Charlottesville Planning Commission seeks some changes to city’s five year CIP

As 2025 winds down, Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders is working to prepare a budget for the fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2026. That includes a five-year capital improvement plan which lays out where money will be spent on construction and maintenance of infrastructure.

The Charlottesville Planning Commission has now seen a draft plan for FY27 through FY31 at both a work session in November and at a public hearing on December 9.

At both meetings, the draft CIP anticipates spending nearly $36 million in FY27 and a total of nearly $201.5 million over five years. (view the materials)

“This plan looks to fund the CIP with roughly $153 million of bonds, just over $44 million of transfers from the general fund in terms of cash,” said Krisy Hammill, the city’s budget director.

The rules of financing only allow city-owned or other publicly-owned projects to be paid for through debt service. Anything the city gives to a third-party to fund has to be paid for through cash, though funding for the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority can be paid for through bond sales.

There were no changes from the Charlottesville Planning Commission’s November 25 work session. For an overview of Hammill’s presentation, go back read a story I wrote from that meeting.

After Hammill’s presentation, Planning Commissioners had a chance to ask questions.

Several mobility advocates had questioned before the Planning Commission meeting why the draft CIP only depicts $100,000 a year on bicycle infrastructure. Transportation Planning Manager Ben Chambers said there is about a million dollars in the fund and there are plans to use $800,000 during this fiscal year.

“We’re programming that out on things like the Fifth Street Cycle Track, the Rose Hill Drive re-striping and repaving, planning work that we’re starting up this winter, and a protected bike parking pilot that we’ll be looking at in the spring,” Chamber said. “So this will leave us with about $200,000 to carry over into FY27.”

The “cycle track” project is also known as a road diet and would remove one vehicular lane from southbound Fifth Street in favor of more space for bikes and pedestrians. More information is here.

The draft CIP also includes $1.2 million in FY2030 to replace the roof at the city-owned McGuffey Arts Center. At this meeting, a second member of the Planning Commission called for the city to study the potential use of the former McGuffey School as something different. Lyle Solla-Yates noted that a committee was in place in the mid 1970’s when city schools gave up the property.

“Could we do a similar committee today to look at this issue?” Solla-Yates asked. “Could we look at a hybrid option like we have at Jefferson School, where many community needs are addressed with modernized facilities? I list a number of possibilities. Two acres downtown worth $10 million is potentially useful for many public purposes.”

This was a rare joint meeting with City Council giving the chance of a dialogue between elected and appointed officials.

Mayor Juandiego Wade said he was not ready to form such a committee but he would think of the idea.

“We love committees here in this community,” Wade said.

The capital budget for this fiscal year anticipates an allocation of $5 million to the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority for the redevelopment of Westhaven, with additional payments programmed for FY27 and FY28. The chair of the Planning Commission asked how that would be used.

“Is Westhaven going to be complete in two years or what is that?” said Carl Schwarz. “What’s the $10 million doing?”

“I don’t know,” Hammill said.

There was no one from CRHA on hand to provide a response but Councilor Michael Payne, a voting member of the CRHA Board, said the project will not be completed in two years.

“There’s a very long way to go just in terms of even applying for and securing funding of multiple sources,” Payne said.

Before the public hearing, Councilor Natalie Oschrin said she would like to see the CIP made more clear about how the city will be spending more on bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.

“More people are going to get out of their cars and have safer driving and safer streets when we invest in good bike infrastructure and when people get out of their cars and the people left who do have to drive have a better experience, so it’s better for everybody,” Oschrin said.

The 2026 General Assembly will likely see the passage of a bill to allow localities to hold a referendum on a sales tax increase for schools. One Councilor wanted more information on how that might work.

“If the state legislature approves and it is passed, the one cent sales tax for school facilities, is there at this point an expected date for when that additional money would get reflected in the CIP?” asked City Councilor Michael Payne.

Hammill said they would work to get that funding as soon as possible as there are a lot of projects to pay for. Mike Goddard, deputy director of public works for the city, said a committee is putting together a look at long-term capital needs.

“I anticipate that we’re ready with a list of projects to get started on and we’ll flesh that out even more the more time we have between now and when those funds become available,” Goddard said.

Councilor Lloyd Snook said the city should be ready to have a list of projects by July 1, 2026 if the referendum is held next November.

“If we don’t have a list of that by July 1, anybody who is going to be campaigning in favor of that passing the referendum is going to be seriously handicapped,” Snook said.

The current year anticipates allocating $1,332,200 in cash to a consortium of the Piedmont Housing Alliance and Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville for their purchase of the Carlton Mobile Home Park. The next four years would see an additional $4.7 million through FY2031.

“What’s the current status of that project and that funding?” asked City Councilor Lloyd Snook. “And is that going to be sufficient to fill, to carry us through? Do we know?”

Hammill did not have an update on the status of the project but the money goes to support loans that the two nonprofits have secured for the purchase of the property.

Deputy City Manager James Freas reminded everyone that the agreement between the nonprofits and existing tenants is that there would be a three-year period before there would be any change.

“I believe they’ve begun planning for the future redevelopment part,” Freas said. “That’s going to be another resident-led effort. And we haven’t heard at this point whether there’s going to be any additional requests for funding.”

After several people spoke at the public hearing, the Commission went through the document again to suggest amendments. They voted to recommend:

• Increase the capital improvement program to reflect around $11 million in payments that will be made by developers who have opted to pay into the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund in-lieu of providing affordable units on site and create a process for the money will be spent
• Hiring additional city staff to support the city’s affordable housing projects
• Fund additional quick-build projects to address urgent infrastructure needs
• Create a plan to obtain “safe harbor” for solar projects whose federal funding through the Inflation Reduction Act may be threatened

Before you go: Paid subscribers cover the cost of conducting research for this article which was originally published in the December 15, 2025 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement.  You can either subscribe through Substack, make a monthly contribution through Patreon, or consider becoming a sponsor. The goal of Town Crier Productions is to increase awareness about what is  happening at the local, regional, state, and federal government levels. Please share the work with others if you want people to know things.