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City hears pitch for statewide CPACE program to fund commercial energy and resiliency upgrades
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Summary
Economic development staff and Virginia PACE Authority presented the Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (CPACE) program and recommended Staunton adopt an enabling ordinance to allow voluntary liens and private financing for energy, resiliency and remediation projects for commercial properties.
Samantha DeMeo, Staunton’s economic development director, introduced the Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (CPACE) program at the City Council work session on Sept. 25, and Abby Johnson of the Virginia PACE Authority outlined how the statewide administrator would run the program.
Johnson described Virginia PACE Authority as a nonprofit administrator chosen by Virginia Energy to run the statewide program and said the authority “takes the burden of this program off of the local governments.” She said the program provides private, property-secured financing—commonly structured as a special assessment lien—for energy-efficiency, renewable energy, resiliency and environmental remediation projects on commercial buildings. The financing can cover up to 100 percent of a qualified project’s cost, can be amortized up to terms tied to the useful life of improvements (Johnson said 25–30 years is typical), and may allow capitalized interest or payment deferrals during construction.
Johnson said CPACE is currently operating in about 21 Virginia localities and that the statewide authority has closed four deals to date and has a growing pipeline. She listed eligible measures that also may help historic buildings (asbestos or lead remediation, energy retrofits, solar, stormwater, HVAC and lighting) and said CPACE financing can combine with other tax credits and incentives.
DeMeo told council the program is optional for local governments; adopting a local ordinance enables property owners to request CPACE financing and authorizes placement of a voluntary special-assessment lien on a consenting property. Johnson emphasized the program is private-financing-driven: localities would not guarantee or fund CPACE loans and the authority vets capital providers and contractors.
Council members asked operational questions about local workload and approvals. Johnson said the Virginia PACE Authority would onboard projects, approve projects under state guidelines, vet lenders and contractors, and provide standard documents, model ordinances and a program agreement for localities to adopt. She said local governments typically only need to assign a staff contact and review closing documents; much of the project vetting and administrator oversight would be handled centrally.
Why it matters: CPACE can make long-term, fixed-rate financing available to commercial property owners for retrofit and resiliency projects that might otherwise be hard to fund—especially for large retrofits, historic rehabs and projects that are capital constrained. It also creates a tool council can deploy for economic development and sustainability goals without upfront local outlays.
What’s next: Council signalled general interest and asked staff to prepare model ordinance and program documents for later review; Johnson said adoption requires an ordinance and a locality agreement with Virginia Energy, and that public hearings are often part of the local adoption process. Johnson and DeMeo said staff will return with documents and that the authority will support local implementation.
