Planning Commission Meeting   3/10/2020

Oh my gosh.

I think the first chairperson.

All righty, good evening everyone and welcome to the regular March meeting.

First up, a couple things.

Board visitors met last week and the main item that was approved was a new upper-class student housing on the Brandon Avenue

development area.

It's another 350 beds with a dining component and lots of common space for student gathering and study.

So that will be kind of the next

And I'll just mention, I know very little about it, but there's news today of an initiative between

The university and the community kind of goes back to President Ryan's strategic planning goals and priorities and there's an affordable housing component to it that

will seek to have the university help with some of the affordable housing issues in our community, along with three other initiatives for employment, child care, and the last one's going to leave me.

It's procurement of local goods and services, how you can promote more of that.

I'm sure it will come before us at some point and be of interest in the future.

Thanks.

Ms.

I had a TJPDC meeting last Thursday and I'm trying to remember because all I've been thinking about since Friday is this, so what did we talk about?

It's time for budget, as everywhere, so there was a lot of discussion on the budget and during the

Part of the meeting where we get to talk about other things in our locality that's going that we're moving on forward with Talk to them and get some information about our comprehensive plan somebody else can talk about that and then I was able to

I want to just brag a little bit on our citizens at First Street South about their engagement and how they've come together to help design this community and there was a lot of interest in how this went from other counties so somebody may be getting in touch with you all because they were very excited to hear about all the community engagement because I think other localities have struggled with this as well so it was

Ms.

Let's see, so I think we had a place meeting last month where we discussed, or kind of a report to council for why place exists and what it does.

So once they issue that, I'll be able to tell you those things.

This morning, or this afternoon actually, we had a smart scale planning lunch.

with the other jurisdictions from our MPO and from the rural area, where we talked about the projects that are going to be submitted to SmartScale from each of those jurisdictions.

The particularly interesting ones on the Albemarle slash MPO side, there's going to be a hydraulic 29 package submitted again.

which will include an overpass for pedestrians and bikes across Zand Road and potentially some several different options of ways to improve the intersection itself potentially including extending Hillsdale Drive all the way south to Holiday and then

I think changing the signalization around Angus Road as well as a couple other options.

On the city side, we will be submitting anywhere between zero and three SmartScale projects.

It sounds like it was leaning towards zero.

The two of the possible ones we would submit are West Main Phase 3 and Preston Grady.

The third, not specified.

Also, I guess, relevant to us in the county, there's a project down Fish Street extended up to Old Lynchburg by the county office building, where they might start smart scale to put in a roundabout kind of thing over there.

And that would also improve the bike facilities in that area.

And they've just finished up a survey.

I think middle of May, they'll be having a public meeting to talk about how to improve Fish Street extended kind of headed down to Southwood for bikes and pedestrians.

Other than that, I think those were my official meetings.

We also had a kickoff for a Seville Center for Civic Innovation housing hub software effort.

So the goal is to put together essentially a tool that collects all the available apartments in the area and helps housing navigators

at various agencies who are helping their clients find housing to find available apartments with landlords who are willing to accept vouchers and that sort of thing.

So it's a pretty cool project.

I'm looking forward to it kicking off, and I think it's actually getting started tonight, so unfortunately I'm not hacking away on that tonight.

But I think it's meeting every Tuesday for the next four or five weeks.

Reverend,

I didn't have any official meetings but I attended the symposium at City Space on the clean energy and power grid use which I thought was fascinating as they talked about peak use and and how the grids getting cleaner and cleaner and technologies making our options you know more and more prevalent around the city there's electric chargers going into parking

the parking garage off of Water Street and I just thought it was really good information.

Lyle Solla-Yates attended a housing advisory council meeting on February 19th.

There was nothing on the agenda, but things did happen.

Albemarle County reported that they are now working to update their housing strategy and their comprehensive plan and their zoning to all match.

That's a revolutionary notion.

They haven't substantially updated that in 40 years.

So should be an interesting project to watch.

