Planning Commission

City of Petersburg Planning Commission Meeting December 9, 2021 Minutes The City of Petersburg Planning Commission meeting held on Thursday December 9, 2021, virtually was called to order by the Chair, Mrs. Tammy Alexander at 6:11 p.m. A roll call was completed by Ms. Michelle Murrills. Members Present: Ms. Tammy Alexander, Chair Mr. Fenton Bland, Vice Chair Ms. Marie Vargo Mr. Thomas Hairston Dr. William Irvin Ms. Candy Taylor Members Absent: Mr. Michael Edwards Dr. James Norman A Quorum was established by the Chair. Others Present: Mr. Reginald Tabor, Ms. Michelle Murrills, and Mr. Charlie Cuthbert. Adoption of the Agenda: Chair Alexander called for any changes…there were none Vice Chair Bland moved approval of the agenda; Commissioner Vargo seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 1 Minutes: Commissioner Hairston moved for the adoption of the Minutes from the November 4 and November 9, 2021, meetings; Vice-Chair Bland seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Public Information Period: Chair Alexander opened the Public Information Period to anyone who wished to speak on an item not on the agenda. No one chose to speak and so the Chair closed the public information period. Public Hearings: Chair Alexander read the notice of a public hearing as follows: 6A. ZTA 2021-06: Review and recommendation regarding amending the text of the Zoning Ordinance to add: ARTICLE 4. GENERAL PROVISIONS, DISTRICTS AND DISTRICT MAPS, "MXD-3" Mixed Use District; ARTICLE 18.3 "MXD-3", MIXED USE DISTRICT; ARTICLE 22. HEIGHT, AREA AND BULK REQUIREMENTS SECTION 1. [REQUIREMENTS FOR VARIOUS DISTRICTS.] Instead of Mr. Tabor making a presentation, he invited Mr. Charlie Cuthbert, 4th Ward City Council member, to speak. Mr. Cuthbert wanted to emphasize that the public hearing was about amending the text of the Zoning Ordinance for future consideration. It does not pertain to anything specific today in the City of Petersburg. Since there was no one else from the public who wished to speak, Chair Alexander closed the public hearing portion and asked the commissioners if they had any questions or comments. Commissioner Hairston clarified that yes this was just setting up the ordinance for future endeavors. Chair Alexander then asked for the resolution to be read into the minutes: ZTA 2021-06: Review and consideration of a resolution with a recommendation regarding amending the text of the Zoning Ordinance to add MXD-3 Mixed Use 2 District: A RESOLUTION RECOMMENDING AN AMENDENT TO THE CITY OF PETERSBURG ZONING ORDINANCE TO ADD MXD-3 MIXED USE DISTRICT WHEREAS, new business development within the Pharmaceutical Industrial Cluster has begun in the City of Petersburg; and WHEREAS, the City of Petersburg owned property at 801 S Adams Street, the former site of the Southside Regional Medical Center, is zoned RB District; and WHERAS, the property has been vacant since the Medical Center was acquired by the City in 2013; and WHEREAS, a new mixed use district and designation of the property at 801 S Adams Street and potentially other vacant properties that are 10 acres or more, may facilitate development of the property; and WHEREAS, pursuant to the requirements of Title 15.2-2204 of the Code of Virginia, as amended, a public hearing was held prior to considering approval of a resolution recommending approval of an amendment to the City’s Zoning Ordinance to add Article 18.3 MXD-3 Mixed Use District; and WHEREAS, the public hearing was advertised, in accordance with applicable laws and no public comments were received prior to the public hearing. NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Planning Commission does hereby recommend approval of a City Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment consistent with the attached. Vice chair Bland then presented a motion to accept the amendment and Commissioner Hairston seconded it. Motion passed unanimously. 6B. Chair Alexander then opened up the second public hearing. City Code Amendment 2021-01: Consideration of amendments to the City of Petersburg Code of Ordinances, Chapter 50. Environment Article II. Noise and recommendations to the City Council. Director Tabor then made a presentation about the amendment. He said that the City Council had referred this item to the Planning Commission for a recommendation. This had been previously considered, but the City Council wanted the Planning Commission to consider additional language for the city code. Specifically: Sec. 50-33. - Specific prohibitions. It shall be unlawful for any person to: create noise between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. in areas in which residential dwellings are permitted (including but not limited to any house or multi-family dwelling) in such manner or with such volume or duration that it is heard inside the confines of a residential dwelling or multi-family dwelling of another person. 3 In all other areas of the City, noise shall be regulated in accordance with Section 50-36, which shall also apply to areas covered under this section. This would then replace items a-h that make up Sec. 50-33 today. There is also a change in the maximum permissible sound levels. Business use: Daytime inside: 65 Outside:75 nighttime inside: 55 Outside 65 per the last Planning Commission meeting. Once Director Tabor was done, Chair Alexander asked if there was any questions from the Commissioners. Commissioner Vargo wanted to know if the decibel levels were to be taken inside or outside. It was clarified that it was what you could hear outside. Commissioner Hairston said that he did not agree with what was on the paper because he thinks that it is too low of a standard and he is not really sure what constitutes noise. He said that it is unfair that a person whose child graduated from college is not allowed to have a party on Friday because it is too loud and