City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: JUNE 7, 2017
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, CITY MANAGER /s/
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
Consideration of the Ramsey Homes Section 106 Memorandum of Agreement.
BODY
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ISSUE: Consideration of the Ramsey Homes Section 106 Memorandum of Agreement.
RECOMMENDATION: Authorize the City Manager to execute the attached Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) in substantially the form presented regarding Ramsey Homes.
BACKGROUND: The Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority (ARHA) proposes to demolish the existing 15 public housing units at Ramsey Homes and to redevelop the site as a new 52-unit mixed income community through its development entity, Virginia Housing Development LLC (VHDLLC). City Council approved following an extensive development review process, including substantial community outreach. a rezoning, a Development Special Use permit, and a loan of up to $2 million to ARHA for the project. In March ARHA applied for Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) and was awarded credits in May to complete the project’s funding package. Regular updates regarding the project and the development review process have been posted on ARHA’s web page at <http://www.vhdllc.us/ramsey-homes.html> and on the City’s Housing web page, https://www.alexandriava.gov/housing/info/default.aspx?id= 90874 <https://www.alexandriava.gov/housing/info/default.aspx?id=%2090874> to provide information regarding Ramsey Homes to its residents, to neighbors and to the community at large.
DISCUSSION: Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act requires that any project considered a federal undertaking carry out a public process to consider the effect of the proposed undertaking on historic resources. In the case of Ramsey Homes, which was built in the early 1940’s to house African American officers and civilian defense workers, the site’s subsequent use as federally-funded public housing met the criteria for a review. The Section 106 process requires outreach to various stakeholders and community members as well as the federal agency and the state historic preservation office. All are invited to participate as consulting parties and provide input regarding proposed mitigation. The multi-phase process includes the identification of historic resources, assessment of whether the proposed project will have any adverse effects on historic resources, and the mitigation of adverse effects. Mitigation can take many forms and often creative solutions are proposed to mitigate potential adverse effects on historic resources.
ARHA, along with the City, initiated the Section 106 process in 2016, with the Office of Housing serving as designated administrator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Through ARHA’s Section 106 consultant Wetland Studies and Solutions, Inc., the City invited numerous interested parties to participate as consulting parties: pages 3 through 5 of the MOA (attached) lists the individuals and organizations that joined the discussions. In all, there have been five consulting party meetings (all open to the public) between June 2016 through April 2017. Early meetings discussed how the 106 process works and provided updates regarding the project to the consulting parties. The last three included discussion of mitigation ideas and vetting these ideas to create a final list which is incorporated in the MOA. Seven organizations submitted letters regarding mitigation ideas which staff distilled into key themes. These were presented to the consulting parties for a vote in a February 2017 meeting and were also presented through an online survey for those who could not attend the meeting. Based on feedback received, the most highly-regarded mitigation ideas, as established by votes, were presented to the consulting parties at an April meeting and have been incorporated into the MOA.
The mitigation measures to be implemented to address the potential adverse effect of the redevelopment are listed under the stipulations section on page 5 of the attached agreement. The main mitigation measures proposed are: (1) archeological data recovery for the site; (2) an exploratory demolition plan for the buildings; (3) 3D scanning or photogrammetry of the buildings prior to demolition; (4) wayfinding signage to help visitors find the site and explain its former uses; (5) continued genealogical research regarding the families that lived at Ramsey throughout its uses; (6) a symposium focused on interdisciplinary education and outreach relevant to the historic, genealogical, and architectural research conducted regarding the site, including analysis of the historic construction materials and methods of the Ramsey Homes buildings; (7) posting of historical background about the site on the Office of Historic Alexandria (OHA) website, and (8) inclusion of the site on OHA’s walking tour mobile application.
The next step to certify the agreement is for representatives of the City of Alexandria, the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, ARHA and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation to execute the agreement as Signatories. It is expected that all four signatories will execute the proposed agreement with only technical non-material modifications (if any). The consulting parties may also sign as concurring parties if they wish, and staff expects many of them to do so. After the MOA is fully executed, it will become part of the Environmental Assessment prepared for the site and will be part of ARHA’s application to HUD possibly for permission to “dispose” of the site, releasing ARHA to sell it to the tax credit investment partnership that will develop the new housing project.
FISCAL IMPACT: None specific to the MOA. The City previously approved a loan of up to $2,000,000 from the Housing Opportunities Fund to ARHA to help it develop the new building. The budgeted cost of the mitigation is $50,000.
ATTACHMENT: Memorandum of Agreement Among the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority (ARHA), the Virginia State Historic Preservation Office, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the City of Alexandria, Virginia, and other Consulting Parties Relative to the Ramsey Homes Redevelopment Project in the City of Alexandria, Virginia
STAFF:
Emily A. Baker, Deputy City Manager
Helen S. McIlvaine, Director, Office of Housing
Karl Moritz, Director, Department of Planning and Zoning
Lance Mallamo, Director, Office of Historic Alexandria
Eric Keeler, Deputy Director, Office of Housing
Christina Zechman Brown, Associate Attorney, City Attorney’s Office
Al Cox, Historic Preservation Manager, Planning and Zoning
Catherine Miliaras, Planning and Zoning
Eleanor Breen, Alexandria Archelogy
Audrey Davis, Director, Alexandria Black History Museum