--------- Yes. Okay. I call the Charlottesphere City Council February 17th, 2026 meeting to order. Madame Clerk, will you please call the role? >> Councelor Fleer >> here. >> Vice Mayor Ashin >> here.
>> Councelor Payne >> here. >> Councelor Snook >> here. >> Mayor Wade >> here. Is there a motion to approve or amend the agenda? >> I would move approval of the agenda. >> Okay. >> Second.
>> Second. Um okay. If there's no um changes, um can we um take a vote? All in favor, please say yes. >> All oppose, please say no. Okay. Thank you. Motion passes 5 to zero. Um the meeting will be divided into three
sections. Um the first will be a work session where we hear and discuss presentations that do not require a council vote followed by a close session and then um council um will have his regular business meeting at 6:30.
Um the first report we will get um will be today will be on affordable housing the tax abatement program proposal presentation and um looks like it will be Jeremy going. Yeah. >> Okay.
>> Hello. Kelly Brown, director of neighborhood development services and I'm just doing a brief introduction before Mr. Goldstein joins you. >> Yes. Okay. So, um, by way of introduction and background, at a city council meeting on
April 21st, 2025, council charged staff with conducting research and analysis to determine if an affordable housing tax abatement program could have a material impact to incentivize housing construction in Charlottesville within the context of the high cost associated with housing construction. if such
program could have an impact. Council also asked staff to define an optimal tax abatement program structure that could improve housing construction financing and minimize administrative complexity. In June 2025, staff contracted with 3TP ventures to lead and
conduct this study market analysis and model building to test the potential impact of an affordable housing tax abatement on the feasibility of housing construction projects. The goal of this project, therefore, is to enable an informed recommendation to council regarding a tax abatement program in
Charlottesville. 3TP has reached the point where they have prepared a final report and completed a feasibility model that they will present and demonstrate for you this evening. This is not an action item as we are here with a in a work session setting, but rather an opportunity for counselors to learn more
about this research, ask questions, provide feedback and insights, and learn how this feasibility model can help with the policy and programmatic considerations related to affordable housing tax abatement. So, here tonight uh this afternoon to present their their
report and demonstrate the feasibility model is Mr. Jeremy Goldstein from 3TP Ventures. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good afternoon all. Thanks for the opportunity to talk talk to you today about this project. Uh there is a presentation though I'll admit I don't
know how I access it. >> If the clicker's not there, it's over there. >> Great. >> Let's see. Wonderful. Thanks. Yes. So, here to talk about the tax abatement feasibility analysis, the
work that we've been doing over the last 10 months. We'll talk about a range of things, the study purpose and methods, the tool itself that we developed uh that Kelly just mentioned and some of the the findings from that work and then I think importantly the the key takeaways but instead of leaving the
sort of the the la the findings to last, we'll actually start with a summary of them here and then we can talk about how how we got to them. So I think there's sort of four main points that are that are worth mentioning here. the first an evaluation of the current housing development market. Um there's
really limited development feasibility across uh project types, whatever kind of building and across submarkets. And we'll talk a little bit more detail in all in in how we got to these numbers, but that ultimately this is a constrained housing market as of today.
uh the the question sort of necessarily arises as to what role the inclusionary zoning requirement plays in market feasibility. Um and what we found was that inclusionary zoning certainly has a role in limiting feasibility but on its
own even without the inclusionary zoning this would just be a currently difficult uh housing market for the private sector to meet their financial goals as it relates to a tax abatement. While there are lots of different types of abatements and levels of levels of
abatement um on the main, they have they all have clear merit to some degree. They all help to close the financial gap that currently exists in Charlottesville's housing market. And yet for many of the abatements that we were initially tasked to look into, especially those where the abatement
itself is tied exclusively to the affordable units within a building as opposed to the entire building itself, those abatements generally don't offset the financial impacts of inclusionary zoning, nor do they ensure any kind of immediate major market change. So if you were to include a tax abatement today,
it wouldn't necessarily be the case that you would see robust changes in your housing market market tomorrow. However, I think there's still clear benefit in this and there's certainly alternative sort of styles and incentives or interventions that could also be encouraged and we'll show you some of that.
