Hi, folks. Much of the coverage of Tuesday evening’s Board of Supervisors meeting would have been about Lydeana Martin’s housing concepts presentation…had I not watched the same exact presentation the night before, at the EDA meeting. (See yesterday’s newsletter.) Ha!
I’m going to lead with that presentation in today’s newsletter, which I’m actually grateful I heard again. Discussion among the Supervisors framed the entire project in a new way. Then I’ll follow with other goings-on from the meeting.
Hope you enjoy today’s edition. As always, you can reach me at aspinksdugan@gmail.com with questions or comments. Thanks for reading. -Ashley
County leaders discuss potential of new housing, broadband expansion
Federal CARES Act funding is supporting myriad projects in Floyd County.
On Tuesday evening at 7 p.m., the Floyd County Board of Supervisors gathered at the County Administrative Building for its regularly-scheduled second meeting of the month. Indian Valley District Representative Justin Coleman joined the meeting via Zoom, as did several county officials who updated the Supervisors on their work.
As she had at least twice before, once in a public meeting held Oct. 8 and again before the Floyd County Economic Development Authority this Monday, Community & Economic Development Director Lydeana Martin presented to the Board of Supervisors a slideshow summarizing various housing development concepts for the county.
As before, Martin walked through the three property designs and explained how they were shaped by feedback from focus groups, market research and an online survey. Hill Studio completed the housing concept study using grant funds and has posted its designs online for public comment. Martin said she hopes to have the final report from the studio by the end of this year.
The market analysis is a bit wonky, the development proposals artistic and architectural, but a simple discussion among Martin and the Supervisors really crystallized why the whole exercise is so important. New housing options, outside of the manufactured homes that currently comprise 20% of the county’s supply, could “give lower income people the opportunity to build some equity,” said Locust Grove District Supervisor Lauren Yoder. If folks aren’t stuck in an endless cycle of paying unaffordable rent or a mortgage on a poorly-constructed home, they can instead grow their wealth, eventually pay off their house and “diversify” what they spend money on, Yoder pointed out.
Martin agreed that building wealth was an important goal, but said the primary aim of various housing rehabilitation and development projects in the county is even more foundational. “These folks are part of our economy too…we’ve seen how crucial every worker is,” she said. “We want them to have a safe place to live, too.”
Limitations on potential housing developments moving forward include lack of investment in the county and lack of sufficient infrastructure. Two of the properties highlighted in Martin’s presentation don’t have enough, if any, connections to the county’s Public Service Authority. “I know water is a limitation for us,” Martin said Tuesday, but added that she had spoken to a member of the PSA about the water system’s capacity, and he felt confident it could accommodate many more households.
The PSA employee told Martin the PSA has 100,000 gallons of excess water availability per day right now. The average amount of water used by a single household is 125 gallons/day.
Also during Tuesday’s meeting, Tourism Director Pat Sharkey updated the Board on the ShopFloydVA project she is spearheading. Leveraging federal CARES Act funding, the county’s Tourism Department, in collaboration with Martin’s office and Citizens Telephone Cooperative, built a platform where local businesses can sell their goods online. Businesses that do not already have e-commerce capabilities are being connected with technical assistance.
Sharkey told the Board that the ShopFloydVA site presents both short- and long-term benefits for Floyd. In the next several months, Floyd County is poised to lose tourism revenue as people hesitate to travel during the pandemic. However, Sharkey said, “Floyd fans” throughout the state and country would jump at the opportunity to experience Floyd remotely, and stock up on their favorite Floyd foods, art and more. In the future, she explained, tourism officials can direct folks to the online platform in marketing materials, and it will be one more tool local businesses can use to sell merchandise.
As of Tuesday night, 67 people had signed up for the ShopFloydVA site, which launched on Oct. 1. At least 20 people have been helped by technical support. Sharkey said during the first three weeks the site was live, an average of 200 people per day visited, and viewed an average of three different businesses’ pages.
The county is using some of its CARES funding to provide a promotional discount to folks who visit the site: $10 off a purchase of $30 or more. Fifty-six businesses are currently participating in the promo, for which they can be reimbursed up to $1,000. Sharkey said few businesses are at risk of maxing out. A new promo period will begin Nov. 12.
Finally, the Supervisors discussed the county’s application to the “Fast-Track Broadband” program, a statewide initiative also being funded by the CARES Act. On Oct. 8, applications opened to localities that have the capacity to expand their broadband networks and connect underserved communities by the end of the year. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam allocated $30 million to the effort.
A lack of broadband access is of particular concern in rural areas like Floyd County, where building out networks can be expensive and time-consuming. The shift of both school and work life online during the pandemic has only heightened the urgency of getting people connected. In Floyd County, many in remote areas of the county cannot access broadband-level speeds.
Martin said the county submitted its application two weeks ago, but hasn’t heard anything back. Still, she said the local government should be “as ready to go with that as possible” upon hearing that the application is approved. She asked that the board approve documents, including a legal agreement with Citizens Telephone Cooperative to execute the project, which they did unanimously.
According to Martin, the project has a ticking clock. The last day Citizens can be notified of the federal funding and still complete the work on time is this Friday, Oct. 30 by 5 p.m. Yoder expressed frustration with the timeline of the state initiative, saying it’s going to result in at least some waste of federal money. “Our federal government is forcing people to spend money so fast, there can’t be any oversight,” Yoder said.
Martin said if the county receives the grant, it should expect the state office to transfer the money within two weeks, relieving the county of having to “front the money” for the broadband construction.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting:
Local artist Charlie Brouwer presented the Board with an ornament he designed to represent the county, which will hang on the Christmas tree at the Executive Mansion in Richmond.
Marty Holladay, executive director at New River/Mount Rogers Workforce Investment Area, was appointed to serve out an unexpired term on the EDA, which ends Dec. 10, 2022.
The Board approved a Memorandum of Understanding with Citizens, which allows the cooperative to rebroadcast Supervisors meetings.
County Administrator Terri Morris informed the board that the June Bug Center’s request for tax-exempt status had been approved.
The Board announced that it will begin conducting interviews to fill Morris’ job on Nov. 2. She is due to retire after four decades of public service at the end of the year.