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 Joint City Council-Planning Commission Work Session September 28, 2021 Area I Small Area Plan Potential Visitor Center Move The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a joint work session on Tuesday, September 28, 2021, beginning at 5:30 p.m.at the Walker-Grant Center, School Board Meeting Room, 210 Ferdinand Street, Fredericksburg, VA 22401. Council Present. Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Presiding. Vice-Mayor Charlie L. Frye, Jr. Councilors Kerry P. Devine (5:45), Timothy P. Duffy, Jason N. Graham (5:47), Matthew J. Kelly and William C. Withers, Jr. Planning Commission Present. David Durham, Kenneth Gantt (5:49), Chris Hornung (5:45), Adam Lynch and Rene Rodriguez. Planning Commission Absent. Thomas O’Toole and James M. Pates. Also Present. City Manager Timothy J. Baroody, Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, City Attorney Kathleen Dooley, Community Planning and Building Services Director Charles Johnston, Senior Planner Michael Craig, Economic Development Director Bill Freehling, Assistant Director of Tourism M.C. Morris, Tourism Marketing and Communications Manager Danella Rose, Tourism Sales Manager Victoria Matthews and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Area I Small Area Plan. Senior Planner Craig stated that this was the most complex plan they had put together to date. Mr. Craig presented a PowerPoint presentation and he talked about the borders of Area I as being bordered by interstate 95, the City boundary to the south and west and the Rappahannock River to the north. Mr. Craig spoke about the challenges as well as opportunities in the area. He said the commercial landscape in this area would change. He also talked about the residential areas, residential land use, he reviewed the transect map, the 1 transect map with the changes requested by the Lapis Group, Area I Regulating Plan – Overall Reference Map, Regulating Plan Interstate 95, Map of Fredericksburg Roads Showing Planned Improvements, Regulating Plan Transit Network, Regulating Plan: Watersheds, Regulating Plan North End and Riverfront, Regulating Plan: Central Area, Regulating Plan: South End, Central Square and Implementation. See Attachments I & II for more information. Chairman Rodriguez stated that this plan would not be successful unless it had the support of the Council. Commissioner Durham asked whether it was the City’s responsibility to make sure FRED Transit should know what the desires were and therefore there should be discussions on the long term vision. Mr. Craig said they would coordinate with Transit Director Jamie Jackson to see what the City could do to partner. Councilor Kelly recommended that staff have Virginia Department of Transportation (VDoT) meet with the Planning Commission because it would give a better context of what could and could not be done as well at what funding would be available. He added that FAMPO had already started a review of the 95 corridor and VDoT had done the preliminaries on what the access point would look like. He said this work was being worked on although it may take some time. Councilor Kelly also expressed concerns for the smaller lots that were in Area I and he wanted to know how far were they willing to go to meet those challenges. Mr. Johnston said many had looked at this as a suburban area and he challenged that it be seen as an urban area. He said all urban places have highly complex ownership circumstances. Councilor Kelly said this was a situation where everyone must be on board including the property owners, VDoT, the City and transit. Mr. Durham noted that the property owners had been engaged and they had access to the Commission if they had any questions. He also said although this area would be difficult it did not mean they should not try. Chairman Rodriguez noted that this was the beginning of the process and there would be work sessions and there would be the opportunity for more people to discuss. He said he was excited for the joint session with Council to see if they were on the right course or if they needed a course correction. 2  Councilor Duffy commended the Planning Commission and staff for their work on this. He said it was important to capture the commerce. He said he was worried that transportation and the pressure of housing would undermine those efforts. Mayor Greenlaw stated that by giving specific direction it was setting the parameters to make the concepts happen. Councilor Devine said transportation was an issue regionally but internally she said the City could accomplish a lot through partnerships with developers and through public facilities. She expressed that she did not like the idea of creating more parking in Central Park and would prefer being creative with existing parking. Councilor Wither said this was a great plan but he was concerned with the implementation. He was concerned with using the special use permits because the Council would have to have a good reason not to accept the special use permit for the project and he would like to