City Council

CITY OF FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA HON. MARY KATHERINE GREENLAW, MAYOR HON. BRADFORD C. ELLIS, VICE -MAYOR, WARD ONE CITY COUNCIL HON. KERRY P. DEVINE, AT-LARGE HON. MATTHEW J. KELLY, AT-LARGE 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 October 9, 2012 Renwick Building Renovation and Re-Use The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Tuesday, October 9, 2012, beginning at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall Conference Room. Council Present. Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Presiding. Vice-Mayor Bradford C. Ellis. Councilors Kerry P. Devine, Frederic N. Howe, III, Matthew J. Kelly, Beatrice R. Paolucci, and George C. Solley. Also Present. City Manager Beverly R. Cameron, Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, City Attorney Kathleen Dooley, Director of Parks, Recreation and Public Facilities Robert Antozzi, Planning Director Ray Ocel, Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Renwick Building Renovation and Re-Use. Mr. Cameron reviewed the Renwick Decision Model. The goal of the model is to determine Council’s preferred renovation and re-use strategy for the Renwick building. In the PowerPoint presentation he discussed the objectives, the alternatives and the aggregation of judgments. There were six objectives used to evaluate Renwick: preserve iconic historic structure, repair and improve critical building systems of City facilities, facilitate economic development and/or tourism, meet long term space needs of City offices, retain public ownership and use and minimize land use that burdens parking capacity in the downtown. There were also six alternatives in the model used to evaluate Renwick: renovate for City offices and new Council Chamber, renovate for undetermined public use at City expense, sell to private party for re- development, lease to non-profit (non-profit bears full cost of renovation), lease to non-profit (City renovates to “warm lit shell”), and donate to a non-profit. Mr. Cameron reviewed the results. (See attachments for results). Vice-Mayor Ellis stated that he was not a fan of leasing the Renwick building and turning it into some sort of Economic Development project. He said the building should 1 continue to be used as a public building since it is one of the oldest historic buildings in the City. He did not feel Renwick was the building to use for Economic Development purposes. Mr. Cameron stated that the model gave a good background of information on the direction City Council would like to go with Renwick. Councilor Devine stated that was difficult for her to decide on a non-profit lease or donation because a use had not been identified. Councilor Solley said the non-profit questions were asked to determine if the City wanted to pay for renovations or have someone else pay for them. He said he would prefer someone else pay that was his reason for answering the way he did. Councilor Howe said it was difficult to answer the question because he did not know the pros and cons of leasing and selling the building. Mr. Cameron explained that a lot of the alternatives are conceptual and said it would be difficult to know because there was no specific arrangement with a lessee. Councilor Howe felt the building was going to turn out being another Maury because the building is facing the same alternative questions the City had with Maury except the fact that Renwick is a historic building. Councilor Paolucci said she felt a facilities study would be needed before Council explored the options for Renwick. She would like to know how much city space is needed. Councilor Solley suggested eliminating some of the options that the Council are not willing to do. Councilor Howe said he is concerned with giving to a non-profit, he would prefer to lease. Vice-Mayor Ellis reminded Council that staff was holding the work session on specific guidance from Council to make a decision on Renwick and parking. He said a facilities study would be nice, but there was no money for that. Councilor Devine said Council has all agreed that the building is a high priority and she would not like to have it referred to as another Maury over and over again. She said it seems council was down to three choices, renovating for City offices, lease to public agency and the City pays for renovations or the agency pays for the renovations. Councilor Kelly said the reason he did not participate was that the model lacked context and there were areas that had not been discussed before. He said the option of selling was never discussed and he didn’t understand why that was an option, he said neither had the need to shift office space. He said there was a lease option from the museum of the confederacy and 2 no discussions were held to determine what type leasing options were out there. He does not want to see new money put into this project because there are many other projects the City needs to look at. Vice-Mayor Ellis stated that Council did not come up with the alternatives staff did but staff was articulating what Council asked them to do. He said the result from the model will speak for themselves and selling it was not an option. Mayor Greenlaw agreed and felt the decision model helped with making a decision. Councilor Howe asked if there was an option on the table for selling Renwick and was a win win for the City why should that option be off the table. Vice-Mayor Ellis said he feels it should remain a City building because it’s part of the historic fabric of the City and its one of the most historic buildings in the nation. Councilor Paolucci said she agree with Vice-Mayor Ellis and it should not be sold. She said to sell Renwick would be a mistake. Councilor Solley said the only way to maintain control over what happens with the building is to own it. The reason to keep it is to control what happens to it. Councilor Kelly said the one group who offered to lease it said they would set aside space for City function like swearing in ceremony. He said there are various ways to go about leasing the building. He said he would like to have had a brainstorming session to determine possible uses. Councilor Solley said further discussion were needed and he said the City may want to explore options for leasing and checking to see who would be interested in leasing the building. He also was not in agreement with selling the building or donating it to a non-profit. Councilor Kelly said there was another aspect to the discussion and that is how the City approaches it. He said if the building was going to be leased, what Council would be willing to do to get possible lessees. Vice-Mayor Ellis agreed with Councilor Solley he does not want to sell or donate the building. Council all agreed that they do not want to sell or donate the building unless an exceptional deal was offered. Mayor Greenlaw was concerned with leasing the building because they would have to continue maintaining the building as they do for the museum as well as donate money to them. She does not want to see this kind of deal if the building is leased. 3  Councilor Solley suggested the staff prepare an analysis of the benefits of using the building for City office space and determine the viability of leasing the building. Vice-Mayor Ellis explained that would be a very expensive analysis. Mr. Cameron asked how Council would like that done if he does not have an agency wanting to lease. Councilor Solley suggested putting the work out and seeing if there are any agencies interested. Councilor Howe suggested using EDA to get the word out and to test the market. He also stated that he did not agree with renovating Renwick for city office space and a new Council Chamber. The money could be better spent on a new television system and other things to help better communicate to the citizens. Councilor Solley explained that he asked the City Manager for the pros and cons of moving to Renwick so that a better decision could be made. Mayor Greenlaw added that it’s not just a new Council Chamber and new offices, but it would be an improvement to City services because several offices are overcrowded in their current space. Councilor Howe felt no matter what decision was made the constituents would pass judgment on Council if they decided to move forward with new offices and a new chamber. Councilor Ellis said it could be a possible perception, but no one knows. Councilor Ellis stated that in the federal government, when they have vacant space they issue and Request for Information (RFI) and the information received from the RFI would shape the Request for Proposals (RFP). Councilor Howe suggested using the state solicitation system to see if there were any interested agencies for the use of the space. Mr. Cameron clarified the request from Council. He stated that on the higher ranked alternatives staff will do more analysis on the pros and cons and what the alternatives might have. Councilor Devine said it should be based on the long term goals. Councilor Kelly asked why the leasing options were limited to non-profit agencies only. City Manager Cameron explained that it can be too expensive for a City to fund renovations for the private industry. Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time, Mayor Greenlaw declared the work session officially adjourned at 6:36 p.m. Tonya B. Lacey Tonya B. Lacey Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 4