Tag: south first street

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If you build it: Despite pandemic, land use projects moved forward in 2020

City Council agreed in October to contribute $5.5 million in a forgivable loan to support the first phase of the Piedmont Housing Alliance’s redevelopment of Friendship Court, the 150-unit downtown public housing complex that was built in 1978. PC: Grimm + Parker Architects

In a year where many of us followed guidelines to stay at home, the skies of downtown Charlottesville were marked by cranes building new spaces for the 21st century. In their shadow, projects to provide more affordable units moved through the bureaucratic process required to keep them below-market. Before the clock strikes 2021, let’s look back at some of what happened in 2020.

Public housing

After years of planning and complaints of decay from residents, Charlottesville’s government took steps to renovate the city’s public housing stock. In October, City Council agreed to spend $3 million to help finance the renovation of Crescent Halls and the construction of 62 new units on an athletic field at South First Street. A date for groundbreaking has been postponed several times, but officials with the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority hope it will occur early next year.

At the same meeting, council also agreed to contribute $5.5 million in a forgivable loan to support the first phase of the Piedmont Housing Alliance’s redevelopment of Friendship Court. The 150-unit complex was built in 1978 in an area cleared by urban renewal. The first phase will see up to 106 units built on vacant land along Monticello Avenue and Sixth Street SE. The loan dictates that the new homes must be made affordable to people who earn less than the area median income. As with CRHA, there’s no set date for groundbreaking yet.

Also this year, a firm hired to complete an overhaul of Charlottesville’s Comprehensive Plan unveiled a draft of an affordable housing plan that calls for $10 million a year in city investment in similar projects. The draft also asks “to bring diverse voices from the community into decision making structure of the City and partners it funds.”

As the Comprehensive Plan edit process continues, affordable housing advocates hope to reform the zoning ordinance to make it easier to build more housing units without seeking permission from council. This conversation will spill over to 2021, as work on the Comprehensive Plan continues and as voters prepare to elect or re-elect two members of City Council in November.

Downtown towers

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of square feet for offices and other commercial uses are under construction. The largest is the Center of Developing Entrepreneurs, which is being erected on Water Street on the site of the former Main Street Arena. The triangle-shaped nine-story building will include a public courtyard, retail area, and incubator space intended to grow new businesses. Completion is expected by August 2021.

On Second Street, within sight of the CODE building, a nine-story office building called 3Twenty3 nears completion, despite a crane collapse in early January. The structure is ready for occupancy and tenants include Manchester Capital, CoConstruct, and McGuire Woods.

Not too far behind is the new headquarters for Apex Clean Energy, an eight-story timber-built structure on Garrett Street designed by Charlottesville-based William McDonough + Partners. Ground was broken in October 2019 and the building could be completed by the end of 2021.

Elsewhere in Charlottesville, Albemarle County hired Fentress Architects to design the $45.2 million renovation of the judicial complex in Court Square. The new general district court complex will be shared by both localities. Construction on the court building won’t begin until at least 2022, but the project is already drawing plenty of attention, as the city continues to move forward with the planning process for a parking structure at Market and Ninth streets to support the new facility.

A previous City Council bought the Market Street parcel in January 2017 for $2.85 million, and the current plan is to build a four-level parking structure with 300 spaces and 12,000 square feet of commercial space. Opponents have argued the structure isn’t needed and the city could invest the $10 million price tag in other projects, including affordable housing. The city says the new spaces would provide enough inventory to allow the nearby Market Street Parking Garage to be retired and redeveloped in the decades to come. The hulking parking garage is among the biggest decisions council will need to make as it hashes out a capital budget for next year.

What about Albemarle?

Albemarle County is also working on a new affordable housing plan. The draft calls for zoning changes that would allow for thousands more units to be built compared to the existing rules. This year, however, the county Board of Supervisors has not approved two projects that would have added to that number. In June, concerns about traffic left the board deadlocked on a vote that would have seen 328 units built on 27 acres at the northern end of the John Warner Parkway. In early January, super­visors are expected to take a vote on a rezoning for 130 units to be built near Glenmore. Neighbors cite traffic concerns for their vehement opposition to the project.

