City Council

CITY OF FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA HON. THOMAS J. TOMZAK, MAYOR HON. MARY KATHERINE GREENLAW, VICE MAYOR CITY COUNCIL HON. KERRY P. DEVINE, AT-LARGE HON. BRADFORD C. ELLIS, WARD ONE HON. GEORGE C. SOLLEY, WARD TWO HON. FREDERIC N. HOWE, III, WARD THREE Council Chambers, 715 Princess Anne Street HON. BEATRICE R. PAOLUCCI, WARD FOUR Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401 Council Work Session March 13, 2012 Unified Development Ordinance Process for Annual Evaluations of Council Staff The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Tuesday, March 13, 2012, beginning at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall Conference Room. Council Present. Vice-Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Presiding. Councilors Kerry P. Devine, Bradford C. Ellis, Frederic N. Howe, III, Beatrice R. Paolucci and George C. Solley. Council Absent. Mayor Thomas Tomzak – Funeral of a Friend. Also Present. City Manager Beverly Cameron, Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, City Attorney Kathleen Dooley, Director of Planning Ray Ocel and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Others Present. Rodger Waldron and Chad Meadows of Clarion. Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). Planning Director Ocel gave a briefing on what has occurred to date, stating there had been 3 Steering Committee meetings, 1 Planning Commission meeting to discuss, public meetings are set up with the first scheduled for March 22. Mr. Waldron presented a Power Point presentation. The presentation discussed the work program and it described the objective as consolidating and modernizing the City’s development regulations into a new UDO with targeted revisions in key substantive areas. In September 2011, they worked on the project initiation and scope. In December 2011, they completed a code assessment. They had a preliminary draft for March 2012 and May 2012 they plan to have the public review and a public hearing in June 2012. 1  Mr. Waldron explained that it would not be a complete rewrite of the regulations because the current regulations were good, but could be streamlined and brought up to date to make them more efficient. He also noted that there was a brochure available to inform the citizens of the changes and a website for the project at http://newudofredericksburg.com. Mr. Waldon also touched on a few key issues: the organization of the UDO, adjustments to the review and approval procedures, public notification and changing some of the uses from special use permit (SUP) to by-right. He explained that the new UDO would be broken down into nine Articles to make it easier to understand. The procedures will clarify review responsibilities in a summary table, use standard procedures, add flowcharts and adjust selected procedures. He said there will be flow charts for each process to allow citizen to easily see the steps needed to take. Mr. Waldron said a company procedures manual may need to go with the UDO to explain further those items that are not in the UDO and that could be available at the same time as the UDO. Mr. Waldron said there are some inefficiency in the current process such as subdivisions and he proposed to adjust the minor/major subdivisions. He said it was unusual for final plats of subdivisions to come before City Council for approval and should be handled administratively. Mr. Ocel explained that currently preliminary plat review and approvals are done by the Planning Commission once approved the property owner has a vested right based on approval of that preliminary subdivision plat. He suggests that the Planning Commission review the plat and City Council approve the preliminary subdivision plat. After the preliminary plat is approved the final plat mirrors the preliminary that could be approved administratively by City Manager Cameron or Mr. Ocel. Several Councilors were concerned that important recommendations may not be followed through if they were not sent back to Council. Mr. Waldron stated that the staff would be responsible for taking care of that. Mr. Waldron stated that the site plan approval are normally done administratively, it’s unusual for site plans to go before Council for approval. Mr. Ocel stated that this would help with economic development because many do not want to go through the special use permit process because it takes too much time. Mr. Waldron explained that it’s the same issue with the flood process. On the administrative adjustments, Mr. Waldron suggested placing strict parameters and set limits and if these limits were met it would allow staff to make adjustments. Mr. Ocel said it would be in lieu of going to the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA), but if the adjustments 2 went beyond the limits it would go to the BZA for approval. Mr. Waldron noted that the Steering Committee was concerned about notification to adjoining property owners and they are putting a statement in the UDO saying adjustments can be made with notification to adjoining property owners. Mr. Ocel said this is similar to what is currently being done for the BZA process. Councilor Howe suggested that it be a registered letter to be sure the residents received it. Councilor Devine said she would prefer the posting instead of the letter because if you are not an adjoining property owner you wouldn’t know unless it’s posted. Councilor Howe also suggested putting the responsibility on the property owner to mail the certified letters and provide the City with the receipt. Mr. Waldron suggested that the city encourage shared parking in order to be more environmentally friendly. Councilor Howe expressed concern with liability for people who are not the employees or the customers for the owners of the lot. Mr. Waldron said that would not be the responsibility of the City. He also asked what would happen if the owner of the lot sold the property. Mr. Waldron explained that it should be an obligation that runs with the land. City Attorney Dooley said they must have an indemnity agreement and zoning approvals run with the land. Mr. Waldron reviewed the procedures table that will be located in the UDO to help with the development review structure. Mr. Ocel said right now the information is hard to find because it is scattered throughout the zoning ordinance and the procedures table would make it easier. On the topic of public notifications the mandate that came from the steering committee was no reduction in public participation. Mr. Waldron said all the changes will make the process more streamline and user friendly. Process for Annual Evaluations of Council Staff - Councilor Paolucci distributed a schedule for the evaluations of Council staff. She will forward the evaluation forms at the end of March. Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time, the meeting was declared officially adjourned at 6:33 p.m. _____Tonya B. Lacey_____ Tonya B. Lacey Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 3