Coraggio Consulting
Albemarle County Board of Supervisors Regular First Meeting, Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Date: Wednesday, January 10, 2024
Place: Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, Virginia
Length: 5h 8m (video)
Official meeting video (Granicus): https://albemarle.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=907
Official agenda: https://albemarle.granicus.com/AgendaViewer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=907

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-16. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:00] I am pleased to call to order this regular meeting of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors on this 10th of January at 1 p.m. in Lane Auditorium, 2024. I'd like to note that at the dais, we have Supervisor Ann Malick of the Whitehall District, Supervisor Ned Galloway of the Rio District, Supervisor Diantha McKeel of the Jack Jewett District, Supervisor Lapisto Kirtley, B. Lapisto Kirtley of the Ravenna District, and Supervisor Mike Pruitt of the Scottsville District, and myself, Jim Andrews, representing the Samuel Miller District.

[00:00:32] a quorum is present. We're also joined by our county executive, Mr. Jeff Richardson, our county attorney, Mr. Steve Rosenberg, our clerk, Ms. Claudette Borgeson, and our senior deputy clerk, Mr. Travis Morris. Also, let me welcome the Albemarle County Police Officers present, Master Police Officer Eric Ketchum and Officer Matt Middleton. Thank you for your service here today and for your work and that you and your colleagues do every day throughout the county for our safety and security at this time if uh please all stand uh as you are able and join us

[00:01:12] in the pledge of allegiance i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for

[00:01:28] all thank you and i now ask that you join us for a moment of silence thank you um our first item of course, is to adopt the agenda, the final agenda. I want to make sure everyone is aware that

[00:01:57] the public hearing items number 15 and 16, ZMA 2020-12 Montclair and the ACSA 2102 Montclair jurisdictional area amendment actions are deferred at the request of the applicant who will not be held this evening as part of this agenda. Also, I want to check with the board whether there's a consensus for us to move item 18 from the board committee reports and matters not listed on the

[00:02:29] agenda to this afternoon uh just before we take a recess that's okay uh and in that case i look for a motion to to adopt the final agenda as amended so moved second i hear a motion from supervisor pruitt and a second from supervisor malik without objection if the clerk will call the roll? Mr. Andrews? Yes. Mr. Galloway? Yes. Ms. Lupisto-Kirtley? Aye. Ms. Malik? Yes. Ms. McKeel?

[00:02:58] Yes. Mr. Pruitt? Aye. Thank you. We will now move to item number five, brief announcements by board members using our speaking order adopted for today. First, Supervisor Malik? Thank you. I guess what I will do is save some things until the 2 p.m. or whenever we adjourn just to make it easier for now. But I was interested to see the, in the building report, an example of why I think there are residents in the Whitehall District who are concerned about growth. 54% of all the

[00:03:32] applications and in one category and 51% in the other are all in Crozet. So this is just one example. This has been going on basically ever since 2009 during the recession. That was where the projects kept happening because developers shifted the sizes of what they could build to avoid the jumbo loan crisis, etc.

[00:04:00] And that sort of was the beginning of the takeoff ramp. So I think that's important to recognize and to be continuing to work on the infrastructure to support them. Very grateful to see the continual reduced numbers in the rural area because it shows that our plans are working and plans that were set out by our predecessors in the 80s and 90s are working.

[00:04:26] One quick announcement now, the Alliance to Advance Climate Smart Agriculture, Virginia Tech, is the local organizer for the pilot program. Amarillo County is in the region to participate, and there's a per acre fee to implement certain climate smart practices.

[00:04:44] And so for landowners interested in participating, there is a newsletter in which to subscribe, and I will pass all these details to the clerk so they can be officially into the minutes. probably be the easiest way to find out about it. And I thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Pruitt.

[00:05:04] Yes, just very briefly, I'd like to mention I had the opportunity to join earlier this week, the town of Scottsville at their monthly council work session. This was the first time I've been able to join them since taking in my new role as supervisor. The town of Scottsville is currently engaging in its own version of their comprehensive planning process in order to update their comprehensive plan. This has all the same impacts and strategic focus as our own Albemarle County plan, but of course at a smaller scale. For residents in the Southside area, specifically in the town of Scottsville or the immediately outlying rural area, I think this is a really great

[00:05:44] opportunity to exercise a lot of community roles, and I would encourage folks in the Southside to step up and get engaged in the town of Scottsville's planning process moving forward. There's a lot of great news coming from there. That is all I have. Thank you. Supervisor Lupisto-Kirtley?

[00:06:04] Yes, thank you very much. I just wanted to remind everyone that early voting for the presidential election starts January 19th, and then the actual, and then if you can't make it between then, the actual stop date is March 5th, so for early voting. So I think it's very important for everyone to get out for voting for the presidential primary. Thank you.

[00:06:33] Thank you. Supervisor McKeel. I would just like to take this opportunity to thank staff who continue to support our CAC meetings. I had my CAC meeting this week, and so often it requires, of course it requires someone from CAPE to be there, but often our other employees are there supporting our meetings, and I just really want to take this opportunity to thank them. The other comment that I'd like to make

[00:07:04] is we showed the 2023 recap video that staff produced, and it was a big hit. The quality of that video and the information shared on that video was just wonderful. And I encourage you to, if you haven't had an opportunity to share it with your CACs, you know, we talked about that. And it is really a good opportunity for the public to go in and take a look at it because it's readily available. The 2023 Almaro County recap of what we accomplished

[00:07:40] in our, in Almar County accomplished in 2023. Thank you. That's all. Thank you. Supervisor Calloway? No announcements today. Thank you. Okay. And my only brief announcements is just again to express gratitude to our Albemarle County Fire and Rescue. We had a significant flood event yesterday and a couple people were saved. We need those safety services are just so important and also gratitude to the utility workers and others who operate under some of the worst conditions to try to keep the lights on and our services in a storm. I also want to note finally

