Charlottesville Planning Commission seeks more funding for affordable housing, planning for schools

As Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders considers the budget for FY26, the Charlottesville Planning Commission has offered amendments to the five-year capital improvement program. They’d like to see more funds for school planning, school solar, and a strategic housing fund.

For background on the CIP, here are some recent stories:

• Charlottesville PC gives broad direction on capital improvement program, October 3, 2024
• Sanders tells Council he will try to present balanced budget without a tax increase, November 22, 2024
• Charlottesville Planning Commission gives more direction on capital improvement program, December 6, 2024
• Charlottesville City Council briefed on upcoming spending on housing and infrastructure, December 12, 2024
• Presentation from the December 10, 2024 public hearing

Before the public hearing, City Engineer Brennan Duncan gave a presentation on a project to replace traffic signals throughout the city. The five-year CIP anticipates spending $7.25 million on the project which Duncan referred to as deferred maintenance.

“We’ve got 75 traffic signals in the city,” Duncan said. “They’re approaching the end of their useful life. Most traffic signals are anywhere from 40 to 70 or 80 years.”

Duncan said the city has begun saving up a fund for the project over the past few years while a consultant created an assessment of what would need to be replaced first. The work will start off with around 20 intersections prioritized by that study.

“The goal is to get these first, this first batch of 20 done and then kind of get on a cadence where we’re addressing, you know, one a year or two every two years or something like that, and start spacing them out,” Duncan said.

Timmons Engineering is conducting the design and Duncan said the project will go out to bid in the spring. This project will work alongside an upgrade of the software the city uses to manage coordination of intersections.

“That will allow us to do a lot with the kind of intelligent transportation stuff the new controllers we’re getting are compatible already with that,” Duncan said. “We’ll be able to implement and the plan is to implement a lot of the flashing yellow arrows that you see across the Commonwealth right now.”

Bids for the project were due on October 8 and submissions are being evaluated according to the city’s procurement website.

When it came time for the public hearing, the first and only speaker represented the Venable neighborhood and had further questions about the technology Duncan had described. This person also wanted to know what spending is in the CIP on climate resilience.

Budget director Krisy Hammill said the current fiscal year includes $1 million for initiatives as does each of the next four years.

“In addition, for all of the maintenance type items, we are looking at more efficient, more modern ways of doing things to help address the climate and in areas when we can,” Hammill said. “And then transit, of course, is a big initiative, but that is all funded in the transit fund, so not in the CIP.”

With the public hearing over, Commissioners discussed their amendments. Commissioner Lyle Solla-Yates suggested adding a strategic housing fund to set aside money for additional purchase of housing units that are currently affordable but may not be in the near future.

“A strategic housing fund similar to the Strategic Economic Development Fund, reflecting recent funding challenges with mobile home park purchases and the sunsetting of affordable housing restrictions,” Solla-Yates said.

Earlier this year, Council agreed to an $8.7 million forgivable loan to the Piedmont Housing Alliance and Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville for the purchase of the 6.5 acre Carlton Mobile Home Park. That had not been anticipated in the budget process and the initial money has been taken from a fund set aside to launch a land bank.

Hearthwood Apartments was not mentioned at this meeting but was mentioned at a November 26 work session.

Solla-Yates also suggested increasing funding for Charlottesville City Schools to develop a comprehensive facility plan, increased funding for solar projects at the schools, and increasing funding for school maintenance.

Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg suggested a line item in the CIP for the Safe Routes for School program that has in recent years been funded through the American Rescue Plan Act. He also wanted a line item for “urgent transportation infrastructure.”

“I understand that this year, out of surplus funds, the city manager plans to allocate or to ask Council to allocate money into that account,” Stolzenberg said. “My motion would be to identify a sustainable source or sustainable funding for urgent transportation improvements in out years.”

Stolzenberg also suggested creating a competitive process for how the city decides what affordable housing projects receive funding. He said he thinks it is a good thing the city is exceeding its goal to spend $10 million a year on affordable housing but has a concern.

“My concern is that we still have no defined process for competitive granting of major CIP [Low Income Housing Tax Credit] subsidy awards,” Stolzenberg said. “All the money now of that 99 million is programmed to specific projects, none of which have gone through any sort of competitive or even really an application process.”

Stolzenberg suggested removing, for now, $4.5 million in funding currently slated for Piedmont Housing Alliance for the fourth phase of the Kindlewood development which is scheduled to split across FY29 and FY30.

“City Council made a commitment to redevelop Friendship Court and everyone who lives in Friendship Court will be housed in new housing as part of phases one through three,” Stolzenberg said.

Stolzenberg added that the fourth phase of what is now known as Kindlewood has not yet been designed. He didn’t get a second on a motion to add this, but did get support for a more competitive process to be worked out beginning in FY2031. Currently the city’s Office of Community Solutions asks affordable housing groups to send in lists of what they would like to build as part of the housing development partnerships program. That process is detailed on the city website.

Planning Commissioner Carl Schwarz recused himself from discussions on affordable housing because he is working on plans for Piedmont Housing Alliance projects that have received funding from the city. `

More on the budget in the next edition of the newsletter. Topics to cover include the city’s surplus for FY24, the third of three budget briefings, and a vote on the use of the city’s remaining American Rescue Plan Act funds.

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