The CISRAP program we got an update on and that acronym is for the Charlottesville Supplemental Rental Assistance Program.

This is a program the city does to help people find housing, preferably in the city but also in the county.

There are 101 families in the program, 88 of them are currently receiving assistance, 13 are looking for housing.

60 of them are in the city, 20 of them are in the county, and there are 69 applicants on the waiting list.

The Board of Architectural Review had two meetings over the last month.

And the first one was on February 12th.

It was a special work session with city council.

We've been tackling issues more frequently with large projects where the projects want BAR design reviews and approvals.

at successive steps in the design process.

But yet, for any project, there's only one certificate of appropriateness that can be issued, which is at the very end.

So we, in particular, what types of reviews we discussed for these early phases, what they would look like,

what they would review and how to document what the applicants can and cannot depend upon in those reviews.

We had a really good discussion and we're hopeful about crafting a fair process to come from this.

The second BAR was its monthly meeting on February 19th.

We had three certificate of appropriateness applications approved.

and one deferred.

The tree commission met last night and we had a light agenda.

Arbor Day though, I can

Remind people will be celebrated by the city on Friday, April 24th.

The details of where and at what time will follow soon.

And we have now four open seats on the tree commission, but luckily there's been a great deal of interest for people being on that commission.

So, at the invitation of Alex, I have been to a couple of meetings of the LUPIC organization.

is an acronym for the Land Use and Environmental Planning Council.

This used to be the PAC.

The PAC was the Planning and Coordination Council, which was a very strategic organization that focused on development being done by UVA, the county of Albemarle, and the city.

Another component of the PAC was the PAC tech.

And this was the folks that think about doing the day-to-day work and think about what it takes to implement the vision of the folks on the PAC.

The PAC and the PAC tech have morphed into what is now the loop pick.

We still don't know exactly what our charge is.

We're working through that in the last couple of meetings.

But as we left the meeting last Wednesday, we saw ourselves as an advisory committee that consults with the city, the county, and UVA.

Two, in a place where each entity talks about any development that may be happening in the individual organizations that we represent.

and then thinks about the impact on the environment and the impact on infrastructure that any development we might undertake.

In addition to people, staff and planning commissioners from Albemarle, UVA and the county,

The Rivanna Sewer Authority is represented as well, and the University of Virginia Real Estate Foundation is also represented on the council.

Once again, we're still thinking through what our reconstituted mission is, and so I'll report back once we decide exactly who and what we want to be when we grow up.

okay we have our March work session scheduled for the 24th so we will be talking about we have two items on that agenda one is the housing

and other housing related items that went forward to Council.

Council has passed that to the Commission for discussion, so we're in our 100 day review period.

We'll be meeting with Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Solla-Yates tomorrow to work through the process for how we're going to work through that agenda for the 24th.

And we also have a preliminary discussion for a site on Arlington Boulevard.

So what we are going to do next is open it up to you guys to give your folks in the audience a chance to talk about things that may be on your mind.

What I'd ask you to do is keep your comments to three minutes, because a lot of people want to talk, and there are a lot of different topics that people want to talk about.

So keep your comments to three minutes, and state your name and address when you approach the dais.

But again, I treat you to keep your comments to three minutes.

And also to clarify, we've had a lot of interest in the last week or so for folks concerned about a property on stribbling.

We've tried to communicate to all those who have who have

corresponded with us, noting that this is the time to speak on it and that we are collecting the comments that people submit to us as well.

But we do not have an application in the office for this at this time.

And so it's not scheduled for an agenda.

But this is an opportunity for sharing of comments with that.

And that'll be communicated in that process if

when something comes forward for that.

We are also creating a database of those who've communicated with us so that we can let folks know once something is turned in.

So but do feel free to speak on on that this evening.

Hi, good evening, everybody.

My name is Julie Confacer, and I live at 305 Huntley Avenue in Charlottesville in the Fry Springs neighborhood.

