WILLIAMSBURG CITY COUNCIL MINUTES The Williamsburg City Council held their regular meeting on Thursday, at 2:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber in the Stryker Center, 412 N. Boundary Street, Williamsburg, Virginia. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Paul T. Freiling called the meeting to order. ATTENDANCE Present in addition to Mayor Freiling were Vice-Mayor D. Scott Foster, Jr., and Council members Douglas G. Pons, Barbara L. Ramsey, and Benming Zhang. Also present were City Manager Marvin Collins, Assistant City Manager/Clerk Andrew O. Trivette, and City Attorney Christina Shelton. Department Heads Attending: Planning & Codes Compliance Director Carolyn Murphy, Interim Finance Director Vickie Herrick, Public Works Director Dan Clayton, Parks and Recreation Director Robbi Hutton, Fire Chief Pat Dent, Police Chief Sean Dunn, Human Services Director Peter Walentisch, IT Director Mark Barham, Economic Development Director Michele DeWitt, Communications Specialist Lee Ann Hartmann and Principal Planner Erin Burke. COUNCIL MINUTES Mr. Trivette informed the Council that some minor clerical changes had been made to the minutes of December 21, 2017. Mr. Foster moved that the minutes of the December 11, 2017 Joint Meeting with the Economic Development Authority, December 14, 2017 City Council Meeting and December 21, 2017 Legislative Briefing be approved as amended. Ms. Ramsey seconded the motion which carried by roll call vote of 5-0. MATTERS OF SPECIAL PRIVILEGE None
PUBLIC HEARING Request of HS Apt Land LLC for a special use permit to reduce the required side yard setback from fifteen (15) feet to seven (7) feet for a proposed 96 unit development project Ms. Burke presented the staff report. The applicant, Steve Middleton of High Street Apartments LLC, is proposing to reconfigure the existing townhouse lots into eight two-story apartment buildings containing 96 units. The existing roads and utilities will be utilized. Some of the proposed buildings encroach into the setbacks along the private rights of way. The reduction in setbacks would be from 15 feet to seven feet which matches the adjacent townhouse structures. The area is designated as Economic Development land use in the 2013 Comprehensive Plan. The property is zoned ED-2. The eight buildings total 105,000 square feet consisting of 64 onebedroom units and 32 two-bedroom units. The development will offer 166 parking spaces, which exceeds the requirements of City Code. The Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend approval of the application. Mr. Zhang asked if the Planning Commission discussion consisted of anything material. Ms. Burke explained that the only questions were resolved as part of the site plan approval process. Mayor Freiling inquired why the setbacks required alteration in the past and now again in the present application. Ms. Burke explained that the use of Townhouses only requires 7.5 feet but the apartments require a reduction. Vice-Mayor Foster asked if this approval would allow the planned buildings to match the adjacent townhouses. Ms. Burke agreed that it would. Mayor Freiling opened the public hearing and requested speakers come forward. There were no speakers and the hearing was closed. Mayor Freiling said despite the planned buildings not matching identically the existing townhouses they were of the same scale and mass which makes them seem appropriate. He said this was an area where the Council is seeking a more urban feel. Mr. Pons agreed and recognized that 7 feet matched the neighboring townhouses which is not over obtrusive and helps the project get started. Mr. Zhang said he agreed and that the consistency with the Comprehensive Plan and the previously approved High Street development made this an agreeable request. Mr. Pons said he had heard from some residents that the apartment nature of the application was concerning. He disagreed and feels that apartments are not something that the City should fear. Vice-Mayor Foster made the motion to approve the application as recommended by the Planning Commission. Ms. Ramsey provided the second and the motion carried unanimously. BACKGROUND PRESENTATIONS None REPORTS Page 2 of 5
Monthly Financial Statement The Monthly Financial Statement was included in the meeting packet. Ms. Herrick noted that the budget is performing at the six-month mark. The report is not accurately showing year-over-year comparisons for room and meals tax because of the accrual representation as the City switches financial software. She also pointed out that the local sales tax is reported as down because of cross-jurisdictional reporting errors that are being resolved. She concluded by saying that the City had received the bond proceeds totaling $13 million. Mr. Pons inquired further about the cross-jurisdictional errors. Mr. Collins provided examples of business being reported in the wrong jurisdiction and that those must be corrected through refunds from the Commonwealth. Mayor Freiling asked when year-over-year comparisons would be available for room and meals taxes. Ms. Herrick said the data would not coincide until the second month of the new fiscal year August 2018. Monthly Departmental Operating Reports The Departmental Operating Reports are now only posted online. City Manager Reports Parks & Recreation Master Plan - GreenPlay LLC Ms. Hutton introduced the Parks and Recreation Master Plan consultant, GreenPlay LLC. Art Thatcher, Partner at GreenPlay LLC, presented a plan for completing the Parks and Recreation Master Plan to the City Council. The firm is headquartered in Colorado while Mr. Thatcher lives in Hampton with local Parks and Recreation experience at the local Government level. The consultant team will include Draper Aden and Site Collaborative as landscape design firms. The plan will also benefit from the assistance of RRC Associates, a survey firm. Mr. Thatcher said that the plan will consider the social/recreation, environmental, and fiscal impacts of the Department using a four step process. The first step is information gathering through public engagement. The second is assembling the findings and visioning where the consultants will