City Council gives OK for submission of Virginia Main Street application

The Fredericksburg City Council gave City Manager Beverly Cameron approval Tuesday night to submit an application for the city to become part of the Virginia Main Street Program.

Scarlett Pons, a business owner and member of the Fredericksburg Main Street Initiative’s formation committee, briefed the council on the organization’s progress since last June.

She said the group has done the following things:

• Wrote an operating agreement
• Wrote a memorandum of understanding between the organization and the city
• Has been working to achieve 501c(3) status
• Wrote a business plan
• Successfully requested funding from the city’s Economic Development Authority
• Gathered more than 60 letters of support from community business owners, property owners, not-for-profit groups and city officials
• Set up a newsletter

The application is 60 pages that includes an overview of the city, a historic overview of the city, a description of the community and its characteristics and why the program would be a good fit for the city.

The organization received $30,000 in the fiscal 2013 budget and requested $74,000 in the fiscal 2014 and 2015 budgets.

The city’s Economic Development Authority also agreed to provide about $7,000 to the Fredericksburg Main Street Initiative to help with startup costs. The EDA also signaled its intent to provide $35,000 to the organization in the fiscal year starting July 1.

The application will be submitted Friday and the city should expect to hear back by June.

The city will be one of three localities submitting applications this year, Pons said.

The city has already been an affiliate in the Main Street program for eight years. There are 25 other communities in the state that are part of the program.

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