City Council   5/7/2018

to increase awareness of their mode, emphasizing proper safety precautions for bicyclists and motorists while sharing our roadways and to promote the benefits of bicycling through organized activities such as Bike to School Day and Bike to Work Day.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the members of City Council, hereby recognize the month of May 2018 as National Bike Month, encourage all who support bicycling to participate in the events planned and urge all road users to share the road safely.

signed and sealed this seventh day of May 2018 by Heather Hill, Vice Mayor, City of Charlottesville.

Yes, as Councilor Galvin said, May is Bike Month and the Charlottesville Bicycle and Professor Advisory Committee has a brand new Facebook page.

You can find it by searching for Charlottesville BPAC on Facebook and we've got all the events posted on there so you can find out more about all the mini events.

There's also this flyer up here that has them all so any speakers if they're curious.

and we're always looking for new members for a bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee.

Thank you, and also if I may recognize Amanda Poncey, our bike ped coordinator.

None of this would have happened, we wouldn't have achieved anything that we've achieved without Ms. Poncey, so thank you very much.

And we have one more proclamation.

Molly Yates here to receive.

OK. And what is your name?

Rebecca Kendall.

This is in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month.

Whereas mental health is essential to everyone's overall health and well-being, and whereas mental illnesses are real and prevalent in our nation, and half of us will have a mental health diagnosis at some point in our lives, and whereas everyone experiences times of difficulty and stress in their lives and should feel comfortable in seeking help and support to manage these times,

and whereas engaging in prevention, early identification and early intervention are as effective at reducing the burden of mental illnesses as they are at reducing the burden of other chronic health conditions.

And whereas the effective treatment, all individuals with mental illness, even serious mental illness, can make progress towards recovery and lead full, productive lives.

Whereas jails and prisons have often become the default places of custodial care for even non-violent people with serious mental illnesses.

And whereas each business, school, government agency, health care provider, organization, and citizen has a responsibility to promote mental health

and Wellbeing for All.

Now, therefore, I, Heather Hill, Vice Mayor, City of Charlottesville, do hereby proclaim May 2018 as Mental Health Month in the City of Charlottesville.

Thank you so much.

The Community Mental Health and Wellness Coalition is a coalition of the safety net behavioral health providers in the community and we have an important, you can follow us on Facebook to find out more about our events this month.

We'll be doing training coming up in June on helping communities respond to community traumatic events.

And so that information will be posted on our Facebook page.

That'll be June 18th, 19th, and 20th.

All in support of the therapeutic docket, which is now up and running.

We're hoping that it will divert people from the jail and save money.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Walker.

Hill, I'm sorry, Vice Mayor Hill.

Several items from the last meeting in April.

Ms. Mary Carey raised concerns about an obstruction

at the corner of First Street and Elliot Avenue that's impeding the sight of drivers trying to turn onto Elliot.

Representatives from Neighborhood Development Services have inspected the site and they are taking steps with the property owner to have that addressed.

Ms. Kathleen Meyer was concerned about a possible land swap.

between the city and developers of a new residential housing complex on Douglas Avenue.

Ms. Galvin added that a charrette was to be held if the land swap was a possibility.

That was a discussion that had been taking place, had taken place many months ago with the developer and the city.

There are no current discussions taking place concerning that piece of property that the city owns beside Belmont Lofts and the developer of that project.

They have submitted a site plan that does not include the city parcel.

So just wanted to provide an update on that.

And Ms. Rosia Parker raised the issue of pedestrian safety on West Main Street near 8th Street.

This was an issue that was raised several years ago.

And we added curb extensions there at 8th Street on West Main to allow for the traffic

the 8th Street traffic to move up a little bit, have better sight distance, and it also shortened the amount of time that it would take for pedestrians to cross West Main Street there.

So that was one step that we had taken.

We will have some discussions with the 10th and Page Street Neighborhood Association to discuss whether or not there's anything else that we could do to try to address the issues there.

All right, next we move on to community matters.

Each person will have three minutes to speak, followed by an optional two minutes per council to respond.

We ask that you begin by sharing your name and address.

Good evening.

I'm Joan Fenton.

I live in the county.

Good evening.

Hi there.

After the neighbors complained, the contractor was able to get by with only four parking spots reserved for the entire month.

And I'd really like to ask you and I know there's discussions going on, but I think council needs to come up with a written policy

so that staff knows what the guidelines are for when you close the street, when you don't close the street.

We have a lot of construction coming up.

And I think it doesn't matter if it's a residential or commercial neighborhood, if there's going to be something that impacts people, there should be some input first and there should really be specific guidelines so that it's not arbitrarily because the way it works right now, if I want a parking spot, I could reserve it for a month for $20 every day.

and there would be nothing to stop me.

I could have it 24 hours a day and I could close the street if I talked somebody into giving me the permit.

So I'd just like to really think if we could have something happen soon before all the construction starts and in the Parking Advisory Committee we've been looking at those signs for reserving parking spots when somebody reserves them to try to limit the times and again to try to have guidelines.

Thank you.

And others related to the impact of construction on our public streets.

And you made that point very clearly and very well in one of your emails too, so it's great to get this on the public record again.

Yes, Evan Brown, live in the city.

Yeah, so I'll try to be slightly brief.

So sales, at least I could see from what's publicly available, we're up 4.78% in Charlottesville in February.

That seems to be the most monthly data.

Seems like the businesses are doing pretty well.

They've been up at least four consecutive months since November.

Yet this increase was before you all approved the $75,000 to DBAC, the Downtown Business Association, and it clearly seems like they don't need it.

When we still have people in this community still suffering from the events of this summer, still need to pay their medical bills, still are behind on rent,

Suffering from Mental Illness, it's appropriate, that's Mental Illness Awareness Month.

And I wanted to ask you all, has the city even given any money to any victims of Charlottesville or to any of the funds?

Because I don't know, I'm asking you sincerely, I don't know if the city has contributed any funds.

And if you have, that's fantastic.

But if you're going to go ahead and toss $75,000 at someone, it should be to an organization that's actually here to heal people.

people who are still suffering and need this money rather than these fucking businesses, okay?

And if you have donated this money, like I said, that's great.

And if not, why are we still talking about this?

Why haven't you given any money?

So I just would like to know if you all have donated, has the city given any money to any funds that have gone directly to victims from the events of this summer?

And if you have, will you consider donating more money?

Because these people are still suffering.

Your response?

Any funds that would have been given to any organization would have come through city council.

I know that there's been a couple of funds that are currently working with individuals who are hurt.

The Unity Seaville Fund as well as the fund through the university.

Ms. Gretchen Ellis through Human Services had conversations with the state in regards to the state release fund, so I know there's been a great deal of talk there.

I literally just had some talks with some people a couple weeks ago about funds being allocated to address not only physical therapy, but individuals being able to go take advantage of going to counseling for mental health issues and whatnot.

It was my understanding that those monies were being allocated to everyone that was in need.

And if they called the hotline, they were getting what they needed from both local and state.

Is that not what you've been hearing?

Yeah, the people who I've spoken to, they've told me that they've spoken to those individuals.

Right, and then there was a follow-up conversation and then

the individual who's representing the funds told me that funds were then being allocated and I haven't heard anything else from anyone else which was telling or it meant to me that the problem was being solved and you're saying that's not the case?

We haven't gotten a proposal or a request and we just went through a whole budget season with a lot of non-profits who got money from us and we have Region 10 and we have a lot, and so it's not, we always work, I mean Mr. Jones, we have a professional staff but we, and correct me, but we work from proposals that

the council received.

So that, I mean, we just went through a budget season and we could entertain proposals now.

We need to get a, you know, specific proposals.

That's how the system works.

Who will we give the money to?

I'm just trying to keep us in terms of that I agree that's something we need to have understand further conversation on.

Yeah, and Vice Mayor Hill and colleagues, the procedures we follow is that we are given proposals from members of the community off budget cycle.

There's a procedure.

We've never received one.

Hold on, hold on, hold on.

So, Ms. Galvin, I understand wholeheartedly where you're coming from.

I think where the disconnect is, is that what some of the members of the public are saying is that

They were under the assumption that we did give money to a variety of these organizations.

We may be thinking, or in my opinion, I'm thinking, well, which organizations?

So I think that's where the disconnect, and this may be an opportunity for us to kind of close that loop.

All right, so maybe we can have the conversation about them creating a proposal and present that to council.

I am not exactly sure of the order,

of Business, just here to ask that you consider that the county residents be able to have an option to rename Emancipation Park.

I grew up in the city, grew up on 9th and Page, went to the Charlottesville Public Schools.

