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. JONATHAN A. GERLACH, WARD TWO Council Chambers, 715 Princess Anne Street HON. DR. TIMOTHY P. DUFFY, WARD THREE Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401 City Council Work Session March 16, 2022 Review of the Study for 2300 Fall Hill Avenue The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Wednesday, March 16, 2022, beginning at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall. Council Present. Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw Presiding. Vice-Mayor Charlie L. Frye, Jr., Vice-Mayor Charlie L. Frye, Jr., Councilors Timothy P. Duffy (remote participation), Jonathan A. Gerlach, Jason N. Graham and Matthew J. Kelly. Council Absent. Councilor Kerry P. Devine (out of town). Also Present. City Manager Timothy J. Baroody (remote participation), Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, Assistant City Manager David Brown, City Attorney Kathleen Dooley, City Economic Development Director Bill Freehling and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Others Present. School Board Chair Katie Pomeroy, Stephen Halsey, Mosely Architects and Molly Merlo, Mosely Architects. Review of the Study for 2300 Fall Hill Avenue. Mr. Whitley explained that this was an opportunity to explain and discuss the feasibility study for the 2300 Fall Hill Avenue. The study was in two parts: assessment of conditions and evaluation of several potential options of future renovations and uses for the building. He stated there was a short appendix that looked into the current state of the building. The main body of the report was still in draft form. He reported that there was a Joint City Council/School Board special public hearing on March 24 and the main item would be for approval of the Interim Agreement between First Choice, LLC (which Mosely Architect & English Construction are a part of the team). They will also discuss the City’s financial position as part of the larger context for consideration. 1  Mr. Whitley extended thanks to the School Board for putting the study together quickly and the Economic Development Authority for their participation and interest. He also thanked the Mary Washington Healthcare for their assistance with the tours sharing their knowledge and general help with the evaluation. Mr. Halsey said their goal was to provide solid information for the community and the governing boards to make the decisions for the community. He reviewed a PowerPoint and he began with an Executive Summary, followed by an Existing Conditions & Assessment, Potential Use Investigation, Potential Use Investigation as a Secondary School, Primary School, Office Use, Career & Technical Education /Classroom and Other Use Investigation, Other Use Investigation as a Middle School, Senior Living, Multi-Family, and Other Use Investigation Idlewild Site – Joint Use and Executive Summary. See Attachment for more information. Councilor Kelly said the City looked at this building before embarking on this latest study and they did a tour and he said rehabbing a building was more expensive than new construction. He asked Mosely if they had taken a look at other project that reused building for public use specifically for schools. Mr. Halsey said they had looked at the Alexandria building that had been rehabbed for a school and he noted that building was easier to renovate because of its structure and this building would be more difficult because of its structure. Councilor Kelly asked would the building be better used as an adjunct to the High School specifically for a Regional Workforce Development Program and Mr. Halsey said it would be worth exploring and it would be suitable as long as they do not require a lot of open bay area and volume like automotive. The list of programs that could go in there are cyber security, technology data, web design, music production, criminal justice and cosmetology. He said anything that was like a laboratory environment would suit those needs. Mayor Greenlaw asked if the building could be sectioned off for condo use as well and Mr. Halsey said it could be sectioned off for school, condo, civic use and private use. Ms. Merlos stated that they looked at possible multi-family condos on the upper three floors and with potential uses on the first two floors but they would have to make sure everyone was divided safely. Councilor Graham reiterated that the elementary school capacity issue needed to be fixed now and he said that needed to be the focus. He said the idea of a new middle school was so that the existing middle school could be used as an additional elementary school. He said if 2 the Council does not stay focused on that he was worried they would lose sight of the issue. He asked Council if the thought the 2300 Fall Hill Avenue would solve that problem and he said he did not think so. Disclosures. Vice-Mayor Frye disclosed that his spouse was an employee of the Fredericksburg Public School system and he was able to participate in the following transactions fairly, objectively and in the public interest. Councilor Duffy disclosed that he was an employee of the Fredericksburg Public School system and he was able to participate in the following transactions fairly, objectively and in the public interest. Councilor Frye said his understanding for the reasoning of the feasibility study of 2300 Fall Hill Avenue was for potential use. As a Council Representative he said he did not want to jump ahead of the School Board on any decisions they wanted to make. He said he remembered the conversation changing to building a middle school and workforce development potentially starting in middle school. Councilor Frye said his thought process on the 2300 building was focused on the Career & Technical Education (CTE) component. Councilor Graham said he was being adamant about the discussion because Council has to vote next week on the Interim Agreement and it was his understand that this site was a potential alternative to the interim agreement. Councilor Graham asked if a traffic study was done for the Idlewild location and Mr. Halsey explained that for the purpose of the feasibility study they performed one for the 2300 site because that was the focus but he said they would be required by VDOT to perform one if a school is anticipated at the Idlewild location. Councilor Graham stated that he was strongly opposed to both a school and office building on Idlewild /Gateway Boulevard. He said the neighborhood could not sustain that flow of traffic particularly with the office building. Councilor Gerlach said the 2300 building was not a practical solution for a primary or secondary school including a middle school. It was however an attractive location for a robust regional workforce development program. He said he was in agreement that solving the capacity issue was priority. He also noted that he would hate to lose the largest employer outside of the City. He said if the hospital decided to co-locate with the school in Idlewild 3 maybe they could share in the