Planned apartments at Virginia Center will include some affordable housing units
Table of Contents
The Henrico Board of Supervisors voted July 26 to confirm that a proposed residential complex in the county would qualify for Virginia Housing financial support by increasing affordable housing.
The five supervisors voted in favor of a resolution that categorizes an apartment complex proposed by VCC Partners LLC and Shamin VCC LLC to be built in the proposed GreenCity ecodistrict as a mixed-income project, thus making it eligible for Virginia Housing financing.
The 275-unit apartment complex would increase the availability of affordable housing in the county because at least 20% of the dwellings would be leased to or reserved for people earning less than 80% of the area median income. According to the latest U.S. Census data, the median household income in Glen Allen is $77,599.
By voting in favor of the resolution, the board made two determinations required by state law first, that the residential experience for those in low and moderate income brackets would be enhanced by living amongst people and families of higher income brackets, and second, that private developers were unlikely to create areas with such an economic mix of residents without government-provided financial assistance.
“Including affordable units in market-rate developments can help to preserve economic diversity in areas that already have a mix of incomes or are gentrifying,” according to an article about mixed-income housing on the website of Local Housing Solutions, a housing policy platform. “New mixed-income developments can also help to create diversity in high-income neighborhoods.”
The development of mixed-income housing in the GreenCity area would align with the county’s vision for the site, which says it “would be designed around principles that promote environmental sustainability, civic engagement and inclusion.”
Later during the meeting, supervisors voted unanimously to donate four surplus public safety vehicles to Virginia Union University’s police department. The university needed additional public safety vehicles for its police department, but because of supply chain issues they were unable to attain them in a timely manner, Henrico Police Lieutenant Colonel Michael Palkovics said.
VUU, a private university in Richmond, will receive two 2013 Ford Explorer vehicles and two 2015 Ford Taurus vehicles as a result of the resolution.
Also during their meeting, supervisors voted to grant a $6.95 million contract to Clark Construction Group to replace the county’s existing supervisory control and data acquisition system. Work on the system, which monitors the status of equipment used in the county’s water and sewer pump stations using pressure and flow data, is anticipated to begin in October and will be funded by the Water and Sewer Revenue Fund.
