City Council Meeting   6/15/2009

and David Brown.

Rosh Hashanah

P.S.

D.C.

I never remember this class.

Michael Kochis,

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

Ms. Kochis, would you call the roll, please?

Here.

Yes.

Here.

Here.

We will note the absence of our colleague, Holly Edwards.

Unfortunately, Holly is under the weather tonight.

We wish her a speedy recovery.

We're going to start with some announcements.

I have a series of announcements that I would like to make.

First of all,

Tomorrow night, Tuesday, June 16th, from 6.30 to 8 p.m., the Alliance of Neighborhoods is sponsoring a discussion on managing neighborhood traffic, which will be held in room 241 of the county office building on McIntire Road.

And speakers include Jean Alexander, who is the city traffic engineer, Juan Diego Wade is the county community planner,

and police from the city and the county.

All city and county residents are invited and for more information it's www.allianceofneighborhoods.org.

We also want to announce, we're very excited to announce that this Saturday, June 20th,

At 10 o'clock in the morning is the grand opening ribbon cutting ceremony for Honesty Pool at New Park.

Please come and join us for that very special event.

This is a project that's been years in the making and we're excited about that new facility.

Third, our cooling assistance program, which helps eligible households with cooling emergencies such as repair or replacement of interoperable cooling equipment, payment of utilities, security deposit, or bill of purchase of one air conditioner, fan, etc.

That cooling assistance program

is now taking applications.

If you need assistance in that regard, please contact the Charlottesville Department of Social Services at 970-3400.

Last but certainly not least, very pleased to announce on July 2nd, Thursday, July 2nd, at the Pavilion is a free concert by our wonderful Charlottesville Municipal Band, an independent celebration concert.

It will be free to the public 7.30pm in the evening of patriotic music.

I hope you all have a chance to come and enjoy the show.

Any other announcements or items to be added to the agenda?

I do have one item, additional new business to add at the end of tonight's agenda, which is a discussion of a letter to

Congress regarding a piece of interview legislation that I'm going to add and have a brief discussion on at the end of tonight's agenda.

We will now open our meeting to matters by the public.

As always, when you come forward, please give your name and address, keep your comments to three minutes.

Good evening.

I'm Julie Marie Johnson.

I live at 1702 East Naggart Street.

I want to speak to the petition made by the Willamnose neighborhood and the solution offered by the city.

I do not know what the original language was.

I did attend the meeting at the chapel.

There was one solution.

We were only allowed to ask questions.

I object to meetings where you are not allowed to get other information about possible solutions.

There could be no discussion.

There were no other solutions or alternatives allowed.

I object to discriminating against local business owners.

The voting guidelines said no business owners could vote.

They must sleep in the neighborhood.

Rights since 1935 has been a part of our community.

They were green before green was in.

I object to them being excluded.

I object to landlords having the right over residents, especially since the landlords

Two of whom, there's one who lives in downtown Northeast and one who's in a nursing home.

Both of them own at least five properties, but they do not, safe in the neighborhood.

Is it a local business if you earn money by renting houses?

They are entitled to vote, I object.

Balloting, full disclosure, the transparency of who gets ballots or not, I don't know.

The Linnan building I know has full residence in it where people sleep.

I should fully disclose that I got three ballots, even though I only own two parcels.

And my neighbor, who owns one parcel, got two ballots.

Concerned about the process, but more importantly I'm concerned about the solution.

The solution offered by the city ignores the problem.

Staff at that meeting stated over and over again, it's not the speed, it's the volume.

Volume is the problem.

Less account taken on Franklin Street.

The statistics are highest and show 2200 cars a day from Fairway to Franklin and we all know why

That number is so high.

That's the route that people use to get from here to there.

Safety.

The Franklin Market Street intersection has one stop sign.

I have called the city five times.

There is never been a response from the city.

I feel stop signs would address the issue of safety at that particular intersection.

Cost.

Four traffic bumps at $3,000 each.

That comes up to $12,000 the way I do it.

Four stop signs at $100 each is $400.

Other ideas.

Oh, narrow the street.

That thought is free.

Bike lanes.

Yay!

Bike to Riverview or walk in safety.

marks parking spaces and bus stops.

Any urban planner knows that if you mark parking spots and narrow the street, that slows down the traffic.

Oh, do we need a stop sign at the intersection of Franklin and Market Street?

I think we do if you have 2,200 cars going up and down that street.

And everyone who knows, who lives in that neighborhood or drives through knows it's not safe.

Okay.

Nice solution, one-way Franklin Street, the cost of one sign.

Thank you, Ms. Johnson.

Mayor, Councillors.

My name is Bruce O'Dowd and I reside at 878 Locust Avenue.

I'm here representing the Executive Board of the Alliance of Neighborhoods.

The Alliance of Neighborhoods seeks to protect the quality of life in the neighborhoods of Charlottesville and Adderall.

However, neighborhoods sometimes seem to be invisible to elected leaders and these communities are vulnerable to many threats.

Among those problems are uncontrolled or poorly planned development,

Resoning excessive traffic, forced on-street parking and noise from non-residential sources.

A recent Charlottesville application for rezoning a residential property to commercial purposes for a restaurant is a case in point.

The Alliance considers that the main conditions of the city zoning code on such rezoning were not met.

The applicable section of the ordinance requires that the Planning Commission shall review and study each proposed amendment to determine that the rezoning one, conforms to the comprehensive plan, two, serves the general welfare of the entire community, and three, is needed and justified.

The Planning Commission under these mandates could not and indeed did not ignore the city's own stated guidelines.

It determined that the necessary criteria had not been met and recommended against rezoning.

Additionally, the neighbors themselves were very clear in stating their opposition to yet another commercial rezoning property in that particular block.

Nonetheless, the City Council chose to overrule the Planning Commission and not heed the neighborhood.

The Alliance wishes to urge the City Council to be sensitive to the broader problem of creeping commercialization in the city.

Often the expansion of commercial districts is especially egregious when nearby commercially zoned properties could easily be switched to a higher and better use.

As a matter of principle, the Alliance does not support rezoning R1 and R2 to commercial stroke business purposes.

When a governing body changes zoning from R1 to commercial, it often sets a deleterious precedent.

Not only do nearby homeowners' properties lose tangible value, they also lose their value as a sanctuary for negative commercial side effects.

What assurance by ordinance do neighborhoods have that their residents are safe from this insidious and ill-planned type of commercial encroachment?

Who advocates for all residential neighborhoods?

Very few neighborhoods and residents can afford legal representation.

Nor should they have to resort to such measures in order to ensure careful, clear planning in the communities.

My name is Betty Mooney and I reside at 201 Sunset Avenue I gave you some material tonight that's in front of you about potential project options from Gannafromie But I just want to say we had a rally tonight on the downtown mall It was well attended, I'm sure you'll see it on the news

and that's why I'm here tonight because I really feel that you have recently heard that Rivanna has announced that the expert dam panel the way Rivanna characterizes it has found substantial potential cost savings for the dam but our group, Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan has read almost a thousand pages of supporting documentation from this group of experts and we have found .1%

of savings.

That is all that the consultants were able to put a dollar figure on.

$150,000 out of the entire project.

They do say there's possible potential other savings, but they also say if you read the report, even the report itself without reading a thousand pages, that there are many risks and other things that are going to cost more money.

Particularly, if this reservoir goes under I-64, the risks are

There are no solutions and no costs and they kind of throw up their hands and say make this a whole separate project, go get somebody else and evaluate this.

So what we hope you will do at this point, and that's why we had our rally, is now finally say no more money,

to the dam project, the new dam project, until we see the dredging surveys and until we see the pipeline.

And if you look at GANF funding's own options that they gave the dam in August, they said, if you go forward with looking at the new dam, this option should include re-evaluating the south work within a pipeline and pump stations.

So to put more money into the new dam when there's so many unknowns and we have not seen any cost savings except for 0.1 10th of a percent would be just totally wrong for the rate payers, wrong for the citizens.

It would be a waste of money at this point.

You have to look at the pipeline and you really have to look at dredging first and it's really

and on the whole issue of whether the dam can be repaired or it has to be replaced, get it funny, look at all this.

2003, they did this study.

They showed, even here they say, they have an alternative that says that the intent of this alternative was to provide an upgrade solution that allowed continued operation of the reservoir during upgrade construction with minimal adverse impacts to the reservoir levels.

They've got a way to repair that dam.

It's not the construction that's the problem.

It's a spillway.

I hope you all know the difference by now.

And we say, look at that.

Repair that dam.

Look at dredging.

Look at what you need to do.

Look at this report.

This is the most work they did for us.

Okay?

So don't spend more money on the new dam.

It's just throwing the money away at this point.

Thank you, Ms. Mueller.

Good evening, DeeDee Smith, I live at 2652 Jefferson Park Circle in the city and I'll just keep my remarks brief but I just wanted to bring you a copy of the letter that the Citizens' Fair Sustainable Water Plan sent to you and Betty Mooney just talked about some of our concerns but I'd like to just

Note one that we talked about in here and that was, there's a lot of disturbing information actually that we found.

But the one that really disturbed me was the recognition in one of the letters that our demand has gone down and it was struck.

It was struck from the report and actually a higher demand was used.

I would urge you as you look to, as you're getting these studies, as you're getting the pipeline study, the dredging study,

Please demand that you revisit how much water we're actually using.

Of course, the conservation study, keep that in the forefront.

I really hope you will and I will reiterate Betty's point that please do not authorize any more money for this dam until we have all of the information that you have asked for.

My name is Mayor Morris and members of the council and my name is Paul Long where I live at 1410 Grady Avenue here in Charlottesville and I've come here tonight just to make a few remarks about the terrible devastation that illicit drug use is causing in our community.

For the past 40 years since the time of President Nixon, the United States has been engaged in a war on drug.

There continues to be a great demand for illicit drugs and where there is a great demand in used profits to be made,

People would step in to supply that need.

We refused to learn the lessons of history.

The 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which spanned the manufacture, sale, transportation, or importation of intoxicated liquors in the United States, did not stop the use of alcohol.

It only led to a huge and violent crime wave and the birth of organized crime here in the United States.

We are witnessing a breakdown of civil authority in Mexico as drug cartels battle the legitimate governmental authority that is battling the drug cartels and that is spilling over the border to our Southwestern states.

It is time to treat drug use and drug addiction as a public health issue and not as a matter for the criminal justice system.

It is time to repeal the Harrison Act.

It is time to decriminalize in our country and in the state of Virginia.

It seems that the state of Virginia would rather build more and more prisons to lock up drug addicts rather than spend the necessary money to provide outpatient counseling and support for those who have a substance abuse problem.

It is cheaper to treat a non-violent drug abuser, and I want to emphasize non-violent drug abuser, at a community outpatient center

and who sentenced them to a prison term or a jail term and throw away the keys.

Now this is not a statistically viable figure, but based on anecdotal observations by myself, that I'm visiting substance abusers at Charlottesville Albemarle County Jail.

I believe that at least half the inmates at the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail are non-violent substance abusers who have been

and courts rated because of their illegal drug use because they were selling drugs to support their drug use because they violated their parole.

And yet the regional jail is bursting at the seams and our local governmental budgets are skyrocketing out of control.

Support for decriminalizing drug use and treating it as a public health issue is gaining support across the political spectrum.

Carl Schultz, who was the former mayor of Baltimore in the 1980s, and who was also at one point in his career a federal prosecutor, frequently called for the decriminalization of illicit drug use, as did the late William F. Buckley, the later conservative and publisher of National Review.

It is time to admit that our war on drugs during the past 40 years, in all of its many forms, has been a critical failure.

Good evening Mr. Mayor and Councillors, Clearwater 101 Robertson Lane, President of NDRA, which is the neighborhood association for the North downtown neighborhood.