I'm a child of the city and have only lived in the county maybe since the last decade.

and I've worked very hard with the University of Virginia on the memorial to enslaved laborers out there advocating the design of the memorial to enslaved laborers and with the conflict with all of the Lee statue and that narrative about the memorial to enslaved laborers trying to engage both communities to be involved.

I just feel that sometimes we don't think about the future

and how that may impact leaving the county residents out.

I feel so connected to Charlottesville and I would just like to be able to have that option of just being able to answer the survey.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, this is the last version.

Yes, first round was open.

He has such an impact on so many youth.

We would have been unemployed youth had it not been for him.

And he did so much to change, to make the community, to make us matter, the African American students matter.

For those at home who didn't hear, our suggestion was naming the part, Jerry Brown part, because of the impact that he's had to several members of the community.

Mayor Hill, Councillors, my name is Bill Emery.

I live at 1604 East Market Street in the city.

Sorry to be reading from a script.

The small area planning process examines an area holistically with the full engagement of the public, elected and appointed officials and planning professionals.

Plans developed to guide growth and the probability of successful outcomes is increased.

Later tonight there's a report on the 29 hydraulic small area plan and two related resolutions.

I don't know the details, but I'm heartened to see that a multi-jurisdictional land use transportation challenge affecting a cast of thousands can be addressed in such short order.

In 2013, the Charlottesville comprehensive plan listed 12 Charlottesville areas that are in need of small area plans.

You know, I wonder if the rapid

Oh, completion of the hydraulic 29 small area plan bodes well for these other Charlottesville places.

There's business on the planning commission's agenda tomorrow evening, ZM 1802, a rezoning request which could have massively benefited from the timely completion of a small area plan, a plan which would inform the commissioners in their discussion and recommendation to you.

A plan to cover this area was requested from the city in 1988, 30 years ago, but was never formulated.

The planning commissioners will have to do their best without the benefit of the requested plan to arrive at the destination, that being a well-formed neighborhood, a livable place with housing, good jobs, mobility for walkers and cyclists, and cultural and commercial amenities.

The Planning Commission will strive to get there without the help of the SAP process, without meaningful community involvement, without all the information that should have been available to them.

We must reform our zoning and undertake long-range planning efforts for the community in a more timely fashion.

I think you all approved a new assistant city manager to coordinate such efforts.

Has this position been filled?

Is the code audit nearing completion?

There's a fire hose of development money directed at our city.

How will our businesses, our neighborhoods and our residents fare if we continue to play whack-a-mole as the crises pop up?

The SAP plans,

The plannings are the rewritten code.

We need these tools.

I wish we had them in hand.

Thank you.

Bless you.

My name is Keith Smith.

Hello council members.

I'm representing the Land Trust community, Thomas Chester community Land Trust today.

My purpose today is simply to say thank you.

This council gave us a rather generous grant about a year ago and I wanted to publicly say thank you.

My board wanted to publicly say thank you and share some update information.

We are going to be starting construction within the next couple of weeks, and we will be moving four affordable housing buyers into homes at the end of late fall, depending how the contractors go.

But the most exciting part I wanted to share with you is between some partnerships that we did between the public-private

We're able to put solar on these four units.

So these four homes are going to be two net zero homes.

And these four affordable housing buyers will have zero utility costs to it.

So I simply just wanted to take a moment and say thank you.

You guys are visionaries.

Thank you so much for what you've done for us.

And we will come back periodically and give you some updates.

Vice Mayor Hill and members of the City Council.

My name is Paul Long.

I live at 100 Ridge Street here in the City.

And the reason I'm coming to speak to the Council tonight is that there was a public hearing sponsored by the Charlottesville Transit at City Space where a proposal for a variety of bus routes was made.

And several of them I object to strenuously.

One of them is that they proposed that the free trolley not go down First Street down to Market Street.

and it be rerouted to McIntyre Road.

And I object to that because at that stop, they let people off right at the downtown wall, right across the street from the Final Crown movie theater.

And I think that there should be public bus service to let people come to the downtown wall to shop and to go to movies, particularly in light of the supposed decline in business in the downtown wall.

The other objection that I have is that the Route 7 bus

It seems that CAT wants to reroute Route 7 as much as possible away from Route 29.

And they're also going to eliminate the stop at the main post office.

And I have a problem with that.

Route 29 is one of the main commercial streets in the city, in the county, and there should be access for people to be able to get there to a variety of sites on Route 29.

I also have a problem with the decline in service.

A lot of this has happened in the past couple of years.

There used to be a time when there was a bus stop every block, and now a lot of times there's four or five blocks in between bus stops.

That makes it very difficult for children and the elderly and for people with physical disability to access buses.

And if you're going to have an adequate bus service, the routes should be very frequent.

The stops should be frequent so people can get to it.

And I want to make a comment.

I moved here in February of 98.

There's been a lot of development since then.

There's a lot of development going on in downtown West Main Street and an awful lot of residential

Development in Albemarle County.

And Charlottesville is not a small college town anymore.

I've seen that change in the last 20 years.

It's not the Charlottesville 40 years ago.

And I know that there's at least two members of city council who came from, who've come from bigger urban areas.

Mr. Signer, you're one from Northern Virginia and Mr. Bellamy coming from Atlanta.

The metropolitan area of just Albemarle County and the city is approaching 200,000.

That's not including the other counties.

We need a much more extensive public transportation system.

This growth is going to continue.

And people are spending millions of dollars developing new roads.

I'm thinking the project with hydraulic road in 29.

Some of that money needs to be redeployed to public transportation.

And the system's got to be a lot better than it is now.

She was telling me something about the fact and... Oh, both Mayor Walker and I are on the regional transit partnership and the very issues that you're talking about, increasing frequency, is a very big issue for the regional partnership and involves jaunt

CAT, the Charleston Area Transit, and the University Transit System.

So we're all at the same table.

We're going to be going on a more kind of robust retreat with a group called Jared Walker's firm from Richmond, who will be giving us much more insight as to how you move forward to getting the high frequency system.

Right now there's a challenge because it's kind of a chicken egg that

We have low ridership, so they think, well, we don't need so many stops.

But then, as you absolutely say, that means many people aren't able to get to those stops.

We need both more stops and high frequency, and there's a tension with that.

Now, if I may, and I also would kind of speak to Mr. Emery's comment as well, if I may, Vice Mayor Hill.

You're absolutely right.

We're growing.

and we need to get into a pattern of development that facilitates this transit stop system.

And U.S. 29, we're doing that with a hydraulic small area plan and the county's doing the Rio small area plan.

That's really good news because that means high efficiency public transit on 29.

We do need to apply those same principles in all of our small area plans that Mr. Emery was talking about.

We are still, still indulging in very low-density, auto-centric sprawl, even inside the city.

Public transit has never

I'm going to go the opposite direction.

I'm saying that if you have an extensive public transportation system

that services the entire area.

You have buses running every 20 minutes so that a person who wants to go to work and take the bus misses the bus.

If they gotta wait an hour, they're gonna jump into their car to get to work.

If they only have a 20 minute wait, they may consider waiting at the corner for the next bus to come along.

I'm saying that if you have an extensive public transportation system that runs frequently, the ridership is gonna go up.

Vice Mayor Hill.

One quick question.

Mr. Jones, is it possible for us to maybe get another report from Mr. Jones from CAT to talk about or have an explanation in terms to the public about why some routes may be being cut?

I was told by Mayor Walker that Ms. Galvin

spoke at Lee during their meeting about the need for these routes which go predominantly through low income neighborhoods are being cut and you, she was adamant that you were holding to the fire and I don't know quite what came of that but maybe, Juwan could, what's Juwan's last name?

Lee.

Yeah, I think the,

The items, the route changes are being proposed for public comment.

For public comment, yeah.

And so, and then those will be brought back, they won't be put into play until we have a chance to air them with city council.

And so there may be changes between the time that public comment is received and the time it comes to the city council for discussion.

So, and then that will be an opportunity for council to weigh in on those changes.

But that date hasn't been set yet, correct?

No.

But it will probably happen soon.

So, Mr. Long?

And again to just follow up what Mr. Bellamy was saying is that the City Council's representatives on the Regional Transit Partnership have made it very clear that we do not appreciate the stopping, the cessation of certain routes that were being proposed as part of this three-year plan, transit plan, that they're required to put together by federal transportation agencies.

And so there will absolutely be a cost to that, but know that we definitely don't want to deny service to people because of a technical assessment of what high efficiency means.

Yes.

