--------- How you doing, sir? >> Yes. [clears throat] Michael, you doing all right, sir? I call the Charlottesville City Council meeting to order. Um the January 20th, 2026 meeting to order. Madame Clerk,
will you please call the role? >> Councelor Fleer >> here. >> Vice Mayor Ashan >> here. Councelor Payne >> here. [snorts] >> Councelor Snook >> here. >> Mayor Wade >> here. Is there a motion to approve or amend the agenda?
>> So moved. [snorts] >> Is there a second to >> Yeah, second. >> Okay. All in favor, please say yes. >> All oppose, please say no. Um um the meeting will be divided into
three sections. The first one will be a work session where we hear and discuss presentations that do not require council vote followed by a close session and then the city council will have its regular business business meeting at 6:30. Um today um will be um the work
session will be solely dedicated to um discussion on student housing and um Miss Brown will you start us off or >> so as um Miss Brown comes forward um just wanted to just begin this
conversation uh with pointing out to the public specifically uh as a reminder that council requested this particular conversation on student housing for a variety of reasons. Uh there's a lot of work still to be done as the zoning ordinance was adopted was adopted with the notion that there would be things
that we would have to go back and take a look at. So we'll continue to talk about that in in prior conversations. Miss Brown has brought forward a work plan and shared with you an organization of that particular work and how we plan to attack it. Um there have also been uh expressions of of concerns and requests
that this is all a part of feeding uh that particular deliberation. Uh and we as staff are looking for any uh new uh steps, any guidance that you all will give and how we will manage our our or order our steps for going forward. But
again, the work plan exists. So Miss Brown is planning to work with her team on delivering that and we'll make edits as you give that advice. So, I'll turn it over to her and allow her to take us through what she has prepared for today. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Good afternoon. My name is Kelly Brown. I am the director of neighborhood development services here for the city. And in light light of council's interest in the topic of student housing, um I'm here to provide you with an overview of the scope of work for an annual review
of the affordable dwelling unit manual that uh governs the delivery of affordable units with development here in the city. And this uh this study will focus on policies and requirements this year for inloo fees for housing
including student housing. So, am I allowed to advance? >> Am I allowed to advance or >> Yeah, you just got Yeah. There you go. You just got to get the right angle. So, yes. >> Great. Okay. So, um the affordable dwelling unit
monitoring and procedures manual or ad manual as we refer to it must be updated on an annual basis. Staff has developed background information and a scope of work for this study, including a community engagement process and timeline. And today, we are hoping to get feedback from city council on the
scope of work of this effort to inform the approach. Staff will return with updates after research and community engagement on this effort. So, um, as I, uh, talk about the study today, I want to provide a little bit of background information on student
housing. Um, and start with some history of of student housing here in the city. Um, as we know, UVA enrollment growth has steadily increased demand for student housing here in the city. Historically, students lived on grounds um but only in a limited capacity um and
also in older apartment complexes near UVA and in converted single family homes in neighborhoods adjacent to the university. As enrollment grew and has been growing over time, private developer developers have started to increasingly step in to build
purpose-built student housing. Um this housing um is uh located within walking distance to grounds and is trending toward um larger uh fourbedroom units and a rental by the bedroom. Um uh also able to provide a highle
overview of some of the market factors that are influencing student housing. Um so the the university um enrollment is currently at 27,000 students according to the University of Virginia website. Um approximately 7,000 beds on grounds.
So about 4,000 for first years and the balance is for um other students and graduate students and um the 2030 plan for the university aspires to house all first year and second year students. Uh currently there are a number of projects
under construction offgrounds totaling about 3,500 beds. Um so all told this means that about 17,000 students will continue to find housing off grounds and in the city and in the county moving forward. Uh from a national perspective, the
development of private student housing uh is a national phenomenon um as enrollment grows at universities across the country and student preferences evolve. Um so from a national report um that has been produced on this topic we
are seeing um private bedrooms and bathrooms higherend amenities um mixeduse concepts uh near campus within walking distance to campus and again a preference for private space and modern amenities. Um, so there's obviously two
examples here from Charlottesville, but also an example from Greensboro, um, and doing some additional research today. Um, came across a report on a project, um, being constructed in Blackburg, um, for delivery in 2028, which won't
help my son if he ends up going there, but that's okay. Um, it's a short walk from Virginia Tech campus planned to house eight stories, 247 units, 862 beds. So this is a phenomenon we're seeing across the country.
Let's see. Um also some background on the development code. So as you are all aware the new development code was adopted in 2023. It includes residential districts, mixed use districts, industrial districts, and special districts. uh the zoning map and the
development code also includes the locations and regulations for overlay districts where special requirements apply. Um a key detail that I just want to emphasize this afternoon is that housing is allowed in all these districts by right. There are no restrictions on where student housing
can be built. Uh nor is it defined as a distinct use. There is not a special overlay district for student housing. Uh the concept of student housing really only comes into play with regards to requirements for affordable housing. So for residential development and this is
laid out in the ADU manual. Projects with more than 10 units must provide 10% of the units at less than 60% AMI or pay an inloo fee. Um bonus height is allowed. is achievable for uh projects when the units are delivered at less
than 50% of the AMI or they can pay the same inloo fee as required for units delivered at 60% of AMI. The inloo fee for residential construction is equal to the average total cost per unit of developing a residential unit in the Charlottesville market based on a
bedroom count up to three bedrooms for student housing. Um, and this is really the only way that student housing is um, referred to in the zoning ordinance. Um, student housing is projects that are rented by the bedroom within a half mile of campus grounds. And for student
housing, no on-site affordable units are required. Uh, bonus bonus height may be realized and an inloo fee is required. And the inloo fee is calculated differently as the difference between the value of a market rate unit and that of an affordable unit. Uh, otherwise
known as the value gap. And that's based on the bedroom count up to three bedrooms. >> Quick question just [clears throat] to clarify. So you mentioned this is where the term student housing is used in the in the um ordinance and then these are the definitions for it. But it doesn't
mean that and there's not a legal way for landlords to say you have to be a student to live here. Right. >> That's right. That's that's correct. That's not something that um is defined in our ordinance nor something that >> So it's geared towards students but legally can be open to anybody. That's correct. Yes.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> Um, in terms of the rationale for why the requirements are different for student housing, um, the basis for this distinction was the understanding that student housing projects do not typically include non- studentent housing. And thus, uh, there should be
no requirement for on-site units. Um, and then given that no on-site units would be required, a lower inlue fee for student housing than for non- studentent housing seemed appropriate. And since the value gap was calculated at a lower basis than the construction cost that
was the why um a different inluffy expectation was established for student housing than for non- studentent housing. So this uh this requirement translates into um a geographic impact where um
where this [clears throat] uh where the inloo fee is different for student housing. Uh again, it's only available for projects that run by the bedroom and located within proximity of the University of Virginia. Um the zoning administrator has the final authority to determine if a project is within
proximity that is one half mile of the university with measurement being in a direct line from the edge of the main campus areas, central grounds and north grounds to the edge of the subject parcel and outlying university owned parcels are not considered part of the campus for the purpose of this ordinance. So, this map here on the um
left, which is a little hard to read, but it indicates the uh locations of north grounds and central grounds um essentially the areas that do not have um city zoning and then what a half mile radius around those areas looks like.
So um as we sought to develop a scope of work for this study, we did identify some preliminary um concerns u and these are also things that we have heard in the community as well. Um first of all as it relates to residential development non- studentent housing um
[clears throat] the inloo fee payment structure is um only applying to projects that have um a requirement of 60% AMI. there is no different expectation for those projects that are seeking to achieve bonus height. Um, in
terms of student h housing specifically, the there's a lack of a requirement for on-site units and this limits new affordable housing where student housing is the most financially feasible reinvestment option. Um there's also a concern that with a lower perboom cost
requirement for student housing, um there could be a greater incentive to produce student housing within that area closer to the university. There's no consideration for conversions to non- studentent housing, no consideration for four-bedroom units, and the large
geography that applies this policy uh impacts neighborhoods where displacement is a concern. >> Miss Brown, could I ask you a question? I'm just curious about something on that slide and the same slide or the same graph or chart appears on page 14. It
looks like the cost per ownership condominium unit for student housing for a two-bedroom apartment that appears to that must be a mistake. It can't I wouldn't think it would be >> lower >> lower than the onebedroom.
>> That's something we can look into more closely. think >> that doesn't matter for any of our deliberations today, but I think >> that's something to look at. >> So given this background and concerns such as the one that has been raised, staff has tailored a study to try to address the concerns with the current
approach to inluff fee expectations. Um but uh first before I get into those key questions, I did just want to provide a little bit more background. um as the manager referred to our um our work plan and our approach to uh studying and developing recommendations for
development code amendments. So staff um has come to you a number of times to talk through our approach to looking at changes to the devel development code in tier 1, tier 2, and tier three. U staff is preparing to finalize a suite of amendments over 30 amendments uh in the
tier one and tier two category to bring forward for your consideration next month. Um, the tier three amendments uh have been defined as those uh that really represent much larger policy questions that require more in-depth analysis and engagement.
And [snorts] this review of the AD manual um given the questions that are posed about student housing policy, it really does represent a tier three study [clears throat] that we have actually added to our work plan mid year with the um uh transition of housing to NDS. Um
but we have done so because uh we recognize the concerns that are raised about uh the approach to student housing and um the importance of in-depth analysis and community engagement to best inform potential staff recommendations and council action.
So the key questions we are posing in this study really fall into two qu two categories. First, what is some of background research and analysis that staff needs to do to try to understand potential options we could consider? Um, first of all, do the current inlue fee
payment structures accurately reflect reflect construction costs for non- studentent housing and the value gap uh for student housing? Um, do those figures need to be updated to reflect um current understanding of those those cost and those revenue differentials for
student housing and non- studentent housing. What are the approaches of other Virginia jurisdictions? Uh we've actually just in doing some additional research come across um an interesting approach in um in Minneapolis to student housing. Is that something that can be applied here? Um using the financial
model that we've created for the tax abatement study um and which staff is looking forward to bringing to you as part of a separate um discussion at some time in the near future. um what approach to requirements for inl fements really provide that best balance of incentivizing production of on-site
units without limiting development feasibility. Um the second category of of questions that we would like to study through this process are are fall into the um the realm of refining and clarifying the city's goals and guiding principles for
student housing. So what what is it that the city is trying to achieve uh in the administration of inlue fee requirements? What are the city's goals for student housing? Um what should the relationship be between expectations for student housing and non- studentent housing? Um should in fee payments be
greater for bonus height than for non-bonus height? So these are all questions that we are hoping to address through the study to inform recommendations moving forward. And uh given the importance of really working with the community to understand some of these aspects, we have developed
a um approach to community engagement. Uh we would like to connect with a number of different stakeholder groups and have already started to do so. Um key commissions and committees uh that advise uh city council, property owners, UVA, uh Alamo County, um the TJPDC, and
a number of advocacy organizations are all groups that we would like to get their feedback on moving forward. Um, we are doing presentations for commissions and Q&A sessions. Um, happy to report that we have a Connect Charlottesville presence for this study. If you just Google Connect Charlottesville and
student housing, it will take you to a new web page uh all about the city's housing um policy and uh production programs where you can provide some feedback on these key questions uh to help inform the study goals and guiding principles. uh we will do focus groups
and also pop-up visits to try to get feedback and these really do reflect the two broad big picture questions we want to try to uh get answers to to help inform us moving forward. You know, what is the most important outcome of this policy? What should it accomplish for the
community and what are uh impacts or unintended consequences that we should work hard to try to prevent? So um there is you know some based on those those concerns that I presented earlier you know staff is um looking to
try to understand if there are some potential options that we might want to test moving forward. Um so something that we could consider would be the creation of an inlue fee payment structure that increases the requirement for bonus height to reflect that the on-site requirement for bonus height is
50% of AMI not 60% of AMI. Um, with regards to student housing specifically, we could consider requiring on-site units for student housing. Um, this is actually something that um, Minneapolis requires and uh, there are uh,
affordable units being produced as part of those developments or if those uh, on-site units cannot be produced allow an inlue fee equivalent to the requirement for non- studentent housing. Um, this would address the potential conversions to non- studentent housing and it would also allow for uh on-site
units when the financial and market conditions are favorable to that. Uh, adding an inl fee requirement for fourbedroom units seems appropriate given that that is um being delivered in the market. Um and certainly considering the geographic criteria if that is still
needed given the potential merit of having equivalent expectations for non- studentent housing and student housing or if there is a different reason for maintaining um a geographic criteria. Um and this could certainly remove some of
that um potential incentive to build student housing if that's not desired. And then for all housing projects, something that we would like to continue to study moving forward, and again, it plays into the tax abatement study that we're looking forward to speaking with you more about is the potential for uh
taxatement strategies to offset the cost associated with affordable housing production and facilitate investment to be further explored. Um so before I wrap up, just wanted to present our timeline. Um we are in this moment doing some of
that background research and evaluation uh to answer those key questions about whether the fees um that are currently uh required are in line with market conditions if any adjustments would be appropriate. Um and then again that question of feasibility and what is the
best balance of incentivizing production and um uh supporting development feasibility. Uh we are looking to um do engagement through February um and then hoping that we can develop guiding principles and policy recommendations
and potential uh recommended um manual updates and development code amendments if appropriate in the spring of this year for your review and consideration. So I believe that brings me to the end and happy to get your feedback moving forward.
Um, so it's a lot of lot of information. So, um, Jen, are you ready? I'm sorry. >> No, >> I mean, [laughter] you want some more time to kind of come. >> Yeah. Um, [clears throat] the question that intrigues me and I don't I'm not
sure I know how to think about it and maybe you with your planning expertise may have some thoughts in this matter. you posed the question of what is what should our goal be for student housing
uh and the way I think about it is that I mean there there there are a couple of goals but the really what we're looking for is is effects and one of the effects it seems to me would be
to uh to have enough density of student housing so that some of the benefits like transit systems and so on become more realizable.
Uh, one of the other goals ought to be to have the market for student housing be generally in some sort of equilibrium where there is not a uh such a pressure
for uh such a scarcity of student available housing whether it's student housing per se or just housing near the university. No, there's not such a a pressure there that it ends up raising everybody else's
rents, including the people who are not students at the university. Um, and I don't know exactly how I want to think about that problem. Uh, I don't know what factors I would look at to say this
is what a market in equilibrium would look like. >> I'm thinking about it now purely in the economic market kind of a sense. Um do you know whether there are um
you know models for such things that we ought to be looking at and trying to say okay that's those those are some that's a place where they've got it figured out. Mhm. Well, I I can really only look at the numbers, you know, that we have seen and
that I've shared with you um today that there seems to be um a [clears throat] significant uh imbalance between the supply and demand of of student housing. And I think that is one factor that that could inform uh how this community wants
to think about student housing. But I would say this is a really this this is this is why um community engagement on this topic is important because I think there's a number of different ways you could think about you know what the right answer is and it it's it's good to to hear from the community what what
they value what they think are the right moves. I mean, when we had the the um the the zoning amendments and so on, we were considering a couple years ago, we had a fairly uh detailed economic study,
a couple of economic studies built into that in ways that I had not even thought of being able to measure, but for example, a rate of change analysis uh and some other other kinds of things where they were coming up. And in fact,
some of the the figures that lead to the the amounts of the inloo fees were the basis of some of these sorts of studies. Are there folks out there? I mean, should we be going back to the uh the same folks we talked to a couple of years ago to say what are the new tools
that people are using in terms of gauging the the market. [snorts] Um I'm I'm just trying to figure out how we how we can begin to to know whether we're approaching the problem correctly. other than we look back in the past and say, "Whoops, screwed that one up."
>> I mean, again, I think I go back to just the the the basic math, right? There's 17,000 students that can't live on grounds and so they're living either in the city or in the county. Um they can continue to live where they're living or um you know, it's I think it's a policy
decision for for council. Do you do you want to be um promoting the production of additional student housing to support those units um through your policies or not? Um I don't think we I I mean that that it in some ways I don't know if
more complicated analysis of the market is needed. I think we have the information that that could help guide us and then with information from the community you would be more informed. Do you know how many uh how many units there are that are let's say within
within a walking distance of the university in in the private market? >> Don't have that information at my fingertips. No, >> that that's the sort of thing that might be helpful to to understand the magnitude of the problem. If I if I
could just briefly James Frey city manager I know one of the challenges depending number of units is that students occupy a range of units and they will go into the the non- studentent market if you will where where there isn't student housing available. So, what we've done in the
past, and I know you've seen this data before, and we we can readily get a get additional data on is is just identifying where students live, right, and use that as a proxy for for the amount of student housing across different neighborhoods and buildings in within the city. I remember, you know,
10, 12 years ago, 15 years ago, I guess, when the the buildings that everybody loves to hate on West Main Street were built. The the observation was made that it seemed that one of the consequences of that was that a lot of students who
had been living in let's say the Tenth and Page neighborhood, the Ffield neighborhood seemed to have moved into these sorts of units and into these sorts of buildings and there seemed to be some freeing up of some of that housing uh that that families were able to move
into and they were able to observe for example that the number of uh elementary school students students rose in the schools that served those neighborhoods. We're told that this time around if that same kind of thing were to happen that
we should not expect to see that happen again because uh there are just not as many students now living in 10th and page as there had been comparably 15 years ago. Do we have
any way of knowing whether that observation is in fact true? Sorry, the observation that >> that we we probably would not have the same effect on the neighborhoods this time as we did 15 years ago by building
the standard and the flats and so on >> or an an addition to that would be or what neighborhoods would it be affecting? >> Yeah, I think it's hard to predict the future. Um, it's hard to predict. You know, I I think Charlottesville is a very
desirable community, so I think you're always going to have residents that want to live in these communities. Um, whether or not they have children, >> I don't know why you wouldn't expect there to be families with children wanting to live in Charlottesville neighborhoods. So,
>> I mean, it may be that the kind of of analysis that Mr. Freeze was mentioning uh might be updated. I don't know. I I remember having some discussions a couple of years ago about some of the difficulties inherent in that you have to make certain assumptions and right
>> and so on but it's probably it's probably better than nothing >> right I mean the just anecdotally that what I'm hearing is is an anticipation that's that as more student housing comes in the marketplace students are going to move out of the older
apartments and and other uh kind of uh residential units that have been previously used as uh student housing. And we've see that bear out in some of the developments. Um uh the the Cavalere Court one, which is technically located
in the county, but that was a that was built purpose-built as student housing, four bedrooms, uh rented by the room, and it transformed into non- studentent housing over a relatively short period of time. Um the the again anecdotally in
talking to people in the marketplace here in Charlottesville, what they're seeing is as the city has allowed a greater density of student housing close to the university, the farther away apartment buildings and so on have have transferred to being fewer and fewer
students living in those. Students want to be able to walk to campus is fundamentally what what we're understanding. and the [clears throat] and the more opportunities that are given to them closer to campus, the more they the more they take up those opportunities. >> Okay,
Michael. Yep. >> Yeah. Well, obviously it's a big uh topic with a lot involved in it. Um, and no matter what decisions we do or don't make, there's
going to be a lot of uncertainty and we're never going to have full control over what the market does. Um, that said, I'll try to be as brief and coherent as I can, kind of starting at the level of community conversation and then getting into some of my thoughts
about what next steps could be. Um but I would say you know my primary concern is you know one community conversation is the concern around height and I don't think that is nothing. I do think the built environment can express um whose
voice mattered. You can see that in wealthy neighborhoods with large single family homes and uh you know large lots that didn't allow duplexes and basement apartments. You can see it on 11 stories of student housing that overlooks our largest public housing site. Um, I do
think the built environment can segregate neighborhoods and turn public spaces into de facto private ones. Um, but much much much more important than that, I'm concerned with the econ economic impact of these projects in
Tenth and Page Fil and Rose Hill. And to me, our primary goal should be trying to stop displacement and economic harm done in those core neighborhoods. And as I look at it,
whether we like it or not, you know, students are going to be in Charlottesville. They're going to be part of our market. They're going to need housing. There's going to have to be areas in the city where student housing is built, including large student housing. My concern is that we've de facto targeted large sections of
Tenth and Page Fithville in Rose Hill where student housing is the highest and best use. And I think there's a lot of data and research that if you significantly upzone within or right next to workingclass neighborhoods, you
can fuel displacement within that neighborhood while increasing housing options regionally for people who are wealthier, young professionals. And my concern is we've landed on a situation where we're
going to inflate the value of land in these neighborhoods and will increase speculative investment that will create tax pressure for homeowners. Um but also renters who are going to have no control over building wealth or deciding what to do with their home. They're going to be
most at risk. Um, and the other is I do think these, you know, you're talking about 11 stories of student housing going to these neighborhoods. There's going to be a lomeration effects and amenity effects where investors are going to say there's a ton of students there. Let's make every business catered
towards student preferences because that'll be the highest and best use. I also worry that investors will have auxiliary uses related to UVA like Airbnbs for sports games, graduation, and that will just push out longtime
residents there and they won't benefit. And I also think I greatly worry that all of this is occurring in the context of the history of urban renewal, the history of institutional racism, the race gap, the racial wealth gaps in our
in our city. And I just don't see how we can ignore that context and thinking about we're really foreclosing the ability to get a lot more intentional about doing something like creating a blackowned business district in parts of West Main Street or I know this is a broader
conversation but as one instructive example the Seventh Street project that's going to be a 5-minute walk from Cherry Avenue. I think as as as night follows day, once that gets built, Cherry Avenue will transform into an area of buy and for
UVA students and we will completely lose our ability to have a blackowned business district there and build community wealth. And that to me is my big biggest concern. And those risks don't exist if we're looking at JPA, Ivy Road, um, uh,
barracks, other areas of the city. And one argument is, okay, maybe that risk exists, but if we allow this to get built, prices will collapse so much that
housing options will reach everyone. And again, the concern I have is, you know, what new market rate development can do is slow the annual rate at which rents increase. It can't collapse rents and prices. um because
the market's going to regulate itself. And I'm going to quote directly from the affordable housing strategy that was adopted and developed by the team who worked on our zoning. Quote, "Increasing the supply of housing can limit the increase in renter or housing costs, but typically will not drive rents lower due largely to the cost of development and
premium on rent for new construction. Increasing the development allowable by right makes land more valuable and attractive to investors. This can cause displacement pressures, particularly in neighborhoods with a high percentage of renters. Upzoning must therefore be undertaken primarily in areas where
these pressures will be limited. I think we've missed that mark. And we also just haven't implemented displacement strategies yet in terms of um targeting increased tax revenue into these neighborhoods, having any form of renter protections, any form of, you
know, kind of smart targeted rent control. So when these changes happen there, if you know 5 years later we implement those anti-displacement strategies, it's too late. Um so
that's a that's big picture, but in terms of kind of where should where should we go? I think at a minimum putting this issue into that tier one part of the work plan with the main focus being trying to prevent
displacement within these neighborhoods of Tenth and Page, Feithville, and Rose Hill um is a bare minimum. I also think we need to begin a process of a zoning text amendment that is looking at
expanding the core neighborhood overlay into areas uh within those neighborhoods as well as adjacent to public housing. And within that as well, within our core neighborhood overlay returned board of architectural review authority to what it was under the old zoning just within
that area because um I think we can't just kick this decision to staff and have it go through endless studies because at the end of the day, this is a decision for city council to make. There's never going to be a
perfect technocratic answer that we can kind of try to defer staff to to try to remove the heat from ourselves. I think at the end of the day, we as city council just have to decide, do we view 7 to 11 stories of student housing in those neighborhoods as a good policy
that we want to continue or is it a problem we want to address? Um, and I'll just end by saying I am just very deeply concerned. When you look, we know the data on the median black uh individual in Charlottesville
makes half the income as the median white individual. Um in these neighborhoods where now we're targeting student housing, the life expectancy is 10 years lower than in our wealthy white neighborhoods. 10 years. Obviously, that speaks to a deep rot in
how we've made economic development and planning decisions for decades. But to address that, I think is going to require very creative, ambitious, and intentional community wealthb buildinging strategies. And we are going to lose our ability to do that if we
have a very simplistic strategy of just 11 stories of student housing in all these areas. It'll trickle down. It won't. But I think we can walk in chew gum as a community and make those changes while also still allowing that level of intensity of student housing development again in JPA, Ivy, Barracks.
