--------- I don't get it. I tell this thing to remember me and it never remembers me. What? Why do they even ask? >> They may have added something. Planning Commission has more seats. >> Sam, are you ready?
Kina, you you ready or you want to wait to >> I don't have an update on the monitors yet. >> Isn't showing me today's meeting is one of the options. >> I'm not getting either. >> Of course, I just don't understand the
system. That's >> I call the Charlottesville City Council um April 6 meeting to order. Um, madame clerk, will you please call the role? >> Councelor Fleer here. Vice Mayor Ashin
>> here. Councelor Payne >> here. >> Councelor Snook >> here. >> Mayor Wade >> here. Um, is there a change to the publish agenda? Um, item nine will be moved to a future meeting because of an issue with a legal ad. So, we're going
to change that item. Um is there a motion to approve the agenda um with um this amendment? >> Is that simply deleting it for today? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Okay. I'll so move. >> Second.
>> Um all in any any other changes? All in favor please say yes. >> Yes. >> All oppose please say no. The motion passes. Um our meetings are divided into three sections. The first one is a work session where we would discuss presentations that do not require
council vote and then we will follow by close session and then we'll have our regular b business meeting at 6:30. We are having some technical difficulties so we won't be able to see it on the screen like we usually do but staff will still be able to give their presentation. So um the first item is a
report on the ADA transition plan. Paul, were you expecting video? Is that Was that >> It's fine. I brought notes, so I'm actually good to go. >> All right. >> So, good evening. I'm Paul Rudol. I'm the ADA coordinator from the city, and I
I'm proud to present what we've done with the ADA transition plan so far this year. Um, what I want to explain is, um, just a brief grounding of the ADA and explain what a transition plan is, and I'm going to work through what we've done so far this year.
Um main thing is the ADA is a civil rights law. It protects people with disabilities from discrimination and for local government that means ensured that program services are all accessible and usable by all members of the public.
Uh the main principle of the ADA is core processes. Lady A says no qualified individual with a disability cannot be excluded or from from participation and denied benefits for any or subject to discrimination in any public service program or activity. That's the guiding
principle behind a the city's accessibility work and that's why our transition plan matters. About the ADA, it's uh organized into five titles. You got title one, which is employment. Title two, which is our
focus, local government. Title three is like your private corporations. Title four is FCC stuff. And title five is all your stuff that comes in the administrative code like retaliation, which is a big part of title five.
Um 88. Title two focuses on non-discrimination state and local governments in Charlesville. That means accessibility is not limited to one department or one building. It applies across all city programs services. Uh title two prohibits discrimination
against people with qualifi qualified individuals with disabilities and all programs, activities, services and public entities. It applies broadly. It's one of the broadest civil rights legislations there is. And public transportation systems, computer systems, you have to provide
reasonable accommodations. Uh title two administration process. This subjects include planning administration responsibilities. It requires self-evaluation reasonable modific modifications where needed and identifying architectural barriers and
effective communication with people with hearing, vision or speech disabilities. In other words, it requires assessment and it requires action. In pract practical terms, the ADA protects people with disabilities in many areas of public life. that includes people with physical, cognitive, sensory,
communication related disabilities and the work is about ensuring dignity and equal participation across cities programs and services. Um, Charlottesville, we did a transition plan back in 2013. It was approved by
council in 2013, June 3rd, and that is that established our initial framework what to go for with a transition plan. In 2023, the city decided we were going to do a new transition plan and new self-evaluation to update on everything that's happened and to see how much work
was done in the 2013 program. It was approved by city council in May 2025. And the transition plan serves as a strategic road map for ADA compliance and broader accessibility improvements. It includes sidewalks, pedestrian routes, public buildings, transit
facilities, park recreation areas, and is intentionally broad and it's tied to being both compliant and long-term inclusion. Uh we're going to go through our work and the overall goal is to move from planning and imple implementation
and the way improve access across city pro services and supports a community where everyone can thrive. um from I think you had the presentation you can see the slides you can see we started vertical height displacements we when we did our transition plan we had over 20 thou 7,000 vertical height
displacements that's like when one sidewalk panel is uneven with the other today we have done 1,193 repairs so as you can see sometimes around city hall you'll see the cuts that are cut in the sidewalks to make
sure people can mainly for wheelchair users people have mobility issues It gives them a smooth transition. >> And it's my understanding, you can do that to a certain point and then you have to replace it type of thing. >> Sometimes the panel has to be replaced. If the panel is just degraded so bad
that sidewalk panel is going to have to be replaced, but a lot of it if it's just >> a few inches, they can cut it and make it flush with the other panel. So it saves us a lot of money by doing vertical height displacement cuts. Uh we did curb ramp survey.
Out of the 4,204 curb ramps, only 168 in the city were fully compliant with pro. Uh 2760 were deficient and 551 were missing. So where you should have a curb ramp, there's no curb ramp there.
Um we also had 725 other barriers such as obstructions. Those obstructions could be telephone poles. They could be mailboxes. There's something in fire hydrants. It's something in the rightway that's an obstruction for people with disabilities. >> Can I ask you something about the curb
ramps? How what has the city been doing in recent years to basically make sure that new curbs being put in comply? >> Well, the city has been doing we've been training staff. Every year we have two
classes we teach. So we're teaching people what a compliant curb ramp is. We're stressing what the new law was, what the Department of Transportation out of the federal government said, which PROWAG, which is the new accessibility guidelines. So we're educating people and staff on what a
compliant curb ramp is. So when we sign our contracts and our procurement, we're putting that in saying you have to comply with ProAG. You have to build the curb ramp to a standard. How about private builders who are doing the the curbs and sidewalks. >> We review like projects. Every project
that comes into the city, NDS reviews, I review them and we review curb ramps and so we can see, hey, your curb ramp is not accessible. You need a curb ramp here. >> So for the last couple of years anyway, that's been happening >> since I worked here. For the last four years, we've been doing so.
>> Okay. I I know there an awful lot of fairly new looking curbs that don't have working accessible ramps. So >> some of them also instead of having a curb cut, they have the mountable curb so that the sidewalk stays flat but cars
can still drive on them which is plus and minus because then they're mountable by a car instead of getting that hard stop but it also means you're not dip dip dip dip dipping as you're walking down the sidewalk. So there's >> Okay. >> Am I right? >> Yes, ma'am.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Um, right now we have pro we've sent out an RFP. We're doing we're about to start a lot of curb ramp work in the city. I mean, curb ramps are expensive. We're estimating it's going
to be over $100,000. So, we're trying to do as much as we can with our money to get these things taken care of. uh facility findings. Uh we had 42 facilities that were reviewed under our transition plan. There was a total of 2,697
barriers identified and that gives us a strong baseline for prioritizing building improvements and coordinating work across all departments. As you city hall, we're working in city hall right now. We've what we're doing some of the work is we
are improving and replacing office doors uh bathroom modifications because a lot of our bathrooms were found out of standard. We're reinstalling fixtures including grab bars at the correct heights while we're addressing our elevator in city hall to make sure that's ADA compliant
and dispensers, water fountains, toilet modifications are all being addressed for build for accessibility. Uh also ridge foot the ridge fire station ADA access work is begin on that that was indicated in our transition plan. Uh this design was reviewed it was
approved and work should be beginning on that soon. Uh the Philip Morris the Preston Morris excuse me smokers u different >> uh we began work on that. We've indicated when that was reviewed there
they have their conference room on the bottom floor. the bottom floor could not be reached with people with disabilities. There was no sidewalk leading to it. There was no elevator so the conference room was not accessible and so we began work on that. Uh parks uh one example is Washington
Park the bathroom was not ADA compliant. We began work on that. uh digital accessibility. We're addressing accessibility across the city. Uh we're testing thirdparty software to bring our PDFs, Excel documents, our PowerPoints, files into
closer alignment with the updated WIKAG standards. Uh with the goal of establishing a consistent workflow beginning April of 2027, in April of 2027, that's when the new Department of Justice standard comes out for cities of less than 50,000. We are a city of less
than 50,000. So, we have to have all these things compliant, including our website. Uh, we're working with our web our web contractor because our website's third party to make sure that's brought into compliance and we're looking at everything to bring in compliance of
that. Um, we're doing a self-evaluate. We're going to continue to do self-evaluation. Something built in our ADA transition plan was the maturity model. And the maturity model is we're going to send out a check sheet. It's a questionnaire. We're going to ask people certain
questions. How do they know ADA compliance? What do they feel like they're can deal with? Somebody who came in who somebody had who was visually impaired or somebody that's deaf. How would you assist that person to make sure they have equal access? Those questions will go out. The city departments will answer them. We get
them back and we'll be able to tailor classes for every city department so they can have better understanding of people with disabilities and help serve our community members better. Does the um state or the feds do like um like
or I mean surprise test? >> There's something called project civil access. So the department of justice every year picks certain cities >> and they'll come in and they'll just look at everything they can to see if you providing equal access. >> So for us a lot of cities don't have a good a transition plan. They're not
operating one. So when they come in with project civil access they'll say where's your transition plan? how have you worked on it? What have you done? So, they'll say, "We don't have one. Sorry." And then it goes from there. It gets worse because then they've done no self-evaluation. They don't know how
their programs and services help people with people with disabilities to give equal access. And so then the Department of Justice will give them like a settlement agreement and say, "You have to do these certain things within so many years." And they have five, six years to get things in
line. But it's only a few cities Department Justice does. >> I think typically they do about 50 cities a year. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Our priorities in 2027
is section 508. 508 is the new WIKAG standards. We're really concerned about them when we were testing. >> The new what standards? >> WIKAG. It's the new accessibility standards for digital digital accessibility. So about your PDFs, your
Excel documents, your websites. So they have to be accessible for people with disabilities. So we're really looking at this. We're trying to make this our goal to make sure when 2027 comes, we are not below standard. We are at standard. Um we work
with it. It is really working hard on it. We're working hard testing software. There are cities, bigger cities I know that I've talked to are ADA coordinators. you're not ready whatsoever for this. And the concern is if you're not ready, you
just have to have somebody who's visually impaired or somebody that's deaf or you don't have captions while you're doing like even city hall if you don't have or doing a council meeting. If you don't have captions, then you're out of compliance and you can easily be sued and put under a settlement
agreement. So is this something that we can do now? I mean the staff can do now that as they finish a staff report or do something is to make it in compliance. I understand you know past staff reports or
items online when not that way. Is it a certain way you can >> legacy documents we don't have to worry about? So in 2027, legacy documents are not a concern for us. It's only if we have like permits, our permitting system, it has to be compliant.
>> Our new everything we do, our >> our public public relations, our public media, >> it has to be compliant. So if we put something on X, it has to have captions or it has to be be able to being caught by a reader, a screen reader. That's the
only way we can get in trouble. But legacy stuff we do not have to worry about. And we're working on it now with our test software. So we can do this work now. We're working with it. So they're doing this work with our contractor and our vendor to make sure
our websites are compliant. Um for 2027, we're going to continue to work with vertical height displacements. We're going to continue as cut as many as we can with them. Um our work is based on safety, access and connectivity.
So what Department justice says for connectivity and access you have to do around your government buildings, your government services first. So we're that's why we're actually cutting around this area as much as possible. And we're going to continue improvements in city hall. We're going to advance
access along Bridge Street. And we're going to continue working with our parks to get them accessible as well. And that is my presentation. I'm sorry I didn't have more slides. >> No, no, it's great. Great. >> So, the projects you've listed, they're
on those two pages, one by 15 different projects. Are those things that you're about to be starting? >> They're about to be starting there >> and to expecting to be completed by end of the summer. >> We're hoping by midsummer there. Okay.
And then will there'll be a new batch? >> There'll be a new batch. Sir, >> okay. I know this sounds given the the large number of of different things that have been identified, but how many years do we think it'll take to address the
problems we now know of? >> Uh I believe it was $157 million. That was the initial report for a transition plan. Um we try to knock out as many tasks as possible. So, >> and putting aside the money question,
just in terms of time, what >> how do you have a plan for how many a year you hope to knock out or >> obviously the first the first 5,000 may be easier than the last 5,000, but >> it's possible. I I think honestly a reasonable expectation would be 10
years. >> Okay. >> For all work would be a reasonable expectation. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Welcome. >> Um, other comments? Do you have anything? Yeah, thank you for going over this. Um the it's a daunting task. There
are so many pieces that it touches and that you're dealing with. So, thank you for pulling it all together um with the web piece. So, that's really reassuring that our third party vendor is kind of taking that so you your team can work on the PDFs and Excel and the hard
documents when we add new content once they get it up to WIKAG standards. Does that happen inhouse or does that happen with them? Like how do we sustain that compliance? >> We contact is going to be through the
vendor. So if we want something a new page built, then the vendor will add that page and pure procurement. It will be they say, "Hey, we certified this is compliant under ADA." And so that's how we're going to make
sure that's done. I also I want I want to spend money next year as well. I want to do another test of our website. We did our transition plan. It did a baseline test, but come in April 2027. If we can do another small evaluation of our website, our apps
to see where we stand, we also can identify the discrepancies and we can get them fixed as soon as possible as well. >> Yeah. And that it seemed like during the plan the audit for the website wasn't as I mean it could have been a lot worse. It seemed like you know it wasn't really that bad, but there's there is a lot to
do. So that's great to that's reassuring to know going forward. But speaking of like you want more money for this. So it does seem like they're we're putting in 2 and a.5 million a year and it's 131 million for the whole list. Have we explored any
>> We've explored grants. We we've explored grant opportunities last year. It's just in this political time it's harder to get grants. >> Yeah. >> So we do explore grants. We do partner with VOTE when we can for projects, but
working for grants. We look for them every year. Um, Department of Transportation used to put out more grants. They have cut back some of the grants they were offering. >> Yeah, I was thinking CDBG also has kind of ADA built into it trying to, you know, feed two birds with one scone. And if we could attach some of the project
list to projects that were going on, but yeah, I forgot the federal part. Not participating makes an impact there, too. Right. That's all I have. Thank you. Laura, did you have anything? >> Yeah. Um, thanks. Um, for the projects
that are on the implementation list in this presentation, um, how were they selected as what how are they prioritized? >> So, we looked at when we did our ADA transition plan the first year because we looked at we did census data and so
we took the census data and it drove a lot of the work we were doing. So, we looked at census data with people identified having a disability. We looked at our government services like if somebody's so close to a bus stop or close to city hall or our
courts or even the federal courthouse or Albamars. We looked at that and that's where we decided to prioritize our work because the DOJ has regulations saying that's the priority for them. That's what they want work first so everybody has equal access to their government services. So we have kind of an idea of
where people with mobility needs live and are kind of aiming these along their access points and as close to government services. >> Yes, ma'am. Okay. >> And so bus stops are another priority. So to get people to have access to the bus so not everybody drives and so you
can look at bus stops. We see a hot map of some people with disabilities clustered in a certain area. you can say this needs a bus stop or this bus shelter needs to be improved and we can focus on that. >> Okay, great. Thanks. Um, and then for
the actual construction of these projects, is this something that our in-house concrete crew gets to work on or >> our in-house concrete crew is working on some of them we have to contract out because there's such a large amount. So, we're doing both as we can.
>> Okay, great. Um, glad to see that our team gets to participate in that. Um, and uh, how often are we going to get updates on this? Is that something in our do we have like a regularly scheduled
>> annual is what the schedule is today, but I am recalibrating based on inquiries made by some of you. >> Well, I mean just that was that was not a leading question. just curiosity. >> I don't know. >> Okay. Um thanks. Um and then um that is
that's all I have at the moment. >> May I throw a priority question on your priority question? Are we following the like P1 through P4 kind of layout that the >> plan Yes. >> projected? Okay. So the P1 stack was kind of smaller than the others, but do
you stick to that or do others run in tandem to it? We we work with that especially the second year. The second year you have to take public comment. That's part of it. So we have some community members that said, "Hey, this needs to be done." So we look at it. We
look at our list of our P1s through fours with their input and then we work and see which ones we can do. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Did you have anything else? >> Not at the moment. Thank you, >> Michael.
