Community Development Authority (CDA)

Thank you for your interest in Community Development Authorities also commonly referred to as CDAs. On August 24, 2010, the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to approve the County’s first CDA ordinance.

The ordinance is for the South Peak project which consists of an approximately 62.5 acre site at the southwest corner of Routes 419 and 220 in Roanoke Coounty and has previously been known as “Slate Hill.” The proposal is to transform the property into a mixed-use development that will include commercial, retail, and residential components. All of the property is included within the CDA district.

The Ordinance authorizes the creation of the CDA for the purpose of financing various public infrastructure improvements and services to facilitate the development of the project. The Ordinance further authorizes the CDA to issue revenue bonds that are anticipated to be re-paid by revenue the County receives as a result of increased real estate, personal property, BPOL, meals, certain transient occupancy and sales tax revenues generated within the Property and certain special assessments imposed on the property, all as set forth in more detail in the Ordinance (including exhibits thereto) and the petition of the landowner (the "CDA Petition").


Below is information previously posted on this web page.

Additional documents related to the CDA petition are also available for public review. On July 26, 2010, a citizen (Mr. Steve Noble) submitted a list of questions to the petitioner in advance of the public hearing. The citizen’s questions and responses from the developer, Smith/Packett, are below.

Roanoke County Attorney Paul Mahoney also submitted a list of questions to the developer. Mr. Mahoney’s questions and the developer’s responses are included in the pdf below.

South Peak is a proposed mixed use development located at the intersection of Route 419 and Route 220/I-581 and has previously been referred to as “Slate Hill.” CDAs are considered an economic development tool. They have been used by developers and local governments in Virginia to assist in the financing of public infrastructure to support new development since 1990. The following article published in Virginia Town and City several years ago gives an overview of how and why CDAs have been used across the Commonwealth.

CDAs can be beneficial to a community because they enable developers to sell bonds to construct infrastructure that serves new commercial development, thus increasing the tax base and creating new jobs and investment. On June 10, 2008, the Board of Supervisors held a Work Session during which County staff presented a PowerPoint, listed below, outlining the uses of CDAs.

During the same work session, County staff recommended that the Board establish a Policy and Guidelines for creating CDAs. The Board accepted this recommendation and subsequently approved a Policy and Guidelines for the establishment of CDAs. The documentation is listed below.

No CDAs have been created since this action was taken. Thus, if the South Peak CDA is approved it will be the first CDA in Roanoke County.

Smith/Packett approached Roanoke County in June 2009 with a proposal to determine whether a CDA would be beneficial to their project and to the County.  It has been the County’s desire to see a quality, unique, and sustainable development constructed on this site since the land was graded and rezoned more than four years ago. Smith/Packett has now proposed a mixed use development to be built in several phases. According to the plan, the first phase will include a Hilton Garden Inn Hotel and parking garage, several restaurant sites, a multi-story office building, and residential condominiums. A map of the South Peak development is listed below.

According to the proposal, the Phase I improvements will be located in Zones 2 and 4 as noted on the map. Zone 2 contains the commercial development and Zone 4 contains the residential. The second phase of this proposed development consists of more retail and office construction, but is not part of this CDA request.   

Approximately $15.5 million in public infrastructure will be needed to support this development including roads, water and sewer extensions, storm drainage facilities, and a parking garage. To illustrate how these improvements can be financed through the use of a CDA, Smith/Packett has submitted documentation referred to as Bond Financing Projection No. 12.  Of special note in this document are Schedules I and II: “Sources and Uses of Funds and Bond Issuance Assumptions” and “Public Improvements.”

The developer has proposed that 70% of all new local tax revenues generated by the project for a period of 20 years be used by the CDA to pay off the bonds that will be sold to finance these improvements. Schedule XXXIII shows “Estimated Surplus Tax Revenue” to the County of $25,847,076. The total amount of taxes to be received is projected to be $54,024,822. Approximately $28,177,746 is expected to be used to pay debt service on the bonds. In other words, after 70% of the new local taxes are designated to pay off the $15.5 million bond issue, the County is estimated to receive nearly $26 million over 20 years. After 20 years, the County will receive all local taxes generated by the project.

Thank you for your interest in this issue.