Waynesboro to hold community meeting on grant funding in Port Republic Road neighborhood

Akhil Ganesh, Staunton News Leader
·4 min read

WAYNESBORO — Residents of Waynesboro will have the opportunity to provide input for the use of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding in the Port Republic Road neighborhood next week. The city’s Community Development department will be hosting a community meeting at the Rosenwald Community Center on Tuesday, Feb. 28.

The meeting will start at 6 p.m. in Room 7, and will run until 8 p.m. Anyone who is interested is encouraged to attend.

According to a press release from the city, “Discussion will focus on eligible activities that will further the goals outlined in the recently completed Port Republic Road Community Action Plan.”

This is the first of two public needs meetings planned by the department, with a second expected sometime in March or April.

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What is the Port Republic Road Community Action Plan?

Late last year, 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 and a consultant 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.

The three parts of the plan include

  • preservation

  • reinvestment

  • improving the quality of life in the community through a number of action items listed in the plan.

Preservation

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.

Reinvestment

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

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.

For more details on the Neighborhood Action Plan, you can find the plan in it’s entirety on the city’s website.

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What is a Community Development Block Grant?

Community Development Block Grants are funding from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). It comes from a program that designates Waynesboro as an entitlement community and provides the city with an annual grant based on a variety of factors and data.

Per guidelines in the city’s press release, the funds must be used to meet one of three objectives:

  • Benefit low-and-moderate income individuals

  • Aid in the prevention and elimination of slums as blight

  • Meet needs having a particular emergency, like disaster relief

This is all a part of the city’s preparation of their Annual Action Plan for fiscal year 2023, which will run from October 2023 to September 2024.

You mentioned “eligible activities”. What are those?

According to HUD’s website, CDBG funds can only be used for certain activities. These include:

  • Acquisition of real property

  • Relocation and demolition

  • Rehabilitation of residential and non-residential structures

  • Construction of public facilities and improvements, such as water and sewer facilities, streets, neighborhood centers, and the conversion of school buildings for eligible purposes

  • Public services, within certain limits

  • Activities relating to energy conservation and renewable energy resources

  • Provision of assistance to profit-motivated businesses to carry out economic development and job creation/retention activities

Notably, HUD indicates that other activities are generally not allowed:

  • Acquisition, construction, or reconstruction of buildings for the general conduct of government

  • Political activities

  • Certain income payments

  • Construction of new housing (with some exceptions)

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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: Waynesboro to hold community meeting on grant funding in Port Republic Road neighborhood