Um I think my biggest questions likewise around prioritization there's two million a year for the transition plan um which is more than we've had in the past but obviously the challenge is factoring in inflation you know it could
easily be around a hundred years until um all the identified needs are resolved. Is census data the only thing you're using for prioritization or is that like the just the primary thing? Um when we did census data, we took census data
like we looked at it as people with disabilities. We looked at areas that people didn't have a vehicle. So a lot of that was income base was another part of prioritization data as well. So we
factored all those in so we could assist and prioritize those areas best we could. Is there prioritization metrics that are based on measuring how many people are actually using a p, you know, a particular
facility. >> When we looked at the prioritization areas off the census data, we looked at the areas that would be closest. So if somebody's in a neighborhood and there's a bus stop and there's most people don't own a car or there's a abundance of
people with disabilities in that area, we prioritize that over an area where people have have higher income. They're more car drivers based on census data and they don't have disabilities. So we would prioritize the area with disabilities
and factor that in what area is closest to them. So if it's like a pocket park, if it's a bus station, if it's government services, that's how we would prioritize. >> But you wouldn't look at, you know, this sidewalk that doesn't meet ADA is, you
know, 10,000 people walking in a week and but this one has, you know, 200 and we end up prioritizing the 200 one. It would it would depend where the sidewalk falls also. So if the sidewalk was across the city and it didn't
connect to things that are prioritized based on the Department of Justice's prioritization list, then it may be a high use sidewalk, but technically it doesn't need to be upgraded right away. If we have a sidewalk that's only
being used by 200 people, but those 200 people are 25 people with a disability, that's a high high amount of people with disabilities and they don't have equal access. So that sidewalk for if it needs to be vertical height displacements, we would cut the vertical height
displacements before. If it needed a curb ramp, we would put a curb ramp there before an area that doesn't need a curb ramp because there's not a high amount of people with disabilities using that sidewalk. And so that's how we looked at it the first year. So in the
second year, we take input from our our community members and our community members with people with disabilities. They say, "I need this because I go to the grocery store and there's no curb ramp here. I use the bus, but the bus doesn't have a sidewalk. It connects to
the shelter. Could there be a sidewalk put in or could there be a curb ramp so I could get up to the bus shelter?" So the first year it was we're basing it off of census data, but the second year what we're going to prioritize is based on community input and that community
input will drive our work for every year for >> and that's second year or second tier. >> The second year, the second year of our ADA transition. So this is the first year we've done work. Next year would be where it's all communitydriven what we prioritize. So next year we'll have be
driven more by feedback from those who are living in Charlottesville with disabilities and be able to incorporate things like you know I need to go to the grocery store you know things like that it sounds like >> Yes sir. >> And the other question on the uh
maturity model what does that kind of look like in practice? >> It's it's a self-evaluation. That's what it is. And so a self-evaluation just looks at your services, looks how your etiquette, it looks at how you would help or assist somebody with a
disability so they have equal access. So if somebody wanted to come to a park and they were deaf and they ask for a sign language translator, how would we you would ask the question, how would you get a sign language translator or who pays for the sign language translator in
that case? And so if it would on for us, we would just look there's a list and and find somebody who does sign language translation and also we eat the cost as a city for a sign language translator. But those were questions that you should ask and people should know so they don't
build into their programs and services. So if somebody's using a service at the park and they ask for a sign language translator, we don't build that person and then be out of compliance with the ADA. So those are the kinds of questions you would ask. And then we can educate people based on those questions. So if
people didn't know, how do you get a sign language translator? How do you charge it? How can you reasonably accommodate somebody who's visually impaired in certain things? We can educate people and teach them and that would help us in a self-evaluation and it makes our position more defendable if
we get questioned about the ADA violations. Um and again you know as you acknowledge given the estimated cost uh implementing this plan at the current funding levels would take about a hundred years maybe
70 to 100 years is it would you consider it that under a different presidential administration that it's likely a significant amount of funds are available for ADA upgrades or is that a a complete unknown? Was there a significant amount of money under the
previous presidential administration specifically for ADA? >> Even under the previous administration, uh the county of Los Angeles was hit with a billion dollars that they had ADA improvements. So the city the
county of Los Angeles tried to avoid as much work as possible. So under the previous administration, they brought the city, well the county, excuse me, I'm keep saying the city. They brought them into court and they forced their hand saying you have so many years.
So now the county of Los Angeles is not paving their roads. There was a news article about it. So they don't have to build curb ramps because they're trying to avoid. So I believe every administration has their own issues with funding this. They pretty much leave it up to locality to come up with funds. uh
when Bulier County was sued under the Department of Justice and had their settlement agreement, they were given seven years to complete all their task on the list. So, Department of Justice can force you to spend money and then it's up the locality to find that
fundage. Some counties and cities localities try to avoid as much as possible and then they're brought in more severe issues. >> Thank you. If we repave a street, does that trigger a need to address the curb cuts and so
on? >> Yes, sir. >> So, e even if we're just doing the the routine milling and repaving kinds of things that does that how's that going to affect your workflow?
>> We base that we look at where we're going to repave also based on the transition plan. to where our priority curb ramps are. We can look at our paving schedule and we can say, "Hey, we're going to pave these roads. How does it fit into the transition plan and how can we work at?" So, that's how we
fit that in. >> Okay. >> I mean, it has occurred to me uh as I've been driving on washboard roads that that's got to be an ADA issue all by itself. I mean, sidewalks are obviously an issue, but you know, there are plenty
of people on motorized wheelchairs who are actually having to go into the street because either the sidewalks are inadequate or there aren't any sidewalks at all or or for whatever reason. Um, so it just everything turns out to have an
ADA finger touching it at some point. >> Yes. Okay. >> Did you have another? >> You have one more question. Um, so we've gotten 1000 some of the vertical height displacements ground down and I've totally noticed that. I knew it was
something we had talked about and then I started walking around downtown recently and I was like, "Oh, there there there." And that was really cool and exciting to see that it was, you know, coming to fruition. Um, we're still doing that, right? That's not >> We're still doing that. >> Is that just kind of like a continuous
thing? >> It's continuous. >> Okay. It's not like we This is as many as we can do. We're >> we >> we're doing more. >> We're spending $750,000, I believe, this year on it. And it's until that $750,000 runs out and then next year we'll spend
approximately $750,000 again to try to do. >> Okay. Thanks. >> You're welcome. >> No other questions. Thank you so much. >> Thank you, sir. >> Appreciate you. >> Thank you, sir. >> Rion. Oh,
>> Sam, I wasn't sure if you given the introduction or Ron just >> Oh, you know, I have plenty to say, but I'll wait until we're done. >> Okay, >> you got the floor. >> Oh, >> thanks everybody. Uh, Ri Anthony, parks
and recreation director. Um, just kind of giving you a heads up and update on our master plan. Um, today I had a great presentation, but unfortunately, uh, due to technical difficulties, I'm going to have to read. So, if I look down, um, it's not because I'm ignoring
you. I'm actually have to get my eyes on and see what I'm reading. So, uh, uh, first and foremost, thank you so much for allowing me to come up, uh, to give, uh, council an update of our where we are with our master plan. Our agenda is
a basical a basic department overview and background. Then we'll go into the master plan goals, outcomes, and objectives. And then we'll look at our key prioritization areas. And then uh what have we accomplished thus far? Uh
look at a 10-year capital improvement plan. And then what's next? Um so that will be the format uh that I'll be going through. Oops, there goes my presentation. There we go. So again, um as a city
manager always said that uh uh the city punches above our weight loss. We have uh over 2,000 acres of parkland. We have uh two indoor pools, two outdoor pools.
We have four splash pads. We have uh over 44 playgrounds that including um schools. Um we have a award-winning uh regional skate park as well. Um so we
have a lot and that's besides our trail uh system that we also maintain. So again um we have a large portfolio. Um our operating budget is roughly about $14 million and we have uh over 70
benefited employees. Um on any given summer we hire close to 100 to 150 uh temporary or seasonal employees to keep our summer camps going um to keep our pools open and so that uh when uh the
community is off uh parks and wreck works. Um also again with the master plan, the adopted master plan, it calls for uh close to $78 million in terms of capital over the next 10 years.
Uh within our current budget, we have roughly about five $5.5 million just to maintain that. Uh and then uh overall of all our projects that was recommended is roughly around about uh close to 57
different types of projects that we have to uh maintain with our master plan. Also when we adopted our master plan um uh it called out for some themes, some goals, some outcomes and objectives. Um
the first uh uh major uh goal and outlook was to align our capital priorities with community needs. Um also really want to promote equitable access
and then maximize impact with limited resources. And then also doing the balancing act of uh balance development with stewardship. As you can see which you cannot
we have um a master plan is a 10-year horizon. Um the last time uh our department uh did a needs assessment it was in 2005 2006. uh that is a long time for a department
um to have uh no updated type of uh road map or or or northern star. So so I truly truly appreciate uh uh the depart u the city and council for allowing us to do a master plan so that we can realign and then also focus on what the
priorities of the community is. Um and that's what we came up with. We looked at community values and needs. We also did an needs assessment on each and every park that we have facility amenities including pools as well. What
that mean is just a huge inventory list of what we truly have. And then we did a program and services analysis um level of services uh operational and organizational assessment. We also did a
park by park and facility by facility improvement. Um we also looked at our framework plans which is the four parts um uh that we focused on and then we did a uh cost estimate of capital improvement and then the last part is
the most uh as I like to call the the hardest part to get is the strategic plan. How do we take all these priorities that the community has asked us to do? How are we going to accomplish that? How do we look at prioritization?
What needs to be first? what needs to be on second base, what needs to be on third base. Um so that's uh where we focused uh a lot of our time and we will continue to focus on a lot of time because we are still refining um that
strategic plan and I'm hoping um that we will come back u to council um is to have that plan refined. The other things that our department uh uh through the master plan focused on
was our adoptive goals. Um one will be uh providing a safe accessible uh uh public space. Uh prioritizing health equity um ensure diverse and dynamic workforce building innovation and
lasting partnerships. Um sustainable uh park ecosystems. um connect clear and transparency with the community and create a financial secure and resilient operation. So those are eight uh from that eight uh our department is still
working on how do we uh put that into uh measurable uh objectives. So our department uh will be working on that for the next year is to look at uh on the work plan to look at how do we accomplish those eight uh
goals. So coming to the implementation as I explained uh that uh if you uh looked at the master plan we kind of divided it into three areas what the master plan kind of calls for. Um the first bucket
is uh reinvestment. Uh reinvestment is uh basically um the community uh knows and understand that we have a lot of assets facilities. We need to start updating our facilities if we want to keep our facilities for another 50 100
years. So it's restroom renovations. It is facility updates, safety and security, structural repairs. Then we have our second bucket is our enhance. Our enhance is is is looking at our EDA
improvements. Um as Paul mentioned um we do have a transition plan. Uh parks has a transition plan as well. Um we do have some uh improvements that we need to uh address. I believe it's over a thousand um that we have within our portfolio and
uh that's one thing that we have to address as well and we can piggyback it with if we have an arrestment project let's say for example a facility and we see violations we have to address those violations of ADA so that will go hand in hand uh playground mo modernization
so what have we've been doing for uh uh uh uh the years uh we would is replacing I'm sorry removing and replacing exactence some what the community is asking for is modernization
we are looking for something better we are looking for a modernized playground so what that means a bigger and better playground um as I mentioned um in our capital improvement project we uh get roughly about $200,000 uh dollars and uh
we do a replacement every year since we have such a large portfolio uh with uh um which includes schools and parks, public parks and then the other thing too is efficient uh lighting system and
then our trail implementation plan. >> Second, ask a question. You mentioned playground modific playground modernization at schools >> schools and public playgrounds. Uh I
remember you know now probably 25 years ago uh having the the parent teacher organization at Greenbryer raised the money for the the playground modernization at Greenbryer.
Is there now I mean and I think that had happened at what's now Trailblazer as well as some other places. Is that the model being used or is that are those projects now coming with city funds through your department? >> As far as I can recall um the city has
always uh provided funding um for playground replacement at all schools. uh what we are talking right now we are trying to update our agreement with the schools and and trying to uh build a platform where all the schools have
different PD PTOs and if they would like to see something see a different playground or it's a that we cannot afford we will work with them and the principles is to figure out what we need to do together in order to meet their
needs as Okay. As I know 25 years ago it was privately raised. So >> I'm I guess I'm glad that the city is getting behind it to so that it's not only the the places with the richer
parents who are able to have modern modern equipment. >> That's great. And then the last one expand all visionary. These are big ticket items which our master plan calls for u framework plans parks uh an adaptive
recreation center uh pickle ball tennis courts and then also new dog park. So if you look at uh those three different buckets it is it is where the prioritization and that's where the department uh is busy really refining um
those things. So you have these three buckets. You have your reinvestment. Then you have your visionary. So what do we need to do? Uh we can go for one visionary but that will cost 2,3 million and we put everything into one project.
Do we want to do that or do we want to look at a reinvestment where we have high impact lowcost projects so the community can see we are working towards um some form of a goal and objective in order to get things accomplished. So that's where we
are at the moment is looking at all those different buckets. How do we put uh this as priority number one and why is this priority number four? So we are working not just internally with the department but also other departments like public works. Uh they have a hand
in this. Uh the budget office has a hand in that. The grants department has a hand in that because at the end of the day $78 million is a lot of funding uh a lot of a lot of money. So what we looked at is our key key prioritization areas
of the master plan. We looked at uh special events that was something the community really want field um field swim and tennis court reallocations. Um we have found out that uh uh we needed to update that because all our amenities
are getting used quite often. Uh and there's always a struggle uh from a a a for-profit organization want to use uh tennis court or or or a pool rental lane versus a local group within the city
also want to do that. So uh those are that is our allocation policy that was called for partnerships very important. The partnerships is uh uh something that we are busy working on in terms of not just how do we get to partnership but
writing a process to make sure that we evaluate each partnership or proposal that comes to parks and rack. We're using the same systematic approach so that we are making sure that we are giving each partner an opportunity to
have the exact same playing field. So it's not that oh Peter's coming along here. Peter wants to uh improve and I'm using example tennis courts uh but Peter wants uh to have 80% uh of reservations.
Um um so we do not want to get ourselves into that situation. That's why we want to work on a prioritization study. We also uh doing a program study a reinvestment. Again reinvestment is exactly looking at our infrastructure. We uh we know we need to do a better job
uh with updating our facilities, our fields, our restrooms, outdoor restrooms. Um then um staff uh strategy um we got a new master plan. What we are looking internally is looking at how do
we meet the needs of the community and how do we have to reorganize our our staffing model to meet those needs. And then uh trail plan um as you we have a good trail uh uh um master plan paved
master plan trail within our master plan. Now we have to figure out how do we uh put the dots together the connectivity uh trail improvement how do we work through that and how how much years is this going to take us to get there because it's very complicated. Um
sometimes there are easements, sometimes we have to buy property, acquire property. So uh it takes a lot of uh um uh thought behind this to put this plan together. And then uh lastly is as I mentioned our formal framework plans.
What have we accomplished? Um we have hired a new um special event uh coordinator um that was also high on our priority list. Um uh this individual started in the beginning of the year. Um so we did do that. We have completed our
field allocation policy. Um we have worked on a 10-year prioritization CIP uh plan for the entire 10 years. As I mentioned again, we will uh request to see if we can come back to council to have it much more refined. Um this was
our internal department plan and now we are working with public works. We are working with budget office to see uh how we can refine uh that plan if we're making the proper and correct decision. So we want to take our time um to make sure that we are meeting those needs and
then a program plan uh program and management plan almost done. So what we we looked at when we were looking at our 10-year plan, internal training plan, one of the most important
things staff wanted to focus on is immediate high impact, lowcost approach. And that is why in our CIP today, you see we requested a $500,000 uh for exactly that um entrance signs of
our parks. That's something high impact uh but not a lot of money. Uh we want to look at how do we standardize our parks from benches to trash cans. Um how do we um do those type of items? Um we also
scored all our our prioritizations. Um and uh we also mapped out a 10-year road map of how we want to accomplish uh those uh steps. those steps.