make sure the zoning was tied down so the citizens would not have to pay for the capital impacts. Commissioner Hornung thanked the staff for working on this vision. He said it was a vision with flexibility. He applauded the concept of focusing on form so that they could be flexible in the future for both residential and commercial properties that would exist in the future. Area I was a result of major private investment as well as a major public investment. The vision needed to continue to be the hub of the region. Commissioner Gantt said the real concern was how to get this done. He said implementation was the framework for getting it done. He asked if there were enough of Council and developers willing to get it done. Commission Lynch said he really liked the stretch of green that follows the Rappahannock River and preserves the natural area. He also liked the delineation of the three watersheds that make up Area I. Councilor Kelly said the flexibility was needed and there needed to be strong partnerships with the owner of the land. He asked what the City was willing to invest to help make things happen. Councilor Withers said he would like to see condos included and not only rentals. 3  Potential Visitor Center Move. Economic Development Director Freehling and Assistant Tourism Director Morris presented a presentation and stated that in 2019 Economic Development and Tourism worked with DMO PRōZ on recommendation for the Visitor Center and City Council endorsed those recommendations and staff was ready to take action. Mr. Freehling added that they had completed a key recommendation by hiring Ms. MC Morris to lead those efforts along with Communications Manager Danella Rose, Tourism Sales Manager Victoria Matthews. Ms. Morris talked about the steps to embrace the City’s new brand, FXBG would set the stage for a robust marketing program and enhance the visitor’s experience. She said the Timeless brand has served the city well and they had outgrown the current Visitor Center and the regional partnership was more of a collaborative relationship and less of a formal entity. Ms. Morris said the City should cease the opportunity to dive into the FXBG brand and shift far more into a City centric and diverse representation to allow the use of the City’s FXBG brand on all marketing platforms including a new Visitor Center movie demonstrating a more inclusive appeal. She said staff proposed to create a new website, film a new movie to be shown at the Visitor Center and relocate and expand the FXBG Visitor Center. Ms. Morris said they are dedicated to showing the City’s diverse history. Ms. Morris described the visit she had at the Visitor Center in Frederick, Maryland she said they focused on what was authentic and unique and it set them apart from the other visitor centers she had recently visited. She said in the FXBG Visitor Center she would like to capture outside experience options like the river and trails, University of Mary Washington, incorporate the thriving art and arts community, family entertainment, restaurants, shopping, , National Park Service, the Fred Nats and a shout out to the Sister Cities. The new Center would include a new theater and provide a place to hold stakeholder’s meetings and there would be public restrooms available. She said with the right people this could be accomplished at the 601 Caroline Street building this would triple the size of the current visitor center. Superintendent Kirsten Talken-Spaulding said the City had always been a wonderful partner and they look forward to working with the City on this project. This would be a profound benefit of leveraging the many resource that can be brought together on a resource such as this. This would be an enhancement to NPS current facilities. 4  Mr. Freehling reviewed the next steps for the website, visitor experience movie and the visitor center. He said they look forward to moving forward on these items unless Council wishes otherwise. Mayor Greenlaw asked if the Economic Development staff would be moved to the Executive Plaza. Mr. Baroody said the idea would be to move the entire Economic Development and Tourism staff over time. Councilor Duffy said anything the drive more economic commerce to the City was great and he was supportive. Councilor Kelly asked if there was a budget and what was the timeline and Mr. Baroody said the plan was to sell the current Visitor Center and use those proceeds exclusively for the up fit of the new Visitor Center at the Executive Plaza. They plan to get schematic work done and present that to Council the first quarter of the coming calendar year. Councilor Devine said the Executive Plaza was good space and well located on a main thoroughfare and the improvement would only make the Executive Plaza’s look more palatable. She said there was so much to showcase and having it all in one location so people can know what was available in the City was a wonderful next step. 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. ______________________ Tonya B. Lacey, MMC Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 5