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 26, 2019 Archeology Working Group Update Area 3 Rezoning’s: Shopping Center Zoning to Highway Commercial Mary Washington Lodge The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Tuesday, February 26, 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. (6:30), 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, Business Development Manager Angela Freeman and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Archeology Working Group Update. Historic Resources Planner Schwartz presented a new tool called a Story Map to show the City’s work on the Archeology ordinance. The story map gives an introduction, information on developing the archeological ordinance, it defines archeological investigations and context. The presentation further discusses archeology sites and case studies in Fredericksburg such as Fall Hill/Snowden Park Tenant site, Market Square, Marriott site, Marshall-Bell Stoneware Kiln site, Riverfront Park site, Smith Run site and the Sunken Road Corridor. Finally, Ms. Schwartz showed how they could create Predictive models. (See Attachment I for more information). Councilor Duffy asked about the challenges of collecting and storing the artifacts and Ms. Schwartz said they have nearly 100 boxes that the City maintains but private developers going forward will be asked to store with the state. Area 3 Rezoning’s: Shopping Center Zoning to Highway Commercial. Senior Planner Craig presented a PowerPoint presentation explaining the purpose which is to rezone 1 28 +/- acres consisting of three shopping centers (Greenbrier, Westwood, Shops at Westwood) this will be the next steps in implementing the T-5C transect for Area 3, the rezoning will bring the properties into the Commercial Highway Form Based Code regulations and it will begin the elimination of Commercial Shopping Center, which is a redundant zoning district. Mr. Craig said the item would go to the Planning Commission for a public hearing on March 13 and a potential City Council public hearing on April 9. (See Attachment II for more information). Mary Washington Lodge. Economic Director Freehling presented a PowerPoint on Mary Washington Caretaker’s Lodge the background is as follows the property is located at 1500 Washington Avenue. It was built in 1896 as the caretaker’s lodge and visitor center. The home is 2,057 square feet with three bedrooms and 2.5 baths. The City has owned the home since 1996. Mr. Freehling said it is staff’s recommendation that the home needs an owner or lessee to keep it up and staff proposes to issue and request for proposals (RFP) to sell or lease the property. Memorials Advisory Commission (MAC) the advisors over the lodge has endorsed the sale of the property with conditions. Examples of the conditions is that the look of the house must remain and any additions on the back shall not be higher or wider than the existing house and the Connecticut Room must stay the same. The property is assessed at $751,700 but that includes some of the land that will be subdivided. He said if the Council endorses the sale then the RFP would be sent out for Realtor services, a relator will be hired, a RFP for marketing and collateral will be issued, City would evaluate the proposals and decide whether it wants to proceed to sale or lease. Staff would then begin rezoning the property. (See Attachment IIII for more information). Mayor Greenlaw asked if the City could legally subdivide the property out. City Attorney Dooley explained that the City Council received the property by dedication in 1966 from two competing organizations who were in a dispute in court over the property. In order to resolve the dispute they conveyed the whole property to the City with the condition that it preserve the use as a monument to Mary Washington. The MAC recommendation was important because it said putting the property into private ownership puts someone in it and it is the best way to preserve the memorials to Mary Washington. They said the property would continue to deteriorate and detract from the Memorial if it stayed vacant and Ms. Dooley said the City does have legal authority to convey the property. Vice-Mayor Withers asked if there was any discussion of building a fence between the monument and the house and Ms. Schwartz said there was and it was likely that a fence would be constructed and it would be reviewed by the Architectural Review Board. 2  Councilor Graham asked whether there was a preference between selling or leasing because if this was a valuable asset the City should keep generating revenue from a lease instead of a sale. Ms. Dooley explained that the City has historically leased the property. It was leased to the Kenmore Association but eventually they could no longer put money into it and it fell to disrepair state and the lease was terminated. She said the City has tried the lease approach and it hasn’t worked so well in the past. Councilor Devine asked staff if the property were sold had they looked at earmarking the money for preservation and Mr. Baroody said they had talked about it internally but the Monument needs some work including the other monuments on Washington Avenue. Councilor Kelly said before the City decides to have a public hearing the City needed to let the public know ahead of time and let people know what the plans were and what the costs are to maintain the property. City Attorney Dooley said the plan was to put out an RFP to get a feel whether this was good or not. Councilor Kelly said he would like to do something before the RFP. Councilor Devine asked if there were any inquiries from preservation groups and Mr. Freehling said no, he had only received inquiries from individuals who were interested. Councilor Kelly asked that the staff get out in front of several groups to see what their thoughts were on the sale of the property. Those groups included Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc., National Park Service, Ferry Farm Organization, Heritage Group, and the Washington Foundation. Mr. Baroody said he could bring the groups to the table and let them know the plan and include their thoughts. Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time. Mayor Greenlaw declared the session officially adjourned at 6:24 p.m. _Tonya B. Lacey _______ Tonya B. Lacey Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 3