City Council

Public Hearing 06/09/15 CITY OF FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA HON. MARY KATHERINE GREENLAW, MAYOR HON. WILLIAM C. WITHERS, JR., VICE -MAYOR, WARD TWO CITY COUNCIL HON. KERRY P. DEVINE, AT-LARGE HON. MATTHEW J. KELLY, AT-LARGE HON. BRADFORD C. ELLIS, WARD ONE HON. DR. TIMOTHY P. DUFFY, WARD THREE Council Chambers, 715 Princess Anne Street HON. CHARLIE L. FRYE, JR., WARD FOUR Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401 June 9, 2015 The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia, held a public hearing on Tuesday, June 9, 2015, beginning at 7:34 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall. City Council Present. Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Vice-Mayor William C. Withers, Jr. and Council members Kerry P. Devine, Dr. Timothy P. Duffy, Bradford C. Ellis, Charlie L. Frye, Jr. and Matthew J. Kelly. Also Present. Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, City Attorney Kathleen Dooley, Budget Manager Amanda Lickey, Police Chief David Nye, Captain Brian Layton, and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Notice of Public Hearings (D15-211). The Clerk read the notice of the public hearings as they appeared in the local newspaper, the purpose being to solicit citizen input. Resolution 15-35, Approved, Authorizing the City Manager to Apply to the Virginia Resources Authority for Financing for Rappahannock Regional Solid Waste Management Board Capital Construction Costs, and Declaring Intent to Borrow Those Funds. (D15- 211). – one speaker. Assistant Manager Whitley explained that the R-Board was rapidly running out of capacity at the Cell F1. The R-Board has accepted bids and need to 18961 Public Hearing 06/09/15 authorize construction for Cell F2, which is estimated to last approximately 7 years. The total cost for the new cell is $5,169,499. The R-Board’s cash reserves would only allow the use of approximately $1 million towards this project. The remaining $4 million plus would need to be borrowed but the R-Board does not have the ability to borrow on its own and the City and Stafford County must borrow on behalf of the R-Board. The bids for the new cell expire mid-June. Mr. Whitley also explained that the “Notice of Intent to Borrow” will allow the City to provide all or part of the funds in advance of receiving the loan from the Virginia Resources Authority (VRA) if it were necessary. The proposed bond issuance with the VRA would be secured by a pledge of the gross revenues of the R-Board. The City would not be providing a General Obligation pledge, and as a result the bonds would not count against the City’s legal debt limit or policy debt limit. Councilor Kelly explained how the debt would be paid off and he also described the long term plans as well as other long term solutions. Ryguy Mau Muhammed, 1112 Caroline Street, Member of the Green Party, spoke on waste management and stated it was a shady business. He said the Green Party deals with waste management and it has found that it used as a front for the mob, to run illegal activities. He asked that Council keep this in mind. Councilor Kelly moved approval of Resolution 15-35, authorizing the City Manager to apply to the Virginia Resources Authority for financing for Rappahannock Regional Solid Waste Management Board capital construction costs, and declaring intent to borrow those funds; motion was seconded by Vice-Mayor Withers and passed by the following unanimously recorded votes. Ayes (7). Councilors Greenlaw, Withers, Devine, 18962 Public Hearing 06/09/15 Duffy, Ellis, Frye and Kelly. Nays (0). Resolution 15-34, Second Read Approved, Amending the Fiscal Year 2016 Budget in the Amount of $2,600,000 for the Purpose of Financing Rappahannock Regional Solid Waste Management Board Capital Construction Costs. Councilor Kelly made a motion to approve Resolution 15-34, on second read, amending the Fiscal Year 2016 Budget in the amount of $2,600,000 for the purpose of financing Rappahannock Regional Solid Waste Management Board capital construction costs; motion was seconded by Vice-Mayor Withers and passed by the following recorded votes. Ayes (7). Councilors Greenlaw, Withers, Devine, Duffy, Ellis, Kelly and Frye. Nays (0). Adjournment. There being no speakers to come before the Council at this time, Mayor Greenlaw declared the hearing officially adjourned at 7:47 p.m. Mary Katherine Greenlaw Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Mayor Tonya B. Lacey Tonya B. Lacey, Clerk of Council, CMC 18963 Public Hearing 06/09/15 [This page intentionally left blank.] 