Petersburg City Council 

Approves C-PACE Program 

Petersburg, Virginia: During the July 2, 2019 City Council meeting, Petersburg City Council unanimously adopted an ordinance creating a Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) Program.    

C-PACE is an innovative market-based financing program that provides upfront capital for energy efficiency upgrades and renewable energy projects. Eligible structures include a wide variety of buildings such as office, multi-family (4 + units), non-profits, agriculture, hotel, retail, and industrial.

“As City Manager, it has been one of my priorities to promote economic development within the City and work with staff to address revitalization of the downtown core and neighborhood. C-PACE is one more valuable tool to bring more economic opportunities to the City of Petersburg” said Petersburg City Manager, Aretha R. Ferrell-Benavides.

Nationally, the C-PACE program has seen tremendous successes.  C-PACE programs have created more than 13,000 jobs on 1,934 projects nationally and helped finance nearly $900 million in renewable energy and energy efficiency programs. The City of Petersburg joins a short list of municipalities in the Commonwealth, along with the City of Fredericksburg, Arlington and Fairfax Counties.

“This is an accurate reflection of the direction that Petersburg is headed,” said Petersburg Mayor, Samuel Parham. “We are interested in spurring innovation and redevelopment in our City” said Councilman Howard Meyers, who also serves as the Chair of the City’s Economic Development Committee.

How does C-PACE work? C-PACE is voluntary for all parties involved and can cover up to 100% of all project eligible hard and soft costs. Unlike typical loans, C-PACE loan financing terms are a longer between 15-30 years. They can also be combined with utilities, local and federal incentive programs. The C-PACE assessment is filed with the local municipalities as a lien on the property. 

The City is not liable for the loan amount of a private developers and we are not committing City funds or credit to guarantee repayment of the loan. C- PACE financing is paid back through a voluntary special assessment that is part of the property owner’s real estate tax bill. Once the C-PACE assessment loan has been fully paid, the property owner retains ownership of the improvements in perpetuity.

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