Um, so Thank you, [applause and cheering] >> Nat. >> Yeah, thank you. Um, I one of the reasons why I I asked earlier about the term student housing
is because I think it is not as useful as a more general term. uh if these are it makes people think that only students are allowed to live in these buildings when it could be hospital employees or anyone else who needs something like
this. Um, so I would think that uh or I would make a suggestion and this could be part of the like verbiage section of the tier one projects that we're working on now that we somehow change that title as we move forward so that it doesn't seem as specific or as limited. um even
if it is neighborhoods that are um closest to the university, there's a lot of staff and faculty and um support teams or visiting nurses or whatever that might also be needing this type of
housing. Um and I think that would help kind of clear up some of that um that limitation. Um uh I've got some small things and some big things. Um uh a kind of smaller
thing but not unimportant is if you look back to the slide where you had the examples of the Verve, the uh the Bloom and the Jolly Rodger. Um one of the things that Michael touched on was design.
And um I'm it's more important for somebody to have shelter than it is that it looks nice, but it doesn't hurt to make it look nice. And I think that is something that can also help integrate larger projects that we do need throughout the city um
into our landscape where you look at the Jolly Roger especially which is in the Greensboro in your example that looks like anywhere. It looks like a hotel Marriott. It looks like it could be on the suburb of any large city throughout the southeast. And I think we can tailor
our um manage the requirements that we uh give to developers um and understand the cost that they have to create these buildings so that when we talk about neighborhood character, it's not a dog whistle, but
it's actually a hey, maybe if it looks like it belongs in Charlottesville specifically, it will help blend into the neighborhoods and the communities in a way that's not as offensive. Um, that is again not the number one concern
um because again shelter is more important than aesthetics, but I think it could help um kind of keep Charlottesville Charlottesville. Um I think something that you know we've had a lot of conversations internally about where we're interested in being flexible
um or where we we can easily see something adjusted. Um, and one of those is the the radius that's in here. Um, I know that that 0.5 miles. Um, it it's the walkable the easy
walkable distance. Um, but it also is about half of it is not even in the city. We don't have control over that. So, um, that's the first problem. I think we can be more specific with regards to the land we actually do have jurisdiction over. And then there are um
areas especially specifically kind of the IV corridor JPA that are already so heavily focused on student housing that we can shift it to those more concentrated areas and also let them go
as high as they want so we do get that dense benefit without affecting u folks who might not necessarily be affiliated with the university. And I think that's something we're all kind of leaning towards getting on board with. Um
the um hang on, I lost my list. Um you mentioned that there's about 17,000 students at the moment. Do we have a information about like the rate of growth and change? Like how how recently
like was it or sorry 17,000 students that need offrads housing? I meant 27,000 students for um UVA enrollment, >> right? >> So, you know, we they are growing, but are they growing a lot? Are they growing a little bit? Is that accumulated over
how many years since like >> I think >> that's a good question. >> Yeah, because I think that's good to know. If we look around and we're like suddenly there seems like a lot of students is different than this is a built this is a deferred maintenance problem, >> right? I think that's a good question to understand the rate of change in
enrollment. Um it's not information that um >> I have access to at the moment. Um so but I I agree it would be helpful to have a sense of um you know what the university projects in terms of change
in enrollment over time. >> Yeah. >> The university has told us that they have no plans to grow between now and 2030. Now, my past experience with them, when they say they have no plans to grow, does not mean they won't grow. It's just
they're not gonna plan to. >> And historically, UVA since about 1970 has grown at the rate of a little over 1% a year, year over year over year over year. Some some years as much as one and a quarter percent, but it's it's been a
pretty steady growth. when they say they don't plan on adding any more students, but then they add the school of data science, >> right? >> How do you square those two things? So, my sense of things is that we ought to assume that the university will continue
to grow at 1% a year. Uh, and if by some chance they don't for some reason, maybe that's a good thing. but that we should be planning as though we are going to have to accommodate an extra that would amount to about 270 students a year at
the current 27,000. >> Yes. >> And I think that's that's a reasonable assumption. The reason why I I bring it up is um because there's it seems like a lot is happening. Like it seems like so much. You know, the Verve is big, Bloom
is tall, UVA is building um a lot of units. But in the analysis you gave us, it's really only 3,500 beds. So that leaves 13,500 people who are still out there competing for the same homes that long-term residents would like to live
in. And when people say, "Well, UVA should house their students." Sure, totally. Um, but I would support that if they didn't buy any more land in order to do that, >> right? >> Every time they purchase land, it comes
off of our tax rules and limits our ability to spend money on our own residents, which we like to do and people like to get money spent on them. But that's things like parks and transit and um snow plows and and things like that. So
>> speaking for this next week, >> yeah, everybody get your supplies. But so so it might seem like a lot is happening, but there's still a lot of people out there. And if we add a couple hundred people every year, we still have a lot that we need to to allow to be
built. Um, and then of course it's not just incoming people that uh that are coming to Charlottesville for school, but it's also students who like to stick around after they graduate. Those folks also need somewhere to live. We like the fact that you like Charlottesville.
Great. But if we don't allow additional units and homes, then you are competing with people who do live here or trying to, you know, maybe someone who grew up lived in their parents house now old enough to want to move out. You're fighting for the same space that they are. And and so if there's more
opportunities for more people, then that displacement pressures are reduced as well. Um we were talking about inloo fees and whether or not um that is something
worth adjusting but then also we've got the tax abatement study coming into place and perhaps inloo fees are not the best way that we decide we want to do inclusionary zoning at all. Um I'm open to that idea considering that um the
inloo fee itself is not building costs. just an extra chunk of money that the developers then need to pay the city and they're not taking that out of their bank accounts, they're adding it to the rent for the people coming in, which means market rates are automatically
driven higher because of a number that we've given them. So, when market rates are driven up higher, that has that cascading effect towards the surrounding area. Um, that's one thing. Um, the way that companies could also save money is by building a crappier building, which is not good for the people who are going
to have to live in it. Or if that means that they're saving money by doing concrete sight, concrete board sighting, cement board siding instead of bricks to match, you know, Charlottesville, that's also kind of negatively affecting the community at large. Um, it's also not a
reliable revenue source. It depends on what's coming down the pipeline for building. Um, and then the last thing about it that's kind of problematic is it concentrates wealth discrepancies. So if I'm building a unit here and instead
of having lowincome units in that building, I pay towards the inloo fee, which great, sure, why, fine, we'll take the money if that's the system we have set up and then we use that towards specifically concentrated areas of low income. That kind of economic
integration, it doesn't happen. And whereas if those folks were able to live in that building, then they're able to have that that um that mixed income situation. And if that building happens to be next to a neighborhood that is low
income, well then it's for that neighborhood, too, because those folks can help move in there. So, um building the units in the building is is something that I think we can incentivize by the tax abatement. um
where whether or not we we update the specifically low-income units or the whole building or I don't know how that math is going to work out, but it's it's going to kind of be a little more um consistent. It's going to get the units
in the building, which is what our our stated goal is right now. We have a puditive system where if your in payment is so high, it's going to want you to to build the units in the building. But we don't know if that's actually going to work out or is that going to prevent development at all. Um whereas tax
abatement I think is more of an incentive. Um the um again I don't want to to force a concentration of high and low income in special pockets. I think we should be able to have um integrated incomes
throughout the city. um which is a a to um give credit to Ashley social determinant of health situation. Um units in the building help in a much different way than in payments. Um the other thing is there's a lot of
attractiveness to these neighborhoods, Tensen Page, Fville, um and the neighborhood surrounding them because not because they're historically underinvested, so more affordable, but straight up because they're in a good location. it's convenient to get
downtown to West Maine to um parks and pools and UVA if you work there. Um that's kind of the central hub of cool stuff to do in Charlottesville. And there's the way where you can say we have to stagnate that or you can say we
can expand where cool stuff is in Charlottesville also to alleviate some of that pressure on these lower income neighborhoods. um which is beyond the scope of this study but is on the work plan which is mixeduse commercial throughout Charlottesville.
>> If being convenient to like walk to a coffee shop and restaurants is only possible if you live in Fville Tenth and Page um you know north downtown uh and like right around Belmont. Well, what if that expanded throughout the city and
then more people had uh attractive neighborhoods to live in for that walkability commercial region uh reasons and this is not a vape shop on every corner. This is coffee shops and [music] little offices and that sort of thing. Um so I think that's something that is
helpful in a secondary effect way to discuss protecting these neighborhoods from demand is making them not the only good places to live. um expand the amenities that exist in in neighborhoods throughout the city. Um
the other thing is core neighborhood overlays that prevent that claim to pro protect existing and historical conditions also can end up handicapping the ability of existing residents if they own their homes in these neighborhoods to generate more wealth
for themselves. Um, if you're not allowed to build an ADU, if you're not allowed to convert it into a duplex, if you're not allowed to do that stuff in the interest of preservation, um, well, then you're not able to build that wealth to add that tenant to help
pay for whatever. Um, we can't just say you can't do stuff. Um, but it also would be helpful if in a solution is is not just saying these are protected neighborhoods, but how do we help engage with these communities to allow that
wealth development, whether that's um uh providing loans at low interest or having standard plans for ADUs to help people in these neighborhoods get those off the ground so that they can stay and, you know, have a second unit to help pay for things or to have, you
know, grandma move in or the kids stay whatever. We have to not just lock neighborhoods in amber, but give them strategies. Give people strategies to to make it workable to live and stay in their neighborhoods. Um, and then it's
also true something we have to think about, which is these big projects citywide help add juice to our tax base, which we desperately need. We got another presentation from our financial team last week. uh our tax stress level is
high, our expected revenues are shrinking, um the economy is in jeopardy on a big scale. All of these things mean that if we don't allow outside money to help fund our stuff, that stuff is not going to be funded. Um we don't want to
have to take money from schools. We don't want to have to take money from parks, from future development plans. So, a a a necessary thing that we have to do in order to pay for all the stuff that we want, which includes um subsidies for
housing. It includes um transit expansion of drivers and access is to spread out that tax um uh obligation to more people, to more outside money.
Especially um we would love to subsidize a lot of things. subsidizing doesn't add more opportunity and it also costs money. So, so add more tortunity I mean by add more units. Um when there's a weight list of people needing somewhere to live, if you give folks subsidies
that doesn't create more [clears throat] places for them to live. So the line is still going to be long. Um, all that is to say there is room to shift where these especially uh I'm going to
call we were talking we could call them roommate units because you're renting by the bedroom um where you know maybe it's it's more attractive to students but also other people. um shift those closer to UVA in a more specific way down JPA
and that sort of thing, but we also have to allow development across the city. And if we do it in a way that brings lowincome units into those buildings, they will contribute more to the existing neighborhoods that are already there.
>> Thank you, Ken. >> Commissioner [laughter] Thank you. And thanks for um all of you being so clear and um explaining your positions and interesting ideas. Um I think to answer your question, yes, I
would like to see the four bedroomedroom scenario charted out. That does seem to be on par with what we're seeing just for the sake of having all the information for an informed decision. Um, I think we all sound like we're in agreement for what I might call an
overlay district of student housing, which is located where student housing is now. I think that's a that seems like a win-win for both developers, students, and uh, UVA Health uh, employees, and other
people who need um, a roommate situation um, to live. And there's opportunity in those neighborhoods to expand without causing harm um and in fact to support what uh the users needs. Um so please do
keep doing that kind of research on that. I um also would like to see um I am interested in um suggestions from the BAR perspective kind of what Michael
was saying it would be interesting to see how that would play out because what I'm learning here and hearing is we should have a both and solution. We should have a solution that protects and
repairs our core neighborhoods and our relationship to core neighborhoods as a city and as a provider of access to housing and uh slow down our scarcity problem. Um and both and means that it's done in tandem. So I would like to see
what we can do in tandem. Can we move student housing, for example, to an overlay district that seems protective of core neighborhoods and at the same time funnel the
um current inl um supporting anti-displacement measures in core neighborhoods as a requirement of student housing. Um, a both and would be can we keep um vicinities of core neighborhoods supported by current
development and still incentivize development that has um right now it seems like we're only incentivizing student housing. We're kind of seeing where it's fallen out in the in the code now and and we'll have to deal with that now and that will be uncomfortable and we will have to do that which we do not
prefer. But in moving forward, can that can there be the use of the tools? We can we have the tax abate abatement uh to encourage more on-site housing for students as well. um for the
opportunities where the blind spots are for us to step in and say we're going to continue the support of our neighborhoods both on the commercial aspect I think and the residential with the code and um keep
development on the radars of those that can accomplish it um in a way that supports um all levels of housing also supporting core neighborhoods. Um, I think there's a great value for
Charlottesville and being such a tiny tiny place to become less segregated and more integrated socially, culturally, and financially, economically. And the system is broken now, but that's where
government should step in to fix the system. And we have I think more opportunity than hurdle here if we think more both and um so the only concrete things I gave you was fourth tax abatement as a tool use the inloo now oh
and one thing I'd love to see a calibration plan so I think in the cities where this does work well there is a regular and I think you said every year you need to look at um the work plan but in the zoning code since
they can't do everything and we need to support it with this direction of funding and resources. A recalibrating of how the code is working or how the the rates of if we decide to go in our used or the on-site units because we don't know what's going
to happen with the students or growth or we can't predict the future. But if we don't recalibrate, we'll have huge gaps of time where we're not making progress or we're running out of resources to make progress in core neighborhoods. And I'd want to avoid that. And so seeing where that calibration can can play into
the plan. Is that did I >> may I ask one clarify? >> Yes. Yeah. So you mentioned something about um potentially creating an overlay district for student housing. >> I may be using the wrong nomenclature. >> Well, I was wondering if you could clarify what you would see as the goals of the creation of that district. The
goals are to increase uh housing for the demand of that specific district. So I'm going to call it a UVA serving district. Um and that would allow that overlay would be
specific geography JPA stadium etc. um that is supporting the that is truly supporting the housing scarcity problem that folks working and going to school
at UVA see and where the taxes or the um inluffy or the whatever organization we make also serve our core neighborhoods and our lowest um income hardest to get housing folks. Is that a
goal or is that too lofty a goal? I think that was helpful clarification. I think um there are tools that we could add to our toolbox to help incentivize the production of additional student housing units. Um what I just was
concerned about was the question of restricting student housing in certain places and that's not a tool that we can add to our um zoning toolbox. we allow housing everywhere in the city as a by-right use. Um, student housing is an
example of housing. Um, so I just wanted to make sure I understood what you viewed as the goals of that district. And that that does make sense and I think that's something we can certainly look into in more detail. >> So may I ask one more thing back to that? So clarifying on top of your clarifying, yes, um
>> we can't say you may not have um single room occupancy apartments in a core overlay. Is that what you're saying? We can only say >> or >> Well, we >> I think we could, but I think that would be a much larger policy question. I
mean, and that's that's kind of a question of unintended consequences. would right now any sort of housing is allowed anywhere in the city and that is consistent with our comp plan goals to produce a wide variety of housing types you know across the spectrum. um the the
way our so that that is just a fundamental um >> baseline >> baseline right um if we wanted to restrict housing that you couldn't develop products by um you know that were rented out by the bedroom that
would have the potentially unintended consequence of restricting other sort of housing that we you know need in this market and you can't control whether students live in that sort of housing or not. That's not something that is is an enforceable action and I think it is a
much larger policy question. >> Right. So not not so much concerned about who is in the building but where that that building is preferred at whatever height. Am I >> I think I think I'm not being >> what you were trying to say was um by
overlay district was this is where we would like to incentivize student housing. where would we like to prevent >> and there are tools that we can add to the toolbox to support that. >> But I think we need [clears throat] >> I'm wrestling with what I'm hearing. Okay.
