Newport News council approves capital plan with $34.85 million in Tech Center funding

The City Council Tuesday in a 5-2 vote approved a $475 million five-year capital plan, including $34.85 million in city money to accommodate the Tech Center research park and potential Jefferson Lab expansion, about $13 million of which to be spent in fiscal year 2016.

The Tech Center funding will come back to the council for consideration later this year after the bond authorization is in place, City Budget Director Lisa Cipriano said.

Councilwomen Pat Woodbury and Saundra Cherry voted against the proposed plan, citing concerns with transparency about the Tech Center project, and other projects cut or delayed in the plan, such as overdue re-roofing and HVAC replacements at schools, rebuilding Huntington Middle School and the Grissom Library and Denbigh streetscaping.

"I find it to be very unbalanced," Woodbury said. "We can't always say 'build it and they will come.' They may not. And then what?"

Cherry said, "I do believe that if we, as a city, are to do anything worth doing, and desire support from its residents, that there must be very clear transparency. Making out all the costs as much as possible for all phases of a project and how the project will enhance the quality of life for all of its residents."

City Manager Jim Bourey defended the plan and emphasized the potential economic benefits of Tech Center.

"At build out, projected revenues coming from the entire Tech Center development would be estimated at $8 million to city revenue every year," Bourey said. "Please be assured that the money in the (capital plan) is not going to be given to the developer."

The $34.85 million in Tech Center city funding would go toward unnamed infrastructure improvements and relocating the school division's bus facility, which would need to be moved if Jefferson Lab is chosen to receive an expansion. In addition, the city is also seeking about $7.7 million in federal and state grants for the job. In the plan passed last year, $18.4 million in city funding was included for the project.

Nearly a dozen residents and officials came to address the council about the proposal, many expressing concerns about the city's transparency, several referencing meetings in summer 2013 when the project was presented, where John Lawson, president and CEO of Tech Center developer W.M. Jordan, said the project would require no city funding.

Lawson has since said he was speaking only about the 44-acre retail and residential portion of the project, which is under construction now and privately financed.

See the article here:
Newport News council approves capital plan with $34.85 million in Tech Center funding