After reading Jeanette Chaslyarke's report on the Meadow Creek Parkway in the 250 interchange update, I see that she has tried to be thorough and to cover all scenarios.

However, in three minutes, I cannot possibly remark on all statements and conclusions that have been drawn.

Some conclusions are questionable and may be misleading without background information.

There is two sides to a story, so to speak.

There is always more than one way to draw a possible outcome.

This is a very complex issue as it involves federal, state, and local government.

It involves federal law, federal earmark, and in fact even a local court challenge regarding the Virginia Constitution.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Hall.

My name is Bob Fenwick and I live at 901 East Jefferson Street and I support the dredging option for the Rivanna Reservoir.

Just a few quick comments.

If you're looking for a water supply for a major university and a small city, you don't dam a creek, you dam a river.

and that's what we've done with Rivanna and the problem now is to get the silt out from behind the dam that is a doable engineering project the best thing about this public discussion that we're having is we have time to make the right decision this is not a one year decision, this is not a two or three year decision

In 10, 20, 30 years we're going to have other technologies that will help us make a decision better than we do today.

So I would propose and I would advocate for a five year

and the pilot program to dredge behind the Rivanna Reservoir.

In that time we would see what the problems are, we could find the solutions and we would be in a better position to make a decision at that point rather than jump into something right now that could cost the city and the county hundreds of millions of dollars.

Thank you Mr. Fermil.

Good morning City Council members.

My name is John Pappas and I live at 600 Brandon Avenue in Charlottesville.

I come here tonight as a recent graduate from the University of Virginia, a soon to be law student at UVA, but most importantly as a member of our Charlottesville community.

The years I have spent here have been the most unforgettable of my life.

The experiences, adventures,

and triumphs that have been part of my time in Charlottesville will always remain cherished memories and it is in the desire to give back to this community that I come before you tonight.

Last January, having returned back to school early from winter break, I was walking down the corner of University Avenue.

As I went across the street, up 14th Street, I found myself staring squarely at something I, like thousands of other passersby, had long seen but ignored every day.

The gray concrete abutment wall just below the railroad bridge stood in front of me, looking so out of place against its historic surroundings.

It dawned on me.

Why not brighten up this stark intersection?

The more I thought about it, the more I realized how great this opportunity was.

Why not take this literal junction of the UVA and Charlottesville communities and highlight the best parts of the two?

We could show the many magnificent ways the two communities interconnect and help ameliorate the long supposed gap between the two.

As I worked with an art fellowship student who designs sketch and met with local artists and professors, the possibilities honestly seemed endless.

Wanting to preserve and venerate the architecture of the corner, we crafted a colorful dynamic art piece made of brick walls and archways with stained glass mosaics.

In each archway would stand a beautiful stained glass vignette of Charlottesville, the downtown mall, Carter Mountain, the James River, the historic corner, and best of all, students and Charlottesville residents alike could all come together to build these pre-designed mosaics themselves, making this community project in theme and in construction.

We have constructed the design, talked to masonry companies, held workshops for making the stained glass.

Everything is ready to proceed with this project, to integrate this corner with its surroundings and reinvigorate the community.

The board of architectural review has prolonged and denied my proposal for reasons I still am at a loss to explain.

I ask that this council see the greater benefits of this benevolent project and introduce some refreshing common sense.

I've spoken to students, art committees, corner businesses, and have their written support.

Everyone wants to see this project happen.

Please listen to their voices and help restore a greater sense of pride and unity in our community.

Thank you for your time.

Good evening, I'm Stroudon Salitas, I live at 704 Graves, and I was glad to hear some people bring up the dam plan, I think that is one of two major projects in this area by which Charlottesville

has a chance of being duped into supporting the next 50 years of sprawl in Albemarle.

The other being the Meadow Creek Parkway and I also read the report that you all are going to hear in a little bit and I found many problems with it.

One thing is that in the report says that Charlottesville would have to repay VDOT were it not to complete McIntyre Extended and there's no more background information on it than that and this is highly dubious conclusion and

as Charlottesville has not yet entered the construction phase and could still opt for a no-build alternative.

And if it does opt for the no-build alternative, Charlottesville has in a sense completed the project.

even though the project is not built.

I know that Mr. Kleeman has sent you some information on that.

I hope that you have looked at it.

Another thing in terms of the payment issue is if Charlottesville would come clean and admit that McIntyre Road extended and the interchange are truly one project, there could be no mistake.

as to whether that project had in fact been started on the construction phase or not and that would be a natural way for Charlottesville to then end the project because as we all know McIntyre Road extended is not going to meet the federal laws that we are currently trying to evade.

And I hope that you would all look at the website for the 250 interchange project.

On that website, it says that Charlottesville would be building the 17 lane at-grade interchange were it not to build the interior section, were it not to build the interchange.

That is just plainly false.

and I hope that that will be changed.

Good evening, I'm Donnie Smith.

I live at 810 Lucas Avenue here in the city.

One quick thing, I thought the other water people would bring it up.

There was one point that I found out last week.

If they build the dam, they're going to have to drain the reservoir first.

If they don't dredge, they drain the dam, and we have a drought, we're going to get in a lot of trouble.

And it really bothered me that it took a Freedom of Information request to find that out.

But really I'm here to talk about some things more positive.

I don't know if you all read the book.

I do regularly.

I know I've already talked to Mary Morris about this.

I think this technology from Royal Water Technologies is very exciting.

I'm not exactly sure how it can be used in Charlottesville, possibly in the Martha Jefferson hospital renovation.

They're looking at things like that.

I'm certainly going to introduce them to these people.

But I think things like real-world technology and Mr. Vanderlyn's recycling are things that this thing really needs to do to meet our needs in the future.

Good evening, Council.

My name is Peter Kleeman.

I live at 407 Head Street in the city.

I'm here tonight to talk about item number five on your agenda, which is titled The Schedule of Future Council Actions for Route 250 Bypass Interchange at McIntire Road, McIntire Road Extended, and Meadow Creek Parkway.

As some other previous speakers have mentioned, there's discussion about whether this is one road or two roads or three roads.

and I was under the impression that the city attorney's office was going to be investigating the credibility of that issue that was brought before you in the letter from the attorney for the coalition to preserve Dankentire Park about whether this was illegal segmentation or not and I was hoping that before you make any decisions or even before you get this report that that information would be made available both to you and to the public

I certainly agree that there are strong merits in this being one project.

But to look at the item before you today, there's some discussion about the benefits and the costs, I would guess you'd call them, of building these projects.

And the report prepared presents that you could select none of these projects, one of them, not the other, of the two choices that are behind you, or both.

and I think that the staff report provides actually a statement that says there are many benefits.

I'm not sure if it says many, let me read it exactly.

It says that the city may elect to eliminate both either

Both are either city projects.

McIntyre Road extended and over 50 bypassed interchange in McIntyre Road.

While there are positive consequences to not completing both or either project, retaining integrity of historic park thus lessening environmental impacts

The following are technical negative consequences to be considered.

So this whole report talks about the negative consequences.

But I think that for a balanced presentation, looking at both the negatives and positives would be a worthwhile endeavor, and I would encourage you to actually compare costs and benefits of these projects before making any decision.

My final concern is that the material you have behind you, the two maps, represent projects that

really are sort of incompatible with the planning process.

The one on the top only provides the at-grade intersectional alternative, which by council resolution is not on the table, that the actual project starts 775 feet north of Route 50 bypass, and so that doesn't even represent the project that you're being asked to consider.

The one on the bottom is only the project if you consider both the roadway and the interchange to be built collectively because there's that northbound section that is part of the McIntyre Road extended and would not be built if no McIntyre Road extended would be built.

In fact, there has been no planning for an interchange that has no northern link to it.

So the two maps that you have before you, part of the agenda package, represent projects that

are incompatible with the decisions that you're being asked to look at.

So I would encourage you to perhaps hear what the staff report is from the city, but really ask them to provide a comprehensive cost benefit analysis and plans that really correspond to the choices that you're being asked to make before you make any further moves along the lines of this project.

and I'm here to speak this evening about the ordinance that effectively disallows drumming on the downtown mall.

Personally, I have had the opportunity to be involved in some of those drumming circles and also to enjoy drumming from different cultures and from different people and it's always one of the most uplifting

events that are going on down there.

It brings people together across racial lines and socioeconomic lines and age and everything.

adhere to.

So those are my personal remarks and if I may take the liberty of reading a couple of letters that have been sent already to the City Council just to reiterate for everyone's ears.

Dear City Council, I've heard recently that all dreaming has been bound from the downtown mall.

This saddens me greatly.

Some of my fondest memories spent on the Mall have been those when I gathered with others to listen to the wonderful drumming of local musicians.

I would understand a tone unit in public music, such as no outdoor music after ten or so, but to back completely seriously the tracks from the pleasure of spending time on the Mall.

I hope that you will reconsider this ordinance, respectively.

Respectfully, Wendy Crennage.

And another letter from a friend of mine, Joan Sichun, at 311 South West, 6 and a half Street, in Charlottesville.

Dear City Council, I was in the downtown lobby the other night when I saw a police officer come and ask the young man to stop drumming.

There were other performers on the bile lab evening, including a Christian music group, which was much louder than a drummer, but they were allowed to continue.

I had been enjoying the joyous sounds the kid was creating in his plastic tub.

He was very talented.

I'm on the mall a lot.

The whole reason for coming to the mall is for the culture there.

Tables of jewelry and pashmin of shawls staffed by displaced Tibetans.

I've lived in several big cities, New York, San Francisco, and frequented Illinois, Chicago, Baltimore, D.C., Philadelphia.

The draw that makes them magical and appeal is the opportunity to experience diversity and the unexpected in our daily lives.

If you ban drumming, we lose all African drum circles, kids drumming on plastic tubs and PVC pipes,

Irish Music, etc.

The economy is bad and Charlottesville wants to make the Nile a financial success.

Drumming speaks to us on a very primordial level.

It is a basic need, performing in every culture.

People go to Washington Square Park, the fountain in Central Park, etc.

to get their movement needs met.

So too with the downtown Nile.

Let's not shoot ourselves in the foot by banning the very events that bring folks to downtown together.

Thanks for the fair hearing, Joseph.

My name is Diane Brickuto.

I live at 2738 Wild Mills Road in the county.

And I'm speaking on the same subject that Linda McNeil was speaking, the African drumming, and I would like to read some letters also.

Dear friends on the Charlottesville City Council, it makes me very sad to hear that you are considering outlawing African drumming on the downtown wall.

I personally have been on both sides of the drum with musicians William Witten and Darl Rose.

The joy of dancing to and playing the drums in summer nights while watching our diverse communities, children, teenagers, and older folks participate

with smiles everywhere has been almost indescribable and the best part is that the drumming on the mall is free and can be enjoyed by all people in the city.

It is understandable that some of the restaurants are concerned about their businesses but I would hope that a compromise can be made.

I bet if you took a poll on a Friday or Saturday night of all the people on the mall more than 75% would be in favor of this uplifting music.

I own a house in Charlottesville but I'm currently living in California.

I will forward to coming home soon to my city and the community I have there and this aspect is very important to me.

It is unique to Charlottesville and I have never seen anything like it here.

I am reminded of the days when Africans were brought to this country and the first thing we did was take away their drums.

You are being asked by many people to please reconsider such a drastic move as to outlaw this music and take the time to search for a compromise that would be beneficial to everyone.

In sincerity Ruth A. Richards

This study was written actually by myself not just to address this issue but also to tell you about the person who is responsible for a lot of the drumming.

I'm writing in regard to allowing exception to allow African drumming on the downtown mall.

Not to allow an exception I feel would be a great disservice to the community.

I first heard African drumming years ago while walking on the mall.

I was drawn to the sound and when I located its source I found a growing group of people truly enjoying yourselves.