The top priorities in terms of projects, as I mentioned again, uh the what the department looked for was a a city-wide signage. Um a few projects uh is the four framework plans uh that we want to
do. Um school grounds, we want to focus on school grounds, coming up with a plan uh downtown Maltry plan, uh a systemwide ADA uh plan as well. And the these are just
a few items that we do have um on our list as we continue moving forward. So what's next? Um next according to our master plan um uh trying to increase our
park custodial staff. Um they uh touch and clean uh all our parks. Um at the moment we have four employees um that clean all our parks uh power wash shelters um do all that and that was one
thing that uh Mos blank called for community would like to see when they visit our parks they want to come into a clean space um so we are working on that we also trying to develop a trail plan uh with with the trail plan comes uh
resources um at the moment uh as you can Chris Genzig is not here. He's probably out on a trail. >> Yeah, >> on a trail. So, uh uh trying to look at that. How do we look internally as a department? Number one and foremost is
do we have any vacancies within our department? If we do, do we really need that vacancy? And then how do we reclassify that position to meet the new master plan's needs? So, we are still working on that. How do we look internally first before asking for more
funds um to meet those needs? Um and again that's uh the last part as I mentioned uh staff uh your organization and how do we achieve that and that is all I have for today. If you
have any questions I'm happy to answer them. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um before we go on before I forget and um sometimes we get um some speakers to talk about the use of the parks as far
as gender equity. Um can you just speak on that? >> Yeah. So that is where um as I mentioned about uh the program that falls under our program um analysis. Uh what we are
looking into is looking at all our programs. Once we analyze our programs uh right now we have a dashboard now which is great news where all our programs live on one software program. So we get to see um from gender to uh
resident non-resident what type of program it is. So we can at least on one dashboard see what are we doing? Do we need to um have more of or less than? And then from there we are working on a
measurable goals on how we measure programs meaning uh after every program do we do survey work? Do we how do we reach out to other community members that do not access our programs and ask them why and what are you looking for so
we can expand our programming? Number one. And also number two is uh really making sure that we are very uh measurable focused. >> Yeah, I'll start then this and Michael
you have any comments at this time? >> Um I guess the the biggest question is in the budget right now is 500,000 annually for the parks master plan implementation. Um obviously the challenge is you know
that's more than half a century to implement everything that's in the plan. Um how does this intersect with funding requests in future budget cycles? >> Yeah. So um as we mentioned as I
mentioned earlier we were we were in the process of with our 10ear plan when uh the cycle came up uh strategic move we decided to put in the $500,000 um like we did last year um so we can
get high impact high impact lowc cost um projects. Uh we're also working with public works in terms of resources um because we do not have resources within our department as a a a project manager. We don't have
project managers. So we are working with uh public works to see if we have the resources but we are hoping uh by August when the new cycle uh for CAP file funds come up that we will have a refined plan
um to make those requests that focuses um on our master plan capital improvement projects. And I believe something that was called out in the the
process of developing the the plan um was looking at other localities which had an internal policy of earmarking um some source of revenue or finding an additional source of revenue that just strictly goes to park improvements. Is
that something that um would ever come to city council for consideration or just indicating, you know, yes or no to that idea? Again, um we're just refining our plan. If that's a possibility, definitely uh
follow the city manager's lead um on that to see if it will come out to city council if there's a certain amount of dollars that needs to be earmarked for this project. Um, a more specific question, the
which I think intersects with this, the Smith Aquatic Center, um, I think since I've been on council, it's been closed for multiple years total. It's recently closed again. How how sustainable is that current facility
within the context of this plan given how frequently it's been closed down and the repairs seem to have not worked at this point or not worked as well as you know maybe was hoped for. >> Yeah, as we like to call um Smith Aquatics um um it has a lot of problems
uh but we are working through our problems. Um we believe that our HVAC system that was one of the biggest problems that we had. We shut it down I believe in my tenure here three three times and we haven't shut it down for
HVAC or chloromine issues uh thus far. Um the last closure was just a heater problem that we had. So it was just one body of water that shut down and uh we're hoping to have the rack pool open by the end of uh this week. uh but we
are evaluating that comes in with our reinvestment uh part as I mentioned reinvestment so that will be looked under the reinvestment um part of the house as well but good question and which totally makes sense because I
guess the question is what if any more very extensive capital investments may be needed um the other just for like a sense of potential timeline For example, there's called out improvements for say Tonso Park which
call for a number of facility improvements potentially building a cricket pitch like numerous other things. What would be the timeline in terms of like number of years from now before any of those improvements actually are seen on the ground?
So what we are looking at as we are ref finding those finer details uh but there are small hanging fruits that we can still accomplish. For example, councelor is one of the framework parks. Uh we are
we've been working um uh with an organization for a fitness court and I don't if you noticed that we just put out a survey for the fitness court because we had a grant um and we're hoping once we find a location that will meet the need. So we are wait we are not
waiting and doing absolutely nothing. We are actually looking within our refined plan. Okay, this park is going to take uh uh in the next 5 years we only get to this park. But if we find opportunities of grants um and it meets that framework
plan um like the fitness court we are going to uh get there. The other thing for our counselor is shade um and staff is looking into the shade structure um so that we can still continue moving
forward. Um uh and then in the next once we refine the plan and when that come out at least we have touched something from that park. >> Mhm. >> And just using Thomas Park as an example um this would apply in other ones as well a bigger change like you know the
the potential of having like a a cricket pitch in that park is that something that would be a minimum of like 5 years away before that would ever like exist on the ground? I'm just again trying to get a sense of >> Good question. Um
I can't give you an answer when exactly but what I can do is is uh using one of our our strategic systems that we have is number one um taking it out back to the community okay you want the cricket patch at tonsler but where exactly at
tonsler once we'll then be able to grab is to say okay artificial cricket pits as runs rough but I'm using example Well, $50,000. Okay, I can easily go and look in the reinvestment fund uh bucket uh to say,
okay, can we get 50,000 to put the cricket pitch on there? And that's how we that's why it's taking us a while to get our our plans refined so that it is strategic um when we come back to council. Um is to say this is
exactly what our tenure look like. Obviously it's 10 years things can change and we okay with change but at least coming up with a defined plan of when um as I mentioned you know we have the four parks that needs to get done we
have a recreation center that also needs to get done we have to have tennis courts and when do we slot that in and then also looking at resources how are we going to accomplish because what we do not want to do is put something and get approved on the
capital improvement and it's taking us 5 years to get completed because we don't have resources to complete those projects in a timely manner. >> Okay. Um and finally similarly with the the visionary um projects just again as
an example the Ravana River access plan which is whole lot could go into that huge untapped opportunity and resource for the city. What's kind of the rough expected timeline of when that would move to a next step that you know leads to kind of action on the ground?
>> Yeah, the Ravena access plan um with one of the recommendations that we received last year um we are working with a professor at UVA um two weeks ago uh a few members of the CMO team and myself went out there to the class for the
final report. Um uh we have asked them to come to the advisory board which is next week Monday and they will be doing a presentation of their findings. From there they will provide us with a report and I believe our next step should be um
sending it through the SEO's office and landlock council's uh desk as a report. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Yeah, just to add to that, uh, we do plan to, uh, brief city council on
the outcome and any recommendations from the advisory board before we determine what next steps we need to make in order to uh, put a little bit more meat on the bone of the the recommendations coming out of the that student group. Thank
you, >> Natalie. >> Hi. Um, uh, one question on the slides, which I know are not up here, but they are visible, um, at home and in the packet. For the adaptive recreation center
pickle ball courts, um, I can't tell if it's 200,000, 2 million, or 20 million. There's a some fun comma usage there, and I just wanted to clarify that, please. >> There's a a missing uh, zero, so that is
20 million. It's 20 million. >> 20 million. >> Okay. Sorry. >> Thank you. Let me note that. >> Okay. And then, um, you mentioned standardizing the parks from benches to trash cans. Is that something where we
take out usable ones that don't match or as they age and break, we replace with a standard set? >> Age. ones that agile will replace. >> Okay. So, we're not taking out perfectly useful ones that are just a different style. Okay,
great. That's what I was hoping you'd say. Um and then um for the Sorry, I'm a little I'm bumping around a little bit here. um for the connectivity and trails for the the
connectivity portion that comes from trails where you can get around town safely and also maybe connect to different parks without um being in the the streets. Um I I appreciate that and think that is valuable. Um what is and it says you want to update the trail
plan. What is our current trail plan >> in the master plan? So in our current plan and we only talk about um the paved trails and the reason why it is not connective, it is due to
uh private property owners. Um it is due to uh lack of resources in terms of staff. We only have one staff member that is our park planner and trail planner and maintenance person. Um so we thought uh let's pause and let's try to
come up with a plan. So how we derived from the plan when we went through the plan uh we have noticed that the north part of the city has much more connectivity in the south why and that's where we look through equity lenses like we really need to look through all our
trails through equity. Um and we have listed prioritization uh green uh green orange and red type of mapping system. Um and we are going to look at our highest um prioritization list from
that. Um and that's what we're going to focus on. Uh thus if a property owner is available we are not going to walk away um from it. we going to also seize that opportunity because it's very rare that a property owner will say hey I'm okay for you to
do a easement or hey you can buy my property so we can connect so we are working on that but that's why in the plan says we still need to uh get it refined so we got the plan but how do we implement so we're trying to get also an
implementation plan is to really figure out how do we get these things accomplished in a timely manner >> okay Great. Um, thank you. And then for uh the partnership section, um, you mentioned having a process for
partnership and evaluation. Um, what kinds of partnerships either have we done in the past or are we looking to do in the future? So, uh, we have a part, um, we get in parks and work, we get a lot of, um,
community or businesses want to partnership, uh, with us from, um, a tennis, uh, organization that wants to, uh, put in lights on your tennis courts and and fix up your tennis courts. But
normally um there's always a a situation where oh I gave you this and now you have to give me that and we want to make sure that uh we are putting it through a process where we ask a few questions and that's what we're working on is uh
number one is there a need within the community? Does it meet our master plan our updated master plan? If it does, that means that's an opportunity for us to partner. Um, other situations that we are partnering with is Bennett Village.
Um, we just completed phase one. Um, we also partner with her sports. Um, at the moment, flag football, um, women basketball, um, I believe there's a community event happening, um, in May. Um, so, so, so we're looking at those
are just a few partnerships that we have. We also have tonsil league that happens during the summer. Uh also great partnership u that runs all summer. Um so we do have a lot of a lot of partnership but we just want to make sure that uh we are following a process
where everybody has access to that want to partner with parks and recreation department. >> Okay great. Um and then for the public engagement portion, I know there was public engagement with the master plan as a whole. Um but what kind of public
engagement is planned for the continuing process like for prioritization or is are you taking the comments we've already gotten from the master plan and saying okay that's how we're sorting it out or for each project like what kind of engagement opportunities will there be?
>> Yeah. So when it looks like uh there's different phases of community engagement. For example, if you look at our four framework plans, that's going to have to be a a a community engagement process. Um something similar to what we did where we really are going to talk
about, you know, uh do we need to put a dog park versus a garden uh versus a softball. So we have to go and do that engagement. Uh when we look at parkto park uh we will do our uh uh two to
three-step phase which we done with our fitness court where where we had two to three public engagements in in person um at the facility where we invite the community and then we went put it online for two weeks um to ask the community
more questions. So those are the type of engagements that we are going to do because we do not want to have a one shoe fits all type approach. We want to make sure that uh we are meeting the community where they're at. Great. Thank you. Um and then
um that's what I have at the moment. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh Loli. >> Yeah, thank you. Um curious for one thing. Um how's the golf course doing economically, physically?
>> Golf course is doing um good. Um >> I know we did we had put a fair amount of capital expenditure into an irrigation system and so on. Did that get completed? >> Uh that will be completed uh just before May. >> Okay. >> Uh just before May. and and and when I
say it's doing good, it's doing good because the city is investing in their asset. Um, and that's just a great example. If you look at our 10ear plan that we have, it is always good if we have a asset, we have to reinvest because the community sees it and the
community does not question if we increase a rate. So for example, for the last three years, we increased golf rates by a dollar, but every year we were showing the community what improvements we have done. We've done last year we did the whole clubhouse. Um
a year before we did a major upgrade in terms of turf care um going out there and now we're doing an irrigation system. Uh what our long-term plan is, we are looking at uh bunkers um um coming up. We are looking at uh uh uh uh
raising our our pump house uh for the irrigation system. So uh what we're hearing out at the golf course that they are very happy uh as long as they seeing those improvements um they're okay to pay a dollar or two more because it is a enterprise fund. Uh
that means we have to have enough revenue in order to support our expenditures. I know a couple of times in the last the last six years I've been on council, we had to put council had to allocate more money because it just
wasn't generating enough money. Has that situation turned around? >> I would say for right now, yes. Uh but also if you look at uh the department strategic moves that we did, uh number one, it was 100% staff focused. Uh
meaning every employer was a staff employee. Uh once we got some retirement we reflected and say let's outsource our turf maintenance which we did. Um we saw some improvements there. Um and then after more retirements uh the department
asked one question do we as a staff can take this course to the next level and the answer was no we don't have those expertise we don't have a PJ we don't have a turf manager that specializes and that's what we've got for the last two years uh with our outsourcing the entire
golf course and as you can see if you've been out there please do come out there uh even if you just want to walk the trails um you'll see a great improve improve in terms of standard of care out at the golf course. >> And which leads me I suppose to a second
question relating to Penn and also to to Darden Tao Park which of course our Pen Park is a park that the city owns but it's actually in the county and Penn and then Darden Tao Park of course is actually in the county but we own it
with the county. What are we I mean I I noticed one of the proposals uh was talking about uh the $20 million for I don't remember what all it was but adaptive center and also pickle ball courts and
so on. That strikes me both of those functions strike me as things we ought to be working out in some way with the county to share with the county. Uh I remember a couple years ago we had this debate over whether we were going to increase
number of pickle ball courts uh at Darden Tow Park and I was serving on the committee for the city. There's actually a joint committee of city and county people who administer technically Darden Park although I don't think our
committee has met in a couple of years. So I wonder what we're actually doing. Uh but I I'm I'm just thinking about all of the things like that. Uh one of the things we learned in that process was that
people who play pickle ball and people who play tennis don't really care whether they're playing in the city or the county. It's not important to them. It's where is there a court that's likely to be available and how can it be administered in a reasonably efficacious
manner so that you don't have to worry gee am I even going to get a court am I going to have to wait two hours before I can get a court what are we doing to more cooperate with the county on things like that >> yeah uh good question so uh when it
comes to uh adaptive recreation we have a great partnership with the county u we have an agreement with them that we provide um services for them and then the county pays us um for for the services. Um when it comes to the
adaptive recreation uh that's something that I'm talking to the new uh director about of how do we partner and have a joint effort since we already have a partnership in terms of um serving um adaptive community number one and number
two uh the master plan calls for a center. So that's something definitely we're going to be talking about. We also spoke about the tennis courts. Uh right now according to Denmo um since they have a lot of land within that park, it calls for a new bank of tennis courts.
Um when we were looking at uh when we were getting through our master plan, Pen Park is just so much amenities within the acreage. um it is going to be very hard for us to find acreage to put another bank of pickleball courts or or or or a bank of tennis courts because we
have a lot of amenities out there. So we are talking with the county um on looking um in the future of how we partner since we are so close such a strong bond as you mentioned um uh uh
people that play tennis or pickle ball. >> Mhm. they just want to play. >> Um, and one of the other things that came up out out of that process was the I learned for the first time that there was a parks foundation that was raising a whole lot of money. Uh, and they had
the they were thinking that they were raising it specifically for tennis courts or for pickle ball. I don't remember which one it was, but they had a particular goal in mind, which made me wonder kind of who's in charge. What's the relationship with this parks
foundation? >> So, the parks foundation um the way the MOA reads is that if they want to fund raise, they have to come to the board, which they did, um and present the case
>> to to which board? >> The board. um the city because we have two members of city council and I believe two members of county. Is this the parks advisory committee or the >> the the do and >> okay that the one that I was you know >> that you set up. Yeah.
>> So they have to come to that board >> pitch the idea and then it's up to the board to vote. Um yay or nay um so that's how that uh foundation um is written into just for the DM to
>> is that new because I didn't remember ever getting a pitch. I just remember being told we have raised this amount of money and it's for this purpose. Um, according to the county, uh, it's been in there around about five, six years
that they had this parkboard. And this was the first time that the park board came to, um, the county um, requesting, can we fund raise for? Okay.
And I guess the last question I have is is the is the mall still under parks and wrecks control for flower beds and things like that. >> The mall um we do maintain the mall in terms of cleanliness. Uh we clean the
mall. Um we also take care of the trees, the health of the trees. We also take care of uh the beautifification of the mall in terms of horicultural team still comes out and take care of the mall parts. Yeah. >> Okay. Great. Thank you, >> Jen.
>> Thank you. Um, kind of tying in a few of those questions. So the speaking of the partnerships and the who kind of raising funds to cover some of these priorities,
it's I'm glad to see that there's an equity lens for the policy framework, but I wasn't really thinking about it from the um transactional nature of being a funer, but more like how do we determine whatever partners want to fund gets
prioritized in the buildout based on whatever our rubric is for that. Do we have that piece established? The I know you don't have the policy framework for partners yet, but do we know what an
equitable um prioritization of projects looks like? >> Yeah, we have not gone that far yet. So, unfortunately, not. >> Okay. So then my other question tying to that is the partnerships seem like they
can help all in from visionary to like you know whatever they're interested in we could easily use their money and finish these projects right so the I've heard from partners who are really interested in launching for example visionary projects now they've got
contractors and money and they want to do it but we don't have a mechanism for them to do that yet so we have that as a medium priority in your critical needs. >> Is there a reason it's not a higher priority seeming because it could give us so many funds?