I'll start my time today by asking Liev in advance if I run over my time.

Tonight's the last time that I will be addressing this council.

And it will be my last time because I find myself in a position necessary to leave this city, and indeed this country, for my safety.

An act made necessary by the repeated dereliction of duty of this community's stewards to keep this community safe.

When I addressed this council last July, I warned of the violent threats to this community at Unite the Right.

In one of those threats, an internet poster said that the Nazis needed to get some quote military guys to quote crack some skulls.

Last week, ProPublica ran a story about Lance Corporal Vasilios Pistolis, an active duty United States Marine who traveled to Charlottesville, committed several acts of violence, and then bragged online about how he cracked three skulls without damage to himself, and bragged about how he attacked me personally, referencing me multiple times by name.

I helped research that ProPublica story, just like I helped research an Al Jazeera story where I exposed US Marine Sergeant Michael Chesney,

also known as Tyrone, who helped plan Unite the Right with Jason Kessler and was in contact with Jason Kessler and deliberately and purposefully plotted a vehicle attack exactly like the one that killed Heather Heyer in August.

Everything we warned you about came true.

Just before I came into this meeting, I got off the phone with the office of Representative Keith Ellison, who is a U.S.

Congressman from Minnesota who has asked the Secretary of Defense to investigate the domestic extremism within the ranks of the United States military, including the terrorist attacks here in Charlottesville.

It is a deep embarrassment to the city of Charlottesville, the county of Albemarle, the University of Virginia,

indeed the Commonwealth itself and all of the associated police departments and Commonwealth's attorney's offices that a congressman from another state has to work with the Secretary of Defense to demand answers to the violence and terrorism that we experienced in this city.

I'm not here anymore to ask you, to compel you to action.

I'm here because I'm owed something.

Me personally, I am owed something at this point.

I am owed an apology from you.

I am owed an apology because I was attacked in exactly the way that I warned you about.

I am here because my wife, your coworker, Mr. Signer, is owed an apology from you because of the devastation that you have wrought upon our lives.

I'm owed an apology because my friends and family have to read my name in multiple international news outlets about how I was targeted and singled out for assault by a member of a satanic neo-nazi terror cult with sleeper agents in the US military and I wish that anything in that sentence was exaggerated.

I'm owed an apology because a resident of your city stood here and begged you for help and you did nothing.

and you continue to do nothing.

I am sorry and I just want to say that the last I apologize the other time when you were out of the room we talked afterward and I meant it and I also want to credit you with

the research that you did do and the specifics that you did find which outstripped the research that later was done by people who managed to get in the dark net, but you did bring it to the attention here and for whatever reason, some of which the HAFE report did find, some of which it didn't,

The authorities that needed to give us what we needed to do to meet the credible threat standard that you and I have talked about, including the State Police and the Fusion Center, they didn't.

And it breaks our hearts because we should have been able to foresee and get the facts about what did come.

Good evening, Madam Vice Mayor, members of the council.

My name is Morgan Butler with the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Hopefully you all have had a chance to take a look at the letter that we sent you on Friday voicing our support for the hydraulic small area plan and the transportation recommendations it includes.

As mentioned in that letter,

SELC has been working to improve the Route 29 corridor in Charlottesville for over 20 years.

I haven't been at SELC for that long, but I've been there long enough and I've been working on Route 29 issues long enough to say that the progress that has been made in the past few years has been truly significant.

The recent transportation improvements, like Hillsdale Drive extended, the Best Buy ramp, the Rio intersection, synchronized traffic signals, all of these are certainly a big part of that progress,

as travel times and accidents along the corridor are both down considerably since those projects were completed.

But just as important is the groundwork being laid through plans like this small area plan to transform the pattern of development along the corridor into something far more accessible, equitable, and environmentally sustainable.

As you certainly know, the area is dominated today by suburban style shopping centers with large single story buildings and massive parking lots.

It's a pattern of development that requires getting into a car to do just about anything.

And by doing so, it generates unnecessary traffic congestion and it creates barriers around the surrounding neighborhoods.

It's inefficient use of land also leaves little space for building new housing and functional neighborhoods, which is untenable when the city is so focused on expanding housing options.

As our community continues to grow in the coming years, there is so much opportunity to transform this landscape into a setting

that offers a much greater variety of housing types and jobs, creates better and safer routes for walking and biking, enables effective transit service, and makes travel on the Route 29 corridor a lot smoother for everyone.

But for the area around hydraulic to get there, we'll need a plan that charts the way, and we'll need investment in the transportation solutions that are still needed to bridge those divides.

The small area plan and the transportation projects it recommends

chart that course and help bridge those barriers.

Your support of the plan and your endorsement of the transportation solutions will position the city and the larger community to take the next important step.

We're not going to get there overnight, of course, but without a good map like the one before you, we may never get there at all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'll speak a little quicker because I'd like to address the question of what has the city done.

When I was working with the Human Rights Council right after August 12th, I know that there were members of the commission there that helped organize a GoFundMe, and they went to individuals that were in the hospital who suffered terrible losses and continue to do so.

But we couldn't get their names because we wanted to follow up because of confidentiality.

So I think it's important for you to understand that human rights and follow up on that.

So why I'm here is I'm back with Riverbend Development and Mr. Capshaw's project.

I want to thank Ms. Galvin for cycling over to Belmont to meet with us.

And what we'd like to do is we really want to offer ourselves this project as a template to really understand why the city really needs an assistant city manager.

because I don't know if this development is really common for you all, but it's very complex for us.

And so when they sent in this, it's just really sort of a placeholder, so I don't want to get into the details.

As our neighbor, who's an architect, said, if UVA received this, it would have just been rejected off-site, but here's taxpayer money.

Thoughtful, rejections, really thinking through.

And the thing is, who's organizing this?

Missy Creasy holds this.

and what we really need and I'm sure she has great skills and tools but we need engineering, we need sewer, we need an incredible amount of skill and expertise and so what we're hoping is that this project that has huge ramifications for the neighborhood corridor is the template as we're going forward because as we're looking at social justice and we're talking about colonization and we're taking these words apart and really honestly

looking at the vocabulary, this is gentrification.

So it's the same thing, but it's all a little more fancy, the same changes.

It's the same effects that are happening.

So if we really want to maintain the integrity of our neighborhoods, I moved to Belmont over 16 years ago because it was diverse, and that's really changing.

and so if we walk through this step by step and have a meeting, you know we did have a meeting with a developer, it was not monitored, it was a free for all, there really weren't any answers.

Riverbend said we'll meet with you when we have something and they came to our neighborhood meetings but then all of a sudden here's this site plan that's put in because as I said earlier, you all are doing your jobs and they're a little frightened that the zoning

will get more sensible, will get more tailored to a neighborhood.

So we will walk through this process with you and really help understand how do we connect the dots with the sewers because this is going to be massive infrastructure on very old clay systems.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Thank you.

I'm Deborah Jackson.

I live next door to CAT Meijer, as a matter of fact, in Belmont.

I'm here also to talk about Riverbend Development and to bring to your attention their proposed development called Belmont Lofts.

It's a zoned neighborhood commercial corridor, NCC, and we don't believe it's in conformance with the existing neighborhood commercial corridor zoning district.

Riverbend has submitted a preliminary site plan to construct 138 residential units

and 27,000 square feet of office, commercial and retail space at 1005 Carlton Avenue and adjacent lots.

That area of Carlton Avenue is one of the narrowest streets in Belmont.

It's right where all the downtown restaurants are.

And the proposed 918 additional vehicle trips per day in and out of downtown Belmont is not feasible or acceptable.

That's only one of the comments you're going to hear us talking.

every other week about this.

So what I'd like to read to you is that from the Charlottesville City zoning ordinances, section 34-541, this is a mixed use district, the intent and description for the neighborhood commercial corridor district.

The intent is to establish a zoning classification for the Fontaine and Belmont commercial areas that recognize their compact nature, their pedestrian orientation,

and the small neighborhood nature of the businesses.

This zoning district recognizes the areas as small town center type commercial areas and provides for the ability to develop on small lots with minimal parking dependent upon pedestrian access.

The regulations recognize the character of the existing area and respect that they are neighborhood commercial districts located within established residential neighborhoods.

Within this district, the following streets shall have designations indicated.

Bainbridge, Carlton, Douglas, Fontaine, Garden, Goodman, Hinton, Holly, Lewis, Maury, Monticello, and Walnut Street.

So this is the first of many times that you'll hear from us about this.

And I brought copies for you.

Thank you.

Mr. Jones, can I ask a question about this?

