The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (HRPDC) held its regularly scheduled meeting on February 21, 2019.  A summary of actions and discussions that took place at this meeting is provided below:

Regional Economic Development Sites Inventory

The Commission received a presentation from HRPDC staff and Joe Hines, Economic Development Principal with the Timmons Group, on the Regional Economic Development Sites Inventory Project.  This project was initiated in response to concerns expressed by economic development practitioners at the local, regional and state levels about missed opportunities for private investment and job creation in Hampton Roads due to a lack of shovel ready development sites in the region.  The HRPDC was originally briefed on this project in February 2018, and the Commissioners as well as local and regional economic development staff reviewed the findings of the February 2018 report and provided direction to support future phases of the project.

Based on this direction, the staff of the HRPDC and Reinvent Hampton Roads convened a group of regional stakeholders to gauge support for commissioning a more detailed site assessment study.  This study, prepared with funding from Reinvent Hampton Roads, the Virginia Port Authority, Virginia Natural Gas and Dominion Energy, classified the region’s large economic development sites based on the Tier system utilized by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.  The VEDP Tier system can be summarized as follows:

Tier 1

Raw Land

Willing Seller

No Control    

Tier 2                         

Site Controlled

Consistent with Comp Plan/Zoning in Place

Minimal Due Diligence

Tier 3 

Master Plan in Place

Estimated Costs Determined

Significant Due Diligence Completed

Tier 4 

Certifiable Site

Infrastructure in Place

Property Issues Cleared

Tier 5

“Ready to Construct”

Permits in Hand

The report includes a number of recommendations for improving the inventory of shovel ready development sites in the region, including the following:

• Convene industry experts or acquire a consultant to identify sites with the best market potential.
• Complete due diligence work to bring the region’s prime sites to the Tier 4 level.
• Consider opportunities for shared regional investment in site improvements in exchange for revenue sharing after the sites are developed.
• Provide the sites inventory to the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance for maintenance and for their use in marketing the Hampton Roads region.

Following discussion, the HRPDC took unanimous action to express continuing support for a regional approach to site readiness and directed staff to explore funding opportunities to advance site readiness in Hampton Roads.

Through the HRPDC’s Unmanned Systems GO Virginia grant application, the Peninsula localities have developed and approved a Regional Industrial Facilities Act (RIFA) that sets the framework for revenue sharing among localities.  As follow up to the action taken by the HRPDC, background information will be shared on this RIFA at the March 6^th CAO Committee meeting.  Discussion will occur about the potential to expand this RIFA to the Southside localities and apply this mechanism to promote joint investment in site preparation and revenue sharing.

Medicaid Expansion in Virginia

The Virginia Department of Social Services provided an update on this newly expanded health care program for Virginia adults and its impact on the Hampton Roads community.  Jo Ann Wilson-Harfst, Eastern Regional Director, and Massey Whorley, Director for the Office of Innovation and Strategic Initiatives, provided this overview to the Commission.  Four-hundred thousand Virginia adults are eligible for the first time for affordable, comprehensive health care coverage as of January 1, 2019.  State agencies, local departments, and non-governmental partners have successfully enrolled more than 235,000 Virginians in this program to date.  The number of individuals enrolling in this program in Hampton Roads as of February 8, 2019 is provided below.

Locality                                              Enrollment

Chesapeake                                                     6,095

Franklin                                                              489

Gloucester County                                          1,193

Hampton                                                         5,087

Isle of Wight County                                         990

James City County                                          1,494

Newport News                                                7,322

Norfolk                                                           9,481

Poquoson                                                           163

Portsmouth                                                      5,000

Southampton County                                         608

Suffolk                                                            2,731

Surry County                                                     246

Virginia Beach                                                10,367

Williamsburg                                                        301

York County                                                        986

As a recipient of federal funds, the HRPDC is required to comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any program or activity that receives federal funds or other federal financial assistance.  Recipients of federal support are also required to address Environmental Justice principles, which pertain to the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies.

Over the past year, the Executive Director has held discussions with representatives of the Federal Highway Administration and the Virginia Department of Transportation on opportunities to expand public involvement in the HRPDC’s regional planning activities.  In response to this discussion, the Executive Director recently completed a staff reorganization to create a Community Affairs and Civil Rights Department to coordinate public involvement for both the HRPDC and HRTPO.

Since 2010, the HRTPO has worked with a Community Transportation Advisory Committee (CTAC) to receive grassroots, community-level involvement in the transportation planning process.  The CTAC assists HRTPO staff with keeping the public’s view in mind as it completes its transportation planning work on behalf of the region and also works with staff to report the public’s input to the HRTPO.

The HRPDC took action to endorse the expansion of CTAC’s duties to include both HRPDC and HRTPO activities.

The HRPDC also approved a Consent Agenda which included the following items:

• HRPDC Coastal Resilience Subcommittee Future Direction – The HRPDC took action at its May 2018 meeting to form the Coastal Resilience Subcommittee to develop recommendations to the HRPDC on issues of coastal resiliency and recurrent flooding.  The Subcommittee has worked to develop regional legislative priorities that were incorporated into the regional legislative agenda approved by the HRPDC.  In addition the Subcommittee identified potential work tasks and a future direction for the Coastal Resilience Subcommittee.  The HRPDC voted to approve this future direction for the Subcommittee, which includes the following items:
  
  • Serve as an advisor to the HRPDC on matters of coastal resiliency, sea level rise and recurrent flooding.
  • Formulate legislative positions for consideration at the state and federal level to address policy and funding issues related to coastal resiliency and sea level rise.
  • Recommend multi-jurisdictional and/or regional initiatives that can be considered by the HRPDC to address coastal resiliency challenges.
  • Promote best practices and projects, programs and policies that are addressing coastal resiliency and sea level rise in Hampton Roads.
  • Receive recommendations from the Coastal Resiliency Staff Technical Committee and CAO Committee and advocate for these items on behalf of the Hampton Roads region.
  • Provide direction to the HRPDC staff and Coastal Resilience Technical Committee on resiliency work items.

 ·     Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Chesapeake Bay Watershed HRPDC Locality Implementation Program Contract 

In continuance of the Chesapeake Bay Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) efforts, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is offering PDCs a portion of the funding that the Chesapeake Bay Program provides the Commonwealth.  The intent of this project initiative is for the HRPDC (and other participating PDCs) to continue efforts made during the Phase III WIP process in the non-regulated urban sector.  Funding in the amount of $21,500 would be used by the HRPDC to complete the following tasks:

• Facilitate Chesapeake Bay Phase III WIP Implementation with localities and regional partners in the non-regulated urban sector
• Development and distribution of implementation tools and resources
• Identify BMP implementation reporting needs and serve as a liaison with DEQ

The HRPDC took action authorizing the Executive Director to execute a contract between HRPDC and DEQ in the amount of $21,500 from March 1, 2019 to September 30, 2019 contingent upon staff review and agreement with the final scope of services.

Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission will be held on April 18 at 12:30 pm at the Regional Building, 723 Woodlake Drive in Chesapeake.