HORNTOWN, VA - The Accomack County Board of Supervisors exhausted current fiscal year funds allocated toward the Community Revitalization Grant initiative in the third award since its founding last year.
The board voted on March 19 to award the maximum grant of $150,000 to the Accomack-Northampton Planning Commission for the demolition of four derelict homes in the unincorporated community of Horntown.
"We kind of call it community lifting," Accomack County Administrator Mike Mason said. "We want, not only, to invest money in improving the housing stock there, but we also want to remove eyesores, things people might refer to as blight."
In early March 2025, the county also awarded a maximum grant to a local nonprofit called Onancock's Bayside Revitalization, whose mission is to improve the northeast neighborhood of the town of Onancock.
The Horntown project is the first time money from the Community Revitalization Fund has been awarded to a political subdivision.
"We also like working with nonprofits that are located in the area because they know the community," Mason said. "They have a leg up when it comes to really educating the community and getting them engaged on an initiative like this."
Eric Luchansky, the Planning Commission's Director of Housing Development said that the homes to be demolished in Horntown have fallen deeper into disrepair over many decades.
"These properties are ranging probably from about 100 years old to maybe 70 years old," Luchansky said. "In all actuality, these homes are probably built with better materials than homes that are built today."
The planning commission does have long-term plans to rebuild on certain properties in Horntown but the priority in this demolition project is to encourage a higher standard for home maintenance.
"It creates a more vibrant and cleaned up community that incentivizes everyone else in the community to maintain their homes," Luchansky said.
Administrator Mason said that the drafted fiscal year 2026 county budget does allocate funds to continue the Community Revitalization Grant Program, though half the amount than in 2025. The Board of Supervisors will consider the draft budget during a public hearing the evening of March 24.