18964 Regular Session 06/09/15 CITY OF FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA HON. MARY KATHERINE GREENLAW, MAYOR HON. WILLIAM C. WITHERS, JR., VICE -MAYOR, WARD TWO CITY COUNCIL HON. KERRY P. DEVINE, AT-LARGE HON. MATTHEW J. KELLY, AT-LARGE HON. BRADFORD C. ELLIS, WARD ONE HON. DR. TIMOTHY P. DUFFY, WARD THREE Council Chambers, 715 Princess Anne Street HON. CHARLIE L. FRYE, JR., WARD FOUR Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401 June 9, 2015 The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia, held a regular session on Tuesday, June 9, 2015, beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall. City Council Present. Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Vice-Mayor William C. Withers, Jr. and Council members Kerry P. Devine, Dr. Timothy P. Duffy, Bradford C. Ellis, Charlie L. Frye, Jr. and Matthew J. Kelly. Also Present. Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, City Attorney Kathleen Dooley, Budget Manager Amanda Lickey, Police Chief David Nye, Captain Brian Layton, and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Opening Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance. Council was led in prayer by Councilor Bradford C. Ellis followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw. Officer Recognized. Mayor Greenlaw recognized the presence of Officer Leo Manster at this evening’s meeting. Public Hearing Conducted (D15-211). The regular session was recessed in order to conduct the scheduled public hearings and immediately reconvened upon their conclusion. Citizen Comment. The following speakers came forward to participate in the 18965 Regular Session 06/09/15 citizen comment portion of this evening's meeting. Marilyn Brown, Countryside Apartments, Ladysmith, VA, She requested that Council look into allowing a Stafford cab company to pick up in the City, so that she could get to work. Amy Tash, 1309 Princess Anne Street, spoke in reference to the Happy Endings. She was concerned that Council had not listened to the DVD’s she previously provided and stated that the patrons were talking about using heroin and not having their identification. She requested that Council make the restaurant close nightly at 9:00 p.m. because the noise was affecting her sleep. She asked for the support of Council. Tom Byrnes, 209 Fauquier Street, spoke on the Happy Endings restaurant. Mr. Byrnes expressed his antipathy with staff’s suggestions in the memo to Council dated June 4, 2015. Council Agenda Presented. The following items were presented to Council. 7A. Restaurants/Bars as an Allowable Use By-Right in Commercial Districts that Adjoin Neighborhoods – Vice-Mayor Withers 7B. Noise Ordinance as it Pertains to Construction – Vice-Mayor Withers Restaurants/Bars as an Allowable Use By-Right in Commercial Districts that Adjoin Neighborhoods, Vice-Mayor Withers asked for Council’s support in moving forward with requiring special use permits for all restaurants/bars, that have alcohols sales and that are located in the Commercial-Transitional (C-T) zones with adjoining neighborhoods. He thought making this change would help the City have a little more leverage in the future. Councilor Kelly agreed this was an ongoing issue that needed a comprehensible 18966 Regular Session 06/09/15 approach to it. He also noted there were other commercial areas in the City that have issues and he said the City needed to look at all establishments that are open beyond midnight that is within a certain distance to residential neighborhoods. Vice-Mayor Withers said he did not address all commercial districts because not all commercial districts back up to residential neighborhoods. Planning Director Johnston said there was no perfect solution but he would look into placing time limits on those businesses that sell alcohol. He was going to draft up something to send to the Planning Commission for review. Councilor Devine was happy to start with C-T, but she said there was a lot more residential houses being built where there was not any before. She said this could become more of an issue and she was looking forward to the discussions. Councilor Ellis noted that Council did not have the ability to restrict the hours of bars/restaurants currently because there was no ordinance to allow them to do so. Councilor Duffy thought it was a great idea to move this forward, but he was concerned with the impact of commercial development on residential neighborhoods. Vice-Mayor Withers also noted there were other properties with similar issues such as the property on Lafayette Boulevard. This property is