lasts past 11:00 pm. There was then a discussion about who has the rights to noise. The resident who wants to have a birthday party or the resident who works on Saturday morning at 7:00 am. Commissioner Hairston wanted to discuss at least changing it to Midnight instead of 11:00 pm. Commissioner Irvin wanted to discuss Midnight as well. He also said that the police are not happy about monitoring the night clubs as well. Chair Alexander then asked the public if anyone in the public wanted to speak. Mr. Charlie Cuthbert then spoke- This ordinance has been reviewed by the city attorney and he has suggested the additions that are before you tonight. He wants to commission to focus more on the content of noise rather than just the noise itself. He said that this ordinance is not anti-party, but it is anti-noise above a certain level. And that we don’t want to become enmeshed in people’s lives. We want them to enjoy their lives…but do want to be involved in the collision of interests and collision of wanting to enjoy one’s life. He believes that the ordinance as it is now written strikes a fair balance. One cannot please everyone, but we have to work on pleasing as many as we can. As it turns out, if the ordinance does have a problem or something, it is possible to then go back and change whatever needs to be changed. That is not hard. He also told of the night that he went to Andrades restaurant. He was there at 1 am on September 19th, 2021, to see what was the source of all the complaints that he was hearing. According to what he had heard, it was like a rock concert at Yankee stadium without any walls. That night people were having a good time enjoying themselves. The noise level was very severe. He then played the video that he made of that night showing how things were at Andrades. And after he made the video and started to leave, the owner of Andrades came up, 4 introduced himself and they had a short conversation and Mr. Cuthbert then left. He walked back up to Andrades the next day, September 19, 2021, and sat down inside in one of the booths and had a conversation with Rigo. Out of this conversation there were four important points that Rigo told Mr. Cuthbert. 1. He stopped the loud music last night at 11 pm. 2. Thereafter, business was fine. His business did not suffer any noticeable decrease in revenue because stopped the loud music at 11:00 pm. 3. The loud music drew the crowd and the crowd lingered after 11:00 PM and enjoyed themselves and spent money. 4. His customers were primarily 30 and older. He did not want a younger crowd because they don't know how to behave. He then said that he did respect Commissioner Hairston’s views, but he wanted to reiterate that, again, this is not an anti-party town. But that we do need to be respectful to all of our citizens. He said that the proposal that is in front of the commission now is just that fair and respectful to all of the citizens of Petersburg. Chair Alexander then called for anyone else to speak and since she saw no one else, she closed the public portion of the hearing. Commissioner Hairston said that perhaps we should have to have a permit so the city can decide who does and does not get to have large parties. If you have to fill out paperwork for a permit to have a party, then someone from the city will be able to monitor that party. If the city knows about where the parties are then they can send law enforcement to that part of town during that time. It would help to take the guess work out of who is having parties. He also said that it the noise ordinance is going to affect a residential area shouldn’t we ask the residents what they think after all conversations should have a good buy in from those that are affected by the change. Chair Alexander then mentioned that whatever the decision tonight, as Mr. Cuthbert said, if it is not working or needs to be changed it can easily be done as this is what the Planning Commission does all the time. We can pass this tonight, see how it does, see how the city enforces this and if it is not working than we can change what needs to be changed later. There was then a discussion about the fact that most of the commissioners had not really looked at the packet about this hearing until this afternoon because it had only been sent out this morning. And that perhaps the vote should be put off until the commissioners had more time to prepare. However, it was also pointed out that this was just a continuation of the information that was brought up at the last meeting at the train station. Another discussion was then brought up about how residential parties might need to have a permit system. After all, part of the paperwork for getting a permit would include getting 5 signatures from the neighboring homes which would then be essentially getting their permission as well. Commissioner Vargo then proposed a motion to adopt the amendment as written. It was then seconded by Commissioner Taylor. When tally was taken, the motion did not pass because Commissioner Hairston and Commissioner Irwin both abstained. With the fact that it did not pass Commissioner Irwin changed his vote to an aye and the motion passed. 7. Old Business: Chair Alexander called for old business, there was none. 8. New business: Chair Alexander then called for new business. Director Tabor wanted to let the commissioners know that at the next meeting in January, there were going to be several amendments to the comprehensive plan that would need to be adopted. These include changes to the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act as well as changes that the Commonwealth wants to be added to the comprehensive plan. The needed information will be sent out well before the January meeting. Announcements: Chair Alexander then called for announcements. Adjournment: Meeting was adjourned 7:00 p.m. Next meeting is at 6:00 p.m. on January 6, 2022. 6