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. JASON N. GRAHAM, 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 August 16, 2018 Riverfront Park Discussions The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Thursday, August 16, 2018, beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers. Council Present. Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Presiding. Vice-Mayor Withers, Councilors Kerry P. Devine, Timothy P. Duffy, Charlie L. Frye, Jr. Jason N. Graham and Matthew J. Kelly. Also Present. City Manager Timothy J. Baroody, Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, Assistant City Manager Doug Fawcett, City Attorney Kathleen A. Dooley, Assistant Public Works Director Diane Beyer, Director of Parks Recreation and Special Events Jane Shelhorse, Director of Community Development and Building Services Charles Johnston and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Others Present. Elliott Rhodeside, Rhodeside & Harwell Director; Derrick Wolbaum, Rhodeside & Harwell Senior Associate/Landscape Designer; Karl Mertig, Kimley-Horne Civil Engineer, Environmental and Permitting; Andrew Korzon, Larry Weaner Landscape Associates Project Manager; Rebecca Kagel, Larry-Weaner Landscape Associates Designer; Bill Downey, Downey and Scott Managing Principal; Kerri Barile, Dovetail Associates Archeologist. Riverfront Park Discussions. Mayor Greenlaw opened the meeting by stating this was #7 of the Council’s goals and initiatives. She said there was a Taskforce that has been working on this since 2007. She recognized the members of the Taskforce. Mr. Baroody stated after more than a decade of acquisition, debate, and community dialog the Council and the appointed Riverfront Taskforce completed the initial phase of the Riverfront Park by 2016. In October 2016, Council had a Council Retreat and they developed the future vision and #7 states build a Riverfront Park. Over the winter of 2016, Mr. Whitley executed a Request for Proposal (RFP) for engineering and services. On April 11, 2017, the City Council unanimously 1 authorized the City Manager to sign a contract award with Rhodeside and Harwell. The project transferred to Assistant City Manager Fawcett who is currently managing the project it through to construction. City staff spent many hours working with the Taskforce and the stakeholders regarding many topics related to the park. May 18, 2018, 50-percent plans were accomplished and the City Council and Taskforce members had a work session with mostly positive feedback, the team proceeded to 90 percent design. The plans were posted on the website and by June cost estimates were received and throughout the summer work continued on engineering/design while continuing to take feedback from Council, stakeholders and Mother Nature. The team achieved 90- percent plans and wishes to receive direction from Council. Mr. Baroody said there were still questions about flooding, the meadow and archeology. He said they were ready to move forward as directed in Priority #7 to build the Riverfront Park. Mr. Fawcett presented a PowerPoint presentation he began by showing the Schematic Design from July 2016, 25-percent Construction Document from August 2017, 50-percent Construction Document 2018 and 90-percent Construction Document from July 2018. He also discussed the flood of June 23 post event analysis, the mound, the meadow and other topics. Mr. Fawcett said he had been working with the Design Team for 18 months and during that time he had made two observations: the team was very knowledgeable about their respective areas of expertise, they were responsive to questions and comments about the project, they incorporated revision requested at each phase of the design and they were as committed as the City was to designing and building a Riverfront Park with all the residents of Fredericksburg as well as visitor’s to the community. The Project Team believes the design accurately reflects the guidance and direction the Design Team was provided by the City Council, the Taskforce and the community as a whole. Councilor Devine acknowledged that she was a member of the Taskforce and she was excited about working through the last few questions. She added that this would be a great amenity to the City just as the trails have been. Councilor Devine noted that more parking was incorporated as well as restrooms and a permanent stage. She still had a few areas of concern: ongoing maintenance, whether the plantings height was appropriate and if flooding would bring more invasive and whether there was enough turf space on the west side of the park and a little less top soil. Mr. Fawcett explained that there was an increase of turf space along the promenade. He said the bowl was not fully a natural feature and the philosophy was to have a consistent slope and not have a dip that changes in elevation. The site was a balanced site as it is currently designed because the soil that was on site would be the soil that would be used on the site. He explained that the area 2 was prohibited to trucking in dirt to raise the footprint of the area. Mr. Fawcett said it had been a fairly recent request to leave in a portion of the bowl and that would require some redesign with some implications. Mr. Rhodeside said with the observation of flooding that the design should not go back to the bowl with construction of the park because the bowl was not the best grading configuration in situations related to flooding. He said there was erosional deposition in the bowl area and they would be creating a grading plan that prevents further deposition of soil in the area. Mr. Rhodeside said when they were doing the master plan, the comments received from the City and the Taskforce, it was said the bowl was a feature not to be included in the design because of the steep slope, it was unnatural, and it was not conducive to the kinds of activities in the area. Mr. Fawcett added that the bowl was 10-12 feet below the plateau and it flooded more often than any other part of the park. He said if the bowl was left it would potentially flood more than the rest of the park. He said the bowl had flooded at least three times since he has been working on the project. Mr. Fawcett said the team was struggling with the suggestion that the bowl was a positive