>> So I guess that's a question but I'd rather you go first. So um I'm trying to be last. Um but I wasn't sure and that's I wasn't sure if are you asking for the ability to limit or are you asking for
the ability to incentivize so that the choice will get made to go to this area and only this area or primarily this area. >> I want to know what's possible. So broadstroke first. Yeah. Um,
if I would like to whatever housing is built near core neighborhoods, I want it to be incentivized to serve the core neighborhoods and their overlay and bring in the all that. >> Well, in the vein of the both and, I
mean, I think there there is also more work to be done in this space of supporting wealth creation. So no matter what sort of housing is built, there are benefits for the residents that would like to continue to live there. Um so I
I view that as a potential um approach to continuing to you know explore opportunities moving forward. >> Yeah, that's that for sure. Your part I need to think. >> Yeah. So now >> I just want to say one more thing which is you know for the last couple of years
we've heard a lot about the need for more and better community engagement and one of the tools the city just got and I think needs to shout from the rooftops a little bit more is connect Charlottesville which um uh which you mentioned thank you but if everyone pulls out their phone right now and does
connect.sharotsville.gov gov. You'll see a bunch of um information and resources. And this is going to be kind of the hub of community engagement moving forward. So, bookmark it, visit it, send it to your networks and friends um just so that it's something that becomes kind of
a reflex when you need to know something or or when you hear us say and that'll be on Connect Charlottesville, you know what we're talking about. All right. Thank you. Just wanted to plug that real quick. So, I just want to chime in that, you know, as I'm hearing my colleagues and um the residents over the last, you
know, couple of years in particular, I realized that, you know, as a grad student here long time ago, um I was part of the problem that we're talking about. I lived um in Fieldville on Cherry Avenue in the house right behind
um the corner restaurant. I was there with I don't know three or four other guys. They were Darden School, the um E school. And I know, you know, now that probably the four of us probably rented the house for way more than they could
have rented it for to a family. I didn't think about that. I'm I was trying to find a place. I was living in Richmond trying to find a place to live. Um and um as we are trying and and at the time
you know I remember some of the um discussions in Cavalier Daily and I think was another newspaper as well that there were complaints because the food de delivery places there wasn't but a few that delivered then they would not
deliver to Field and Tenth and Page because quote they were the bad neighborhoods. My my have times changed, you know. And I went to school at 88 to nine. It was a few years ago, but it wasn't like I went to grad school with Thomas Jefferson. It wasn't like that
long ago. And >> very highly. >> Yes. [laughter] Um and so I mean a lot has changed. It's a lot more pressure on those neighborhoods than we had be than there
were before when we were discussing. And it was like when I first got on council, it was like a water hose coming um because there had already been years and years of discussion on the zoning ordinance or um change and we were there was some discussions
on specifically these neighborhoods and I remember there was some discussion that you know about the homes being changed to McMansions there and it was like should we um limit the [clears throat] number of the the the
costs um that one could sell the house for their house for. And I was like, "No, I was definitely against that." I was like, "If someone lived in that neighborhood for years and they had the opportunity to make generational change money off of that, I didn't want to deny
that because that's what other people do. I didn't want to to do that." and we made as I recall um Lloyd and Michael you were on council then and Natalie you were in the in the audience for a lot of this but uh
you know we said that you know we didn't want to rush to make a decision on these neighborhoods and we were going to um wait to discover I mean to um to study them in a more deliberate manner and have public
input and and in these neighborhoods and see what you know what that the zoning impact would be and and that is my that's what I want to know like is that what you're referring to like is the
tier one and two and three as far as the neighborhood I I just need to be reminded of of this. >> Yeah. So, um, tier one and tier 2 and tier three are terms that we've used to try to describe the different [music] types of development code amendments
that we anticipate bringing forward. So, I'm channeling my colleague. Um, tier one is like an oil change. Tier two is like maybe you need to get your brakes replaced. And tier three is like the engine has fallen out of the bottom of the car and you need to,
you know, really figure out whether or not you want to buy a new car or replace it, etc. So, um >> level of complexity. >> Level of complexity is an easier way of yes explaining that. >> Uh so I did hear a couple of references to moving certain items up to tier one
on our work plan and I I didn't completely follow I I assume that what that meant was just finding a way to prioritize >> studies that address those questions on our work plan. And that's certainly something that we can and we will look at as we look into. you know, now we're
going to be wrapping up fiscal year 26 here shortly and looking into fiscal year 27. You know, what what we want to tackle. >> So, I think that, you know, we always at least I always believe that, you know, we at least I we believe that we were
doing the best thing with the zoning ordinance. We knew that there would be some impacts that you know we would have to come go back and like you know make some changes and and I and I would like to to elevate you know the
studies of the neighborhoods as soon as we can as soon as possible. That's what I would be in the camp of of doing as soon as possible so we know what we're what we're um talking about when you know all these questions I think a lot of them will be aligned. just like if we knew some of the answers um um to that.
So um um and um um so uh and I know that we're you know you came to us I don't know a year and a half ago this was um I'm not sure if l some of these other projects that we were you know considering now was even on the radar but now we're starting seeing some you
know of the projects that we um that the zoning ordinance envisions you know hidden you know kind of hitting the road and we want to know um you know the long-term impacts of of some of those. So, um that being said, um Sam, did you want to kind of
>> I've got one more question if you don't mind. >> Um so, a lot of what we're talking about is this housing geared towards students in UVA. Um and because there's the incentives for it in a sense, you know,
the the there's the radius, the in fees lower, all of that. Um do we have and you might not know this off the top of your head. I'm sorry. I should have sent an email asking earlier. Um, do we know how many buildings of this scale are
proposed that are not geared towards students? Are regular apartment incentives to or um regular apartment rules constricting supply?
>> So, right now there are no other largecale applications um under review. Um and so that is part of the scope of work for this effort is to look at those the inloo fees for residential development that's not geared towards
students to to ask that question >> if if our expectation for inl fees are really right sized um and appropriately balance the desire for on-site units with development feasibility. >> Yeah. because that would help alleviate, you know, if someone say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say says I'm a developer
I'll build whatever makes the most sense then our structure is sending them to build these units in these neighborhoods when we really want large scale apartment buildings across the city >> right >> go ahead you probably are going to say the same thing about me about the market
conditions >> yeah I mean I would just you know recall the city had an economic analysis done which showed that with or without inclusionary zoning above six or more stories was not feasible anywhere in the
city except for student housing because it simply did not clear hurdle rates for the internal rate of return being high enough because investors need a high enough profit to make the investment in >> and was tax abatement factored into those? No, but in the recent that was
the economic analysis done and in the recent tax abatement analysis the preliminary findings were still that even with a tax abatement most projects except for student housing still can't clear that internal required internal
rate of return that investors need and I mean I'll just project over five stories >> correct because the construction materials have to change which can double construction costs per square foot and I'll just return to this point I Height to me is important because of the economic impact. Again, in that
analysis, it was very explicit. Six stories and above in our market means student housing. So that to me is why the height threshold is relevant. And height is also relevant because the
construction cost going up per square foot means that rents have to be higher, which if that happens in Ivy Road, no negative trade-offs. And there are many positive benefits. But again, if that's happening in Tenth and Paige, I think we are increasing displacement risks. >> Well, that means single bedroomedroom
rentals, not necessarily student housing. Well, for for anything of that scale, and if you're talking, you know, six stories and above next to workingclass neighborhoods, I mean, you're increasing land values, speculation, and also
bringing in businesses that are going to, you know, the example, you know, the laundry mat becomes a priced juice bar. You know, that kind of change. And >> I I'm I'll just return to that and that to me the height is so important because
of the economic implications of it. And what new market rate supply will do is again lower the annual rate at which rents increase. So you're talking about instead of your rent going up 8% on
average, it goes up 5% over 10, 20, 30 years. That compounds and has a huge positive impact. But it means if you can't afford housing today, you are not going to get increased housing options. So if we're increasing displacement within a neighborhood, what I worry is people have talked about, you know, the K-shaped recovery in the economy. A
similar thing will happen with affordability impacts where housing options increase for the top 20%. But within that neighborhood, workingass people are pushed out. And I just really worry that race matters, capitalism matters. We have to incorporate that into how we're thinking about these
decisions. And if we're not intentional, I do think the default is because Tenth and Paige and Fithville are so close to UVA. The default is those neighborhoods will become playgrounds for upwardly mobile professionals. And I deeply deeply worry that a default outcome in
our market is housing options for young professionals increase and the people who work in the hospital for the city live in Buckingham Green Fluana and
anyway and I'll I there's a lot in this but I think one of the things is you know if we don't give direction to staff that at least we want to explore increasing a core neighborhood overlay
in examining the role of the bar. What that means is that we are telling staff the status quo right now we're fine with 7 to 11 stories of student housing in 10th and page fill rose hill we're fine with that continuing. So,
>> so I will say that that is a perfect segue into my comments um because that's exactly what I was going to say. I have taken notes. I have highlighted um what I captured to be zoning specific
matters. Uh and I'm hoping that Miss Brown and Mr. uh FE will confirm what they heard because I'm looking for direction. Um, this conversation is based on the idea that you would engage in conversation about student housing and then you would give staff direction
on what you want us to do. I heard uh an overlay district for student housing. I'm not sure we know how to do that. I'm reading her mind at this moment. I heard um we want to move the overlay district
conversation in regards to the sensitive neighborhoods forward on the timeline on the work plan timeline. Um and I want to make sure that those are two distinct actions. They're not the same thing because I want to make sure we're not conflating the issue. I heard that we
are interested in looking at BAR oversight being revisited. I guess the matter in the manner in which they do their work uh and what powers they're given I guess is is part of that. I heard that it is important for us to try our best to see if we can update what is
a rate of growth for the university knowing that they may or may not provide the information. Um but if we can't get that then we base the rate of change at 1%. And I also heard references to um so I'm
looking to see if there was anything else that you are there's an expression of uh an overlay district for student housing being centered around the JPA stadium avenue area which is is necessary for the
public larger public to understand and hear as well. If those are the sentiments, then while you're not able to vote in this session, I just need indication of at least the confirmation of those things because then we need to
figure out how we reorient to be able to deliver on if this is a set of priorities that you want to see results on that we can reasonably bring that back to you on some schedule. So, >> and can I just confirm does that track
with where you were and what you heard >> because I'm doing this for you actually. >> Well, [clears throat] I so we thank you very much for summarizing that. I mean, we presented to you, I think, a scope of work for how to look at student housing within the context of in Luffy
expectations and I didn't hear any feedback that would um diminish the importance of doing that study. Um, and I think councelor Flecher, you identified a couple of specific um, areas of study that would be good for us to continue to pursue. Um, exploring
opportunities to um, help target student housing within a a much more um, focused area around the university that could potentially address some of the concerns about displacement in uh, core neighborhoods is something we can certainly look at. Um, I'm trying to
remember everything else that was on your list. >> So, yeah. I mean, I think I also heard the importance of looking at opportunities for wealth creation, how to really capture the benefits of new development and target that into the communities that really seek to potentially be
burdened and and and could benefit. I think that's an area where we can definitely do some additional work and look how that can be addressed in our small area plans or in citywide policy studies >> and other programming. Um the other items that you listed um maybe you could
say them again or I could just >> So yeah I what and what I would like before we get too far away from what Sam and you are summarizing is to make sure I would like to get from the counselors if they heard what they they said to
make sure that he captured. So if we could just kind of be succinct as we go down say yes or no or so [clears throat] if we could do that that would be great. Okay. So, Michael, did you hear >> the I'll be to say I will say no because I think it should also include exploring
the process of a zoning text amendment related to core neighborhood overlay the AR issue in the radius recognizing that's not binding us to decision but is the actual process to actually make a change. [snorts] So, ZTA and that's something
you know that you know we we can discuss but that's part part of it is ZTA. Anything else, Michael? Okay. >> No. >> Okay. Natalie, >> was that not My impression is that's what you had said. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Um I think I
>> I don't know if that I mean I know we're that we're trying to keep a manageable scope, but just keeping in mind how it's related to the tax abatement study and the mixed use commercial as well. Um and whether or not in conjunction with this study those get scooted up uh a little
earlier. That's really what I want clarification on because the work plan, the effort put into the work plan was to order the steps of all the many aspects. >> Maybe I can just help to focus the discussion here a little bit. Um the consideration of a zoning text amendment
uh that would introduce um an expansion of the core neighborhood overlay um would be something that required comprehensive study and it would need to take place over a long term. Um it's not something that could be um considered
immediately and we would need to develop a scope of work. We would have to look at the legal um potential legal ramifications of um essentially downzoning um what is currently allowed by Wright to lower heights um and you know what kind of the
parameters are for that sort of consideration. But in any circumstance that is a long range comprehensive study that would need to be undertaken and it would certainly um supersede or replace other items that are on the work plan. I would also need to understand if that's
really the interest of all of you to to to even go back and scope that work um because it would take time away from other initiatives. >> Well, I I would just say I mean I think the issue is if we don't do that I mean or just so the community understands it if we don't do that what our decision is
is the status quo right now we're fine with and we are happy for it to continue. Um, and I know this is a different situation, but you know, we have done zoning text amendments in the past that proceeded in a matter of weeks to facilitate the um, uh, I believe 2117
Ivy Road project. I know a different context, but >> that's not really my understanding of what is possible. My understanding is we could change the halfmile radius without changing the core neighborhood zoning. >> Certainly, those are two entirely different
>> questions. So the status quo is flexible without that whole process. >> So there's the you could pursue a zoning text amendment for any number of changes to the zoning ordinance. Adjusting the radius so that it is more focused and
more targeted um is not is within the scope of work for the study that I presented to you tonight. something that we are >> able to bring forward within the next few months. If there is even still a
need for a a radius to distinguish where we have expectations for an inli requirement for student housing that is lower than the expectation for non- studentent housing. we may decide that it doesn't make sense for there to be any difference in the MLE expectation in
which case the need for a radius >> goes away. You would only want um the designation of a specific district if perhaps you wanted to consider some incentives such as um in a very focused
area to try to help really steer the student housing to a much more targeted area around the university. So, [clears throat] >> I don't know if that helps clarify things. >> A zoning text amendment that looks at the core neighborhood overlay district that effectively reduces by right height
that's allowed. That would be something that would need much more comprehensive study and um staff would need to develop a scope of work and bring forward some considerations for the legal ramifications of that sort of a downzoning [snorts] decision by council.
>> Okay. Thank you for the clarification. >> Lloyd, did did you hear your concerns with Sam's summary? Sam and Kelly somewhat. Uh I want to add just a couple of thoughts that things that came along the way. One is we have to remember if we're talking about trying to
concentrate student housing in JPA, that's already 95% student housing. Uh and the difference is that we would be increasing the density of that housing, but we would also be changing the market and the the the uh the
options uh and people who are currently living in some of those small houses uh would decide to move into other neighborhoods if they were not given that opportunity. So it's not a a cost-free proposition. Um, I also note
that at least a couple years ago, 10 of the 11 largest payers of property taxes in Charlottesville were owners and providers of student housing. The one exception was Barracks Road Shopping Center. The other 10 were all uh, you
know, folks who are landlords. Um, and they the the point being that if we end up making major changes in some of these other regards, and I suspect by now if we had the owners of the Verve and the owner of the Bloom, they would probably
now be 12 of the top 13. Um, but that our overall economic health is important and it's important that our overall housing market basically be in some kind of equilibrium. as I getting back to my original thoughts. Uh, and I I would
really like to know more about what that equilibrium might look like and how we would recognize it if we if we got to that point. Um, >> so the equilibrium of the >> in the rental market >> in the real market. We the information we've got is that that rental markets
that that rentals near the university are the market's still strong that you go more than half a mile or so away and the market and is now weaker. I don't know what that means as a practical matter either for the students or for the sort of the eb and flow of of the
student market. Uh, I am concerned that I it's it's not in Charlottesville's best interests to have a lot of hulks of apartment buildings that aren't working. It's not our job to make them work, but
I think it is our job to have in mind that as a as a potential bad consequence. Um, >> what's your other item? The other point is that uh if we're talking about going back to giving the BAR a lot of a lot more power
over such things, u you may remember that part of what we were trying to do a few years ago was to remove that kind of discretionary review because it was getting in the way of building more units. And so we took that power away from the planning commission and we took it away from city council to uh and
basically said to the BAR uh and we're not going to allow you to regulate size either. And now we're left to the situation where the only thing BAR can look at on the Seventh Street project uh is is these two little houses and whether they are individually protected
properties and whether we have to put a whole lot of other things on top of that decision in order to to get to where people want us to get. And I think that's that's a problematic area, too. >> Okay. Jen, did you hear your >> Yeah, I think we've I think we've put
everything now onto the list. >> Yeah. And I would like to just clarify that it's not necessarily give the BA more power is what we're looking at, but just looking at the BAR and analyzing if there's things that need to be tweaked.
>> I is I have a dumb question. Is um in thinking about the study and the work that you would have to do to look at the core overlay? Is it less study to um find out like
what kind of how creative we can get with instead of looking at what um can be done to in what I want to know what protects core core neighborhood growth and thriving. I want core neighborhoods to be our healthiest neighborhoods. How do
we get there? is if that's investment um the is there any way to look at incentivizing that investment in development? is [clears throat] that you're asking is there a way to look at whether we can do
a better job of capturing the um the the investment uh the new capturing the the revenue associated with that new investment and fun and directing it toward um the communities that are potentially burdened.
Not just directing it like can we go big? Can it can the tent be really broad? Like is there a way in this kind of zoning or looking at how >> Yeah, >> we're very much limiting our conversation to height. >> It doesn't necessarily need to be a zoning tool. We could be looking at things like tax increment financing
districts >> uh tax abatement. Again, I mean those are policies that we could establish that could be targeted toward you know any number of types of pro projects. You know we could develop the criteria. So, these are those are certainly things that we can look at that don't um need
to start to question the land use vision that the council adopted for maximum building heights >> and prioritization like can there be can that also be part of that convers that >> prioritization of what >> there's an incentive for developers to
prioritize engagement and builds in that core neighborhoods that help core neighborhood thrive to >> we can certainly look at that. >> Yeah. Thank you. Yes. Both hands. Both hands. [clears throat] And I would I know we're just again I mean one of my core concerns is you have
11 stories with unlimited density allowed by right right next to our largest public housing site which directly interferes with plans they spent years developing in data and research strongly suggests we'll have a fundamental economic disruption in the
neighborhood and we have no process for their voice to be heard in a way that actually matters and to be doing that in the same place urban renewal happened. I just do not think it's right. >> Okay,
>> Sam. Um, I'm done. I'm done. Okay, >> you got it. >> Okay, >> Kelly, you have anything else? >> Thank you so much. >> Nope. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. And >> did you >> Oh, no. I'm sorry. >> No. Um, thank everyone. Um, and you know
the public, you know, for your comments and your emails and coming out. It's make it makes a difference. We're listening and thank staff for this. We're now going to go do we have close session today? Okay. So, if you can read us into close session, please. >> Sure. Uh, pursuant to section 23712
of the Virginia code, I move that this city council close this open meeting and convene in a close session as authorized by the Virginia Freedom of Information Act as follows. One, pursuant to Virginia Code 2.2, 2-3711A1 for discussion and consideration of prospective candidates to be appointed
to the following boards and/or committees. Police Citizen Oversight Board and Council Finance Committee. Two, pursuant to Virginia Code section 2.2-3711A. One for consultation with legal counsel employed or retained by a public body regarding specific legal legal matters
requiring the provision of legal advice by such counsel specifically contemplated council action with respect to federal immigration enforcement. Just correction. Police Civilian Oversight Board. >> Thank you. I thought it sounded weird. I appreciate it. Police Civilian Oversight Board.
>> Okay. Can I get a second, please? >> Second. >> All in favor, please say yes. >> Yes. >> All oppose, please say no. Thank you. We'll be back at um a little 6:30 or maybe a little after. So, thank you. Part: 2
late going into close session. So, thank you um for your patience. Um Miss Ashin, can you read us? Vice Vice Mayor Ashin would read us out of close session, please. >> Yes. >> Language.
I move that this council certifi certify by recorded vote that to the best of each council member's knowledge only public business matters lawfully exempted from the open meeting requirements of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and identified in the motion convening the close session were heard discussed or considered in the
closed session. >> Second. >> Okay. Are we going to vote electronically or >> not? Everyone signed in. So >> Okay. Okay. All in favor please say yes. >> Yes. All oppose, please said no. Okay, motion passes five to zero. Uh, let's
see. We will begin with a moment of silence. Thank you. Um, are there any announcements? Okay. Um we do have a proclamation um today um um for Miss Sarah um um she
passed away um about a week ago and Sarah was an advocate for um um handicap services in the city. She was very dedicated and Michael um you have the the proclamation sir. >> Sure.
