AGENDA DATE: 9/15/2021
TITLE:
Title
Southwood Phase 1 Update
BODY
SUBJECT/PROPOSAL/REQUEST: Update of Southwood Phase 1 since the rezoning approval
ITEM TYPE: Regular Information Item
STAFF CONTACT(S): Richardson, Walker, Kamptner, Herrick, Filardo, McCulley, Rapp, Nedostup
PRESENTER (S): Megan Nedostup
LEGAL REVIEW: Yes
REVIEWED BY: Jeffrey B. Richardson
BACKGROUND: The Southwood Mobile Home Park (“Southwood”) is located on Hickory Street south of I-64 and east of Old Lynchburg Road in the Southern Urban Neighborhood and is located in one of the County’s Development Areas. Southwood currently has 341 mobile homes and more than 1,500 residents and is the County’s largest concentration of substandard housing. Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville, Inc. (“Habitat”) purchased Southwood in 2007 with a stated intention of redeveloping the site into a mixed income, mixed-use development, removing all 341 mobile homes and replacing them with a variety of housing unit types, including site-built homes.
The Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution in October of 2016 supporting a collaborative redevelopment process with Habitat for Southwood. Subsequent to that support, the Board included Southwood Phase 1 as part of its Strategic Plan under Revitalizing Urban Neighborhoods. In January 2018, the Board approved an action plan and authorized the County Executive to sign a performance agreement on behalf of the County in which the County contributed $675,000 to Habitat to assist in its costs to prepare and submit a complete rezoning application for Phase 1 of the redevelopment of Southwood (“Phase 1”).
The rezoning for Phase 1 (ZMA2018-003) was approved by the Board on August 21, 2019, and included approximately 33.96 acres of undeveloped land within Southwood. The area where the existing mobile homes are located was not included as part of Phase 1. The approved rezoning was from R2 Residential to Neighborhood Model District (NMD) and included a maximum of 450 units and 50,000 square feet of non-residential.
A performance agreement was approved by the Board in June 2019 to support up to 155 affordable dwelling units for Phase 1. The County’s contribution within the performance agreement includes up to $1.5 million for construction of 75 affordable units, $300,000 for 80 or more Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC), and up to $1.4 million over 10 years in tax rebates.
In addition to the rezoning and performance agreement, the County applied on behalf of Habitat for and was awarded a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) of $1 million to support 20 affordable units within Phase 1. Habitat was also awarded $1.5 million in HUD HOME funds to support the project.
STRATEGIC PLAN: Mission - To enhance the well-being and quality of life for all community members through the provision of the of the highest level of public service consistent with the prudent use of public funds.
DISCUSSION: The purpose of this presentation is to give an update on Phase 1 since the rezoning (Attachment A). County staff and Habitat will provide a joint presentation on the planning and submittal of site plans, performance agreement progress, resident and other community engagement, affordable units, rehousing, and construction timeline.
The Planning Commission was provided an update on this topic on July 13, 2021. The minutes from that meeting and Habitat’s response to questions for additional information are provided in Attachments B and C.
BUDGET IMPACT: There are no budget impacts associated with this update.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Staff welcomes questions and feedback regarding the update on Southwood Phase 1.
ATTACHMENTS:
A - Illustrative Plan of Phase 1
B - July 13, 2021 Planning Commission meeting minutes
C - Response to information requested by the Planning Commission