feature and he didn’t think that was the guidance they had received from the community. Councilor Kelly suggested that if the current topography was left alone the only issue would be the bowl. He also asked why the design was pushing people away from the river and not putting them closer. He said if the meadow was left out it would allow more use of the park. Councilor Kelly said he needed more information on invasive species. He expressed concerns with grading the property down and whether it would cause the park to flood every 2-4 years. Councilor Kelly said originally the mound was supposed to be kept and now the City is in talks with the National Park Service (NPS) to bury remains at the NPS. He said the mound was a great educational opportunity and he said he would like to put public comments on the website for the public to comment. Mr. Fawcett responded and said the meadow was included because the team was directed to proceed to 90-percent design with the meadow in the design. Mr. Fawcett also explained that a gentle slow down to the river was better than a plateau that goes closer to the river and a much steeper slope to the river. He said it would be easier to maintain vegetation on a gentler slope. A lot has been asserted about the meadow but until recently they were under the guidance that everyone was happy with the meadow. Mr. Fawcett explained that the meadow would get lower the closer it got to the river and he said the maintenance plan calls for the meadow to be cut down to the ground once a year. Mr. Fawcett said they had spent a number of hours on the meadow plantings. At the 50-percent level there was a meeting to discuss the meadow and the subcommittee closely reviewed the plantings within the last few months. Mr. Fawcett said the meadow had been discussed more 3 than any other feature of the park. He said concerns of the height of the plants had been addressed and it was perplexing why these questions were being raised now. Mr. Fawcett said they would need the Council’s guidance on the mound. He said, for some time now, the design did not include the mound to stay. He said if the mound stayed it would be a significant part of the footprint of the play area. Mr. Fawcett explained that there was nothing in the plan for a sign to recognize what the mound was and what happened on the site, but he said that was a simple fix and it could be added to the plans. He questioned whether the mound needed to stay to recognize what it was. He said if the mound stayed there would be time and expense to make a change since they were at the 90-percent design stage. Councilor Duffy said some of the concerns he had heard in the wake of the recent flood was whether the meadow would be lost if it flooded. They asked whether there would be any loss in value if the bowl was removed but he said what the City would lose by making it more valuable. He also questioned what would happen if the park was reconfigured and a flood came through. Councilor Frye said he had been asked why the park was costing so much and what would be lost if the price was dropped. Vice-Mayor Withers was concerned that a 25-foot flood would cover the entire meadow up to the promenade. Mr. Fawcett said he was under the belief that the design post construction was a better situation related to a flood of any size than what was there today. Mr. Mertig explained that the bowl currently forms a backwater condition and the water stands and forms mud deposits. The current design with the grading helps the park to self-flush during a flood. Mr. Mertig said another important point that’s not evident was the large trees on the river bank at the toe of the slope would remain and they would serve as barriers to higher flows during flood conditions. Vice-Mayor asked of the maintenance of the meadow would be more costly than if it was left alone and Mr. Fawcett said he has not seen evidence that it would be. He said there had been estimates on the amount of time it would take to get the meadow established. He said the meadow would need maintenance but they do not feel it would need more. Vice-Mayor Withers said he would like to keep the mound but it looked like the promenade goes through it and it would cause some design issues. Councilor Kelly addressed invasive species and he said they do take over and would take over. He asked for specifics on the invasive. Mr. Fawcett asked Assistant Public Works Director Ms. Beyer to address Councilor Kelly’s concerns and before she explained she stated that before coming to the City she was the statewide Pollinator Habitat Administrator for VDOT which meant she built meadows all over the state. She said currently the “Face the River” project involved 4 invasive species and they would be a problem. Currently, the slope is so steep it does not preclude them to pull the invasive off. She said because of the slope it was difficult to maintain and if they allowed the change in the topography it would allow the staff the ability to maintain the invasive species and she said there was no way to have a good view the way the slope sits today. Ms. Beyer said the design would be easier to maintain in the long term and it will look much nicer and the root system of the plants in the meadow would weed out the invasive plants. Councilor Graham asked at what flood level the park would be destroyed and Mr. Fawcett said the only thing he believes would need to be done after a flood would be to wash off the equipment with a high pressure hose. The plans was to place the electrical outlets above the 25 foot level on the stage. Mr. Fawcett said the maintenance after the recent flood was as simple as rinsing with a high pressure hose and the work was completed by noon. Councilor Kelly asked if they would need to take a 1/3 of the property to grade the slope and Ms. Beyer said she would not want her employees working on a steep slope. Councilor Kelly addressed the issue that there was not enough electrical on the stage to hold events at the park and Mr. Fawcett agreed and said that was one of the items he was looking to beef up. Councilor Kelly also stated that if there was a 100 year flood there would be more than cleaning of the equipment there would be a need to replace things. Mr. Fawcett agreed he said there was no way to armor the park