There were people of all ages, seniors as well as toddlers, able bodied as well as physically challenged people, all moving in whatever way they could to the victims and feeling the joy of the music.

What I especially love is that in this form of communication reaches across all spectrums, age groups, ethnicities, religions, as well as monetary demographics.

African drumming tells a story with its drums, talking, if you will, back and forth, and when there are dancers present, interpreting that story is a wonder to behold.

William Whitten is the creator and lead drummer of the Drumming Group.

and is a wonderful and generous person I've had the honor to get to know after hearing him that day.

He was awarded the Distinguished Person in Charlottesville Award in 2007 from the Daily Progress based on what he gives back to this community.

He was tireless by giving workshops and drumming to many of the schools both in this community and in the other outlying counties.

He loves sharing his gifts with others and none more so than the children who respond in kind.

These could be children from all walks of life, including those with physical or emotional challenges.

The music seems to reach them all and elicits a response to the form of joining in, dancing, drumming, or even just smiling.

It's all a beautiful gift and sight to experience.

Mr. Witten is a very humble man and doesn't drum in the mall for attention or to boost his own ego.

He is always considerate of others and his surroundings while doing his drumming.

who truly wants to share his gift and to do so takes considerable effort on his part.

I have seen him carry many of the heaviest friends back and forth, long distances and up and down stairways on even the hottest days to various schools and communities and charity events on almost a weekly basis without complaining with a full and happy heart.

As he will say when he's asked, it's all good.

When I first asked him about giving workshops and working with children at no cost, he would always respond, it's not about the money.

that just about sums up his spirit and intentions.

I feel blessed to have met him and now have become both a student and friend of Mr. Whitten's and I know his motives are pure and his gifts and wanting to share it with this community is invaluable.

To not allow him to continue to drum in the malls he did for many years would truly be a great loss.

To have this happen just as we are becoming a sister city with Renato Gana is even harder to understand.

As they learn more about our culture, we should in turn be embracing and learning more about theirs.

Whit Britain only wants to share what is to be a universal language, which is the rhythm of African drumming.

I can honestly tell you that everyone I know who has heard it has mentioned how uplifting and inspiring it is, and I can't help but put a smile on your face.

It also helps to develop a sense of community, and isn't that what the premise of a downtown law area is really all about?

Actually, your time is up.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

I appreciate you coming here tonight.

And time is up for matters by the public.

We'll have another opportunity at the end of the meeting if you'd like to stick around.

We'll now open it up to council member responses to matters by the public.

Dr. Martin?

Well, I assume that at some point we'll take up the matter of drumming.

I think that's certainly

You know, I've enjoyed the, personally enjoyed the drumming.

I'd also like to say I really appreciate the nice comments about Whit Witten because Whit's been a friend of mine for a long time and a real fixture in the community and I think he's done a lot of important things that have engaged a lot of people across races.

But I think we have to be clear on the, well, I have to say I was a little bothered to have words like that we were banning drumming, we're outlawing drumming.

That kind of implies the city council has taken an action.

And we didn't.

We inadvertently, well, we intentionally passed the noise ordinance for them all, mostly because of the complaints

are restaurant owners about amplified guitar music.

Basically, people didn't want to sit on nights when there was a guitarist with a battery-powered amplifier making a lot of noise.

It turns out that this new tournament applies to drumming.

It actually also turns out, and I talked a little bit earlier today, that sometimes our complaints from restaurants get to drumming is right next door to where people might want to sit and enjoy dinner.

So, but having said that,

There's got to be a solution.

There's got to be a place that's really not going to affect restaurants.

There's got to be a way of making this work because I agree.

I think a criticism I hear that I think is accurate is that the mall has a lot of great things, but it doesn't necessarily have a lot of things that

I'll just say that I certainly agree with Dr. Brown and Mr. Huja and I feel like that we can certainly find a solution

for this problem, if it is a problem.

I too have been a little concerned about it.

I agree with comments that have just been made.

I'm a big supporter of drumming on the mall and I certainly appreciate what I'm hearing from the other counselors that we want to see a solution that's going to preserve drumming on the mall.

So I thank you for coming tonight and we'll get to work on that.

A couple other comments.

I think Ms. Johnson brought up some big questions about the process in the William Mills neighborhood about the traffic calming and, you know, not necessarily with my having such discussion tonight, but at least to get some response from staff about some of the concerns that have been raised tonight.

So we are a little bit more informed about some of the issues that Ms. Johnson raised, so thank you for coming to.

I agree with Ms. Mooney that we need to proceed with the driving study.

We would have said clearly over and over again we are not going to authorize any construction or damage to the results of the driving study.

I personally think that we need to continue to brush out all costs of all the alternatives so that we can have the most informed opinion.

But in terms of, I certainly intend to hold the line on that commitment that we've made, that we will not proceed on construction then.

We're not taking down one chair, even that, until we have the results of the judging study.

And I will add that I would like to see, and I know Mr. Frederick is here and Mr. O'Connor are involved in this,

I'd like to see some work done on assessing that report that you showed from 2003 on the existing ban and to see if those conclusions are still valid.

I think that's important information that we need to know.

Mr. Klayman asked a question about a response on the segmentation and I know to a certain extent because there is potential litigation involved

I would rather not to know.

I can plan to be there.

And now I want to address Mr. Pappas.

Thank you for coming tonight on the corner of New York Party.

Because I know you've been running around with the city on this.

I know you reported the BAR once.

They sent you back.

You came back before the BAR.

They turned you down.

And I think you're looking for some support now on the best path forward.

And I don't know if other counselors

This is the first time I've heard of it.

Yeah, first time I've heard of it, and I'd certainly like to see some more information on it.

It sounds like it might have some merit to me, because that is kind of a drab-looking spot.

All right, so I know there have been some communications that I've been privy to about England Councils as a whole and privy to and maybe we can get a report from Mr. Tolbert about some of the background, just more background information for us and potential options for this project and we'll look forward to getting that and we'll get back to you on that.

Okay, start again.

I forgot a comment I was going to make.

I also just want to say I agree with Mr. Long that our nation's drug laws cause more problems than they serve than they help.

And I think what this country needs, and it's not a council issue, so don't get me wrong, let's not have matters by the public dominated by it, but I think what this country needs is a healthy discussion on the pros and cons of our existing drug laws and the degree to which they cause a lot of the problems in our communities

and in our neighboring countries.

And we haven't had that.

You know, it's almost like people are afraid to talk about it.

And so I'd like to thank you for starting the ball rolling here.

Thank you.

And I did want to note, there have been two changes to our agenda tonight.

First of all, item number two, which is a pebble carrying or resolution regarding potential condemnation

Hillsdale, Whiteaway, first of one meeting has been removed from our agenda tonight, that there has been a voluntary settlement reach, so we will not be proceeding with condemnation of that property.

Secondly, item F on our consent agenda, which was an ordinance, we've zoned 894 hidden elements from R1 to neighborhood commercial corridor, second to two readings, that has been

removed from our agenda as well in part because Councilor Edwards wanted to be part of the discussion on that item and she obviously is not here tonight and in part to give staff a little bit more time to put together some of the analysis that we committed to doing as part of

and part of the review of broader net bed issues in downtown Belmont.

So those two items have been removed.

Mr. Mayor, I'd like to move the following appointments to our boards and commissions to the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau, Greg George, Benford and Pepe Linden,

to the Charlottesville Albemarle Commission on Children and Families, Tanner Perkins as youth representative, and Paul Wiseman.

To the Charlottesville Sister City Commission, I'd like to make two motions.

First, I'd like to increase the size of this commission by two public, two large members, and I'd like to

I move that we appoint Reverend Ralph Brown, Nancy Daniel, Gary O'Connell, Goro Risby, Martha Welland and Kaye Slaughter

to the Piedmont Virginia Community College Board, Mary Liz Deviney and Suzanne Morse, to the Region 10 Community Service Boards, Erin Loschway, to the Retirement Commission as employee representatives, Robert Bragg and Mary Kay Kotelik, and as a retiree representative, Pete Winfield,

Any discussion?

Mr. Mayor, I would like to say that we also extend the total for telecommunication opinions to the crew of weaknesses in the heads of people who apply.

Thank you very much.

We now move forward to our consent agenda.

On our consent agenda item A is approved in units of May 18th to June 1st.

Item B is in appropriation of $7,600 reimbursement for job flow expenses, second to two readings.

Item C is in appropriation of $144,647 CDBG recovery funds, second to two readings.

Item D, appropriation of $23,155, people, transportation, special events, revenue, second of two ratings, and item E is an ordinance holding a tax relief program, second of two ratings.

Item F has been removed.

Second.

Any discussion?

If not, please include vote.

Thank you very much.

We'll now move forward to item 3 on the agenda, which is the Public Hearing Ordinance Abandoned Drainage Easement for Grove Square Street Project, first of two meetings.

Who's speaking on this tonight?

I will, Mr. Mayor.

As you say, this is a public hearing and proposed ordinance for the abandonment of a drainage easement.

This was a drainage easement that was acquired by the Virginia Department of Transportation as a part of the construction of the 19th Street Connector.

Road.

There is planned development in that and VDOT, I should add, subsequently conveyed that easement to the city as it usually does at the completion of road projects.

The resident property comes back to the city.

There is a new development plan for that area which proposes a new drainage system

We will now open the public hearing.

Is anybody from the public would like to speak on this matter?

We will now close the public hearing.

Is there any discussion or motion to approve the ordinance?

Motion to approve all of this?

Second.

It's been moved and seconded on first reading.

We'll carry forward our next meeting.

Thank you very much for this meeting.

Next is a presentation made from our Neighborhood Leadership Institute bus lines.

Good evening.

Neighborhood Leadership Institute is a program that's been going for

Best I can tell, 12 or 15 years.

But we restarted it about three years ago and reconstituted the program.

have had great success since then.

This is actually the third year of that.

One of the things that we did when we started it back was ask the participants to divide into teams and come up with a project and actually work on a city issue or one that they thought or one that we gave them and develop a project around that.

This year we had presentations that were just absolutely outstanding and thought that there's no sense in keeping them to ourselves

and the graduation night that they do, but they need to be shared with you and the community.

So we're going to do that over the course of the next several meetings.

And the first one we have is a project called Best Lines.

It was put together by a committee that Susan Barris is the leader, at least in speaking for, and she'll come forward.

Thank you.

It's good to be here.

It was a lot of fun to be in the Neighborhood Leadership Institute, and we're very grateful for your support.

My team is Beth here.

We've got Jeff Greer, Tony Waterfeld, Mary Bennett, Loris Feathers here, anybody else?

And Christine, oh, oh, oh.

Sorry, Joyce.

Joyce Feathers.

And Christine Gleason is here from CTS.

She is also critical to our efforts.

So Bus Lines is a

composed of a group of people that came together interested in transportation issues and specifically they were interested in increasing ridership on the buses and we considered all the usual ideas, making the buses free and all that sort of stuff and decided we really couldn't contribute anything more on those lines than the time period that we had so I stole an idea from the London Transport System

where they put poetry on the buses in the advertising spaces.

And in London, she was six or eight famous poets, Shakespearean people like that, and they'd print up a thousand of them and spread them out.

I thought it would be much more fun here to get poets' poems from the school kids.

So, and we also figured if we're going to go with the theme of increasing ridership, if you have homes from a school kid, you might get the parents on the bus, you might get the grandparents to look at the bus, and the more we could do that, the better.

So, that's what we did.

We went to CCS first and said, what do you think?

And Christian said to us, sounds great, how many spots do you want?

And we said, well, about four per bus.

And she said, no problem.

So we've got four spots per 28 of the buses that can hold these things.

And then we went to the schools and said, we've got these slots, do you have any poems for us?

And we got 90 to 100 poems that they could gather up very quickly for us.

And then we said, okay, we've got these poems, we have to choose them.

Now what do we do?

