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 November 15, 2016 Update on Small Area Planning – Streetsense Joint EDA Work Session The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Tuesday, November 15, 2016, beginning at 6:30 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 (6:53), Charlie L. Frye, Jr. (6:58) and Matthew J. Kelly. Councilor Absent. Councilor Bradford C. Ellis. Economic Development Authority Present. Chair Amy LaMarca (7:08), William Beck, Robert Carter, Michael Colangelo, Chris Muldrow and Joseph Wilson. Economic Development Authority Absent. Thomas Crimmins. Also Present. City Manager Timothy J. Baroody, Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, City Attorney Kathleen Dooley, Economic Development Director Bill Freehling, Economic Development Specialist Amy Peregoy, Community Planning and Building Development Director Charles Johnston, Deputy Director of Planning & Community Services Erik Nelson and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Others Present. Colin Green and Beth Hesler, Streetsense Consultants. Update on Small Area Planning. The Streetsense consultants were currently working on Areas 3 and 6. They have held 2 neighborhood meetings and they had a market analysis available online stating that the market in those two areas were saturated with commercial but there was potential for residential. The next step was to work on the plan. These area plans would provide policy guidance for land use and public facility improvements within the area. These plans would result in changes in the zoning district and boundaries although not significant. 1  Mr. Greene presented a PowerPoint that explained the process schedule, the evaluation of each area, and the transect zones, the regulating plans and the implementation of the plans. (See Attachment I for more information.) Joint EDA Work Session. Mayor Greenlaw thanked everyone for attending. She said this was an opportunity to draft a cohesive vision for the City. City Council recently held a retreat in October and the Council drafted a strategic vision. Mayor shared the draft 2036 vision statement (See Attachment II). Mr. Wilson stated that by 2036 the City would have to look at regional cooperation for schools and public safety. The Mayor added that the Council discussed regional partners in schools but they had not mention regional to the transportation statement. The Mayor explained that the purpose for the meeting and going forward was to find out where the lines intersected and to work toward a consensus on a shared vision that crosses everyone’s efforts. Those efforts being the City Council vision, the EDA’s Strategic Plan and Streetsense. EDA Chair LaMarca presented the EDA’s Draft 2016-2017 Strategic Plan. The EDA had several fact finding sessions and they wanted to create several identifying areas of opportunity for them to make an impact. She noted that previous Strategic Plans were not actionable documents. (See Attachment III). Councilor Kelly stated that several of the items were great, but he wanted to know what they were capable of doing and where they plan to put the focus. Ms. LaMarca said this was not a final plan this was an attempt to put ideas on the table and they would need to prioritize the initiatives. She said the hope was to present the information and later they would focus on four priorities. Councilor Kelly said the Council and EDA needed to determine what they could work on together. The Mayor explained that there was a three (3) year priority list and EDA and Council would need to determine where they could work together. Mr. Wilson stated that they needed to pinpoint specific issues and they would need to know what kind of financial support the City Council was going to provide. He said they needed to discuss how to bring fiber into the City, higher paying jobs, cultural vibrancy, and historic preservation ideas on transforming Princess Anne Street and the downtown parking. He said the EDA had done more for the revitalization than the City Council had done. He said without the downtown the City did not have much to attract people to the City. 2  Mr. Colangelo noted that they had been trying to meet with the Council for years and he said the reason for this meeting was so that the EDA and the City Council could begin to work together. He said he would like to showcase what the EDA’s needs were in the City and he would like to stop talking about who was going to do what and begin to work together. Councilor Devine said this was not you versus us this meeting was to look at the commonality to see where there was overlap between the Council’s vision and the EDA’s Strategic Plan. This would allow the EDA to work more effectively and to see where the City could best manage the City’s money. Councilor Devine thanked the EDA for their work but stated that they must narrow the page and said EDA could not do it all and City Council could not do it all they must work together. Mr. Wilson asked what the most vibrant economic driver in the City was, he suggested that it would be either tourism or healthcare. His point was to identify the top two and see how to nurture them and determine how to replace them if the need were to arise. Mr. Beck said for years the City thought it was tourism. He said he had never heard of the need for technology infrastructure but he thought that was important and the EDA should take ahold of the idea. Mr. Colangelo stated that tourism was dying and he asked what the new rising stars were. He said companies were coming through and they had their checklist and if the City did not have what they needed they will not come here. Ms. LaMarca added that the Transformation 2020 Process at University of Mary Washington identified government and government related services as the number one industry. She added that Fredericksburg was smaller than those counties around us. Ms. LaMarca said we need to be cognizant of this. Mr. Colangelo spoke about the infrastructure in the City and how it needed to be upgraded to accommodate the businesses that are coming. He noted that this should be considered and coordinated when the streets are opened for other work. Councilor Frye said the economic driver was the entire historic component and it was where people wanted to be. He said the City does a great job of watching what they have and looking for something greater. Councilor Devine added that the City had a huge commitment for economic development that was the reason for hiring Mr. Baroody. She said that should speak to their commitment. 