[00:08:18] that i believe the 2024 legislative session is starting and of course as most are aware the board's authority comes from the state government and a lot of what we want to do depends upon them so we're watching and wishing them much success uh in the next i guess 60 days yes may i add one thing uh sort of an admonition really i understand that people yesterday drove around barricades of closed roads. And this is completely unacceptable because number one, you put yourself and your family at risk when you drive through something you can't see. Number two, you put your rescuers

[00:08:57] who then have to put themselves at risk into danger to come and rescue you. So please, there is a reason why our police department has blocked off roadways. They are not safe to drive in. The other admonition is that many places in the rural area and some even in the growth area have places where driveways come down a grade to the public street often these places have a little dip and they may be six inches deep and this will throw your car steering out of whack so please please be careful within an hour on saturday morning we had two accidents at the end of our

[00:09:33] driveway because we had ice but people were driving outrageously fast and the back end of cars swing around and hit the person going in the other direction so we've got to slow down it is serious. It is life-threatening. Thank you. Thank you. Good reminders. Our next item, item six, proclamations and recognitions. I believe we have a proclamation celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day and will be read by, as a motion, by Supervisor Lupisto Kirkland. I have the proclamation

[00:10:07] celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day. This is as a motion, whereas just a century after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1963, Dr. King and Allied Forces marched on Washington and delivered the revered I Have a Dream speech advocating for the end of racial segregation and societal inequality. And whereas Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders devoted their

[00:10:39] lives to the expansion of civil rights and public service to all Americans. And whereas in honoring his legacy, MLK Day is the only federal holiday designated as a national day of service to encourage all Americans to volunteer to improve their communities. And whereas Albemarle County has invented, invested in creating a more equitable and inclusive society by centering

[00:11:13] community as an organizational value, which states that we expect diversity, equity, and inclusion to be integrated in how we live our mission, to serve all members of our community, and now therefore be it proclaimed that we, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, do hereby recognize and celebrate January 15, 2024, as Martin Luther King Jr. Day and encourage our employees and residents to work towards his vision for a more equitable and

[00:11:53] inclusive society. Signed this 10th day of January 2024, Jim H. Andrews, Chair, Abamala County Board of Supervisors. Second. Second from Supervisor Malek. Without objection, if the clerk will call the roll. Mr. Andrews? Yes. Mr. Galloway? Yes. Ms. Lapista-Kirtley? Aye. Ms.

[00:12:15] Malik? Yes. Ms. McKeel? Yes. Mr. Pruitt? Aye. Thank you. And with that, I believe we have Mr. Graham Page here who will be accepting the proclamation from us. Mr. Page, if you'd come forward. Thank you. If you have remarks, if otherwise, I'm sure we do. Chair Andrews and

[00:12:53] members of the Board of Supervisors. I am so very appreciative of this proclamation. As I thought about its significance, I looked at the mission statements of the organizations that are relevant to the proclamation. During my examination, I recognized a common thread that they all shared.

[00:13:09] As all the supervisors know, your mission states or emphasizes that our county seeks to enhance the well-being and quality of life for all of our county citizens. The mission statement of the The Office of Community Engagement states that the department seeks to maintain a community that is welcoming, inclusive, and accessible to everyone.

[00:13:33] The statement of our county school board states that the division seeks to end the predictive value of race, class, gender, and special capacities for our children's success through high-quality teaching and learning for all.

[00:13:49] We seek to build relationships with families and communities to ensure that every student succeeds. As I accept this proclamation, I realize how all of these mission statements are closely allied with Dr. King's dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out its true meaning of its creed.

[00:14:09] We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. The mission statements of the school board, the supervisors, and the Office of Community Engagement, and Dr. King's statement all expresses ideas that are an important part of my belief system.

[00:14:27] That belief system guides me in every decision that I make in my work with all of the organizations that I am involved. As I accept this proclamation, I must acknowledge that I stand on the shoulders of giants. Giants that include my parents and family members, and those elders from the Esmond community that help to mold the belief system that I believe in.

[00:14:51] But the Giants also include the individuals that have served or continue to serve with me on the Martin Luther King Committee in Esmond. Our committee has sponsored programs celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. King since 1987. I must recognize three of the leaders of that group are Reverend Shirley Stocks, who is the current committee chair, Mrs. Lorraine Page, committee treasurer and former chair, and Reverend Mary Carey, also a past committee chair. These three ladies have worked for many years to ensure

[00:15:26] that Reverend King's legacy is not forgotten. Even though we have not had a celebration service since the pandemic. Our committee is very proud of the fact that during its existence, the committee has awarded 42 scholarships to deserving students from Southern Albemarle County. As part of our scholarship program, each applicant is required to write an essay on how relevant Dr. King's dream is in today's society. It is committee's hope that our students recognize that much progress has been made in making Dr. King's dream a reality. But we also want them to realize that we must remain

[00:16:05] vigilant in order to keep our country from regressing into some of the practices of the past. And so again, I truly appreciate this proclamation and I accept it while acknowledging the giants on whose shoulders I have stood. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Payne, please remain.

[00:16:41] This is an opportunity for supervisors to have just a few comments, I'm sure. Okay. So we'll start with Supervisor Malik. Thank you. Thank you. Well, as a native here born in 1950, I am happy to say that I think some things are a little better than they were.

