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 February 12, 2019 Renwick Building School and City Working Group Update The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Tuesday, February 12, 2019, beginning at 5:30 p.m. in the City Hall Conference Room. Council Present. Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Presiding. Vice-Mayor William C. Withers. Councilors Kerry P. Devine, Timothy P. Duffy, Charlie L. Frye, Jr. (5:49), 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, Director of Planning and Building Services Charles Johnston, Senior Planner Michael Craig, Historic Resources Planner Kate Schwartz, Budget Manager Deidre Jett, Transportation Administrator Erik F. Nelson, Business Development Manager Angela Freeman and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Others Present. Kathy Frazier of Frazier Associates, Kennedy Smith of Community Land Use and Economics Group and Fredericksburg Schools Deputy Superintendent Marci Catlett. Renwick Building. Assistant City Manager Fawcett stated that Anne Glavé of Fredericksburg Main Street advised the City of funding available through the Commonwealth to study the economic feasibility of adaptive reuse or renovation/restoration of the Renwick Courthouse, Wallace Library and the City jail. Main Street obtained the grant and the City supplemented the grant and the report was presented. Ms. Smith said this project was fun for them. They were looking at what uses were feasible and what works for the uses and what might work for downtown Fredericksburg. Ms. Smith presented a PowerPoint (see Attachment I) where she discussed the market Demand, building suitability, and business profitability. Some of the options were offices, performance and events venue and a boutique hotel, restaurant and event venue. Ms. Smith presented samples of each of these options with other courthouses around the world. Ms. Frazier 1 also gave examples of operating models some were used as grand homes and others were developed and leased out to tenants. Ms. Frazier said they looked at this using the tax credit because this project would be the perfect candidate for using both state and federal credits. Their job was to look at the feasibility study and determine what to use the building for. With the tax credit there are restrictions and she pointed out the red areas on the PowerPoint that could not be touched. The first option she presented was the office option, second, the performance venue option and finally she showed the boutique hotel layout (see PowerPoint for layouts). There were two options for the boutique hotel. Councilor Graham said he really liked the performing arts option. Mayor Greenlaw asked about the ADA accessibility and Ms. Frazier said once you enter through the side entrance the interior was pretty accessible she said the doorways would have to be assessed by a contractor. Ms. Frazier also stated that very little on the inside of the courthouse was original except the courtroom itself and the exterior walls and this leaves the door open for how to repurpose it. Vice-Mayor Withers asked about the economic feasibility and Ms. Smith said she ran the numbers and of course the boutique hotel and restaurant was more feasible than a performance space. Cost estimates for a boutique hotel ran between $7-10 million with $2.5-3 million in tax credit equity. The cost is based on a 25 room hotel. Mayor Greenlaw asked if those figures were based on if the City retains ownership and leases to someone with a master lease and if it a “for profit” entity leased it they could use the tax credit to make it beneficial. Councilor Kelly said he would like to see some public use maintained in the building and Ms. Smith said the reason for the courthouse space was so that it could be used for public events. Ms. Frazier noted that could be a part of the lease agreement. Assistant City Manager Fawcett noted that the staff was leaning toward the boutique hotel and the hotel could provide opportunities for performances. Ms. Smith added that the boutique hotel would offer more economic impact for the community. She said having this type of hotel added to the downtown would provide more fuel for downtown development and revitalization. City Attorney Dooley asked if the use of the Wallace Library as a restaurant was important financially. Ms. Smith explained that Option A showed a smaller restaurant in the Renwick building but tables could not be turned over as much so economically it was better to put the restaurant in the Wallace Library. Ms. Frazier said it would create a sense of place or a reason to be there. Mr. Fawcett added that it could be a space for an existing restaurant to expand into a larger space. Ms. 2 Smith said it is important to have a restaurant because it is a selling point for many when booking hotels. School and City Working Group Update. City Manager Baroody offered a brief history and in 2016 the Council adopted a vision and they listed the future state that “Learning was the way of Life”. There were 35 priorities several were dealing with schools. One of the priorities