Port Republic Road action plan in place: Takeaways from Waynesboro City Council

WAYNESBORO — Waynesboro City Council convened for a meeting on Monday night, and there was plenty to take away from the evening. Here’s a look at what we learned.

Port Republic Road Neighborhood getting much needed attention

After a delay thanks to the pandemic over the last few years, city council was presented with a neighborhood action plan for Port Republic Road, the city’s historic Black neighborhood sitting north of the CSX railroad line and west of the South River. Ideation for investing in the neighborhood started all the way back in 2013, but the process began in earnest in 2019 prior to the pandemic. City staff worked in coordination with the Port Republic Road community and the Port Republic Road Historical and Community Association (PRRHCA).

The plan has three parts that contain a common theme of preserving the historical integrity of the community, with a renewed focus on telling stories that have gone untold over the years from a community that dates back to the Civil War. Little development happened in the area until after the war, but a vibrant African-American community sprung up from newly-freed Black residents and the connections they made. By 1950, a thriving community of businesses, religious institutions, and schools catered to the burgeoning African-American population in the area.

The three parts of the plan include preservation, reinvestment, and improving the quality of life in the community through a number of action items listed in the plan.

The preservation part of the plan includes developing content for walking tour pamphlets or the city’s website (with a potential idea of creating a separate website for the community), while also documenting the wide range of historical buildings and sites in the area to communicate the history of the Port Republic Road neighborhood and the untold stories of the community that continues to live there.

Reinvesting focuses around economic development in the area, including redeveloping properties. While many of the properties in the area are privately-owned, the plan tasks the city with creating a list of targeted properties for redevelopment. Ideas also include potential rezoning to help with flexibility as plans for redevelopment come together. This section also included capital projects, such as a streetscape project for the neighborhood.

Quality of life improvements start with a look at property maintenance in the neighborhood, and looking into addressing those concerns from the community. Beyond that, the plan also highlights potential public arts projects through the area, with city planner Leslie Tate suggesting a partnership with Virginia Street Art for the project, as well as connecting with local artists. The community also highlighted a want for beautification projects, such as a community garden near the Rosenwald School building and signage and landscaping on the CSX railroad property on the south end of the community. This also includes a historic garden program along the road.

A big part of the plan is to push the Port Republic Road neighborhood to the forefront of Waynesboro’s attractions, with branding and signage a part of the action plan. These plans also include a push for community events throughout the year, including block parties and other neighborhood events to foster a sense of pride and community.

As far as the financial end of the plan, many of the projects would fall under the guidelines for Community Development Block Grant funding, according to Tate, as well as a wide plethora of other grant funding that would be applicable to the projects on Port Republic Road.

The creation of the plan is just the first step in reinvesting in that community, as it is now on city council’s budgetary decisions to pay for the projects.

“There’s nothing worse than letting a plan sit on the shelf,” said PRRHCA member Dr. Amy Tillerson-Brown.

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Potential new developments coming to Lew Dewitt Boulevard

City council approved rezoning of a stretch of property off Lew Dewitt Boulevard between Rosser Avenue and Main Street by a vote of 4-1, paving the way for a potential new housing development in the area. The original zoning of the area was for highway business, but has now been converted to multifamily residential in order to allow for a development plan that would contain 180 apartments and 27 condos along with retail space along Lou Dewitt Boulevard.

The rezoning is not necessarily in line with the city’s 2018 comprehensive plan, which called for the area to remain zoned for highway business, but city staff recognized that the plan also called for a variety of housing developments in the city, and the property in question is situated next to other multifamily residential areas. According to the city, water and sewage capacity exists to service the area, and the schools have said that they would have capacity for potential new enrollees.

Vice Mayor Lana Williams was not entirely convinced, however, as enrollment in Waynesboro schools is up for this year. Williams also pointed out that the city has yet to see the impact of three other developments going on in the city, and noted that if schools can’t maintain capacity for new students, the cost of school expansion would then fall on the city.

As part of the ordinance to allow for the development to take place, the developer has proffered a boulevard-style entrance off of Lew Dewitt as well as a multi-use path up from the entrance up to the funded pedestrian developments on Main Street, in accordance with the city’s 2018 transportation plan.

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$2.2 million dollar budget amendment

Waynesboro City Council also approved a budget amendment for the current fiscal year of over $2.2 million to fund a variety of items, including vehicle replacement, maintenance items, and to fund various grants, donations, and reimbursements throughout the city.

A majority of the funding comes from unassigned fund balance from the city, while just under $153,000 comes from grant revenue. An additional $7,312 of funding came from donations and miscellaneous sales.

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—Akhil Ganesh is the Government Reporter at The News Leader. You can contact him at aganesh@newsleader.com and follow him on Twitter @akhildoesthings.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Port Republic Road action plan in place: Takeaways from Waynesboro City Council