[00:16:57] And we're now beginning to tell a more full story of all the longtime residents of our county and so many leaders such as yourselves in Esmond, Richard Brown in Freetown, the Washingtons in Hillsborough. there's so many and the millers in in advanced mills so many centered around parishes trying to keep their histories and their sense of place alive is so important and i know some work has been done on resurrecting or or stabilizing the older school houses around the county i know there

[00:17:32] are many many more who which need assistance as well but i am an optimist people sometimes make fun of me about that but i do know in thinking back to my childhood here it took years to understand what was really going on because as a child you often don't understand what's going on but there were many places where my father who mother who had moved here from new york state in 42 said oh we're not going back there again you know one of them being alliance club show right here in this room and i remember asking my father about that and and he he just said oh no That is not the way we treat people, and we're not going to do that again.

[00:18:12] So I am optimistic that we will continue with the help of everyone pulling together to do better. Thank you. Supervisor Pruitt. Mr. Page, thank you so much for being with us today. I like to take this opportunity to both recognize how much ground we have made and how much we still need to make up.

[00:18:38] And I think it's important for us to remember the life and the mission of Dr. King when he was with us and was still actively organizing. You know, Dr. King was a minister, and I think it's important to remember and center that. His actions came first from his Christian creed and his discipline.

[00:18:56] And I was rereading a portion of Deuteronomy last night in the portion on the canceling of debts. The Lord commands his people that there should be no poor among you because you should open your hands to them.

[00:19:12] I think when we talk about pursuing an equitable future for our county and we talk about honoring the legacy of Dr. King, it's important to keep this centrality in mind as we move forward and consider the actions that Dr. King took in his life to this end. This is a man who organized to eradicate poverty while he was with us. This is a man who organized to extend the rights for black businesses and black laborers to form unions, to have access to fair contracts. This is a man who organized in order

[00:19:50] to make this a place where all people have economic freedom because that is essential to having the kind of racial equality that he saw. So we have before us today, you know, a proposal that notes that the overwhelming amount of people in this community who are homeless at the last point-in-time survey were black people and people of color.

[00:20:15] I hope that as we move forward, we always keep in mind that our duty is to make sure that there are no poor in our land among us. and that we must open up our hands and make a society that is more racially just. Thank you so much for being with us. Thank you.

[00:20:30] Thank you. Supervisor Lupita Kirtley. Thank you, Graham. My four years of friendship with you, I truly value. You said that you stand on the shoulders of giants.

[00:20:48] I say that you are a giant amongst us, that you have served your community, You've served the children in our schools, being on the school board. You have really made a difference in our community.

[00:21:04] And I just want everyone to know the contribution that you have made and friends like yourself. And frankly, for keeping us on track and making sure that we do the right thing, too.

[00:21:20] But it's been a pleasure. It's always a pleasure to encounter you, to see you, and thank you for all you do. Really appreciate that. Thank you so much. Thank you. Supervisor McKeel? Sure. We appreciate you coming and joining us today.

[00:21:38] It's great to see you. Thank you for being here. And your statement was powerful. Certainly, Dr. King was indeed a giant, and we do have giants among us today, as Bean said, and you were one of them.

[00:21:54] I really appreciate, though, you connecting our mission statements between the schools and county government. And we have a ways to go to fulfill those mission statements, but we will continue to work towards it.

[00:22:13] We have great teams on both sides, the schools and county government, that will help us get there as well as the community members helping us reach those goals. And I just thank you.

[00:22:29] Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Calloway. Mr. Page, thank you for coming. Every year during Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it is a time for me to be able to try to reflect on his book, Where Do We Go From Here, Chaos or Community?

[00:22:46] I've mentioned this in years past at this time. And this year was no different. But instead of going back and revisiting his book, I actually revisited a book that was a foundational element to my belief system as an educator when I was a teacher, Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

[00:23:05] And there's a lot here that I'm sure he learned from and built on Dr. King's philosophies and thoughts. And I was looking through this book and I found a note that I had off to the side on a little section that said related to King and where do we go from here.

[00:23:22] I'd just like to share that section. because love is an act of courage not a fear love is commitment to other men no matter where the oppressed are found the act of love is commitment to their cause the cause of liberation and this commitment because it is loving is dialogical as an act of bravery love cannot be sentimental as an act of freedom it must must not serve as a pretext for manipulation it must generate other acts of freedom otherwise it is not love only by abolishing the situation of oppression is it possible to restore the love, which that situation made impossible. If I do not love the world,

[00:24:01] if I do not love life, if I do not love men, I cannot enter into dialogue. Rereading that, I can't wait to get back into the book, Where Do We Go From Here, Chaos or Community? In past reflections, I've always thought about community. That's the ideal that we're trying to go to.

[00:24:17] This year, my thoughts have been on chaos. I think in the past, as I've reflected, chaos is anarchy, But I don't think I truly understood what Dr. King was telling us. Chaos is not anarchy. Chaos is the expression that you have law and order when oppression exists in that system.

[00:24:35] Chaos is saying that we are civil when you have acts of oppression existing in the civil acts. And that only comes about because this proclamation was on the agenda and having that wonderful reflection as somebody who attempts to improve and better.

[00:24:54] I think it's important for me to share that with my constituents as well as how I think through and what my belief system is built upon. And I'm looking forward this week to getting back into Dr. King's work yet again with this new slant or new perhaps place of arrival that I'm at to try to continue to find that community, but also to kind of weed out where the chaos still exists in our society, especially as we see it play out in national and state politics.

[00:25:23] So thank you so much again for coming to share your belief system with us today, Mr. Page, and accepting the proclamation. And I will add my gratitude as well for your being here, this proclamation and your words. I was a 10-year-old woman when Martin Luther King was assassinated, and I still remember my father's sadness, grief, and fear for our country at that time.

[00:25:46] It's interesting that we're up here as government celebrating Martin Luther King, which is really important because I think a lot of his work was nonviolent resistance to the status quo coming from governments at that time. And I hope we can do better and always look to being reminded that we can do better. That's why I really appreciate doing this today. So thank you very much. Thank you very much. And thanks for those comments. And I think it sort of, again, summarizes the fact that we all realize that we've had a lot of progress, but there are still a lot of things that we need to do within this country. So thanks again so much.