report to the City. The third step is drafting the recommendations and the final step is presenting the final plan. Community engagement and information gathering will include public meetings, stakeholder interviews and a community survey. Data collected will be separated by the users groups such as city residents versus county residents and student residents. Site concepts and Draper Aden will conduct the inventory analysis in the field, grading each asset. New mapping and level of service reviews will be conducted. This will allow for the consultant to statistically report on gaps in service. This project will require 10 months for completion with an August 2018 completion date. The first public engagement will occur on January 23, and 24 of 2018. Vice-Mayor Foster clarified that the consultant intends to send 3,000 survey documents and questioned how that compared to the National Citizens Survey. Mr. Collins responded that they were very similar in operation. Vice-Mayor Foster offered that the greater Williamsburg population is difficult to survey because of confusion regarding the jurisdictional lines. He said he likes the levels of outreach that will produce a good product. Page 3 of 5
Ms. Ramsey said Parks and Recreation is important to Williamsburg and particularly she is a fan of sports tourism and its value. She asked for clarification on how the survey would be made available and advertised. Mr. Thatcher said that there would be a strong reliance on social media. Ms. Hutton offered that surveys would be available in electronic and paper formats in the recreation facilities. Mr. Pons said it was important to reach the right stakeholders. The example he provided was sports tourism and the people who practice that as a profession. Mr. Zhang said he agreed with the other members of Council and is impressed with the level of public engagement that is planned. Mayor Freiling noted the many different partners in recreation within Greater Williamsburg and asked how the consultant would survey all of the assets while keeping ownership separate. Mr. Thatcher explained that GIS would be an important tool looking at the City s assets first adding layers for the other providers. Mayor Freiling asked how financial considerations would weigh on the recommendations. Mr. Thatcher answered the report would be designed for implementation with recommendations grounded in reality. Mayor Freiling said he is more interested in the separation between actual city residents versus county residents and that the separation of students mattered less. He concluded by remarking on the importance of Parks and Recreation toward the Council s investment in place-making. Mr. Pons asked if there would be any consideration for return-on-investment. Mr. Thatcher said that the report would review financial resources for financing projects and could include some tolerance for pay-to-play models. He also offered that they would avail themselves of other studies that have been completed that coincide with the work of the review. Budget Amendment for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2018, Proposed Resolution #18-01 Ms. Herrick presented the details of the budget amendment. She said the amendment includes revisions for two small grants. They are the Federal Police Grant of $5,120 and the Law Enforcement Block Grant of $4,200. The amendment also includes a reprograming for two CIP projects that will make a total of $262,954 available for the implementation of the 2016 parking study. Ms. Ramsey made the motion to approve the resolution. Mr. Zhang seconded and the motion carried unanimously. City Attorney Reports -- None UNFINISHED BUSINESS -- None NEW BUSINESS -- None Page 4 of 5
OPEN FORUM Mayor Freiling opened the Open Forum portion of the meeting for comments on any topic. Gary Shelly, 205 Indian Springs Road, thanked the City for a prompt response following his last comments, which were in November. He said he has a New Year s resolution of ending his frequent appearances during the Open Forum of the City Council Meetings. He explained that this is not a new resolution but one that he has been unable to keep. He explained to the newer members of Council his role in the proceedings each month over the past 15 years. He offered that it began in the early 2000 s when he became concerned with the relationship of the students and the City. He encouraged them to get involved, run for office and be heard. He acknowledged that there had been some successes. He said that in 2003 the town-gown tensions were palpable until Mr. Foster was elected. He said he thinks that this tension is still prevalent in his neighborhood and other areas of the City. He feels he is an advocate for students, promoting their wellbeing. He offered that over the next several Council meetings he would speak on two issues. The first is the 110 Harrison Avenue issue as there is a lot more to that than meets the eye. He will reveal some behind the scenes actions, mistakes that were made and the consequences of them. He hopes that it will provide a more complete understanding beyond the City overpaying for a home and then lost that investment. The second issue will be the student voting controversy from several years ago. He feel that the whole issue of students being able to vote in town is fundamental to their place in the City. If you are not able to vote you are not on equal footing with other people. Students deserve the right to be on equal footing with the rest of us. That is something that people still find very difficult to accept. He concluded that it may be several months before he is able to present his findings so that he can be as thorough as he desires. He hopes that his information will cause the Council to re-evaluate their own positions and feelings toward the students place in the community. There being no additional comment, the Open Forum was closed. ADJOURNMENT There being no additional business, at 3:30 p.m. the meeting was adjourned. Mr. Pons made the motion and the second was provided by Vice-Mayor Foster. The vote was unanimous. Approved: February 8, 2017 Andrew O. Trivette, City Council Clerk Paul T. Freiling, Mayor Page 5 of 5