City Council

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 Council Work Session September 20, 2016 Streetsense on Planning Area 3 and 6 Main Street and City Branding Economic Development Director Vacancy The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Tuesday, September 20, 2016, beginning at 5:30 p.m. in the City Hall Conference Room. Council Present. Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Presiding. Councilors William C. Withers, Jr., Kerry P. Devine, Timothy P. Duffy and Charlie L. Frye, Jr. (6:36). Councilor Absent. Councilors Bradford C. Ellis and Matthew J. Kelly. Also Present. City Manager Timothy J. Baroody, Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, City Attorney Kathleen Dooley, Planning Services Director Charles Johnston, Deputy Director Erik Nelson, Assistant Economic Development Director Bill Freehling, and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Also Present. Streetsense Team Lead Colin Greene, Streetsense Senior Project Designer Beth Helser, Streetsense Director of Research Heather Arnold and Partners for Eocnomic Solutions Founding Principle Abigail Ferretti, Main Street Executive Director Anne Glave, Byron Glaser and Sandra Higashi with the Higashi Glaser Design, Nick Seay from Beveridge Seay Identity and Brand Consultants, and Mike Carmody from Dovetail Resource Group. Streetsense on Planning Area 3 and 6. Deputy Planning Director Nelson introduced the Streetsense members and Mr. Greene explained how they were selected to do the Area Plan work. He said they do work for public as well as private agencies. The scope of their work involves areas 6 and 3. He said they would like to look at the scope of work for a 9 month period of time. They would engage with the citizens in the areas. 1  Mr. Greene said they met with members in Neighborhood 3 and they asked several questions and came up with a map that showed how Neighborhood 3 felt about itself. They did the same with Neighborhood 6 and they generated a map for that neighborhood as well. See attached PowerPoint for more information. They will take this information and show how developers, private investors and the City see these areas. Mr. Greene said they would help the City to determine what would be a great fit for the neighborhoods, and whether there was talent to design what was needed and whether the City had the rules and tools in place to make these things happen. Ms. Ferretti explained that when they were looking at the neighborhoods they looked at the entire market place not just the individual neighborhoods. For the residential in Area 6 they could see the potential for smaller single family units as well as age restricted. There was also potential for neighborhood office space such as insurance, lawyers and dental offices. Ms. Ferretti also said there was potential for small hospitality such a 25 room hotel. In Area 3, they saw there was potential for $300,000-$400,000 homes in the market and there may be more of a shift into the townhomes. They noted that there was a real limitation for the office market in Area 3. There are some Class B&C office space that was weighing the area down but if they were eliminated then there could be more growth in the office sector. The hotels in the area are growing but there is still too much to suggest there needed to be additional lodging in the area. Area 6 along Route 1 was dated and has been affected by the Route 3 development. Area 3 was also an outdated product because of the Route 3 development. Both Areas 3 and 6 has potential for grocery stores but are strongly impacted by the Wegman’s. Wegman’s, although great for the City, it keeps other grocers away. Ms. Arnold said that any large scale development in Area 3 would create incremental retail demand. Councilor Duffy asked about the need to redevelop but he wanted to know how to do that without the risk of that demand finding a new place such as moving to a nearby county. Ms. Arnold said that was a risk factor no matter where you go. As areas are redeveloped the demand finds a new place but people eventually go back to what they are used to. She said they got the sense from the people that they love Fredericksburg. Councilor Frye asked the members from Streetsense what they would do with the entrance at Route 1. Mr. Greene said he would like to see decluttering of some of the things 2 there and figure out what to do from there. He said to him there was a lot of noise at that entrance. Councilor Devine added that they were trying to add beauty to the entrances by the way of art. City Manager Baroody said they were currently looking at decluttering and he had just asked about removing the big green signs from that entrance. Vice-Mayor Withers asked about age restricted housing in Area 6 near the hospital and he asked if that area would be a good place for age restricted housing and Ms. Ferretti said there were a few good areas in Areas 3 and 6. Mr. Greene talked about downsizing the number of hotel rooms on Princess Anne Street in order make the neighborhood more livable and they would make suggestions on what should go in that area. Ms. Arnold talked about reasons for doing a market analysis in order to determine what type of development should go in certain areas. She said when they explain the market they are informing the city about its negotiating positions. Main Street and City Branding. Ms. Glave said the taskforce that was created was looking to brand the Historic District of the downtown. They received a grant from the State for $12,000 and Main Street matched it with an additional $13,000 which will go towards the concept. They were looking to allocate another $15,000 for the design of the project as well as applying for an additional grant from the State for $25,000. Ms. Glave was pretty certain they may get that award from the State. Ms. Glave stated that the Taskforce consisted of Nick Seay of Beveridge Seay, Julie Perry, Visitor Center Manager, Bob Whittingham of Whittingham, Gabe Pons of Pons Shop and herself. The first thing the Taskforce did was a survey which was geared to the community and the merchants. The conclusion of the survey resulted in several key brand attributes (see attached for more information). Ms. Glave presented a PowerPoint that explained what is a Brand, the Branding Positioning and the Brand Promise. Ms. Higashi described the thought process behind the design of the branding and why they chose the shapes and colors and how they came up with the “Forever Revolutionary”, which she thought would tie in nicely with Forever Timeless. In the PowerPoint, they also showed the sample wayfinding signs and banners. The banners would be color coded to represent each aspect of the City: Bars and Eateries, Shops and Services, History and Landmarks, River and Recreation, Studio and Galleries and Battlefields and Memorials. The open late flags that fly will also be color coded to match each of the areas listed previously. 