The City of Danville has received two federal grants totaling more than $1.6 million that will be used to assess up to 100 homes for lead hazards and remediate 83 homes.
The City will match the grants with $145,231 in federal funds.
The City applied for a lead hazard reduction grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HUD awarded the City $1.23 million, and it was accompanied by a Healthy Homes Grant in the amount of $400,000.
These grants and the local match will be used to help address lead hazards in homes constructed prior to the outlaw of lead in interior products in 1978. Since the city has many homes constructed prior to this date, it qualified to apply.
Earlier this month, Community Development Director Kenny Gillie told the City Council that the City has been applying for this grant for a number of years. “Now that we’ve been successful, it’s anticipated we will be able to get future funding,” Gillie said.
Gillie says they’re modeling their program on one that’s been successfully adopted in Roanoke. “We believe there are more than a hundred houses in the city that suffer from lead,” Gillie explained to City Council.
Gillie says crews will be go beyond focusing on lead paint. “It can be removal; it can be painting over. It’s both interior and exterior,” Gillie added.
Earlier this week, the City Council adopted a budget amendment to anticipate the additional funds.
In other matters, the City Council voted at its meeting Tuesday night to:
- Adopt a budget amendment to anticipate a grant coming to the City that will pay for two major road paving projects. The Commonwealth Transportation Board and the state Department of Transportation are sending nearly $1.5 million to Danville through to resurface the westbound lanes of South Boston Road from the city limits to Airport Drive and the eastbound lanes of Riverside Drive on either side of the intersection with Westover Drive.
- Acquire ownership of three vacant lots on Stokes Street near its intersection with Berryman Avenue. The owner is conveying the property to the City in exchange for the satisfaction and release of the existing liens and delinquencies owed against the lots. The City is interested in improving the visible streetscape along Berryman Avenue, the eastern boundary of the Monument-Berryman Redevelopment area.
- Grant a license to the Danville Masjid and Islamic Center for community gardening near Locust Lane.
- Submit a list of priority economic development projects to the West Piedmont Planning District Commission. The commission’s list provides the basis for the receipt of federal Economic Development Administration (EDA) funds to help underwrite the costs of local projects. The EDA requires that regional plans be updated annually.
- Sale a vacant lot on Fox Hollow Drive.
- Release an unused utility easement affecting property at 1100 W. Main Street.
- Release an unused utility easement affecting four parcels in Pittsylvania County.
- Release an unused utility easement affecting parcel ID#2465-28-4568 in Pittsylvania County
- Release an unused utility easement affecting parcel ID #1366-97-0467 in Pittsylvania County.
- Release two unused utility easements on property owned by the Regional Industrial Facility Authority.