[00:26:22] Thank you. Our next item on the agenda is matters from the public, matters on the agenda but not listed for public hearing or on matters previously considered by the board or matters that are pending before the board. We have a few signups so I will ask Vice Chair McKeel to read the rules and introduce the speakers. My new role here in finding my paperwork and I understand we have no one online and so we have one person in person so i will read the following oh we have two oh this

[00:27:01] one's tight i'm sorry i missed that that's why he's chair so um in person only during the time set aside for matters on the agenda but not listed for public hearings individuals may address the board of supervisors concerning matters previously considered by the board or matters that are pending before the board other than items listed on the agenda for public hearing.

[00:27:25] Individuals are allowed one opportunity of up to three minutes to speak at each board meeting during matters from the public. The sign-up sheet is managed by the clerk's office. The timekeeping is conducted through a timer and a light system at the podium.

[00:27:41] The green light will go on when you begin speaking, which begins your allotted time. The yellow light indicates you have one minute to finish speaking. The red light indicates your time has expired and you will be asked in your comments. all speakers equal to give all speakers equal treatment and courtesy the board request that speakers adhere to the following guidelines. When addressing the board, state your name and if you live in Elmar County, your magisterial district. Address comments directly to the board as a whole.

[00:28:08] Any written statements or other supporting materials may be given to the clerk. If representing a group or organization, you may ask others present to raise their hands in recognition. Speakers may not share any unused time with another speaker. Back and forth debate is not permitted, and do not speak from your seat or out of turn.

[00:28:28] All comments are live streamed, recorded, and published on the Almar County website. With that, our first speaker is Susan Perry. And Ms. Perry, you'll need to bring down the...

[00:28:44] Welcome. Happy New Year, everybody, and welcome to the new people on the board, especially my man, Mike Pruitt. I also want to thank, since the folks are here, the HART program is really quite wonderful and I'm deeply gratified that you guys stepped up to the plate and is doing this kind of work that's needed to be done.

[00:29:07] I'm going to be talking about zoning, which I'm sure we're all exhausted about hearing and we'd rather not hear it for another 25 years. However, it is overdue for us in Albemarle County to change our rural zoning. I live down Avon Street Extended, where the many housing developments are squished together and were built without adequate school accommodations, by the way.

[00:29:32] And at the end of my block, there's nothing but green pretty. It looks kind of surreal. The 20-year-old expansion zones are full. You may not think they're full, but they're pretty full. We are part of the large Charlottesville community and must contribute to accommodating all our citizens.

[00:29:54] Please create a plan for building safe, green communities with housing, supporting businesses, and transportation. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Neil Williamson. Good afternoon.

[00:30:16] Good afternoon. Neil Williamson with the Free Enterprise Forum. I'd love to say ditto from the first speaker. It wasn't what I was going to speak about. But I wish to welcome Mr. Pruitt to the board. I didn't get a chance to speak last time we met. I also want to welcome back Supervisor Malik and Supervisor Lapistro-Kirtley.

[00:30:33] Today, your agenda item number nine, it speaks of proposed projects for housing support. While the Free Enterprise Forum has no position regarding the funding of these items, we believe they highlight three important areas for the county to look at.

[00:30:49] First is the use of general funds to support the county's affordable housing goals. If the community is seeking these goals, the entire community should share in their costs. This is logical, and it's something we speak about when the development community is asked to overshare the burden of the costs of affordable housing.

[00:31:12] Second, along those lines, this board has been wrestling with the proposed incentives for housing outmorrow. I encourage the board to look closely at the Habitat for Humanity application, explaining how the subsidy they're requesting will reduce rents from a market rate of $1,200 a month to $500 a month for 30 years.

[00:31:37] This is cash dollars subsidizing the provision of affordable housing. Finally, the work of nonprofit developers, and make no mistake, these are developers. It's not a bad word.

[00:31:53] They're developing our community. This work provides an opportunity to look at the incredible cost of complexity with dealing with Albemarle County's regulatory environment. I know tonight you'll be talking about clarifying the reduction of fees. We went from 362 fees to I think it's 148. Ooh, I'm excited. It is too many fees still. The complexity is high, and the carrying costs are high, whether you're a for-profit or a non-profit developer. All three of these things

[00:32:32] are illuminated by your agenda number nine. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Thank you. That's everyone. And we have no additional sentence? Okay. Thank you. Our next item is the consent agenda. I'm not aware of anyone desiring to pull any items from the consent agenda.

[00:32:54] If not, do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Second. Motion by Supervisor Malik, a second by Supervisor McKeel. Without objection, if the clerk will call the roll. Mr. Andrews? Yes. Mr. Galloway? Yes. Ms. Lapista-Kirtley? Aye. Ms. Malik? Yes. Ms. McKeel? Yes. Mr. Pruitt? Aye.

[00:33:14] Thank you. Which brings us to the item just spoken about, the proposed projects for housing fund support, and I believe this will be teed off by Dr. Stacey Pethia, Assistant Director of Housing. Thank you. Welcome, Dr. Pethia.

[00:33:31] Thank you. Welcome back, everyone. Happy New Year. So yes, I am Stacey Pethia, Assistant Director for Housing, and I am here today to ask the board to approve funding for two projects with the funding coming through the Housing Fund Reserve.

[00:33:58] Those two projects that we'll go over today are the Premier Circle Permanent Supportive Housing Project, being developed by Virginia Supportive Housing, as well as the Southwood Cardinal Hill Apartments, which is being developed by Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville.

