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HUD Community Resources
Overview of the Hurt Park Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area (NRSA) Plan
City Planning
As in Southeast and in Gainsboro, since July 2007, the City has begun to invest a significant portion of its federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnership Program (HOME) funds to help revitalize Hurt Park. The resources of various City departments are also contributing to this effort. In the Southeast and Gainsboro neighborhoods, the investments spanned about a three-year period. It will probably be similar for the Hurt Park revitalization project.Hurt Park Selection
For years, the City used most of its CDBG and HOME funds in projects that covered large portions of the community. While many benefited from these projects, the visible impact was spread too thinly to revitalize neighborhoods. In late 2001, City Council approved a policy to identify neighborhoods where the funds should be concentrated. Thereafter, a community task force recommended six target neighborhoods—Gainsboro, Gilmer, Hurt Park, Loudon-Melrose, Old Southwest and Washington Park—which Council adopted. To gain experience with the concentrated funding approach, a pilot project was first undertaken in Southeast, followed by the work in Gainsboro. In December 2005, the City Manager recommended and Council supported Hurt Park as the next target neighborhood after Gainsboro.
Hurt Park Project Activities
A revitalization effort has housing, economic, human and neighborhood development dimensions. City departments have identified and planned a number of options for improvements and are considering neighborhood views regarding activities to undertake. Everyone recognizes that rehabilitating existing housing and constructing new housing will be a high priority. Much work is needed on Rorer Avenue, but also on Salem Avenue and elsewhere. These efforts and the Housing Authority’s redevelopment of its former public housing site on Salem Avenue will be mutually supporting. In addition, the City has facilitated a collaboration among the community’s five nonprofit housing agencies to plan and implement a coordinated approach to addressing housing needs in the neighborhood. Along with the Housing Authority, the collaboration includes Blue Ridge Housing Development Corp., Habitat for Humanity in the Roanoke Valley, Rebuilding Together Roanoke and Total Action Against Poverty. These agencies are in the process of meeting with the Hurt Park Neighborhood Alliance, Inc. to obtain feedback regarding the neighborhood housing activities anticipated to begin as soon as July 2008.
Along with housing, other physical improvements such as streets, sidewalks and tree plantings are needed in some areas of Hurt Park. A large CDBG investment in public infrastructure in the area around the Housing Authority’s redevelopment on Salem Avenue is already underway. Other possible infrastructure changes might include narrowing Salem Avenue to slow down the traffic. Adding new lighting and decorative stamped crosswalks in the business area at Patterson Avenue and 13th Street are also possibilities.
In the area of benefits to business, the City’s economic development staff will market Enterprise Zone incentives such as job, façade improvement, and rehabilitation grants. Especially in the Patterson Avenue and 13th Street area, these incentives and infrastructure improvements could increase the vitality of this Village Center.
Among the activities focusing on human development, the City’s Health Department and Parks and Recreation staff are working together on ways to enhance healthy lifestyles. Meanwhile, other City departments such as the library system and youth services are considering programs to foster youth and adult personal development and engagement in community betterment activities.
Many activities will be part of the Hurt Park effort. The City’s concepts have been and will continue to be brought to the public for its views. It is also likely the plans will evolve over the life of the project and through this continued consultation with the neighborhood.
Concentrating the Effort in Hurt Park
Hurt Park contains many hundreds of residential, commercial and public-use parcels. The available resources cannot encompass all the improvements that would be desirable. By focusing the effort, more visible change can be created, building more excitement and, hopefully, attracting additional private investment. The City has visualized a main focus area starting on Salem Avenue in the vicinity of the Housing Authority’s housing redevelopment and sweeping south and east, through Rorer Avenue to the commercial node at Patterson Avenue and 13th Street. Activities are anticipated in other areas of the neighborhood as well; however, the more concentrated the efforts, the more visible the changes will be.
The Role of an Advisory Committee
The City is genuinely interested in what the community thinks. Receiving ideas on what’s needed and feedback on how revitalization activities are going strengthens the effort. Leadership of the Hurt Park Neighborhood Alliance, Inc. (HPNA), the recognized neighborhood organization, was instrumental in advising the City, and helping to ensure that information about the revitalization activities flows to, from and among the various neighborhood stakeholders—the HPNA, residents, businesses, churches, nonprofits and others. The HPNA is meant to be a vehicle for these stakeholder “communities” to become engaged in the project through representatives on the committee.
The Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area (NRSA) Plan
The CDBG funds that, along with HOME funds, form the core resources for the efforts in Hurt Park have a number of limitations imposed by law. Some flexibility in these limitations, especially in the area of housing, has been obtained by preparing a Hurt Park Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area (NRSA) plan and receiving approval from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the source of the federal funds. Housing and other benefits can be made available to a broader income range of households, which helps to diversify and strengthen the community.
The NRSA essentially draws on information from the City-Council-approved Neighborhood Plan about the history, demographics and needs of the area and identifies the revitalization activities planned according to HUD’s NRSA guidelines, setting benchmarks for monitoring performance. The flexibility offered by an approved NRSA can be withdrawn by HUD if satisfactory progress is not maintained toward meeting the benchmarks.
Over the life of the project there will be continued consultation with the neighborhood regarding the activities and implementation of the NRSA.
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