Charlottesville awarded $360,000 to review floodplain ordinance

The City of Charlottesville is one of several dozen localities across Virginia that have recently been awarded $67 million in funds to prepare for flooding.

The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation administers the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund. The fund was established by act of the General Assembly in 2020, the same year the legislature voted to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).

“These awards will equip communities with resources and tools to mitigate the impact of future disasters,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin in a July 1, 2025 information release announcing the awards for the fund’s fifth round.

Charlottesville applied for $360,000 to help pay for a consultant to review the city’s existing floodplain ordinance. The city will use $40,000 from the climate initiative fund to provide a local match. There is no federal funding involved.

“This proposal is for building a more robust floodplain management program by ensuring that critical roles and responsibilities are properly established and understood within city staff,” reads the narrative in the application.

That 2023 Flood Resilience Plan was also paid for by funding from the Community Flood Preparedness Fund. The narrative states that that plan has been approved by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, but staff turnover has made it difficult to implement.

“A more robust program will allow the City to fully activate and operationalize the 2023 Flood Resilience Plan, move toward funding and executing the several project recommendations and develop proactive initiatives in consideration of flooding challenges resulting from the changing climate,” the narrative continues.

According to the document, there are 675 parcels of land either fully or partially in the floodplain and 82 percent of them are residential.

Before you go: This story first went out in the July 22, 2025 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement and was then posted here the next afternoon. To learn more about how to support the work, please take a look here.