CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – With the start of fall, Charlottesville City Council will begin its plans for winter, hearing about snow and ice mitigation plans during their afternoon session, before discussing affordable housing funding options in the evening session, according to the published agenda.

Just 10 months removed from the struggles of January’s “snowcrete” storm, Stephen Hicks, Public Works Director, along with Parks & Rec Director Riaan Anthony and Director of Transit Garland Williams, will present the Snow and Ice Mobility Management Program (FY27).

Their report indicates the Super El Nino in the Pacific makes a 90% chance of “a very strong event this fall and winter,” and the plan is to move resources into neighborhoods sooner when conditions allow and to “clear more usable transportation space rather than simply following previously established wheel paths.”

“More than 165 personnel are formally assigned to snow operations, with 127 directly involved in snow removal activities,” according to the policy briefing. “The city has access to 76 pieces of vehicles and equipment for snow response, including plow trucks, skid steers, power brooms, backhoes, loaders, and tractors.”

In the evening session, Council will consider resolutions of financial support for affordable housing at Park Street Christian Church, MACAA Drive, and Palms Charlottesville. which is the old Emmet St. Holiday Inn.

These are all “performance agreements” which does not have dollar figures attached to them at this time. These agreements are to provide certain numbers of affordable units in exchange for city financial support to be determined.

In the first of these items, “Piedmont Housing Alliance (PHA) is partnering with Park Street Christian Church to develop affordable housing on Parcel 470002120 within the City of Charlottesville, Virginia (“City”),” according to the policy briefing. ” The proposed project envisions fifty (50) new affordable rental units, constructed on property where improvements will increase the taxable value of the site.”

In the second, “PHA is partnering to redevelop two (2) parcels along MACAA Drive into a multifaceted residential and community-serving Project,” according to the policy briefing.

“The full proposal includes twenty-eight (28) new single-family attached homes, sixty-six (66) new apartment units, and a 5,000-square-foot childcare facility. Of these components, the sixty-six (66) apartment units will be income-restricted and affordable to households earning between thirty percent (30%) and sixty percent (60%) of Area Median Income,” according to the briefing.

The third, “Brick Lane Better Communities plans to convert the existing Holiday Inn at 1901 Emmet Street into multifamily housing, repurposing existing hotel rooms into studio and one (1)-bedroom units and renovating ground-floor areas into additional one (1)- and two (2)-bedroom apartments,” according to the policy briefing. “The proposed Project includes 133 units for households earning at or below eighty percent (80%) Area Median Income (“AMI”), and nineteen (19) units at or below sixty percent (60%) AMI as required by the City Development Code (“CDC”); the remaining thirty-nine (39) units will be market-rate.”

Prior to the affordable housing issues, Council will consider a resolution to create a Court Square Enslavement Memorial.

According to the policy briefing, “A group of citizens, identified as the Court Square Enslavement Memorial (CSEM) group, have requested that Council place a marker on a lightpost near to the building known as “0 Court Square” and that this marker should read, ” Auction Block of Enslaved Persons; Early 1800s – 1865; Removed 1920s.”

Council toward the end of the meeting will also consider a list of 2027 Legislative Priorities for General Assembly members.

Among the provisions is “modifying state law by broadening and clarifying the definition of “blighted property” for eminent domain purposes, and “advocate that the Virginia Department of Rail and Transportation’s (DRPT) ‘Commonwealth Corridor’ plan to create an east-west passenger rail connection between Charlottesville, Richmond, and Hampton Roads is included DPRT’s 2026 Statewide Rail Plan”.