Area localities poised to contend for federal stimulus dollars

Database: From broadband to water lines, search for projects Central Virginia localities hope an economic stimulus package will fund

Cash-strapped Lynchburg-area localities are lining up hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure projects in anticipation of a federal economic stimulus package expected to be front and center after President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration.

The projects range from $20 million for part of a combined sewer overflow project in Lynchburg to $55,000 for locker replacement at Rustburg High School. But even as government officials scan their localities for contenders, they readily acknowledge they don’t know which ones — if any — will receive money.

The details of the proposed plan haven’t been made public. No one knows what kind of projects would be considered, how the money would be distributed or even how much will be given toward infrastructure work.

But one thing is clear: Everyone wants a slice of stimulus pie.

While Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s office hasn’t made an official call for projects, special interest groups throughout the state and nation are urging localities to compile wish lists for work that is “shovel-ready” or could be ready for construction in a short time. Those include construction trade groups, associations repre-senting engineering issues and groups lobbying for local governments.

“It’s kind of like a feeding frenzy. It’s a little bit unsettling to me,” Lynchburg City Manager Kimball Payne said. “You read all these articles about bridges to nowhere and then everyone wants to build one.”

The Virginia Municipal League has repeatedly asked its members, including Lynchburg, to compile their lists and send them to the governor and congressional representatives.

“We wanted to make sure the localities did not get left behind,” said Neal Menkes, the league’s fiscal policy director. “Nobody knows what shape or form this package is going take, but some consensus seems to have formed that once it is developed it is going to move quickly.”

Obama has said an important feature of the proposed American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan would be to funnel billions of dollars into projects that can start soon. A goal would be not just to create or sustain existing jobs, but to restore the nation’s crumbling infrastructure — such as aging water and sewer pipes, bridges, roads and schools.

The official transition team Web site, http://www.change.gov, discusses a plan to allocate $25 billion to those types of projects. Other sources claim the amount could reach into the hundreds of billions of dollars. Obama said Saturday that he wanted to put nearly 400,000 people to work, specifically in infrastructure repair jobs.There is no shortage of projects in Virginia that would fit the description “shovel-ready,” but what and where they are isn’t clear.

Gordon Hickey, spokesman for Kaine, said the Virginia Department of Transportation and a few other state agencies have “well north of $1 billion of projects that have been permitted and ready to go.”

Ridge Schuyler is newly ap-pointed district director for Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th District. He began meeting last week with every county administrator and city manager in the district about projects and priorities for the recovery package.

Perriello spokeswoman Jessica Barba said the congressman is “interested in projects that are going to turn the economy in Southside around and, in the short term, create jobs.”

At the local level, all you have to do is ask for a list to get an idea of the scope of projects Lynchburg-area governments want to offer up.

For example: Lynchburg has about $90 million and Campbell County has about $6 million in water and sewer projects. Bedford County has almost $8 mil-lion proposed for broadband connections.

Campbell County compiled its list and sent it to Kaine and the congressional delegation last month.

Even so, county administrator David Laurrell said he has larger concerns about funneling money to short-term infrastructure projects without a close examination of the long-term effects.

“If all we’re going to do is throw money at it, all we’re doing is a short-term, consumer-driven spike and at the end of the day that isn’t going to be sustainable,” he said.

A better solution, he suggested, would be to split that focus to include the intermediate and long term as well.

As an example, Laurrell pointed to the need to improve broadband access.

“Broadband is not going to put a lot of people to work right away, but it’s going to do more along the lines of what electrification did in the 1930s,” he said. What he means by that, he said, is broadband access will give residents and businesses the ability to work and compete on an equal playing field.

Lynchburg’s Payne said he has more concerns about how such a federal stimulus program would be financed, given that there’s a projected $1.2 trillion deficit by the end of this year’s budget.

“The federal government wants to create a program to send us money. We want to participate, but there’s a huge issue about where the money is coming from,” he said.

Concerns about the funding source, coupled with the lack of detail about the actual program, has left Payne with some reservations about sending on Lynchburg’s stimulus wish list.

“Once I have an official list, I’m not sure how I feel about sending it to the governor or congressional delegation right now,” he said.

“Personally, I’d like to see a little more clarity. We are prepared to play the game as the rules of the game get defined.”

Staff writer Ray Reed contributed to this report.

 
Locality-by-locality: Wants and needs

As local officials compile their needs and wants, all stress that cost estimates are just that: estimates.

“At this point, the list of projects is wild speculation, as no one really knows what will qualify for federal funding,” said Lynchburg’s CSO program manager Jeff Scarano. “The emphasis, I think, has been to prove to the federal government how large a need there is and how much impact could be made, if monies were made available.”

Many of the projects, which come from existing capital improvement plans, will have to be completed no matter what additional money flows in. In those cases, any federal stimulus money would allow the work to occur sooner.

Lynchburg
In addition to scheduled maintenance on a 1.4 million gallon water tank and ongoing waterline replacement, Lynchburg has included several combined sewer overflow projects that have been designed and are ready to go.

“We’ve got some things we’ve got to do that we’ve been asking the federal government for money for years, so those are on our list,” said City Manager Kimball Payne.

Other projects include Ivy Creek Park, renovation to the Miller Center, road improvements to Breezewood Drive and replacing the D Street bridge.

Some construction, including utility replacement under Fifth Street, is slated to begin within the next month. But other projects, like improvements to the Twelfth Street Corridor and Lower Bluff Walk, couldn’t begin for at least three months.