>> Yeah. and would just add, I think like all of us when first came on to council, some of the first emails were from Sarah Pool and >> um she was never afraid to be a fierce uh critic and of the city and advocate, but what struck me is she was always grounded in the facts of the ADA and
there were so many times where she was simply right on the facts of the ADA and certainly reading her advocacy over the years changed uh my understanding of how important ADA issues are and how much work is left to be done. Um but that said proclamation whereas Sarah Elizabeth Pool affectionately known as
Sally was born on November 6 1959 in Charlottesville Virginia and from her earliest days embodied curiosity compassion and deep love for learning and community and whereas Sarah passed away on January 11th 2026 in her Charlottesville home after courageous battle with breast cancer leaving behind a city made better by her presence in a
community grateful for her life. And whereas Sarah was a devoted wife of 42 years to Kevin Cox, a loving and inspiring mother to Christina Mara and Patrick Cox, a joyful grandmother to Ren Kimmel Blot, and a cherished sister to Alice Pool, Anne Pool, and Clyde F. Pool. And whereas when Sarah lost her
vision to to retinus uh Pedimentosa, she met this profound challenge not with limitation, but with determination, creativity, and grace, continuing to educate, nurture, and lead, including successfully homeschooling her three children, and modeling a lifelong commitment to learning. and whereas Sarah transformed her lived experience as a person with a disability into
powerful advocacy, working tirelessly to advance accessibility, dignity, and inclusion, and helping Charlottesville grow into a more welcoming and navigable city for residents and visitors of all abilities. And whereas, while her advocacy led to meaningful physical improvements across the city, Sarah's most lasting gift is the awareness she
inspired, deepening the community's understanding of the Americans with Disability Act as a vital civil rights promise and encouraging generations to see accessibility as essential to equity. And whereas even while enduring the profound challenges of cancer's treatment, Sarah continued her work with courage and purpose, demonstrating
extraordinary strength, generosity of spirit, and unwavering commitment to others. Uh now where therefore be it proclaimed by the city uh by the council of the city of Charlottesville that this city celebrates the life, legacy, and enduring impact of Sarah Elizabeth P, honoring her as an educator, advocate, and beloved member of the
Charlottesville community. Be it further proclaimed that this council expresses its heartfelt gratitude for Sarah's lasting contributions and extends its deepest condolences to her family, friends, and all whose lives were enriched by her remarkable journey. Signed and dated the 20th date of
January 2026, Mayor Wiego Weed. >> Thank you, Kevin. Or someone whose family would like to. Yes, Kevin. >> Thank you very much for recognizing her contribution to improved Americans with Disabilities
Act compliance by the city. That was what her mission was to bring the city into line with this very basic civil rights law and she worked hard at that. She was not able to complete her task,
but we plan on picking up where she left off and her work is not yet finished. So, thank you. >> Thank you so much, KEVIN. >> The council extends his deepest condolences to you and your family. Thank you.
>> Mr. Mayor, if I could. Yes. >> I just wanted to add a comment that I had made directly to to Mr. Cox that uh Sarah embodied the concept of what Socrates referred to as the gadfly.
>> If you're a scholar of Socrates and Plato, uh Socrates regarded himself as the gadfly who would occasionally bite the rear end of the big old government to remind the government, A, I'm still here, and B, there is still a reason I'm
still here. And it to Socrates that was a public function just as much as serving on this dasis. Uh and and Sarah really embodied that. So >> thank you.
>> So um any other comments? We're now at the um opportunity for public comment. Oh, we >> do. I make a motion. Yeah, >> we do have motions for >> the commit. Yes. In the finance. >> Um, I make a motion to appoint Karen
Lenoir Kelly and Natalie Reeves to the police civilian oversight board. >> Second. >> Okay. So, is everyone any further discussion? If not, all in favor, please say yes. >> Yes.
>> All opposed, please say no. Um, and we we're not going to do the finance committee this week. That's right. Um, before we um begin public comments, I see several people um are registered to speak on
um the the ICE and and and things like and and things related to that. And of course, you still can do that. But as council, I want to make a a statement on behalf of city council. And I'll just I'll read it. is that um Charlottesville is a community that cares for one
another. We know the recent ICE actions and rhetoric in Minneapolis are alarming and impact many of us personally. We want to be clear, we do not tolerate any enforcement actions that are illegal or create fear or instability for
Charlottesville residents. We also support efforts at the state level to protect civil rights of all residents and to strengthen privacy and access protection laws under Virginia. We are actively creating a resolution that
reflects our values. We will share that resolution publicly as soon as as it is ready. We also honor that speaking out and out in peaceful protests are the core of an American healthy democracy and we support residents who exercise
those rights as part of civic life. In the meantime, we stand with um the communities, agencies, organizations that work with those most at risk. We will continue to use council's voice, partnership, and authority to foster
trust, dignity, and a sense of belonging to all Charlottesville residents. And so, with that being said, we have um eight um persons that have pre-registered to speak and we have the opportunity for um eight others during
the first period. And the first one will be Alicia. >> Good evening. My name is Alicia Lahan. and I live in the county. Thank you for that statement, Mayor Wade. Justice is not justice if it is conditioned on convenience. Truth is not
truth if it is softened to preserve access or approval. At a moment where we need fearless action, elected officials are failing to speak out against policies and actions that advance authoritarianism, strip us of our rights, and promote lawlessness. You recently took an oath to uphold the
Constitution, even if it's hard, and especially when the threat to democracy is real. Imagine the courage it took to write, sign, and publish the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. This is from Heather Cox Richardson. Heroism is neither being
perfect nor doing something spectacular. In fact, it's just the opposite. It's regular flawed human beings choosing to put others before themselves even at great cost even if no one will ever know even as they realize the walls might be closing in on them. It means signing
your name to the bottom of the Declaration of Independence in bold script even though you know you are signing your own death warrant should British the British capture you as John Hancock did. It means sitting down the night before D-Day and writing a letter to the troops and taking all the blame
for the next day's failure upon yourself in case things went wrong, just as Dwight D. Eisenhower did. Sometimes it just means sitting down, even when you are told to stand up, as Rosa Parks did. None of those people woke up one morning and said to themselves that they were
about to do something heroic. It's just that when they had to, they did what was right. On April 3rd, 1968, the night before Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by a white supremacist, he gave a speech in support of sanitation workers in Memphis,
Tennessee. Dr. King told the audience that if God had let him choose any era in which to live, he would have chosen the one in which he had landed. Quote, "Now, that's a strange statement to make because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land.
Confusion all around. But I know somehow that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. End quote. Dr. King said he felt blessed to live in an era when people had finally woken up and were working together for freedom and
economic justice. None of us has to ask what we would have done had we lived during some past moment of historic injustice because we are doing it right now. You've had the resolution to unmask ICE since July. You haven't met with us. You haven't suggested edits. You haven't
suggested other courses of action, although we hope that is in the forefront now. You have done up until this point nothing. This moment of historic injustice demands so much more. >> Thank you, SUSAN.
I'm Susan McCully. I live in the county and I own property in the city. And I could have been Renee Good. I could have been murdered by a masked ICE agent and then maligned by the president and his cabinet. Not because I did anything
wrong, but because I'm a local activist. I live in a blue city and I didn't give him my vote. your partner, your friend, your neighbor, your child. You, any of us could have been Renee Good. She's dead
because ICE federal agents are acting recklessly and violently against not only undocumented folks and immigrants, but all of us. They're treating our streets like a video game. These cowardly masked thugs are terrorizing
neighborhoods with impunity and the full support of the federal government. This is why we've been coming to you since May, asking you to take a stand to protect our community from the lawlessness of ICE agents. In July, we brought you a petition for the unmask
ICE resolution because we knew the violence and death would only expand if there was no resistance to their fear tactics. The director of homeland security actually spoke from a podium emlazened with Nazi philosophy.
One of yours. All one of ours. All of yours. Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance points out that masking destroys accountability. She writes, quote, "There is literally no legitimate reason
for ICE and Customs Border Patrol to continue to be masked during immigration enforcement actions, especially in light of the recent histo history history of documented abuses. Anonymity accelerates that kind of behavior. It tells the
agents they aren't accountable for violating people's civil rights." End quote. We understand that as a city council, it's frightening to stand up to the federal government, but public safety requires a bright line between local law
enforcement and the paramilitary. Public safety requires law enforcement to ensure that those holding themselves out as federal agents are in fact authorized to act. We know this is scary. We're all scared. But we need to
stand together to keep each other safe. In the time of the Nazis, Dietrich Bonhaofer wrote, "Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act." I could
have been Renee good. We all could. We look forward to hearing your resolution. Even the Nazis didn't wear masks. Sorry if I mispronounced your last name, but >> bear too.
>> Yes. Hello. >> Hello. >> Hello. Hello. Hello. My name is Heidi Beeru, a member of the Court Square Enslavement Memorial Group. We are an adv an advoc
advocacy group honoring the enslaved builders who created the pre-1865 infrastructure buildings and streets that surround the original court square town grid. Yet during the 50-year negro trader era, the city's wealthy sold
those builders into cotton and sugar slavery in in the deep south. Around 2002, the city removed the only sign mentioning them. Counselors, we ask you to correct this now. It's been far too long. Deputy City Manager Freeze told us
no. This could not happen until we consulted descendants of enslaved ancestors. We had met with the NAACP and produced this list of 38 descendants who strongly want to see the updated sign installed. Mr. Freeze directed that we
meet with the parks planning board before we could move forward. We showed him how we already did so, but we're told by planning to take our idea to the historic resources committee. We presented the plan to the HRC. They said
wait until their enslavement marker was installed. We waited for that event which was was in March 2025. Then on October 25th to ex to clearly explain the sign needing restoration, we
delivered seven slate plaques below um as you can see on the on the photos below. And um you um and you Mr. Sanders and five council members and the historic preservation officer each received a plaque. We also rewarded the
sign to meet the meet the HRC's excellent humanization protocols. Mr. Freeze told us that he understood our concern. The city was engaging in historic eraser. Then Mr. Freeze surprised us. He said we must apply to a
coming but non-existent new city board. We'd have to wait another one or two years to make a separate application or we could petition the city council for a vote. We told Mr. freeze. We do not have time to wait. Our senior members are
dying. In a single month, we've lost Mr. Eugene Williams and Howard University Dean Dr. Marie Baker. I turn to you, Mr. Sanders, because on January 2nd, we asked you to schedule a vote to replace the sign. We will collaborate with other
citizen groups in town before we renew our request for a vote. Uh we are targeting um uh the end of Black History Month. Please, honored city councilors, keep a file of the statements we are giving you for future
review and voting. Our request is to reinstall the sign to a post on the south curb side of the building known as number nothing. This building has also been called Zero Park Street at the corner of East Jefferson um street. The sign reads traditional sign of
enslavement auction block. Thank you. Thank you so much. The next speaker is Michael um Bodet. >> Correct. >> I got No. Thank you. >> Hello members of city council. Um my
name is Mike Bedette and I live in the Belmont neighborhood. Um, I'm here today to speak in support of you passing a resolution to require federal law enforcement to operate unmasked and with proper identification. This is simply asking them to operate in
a way that will build public trust rather than destroy it. Across the country, we are currently seeing a federal police force operate with disregard for the rights of citizens and immigrants. Our city is not
currently being inundated by federal law enforcement, but we did have people taken from the courthouse by mass agents last year. Other localities have already taken this step and other steps to limit their
cooperation with ICE and federal law enforcement. We live in a democratic society and you have the power to demonstrate that federal law enforcement cannot hide from accountability. Passing an unmasked resolution is a preemptive step that you can try and take to protect this community. Thank
you for your time. >> Thank you, Emily Little. Emily Little. >> Hi. >> Good evening, council members. Um I'm looking forward to the resolution. Um I too am here to speak about what's coming
for us in Charlottesville as ICE gets closer. Uh as um is reported that they're setting up in Richmond as we speak. Um, they're hiding behind masks because their actions are atrocious. And our poor immigrant neighbors are
hiding now at home because they're fearful. I interact with immigrants every day in my work. And they are changing their lives in order to avoid being separated from their families and
from their li the lives that they know. Now, I spoke to a woman the other day who they literally have a plan in the grocery store so that they can get in and out of the grocery store as fast as possible because that is one of the
scariest things that they have to do each week. They're scared to pick up their kids from school. So, kids are now walking home alone or farther from their houses. They're choosing different routes to walk home each day, which is not good for the safety of children. Um,
so our immigrant neighbors are doing all of these things to make themselves safe. And as their allies, I want us to do more in this city. We need to we need to do everything that we possibly can, including asking ICE to unmask and to
identify themselves. It is the least that we can do as their neighbors. These are the women who clean our hospitals. These are the men who are taking care of our roads. These are the children who are playing sports alongside our children. These are our
neighbors, our friends, our colleagues, our patients, and we need to stand not when it gets too late. We need to be aggressive and get on top of this. So, I think we really I'm asking you I love that we're getting closer. It sounds like we're getting closer to a
resolution, but I just want us to be on top of this because ICE is preparing. They have more money than we can imagine, but we have the people power. So, let's get the people power of Charlottesville on top of this. Thank you.
>> Jodie Sweeney. Jodie Sweeney Hi. >> Hello. >> My name is Jody Sweeney. I support that council reinstate the state marker curb. We agree with HRC that it should be rewarded to read
traditional site of enslavement auction block. Our Abbott seed group believed that we must honor the enslaved builders of the old town center by naming the place they were sold.
Here are the words of two freed men. First fountain cues. We were slaves. We belong to people. They'd sell us like they sell horses and cows and hogs and
all that. Negro traders, they had an auction bench. Bid on you, same as bidding on cattle. They'd sell them to what they called the negro traders who would ship
them and sell them down south. Second quote is from William Johnson who was caretaker of Buenav Vista farm two miles from the auction block during the Civil War. He saw it often on trips to
town to Charlottesville and said white folks didn't think of anything about breaking up a family. When they put the women up on the auction block, biders would feel the women's legs, lift up their garments, examine their hips, feel
their breasts, and examine them to see if they could bear children. If the women were in good condition, they would bring anywhere from $150 to $500. UVA spent 7 million creating a memorial
to enslaved laborers. Inscribed on it in stone are freed woman Isabella Gibbons words. Can we forget the whipping post, the auction block, the negro trader, tearing
the young child from the mother's breast? Have we forgotten that by these horrible cruelties, hundreds of our race have been killed? No, we have not. We never will.
Thousands of enslaved residents were aware daily where these punishments lay. If they misbehaved, they would be taken for public whipping or be auctioned and their family broken apart on the enslavement auction block
at Court Square. We can't erase that difficult history, but our rewarded slate sign will honor our town's builders. Thank you. >> Thank you, Pete Dear. Pete Dear. Pete Dear.
I don't See Pete. The next one is Richard Allen. >> Thank you. >> Counselors and Mr. Sanders. I'm Richard Allen, our group's research secretary. Let me reiterate Heidi's words. We ask that until we confirm confer
further with other citizen groups, you would hold in abatement our request for city council to vote on whether the sign we're describing should be restored on East Jefferson Street corner. You can see that sign with rewarding behind me.
We will seek the advice of those groups and find out in fact if they would prefer to remove the word enslavement enslavement leaving simply the simple words traditional site of auction block. I've just handed you several items and hope
all of you will create the file we've described to understand history about that corner that we're offering you. Please use the material for review if and when Mr. Sanders schedules a vote on restoring the sign.
What I've handed you are a 20-year timeline of efforts to see the sign restored, a list of seven different sign items that have been proposed, a very interesting list of 33 large finds closely surrounding Charlottesville that very likely bought
and sold enslaved residents on our town in our town on the auction block. The another item that I have for you is a picture of the idea and I've given you that picture of what we hope you will
consider placing an urn behind the sign in the appropriate corner that has growing things and in that manner changes a place that's been soulkilling into a place that's more hopeful and life enhancing. And the final thing I've
given you is a narrative about a 300 person slave coffel that was marched down the Shannidoa Valley from Winchester. When it reached Stanton, it is extremely likely that a platoon of coffled men and boys was marched out of
the slave uh pin basement here at Court Square over to Stanton to join this coffel which marched for four months overland to Natchez. These men and boys wore up to 20 pounds
of shackles on legs and arms and the long chain that went down the middle of the platoon. We want you to be aware and all citizens to be aware of this tragic history at the same time that we ask you to stand
by as we speak with other groups and come back to you about this issue. Thank you. >> Thank you, Richard. We have the opportunity for nine people to speak now. Who would like to speak? Mer. >> Good evening. >> Good evening. >> Good evening. I'm Rosia Parker.
>> As we were talking about uh student housing in the last meeting, um I want to reiterate um Whartland and Tenth and Page student housing. Uh the dairy market expansion and the hotel on merit.
Um the Marriott. I want to understand that we're going to be around another still the same core neighborhood. So what is the plan that y'all are still allowing developers to come in and still
build? So, I just wanted to bring that up instead of just the student housing on Main Street because this is still surrounding lowincome housing and disadvantaged community. And that still puts us as being uh displaced because we
can't afford to live um in the dairy market. We're not going to be able to afford to live I mean uh go to the Marriott. I mean, so my thing is we can't live at Wartland and Tenton Page. So still, what
is going to be the outcome of these three uh uh projects that's getting ready to take place around the core neighborhood. So I think that these are things that we might have to start fighting against too, just like we have already been fighting against the dairy
market. So, as a black woman living in lowincome housing, I think this need to be addressed. >> Don, did you have a hand up? >> Good evening, uh, council, city manager. Uh, >> good evening, >> madam clerk.
>> Happy new year, everyone. Um, I'm glad to see the the resolution uh to appropriate funds for the neighborhood market. I hope that that uh that that comes to fruition and that you all do everything possible to make sure
that that that is actually going to happen. Um, I also want to say that uh we've got to be prepared for ice. The um, as was previously mentioned, they're
already in Petersburg. They're already in Richmond. And I don't ever want us to slide into the slippers of comfortability again and think that it can't happen here. Uh we we've certainly seen that um the idiocy that goes on in
Minneapolis and what has happened in DC, it certainly can happen here. So as much as we can be prepared, we need to do so. And finally, I I
I have to say we're a half a month in and and two two city council meetings in and we're still doing the same things. You can't ask for citizen involvement and then repeatedly and constantly turn
away people who want to be involved. Miss Parker has repeatedly applied for a position on the police civilian review board or or PEOB or whatever you're calling it now.
And excuse me, but it's a damn shame that she continues to be vilified and black ballalled when she was one of the original members of the original civilian review board. >> She brings a wealth of experience and knowledge.
She is a staunch advocate for public housing, for lowincome, for the disadvantaged, and for this community as a whole. And for her to continue to be overlooked,
ignored, it's it's not right. And you all know that it's not right. So, if you will, that that that that incredible filmmaker Spike Lee called and he's imploring you do the right
thing. You've got some 19 boards, I believe, that have almost 40 vacancies or expired terms. You cannot continue to ask the citizens to be involved and then when they try to be, you turn them down.
Please, let's re rethink some things before we get too deep into this year and too deep into these terms. Thank you. >> Thank you. Andrew, >> I'm sorry. You go closer. So, and I'm going to be quick. My name is Kristen
Seis. Um, I live at on Otter Street in the city and I am here actually the the community market is something else that I would also like to reiterate what Mr. Gather said, but the this the state law in Virginia forbidding people to wear masks was put in place because of the
Klux Clan. It was to fight white supremacy. It was to say in this community, we take ownership of who we are and if we want to say something, we take take ownership of it. And now we have a white supremacist agency that is taking over our cities
coming in to try to take people out. And they are using that the same tactic of covering their faces because they as previous speakers have said know that what they're doing is wrong. They know it's shameful. They're not willing to take credit for their own actions to take responsibility. And as the
government of this city, as the people who stand for us, who represent us, we need you to protect us. We need you to make a resolution whether it's binding or not and we need to work at the state level as well but we need you to say not in our town. Thank you
>> Angela and then Wendy. >> Hey y'all. How y'all doing? Good. >> Uh my name's Angela Carrboard member community. Um I'm in my 30s so I've been here my whole entire life. Um I want to kind of touch base on three different things. earlier when I was hearing um
all of what Miss Kelly was speaking about, I honestly heard a lot of contradicting statements. Um but I'm not going to go into it because I only got a few minutes and I kind of want to touch base about a lot. But um on their on
their website it says in essence for um I apologize y'all. This is for Mrs. Kelly's in NDC or Indiana. >> Yeah. So it says in essence these services guides develop to be
communitydriven meeting by the needs of current residents while planning for the future. I mean for the thriving future. So that means to me that you guys should go to the community before you worry about the students. You guys should go to the community before you um like
before you put students first. It should be community first. You know what I mean? Like it's I mean like just being honest. We are accepting. We accept anybody that comes that comes to Charlottesville. Not saying that we can't accept them, but I'm just saying like we're accepting people coming into
spaces and kind of not being accepted into their spaces. So, I just feel like, you know what I mean? It should be both ways. If we're not allowed to go at UVA and feel accepted, then they shouldn't be allowed to come to Fightfield or Temple Page and be accepted. I'm just saying like if we going, you know what I mean? Two, it should be the same. But um
and then touch base and I mean touching bases on the plaque. Uh we have a sister city in Ghana called Wendy and you've been there quite a few times and our sister city has those plaques. Our sister city has the the last bath plaque
the plaques where slaves were sold. So how can our sister city have something that the main city don't got? You know what I mean? And so I was just listening to that and it kind of made me cry because like to erase something that our that our people went through is just like it's not fair. That's that's like
that's like that was surprising to hear that that was even gone and I I didn't know anything about it. So it's kind of like the most high pulled me in different areas and I felt like I had to speak on that. And then um for the last 48 seconds I want to give my whole condolence to the Hispanic community like completely because to be jerked up
out your house to be taken from your kids when like I'm sorry when like you said these are literally our family like they are our family. They like the Mexican community they at uh it was 300 black slaves that ran to Mexico and the Mexicans opened up their gates like here
we going to give you arms. We going to give you food. Plant that. Can't nobody come take you or touch you. And they stood up for us. So, how can we stand still and not stand up for people that stood up for us? Like, let's keep it a ban. You know what I mean? So, and these are people that build our homes, like you said. You know what I'm saying?