>> Yeah. So the reason why we did a medium is because uh the medium was more of the writing of the process not the medium of that this is a high priority. So we were looking through the lens of getting this
policy established. That's why it is medium. It's a it's a it's below in your to-do list. It's below increasing custodial staffing, but it's kind of the next on the list. Okay. So, maybe that Yeah, it's it's a
lot. It's hard to develop a trails plan. >> Yeah. Where the partners where the funding comes and where that drives. Okay. So, then the um where do you find the biggest pinch point? Is it our funding resources or
our staffing to execute and implement these things? >> I think it's a combination. Um the way we look at uh um big projects this way is number one, um it's great to have the
plan, but number two is do we have the right people on the bus on the right seats? Then if we have empty seats, we have to try to make sure how do we fill those seats so that we have enough resources is to implement this plan. Um
so we are looking at those strategies in terms of uh looking within first with our department when it comes to reorg and resources. What can we do and really look at do we reorg uh do we look at vacancies? Uh do we also knock on our
neighbors door? uh for example great partnership that we have with public works. We asked them, hey, do you mind helping us with projects? And they said, yeah, but we have to talk about each year because they also have a capacity
uh uh um cap. Um so we have to look at that as well. So I hope I'm answering your question correctly. So it's not the one or the other. It is looking at both at the same time. >> Yeah, they're tethered together. You're not right out of the gate like if I had all the staff, I could get it done with
the resources we've allotted. Okay. Do we ever contract out that work so that we can run projects in tandem? >> Yeah. Um again uh we we have a lot of projects like for example uh revenue restroom that was a contractor um even a
firm um assist us with some project management uh but a cost a lot of money. Um so so so we've done that and it's not a a one-sizefitit all. It is a systematic approach where we
look is to ask those questions. Do we have the time? Do we have the scope? Do we have the budget in order to execute that and how we answer those questions will will do we contract out the whole thing or do we contract only any work and and we do uh our own project
management. So and again as I mentioned earlier uh we don't have a a a project manager on staff in part and that's why we're leaning on public works. >> Okay that makes sense. the just two more questions. The if we speaking of the
resources, if we don't close the $800,000 gap, how do we determine what projects get bumped? Is that a staff decision or that's something that would come before council? >> Yeah, so as you mentioned, it's uh was
in the PowerPoint presentation uh and then we got bumped a few times. Uh but uh we want to come back to council again at future uh date because we have to sort of refine that uh uh uh gap. How do
we put which project first and then we want to come back to console? >> Oh, that will be part of that. Okay. And then last question is the dashboard you have going for staff is live and that you said that was helping and that's really but for the public where do we go to see the progress on all this? Yeah,
at the moment um at the moment we are working with uh the city on a bigger uh dashboard um so that parks will also have a folded down uh drop down box so that it feeds
into uh that um I believe working with uh the strategic uh department uh within the CO team. They're also building up this big dashboard of all our projects. So, we're hoping once that goes live that will be outside and everybody gets
to see all the projects where we at. >> Oh, do we have a timeline on that? No. >> I will defer to >> Thank you. >> Any other questions or or comments? >> I would just Thank you, Rian. Um just
like to just add a few notes uh just for council's benefit and the public's benefit as well. Uh just kind of pointing out the idea that we're you've received two presentations tonight, an ADA transition plan update and a parks master plan update and both of them have
very very large price tags attached to them. We knew that all along. Um we knew that both of them needed attention. We also knew that both of them needed updates. Um what you see at this present time is not an implementation schedule
that any of us would identify as appropriate uh because a $150 million transition plan requires a double-digit annual allocation in order to take it down. And a $78 million parks master plan needs seven or eight million a year
in order to take it down in a reasonable period of time. And what we also know is both plans predecessors sat for a very long time. Not necessarily getting implemented, not equally anyway. The ADA
transition plan was last updated in 2013. There was work being done on it, but it wasn't being done in the way that it is now being done. Um the parks master plan last update was 2005 2006. That is entirely too long for park
system. Uh, and finding out that it has $78 million worth of recommendations is actually probably a um a bargain for where a community with this high expectation exists. And that there's a
lot more that could be identified for park support and recreation support even. Um, that as it stands right now, we are not checking the box on these two issues. And I label them for you, as I have labeled most things for you that
are complicated, as tensions and trade-offs. And I'm sure you knew I was going to say that because these are decisions that have to be made on when do we want to prioritize more in these categories for things that one, the ADA transition plan is not an option, and parks and
recreation is by all accounts of our public not an option. Uh, in both of those instances, we're going to have to try to figure out how do we allocate more in both of these categories. And we already know, as I've repeatedly referenced, that the runway is short. So, that's going to mean trading off
something else or asking more of those who are struggling to be able to give more. So, I just say that as a part of the process of we're working to improve efficiencies. We're working to make sure that we have processes in place, policies in place. all that great work
is happening. We're dashboarding. We're trying to make sure that we get a more consistent public engagement system going within the city government that we do better at promoting the quality of our work, displaying that work, allowing the public to interact with that
information. All those things are in progress. All those things are moving. Not fast enough. Yes, that is where I am as well, but we're getting there. And I think the key is going to be that if we don't put more resources uh in places
like these, then we're going to find it hard for those dashboards to say a whole lot at some point when we catch up to them with how we're funding them. So those are things that we just have to keep in mind. And if you just go back to the recent slide where I gave you the money bags all over the page,
>> these are smaller than they need to be. Uh, so that means there's going to be a need to shrink others or find other money. So I'll end with that note and say I am done talking about how we prioritize because we got to figure this out.
>> Thank you. Um um we're going to go into close session now. So >> pursuant to section 2.2-3712 2-3712 of the Virginia code. I move that this city council close this open meeting and convene in a closed session as authorized by the Virginia Freedom of
Information Act as follows. One, pursuant to Virginia Code section 2.2-3711A7 for consultation with legal counsel pertaining to actual or probable litigation where such a consultation or briefing in open meeting would adversely affect the negotiating or litigating
posture of the public body. specifically Magnamera v coaches at all and Erskin White v City of Charlottesville DBA Charlottesville area transit and Willie Hines and two pursuant to Virginia code section 2.2-3711A88 which permits closed sessions for
consultation with legal counsel employed or retained by a public body regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such council specifically legal aspects of changes to the city's zoning code. I make the motion
>> or second already made. >> Um, all in favor, please say yes. >> All the post, please say no. All right. So, we'll be back at 6:30. Part: 2
certified by a recorded vote that the best of each council member's knowledge only public matters lawfully accepted from the open meeting requirements of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and identified in the motion convening the close session were heard discussed or considered in the closed session.
Is there a second? >> Second. >> All in favor, please say yes. >> All oppose, please say no. Thank you so much. We will now have a moment of silence. >> Thank you very much. Are there any announcements?
Yes. >> Um, hey folks. I just wanted to point out that uh this weekend will be the second uh Sunday of the month. So, it's time for the monthly neighborhood walk. Uh, this time it will be um the UVA
North Grounds area meeting at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday at the JPJ um parking garage bike rack. Um it takes about um couple hours. You kind of mosy. meet people and learn about a part of the city you might not be super familiar with. Happens every second Sunday of the month with a
different neighborhood around town. So, if you haven't come out to one of those before, weather's nice again. Maybe it's time. Um we uh we'd love to have you. The second thing is that um it is also
uh the beginning of uh April is the next uh installment of this year's ebike subsidy voucher program application period. So if you are a city resident over the age of 18, you can apply uh for a voucher. Um, there's three different
voucher levels, 500, uh, $1,000, and $1,500 based on your income level that you can use towards purchasing an ebike from one of the local bike shops. Um, I realized uh when we were back there that I don't have my helmet today. It's the first
maybe second time I haven't biked to council in all the years that I've been there. And that's because today I took the bus and walked. So, um, otherwise I'm pretty much always out there on my ebike. Um, Charlottesville has ton of hills, so it's nice to be able to get somewhere without getting all sweaty on
your way to wherever you're going. So, I really encourage everyone to check out uh that application. You can look for it on um our connect page, connect.sharlottzville.gov, and that will take you to um a bunch of good announcements and the ebike voucher
um program. Thank you. >> Thank you. I have a couple announcements. We always have a lot of openings on different boards and commission. This meeting I just want to highlight we have an opening on the um board um for Pemont Virginia Community College. If you're a city resident, um I
encourage you to look at um this opening or others and contact the clerk if it's something that you're interested in. It's a meaningful way to give back to the community. And also just another announcement that on April the 17th at
11:00, it will be the 60th um rededication of the Dogwood um Vietnam Memorial. And that is always a special time for us to recognize those who made the ultimate ultimate sacrifice for um our country. Um so are there other announcements?
>> I actually did have one more. Sorry, I had another tab open. I got a lot of tabs open. Um, Monday, April 13th from 5:30 to 7:30, there is a uh planning popup uh in the Rose Hill or to talk about the Rose Hill Drive restriping
project. So, if you live in that neighborhood or you use that street and you want to learn more about how it's going to look when it gets repaved and restriped, you want to have input on that. Um, again, it's Monday, uh, April 13th from 5:30 to 7:30, um, at the
Jefferson School. Um so please um please join our planning team for that. >> Yeah, it's a street many people use and you know it is really wide and um it's only two lanes. So it'll be a good opportunity for you have some some input
on that as well. So we now have um proclamations and recognitions. We have several to to um do um this evening. The first one would be Miss Flesher. >> Proclamation for Child Abuse Prevention Month, April 2026. Whereas the city of
Charlottesville is committed to the safety, well-being, and future of all children, recognizing that they are community's most valuable resource. hand. Whereas child abuse and neglect remain serious concerns that affect children and families across our nation and prevention requires the collective
vigilance and responsibility of all members of the community. And whereas strong families are the foundation of a thriving community and supporting parents and caregivers through education, resources, and community connections help prevent child abuse and neglect before it occurs. And whereas
communities that prioritize prevention promote protective factors such as nurturing relationships, knowledge of parenting, and access to social supports, all of which help children grow up safe, healthy, and resilient. And whereas dedicated organizations, professionals, and volunteers in Charlesville work year round to provide
advocacy, education, and services that strengthen families and protect children from harm. And whereas raising awareness during child abuse prevention month provides an opportunity to reaffirm our shared commitment to ensuring that all children are valued, supported, and
given the opportunity to reach their full potential. Now, therefore, the Charlottesville City Council hereby proclaims April 2026 as Child Abuse Prevention Month in Charlottesville and encourages all residents to work together to strengthen families, support
children, and help prevent child abuse and neglect in our community. signed and sealed the 6th day of April, 2026 by Wu the Wayer, Mayor. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. Thank you so much. I'm Sherry McKini and I have the privilege of being the CEO at Foothills Children's
Advocacy Center. And on behalf of the children of Charlottesville, the staff and board at Foothills, and all of our community partners, I just want to thank you for this proclamation. And if anyone is interested in learning more about Foothills and the role we play in the child abuse uh response, they're you're
welcome to join us at our open house on the 21st from 4 to 6:00 p.m. Thank you so much. >> Thank you, Whit. Loy, >> isn't there another one first? >> Um, which which one are you doing? >> Dark sky.
>> Okay, sorry. Um, we would also like to recognize the 30th anniversary of the Virus Centers for Neuro Development. Whereas VIA Centers for Neuro Development offers a comprehensive continuum of compassionate evidence-based care serving more than 150 children and adults in
Charlottesville through specialized schools, adult programs, supported employment, and early intervention services designed to support individuals and their families at every stage of life. And whereas at the heart of VI's mission is the foundational philosophy that every human being possesses inherent dignity and value and holds the
fundamental right to lead a purposeful and meaningful life regardless of ability. And whereas Vaia provides communitywide social groups that welcome individuals with neurodedevelopmental challenges into safe and supportive environments, offering essential connection and support for both participants and their caregivers. And
whereas Vaia empowers individuals to build essential life skills and fosters deep community involvement, ensuring that those they serve are not only supported but fully integrated into the fabric of society. And whereas through collaborative partnerships with local nonprofits, businesses, and school
districts, VIA's transformative impact extends beyond its centers, actively contributing to a more inclusive, aware, and accepting community for all people with disabilities. And whereas this 30th anniversary milestone provides an opportunity to celebrate VA's legacy of compassion, innovation, and community
building, and to recognize its continued commitment to creating a more inclusive future for all. Now therefore, the Charlottesville City Council hereby recognizes and commends VIA Centers for Neuroded Development on the occasion of its 30th anniversary for outstanding service and dedication to enhancing the
lives of individuals with neurodedevelopmental challenges and their families and for strengthening the Charlottesville community through inclusion, compassion, and opportunity. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, thank you, >> Natly. I think want to get a good
picture. >> Just real quick, my name is Ethan Long and I'm the CEO, president of the BIA Centers for Ner Development. I want to thank three groups of people. You know, first our founding families that started, there were two families with three children with profound autism.
They started over on Third Street and their dedication and commitment has allowed VIA to grow to serving over 350 uh individuals today in four communities, Charlottesville, Rono, Lexington, and Lynchburg. I also want to thank uh all of the team here that's
assembled. These are the folks that meet the mission every morning and without them we couldn't do it. And so I want to thank them. And then finally, I want to thank this wonderful community because we are an inclusive community and neurodiversity is a part of that inclusion and it makes our families and
the individuals we serve special when they can be a part of our downtown mall. They can take advantage of our YMCA and they can truly be a part of our community. So, thank all of you for recognizing the 30 years of service. Let's come back and do this again at 50. All right. >> All right. >> Okay. Thank you. We hopefully I'm not
here by now. So, um Ethan and I was able to get a tour um a few months ago and just doing amazing work there throughout every nook and cranny of the um O Senior Center. Um and I know you have um other locations,
but what I saw was just simply amazing. So, keep up good work. We're glad that um you're part of this community and you're doing an innovative approach to to address it. So, thank you so much. >> Thank you.
Okay. Now, uh, this is a proclamation to recognize Dark Sky Week in Charlottesville, April 13th to 20th, 2026. Whereas the beauty and wonder of a natural night sky is a shared heritage of all humankind, and the experience of
standing beneath a starry sky inspires feelings of wonder and awe. And many people in Charlottesville live under a dome of light pollution, excessive artificial lighting that disrupts natural darkness, and may never experience the visual wonder or
ecological and health benefits of living under a dark sky. The city of Charlottesville is now part of the biofilic cities network and is committed to providing opportunities for community members to connect with the natural world. And whereas the city of Charlottesville is in close proximity to
the Shandoa National Park and is surrounded by natural landscapes that are home to many species which rely on undisturbed night environments to hunt, mate, and thrive. And whereas peak spring bird migration falls during dark
sky week and 80% of migrating birds fly at night and need starlight to navigate. And whereas reducing light pollution saves energy, therefore helping the city of Charlottesville to meet its climate action goals. And whereas the city of Charlottesville is a neighbor to the
McCormack and Fan Mountain observatories operated by the astronomy department of the University of Virginia. And the observations and research carried out at these observatories is hampered by the effects of light pollution. And whereas the International Dark Sky Association
is the globally recognized authority on light pollution and has created International Dark Sky Week to raise awareness of light pollution and to provide free education, resources, and solutions to the public to encourage the protection of and enjoyment of dark
skies and responsible outdoor lighting. Now, therefore, the Charlottesville City Council hereby declares April 13th to 20th, 2026 as Dark Sky Week in Charlottesville, Virginia. And we ask each resident to join us not only in observing and pondering upon the importance of this week, but also in
raising awareness and support to protect our precious dark sky resources. Signed and sealed the 6th day of April, 2026. W Diego Wade mayor. >> All right. Is someone here TO >> WELL, we'll figure out somebody to send it to.
>> Yeah. No, I think we have >> Okay. around. >> I do realize >> who gets this right here. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Great. >> All right. My name is Emily Lean speaking on behalf of Dark Skies Piedmont and part of the broader Dark Sky International organization. So to our counselors, thank you for supporting the International Dark Sky Week proclamation for the third year in a
row. We hope that the city will continue to update the lighting ordinance so that it follows best practices to ensure public safety while also reducing wasteful lighting. Most of our spaces are overlit with lighting that never reaches its intended target and instead
spills into our homes and the surrounding environment. The city's current ordinance requires that commercial lighting be fully shielded so that the light shines on the ground uh directly underneath and not into the sky or horizontally, which contributes to sky glow and causes blinding glare for
people. Unfortunately, many businesses add or replace lighting that doesn't comply with the current ordinance. Uh this goes unressed until unless someone makes a complaint. We would like to ask that more effort be made to educate businesses so that they understand how
to comply and why their compliance is important and the impact that it can have. This would go a long way towards reducing the growing problem of light pollution. Thank you again for your time and support for responsible community lighting practices that not only protect
the dark sky but the health and well-being of our neighbors which include both people and all living things that inhabit this earth. And if anyone here is interested in learning more about light pollution and the importance of dark skies, um, I highly recommend looking up Dark Sky
International, at dark sky.org. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um, our last proclamation for today is for um, Reverend Dr. Leman Bates. Um, proclamation for his 20 year anniversary at um, Ebeneza Baptist Church. had the
honor of presenting this to him at at um church yesterday, but I think that I was speaking to lit literally the the choir, but you know, you you know what I mean. But I thought that the public would should know the incredible work that Dr.