3  Councilor Kelly did not feel like it was us against them, he said the City had limited resources to put towards anything. He said there must be a mission and the resources must be identified to be put toward that mission. He would like to see how the EDA and the Council would be able to work together and see what resources were available and how those resources would be disbursed and in what direction the resources should be directed in. Vice-Mayor Withers said what was important was that the EDA and the Council was talking and he suggested Mayor Greenlaw and Ms. LaMarca work together to come up with and agenda to work on. Mayor said one thing that had risen to the top was the infrastructure, Mr. Wilson said the other thing that needed to be addressed was the BPOL because the City was losing businesses to the Counties because of the BPOL tax. He asked how the City could get rid of that tax. Mayor Greenlaw said it could be eliminated if the City could find $6 million. Mr. Muldrow said maybe this was an incentive that the EDA could use by paying the BPOL tax for some period of time for a business. Vice-Mayor Withers agreed and suggested that maybe the Council could add to that. Ms. LaMarca noted that the EDA has abilities that were available to them that was not available to governing bodies and maybe that can be used as leverage. She hoped these meetings would help to augment some of the efforts to help retain businesses. Mr. Colangelo said there were times when things got tough and the City asked the EDA to take over certain things such as the Heritage Festival and by doing that the EDA had to put off doing things they had planned to do. He said they don’t want the City to push things off on them and then the City do what they want with their money. He doesn’t want the City paying less for economic development and pushing majority the cost off on the EDA. Mr. Baroody said there were many pieces that needed to be pushed together and his goal was to have a consensus plan of action for economic development. Ultimately, by the end of 2017 they would like the EDA to adopt its strategic plans and then move it to the Council for adoption. This would be the same words that everyone agree makes sense. He said one document was need to guide everyone to make this easier. Mr. Freehling said they would like to take one document and move it to the next level and create and Economic Development plan that was actionable and dictates the policies and priorities. 4  Mr. Freehling presented a PowerPoint presentation that discussed the initial steps which reviewed the 20 recommendations from the Garner plan. The presentation also covered other next steps. Councilor Duffy asked the process that would be used to get the Council and the EDA involved in the plan and Mr. Baroody said the next month he and Mr. Freehling would work together to bring something back in January to EDA and Council. The Council and EDA would vet what they have and let them know if they missed something. Mr. Freehling noted that creating one Strategic Economic Development plan that everyone could agree on would help with collaboration. Vice-Mayor Withers commented on the branding and said the work that Main Street had done was wonderful but there needed to be a brand for the whole City. Mayor Greenlaw said that was important for marketing. Councilor Kelly said successful communities were capable of going out and being proactive with getting the community’s message out. The City needed to have selling packages to use to sell the City. Vice-Mayor Withers explained that the branding was not marketing and the identity and marketing comes from the branding. Councilor Frye said the City missed opportunities when they build parking decks and not attach office buildings with them. He would like to see this in the future to allow more businesses in the City. Mr. Muldrow spoke on strategic acquisitions and added that the work the EDA does was on a sliding scale and he was proud of the incentives that they were able to provide to PURE business and Red Dragon. He said these incentives would help turn declining corridors into vibrant corridors. Mr. Muldrow said the City had good bones, a historic base and foundation and it could survive the declining cycles. Mr. Beck said he was not comfortable giving incentives to businesses unless it is going to benefit the public good. He said he would rather see the city’s process for opening a business be an easier process. Mr. Wilson said he would like to see a one stop shop for permitting. Mr. Baroody said Mr. Shaeffer, the new building official, would be working on making this happen. Mr. Baroody said he hoped to create an Economic Development team with staff from many departments on it. Councilor Kelly said he would like City Council and the EDA to be involved with the working group (3 from Council and 3 from the EDA) to come up with the next plan of action. 5  Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time. Mayor Greenlaw declared the work session officially adjourned at 8:53 p.m. ____Tonya B Lacey______ Tonya B. Lacey Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 6