City Council

CITY OF FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA HON. MARY KATHERINE GREENLAW, MAYOR HON. CHARLIE L. FRYE, JR., VICE -MAYOR, WARD FOUR CITY COUNCIL HON. KERRY P. DEVINE, AT-LARGE HON. MATTHEW J. KELLY, AT-LARGE HON. JASON N. GRAHAM, WARD ONE HON. WILLIAM C. WITHERS, JR., WARD TWO Council Chambers, 715 Princess Anne Street HON. DR. TIMOTHY P. DUFFY, WARD THREE Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401 Council Work Session March 9, 2021 Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) Report Interim Status Update Royal Farms Closed Session The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Tuesday, March 9, 2021, beginning at 5:30 p.m. using electronic communication through GoToMeeting pursuant to and in compliance with the City Council Ordinance 20-05, an ordinance to address Continuity of City Government during the pendency of a pandemic disaster. Council Present. Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Presiding. Vice-Mayor Charlie L. Frye, Jr. Councilors Kerry P. Devine, Timothy P. Duffy, Jason N. Graham, Matthew J. Kelly and William C. Withers, Jr. Also Present. City Manager Timothy J. Baroody, Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, City Attorney Kathleen Dooley, Assistant City Attorney Dori Martin, Community Planning and Building Services Director Charles Johnston, Zoning Administrator James Newman, Police Chief Brian Layton, Economic Development Director Bill Freehling and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) Report Interim Status Update. Chief Layton presented a PowerPoint presentation and he discussed the Distribution and Review, Review of PERF Recommendations, Committee Formation, Committees and the Timeline. See Attachment I for more information. Councilor Duffy thanked Chief Layton for making this a regional approach and he asked if the Virginia State Police (VSP) would be participating. Chief Layton stated that the VSP had a Sergeant that would be participating on one of the Committees. 1  Councilor Devine expressed that she was glad that members of the Citizen Advisory Panel would be sitting on the committees. She also said it was very important to have a regional approach because of the mutual aid. Councilor Kelly again expressed that there needed to be a robust conversation with the community on the PERF report. Councilor Graham said he was glad that the regional partners were included. He said some of the 66 recommendations seemed like they would be difficult to enact due to the size of the department and the City. He asked if some of the recommendation may be tagged as more effective through a regional approach and establish a process to work with the counties and VSP on them. Chief Layton said it was important to have them involved as they are going through all of the recommendations. He said they were all looking forward to being better as a region and looking forward to seeing how it all evolves. Councilor Withers asked how the report was accepted by the officers overall. Chief Layton said they accepted it well. Mayor Greenlaw said the Council appreciated the thorough approach and how enthused the department was to the changes. She noted that the Police always has the Council’s support. Royal Farms. Planning Director Johnston presented a PowerPoint presentation discussing the layout and the Planning Commission’s recommendations which was to recommend approval of the Special Use and Special Exception with the following conditions on the Special Use: • The use shall be developed in substantial accordance with the General Development Plan and Master Plan dated January 21, 2021, entitled “Royal Farms #441 – Fredericksburg Park,” by Bowman Consulting. • The use is permitted only so long as it continues and is not discontinued for more than 24 months. • The Applicant shall convey to the City of Fredericksburg by deed a non-exclusive easement for the construction of an alternate VCR trail route along the Applicant’s property. The easement location will be as shown on the General Development Plan prepared by Bowman Engineering, dated January 21, 2021, and incorporated into this 2  condition by reference. The deed of easement shall be in a form reasonably acceptable to the City and approved by the City Attorney. The easement area to be recorded will be finally determined upon completion of the site plan engineering for the Royal Farms project. The easement will be executed upon site plan approval and recorded by the Applicant upon its closing on the purchase of the land parcel. The Applicant shall have no responsibility be responsible for constructing, but not and maintaining the trail. Mr. Johnston explained the Planning commissions actions and he noted that the applicant was willing to construct the trail during their construction project but there would be a reallocation of revenue generated by the project back to them for the $150,000. Economic Development Director Freehling reported that if the City built the trail at a later time it would be disruptive to the operations of Royal Farms and be more expensive than if it hired Royal Farms to build the trail. He said they would need to enter in to a sole source construction contract with Royal Farms to build the trail