CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority has a sizeable pot of federal economic stimulus funds coming its way, as more details trickle in on how the $787 billion package will be spent. U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Ivy, announced Thursday that the city's housing authority will receive close to $797,000 from the Public Housing Capital Fund, a federal program that received a cash influx from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The fund provides for modernization and development of public housing, especially to improve energy efficiency in aging buildings.
The city could also get an additional $144,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding and is eligible for $230,080 in law enforcement funding from the stimulus. Charlottesville has 11 public housing sites with 376 units, and officials have long discussed redevelopment for many of the aging structures, with the oldest site, Westhaven, having been constructed 44 years ago.
Under the stimulus package's provisions, housing authorities must give priority to capital projects that can award contracts within 120 days from the date the funds are made available. They are also required to spend at least 60 percent of the funds within two years, and spend all of the funds within three.
Because of the fairly rapid pace at which the funds need to be spent, officials said it is unlikely that any funds would go toward major aspects of redevelopment, such as construction. "It's going to be a good two or three years before any type of full-scale redevelopment happens," said Mayor Dave Norris, who chairs the housing authority's redevelopment committee. "These stimulus dollars are meant to be used very quickly."
The housing authority is about to start its master planning process and is in negotiations with a firm, officials said. Minutes from the redevelopment committee's monthly gathering in January noted that Philadelphia-based Wallace Roberts & Todd, a national planning and design firm, was the leading applicant to conduct the master planning process, though no official contract has been announced. The firm specializes in sustainable design and completed a master plan for Charlottesville's Downtown Mall and also designed the Downtown Transit Center across the mall from City Hall.
Randy Bickers, the housing authority's executive director, said the agency has until April 10 to identify the precise projects on which to spend the stimulus money. But Bickers said several ideas have been floated for what could be done — at Crescent Hall, a major window replacement project, plus new exterior lighting and washers and dryers; a physical needs assessment for all the sites; pressure washing and new paint jobs; and playground renovations, to name a few. "For us, it was basically one additional capital fund," Bickers said.
Bickers said that many of the improvements are being centered on Crescent Hall because it is likely that the site, which contains 105 units and was constructed in 1976, will remain as redevelopment progresses. "We're not sure, but we're thinking that building will probably still be there," he said. That is not to suggest that officials are actively planning to tear down other sites, as officials are in but the earliest stages of considering the future of the area's public housing.
City officials note that Crescent Hall's site is not particularly large and the high-density structure works well on the land. "It's the one building, most of us agree, that's not likely to be taken down by redevelopment," Norris said. "But it needs improvement."
Perriello spokeswoman Jessica Barba said that Danville, slated to get about $1.2 million, was the only other locality in the 5th District to receive money from this public housing fund. Statewide, 34 localities are eligible for about $50 million, Barba said.
Source: DailyProgress.com