3 They propose to hangs the banners along Lafayette Boulevard in front of the train station. Ms. Glave also showed samples of window coverings for empty window fronts and sample gift cards using the same color coding. Fredericksburg Main Street is also in the process of redesigning its website. Nick Seay said he volunteered to help with this because he has watch the City fumble with its branding for years and he wanted to give back to the City. Councilor Devine said she struggled with the cursive writing on the banners because millennials cannot read cursive writing. Ms. Higashi said the cursive is emotive and the scripted words are in print. Mr. Glaser explained that the cursive reflects the history and if they cannot read that they will get it from the picture. Councilor Duffy said these banner were a part of the history but he thought it was missing the racial and ethnic background and he wish it could be incorporated in the banners especially for the millenials. Mr. Glaser said the images would refresh and change and he would hope to incorporate it in some of the future banners. Mr. Seay stated that the branding must not be run by politics and there must be a brand champion. He said the brand is so important and must be adhered to and it must stay with the fundamentals and guidelines or it would crumble. Mr. Seay said the branding must be consistent. Mr. Glaser said the Market Square area can become a gallery for the banners. He said it could become a way to have artist express themselves. Ms. Higashi said this was a reminder of pride of place. Councilor Frye also said we need to add some type of diversity. He said we need to add something that will grab everyone’s attention. Councilor Frye said the ideas were great but he would like to see more diversity. Ms. Higashi said they could also do more of that on the website and Ms. Glave said they plan to tell more of the unique stories on the website. She said it was a matter of scripting the experience for the visitors. Ms. Glave said the intent was to get into the local experience. Ms. Glave said Main Street would allow the downtown business to use the brand (the FBXG Circle) and incorporate it in their marketing at no charge and this would help further brand the downtown. 4  Councilor Devine asked if there would be products on sale at the Visitor Center and Ms. Glave said they had not gone into the next phase of marketing but they plan to do that in the next phase. Councilor Frye asked if there was a way to link up with other Main Street and advertise each of the Main Streets. Ms. Glave said she could present that to the State because she was not sure they could do it. She said there were 28 in Virginia and 2200 nationwide. City Branding. Mr. Freehling presented the City Branding PowerPoint. The PowerPoint showed samples of the many logos used in the City. There were thirteen (13) different logos in use and ten (10) different styles of business cards without the city seal and six (6) versions of the business bare using the city seal. The City Manager requested the staff committee to start the process of developing a cohesive graphic presentation of the City. The Committee consisted of representative from each of these offices: City Manager, City Attorney, Economic Development and Tourism, Fire, Parks and Recreation/Building & Maintenance, Planning and Building and Police. The Committee identified several sources that could be used to identify, authenticate and symbolize the City. (See attached for more information) The Committee came across a few issues and they learned that all the symbols were rooted in history and may not be suitable for broad applications and may not appeal to all age groups. The graphics need be designed with computer and internet usage in mind. They also noted that there were several boards and departments with their own identity that should be accommodated. The Committee also determined that neighborhood identification was also appropriate. The Committee’s next phase was to create design guidelines, implementation internally on business cards, letterhead and website, and external implementation. City Manager Baroody stated that there was work to be done. He said the challenges have been acknowledged and confirmed by outside organizations. He said they would walk carefully down the path so that they can create infrastructure of a widespread City design standard. He said the City wanted to be more efficient in how the City communicated who it is. Mr. Baroody said he would like to get some outside help. Vice-Mayor Withers asked if the City was trying to change the Timeless Brand and Mr. Baroody said that was not the plan because that would include Spotsylvania and Stafford. Vice-Mayor Withers said his concern was that the City was only branding the downtown and not the whole City. Ms. Higashi and Mr. Glaser said they would love to work with the City but 5 they have a preliminary solution of how to make all the branding work and they would be willing to share even if they were not used. Mr. Seay warned that the City must get a pro to work with the committee and he said the image problem must be solved first before thinking about guidelines. Councilor Devine said she understands there needed to be some cohesiveness but she would like to be sensitive to the commission who have created their own logos. Streetlighting. Mike Carmody, Vice-President at Dovetail and the Chair of the Design Committee for Main Street. The other committee members are David Dorsey, Bob Whittinghan, Bill Carol, Carolyn Helfrich and Ken Kroko. Mr. Carmody said there was no access to electricity anymore because the lights were blowing fuses and that was hazardous. He said they would like to bring lights back to the curb but the challenge was how to do it without electricity. They were suggesting using laser units and projecting them into the trees along Caroline Street and William Street. He suggested that maybe they could keep the lights up during the dark winter season but change the colors. Councilor Devine asked what times would the lights be projected and how much of an investment this would be. Mr. Carmody said between 6:30 and 7:00 and turned off by 11:00. The total cost will be about $8,000 Main Street would invest $4,000 and they were planning to apply for an EDA grant. They hoped to be able to get more equipment for the next year. He hoped that this equipment would last about five years and hopefully by that time the electrical would be fixed so that they can put the lights back on the trees. Councilor Devine expressed her concerns about the colors she would prefer to do white lights only and Ms. Glave said they may have to scale back if they don’t get the grant from the EDA. Mr. Carmody added that because of the cost of the white light they would only be able to do so few that it would not be worth purchasing them. Economic Development Director Vacancy. Mr. Baroody distributed to Council paperwork that showed what he would be looking for in a Director. He reported that there were 57 applicants and there was a committee that would be doing the interviewing. The committee would consist of Robert Bell from Human Resources, Suzanne Tills from Information Technology and the Mayor. Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time. Mayor Greenlaw declared the work session officially adjourned at 8:07 p.m. 6 _____Tonya B. Lacey_____ Tonya B. Lacey Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 7