[00:34:17] We will start with the Permanent Supportive Housing Project at Premier Circle. I think most of you have seen and are becoming familiar with the spectrum of affordable housing needs that we talk about most of the time that I'm in front of you. So the Virginia Supportive Housing Project really focuses, excuse me, on that permanent supportive housing project, which serves households with incomes between 30 and 50 percent AMI. So really reaching down to some of our residents and neighbors that have the greatest housing needs. Just to go over again

[00:34:54] And what the Premier Circle Permanent Supportive Housing project entails. There will be 80 studio units for persons experiencing chronic homelessness, and that project will include the provision of on-site and off-site supportive housing services.

[00:35:10] Those services are really valuable to residents that move into these projects, really helps them get back on their feet, and within an average of four and a half years, are able to move out of permanent supportive housing and work their way up the housing ladder. This project is part of a larger affordable housing project at Premier Circle, which is comprising a total of 140 affordable units.

[00:35:32] So besides the 80 that Virginia Supportive Housing will be creating, there will be an additional 60 units will be available to low and moderate income families with children. And this is done in partnership with Piedmont Housing Alliance and the Blue Ridge Area Coalition for the Homeless.

[00:35:50] Virginia Supportive Housing has raised a total of $22.6 million for the project. Like many developments across the country after the pandemic, it has been a struggle to get their full funding together.

[00:36:06] Many different reasons for that as construction costs have increased. So this $1.4 million that they have requested between us and the city of Charlottesville is really to fill the final funding gap, to have this project move forward. County staff is asking the board to approve an allocation of $700,000 from the housing fund to help meet that need. And that will bring the county's total funding commitment for the project to about $4.85 million, or 22% of the total project cost. That includes the $2.4 million

[00:36:40] that we had allocated to the project, the ARPA funds a few years ago, and approximately $1.75 million dollars, which is the estimated worth of project-based vouchers that have been awarded to the project. Looking at the project and how it aligns with county policies, this really aligns very well with the Strategic Plan Goal 4, which is enhancing quality of life across the county, as well as Housing Albemarle Objective 10, which is really working to end and prevent homelessness.

[00:37:16] One of the recommended strategies in the Housing Albemarle is specifically to create additional permanent supportive housing units within the county. So that will fulfill that goal. Moving on to the Habitat Project with Cardinal Hill Apartments. These are really focusing on affordable rental housing, but it will serve the needs of the full range from zero income up to 80% of area median income. But I believe the initial plan had been those to be sold as condominium units, but now they're going to use them for residents who either cannot afford to purchase

[00:37:52] their home, several senior residents at Southwood that don't want to purchase a home in the future, so this will help provide housing for them. Cardinal Hill Apartments will include 14 units of affordable rental housing. Really, the focus is on the hardest to rehouse Southwood residents, so again, those who may not be able to purchase a home on their own, at least right now, and senior residents. The rents, again, will be affordable to households with incomes at or below 80 percent AMI and that range is really to provide some flexibility of the income qualifications for

[00:38:25] relocation purposes. So there may be some residents who have incomes of say 82 percent AMI who live in future phases of development but may need to relocate to another unit for two years while that phase is being redeveloped. That allows that to happen. With funding from the county this development will be affordable for a 30-year period. The total project cost for Cardinal Hill Apartments is $5.1 million, and Habitat is requesting $1.5 million from the county's

[00:39:00] housing fund. This $1.5 million would pay down the debt service on their construction loans. That would allow them to save that cost and be able to provide the units at a lower price. Total county funding commitment specifically for Cardinal Hill Apartments would then be $1.8 million, or 35% of the total project cost. That $1.8 million includes the $306,000 that we had allocated, awarded to them earlier, to help with temporary rental assistance for residents who need

[00:39:31] to be relocated. And again, aligning with county policies, Strategic Plan Goal 4 is specifically what this aligns with the Strategic Plan and Housing Albemarle Objective 2, which is to increase the supply of affordable and workforce rental housing in Albemarle County. And that is all I have. And I am open for any questions. So we will open now to questions and probably comments from the board, starting with Supervisor Malik. Thank you for all your packet and also for answering

[00:40:08] questions in the meantime. And I have none right now. Appreciate it. Supervisor Pruitt. Just a quick clarity on rules. Am I correct that we go around this loop twice in the speaking order? We can revisit if you want to just ask questions at this point. I do just want to begin.

[00:40:27] I know I mentioned it very briefly, but something that I think really jumps out at me when I review this funding package is that we note that there are, in the region counted, 158 people experiencing homelessness, and this project is aiming to house 80 of them. I just think when we think strategically as a board, this is a very helpful just thing to keep in mind.

[00:40:48] I feel like we talk about eliminating homelessness in our community as a kind of moonshot goal. But this is actually a deeply achievable and realistic and, I would say, morally compelled goal for this board. So I just want to begin by noting that. I do have some more particularized questions about the actual mechanisms that we're using here.

[00:41:10] I was somewhat surprised, and maybe this points more to my own ignorance, that the funding pool we're using is the currently existing housing fund, specifically using that for supportive housing. When I think of the housing fund, especially when I'm looking at some of our neighbors in the Commonwealth, I think of the housing fund as being primarily used for, you know, that right end of the spectrum that you use, right, for workforce housing development and using separate funding streams, sometimes coming from the general fund, for supportive housing, especially for also ad hoc supportive housing requests.

[00:41:46] So I guess this question would be, is that an anticipated future use of this as we develop out the Housing Albemarle Plan and we more robustly think through how we're implementing the housing fund, is this going to be a continued way that we engage with this or are we going to move toward a more structured approach of like notice of funding, grant dispersals, and then use separate pools for these kind of ad hoc requests?

