Titanium manufacturer gets green light for production to begin in Halifax
Housing construction grants available for Lynchburg area
This edition is a bit different from the rest. There’s a few articles I think can’t wait until the next regular version. There are also a couple of press releases I wanted to write up. This newsletter is a practice of journalism, which is the act of reporting things and providing context that adds to what one particular source might want to tell you.
I’m just one person who imagines working for a larger organization the way it might have been in the past when newspapers scoured the community for information and reported so much. I am hopeful that will come back with the collaboration of multiple information outlets.
In this edition:
A regional planning body is seeking applications for more affordable housing units in the Lynchburg area
Both the DEQ and the Halifax County Service Authority have issued permits for a a titanium manufacturing plan
Stories from Fifth District publications including details on a facilities plan for Lynchburg City Schools
Central Virginia PDC seeking applications for housing grants
The window is open for organizations that would like funding from a statewide nonprofit to build affordable housing units across the Commonwealth. The entity formerly known as the Virginia Housing Development Authority has made $2 million available to the Central Virginia Planning District Commission to distribute to to create more homes.
“Eligible projects may be single-family, detached for purchase or multi-family rental developments,” reads a press release posted to the Campbell County website. “Regardless of development type, each project must include some units to individuals and families with incomes at or below 80% of Area Median Income (AMI).”
The CVPDC covers the counties of Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford, and Campbell as well as the City of Lynchburg. The annual median income for the entire planning district is $83,300. That compares to $73,300 for the West Piedmont Planning District Commission which covers the Danville area.
The area median income in the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission around Charlottesville is $123,300.
The VHDA is now known as Virginia Housing and granted $2 million to each PDC for this grant program in July 2021. The CVPDC has $476,869 available in this round. Non-profit developers, for-profit developers, and public agencies can apply and the deadline is September 7.
In March, the CVPDC awarded $773,131 in funding to four projects from nine applications. Last September the agency awarded $450,000 to rush homes. The cumulative total is 47 new units.
“The total $1,223,131 in grant awards is leveraged with approximately $9,562,492 in funding secured by the project developers,” reads the CVPDC’s website.
Halifax titanium plant receives final permits
A company that seeks to operate a titanium metal production factory in Halifax County has obtained all of the necessary permits to move forward.
Both the Halifax County Service Authority and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality have given IperionX Limited permission to proceed with operations. The Halifax Service Authority approved an industrial wastewater discharge permit and the DEQ approved a New Source Review permit.
“IperionX has secured all material permits required to build and operate the Titanium Demonstration Facility (TDF),” reads a press release from Monday. “The permits also cover the planned modular expansion to Titanium Demonstration Facility (TCF-1) capacity by the end of 2025 – designed to be the world’s largest 100% recycled titanium powder plant with 1,125 [tons per year] of production capacity
Some of the funding for the project comes from the Halifax County Development Authority. That’s $4 million. The first titanium is to be produced in the first quarter of next year.
The top official at IperionX said the project is intended to reinvest in American manufacturing after decades of off-shoring.
“IperionX has a pipeline of potential U.S. government funding programs and incentives that are designed to support domestic efforts to re-shore critical mineral and material supply chains,” Anastasios (Taso) Arima is quoted in the press release. “With the successful development of this project, IperionX will be the only commercial primary titanium metal producer in the U.S., with the capacity to deliver low carbon and low-cost titanium for advanced American industries.”
The project in Halifax will scale up a demonstration project in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Reading material:
Southside Investing to shrink rezoning application, cut Martin Drive access, Sami Mizra, Chatham Star-Tribune, July 28, 2023
City using James River as main water source after water line break at Pedlar Reservoir, Bryson Gordon, Lynchburg News & Advance (paywall), August 1, 2023
Virginia makes exit from regional emissions program official, drawing appeal, Zach Budryk, The Hill, August 1, 2023
Mock mass casualty exercise held at Gretna Middle School with nearly 200 people, 20 organizations, John Crane, Danville Register & Bee (paywall), August 2, 2023
DCC launches literacy project, Gazette-Virginian, August 2, 2023
What needs to change? Buckingham County residents offer ideas, Brian Carlton, Farmville Herald, August 2, 2023
Lynchburg City Schools releases price estimates of master plan scenarios ahead of joint meeting, Bryson Gordon, Lynchburg News & Advance (paywall), August 3, 2023