The Richmond City Council finance committee voted to forward an ordinance that authorizes the city to accept $10,000 from the Virginia Department of Energy to create a Virginia Energy Resilience Planning Grant special fund intended to advance planning for a resilience hub in the city’s East End.

Laura Thomas, director of sustainability, told the committee the small grant will fund structural engineering drawings to evaluate whether a facility in census tracts 201, 202 and 204 can serve as a resilience hub, including options to incorporate solar. Thomas said the grant is a first-step engineering study and that the city hopes to use lessons learned for additional resilience hubs citywide.

Committee members asked for maps of eligible locations in the city and staff said a path of potential resilience hub locations exists and that the map would be provided to the committee. A public hearing yielded no speakers.

A motion to forward ordinance 2025-232 to council with a recommendation to approve passed: Miss Lynch, Aye; Vice Chair Jones, Aye; Chair Robertson, Aye.

Ending: The ordinance will move to full council; staff will provide the requested map of potential hub sites and use the study to inform broader resilience planning.