[00:42:12] So staff is working on a process that would be at least an annual notice of funding availability or opportunity, which would be a competitive application process for the housing fund that hasn't been able to get implemented yet but that is on the board and so that yeah that's i think the best answer for your question right now i do have one other question which is i had not seen this in the packet but i saw this in your presentation that part of the funding stack is going to be through uh section-based project-based vouchers correct are we converting any of our uh any of our individual hcb vouchers into uh project-based

[00:42:52] rental assistance in order to do that? Are we losing our inventory of mobile vouchers? Yes. So there is no, HUD does not provide, or the Department of Housing and Urban Development, does not provide specifically project-based vouchers. In order to do that, housing authorities must use their regular voucher allocation to do so. There are advantages to different approaches. One of the advantages of being able to project-base our housing choice vouchers is specifically for projects like this, so we are guaranteed for the next 15 years to have units

[00:43:28] available. But we are limited in the number of vouchers we can project base, so we can't go ahead and use 100% of ours. We can only project base 20% of our total allocation. I'll proceed on in the speaking order. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Lupito. Thank you very much for the presentation. I have one question regarding Cardinal Hill Apartments. Habitat is asking for $1.5 million. That would be a section of the Southwood Project, correct? Is that something we

[00:44:06] can anticipate that as the next section rolls along, that they will ask again for $1.8 or $2 million or uh is this going because it's a slow rollout because they come to us correct uh what every at least twice a year maybe and maybe more asking for additional funding and i'm for budget reasons i think that's something we need to anticipate as a board to know whether or not okay is this is this dribbling out money is this something that is going to be asked for in the

[00:44:44] future. Your opinion, please. Yes. So they have our Habitatus approach staff already about a performance agreement for phase two, similar to what we did in phase one. Those talks are very preliminary right now, so I don't have any idea of what that funding would look like.

[00:45:02] But through the performance agreement, we would have timelines and have, as we do now, a schedule of fund disbursements so we could plan ahead for that. We are always looking to partner with them on grants so we had just we were awarded the governor announced on december 29th the county was awarded a 1.75 million dollar cdbg grant for phase two and that will help to install water and sewer lines to 75 houses so not all of the future funding will come from the county we are always looking for ways to to mix and match and bring in other people's money to do

[00:45:38] that okay but as of right now we're using the affordable housing fund correct for both premier circle. I am. Yes. Okay. Thank you. That answers my questions. Thank you. Supervisor McKibb. I don't have any questions for Stacey. Thank you. Supervisor Callowick. Thank you, Dr. Beth. I seem to recall early on with Southwood the conversation about seniors who were not interested in having the homeownership. So this is definitely getting to that. What can you ballpark the percent? I mean, there's probably overlap in the two groups that you were kind of talking about. The hardest to

[00:46:13] relocate, and then it said and seniors. I imagine a lot of the hardest to relocate are seniors. Is there, do you have a little bit more detail on what the mix is? Like how many are, and I'm specifically thinking like trying to get my head wrapped around the senior population that this is helping to serve. Yeah, I do not have specific numbers with that. I, and I don't, the last community survey that I had seen was done several years ago, so I don't know how the population in Southwood has changed since then. I know Habitat was in the process of doing another survey

[00:46:49] for phase two. So when that's done, we might have a better idea. Thank you. And obviously, I'm supportive of the Premier Circle piece. I mean, Virginia's supportive housing in their letter does state that this is an evidence-based approach and it does work. So I'd be pleased to help with that. I'm assuming the idea of asking for the 700 is they're asking the city for the other 700. Correct. So the city will be giving 750,000. We will give them 700,000 of that. I think between the time they requested, their original request to us was 1.4 million. I think

[00:47:25] their needs increased over time. So we believe given the amount that we've already placed in that 700,000 is appropriate. We are also looking to use potentially project basing some additional vouchers through the mainstream voucher program and the mainstream vouchers are really focused on persons with disabilities and and they work very well for the the homeless population thank you it's all thank you and i'm also very supportive and appreciate the questions that i've asked about

[00:47:58] clearing up the role of the of the performance agreement eventually in this but also the supportive of the premier circle, a much deeper reach down than what we expect from the affordable housing components of density premises, for example. My understanding is at this point, we are going to need a motion to approve both of these at once. Yes, I'm sorry. I totally forgot to write a resolution. Okay, that's fine. But before I do that, I'm going to go around one more time to see if there are any additional comments or questions. So, Supervisor Malin. Thank you very

[00:48:38] much. Just clarification, I guess, is, well, first a comment. I've seen firsthand the benefits to the residents of the crossings, so I very much get it on that, what the agency provides for long-term success, and I really appreciate how this is going. Regarding Cardinal Hill, my understanding was that, and I may have misread this, so please clarify or ask, you know, call a friend in the audience. These were units which were going to be sold for cash, but because there has been years of trying to get the funding nailed down to do this sewer and getting those people out

[00:49:17] of the area where their septics are a disaster is why this is important shift to the use of those units to get these people a place to live. So I have absolutely no problem supporting that either. Nobody's trying to pull a fast one on anything here. This is essential in my mind to get this work done thank you supervisor um i have two very quick questions again that occurred to me as we were talking um so with the convert with the possible conversion of some mainstream vouchers to project-based am i correct that is going to restrict some of the units at premier circle for

[00:49:54] only serving uh clients with disabilities yes but um disabilities has a wide definition so it's not just physical disabilities, it could include mental illness as well. Sure. I'm not anticipating that would be a problem. Something like 60% of our homeless population, I think, experience disabilities. I just want to make sure I'm understanding that right.