When would this matter, we've heard about it a little bit, but it has not come to, when would it

When would council have any say in this development?

I mean, at this point, it's a by right development, but they are reviewing the site plan right now to ensure that it truly is by right.

So they're going through that process right now with the NDS staff.

OK. That's correct.

And again, full disclosure, I did meet with residents of the Belmont area, especially after I was shown the site plan in question.

And I fully agree with Ms. Meyer and Ms. Jackson, it does not at all appear to be in conformance with

the existing zoning that we have in the books.

And certainly doesn't reflect the intent.

So I do think what I've seen as a staff report, there have been some really good comments, particularly from Amanda Ponce, who really identified the big problems with this site plan.

But there is a lot of concern because the comprehensive plan update in one of the preliminary future land use maps that was shown

actually shows transition zones as opposed to this one big blanket neighborhood commercial area right in the center of Belmont.

And there is some concern that this is being put in place as a placeholder to get it vested right so that there isn't going to be any requirement on the part of the developer to adhere to the new comprehensive plan.

So I wanted to get that on record.

There is expressed concern about that.

and it does not, it is a suburban apartment complex thrown in the middle of Belmont, not adhering to the block network, the alley network, the small lot network.

So just the process point, like how could if just hypothetically if council,

So your existing processes and procedures wouldn't allow you to get directly involved.

So the Planning Commission is the city's designated agent for review of major site plans and major subdivision plans.

So first, as is happening now, your staff will review it.

And then if it is a site plan or development plan that requires the Planning Commission's review, it will go to them for the final decision.

So right now, as I understand it, everybody's in sort of information gathering mode review of the plans by engineering, by utilities, by zoning personnel, and then a staff will

Report will be prepared and I'm assuming it's a major development that would go to the Planning Commission for review.

And the Planning Commission will make its own assessments.

Okay, thanks.

Hello members of the city council and city manager.

My name is Jim Chang, I'm president of the Methodist Neighborhood Association and I'm here to talk about the small area plan and the area transportation plan for the hydraulic and very broad intersection and before I do that I'd like to take an opportunity to thank Chip Noyles for all of his work with the metropolitan planning organization and Kathy Galvin and I'm amazed at how much time you

an effort that you put into the area plan, working with the advisory planning council.

And we appreciate it and it didn't go unnoticed, so thank you.

I just wanted to basically say, unfortunately as president I'm not able to endorse the plan, that's because we didn't take a vote on it, but I can say individually in my own capacity that I do strongly endorse the transportation small area plan.

primarily because I believe that it makes the roadways that the major roadways around which there are many around the neighborhood it makes those roadways much more efficient and I believe it will ease the congestion and thereby cut the cut through or reduce the cut through traffic in our neighborhood which is good for everybody also I think we're hopeful anyway I'm hopeful

that the small area plan will allow the commercial areas to our west, to our east, rather, and north of us to develop with a sense of purpose and identity and to give it more local character.

And in talking to the members of our association, nobody objected to that idea.

Generally, people were supportive of that idea.

I think it's safe to say.

So we're hopeful that that will result in something good.

I guess a couple of caveats is just that the plan isn't developed enough, I understand, that we were able to flesh out the pedestrian options and accessibility out of our neighborhood to the areas surrounding us.

And also there are questions about us having recreational playgrounds and other facilities like that.

So I understand that has to be fleshed out.

I believe the process worked in general.

I appreciate everybody for listening to us, including VDOT and the Neighborhood Development Services people.

And I think the result was a good one, personally.

I have to say, at the last meeting that we had, before the meeting, I sent out an email letting people know of the proposals, the three options for the intersection of hydraulic road and 29.

And I included the fact that

Planning Council had recommended option one, which was a great separated interchange.

And basically, I got no objections.

One person showed up at the meeting.

I don't know what that says about my leadership, but I think ultimately there was just a lack of concern about it, whereas at the very first meeting, there were a lot of people.

It was very heated.

Kathy remembers that, and it reflected the level of concern.

Read into it what you want.

Thank you.

I'm Elizabeth Boyd, I'm a county resident and first off I just want to say thank you all for your time and the time that you devoted to this city and its residents.

Government's all about listening to your constituents.

I feel like in your term that you've been serving, you know, you all have been really creative about that.

And I would like to share my input on the Confederate statues in Charlottesville.

I've been researching over the past few months.

Well, I respect that you all have been fighting to remove the statues because you think that it's the best course of action for the city and its residents.

I believe that it's an uphill battle.

I've been researching this topic and I believe that there's a better compromise, one that includes including factual representation.

in the parks to help people's interpretations of these statues.

And I know this idea has been passed along several times and this will kind of help people's interpretation.

You can still say what you want to say.

Does she say it all for you?

Okay.

Thank you both for coming.

All right, well that concludes our community matters.

Vice Mayor Hill, may I just make one request of Mr. Emery?

He just did.

He did?

Oh, excellent.

Thank you.

I think given the time, we'll now move on to the consent agenda.

Thank you.

Item A, minutes for April 16th, 2018.

Item B, an appropriation domestic violence services coordinator grant, $49,336, second of two readings.

Item C in appropriation funds transfer from school age back operations to school age back capital improvement program $130,000, first of two readings.

Item D in appropriation funds for 2018-19 community development block grant $389,291.49, first of two readings.

Item E in appropriation funds for the 2018-2019 home fund.

$99,488.45, first of two readings.

Item F, an appropriation community development block grant account amendment, reprogramming of funds for FY18 and 19, first of two readings.

Item G, an appropriation amendment to home investment partnership account, reprogramming of funds for FY18 and 19, first of two readings.

Item H, an appropriation state assistance and citizen donation for spay and neuter program at SPCA.

$1,998.52, first of two readings.

Item I, an appropriation internal funds transfer designated for new salt storage facilities, $300,000, first of two readings.

Item J, a resolution for the city CRHA PHA revised scope of work for strengthening systems grant, first of one reading.

Max, just one item of discussion from our colleagues.

This is from the city CRHA PHA revised scope of work.

This was discussed at great length.

It's item J on the resolution.

It was discussed at great length during our CRHA meeting, which we had this past Monday.

and the Housing Authority is fully behind and also very supportive in terms of conforming, of however is needed in order for us to make this process work within a process.

So I promised I would say that.

Alright, call the vote.

Motion passes 4 to 0.

We're going to try to aim for 30 minutes for this item.

I invite Tierra Howard, who's here, the Grants Coordinator for Neighborhood Development Services, who will be presenting.

So today, my name is Tierra Howard.

I'm the Grants Coordinator in the Department of Neighborhood Development Services.

And today, I'm seeking approval of the five-year consolidated plan for fiscal year 18 through fiscal year 2022 and the annual action plan for fiscal year 18-19.

So just to give you some background, because I know, Heather, you're new to the process,

Every five years, the City of Charlottesville and the Regional Home Consortium assess local housing and community development needs in the region and adopt a strategic plan to meet those needs identified by the community.

So the consolidated plan is designed to help the region, which includes the city, counties of Albemarle, Fluvanna, Green, Louisa, and Nelson assess affordable housing and community development needs and market conditions and to make data-driven, place-based investment decisions as they relate to HUD funding.

So specifically, the city receives CDBG

and Home Funds or Community Development Block Grant and Home Investment Partnership Funds.

So each year, the localities are required to complete an annual action plan as part of that consolidated plan that details goals, objectives and specific activities to be carried out in the upcoming program year.

This is the first action plan.

This will be the first action plan of the new consolidated plan.

And it runs through July 1, 2018 through June 30 of 2023.

This document also serves as a city's application for CDBG funds and then the TJPDC or the Thomas Jefferson Planning District application for home funds because they administer and manage the home funds.

It is due in its final form tentatively to HUD on May 15th.

However, we haven't received our allocation letter yet, so it's been postponed for now until we receive our allocation letter.

So the consolidated plan goals, just to specifically talk about the consolidated plan,

are responsive to the needs identified while considering the limited home and CDBG resources available to carry out work under the cons plan and the action plan.

And so I provided a handout and I included these goals in the council memo, but they've been just tweaked a little bit to respond to the public comment period that we've been going through.

So the table, just for the public, it outlines what the party needs are and then it outlines what the goals are.

So briefly, I'm just going to list what the needs are.

Affordable housing, homelessness and risk of homelessness, infrastructure improvements and accessible neighborhood amenities, workforce development, business development, mental health and substance abuse services.

And then to respond to those needs, there are 12 goals that I'm going to briefly list.

Preserve existing supply of affordable housing, expand the affordable housing stock.

