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 November 12, 2019 Infill Development Environmental Issues Fredericksburg/Regional Tourism Council Priorities Quarterly Update The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Tuesday, November 12, 2019, beginning at 5:30 p.m. in the City Hall, Executive Conference Room. Council Present. Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw Presiding. Vice-Mayor William C. Withers, Jr., Councilors Kerry P. Devine, Timothy P. Duffy, Charlie L. Frye, Jr. and Jason N. Graham. Council Absent. Matthew J. Kelly, meeting with Secretary of Transportation. Also Present. City Manager Timothy J. Baroody, Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, Assistant City Manager Doug Fawcett, City Attorney Kathleen A. Dooley, Economic Development Director Bill Freehling, Business Development Manager Angela Freeman, Visitor Center Manager/Tourism Services Manager Danelle Rose, Tourism Sales Manager Victoria Matthews, Community Planning and Building Services Director Charles Johnston, Senior Planner Michael Craig, Zoning Administrator James Newman, Public Works Director David King, Chief Information Officer Suzanne Tills and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Infill Development. Mr. Johnston presented a PowerPoint on the initiation of the Comprehensive Plan and Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) amendments. He discussed when and where infill calculations were applied, height of additions, greater rear yard setbacks, revised median setback measurements, accessory structures and lot measurements for R-2, R-4, R-8 and R-12 districts. (See Attachment I for more information). There was some minor discussion on the height limitations on additions. Councilor Graham asked if there could be separate wording for corner lots. Vice-Mayor Withers said he would like to see a 24 foot limit for rear yards. 1  Environmental Issues. Ms. Beyer went through the proposed resolution on Renewable Energy Future. (See Attachment II for more information). Councilor Devine said one of the issues was the event the City put on and there needed to be something to address “GO Green”. Councilor Graham would like to see a timeline placed on replacement of cars and Ms. Beyer said there were technologies that were out there that they were not aware of yet and how she did not know how quickly they would be available. Councilor Graham said there needed to be a reach and he said the resolution could be revised later if it could not be reached. He also suggested maybe having intermediate goals in the plan as well. Councilor Devine said there needed to be a hard goal and if the City falls short it could be revised but she said it must be written with today’s technologies in mind. Councilor Duffy asked the School Working Group to have the same discussion with the schools. Council said they must asked the schools to join in with the City on this effort. Ms. Diane noted that there was no building large enough to house all the buses if there was a need for charging stations. Fredericksburg/Regional Tourism. Mr. Freehling distributed a Tourism 2020 recommendation to include recommendation for City and regional recommendations. The City- only recommendations include hiring a Tourism Manager to oversee the entire City Tourism program, invest sixty percent of lodging tax revenue into tourism (approximately $950,000), relocate and enhance Visitor Center, enhance City-Only Tourism website and add additional full-time tourism-oriented staff member. Mr. Freehling said they reallocated some of their part-time hours so they could bring on a part-time assistant to help with tourism. Vice-Mayor Withers was in support of selling the old Visitor Center building and using the money to offset the cost for redoing/relocating the Visitor Center. The Regional Tourism recommendations included continuing with the regional tourism program and the last MOU was extended by a year and it expires on December 31, 2019. Mr. Freehling was hoping to have some decisions by then on whether to continue in the regional efforts. Mayor asked if the regional recommendations had been shared with the regional partners and Mr. Baroody said he met with Tom Foley and Ed Petrovich and both agreed conceptually of the idea of preservation of the regional effort and he hoped to meet formally with Curry Roberts. The other recommendations were to increase per-partner contributions to $200,000 a year, establish independent 501c6 with a Board of Directors to oversee regional tourism program and fundraise privately, hire regional tourism manager and discuss involving Caroline and King George counties. 2  Councilor Duffy asked if changing the investment to 60 percent of the lodging tax changed the categories the money would go to. Mr. Freehling said some of it would go to personnel, advertising, promotional material but mostly full-time hours. Mr. Freehling asked Council for direction on whether they were ready to adopt the report. Council gave permission to move forward. Councilor Devine asked how much King George and Caroline would contribute if they joined and staff said they were not sure but the County Administrators were both happy to join. Council Priorities Quarterly Update. City Manager gave a quarterly update of the council priorities see Attachment IV for the updates. Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time. Mayor Greenlaw declared the session officially adjourned at 7:04 p.m. _Tonya B. Lacey _______ Tonya B. Lacey Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 3