Business View Magazine | September 2020

298 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2020 the Atlantic Union Bank Center. That state-of- the-art facility will also be promoted as a large venue to bring high-end concerts to the city.” JMU’s Bridgeforth Stadium, with its 25,000- seat capacity, is considered one of the top FCS football venues in the nation. When Harrisonburg built a new high school in 2004, the university purchased the old school and converted it into academic buildings. In addition, they built a new baseball/softball complex on that campus. Fletcher also noted that when Sentara RMH developed a new campus, JMU bought the old hospital and converted it into a student success center with multiple student-oriented uses. Shull adds, “As a college community, we’re very dependent on the students and their spending habits. They make up nearly half of our City’s population. Our businesses really felt the impact when the students returned home in March thanks to COVID-19. Our business community has certainly been tested through this pandemic, but we are a resilient group and we will band together and help each other survive and once again thrive.” The city is currently in the midst of two significant projects. One is the Comprehensive Housing Assessment and Market Study, assessing housing in the city across all demographics and geographies to better understand the market, the needs, and the barriers to affordable housing. “The second involves a rewrite of our zoning and subdivision regulations,” says Fletcher. “That’s significant too because zoning sets the stage for development and how you progress forward to meet your plans. We have a very engaged population in Harrisonburg and I think it will be a great opportunity for us to modernize our development practices and promote mixed-use and walkable neighborhoods.” Rebecca Stimson, Environmental Compliance Manager, shares “We are excited about our Environmental Action Plan. It’s a sustainability