Council holds first reading on use of $7.95 million in surplus funds

The City of Charlottesville has had budget surpluses for several years in a row due to many factors including rising property values.

Earlier this year, Council agreed to place $22.4 million from the FY2024 surplus into something called the Capital Improvement Program Contingency Fund.

In June, they agreed to spend $8.69 million on a series of projects including $250,000 for bus shelters, $1.2 million to hire a “clean team” for the Downtown Mall, and $100,000 for a generator for Key Recreation Center’s use as an emergency shelter.

On October 6, Council held the first of two readings on the use of another $8.5 million including $6.3 million to purchase 2000 Holiday Drive for use as a low-barrier shelter for the unhoused.

“We have successfully found an opportunity to acquire a substantial piece of property, not just the building itself, but the land that is available as well, allows us to attack this issue from multiple angles,” said Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders.

The sales agreement includes provisions for a 30-day study to ensure there are no glaring problems with the building.

“Providing that doesn’t happen, we would close on 20 November or otherwise agreed upon by the parties,” said Chris Engel, the city’s economic development director. “We are proceeding with a full third party property condition assessment that’s going to take place this week. That could reveal some concerns or it could give a bill of clean health, so to speak.”

Sanders said the funding for the property acquisition is just the first step and a plan will need to be created.

“There is a lot of work that has to be done to determine how to activate the space,” Sanders said. “Because it is an office building today, it is not meant for people to sleep in it overnight and to do all the many things that we need to do to serve their needs.

Sanders said the city has not discarded the idea of using the Salvation Army’s thrift store on Cherry Avenue in some capacity, but the focus is now on 2000 Holiday Drive which could accommodate many more people.

Council voted unanimously to allow Sanders to move forward with the purchase. The elected officials must hold a second reading on the appropriation of funds and that will be on October 20 following a public hearing.

Another $1.5 million would be used to hire consultants for two studies and another $150,000 would be used for renovations at Charlottesville’s City Hall.

Both studies have been requested by the Department of Neighborhood Development Services. One would be a review of the city’s environmental regulations and the other would be the creation of a transportation plan for the city. Council had been briefed on them in June, but got more information Monday evening.

“For the environmental policy and regulatory review, we are actually looking at a number of different areas of natural resource management,” said NDS Director Kelly Brown. “So stormwater management, floodplain management, tree canopy and preservation, stream buffers, critical slopes and energy efficiency.”

Brown said one of the outcomes of that study might be an ability to build more housing by loosening some regulations. More details will be shared with Council in November.

The other study would be a citywide transportation plan.

City Councilor Michael Payne stopped short of opposing the studies but expressed some concern.

“There have been expensive studies we’ve done that have resulted in policy changes, and there’s been other ones which haven’t,” Payne said. “So anytime I see, you know, a consultant study that’s, you know, reaching near $2 million, I just get nervous.”

Brown said NDS needs additional capacity to get the work done and said the mobility plan will help the city attain ambitious goals.

A public hearing for the use of these funds will be held on October 20. If these appropriations go forward, there will be $14.78 million left in the CIP contingency fund.

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