We went to a very generous business man who donated all the graphic design and the graphic production stuff for us.

And we also got a printing organization to print them for us for Rono.

They all came together.

On Friday I picked up the package of printed items and this is what they look like and they'll be on the bus starting very soon.

There's one last meeting with Kristin to organize publicity efforts and things like that between Kristin and the school and the city.

What we hope to do in the future is to have two cycles a year of New Palms being on the bus.

These will be up for about three months this summer.

We'll run up school kids during the summer and then open it up to the greater community

for something in the winter for about three months.

So be looking for notices about that and be getting ready to write your poems.

Right now we're also looking for partnerships and grants to kind of start paying for the printing and other expenses.

Just to give you a quick rundown on the numbers, as I said we got about 100 poems from four different schools this year.

We chose 56 poems.

Parents gave permission for 48 of those to be published.

That represented the work of 44 different poets.

We've got 112 slots on the bus and we've got about $8,000 worth of pro bono work to make this happen.

This is by a young man named Daniel.

It's called Late Night Promise.

We will reside in a better place and our skin will warm to the sun.

We will reside in a better place and take our lives at a slower place and fear no more than arms embrace.

When room is high and day is done, we will reside in a better place and our skin will warm to the sun.

Thank you very much.

It's a wonderful project.

Quick, we kind of went through that quick.

I just want to make sure that I had a chance to say I think that was a great project.

I think it's a great idea.

I think it's a great idea.

Thank you.

We really would like not to ask you for any action, but simply to give an update on where we are with the two projects, the MacIntyre Red Extended and the 250 Interchange, and try to lay out for you the actions that would be necessary over the next several months as these things move forward.

We'll start off with the MacIntyre Red Extended, and of course,

I said I was going to do a history of this and I don't think we have that long to do a history of that project but just a brief history from 99th Ward when the council, similar to VDOT, agreed to the project again there were a series of conditions and one of those conditions dealt with the intersection at the 250 bypass and I don't know where Rick went

Council approved the project with a 17-lane intersection and that's the way it went for me.

I don't think you need, you may just want to stand.

This takes about a minute and a half once we get it going.

But this is just for a refresher since some of the council was not here the last time we showed it and then those decisions were made.

Is it ready?

One of the primary reasons for moving forward with an interchange are concerns over the intersection.

Where was the traffic that would be created?

This is a simulation model that was run.

We didn't like until it extended, if you did not build an interchange but had a 17 lane.

And if you notice, the McIntale Road runs up and down here and the bypass is left to right.

As you can see, looking here, you've got back up completely off the screen to the west and it is back past Covenant School, back to

Rose Hill, and if you notice coming in from the east we get back up well past Park Street in that location.

And this is with current traffic in this model I believe, isn't that correct?

This is growing.

Okay, so this has grown on into the project.

You can also see McIntaw Road extended, backing up, coming towards the south a great deal.

But you can see the conflict and turning movements here.

the way that it backs up and when it stops you can really see it.

This shows traffic volumes that are growing at 1% a year which is a relatively low amount of traffic with a current volume on the bypass of 39,100 growing to 38,750 in 2030 and this is the PMP calor I believe that it's

So because of this and other reasons, council decided to move forward with asking VDOT or telling VDOT that the only way that you would approve the project moving forward was with a grade separated interchange.

So you can deal with that now.

That's just I think you've got in the picture there that it is.

Without an interchange this is an intersection that would be terribly congested.

You ask in another letter to V-up that we go with a great separate interchange only and then started seeking the funding and as you know we got a near mark of some 29 million plus or minus just a little bit to build that interchange.

The design started, we're moving through it and we're at the process now to give you an update.

Okay, the current status for Meadow Creek Parkway, as you know, is administering the project for the county.

The construction began in January of 2009 and they're planning on completing it by October of 2011.

This is a new alignment, so therefore traffic currently isn't really being impacted all that much.

It's also a new alignment that we agreed with the county that we wouldn't open

Meadow Creek without opening McIntire without opening the interchange that does indeed happen.

This is, this agreement's still in place.

The only exception is that we've been told now by VDOT that there will be a three week detour where they'll open up Meadow Creek Parkway and allow it to access Melbourne as they construct some entrances by CATEC and Del Mora.

Moving on to McIntyre Road Extended, this is the city project that's also being administered by VDOT.

Sure, Section 106 is the federal

It's a process for identifying and preserving historic resources and when the Army Corps of Engineers needed to issue a permit to this state project

It triggered a federal action and therefore we had to do Section 106.

The area or the extent or scope of the project has been identified.

The historic resources have been identified within that.

It looks like there's agreement that McIntire Park is the only affected historic resource.

So we're currently working through mitigating the effects of the roadway project on McIntire Park.

There should be a draft MOA out shortly and that's when the concerning parties which are members of the public interact with different agencies from the state and city level.

and hopefully we'll have a signed agreement soon and then we can move to construction there.

McIntyre Road, well we're currently, if we can get the MLA approved and signed, then September 2009 is the earliest we could do it.

But it could be pushed back.

To complete, it would take about a year, a little over a year to build.

For the Route 250 interchange at McIntire Road, this project is a little different.

This is one of the projects that the city is administering for ourselves.

We have a few things going on there.

Construction is currently projected to be summer of 2010.

We are currently finishing up the 30% design plans and updating the environmental assessment which will lead then to a public hearing which we hope to hold sometime late summer, early fall.

Before that happens, we also are having another smaller meeting with Hillcrest and Birdwood, always confuse the two.

The access issues for the neighborhoods, so we've already had one meeting with them where we outlined their concerns and we're going to come back and show them what we could do to help mitigate the effect of this project.

We're also working on a separate section 106 process for this project.

It was a federal project.

It would have had to go through it.

The APU has all been identified.

The two historic resources that have been determined to have an adverse effect is the Wacke landscape and McIntire Park.

An MOA has already been circulated to the consulting parties and regulatory agencies and we hope to have comments back.

within the next few days and we'll be responding to those.

So that's currently what we're working on in response to what we're looking for city council for.

For Meadow Creek Parkway, the only thing that we could think might pop up is dependent upon the lawsuit that's been filed.

The judge did not give a date.

as to when the decision would be made.

McIntire Road extended.

The one thing that we're looking for is or that one easement that remains outstanding is for utility line that Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority currently controls.

It needs to be moved in conjunction with the construction of the roadway and there's a couple of ways to go about

transferring ownership of that or whoever maintains it.

And then with the Route 250 bypass interchange, as it's been mentioned that the MLA is currently being circulated and commented upon, we will actually be implementing these measures to make sure that these historic properties are protected and mitigated.

The effects are mitigated against them.

So we need to sign that and we'll be looking to you to approve whatever agreement has been reached amongst FHWA, VDHR, ACHP and all the other alphabet.

Then, after the design public hearing, we'll be giving you all the comments and making sure that you approve each of the design features of that, and we'll move forward with final design and right-of-way.

Sorry.

Sorry.

You mentioned right-of-way.

it's an estimate right now we're going to go to the design public hearing and all of that needs to be laid out to the public and we're currently looking this is an estimate of essentially nine properties at worst case would be affected and that would be half an acre amongst those nine properties

And then, let's see, for the interchange, there's also the right-of-way that we were kind of getting to.

Of these properties, if we assess the property, make a fail offer, and negotiations don't reach a successful conclusion, then we may come before you again and request for condemnation proceedings.

Questions?

The design public hearing for the interchange we're hoping to do late summer, early fall.

For the MLA, as soon as possible, that we have to reach an agreement with the public and with the other agencies.

So again, we're hoping at the same time, but there isn't.

That's summer of 2010.

No, no, that would take a bit longer.

Was it two years?

Two years.

Right, okay.

Great.

Can we move forward for this kind of schedule?

Can we put it on the website?

Do you know the heart?

Thank you.

Next we have a report on our urban forestry plan.

Good evening Chair, Members of Council.

Myself and Chris Gensick who's our Parks and Trail Planner will be making the presentation this evening related to what we believe is a major milestone for the city in its natural resource management efforts.

There is a PowerPoint if you would like to step down or stay behind the dais.

Get that up and running.

All right.

This is a presentation about our new urban forest management plan which has been in development for about 18 months and reached a final stage here very, very recently and thusly we are bringing it forward for your information.

Good evening, everyone.

here to present the urban forest management plan and one thing we wanted to do in putting this plan together was to look at the history of Charlottesville's urban forest somewhat generically and also specifically so we have a little bit of generic history to go over here

Of course most of America was covered in forest until it was settled and cleared for farms and pastures.

Much of the area that the city of Charlottesville is now was farmland for pastures like Valmont Farm, places called D Farm, Qualiton Farm.

A lot of those areas, after they were farming in pasture areas, became neighborhoods and slowly filled in with trees as people started putting houses on land that used to be for cows and crops.

In the 70s there was a major boom with the University of New England.

That made a big difference in Charlottesville's urban pattern.

A lot more neighborhoods were built.

But also at the same time of major construction, a lot of remnant land was dedicated as parkland.

We picked up a lot of our parkland in the 70s from that development.

and is currently some of the remaining forests in the city.

We have codes probably since the 50s, 60s, 70s that talk to tree planting in certain levels.

Those have been updated over time.

And then another recent surge in development in the late 90s and just at the turn of the century here

has led for some people to say, well, what is the status of Ozark Forest?

What kind of threats are there and how can we move forward in preserving it?

So that led to us starting to make this plan.

So we have a few aerial images to show over time that I don't know if those are in there.

I guess they're out.

What we did to create this plan was about a couple years ago the idea came to development again from people saying well where are we, where are we headed and so during the process of creating the 2007 comprehensive plan the city decided that we would at least set a goal

We looked at some national standards and we set a goal in that comp plan of 40% canopy coverage for the city.

So that was our goal even going into the development of a real plan.

And what we did at that point was started to get together and outline a plan and we realized that we probably needed some data.

as to where are we and then we could determine how we would move forward to our goals in making the plan.

So we've had both a forest assessment, which some people might call a tree inventory style study done, which we'll talk about later, and we also had a canopy analysis of our overall urban canopy done

with the Department of Forestry helped just last year and from that point we could then say well where are we?

We got a lot of really good data out of those and we've been then putting together from the outline now we can fill in the outline and create a plan that we brought to council tonight.

We have previously done work in trees in the city.

We've been in the city for quite a while.

Again, in the 70s, I think with that wave of development there was a desire to look at street tree planting and we do have some paper copies of an old document that show places like JPA now that have street trees on them, Fifth Street, areas where people are starting to think about how can we plant street trees in our mediums.

How do you deal with issues like sidewalks, underground utilities, overhead utilities, which also all share street space.

So starting to get into some of the difficulties of street tree planting with that plan.

In 2002, we did a street tree inventory.

We took GPS locations to get them in the computer map and basically what kind of species do we have and where are they, partly to help us deal with our management, what trees are responsible for maintaining the street trees, but also to start to look at an overview of what's in the streets there.

Again, that's limited to just the stuff in the medians because it's easier to tell.

A median tree is definitely public if it's beyond the sidewalk.

You can't always tell.

Tree City USA is an Arbor Day Foundation designation that shows and allows you to show off that you do care about trees in your community, that you do have laws, that you plant trees, that you have staff, that you spend money on trees.

So we were designated in 2007 as being a city that does care about trees.

Dave Albemarle helping us with planting trees and showcasing our new designation.

Ever since we planted a tree, 2008 we did it at a school playground in Jackson Byers School.

We've also had our parkland study to see where are our forests being eaten by invasive vines, are there invasive trees and other things in there that are making the forest maybe not as healthy as we would like it to be.

That report gave us an awful lot of data about what types of invasives we have, to what extent they've taken over certain areas, and where we could maybe tackle them early and keep them from taking over areas.

A very strong part of that report said that our forests are in danger.