And just briefly for those two items, when we were working on the consolidated plan, we found that there's a critical need for affordable housing for extremely low income households, those making 30 to 30, zero to 30 percent of the area median income.

and then a high need for very low income households, those making 30 to 50% AMI.

So both for preserve existing supply of affordable housing and expand the affordable housing stock, we found that there is a critical need for those folks and a high need for those folks.

Strengthen and support home ownership for first time home buyers is the third goal.

The fourth goal is ensure housing is accessible for all residents.

The fifth goal, support investments that promote sustainability, energy efficiency, and environmental stewardship.

Sixth, support homeless and their transition to independence.

Number seven, support programs that aid in increasing self-sufficiency.

Number eight, enhance and improve access to neighborhood amenities and infrastructure in low to moderate income eligible neighborhoods.

Number nine, support investments that aid in fair housing choice.

number 11 foster small and local business development and number 12 support programs that provide mental health and substance abuse services.

So.

So just so you all know, the draft that you have, it was the draft that was for public comment.

But there is a draft that's about one hundred and ninety two pages long, which is this.

Thank you.

It's still a working document, just so you know.

So any comments that we received tonight

Any data that council recommends to include can still be included and it will still inform the outcomes or the goals.

So specifically for the action plan, the projects outlined in the action plan include the priority neighborhood.

So for fiscal year 18-19, the priority neighborhood council allocated that the

Council decided that the priority neighborhood would be Belmont and Ridge Street neighborhoods.

So the task force for these neighborhoods will recommend priority neighborhood improvement projects to be carried out with CDG funds for economic development.

Funds are proposed to be used to provide scholarships to assist 20 entrepreneurs to help them launch their own micro enterprise by providing technical assistance for public service program programs.

Estimated benefits include child care scholarships for six to seven families, basic literacy instruction for 20 beneficiaries,

Increased capacity of a coordinated entry system for homeless services, which will benefit about 27 and 28 homeless persons in one major homeowner rehab.

And then there's also admin and planning to help pay for the calls that are directly related to the CDBG projects, as well as citizen participation.

And then for home, these funds are proposed to fund programs that support down payment assistance for estimated 9 to 10 newly supported affordable units.

As far as community engagement, I'll go back to the priority neighborhood, but I wanted to get to community engagement.

We held a variety of public meetings.

We did an online survey.

We held 14 stakeholder discussions, and we had a public comment period that was held.

A wide range of over 80 organizations were informed about the consolidated plan.

and they were kept in form of public meetings.

Draft reviews by email were coordinated, public notice mailings, etc.

There was a lot of community engagement that me, myself and Billy did to kind of reach out and go out to the community instead of having them respond to us, which is why I attended 14 stakeholder discussions.

Many representatives from the different groups that we talked to were invited to attend meetings.

And we asked them for, you know, data to send us data to include in the plan.

And some people opted to participate.

Some didn't.

But staff also coordinated with CRHA to include notices and billing inserts for residents, as well as to incorporate data from the CRHA annual plan into the consolidated plan.

And in addition for the action plan specifically the CDBG task force reviews the RFPs and then they provide Recommendation for the action plan to Planning Commission and then Planning Commission brings it to City Council So for the priority neighborhood specifically So in September of last year so every year just so you know Heather every year council sets priorities in September and

In September 18 of 2017, council designated Belmont and Ridge Street as a priority neighborhood for fiscal year 18-19.

Traditionally, only one neighborhood is the priority neighborhood for a couple of years.

That's how it's worked before, but it's not to say that it can't be changed.

So this is new, and I'm here to ask council how they would like to decide to allocate the funds.

and I provided different scenarios.

So the first scenario, council could decide to fund both neighborhoods equally each year and each fiscal year within a three year cycle or more years.

The impact would be each neighborhood would receive about $100,000 each year for the rotation cycle and $100,000 would not be sufficient enough to fund larger scale neighborhood projects like previous priority neighborhoods have been able to do.

So neighborhoods would have to identify smaller

projects to fund.

The second option would be to rotate and alternate funding for each neighborhood for the first two years in the three-year cycle, or you can decide to extend the funding more than three years.

So for example, Belmont would be funded for fiscal year 18-19, Ridge Street for fiscal year 19-20, and then funding would be split between both years for fiscal year 20-21 if council decided to keep three-year rotation.

Just so you know, Belmont technically is the next neighborhood, priority neighborhood up next in the rotation.

If you were to choose this option, I just wanted to add that, you know, elimination or reduction decisions at the federal level are uncertain, so one neighborhood may be impacted more than the other neighborhood each year.

Council can choose to extend the funding cycle like I expressed earlier for each priority neighborhood, and just keep in mind that we

Because the priority neighborhood is where we have the most CDBG funding, we have to be spending that funding to meet our spending timeline.

So personally, I recommend that since Belmont is up next, that you fund Belmont with the first year and then alternate and fund Bridge Street the next year.

And you can extend that for six years.

That way, each priority neighborhood has three years in the cycle, just like 10th and Page

has had four years and Fifeville has had three years.

But that's just my staff recommendation.

You can also, I know Kathy sent an email about being able to make a sound decision, not knowing what the projects are.

Previously, traditionally, we had a party neighborhood task force and they come up with, they identify the priorities in council the year before

kind of allocates the funding first and then they're able to figure out, have autonomy on what projects they want to fund.

But if you want to do it a different way and kind of have them come up with the priorities each and then you all will still have to decide how you want to allocate the funding.

So those are the options that I came up with.

If there are other options that you all suggest, just let me know.

And

So I recommend that you all approve the 18 through 2022 consolidated plan and also the action plan per additional comments that are received tonight.

And just note that any funds will not be available or eligible to be spent until HUD releases their funding allocations.

And this will have no additional budgetary impact and there are no alternatives proposed.

And thank you, Ms. Howard.

This helps getting the overview, just verbalizing it.

Again, even though I've been doing this more than once, it's still a very dense document.

And this is different.

And it was hard to imagine how we could make this kind of a decision

picking which one goes first when we didn't know which projects had any kind of sense of urgency to them.

So your recommendation just now I'm finding extremely helpful, which is go fund, extend it to six years, start with Belmont first, but make sure each neighborhood gets three years each.

I just want to say that that was extremely helpful because you were the one in the 14 stakeholder meetings, you were the one that heard what the public wanted,

directly, and that has a lot of credibility with me.

So, otherwise I just felt like I was operating in the dark and how to make that, weighing that discussion.

Now second, I had some of these questions that I asked and I just wanted to know, and again, because this happens every year, but there was a certain level of detail in this one, it seemed, more than others, and I just wanted to make sure from my own mind

Was this informed by any of the work of the Partners for Economic Solutions, Anita Morrison?

Yes, a lot of the data and the needs assessment came from the... Anita, but we will be discussing Ms. Morrison's study independent of this, correct Mr. Jones?

That's correct.

Okay, that's all I wanted to know on that one because I wanted to know, we had another bite at that apple to talk at length about that.

And the other thing that

I saw that the CRHA's waiting list is 1,651.

It was like when you got rid of all the duplication.

And is there any way of knowing how many of those came from the surrounding counties in the metropolitan statistical area?

And what I'm getting at on that one is that it would help us to make the argument that this is a regional issue.

It's not just a Charlottesville issue.

And then we could move forward in our summit with the county in the fall.

and make housing a priority.

So that's kind of the method to my questioning.

And I'm sure we could get that down.

And then all this great observation about community development needs, about transportation options needed and infrastructure improvements needed and the need for grocery stores and fresh food, the need for affordable quality daycare.

is that data somewhere for us to tap into?

Yes, it's just, this is a huge document.

Okay, but it's there, so we can, because those are all policy implications.

Right.

Great.

And I remember you as a Section 3 coordinator.

So what I remember hearing at that workshop, I think it was a couple months ago, was that the city had certain obligations to make sure that it could be an effective partner with the Housing Authority and any agency that got federal money, PHA, and

Well, I really think that would be a department head discussion because my position is specifically geared towards the HUD funds that we receive, CDBG and HOME.

But like in the email I stated, I'm here to provide technical assistance.

The city and the housing authority approved a joint policy, so I think that

that was done when I was here in 2000 and don't get me lying 2011.

So I think that's the first step is actually having a policy together.

But as far as staff time dedicated towards assisting the housing authority or assisting any other grantee that receives funds that trigger section three, that would be a department head discussion because I'm specifically my position specifically is to

oversee CDBG and HOME and not any other.

But where we can partner and I can provide technical assistance, I can do.

But my specific responsibilities are specific to the CDBG and HOME and where Section 3 is triggered from those specific projects.

