View full story at the Cardinal News...The state budget includes $25 million to pay off bonds on the now-closed Central Virginia Training Center in Amherst County. Here’s why that’s such a big deal (and why some neighbors worry).

An aerial view of the Central Virginia Training Center site. Courtesy of Training Center Master Plan.
It’s captivating to watch Vickie Seacrist feed the deer that mill around her front yard like lazy cats. On any given morning she can be found amidst about a dozen deer, a few of them casually eating from her hand.

“My family was one of the first” to move into VC Trailer Park, said Seacrist. 

She’s now lived on Mike’s Landing for more than 50 years.

“We love living over here,” said Madeline Mayberry one afternoon as she stepped outside to enjoy a cigarette. She waves at a neighbor on the porch across the road and talks about how peaceful the park is.

“We are a community here. We are a family,” she said.

But, as the state sets out to pay off the debts owed on The Central Virginia Training Center — the one gateway into the park — she and her neighbors worry.

“There is a fear that if you make changes, someone might up and sell,” Mayberry said. “It’s scary. It’s really scary because we don’t know where it’s going to leave us.”

Historical marker at the Central Virginia Training Center. Photo by Amy Trent.

CVTC was one of several state-run hospitals closed in 2020 following a federal ruling calling for its residents to be relocated into community housing. The sprawling property — replete with dilapidated buildings, contaminated land and graves — is haunted by a complicated past. Virginia once performed forced sterilizations on women there. It also provided skilled care for thousands of individuals with severe disabilities. 

The Central Virginia Training Center is located in Amherst County, just across the James River from downtown Lynchburg. Courtesy of Training Center Master Plan.

“The Commonwealth of Virginia spent decades on this hill, built 90 buildings up there, many of them are full of asbestos and it’s just a tremendous scab in Amherst County, on what could be pretty prime land,” said Sen. Steve Newman (R-Bedford County) who asked for, and this week received, $25 million in the state budget to pay off the state’s outstanding debts on the property. 

There is now an eight-step process to complete to “defease” the bonds. Newman expects that process to be complete by this fall. 

“It feels like it’s just been years in the making. And that’s because it has. So it’s a really big deal and we’re excited,” Newman said Tuesday. “I think it’s gonna be a big economic development opportunity for our region.”

Throughout the CVTC property buildings are marked with red and white boxes. According to DBHDS it is minimally maintaining the property, and providing security, until it can be declared surplus property. The property is not undergoing renovation although there may be some activity on campus related to relocation of water lines that pass through the campus. Environmental remediation was still happening until a few weeks ago, and there is some survey work forthcoming on the property. Photo by Amy Trent.
Throughout the CVTC property buildings are marked with red and white boxes. According to DBHDS it is minimally maintaining the property, and providing security, until it can be declared surplus property. The property is not undergoing renovation although there may be some activity on campus related to relocation of water lines that pass through the campus. Environmental remediation was still happening until a few weeks ago, and there is some survey work forthcoming on the property. Photo by Amy Trent.

Throughout the CVTC property buildings are marked with red and white boxes. According to DBHDS it is minimally maintaining the property, and providing security, until it can be declared surplus property. The property is not undergoing renovation although there may be some activity on campus related to relocation of water lines that pass through the campus. Environmental remediation was still happening until a few weeks ago, and there is some survey work forthcoming on the property. Photo by Amy Trent.

Throughout the CVTC property buildings are marked with red and white boxes. According to DBHDS it is minimally maintaining the property, and providing security, until it can be declared surplus property. The property is not undergoing renovation although there may be some activity on campus related to relocation of water lines that pass through the campus. Environmental remediation was still happening until a few weeks ago, and there is some survey work forthcoming on the property. Photo by Joe Stinnett.

Throughout the CVTC property buildings are marked with red and white boxes. According to DBHDS it is minimally maintaining the property, and providing security, until it can be declared surplus property. The property is not undergoing renovation although there may be some activity on campus related to relocation of water lines that pass through the campus. Environmental remediation was still happening until a few weeks ago, and there is some survey work forthcoming on the property. Photo by Joe Stinnett.

Throughout the CVTC property buildings are marked with red and white boxes. According to DBHDS it is minimally maintaining the property, and providing security, until it can be declared surplus property. The property is not undergoing renovation although there may be some activity on campus related to relocation of water lines that pass through the campus. Environmental remediation was still happening until a few weeks ago, and there is some survey work forthcoming on the property. Photo by Amy Trent.

Once the bond is paid off Virginia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services can send a letter to the Department of General Services declaring CVTC to be “surplus” property. 
State Sen. Steve Newman. Courtesy of Newman.

DGS is responsible for selling the property, either as a whole or in pieces. The property will first be offered to other government agencies that may have a use for it. Amherst County, which will get 180 days to proffer a plan for the property, will not make a bid to purchase it. 

“I don’t see us making a decision to move forward and keep it in government [use] or even in state government [use] even though it’s property that we own now. I think that we want to make sure we get the best use of the property, not the one that is easiest for us to do,” said Sen. George  Barker, D-Fairfax County.

What this isn’t

Sen. Steve Newman, R-Bedford County, is no longer suggesting CVTC be turned into a Crisis Receiving Center. “We left off that language at the last minute about the training center, and we did that because one, we think there might be better locations for that that may be more central and number two, is we don’t want there to be any activity on that property. That would be a problem [when] defeasing the bonds.” Newman said this week. 

Instead the General Assembly has allocated funds for Horizon Behavioral Health, the community service board for the Lynchburg area, to develop and implement a crisis receiving center for those aged 18 and older. It would serve the counties of Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford, Campbell and Lynchburg City. Horizon will create an advisory board with local law enforcement representatives to govern the crisis receiving center. 

Barker supported Newman’s bill for funding to pay off CVTC bonds.