These are people that built uh the McIntyre, like that new crossway where y'all put the stop sign, make it quick, right there with the stop sign. We can go up pan tops and down 250. All I saw was Hispanics making that and they finished that in a timely manner. We got to respect them like they got
Um, hi Wendy. I'm a FAR organizer. Um, up top I just want to say that I stand in absolute solidarity with our migrant un and underdocumented community and everyone working to get ICE out of our communities. The rest of my public comment is going to focus on the enraging earlier 4 p.m. work session on
student housing. First, you can rename student housing whatever you want. You can call it single room rentals, call it butterflies and rainbows, call it whatever euphemism you want. But you cannot hide the fact that even though it is not legally required to only house students, it will only ever house
students because the only people who can afford to live there are the rich mommies and daddies of mostly white students. I can tell you who is not living there. The single black mother working two jobs in the gig economy making less than 30k a year. And neither is the average registered nurse at UVA.
literally ask the UVA union if any of their members can afford to live on West Main. Secondly, you can design those luxury student apartments however way you want to make them blend into the rest of Charlottesville, but making your gentrifying building look like the rest of colonial Charlottesville's architecture. Because less we forget
that Charlottesville architecture is deeply steeped in colonialism, native genocide, and white supremacy. Making your gentrifying building look like the rest of colonial Charlottesville does not make it any less racist or white supremacist or violent as a structure of theft. You are just making the boot on
black and brown people's neck look more colonial, but a boot is still a boot. >> Three. I want to pose a question. Why do you think Tenth and Paige and Fill are both historically core black neighborhoods and so close to UVA? That is not a coincidence. They are both black and desirable neighborhoods with
convenient locations next to UVA and fun things to do in Charlottesville because UVA is a plantation that enslaved black people as chatt property. SO WHEN YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT THESE communities being desirable because they're close to to UVA, it is not some happen stance that black and brown people happen to live in
those communities. It is because they were enslaved by UVA and they were there first. Residents lived there first. They lived there before any student on UVA. They literally lived there because of UVA because they built UVA. So, you don't get to just come in and build
for students because it's desirable and close to the downtown mall, which by the way only exists because they demolished Vinegar Hill to serve UVA students. >> Four, something was said about overlay preventing residents from building wealth, like adding duplexes, and that city council shouldn't just tell them
that they can't do stuff. Literally, no one is saying that. A core neighborhood overlay doesn't mean residents can't do stuff. But also the people sitting up here and specifically the counselor who said this are not talking to the community asking them if they want a core neighborhood overlay. We are and
residents right now are saying they want an overlay to hold onto their homes. Their number one concern right now is not adding a duplex on their property and is literally wondering if they are going to be homeless when they retire because of the giant ass building that is about to inflate the crap out of their property taxes. You do not get to
to prescribe how residents build wealth. And you sure as hell are not going to use community wealth as a disguise to hide behind to bring more wealthy white students into core black neighborhoods. >> Who else would like to speak? Good evening. My name is Mel Borha. Um I
am a thirdyear UVA um law student. Um and I want to speak as to the ICE resolution. Um and I'm a resident of the Belmont neighborhood. Um I'm also pleased to have about half a dozen UVA law students here with me as well. Um
and um I wanted to just share uh I've experience in proono work of working um doing know your rights trainings with immigrant um attendees um and community members with regards to knowing about their rights with in in ICE
interactions. Um and I want to speak to that specifically and um how it apply and why this is important from that practical angle. Um in know your rights trainings um we give intend attendees information about um interacting with
ICE both um in terms of and to get identifying information about the officers in um in an interaction um that is really important um to assist with their legal case as well as emergency planning um with with families um in the
event that a member is taken. Um as well um a lot of what we also talk about is the um momentto- moment interaction that um somebody can have with an ICE officer and how um the that we always have to tell people you know to remain as calm
as possible, not give um not to do certain actions or do certain things um that could potentially um impact their legal case. But I just really want to emphasize how incredibly difficult that is to do if the person is an ar is a masked armed person who was dragging you
out of like your car or your home or a hospital. And so so there was a lot there's already so much onus on the individual in that interaction with the um federal enforcement um to act a certain way. And um it has real practical impacts for their um their
legal case down the line or potential impacts, excuse me. Um, and so I I want to speak that to that specifically about why I I really appreciate that the resolution. It sounds that um a lot of Charlottesville's values will be included in that resolution. I really appreciate that, but I really um from
that practical angle want to um say please um go further and um demand that folks that the federal enforcement be unmasked um because of these really practical impacts. And um I'm not an attorney, but um I uh have um uh I I I
you know I and you know my fellow um students who will be attorneys um very shortly um do really care about what impacts this could have for um folks legal cases. So thank you. >> Thank you. >> Hello. My name is Terry Tyrie. I'm a resident at South First Street, an
intern at FAR, and a chapter leader at Virginia Organizing. I am here to speak in support of protecting Shawsville Court neighborhoods while we address housing needs thoughtfully and equitably. Within a half mile of the university, we are seeing average home
values jump from roughly 149,000 to over 325,000. That inflation is not acceptable. It's not accidental. It is driven by speculative investment tied to student housing demand, bonus height allowances,
and zoning incentives that overwhelmingly favor investors over residents. We are told student housing is necessary because 17,000 students can't live on grounds. But I want to ask a parallel question. What about the
long-term residents who also can't find housing? When students move into neighborhoods, they often move into the non- rental market. Single family homes, duplexes, small multif family units. We know students want to walk to campus and that the reality that it concentrates
pressure in neighborhoods like Fightville, JPA, Cherry Avenue, Avy Road, and barracks. The result is displacement, inflated land values, and the erosion of historically black and workingclass communities, especially
within a fiveminute walk of Cherry Avenue, where blackowned businesses already lost leverage and West Main Street. We are now seeing 11story amenity having bu heavy buildings that cater almost exclusively to student use.
Renaming these developments or rebranding them does not change the outcome. Aesthetics alone will not preserve Charlottesville character, and they certainly won't close the 10-year life expectancy gap that exists in our core neighborhoods today. If we are
considering bonus, height, tax abatements, and inloo fees, we must ask, why not prioritize far style engagement strategies and reinvest those tools directly into core neighborhoods? and L fees are not reliable revenue source and
they often get passed back on to renters, deepening inequity instead of reducing it. We need stronger protections, slowing annual rent increases and revisiting bar oversight to restore meaningful review. UVA has
stated enrollment will not significantly grow through 2030. Yet, new programs continue to add students annually. Meanwhile, the cities bear the cost. While land is removed, the tax base or abated to support student focused development. I support exploring student
housing overlay districts, but they must carefully calibrate geographically target and pair with the protections for surrounding core neighborhoods. Thank you. >> Uh good evening. Mr. Mayor, council, Mr. Sanders, I'm Genevieve Keller. Uh, I
live on First Street North. I attended your very intriguing study session earlier tonight. Uh, there were a number of interesting notions and ideas identified at that session, many of which Preservation Piedmont, of which I'm the current president, recommended to the planning commission and the
council many times during the zoning code development process. We were then and continue to be concerned about the effects of rampant high-rise student development on our core and traditional neighborhoods. We were distressed to see that even on the last night when the
council vote was taken to approve our current code that new intrusions into those neighborhoods were enabled enabled at that last moment. As you know, I'm a preservation professional and one with deep local experience and also state leadership in that area. I encourage you
to consider using the locally enabled neighborhood conservation tool with a distinct community administered review board that can still meet state requirements. Do this not to seal neighborhoods in amber or to make them look colonial, but to acknowledge and
carefully consider how to enable residents to manage change in these special places. It's not about the BAR as it's concurrently configured. It's about the core and traditional neighborhoods and the people who live in them and the legacy of those
neighborhoods. Our current zoning map is not cognizant of our city's cultural, historic, and natural resources, but we can still rectify that. It's not really too late, and there are innovative ways to do it. There were very interesting comments earlier tonight about height
and its effects. It was interesting to me to learn that there were no high-rise projects in process currently other than in the university area zones. Be bold. Reinstitute the SUP citywide at least for an interim period in the non-UN university areas of the city for heights
above five to six stories until we can sort this out as a community. The post-pandemic and 2017 political climate precluded robust community discussions and even widespread zoning understanding. There is nothing inherently good or bad about height, but
as we heard earlier tonight, height is inextricably linked to our local economy and inequality in most aspects of life. Let's try to get it right this time. We know it's not working. The General Assembly in Richmond is considering right now so many ways to innovate in
housing. We can be a state model on community engagement and neighborhood preservation in our economically challenged areas. Thank you. One more speaker. Anyone over here? One more speaker. We have time for one more
speaker. Yes. Hello. Thank you so much for the time for public comment. My name is Anna Figueroa. I'm a thirdyear law student at UVA Law. I specialize in immigration as a student and I'm going to be an immigrant defending uh lawyer after I
graduate. Hopefully that happens. Um so as like Mel, I also have done several know your rights trainings and I just want to emphasize the importance that this ordinance could be for people on the ground as a tool. Again, we'll see down the line as people had mentioned
like what standing this ordinance could actually mean in the courtroom, but to your average person on the ground if they can say this or there this resolution exists and the city of Charlottesville stands beside me and I need your ID number, I need your name,
you can't be masked, it at least gives them something to stand on when they're asking for identification. And to have that as a tool is just like our constitution. If people know their rights, they know that they have to have a warrant for search in certain areas.
They know that they can remain silent. They know that the city council has this resolution requiring people to be unmasked or to identify themselves. That gives them power and that gives them something to stand on. And these are um and can be very important in a future
legal case. So, I just can't emphasize enough um what this action could mean for people. Thank you. >> Thank you. So, that was the last opportunity for um public. At this time, we'll have another opportunity at the end of the meeting. Um madame clerk,
will you please read the consent agenda? >> Consent agenda number two, minutes, January 9th, 2026 retreat. January 12th, special meeting. Number three, resolution to appropriate storm water local assistance grant fund
for the Ravana restoration at Riverview Park in the amount of $67,610. Second reading four, resolution to appropriate funding from the Supreme Court of Virginia behavioral health docket grant $78,150
9. Uh, one of two readings. Five, resolution to appropriate Virginia Department of Social Services Family Assistance Management Grant in the amount of $125,7546. >> Two readings. >> Is everyone signed into the electronic
voting? >> Okay. Yes. >> So, um, may I get a motion to adopt the consent agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Second. Okay. If we can, there's no further discussion. if we can vote electronically.
>> Uh let's see. Okay, the motion passes 5. And now we are at the city manager's um report. Remy, if you could pull the uh the other
document up first. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. I have a way of clearing out the room as usual. >> Um cuz folks don't want to hear some of my boring stuff, I guess. Um, this is my quarterly uh work plan update. Uh, I'll
provide this uh as a a peak at what are we doing, how are we doing, uh, and then at the beginning of the fiscal year, I'll outline what we going to actually get done. I'm going to just quickly just highlight this document as well as the slide deck that I'm about to go through
are posted u in the transparency portal on the website. I do that every quarter uh just to make sure that the public stays connected to some of the conversations that I'm having about our progress over the course of each year um each year but in quarterly uh segments.
Everything that is highlighted in yellow is an update. It's a a status update. Uh the notes section is giving additional information uh for the public at large. So I'm just quickly pointing that out to you, but I'm going to go into a slide deck after this. So, in each page, you'll see that wherever there's a
highlight, that's an indication of forward movement. Uh, it may not be as much forward movement as someone like me wants because I'm impatient. I want everything to move. Uh, but I'm always uh trying to indicate that we are getting things done and we're moving forward on the many things that are
outlined. And this document is is arranged around council's nine strategic outcome areas and uh your commitment to community prosperity. Uh so again just pointing out to you that these are indications of action and progress. All
right Remy, if you could pull up the slide deck for me. Thanks. >> Bless you. >> Bless you. >> In the uh in this uh part of the conversation, it's it's more or less and I say conversation because I know you all may have questions or comments after
we're done. But uh the point of this is to just again show you how we're doing uh by giving you updates on what we're doing and it'll be there shortly. Sorry, technical difficulties. Stand by. >> I appreciate it. We had it already, so
we know he's got it. There we go. So, Rey's not stressing anymore. All right. So, again, just pointing out that I initially presented this to council in July at the start of our fiscal year. At the bottom you see that the term
implementing our plans. That is my theme for the year. The goal is to make sure that any plans that we have that we've been working on that we are working towards implementing those and they're not sitting on a shelf. Uh because that's the other use for a plan is you just let them sit on a shelf and collect
dust. So just items that I wanted to highlight for things that we've delivered this quarter. Uh the PCOB brought you some ordinance changes that kind of reset the work in addition to you all adding uh members to that body. so that it could really get back to a more steadfast movement towards uh doing
the work of serving this community. Uh Ashley Marshall was successful in getting our municipal equity index score to 100 points, 100 out of 107, which basically equates to the label that this is an inclusive community, something we already know, but doesn't hurt when
others actually show us that we are are doing the right work. Uh we initiated program evaluations of our downtown job center and our home to hope program. Not because there's any interest in doing away with those programs, but the goal is to make sure that they are performing well and getting stronger. We initiated
the update of the city school city and schools memorandum of agreement. This is in regards to our relationship for the management of school properties as well as our relationship for building as well as uh groundskeeping. The goal was to bring this document uh into a modern
period because I think it was 19 I don't know, we don't know. It's been that long. 19 something uh meaning too long. So we wanted to bring that up uh with both sides being able to update the document. We completed a major migration
uh to SAP S4HANA. That's behind the scenes. That's the guts of the organization. Something that you all don't really care about, but we absolutely need. We needed to be strong. We were able to update that uh process this fall and get through some of the kinks. Uh and we are uh smooth sailing.
And I will say from this point on, it's all about us now. It's less about the system. Uh we completed an update to all of our mutual aid agreements with our regional partners. Something that we always need to stay in good standing and make sure that we have current relationships. So those things have all been updated. Uh we have resumed
coordinated emergency management planning and preparedness because we were able to bring back on an emergency management coordinator and John O'Randy who started I believe back in September and has been running uh uh he hit the ground running and he has not stopped. Kind of tires me out with how much
running he's doing with the many things we're talking about. But that's all good stuff. And then we've done some internal assessments to help achieve higher optimization. Overall performance of course being what we want to focus on. We also bought this nice big 27,000 foot building as a homelessness intervention.
So the city is now working with our community partners. Got fans in audience. Uh we uh acquired this building to work on uh low barrier shelter with services. I always want to point out and I never want it lost. This is not about a place to just put people.
This is a place to serve people. Uh so the goal would be to do additional work there and see how we can get people out of homelessness because that would be the goal. Um all right. Uh I got a real good gallery. Uh the city attorney's office
is fully staffed. I know uh our city attorney is pleased with that, but he has led that effort in making sure that we get all the seats filled. It is refreshing to walk in that office and it not echo. Uh they're actually and they're working working very hard uh on a number of things. So, we're happy to
report that that has been achieved within this past quarter. And I have uh shared with you and now I've been able to fill out the uh boxes on the screen that in October I initiated a reorganization of the city manager's office. I share with the team that I actually put Justice League there
instead of city manager's office, but I took it off. Um but this is the new team. Uh we still have team members arriving. Uh you met Evan uh at the first meeting of this month. uh you'll have um and Abby as well. Uh Steve joined us in October. He is my
assistant, but I'm going to go into a little more detail. And we have other folks joining us. So, I wanted to just kind of run through just the organization of that team, who's doing what and what are they working on. So, Evan Pilichowski is our assistant city manager focused on infrastructure. Uh he
has information technology, parks and wreck, public works, and utilities. and he started January 5th and he has already made contributions and will definitely will be a great asset to our team as an experienced uh part of our team. Uh he'll be able to help answer questions that I have never been able to
answer for myself. Uh Sam Roman uh will join us on the 2nd of February. Uh he will be focused as an assistant city manager focused on public safety. So he'll have emergency management, fire, human services, and police. That is different for human services to be in a public safety
portfolio. That is by design because I've given some time and energy to the idea that if our human services department is focused on young people and adults, then what better way to make sure that we can make it a more coordinated effort so that they too are benefiting from all the extra work that
we're doing. Uh Sam's name is Sam. My name is Sam. There can only be one Sam. So Sam will go by Roman. we've already anno made sure that that is going to be the case. So when he arrives on uh February 2nd, you will only hear him hear me reference him as Roman and I
will ask all of you to do the same so that there's no confusion on who said what and are you are you expected to do what you heard. Uh because if I said it, you know, it kind of goes that way. All right. Uh Steve King is my assistant to the city manager. That was a new role that I created, but it was really
focused on trying to get to things that we haven't uh been able to get to. And I realize I got a typo because his box does not say what it's supposed to say. So he is working on policy, prosperity, and strategy. So policy is working on various initiatives that you all identify, things that I identify that we
want to bring to the attention of council. Prosperity is equity by another name. It doesn't mean that we don't do equity work. The work continues. Uh and then strategy is getting into the uh evaluation, measurement, and reporting of the quality of work that we're doing. So those are the bullets that really
should have been there. That was my mistake. Ultimately, he has um within his portfolio prosperity strategy, uh human rights, PCOB, and all the other efforts that we have underway and he started back in October and has been a
real asset because I haven't been able to get everything done that I need to get done and now he makes sure that we can. Ashley Marshall is our chief prosperity officer. That was the role that we also made as a shift to this. Uh that's ADA, human rights, PCOB as I mentioned, but then the prosperity work
being focused on access and opportunity, health and wellness and culture and heritage. I am reporting for the public overall that Miss Marshall is leaving us. Um she'll be here later this evening presenting an item uh and give a chance to uh speak to her and thank her for her contributions for her time with the
city. Um but she'll soon be leaving us on February 6th and we will immediately begin working to fill that seat because that work matters. Uh Jen Hendrickx joins us on February 2nd as our chief strategy officer. She's going to focus on strategic planning,
performance analytics, performance management, and my SE seville administration. That last one is probably the most important one to me because that's our interaction with the public. We've had my Seville for some time. We have relaunched it before. We're going to relaunch it again, but we're going to try to fix it first. uh
my seville is the community's opportunity to share with us things that need attention and I would like to make sure that we can build that relationship better through the use of that doc that particular program. Uh in addition to connect Charlottesville as was mentioned by Vice Mayor Ashin. Uh Jen starts on
February 2nd as well. Abby joined us uh January 5th. Uh she is economic mobility and it should say and opportunity officer. She's going to be focusing on community enrichment efforts, economic prosperity and wealth buildinging. She is um provided to us
through uh a relationship that we have with ICMA that is our um national industry standards organization. They selected 15 organizations to form a cohort around the country to try to embed this work in their efforts. Even though we do some of this work already,
I agreed with Ashley that it was something that was worth going after. And for that, we have the pleasure of having Abby work with us for the next two and a half years and she started on January 5th and we look forward to great things coming from her time with us. And then, you know, you got James and
he's not going anywhere. So, you got economic development, human resources, neighborhood development services, sustainability, and transit. I really like James. It was just a shot. I couldn't resist. Uh so James is going to continue to focus on helping me in the most significant way. Uh and I labeled
his uh portfolio vision and services. So he's going to be my right hand and really my thought partner on a number of things. And then you got me. I'm not going anywhere. Internal services is what I'm going to focus on, but I'm going to go well beyond this because with all of these team members, I now can breathe and sleep. Uh so I'm going
to get some good rest and I'm going to get into the other good work that I really wanted to get into that I just haven't had time. So, I will continue to oversee our budget and grants management office, which was a shift as well. There was a coordinated effort to expand the budget office to take on grants management because I love spending other
people's money. Uh, and we get a lot of money from other places and I want more. So, that was um an effort to try to make it possible for us to do that. Our city attorney also, as you recognize through your relationship, is um constantly engaged with me because none of us want
to go to jail and we want to make sure that he is doing his job to keep us out of it. Uh communications and public engagement. We now refer to it as CAPE. It is something that we take seriously. We changed the name a few years ago and added public engagement because it is that important for us to get this right. And that is why you'll continue to hear
us talk about other things that we're doing in that space. And then the finance department which is how the money comes and goes uh in this organization machine that we are all a part of. And this slide didn't update either. You were not supposed to have these
highlights. So I sent the wrong version uh to Remy, but that's okay. See, that's why I need an assistant to help me. Uh just wanted to just kind of point out the offices of the city manager. These are offices that are extensions of So my team is the bigger uh slide that you saw. These are all the small offices
that make up the city government that are focused on different things that are considered an extension of my office. So again, the office of budget and grants management. There's a team there led by Chrissy Hamill. Office of Communications and Public Engagement led by Afton Schneider. Office of Economic
Development led by Crystal Rittervald. Office of Emergency Management led by John O'Randy. Office of Human Rights led by Todd Neee. Office of Police Civilian Oversight currently led by James Walker. Uh and we will be working on a recruitment for filling that director
position and the office of sustainability which I think we listed twice but that's Chris >> you referred to office back home development is being led by >> Chris Engel sorry Chris is watching and he's going to say something to me tomorrow about that >> moving too fast. All right and then we have CMO based citywide team. So the
point that I'm making here in that I wanted to reference this conversation in a way that I want the public to appreciate that we have not stopped doing anything. We may have changed the reference from equity to prosperity one to kind of keep those who are looking to meddle and navigate and mess with things
to not do those things but we still have a cross- sector team. Our chief prosperity officer, our ADA coordinator and specialist and our home to hope navigators are still focused on that work. We will be looking to add into that space through designating team members across the city organization to
really really dig deeper into that work. And then our strategy team, so the chief strategy officer and a citywide performance analyst is meant to capture the information, digest that information, process that information, and then report on that information on a regular basis. That's really giving us
an accountability stream that we just haven't had for the past few years. Organization excellence is what it's all about. That is why we do the work. It is why I spent the time focused on the things that I wanted to change and make sure that they were getting stronger because you have a vision and my goal is to do what I can to help you implement
it and that is to be a place where everyone thrives. I'm also um going to make sure that in our next meeting, actually your next meeting is a work session next week. Um it is the first of the budget series. Uh and in that we're
going to show you the results from my um series of budget uh engagements with the public last week. We use monopoly money to present um an opportunity for folks to spend money uh tied to their spending towards priorities with the priorities being framed by yours because it makes
it work together. Um but we have the um results of that and we as a budget team are going to use that to compare how the public in three different nights spent $10,000 per person who walked in the door on all of your um your vision items. And I wanted to share that with
you so that you can appreciate what the public says because you now are going to be adopting a budget in April that should say very similar things. So that's the test. So that's what I have for you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any questions? Oh, any questions?