was to establish a working group between schools and City Council. Staff was also asked to establish a Memorandum of Understanding to work on capacity issues. More recently the City urged the schools to update the 2014 numbers to stay on top of the capacity issues. They have agreed to do this every other year. In 2019, the City decided to place $250,000 aside to do another study on the capacity needs and Mosely was determined to be the best qualified. Mosely made a final report to City Council and the School Board on December 3 and 3 scenarios were identified to address. Mr. Whitley reviewed the City’s Capital Improvements Plan and Debt that he reviewed at the December 3 meeting, see Attachment II. Mr. Baroody said they discussed the three scenarios with the Moseley Group about the future of schools and he said they spent more time in the working group and among staff and tasked Moseley with a task to create a document that took into consideration the debt pressures as well as other factors. Mosely crafted a plan that staff thought was good for consideration and presented it to the school board on February 4 and they endorsed it 6-1. The plan takes 2 major improvements in the next six-year CIP planning period with and expansion of Lafayette Upper Elementary (LUES) and James Monroe High School. He said beyond the six years they were looking at expansion at Walker-Grant Middle. Vice-Mayor Withers expressed his concerns that after spending the $27 million at Walker- Grant and its cafeteria still would not be able to fit the students and Mr. Baroody said that has been part of the conversations and there were issues there but the expansion included was on the back but not to the cafeteria. Mr. Baroody also cautioned that the $27 million that was being used reflects inflation adjusted 10 years out. Deputy Superintendent Catlett noted there have always been issues with the cafeteria space which also serves as an auditorium and with the increase in enrollment it would be tough to get an entire grade period in there at one time. Vice-Mayor Withers asked if they ever considered splitting the second grade between LUES and HMES if they were to move forward with the addition to LUES. Deputy Superintendent 3 Catlett explained that you would have to have double the support staff (English Language Learner, Special Needs) for the second graders if you split them up in two schools. Councilor Kelly publically thanked the School Board for working so closely with the Council because he said he does not know of any other jurisdiction that works so closely with their School Board like the City does. Vice-Mayor Withers said he fully supported giving teachers more money that was his reason for trying to find a way to spend less on capital expenses. Deputy Superintendent Catlett also added that this was a critical shortage time with finding and hiring teachers and more staff would be needed if they were to split second grade. Mayor Greenlaw there was a pressing need at Hugh Mercer and it all must be done in a manner where they can maintain the schools budget and the schools other needs like salaries for teachers. Mayor Greenlaw said the good new was that there was some capacity that they could play with. She explained that LUES and JM were built so that they could be added on to. Councilor Frye explained to the public that the City Council was the bank for the schools and the decision for raises come from the School Board. City Manager Baroody said the plans suggest that the City was willing to spend $40 million on schools needs in the next decade. Councilor Devine asked long term what was the best solution building a new school or adding on to the existing. Deputy Superintendent Catlett said originally the Superintendent wanted to build a new school but after working in the working group he better understood the City’s challenges and they came up with the three options. Councilor Devine said that the Council and Schools need to be able to say this was the right decision. She said this was a School Board decision and the community needed to understand all the constraints with the budget. Councilor Kelly spoke about the schools request and all the expenses the City was facing and he noted that the City would not be able to give the schools what they were requesting. Councilor Graham presented a PowerPoint Presentation to show why he thinks the information that was given by Mosley was incomplete. See Attachment III for his presentation. He spoke about how Mosley did not take into account the housing stock such as Idlewild which he said shocked the school system in 2005. Councilor Kelly noted that when they looked at the Moseley projections they were only two percent off and they said they included all approved projects that had been built up to that point. He also added that all the projections the City has received from Moseley have been on point Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time. Mayor Greenlaw declared the session officially adjourned at 7:08 p.m. 4 _Tonya B. Lacey _______ Tonya B. Lacey Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 5