The forests that we have now are in danger of being overrun.

So we have made a lot of effort in putting staff and volunteers into trimming vines out of trees and we'll start to see that paying off over the next couple of years.

University of Virginia offered to help start to quantify the tree canopy in the area.

And in 2006, one of Karen Firehawk's class did some GIS and computer data analysis and some field studies to try to determine, well, where are the trees in the city and what percent coverage do we have?

The result of that study said that we had about a 31 to 32% canopy.

That, I believe, is the data we used going into the comp plan to then set a goal of 40%.

So that was a preliminary look at our tree canopy.

There's our 2007 comprehensive plan, which not only set our 40% minimum open canopy goal, but started to get a little more specific about some tactics we might take in getting to that point.

Many of these objectives we rolled forward into the urban management plan, urban forest management plan.

And again, there's the statement that we do want a long range plan that will protect and manage our canopy, both in the streets, the schools, the parks, public places,

and we do want to get to private names as well.

The 2008 Tree Inventory of Public Lands, this is a forest assessment.

We had a firm come in and measure every tree in a park, cemetery, city hall grounds, and some of the buildings we own downtown.

And that is a tree by tree, how big is it, how old is it, what kind of shape it is in, what species is it, in the areas where there's trees at the golf course where you can see each tree.

And then they went into the forest of areas and gave us a general analysis of what condition is this forest in, how diverse is it, what is the age spread.

That helps us in managing our trees knowing, for example, are we a city of just all dogwoods?

We found that we're actually pretty diverse in the types of trees we have.

The urban tree canopy, we found a little further analysis.

This is probably one of the neatest things we've seen.

This is the map that's on the wall behind you.

The Department of Forestry worked with us partly to get towards some Chesapeake Bay data as to where is Virginia and they offered to help do Charlottesville as a how can we get this stuff done.

They take a picture.

When the leaves are on the trees as opposed to your general overhead pictures are when leaves are off the trees.

So they wanted to see the trees.

And they can take that data and tell us what's a canopy tree, what's a shrub vegetation kind of grass area, and then what's a hard surface like a roof or a road.

and they can take that and sort through some computer modeling and tell you where is your canopy coverage and in this case it's by parcel.

So you can find this map and look at your house and find out what percent coverage your parcel has.

We can do the same for parks, schools, public housing areas.

We can really play with this data over the next couple of years to help us deal with our tree canopy issues.

This gave us a calculation that our canopy is 46%, which is above our general comp plan goal.

but like we'll see later, we still have work to do in different areas and this map helps show you where areas are more heavily forested versus areas that aren't.

This is a quick graph to show that same data.

We have almost 50% tree canopy and then a split between impervious buildings and things and lower vegetation than canopy.

This is a neighborhood by neighborhood.

You can see that data in the report and break it down but it does give you percents by neighborhood.

which is another thing we want to analyze as we move forward is to make sure that all neighborhoods are getting to that 40% goal where possible.

Thank you Chris.

Our executive summary, sort of a brief overview of this plan, really gets to our key strategy to ensure sustainability of our forests, and that is the right tree in the right place, ensuring that the right species of tree is planted in the correct location.

And the elements of the plan itself involve many, many things.

However, they kind of are categorized into six elements, protection and preservation, enhancement and restoration, expansion, monitoring, education and outreach,

and sustainability and best management practices.

The team of staff that developed this plan included staff from the Parks and Recreation Department, the Environmental Sustainability Office, Neighborhood Development and several planning commissioners who were individually involved in the development of the plan.

I'd like to take you through each element of the plan briefly and just highlight some of the specific tactics that we are looking to do over the next several years.

The first element is protection and preservation.

The higher level of protection of public trees through conservation easements, potential council majority for sale of land, land acquisition to bring forested areas under parks ownership and management through riparian buffers,

and additions to development codes.

What you see at the bottom are construction details for very specific tree protection practices during construction projects.

These details can be included in the NDS design manual that's currently under development.

The second element is enhancement and restoration.

As Chris noted, our continued efforts to contain invasive species and the removal of invasive vines and trees.

and the planting of native species in their place and in other portions of the city and the addition of trails for access to these lands.

The third element is expansion, and that is expanding the tree canopy.

We know we have exceeded our stated comp plan goals citywide.

However, we know that we have not done that in every single neighborhood in the city, and probably will not be able to get to 40% in certain portions of the city.

So we need to establish exactly what those tree canopy goals are for an urban area, a suburban area, an entrance corridor, etc.

and work to develop public and private planting efforts, not only concentrating on public property but working with the community to plant additional trees on private land.

The fourth element is monitoring, looking at the forest hills.

As far as health, age and diversity of species, our tree inventory, the forest assessment is very, very specific.

It has an amazing amount of data that will allow us to actually query through the GIS system and ask it to show us on a map where within a certain geographic area we have tree canopy of let's say less than 20% and it will populate on a map where those areas are.

We can actually focus our efforts in those areas.

to increase canopy coverage and continue with our invasive species program.

Also, the air photo analysis will need to be repeated on somewhat of a regular interval, perhaps every two to three, four years so that we can continue to monitor the canopy and ensure that it stays above our stated goal as well as have its growth.

The fifth element and a very large and important one is education and outreach.

We do a lot of work with these organizations that you see here for a number of tree planting and volunteer projects as well as calling upon their expertise in assisting us in our efforts.

These education and outreach programs are going to be critical to ensure that we continue to keep our tree canopy above the stated goal as well as the expansion of that number.

The last element is sustainability and best management practices.

There are a number of tactics under this element in the plan.

Many, many different things.

However, one of the things we wanted to call out to you tonight was that we would create a guide to tree preservation for use by citizens and developers to showcase what those latest and best methods are to ensure that our forest does survive in this environment.

I wanted to share some information about some other places around the country and what kind of tree canopy coverage those cities have.

We've listed four places here, Baltimore, Maryland at just about 20%, Burlington, Vermont at 42%, Vancouver, Washington just under 20%.

and Portland, Oregon at just over 26%.

If we analyze through this LIFON image, we've determined that we have actually more tree canopy than buildings, roads and parking lots combined within the city limits.

And these actually exceed the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act standards.

One of the tree inventory tasks was also to value each particular tree based upon age, diameter, etc.

And we've gone through that valuation and determined that our trees within the city are worth over $34 million.

Our next steps, we'd like council to actually adopt this plan as our way forward.

Continue our analysis of this data by neighborhood and entry corridor, public and private lands as I mentioned.

Establishment of canopy goals by district and zone, that would be urban, suburban, entrance corridor, et cetera.

Develop our planting plans by those areas.

Continue our invasive species efforts.

Develop our BMP manual for citizens and staff.

Continue our acquisition efforts for riparian buffer land along streams and continue to plant trees at a sustainable pace.

Some of the places we've planted here recently over the last year are Riverview Park, the downtown mall, McIntyre Park, and along Moore's Creek.

Upcoming plantings are at these locations, Belmont Mead and Forest Hills Park, as well as along Jefferson Park Avenue.

I believe some of those trees have actually been planted at this time.

I'd like to acknowledge the staff members who committed a tremendous amount of time, effort and hours to make this plan a reality.

As I stated at the beginning of the presentation tonight, I believe this is a major milestone for the city in our natural resource management efforts.

Thank you.

Well, thank you, Mr. Daly and Mr. Benson for that.

We've done a commendable job in putting this plan together, and I know you had a lot of staff important in the process of making violent problems involved.

It shows a lot of staff for the analysis and we commend you for doing a good job with that.

And obviously, the proof's in the pudding.

I mean, you can come up with the best plan in the world, but if it just sits on a shelf and gathers dust, it's no good to anybody.

So I got a real sense from you tonight that

I have a question, sir.

We did in the tree inventory.

Only in the lands that we inventoried, which were public lands.

And there are some.

Do you believe that the Commonwealth, especially if you have a champion tree throughout the Commonwealth that are on private property?

They obviously are the property of the property owner, but many of those are catalogued and checked up on by the big tree registry through the State Department of Forestry.

I'll have to check the specific language in the ordinance.

One of the elements in our plan is to look at

I also want to compliment you on this effort.

We have a 40% canopy and obviously some neighborhoods above that and below that and I would guess along with the right tree as you point out that

As you can see on the map behind you, the areas that are lightly shaded are the areas that have less canopy.

The darker shades are obviously where we have the most.

So those efforts can be focused very specifically.

That's all I am saying.

One of the things that I started doing in education, I hope to work in that area to educate people as citizens of importance of trees, as you probably know that trees, the streets of trees

We have 10 degrees of use temperature than otherwise.

Absolutely.

To sort of follow up on a couple of things,

I think that in historic districts you can't take down trees without approval.

That's true.

There are a number of kind of efforts that occur through some other partners, whether it be the Department of Forestry or the stewards of the Chesapeake Bay have offered and there's grant opportunities to procure trees that can be distributed to the community for planting on private property.

It just requires us to manage that and ensure that, you know, again, it's the right tree in the right spot

I'd like to see us follow up on that.

I think that would be a good initiative to make sure that it not just enhances directly the carbon goals but it also in most cases would improve cooling in the summertime and make places more pleasurable to live.

I guess the other question I have is

are the requirements that are allowed by state law in terms of us requiring tree planting.

Do you have comments on whether that's something we should try to seek to be expanded?

Well, based upon our evaluation of the current code within the Commonwealth,

We're pretty much doing as much as we possibly can.

That's part of why we looked at in the plan to let's test that and see if there are other ways to get additional protection measures in place.

As a comment, I think a lot of energy can be given to

It's both protecting the trees but also the degree to which we can require developments to plant trees and whether or not that

I'm pretty sure that we're maxed out to what the state law allows in terms of what we require of developers in terms of tree planting.

And so the question would be, as a practical matter, would we like to see that number be higher?

I want to follow up on that because I would like to see what we can do to push the envelope on the requirements side.

But in the meantime, I don't know how much we're doing or how much we can be doing on the voluntary side in terms of creating an opportunity for developers to offset tree loss with tree plantings elsewhere.

And I suspect that

Many, if not most, developers would be willing to participate in an offset kind of a program.

It's good PR for them, it's good, you know, most of them want to do the right thing.

Absolutely.

And then on the flip side, I do concur with your recommendation about increasing purchase and acquisition of green space.

I think there are parts of the city we've already identified, some of them are floristed, that we might be able to procure.

and bring into our inventory.

This is the first year or next year is the first year in many years that we've set aside money in the budget for green space acquisition, parkland acquisition.

It's not a lot, but it's that first step.

A few years back, Senator Hill, for encouraging people to delete trees to see, to pour into his parks and other places.

I wonder if you'll express it a little bit again, because there are people who don't delete trees, who are running for trees.

Thank you very much.

Well, I'll keep it posted on your progress.

Thank you all for being here.

I want to start off saying that this year we have an amazing board and I'm really proud to be working with them.

And thank you for all you do.

And I'd also like to acknowledge Natasha Oji in the back, who is a member of our board and is doing really great work for us.

We all had a copy of our annual report, which was finished in March, so I don't want to go over a lot of it, but I do want to give you some updates on how the recession is affecting the people that Social Services serves.

Our March report noted that the caseload for food stamps, which is a leading edge indicator of

the recession hitting people in our community.

The case load went up 14.5% between July 07 and February 09.

The case load has gone up another 6.5% since February.

So we're starting to see a significant increase in food stamp requirements in the community.

Put another way,

In July last year, there were 1,963 households on food stamps in Charlottesville.

That number has gone up to 2,301.

So it's a very substantial increase.

The TANF caseload has been the same since February, but in the course of a year and a half, it went up 14.5%.

So again, it's a substantial increase.

In the Medicaid case though, since February it's gone up 2% and as of May we had 3135 cases, Medicaid cases in Charlottesville.

Again, a lot of effect of the recession on the communities that we serve.