>> No, I would just remark for the community. Um, I think hearing this just makes reflect obviously, you know, anytime a city manager or county administrator comes on, you know, they set the structure they want and fill it.
And for probably five or six years, city government has been in a space where that was not possible. So really for the first time in five or six years, our city manager Sam has had the space to do this. And then you think about
department to department, everything else that that you know can improve and change. And I just hope the community can appreciate the the scale of the challenge that our city manager came in kind of inheriting um in in the amount of work that goes into this and the
trajectory that we're on. >> Thank you. And I and I'll just add to that that it it has made a difference. The public sees this and notices this was when I'm out with residents, business owners, visitors, they they they notice um the difference of the
stability and how the city's moving forward in a very deliberate way. So glad that you're getting fully stocked with your your team and it's it's making a difference. Thank you. >> Thank you very much.
Um we we are now going into um action items. And the first action item is an ordinance approvement approving amendments to previous ordinance authorizing um a forgivable loan to supportive housing for Vista 29 is the
first of two reading. Um Brenda. Hey, >> good evening. For the record, I'm Brenda Kelly and this first item in front of you is to amend a previously approved ordinance uh to same change some terms
in the forgivable loan agreement. And so you have all seen this except for one of you. So for a little bit of reminder background uh the presentation in front of you. So this is for the former red roof in site. It's actually in Alb Maro
County, but the purpose of the project is very important to the city of Charlottesville. Uh that's why you elected to support funding for the project. This property where the yellow star is was purchased by Pedmont Housing Alliance and then the property was
subdivided and support works housing purchased a portion of the prop of the parcel. Um the total funding support is a little over $4 million between the city and the county. The project itself, which is shown in
this red circle area, is um 80 units of affordable housing with support services, also known as permanent supportive housing. The proposal is 12 units at less than 40% AMI, 28 units at or less than 50% AMI, and 40 units at or
less than 60% AMI. It's currently under construction. Expected occupancy is in December. So, the item in front of you today is a forgivable loan agreement. There are some terms that uh has been requested to be revised from the original version you
approved. It still is the $750,000 funding support from the city. A 30-year affordable affordability period. It was previously 99 which support works asked because of their financing that be changed. It's still a 40year term on the
forgivable loan and we now have declaration affordable housing covenants which are included in your backup packages uh that will be recorded in the public records to ensure the affordability on the project. And that's what we have in front of you tonight to ask you to amend the
ordinance that was previously approved. This is first of two readings. >> Okay. So, um any questions or comments on this? I remember going to the um ribbon cutting for this probably a couple of years ago and I think it was like 32 sources of funding or something.
Some crazy I mean just a lot of different things. I see sunshine is here is where where you're able to get those grants and things. you talk you talk about Sam, but um there's a lot of collaboration to go on to make this happen. So, but
any questions on this? If not, um can we put this on the consent agenda um for um February the 2nd? >> Sure. >> Can also eligible to be weighed to vote to the city council. >> Yeah. I was going to ask, is there any time constraint that would
>> make this the need for this to be speedier? >> No. No. >> Okay. We'll put on the consent agenda for February the 2nd. Okay. The next The next item is an ordinance authorizing a forgivable loan to um Pemont Housing
Alliance to support um redevelopment of 1025 Park Street for the purpose of producing new housing for low and moderate income persons. Um this is the first of two readings as well. This item is the first time it's been in
front of you. This is uh similar to uh previous other agreements you have approved. Before I start with the presentation, we were asked today to make some corrections to the agenda memo that's in front of you. Uh MKA is no longer administering the Head Start
program. So any reference to the Head Start program um should be changed to just include um a high quality early learning center. Uh there's still discussions about who's going to be running and operating that. So if you see any reference to the Head Start
program, that is not correct. Um that's in the presentation and also the agenda item. So a lot of you are familiar with this as it went through the planning process. The site is located north of the 250 bypass near the John Warner Park
Parkway parkway. The redevelopment of this site is a little bit more complicated because it's a partnership between Piedmont Housing Alliance, Habitat for Humanity, and uh the MACA. The funding support in front of you in
the loan agreement and the associated documents is for a total of $3,770,000. That funding has already been in place in previous capital improve improvement programs in previous fiscal years. So the funding's already in place. The
funding will be used for property acquisition, construction, and projectbased rental assistance for five apartments for five years. There are two separate declaration of affordable housing covenants to be recorded in the public record records. One is for the
rental units and one is for the home ownership units. There is a 40-year term on the forgivable loan. The forgivable loan is between Piedmont Housing Alliance and the city. This is the actual project that will be
built on the site. It's 86 new apartments, um, home ownership town homes. There are eight market rate homes proposed for the site. The city funding is not going towards the market rate home. It's going towards the affordability of the
affordable units and 5,000 square ft for an early learning center. Some of the community amenities for the residents are community rooms, bicycle storage, recreation pass, open green space, and So, here's the terms of the agreements
in front of you. Uh, the rental apartments, a 99-year affordability period, 66 units. Uh, you can see the breakdown at the AMI levels in front of you. The Habitat for sale homes is a minimum 30-year affordability period.
Again, the units broken down by the AMI. Uh, construction is expected to start in the fall or winter of this year. And that might be it. So, Mr. Mason's here in case there's any
questions. And uh Oh, and we are asking you to wave the second reading in this instance because PHA would like to close on the property this month. So, that would take a four-fifth vote to wave the second reading and approve this at first
reading tonight. Um, any questions on this one? I know this it's a great site for this type of project. We've been waiting on it to get started for quite a while. So, it's good that it sounds like it's it's it's about
time. So, Michael, any um any questions about um it in general or approving it tonight? >> I don't have any questions. Natley, you >> nope. >> My only question is has there been any change in the site plan or the the
layout of things or >> No, there hasn't. And one of the requirements before we allocate any funding is that they are required to provide proof that they have had the site plan approved. So if there are any changes and it's all approved through
the process, then they would not be able to get any funding until those approvement additions or changes were um approved by the city. >> Okay. >> Question. >> Okay. So if it sounds like we have
enough support to approve it tonight. If so, may I get a motion to approve this? I make a motion to wave the second reading of the attached ordinance authorizing a forgivable loan to PHA for the 1025 Park Street/Macka site and to adopt the attached ordinance at tonight's first reading.
>> Second. >> Second. Further discussion. If not, if we can vote electronically on this. The motion um passes five to zero. And thank you. The next item um on the
agenda is a resolution supporting Dogwood Veterans Memorial Pedestrian Bridge and Parking Area. Um Brennan. >> Good evening, Mayor, City Council, Sam. Um >> good evening. >> So here tonight uh for the Dogwood
Memorial Pedestrian Bridge. Um I'll give a little bit of background here. I think most of you are aware of it, but for the public's benefit, this process really started back in 2017 2018 time frame when uh staff met with the board members
of the the Dogwood Memorial trying to look for ways for them to more easily access the the memorial. Um it's a aging population um and they have a hard time getting up the hill. Um the parking sits
over in front of the rescue squad and has to cross several uh different legs of traffic and and whatnot to get there. Um there were several alternatives that went through that whole process. There's really only one viable alternative that came out of that. Um and that was to
build a bridge. Um, so back um in December of 2022, city council had adopted a resolution expressing support for this pedestrian bridge uh and parking area to improve access to the Eastern McIntyre Park and Dogwood
Veterans Memorial. Most recently, in FY26, city awarded $105,000 in grant funding to foundation to advance design and planning activities. Uh more recently last year in 2025 um city staff met with the foundation
leadership um and advised that the project could advance most efficiently through a development of a site plan review um approach led by the foundation. So slightly different than if you know we would take on the design inhouse um and and do it. We're
essentially proposing that they uh propose it as a site plan type of thing that the city can just accept. Um so under this approach the foundation will be responsible for all the fundraising the final design the permitting construction um city will provide
oversight through our standard development review permitting process to ensure compliance with city vot requirements ADA accessibility standards utility coordination inspection long-term maintenance considerations. Uh the foundation reports that the project has advanced to approximately
90% design. Um they have submitted that to the city. Um and that included uh initial pricing of about $3.3 million. Um they think that that has slightly uh fallen based on uh some of their
donations possibly by the the contractor donating some of their either time or materials um to right around 2 million I believe. Um the foundation has indicated confidence in its ability to raise the rest of the necessary funds to complete the
construction uh and they would like to start this uh construction in the fall of 2026 subject to final design approval and fundraising. So city staff um we've initiated the early stage technical reviews on that 90% design plan that I
mentioned. Um so far the initial review effort is focused on confirming general alignment with applicable city standards requirements for the pedestrian bridge and associated public infrastructure. Uh city staff's early review indicates plans appear capable of meeting the city
standards for acceptance. Final review and approval will still be required through the formal permitting and inspection process to confirm full compliance with all city V.A.D. standards prior to acceptance of the improvements into the city public asset system.
Uh as the project moves into final design and active fundraising, the foundation has requested formal assurance uh from the city that if this park is constructed or sorry, if this project is constructed in accordance with city approved plans and standards,
the pedestrian bridge, parking lot and associated shared use paths will be accepted by the city as public assets upon completion. um analysis. The the proposed project provides significant public benefit by
improving accessibility to the memorial for individuals with disabilities, veterans, seniors, families, other visitors. Uh pedestrian bridge and accessible parking area would remove existing barriers that provide safer and more convenient access to a key
community memorial and park asset. Uh from a delivery perspective, the public right ofway plan review approach places responsibility for the fundraising, construction management, cost control, and schedule with the foundation while allowing the city to protect the public interest through plan review,
permitting, inspection, and acceptance standards. This approach reduces direct delivery risk to the city while ensuring infrastructure uh is constructed to standards appropriate for long-term public ownership. In short, there's there's not a need for us to come back
to you later to ask for more money on like we have on some public projects. Um, city council action at this stage does not authorize new construction funding. Rather, it approves the assurance necessary for the foundation to finalize
the design advanced fundraising efforts. Um, the requested resolution confirms that city council expressly agrees and will conformally resolve subject to final inspection and approval by city engineer, myself, um, and appropriate city officials to accept the completed
pedestrian bridge accessible parking area associated use pass into the asset system um, provided that the infrastructure is constructed in accordance with the approved plans. uh financial impact as I mentioned there's really um no risk to the city in
this in its uh construction phase all the costs would fall on the foundation um however there is the long-term you know maintenance of this bridge um you know going forward that's really the financial impact um that that the city would be incurring
um as far as recommendation city staff recommends that council would adopt um the attached resolution reaffirming its policy support for the project and confirming the city's intent to accept uh the completed infrastructure into the city's asset system upon completion,
provided that the project is constructed in accordance with the city approved plans and permits. Um I have a couple exhibits here. Um so this is essentially um the layout of
of what they're proposing. Uh you've got John Moore Parkway running kind of bottom bottom left to top right um through the middle. Uh McIntyre Park is on the the left hand side of the screen. So there would be a parking lot that would be constructed. Uh coming up
there's a kind of a natural null elevated null on the east side of John Warner Parkway. Um that would they'd create the parking lot. Pedestrian bridge would be about 16 feet um above the the pavement to the bottom of the
bridge. So 20 23 feet or so um from to the to the deck. Um and then that would be connected to the Vietnam Memorial through uh a new um pedestrian path connection. Um they also provided uh a visual of
rendering of what this could look like. Um the design of this as proposed is very similar to what we have right now for the pedestrian bridge over 250 over by Derry Road. Um it's just a single span bridge with abutments on either side. Um and then the at grade crossing
uh to the parking lot. With that I believe uh Mr. Vendever's here as well from the um foundation. If there's any questions for him um I'm here to answer any questions um or if you'd like to just move on to the uh
recommendation you can. I I do have one question. I had asked about the the design characteristics and that you know you produced the the picture there of of what the bridge would look like. uh we seem to be
between the Dair Road Bridge and the bridge here uh the John Warner Parkway and so on perhaps developing what might seem to be a design standard for how the the abutments and the stone/conrete
around the bases would look. Uh, has there been any thought specifically about whether it would be necessary or desirable to say that one of the one of the design aspects of this would be that they ought to adopt essentially the same
kind of materials and and choices that have been made John Warner Parkway in terms of sort of the concrete molded to look like stone kind of a thing. I'm not greatly enamored of that, but I would much rather have consistency than, you
know, perhaps two things that I don't like. >> Yeah. Yes. I think we would go for the consistency from John Warner Parkway uh bridge to this unless there's some desire from council to go in a different direction.
>> I'm I'm not claiming to be a designer. I just want to have some sense of of a consistency. if you could um go back a couple of slides to show the
um aerial of the site with the the parking and access then yeah get that one. So um it looks like the only way to get is like if you coming into town on the parkway.
>> Yeah. So, it's it's just beyond the end of the um the median there. So, you would be able to access this going either north or south. >> I say no. >> Is there going to be turning into it from coming from the Parkway north
coming south? >> It it wouldn't be a separate turn lane. It would just be you' just be able to turn turn right into it. Um you know, there's there's only 26 spaces up there, I believe. Um, we don't anticipate a, you know, a huge number of vehicles that
are going to be utilizing that on a day-to-day basis. >> Um, Jan, you have any? >> Yeah, I have a couple of questions since I'm the last one to the conversation. Um, I think first the problem we're solving that there isn't real accessible access
to the memorial is a real one. I mean that that matters and honoring our veterans as well as ensuring meaningful access for all folks with disabilities and older adults and families makes a lot of sense to me. um
at um I guess I'm I'm couldn't find all of the recommendations that will turn were alternatives to this, but was um assisted access and transportation based access included in any of those?
>> That that was one of the options. Um that was the city's preference. um the the veterans said that that would not um you know give them the the access that they wanted or or needed. >> Okay. I know I know a few other Vietnam
memorial sites do use that to great success because it is a more like dignified and simplified system to getting you know you don't have to go up over a bridge down a trail to a thing. It's a it's assisted and it's ongoing because the
it's my understanding that um there's two things I'm concerned about sustaining a pedestrian bridge and a parking lot in winter is very difficult or could be from my understanding because icy and um plowing plowing needs
to happen. Um, and so I'm concerned about these ongoing maintenance costs. This seems like there could be I would love to use that kind of money towards
health and longevity and um you know investments that improve veterans livelihood now and their long-term legacy versus plowing and icing a bridge. So I'm wondering if there is any
cost estimate or we have any sense of this ongoing um maintenance compared to that transportation accessibility. Is it do we just drop it because it wasn't the preference or do we have an idea of how like do bridges
are they very difficult to maintain or >> do we have sense of that? the bridge itself would kind of be maintained with the the other trails and assets there in the park. So, you know, as parks manages those, they would manage this. Um, you
know, it probably wouldn't be on the the priority snow route. It's not going to be the first thing to get plowed. Um, but, you know, as they are clearing other, you know, pathways in the park and that kind of stuff, they have equipment to to do that. um we don't necessarily have that as a cost estimate
at this point as far as how much additional manpower or time it would take to do that and you know lumping that in with all of our other snow operations. Um, I believe from my recollection, forgive me if I'm off because it's been nine years since we
talked about the other options, but I I believe that the cost um to operate uh you know, a some kind of vehicle, a small vehicle or whatever to um all-terrain vehicle to get people up there from a parking lot,
you know, over by the skate park or something like that. I want to say we were talking that that was going to be like $10,000 a year, somewhere in that range. Um, that's my recollection for that. So, you know, you could do a lot of that for the cost of the bridge, but
again, the cost of the bridge is not going to be on the city. This is donors and the foundation that's kind of footing that price. Um, it's probably not going to cost us $10,000 a year to maintain a bridge for for snow um in the parking lot. like it's not going to cost
us $10,000 a year. Um now 50 years from now when that bridge needs to be replaced, you know, that's a different story. >> 50 like not 10. >> Oh no, the bridge itself is going to I mean this is a steel bridge. It's not going to you know need to be replaced in
10 years. It you know the other bridges around town are you know 50 to 100 year lifespan. So >> similar to the skate park side, >> right? Yeah. skate park or like I said, this one is more closely going to be built like the Dair Road pedestrian
bridge. Um, so yeah, I would estimate at least a 50-year lifespan. And does the elevation of the parking lot the the runoff to the creek and the pl the flood plane of the creek is not impacting that parking lot or what's this? >> So so they'll be you can see the little
little rectangle up to the north side just to the north of the um the part the driveway there. Um so that'll be a a storm water feature um that they'll underground probably to deal with the runoff. Um, so it'll, you know, again,
per state code, they can't, uh, discharge storm water at a at a higher rate or even an equal rate to what the unimproved is. So, it'll, you know, it it's not going to impact the stream um, in that regards.
>> Okay. Yeah, I think it seems like a really overdesigned solution for the problem. So, and it also has an environmental impact in an area that is, you know, tree canopy and part of the trail and streetscape. As much as that
problem needs to be solved from a mobility standpoint, um it seems like we could maybe optimize our resources out of the cars parking lot towards this, but again, I'm coming in late to that conversation, so I'm missing all of that
data. Um, yeah, I would I would like that we could be good stewards of this property, be good steward as public dollars that would take to maintain it and honor,
you know, the improve veterans quality of life and their access to this uh as well as other residents to this memorial in in a less uh environmental and uh yeah long-term
way. So, thank you for helping me understand some more of it. >> No problem. >> Natalie, >> yeah, I know one of the concerns for accessibility was the cars parking lot itself, not having enough handicap accessible spots. Um is there
has that been adjusted since we talked about this last year? I don't remember that conversation. Um >> there was no adjustment, >> but yeah, there's been no adjustment. >> Okay. Um I'm I'm still where I was last year um with regards to this project and
and the highest and best use of the city dollars and the fact that it's a park. It shouldn't be paved over. Um well still understanding that the accessibility to such an important place
is good. There's there's, as we've talked about, different ways to optimize accessibility with less impact, including prioritizing pedestrian signals, extending the um memorial all the way to the McIntyre parking lot that
already exists and doing adjustment there with the um the the trail and that preventing parking lots from covering the city is the whole thing I've been trying to do since I started running and
making existing parking lots into something with higher and better use. So, I I still can't get behind turning a grassy tree area into that amount of asphalt. Um it feels weird to argue against a pedestrian bridge, but it's
really it's the parking um that I'm struggling the most with. And then again the if we don't have the full scope of the maintenance costs going into the future and undertaking something without knowing that feels like we're not treating a a responsibility with the tax
dollars as fully as we could. >> Would your feeling be different if they were using permeable papers? >> Um does that still cut down all the trees that are currently there?