Okay. So, with that now we'll get into into some of the details. So, the purpose of this project was really an evaluative one. Uh we were to evaluate the feasibility of your housing market today. Evaluating the financial feasibility or the financial impacts of the inclusionary zoning requirement on
all projects of 10 units or more. uh we were tasked with evaluating the financial impacts of a tax abatement under under the these conditions. And then lastly to provide a mechanism or more specifically a tool a a spreadsheet proformer-based tool that allows for
continually monitoring of the housing market and allows you to continually monitor the impacts of your various incentives uh and and interventions that the public sector can employ. This means that there's some things that this project is and some things that this project isn't. Uh so I want to uh
talk about that and make sure we're sort of all on the same page here. Uh what this project is first, it is primarily a means to inform policy decisions uh as it relates to the financial impacts of your public policy interventions. Um two, it is designed to be a
collaborative effort. Um, by which we mean this is not done in a way that was just behind closed doors where the information that seeds this information is unavailable. Uh, it was done in concert with city staff. Uh, it was done in concert with uh, uh, stakeholders
like the housing advisory committee and cadre, other local developers, developers outside your local area um, to make sure that we had sort of the the best information that we could. and yet it still relies on ongoing reliable data on the inputs that go into any kind of
financial feasibility analysis. Uh and lastly, this is really designed to be a transparent, flexible and adaptable way to continue to evaluate these problems. There's not a static moment in which you can employ a change and and see magic changes in in the housing market. This is the kind of
thing that is ongoing and is worth having a tool that allows you to evaluate today, tomorrow, and moving forward. And this leave behind tool is is that mechanism. Um what this project isn't is not is not meant to be a tool that is that leads to an obvious recommendation on on a
policy. There's still other things uh left to be done especially as it relates to some of these other bullets. Uh for one thing for any kind of proforma financial uh feasibility analysis of the housing market. You never really can in a generalized way cover in a generalized tool that we've created cover all the
various intricacies of any sort of specific project. Every project is unique. every parcel is is unique. Every every you know uh uh you know uh uh market decision is unique. Uh and the mechanisms of financing are all unique. And so uh we don't want to say that this should be kind of like a reasonable
replacement for the work that the private sector is doing all the time. This is an evaluation strictly of the rental market. So this does not include a for sale market evaluation. And lastly, it doesn't involve any evaluation of sort of the non-financial impacts of any of this work. administrative costs that are associated
uh with all all of these decisions that have not been have not been included or vetted. Uh this really is just a financial evaluation um which is not the exclusive uh decision-making vehicle for whether or not uh housing gets built.
Uh tax abatement was the primary policy that we were we were asked to look at. You'll see that we did uh add a few others, but just to make sure we're kind of all on the same page about uh the tax abatement as defined. Uh here it is. We mean a temporary reduction in taxes. Um
generally to encourage a particular activity in this case uh the provision of affordable dwelling units. It's authorized under the Industrial Development and Revenue Bond Act. And in Virginia, it is in fact a performance-based grant. In other words, someone has to pay all their taxes and
then they are reimbursed after the fact. All right. So, let's dive into this tool, this tool that was built. Um, we'll start um just letting you know, sort of the the whole purpose of this thing is to develop a a tool that looks a lot like the private sector pro-forma
feasibility analysis tool, but one that is imbued with the ability to test public incentives. um because it's then something that we should be want to be able to test things across Charlottesville's market now and in the future. It allows for the ability to analyze across all different kinds of
building types from single family to high-rise across different submarkets and we'll talk a little bit more about what we mean in subm markets for this tool and varying levels of affordability. The tool also allows for financial evaluation of financial impacts. Some of
them the traditional impacts that are used for the private sector things like yield on cost and internal rate of return. Those are the two that we that we chose for this for this uh exercise. But we also want to include some other uh trade-offs that maybe are not so sort of esoteric and and only the purview of
those who are accustomed to dealing with housing development and look at some other kind of maybe uh more intuitive kinds of trade-offs. So like literally how much money uh has to be given up? How much money is it would be returned in in abatement? What are the what are the sort of the costs uh financial costs
of doing a tax abatement at these varying levels? I hope in terms that that that are easier to to to take in. We're going to walk through an example of like using this tool. Um but this is the interface uh as as built now. Um the
idea here is that it provides all the kind of information that you might need to evaluate different uh different project types and evaluate different policies and give you some overall findings. So you know the idea here would be that in the top left part a user selects different project details
