2019-2023 Capital Improvements Plan
At an afternoon work session yesterday, City Council was presented with the City Manager’s Recommended Fiscal Year 2019 – 2023 Capital Improvements Plan (CIP). The total CIP for all five years is $607 million. Details are in the following article.
2018 State Legislative Priorities Adopted
At its evening meeting last night, Council adopted the City’s 2018 State Legislative Priorities for the Virginia General Assembly. The priorities include support for a number of initiatives including: JLab’s Center for Nuclear Femtography; enhanced penalties for animal cruelty; funding for mental health initiatives, Enterprise Zones, the Stormwater Local Assistance Fund, and regional and state public transportation; widening and deepening the Port of Virginia; studying the impact of the Port on host localities; and opposing legislation that preempts local or eliminates the BPOL & Machinery and Tools taxes.
Peninsula Corridor Study Endorsement
Over the past 18 months, HRT, in partnership with the cities of Hampton and Newport News, has been studying options for expanded public transit options for peninsula residents. The study identified Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) as the most feasible option and identified two preferred routes: one between Hampton and Newport News along Mercury Boulevard and the other along a portion of Jefferson Avenue in Newport News. Last night, City Council endorsed those two routes to move forward into the environmental review process. Hampton City Council will also be requested to endorse the routes. There is no cost to the City for this review.
Choice Neighborhoods Initiative
Also at last night’s meeting, City Council adopted a resolution supporting the City’s application for the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI) Implementation Grant. This grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is for up to $30 million dollars towards implementation of the transformation plan for the Marshall-Ridley neighborhood in the Southeast Community. In 2016, the City received a $500,000 CNI grant from HUD to develop a Transformation Plan for the area.
Other Actions
All items on last night’s regular City Council
meeting agenda were approved, and the entire Council meeting can be
viewed on-demand.
Next Meeting
The next regular meeting of the Newport News City Council will be Tuesday, November 28. Due to several members of City Council attending the National League of Cities conference in Charlotte, the regularly scheduled November 14 meeting has been cancelled. City Council typically meets the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month at 7:00 pm in City Council Chambers, City Hall, 2400 Washington Avenue. Meetings are shown live on the City's Cable Channel NNTV (Cox Ch 48/Verizon Ch 19) and are streamed live on
www.nnva.gov/nntv. City Council meetings are also available to be
watched on-demand the day following the meeting. Oftentimes City Council holds work sessions in the 10th floor conference room of City Hall in the afternoon before the regular meetings. Work sessions are open to the public. Agendas for work sessions and regular meetings are
available online in the Agenda Center the Friday before the meeting.