Amount: $1,400,000 (30% local match; Charles Town providing $100,000)

Grantor: United States Department of Transportation & United States Housing and Urban Development

Awarded: October 20, 2010

Status: Awarded and In progress

Estimated Completion: November 2012

Project Summary: (1) Redesign the Fairfax Boulevard-George Street corridor through the adjacent downtowns of Ranson and its sister city, Charles Town, into a "complete street" with new green infrastructure, to promote a better and safer transportation route for pedestrians, cyclists, transit and other vehicles; (2) Design a new regional Charles Washington Commuter Center along this roadway in downtown Charles Town that will facilitate access to regional rail and bus transit systems for Ranson, Charles Town and Jefferson County residents and workers; and (3) Develop a new, form-based "Smart Code" system for the City of Ranson that links together a green downtown overlay district with a new zoning approach for the undeveloped, outlying areas of the City that combines traditional neighborhood and mixed-use development with green infrastructure.

Ranson and Charles Town Green Corridor Revitalization

On June 21, 2010, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Department Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the new grants for transportation planning and sustainable community planning. The DOT will be awarding $35 million in "TIGER II Planning Grants" for the planning and design of transportation facilities that support six "Livability Principles" developed by the Obama Administration, and HUD will be awarding $40 million in "Sustainable Community Challenge Grants" for local planning and smart growth initiatives. The agencies will also allow an applicant to submit a joint application seeking both a TIGER and a Challenge grant. Grants can be up to $3 million for the TIGER component and $3 million for the Challenge component. Ranson has applied for a joint TIGER-Challenge grant of $980,000 to fund the planning/design/engineering of the Green Corridor complete street project, the Charles Washington Commuter Center project, and a comprehensive "Smart Growth & Smart Codes" initiative. Ranson partnered with the City of Charles Town on this application. The application that Ranson and Charles Town submitted, along with a briefing sheet and letters of support is posted below. On October 20, 2010, Ranson was notified by DOT/HUD that the City had been awarded the grant.

City of Ranson, WV – DOT TIGER II Planning/HUD Community Challenge Grant Application

Executive Summary

The City of Ranson, West Virginia and its partner, the City of Charles Town, WV seek $980,000 in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) TIGER II Planning Grant Program and/or the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Community Challenge Planning Grant Program for a $1.4 million "Green Corridor Revitalization" planning project. The Green Corridor Revitalization initiative will create a plan to improve the community's main roadway into a "complete street" with green infrastructure, design the transformation of a historic public building into a regional Commuter Center, and tie these transportation improvements together with a new form-based Smart Code to foster sustainable community development. Ranson and Charles Town are so confident about the value of this project that these rural cities (with a 0% TIGER II match requirement) will match 30% of total project funding with $420,000 in local funds, and leverage an additional $42,000 towards the successful completion of the project.

Ranson and Charles Town are already underway with a comprehensive initiative to revitalize their adjacent and linked downtowns by transforming an area blighted by idled brownfields into a vibrant community where residents can live, work and recreate within a cohesive neighborhood. The implementation of the Green Corridor initiative will allow the Ranson-Charles Town community to serve as a national model for how small, rural cities on the fringe of a major metropolitan area can foster sustainable economic development, transit, and community livability through targeted and strategic planning and infrastructure investments. However, in order to facilitate this transformative change, Ranson and Charles Town request DOT/HUD planning funds for the following three linked and interdependent project components:

• Redesign the Fairfax Boulevard-George Street corridor (area within red dotted line on adjacent map) running through the adjacent downtowns of Ranson and its sister city, Charles Town, into a "complete street" with new green infrastructure, to promote a better and safer transportation route for pedestrians, cyclists, transit and other vehicles;
• Design a new regional Charles Washington Commuter Center along this roadway in downtown Charles Town that will facilitate access to regional rail and bus transit systems for Ranson, Charles Town and Jefferson County residents and workers; and
• Develop a new, form-based "Smart Code" system for the City of Ranson that links together a green downtown overlay district with a new zoning approach for the undeveloped, outlying areas of the City that combines traditional neighborhood and mixed-use development with green infrastructure.

Leveraging federal funding into this Green Corridor Revitalization initiative will not only yield immediate benefits for the residents of the Ranson-Charles Town area, but will also establish the necessary planning framework for Ranson and Charles Town to move forward with these ambitious projects and become a national model of sustainability for rural communities.

Tiger Challenge Briefing Sheet

Final Narrative - August 23, 2010

DOT/HUD Letters of Support

HUD Challenge Planning Grant RFQ Legal Advertisement

HUD Challenge Planning Grant Request for Qualifications

DOT TIGER II Planning Grant RFQ Legal Advertisement

DOT TIGER II Planning Grant RFQ Request for Qualifications

Supplemental Documents from Pre-Proposal Conference:

Meeting Sign-In Sheet
Charles Town Parking Study
Ranson/Charles Town Transportatation Study (Draft)
Phase I Environmental (Future Lakeland Place Circle)
Charles Washington Hall Restoration Feasibility Study

Note:  RFQ Addendum - There is a 5% DBE goal.  This was inadvertently left out of original RFQ.   

Responses to Consultant Questions/Clarifications posted 2:00 p.m. 6/24/2011  (Note:  Important DBE information included.)