Having said that, the Social Services Department is down two and a half staff positions in their benefits departments.

Right now they can manage that, but if the recession continues to cause problems in the community, and it's likely that it will, I urge you all to pay attention to that, because as the caseloads go up, it's going to become more and more difficult for the already burdened staff at Social Services to handle it all.

They do fabulous work by the way and I don't know how many ways that I can tell you how good the quality of work that they put out.

An update on federal economic stimulus money.

The state has received more child care assistance funds and we will be receiving some of those, but we don't know yet how much.

In this case, unlike other cases, there won't be a local match requirement, so we won't be coming to you for that, but I am pleased to announce we have additional funds.

I want to give you an update on the One Stop because the workforce development is a big issue for the Social Services Advisory Board this year and the staff at Social Services is training the Workforce Center staff on how to apply for Social Services programs online which will take some of the burden off the local staff but I want to inform you of some of the challenges that the One Stop faces

The center lacks sufficient funds for operating costs and that limits its effectiveness and particularly when more and more people are finding themselves out of work.

The one stop is even more important than usual.

In fact, they're bursting at the seams right now with people coming in looking for services.

Also, the location of the center is not ideal for city residents.

It's not on a transit line, and I know that this has been brought up to you before, but again, I urge you to keep that in mind and consider ways that we can move the bus line so that city residents have better access to the One Stop.

And also, I would like to encourage you all to keep up city funding for the One Stop.

Again, it's really, really important.

And then the current One Stop center is functioning.

When it's a total wrap in warning, I encourage you to consider a downtown satellite office.

That would make it a lot easier for city residents.

Another couple of updates.

We held a job fair in partnership with the Partnership for Economic Development in April.

70 businesses participated.

There were over 1,300 job seekers.

There were 280 on-site interviews and a lot more interviews scheduled for later.

and over 90% of both employers and job seekers waited the fair excellent or good, so we're really pleased with the way that turned out.

I also want to thank you all for appropriating funds for the View Transportation Services.

So far, 30 new participants have received bus passes, 22 have used the transportation for a job search, 14 for employment, and 4 for education and training.

And we will be giving you, Social Services will be giving you a more complete update on that, I believe, in July.

I also would like to acknowledge Benton Marrow for the work that they did on the downtown mall and their apprenticeship program.

One of the new participants that they hired on as an apprentice is still employed there and we think that's a really great step in the right direction.

We're also pleased to note that the City Public Works Department continues to work with PDCC to develop an apprentice program.

for other city capital projects.

We just think this is a fabulous idea for workforce development and it's just the right thing to do.

One of the great things that we also think that you have done for the community is to encourage the Summer Youth Internship Program, so I'd like to give you a very quick update on that and acknowledge the community attention people who don't get very much attention for doing such a fabulous job with this.

120 youth were referred to the program.

81 were selected to participate, and that's 11 over the target number of 70.

There's 55 host organizations, which is 13 more than last year.

And I'd like to announce that the kickoff luncheon is June 23rd, which I understand is always a great event and much fun was had by all.

Also there's more to announce on the summer youth employment front.

The workforce network board issued an RFP for a summer youth employment program and that's with workforce investment funds, stimulus funds.

Piedmont Virginia Community College submitted a proposal to work with community attention and got 146 plus thousand dollars to do this.

So PVCC and Community Attention are operating a six-week program called Work to Learn.

It's going to run from July 13th to August 21st for youth in the city, and also youth from Albemarle and Green will be included.

It serves youth between 13 and 24 years of age.

PVCC gets the referrals and determines eligibility.

They provide the workforce readiness training to the participants.

Placements, Community Attention makes the placements and provides case management just like in the other city youth program that I already spoke about.

There's gonna be slots for 57 youth and about 15 of them will be from Charlottesville.

They'll all receive a stipend or an incentive payment at about $225 a week.

So this is another great program that's gonna be going on in Charlottesville this summer.

We on the board are really thankful that you guys are doing so much work paying attention to poverty issues in our community and I'd just like to tell you a couple of things that we've done to try to support your efforts.

The advisory board helped organize a focus group of viewer participants to discuss poverty issues in the community.

The social services department provided information and staff support for your work session on poverty in November.

And the department is working with the city manager's office to plan and organize additional focus group meetings with you and your income citizens to have a broader discussion of poverty issues in our community.

Forward, the advisory board did a survey of many of the partners that the social services department works with in the community to find out what sort of feedback we could get about how we were working together and where we saw areas of need.

And the results of this are in your report.

But we're very pleased to say that virtually all of our partners in the community have very kind things to say about social services.

and we're very happy with the way that we were working together.

Where there were problems, the department is already on trying to solve them.

They're going back and meeting with the partners, finding out where the slips are and making sure that in the future that these aren't happy so we have a better working relationship with everybody so we make the best use of all the community resources.

Again, I'd like to just end my presentation by saying that the Social Services Department has an amazing staff and you all should feel very lucky that you have people like Buzz and his entire staff working for us.

They're doing a great job and I'm proud to be working with this board trying to provide them with support.

Thank you very much, Mr. Robinson.

I have a few.

Good evening, Buzz Cox, Director of Social Services.

The job fairs are a partnership between us, the Department of Economic Development and some other community partners.

There has been discussion of trying to do two per year instead of one per year.

I think that's the plan for the coming year.

Another question, comment, I think it came out of your group and I really commend you for having focus group meetings between counselors and low-income transfer residents.

and the one I recently attended with counselor Edwards would really end up spending a lot of time talking about the challenges for ex-offenders, for felons who often, you know, whatever they did was when they were pretty young, narrow, pretty stable, but just had a lot of trouble getting on the job path.

There is a community coalition of which we, the department, are a part that is operating what we're calling a prisoner jail re-entry pilot project.

It's loosely part of a statewide network of pilot projects that are going on.

So it's a fairly

It's a large and somewhat structured process that's involving lots of community agencies and people in the community to try to look at various aspects of the issue of prisoners coming out of the prisons and the jails and trying to get employment and reenter into the community.

Social services is a part of that to represent the things that we do and many others are part of it too.

I think the report might be aware of shedding some light on that.

Another question I have is the first thing we talked about was the social services numbers being done, staff, is that

It's the former.

The State Department of Social Services, to their credit,

Well it wasn't their idea but they worked over by the General Assembly to have a study done that created a tool that can determine the number of employees a local social services department needs to process the number of employees.

people that it needs to serve in the various programs and provide them those services in the manner that they're supposed to be provided.

So the figure in the report, two and a half positions, represents the difference between the staff that we do have in the benefit programs and the member that that tool tells us we need to be fully staffed in our program.

It's about 10 percent, which really is not too bad.

I mean, we typically

under these tours, most of the time we are understaffed in most programs, some more than others.

It's sort of a fact of life.

You're never quite all the way there as you'd like to be, but as the Bureau pointed out, it could get worse and we could have a problem meeting the basic requirements of the programs.

It happened before, let's think back to the early 90s, which there have been recessions since then, but for some reason that one was bad for social services, and I recall at that time

Case load for the food stamp program, which is the most sensitive to the economy, doubled in about a year, if I recall correctly.

And not only Charlottesville, but statewide, local social services was unable to keep up with processing people's benefits.

And in fact, our class action lawsuit was filed at that time because we were not meeting federal requirements and there's a court order that's still in force.

and I'll make a couple of final comments.

One is that I wish the One Stop Center had located near a bus line instead of locating away from the bus line and then coming back and asking the city to move its buses, but that's water under the bridge.

The other thing, I'll just thank you guys for the hard work you do and Buzz, I think you did a great job and I think we have a great staff and I think Connie kind of

represent tonight the value of having this advisory board.

It's more than just a mandated board.

It's a board that can kind of cull through all the work that you do, bring the highlights or the things that need attention to Council's attention.

It also means there's a range of citizenry who are actively involved in the needs of the community.

If I could, I'd just like to thank you as well for your appointments to the board.

We do have an excellent board at this time.

I'd really like to thank Connie for her chairmanship of the board.

She's doing a fine job there.

I'm sorry, Counselor Edwards is not able to be here tonight.

I'll just second the comment that Dr. Brown made.

Thank you.

I'm starting in my office here.

So we should let Buzz do the mosquitoes.

Ah, I knew you couldn't resist.

I won.

I was going to use the mic but the little clip's going so we won't do that.

We're going to talk a minute tonight about mosquito control and what we might do and what some of the issues were.

There's been some issues raised.

Council's gotten some comments and so we thought we'd come and talk about what we do as a city to deal with mosquitoes.

I'm going to do the slide presentation and then Angela and I are both here to answer questions along with Jeff McDaniel from the Health District who has been doing some research for us.

The last few years we haven't had a lot of mosquito calls.

And one of the reasons is there hasn't been a lot of rain, therefore there hasn't been a lot of standing water.

This is just a graph that illustrates some of the issues we've had with water over the last year and the rainfall we've had.

We've got more drainage and more mosquito calls.

Mosquitoes that breed around the home.

They don't fly very far away.

They stay in the neighborhood and tend to be a nuisance and they look for humans and other animals to feed on.

There are a few of the 36 species found in Virginia that transmit disease.

We have the Northern House Mosquito, the Asian Tiger Mosquito.

They both are found in urban areas and love stagnant water including gutters, pools, bird baths, cans and bottles, flower pots, trees, and discarded tires.

Also the Flood River Mosquito breeds in canals, ditches, and floodplains.

And the Eastern Treehole Mosquito lays eggs in holes in trees and artificial containers of all kinds.

Mosquito life cycle, you probably see more than you ever want to know about mosquitoes, but basically the big thing is at the bottom, the entire life cycle from egg to adult can be completed in less than 10 days, so they don't need to stay in water very long to complete the life cycle and become adults, and in most species live about two weeks.

We primarily enforce issues with mosquitoes in Charlottesville through our city code section that deals with unlawful accumulations of garbage and refuse.

As you can see, we can cite and have removed any refuse, garbage, rubbish, paper, trash, manure, uffle, ashes, vegetable matter, broken glass, or stagnant water.

And if this is found to be a nuisance, we can cite the property owner and have it cleaned up.

Just some examples of the types of problems that are found one at a time.

Not every one of these pictures is from Charlottesville, thank goodness, but they are pretty indicative, if they're not, of issues.

Neglected pools can be a real problem, especially in the summer.

Open containers.

Again, people don't think about this where we want rainbows, but that example in the center is not the kind of rainbows we want.

We want rainbows that are covered.

And the flower pots on the left, the flowers aren't much, but you can see the standing water there that can breed mosquitoes.

Discarded containers, jars.

Long standing puddles and we have issues around the railroad in particular and I will say that the Buckingham Branch has been very good about working with us in the last couple of years to try to address these issues.

Again, long standing puddles, unclean gutters are a major problem, one you can't see so often.

Tarps that have been used as a ground cover or even automobile cover.

The silver lining is that with our mosquitoes there are generally birds or bats or dragonflies or frogs to eat them and we are not the first choice of food for a mosquito.

They usually prefer horses, cattle or birds.

One method that we do not use is spraying.

It's not used very much anymore but spraying is a method that is used in a lot of places to try to

to kill adult mosquitoes.

Education is probably the single best thing that we can do.

About five years ago when we were having problems, we had a pretty extensive education campaign.

and these are just some of the things that we can encourage our community to do to dispose of all cans, bottles and plastic containers eliminate discarded tires or drill drainage holes in them with their useful playground equipment clean the gutters, turn over wading pools, flushboard baths

Adjust tarps over grills or firewood piles, etc.

to eliminate standing water Cleaning chlorinate swimming pools Any number of things that can be done but primarily just educating the public We probably should be educating the public about using repellents and how appropriately to do that because they are effective but dangerous And again, how to protect yourself if you are outdoors to wear long sleeve shirts and long pants

stay indoors at dawn and dusk and use fine mesh screens on windows and doors.

