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 November 27, 2012 Unified Development Ordinance Riverfront Park Project The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Tuesday, November 27, 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, Planning Director Ray Ocel, Senior Planner Erik Nelson, Community Development Planner Marne Sherman and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Others Present. Chad Meadow, Clarion Associates. Unified Development Ordinance. Mr. Ocel began with discussion on downtown parking. In the proposed ordinance Clarion suggests the expansion of the downtown parking district to include the entire commercial downtown. This would allow staff to waive up to 5 parking places, and to count on street parking toward their parking requirement. They can also contribute to a parking fund. Clarions suggested reducing the required overall downtown parking by 50%. Vice-Mayor Ellis asked if the demand is there how do you address the demand and he asked what the value was in doing this. Mr. Ocel said it would make it easier for businesses. Mr. Meadows said they see other communities doing this and they also see that businesses that have parking allow the use of the spaces and they see developers who provide structured parking. He said the City could begin to send the message that they are ready for developers to provide parking. 1  Council continued discussion and agreed that there was a parking issue, but some were not sure about an overall parking plan for the entire downtown and others did not have a problem moving forward with the proposed parking requirements. Councilor Paolucci was concerned with where the people would park, who come downtown, to go to the Riverfront Park once it’s developed. Councilor Solley stated that parking was a part of the design process. He said the parking would be discussed and a decision must be made before they could move on with the park. Councilor Devine suggested looking at other interim measures such as having a shuttle for downtown to help alleviate the problem. She said it would take time to build more parking garages. Councilor Kelly stated the issue of parking needs to be addressed sooner rather than later because the big businesses that the City want downtown won’t come because of the parking issue. Vice Mayor Ellis said he didn’t feel a parking plan was needed he said the City could decide where to put the garage and put out a request for proposal. Mr. Meadows discussed accessory dwelling units such as apartments or secondary living units as part of a single family home. He said these are becoming more popular. Many communities are making these easier to house their population and accessory dwelling units is one of the ways many communities are packing them. The owner must live there, must be at least 300 feet in size and no larger than a 1,000 feet, and have one but no more than two parking spaces and it can only have one home occupation that takes place on the lot. Clarion suggests that these be allowed in most of the residential units unless its detached and it will require a special use permit. Some Councilors felt this was unnecessary and that it would cause more issues with the college students and Mr. Meadows suggested that if there was concern in the college area then place limits in that areas. Ms. Sherman also noted that affordable housing is one of the needs in the City and this is a way to get affordable housing and you would not have as many issues with the tenants because the home owner has to live on site. Mayor Greenlaw asked Council where they wanted staff to go from here. 2  Councilor Solley asked if a parking plan was done would it require changes to the ordinance and the UDO and Mr. Ocel said it would. Mr. Solley suggested going with the recommendation made by the consultant. Vice-Mayor Ellis stated that he did not think a parking requirement was needed and Mr. Ocel explained that the City would take on the responsibility of providing all the parking if there were no parking requirements. Mayor Greenlaw stated that the City had 16 representatives from the city sitting on the steering committee and a paid consultant and she was inclined to accept what they recommended. Councilor Howe stated that if there was no parking then there will be no customers and this will cause a revolving door of businesses downtown. Councilor Paolucci suggested that since the comprehensive plan was up for review maybe that should be done before the UDO is completed so that those plans can incorporate into the new UDO. She also noted that some of the comments and suggestions made from one of the steering committee members were not included in the document. Councilor Devine stated that she had no issues with going forward with the parking as proposed knowing it was a document that could be changed as the City grows. Councilor Paolucci said she had concerns with the parking and she suggested taking out the parking requirement. Riverfront Park. Councilor Solley said he had seriously considered everything that that had been written and he had not seen anything significant to postpone a project that had been in the plan for years. He said it has been a priority of past councils and was also listed as a priority for this Council. He said they taken the proper steps with considerable amount of public input. They selected a design firm as stated by Council’s priorities and the design firm was selected unanimously by the Taskforce and everyone involved. The contract has been negotiated over a period of time and the contractor is ready to begin the work. The work plan calls for considerable public and stakeholder input. The project has a great level of support from the City at large. He said he did not understanding why the project should be halted. Councilor Ellis said he did not feel it was wise to spend the money on a design that was not going to be implemented in the next few years. He said there are higher priorities such as a parking garage. He feels the parking has greater economic ramifications. 3  Councilor Solley said the design is a necessary phase to get the park. He said this isn’t an either or situation, the park was in the plan. Councilor Howe stated that he did not think the park was going to bring anything to the downtown or the Sophia Street corridor. He felt this was a project that he could get commercial developer to do and make a plan for the entire street. He would like to take the next two years to look at this and develop a plan for the entire corridor. Mayor Greenlaw stated that she had spoken with a couple of developers who were waiting for the park so that they could do what they have been planning to do along Sophia Street. Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time, Mayor Greenlaw declared the work session officially adjourned at 6:54 p.m. Tonya B. Lacey Tonya B. Lacey Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 4