Thank you.

And we've tried to work with the Housing Authority in the past.

It was difficult with the previous ED.

So I think if you want a partner, you have to make sure that the other partner is ready to partner and kind of understands what Section 3 is, not saying that they don't.

It has to be two willing parties.

It's above my... And we've had discussions about Section 3 before, especially

And in the public housing section there's information about the efforts that are currently going on with FAR and the housing authority and so that's included

in the planning document.

OK.

I just want to have the record that I do think we need to really be on top of the Section 3 program.

So every year I have to submit a report to HUD.

And honestly, with Section 3,

The current the projects that we've had over the year, the only projects that trigger notification for Section three are the priority neighborhood projects.

And these projects are about a thousand one hundred thousand dollars to maybe almost two hundred thousand dollars.

And so the threshold for the city is all projects that trigger construction contracts that are over one hundred thousand dollars.

So what Section three says is that you have to provide notification

and you have to make sure that you're going through extra efforts to provide notification about these Section 3 opportunities when and if contracts, there are Section 3 contracts that result from the projects as well as job opportunities.

So not every time, so really Section 3 is not a job generating

If you don't make if you don't have millions of dollars in CDBG funds, it's really not going to trigger employment, but it will trigger contracting opportunities.

And so there's a mechanism in place when I was section three coordinator to ensure that the city's complying.

And each year we have to report to HUD on what the accomplishments are.

But because our projects are not extensive and don't involve a lot of funding, they don't really trigger new hires.

So a contractor already has people on staff to

to kind of carry out the project.

And they do have Section 3 contracting opportunities, so that's when I have to make sure they're compliant to make sure they're providing the extra notification.

And usually it's me doing that.

So we are complying with Section 3.

It's just that I don't know that people understand that it's not really

talking to Mayor Walker, hello Mayor Walker, she's watching as she is feverishly letting us know different things that she wants to say.

One question that she has is in regards to the housing for all.

Accessibility, yeah.

One of the things that we're looking at in regards to when we say that making sure that affordable housing is accessible to all residents, it kind of leads to a position in which maybe the thought that doing for all will potentially be most beneficial

for all people.

In fact, it may have an inverse effect.

So is it possible for us to look at targeting a specific demographic if we're looking at maybe 50% and below AMI?

Because they're the ones who, in terms of the affordable housing structure, is hurting the most.

And I know we've had the housing study that said that we need more higher income housing.

And that may potentially alleviate some of the housing for middle and lower incomes.

So in the document, so specifically I'm referring to some of the fair housing issues.

So under the Fair Housing Act, you have protected classes, you have people, persons with disabilities, you have discrimination based upon religion.

It just goes through a list of items.

And so what came out in a lot of the consolidated plan meetings is that

One, with CRHA there's an issue, there's a priority for creating housing that's accessible where if you have a disability you're not trying to go up and down the steps, the stairs.

And then also when it says ensure housing is accessible for all residents, we're talking about people with persons with special needs as well, as well as the aging population.

So we can, you know, revise that to say, to kind of call out specific

specific categories.

And I did hear, and you guys haven't seen, but it says affordable housing, homeless, non-homeless, and persons with special needs.

But we can include more of a targeted, include more folks in that targeted group.

And then when council sets priorities, council can say, because I don't know that we can go to HUD and say we want to just target funding to

So if council were to set a goal and we say that we want to specifically target and look at housing for individuals 50% AMI and below, that would then in turn affect the consolidated study and that would be a way to

It's one of our goals.

We did discuss this particular issue, I think, on Friday, on Thursday, and

What I would recommend is some kind of flexibility because the federal, one of the objectives in the HUD entitlement program is low to moderate income, which is people between from 80 percent EMI down below.

So maybe staff can frame the goal in such a way that it's flexible because if we don't have opportunity to provide, for instance, if there is a project

and we're going to put the money in the project and the opportunity doesn't exist well, you know, to target the resources to people if the project is 50 percent for the 50 percent and then the opportunity doesn't exist to do that, then we lose out in terms of considering people between 50 and 80 percent AMI.

So even if we were able to frame it in which we have flexibility, I think your point is well taken in regards to the opportunity may not be there.

And by opportunity, you mean maybe the land to build a structure or just the housing there in itself.

But I still think we have to be targeted and specific in some regards to stating that this 50% AMI and below is very different, in my personal opinion, between the 50% and 80%.

So if we can be targeted in stating that the 50% is indeed a group in which we want to ensure they have affordable housing, and yes, Ms. Galvin, it is a goal of ours.

And I don't see any issue with revising the goal to say ensure housing is accessible for those with critical need.

And then when council sets the priorities, they can

to specify.

So I think multiple of us.

I mean, this is the first we saw this document, but I agree.

This morning I was when you read and ensure housing accessible to all residents.

Well, that's not where we should be focusing.

I think that was just more.

And I guess I should have been more specific because CDBG funds target zero to 80 percent AMI.

Great.

And I just have one just general process question.

So you go through a lot of work to develop this.

Obviously, there's other community partners.

Give me a sense for who's at the table from the other counties.

And not necessarily their names, but just give me a sense for what is their involvement?

Do they have a person that's like, they have a you, each of those municipalities.

So the home consortium is made up of the different counties.

So the city is the grantee of the home funds.

But the TJPDC administers the funds.

And we're a home consortium.

So that means we're made up of the different counties, city, Albemarle, Nelson, Fluvanna, Green, and Louisa.

And so all of these folks, the different foundations, meet monthly on a frequent basis.

And they've had input on the plan, hands-on input,

when developing the plan, but they only receive home funds.

So CDBG funds are specifically targeted to city residents, but they have been involved in at the table and are part authors of the action plan.

The group of you work together on the action plan for each of those municipalities.

Yes.

So they provide their recommendations from their perspective.

And then I come and say, here's the city's needs, here are the city's needs, and here's what we plan to do with the funds.

And that's our way of collaborating.

is by meeting monthly to discuss housing issues and also like County of Albemarle reaching out to them to provide data.

All right.

Good evening.

I'm Brandon Collins.

I'm a city resident, and I work for the Public Housing Association of Residents, which is the duly elected, duly recognized representative of public housing residents in Charlottesville.

We appreciate Ms. Howard coming and meeting with our board as she was preparing the consolidated plan for you to look at.

And I gotta say, I haven't looked at all 190-some pages of the plan, but there were a couple things I wanted to make sure got in there because we didn't get a chance to have this discussion with Ms. Howard.

I'm hoping CRHA did.

But it's vitally important that the consolidated plan is consistent with the Housing Authority's annual plan.

In the past that was very difficult because the consolidated plan in the past was not consistent with itself.

On the surface from what I'm seeing from this year is that a lot of work has gone into making that consolidated plan much more consistent with itself in terms of the recommendations meeting some of the needs that are listed there.

One of the things that really needs to be highlighted in that consolidated plan is the relocation on a big scale of public housing residents over the next few years as redevelopment moves forward.

Like I said, I haven't read all 192 pages, but that may be a conversation that needs to happen before you pass the consolidated plan.

On Section 3, my understanding from the workshop we attended was the recommendation was that the city actually should move towards having its own Section 3 policy that could be targeted in a different way from the Housing Authority's Section 3.

policy and I think that's a conversation that really needs to move forward.

FAR's been working with the Housing Authority to develop a Section 3 policy and some programming to make it actually work and make it function for everybody.

But I think that's a conversation that needs to be happening and I think the city could do a whole lot more

I'm hesitant to encourage the idea of enforcement and compliance based on just the threshold and the idea that it's not being triggered in the city.

I think actually it potentially is and I think it potentially will be as we take more of your money and put it towards housing authority and redevelopment.

I would also support the idea of targeting this stuff

in the consolidated plan to 30% AMI and below or 50% AMI and below as Mr. Bellamy suggested.

It's such a small amount of money that comes from CDBG and home that you really have to target that to the greatest need and I think that's been identified as that extremely low.

I don't think you need the kind of wiggle room in case you want to reach

higher incomes that's going to benefit them.

And then lastly, I just want to point out on CDBG funding, that does not exclude housing authority, even though it gets its own HUD money.

That money can be used for infrastructure for housing authority in those priority neighborhoods.

Thank you for reminding us, Mr. Collins, the Housing Authority will take more of our money.

Hi, I'm Kem Spaulding.

I live at 912 Ridge Street and I'm part of the Ridge Street Community Neighborhood Program group.

And so I was asked, I appreciate all the reports that Tierra did.

She did it for our group as well.