Much of what’s on the list is “purely wishful thinking” from city departments, Payne said.

Amherst County
Amherst County has compiled a list of eight projects that could be potential candidates for stimulus money.

County Administrator Rodney Taylor said members of the Board of Supervisors feel it is important to be “good stewards of the people’s money” in such difficult economic times.

“The board will only submit applications for projects that are fiscally responsible and will have long-term benefits for the citizens of Amherst County,” he said.

The list includes new sidewalks and handicapped ramps along U.S. 29 Business in Madison Heights, a water line to the Virginia 210 interchange with the U.S. 29 bypass and sewer extensions to Lakeview Drive in Madison Heights. Not all the projects are ready; some are in design phase.

Taylor didn’t disclose cost estimates because most of the projects had not gone to bid yet for construction work.

Appomattox County
A list of projects from Appomattox County has yet to be released and officials did not return phone calls this week.

However, county schools need about $70 million in upgrades and renovations, and planner Johnnie Roark asked that $5.5 million for a 7.5-mile water line from Concord to Appomattox be considered for money under the stimulus plan.

Former Rep. Virgil Goode sent a letter to the House Appropriations Committee about the water-line project as one of his last official moves.

The Town of Appomattox has a capital improvement plan for its water and sewer pipes and those projects might be submit-ted for consideration, said town manager David Garrett.

Additionally, the town might seek to build a new wastewater treatment plant rather than retro-fit an existing one that had structural and design problems, he said. The town has money to pay for those upgrades as a result of a lawsuit award.

Bedford County
Bedford County has two projects ready.

They are $500,000 for the county’s former nursing home facility on County Farm Road to become a “multi-use community resource center” and $7 million to extend natural gas to the New London Business and Technology Center on U.S. 460.

The Bedford County Public Service Authority also is putting together a list of water and sewer projects to send to the governor, said director Brian Key.

Those projects include a sewer line in Forest near the Coleman Adams Construction office, a waterline extension in Stewartsville to a neighborhood experiencing well problems and a waterline extension in the New London area.

There are five other waterline projects that haven’t yet been designed that Key said would be put on the list.

“I’m not sure what will come of our request,” Key said, “but if you don’t ask you won’t receive, so why not try to get some federal money to help the local community?”

Campbell County
Campbell County’s wish list includes water and sewer projects that have been shelved because there was no money, said Campbell County Utilities and Services Authority administrator Mike Damron.

The roughly $6 million in utilities projects includes replacing an aging water line serving the Rainbow Forest neighborhood. The county also included smaller projects needed for schools, such as replacing lockers at three high schools and paving the student parking lot at William Campbell High School.

The county also included a $3 million extension for the Lees-ville Road water line, which has been discussed for several years but wasn’t completed because of a lack of customers along the line.

Staff writer Justin Faulconer contributed to this report.

Commonly asked questions

What is “shovel-ready”?

The concept of a “shovel-ready” project means it’s ready to start construction. The plans are complete, environmental impact studies are complete, the designs are done and the project is sitting on the shelf waiting for money. Some discussions have put the time from money to the first shovel in the ground at 30 days. Others have put that time at 180 days.

Who will do the work?

For Lynchburg’s CSO program manager Jeff Scarano, a big question is whether there are enough contractors in the area willing and able to do the work if all the money came at once.

There are 15 water and sewer projects on Lynchburg’s list, but “I don’t think there are 15 contractors willing to work in Lynchburg, when at the same time” there are similar projects going on in Richmond or other nearby larger cities, he said.

Could a sudden abundance of stimulus money drive up project costs?

Recent construction bids for municipal work have come in at or below budget, which is due to the lack of work available to contractors. But if localities are suddenly flush with cash to be spent on these projects, bid costs potentially could increase, Scarano said.

How many jobs really would be created or saved?

Jobs for infrastructure work aren’t just for those operating jackhammers. In addition to those making construction materials, such as steel and concrete, there are truck drivers, estimators, erosion and sediment workers, project managers, “just besides the actual people with the shovels and track hoes,” Scarano said. “Even with a six-man crew, I’m estimating at least 25 people are associated with a project.”

 

Examples of infrastructure projects

Water/Sewer
Lynchburg’s water and sewer systems were among the first in the nation. As a result, many pipes are nearing the end of their useful life and need to be replaced. The city has about $90 million in utili-ties projects tagged as possible stimulus-funding projects.

Roads and Bridges
Traffic along U.S. 460 between the U.S. 29 bypass and Campbell Avenue has increased significantly since 2005 and the road needs almost $19 million in upgrades. The money to pay for that project recently was slashed as part of VDOT budget cuts. Retaining walls in and near downtown need to be replaced. One wall along the Lynchburg Expressway at Grace Street, needs more than $2 million in repairs. And the Rivermont Avenue bridge needs $5 million in repairs/renovations.

Broadband
One component of President-elect Barack Obama’s plan is to expand broadband lines in rural areas for long-term economic benefit. The Center for Innovative Technology based in Newport News has asked all localities to provide a list of those broadband projects.

Campbell County economic development director Mike Davidson said the county wants to focus on bringing broadband network access to areas south of Virginia 24, which are underserved or not served at all. Similar efforts are under way in Amherst, Appomattox and Bedford counties.

Energy
Increasing energy efficiency is also on Obama’s agenda. Lynchburg has a project on its wish list to study the energy efficiency of schools and city buildings and to make whatever changes are needed. A rough estimate for that project is $1.5 million.