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Stepping up: PHAR welcomes a new executive director

Shelby Marie Edwards, daughter of beloved Charlottesville activist and former vice mayor Holly Edwards, is PHAR’s new executive director. PC: Zack Wajsgras

For Shelby Marie Edwards, serving her community comes naturally. Edwards grew up watching her mother, Holly Edwards, advocate for low-income residents as a parish nurse for the Jefferson Area Board for Aging and as program coordinator for the Public Housing Association of Residents. Now the younger Edwards is following in those footsteps as PHAR’s new executive director.

“Especially over the past few months, with all that’s going on in the social justice arena, I felt compelled to shift my work to focus more to what was speaking to me,” says Edwards. At PHAR, “I can continue the work of my mom, but in a way that’s true to me.”

Holly Edwards was an institution in Charlottesville, serving as vice mayor and a city councilor. She helped to spark the city’s Dialogue on Race, which led to the Office of Human Rights, while remaining involved in a string of other community organizations, from the NAACP to PACEM.

Following her mother’s passing in 2017, Shelby Edwards felt drawn back to Charlottesville, where she was born and raised. She’d been teaching theater and writing in Chicago, and when she returned, she began offering performance art classes through the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Virginia, while embarking on new projects, like writing and performing the one-person storytelling show, Holly’s Ivy.

“I certainly will not be the person inside of the Westhaven clinic where she used to work, taking temperatures,” Edwards says. “But what I can be is someone who continues to amplify the voices of residents, be a listening ear, and make sure we are looking at what makes the most sense in the short and long-term for all of the folks who live in public housing sites.”

While this is Edwards’ first time working in the public housing sector, she plans to draw heavily on her years of teaching performance art and fundraising for theater nonprofits in Chicago. She will also tap into her degrees in business and theater from Virginia Commonwealth University, which she received in 2017, as well as the masters in humanities she earned last year from the University of Chicago.

In addition, Edwards will continue to lean on her many community mentors for support and advice, including PHAR board president Joy Johnson, who will be helping with the transition.

“[Johnson] is a powerful force in the community, and I am humbled and honored to be stepping into this role, especially so under her guidance,” says Edwards. “I look forward to learning so much in this position. I wouldn’t have taken [it] if I didn’t already know the community had my back.”

Once her term begins, Edwards will oversee all of PHAR’s programs, including emergency food distribution. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the nonprofit has focused on providing food assistance to the city’s most vulnerable residents. Staff and volunteers currently bring groceries to 40 people each month. Almost all the recipients have COVID-19 risk factors, like diabetes, heart disease, and asthma.

Though the program is unfortunately at capacity and has a waitlist, PHAR has also given out $50 gift cards to every public housing resident twice during the pandemic, and plans to do that two more times before the end of February, when program funding is expected to run out.

In the new year, PHAR will also welcome its new class of interns. The nonprofit’s six-month paid internship program, open to all public housing residents, teaches participants about the city’s public housing policies and organizations, and how to get involved in community organizing and advocacy. “They’re ultimately becoming involved in the decisions that affect their lives,” Edwards says.

However, running the program during a pandemic has its challenges, says Edwards. Because PHAR has not been able to do face-to-face outreach, it has only received eight applications so far, slightly less than in previous years.

“Most public housing residents do not have laptops or iPads, and they often have challenges with limited minutes on their phones,” she says. “We got a grant from the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation, which allowed us to purchase devices, but there will be a lot of learning for most of the interns to feel comfortable using them.”

As the city pushes forward with the long-awaited redevelopment of the public housing complexes Crescent Halls, South First Street, and Friendship Court, Edwards believes it is necessary for low-income residents to be involved in housing decisions. Affordable housing remains a crucial issue in Charlottesville, and adequate solutions cannot be created without residents’ voices, she says.