And we had a

I think we had, I don't know, 15, 20 people that came, including Heather.

And so anyway, two things that are, two areas that she brought up that were interesting to me is that Belmont Oil, Belmont's been waiting quite a while for their allocation, so we certainly want them to get it.

And they only have a small area of Belmont that actually qualifies for CCDBG.

But I was also reminded that that small allocation goes very quickly.

Just one intersection can eat up $100,000.

So Ridge Street, the entire Ridge Street Neighborhood Association does qualify for CCDBG.

So we want to make sure that we do get what we can.

So by doing something like what she suggested of three years, each one of us gets three years, but spreads out over six years seems like a good idea.

And the other thing is that before council decides exactly how everything's going to be allocated, it would be

So that's all.

Thank you.

Would anyone else like to talk about the five-year consolidated plan or the annual action plan?

All right.

Close that public hearing.

We'll have discussion.

We've already discussed.

I'd like to make a motion.

Are you going to write the resolution, though?

So we have two.

We have the consolidated plan and annual action plan.

And then we have a separate priority neighborhood funds.

Right.

Yeah.

So we have this rotating and alternate funding for each neighborhood and we're saying that instead of what's written in the memo is extended for a six-year time frame with three years each cycle starting with Elmont.

So the staff memo had the exact language that you just gave to us?

So I.

It's totally different.

Council can, while making your motion, I would suggest or recommend that council alternate funding allocations between Belmont and Bridge Street each year, with Belmont being the first priority neighborhood,

and then council can allocate the funds for six years to ensure that each neighborhood has three years of funding.

So Belmont would be the priority neighborhood for the first year and then the following year would be Bridge Street and then the following year Belmont and that will go out for six years and then each priority neighborhood would have three years of funding.

The resolution could, I'm just gonna try this out if I may, that be it resolved by the council that the funds for FY1819 be allocated as follows.

The allocation shall be alternated, shall alternate each year between Belmont and the Ridge Street neighborhoods and that the allocation shall be extended for six years so that each neighborhood gets a total of three years of funding.

Extended two six years.

Four six years.

A total of six years.

So that's the motion.

So that's the motion.

Discussion?

You did?

Oh, I'm sorry.

One question.

You said the Ridge Street Neighborhoods.

It's not the Ridge Street Neighborhood Association.

Ridge Street Neighborhood.

The geography.

So the first and the second.

So we vote.

I keep forgetting I'm in the other seat today.

Motion passes 4 to 0.

Yeah.

Clarifying the language, yeah.

There's section.

Oh, and to establish a city section three policy.

Yeah.

We have a city section three policy.

I'm getting confused then because we're hearing

We have a section 3 policy, procedures, and process, and it's a joint CRHA and City policy, which means that it applies to the City.

I would like to have that, because there clearly does seem to be a nuance here that I may be missing

But I'd like to probe it a little bit more.

So that's a part of the Citizen Participation Plan.

So that's a separate planning document.

But it's not outlined in that.

Okay.

But we have it on the books.

Right.

Okay.

And there's that minor verbiage that you've already kind of done anyway.

All right, so we have a first.

I'm sorry, we have a motion and a second.

Second.

All right.

Motion passes four to zero.

you

you

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Music

you

and Michael Kochis.

and Michael Kochis

I thought Wes was behind.

Okay, we'll now move on to tree designations for historic trees, which will also include a public hearing.

We've allocated 15 minutes for this item.

I invite Mr. Mike Ronayne, urban forester of Parks and Recreation to present.

Good, how are you?

Good.

On November 4, 2013, the City Council passed a tree conservation ordinance that permitted the designation of public or private trees as protected under one of four categories.

A heritage tree means any tree that has been individually designated by City Council to have notable historic cultural interests.

Specimen tree means any tree that has been individually designated by city council to have notable by virtue of its outstanding size and quality for its particular species.

Street tree means any tree that has been individually designated by city council and which grows in the street right away or on private property as authorized by the owner and placed or planted there by local government.

Attached are three trees forwarded for designation under this program.

The first tree is a large southern red oak

at the front right of the main entrance of Venable Elementary School.

This tree is proposed for designation as a specimen tree.

This large spreading oak at Venable was the subject of Charlottesville's Arbor Day celebration in 2018.

Another proposed tree is a large Chumard oak in front of the Jefferson Madison Regional Library proposed for designation as a specimen tree.

This large tree resides in the front right of the historic library downtown and was celebrated for Charlottesville's Arbor Day in 2017.

The last tree is a large basswood in Emancipation Park proposed for designation as a heritage tree.

This tree, Sister Street, was removed two years ago in Emancipation Park and is now the largest diameter tree in the park residing in near the corner East Market Street and First Street North in the southwest corner of the park.

Pursuant to section 18-9, the two councils are required to conduct a public hearing on these requests and pass an ordinance if the designation is to be given.

Any questions?

So as you may have heard, I called Mr. Bailey today to ask you, it looks like in your report for the third tree that you didn't feel like you would have recommended that to be protected under the ordinance for the reasons stated.

My report, as an arborist, looks at it very methodically as far as structure, structural integrity of the tree, things like that, just sort of location.

But then the Tree Commission there, they went forward and all three of these are the records.

Yeah, they decided to go forward.

Can I clarify a question?

Alright, if there are other questions, then we'll open it up to the public hearing.

Rebecca Quinn, 104 4th Street here in the city.

As you just heard, one of the trees on the list is the Schumard Oak in front of the library.

It's described as an excellent health despite the aggressive erosion, exposed roots, steep slope and compacted soil and stone chip walkway at the top of the slope.

I want to thank Council and Councilor Galvin in particular for including the front of the library in the park planning

Initiative.

Such a fine tree specimen deserves to have a more pleasing environment rather than a stressful looking conditions that you see every day when you walk by.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who is looking forward to that planning process and I'm sure the planning team already knows the value of that tree but this designation which I support will reinforce that value

I do also, though, have a question about the tree in Emancipation Park.

If it doesn't rise to that level of a specimen tree or whichever designation it's called for, you know, would Mike designating it now somehow interfere, especially if it's not in great health?

I mean, I think, as you said, his sister tree was taken down.

It was in fairly poor condition, if you recall that tree.

So I wouldn't want to constrain, not that I want trees to come down, but in the grander scheme of planning for that park, we don't want a moderate quality tree to interfere with our possible thinking.

Thank you.

Would anyone else like to speak?

All right.

Clear the public hearing.

I guess we'll have a discussion.

I just need to ask you all, I'm going to pass down a copy of a proposed ordinance.

The staff was a little confused in preparing the agenda materials as to whether a resolution or an ordinance is required.

And to designate the trees, you're required to use an ordinance.

But there's no procedural problems and the text of the ordinance follows the outline of the resolution that you received in your packets.

It involves the same trees.

But just the requirement of the state law that our local ordinance is based on and the requirements of the wording of our local ordinance require you to make the designation by adopting an ordinance.

And Ms. Robertson, if I may ask, so the distinction again between an ordinance and a resolution is a statement of intent.

Well, a resolution is is more like sort of a written motion.

It has a lot of details in it.

An ordinance is an act that has the force and effect of a law.

It's more official.

It's it's more formal.

I'm not sure, but we want to make sure that the trees are protected as per your intentions.

Second.

I do want a little discussion though, because if I may, and it's the point that Ms. Quinn makes about the, I guess, the tree in what is now called Emancipation Park.

And our arborist has said that that is not worthy of this classification, is my understanding.

And that Ms. Quinn made a very interesting point.

Oh, yeah, but if something was just wrong with this tree and we do determine that it needs to come down, there's nothing in what we're doing today that was kind of what I discussed with Mr. Daley.

It was like, if all of a sudden we see this as being a public safety issue, that this tree just does not have a future, that we could take it down.

There's nothing that we're doing today.

And we can decide in the wake of the design process of the park that if this needs to go and it is a marginal tree, that would have to be an amendment to this ordinance.

Ms. Robertson, do we need, we need two readings on the ordinance, correct?

We will now receive the report on the hydraulic small area plan.

Good evening, Councillors.

Alex Akifina, NDS Director.

First of all, I would like to start by thanking the project team.

First, Councillor Galvin for the role she played on the advisory panel.

Chief Boyles, the Executive Director of Thomas Jefferson MPO, Art Jones, who's the Project Engineer from VDOT.

We also have Sal Mosharraf, who's the lead project person from Kim Lehone, who was in charge of the small area plan, the land use element.

This project essentially started in February 2017.

It was driven by an advisory panel that is composed of 12 representatives, three from the city, three from the county, a representative from Southern Environmental Law Center.

