COUNTY OF ALBEMARLE
MEMORANDUM
TO: Members of the Board of Supervisors
FROM: Ella Washington-Carey, CMC, Clerk
DATE: December 27, 2006
RE: Lewis and Clark Enhancement Grant Application
A request has been made to the Board of Supervisors for a resolution of support for an application to VDOT for $300,000 in Transportation Enhancement Funds.
The Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center (LCEC) of Virginia will be an educational center for visitors of all ages and will commemorate the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the first major transportation project undertaken by the young United States, as President Jefferson sought to find the Northwest Passage. An important element of the project will be a ferry crossing that will link pedestrians at the LCEC and Darden Towe Park with the Rivanna Trails system across the river in Pen Park. The Visitor’s Center will serve as the trailhead facility.
The Rivanna River Ferry will provide a link from one side of the Rivanna River to the other, allowing pedestrian crossing from the Darden Towe Park and the LCEC trails and facilities to the Rivanna Trails system and the Pen Park facilities. The Visitors’ Center will offer interpretation of Jefferson’s inspiration for the transcontinental journey and will enrich visitors’ experience of Albemarle County. The new trails system, funded in part by the National Park Service, will enhance and expand existing trails.
The community has provided significant financial and volunteer support for the project. Support has come from individual donors, as well as businesses and foundations. The land, 18 acres of woods and fields adjacent to Darden Towe Park, has been secured by a 40-year lease from the County of Albemarle and City of Charlottesville for $10 a year. The LCEC have secured $372,000 in funding for Phase I, the Visitor’s Center, trails, and the Rivanna River Ferry, as well as for the access road and the parking lot.
There is no budget impact to the County or City. Matching dollars are being provided by the LCEC. At its meeting on December 18, 2006 the Charlottesville City Council adopted a resolution supporting the grant application.
It is recommended that the Board adopt the attached resolution supporting the LCEC’s grant application.
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, the Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center of Virginia (LCEC) is an educational center for visitors of all ages commemorating the Lewis and Clark Expedition; and
WHEREAS, the County of Albemarle and the City of Charlottesville have demonstrated their support of LCEC’s mission by granting a long-term lease of land in Darden Towe Park, participation by the City Parks and Recreation Department in the boatbuilding program for youths, donation of office space by Albemarle County, and participation by area schools in LCEC programs; and
WHEREAS, the LCEC has applied for $300,000.00 in Transportation Enhancement Funds from the Virginia Department of Transportation which, when combined with other grant funds, will be used to construct a 2,500 square foot visitor’s center, develop a system of interpretive hiking trails, and create a ferry boat crossing to allow pedestrian passage across the Rivanna River to the greenbelt trails in Pen Park; and
WHEREAS, the Board of Supervisors strongly supports the educational mission of the Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center, and values the LCEC as an important community resource;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Supervisors of Albemarle County, Virginia, strongly supports the grant application made by the Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center of Virginia for $300,000.00 in Transportation Enhancement Funds from the Virginia Department of Transportation.