There are a lot of websites where information's available.

You can see all of these here, the Department of Health primarily, but there's information out there for folks that are interested in how to better protect themselves or eliminate the mosquito problem.

Just as council comes back up,

I think we've not had a lot of calls this year.

We've had two or three.

It's pretty indicative of the number we get, but there haven't been a lot of calls about mosquitoes.

When we've gotten them, we've been able to, again, if it's standing water, we don't have a problem in getting that eliminated, but it's staying on top of it, and we find that, again, that the education campaign probably would have as much value as anything because people just forget and don't

Don't think about some of the things they have standing in the yard that attract mosquitoes.

Again, Jeff is here.

He's done some research over around the state to see what other communities are doing, essentially where local governments enforce ordinances.

The health department, they use ordinances like we have and we think we're doing about all shorter spraying that we might be able to do but we probably could ramp up the education campaign a good bit and get some value out of that.

I mean I know my neighborhood in particular has mosquitoes so I hear it from my neighbors and I hear it when I run into people I think there's pockets around Charlottesville that have trouble with Asian mosquitoes and just when people feel like the summer gets here it's very hard to go out and enjoy your yard with your kids because there's so many mosquitoes and I don't think that's true everywhere in the city but I think it's more true than it used to be especially with you know the Asian mosquitoes who will go after you in bright hot sunlight

And I guess one of my questions is, is what you're saying tonight is that if a resident feels like the tarps, the plastic tarps covering their neighbors

lawn mowers and whatever are causing a problem that they could call you and you would go check on the neighbor's backyard and see whether they actually are breeding mosquitoes?

Yes, sir.

Okay.

So I think that's something.

I don't think people are aware of that, that there's actually a city recourse.

And I would like to see us actually maybe trying to get some handle on the degree to which we have a problem.

And I think maybe through the neighborhood associations would be a way of doing that, of really trying to reach out to the associations and just say we'd like to know.

We'd like to know whether your neighborhoods are part of your neighborhoods.

View of mosquitoes as being a big problem.

Did you know there's a city department that you can call if you feel like that there's a house that's empty or a neighbor who seems to not be really following best practices?

I think that would be useful.

The second thing is

As best I can remember, because Jerry Tomlin and others handled it, is that his website, press releases, some stuff on Channel 10, a typical source of things we might do, but focusing on the website, hit Channel 10 with it,

I think it'd be a good idea to pursue doing more education-wise and I think it'd be doing more to really disseminate to residents that there is, that the city code allows a recourse if people feel like there's a problem in their neighborhood.

The final question I have actually, do we currently do anything for, you know, drainage-related standing water?

Do we treat the water, I know there's

I think the answer is no sir.

We treat those on public land like it's city yard they take care of it as far as drainage ditches throughout the community we don't do that.

Any other questions, comments?

I'm a strong supporter of animal rights and I drive a line of mosquitoes.

I hate mosquitoes.

Thank you very much.

Okay, our next item is a resolution.

Charles Smith, Transit System for Revisions.

Good evening, I'm Bill Watterson.

I've been here about five years now.

One of the things I wanted to be known for is I'm the guy that's going to help get the best that's running on time here in Charlottesville.

We're having some success with that.

I want to talk to you a little bit about some quantitative ways to look at that success.

One of the things we've been doing over the past couple of years is working with the UVA on a fare-free program.

They do pay us, but we don't collect at the fare box, and that makes a difference in terms of ridership.

This year ridership's up over 40% amongst the university community.

It's going to top out at about 300,000 rides for the year.

It's going to be more than 80,000 passenger boarding increase over where we were last year.

So last year was the first year of the program.

We had huge success last year.

We're putting 40% more rides on top of last year's success.

and that's just part of the picture.

There's another 190,000 voting increase that's going on system wide.

We're going to be close to 2 million riders this fiscal year.

Five years ago we were under 1.3 million riders.

So we're up over 50% in our ridership over the past five years.

That's better than 10% per year.

So we want to use what we've been learning to do even better in the future.

And one of the things that we've learned is that when you set up an arrangement where people don't have to think about paying, and certainly they don't literally have to pay for every trip, that they'll ride you more.

We've certainly learned that.

We're seeing that.

We're experiencing that from the university community.

So I wanted to take a look at the fares that we do offer and how we might integrate that into our fares in order to get more ridership from our community.

We have a fairly simple fare structure with our cash fares.

It's 75 cents for a one-way ride.

We have a 50% reduction for reduced fare.

Those are for seniors and those that

have a disability, so it's 75 cents for regular fare and 35 cents for those that qualify.

We also offer tickets.

You can get 10-wide books or 40-wide books.

These are both offered at a discount.

You can get 10 rides for $6 or 40 rides for $21.

That is something that's been attractive and we've worked with the social service community to help distribute that to people that are in need.

We also have a daily pass, and the daily pass is something that is very significantly underutilized.

We set it for two dollars, which is a little more than twice fare, so basically if you're thinking about whether it's a deal or not, it sort of depends on whether you plan to take more than two trips during the day.

So we want to take a look at that.

So what are we proposing to do?

I think that eliminating the transfer that we currently offer and instead offering a daily pass at a discounted rate is a better way to encourage more ridership.

Remarkably low levels of transferring and the number of people that might be negatively affected if we eliminate the transfers is very low.

We know this from the passenger survey that we conducted in March.

So what we were proposed to do was to basically lower the rate for the daily pass, make it $1.50, which is twice the cash fare.

So basically anyone that is making a round trip or more, it makes sense by the daily pass.

and we'll sell that daily pass on the bus, distribute it just the way we distribute our transfers on the bus and to go you one further, we don't have a reduced fare rate for our daily pass now and I think that we ought to and so I'm proposing that we make that half of the regular fare rate for a daily pass we would charge $1.50 regular and we'll charge 75 cents for that discounted pass I think this is something that will boost ridership and it's not going to have a negative effect on our revenues

In addition, looking at our ticket approach to selling rides in bulk, one of the things that we've heard from the social services community in the stakeholder interviews that we did as part of our passenger survey work back in March is that they would like to have a way to be able to purchase the service that they perceived as being more convenient in that the user would be able to get more value out of it.

Certainly the daily pass instrument I describe for a day at a time is one way to do that, but another way to do that would be to introduce a monthly pass.

As I indicated right now, we're selling tickets, 40 tickets for $21.

That's approximately what a person that rides on a regular basis would do in a given month.

So we're proposing to do one better.

Let's charge $20 for a monthly pass.

So it's $1 less than what we're offering and I guess the other thing I would add is that we don't have a reduced fare category for those discount tickets and I propose that we have a discount category for our monthly pass and make that $10.

These are all things that I think can be

Close to revenue neutral, this is not about adding money, it's certainly not about subtracting money.

It's about finding ways to structure our fares to encourage more ridership.

I think that the market for an annual bus pass is probably fairly limited, but certainly that's something that we could do.

There aren't very many folks that would be prepared, certainly it could be priced a little differently, but imagine $20 times 12, that's $240 to be plunked down at once.

We are a fairly transient community, and many of the folks that might be interested in something like that are already getting a fare-free arrangement through the University of Virginia.

So initially we're going to talk about something that is not easy to reproduce but it's going to be a card.

Over time that will get more sophisticated and we will have our fair box equipment be aligned with it.

I'm not even sure when the current rates will establish.

I'd be interested in seeing if that reduced category could be expanded so it really reflected financial need and could include the category of people on food stamps, people on Medicaid, some simple way of making

A lot of the idea for trying to create these reduced fare categories across the board rather than just with cash fares is the discussion that's been taking place since roughly the beginning of the year about how to set things up.

And we have been in a situation where what we have is the tickets.

making the daily pass pretty much be a round-trip ticket.

I think for a lot of people, round-trip's what they're going to do anyway.

Let me ask you one question.

Do you all make chains out of your fareboxes on the buses and what do they do?

I have learned that I have made chains for years.

Well, it's been moved.

Is there a second?

Second.

And I would encourage you to bring back, you know, I appreciate your desire to get this instituted and then, but I do, I will welcome a proposal regarding an annual bus pass.

Okay.

I have one more question.

Oh, sure.

I was wondering if you should do something for this.

I should have mentioned this, yes, right now all youth in the city have been given the opportunity to have a summer free ride.

We create federal IDs, we go out into the schools to make those.

For the high school students, we actually have a year-round program.

All right, it's been moved and seconded.

Any further questions or conversations?

If not, please indicate your vote.

Thank you very much, Mr. Larson.

Thank you.

The last regulated item in our agenda tonight is a resolution establishing triathlon with parking units surrounding honesty, quarks, and first-to-one reading.

Good evening.

How are you, guys?

Let's see, where to start.

Last September, the Planning Commission approved a waiver to the number of spaces for the park for the new facility with the new site plan.

As a result, a number of the residents surrounding the facility have expressed some concerns about where the people are going to park.

In response to this, we had a meeting inviting everyone within a quarter mile radius of the park, which was 600 plus letters that we sent out, to come talk to us.

And that was on June 4th, and expressed their concerns

and kind of talk through some things and come up with some solutions.

Some of the things that are going to happen to address their concerns are revision to CTS service, the Route 1A that previously traveled on Little High Street between 10th and Mead will divert down to 12th East Jefferson and then come up Mead, so circulate right in front of the park.

So that should provide another more direct route, or I guess vehicle, to get to the park.

The Parks Department will be shuttling employees to the park.

So there won't be a need for the employees to park there and that will free the spaces for those visiting the park.

And then the third item is the resolution that's before you this evening to establish the trial permit parking restrictions in the areas surrounding the park.

Since that meeting on June 4th, we have sent another mailing to those who are within the area in the resolution this evening and I wanted to share with you some of the input we have received on that and actually revise the resolution to reflect that input, which is consistent with how we normally would handle permit parking procedures if this weren't such a unique case.

Let's see.

The revision would be to remove Fairway, the last bullet.

The response I received, about 50% of the addresses impacted have responded and only one of them was in favor of it.

The others didn't desire it and I think they're probably correct that there shouldn't be a huge direct impact on their street.

and if it is, this is a trial, we can re-evaluate in the next cool season, see if there's a better solution for them.

There is a pathway, a direct pathway from Fairway to the park between 419 and 421 and actually the two neighbors right adjacent by them agreed with the fact that they don't desire to have permit parking on the street.

The other revision is on Meade Avenue.

The resolution right now includes everything from Market to Stewart or Fairway on the northern end.

and those who have responded in 400 and 500 blocks to the northern end pretty much from a little high, roughly, to Stewart or Fairway did not desire to have this restriction placed on them and they're further outside the zoning, I think that makes sense too so just including the 200 to 300 block and for some more detail on that it would be from 200 to 320 actually there are a few more 300 addresses above that but we want to make sure we get it right in resolution

There are 38 spaces within the park, 2 of those are ADA spaces, handicapped spaces, and 36 are just regular spaces.

There are also 25 spaces striped along Chesapeake and Meade adjacent to the property.

The permit parking restrictions, by what I'm proposing, is along that area.

It only applies to the on-street parking adjacent to residential properties.

They made 66 spaces.

And the intention was good, and I'm trying to

decreased their dependence on the automobile, increased transit, walking, all these things.

Well, and we've also, I think we've

to create a monster here because it's going to be such a beautiful facility and I think people are going to want to fly up to this facility and of course it wasn't necessarily intentioned as a regional facility.

Right, and the occupancy is 255 to get that.

and I guess so.

I'd like to hear some comments.

I assume the issue is that people would be parking in front of houses where the only parking available for that house is in front of the house on the street.

And I was wondering to what degree

Many do and many don't have them.

I actually could give you those numbers.

I don't have them in front of me though.

I think this summer meeting we had on the 4th, and we had a turnout of about 30 people.