I believe Mr. Butler is here.

She spoke to council sometime this evening and she also sent a letter to the city council in support of the project.

We also have representatives from

Major Landholders and business owners along the corridor that participated as members of the Planning Advisory Panel.

The project is two phases.

One is the land use component and then the other one is the transportation aspect, which basically informs each other.

And there are several

recommendations, there are two recommendations, the transportation piece and then the land use basically set up the framework for the land use and there are several committee engagement process, I'm going to turn this over to Howard Jones in a minute that will guide the city council through the presentation and I believe council has already seen this presentation as part of the 221 and then

I joined a work session with the Planning Commission.

The citizen engagement was very elaborate even though it was basically driven by the planning advisory panel.

We had a lot of neighborhood input and the planning team

comprehensively respected the request by the neighborhood associations in terms of restricting the planning process to the core of the planning area which is intersection of hydraulic and 29.

And at the end of the day we provided, we developed a plan and that plan went through community meetings and advisory panels that eventually from the last

A survey I received in terms of the voting from the public, I believe more than 75% of the people who responded to the some kind of voting process voted for one of the options.

There are three options to the project, option one, two and three.

The planner recommended option one and the citizen responded overwhelmingly to option one.

And tonight we are asking the City Council to approve the recommendation from the Planning Commission, which is in line with the recommendation from the Planning Advisory Panel.

And were you planning to present again?

I mean, I've seen it three times.

Was Mr. Mazara at any of the presentations?

OK.

So you've seen the full team.

I'd hate to have them come and not say anything.

I'm just asking about the presentation.

I agree.

I'd just like to say that Chip Boyles was instrumental in

Initiating and working through the first phase of the project with the transportation, the land use plan.

The second part of the project was, in my view, a little easier.

The land use component with the small area plan was a difficult job, so CHIP deserves a lot of credit for that effort, as does the panel.

Do we have a motion?

Because the land use component was very unique for VDOT to be working with.

Thank you.

All I will say is that I think the process was amazing.

And given all of the different perspectives, the city, the county, and the private sector,

and I think the fourth site to do land use and evaluate land use prior to transportation and then to keep land use informing transportation as we went into the second phase.

A lot of credit due to everyone involved.

We continue to say that pedestrian and bicycle mobility is really important and connectivity of the legacy neighborhoods to the core area and services is really important and I think the transportation team has done a good job of keeping that in mind as they look at those solutions.

I had a great conversation with Mr. Chang out in the hallway and that idea of taking care of the neighborhoods and making sure they're connected I think is at the forefront of the plan but really kudos to the panel and to your community for the involvement.

And affordable housing was a very big issue too.

Well, thank you very much.

It was really a pleasure working with everybody, and we're not done yet.

There is still a lot of devil in the details, as they say, which I want to just make that clear, because there's still questions from the BIPED Advisory Committee wanting more details fleshed out.

That still is ongoing, but the very big issues are resolved.

So thank you so much for all your work.

and I would like to make a motion.

And a point of clarification, Ms. Robertson, could I make the motion for both at the same time?

Both for the land use plan as well as the transportation plan?

So, Vice Mayor Hill, I'd like to move to amend the city comprehensive plan by incorporating the 2018 hydraulic 29 small area plan and designating the area as an urban development area.

and I move to amend the city comprehensive plan by incorporating the 2018 hydraulic 29 transportation improvement plan, which includes scenario one grade separated interchange at the hydraulic and Route 29 intersection.

If I may make a comment, I know you want to get out of here in 10 minutes.

It's just that I do think it's really important to acknowledge and some of the great comments said tonight that we are only a 10 square mile city.

We have a very crying need for affordable housing due in large part to our accelerating land values.

So the only place for us to go is in our areas that are already developed.

We have to reimagine and repurpose them.

in order to make them accessible to the kind of places that we want to live in, work in, and learn in.

So I think this particular project, the hydraulic project, was an incredibly good example of what we mean by needing to repurpose an obsolete landscape.

It's an old shopping center, auto-centric, 100 acres of asphalt, purely commercial use, and next to

and a major intersection that had one of the highest crash rates in the state of Virginia.

So this was a combination of a perfect storm, if you will, the need for a new vision for land use and as well as a crying need for solutions of transportation in nature and it came together in this small area plan.

Now, we talk about adding affordable housing, we talk about adding jobs, but there was no way to do that

given that you just had this slate of asphalt parking lot.

And so it required a new block network.

It required new pathways so that you could actually create the landscape that buildings could fit on.

So it was a two-step process, the transportation network and then the

the land use plan, but then the zoning recommendations are also very important to make that come to fruition.

And the planning did move forward with a form-based code approach.

And what's also interesting is that we seem to be moving in parallel with what's going on with the small area planning in the Raya Road area.

Taken together, those two transit hubs will be able to give us much more opportunity for

Bus Rapid Transit in a distant future on the US 29 corridor.

But getting back to the affordable housing piece, we also know, and we've gotten emails from the public about this, well, how is that going to happen?

Well, you get the network right.

You get the zoning right.

You start getting the mixture of land uses, the mixture of housing types that you don't have now.

But you still need to make sure that you put a whole

suite of strategies in place.

And that's something that we're already talking about as a council.

That's kind of independent sidebar that we'll be having more, you know, fulsome discussion about that with the housing needs assessment study.

But I would like us to move forward with making a designation of a percentage target of supported affordable housing units in our small area plans, because we have 12 small area plans.

That is where those are the landscapes we need to repurpose.

That's where we can get

make the biggest dent in our affordable housing needs and at the same time create livable communities at the same time that have parks as demonstrated in this hydraulic plan that have more jobs for all skill levels.

And it was a really good model of community engagement as well.

And that's how you get buy-in, that's why you get

I think this is a really good, important step in the process.

We've got a completed small area plan, but it's one of many steps.

We're still trying to implement the SIA, our first plan.

We're slow moving on the Cherry Avenue plan.

I think the more we accelerate this process with dedicated, mission-driven people commandeering the tools at our disposal and listening, listening, listening to the public, we'll actually achieve our housing goal, which I think we're about 1,000 units short at the very minimum to meet our goal.

So that's all I have to say, and I hope you all support this.

Thank you for the time and commitment that you've put in as our representative in this project.

Well, you're welcome.

It's been an honor and it's been hard, but it's been really fruitful.

Did we get a second?

We did, right?

Motion passes 4 to 0.

Thank you so much.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Hill, I do.

I would like to put forth a resolution authorizing the city attorney to retain outside legal counsel on a pro bono basis.

For the sake of the public, I shall read it.

Be it resolved by the Charlottesville City Council that the city attorney, including any attorney serving as acting city attorney, is hereby authorized to retain outside legal counsel to assist the city attorney with any pending litigation involving the city of Charlottesville and with any matter requiring the provision of legal advice of the city government when such outside legal counsel is offering to provide such assistance on a pro bono basis.

Reference to pro bono shall mean, for purposes of this resolution,

that there will be no charge to the city for the provision of legal services, but if requested by any such outside counsel, the city may pay such reasonable costs, postage, duplication, copying costs, et cetera, that the city attorney approves the request in advance of the cost being incurred, and the finance director determines that funding is available to cover such costs.

Be it further resolved that the city attorney, including any attorney serving as acting city attorney, is hereby authorized to execute on behalf of the city of Charlottesville,

Second.

Motion passes four to zero.

One question, Mr. Jones.

It's actually in a response that Alex sent.

Okay, I didn't see that yet.

He tried to send it earlier in the day.

I can't dig it up?

We've surpassed Alexandria.

Ms. Hill, one of the speakers before.

According to the response, the city's current per capita spending, that's fiscal year 18, is $124 per person.

Alexandria is approximately $61.

Oh, I'm sorry, Albemarle is $61.

City of Alexandria is $56.

College per person, $33 per person in Roanoke, $23 per person in City of Winchester.

That's really important information.

And the other thing, when I was reviewing the housing report, did we ever really talk about that, the housing report that we got last month?

Because I did notice a discrepancy between the table and I asked about it.

and then the table in the appendix about our total expenditures and the total number of units that we are building.

And it was a sizable discrepancy, but one thing I did notice that in 2017-18, that year was three times more units built with the Shostel Affordable Housing Fund than on average the last 11 years.

Three times more.

Yeah, and whatever we're doing, that's the pace we gotta keep.

All right, we will finish by opening the floor to matters by the public.

Again, each person will have three minutes to speak.

Going once.

Going twice.

Good night.

Thank you, everyone.

This concludes the meeting of the Charlottesville City Council.