Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is holding an open grant round for $11 million in Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) grants from February 1-March 15, 2022. LWCF is reimbursement program for the acquisition and/or development of public outdoor recreation areas.

All LWCF assisted areas must be maintained and opened, in perpetuity, as public outdoor recreation areas. The LWCF is a 50-50 percent matching reimbursement program. An updated program manual, application materials, and applicant resources are available at: https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/recreational-planning/lwcf

Transportation needs in the Harrisonburg Rockingham region are changing, and the Harrisonburg Rockingham Metropolitan Planning Organization (HRMPO) is offering residents an exciting opportunity to share community priorities that will shape the future of the region’s transportation network.

HRMPO, which is staffed by CSPDC, is providing several ways for residents to convey input that will guide the development of the region’s 2045 long range transportation plan (LRTP) over the next year.

HRMPO is working with Avid-Core, a strategic communications firm based in Northern Virginia. Avid-Core will support the HRMPO throughout the 2045 Long Range Transportation Plan process with a three-phase Public Engagement Plan. Avid-Core and MPO staff have developed a multi-media strategy to engage with the region’s diverse communities, and to raise the MPO’s profile as the regional transportation planning body charged with implementing a collaborative, comprehensive process for investing in transportation improvements. During February, 2022, Avid-Core is helping the HRMPO promote the online Visioning Survey, which will inform priorities in the 2045 Long Range Plan.

The LRTP will cover all modes of transportation across the City of Harrisonburg, the towns of Bridgewater, Dayton, and Mt. Crawford, and portions of Rockingham County. The first phase of the LRTP process is visioning. Residents are invited to:

• Fill out the online visioning survey between February 1 and March 2, 2022.
• Tune into the webinar on February 16, 2022 at 7 p.m. or watch the recording on-demand.

HRMPO 2045 Long Range Transportation Plan from CSPDC on Vimeo.

The community priorities identified in the survey will guide which transportation projects are considered in the LRTP, and to develop the evaluation criteria for projects.

Visit hrvampo.org/lrtp for more information and to sign up to receive email updates on the LRTP.

Over the last several months the GO Virginia Region 8 Shenandoah Valley Sites Enhancement Project has been making quick progress in completing necessary due diligence on significant and attractive sites throughout the region. The project will expand our region’s capacity to attract new business investment by advancing the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Business Ready Tier level for sites located throughout the Shenandoah Valley. Activities include wetlands delineation, geotechnical exploration, boundary survey, topographical survey, cultural resource review, threatened and endangered species review, Phase 1 environmental site assessment and master planning. Our region’s close proximity to interstate, rail, and airline transportation, as well as the Port of Virginia makes the Valley a well-suited location for new or expanded business, however, lack of ready-sites has been a significant reason for loss of prospects in the past. Project completion is expected by Q2 of 2022.

Applications for affordable housing developers seeking funds through the PDC Housing Development Program are now open. In July 2021, the CSPDC was awarded $2 million in funding to support the creation of new affordable housing units. Specifically, the CSPDC is positioned to provide gap funds toward the creation of at least 20 affordable units by July 1, 2024. The CSPDC has released a Request for Proposals for non-profit, public, and private affordable housing developers seeking gap funds for proposed affordable housing development. The application will remain open until Thursday, February 3^rd, 2022 at 5pm. Applications will be reviewed by a panel of CSPDC staff, and funding decisions will be made in March 2022. Application materials can be found on the CSPDC website at https://www.cspdc.org/programs-services/housing/, and should be submitted to Olivia Raines at olivia@cspdc.org.

On Wednesday, January 12^th from 9am-11am, the CSPDC will be hosting an ‘Office Hours’ session for those interested in applying for PDC Housing Development Program funds that have questions about the application process. Click here to download the calendar invite. For additional guidance or to see if your project is eligible, please see our RFP Guidelines, or contact Olivia Raines.

This December, the GO Virginia State Board awarded The Advancement Foundation a $550,000 Per Capita Grant for an Ag Innovation Center in downtown Buena Vista.  The Advancement Foundation will repurpose a vacant industrial site into a multiuse manufacturing, business incubation, and product development facility.  GO Virginia funds will support staff and programming at the Ag Innovation Center.  The project aligns with the City of Buena Vista’s new Downtown Revitalization Plan, as well as the CSPDC’s Ag Enterprise Feasibility Study and JMU’s Industrial Hemp Study (two GO Virginia-funded initiatives).  CSPDC staff assisted the grant application and will administer the GO Virginia grant.

Many organizations have “Casual Fridays”, a perk for employees to end the work week in more comfortable clothing. For CSPDC staff, the opportunity to wear jeans on Fridays is granted by making a small monetary contribution. Over many years, the CSPDC’s “Jeans For Charity” Program has made donations to help people throughout the Region and beyond. In 2021, staff contributed more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) to a variety of organizations. Through these donations, the CSPDC supported an organization that provides transportation services to low income individuals trying to get to work; sponsored a staff member who participated in the Alzheimer’s Association Walk; supplied people in need with food, clothing, and furniture; assisted Afghan refugees who have moved into the Region; helped people hospitalized with mental illness with clothing and personal needs; and made Christmas brighter for children who have very little. Fridays for CSPDC staff are more than “casual”, it is a day to extend a helping hand to those in need.

Virginia Military Institute and project partners including Rockbridge County, the cities of Buena Vista and Lexington, and Friends of the Chessie Trail cut the ribbon on a new bridge over the South River on December 10^th. The ribbon-cutting marks the culmination of a multi-year effort to secure grant funding, design, and construct a bridge to replace an original railroad bridge that was damaged and scrapped after Hurricane Isabel flooded the area in 2003. The missing bridge created a significant gap in the seven mile-long Chessie Trail, which connects Lexington to Buena Vista. For more than ten years, Chessie Trail users had to take a circuitous on-road detour to travel the length of the Trail. In 2016, CSPDC assisted VMI and local partners with a U.S. DOT Eastern Federal Lands Access Program (EFLAP) grant application to construct a new bridge. EFLAP awarded VMI nearly $2 million for the project, which broke ground in December 2020.

The expansion of the Town Center Park and Ride commuter lot in Waynesboro, which began construction in March 2022, was completed in November 2021. The $1 million project increased parking capacity from 120 to 175 parking spaces, installed a bus pull off and two covered bus shelters, and repaved and improved on location lighting. Additional amenities included bicycle racks, sidewalks, landscaping, and infrastructure to accommodate future electric vehicle charging stations.

In the first two months of operating, the Afton Express stopped at Town Center, at an existing bus shelter near Target. Afton Express buses now stop at the new, dedicated bus pull off in the enhanced commuter lot.