>> Well, I assume so. Yeah. >> Yeah. That solves part of that concern. It also doesn't solve the car reliance problem. It's not just the permeability. It's the um
the larger long-term scope of car dependence in our entire community. >> Michael, what what are your thoughts here? >> I mean, same as the many times we've discussed this, you know, I'm pretty
ambivalent. I mean, I think it never made sense if this was going to be a project that the city was going to spend money to do. And I still feel that way. Whether they can secure all the necessary funding, that's a big task,
and um that's up to them to to figure that out. Um but I still don't think it makes sense for the city to be spending money to construct this. Um, now we've kind of already agreed to that given that. Um, you know, this isn't this certainly
would not be my preferred design. And, you know, I you know, I definitely wonder how much use you're you're getting from this. And, you know, thinking long term, is there a way that this can connect to the broader trail system or be an access point? And maybe,
but, you know, I'm not sure how high impact this area is for as an access point. Um, you know, I don't know what other plans may be going on that would this could even potentially connect to. Um,
that said, I mean, this is something they've, you know, the veterans groups have worked for years to develop. Um, and if they've agreed the city won't fund it. Um, you know, they've engaged with the city on with years secured state funding. Um,
you know, I can kind of live with it, but I am very ambivalent. >> Um, if there's no other questions or comments, can we um are we ready to make a motion and u vote on this?
Well, I have no idea whether where exactly the votes lie, but I would move approval of the resolution. >> Um, Michael, will you second it? >> Sure. Okay.
Say if no further question, can we vote? >> Oh, mine's the wrong item. Oh. >> Oh, yeah. Mine's >> item seven. >> How can you tell that >> should be item eight? >> Let's see. >> Yeah,
>> sorry about that. >> Okay. >> It's going to be just >> Yeah. Okay, have it up. Yep. The motion passes 3 to two. Thank you. >> Thank you. The next item is a resolution
appropriate appropriating $700,000 um and initiating an amendment to the terms of a performance agreement supporting 501 Cherry Avenue News um use development. Meline. Oh, sorry.
>> I'm just going to kick us off and then turn it right over to Mad. >> Uh good evening, Mayor Wade, members of council. Uh my name is James Reese, deputy city manager. Uh you may recall at your last meeting uh city manager Sanders presented a number of items that were funding requests related to
affordable housing broadly um on a on a number of different projects. We have two of those items here before you tonight. Uh this first one is related to the project proposed for 501 Cherry Street. >> I'm sorry. >> Cherry Avenue. >> Cherry. Thank you.
>> There's a difference. There is um uh uh we have a number of staff available to um describe the proposal and to answer any questions you may have. Uh Mattaline Metsler from NDS will be doing
an overview of the of the proposed project. Um we have uh Kelly Brown, director of NDS um and the actual director of e of economic development, Chris Angel, here to um uh answer any questions you may have on his part.
And uh with that, I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to M. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I also want to note we have Sunshine Mathon from Pedmont Housing Alliance Alliance here as well to answer any may questions from the perspective of the requester. >> Great. Good evening, counselors. >> Good evening.
>> Um I'm Maline Metsler, as James said, the acting housing program manager with Neighborhood Development Services. Um, I'm presenting the resolution to appropriate additional funds to amend the ter and amend the terms of the performance agreement for the 501 Cherry Avenue mixeduse development project.
This project uh is a partnership between the Pedmont Housing Alliance and the Fil Neighborhood Association and Woodard Properties, which is a pretty unique um agreement that they came to. It aims to deliver 71 affordable rental units as well as commercial space. Um, and that
commercial space will be used by the Music Resource Center, a local nonprofit. Um, as well as the intention is for the other commercial space to be used for a community grocery store. The project aligns with the city's affordable housing plan as well as the small area plan by creating new affordable housing and improving access
to food. The project has received final site plan approval and secured 9% low-income housing tax credit funding. However, there is a $1.7 million funding gap um which threatens the construction timeline. Funding must be secured before April 2026 in order for construction to
begin this spring um and to meet the MRC's move in deadline that they have in 2027. The funding request to close this gap includes an increase to the performance agreement. Um that increase would be from 50 to 100% of the incremental real estate value created by
the project over the performance period. and it also includes $700,000 in cash from the city's CIP contingency fund to support construction starting in 2026. This additional investment will allow the project to proceed on schedule with completion expected in 2027 and full
occupancy by 2028. The 71 affordable units um will serve households earning between 30% and 60% of area median income or AMI. This includes 10 projectbased voucher units, seven units for households under 30% AMI, um 10
units under 40% AMI, six units under 50% AMI, and 38 units under 60% AMI. This mix ensures deep affordability and supports long-term housing stability. Um staff is recommending that council adopt this resolution, but as James said, we
are also joined by Sunshine and I'm here too if you have u any other questions as well as Kelly and Chris. Yeah, there's a lot of us here to answer any questions you might have. Thank you. >> And I would just add that um I met with the leadership of the food co-op um to
speak to them specifically about where things are, clarifying um that this act on your part, if you were to pass this item tonight, would still be an endorsement of the concept of a grocery store going in the property, but not a
condition that it be a grocery store. Because if it is not proven viable by their efforts, then we would not want to then hold this space uh from being occupied by any other use that as a developer they would need to have the flexibility to be able to move forward
on. But there is an agreement that would need to be established between the food co-op and PHA that PHA has indicated that they are absolutely willing and ready to work towards u being executed that outlines or frames I guess and and
Sunshine can speak to it more clearly but I would say speaks to framing an activity period for the co-op to do the work that it needs to do to get ready to operate whether they're successful or not. we all know is is going to be um an
effort uh and I'm sure everyone has indicated support as I have that we would love to see it happen if they are able to make it happen. Um but we definitely want to make sure that the space is going to be delivered as a a space that is not ready for a grocery store. So funds have to be secured to
make it ready but the space will exist and there will be a window of time for them to do their work to ensure that a grocery store can go there. Sunshine may then uh opt to do something else with the space in the interim so that it's not sitting vacant because it could be a
period of time but that is all to be worked out in the terms of the agreement and I have stated to both sides that I want a copy of the executed agreement as soon as it is done just so that I can confirm that council's wishes of making sure that the concept at least is protected for the option of moving
forward since the funds are not ready to ensure that a grocery store opens once occupancy occurs. So, um, Sam, because I've heard some things out in the community as well. So, is it, uh, is the co-op close to an agreement or do they
have, you know, a couple of grocery stores, you know, that they're talking to? >> They've they've identified their operating model. They have still some technical work that needs to be done, but I I think overall they are moving at leaps and bounds of of moving forward in
proof of concept and and securing funds, but I'll let Mr. Marthon speak to what he knows as well. >> Okay. >> Uh good evening um city manager, mayor, uh city council. Um I have some prepared comments, but I'll respond to your question first. Uh so that and I'm not speaking on behalf of the grocery the
the co-op just to be clear but in the convers we have have a a a 95% drafted a memorandum of agreement or understanding between the co-op and ourselves to move forward with them as the entity to occupy that space. There is a lot of
work to do to get them ready to get them uh financially where they need to be. Um we're going to be strong partners with them and committed to working with them to try to get that to happen. Um, but it's not set in stone yet because that that work is still yet to be done. >> Does that respond to your question,
Mayor Wade? >> Um, so if I might, I might just read this quickly and then um, so we have it in record. So my name is Sunshine Mathon, executive director of Pedmont Housing Alliance. Um, and I'm not here tonight to reinforce the unique opportunity of 501 Cherry. I think
you're all aware um of the incredible partnership that was previously described and what has brought us to this point. Uh right now what I am here to talk about briefly is to how to get us across the finish line. The robust complexity of the development program
the having music resource center AC is ostensibly and hopefully a grocery and then the 71 units of for affordable housing. That robust complexity is both the beauty and the challenge of this site. the funding sources that we tap into beyond the local contributions the
city uh the from the city of Charlottesville they are designed for simple in the best of times and 501 Cherry is far from simple. The uncertainty caused by the federal administration over the last year through both macroeconomic whiplash as
well as housing specific funding questions have caused uh our funding underwriters both our uh LITC low-inccome housing tax credit our LITC equity investor as well as our state housing finance agency of Virginia Housing to manage perceived risk in the
broader environment by tightening their underwriting process to levels never experienced before. They perceive risk differently. So, we get hammered by both investors and debt providers with different priorities. In fact, as we approach uh approach this imminent deadline for Virginia Housing
to bring the project to uh to their internal lending committee in the in the next couple of weeks and so we can stay on track for an April start of construction. Over the last 72 hours, we have fielded more last minute interpretations of underwriting risk than I have ever experienced before on any other single project in the history
of my work. We have continuously cleared hurdle after hurdle and we are still fully on track thankfully. But I can say with 100% certainty if uh that if city council does not approve the request for additional funds this evening uh to support the commercial space in 501
Cherry, which we are all aiming to become a neighborhood scale grocery, the entire project will unravel this evening. I promise you I don't say that lightly. Although I had planned to say something similar a couple of weeks ago when this agenda item first was posted, the last
72 hours have increased the severity of my comments and made it clearer than ever that we need this partnership with the city if we're going to pull this off. I have no other magic rabbits to pull out of magic hats. But on the flip side, on the good news side, not related to 51 Cherry
specifically, but all the uncertainty that has been caused by the federal government and the f the the presidential administration over the last year this morning uh that uh the Senate and the House put forth a THUD budget, FY26 THU HUD budget, which is a
largely a rebuke to the president's priorities and funds all housing related programs at flat or increased levels. So that is a that is a positive sign that that Congress is moving is moving in the right direction doing what they need to do and perhaps in a future project will
help alleviate some of the the uncertainty risk that the funders uh perceive currently but at this moment we are still dealing with the um the implications of what uh the president presidential administration has caused so far.
That's what I got. So, let me ask a couple questions because I'm I'm not sure that I understand some of the terminology used. It says, as part of the memo, city staff supports the request to increase the performance
agreement from 50% to 100% of the incremental real estate value created by the project over the performance period. Explain that to me in English. >> Do you want me to or do you want to Chris? because that's you've already taken part of that action.
>> Sure. Um about a year ago, you all approved a um a performance agreement with uh PHA for this project and at that time it was set at 50%. So basically half of the value that they create. So it has value today. That's what we call the base value. But they're going to
build 71 units into commercial spaces. So it's going to vastly increase the value. So half of that value we were going to share with them to help the project be completed. Now >> but but how half of the value mean in terms of >> the real estate tax forgiveness of
>> correct the real estate tax that they pay. >> Okay. >> So >> so this is a tax abatement >> detail. It's a performance agreement grant. Um >> but essentially so now this request is to request 100% of that to help defay this gap that exists. Do we have an idea
of what the magnitude of that would be? >> Either of the 50 or the hundred? >> Oh, the dollar amount. Um, >> so over 30 years, our estimate and is that the 100 at 100% it' be about $8 million over 30 years. Now, that shrinks
down to what Sunshine and PHA can then borrow upon today to to close that gap. So, we're not handing them $8 million. They're they're leveraging that commitment to close the gap. >> Okay. So, we are essentially saying
we'll give you $700,000 and we will uh lighten your load by about $250,000 a year for the next 30 years, give or take. >> Is that how long that agreement is for for 100%? 30 years.
>> 30 years. So, we still get the base value of the real estate that's there today, and it does have some value, but the increment that they create, the new the new value that they create. >> And so, who who does the who does the $700,000 actually go to >> uh to PHA
>> to be embedded to be embedded within the construction contract. >> Yeah. Um, and then the 250 a year or whatever it would be that also I mean I I suppose that would be the landlord's to the landlord's benefit. Are you is PHA the landlord
going forward or >> you got an LLC or a corporation of some sort doing it? So, every low-income housing tax credit project has to be structured with both uh a for-profit a for-profit equity investor for them to take advantage of
the the tax credits, but with the nonprofit control. So, there will be an LLC developed specifically for this as as a separate entity. the performance agreement revenue. The way that it is structured, the way that Virginia actually requires that it be structured is that it comes to uh the owner of the
Pon Housing, which then we will essentially uh lend into the project in order for it to be able to take on more debt so we can close the gap. Okay. One of the concerns that I had had uh when they started talking about the um the
the notion of a grocery store and I' I've said that from from this before is that in me in in most instances the reason why a grocery store doesn't exist in a certain place is that economically
it hasn't succeeded before. And so the question obviously becomes what's what subsidies is the city uh going to end up making in order to uh to to make this this spot work? And one of the questions
I guess that I've got is let's assume for the moment that after a couple of years of trying you just can't find a um a grocery to to operate that. The co-op doesn't work out for whatever reason. Um,
is there any way that I I don't want to be in a situation where the city ends up hoping that you that we do better if if the store fails, but I'm I am just concerned that if if part of the reason why we're putting a lot of this money
into this project is for something that is, you know, maybe yes, maybe no, uh I I'm sort of grappling with with how we um how we justify that and and to what
extent do we say, "Well, okay, it's it's simply it's a worthwhile experiment. What the hell? here's $700,000 and yes, we'll give you the the the 100 the 100% of your incremental real estate value tax uh for 30 years or is there some way
to say if it doesn't work out, okay, our $700,000 is sunk costs, but maybe we don't give you quite as much of a real estate break. So, uh, if I might, on the the question of the viability of the grocery store, a small scale neighborhood grocery, I
don't think anyone is under the illusion that it won't be hard to both have a a small business that can um be profitable and sustain and still also meet the community goals of having u modestly cost uh modestly cost food um that that
people can walk to and have access to. Everyone knows that's going to be a challenge. Part of the effort here with providing the resources that we're talking about tonight will essentially allow us to have that commercial space move forward with zero debt so that we
have we have no debt to pass on through rent to that to that uh grocery operator. So the goal is to reduce that cost as one of the tools a long-term investment essentially into the success of that endeavor by reducing their rent payments in effect and uh increasing
their viability. that's not going to be the only solution that's necessary. They know that. We know that. Um but I think the the the strategy that we're that we're pursuing here is to have the bricks and sticks help funded by the city and then hopefully essentially rely
on philanthropy and other efforts to address the the operability and and sustainability of the grocery of the long term. As it relates to um your second question, uh we've had discussion with city staff, with the city manager that um if uh for reasons that we can't
control, the uh grocery is not successful or even the inverse, let's say the grocery is spectacularly successful and they actually want a larger space within 5 years and so they decide to move on. Um, our commitment uh would be to that we would hold that
space and prioritize some other use that's of community a similar community benefit. It may not necessarily be food centered, although that would be what we would prioritize first, but we would look at other community benefit options, whether it's other nonprofits we could partner with for the use of that space
in perpetuity. we can't really structure it the way you're suggesting because we're going to be taking out a loan on that those the the the promise of that that 30-year performance agreement and that any hesitation on the city's uh follow through on that will undermine
our ability to actually close on that loan in the first place. So, the alternative is to focus on what performance we can provide, what performance agreement we can provide to ensure that there'll be some community benefit out of this space. Okay.
>> Um, can you remind me about the 71 units about the AMI and affordability of those again? >> So, they range between 30 and 60% AMI. Um, we have some uh dedicated 30% AMI
units without any external subsidy. Uh we will have um I believe it's 11 I don't have the numbers in front of me but I believe it's 11 um projectbased section 811 units which prioritize how many 10 >> thank you 10 um which prioritizes
um people who have experienced homelessness or people with intellectual or developmental disabilities developmental disabilities um that's the strong that's our strong preference that's the partnership we have with Rachel's Haven if you remember that that working group from a while back they are
their partners with us on this project and we are trying to actually have those 10 units as much as we legally can be set aside for people with uh intellectual and developmental disabilities. Um so those will be project based vouchers on the site. Um, we also have some dedicated 50 and 60%
units, but we also have um a number of 40% AMI units that we're piloting a uh a new program where we're taking some of the commitment from the city and putting it in a small reserve to essentially have a small uh mini voucher program uh
on the site with those proceeds. So, we're going to be buying down effectively for a 5-year period some of the 60% down to 40% units. So, it'll be 30, 40, 50, and 60. that >> excuse me. >> Um just before we move on, I just wanted
to make a note about process. Um the the performance agreement portion of this will go to the Charlottesville Economic Development Authority. So from here with your with y'all's uh uh endorsement, it would go to to CEDA and then it would the performance agreement itself would
come back to city council for a vote. So, when we're thinking about the types of asurances that Sunshine was describing a moment ago, uh those would show up within the performance agreements and be something that you all would be able to see and vote on before that portion, the performance agreement portion of this becomes finalized.
>> Have we committed any other money into this project? I think we have, have you? >> Yeah. 3 million. >> 3 million. Yes. Yeah. Uh >> there there are some additional um cap grant funds as well that are going to be used for the uh 40% AMI subsidy that
Sunshine just mentioned as well. >> Natalie, >> so yeah, um James kind of just touched on what my question was. is the the performance agreement is mentioned in here several times and my question was was this something that we've seen
already because there's it's not linked in here and there's no terms about length mentioned in this particular resolution. >> Right. So this would be an amendment to that previous performance agreement and again it would go to Chancellor Economic Development Authority and then come back
to you all for approval >> because there's already the 50% one so it's the same terms as that just changing that to 100%. Well, I think there'll be negotiations around the the those terms as we go forward before it comes back to you. Yeah. >> Okay, great. Thank you, >> Michael. Yeah.
>> Yeah. I mean, no, I'm I'm supportive of it and I think more than anything, you know, we just have to ensure that the project can move forward and actually start to break ground. um you know as mentioned even if the food co-op can't come together the space will
still be available as a public community benefit with that subsidy. I will say you know I am you know as I think everyone is just fearful that you know the possibility that everyone acknowledges that the food co-op could not ultimately come together which no one wants to happen but even though it
will still be a community space I think the community just expects that use so much. Um, but the, you know, part of the way I look at it is, you know, when you put the community in charge of setting priorities and making decisions, it's difficult and messy. And that's kind of
the power of the process is it usually doesn't happen because it is so difficult. Um, so, you know, I think it's a um, you know, a small uh, hopeful action that hopefully the food co-op can come together just because
it's such a difficult thing to usually make happen. Jen, I don't think I did. You >> Oh, um I don't have any questions. Just um the I was you answered it. I was concerned about what if it goes gang busters and they need a bigger space.
So, you reassured me on that because I know uh healthy food access is a priority of all three health systems in the region and we aren't the first city to help build out something that has a grocery store in it. and they've been successful elsewhere and I think they
can hear and we we need that. So, >> I'm game. >> Yep. >> Is there um any benefit to waving a second reading tonight >> considering how the last 72 hours have gone? >> This action is actually not eligible for
waving the second reading requirement because it's resolution >> appropriating money. >> Okay. Well, then sorry I didn't want chime in would just buzz. >> So, um, >> when are we talking about the rules that
we've adjusted? >> I'm aiming for u February conference. >> Thank you. >> That that would not change. >> Yeah, you're appropriating money. So, it would change. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, um can we put this on the consent agenda though for February the
second? Sounds like we >> Okay. Thank you. Um the next item is a resolution appropriate appropriating $390,000 to support um Arer's intervention pilot
program. >> James, >> so uh once again, uh James here, deputy city manager. Um and uh once again, we've assembled a uh a team of folks to um uh describe the project and answer
your questions. Um, so with that, I'm going to turn it over to Maline. >> Hello again. I'm still Maline Metsler, the acting housing program manager. Um, and like James said, I'll be talking about um a resolution to appropriate funds for a rental aars intervention
pilot program. Um, and this is something that city manager Sanders did speak to you about previously, but um, as we talked about then, PHA has identified a growing challenge with rental arars within their affordable housing communities, including Kindlewood. And
that's across both existing and new housing units. So, as this Kindlewood project has redeveloped, we're see they're seeing these issues not just in the new units, but also in some of the legacy units as well. and a rears have reached over $450,000
creating financial strain for PHA and increasing eviction risk for residents. This trend is also reflected in CRA's properties signaling a broader issue among affordable housing communities that we would like to attempt to understand better. Um to address this,
PHA has proposed a two-year pilot program that combines financial counseling with partial arars payments. The goal is to stabilize households, reduce eviction risk, protect long-term affordability, and as I mentioned, understand a little bit better about um you know, what is getting these
households into this position and and can we do anything more to um help that problem if we understand it a little bit better? Um the program would leverage PHA's financial opportunity center to provide counseling and accountability measures while offering payment assistance to help residents catch up on
rent. Um, this funding request includes $220,000 to cover up to 50% of the rental arars for participating households and it also includes $170,000 for a dedicated financial literacy counselor for two years. This totals
$390,000 which would come from the city's CIP contingency fund and would be dispersed to PHA as a grant under a formal grant agreement. um that would include performance metrics and would be monitored under the city's grant uh monitoring and compliance program. This
approach pairs financial assistance with education and accountability, aiming for sustainable outcomes rather than short-term fixes. And again, staff do recommend that council adopt the resolution. But we are here to answer any questions you may have.
