Affordable housing complex coming to Orange

Orange will soon have a new affordable housing apartment complex. Under the auspices of Encompass Community Supports and a Richmond-based, community development nonprofit called VCDC, Madison Road Apartments are being built on county-owned land near the entrance road to Dogwood Village.

The building’s 21 units will be built “for low-income individuals with disabilities, with rents set well below market rate,” according to VCDC’s description of the project. VCDC provides financial incentives for developments of this kind.

In regard to the project in Orange, VCDC states, “Through VCDC Equity Fund 29, VCDC will provide more than $6.68 million in Low-Income Housing Tax Credit equity to support the development of Madison Roads Apartments.”

Encompass Community Supports (ECS) Executive Director Sheryl Reinstrom told Byrd Street that plans for the housing development got started in 2021. The former head of ECS (then called Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services) contacted former Orange County Administrator Ted Voorhees about county land that the regional community services organization already was using. “The property was being used to provide behavioral health services to families and children in the area. There was discussion regarding modification of the space into a few apartments for lower-income individuals from the area,” Reinstrom said via email.

Then Virginia Housing, which works to assist renters across the state, got involved and recommended accessing adjacent land that the county also owned, “since [the building on it] was abandoned and had become a blight to the neighborhood. At that point, the conversations moved to explore utilizing the land from both buildings to construct a new office for behavioral health services, along with a larger number of apartments, 21 units,” Reinstrom said.

Orange County Administrator Glenda Bradley Paul explained the county’s part in the forward-thinking project. Paul wrote that the county is providing a 75-year ground lease for a portion—about three-quarters of an acre—of the land where the complex is being built: “This is the site of the former Sheltering Arms building (454 N. Madison Road) and the former Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services Board office (458 N. Madison Road) in Orange. The Orange County Health Department is currently located in a building on the same parcel; however, that portion of the parcel is not affected by this ground lease.”

Paul noted that to make the affordable-housing project work, the county is requiring only a token rent of $100/year from Madison Road Apartments, LLC. She said the actual value of the leasehold would be about $250,000. The county provided only the land, not any dollars, for the project, she added.

According to the VCDC webpage on the project, “Madison Roads Apartments will include 18 one-bedroom apartments and three two-bedroom apartments. Five of the units will be fully accessible in accordance with ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] design standards, and the elevator-equipped building will help ensure residents can move through their homes and community spaces with ease.

“The development will also include on-site office space for Encompass Community Supports, allowing property management and service coordination to be readily available to residents.”

J. Bryan Nicol, chair of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, said he doesn’t expect the new development to strain local infrastructure. He wrote, “Every new development has some impact on public services, and the county carefully evaluates those impacts during the review process. In this case, the Madison Road housing project is relatively small—21 apartments—and is located where public infrastructure and services already exist.

“Based on the information available, the project is not expected to require significant additional investments in roads, utilities, law enforcement or other county infrastructure. At the same time, it provides important community benefits by expanding affordable housing and co-locating family support services that can strengthen the community over the long term.

“The project is not expected to create a measurable increase in demand for Sheriff’s Office or Fire & EMS resources. A development of this size would likely result in only a small increase in calls for service, which would typically be absorbed within existing staffing levels. Additionally, because many of the residents are expected to be lower-income households rather than a large influx of families, the overall service demand is expected to be relatively modest,” Nicol said.

Nicol expects the project to meet two crucial needs, “expanding affordable housing and improving access to services for children and families.” He added, “From the County's perspective, the broader hope is that the Madison Road project will become a model of how strategic partnerships can address multiple community priorities at once—supporting vulnerable residents, expanding affordable housing, investing in children and families, and strengthening the long-term vitality of Orange County. This aligns with the County's broader emphasis on ensuring that the people who work in Orange County and call it home can continue to live here as housing costs increase.”

Orange Town Manager Chris Snider informed Byrd Street that the project is mostly a county endeavor, However, he noted, “The site plan was reviewed and approved by Debbie Sturm, our director of community development. The town welcomes Encompass to our community as well as the services they provide to our seniors.”

Although there’s no official date on the calendar yet, American Climate Partners (ACP) is still planning to remove all or part of the Rapidan dam to help American shad and other migrating fish make their way upriver.

I recently exchanged emails with Mary Dennis, ACP’s administrative manager, to inquire about a break-in at the nonprofit’s office adjacent to the old mill on Rapidan Road and catch up on ACP’s plans for the dam’s removal.

The break-in was reported on July 24. Dennis wrote me that she was alerted by the man who cuts the grass at the ACP office. “He noticed that the padlocks on the basement doors had been cut off; when he walked around to the front, he also saw that the front door had been forced open. He called me, then called the Sheriff's Office.” Dennis said that as far as she could tell, nothing of value was stolen, though materials in the office had been tossed around.”

If anyone has information possibly relevant to the case, Dennis said the contact in the Orange County Sheriff’s Office is Investigator Larry Griffith at (540) 672-1200.

As for the dam removal project, a topic that has sparked some controversy among area residents not eager to see the landmark removed, Dennis told me,