[00:50:13] I also do want to make sure, so as a permanent supportive housing, I'm assuming that there's going to be ongoing wraparound services that are going to be provided, Premier Circle. Is that going to be something that the county has an increased future operating budgetary need, or is this going to be covered by Virginia Supportive Housing through state and other funding streams? It's covered exclusively by Virginia Supportive Housing. All right, thank you. Supervisor Lupito Kirtley. I'm supportive of Premier Housing and Cardinal Hill Apartments, so I'm supportive of that and will be voting in favor of it. Supervisor McKeel. Just one quick question, even though we're

[00:50:52] with comments right now. I'm just trying to figure out. I just want to make sure, my understanding from reading the paper was the city has already approved their share. Yes, they did. Just so everybody knows yeah that's great um i'm very supportive of this so um and i appreciate all the hard work i really do appreciate the flexibility that i saw that really is great um and i look forward to the next reiteration with the mou that will be coming to us and the yes so thank you very much stacy supervisor galloway okay so at this point i believe we're looking for a motion to

[00:51:29] approve the funding requests for Habitat for Humanity for $1.5 million and of Virginia Supportive Housing for $700,000 using funds from the Housing Fund, as laid out in Attachments A and B. So moved. Second. I would just add, according to what we have, we need to perhaps add Attachments A and B.

[00:51:48] Oh, did you say that? According to Attachments A and B. Sorry. Excuse me. Re-second. Re-second, that's right. So, a motion from Supervisor Malek. Second. Second from Supervisor McKeel. Without objection, if the clerk will call the roll. Mr. Andrews? Yes.

[00:52:04] Mr. Galloway? Yes. Ms. Lapisto-Kirtley? Aye. Ms. Malik? Yes. Ms. McKeel? Yes. Mr. Pruitt? Aye. Thank you. And, Board, I believe at this point we can jump, actually, as we mentioned at the outset for our agenda, to Item 18, which is from the Board, Committee Reports and Matters Not Listed on the Agenda.

[00:52:27] First, Supervisor Malik? Thank you. I'll zoom up to the top of my page here for a minute. Okay, so I guess the most, we alluded to it a little bit, just with the stormwater and the rain, Rivanna had real difficulties with several of their places getting flooded, so they've been scramble mode, Rivanna water and sewer this is, for 24 hours trying to get everything squared away.

[00:52:56] But I really appreciate all that their staff does, also in the middle of the night, in dangerous circumstances, to try to keep the water systems working. We've heard a lot from our neighboring jurisdictions about having to boil waters everywhere and all sorts of problems. So it does take a tremendous amount of maintenance on the part of the organization to keep our water running.

[00:53:16] Sugar Hollow Dam was a little bit dicey, but they went into an emergency plan for that yesterday because there was more than three inches of rain in the afternoon. So they have a plan all set out for that, which I also appreciate because there are people downstream. With the delivery of the broadband, which was a neighborhood plus Ravana investment a number of years ago, they now are able to adjust the bladder remotely instead of having to have a person standing under the overflow, which is what happened in 1995.

[00:53:48] Mr. James is out there turning the crank and could easily have drowned. So I'm always worried about their safety as well. I was going to just make a comment of encouragement for citizens as we continue to work on the comprehensive plan. There are many items which have not yet been discussed and for which citizens may desire to make input.

[00:54:08] I know that the stream overlay district is or the buffer district is being developed, but the dark skies initiative. There are so many things in 2024 we need to hopefully we will be able to wrap up, such as the adoption of the housing, adoption of the solar plan and thinking about a policy on data centers and perhaps having a declared zone like we did for the fracking, which had to be in the mining district.

[00:54:37] We only had one. So those are just some big cosmic issues to think about as you're doing other things. Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Pruitt? I have nothing further to report to the board. Thank you. Supervisor Lupisto Curtin? Nothing, thank you. Okay.

[00:54:52] Supervisor McHale? Just a quick reminder that the Chamber of Commerce's state of the community will be happening on Thursday, February the 15th from 8 o'clock until 10 o'clock at the Code Building. I think many of us have that already on our calendars, but I'm just letting the folks know that might be interested in joining us. And I think our own Jeff Richardson and city manager Sam Sanders are part of the presentation. So you'll be reporting out on our market.

[00:55:25] Ms. McKeel, thank you for mentioning that. As recently as yesterday, I met with the city manager, and he and I have a session scheduled later this month, January the 18th, with the chamber to begin to prepare and to also coordinate and align on focus and comments, not because the city and the county have exactly the same issues, but just to plan to make best use of our time and understand what we can do to make that go as well as we can. That's great. Thank you, Jeff. It really is a great event. So we look forward to it. So

[00:56:04] thank you very much. That's all I have. Supervisor Gallagher? Nothing to report. Thank you. And I also have nothing to add. Before we go to the next item, I just want to check with the county executive if you have anything else for today okay so and my understanding is we have nothing on an agenda for a closed meeting so we will at this point call a recess until 6 p.m when we will gather again here for a regularly scheduled evening session promptly at six uh here in lane

[00:56:37] auditorium. Thank you. A long recess. A long recess. James Cupcakes from Scotland. Good evening. Call us back to order. And we are just entering into our evening agenda. We'll have public hearings tonight. I don't think I need to say except for perhaps people online that public hearing items number 15 and number 16 relating to the Montclair project and the Montclair

[05:00:20] jurisdictional ACSA amendment will not be held if they were requested to be deferred by the applicant so we will start with from the county executive is there a report this evening no sir not this evening okay thank you and then matters from the public matters on the agenda but not listed for public hearing or matters previously considered by the board or matters that are pending before the board. Do we have anyone signed up? We do not. Okay, then we can move on to the

[05:00:56] fiscal year 2024 budget amendment and appropriations as public hearing, but we'll start the public hearing after the presentation by Ryan Davidson, Deputy Chief, Office of Management Budget. Welcome, Mr. Davidson. Thank you. One second. Good evening. I'm Ryan Davidson, deputy chief of budget for the county. Today I really only have one slide for an action item in front of you to amend the FY24 budget to provide a brief overview of the contents and then after