for a 100 year flood and if and when that occurred replacing equipment would be a decision the City Council and the citizens would need to address at that time. Councilor Kelly noted that he would love to see some of the mound stay and he would like more done with the stage so that it would work for events. Councilor Kelly had to leave the meeting at 8:30 p.m. Council asked City Attorney Dooley if she knew whether the mound was supposed to be left in place or whether it was to be removed and she explained that the Council approved demolition of the Masonic Lodge via Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) and there may have been a condition of the COA to leave the mound and that was the reason there was a surprise when the contractor went further than just demolishing the building. She said the COA would have applied to the demolition of the building but it would not apply now to the further development of the site as a legal restriction. In regards to the lodge, Ms. Barile said the Architectural Review Board (ARB) voted to maintain the lodge and when the ARB came to the Council they informed the Council that it was a unanimous vote by ARB to retain the mound as a cultural landscape feature regardless of what happened to the building. She said she remembered when Council discussed it was stated that they would maintain the other conditions of the ARB but she did not think it was part of the vote. 5  Mayor Greenlaw asked staff what the implications of maintaining the mound would look like and Mr. Fawcett said he would have to get back to City Council on what those implications might be. Vice-Mayor Withers suggested trying to keep a part of the mound. Mayor Greenlaw asked Ms. Barile to explain what remains in the mound and she said the mound was a natural feature and was used culturally by groups of Native Americans up until the lodge was built on it. She said the features have all been evacuated but from a cultural landscape perspective it had significance. Ms. Barile said from an objective standpoint it is a unique cultural feature but it would be challenging for a person to understand the rise if it was not there but half of the feature was already gone. Councilor Devine said they all hoped to retain the mound but then it was compromised and the desire to maintain it was gone. She said there was plans to do interpretative signage. She said it was difficult to retain the mound when it was decided to shift the east side of the park to retain the parking. Councilor Devine said this was a choice that was made by council and if it were maintained it would eliminate some of the parking. Councilor Duffy asked Mr. Rhodeside to explain the mound and he said the mound was included in the original Master Plan and it was associated with the play area. He said a designer could modify the plan but it would cause the alignment of the promenade to be shifted and it would change the playground design because the playground is located where the mound sits. He said the mound was eliminated in the schematic design. Councilor Graham suggested incorporating the mound in the play area. Mr. Rhodeside said it could be but they would have to manipulate the equipment to make that work. Mr. Fawcett stated that the most difficult challenge related to keeping the mound would be the impact to the promenade. Mayor Greenlaw asked if the dirt from the mound was going to be used to fill the bowl and Mr. Mertig explained that the grading of the entire slope would generate additional material to fill the bowl. He said if the mound stayed in place there may be an additional need to import material to grade the rest of the park. Councilor Duffy stated that given Ms. Beyer’s statement regarding the meadow his perception had changed. Mayor Greenlaw asked Mr. Fawcett to explain the cost estimates and Mr. Fawcett explained that the cost estimate was just that, an estimate. He said they would know the cost if they proceeded with bids on the park. Mr. Fawcett said they were given a budget and they were within the budgeted amount. He said they have tools for managing the costs such as changing out features and the quality of equipment. Mr. Fawcett said he was not happy with the 90-percent cost estimator but he 6 had not had the opportunity to discuss that with the cost estimator. Mr. Fawcett said he believed there were local contractors that would like to build this project and they would bid really well to win the bid. Councilor Graham asked what steps the City could take in the future to eliminate some of the debt service. Mr. Baroody said the City does a good job at attracting grants for various needs. He said the City was successful in doing that for the trails and recently the City was awarded two VDOT grants for downtown. Mr. Baroody said they opted not to pursue those transportation funds through VDOT because of the requirements that come with it. He explained that more cost come with those types of grants. Mr. Graham said the amphitheater may be an opportunity to get sponsors. Councilor Duffy stated that he was supportive of making the park more sustainable and maintainable, he liked the idea of the grading work to help to maintain it effectively, he wanted to be sure people could access the dock, he liked the idea of doing some honor to the mound but he did not want to spend too much money doing it, he said value engineering was important and additional lawn was important to him. Councilor Frye asked if Ms. Shelhorse could give her opinion on the maintenance of the park. Ms. Shelhorse said she agreed with Ms. Beyer and her observations regarding the steepness of the slope. She said they were looking for something that they did not have to constantly maintain and the meadow works for that. Councilor Withers asked if the meadow would be less costly and Mr. Fawcett said it would over time (3-5 years). Mr. Baroody said in a week or two staff would return with a resolution to move forward and the following items would be included in the background information: retain a portion of the mound, if practical; cost; public comments. Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time. Mayor Greenlaw declared the session officially adjourned at 9:09 p.m. ___Tonya B. Lacey _______ Tonya B. Lacey Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 7