And I am here to comment specifically on the

proposed not yet on the agenda but proposed development at 240 Sterling Avenue and was able to attend your committee meeting in February in which the Southern Development Corporation did present some ideas.

and was able to comment at that time and since then have been able to reflect some more and also speak with neighbors in the Huntley neighborhood on Stribling and in other parts of Fry Springs neighborhood including on JPA.

So I'm here tonight.

I was able to come.

A lot of people, as you well know, can't.

So I'm standing not just for myself, but for my neighbors as well.

And wanted to speak to two major concerns regarding the proposed development.

The first is that the safety of current residents in our area on stribbling

and JPA.

The physical safety due to the car, pedestrian and bike issues on those roads are of grave concern already.

Those already exist.

And I know that the city has been made aware of that.

The proposed development with 170 additional units off of Stribling would make those problems extreme and the danger extreme for walkers, riders, residents and drivers in our Fry Springs area.

particularly on Stribling and on JPA.

That's my first and main concern that no process move forward for that development until there's an agreement and funding for improvements on Stribling Avenue and the cross between Stribling and JPA.

So that should be contingent on that occurring.

The second comment is that part of the proposal that was floated in the February meeting included a cut through

to Morgan Court Road, which is part of the Huntley neighborhood.

And the neighborhood was never designed to have even pretty much two-way traffic.

It really actually should be one way through the little loop.

The roads are very narrow.

I invite any of you please to come to our neighborhood, stroll, bike, drive through, and see for yourself.

that the roads of that neighborhood will be completely not capable of accommodating additional traffic.

We already have, even in our little neighborhood residents driving to and fro, people have to pull over to let the other driver by.

And walkers and bikers are, you know, people are respectful and slow.

Kim.

Good evening, my name is Joy Johnson.

I reside at 802A Hardy Drive, and I'm here tonight to ask you all to support the site plan for South First Street.

I also want to take this time, after a big heartburn last week and the beginning of this week, I want to thank you Hosea Mitchell, the staff, and also you Lisa, and even you Paul, thanking you all for

like pulling it together so that we wouldn't disappoint the women of South First Street.

These women have given up their Sundays.

They go to work.

They come home.

They have given up their Sundays since June of last year until now.

And if

We hadn't put it together and do what we all had to do and come together.

It would have been a big disappointment and going forward with redevelopment, especially on West Haven and the rest of our properties.

I don't see how we could have gotten the momentum back.

I think trust is a big issue.

It's still a big issue.

Communication is a horrible issue.

We need to fix that.

But somehow we have to break down the barriers on trust.

because I don't like walking into a room feeling that you're looking at me as the angry black woman coming in the room.

It shouldn't be that.

But it's because I know that people look at poor people differently and they treat us differently.

So again, I'm not coming here to bashing about it tonight because I know we all pulled together and we got it done.

And again, I just want to say thank you, appreciate it, and hopefully that you all will support that.

Again, Lisa, thank you so much as an attorney.

I have my other attorneys back there and so I do listen to y'all because y'all keep me straight but anyway I just want to say let's work on trust and let's work on the momentum so that and one other thing VHDA was here this past Thursday and they were also excited Lisa about what the ladies has done

at South First Street.

And I also want to thank Jeff Myers who is in the audience because he is the person who is working with us, showing us how to put this deal together that is so completely different from what is happening across the nation.

My name is Keita Ikeda and I live at 237 Huntley Avenue.

I see a few of my neighbors here.

I want to agree and reinforce what Ms.

Julie had said earlier today.

And as a resident, I've walked and biked and also drive my car through Stribling and also Stribling extended onto Fontaine.

Just as an observation, no scientific data here, but in any given time, even to about midnight, there's usually somebody walking on egress or ingress on Stribling, which basically confines the automobiles to be in a single file, and we're very careful not to

not to hit anybody, but because of that, I think everybody is sharing that one lane.

So having 170 units, approximately 200 to 600 cars, additional cars, maybe half of those folks going in out of the neighborhood two, three times, that's a considerable amount of traffic that

and not only that, but foot traffic as well from the 170 new units.