Bates is doing. I know that Sam and I call on Dr. Bates um a lot um for community input, for his insight, for his for his um connections in the community. And so we're honored to do this. I'm going to um um read his um
proclamation um not in total um but um the good ones the good stances honoring the 20th anniversary of anniversary of Reverend um Dr. Leman Bates III. Whereas Reverend Leman Bates has faithfully served as pastor of Ebeneza Baptist
Church since 2006, providing steadfast spiritual leadership, compassionate guidance, and visionary direction to his congregation in the greater Charlottesville community. And and whereas over 20 years of devoted ministry, Pastor Bates has strengthened
Ebeneza through growth, innovation, service, including the expansion of the worship um outreach through televised and broadcast ministries and the enhancement of the church accessibility and infrastructure. Reverend Bates has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to
global and local mission work, leading relief and outreach in efforts to respond to to disasters such as Katrina, the Haiti earthquake, coordinating international medical missions, and supporting communities that in need both
home and abroad. Whereas um Reverend Bates has been tireless advocate for equity, justice, and community unity, contributing to leadership in numerous civic um academ civic and academic activities, including the city's
dialogue on race, university community partnership, and efforts um of addressing racial equity and health disparity in times of local and national challenge, including the events surrounding August 17th and the COVID 19
pandemic, Reverend Bates has provided more leadership, organized community response efforts, and and ensured that vital resources reach families in need. Reverend Bates has fostered meaningful partnership across faith communities,
nonprofit organizations, and public institutions, including initiatives such as food distribution programs, community forums, interfaith collaboration, and support and un of the underserved population. And whereas his leadership
has been recognized through numerous honors and appointments reflecting his enduring impact on faith, civic life, and well-being of the Charlottesville community. Whereas in 2026, Reverend Bates celebrate his 20 years and um
anniversary of pastoral care Eenea Baptist Church, marking a legacy of faith, service, and transformational leadership. Therefore, I wonder, mayor of the city of Charlottesville, Virginia, do hereby proclaim recognition and celebration of
the 20y year anniversary um of Reverend Bates and call upon the community to join in honoring his extraordinary contribution to our community. It was all so good I had to read it all. I'm sorry. You did amazing work. Thank you so much.
Well, I guess since everyone else spoke, I guess I have to speak as well. I really had not anticipated to do this, but Mayor Wade, members of the council, uh I do want to say thank you for this honor. I want to recognize the presence of my wife and members of Ebeneza
Baptist Church and uh just recognizing that the best is yet to come. Thank you again. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Did a great service yesterday. They had a guest bass player yesterday. It was really good. Um we are now um
>> there's one one announcement that was made to us. Sorry. Um just announcement that Alexand's Black History Pathway will be happening this Saturday, April 11th at 1 p.m. at Carver Rec Center with uh numerous panelists. So again, uh the Black History uh pathway honoring sports
in Charlesville and Almor is this Saturday at Carver Rec Center. >> Thanks for Alexander. He always has some good programs and things going on. I've seen the flyer for that. He's going to have some incredible lineup. Thank you. Thank you, Michael. Um the next um aware
community matters where we have eight people that have pre-registered to speak and we'll have the opportunity for eight more. Um it please um limit your comments to three minutes um for items that's not listed um as a public hearing. So the first speaker is Miss
Terry. >> Good evening. >> Good evening. >> My name is Terry Tyrie and I'm a member of the NAACP. a community leader and the president of Shawsville Community Resilience Center. I am here today speaking on housing
displacement and the safety and educational stability of our community. When families are pushed out, children lose stability. They lose their schools, their friendships, their routines, and their sense of safety. Communities lose their identity, their history, and their
support systems. And once that fabric is torn apart, it's hard to be repaired. We are asking you to follow the recommendations of the Shawsfield Low-Income Housing Coalition to prevent repeating historic wrongs because we have seen this before and we're watching
it happen again. And we're not just coming with concerns, we're coming with solutions. One recommendation being put forward is that core neighborhood corridor overlay districts allow three stories by right and up to five stories only if at least 20% of on-site units
are affordable at least at 50% area median income. That is responsible and that is reasonable. That is what looks that is what balance looks like. Development with equity so that growth does not come at the cost of displacement. Because without
protections like this, development does not include us. It replaces us. And for months now, community members, organizations, advocates, and residents like myself have shown up. We've stood in these rooms. We've rallied. We've
cried. We've written letters. We've shared our lived experience and our fears. And still we are asking why are our voices not enough to slow this down and bring this back to formal process that truly includes community input. We
are asking for thoughtful equitable development. Limit student housing to appropriate areas like JPA and Stadium Road. Require developers to contribute fairly to affordable housing and provide deeply affordable units within their
developments. expand relief programs so families are not pushed out or into homelessness. Because right now what we are seeing again is imbalance and is not equity, it's inequality. The other day I was door dashing, moving through different parts of the same city and I
saw something that set very heavy on my heart. I saw the contrast in some areas near UVA properties. There's pools, security cameras, and elevators, well-maintained buildings. people feel safe enough to leave their belongings outside with no fear. And then I return
to our communities where families are fighting just to get basic beautifification and we are in fear. That contrast is not physical, it's systemic. We are asking you to be brave. We are asking you to do what's right. Thank you. >> Thank you.
The next speaker is Chico Lorenzo. Chico Chico Lorenzo. Hello. >> Yeah. >> So, I'm going to do this so I don't forget any points. First
what what you read this is the same but from the art approaching but we are about the same. This is a response uh for the proposal of allocation of $100,000 to hire a consultant to develop a public art commission. I'm here today
to help the city not to make the very common mistake of putting the art development in the hands of bureaucrats. There's enough knowledge about among us local artists about what is needed to for this city h to show what it can
create, what to keep, what to add for Charlottesville to tell its sound stories with it own unique character. Many of these initiatives about party are based on statistics resulting on the promotion of main street or even corporate works, cooperative works and
prioritizing marketing over art. Marketing over housing and community. Others h just spend their budget in endless conceptual conversations with no artistic repercussion. I'm presenting myself as a candidate to lead this project with a vast experience working
with this community and many local institutions. And here's a plan. The commission will facilitate a regular open meeting open to everybody to discuss and vote which public art works to to keep when technically doable and
which to add. I myself can take care of the restoration in most cases or coordinate other workers and ideally the the city will also facilitate an artist salon inviting all artistes to meet regularly for collaboration, conversation and mutual
inspiration to promote that unique artistic character that is born only when sharing in the community. This is about art but it's about every aspect of this community. If we promote the connection, the collaboration, the
conversation, then we have a city that has that has a special a unique character, our character. If we let h things in the hands of bureaucrats, developers, h then we're going to be a city like any other in the
world that doesn't have any special character. So, it's our decision and there's 37 minutes for Thank you, ALICIA. >> Good evening. My name is Alicia Lanahan.
I live in the county. >> During the last 11 months, I've learned about the issues that concern and affect community members. I've also revisited important historical events. When first asked to take a stand against the lawless immigration actions of this administration, one response was, quote,
"We won't want we don't want to draw attention to ourselves." And we were reminded of the supremacy of federal law. That stands in stark contrast to Virginia's role in response to Brown v. Board of Education. Charlottesville didn't hesitate to defy the federal
government and to participate in massive resistance. The white men sitting in those chairs were resolute in their efforts to keep black children out of white classrooms. Virginia and this body were equally defiant in response to the ratification of the 24th amendment to the
constitution in 1964 prohibiting pole taxes in federal elections. Until 1966 and the Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections case. Charlottesville continued to ex exclude poor white and black voters in state and local
elections. That Supreme Court decision came too late for the residents of Vinegar Hill who were unable to participate in the 1960 election poll that resulted in the demolition of their community and their subsequent move into
the West Haven housing project. In 2017, city council elevated the first amendment rights of white supremacists over public safety with tragic results. Too often, this body has been vocal, visible, and resolute in its efforts to
deny people the rights conferred by the court and the federal government, or tepid in their efforts to protect those rights. Today, we're living with an administration that barely operates under the color of law. ICE actions have terrorized thousands of people across
the country in their homes, on the street, at work, in hospitals, in courouses, and at schools. Today, threats to our right to vote and the safety of elections are real concerns. Sending ICE on April 21st to a state that just elected a woman to be the
Democratic governor of Virginia and the person selected to respond to the State of the Union would be unsurprising. This is also an election that may help thwart the gerrymandering efforts begun in Texas. This is from the Brookings Institute. The administration has begun
repurposing personnel amid the current government shutdown. ICE agents have been deployed to major airports to handle passenger ID verification and other TSA related duties. This precedent raises a chilling possibility. the potential redirection of these agents to
monitor other sensitive civic spaces such as polling locations. You can't rewrite Charlottesville history. You can shape the future with proactive, courageous, and moral leadership so a council 60 years ago, 60
years from now won't have to apologize for your actions today. >> Thank you, >> Christy Baker. Christy Baker. Christy Baker. >> Hi. >> Hello.
>> So, one of the main principles in design and art is repetition. So, I am here with my brother Chicho. Um, which was sort of unplanned and unexpected, but I'm so thrilled to be able to acknowledge that council is really
valuing public art. Um, and that is something that is near and dear to me. I've been in this community. Well, I was born in Charlottesville. Um, but I've lived here now. raised my family here for over 20 years. Um, and as you might tell by my hands, I've been painting
today. I've been working on a mural. Um, and I've James has stepped out, but um, I've been talking with James as well. Um, talking with Jen, other folks. Um, the I used to be a consultant for the Charlottesville Mural Project from its
inception. I actually went to Pratt Institute with one of the founders of that project, which is now defunct, unfortunately. Um, and so now I am in a position where I'm a professional artist. I work full-time doing murals and specialty painting and have
reinvigorated that. Um, there's a void there. Um, Chicho and some other folks have come together just in a very organic way to start the Charlottesville Mural Collective. Um, which is really bringing local artists together. We have
the expertise. We have the knowhow. We've been drinking this water for a long time. It's in our cells. Um, and I just wanted to focus briefly on a couple key points of how I hope this commission and public art can be imagined moving
forward. Um, as an artist, our role is to be a creative wayfinder. We are here to be the imagination for community. Um, so to that end, hyper local. Hyper local. Well, I can't emphasize that enough. We're here. We live here. Our
kids go to school here. We're a part of the economy. We see the impact. We're at the protests and counterprotests and all the things. Um, also we are graphic poets. We are visual translators.
We need to establish realistic guard rails, uh, which we can do again as local artists. Um, and one of the roles of public art is to create ownership, not only belonging, but a sense of responsibility. And you have that when
you have access to the benefits of public art, whether that's economic benefits. Um, again, a sense of responsibility, beautifification, all of that. Those measurable impacts go beyond economic. And it's something that when
we have a local group or individual or whomever leading the charge, we can create those benchmarks and revisit them. Finally, public art creates conversation and that can create discomfort. I want to promote transparency and trust. And thank you
again to council. >> Thank you, former mayor Walker. Good evening. >> Good evening. >> My first um comment that just went somewhere after I left notes at home. Let's get to it. Um recently, President
Mama of Ghana um presented at the UN about two years worth of work um for them to vote on enslavement of African people as the greatest crime in history. 123 countries voted um yeah in favor of
the resolution. The US, Israel, and Argentina um voted no. And um there were 53 abstensions mostly UK countries who benefited directly um from the unpaid labor, intellectual and physical um
capital of black people. Here were some of the comments. There were human beings who were trafficked and then enslaved by people who were believed that they could own those human beings as cattle and their personal property. He then goes on to say, "Truth begins with language and
the power that words hold to shape consciousness and shift perspective and to propel." This resolution, he said, allows us as a global community to collectively bear witness to the plight of 18 million men, women, and children whose homes,
communities, names, families, hopes, and dreams, future, and lives were stolen from them over the course of four centuries. What I'm asking for council is to continue the work of Dr. Holly Edwards on the dialogue on race, the commission that was started under
Kristen Sika's um West Bellamy um Mike Signner um when they did the blue ribbon commission. The University of Virginia established the under president um Terresa Sullivan the commission on the age of um the
university and the age of slavery and in segregation. I haven't followed if they went on to the third. There is a lot of work to be done in this community towards reparatory justice. Everyone that you're hearing from now about housing, when you're hearing about jobs
and the injustices of this community is because instead of having truth and reconciliation, we have denied that those injustices happen or you all have, I never have. and um we prevented the truth from coming forth and for us to
make those reparations. One of the things I learned as mayor from then um city attorney um was that during after the civil war, widowers because their husbands were killed in
the war were paid by taxpayers dollars. Um, and so we already in Charlottesville have a history of payment and reparations just in the wrong direction. That property were human beings. That property were black people in this
community. So, I'm asking you all to form a commission um to look at what does true reparations look like. You're already always talking about punching above your weight class. punch above it and lead this world in this chaotic state in a direction of accepting um
this truth and paying it forward. >> Thank you, >> Emily Smith. >> Hi. >> Hello. >> My name is Emily Smith. I'm a housing attorney with the Legal A Justice Center. Um, my statement is going to
sound kind of like Miss Tyrese, but not as good. Um, you might remember I made a statement a couple of weeks ago in support of the Charlottesville Low-Income Housing Coalition and Public Housing Association of Residents recommendation to revisit uh the zoning
of areas adjacent to our core neighborhoods. Um, I'm back again today to address some potential concerns the city may have around taking this necessary action. Um, so we are asking the council to update the core neighborhood corridor overlay to provide
sufficient rigor to adequately prevent displacement. Allowing seven stories with a special exception permit that conveys little community benefit and five stories by right falls far short of what is needed. Um, a CN overlay corridor should limit the height to
three stories with up to five with truly significant uh, deeply affordable housing commitments of 20% of the units. Um, the intent of the core neighborhood corridor overlay, as stated in the code, is to support these neighborhoods and
implement the comprehensive plan goals of encouraging construction and continued existence of moderately priced housing, creating and preserving affordable housing, respecting the cultural heritage of the adjacent neighborhoods, supporting public health, encouraging economic development
activities that provide desirable employment, and the overall promotion of a convenient and harmonious community. This this intent was clearly not met with the current application of the overlay to only two small areas of the city. A very large luxury student
housing complexes popping up next to core neighborhoods did not serve affordable housing needs or respect the cultural heritage of the adjacent neighborhoods. >> The core neighborhood corridor overlay was not applied broadly enough to meet its dated goal and this oversight should
be corrected. Uh when zoning changes are enacted to support the public good, the law is very protective to the locality. Uh the Virginia Supreme Court held in Board of Supervisors of Fairfax County versus Snell Construction Court, the legislative branch of a local government
and the exercise of its police power has wide discretion in the enactment and amendment of zon zoning ordinances. The action is presumed to be valid so long as it is not unreasonable and arbitrary. the burden of proof is on him who assails it to prove that it's clearly
unreasonable, arbitrary or capriccious and that it bears no reasonable or substantial relation to the public health morals or general welfare. The Virginia Supreme Court in Riverview Farm Associates versus Board of Supervisors of Charles City County also
said illegal spot zoning occurs when the purpose of the zoning ordinance or reasonzoning amendment is likely to serve the public interests of one or more land owners rather than further a locality's welfare. Here the challenges would be made in areas adjoining poor neighborhoods for the public good to
protect those neighborhoods from being physically overshadowed and gentrification in line with the intent of the code. It would not be to benefit the private interests of specific land owners. Reasonable zoning ordinance changes are well within the authority of the city. Enacting those changes will
help realize the stated intention of the city during the zoning process. Thank you. >> THANK YOU, SUSAN. SUSAN, >> good evening. >> Good evening. >> I'm Susan McCully and I'm a property
owner in the city. We've been coming to you for nearly a year to ask for clarity around what the city will and will not do to protect residents from aggressive ICE tactics. We appreciate your resolution regarding immigration enforcement from earlier
this year and the other efforts you've made to clarify the city's position. There are remaining questions. However, Charlottesville City School parents and teachers raise another aspect of this question, the use of student resource
officers or SRO's in public schools. In January, WT WT VTF's radio IQ revealed a troubling connection between SRO's and ICE. Their January 15th piece reports on
Ryan Desaro, a an attorney who works with children and those who've survived human trafficking and domestic violence. quote, "One of his clients, a schoolage boy from central Virginia who is has protected status, committed an infraction at school." And Duranzo said
his SRO called ICE, and within within a matter of hours, they came to his foster home, put him in handcuffs, and transported him across straight state lines where he couldn't be reached." End quote. As we discussed with Chief Coaches in a
recent meeting, the rogue and lawless behavior of any agency or any officer erodess trust in all agencies and all officers. This is particularly true for anyone who's black, brown, or speaks with an accent. It's well documented
that SRO's result in a high rate of disciplinary actions and an increase in the schoolto prison pipeline. What's more, SRO's have a disproportionately negative impact on students of color, contributing to persistent racial disparities in school discipline and
criminalization of students. Section three of your resolution states, quote, "Tactics that deny persons access to basic human needs and rights guaranteed by the Constitution, such as operations aimed at schools, medical
facilities, courouses, and houses of worship, run counter to the American spirit and should not be tolerated. Such practices do not merely undermine community trust. They place residents, bystanders, and officers themselves in
immediate danger and are incompatible with principles of transparent, accountable policing." End quote. We we applaud these sentiments and find it difficult to reconcile your words with the presence of SRO's in the city
schools. Parents and educators are understandably asking the school board to rethink and revote on SRO's given that the current climate of amplified racism is endangering the very people your resolution claims to defend.
