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 26, 2019 Architectural Review Board Interviews Unsheltered Homelessness Face the River E-Scooters The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Tuesday, November 26, 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., 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 City Attorney Dori Martin, Community Planning and Building Services Director Charles Johnston, Historic Resources Planner Kate Schwartz and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Others Present. Members of the Continuum of Care Board, Kate Gibson, George Washington Regional Commission, Clay Milhoulides, Chrismarr Properties, Christian Zammos, Katora Coffee, Meghan Cotter, Micah Ministries, Chris Payton, Thurman Brisben Center, Melissa Martin, University of Mary Washington, Tom Smith and David Dorsey. Architectural Review Board Interviews. Adrianna Moss – Ms. Moss explained that she was an architectural historian working in cultural resources management since she graduated. She said she has lived in the City since 2007 and she was feeling detached from the community and this was her way of connecting to the community Ms. Moss said she thought the City did well with working with homeowners as well as commercial owners to produce an end product that both the City and the owners were happy with. She spoke of how she liked what the owners of the Purina Tower did to keep the industrial feel but also added their own twist to the building. She said with buildings such as the coffee warehouse the 1 developer did the best he could to save as much of the building as he could. Ms. Moss said if she was selected she would do her best by honoring the standards. She said there were many buildings sitting empty and could be better utilized and she would like to help developers realize their potential. When asked about substitute materials such as windows Ms. Moss said she would ask about the condition first, second whether they were original and whether they were added at a later date. If the windows were not in bad shape she would point to resources and if they were in bad shape she would try to get the owner to replace them with woods that would last or give better options. Helen Ross – Ms. Ross said she wanted to apply because she thinks her skillset as an architectural historian would apply to the ARB. Ms. Ross was asked her thoughts on the Slave Auction Block and she said the decision would have been better served if the review had gone before the ARB before it was heard by the Council. She said the Coffee warehouse was saved by a business that made a plan she said she was not sure she would have done anything differently. When asked about growth and preservation she said he city must weigh all options and understand how the City competes with other jurisdictions for tourist money. She noted that you cannot save everything. She explained that if a person could not afford to replace materials with the same materials because of the costs she would like to see the fact of burden before finding ways to be flexible with substitute materials. Withers Moncure – Mr. Moncure said he has some institutional knowledge of materials that he could use to help developers and homeowners. He said his role as an ARB member would be to maintain the historic character/development of the antebellum era and making things fit within it. Mr. Moncure said the City does a good job of balancing the way things look and keeping the character, the trails were great and he would like to be a part of the solution as the growth happens. Unsheltered Homelessness. Ms. Gibson presented a PowerPoint and she presented a slide with each of the sponsors and she discussed the goals, homeless response system, population vs point-in-time counts, homeless population, investing in housing, housing program outcomes, unsheltered homelessness initiative pilot, pilot outcome and funding request Fiscal Year 2021. See Attachment I for more information. Councilor Kelly said the GWRC was briefed at their last meeting and they were trying to get the counties in on this program. The Continuum of Care (COC) has tried to get the county administrators to see their presentation but had not had any success. Councilor Duffy asked if there was anything the Council could do to try to get the counties involved and Mr. Baroody said make calls to them. 2  Councilor Kelly said their reason for not supporting was that we did not have data but now that there is data that excuse was no longer valid. Mayor Greenlaw said the City must publicize the success of the program. Ms. Gibson noted that Stafford and King George counties were not participants in the COC. Face the River. Mr. Smith presented a PowerPoint to update the Council on the Face the River project. In the presentation he covered, why they were presenting to council, the background, we have turned our backs …time to Face the River, Why face the river, what river, need vegetation management, progress/status/happy clam parking lot, progress/status/next tot Chatham Bridge, progress/status/municipal parking lot, collaboration at work, outreach at work, stakeholders/resource structure/money flow, face the river summary and future, results of unbudgeted/unscheduled maintenance at Riverfront Park, foundation for river activation: years of study, list of plans supporting riverfront activation, relationship of plans and features, recent developments/ opportunities, Streetsense Area 7 Guiding Theme, Streetsense Riverfront Activation strategy, Streetsense Small Area Planning, Next steps, sense of place, sense of River, Example integration opportunities… Chatham Brigade, identify with the River…activate the Riverfront, overall summary …activate the Riverfront, collective/collaborative aspirations, speaking of identity, and Main Street Board of Directors recommendations/ wishes. See Attachment II for more information. Councilor Kelly said the City owed Mr. Smith and Mr. Dorsey for keeping this alive and he was hopeful that the Council could help to get the riverfront cleared. The Council said they love what had been done. E-Scooters. City Attorney Dooley briefly introduced the e-scooters item and noted that Assistant City Attorney Dori Martin had experience on e-scooters because she worked on this with the City of Alexandria and she said any questions should be addressed with Dori. Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time. Mayor Greenlaw declared the session officially adjourned at 7:17p.m. _Tonya B. Lacey _______ Tonya B. Lacey Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 3