So I would like to voice my concern and also if there's any way we can work with the developers to come with an alternate plan, that would be wonderful.

My name is Marilyn Swinford.

I live at 122 Morgan Court, and that's, of course, in the Huntley neighborhood.

I want to echo the sentiments of my neighbors.

I mean, Stripling is so narrow in most places you can't have two cars and a pedestrian or a bike pass at the same time.

It's quite dangerous.

There are probably 180, 200 homes, depending how far you want to go down Sunset and the side streets that come in and out, uh, Stribling and JPA.

It's really not practical to go out the other end of Stribling at this point in time.

And let me emphasize, we understand that there's a need for affordable housing in this city.

And, and we agree with this, but this is not the right plan for this neighborhood.

We don't have the road structure for it.

The mass and the scale of this project is way out of proportion with the rest of the neighborhood.

And I want to speak specifically about Morgan Court where I have lived for the last 12 years.

We have a little 30 foot wide street.

It's parking on one side.

We're going to have 34 homes when it's all built out.

We have 20 right now.

Now there's a hill that's kind of S-shaped.

People have to back out into that hill, so visibility isn't good.

And I was told when I bought the home that the reason that the 30-foot wide street was allowed is because it was going to always be a low-volume street.

It is not designed to be

One of the major entrances into another community.

And so that I've even gotten to the best part yet, because if you haven't been out to the Hunt Morgan Court, I mean Huntley Avenue intersection, you need to go.

Because our intersection is set back downhill and at an angle, Huntley Avenue Jog.

if you look at our stop sign it's directly across from the front door of the uppermost house under construction so we can see nothing of ongoing traffic as we are at the stop sign so the planning department that was helpful enough to put a stop bar forward it's a full car links forward of the stop sign well that isn't enough either because we're so set back so

What we have to do is we have to kind of edge out into the intersection.

I mean, you literally see it's kind of leaning forward in our cars trying to get the best views so that we can get and look up that street.

Now, some of you may know since the buyers built the mailboxes at the intersection starting in February of 2014, we have been trying to get those mailboxes moved.

Nothing has happened.

You don't have a private street ordinance to enforce those regulations.

Other citizens have the site distances.

They have site triangles.

We have none of that.

We have trees at our intersections.

We have bushes, fences, and so and then when the mail truck or other residents are parked at the mailbox, I mean it is not a good intersection and we have no capacity

to take on traffic.

So when this new project is built, whatever happens, they need to keep it on their own.

Do a divided meeting and make the wise road wide enough.

Let that be there in and out and meet the requirements for the fire marshal.

I'm John Edward Hall of Fry Spring.

Morgan Court, I can't say much more than what the first lady speaker, Marilyn Swinford, here has said most eloquently for them.

I do know about Stridland Avenue.

I've conducted my own research study over the past several years.

Southern has built over 1,000 homes since its startup, a $400,000 range in today's dollars.

They are indeed successful and rich as a company.

They are saying they'll proffer $700,000 toward pedestrian and bikeway improvements.

That means to measure about 32 feet wide in roadway in my calculation.

However, they admit the five spring neighborhood association for the last three years has begged for sidewalks.

I have designed the streetscape one half mile with one sidewalk.

That's 37 feet of street and sidewalk.

I have contacted Dominion Energy about the strategic underground program so that we could thus eliminate telephone lines and telephone poles from our sidewalks.

The cost of sidewalks is said to be north of two million dollars, so Southern Development says they won't pay for it.

Southern Development's proffer needs to proffer north of three million.

I, with the city attorney, could file an injunction.

I, with the community support and money backing, John Blair with city council and taxpayer backing.

My name is Betsy Roettger.

I live on 1513 Chesapeake Street.

I'm on the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority Board.

So I'm here to support the approval of the South First Street phase two site plan.

And thank you all for all the help that we've had this race to the deadline.

And I just wanted to point out that I think

Maybe this shows opportunity in the future since we will be working through other properties in the city to find ways to work more closely with the city in the future to reach the deadlines on time, but also because I think we're not normal developers.