currently zoned Commercial-Highway between Jackson and Shepherd Streets. He asked for Council’s support in asking staff to look into transitioning this area to C-T. Councilor Frye asked whether changing the zones would affect current businesses and Mr. Johnston explained that current businesses could continue to operate as a non- conforming use as long as it did not close down for more than two years. Councilor Kelly noted that Vice-Mayor Withers proposal was a good first step, but 18967 Regular Session 06/09/15 he felt the focus needed to be more on the hours of operation and usage rather than the zoning. Mayor Greenlaw agreed that Council needs to be cautious about what needed to be done. Mr. Johnston stated that he would try to address both hours of operation and alcohols sales. Vice-Mayor Withers made a motion to have the Planning staff bring back recommendations for special use permits for restaurant/bars in the C-T Zoning; motion was seconded by Councilor Devine and passed by the following unanimously recorded votes. Ayes (7). Councilors Greenlaw, Withers, Devine, Duffy, Ellis, Frye and Kelly. Nays (0). Vice-Mayor Withers made a motion to have Planning staff look into the C-H zoning on Lafayette Boulevard and bring back recommendations; motion was seconded by Councilor Kelly and passed by the following unanimously recorded votes. Ayes (7). Councilors Greenlaw, Withers, Devine, Duffy, Ellis, Frye and Kelly. Nays (0). Noise Ordinance as it Pertains to Construction, Vice-Mayor Withers stated that he had received several complaints about the construction noise from 7:00 am to 7:00 p.m. on the weekdays and from 9:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. on the weekends. He said after speaking with Mr. Johnston they have learned of only one other jurisdiction that restricts the construction on weekends and holidays and that was Winchester. He requested to restrict the time in residential neighborhoods that were established. He asked for Council’s thoughts. Councilor Frye was concerned with placing a time restriction on the weekends and holidays because what if there was bad weather all week and the only time to work is on the weekend. Vice-Mayor said he understood that this could be an issue for those who can 18968 Regular Session 06/09/15 only work on the weekends, but he stressed that he was only looking at construction in established neighborhoods with infill lots. Councilor Devine agreed that this was a problem in the infill lots and she was interested in knowing how other communities dealt with this. Councilor Ellis said he lived in a newer neighborhood and he felt 9:00 a.m. to 9 p.m. was reasonable because it was a temporary issue. Councilor Kelly said the City needed to get a better handle on the noise violation issues because of the way the ordinance was written. Councilor Duffy said he would hate to rule out any day and he hoped people would be reasonable. Vice-Mayor Withers clarified that he only wanted to shorten the hours on weekends and holidays. Mayor Greenlaw said she hoped neighbors would talk and take the neighbors into consideration and find a happy medium with each other. Vice-Mayor Withers said he wanted to get Council’s opinion and he recognizes Council was not in favor of changing the times so he would not push this forward. City Manager’s Consent Agenda Accepted for Transmittal as Recommended (D15-212 thru D15-216). Following review and as recommended, Councilor Kelly moved approval of the City Manager's consent agenda item; motion was seconded by Councilor Devine and passed by the following unanimously recorded votes. Ayes (7). Councilors Greenlaw, Withers, Devine, Duffy, Ellis, Frye and Kelly. Nays (0). • Ordinance 15-14, Second Read, Amending the Fares Charged for the FREDericksburg Regional Transit System (D15-212). 18969 Regular Session 06/09/15 • Resolution 15-31, Second Read, Amending the Fiscal Year 2015 Social Services Fund by $422,000 to Appropriate Additional State and Federal Funding (D15-213). • Resolution 15-36, Certifying to the Virginia Retirement System the City of Fredericksburg Employer Contribution Rate Effective July 1, 2015 (D15-214). • Transmittal of Boards and Commission Minutes o Fredericksburg Clean and Green Commission – May 4, 2015 (D15-215). o Planning Commission – May 13, 2015 (D15-216). Adoption of Minutes (D15-217). Councilor Devine moved approval of the April 14, 2015 Work Session minutes and the May 26, 2015 Public Hearing and Regular Session minutes; motion was seconded by Councilor Kelly and passed by the following unanimously recorded votes. Ayes (7). Councilors