Human Rights Ordinance to allow human rights staff to conduct fair housing investigations on behalf of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (staff report)

After that there will be an ordinance to allow the city to contribute financially to an initiative that some local nonprofits are putting together to purchase the Carlton Mobile Home Park. To help with their efforts, Habitat for Humanity for Greater Charlottesville and the Piedmont Housing Alliance are asking for a total amount of $8.7 million over the next five years to support their redevelopment efforts if they are successful in purchasing the six acre property that currently has 67 units. The new zoning would allow unlimited residential development for any entity that ends up owning the space. 

“The financial assistance would be subject to annual appropriation and the agreed-upon terms that will be defined as part of a Support Agreement,” reads the staff report. “No funds will be released until there is confirmation that the offer from PHA and GCHH has been accepted by the buyer and that PHA and GCHH, or some combination of the two, have secured the necessary funding and become the bona fide new owners of the property.” 

Under the ordinance, $325,000 in FY25 funding that had been set aside for a future “land bank” would be repurposed for this project.  None of the city funding would be bondable, which would mean the money would come directly from the general fund and not the capital improvement program. Bonded projects in the CIP are paid over the years like a credit card.

This proposal is the latest in a series of off-budget financial decisions related to affordable housing. Another item would be Council’s approval last year of $5 million for the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority to purchase the 74 units that had been known as Dogwood Housing from Woodard Properties. Another would be the city’s purchase of 405 Levy Avenue from the CRHA earlier this year for $4 million for what was initially billed—and then retracted—as a potential homeless shelter. 

Here’s a link to the draft support agreement as well as the ordinance. 

Then the Council will move over to a transportation project and the selection of a preferred alternative for the Hydraulic Road / District Avenue that is funded through the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Smart Scale Program. There are two options.

“Alternative A removes southbound access to Cedar Hill Drive from the roundabout design, making that connection a one-way northbound only exit for the neighborhood,” reads the staff report. “Alternative B would maintain two-way traffic on the Cedar Hill Drive leg of the intersection. Alternative A would have fewer impacts on privately-owned properties in the City than Alternative B.”

No images are provided in the city’s materials. These are available on the VDOT’s webpage for the project (Alternative A) (Alternative B)

The next three items are resolutions approving the acquisition of land for park and open space uses. All three have previously been discussed.

• The city is set to purchase 0.542 acres on Grove Road at the western end of McIntire Park for $55,000 using funds from the Virginia Outdoors Foundation. This will complete a section of the trail that has been planned for the U.S. 250 bypass. The public hearing for this acquisition was held on May 16, 2022. (learn more) (view presentation)
• The city is set to purchase 0.22 acres of land on Cedar Hill Road for parkland for the Meadows neighborhood. The cost would be $100,000. There is no mention of whether a public hearing is required. There’s also no mention of the Parks and Recreation Master Plan that is underway. (staff report)
• The city is set to spend $10,000 for a 1.064 acre parcel of floodplain land off of Rialto Street that is along Moores Creek for a trail. (staff report)

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 is from the August 5, 2024 Week Ahead edition of the newsletter.