We're learning a lot.

This is new.

I was trying to remember the graphic of sort of equality versus equity and how

you know this extra help is actually needed for us to get to equity the systems and processes that work for everyone we're learning but are also you know take a little time to understand and so I wanted to thank you for your help and your support of this project.

I also wanted to say I don't know if any of the women who worked on this are going to speak tonight, but they have given their presentation so many times now.

Good evening, my name is Abigail Pare.

I'm a resident at 120, yeah P-A-R-E, resident at 120 Morgan Court in the Huntley neighborhood and I'd like to reiterate the concerns already expressed tonight and just add some personal anecdotes of

Walking down Stribbling Avenue as a pedestrian is problematic as it is with no sidewalk, no street lighting and certainly not width.

Yesterday, there were utilities on the road and half of the road, probably two thirds was taken up with the utilities blocking off one side.

So there was already a bottleneck there.

And I am concerned about the safety along there, particularly the end with JPA.

Turning left is already problematic coming out of there, over the bridge with visibility.

So before, I think we are in a cart and cart and horse situation.

I think we need to sort out the access before we move any further with the development whilst accepting there is a need for affordable housing.

I think the horse needs to be sorted out after the cart.

In Morgan Court we bought the place because it was a nice little cul-de-sac with the promise of quiet and it's already a narrow street.

We've already since I've been there lost half of the street for parking because it's now the fire department deemed it not wide enough so we have lost half of that street.

So with one even one side of parking it is difficult to maneuver two cars at once.

Good evening.

I'm Chantelle Bingham.

I'm a resident of the 10th and Page neighborhood.

I'm here to speak tonight in support of the South First Street plan and hoping that you all can pass that approval with a yes.

I'm following up on an email that I also sent earlier on today and thank you Lyle for responding to that.

Some of the comments I want to share as we try really hard to build a community where everyone is included, we're still struggling quite a bit.

Not all of our black and brown families are included.

And it's hard to find one where our working families can truly prosper and grow in.

And this is large part due to our housing crisis that we're currently having.

The cost of good housing in Charlottesville to raise families in is just not where it needs to be.

For a developer, it's taken decades for someone to really pick this token up.

Riverbend Development in collaboration with CRHA and BRW Architects have, though.

And over the past year, they've worked with residents to truly co-design a new housing project that would really mean something for the community, really mean something that can contribute to equity in our community as well.

but this co-designing has been hard and I think that there have been a lot of partners that kind of stepped up to stand in support of them.

The Charlottesville Food Justice Network is one of them.

We've worked very hard to not only meet that planning in designing but with funding and so over the past six months

We've worked to apply for funding with the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development.

I've also worked with this team to apply for funding through the city manager's office through the Kresge grant to make sure that we're building equitable housing in Charlottesville.

Most recently, the most, I think, largest token they have taken on is to apply for a tax income credit application.

and we know that the application is due on March 12th and it could potentially ensure that $16 million or more is being flooded into housing to redevelop and I think that while we may plan and design things, the intention has to be met with money and cash flow.

We're now up against a deadline and I know that as this team of community resident architects have worked

In collaboration with institutional partners, we've hit some roadblocks.

I'm here to remind you all that that is kind of intrinsic of moving and designing differently than our community has before.

Now is not the time, I think, to let technical difficulties maybe get in the way of that.

I don't want it to be a barrier to

to this cash flow that could go into the community to actually support housing being developed.

So I'm here.

I'm standing here as a resident of 10th and Page, also the chair of the Human Rights Commission.

I also sit on the Redevelopment Committee for CRHA, and I hope that you all could support that project in earnest so we can keep moving down the road.

Hi, I'm Laura Goldblatt.

I live at 1008 Druid Avenue in Belmont.

And I'm also a member of the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority Board of Commissioners.

And so I say that to thank you.

I know what it's like to give up your leisure time after a long day at work and to come in to do an important service.