>> Thank you, >> Gillette Rosen Blitz. Gillette Rosen Blitz. >> Hope I pronounced your last name correctly. >> You did pronounce my name correctly. Thank you. It's um always very impressive when that happens. I feel
like it's a good start. Um hi, my name is Gillette Rosenliff and I'm a historian of housing with additional expertise in Charlottesville and UVA history. I've lived in Charlottesville since 2012. I'm a member of the board of commissioners for the CRA. Um and I am going to be adding on to what Miss Tyrie
and Miss Smith has said, and you're going to get declining levels of goodness throughout this, but that's okay. Um I'm here because I think we are in a moment of opportunity. We can do the right thing and live up to the values that we have tried to espouse as
a city or we can do the wrong thing and reinforce centuries of marginalization and harm. City council has done a lot to try to work with and respect the concerns of low-income residents of our city and I think that that's really commendable. You have literally put your
money where your mouth is and I applaud and appreciate that. And now we have the opportunity to either double down or back away from that. Charlottesville has and can continue to serve as an example to other cities of ensuring that low-income neighbors have a seat at the table when it comes to policy and
budgetary decisions that impact their lives. Today and for the past several months, residents are telling us that allowing the construction of the LV Collective and Mark Luxury Student Apartments on Main Street and in Fville would harm them. They would harm the West Haven resident leevelopment process
by further isolating West Haven residents from downtown and subjecting them to higher rates of surveillance if the LB apartments were built. It would also harm middle-income homeowners in both neighborhoods by contributing to the gentrification, rising property tax rates, and displacement of these
neighborhoods. Furthermore, historical contemporary evidence proves that luxury housing will not trickle down and create more housing opportunities for people at all income levels. It might help people with higher incomes. Um, however, it will categorically not lead to greater
market flexibility for families who need deeply affordable housing. These are the families who have been coming to city council, bar, and zoning meetings for months to say that these proposed luxury housing developments will harm their material well-being. I want to be clear, it's not that building luxury apartments
means that we therefore aren't also building low-income affordable housing. It's that the specific location of these proposed apartment buildings would have a direct and negative impact on communities that we are trying to serve
after generations of marginalization and displacement. >> We should direct developers of luxury housing out of our core neighborhoods. Your efforts at resoning were a step in the right direction, but we have seen that these developments are revealing unintended consequences of the zoning
changes. We can stop them now and sit uh back down to continue doing the work that you all started by amending the zoning. And specifically, we can do so by saying that the core neighborhood corridor corridor overlay districts should allow three stories by right and
only up to five stories with 20% of units that are affordable at 50% of AMI. >> Now is the time to either double down on including and listening to historically marginalized communities or abandon them. I hope we choose the former. Thank you. Thank you.
So, that was the last of the um eight um pre-registered. So, we have opportunity for eight more. Eight more. I'll start over here. Anyone like to speak? Anyone over here like to speak? I'll go ahead in the center. Anyone like to speak?
Miss Carr. >> Yeah. Yep. I always go say something to be in here. So um I agree with everybody in here what everything that they said. So they said it very well for me. Um but uh not me I believe I am the um founder
and CEO of that um partners with CCRC LJC and a couple other um nonprofits within the community. uh we so much care about this community and the voices of
the people. Um and uh one of my main things that I want to say to you guys is that uh with us having the issue with displacement, we really really I know I know morally you know what is really
need to be done because you have to go home and go to sleep on this moral we have a moral responsibility to the people. It's not about the money but it is the people. But I understand you have to have money in order to do it.
But if we don't have the people then you I mean this is wasteful. But we got to care about those that can't voice for themselves. Everybody's everybody's brain do not work on the same wavelength. We know this. Y'all are
fathers and mothers of the city. We are asking you repeatedly over and over again over and over again. I talked to many of you in Rose Hill, West Haven, wherever I see you in the store, I'm
giving you hugs because I know I know that what the people mean more than anything in the world. And your daughters and sons have to live here as well. They are here. They go to school with other kids that are on the way out
of their homes. You have a moral responsibility, >> moms and dads, because that's how I see you. I see you as my mom. I see you as my dad. And so when I come to you, I'm coming to you for the help. And that's
what us as inner city, we're coming to you. Your children are coming to you and the voices are getting bigger because the room is getting packed, >> you know. So, and then um so I'm going to slide this about 45 seconds. Um so uh
SRO's you know I um I believe in transparency. It's about the people voices. I do not feel that I personally do not feel that it should take a board to make the decisions but our kids are there. They
are impacted. >> So and then we looking at trauma trauma continuously to happen. They're watching it on TV. They're watching it in their community. And to put those armed guards or police officers within those schools, that's just traumatizing our kids even
more. It's they're constantly being traumatized. So I I just want everybody know April 16th uh we will be uh right there at C I mean CHS and uh we will be Yeah, that's what we do.
>> THANK YOU. >> Anyone over here like to speak? >> Anyone over here like to speak? Yes. In the back row, please. >> Hello. Um, I am a UVA uh student, a third year, and I just want to like
reiterate that as students, we do not want to be complicit in luxury housing that is going to displace the community. Um, of course students want places to live, but if it means that we're going to be displacing marginalized communities and further impacting the the university community and us, we already feel so
complacent in the amount of economic impact and economic um gaps there are. And the fact that we're making this housing for our interests is just not even like not even something that we want to be complicit in. This is all just for profit. And we want housing, but we want housing that's not going to
destroy the Charlottesville community. We want housing that's not going to cause more displacement. Um, Mayor Wade, I know we've talked um once before at an event and we talked about like wanting to protect the community and make sure we have good relations um with the community and the students. And I think
this is just not a good way to do this. Um especially just where it is, it should have affordable housing units on it. Affordable housing is a basic right and students at UVA want the Charlottesville community to have affordable housing and to have this right. Um, in addition talking about um,
SRO's again having like input and transparency in these uh, I can say from someone who I was in high school kind of recently. I'm 30 right now, but um, and when I saw armed officers in schools, it would terrify me. It would um, I didn't
feel safer at all. I just felt more um, at risk. I felt scared and I don't want other children and people to have to go through that as well. And I think the fact that you haven't given anyone the opportunity to really speak on it before making that decision um will really hurt
more kids coming into the future. And I just wanted to you guys to know that like students are with the community on this and we are against the luxury housing and we are against um the SRS and the schools as well. Thank you. Thank you. >> Anyone over here like to speak?
>> Okay, I won't come over here anymore. Anyone in the center like to speak? Yes. Alex, >> Alex Joiner, pastor of Charlottesville First United Methodist and uh co-chair of Impact Charlottesville, um a coalition of 29 faith communities here
in the Charlottesville Alamarl area. Uh when I got on the bus this morning, I was glad to see signs of new life. And it wasn't outside the bus, it was inside the bus. um new drivers, new bus routes, new surveys for rider feedback have all come along in the last few months and
the bus was even on time for a change. Uh and I'm hoping that you're on time tonight so I can catch the bus back before it ends in service. >> As I look at what's before you in the budget tonight, I see two things that would be shortsighted in a city encouraging greater housing density.
First, if we didn't ensure that our transportation network is resilient enough to allow for growth and alternatives to cars. And second, if we didn't ensure that our transportation system works for people with physical challenges from age or disability. Buses
are the necessary element in both. They're the backbone of our transportation network. They're the most democratic means of transportation. And right now, they're not ready for prime time. Your commitment to getting CAT to the level of service outlined by Garland Williams and city manager Sanders is
critical. 108 drivers, 15 to 30 minute frequency on all routes, and late night and Sunday service. As 1100 people gathered at our recent impact action, we advocated that that starts by supporting the 10 drivers to be added in the 20 in
FY27 as included in Mr. Sanders proposed budget. And we urge you to go forward to to go further and formalize your commitment to complete this plan no later than FY30 with a resolution that ensures this funding continues through all four years. As a regular writer of
CAT who sees all of its potential and its current challenges, I'm eager to see the transportationfriendly city that you've all talked about and we see the path and I urge you to support it and to make your commitment binding. Thanks. >> Thank you.
Anyone over here like to speak? Anyone in the center like to speak? There'll be opportunities at the end. Anyone else like to speak now? >> Yes. >> Hello, Lena Seville, city resident. Um,
I just wanted to finish what what this other nice lady was saying um to tell people that was it the 16th. >> 16th. Yeah. >> April 16th the school board is having a work session about um police in the city
schools and it will be at 5:00 but there also will be a rally at 4:00 beforehand >> um at Charlottesville High School. So, uh, I wanted to make sure everybody had the information about that. And also,
uh, we do not need police in the schools and we do need low-income housing. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> If there's no other comments, um, I will close. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Hi, uh, Cybo Flynn, climate justice
policy manager with the community climate collaborative. Um, a couple of pieces I just want to note, um, that I'm really happy to see the Charlottesville high performance building standards is on the consent agenda today. The uh city's office of sustainability has worked really hard to get a 160 page
document that has really rigorous um high performance building standards that will uh help the city in reducing its municipal emissions and also serve as a very excellent blueprint for other developers, private developers, other municipalities locally to or in the region to uh um likewise decarbonize and
is just a very good document. So, uh, excited to see that, excited to see some of the changes as well that came after some recommendations that we made, uh, from the first reading a few weeks ago. Um, and also excited to see how that will, uh, unfold over the next year. Um,
and grateful to the city and its staff for for pushing this forward. Um, I would like to add that C3 is a signatory of the Shardsville Low-Income Housing Coalition letters. Uh, density is a crucial part of climate change mitigation, but so is justice. In part, chartsville, problems with achieving
great density are coming from the white supremacist planning decisions not that long ago that ripped black communities apart, destroyed strongholds of economic power and wealth building. Those decisions created comfortable suburbanization for the city's whites and prioritized the car at the cost of
black neighborhoods. Communities that are still dealing with these repercussions of those decisions are speaking out very clearly about how they have assessed the city can stop perpetuating that compounding harm. So, I advise you to listen to them. I know that C3 is continuing to listen to them and to support um their asks and we are
a part of of that ask. So, thank you. Okay, I will close the public hearing at this point and there will be I mean not a public hearing a public comment. There'll be opportunity at the end of the meeting. Madame clerk, will you please read the consent agenda?
Consent agenda number three, minutes, March 19th and March 26, budget work sessions, March 25th, special meeting. Number four, resolution in support of Charlottesville high performance buildings. Um, second reading.
Number five, resolution to appropriate $100,000 for utility line remediation facilitation. One of two readings. Is that Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So moved. Second.
>> All in favor, please say yes. >> All oppose, please say no. >> We're now at the city manager report. >> All right. Good evening, uh, council, members of the public. Just a few general updates that I wanted to be able
to share. Um, recently at the Ravana board meeting, we learned that there is free mulch available for the public uh at Ivy Solid Waste and Recycling Center. April 11th is electronic waste collection at Ivy for city and county residents.
There is a spring special collection day uh series of collection days April 11th through May 9th as well at Ivy. Those are opportunities for households to prepare accordingly uh for assistance. Uh just wanted to also state that the mall crossings have been closed for uh
serious repairs that are related to safety and maintenance. That work will be concluded hopefully by June 12th. The goal will be to get them reopened as soon as possible and remind everyone that all businesses remain open. Uh this is to support the 50th anniversary of the downtown mall, but not the sole
reason for doing so. There were a few issues we had with contracting, but we were able to get the work started. So the goal is to get it done as soon as possible. And then on Wednesday, uh we'll be having a weather appreciation event for folks who came out and helped their neighbors after the series of uh
bad snow incidents we had. Uh I think Mayor Wade is going to be there to help acknowledge those individuals and thank them for supporting their neighbors and hopefully have them agree to come back out again because we'll always need that kind of assistance. So that is my report for today. >> I think we just got out the thaw a few
few weeks ago. It seems like >> still cold outside here. >> Wait, >> says the Louisiana guy. >> An item that I did not read for the consent agenda. So, I don't know if we need to do a whole new vote or if we can just vote on that one item. >> I think we can just vote on that one
item. >> Okay. It's the repeal of section 2-4 of the city code regarding bonds for officers and employees. >> I I'd move that. >> Is there a second? >> Second. All in favor, please say yes.
>> Yes. >> All post, please say no. >> Um Sam, was there any other comments for the um city manager report? We're now in um the action items. There's a public hearing on the Charlottesville real property
tax rate. Miss Chrissy. >> Good evening, council. Uh tonight is the official public hearing on the tax rate. Currently, as you know, uh through the series of budget work sessions, we've been talking about the budget that
included a proposed two cent uh real estate tax increase. Uh through your work sessions and as late as last Thursday, we talked about options which we'll um look at in more detail for the next item of reducing that to a penny.
Um but as uh is in your packet, the current draft, this is a public hearing on a tax rate of two pennies. um as is in currently in the proposed budget. >> Any questions? >> This is not an action item. It's just a
hearing. Right. Correct. >> Right. So, if it's no question, I will now open up the public um hearing. Is there anyone who would like to speak on this item? If not, I will close the one.
>> Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Uh, I'm Richard Spursome Neighborhood Properties. I stood before this body in the late 1980s and addressed Bitsy Waters when she was
mayor and and the rest of city council. And I talked about the importance of investment uh for the future of the city of Charlottesville. and I'm here tonight to talk about the same thing
um 35 some years later. Um so over since almost 20 years the city has ridden an incredible wave of prosperity and property appreciation.
Um over this 20-year period, the rate of in assessment increases has been several times the rate of inflation. Um during this time, I think that the city population has has only increased
slightly. Uh but over this 20 years, you've seen numerous office buildings having been built by billionaires. uh the Gleon Dairy Central, the Code Building, the Apex Energy Building, 323.
You've seen hotels built across the city. You've seen big student housing projects on West Main, uh the pavilions on Milmont Street, Grandmark on 15th Street. Um I'm afraid
to say that that I'm not sure the future looks so bright. I don't know who else is going to be building office buildings anytime soon. I don't know who's going to build hotels that are going to compete with the brand new hotels that UVA has built on Ivy Road and out at
Darden. And and with the new uh zoning code uh two years ago, um there have been no projects significant projects approved under that new zoning code. Um, so the big student projects that are being built right now may be the last
ones. Um, so many communities have a history of reducing the tax rates when assessments go up. For instance, in Wesboro in 2022 to 2023, they reduce their tax rate from 90 cents to 77
cents, 13 cents, uh, because of increased assessments. and and but that does not happen in the city of Charlottesville. So, um, I'm running out of time, but I would say that the future of Charlottesville depends on investment
and investors are looking at what the city does and looks at the tax rates and compares them to other localities that they can invest their money at and and you should cautiously look at raising
the tax rates. >> Thank you. Anyone else like to speak? I will close the um public hearing. Um the next item on the agenda is a public hearing on the FY27 budget ordinance
annual appropriation and and tax um living. >> So good evening again. Um, first I'm going to um highlight what's in the ordinance and then uh we'll take a few minutes to go through the work that you did in the work session as would amend
those things those items. Um the 27 budget uh as presented to you uh was um posted at 279 279,643,398. This ordinance is for just a little over
280 million. It includes a few accounts that uh generally we carry over from year to year um including historic resources sister city uh funds for the citywide reserve, the council strategic initiatives account um money or
donations that have been received and unspent for the grand illumination, the counselor discretionary funds, the minority business fund, and also the job fair. So those those additional things um total up to uh $910,000
which would be added to the total appropriation. Throughout the appropriation, you'll notice that um again there is the tax ordinance which includes um the two cent tax increase through your work in the
budget session last week and I'm sorry that the presentation isn't showing for the public here but um you do have a copy. Uh we came back to you with uh some revised revenue adjustments. Um, as
you know, the equivalent of one penny is a million2. Um, and I see in this presentation part of this is cut off, which is great. Um, anyway, there was a just over a million dollars of additional revenue that those were revised projections for the uh personal
property tax, um, interest and penalties, uh, the sales and use tax. Um, I don't have the flip. Here we go. Uh, let's see. Utility taxes, lodging tax,
short-term rental, plastic bag tax, business and professional license, waste disposal fees, and also interest. Those revenue um revised revenue projections, some up, some down, um, account for a
million5,000. Um, so that got you down to um the equivalent being off um by just under uh I'm sorry, just under $230,000
to uh be able to reduce the tax rate by a penny. Uh we uh part of your work last week was to take that from the citywide reserve. So thus got us down to a tax increase of one penny for the proposed budget. Uh, so as it relates to the tax
ordinance, um, the real estate tax rate would go from the current rate of 98 cents per 100 to, I'm excuse me, 96 cents to 97 cents, uh, 100. >> It's 98 now.
