The penultimate Charlottesville City Council meeting for 2024 can perhaps be seen as a preview for big decisions to be made in 2025. The five elected officials meet at 4 p.m. in City Council Chambers for the third of three preliminary budget work sessions for Fiscal Year 2026 followed by a regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. (meeting info)
As with the first budget briefing and the second budget briefing, the presentation has not been made available in advance. This one is on public safety and transportation, two of the pillars in the city’s strategic framework.
“Under Public Safety, the key headings will be: Fire Services, Alternative Response, and Emergency Management,” reads the staff report. “Under Transportation, the key headings will be: staffing, network performance, climate action, and critical needs.”
There are two items on the consent agenda worth noting. One is the first of two readings to approve $314,765.28 that comes from a grant from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Rescue’s Recreation Trails Program. The city is paying a $78,691.32 match. This is not the only source of revenue for the project. In November, Council approved a transfer of $55,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funding to this project as I wrote at the time. Take a look at the staff report for more information.
The second item is the first and only reading of an emergency use of $200,000 from the city’s Capital Improvement Plan contingency fund to address repairs at the Fontaine Fire Station.
“Recent rain events have uncovered an underground cavity that threatens to undermine the structural stability of the drive apron at the Fontaine Fire Station,” reads the staff report. “This apron is the approach to the parking bays for the fire apparatus which operate at Fontaine, and a structural failure while under load could be catastrophic.”
The report faults shoddy workmanship related to the construction of the station ten years ago.
“The cavity was caused by a utility vault that was not properly and permanently sealed when the original utility work was done,” the report continues.
Will that contractor pay a penalty?
During the report from City Manager Sam Sanders, Council will get an update on the creation of a master plan for the parks and recreation department. A key component is a plan to pave 12 miles of trails throughout the city.
The master plan also includes new amenities for some city parks but not all. Take a look here and these are some of the highlights:
- The tennis courts at Tonsler Park would be converted to multipurpose courts to accommodate the sports of pickleball and futsal. The baseball diamond would be upgraded and a cricket pitch would be added.
- A community garden would be build in the lower section of Washington Park and an existing baseball diamond is being eyed for a potential dog park. Two new picnic shelters would be added.
- In Court Square Park, a formal plaza with a fountain would be built where a Confederate statue formerly stood.
- A plaza would also be installed at Market Street Park with an “event lawn” created in the southern half of the space.
- A new Kindlewood Park would be created with community gardens, bench swings, and other amenities.
All of this comes with a price tag of $75,729,672 with projects divided into three categories. Most of the spending is anticipated to take place in FY32 through FY36.
There will also be a presentation of this on December 17 at 6 p.m. at the Carver Recreation Center.
After that presentation, the meeting really gets underway. The first regular item is a public hearing on the supplemental appropriation of over $7.5 million in capital funding for Charlottesville Area Transit. The majority ($5.15 million) comes from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation with $2.12 million in federal funding and a $302,852 match from the city. According to the staff report, this will be used for:
- Automated Vehicle Locating software
- Four replacement engines
- Vehicle support equipment
- Three support vehicles
- Two battery-electric buses (under a pilot program agreed to in March)
- Eight diesel buses (replacements)
The pilot also included the purchase of hydrogen vehicles but that won’t take place until FY2027. Read the details in a story I wrote back in March.
Next up is the presentation on the city’s audit of the FY2024 books. A surplus is expected, but how large? The materials are not available at publication time. As with previous surpluses, Council will likely spend all of the money.
In the past four years, there has been an influx in a lot of cash from the federal government to help localities recover from the COVID-19 pandemic which began with a shut-down of nearly everything. In addition to the original CARES Act, there was also the American Rescue Plan Act which was signed into law by President Joe Biden in the spring of 2021.
“The City of Charlottesville received a total of $19,609,708 from UST in two equal tranches in May 2021 and June 2022,” reads the staff report.
The city has used the funds for over 50 projects since then. Localities have until December 31 of this year to tell the federal government how all of the will be spent and all of the money has to be spent by December 31, 2026.
There is $3.7 million in funds that have not been spent and Sanders has a list of how the funding will be used. Three million of that is expected to be built to pay the Salvation Army with the expansion of their facilities on Ridge Street.
“The new facility will double the current year-round emergency shelter capacity,” reads the staff report. “In addition, there will be space for hunger relief through a community dining room, collaboration space with local social service agencies, and more case management space to prevent homelessness and meet other basic human needs.”
This is a separate project from one to pay the Salvation Army for lost revenue if their thrift store on Cherry Avenue is converted to a low-barrier shelter. That will come back in January.
The rest of the ARPA funds will be used to reimburse the city for public safety payroll costs incurred since the beginning of this fiscal year.
After that, Council will be asked to follow the Albemarle Board of Supervisors to join the Charlottesville-Albemarle Regional Transit Authority. For more information and context, read the story I wrote on this last week.
The final two items have been at Council the last two meetings and I’ve not had a chance to write up either of them.
The first is another discussion of an ordinance change that would expand the number of vehicles that would be prohibited from parking on city streets overnight to include semi trucks, vehicles with antique plates, vehicles with farm use plates, boats, and recreational vehicles.
“The revised code section would also prohibit the covering or tarping of a vehicle or trailer in such a manner that restricts or impedes inspection of the vehicle’s license plate and state inspection within the City limits at any time,” reads the staff report. “The revised code section also contains a provision which would prohibit a person, business, or corporation from performing service or repairs on a vehicle parked on a public street within the City, or to store or park any motor vehicle left in the custody of a business on City rights-of way.”
This will be the third time this has gone before Council. What do the draft minutes say happened on December 2, 2024?
“This ordinance having been introduced at the November 18, 2024, City Council meeting, City Engineer Brennen Duncan answered questions for City Council. City Manager Sanders stated that the Police Chief and Commonwealth’s Attorney would like time to review the proposal and give input. He suggested postponing consideration of action on the ordinance.
“On motion by Payne, seconded by Oschrin, Council by a vote of 5-0 postponed further consideration of the ordinance amending City Code Section 15-144 (Parking of buses, trucks, etc. between Midnight and 6:00 a.m. to a future meeting (Ayes: Oschrin, Payne, Pinkston, Snook, Wade; Noes: None)
The final item is another item that was also postponed. These are changes to the guidelines for outdoor cafes. (staff report)
To move this edition along, I’m copying the draft minutes again.
“James Freas, Deputy City Manager for Operations, stated that NDS staff are willing to meet with individual council members to answer further questions, and he suggested that Council defer consideration of action on the resolution until a future meeting.”
There does not appear to be any record of what was discussed at those meetings or if they occurred.
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 December 16, 2024 Week Ahead edition of the newsletter.
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