And I mention that because I am encouraging you to support the South Street Phase 2 site plan, even if there are some details that still need to be worked out before the LIHTC application moves forward.

And that's because the people who participated in the process to design it also gave up their weekends.

They knew what it's like to work a hard week and to come and to give up their leisure time so that they could be part of building something really wonderful for their community.

And so this is a process that's been recognized.

You've seen their presentation and how amazing it is for people to really stand up for themselves and to build something for themselves and for future generations.

And so I think that a vote for it is a way to gain additional trust in this community so that as CRHA moves forward to redevelop other properties, they can expect real resident engagement in that process in a way that's so crucial to making sure that they're successful.

Another reason is that I think to vote for it is a vote for democratic processes, really participatory democratic processes.

And so here you have a chance to say that you're voting for democracy and saying that you want all members of our community

to be able to participate in the way that this city looks and changes.

And finally, I think that this is a really important step in addressing the city's housing crisis.

It's a small step, but it is the beginning I think in starting to make sure that public housing is expanded, that it's suitable for all residents, and that residents feel like they have a voice in that process.

I actually don't have a lot to say more than I just heard.

My name is Elaine Poon.

I'm a lawyer with the Legal Aid Justice Center and I represent the Public Housing Association of Residents and I just want to lift up again the South First Street site plan and encourage you all to approve that site plan and think about kind of the big picture, the context that we're talking about here and how important this is to the community.

And that exhausted my list.

Is there anyone else who would like to speak?

Good evening.

Ashley Davies, 1000 Locust Avenue.

I'm with Riverbend Development and

Just didn't want to miss this opportunity to thank all of you, to thank staff, to thank all of our development partners, but most of all, to thank the residents of South First Street for the really important and instrumental work that they've done here.

As Betsy alluded, the residents have put in over a thousand hours of their personal time to design this community.

I also had the opportunity to present at the Governor's State Housing Conference this year and we really feel like this is a model that is not happening anywhere else in the country.

So I just want to take a moment and recognize the very important work

and oftentimes gritty and complicated work that's been happening over the past year.

And for anyone who doesn't feel comfortable speaking, I was hoping you could either raise your hand or stand up if you're here tonight in support of the South First Street

Is there anyone else who would like to speak?

Good evening, I'm Brandon Collins.

I work for FAR, the Public Housing Association of Residents.

I live here in the city on Fairway Avenue.

FAR is the Resident Council and Resident Advisory Board for Public Housing Residents in Charlottesville by federal law.

And so there is a mandate for our organization to represent residents

advocate on their behalf and participate in all aspects of housing authority business, including redevelopment under two different federal laws.

So we feel like we've played a role in this process, but I think it is really important to point out tonight is an historic

We are asking you to approve this site plan.

We think there's a way forward so that you will feel comfortable approving that site plan and it took a lot of work and we do have a lot of thanks to the city for helping to find a way forward along with Housing Authority and the Affordable Housing Group.

It cannot be understated, and I think you're hearing it enough.

You've seen from these women who have put in the work at South First Street.

But it can't be highlighted more.

This is a totally innovative process.

When we say it's a democratic process, it really is meaningful.

You cannot look anywhere else in the country.

and see this kind of engagement and I wouldn't even call it engagement at this point.

It transcends that concept of engagement with residents and really has put residents in decision-making bodies in control of the future of their communities and they have delivered a responsible

meaningful product that's going to help this city address the affordable housing crisis, that's going to improve their quality of life and which offers the first steps towards providing amends for some of the wrongs that have happened in this city for which this body has been responsible for in the past and other bodies.

So they've done their work.

They've been responsible.

It's amazing.

We should all just thank them and thank them and thank them and thank them.

and it's now up to partners to move this forward and this is innovative.

This is the future of how we're going to transform public housing in this country and y'all are on the front line of that thanks to the hard work of these residents of South First Street.

So we really ask you to approve this site plan, find a way forward and you know hopefully at the end of the night we're all celebrating.

Don Gaithers, City Resident, and I work for Farrar Public Housing Association of Residents.

