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Committee forwards library green-infrastructure grant, historic-preservation agreement and four VDOT funding requests to full council
Summary
The Land Use, Housing and Transportation Standing Committee voted to forward an agreement and five resolutions — including a $154,917 grant for Ginter Park library stormwater work and four VDOT Transportation Alternatives applications for sidewalks and bike lanes — to City Council with recommendations to approve.
The Land Use, Housing and Transportation Standing Committee forwarded six items to City Council on a recommendation to approve: an ordinance to execute a city grant with the James River Association for green infrastructure at the Ginter Park library branch, a programmatic agreement with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources to conduct Section 106 reviews, and four resolutions supporting applications to the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) Transportation Alternatives (TA) program for sidewalks, pedestrian crossings and protected bike lanes.
The items were introduced to the committee and presented by staff. Jen Clark of the Department of Public Utilities said the James River Association would receive $154,917 to install stormwater green-infrastructure practices at the Ginter Park branch as part of the Greening Richmond Public Libraries initiative. Clark described project features such as permeable pavers and bioretention basins intended to “slow and filter stormwater runoff, mitigate floodwater flooding concerns, and also improve water quality.”
Kevin J. Vaughn, director of planning and development review, described the programmatic agreement with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources as a renewal of a longstanding arrangement that lets the city act as a designated agent to perform certain Section 106 reviews under 36 C.F.R. Part 800, shortening review time for many federally funded projects.
M. Kara of the Department of Public Works presented four Transportation Alternatives applications the city plans to submit: a roughly $1.4 million project for a 5-foot sidewalk on westbound German School Road (requesting $1,000,000 federal funds with a 20% city match and an additional city contribution to improve competitiveness); a 0.5-mile sidewalk project on Carnation Street that continues prior corridor work; pedestrian crossing improvements on Forest Hill Avenue estimated at $1.4 million; and protected bike lanes on Franklin Street estimated at $2.0 million (a proposed concrete barrier separating cycle track from parking). Kara said the TA program requires a city resolution of support at application and that, if awarded, the local match would be included in the CIP at the time of award. The TA pre-application deadline referenced in the discussion was May 30; the final application deadline is September 15, and funding would be available July 1, 2026 (FY27) if awarded.
No members of the public spoke in opposition to these items during the committee’s public hearings. Each item was moved, seconded and voted to be forwarded to full Council with a recommendation to approve. The committee vote record for the motions shown in the record is: Vice Chair Robertson — Aye; Chair Jones — Aye. The committee recorded each motion as approved.
Next steps for those items are submission of TA final applications by the September deadline and incorporation of any required local match into the City’s CIP process if awards are made. The programmatic agreement with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, if adopted by Council, would continue the city’s role as an agent for Section 106 reviews for HUD-funded projects.