site development work which would reduce the cost for the schools. Mayor Greenlaw agreed there was opportunity to share costs as well as a way not to lose a major employer. Councilor Duffy stated that he agreed with a lot of what Councilor Graham said and the focus must be on getting a new school built. He said if the co-location project did not go through the City would lose the access to the 2300 property. He said it was a good opportunity for the co-location of CTE at the 2300 building and he was interested in getting the business community and the regional education partners involved in creating a center. He said he has met with neighbors in Idlewild who were concerned about an office building and traffic in the neighborhood. Councilor Duffy said his highest priority was building a middle school and how to make that happen. Councilor Graham responded to the comment about economics and losing one of the largest employers. He said he was aware of the economics but he felt it could be done without sacrificing the quality of life for the residents. He said he does not feel like the residents are given the same priority, when it comes to quality of life, as those in the downtown area. Councilor Kelly noted that there would be significant tax burdens on the residents and anything that can help with that impact should be considered. He also noted that Idlewild originally was supposed to be the first mixed use area for the City and he said this was a significant piece of land that would be taken off the tax rolls and if this was the direction they wanted to go there needed to be critical conversations on how they are going to pay for things. Vice-Mayor Frye spoke about the kids that were not going to go to college and what we were going to tell those kids if there was not a CTE program for them. He said discussions are happening about a regional program but there needed to be discussions now for kids that are in school and are not going to attend college. Councilor Graham questioned whether the Mary Washington Healthcare employees would be returning to the office because many who were in the 2300 building were from accounting, IT, finance and Human Resources. He asked if they should even be planning for an office building for 600 employees because he did not think office space would be as prevalent as it was before the pandemic. He said the City needed to address what does a post pandemic local economy look like and how will it derive revenue in a post pandemic economy. He said 4 the City needed to look less as an office space driven economy and more to an experiential driven economy in the commercial space. He would like to discuss this more. Mayor Greenlaw said all the City can do is go off the numbers they have given based off their needs. She said there was no way to project what will be needed in the future. Mr. Whitley noted that the footprint they were proposing was much smaller than the footprint they currently had at the 2300 building. Councilor Gerlach said the MWH has an economic impact of $60 million per year to the economy through many sources and he said this was a major impact and he would hate to see them relocate outside the City. Councilor Duffy asked if the MWH does not co-locate would they move outside the City and Mr. Baroody said he did not believe they had an alternate plan. Councilor Duffy said he was supportive of any plan that can solve the expansion problems and he wanted to make sure the investment was put to good use. He said he was aware of all the thing that needed to be balanced. Mayor Greenlaw noted that the school would not use the entire site and if the MWH did not locate there, there would still be an empty site that could be used for something. Councilor Graham said he hoped the school would not use the entire site but he said it would be detrimental to clear out all the acreage. He said the clear cutting and the stormwater issues it would cause would affect the quality of life for the residents because there would no longer be a buffer from the I-95 traffic. Mayor Greenlaw noted a sound buffer would have to be built no matter what. Councilor Kelly again stated that he did not think the Council had all the information needed to make any decisions. He said he needed to understand what the City was not funding in its budget before he could make any decisions. He also wanted to know what the City’s needs were before making any decisions. He said he was not against building but it was a timing issue for him. Councilor Gerlach stated that the idea of a co-location might involve a swap that could potentially become a revenue entity. He said it was fiscally irresponsible to say the City was not going to consider a commercial component on the site next to the school because there were to many unknown factors. 5  Councilor Graham noted that he has an issue with an area built out because it would then be complete and he said the history of Fredericksburg especially the core of downtown shows that an area is never complete or built out, however many of the zoning ordinances do say that something is built out or complete because it does not allow density. Councilor Graham said the economic impact of an office like this would be best felt where people would have the opportunity to walk out of the office and go to lunch somewhere but this location would be a drive in and drive out and there would not be an economic impact from that. He said there were better options for this building. Councilor Gerlach said the City cannot make these decisions. He said this was a by-right project and he said the market would drive those decisions. Mayor Greenlaw stated the expectations of the March 24 meeting was that a decision would be made and she said the decision could not be delayed forever. Mr. Whitely reminded Council that the Interim Agreement allows the School Board and the City as a funding partner to work with the contractor to develop the next stage of the plans. It also allows the additional work like cost estimation in order to get a 35 percent design and that serves as the bases for the Comprehensive Agreement. The cost for the Interim agreement is $1.3 million and it will take about 3 months. The Comprehensive Agreement is the major agreement which will need to be approved by the City Council and the School Board. He noted that there would be other votes the Council would need to take for financing. Councilor Duffy asked what the difference would be having an office building proposed or some other commercial building he said these are the issues the neighborhood was concerned about and he would need to know more information on the use of that property. Mayor Greenlaw clarified that any swap should have restrictions or a clear understanding of the use and that it must be acceptable for the City and the neighborhood. Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time. Mayor Greenlaw declared the session officially adjourned at 8:01 p.m. ______________________ Tonya B. Lacey, MMC Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 6