[05:01:33] which I'll turn it over to the chair and to the board for any questions and to hold the public hearing. So the code of Virginia requires a public hearing before amending the budget when the total amount exceeds one percent of the currently adopted budget. That's the case tonight. The total proposed amendment is approximately 13.5 million, 11.1 of which is for school special revenue fund reappropriations and a little over 2.3 million in state revenue to go to the school's funds and to grant funds in local government. I did want to point out one typo in a chart that was in the executive summary for

[05:02:12] this agenda item. The chart outlining the sources and uses for the 11.1 million of the school special revenue funds. Inadvertently listed it as general fund fund balance when it was in actuality school's special revenue fund fund balance and so I did want to make a clarification as that was a typo in that chart. Everywhere else in the executive summary properly outlined and listed the sources but it did have that one typo and I wanted to bring that up for the board's awareness and for the awareness of the public. Attachment A contains all the details of the appropriations as well as attachment C which contained additional details and additional

[05:02:47] information on each of the school special revenue funds that are contained within that 11.1 million. After to wrap up this presentation the board we're asking our recommendation is after the public hearing for the board to adopt the resolution in attachment b this time only attachment b there's no attachment c's and with that I'll now turn it over to the to the board and to the chair for any clarification questions and to hold the public hearing. Okay we'll go through our order before opening the public hearing. First, Supervisor Malik. No questions, thank you. Supervisor Pruitt. I have

[05:03:24] no questions at this time. Supervisor Lupita Curtin. No questions, thank you. Supervisor McHugh. We're all in agreement, no questions. Supervisor Calloway. No, thank you. And I have no questions. Then we will open the public hearing and I will ask if we have anyone signed up to speak. We do not.

[05:03:45] Then I will close the public hearing and the matter is back before the board. Does anyone have any comments that they would like to make then we have a motion that would be in the form of the board is recommended that the board adopt attached resolution attachment b to approve the appropriation for local government school projects and programs as described in attachment a so moved second we have a motion from supervisor malik second by supervisor mckeel without objection if the clerk will call the roll mr andrews yes mr galloway yes miss lapisto currently i miss malik yes miss

[05:04:25] McKeel? Yes. Mr. Pruitt? Aye. Thank you. Board, our next two matters are, of course, where the originally where the ZMA is relating to Montclair, and these items 15 and 16 have been deferred at the request of the applicant. And so our next item for public hearing is number 17, clarifying the effective date of the community development fee restructuring. And this will be presented by Mr. Andy Herrick, Deputy County Attorney. Welcome, Mr. Herrick. Thank you very

[05:04:55] Thank you very much. Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board. I'm Andy Herrick, the Deputy County Attorney, and it's a pleasure, as always, to be with you this evening. I'm here today to have a follow-up ordinance on the community development fee restructuring ordinances that came before the board on December 6th. As you may recall, at that time, Mr. Shiflett and Ms. McCulley were before the board to adopt a series of ordinances that would restructure the fees in the community development department. There were a series of seven ordinances that were adopted at that time, each for a separate chapter of the board.

[05:05:25] the county code. This evening's ordinance has attempted to basically finish up one loose end, which is the effective date of the ordinance. It was community development's intent and what they had represented to the shareholders in presenting this, excuse me, not shareholders, the stakeholders in presenting this, that the fees would become effective on July 1st of 2024. They, in fact, need the additional time until July 1st of 2024 to reprogram the systems and set everything up and have the correct configuration.

[05:05:58] And so for that reason, we've come back before the board tonight with an uncodified proposed ordinance. It's attachment H to the board that clarifies that all of the ordinances, all seven of the ordinances that the board adopted on December 6th would in fact have an effective date of July 1st.

[05:06:14] It's staff's recommendation that following the public hearing that the board adopt tonight's proposed ordinance attachment H. And that's all the remarks I have, but I'm happy to answer the board's questions. Okay. We'll go through our order. Supervisor Malek?

[05:06:29] No questions. Thank you, Andy. Supervisor Pruitt? No questions. Thank you. Supervisor Lapisto-Curtley? Supervisor McHugh? Batting a thousand. Supervisor Galloway? Thank you, Mr. Eric. No questions. And I have no questions. Thank you.

[05:06:45] Then we will open the public hearing. Do we have anyone signed up to speak? We do not. we will close the public hearing and uh the banner is back before the board does anyone have any concerns comments questions i can make a motion unless there are questions then the uh we'll be uh go ahead so i will move adoption of ordinance number 24 slash a ordinance to clarify the effective date of certain community development department fees as described in attachment h

[05:07:19] second okay motion from supervisor malik seconded by supervisor mckeel without objection if the clerk will call the roll. Mr. Andrews? Yes. Mr. Galloway? Yes. Ms. Lapisto-Kirtley? Aye. Ms. Mallett? Yes. Ms. McKeel? Yes. Ms. Pruitt? Mr. Pruitt? Aye. Okay. Thank you very much. Appears to be close to a new record. I would, since we already did our committee reports, I will ask if the county executive has anything further for this evening.

[05:07:56] - Sir, I do not. I'm looking over at the two deputies and they're indicating nothing at this time. So we're good from our end, sir. - Okay, thank you. Does anyone else from the board have any matters? - Everybody has a big grin on their face. - Okay. Well, then we will adjourn to January 17th at 1:00 PM here in Lane Auditorium.

[05:08:16] The opportunities for the public to access and participate in this meeting are posted on the Albemarle County website, on the Board of Supervisors homepage, and on the Albemarle County calendar. Participation will include the opportunity to comment on those matters for which comments from the public will be received. Thank you very much. Good night.

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