Looking forward, Edwards’ biggest goal for PHAR is to expand its outreach and membership, while building up existing community partnerships and forging new ones.

“I welcome any and everybody who supports PHAR’s mission, and wants to make sure that our housing sites are safe and equitable…and that our residents are heard all of the time,” she says.

Edwards first official day of work is December 7.

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In brief: Police problems, school sickness, and more

UVA Chief of Police Tim Longo came under fire recently for UPD’s treatment of a Black man on the Corner. PC: Eric Kelley

Under fire

Shortly before midnight on November 15, a houseless Black man named Lawrence was reportedly violently detained by both Charlottesville and University police on the Corner.

According to eyewitness accounts given to Defund Cville Police, three UPD officers pushed Lawrence into the brick wall in front of Cohn’s. A dozen more officers soon arrived on the scene, and slammed him to the ground. Four pinned him down with their knees, digging into his back and ribs.

While witnesses and Lawrence’s wife asked multiple times why the officers were detaining him, they reportedly did not provide a clear answer. One officer accused Lawrence of trespassing on UVA Grounds, while another said they needed to question him and resolve a dispute with his wife.

The officers then pressed down onto Lawrence’s neck, claiming he was biting them, though witnesses say he was not. They allegedly did not let him go until another officer arrived and deescalated the situation.

Lawrence was then allowed to sit up and answer questions, which were not related to the incident, claim witnesses.

Because of the extent of injuries, Lawrence reportedly could barely walk or stand. When he was taken to the hospital, it was revealed he had three broken ribs, and multiple cuts and abrasions on his arms, wrists, side, and feet.

After Defund Cville Police’s account of the incident sparked outcry on social media last week, UVA’s Chief of Police Tim Longo released a statement about the “difficult encounter,” failing to mention Lawrence’s extensive injuries, or the large number of officers reportedly on the scene.

According to Longo, a UPD officer witnessed a verbal altercation between Lawrence and a woman outside a store on the Corner. He approached the couple and asked for identification. While the woman provided it, Lawrence refused, and walked away, crossing University Avenue onto UVA Grounds.

Another officer soon arrived on the scene, and recognized Lawrence from a previous incident at UVA hospital, during which Lawrence “became disorderly” and was banned from coming back onto UVA Grounds.

The officers followed Lawrence, told him he was trespassing, and tried to detain him. Lawrence went back to the Corner, which is off UVA Grounds, and attempted to leave the scene. The two officers then pursued and restrained him “for further investigation,” resulting in “several minutes” of “active resistance and struggle,” Longo writes.

A UPD supervising officer later deescalated the situation, ordering that Lawrence be allowed to sit up for questioning and evaluated by medical responders before allowing him to leave the Corner.

“Upon review of the incident, the Charlottesville Commonwealth’s Attorney has determined that none of the officers acted unlawfully,” stated Longo, who has now begun an internal UPD review into the incident.

One officer has been placed on administrative leave. Defund Cville Police demands every officer involved in the incident be fired immediately, and calls on the community to support Lawrence as he recovers from his injuries.

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Quote of the week

“Enough is enough. When do we start fixing it and stop covering up things?”

—South First Street resident Angela Barnes advocating for installing security cameras during a CRHA meeting last week, following a recent murder in the public housing community

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In brief

Get registered

Jackson P. Burley School, Charlottesville’s Black high school during the age of segregation, was added to the National Register of Historic Places last week. Burley opened in 1951, “part of an effort [by] many jurisdictions in Virginia to support segregation by constructing new and well-equipped separate but equal high schools for African American students,” reads the NRHP listing. The school was added to the Virginia Landmarks Register in September.

                                 Jackson P. Burley School PC: Skyclad Aerial

Cool your jets

Just after Thanksgiving, UVA’s football team flew down to Tallahassee, ready to take on the 2-6 Florida State Seminoles. But upon arrival, the team was told the game had been postponed due to uncontained coronavirus among FSU’s players. It’s the third time this season the Cavaliers have had an opponent cancel on them due to COVID.