the kind building types the subm markets however many affordable units they want to put in the affordability levels you can make cost adjustments etc. Then you can select whatever policy intervention you're interested in. Uh tax abatement again being predominant here but there
are others. And then once you have made those selections, the model does the calculation and summarizes the financial implications and allows you to compare financial conditions with and without those incentives. We won't do a deep dive into all of the
details of how this model works for the time being, but I do think there's some sort of critical things that are worth knowing. Uh for any of these kinds of models, what really matters most are costs and revenues. And costs include things like the cost of land, the cost of labor and materials to build a thing,
uh the costs of uh fees, the costs of drawings, the you know the consultants that are involved in in helping develop your project, etc. Um revenues mostly refer to the rents when it comes to to to a rental side of of the housing market. really care about rents, both
market rate rents, you know, what you can get on the free market and then affordable rents, which are tied to area median income. And then there are a host of other sort of assumptions that have to go into any of these models that have to do with when things are are uh are
built when project uh different elements of the of the project timeline um and other kind of financial things like uh interest rates and and and such. The inputs we used here came from a wide variety of sources. Um, some of them are
just local data provided by uh, city staff. Uh, some was just market research um, into things like what are active market rents. Um, some of them were from outside paid data services especially as it relates to construction costs, the detailed construction costs. Um, we use
a proprietary service to do that. Uh, and then we also most importantly I would say is that there was also a lot of local development community collaboration and input. Um, so we went back and forth with uh experts in in the area, uh, showed them what we had found
in our work, got feedback, were willing to make adjustments based on the information that they provided. And and I I would like to note that there was a lot of very positive, transparent uh engagement from the from the local development community in helping to try to make this tool as best as best it
could. And yet it is still worth noting that all these inputs, you know, they continue to be unique to individual projects and and can change with some regularity. Construction costs, you know, we just lived through a period where tariffs would change the price of wood or steel overnight. Um these things
can change with some regularity even under normal conditions. And so instead of trying to get the just the exact right number, we were always really trying to get to kind of reasonable reasonable numbers for a typical project. and we'll show you the findings of those typical projects as we go forward here.
All right. So, I'd like to walk you through like an example of using using this tool um the way that I I hope that staff will moving forward. Um so, here's an example again. Here's the you know, here's the here's the user interface. So, we've opened it up and we're going to try and test a new project. So, the first thing we'll do is we going to
select our development type. As as of now, there are six different housing types in here. single family, townhouse, garden apartments, low-rise apartments, mid-rise, and high-rise apartments. You click on one. So, here I'm going to click on uh mid-rise. Uh, and you may notice, by the way, that the the
findings on the right will be sort of changing all of the time. So, here, actually, we'll go back. You know, there was the version that was midrise tier one had a different number than sorry, let me go back. So we started with one number, made a change to the mid-rise and we're getting
a new a new yield number. Then you can select submarkets. So for real estate we usually talk about subm markets. Oftentimes we usually mean neighborhoods. You know it's like a specific like the costs in Belmont or the costs in Fightville, you know, wherever. Um for our purposes um we
decided instead to go effectively with tiers of land and rent costs. So independent of where it is in space within the city, there are definite ranges of costs, both the cost to acquire land or the cost to rent in in in various parts of the community. And
so what we didn't want to be beholden to whatever the cost saying if we had made this subm market Belmont today well perhaps there's some gigantic change that changes the rates there and then this the our assumptions about Belmont have changed and so instead we were doing this sort of agnostic as it were
or independent of actual locations instead saying tiers from one to five where one is sort effectively the most expensive land and the highest rents and tier five would be the least expensive land and the lowest rents. That's what those that's what those tiers refer to. So in this case, you know, we'll we'll
make a change then to a tier. The next thing we can do is start looking at how many affordable units we want to put into a project. Uh this tool allows right now for you to choose from at least three different uh AMI areawide median income bands. Um so in this case,
we're going to choose 10% of the units at 60% AMI. That's the standard for inclusionary inclusionary zoning. Um, but there's nothing to prevent us from, say, changing it to 25% and just type it in. Or if we said, oh, we actually want to test a mixture. We want to have some
that are units that are 60% AMI and some units that are 100% AMI. The tool allows you to do that. So once you have your project inputs, then we can move on to various policies to test. So here we can select, we'll look at the sort of the standard uh tax abatement, the sort of increment model.
