UPDATED STORY POSTED 10 P.M. TUESDAY, DEC. 16
Housing market experts hired by the city presented their findings to City Council during a special work session Tuesday evening. The findings will be presented Wednesday morning to real estate agents, lenders and other stakeholders.
(Details from the presentations will be posted Wednesday morning)
ORIGINAL STORY POSTED 5:35 P.M., MONDAY, DEC. 15
Housing market experts hired by the city will present their findings to City Council during a special work session Tuesday evening. The session will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the second floor conference room of the Municipal Building.
The study was conducted by CZB LLC of Alexandria.
Deputy City Manager Ken Larking said this project goes well beyond the 2010 study that identified about 2,000 houses in the city that were abandoned, boarded up or dilapidated.
“This looks at the housing market as a whole,” Larking said. “It looks at every house in the city with the goal of evaluating the housing market and making recommendations to improve the overall market to make Danville a community of choice.”
Danville already has a healthy demand for the loft-style apartments in the River District and would like to see a similarly strong demand for houses in neighborhoods. The recommendations call for a number of strategies that would encourage homeowners to make upgrades to existing homes and for developers to build new homes.
There are also recommendations on making further improvements to quality of life amenities – both public and private – that would help make Danville a more attractive place to call home.
Larking said the city is aggressively seeking new industry to locate in our area and we want the people who work for these companies to see Danville as a desirable place to call home.
The cost of the study was $85,000.
City Council also will meet Tuesday night in regular business and work sessions.
In the business session, which begins at 7 p.m. and is held on Council Chambers on the fourth floor of the Municipal Building, council members will consider a proposed updated economic development priority list, which the city submits to the West Piedmont Planning District Commission each year. The list is used in applying for federal grants during the year.
The list currently lists five projects as top priorities:
» infrastructure development at the Berry Hill Road mega park at a cost of $24.2 million;
» utility improvements at the former Schoolfield Mill site at a cost of $5 million.
» streetscape improvements on Craghead and North Union streets at a cost of $2.3 million;
» installation of sewer lines along Pumpkin Creek at a cost of $1.1 million; and
» grading a site at Riverview Industrial Park at a cost of $500,000.
Lesser priorities include further improvements at the mega park site and other industrial parks; a new hangar at Danville Regional Airport; redevelopment of the former Durham Hosiery building, redevelopment of the White Mill; and development of a park between the White Mill and the King Memorial Bridge.
In other action, council members will vote on appropriating grant funds to extend the Riverwalk Trail over the Sandy River; eight requests from Keith Walden to rezone and/or issue special use permits for properties he has purchased on Stewart Street, which he plans to redevelop into new apartments; and vote on an ordinance adopting newly-developed Old West End Historic District Design Guidelines.
During a work session following the regular meeting, council members will discuss a request from the developers of 610 Craghead St. for permission to create a patio along the alleyway between 610 and 618 Craghead St. and a proposal to establish formal rules and procedures for the council beyond the Robert’s Rules of Order rules currently followed.
River City TV broadcasts all business sessions. Watch them live on Comcast cable channel 10, Gamewood cable channel 122, or streaming at www.rivercitytv.org. Video archives of council business sessions also are available at www.rivercitytv.org. Work sessions are not televised or recorded on video.