Greenlaw, Withers, Devine, Duffy, Ellis, Frye and Kelly. Nays (0). Resolution 15-36, Approved, Declaring Official Intent Regarding Reimbursement of Certain Expenditures from Proceeds of City Obligations (D15-218). Councilor Kelly made a motion to approve Resolution 15-36, declaring official intent regarding reimbursement of certain expenditures from proceeds of city obligation; motion was seconded by Councilor Duffy and passed by the following recorded votes. Ayes (7). Councilors Greenlaw, Withers, Devine, Duffy, Ellis, Frye and Kelly. Nays (0). City Manager’s Report and Council Calendar (D15-219 thru D15- 221). Assistant City Manager Whitley asked if there were any questions regarding the 18970 Regular Session 06/09/15 Manager’s report or the Council Calendar. Activities highlighted on the report were as follows: Updated FRED Bus Stops, Managing the Nightlife, Employee Health and Wellness Fair, Building Construction Report for April 2015 and Property Maintenance Report for April 2015. Happy Endings (D15-220). – Police Chief Nye presented five videos that were provided to him by Ms. Amy Tash for review. The videos were to show how loud the patrons are after leaving Happy Endings. Mayor noted that the speaker had spoken of hearing the patrons referencing heroin etc. but she did not hear that and she asked Chief Nye if he had heard that and he said he did not. City Attorney believed the speaker was talking about other videos that she had in reference to the heroin. Councilor Kelly noted that this was no different from a typical Saturday night in College Heights with college students leaving a party except this was occurring seven days a week. In those cases a complaint is made and the Police makes the students move on. He said he would like to allow the citizens to bring in videos for Council to see and Mayor Greenlaw and Chief Nye noted these were videos provided by the citizens. Ms. Dooley explained that when the police received the calls many times the Officers are on scene or they respond briefly thereafter. The Officers are observing people outside of the homes who are talking in small groups. She explained that the Officers are observing the same activity that the complaints are coming in for, but they are not observing any criminal violations so they cannot arrest anyone. When the May 12 memo was written, staff did not find a basis for public nuisance and the standards for that are the current ordinance to include the noise ordinance, health regulations, ABC regulations, 18971 Regular Session 06/09/15 over serving, fights, assaults etc. as has been seen in larger restaurants. This restaurant does not have any of these violations so the City has no basis to order them to shut down or to close at 9:00 p.m. Ms. Dooley explained that a private nuisance is a lower standard than a public nuisance and if the activity unreasonably interferes with the neighbors that may be a private nuisance, and the neighbors could file a civil suit together. This option was laid out in the May 12 memo. Ms. Dooley addressed the patio and noted that there was an ordinance that required the patio to close at 10:00 p.m. and she said the City could do a better job at communicating that to the restaurant. Zoning Administrator Michael Craig had already done this by sending them a letter. She said the City liked to give everyone an opportunity to understand and comply with the zoning. The City also had a meeting with the restaurant to explain how to taper off the operations so they could comply. Staff also said they would try to help mediate the situation and try to come up with a compromise. Staff will continue to monitor the situation and if anything were to come up they would come back and report if something were to merit Council’s attention. Councilor Devine said it’s the coming and goings that are bothersome, but that does not always arise to a violation of the noise ordinance because people usually move along. She asked if the patio could be regulated more forcefully. She suggested making the last call at 9:30 so that they could close the patio at 10:00 p.m. Councilor Devine also stated that in the past the City has asked other establishments to police their areas so that they are responsible for their guest she suggested doing the same with Happy Endings. Councilor Frye stated that the videos provided were very mild compared to some of the others he had seen. He commended the neighbors for their documenting. He agreed 18972 Regular Session 06/09/15 that there was a problem, but the videos provided did not show the problems the neighbors were speaking