City leaders reflect on 2022

Jan. 1—VALDOSTA — Faced with lingering affects of COVID-19 and the loss of one of their own, Valdosta city leaders focused their efforts in 2022 on rescue funds, area tourism and community engagement.

Sonny Vickers, who died last summer, left an important legacy, making history and making a difference as the city's first Black mayor and longstanding councilman.

The highlight of 2022 was arguably the debut of Unity Park amphitheater, a $3 million endeavor that serves as a venue for community events, concerts, festivals and other activities.

According to Mark Barber, city manager, the project was all about revitalizing a decaying area of the city and turning it into an area where residents can enjoy green space and togetherness.

"This area used to be all asphalt and had some dilapidated buildings," he said. "We were having some crime issues here in this building, so by circumstance, fortunately for the city, we were able to purchase this area and get rid of that and put some grass down.

"During the pandemic, I think we all realized people needed a lot more outdoor space and we began envisioning an amphitheater because we don't have a lot of green space downtown. I think Unity Park is a perfect name where we can all come together, forget about our differences, enjoy our neighbors and just have fun."

City officials said attractions such as the amphitheater, bolstered by local tourism, lead to the launch of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Conference Center and Tourism Authority's Visit Valdosta branding campaign: "Valdostahhh."

David Disalvo, executive director of Visit Valdosta, said the campaign highlights all of Valdosta's "ahhh" moments from adventures to the relaxing "ahhh" moments sipping on a drink in the fresh air.

The resulting revenue is estimated at $30 million in state and local taxes generated by visitors, which is equivalent to $701 in tax savings for every household, leaders said.

It's a development that Mayor Scott James Matheson said he hopes will continue to stimulate the city's economy, which in turn helps the city continue its trend of not raising property taxes.

"Tourism is incredibly beneficial to the city — from supporting our small, local businesses to encouraging the development of new amenities for our residents and visitors to enjoy; tourism revenue supports great energy in our city," he said.

Tourism and beautification efforts weren't the only cornerstones for economic impact. A boost in community resources came from the American Rescue Plan, a Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery fund that delivered $350 billion to state, local and tribal governments across the country to support recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Valdosta's total allocation is $16,254,682 with half of that allocation being received in June 2021, $3.2 million going toward hourly employees.

Allocation for each project was discussed during the last day of the City Council's Strategic Summit back in March. Funding included:

— Griffin Avenue Housing Project: $3,300,000.

— City of Valdosta (Facilities, Technology, etc.): 1,300,000.

— AARPA Project Manager: $250,000.

— Land Bank Funding (four years for executive director): $120,000.

— Land Bank Authority Seed Funding: $250,000.

— Purchase of Properties on South Patterson and Surrounding Parcels: $1,300,000.

— Small Business Development: $1,000,000.

— Valdosta On-Demand: $500,000.

— Neighborhood Rehabs — Housing Rehab (paint, weatherization, etc.): $300,000

— Mildred Hunter Center (lighting & court replacement): $245,000.

— Nonprofit Allocations: $955,000.

— Premium Pay to Employees: $3,214,584.

— Savannah Avenue Train Project: $3,500,000.

The city began distributing the funding to small businesses, nonprofits and neighborhood rehab.

City council designated $955,000 for over 30 of the city's nonprofits.

Per recommendation of the Small Business Committee, city council designated an additional $2 million for the project, fully funding minority/female/veteran owned businesses located in the Qualified Census Tracts and 18% of the cut going to the remaining applicants.

This prioritization resulted in the businesses being divided into four buckets: — Minority/female/veteran owned businesses located in the Qualified Census Tracts submitting applications in the first two weeks of the application process. These are the businesses that will be funded at 100% eligibility.

Total funds: $1,645,835.51. — Non-minority/female/veteran owned businesses located in the QCT. These would be funded at 45% of eligibility.

Total funds: $244,379.83. — Minority/female/veteran owned businesses located outside of the QCT. These would be funded in proportion to residual funds after all other buckets are funded.

Total funds: $93,817.64. — Non-minority/female/veteran owned businesses located outside of the QCT. These would be funded at the lesser of eligibility or $800.

The city held town halls for rehab projects in October and will move forward with designation and distribution meetings in January.

The city also made significant headway regarding affordable housing. Harvest Station Apartments, an $18 million four-story, 80-unit housing complex consisting of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments in two- and three-story buildings, is planned for a site at the intersection of South Troup Street and Griffin Avenue.

Mark Stalvey, executive director of the Valdosta Housing Authority, said in past interviews that Harvest Station is the first phase in a multi-phase development on the six-acre site and will be "geared to families", with amenities nearby, such as the McMullen Southside Library, which is currently undergoing a multimillion dollar renovation.

"In fulfilling our role as a provider of quality affordable housing for the citizens of Valdosta, the Valdosta Housing Authority is excited to participate as a true partner in this historic public-private partnership. We are committed to exploring ways to bring our local citizens quality affordable housing through innovative partnerships such as this, to continue meeting our mission of providing life's most important need — stable affordable housing," he said.

Other milestones include the one-year anniversary of Valdosta-On Demand in April, a micro-transportation system providing rides within the city limits for $2. The city renewed its contract with River North Transit, a subsidiary of Via Transportation, to June 2023, and added three vehicles to their seven vehicle starting fleet due to high demand — 65,100 rides in its first year of operation and an average of 300-500 ride requests per day.

The Valdosta Fire Department ISO was recently awarded a 1 on its ISO rating, the highest score fire departments can earn.

The Public Protection Classification program evaluates the quality of public fire protection in more than 47,500 fire protection areas across the U.S. and assigns a PPC grading from 1 to 10.

According to council member Eric Howard, these types of ratings show excellence in several categories for firefighting performance which helps keep homeowner's insurance rates low.

Valdosta leaders expressed optimism about 2023 as the city builds on the on the gains made in economic development and quality of life improvements.