School outbreak

Five students at Woodbrook Elementary School tested positive for coronavirus last week, and are currently quarantined at home. The students and staff who attended classes with the students were also asked to self-isolate for 10 days. On November 9, Albemarle County moved to Stage 3 of reopening, welcoming about 2,700 students—mostly pre-kindergarteners through third graders—into schools for hybrid learning.

Supply chain training

Virginia is running its first round of vaccine distribution tests, reports the Virginia Mercury. The state Department of Health is overseeing 50 sites around the commonwealth as they practice transporting COVID-19 vaccines, in hopes of being prepared when the first shipments of real vaccines begin to arrive later this month.

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In brief: Public housing progress, Trump rally trouble, and more

The Friendship Court redevelopment is scheduled to take place in four phases over the course of seven years. Phase one, indicated above, will begin in the fall. PC: City of Charlottesville

Do-over

Multiple public housing developments in Charlottesville are one step closer to getting a badly needed makeover. At its Monday meeting, City Council unanimously approved two ordinances regarding the redevelopment of Crescent Halls, South First Street, and Friendship Court.

The Piedmont Housing Alliance will take the lead on the first phase of Friendship Court’s redevelopment, while the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority will head the work at Crescent Halls, as well as the first phase of South First Street.

In this year’s budget, council allocated over $3 million to CRHA for its projects. At its meeting this week, council needed to approve the funds again into a community development corporation operated by CRHA. Constructing and redeveloping Crescent Halls and South First Street will cost an estimated $34 million in total.

Once redeveloped, Crescent Halls—which houses mostly seniors and people with disabilities—will have 98 one-bedroom, and seven two-bedroom apartments, as well as improved accessibility and amenities. At South First Street, CRHA will renovate the existing 58 units, and build 142 new ones.

For Friendship Court, PHA plans to build 35 new multi-family homes and 71 new apartments off of Monticello Avenue. Forty-six will be set aside for current residents, while others will be available to people making between 80 percent to less than 30 percent of the area median income.

Construction on Friendship Court is expected to begin in the spring.

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Quote of the week

“The grass around here looks terrible. It’s up above our knees. If we have a mayor that’s sitting on the housing board, have y’all really looked at Westhaven?”

—local activist Rosia Parker, calling out the poor conditions in the city’s public housing at Monday’s City Council meeting

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In brief

Trump train strain

On Sunday, Richmond City Council candidate Mike Dickinson led a “Trump Train”—a caravan of supporters in their cars—from Henrico County into the city. That caused yet another altercation beneath the Monument Avenue Lee statue, where protesters stood in the roadway, preventing the caravan’s progress. Police responded to reports that a gunshot was fired and one woman was pepper sprayed. No other injuries were reported. The statue’s days seem numbered—last week, a judge said Governor Ralph Northam can remove the Lee statue by executive order, pending one last period for appeal.

Whine and dine

A disgruntled bride is suing Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards for $32,000 after the Albemarle winery refused to refund a deposit for a canceled wedding, reports NBC29. Heather Heldman and her fiancé pushed their May 2020 wedding back to October when COVID broke out, but even with the postponement, just 15 percent of guests said they were able to attend. Heldman asked for a full refund. Pippin offered to return $9,000, saying it will have hosted a dozen weddings by the end of the fall, and it’s not the vineyard’s fault the Heldmans’ guests couldn’t make the trip. The wedding is just the latest event that’s gone sour in 2020.

Wild times

The city continues to expand the Heyward Community Forest, a swathe of newly protected land near Ragged Mountain. Last year, the city used a $600,000 grant from the Virginia Outdoors Foundation to purchase 144 acres of land from a private owner, thus establishing the forest. At Monday’s council meeting, the city appropriated $65,000 in VOF grant money to purchase five additional acres.

PC: Stephen Barling