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 Joint Council/ Architectural Review Board Work Session February 20, 2018 The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Tuesday, February 20, 2018, beginning at 6:00 p.m. at the Executive Plaza in the third floor training room. Council Present. Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Presiding. Vice-Mayor Withers, Councilors Kerry P. Devine, Timothy P. Duffy, Charlie L. Frye, Jr. and Matthew J. Kelly. Council Absent. Councilor Bradford C. Ellis, out of town. Architectural Review Board Present. Chairman Jonathan Gerlach. Board members Kerri Barile, Karen Irvin, Susan Pates, Sabina Weitzman. Architectural Review Board Absent. Board Members Carthon Davis and James Whitman. Also Present. City Manager Timothy J. Baroody, City Attorney Kathleen A. Dooley, Planning and Building Services Director Charles Johnston, Historic Resources Planner Kate Schwartz, Community Development Planner Susanna Finn, Economic Development Director Bill Freehling and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Others Present. Rev. Joe Hensley, Jr. Facilitator. Mayor Greenlaw opened with a brief statement staying that the City had been fortunate to retain its character and she said it was up to the Council and the ARB to keep it that way, even with the growth. Chairman Gerlach introduced Pastor of the St. George’s Baptist Church Joe Hensley who facilitated the meeting. Rev. Hensley said he had nothing to gain from facilitating and that he was there to help everyone understand what they were at the meeting to do. He set the rules of the meeting in order before the start of the meeting. Ms. Schwartz reviewed the 2010 Historic Preservation Plan and Annual ARB statistics. (See attachments). 1 Question 2 Rev. Hensley asked the Council and ARB what they thought the biggest challenges facing the historic district and these were some of the stated challenges: staying ahead of the community curve, historic preservation did not designate with the millennials, the lack of real estate, developers wanting to build bigger and higher, difficulty in maintaining the scale in the historic district, reactive instead of proactive, planning versus preservation, availability of appropriate materials for fair evaluations, applicants need to be more open minded, economic hardship and whether it should be an ARB purview, institutional memory, style breakdowns, allowing the City to grow with each century and scale and massing. Councilor Kelly suggested that if there was better communication on the front end with applicants many problems could be avoided. He also said there needed to be a plan that was doable for all parties. Councilor Kelly said there would be continuous problems until a preservation plan was fully implemented and it needed to be implemented in all city operations. He said there needed to be a periodic review of the plan and process by organizations such as HFFI, Fredericksburg Preservation, etc. Rev. Hensley asked whether anything needed changing in the plan and Councilor Kelly suggested the implementation and that the plan should be for the entire City and not just the Historic District. Question 3 Rev. Hensley asked how could they ensure coordination, cooperation and transparency among the ARB, Council, Planning staff and the public and the following suggestions were made: have representatives from each meet on a regular basis, ARB/City Council meet regularly, after decisions are made and have caused problem revisit and ask what could have been done better, meet jointly on major projects and establish mentoring for applicants. Staff stated that managing expectation of applicant was the biggest challenge. Question 4 Rev. Hensley asked how the City could foster consistency in the ARB decision-making process and the following was offered: improving perception of fairness and consistency, providing the ARB with financial expert resources, cross training on preservation for other departments and creating case studies and putting them on the website. An issue that was brought up from an ARB member was that applicants were not always submitting complete application that are fully descriptive. 2  Councilor Devine mentioned that sometimes the work has been completed without ARB approval and she asked how that problem could be fixed and Councilor Kelly said there were enforcement abilities but the City has yet to use them. Question 5 Rev. Hensley asked what economic incentives could be used to encourage high quality historic preservation projects and Mr. Gerlach said it raised red flags for some ARB members at the suggestion of giving incentive to new construction. He said they thought it would be better to only incentivize restoration and rehabilitation projects in the Historic District. Councilor Kelly said the one thing the City has is its historic character. He said restaurants come and go but the character stays and if a project works for the City it should determine if it should be incentivized. Question 6 Rev. Hensley asked City Council and ARB to plan for the creation of a working group to substantively work on the topics identified. Mayor Greenlaw suggested the following groups be a part of the working group: the development community, National Park Service, University of Mary Washington, HFFI, ARB, City Council, staff, Planning Commission, resident inside and outside the Historic District and Economic Development staff. Councilor Kelly suggest that the group be given an outline of the topics to the group for recommendation. Mr. Baroody said he and staff would put information together for City Council’s approval to create the working group. Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time. Mayor Greenlaw declared the session officially adjourned at 7:42 p.m. ___Tonya B. Lacey _______ Tonya B. Lacey Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 3