The Martinsville City Council heard an update on housing efforts and the Danville Redevelopment and Housing Authority (DRHA) at its Tuesday, November 28 meeting.
Tarvaris McCoy, of the Real McCoy Companies who is also working with DRHA, said there is a housing crisis across the country at different levels of affordability.
“Often, when people look at the city, they really look at it as an MSA (metropolitan statistical area) which includes Henry County and surrounding areas. So, often they’ll say, ‘well the median income is $70,000 for that area,’ but the reality is when we drill down to the City of Martinsville, Martinsville is much lower than that,” he said.
McCoy said the Five Points single-family house development on West Church Street has already been approved by the city.
He believes it will help to bring a sense of enjoinment across that community, particularly since the development will resemble the “materiality of what’s going on across the street to give a similar feel to what’s going on there.”
McCoy said the development is high quality and will use innovative materials that will allow the project to be built faster at a lower labor cost.
“Also, the affordability factor. Doing it this way also allows the agency to build it in a way and at a rate that it can be naturally affordable, and it’s actually sustainable,” he said. “No one wants to build something that, in a decade’s time, is either not going to be there or is going to be just a shell of what it started as.”
If the development is allowed to move forward as proposed, McCoy said the pre-development should be completed by the first quarter of 2024, with construction to begin in the second quarter.
“Of course, that’s an aggressive goal, but we do believe that the pieces are in place to make that happen,” he said.
To move forward, McCoy said the DRHA would need to have site control, and the city to allow for tap fees and some permitting fees.
“And lastly, to take a look at if tax abatement is available for this area. If the city would consider that, this tax abatement would allow the project to have a ramp-up period and those taxes would, of course, phase in over time,” he said.
McCoy said the DRHA believes a planned development would be ideal on a 42-acre area on Rives Road.
Depending on the type of property built, there could be 5-10 units per acre or more than 200 units.
McCoy asked for DRHA to gain control of the site area so “that the work can be done, and the conversations can be had to really discover the possibilities of the site and put the pieces together to move forward.”
City council member Kathy Lawson said it would be an exciting project to watch develop.
“We definitely need the housing, and a lot of people don’t want to buy an older house that has to be renovated. They want something new they can just move into and not have to fix something every other week, so I’m excited about the potential for having the new housing,” she said.
Vice-mayor Aaron Rawls liked the idea of Martinsville being ahead of the pack, which historically hasn’t always been its position.
“Some of this innovative technology, we’ve gone and looked at it, put our hands on it, heard the presentations, looked at the science and date, it’s really impressive stuff,” he said.
The council will consider a land development agreement with DRHA regarding the West Church Street site and the Rives Road site at its December meeting.
In other matters, the council:
*Appointed all members recommended and listed on the Community Criminal Justice Board for the Halifax-Pittsylvania Court Services Board.
*Appointed Billy White to the Children Service’s Act as the private provider.
*Reappointed Julian Mabe to the Arts and Cultural Committee for a three-year term ending December 31, 2026.
*Appointed the city manager as the Executive Director of the Redevelopment and Housing Authority.
*Presented a proclamation to the Veterans Honor Guard of Martinsville and Henry County.
*Heard a presentation by the Martinsville City Schools Robotics Team, the TreeHuggers.
*Approved an ordinance to adopt the city’s participation in the Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) program on first reading.
*Heard an update on the city’s parks improvement plan.
*Approved entering into a memorandum with George Mason University (GMU) after hearing the local government climate action plan, a partnership effort between the City of Martinsville and GMU.
*Approved a resolution approving the revenue-sharing agreement between the Henry County Board of Supervisors, the Industrial Development Authority, and the city.
*Heard from John Fuhrman about the need to address the city’s kudzu issue.
*Heard city manager Aretha Ferrell-Benavides read a written comment from Ural Harris asking about the project at the BB&T building.
