The Virginian-Pilot
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The city's plan to spruce up 19th Street between the Convention Center and the Oceanfront is getting a boost from the federal stimulus package.
Virginia Beach will use $5 million in bonds, allocated to the city by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, to buy land for sidewalks.
Plans to update 19th Street into a pedestrian-friendly corridor with mass transit had been on hold while the city determines the future of a Convention Center hotel, the former Dome site and light rail.
But since bond money was available, this project seemed like a good use, said Virginia Beach Deputy City Manager Steve Herbert.
"It's kick off money," Herbert said. "It's an opportunity to take advantage of that money."
The money, which the city will have to pay back, is part of the Build America Bonds program aimed at helping communities to create jobs and develop critical infrastructure.
The state qualified for nearly $261 million in bonds for the public and private sectors. The federal government then divided up the money based on each community's unemployment rate.
The interest rate for repayment is slightly higher than what Virginia Beach usually gets, but the federal government does subsidize a portion of the interest payment, said Patricia Phillips, the city's finance director.
Virginia Beach would have had to borrow money eventually for the 19th Street work, which at the city's last estimate would cost about $12.7 million.
By using stimulus package bonds instead of issuing its usual bonds, the city saves $180,000 over 20 years, Phillips said.
"It would reduce the amount we would issue otherwise," she said.
The city will be able to apply this bond money to the purchase earlier this year of the Cuffee Apartments land. The city bought the two-thirds-acre property at the corner of Parks Avenue and 19th Street for $2.1 million and demolished the buildings to make room for a grassy area and sidewalk.
The city will also be trying to purchase land for the continuous sidewalk on the north side of 19th Street between Arctic and Baltic avenues using this bond money, Beach officials said.
Norfolk and Chesapeake notified the state that they too plan to issue these bonds, said Barbara Reese, the governor's deputy director of policy.
Portsmouth qualified for about $1 million in bonds but will not be pursuing them, said Dana Woodson, a spokeswoman for the city. Suffolk did not qualify for the bonds.
Communities are using the money for various infrastructure projects, including animal shelters and wastewater improvements.
In Virginia Beach, officials tried to funnel the bonds to simple land acquisitions, because of the deadlines associated with the money, Phillips said.
"Whenever you make something too complicated, it's going to cost you money," Phillips said.
The city considered applying the bonds to Burton Station, a historically black neighborhood without city water and sewer. But because the bonds have to be issued by March and that project hasn't been designed, it wasn't practical, Phillips said.
"This is not a grant," Phillips said. "If it was a grant, you'd have a different conversation."
Deirdre Fernandes, (757) 222-5121, deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com
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19th Street
For at least 7 years now, the city has been looking at redoing 19th Street as a walkable corridor. Having walked from Pacific to the convention center (and vice versa) on 19th several times, it's a mess.
The RAC has previously (2005?) taken a position asking for an uniform 80' right-of-way on 19th Street, with wide sidewalks for pedestrain traffic. There's money in the CIP for actually doing the sidewalks and associated improvements.
The big issue has always been the land acquistion. There's even been an alternative floated that made side improvements to 19th by shrinking it to three lanes. The catch is that we know we'll eventually need all 4 lanes. If we fail to purchase the ROW now, in the interim developers (yeah, like Mike) could come in and build to the street in the areas on 19th where the current ROW is 60'. If so, in the long term the price would skyrocket in that we'd have to buy the new buildings and raze them.
As the old Fram Oil Filter commericals put it, "You can pay me now or you can pay me later." Later would be MUCH more costly.
Our trusted Representatives
The only good thing about you electing the liberals in, is they are the same party doling out the stimulous. Ha! Ha! That's right get that money where we need it. Ha! Ha!
Well of course. Why spend
Well of course. Why spend any money for water and sewer services for Burton Station? After all, the city has been neglecting this area for years. Why stop now? They were never going to plan anything until they got rid of these people. This is another attempt to get these folks to roll over and take it in the shorts again. Also, there is also the animal shelter that has still been out of compliance of the law for years. But 19th Street is more important. And accoring to this article we ARE getting light rail rather than the "possibility" of getting it. Yep, VB. The best city developers can buy.
the yellow brick road?
Are we building the yellow brick road?
Get a brain. Have a heart. Grow set...
Build siewalks or something for the people who live here, as long as we have our jobs and can pay our taxes.
This is funny
The city is now not getting property tax from that section of land. People won't a bridge a pembroke. Yet noboby won't to build an animal shelter. The shelter is way over do and all we can do is build things that can wait or doesn't need to be built.
Tell me this
Someone tell me how a sidewalk is going to give anybody a job? Last time I checked sidewalks don't take applications, sidewalks just take your taxes.
Good points
Ya'll is funny!
How about that Pembroke Pedestrian Bridge instead??
How about we work on that pedestrian bridge at Town Center? I'd first like to point out that this is something I would never probably never even need to utilize myself but for goodness sake it would definitely be for the greater safety of many locals and tourists alike. I work at the Town Center area and have seen people almost get hit or running like they're running for their life to make it from one side to the other. What does the city do instead to stall? Put up a metal fence to flush pedestrians to some of the most notoriously dangerous intersections in central Virginia Beach. It's not right city officials and you should be ashamed to even present this project before doing things for the greater good of Virginia Beach citizens and its visitors.
Maybe people
should learn how to cross a street to begin with. OR park on the side they need to be on to begin with.....you can't cater to every aspect of society simple because they don't know how to do something.
So you're implying what?
People should learn to cross the street? That's a pretty base response considering maybe if people knew how to drive without running red lights, speeding, talking on cell phones/texting, driving recklessly, the list goes on. The poor lady who died along with her child in the stroller waiting for the crosswalk light to turn at Independence and VA Beach Blvd, a few years ago. Do you remember that? She was just standing exactly where she should have been and still was a casualty of a traffic accident. Also take into account how many places serve alcohol in Town Center? So walking "correctly" hardly has everything to do with a pedestrian bridge and the usefulness of SAFETY that it would have. But you have indeed piqued my curiosity. As a Virginia Beach citizen which obviously I am presuming that you are by your user name, what would be your alternative? Where would YOU rather see our tax dollars go?