>> Then go to 99. I apologize. Um, so any questions on that piece? >> No. >> Okay. Um the next part, uh you spent some time with the BCF um adjustments.
Um as you know, we added $130,000 to the council strategic initiatives account. Um giving you a proposed balance of uh half a million for 27. uh through your discussions uh you proposed $164,490
of VCF adjustments to multiple agencies. Um in addition uh through another presentation that was in a prior council meeting uh there's um plans to allocate $50,000 for the public art commission. So, if you were to take those
adjustments, that would bring your revised budget down uh for the council strategic initiatives to 385510. And then um the last piece that came out of the work session last week um which you asked staff to look at was there was
some discussion about whether or not uh you wanted to um propose a uh a delay on adopting the budget based on some information that we have received that may impact the budget that schools may
see receive from the state in terms of additional funding. Um, and so you asked for um some options on that. If you were to look in the um the packet, I think it's on the bottom
of uh the last paragraph on the bottom of page six. One of the options to do that um would be to set up a contingency account. Uh and we are proposing that you would approve the school budget um
as the school board proposed minus $2 million which would be put in a contingency and held and then if the state returns additional monies to the schools um the proposal as you discussed last week would be to split that 50/50
um with them. And so the language, and I'm sorry this got cut off on these copies, but the language that's here um is uh suggested wording for what that would look like in the ordinance if you wish to move forward with that uh
amendment. >> Any questions on that piece? >> I thought I remembered from the discussions about the uh VCF adjustments so on. I I was under the impression last week
that if we start at $500,000 and we subtract 164490 that we are subtracting another $50,000, not adding back in $50,000. >> You are correct.
>> So the amount that we'll actually be dealing with is 285518. >> Did I get that formula wrong? I'm sorry. This is what happens when I do stuff at the last minute. Yes, I will revise that for you. >> Okay.
And just so folks will understand what's happening here, we are giving to to the council strategic initiatives fund $130,000 and then taking away $214,000. So the net effect is that the council strategic initiatives fund is going to
be further reduced by another 80,000 or $100,000. >> 285510. You're exactly right. My apologies. >> Yeah. >> Other questions or comments? Thanks, Louis. >> On the ordinance, are you looking for
feedback tonight or >> Yes, because this will be what will go in the packet for your adoption on Thursday. Um before we chat about it, since we're not able to put it on the screen, um do you mind if I read it for sure people so
they know what we're talking about? >> Sure. >> This is the school portion. Um city council, this is the proposed language, um to account for any funding that the schools receive from the state. Uh, city council further ordains that an
appropriation in the sum of $127,377,481 for FY27 for school operations is made, which monies are to be expended in accordance with law for purposes authorized and approved by the Charlottesville City School Board. The city's local contribution to school operations is here and above appropriated by transfer from the
general fund. City Council further establishes a school operations contingency in the amount of $2 million, which represents funds associated with potential variances between estimated and actual state funding to the Charlottesville City School Division. Such contingency funds shall remain
under the control of the city and shall not be transferred to the school division except by subsequent appropriation by city council. In determining any subsequent appropriation from such contingency, city council intends to retain up to 50% of any state funding received by the school division in excess of the amount assumed in the
FY27 schoolboard budget. >> Thank you. >> And um Michael, did you have some questions or language or something that you wanted to add to >> on the for Thursday? No, I just wanted to clarify after the public hearing
we're be giving direction. >> Okay. >> Um this >> Well, we we do need to make clear that we're proposing to amend the or the ordinance that is given to us here. So that section one would provide that the
tax rate would be 99 cents on every $100 of the assessed value thereof. Do I need to make a motion to make that amendment at this time or are we am I premature? >> Um, I'm not I'm not sure. I just want >> It's a touch premature.
>> I'm sorry. >> It's a touch premature because >> Okay, I'll wait a second then. >> So, if are there any other clarifying questions before I open up the public hearing from council?
>> Okay, I will open up the public hearing. um for the FY27 budget ordinance um annual appropriation and tax levy. Would anyone like to speak on on this? >> I have a question first if you can if I may ask it before you start my time.
There was points in the presentation where I was confused whether you were talking about the vibrant community fund or the council strategic initiatives. Are they two different things now? Yes, they're still okay. >> So, >> but they're inter intertwined because
any extra money we're intending to award under the BCF rubric is coming out of the council strategic initiatives fund. >> Okay, understood. Okay, just a couple questions from what I just heard and I've um been honest that I haven't been
following this budget um season closely. First, I'll start with the, you know, real estate personal property tax over um the past few years as the counselor who spearheaded um CHAP being expanded and um
very honest about that. I wouldn't still have my home if it wasn't for CHAP. I know that hasn't been um most people haven't been a fan that I've been willing to be honest versus embarrassed about that, but it is true. And the
increases over the past um few years even with CHAP are still unaffordable. When we expanded CHAP, it was to not do what had been done in the past and look at that annually and put robust increase
in in um to the CHOP and um elderly and disabled programs. you needed to look at not just an increase to um the amount, but I think speaking to what um was said a little bit earlier, there are homeowners in this city who may have
been middle inome who are being priced out of this city too um and that you all are not um taking a look at that. So, a lot of lowincome families are being pushed out and middle inome families are struggling. There are a lot of wealthy people in
Charlottesville. We know that that can afford the increase but because you all are not expanding it at the rate that you need to be it is not working as it was intended to work I think when it was created in 2006 um the schools and now I need to take this off because
I can't breathe the schools for years the partnership with the schools 127 million I think that's what I heard um here and I've said it at the school board work sessions um that I've attended the relationship that the schools can do whatever they want and
you all just fund whatever they ask for. That needs to be looked into and you all need to study that. On the backs of black students, the schools have asked for millions of dollars for decades. That money is rolled in to that $127
million that they only increase every year. The test scores of black um children consistently show it's not working. So they come to you ask for money because they are going to fix the problem. The money is then rolled into
the budget. Council never asks what are you doing with the money? What happened to the money? And what are the results you're producing um as a result of the money we the millions millions of um dollars we've given you in the past. I urge you all to form a committee to look
at that relationship if the money you are allocating is actually benefiting the students and if not ask more questions and let the community know if you decide to say no to giving them the money why. I have more to say but I'll wait till
the end. >> Thank thank you. Would anyone else like to speak on this? Yes, sir. >> Good evening. >> Good evening, sir. >> Uh, my name is Richard Fenley. We're relatively new to Charlottesville,
and I have a few questions pertaining to the budget, if I may, and I appreciate the opportunity. Um first as far as expenses are concerned within the budget there's an increase of 15%
for providing healthc care insurance to employees. Is the carrier of that insurance or is that ever bid out? Do you ever solicit bids from carriers of health
insurance periodically? Yes, I believe so. But we just continue with your cuts. We don't respond. Okay. >> Uh I noticed there's a 17% increase
uh in the funding for public transportation. And yet when I see the buses pass here to and everywhere, there's not many people riding the buses.
Before you increase so dramatically, do you do an audit or an evaluation of the wrership on the buses? Thirdly, on the subject of revenue, the revenue of course is from taxes.
County gives gives the city some money and then you have revenue from lensures and permits. Has the council ever looked into something that's called pilot which is an acronym for payment in lie
of taxes. >> So when did you move here? And we're from >> within the United States, several universities and colleges recognize that they use the resources of
the city in which they exist in public safety, emergency services, construction and maintenance of roads. In recognition of that, they willingly donate a certain amount of money to the
city. Has the city ever requested such from the University of Virginia. I would point out that Durham gets money from Duke. >> No, no answer.
>> I think that's one we can answer. It's prohibited by state law. We can't. >> The University of Virginia is not permitted to make pilot payments to local governments. >> That's not true. >> They can't use it using money from the state government, which is less than 10%
of their budget, but we cannot legally require them to do so. >> We cannot compel them. And yes, we have asked. >> Pardon me. >> We cannot compel them to do that, but yes, we have tried. >> You have tried unsuccessfully. >> Correct. >> Okay. So that you have any other
comments or >> No, I don't. But just a point of clarification. >> Councilman Smuk said it's it's it's prohibited by law >> to to be clear. They are they are correct. There is a state law that says that pilot taxes payment in lie of taxes
cannot be exacted from a uh an arm of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It >> it has to be voluntary. Thank you. >> Has to be voluntary. >> Oh, I understand that. and they're they have not been vol they have not been willing. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Other comments? Um I'm sorry.
Are there Would anyone else like to speak on on this? >> If not, I will close the the public hearing. And so, um Sam, what's the next step with with this? Um >> this is Thursday.
>> Yeah. Thursday. Th Thursday is the vote for um budget adoption. Okay. Yes. Um any other thing on this? The next item is um an ordinance um adopting a budget and annual appropriation of funding for
the city of Charlottesville, Virginia for the fiscal year ending June 2027. This is the first of two readings. Is it >> I just sort of read it all together. >> Okay. I just want to be sure >> I talked about all the changes together. >> Okay. So, but this is a separate public
hearing. Do we want to open or I just >> No, it was all >> public hearing. Okay. >> Um um >> number 10. >> Yeah. >> Nine was removed. >> Right. So the next item on the agenda is
ordinance authorizing. >> So I think we need feedback if you want these amendments and >> right. So did you have any comments? I'll start down here. >> Um yeah. I would just say I'm uh open and in agreement with uh what was
recommended in the packet in terms of the ordinance change. Yep. So if we can get that clarification from all the council um as we go down that do you have any changes to the suggested language?
>> Uh no changes to the suggested language question. Um, when we see it on Thursday, is it going to say 99 or 98? >> Sorry.
>> 99 or 100? So, when we see it on Thursday, will we have to propose an amendment then? Or is that something that will be adjusted in advance? >> It'll be amended and they'll vote on the amended. >> Yes, they'll vote on the amended. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, I support um the languages. Lloyd,
>> I'm fine with it. >> Okay. >> As well, >> any other comments or questions? >> Just just to clarify and the reason for that is because you advertised. >> So tonight's hearing was based on what you advertised. You've given us direction on a change. We will affect
that change before your adoption on Thursday just so that the public appreciates what has happened. There isn't any real confusion. It's just action has been taken up to this point or direction has been given up at this point. >> Thanks. We had started the budget process um
with a 2% I mean two cent and throughout the budget process primarily through the month of March we um only recommended a 1 cent and that's what we'll be voting on on Thursday. Right. Okay. Thank you.
If there's no other questions or comment we will vote on this Thursday. Um it's at it's 6 pm and >> 6:30 >> 6:30 >> in council chambers >> in in council chambers >> right here. >> Right here. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Um we'll now go to an
ordinance authorizing a forgivable loan to Pedmont Housing Alliance for 501 Cherry Avenue. Um Matt. No. >> Good evening councilors and mayor Wade. I'm Maline Metsler, the acting housing program manager with Neighborhood
Development Services, and I'm presenting, as you mentioned, an ordinance that will authorize a loan to the Pedmont Housing Alliance or PHA to support the 501 Cherry Avenue Redevelopment Project, which includes the production of new affordable housing. This project represents a
unique partnership between the Fville Neighborhood Association, Woodard Properties, and PHA. And together they aim to transform the site into a development that meets community needs by adding affordable units, improving food access, and creating space for
nonprofit services. The development will include 71 affordable rental homes along with commercial space for the music resource center and a community grocery store. And this directly supports the city's affordable housing plan by creating additional deeply affordable units and aligns with BIL's small area
plan which identified food access as a key priority for the community. The project has already secured 9% low-income housing tax credits and the final site plan approval was issued um last March in 2025. Construction is expected to begin later this year with
completion in 2027 and full occupancy by 2028. A major part of this agreement is the long-term affordability structure. All 71 units will remain affordable for 99 years. And of those 71 units, um, at least four will serve households at or
below 30% of the area median income or AMI. 10 units will serve households at or below 40% AMI for at least 5 years, while the city will be providing um a rental subsidy to support that lower um
income level. and 11 units will serve households at or below 50% AMI and then the remaining 46 units will serve households at or below 60% AMI. Uh the ordinance also outlines the city's financial support. Um the city has
allocated $3.85 million in total from the capital improvement program funding. These funds may be used for site work, construction of the affordable units, and up to 10% may support soft costs such as planning and design. An additional um 324,000 will be reserved
to provide rental assistance for up to 10 units at 40% AMI for at least five years. As I mentioned, uh the city's investment is structured as a forgivable loan. Um there's a 42-year term and a 3% interest rate, but
uh as long as the project is completed and operated in accordance with all of the requirements, the loan and all acred interest will be forgiven. To ensure those requirements are met, the agreement also includes mandatory annual reporting by PHA. Uh beginning
with initial occupancy, PHA will report out on unit occupancy, vacancy levels, um and household demographics and income levels. And once recorded, the affordability covenants will remain in effect for the full 99 years. This item does not require any new funding. The
project was added to the city's capital improvement plan in FY25 with a total of 3.85 85 million allocated over three years beginning in 2026 with $1 million, followed by 2.15 million in FY27 and
700,000 in FY28. Um the summary in summary, the project will deliver long-term affordability housing, support nonprofit and community serving commercial space, and advance multiple adopted city plans. So staff recommends that city council adopt the attached ordinance uh detailing the
terms and conditions associated with the city's financial contribution to support the development of the project. Thank you for your time and I'm here to answer any questions you might have. >> Any questions? Jen, I'll start with you. >> Sure. Thank you for this. Um a tiny
thing. The ordinance says 3,850,000 but the loan agreement says 3,800,000. >> Oh Jesus. It's highlighted though in the >> or I thought I got the last the last reference to that, but I appreciate you. Um, yes.
>> Okay. Okay. So, good. So, track that. And then, so after the 5-year commitment on the 40%, the 10 units, >> does council have to decide to continue that funding or what happens to the units if we didn't commit? if you didn't
continue funding uh the subsidy, they would be 60% AMI with those other whatever 40 4 uh6 units. >> And yeah, we we have not gotten to the details and that that will we'll do a subsequent agreement to nail down some
of the details of this. It's a new um kind of a new program for the city and uh so we're working with PHA and their attorneys to uh try to figure that out, but we will likely come back to you once we have that agreement in place. And
yes, likely in in five years time um I I can't imagine anybody would be saying we don't want to continue supporting this. So probably you could expect somebody to come back in 5 years or I guess seven years given when occupation or yeah occupation starts.
>> Excellent. Thank you >> Lloyd. >> I don't have any questions. I will note that uh it's over 150 pages in our materials on this and I confess I have not read it with quite the fine eye that
Jen had. But uh I mean it's it's all it's all a project we very much favor. >> Natley, >> just a small question. Um the 300 and
sorry the 3,850,000 that does not include the vouchers. >> It does. So 324,000 of that is set aside for those vouchers for 5 years.