at the City’s cost. The Economic Development Authority would not be involved in this. The costs are between $150,000 and $200,000 and would come for the Fredericksburg Opportunity Fund, not connected to the Federal Opportunity Zone Program. The City would pay Royal Farms within the 30 days of the completion and it was estimated that Royal Farms would generate about $350,000 in new tax revenue for the City. He said they were in support of the agreement. Councilor Kelly noted that this project was a piece of a much larger project that was negotiated years ago and he asked staff how much more commercial was involved on this project and what were the plans for the remainder of the base. Mr. Johnston noted that originally this project was supposed to be 350,000 square feet of commercial development and it had been reduced to the proposed 5,000 square foot convenience store. The project would have 204 townhomes and 80 single family homes. Councilor Kelly noted that the city needed a policy on how to deal with issues with the trails and future development. He would like to have something for the community to know what is expected of the trail. He asked why Royal Farms did not want to do this for the community. Mr. Leming stated that his clients spent time designing this site to accommodate the standards and they attended four Planning Commission meeting and the alternative trail was brought up at the first meeting and at the last meeting they motioned that Royal Farms be required to build the trail and they were astonished. Royal Farms spent a substantial amount of 3 money to accommodate the trail. Mr. Leming said the cost and conditions imposed by the Planning Commission were illegal and crossed the line. Councilor Withers wanted to know why gasoline sales required a special use permit in a Planned Development Mixed Use. Mr. Johnston thought that if gasoline sales should go through a special use process because it increased vehicle trips. Councilor Withers also asked about the special exception on lighting and Mr. Johnston explained that the City’s lighting was restrictive and that every gas station has had to get an exemption on lighting. He said this would be coming to Council soon to make changes. Councilor Withers expressed concern for having this type of lighting just outside of a subdivision. Councilor Graham noted that he shared many of those same concerns and he thought the size and shape was not what the City had envisioned for this space and he asked the applicant if they had alternate design plans. Mr. Klebanoff said Royal Farms has several different options but they are generally around the same configuration with a 5,000 square foot store and eight multi-product dispensing locations with 50-60 parking spaces. Councilor Kelly asked what the National Park Services concerns were with the development and he wanted to know how they were addressed. Mr. Johnston stated that Royal Farms was at a lower elevation and it lowered the impact and the signage was limited to five feet in height on Lafayette and fifteen feet on the Blue Gray Parkway. The Superintendent of the National Park Service said the development would have minimal impact on the park and its resources and it would have minimal effect upon the line of sight from the National Park Service. Mr. Johnston explained that the light fixtures would be downcast so there should not be any impact to the National Park. Vice-Mayor Frye asked how much information the developer had given to the residents that had recently moved in the neighborhood. Mr. Johnston stated during the Planning Commission they asked the developer to contact all property owners and staff received comments from some of those residents. Mr. Leming said they did contact residents for two of the Planning Commission meetings. Dr. Duffy said he shared the concerns of Councilors Wither and Graham. Closed Session Approved. Upon a motion Councilor Devine, moved approval of a closed session under Code of Virginia 2.2-3711(A)(7) for consultation with legal counsel and 4 briefings by staff members pertaining to actual litigation, Banks et al v. City of Fredericksburg, et al, where such consultation or briefing in an open meeting would adversely affect the negotiating or litigation posture of the City Council; seconded by Councilor Withers and passed by the following recorded votes. Ayes (7) Councilors Greenlaw, Withers, Devine, Duffy, Frye, Graham and Kelly. Nays (0). Return to Open Meeting Approved. Upon the motion of Councilor Devine; seconded by Councilor Graham and passed by the following recorded votes, Council approved a return to an open meeting. Ayes (7) Councilors Greenlaw, Frye, Devine, Duffy, Graham, Kelly and Withers. Nays (0). Resolution 21-18, Approved, Certifying Closed Meeting. Upon the motion Councilor Devine approved Resolution 21-18 certifying the closed meeting; seconded by Councilor Graham and passed by the following recorded votes. Ayes (7) Councilors Greenlaw, Frye, Devine, Duffy, Graham, Kelly and Withers. Nays (0). Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time. Mayor Greenlaw declared the session officially adjourned at 7:17 p.m. ______________________ Tonya B. Lacey, MMC Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 5