We'll switch that from no to yes. uh we will decide the extent of the abatement. So we you can type in 100%. You can also determine the number of years you want the abatement. Uh and then the last thing that you can change is the units abated. Uh and this so this allows you
to either choose it's an abatement on just the affordable units or an abatement on all units. So it's worth noting of course the the larger the number of units that have some abatement associated with them, the larger the financial impacts therein. But for our purposes today, we really are only ever talking about an abatement on affordable
units. And you can, you know, choose a different one. So here now it's like instead of using the increment model, we're doing one with the rent gap model. And in fact, if you scroll down on this user interface, it just didn't fit all sort of on one screen capture. Um there are more than uh there are six uh total
uh policies that we've already just gone ahead and built in. Even if we're not looking at these at the moment, these are sort of standard methods of of policy intervention. And so we just went ahead went ahead and put them in. And then this allows you to say look at multiple things at the same time. What if you had a tax abatement and you gave
the land for free for instance? Okay. So then with that, let's start doing some actual analysis now that we've got this this tool built. And there were four big questions that we were tasked with answering. One, what's the feasibility of a typical project today across the city, across building types? Number two, what does the
inclusionary zoning policy do to those to feasibility? What are the sort of the financial impacts? Three, what would incentives specifically tax abatement but others uh do to your to financial feasibility? And four, what are some of the other trade-offs for the city and the developer as it relates to sort of
financial trade-offs? We'll start with the first question, current market feasibility. So what you're looking at here on the on the right side is our findings on yield on cost and internal rate of return for
projects typical projects across building typologies from from townhouse to high-rise the ones that most likely would be involved in in the inclusionary zoning requirement and across submarkets. Um, in general, uh, you know, this is a
color-coded chart like it if things if things had high enough feasibility, they would light up green as meaning that they are likely feasible. The typical project in in the current, uh, housing market would be deemed likely feasible. Uh, yellow would mean that it's possibly feasible. Doesn't quite reach the
standard thresholds um that that the private sector is looking at, but doesn't necessarily mean that there isn't someone who could make that project work or with small changes that can make that project work. and red is sort of very unlikely or just at least likely unfeasible for the time being. And you can see that in general there is
a little bit of yellow and a lot of red. Uh and the yellow happens to be in very large projects especially in those that can command high rents. So important question was like how much of this is because of inclusionary zoning? exist is the is the reason
things are hard to pencil right now a result of inclusionary zoning. So with that model, we can just strip out the 10% affordable units and run run the answers again. Uh and that's what this table shows from a color scheme perspective. You'll
see they look still pretty similar. few yellows, mostly reds, but comparing the yields and comparing the IRS, there is absolutely a material difference in what like effectively what inclusionary zoning costs from a feasibility
perspective. It looks like you want to ask. >> Yeah, just a quick question since we've got a lot of people in in the room watching and maybe some at home as well. Could you briefly in layman's terms go over the difference between yields and IR? >> Exactly. No, and thanks for asking. It's an important question. >> Thanks.