about. Councilor Kelly also noted that there were other videos worse than these provided. He feels that hailing for a cab at 3:00 a.m. should be considered a noise violation. He noted there are other issues downtown with domestic disputes, fights, etc. and it’s a resource drain on the Police Department. He said he would like to give the neighbors an opportunity to show their videos. He asked staff to look into some of the following suggestions and see if they were feasible: enforcement for public intoxication, sobriety check-points, spot checking the bars, increased fines for public urination, defecation and littering and enforcing the noise ordinance. He said he believes there are things that can be done to help. Councilor Frye noted that other restaurants were being compared to Happy Endings, but he said the difference in those restaurants was that the owners of the establishment were calling for the police and in this case the residents were calling with the complaints. He again stressed that the videos provided did not adequately show what the neighbors were going through. He asked Council not to get off track of the real issues and try to come up with solutions. Councilor Ellis said he found it interesting that the videos provided did not convey what the speaker had previously spoken about. He offered a suggestion that they used when he did shore patrol. He noted the noise was kind of a trade off when living next door to a bar. Vice-Mayor Withers said he was upset to read that the City had the most bars per capita. He said this problem was not just at Happy Ending but it was a problem all over 18973 Regular Session 06/09/15 the downtown. He suggested that if the City was going to have the highest number of bars per capita that the City would need more officers and they would need to be on foot patrol when the bars closed. He said the City should not be known for this. Mayor Greenlaw explained that this block had been half commercial and half residential for 100 years or more. There has been a restaurant on that site since the 1930’s and they have sold alcohol according to the laws at the time. She said both the citizens and the businesses need to be respected. She said over the years the laws related to the commercial residents specifically restaurants have changed to meet the needs of the combined neighborhoods. Mayor Greenlaw said the current restaurant was obeying the rules and by the legal definition could not be declare as a public nuisance. She noted there was a concern and the neighbors needed to work together and be considerate of each other. She thanked and commended staff for working and trying to find solutions. Staff has been persistent at working on this despite the constant borage of insulting emails. Mayor Greenlaw said it would take the work of the neighbors along with the City to work this out. Councilor Kelly asked that staff look into all the suggestions that were presented and with the noise ordinance he asked when staff would come back with a review. Ms. Dooley said she did not have a timeframe for bringing that back. She added that, in 2010, the noise ordinance was amended and it dropped the reasonable person standard to substitute a plainly audible standard, plainly audible across property lines. Ms. Dooley said Assistant City Attorney Rob Eckstrom was working on this to see it could be made more effective, but she was not sure when it would be ready to come to Council. Vice-Mayor Withers asked if the standards could be different based on the time of day. 18974 Regular Session 06/09/15 She noted that hours were in the ordinance about when noise is permissible, but it could be a factor. Additional City Manager Updates. – Assistant City Manager Whitley notes the Soap Box Derby which would be held on Saturday, June 13, from 5:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on William Street. Mr. Whitley also reported that the City had its 3rd Annual Rappahannock United Way Golf Tournament. There were a total of 109 golfers, 28 teams and the sponsors provided generous support. The next tournament will be June 13, 2016. Mayor Greenlaw complimented the Economic Development Authority and she thanked Mary Washington Healthcare for co-sponsoring a successful business appreciation event. Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time, Mayor Greenlaw declared the meeting officially adjourned at 9:49 p.m. Mary Katherine Greenlaw Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Mayor Tonya B. Lacey Tonya B. Lacey, Clerk of Council, CMC 18975 Regular Session 06/09/15 [This page intentionally left blank.] 18976