It was mostly folks from Reed, Chesapeake, and Fairway.

There were a few from East Jefferson.

They were quite concerned, which isn't surprising, the people who show up at the meetings or those with the greatest concern about a potential problem.

And this is one of the pieces of the solution that we've come to.

I think this is a trial.

this first year to see how it goes.

You can go, well, I shouldn't say this, on Chesapeake, east of Fairway.

Let's see, on the north of the,

We go through a vision of the resolution on the north of the 300 block, 400 block, which isn't extremely far.

Were there bigger signs?

Yes, bigger signs.

How would you do that?

There are signs always in our parking zones indicating that you're in a parking zone, what the hours are,

things like that so that you know that you're not supposed to park there unless you have a permit.

I would hesitate to direct folks from the crew onto the streets.

I think I should share some of the sentiments that the mayor is expressing.

We're going to have this exciting new place and I don't want people to go there and say, oh, yeah, park five blocks away.

And I don't know if that's, I don't know enough to know whether that could be the case or not.

I'm also

I think you're correct.

I don't know the exact number of spaces.

Well, you haven't gotten any complaints about this either, have you?

Not yet.

Right.

We don't get complaints.

Just to qualify the numbers, Washington Park has fewer parking spaces.

then what is proposed what we will have at Honesty and the capacity at Washington Park on the pool is larger.

The capacity inside the pool on the deck at Washington Park is 300 and Honesty will be 225.

I just learned that about five or six years ago we received many complaints about parking at Washington Park and have added spaces subsequently.

Well, I think we always respond to complaints that people organize and come out and are

I think the difference is, I think you raise the point that, well, there are complaints in the past with the previous pool.

Now, we're at a different pool now, but the occupancy is significantly increased too.

38 spaces in the park and then there's two streets.

That's the park.

Yes, there are black and white spaces.

Yes.

Okay.

No, and only because it's a higher speed, higher traffic road, it's probably not our safest option.

And just to clarify, this will only permit parking from 10am to 8pm, and

And the plan is to move through this full season, meet with everyone over there again in September and discuss how it went.

Was there an issue?

Was there not?

Are there some things we didn't anticipate?

And then throughout what to do next year, the waiving fee actually turned out to be more of an administrative thing.

It's not worth collecting for the limited time period.

Right now though, our permit parking system is $25 per permit.

Can you talk about farmers in the park and how that's going to be affected?

I understand there was a proposal to close the pool early on Wednesdays.

Thanks, Jeannie.

There have been some concerns expressed at the meeting that Jeannie is describing about will the farmers market still be held at Meade Park.

The answer to that question is yes.

In fact, the first market was last Wednesday.

What we are going to do in anticipating just some kind of crossover usage and conflict and so forth between farmers' market guests and pool guests, we'll be closing the pool early on Wednesdays at 2 p.m. and offering a half-day daily admission fee, a half-rate 50% discount for the daily admission.

Pass holders who have a season pass will just be able to, they can come in at any time.

We'll close the pool at 2 o'clock.

And there was another here about discussion of the future of the farmers market and whether or not looking into the future, whether this continues to be the best site for it.

I believe at this time it's something of a placeholder, right?

We really need to evaluate how these permanent parking restrictions affect the ability of people to get to the market as well as to get to the pool and take a look at that.

I think we have capped the number of vendors at this market at 25.

It's the most we feel that we can get in there realistically as well as allow people the opportunity to come and park and come get their vegetables and leave.

We do not, throughout the master planning process for Meade Park, it was very evident among the members of the community, the neighbors, that they loved the farmer's market and wanted to keep it.

It's based upon experience in our market manager's expertise and recommendation that given the limited area around the edge of the park, we've actually marked off hard spaces where you have 15, 20 feet for this vendor and so forth early on and so that we feel like the market is manageable at that point.

The demand is much higher than that.

We've had probably two to three times that number of vendors requesting

Is that number higher than how many have sold at the market last year?

So that was published previously?

Just a follow-up on Dr. Bell's concern that selling in front of a tree won't happen.

Well, is it possible that you can adopt an ordinance which is more effective so we can see what happens in the next first two weeks?

Well, if it were passed tonight, we'd be implaning on the 20th.

Now, that's not ideal.

It's very fast, and it puts a burden on the people who have to come get the decals.

But that was to coincide with the poll opening.

So, that there's a possibility.

Especially if you assume four people per vehicle.

That's a good start.

I for one would be very hesitant to start a permit program that's got a two-week window to it.

That is certainly possible and I think it is a very good idea.

Personally, I think since we've had the staff work done, I appreciate their responsiveness.

I'd rather see us just put this back on our agenda again in mid-July, have a month of people going to the pool, you know, drive by there and see it, take a look at how crowded the streets are with cars, and then decide whether, you know, to go ahead and enact it.

It's missed, and I can't tell you a percentage off the top of my head, but it's definitely, there are some who don't, and that's where somebody there is concerned.

I prefer to wait and then I think you could be able to judge it based on driving further and looking at it and also obviously by complaints because you know you're going to hear from people for some reason.

I guess my preference, I may be in the minority here, but my preference would be proactive and I think you made a good faith effort to reach out to the neighborhood.

This was sort of the solution that they came forward with, that you all sort of came forward with to try to alleviate those concerns.

You were asked by who?

By city councilors.

I don't remember which one, to be honest.

and Adam Eberhead meeting, and this was the solution that came out of it.

I don't think we made it to that, but we said

This is an approach we're going to bring to council.

And they know that it's on the agenda for discussion this evening.

Right.

It's hard to say.

I think in some areas, I think

adjacent to the park on Chesapeake and on Meade, I think that people going to the pool are going to park in those areas.

And I think that will become more than an inconvenience to the people who live there.

Well the hard part for me would be, is it every spot?

along Chesapeake is taking up the pool goers or is there sort of a 50% saturation of cars?

You know, if there's 50%, I think, well, you know, there's people parking like they do with a lot of other things, but it's not causing someone who lives there to park two blocks away.

On the other hand, they may be right.

They may be.

They'll come back here because we pretty much look at it and say cars are parked

throughout the course of that.

And in which case I'll say, well, I was wrong on this one, but there is demonstrated a problem.

But I don't think we know that until we do it.

And that also, that's consistent with how the typical permit packing procedural policy works.

who were required by code to identify the problem before we got there.

This is just a different case that in fact our code wouldn't even apply because of the timeframes and all that anyway.

Well, I'll make a motion that we defer this item until the mid-July meeting of city council at which time we take it up again based on sort of

some assessment of use of saturation parking and complaints, counselors' observations, things like that.

Thank you so much for your time, but also...

Sorry, the second July meeting?

It's been a little too wide to follow until I'm individualizing...

Sorry, the second July meeting?

It's been a little too wide to follow until I'm individualizing...

It's been a little too wide to follow until I'm individualizing...

It's been a little too wide to follow until I'm individualizing...

It's been a little too wide to follow until I'm individualizing...

It's been a little too wide to follow until I'm individualizing...

It's been a little too wide to follow until I'm individualizing...

It's been a little too wide to follow until I'm individualizing...

It's been a little too wide to follow until I'm individualizing...

It's been a little too wide to follow

And we have one item on other business tonight.

We were contacted by a representative from Congressman Jerry Conley's office, who has also contracted Albemarle County through their board chairman.

Regarding the federal cap and trade legislation, energy and climate legislation that's working this way through Congress.

And there's an active discussion right now among the drafters of that legislation about how funding will be allocated to states and localities for energy efficiency improvements.

And they are looking for statements from localities to say that

where the funding should come directly to localities versus being steered through to states.

Our staff has looked at this issue, strongly concurs with that recommendation, and they have drafted a letter for me to send under my signature.

I'd like to read that one and just see if there's concurrence among counselors to send this on to Congressman Connolly.

And I would add if we can CC our Congressman Perriello in our

Senators on this as well.

It says, Dear Congressman Carmel, as both a senatorial of the mayor's climate agreement and a partner in our local climate action planning process, the city of Charlottesville is committed to fighting anthropogenic climate change, man-made climate change.

We know from having completed a baseline report on our greenhouse gas emissions,

and the County of Albemarle having done likewise at 64% of our community greenhouse gas emissions coming from the energy used to light, heat, cool and operate our buildings.

In conjunction with the County of Albemarle, we are developing a comprehensive energy efficiency and renewable energy program which will lower our emissions, save our citizens money and create jobs.

a recent report published by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, meeting aggressive newspaper goals for utility sector energy efficiency.

On this goal, it's how important a dedicated funding stream is to a robust energy efficiency program.

Virginia does not have a public benefits charge, and so additional funding from HR 2454, which is the legislation I referenced, will provide a much needed source of revenue for funding

with all the names of energy efficiency and renewables.

She also supports money coming directly to local governments from the Retrofit for Energy, Retrofit for Efficiency and Environmental Performance, EUP, and State Energy and Environmental Development, SEED, provisions of the bill.

Sincerely, Dave Norris, Mayor.

Sounds great.

Send it.

Okay.

I just wanted to make sure we got that support from council for that.

I got a note, the job fair will be held in September for the second time this year.

And I was reminded also this Friday, June 19th and Saturday, June 20th we're celebrating the 9th annual community Juneteenth celebration in tribute to the African American military experience with a series of events Friday from 11 to 4 at First Baptist Church and then from 538 at Piedmont Virginia Community College

and then Saturday, June 20th from 11 to 5 at PVCC.

For more information go to www.pvcc.org.

So please check that out.

Any other business?

Ms. Hall.

For four years I've come before the council, usually at budget time, talking about the trees.

So that's why I stood around for the tree canopy talk.

One of the things I suggested, when we first moved to Charlottesville, excuse me, 20 years ago, when we went down Park Street, the tree canopy, you know, it was like going through the tunnel of trees and it's not there anymore.

There's so many of those trees that were dead, gone, or cut down.

and I don't think there's a month goes by where I don't hear the sound of a tree being taken down and I actually see it from my house.

So people, whatever education we need to do for our citizens,

It's not been done in the last 20 years because trees have been taken down an enormous rate on private property.

Where I've suggested multiple times to multiple councils is that if you have a financial incentive to plan a tree on private property, and I don't mean three inches, but a tree that our city forester decides what height and what diameter, there are certain criteria,

and also know these species and give them, you know, 50, they have the right variety that they can plant and then they send in a real estate bill for their assessment and when they're assessed and they send that in, they can send in a picture and receipt from a reputable nursery, it doesn't have to be in Charlottesville, and they can have $100 credit to their real estate

Tax.

A lot of people wouldn't even bother for $100, but when you consider buying a tree from a nursery and then having it planted, a lot of people are weighed less than 100 pounds.

I cannot plant a tree that's of good size, so I would have to hire a professional plant farmer.

That would get more private property people to plant trees because it breaks my heart every time a tree is taken down in North Downtown, in fact anywhere in the city.

I go up and look at this stump and when it's not rotten I always say to myself, why did they take them in that beautiful tree?

And I don't need an invasive species either.

I'm talking about things like Naples.

So I just wish the city would think about that as another way to encourage it on private property.

Also, Councillor Brown, we've been through this three or four times.

There is not a city ordinance to remove trees on historic properties unless the tree itself for some reason happens to be historic.

Well, I think possibly a champion tree that Council Richard was talking about may be possibly there and allowed by state law.

But other than that, if you have trees on historic property and it's private property, you can remove it and it's done all the time in North Downtown.

Thank you, Ms. Allen.

I would ask our staff, I don't know that reduction of property taxes is the way to go, but we do have a very successful program with rebates for low flow toilets.

We're now implementing rebates for rainbows.

Why not have, why not at least investigate a rebate for tree purchase, tree planting, I mean I think, so if we could add that to their

There are a list of potential projects that would be great.

Anybody else like to speak?

Meeting is adjourned.

P.S.