>> Any questions? Um Jan, >> when would the pilot begin? Yeah, please. >> Um, if I may address that, let me read also a prepared statement. It'll re it'll re uh force a lot of what Maline just shared, but um just to have it all
on the table and then I'll respond to your question. Um through COVID and up to today, uh Pedmont Housing has not pursued evictions for non-payment at any of our properties. What began as compassionate response to the pandemic extended beyond that time in the hope
that the trend of non-payment would abate. But unfortunately, it has not. Over the previous two years or so, my understanding is that CRA sought relief for delinquencies to cover the cost of a similar trend. And until now, we haven't. Based on a shared dialogue with
with CRA as well as our own internal information, we are concerned that simply clearing delinquencies again with no additional structure for accountability will only replicate the issue in future years. We've been working internally with property management and the financial opportunity center staff as well as city staff to develop a pilot program we're now
calling bridges to housing stability. The program will couple will couple together um support with shared uh support financial support, sorry, with shared accountability plus one-on-one financial coaching. The program will have specific goals. First to keep
people housed, second to facilitate property financial sustainability, and third ideally to mitigate repetition of this condition in the future. Without going into too much detail, the idea is to bring together partial city resources, partial forgiveness of debt, and financial resident accountability to
pay down over time, pay down their debt over time, as well as incentivize future on-time rent payments. The coach is a critical part of the solution as well and they will check in with individuals that they will remind them and importantly they will start to better understand each household's context.
This last part of the tool set is critical because we don't really know why the trend has gotten so much more severe within the last couple of years. We need to understand uh individually and in aggregate so that we can devise other potential interventions if necessary to keep people housed while
preserving property financial stability. After speaking with city staff, the collective goal is to pilot this work to prove the concept that the trifecta of partial funding support, financial coaching, and ensuring resident accountability is an effective approach to addressing the ongoing challenges.
Assum assuming a reasonable level of success, the goal is to move from pilot to program as soon as the data and the response justify it. Lastly, I want to address a false narrative I've heard propagated about the redevelopment of Kindlewood that Maline had sort of referenced being part of the rental's
problem. The data does not support this assertion. First, all of the 46 households in phase one of the redevelopment were offered one for one replacement of their existing section 8 subsidized housing with no meaningful change in their rent payment structure because the rent section 8 subsidy pays
the difference in rent in rent between what they can afford and the cost of the housing. Second, we've done an analysis of the current rental across all of Kindlewood, both phase 1 and in the legacy apartments, and there are a couple of facts that stand out. One, more than twothirds of the rental arers
across the property are with households who have some form of rental assistance, whether that's projectbased voucher existing or with housing choice vouchers. This percentage rises to 80% when you include households who have well-aligned incomes with the rent cost. When you
merge this data with the experience of high rental at CH properties where the residents also have rental subsidy, the issue is not driven by redevelopment. Anecdotally, I have also heard similar trends from other peer affordable housing providers across the country. We need to understand why the trend is
happening and what we can do to address it with shared ownership of the challenge and to mitigate in the long term. >> Um, sorry, can you repeat your question? >> When would the pilot start? >> So, uh, we are still working through whether we have an internal staff person
who would move into this role or whether we would hire somebody new. Um obviously if we had somebody internal they can start up much more quickly. Um that detail hasn't been finalized yet but even that person if they if they are able to start they won't be able to start in earnest until probably
mid-March as they have some significant responsibilities to wrap up and reporting for to the federal government. So the goal is to line it up for a mid-March April one start. >> And will the findings as you go be shared with CRA? Is there
>> Yeah, there's Yeah, absolutely. >> an MOA there or whatever. >> There's not an MOA. There has been a couple of of formal discussions between ourselves, including uh Owen from the Haven as well, trying to think through the right response. Uh that's part of what led to this proposal in part. Um
and absolutely the goal will and I think there there's a strong interest you know I don't want to speak on behalf of CRA but a strong interest to have this move from pilot to program as quickly as possible if it if the model proves out so that that we can start looking at more broadly than just uh Kindlewood.
>> And my last question do we have a sense now of what size household is most at risk for a careers or in the data you were looking at? I did not look through that lens. I can follow up, but I don't know the answer right now.
>> Just curious. Thank you. >> I have no questions. >> I think it's an experiment we've got to try. >> Yeah. Natley, you have >> Yeah. Um, can you I got a couple questions. Um, can you explain the difference between
the existing financial opportunity center and this counselor? So the financial opportunity center uh itself encompasses a a range of services that has financial coaches, housing counselors to support you home ownership development, eviction prevention
counseling, etc. Um this indivi this new role would operate within the FOC uh would be connected to that peer network um but would be dedicated to this specific work. >> Okay, cool. Thanks. Yeah.
>> And we are essentially at capacity now. So there's not existing capacity. Thank you for absorbing that workload with and and not doing it well otherwise. >> Okay. Thanks. Um we have a couple questions that are from a constituent that I want to pass on to. Um so because
or just some clarifying things because it's a pilot program, it's being restricted to Kindlewood, not all of the properties throughout the city. Right. >> Oh, correct. That that's the idea is that the idea is to prove the concept to kindle it. Is this effective? Is this the right approach? If so, let's look at
expanding and growing. >> Okay? >> And because the city has invested heavily in a multi-phase project that it will only get worse if we don't try to intervene now and figure out what we can. Uh phases 2, three, and four will
come online and we will replicate the same situation. >> Okay, great. Thanks. Um, and then to clarify, it's coming out of CIP funding because that's where we store funding. >> That's your surplus and it's onetime use,
>> right? It's not a um it does just because it's in our CIP doesn't necessarily mean it goes to capital expenditures. >> That's why it's in that's why it also carries the label contingency. Yes. So, you can >> So, that's where we just store money. That's just something to clarify. Um,
and then um Okay. Yeah, actually those are the only two that I'd like to pass on. Um, thank you. And I'd point out the additional function of the role being different is that they're also going to be managing financial resources
specifically for the counseling base that they're working with, which is also a little bit different. >> Okay, >> great. Thank you. >> Mike, you have any questions or comments on it? in terms of the distribution of the you know 450,000 in a rears is it a
small number of tenants with very large accounts or is it a ton with small accounts so uh it's a good question um there it's a full spread to be honest so there are some there's a handful of
folks that um have large amounts in rears that they they currently have um but they're the majority are uh $4,000 and below. Um there are a few handful of $4,000 and above. Um but it's it's
mostly in the sort of $500 to $4,000 range, >> but in terms of the raw dollar amount, there are some that are kind of driving that dollar amount up a lot. >> There are some that that have uh significant for sure. Mhm.
>> And and I mean there will be one of the questions that each household will be asked essentially is in terms of participation in the program and that the accountability structure. We have some preliminary program guidelines outlined amongst the staff. We haven't finalized it and that would be part of
the the formalizing agreement with the city. But one of the expectations um that we're contemplating is that there uh to to sort of enter the program and be part of it uh to show um commitment to it that there will be some expectations for a small uh partial
payment on the rental arars. For households who have larger rental that percentage will be potentially challenging. Um, one of the options will also be on the table is that they will have the choice of walking away. If they decide that they are not willing or able
to take that on, we would have we would rather have them walk away to open up that unit to somebody who will be paying rent. Um, and we will not pursue um, you know, pursuing those those resources. >> Yeah. And I know everything these are
things everyone in this room knows, but um you know on the CRA board we've had a number of work sessions about a similar issue. And some of the things that stood out to me some of these that you've touched on is there were a small number of tenants really driving up the total dollar amount. And one point the
Charlesville area community foundation erased a rears and I think within a year it was back to almost the same exact amount. Um and at least from those work sessions, you know, one of the issues was for some tenants, you know, a small number of tenants when, you know, they perceived eviction was not possible,
they made a decision not to um pay for a number of years and once they felt eviction was possible, that was a very intimidating and big problem to try to grapple. Um and the other one that really surprised me is um that um
you know perception that a lot of for some people a lot of what was need is really intensive almost case work um because there are people with very severe mental health challenges um cases of elder abuse um that were driving people who just weren't responding to participating in some of the programs
that CRA had created. I know everyone here knows this, but it was just kind of, you know, interesting going through that on the CRA side, but um that's it. >> So, um it sounds like there's support for this. If so, can we put this on the
consent agenda for February the 2nd? >> Sure. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Thank you so much, Meline and Sunshine. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is a resolution to appropriate funding from the um
International City County Management Association Economic Mobility and Opportunity Special Assistant Grant in the amount of 350 um for $354,000.
Ashley, >> good evening. >> Good evening everyone. Council, members of the public, and city leadership, it's a pleasure to be in front of you and to talk a little bit about the city's economic mobility and opportunity work. Um, we're going to talk a little bit
quickly because time is uh something I'm trying to be very mindful of. Uh, we're going to talk about what it is, how we got here, and what the next phase of it looks like. Um the work here is going to be just a little bit offormational background to refresh your recollections
before asking you all to consider um moving the appropriation to the next meeting for a final vote. All right. Um so economic mobility really asks the simple question, can residents move from instability to
stability and opportunity over time? Local data shows that while Charlottesville is a high growth and highly educated community, many working families still struggle to meet basic needs. Median earnings here are lower than surrounding localities and roughly
a quarter of our families do not earn enough to cover the local cost of living. These conditions are why economic mobility has earned a strategic focus here locally. And for anyone who would like to nerd out, I did include
sources at the bottom. >> So, I really want to make sure that I share our EMO work, as it's called, economic mobility and opportunity began in 2024, but this community has really had a longstanding focus on what we now
call economic mobility and opportunity. It's been called financial opportunity, financial stability, just plain old budgeting. We really have had a focus on that when you think about the uh previous bank on Charlottesville program and even when we think about the opening of the job center to help job seekers
and employers find each other in a centralized and comfortable space. But in May of 2024, Charlottesville was selected through a competitive process to join the MA economic mobility and
opportunity cohort. and participation in that cohort really built on existing local work and data and helped clarify a key gap. While the city had individual programs and strong information, we lacked the dedicated cross-dep
departmental capacity to move from analysis to coordinated implementation. So, what in the world is an MA EMO cohort? Mhm. >> Um what that cohort was is a um intentionally designed as a national
learning and assessment um uh group collaborative and also phase for communities. The goal was for communities to be able to come together, learn from each other, provide that peer learning work, that technical assistance, and some limited grant
funding to help all the localities involved better understand its barriers to economic mobility before launching into any additional programs. So again, it really was designed for that learning and assessment, not necessarily program implementation.
So during that cohort, the city focused on understanding income and self-sufficiency conditions locally. Data show that many families who are struggling are working. They are often working full-time and their wages simply do not align with the
local cost of living, which is roughly $60,000 annually for a typical family. This work confirmed that challenges cut across housing and workforce, child care, and income. and are not owned by any single department. A pause here.
This is what we talk about when we reference Alice. Asset limited, income constrained, but employed. They are families who are working. They are earning money. They are doing the best they can, but they simply are not really making ends meet and they often earn too
much for any other supportive services. >> And that $60,000 a year is Charlottesville specific. >> It is. Okay. >> Yes. Thank you. >> So why was additional capacity needed? This is really for us when that need became clear. Economic insecurity
persists despite employment and the drivers span multiple systems and partners. City council's strategic plan identifies economic prosperity as one of its core outcomes which calls for coordinated approaches rather than
siloed responses. a timelimited grant-f funded role was an appropriate way to move from analysis to coordinated action in alignment of that outcome. So following that cohort, launched a national opportunity to for
cities to apply for an economic mobility and opportunity special assistant. You may hear me for brevity call it an EMOA. applications were open and competitive and el with eligibility based on program uh criteria. The city submitted an
application and we are very thankful that we were selected as a host city following review process and there we are um up on LinkedIn their little announcement. So when we think about the um economic mobility and opportunity special
assistant role, it is supported primarily through external grant funding totaling more than $350,000 through the totality of the grant and that is a part of that program. That funding works to not only support the
special assistance role but also her associate uh her associated work over the approximate 30 months. So the process of hiring also is actually an additional part of the program requirements. The position was publicly advertised by the city and ICMA
and filled through an open and competitive hiring process from October to November of 2025. Why I say it's actually part of the process is one of our requirements was forma to be able to review our job description. they could and did make
just a few tweaks to it. And then also once a final candidate was selected, we discussed that candidate with them as well. And that was really to ensure that all localities were able to secure an individual that would be able to really
fulfill um their their work in 30 months with the goals that ICMA and the grtor had really set forth. So what will our EMO special assistant do? Um per ICMA's program design, the
special assistant's initial work is not program coordination or program launch for that matter. The role focuses first on community engaged co-design which is working with residents, partners and stakeholders to identify strategic
priorities and develop a tailored implementation plan. ICMA will also continue to provide coaching, training, and customized technical assistance throughout the program for our economic mobility and special assistant, Miss Abigail Matthew uh Wade, to ensure her
success as well as to allow our peer communities to learn from her. So this work again is intentionally phased. The first phase centers on co-design and priority setting followed by implementation and planning and alignment and then some sustainability
and planning towards the end of the grant period. This structure works to provide clarity around scope, timeline, and expectations. So in closing, it's important to remember that this is a deliberate multi-year journey. The city followed a
structured national process supported by grant funding in actually both cases that's resulted in some time limited capacity building to advance work in our community aligned with council's economic prosperity outcome. Through that role, the city has focused on
learning directly from the community and translating that learning into coordinated actionable next steps for that support residents not only in surviving but in thriving here in Charlottesville. I am delighted to answer any questions or provide any
additional details that's helpful for council to consider the resolution to appropriate the grant funding as submit. >> Thank you. Um, Lloyd, do you have any questions? >> So, I understand the money is coming from elsewhere and we're spending it.
>> Absolutely. >> It's my belief. That's right. >> Yeah. >> I try to please the big boss. >> Yes, Michael. >> I don't have questions. I think it just, you know, seems like a pretty straightforwardly positive initiative. >> Sam says he likes to spend other
people's money. And on that note of spending other people's money, does this still count as an appropriations that can't have a second >> wave the second reading situation? >> Yes. Unfortunately, the uh the ordinance is written as ways whenever you're appropriating money. That is
>> of any kind even if it's not ours. Okay. >> You've got to authorize the use. Yes. >> All right. >> Jen, >> go Abby. >> Yeah. Um, yeah, I'm supportive of it, but I understand this is your last meeting. Um,
>> I I I'm >> She has one more meeting, but one more. >> I wanted I wanted her to have the opportunity to make a a solid presentation around the body of work that she's done here for the four and a half years that she's been with us and give you all the opportunity just to
acknowledge that as she moves to Savannah, Georgia, we all appreciate what she has contributed and left behind for us to continue working on. very much. >> Yeah. I And I just want to add that when I was first running for council in um 21
22, you know, the city was in a pretty rough rough spot. >> We remember you don't need to bring that up. >> Okay. And um and I know that you and you and Sam were pretty instrumental in you know, keeping the lights on and I that's I'll ever be thankful for your
dedication to the city for that. So, thank you so much. It was my pleasure and honor. >> Thank you. And >> oh, wait. I do have another question about this. I'm >> so sorry. Um, >> what happens if Abby knocks it out of the park and we want this work to keep going? How do we have to go get more
people's money? >> Well, that is absolutely spend some of yours. Yes, it can be either whatever at that time. Um, what I'm really excited about continuing to follow is to see her work, her codeesign, and what actually comes out
of the work. I know that my partner in crime, Chris Engel, and I were um really excited to have the opportunity to look at that Alice population and to sort of ask some questions to our city manager about what about this group of individuals who often just simply get
passed over in all honesty. Um, so I'm really excited to see if our data matches with what she is able to find in the community and then what she's able to come up for that come up with for that implementation plan. It may be something where it's a program where maybe there's a community partner you
may want to run and you might want a different staff member doing something different. You never know. So, I'm really appreciative of the length and duration that ICMA is giving to this work so that as the discoveries come uh the city manager and his executive
leadership team along with you all can really start and have conversations through the process and then hopefully come to uh some determinations about what might be best um when she is finished with her work and where we think it's going to go.
>> Thank you. >> Great. Thank you. I think we can put this on the consent. Oh, did you want to say something? >> No. Yeah. And I I was just going to add I mean um obviously you've been with the city for through some difficult times, but I think um I think you know I've
always appreciated you know over the years you've been here. I mean one even just your position was kind of a very unique thing for localities and I think you brought a perspective to you know force council in in the city government to you know focus on issues like social
determinance of health and and look at traditional city government work in a different way and I definitely think that legacy will continue um and you I know you said we don't have to bring it up I will there was a period where you know we had gone through I don't know four or five city managers in a few
years and the city really had no idea what to do and I believe it was you specifically who said I think I know some contacts in the Robert Bob group who offer service and it was directly Ashley Marshall responsible for >> you know having that period that allowed
us to stabilize and get >> I didn't have to take credit for that one >> set us on the right >> Thank you so much Ashley thank you >> um so we're um if there's no questions on the written report Um this is the
second time for community matters. Would anyone else like to speak um again? Hello again. We uh very quickly because I am mindful of the time. Um, Council
Flesher, I'm sorry I didn't congratulate you and and welcome you and look forward to working with you. Um, we've pushed a lot of money towards one particular entity tonight. I just want us to be mindful of that and make sure that we're uh we're watchful as to um
how those funds are actually uh actually um taken care of. Um the uh Governor Spanberger in regards to the uh police uh civilian oversight board, Governor Spanberger has given us
a blueprint um as to how to deal with that. What we have obviously isn't working right now. It's an abject failure. So we certainly can ask for resignations. We can just implode what we have and start all over again if necessary.
And I do want to leave with this. Um, from that mountain of despair to to to quote Dr. King, uh, we can he out a stone of hope from that that that that ice situation
and the reality of it is scientific facts have shown us ice does melt. >> Good night, council. >> Thank you. >> Duly noted. >> Any further comments? Did you have something to raise your hand?
>> Hey, I have one here. Um, I just want to tell y'all thank you for all the work that y'all do because it is a voluntary position that I heard of. >> Um, your work is not unnoticed. I don't know if y'all going to thank you very often, but I appreciate every single last one of you that sits up there and
makes the decisions that you have to make every day, including you all. Uh, free is we ain't got no beef opinion like nohere with nobody. trying to work. >> That's kind of pretty much Yeah. that. But um and then like our police force, I
appreciate y'all too because y'all go through a whole lot, you know what I mean? And it takes um it takes being able to communicate with people in this community, you know what I mean, to be able to kind of direct them in the right way. So, keep on that. Um and with the ice situation again, you know what I
mean? I just kind of strongly feel about God bless you. I just kind of strongly feel like real real strong about that because they are a part of our community and when we say it is okay for someone to come into our community masked up, you know what I mean? And like we don't
know who they are, it could literally be anybody. Um, those could be the moments where people can mask up as if they are ice and go harm other people in the town. You know what I mean? So, there are a lot of different worries and I totally get it. Um, these are people who have families. You know what I'm saying?
And so to be ripped from their families and sent back somewhere where they ran from from the beginning, I kind of think is it's like not right, you know? Uh some people running from crimes like like literal things like happening to their family is what I'm saying. Like uh uh what do you call it? The like that
group of people that's like killing a lot of people and like you see it on the news and you see it on the TV and just like a lot of stuff going on. You have some people that run from those things like those gang affiliated members and stuff and they come here. I don't think that they should be forced to go back to something that they're afraid of. I think that they should be welcomed
because America do say, you know, like home of the brave and land of the free. How can we be land of the free if we're taking the people that run here to us for help and, you know, shoving them off somewhere like they don't matter? They have hearts, they have families, and they are living, breathing people. Um,
and then when it comes to like uh just like the core black neighborhoods, I really truly feel like don't take no more from us. You know what I'm saying? like a lot has been taken from the people in general. Just don't take no more. Especially when you have the power to not take anymore and
you have the power to put different, you know, different policies in place to stop different things. Um it shouldn't all it shouldn't only be about student housing. It should be about housing in general because they spoke about uh the 17,000 people. Meanwhile, there is
literally 200 to 220 people that are homeless without a home at all. So I think the focus should be all in all the community because the students are a part of our community. So if we going to say scream community community then it should be for everyone. And I totally agree with you Miss Flesher when you
said uh that we should pretty much all be living together. Like I don't see why we're separating students here and people you know over here and housing over here. Why not have them all in one place so we can literally be the community but the community that turns into a family. But anyway, yeah. Thank
you. Hope youall have a good night. Drive safe. Be safe. See y'all. >> Thank you. There have been no um other matters. Is there a motion to adjurnn? >> Move we adjourn. >> Second. >> All in favor, please say yes. Oppos, please say no. Thank you.