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Regional planning commission says it brought $93 million to the region; highlights housing, transport and resiliency projects
Summary
The Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission told Augusta County supervisors it secured $93 million in state and federal funding over the past five years, highlighted new housing and transportation wins and urged the county to press the state for funds to complete mandated water-supply plans.
Anne, a representative of the Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission, told the Augusta County Board that over the five-year period covered in the district's report the commission "brought in $93,000,000 in state and federal funding to this region." She said FY25 funding included $2.5 million for housing projects, about $3.5 million for resiliency work and roughly $69,600,000 for transportation projects driven by successful smart-scale awards.
The presentation emphasized workforce and transit initiatives. Anne described the region's small but growing housing program and said the PDC had helped 11 first-time homebuyers with down-payment assistance. She highlighted transit improvements, including the new Lewis Street hub in downtown Staunton and GPS devices on buses that have helped the system report cleaner ridership data and plan service changes. "We are growing our housing program," she said. "In FY '25, we brought in $2,500,000 for housing projects around the region." The report also noted an increase in ridership on the Affton Express route, with more than 19,000 passenger trips in the reported year.
Anne described resilience and hazard-mitigation work, including a partially state-funded project to upgrade emergency radio communications in Bath and Highland Counties and a regional all-hazards mitigation plan expected to be finished in December. She said the PDC is beginning a water-supply planning update for the region and a first-of-its-kind floodplain resiliency plan funded by the Department of Conservation and Recreation.
On funding for water-supply plans, Anne warned that the Department of Environmental Quality had contributed roughly $8,000 for recent watershed work but "does not have additional funds identified in their budget after FY26." She asked supervisors to include a request for DEQ funding in the county’s legislative package to address what she described as a state-mandated but unfunded work stream.
The presentation concluded with an offer to answer questions and a plea that supervisors view the PDC as an ongoing resource: "We are your planning district commission... We exist to serve you all." The board followed with questions about next steps, including grant opportunities, project eligibility and how PDC programs could be leveraged to support county priorities.