>> Got it. Okay. Thank you. Um that is that's my only question. Great >> Michael. >> And so to clarify, are the project based vouchers also on
that temporary like funding? Well, like will those project ventures have to come to the city >> um >> to continue funding after that period of years. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's it's funded by the city. So if they were to continue unless they found a different funding source um
presumably they would come back to the city just for that. But it's I think they were kind of trying something. This again it's not something that we've done before. So uh it was a new approach to try to get some deeper affordability built into the project. And I think it's
a little bit of a see how it works before we would, you know, maybe do that for other projects or if they would want to continue it. >> Yeah. Because obviously, you know, it it can work, but that obviously introduces a risk that for those tenants kind of the rug just gets pulled out from under
them. >> Sure. Yes. >> If the city either won't or can't continue that. >> That's correct. I think um I I I would I think PHA might be able to speak a little bit more to how they plan to address that. Um but I'm I'm sure that
they would be working with the residents to try to make sure there's as little displacement as possible as that's generally one of their main goals in all of their redevelopment projects. >> Can I ask a quick follow? Sure. Does does this mean that essentially the the
again you said it would revert to 60% AMI if the vouchers stopped but that would still so that the specific levels that are listed in here the like percentage of amounts that are you know this many at this rate and this many at this rate
>> those aren't locked in for 99 years the everything below 60 is locked in for 99 years uh I I believe that's correct Correct. But I um or at the very least there is language in all of the documents that do stipulate that that 40
those units that are at the 40% are dependent on continued support. Um I think that is actually what what it specifically says. >> Okay. So kind of the idea is the city's on the hook for 99 years for these vouchers >> if they're to continue um at the 40%
level unless some other funding were to appear. >> Right. Okay. Um, back to you. >> The only other I mean to Lloyd's point, um, the agreement is 150 pages. Um,
we've got a lot of agreements like this and many more coming up. What does it look like from a staff level to monitor these and write and implement these? >> Sure. The agreement itself uh is much is not that that's all of the documents.
There's an agreement and then there's two declaration of affordable housing covenants and two deeds of trust because this project has been split up for LITC purposes into 501A and 501b. So we kind of have double the amount of documents for those affordable housing covenants
and the deed of trust. But the agreement itself um is a little bit more uh digestible. So for staffing really the main after the the project is occupied it will be an annual reporting requirement. So the staff
it's not overly burdensome for staff at that point. Um but it is something to consider. I I was thinking about that while I was writing this up that oh that's monitoring that's annual reporting for 99 years as well. Uh, so that's that's a really long time to be doing reporting >> and and we're having that not just with
this project, but CRA projects, other PHA projects. I mean, >> and then presumably if there were ones that were uh coming as a result of the development code, they would be required to be for 99 years as well. as you
>> I I it's only going to follow up if there was more that uh you were asking on that point, but I guess I what I'd say more broadly is that this is a conversation that we continue to engage in with Director Brown uh overseeing neighborhood development services around
what their staffing capacity or what their staffing needs are to support this program and all the related uh monitoring and paperwork and all the stuff that goes with it. We are bringing in outside support to to work with us on these financial agreements both legal
support on putting together the all the all this paperwork that you see as well as uh financial support. These are things that we're working on now. And then um I would note that very recently the department did conduct a study on
what their staffing needs are to support the whole housing program going forward. And that's something that we're looking at very seriously. >> I think if my memor is correct, that had a recommendation for six new positions in total or five. >> Five. Okay. >> Um and this is maybe kind of the same
question essentially, but this is specific number of AMI units. We've got the inclusionary zoning program. We've got profered affordable units from 10 years ago. I mean, what does monitoring that look like to ensure that, oh, this is actually at 40% AMI and not being
rented at 70% AMI? >> That is mostly all the same way with annual reports. Um, but uh tracking down all those profers was not a incredibly easy easy feat. When I did start, that was something I was trying to do and go
back through and make sure we were aware of all of those. So, you're right that it is a bit of a that's more cumbersome. um they're just harder harder to track versus these funding agreements, but the records are there. So, we've we've been able to locate um a good portion of those, but they they rely on reporting
and that also means that you have to have somebody there to know if the report is not received and to send out reporting reminders because we also found that once there was someone dedicated in the role to be asking people for reports, they were much more likely to send them than if we're just
expecting them to send them on their own. Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Um Mayor >> White, >> um I also discussed with the city attorney's office um having an adjustment to the wording um that
references the attached loan agreement as part of the ordinance and having it referenced um having the loan agreement referenced in instead of having it attached as part of the ordinance. Okay. >> Um so that would be something I would change on the back end and I do have the wording for that.
Yeah, I think that the language of the monitoring would it's it could be a benefit I don't know 20 30 years from now when something may not be going right. We we may be glad that we had that for future counselors can have the
opportunity or staff to you know to um lean in if they have to. But um hopefully we we never have to to to use it. So >> I've got a couple questions. Yeah, >> that have come up just now if you don't mind. Um, for the
um the vouchers, was having the city fund these always the plan or was that something that happened recently? >> Um, it wasn't recent in terms of uh I I I think that discussion started in FY or in 2024 if I'm not mistaken. James, do
you recall? Yeah. So, I don't know if it was the when it was first brought to the city as a project if that was included, but as those conversations evolved, it was and um yeah, >> it would have been based on the availability of of vouchers because there's no way to guarantee that. I
mean, we have a we have an allocation each year and that allocation is available. It's whether or not individuals can find units and we have individuals who have access but don't have a unit. So is this adding more vouchers to our capacity?
>> No, this would be based on the current allocation. I mean that's part of the conversation and part of the work that we have to do is to look at any changes we make to the program and then that question will be on council to invest in me on funding additional dollars. that came across sounding like I was against
adding vouchers, >> but I'm more just I'm more just trying to understand what is the costs of this and both long-term short-term and long term and um >> cost meaning to the city.
>> Yeah. Like if we if we were adding more vouchers for a term of 99 years, what is that? >> No, because you really can't do that, >> right? So I'm just trying to put all the pieces together. >> The item, the thing to remember in this moment is that because the voucher has,
this is based on a time period. The impact of that is that if the funding were not there, rent goes up. That's the impact. The rent for that individual will no longer be suppressed by the voucher. It would go up and that household would have to be able to
absorb it. That's a risk. That is part of what we're working on, trying to continue to work on. based on what Mrs. Walker has brought to our attention as well in what is happening at Kendallwood. So this is and I guess we would be associating the idea that by
making it available in these units, it's hard to undo that, but if it were to be undone, then an individual household would be at risk. >> Yeah. >> And unless their incomes have changed, then they would be exposed. >> Thank you. um
>> backing out a little bit for the structure of the the funding of the project entirely and I might be misunderstanding all these pieces. Um if at some point during those 99 years,
I mean there's there's the capital stack, right? And some of those are forgivable, some of those do need to be repaid. >> Sure. At some point during those 99 years, the project is paid off and then
they're collecting rents. Do those go to fund additional PHA projects? Do those go towards naturally lowering the cost of the rent? What is >> it? It would really depend on
>> Does my question make sense? >> It does, but I can't answer it. Um, it would depend on the capital stack. It depends on all the various sources of funding that they use because each one comes with a set of conditions that could trump the next one that could require something to be done for a longer period of time.
>> That's a review. Yeah. >> There there's no way to know that for certain when a deal has been met and that it has no debt, which is not often because they tend to >> create debt and let the rent pay that over time and then pull profit out. um
you wouldn't really be able to determine when that is going to happen, right? >> It's hard to know that this early. >> Yeah. It was less when about like what does happen when that happens. >> Yeah. But ultimately when it when it comes down to the the property has been paid for and there's that's profit. >> Yeah.
>> I mean it money is also being reinvested >> of course. Well hopefully because it needs to because it's going to deteriorate over time and use >> of course. Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. There no other questions. Um,
is there a motion to approve? >> I make a motion to adopt the attached ordinance detailing the terms and conditions associated with the city's financial contribution to support the development of the project with the typo correction noted and the um kina's
proper attachment noted. >> This is to the first ordinance for the forgivable loan. >> Yes. Is there a second? >> I'll second it. >> Further discussion. >> All in favor, please say yes. >> Yes. >> All oppose, please say no.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> The next item on the agenda is a resolution authorizing performance agreement um amendment supporting 501 Cherry Avenue um project. Good evening, council. Chris Angel, director of economic development. Uh
this item also addresses the 501 cherry project that you just heard about. 71 affordable units to be built along with some commercial space on the ground floor. Um the performance agreement that you see before you tonight is an amendment. So about a year ago, March of
25, you all approved a uh an agreement that um supported this project. What has happened in the meantime is that the applicant uh PHA has come back with a slightly different financing formula and
some some challenges uh to get the project off the ground and has requested an additional u funding through the performance agreement. So the original performance agreement was set at 50% of the taxes uh generated by the project.
The request now is uh for 100% of the taxes generated by the project. uh to be granted back through the performance agreement for a period of 30 30 years uh to help support the project. Uh so just to recap, a year ago, you you supported
the 50% um and about a month or two ago uh we brought a series of items that kind of talked about this in concept at which time you approved. Uh what you see before you tonight is an actual
adjustment to the agreement. The agreement is substantively the same as the one you approved in 2025, but for the change of 50% to 100% of the uh increment created by the project. Uh I think that's pretty much the
highlights. Uh happy to answer any questions you have that were not answered previously by uh Meline when she described the project. It is the very same project. >> Thank you. Um any clarifications on on this? I'll start with you, Jen. Um, no.
No questions. >> I've got nothing. >> Yeah. >> U Michael. >> No. >> Natalie. >> Um, no questions. Just a brief note that
I've been following this project for several years now and I'm looking forward to when we do the groundbreaking and when it finally gets ready for folks to move in. And I would like to acknowledge the hard work that the neighborhood, PHA, the city, all the
various partners, the you know um the Woodards, all of the various partners that have contributed to all of these pieces coming together to get this project done. As Meline said, it's a very unique opportunity. Um and that's that's very exciting. I would also like
to note that um part of what makes it unique is the expense and how while we would love to see this level of investment citywide, we don't have the funding for that without allowing revenue to come from other
places. So, um when we bring in revenue from one place, we're able to direct it to projects like this. And um I just really am excited to see this happen and wanted to note that things cost money. >> Yeah. >> Um and this is a really good place to
spend that money, but we also need to keep in mind how we raise it. >> And and so Chris, I'd assume Chris I mean um Sunshine and his staff just just looking at the numbers and realizing needed 100% of this to make
this project successful. Yes, they they came and presented a gap um that was shared um when we when we were with you in February, late January, February, and the gap was $1.7 million. U about a million of that is going to be covered
by this increase in the tax agreement in the performance agreement. And the other was a cash contribution of 700,000 that helps close that other piece. uh and and that was handled um through a CIP contingency contribution separately from
this. So yes, they presented those challenges of getting the project off the ground. The gap was 1.7 million. This helps close that and uh hopefully moves them towards groundbreaking and ultimately realizing a new u affordable housing structure in the city.
>> Yeah, it's good for the public to get some in the background. Um, so any other questions or comments on this? Um, if not, can I get a motion? >> I would move approval of the resolution.
>> Second. >> Second. All in favor, please say yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> All oppose, please say no. >> Great. The next item on the agenda agenda is um if there's no questions on written report is the community. >> Actually, I'm sorry, mayor. If we could
one clarification, Miss Haml is back because there was one slide that was not gone over um that we need to make sure we acknowledge as a part of your moving the ordinance forward. Okay. >> Good evening again. Apologies. I am clearly not on my game tonight. Um there
was one last slide for amendments. Um these are basically just administrative housekeeping items. Um through some additional work we had uh part of the budget included some dollars that were budgeted in the city attorney's office for legal fees related to social
services. Um we have since found that um that can be covered through some state funding. So, we are transferring um that budget to the social services fund um and offsetting um not all of it's covered um but certainly half of it is
covered through the state funding. So, we will be transferring that to the social services fund. And then in addition, um there was a clerical error on the uh circuit court judge um budget and so we will be amending that um
leaving $75,000 to the city attorney's office for outside legal fees. Um the transfer to social services and then amending the circuit court judge um budget which makes no change in the total to the general fund. It's just a
reallocation. Um, but that would be an amendment that will show up in the resolution. >> Okay. >> So, Mr. Maddox, how best should we address this not being previously a part of moving item 8B forward?
>> As long as it's voted on on Thursday, this discussion has happened and council approves this change. Generally, it should be fine. There's no need for >> That's what I thought. >> That's why he does his job. >> Thank you. Just note that we hope to not have $75,000 in outside legal fees next
year, but you know, good. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> She's going to get some sleep, too. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. So, um if there's no other questions or comments on this, um >> I have I have one question on the
>> integrated pest management. >> Oh. >> Um report. >> Okay. Oh, it's um your >> not not budget the written report. >> Um >> good evening. >> Hello. >> Hi. >> Good evening. I'm Rob Matthysse with parks the landscape manager. I'm happy
to answer any questions. >> Um so I know this is a very small issue but um how does park staff currently go about when pesticides are applied marking where it was applied? >> Correct. So, the policy states that we
set out small signs and that staff should know to put these small signs out um around the areas that are that are sprayed. >> Um again, I know this is a small issue, but I've gotten people reach out concerned sending pictures that that hasn't been happening in recent months. Do we know if that's the case or is
there a need to kind of reintegrate how we're implementing this plan with staff? >> Sure. if if that hasn't happened or if you've got, you know, reports of that, I'd be happy to make sure and and, you know, address that. If there's gaps in that service that that we're not following that policy, we will definitely make sure that it's being
done. Um, something that's happened in the earliest part of the spring is we've actually been applying a um so instead of putting more mulch down, we've been applying an all natural dye to some of mulched areas. And so that's a spray that's not actually a pesticide. So that
might cause some confusion. We've done some very little spraying this this far this part of the season. So, that would be surprising that there've been any reports of this early. Yeah. But I'm happy to address any gaps in that in that um >> I think I think that may be the issue because I've had people send pictures of
blue dye and they and their perception was that was like the marker of where pesticide was applied. >> I would have to look into that specific example, but um yes, if there's any um issues with our staff, you know, we'll make sure that they follow that policy. >> Okay. Thank you. I appreciate it.
Great. So, we're um now at the opportunity for second community matters. Would anyone like to speak? Former Mayor Walker. Couple comments about what I just heard. That's why I don't come down here. I have something to say about everything
which you all know. But anyway, um nonprofit industrial complex. And I'll say that with I supported PHA, but I also asked very hard questions. I don't think you all are asking those questions.
When PHA with phase one, the amount of money that they are receiving in taxes versus what was projected in the agreement, I think is double. But you all check that because I don't work down here anymore. That means that what they said they needed
they get they're getting double the amount and that's increasing with the rate of assessments and tax increase that we were not expecting. And I know it's hard to keep up with the amount of work that comes out of here. But you have to do it. And even though I didn't
get a lot of support, I did at least ask the questions. So I think you all need to probably review that. But I just pulled up the 990 uh from 2024 is what came up. Revenue for PHA was 10.7 million. Expenses 6.8 million.
I know you all don't like to get into business of these nonprofits you support, but what's happening um there. This is the same comments that apply to the school system apply here. I like Sunshine. He is a great guy. That
don't that doesn't matter. Every year you all are trying to figure out how to keep lowincome residents in this area and because you all like some of the individuals who are doing the work, you do not ask the difficult questions. Your
organization is substantially increasing its revenue annually. What are you doing with the money? How is their net income greater than the cities? But you all are figuring out how to support them and how
to um and voting on ordinances to return taxes to them every year, no matter what the amount, what the assessment value or what the amount is. Habitat was at least at a deficit, but Dan earns all more
than some of the individuals sitting over there. That's why you need to dig a little deeper. That's not why I state LV Collective. I haven't made a comment on it, but I want to read some of these comments. Amy Finn, the director of the company
that recently purchased um the flats for $107 million, made a statement that Charlottesville is the kind of market where a company wants to be located. In the 2013 article that was in the Seville Weekly or Charlottesville Tomorrow, I don't even remember which I printed out. It was a four to one vote with DD Smith
voting against um the flat and there were comments. Kristen said that she felt the project would help the overall city affordable housing program. 2013 is 2026. Did that happen? It did not. Um Hua said, "I think it would be good for
the city." Good for whom? Who is it benefiting? Um, anyway, you get the point. These comments have been made about developments in the past. They do not work. They do not produce their level affordability.
Not only did the flesh just sell has it changed ownership, they rent apartments for $1,275 is listed on their website for one bedroom at this moment. Again, you're not asking the right questions and why you think you're doing a good thing,
affordable housing fund. It's not working. Last comment, if you do vote for this, the tax increase that happens at these buildings every year should go towards lowincome housing. It should be be a
direct um it should be a direct payment made from what they pay annually. if there if the properties are sold that benefits lowincome communities. I do not support it, but you all are not making that link
and it's just um spanning the need for affordability. >> Thank you. >> Are there other comments, public comments? >> If not, is there a motion to adjurnn?
>> So moved. >> Okay. Second. >> Second. All in favor, please say yes. >> Yes. >> All oppose, please say no. >> Um