I too rise to

I stand in support of the immense amount of incredible work that the the ladies of South First Street have done in bringing this project to you all and I urge you and beg and plead with you to please support that and push it forward to stand behind those ladies who have sacrificed and have put in the effort and time to get this done and to bring it to this point and ask that you you push it through and bring it to fruition.

It's not just about

The residents of public housing, and they're not the only ones who are watching this and monitoring it.

It's about every resident in the city who stands behind affordable housing and stands behind trying to make life better for our fellow citizens.

So I urge you to do what's right, to do what's necessary, and to do what's proper, and to stand with and in concert with these ladies who have put in the work

and I urge you now to do the same, to put in the work and to stand with them and to present this to City Council and urge their support of it as well.

I would like to speak to South First Street as well.

You know, you've heard, I take it you have known about the, oh I'm sorry, Mike Osteen, thank you.

I take it you know the process we've gone through.

It was very innovative, exciting.

It was also cumbersome.

You know, the idea that

We thought we knew how a development project moved, but it really doesn't move through us like every other project does.

And then you add HUD and HUD guidelines on top of that.

It's really been quite challenging.

Most of the points I want to make have been made, so I'll skip that and get right to the point.

It's essential that we have approval tonight.

This wouldn't back up the project by days.

It would be a full year.

and this is the first, well you know, at this point it's like the third project in a strategic pipeline that is going to transform public housing in the city of Charlottesville.

So if this is delayed by a year, West Haven's delayed by a year.

If West Haven's delayed, Sixth Street is delayed.

If Sixth Street is delayed, Riverside, Madison.

You get the picture.

My name is Patricia Howard and I live on South First Street and I'm one of the ones and all the rest of us that worked on the project since June of last year and I want to thank all of y'all for giving us the time, the patience to look at what we have put together and I want to thank everybody else that worked with us and that's what I had to say.

I hope that y'all could help us to get our tax credit and I really appreciate that.

Hi, I'm nervous.

My name is Kristin Davis Singh and I live at 1013 Linden Ave apartment R. I'm here as a city resident.

I'm also here as a new

Housing Authority employee.

Sorry that I'm like this.

I have strong feelings about this.

I'm here to support.

I'm here to support your approval of the site plan for phase two of South First Street.

It sounds like the plan is fully approvable and like we'll leave here and celebrate.

I have a very simple request, and I'm not even sure that it's appropriate to make.

But if you can't find a way to move forward with this, if one of you does vote no tonight, I hope that you will tell the women in particular, the residents who've done the planning.

I hope that you will

tell them why and make it very clear because maybe they're not all here tonight but they as you have heard have made such extraordinary efforts I've only seen I've only been there for one of these sessions but I've heard about the

Hello, Tanisha Hudson.

I just want to say that you guys should approve the site plan.

I think we all know the condition of housing in Charlottesville.

I think everybody has at least once stated that affordable housing should be on the top of the priority list.

I think it's important that we let community members in certain neighborhoods know that they deserve adequate housing.

I just think that everybody should vote in a good direction today.

This is necessary.

And it's not anything that residents haven't been asking for for a very long time.

I personally know Ms.

Joy, and I know that she's been working on this for a very long time, probably before some people got here, because I know that some of y'all are probably not born and raised from Charlottesville.

So let's approve that site plan tonight.

Thank you.

Hello.

My name is Erica Williams.

I live on Morgan Court.

Thank you for this opportunity.

I greatly appreciate it.

I echo the sentiments of all my neighbors in the Huntley neighborhood.

I do want to say I think there's one perspective that hasn't been shared and that is I stand here not only as a resident but also as a mom.

My kids play in the neighborhood.

It's a cul-de-sac as you all are aware.

They play in that cul-de-sac as well as the playground that's at the end of Morgan Court.

And though my kids aren't here, I just want you to

Please consider the perspective of the young generation, the kids.

I'm here to stand on behalf of them, to advocate for them, and I just hope that as you make the decision that you would consider not allowing Morgan Court to be cut through because it's them also that we have to think of.

and I live at 512 Mosely Drive.

I haven't heard actually anyone address the Flint road development in Fry Springs as well.

And from what I understand, Longwood and Mosely would be the access.

I'm going to echo what many of the Fry Springs neighbors have said.

Our infrastructure on either of those roads

When you have cars parked on both sides, we right now have to stop to let cars pass.

We don't have the infrastructure.

I applaud the idea of high density housing and allowing more affordable housing in.

But I will also echo what one of my neighbors said.

Would anyone else like to speak?

All right, we have now closed the public comment section and we are ready for a staff report.

I need a motion to approve the consent agenda.

So moved.

Second.

Any abstentions?

All right, now we'll move on to the site plan.

Ms.

Good evening, Carrie Rainey with Neighborhood Development Services.

Ashley Davies of Riverbend Development and Scott Collins of Collins Engineering are representing Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority or CRHA in seeking approval of the final site plan known as First Street South Apartments Phase 2A and 2B to develop a site plan to construct 113 multi-family developments, a community center and office space.

City Council previously approved a special use permit with conditions as well as a critical slope waiver request on January 6th.

The special use permit is to allow private outdoor recreational facilities as well as reduced yard setbacks of five feet and the critical slopes waiver would allow land disturbance, clearing activities and construction activities.

Both of these council resolutions are found within the site plan, final site plan.

Staff has reviewed four previous submissions of the site plan as detailed in the staff report you received today.

The current submission before the commission was received today at 3.15 p.m.

and has not been reviewed by staff.

However, based on the review of previous submissions as to which staff determined the site plan satisfies the minimum requirements of the zoning ordinance set forth within articles three, eight, and nine of chapter 34 in the applicant's representations that no

Material changes have occurred in submission number five.

Staff believes submission five could be in compliance with the applicable zoning and public infrastructure requirements.

Any questions for Ms.

Rainey?

Mr. Solliot.

I move to approve the site plan dated March 10th, 2020 for First Street South Apartments Phase 2A and Phase 2B based on a finding that the site plan contains the minimum details required by City Code something 34-828 and satisfies the requirements of City Code Chapter 34, Articles 3 and 8 and 9 to such an extent that the only zoning requirement remaining to be satisfied in order to obtain a building permit is the posting of surety bonds.

Nothing in this approval shall preclude the stormwater management plan or the erosion and sediment control plan depicted within the site plan for being changed at a later date, as may be required by the city's stormwater or E&S administrator under the laws, regulations, or ordinances governing administration of the VSMP or VESCP programs.

It has been moved and probably seconded.

Can I ask a quick question?

Just really quick.

Really quick before we vote on this.

I do want to thank staff for your work and everyone that has worked on this so very hard.

I do know what I want to just really say really quick is while we review this, it is absolute to make absolute sure that the quality of your project that you've worked so hard on it is the same quality that these million dollar condos are built on.

We don't want anything to go wrong on that.

So sometimes it takes a little bit of time.

So thanks for your patience.

And I know it's been frustrating.

You're right, there's some equity versus equality here, for sure.

And this is one of the things that when I heard some things were going sideways last week that trust is huge for us to continue building here and for this to go sideways would not be good for this city.

For the staff, as a staff person of a local government, I know I've been harsh on you this week, I'm sorry, but, and I'm saying but not and, but.

When we look at things through this equity lens, especially if this kind of project, especially this kind of project, we do have to find a way to say yes in these tight timelines.

And that is not going to always fit within our nice governmental processes and procedures.

So we have got to find a way.

When we talk about public-private partnerships, we have to be as invested in this as a local government employee as the folks that have spent all their time after work on Sundays.

So if we've got to work a little bit on Sundays, then so be it.

We've got to find a way to say yes, and it be just the same quality.

So I'm sorry.

I know you all want to hear this yes vote.

I had to say that.

This is too important.

Great.

Once again, it has been moved and probably seconded.

All opposed?

Any abstentions?