So uh yield on cost is a measure of effectively operating income. How much revenue you're getting once the project is up and running relative to the overall project cost. So it's a it's a in some ways a snapshot in time. Um you know how much am I how much revenue am I
getting over how much I had to spend at the beginning to to get there. um a as of now what is considered likely feasible again some of these are very market specific um but for around here we're looking at needing to approach a
7% number to get to uh likely feasible I think technically the threshold was 6.75% it's sort of tied to your local capitalization rate irrra or internal rate of return is um a a concept that is more focused on or
includes time as one of the components So yield on cost is just looking again it's thinking just like how much money am I getting at some point in the future over how much I paid but when you get revenues when you paid costs certainly plays an important role in whether or not something is feasible and that's
that's the role that irrra plays so it's a bit more of a complex kind of calculation um and it generally relates to the discount rate like the rate of return you would need in order to make the the future costs and revenues be equivalent in is to the net present, you
know, it's the net present value of those future revenues. Um, so it's it's a it's kind of a weirder one to get one's head around. Um, but it's its benefit is that it is thinking about when things have to get paid. So if you have to put in costs earlier, um, then that is going to lower your IR relative
to if you had to got to put in cost later. Or if you get returns earlier, that's going to improve your IR relative whether to get those returns later. >> What discount rate did you use? Uh well, so what this thing actually does is it tells you that's the discount rate that would be needed to um that's the one
that would make these projects net out as zero. So you need to get to in general it's something like >> 18% is the number that would be one that would be some be likely feasible and 12% is kind of possibly feasible. And so these you know that's these are the the
things that get spit out. So ultimately it's like they're not reaching the numbers that were that um you would like to see in order to make something happen. you know, effectively you're not getting enough of a return in order to make this worthwhile. 10% not good enough, negative 2% not good enough. It needs to be higher than
that. >> Thank you. >> Um, so ultimately then, yeah, I think what you're seeing here is that um, even without inclusionary zoning, the market conditions are fairly constrained and inclusionary zoning does have a material
financial effect, which makes perfect sense. It's instead of having it be a market rate unit, you're it's an affordable unit and there's a difference in revenue between the market rate units and the affordable units. So stand it stands to reason. So with that context then well what can
tax abatements do? Uh we did model two different uh types of tax abatements. A traditional valuebased abatement and a kind of fairly novel rent gap abatement. Uh the rent gap abatement notably is Oh yeah, >> I'm sorry. Um before you go into the
that um >> are the >> it's the main reason for the red because of this market or you'll find that in most markets and maybe you you said that um >> oh no I did no I did not say that it's a very it's a very good question. A lot of
this has to do with things outside of the city's control. So is the the the cost of materials, the cost of labor, the cost of money. these things are very high and and >> you know and rents right now >> aren't you know aren't high enough to overcome these changes in in costs.
>> Thank you. >> So the two abatement styles of value based abatement and and rent gap abatement. The value based one is the is the traditional one the thing that people are generally accustomed to seeing. What it really is is it's a it's effectively taking a reduction on the taxes that are related to the
improvement value, i.e. the bu the building itself that's been built. So, uh you still pay taxes on the land as it was before, but you would have some reduction in the amount of taxes you pay on the improvement you made to the property. Uh and such it is it relies on assessed
property values. That's sort of the mechanism that's used to determine what that abatement would be. a rent gap uh abatement version um which was brought to our attention actually first by um folks at Livable Seville during one of the sort of stakeholder meetings
uh is an abatement that is based on the gap between the market rent and the affordable rent. So, if there's a a unit that the market rent would be $2,500 a month, but a 6% AMI unit, equivalent unit is $1,500 a month, then there is a
$1,000 monthly gap. And the abatement relates to that gap. So, it's really just focused instead on current market prices. That's that's what it's that's what it's relying on. So, let's go ahead and dig into the weeds. Is that essentially like a
voucher covering the gap, but then the city just pays it in tax abatement form? >> Very similar. Yes. >> Yeah, >> very similar. >> But it would seem to me, I mean, I I haven't done the math, but it would seem be surprising if the tax abatement would
be anywhere near what that rent gap was. >> That's a great point. And that that's exactly what you're going to see in these next two slides. >> Just wanted to be sure I was >> No. Yeah, you're on it. That's great. No, that's great. So, so this this table is showing some of those some of those financials. Um, so the rows are showing
larger and larger percentages of of what can be abated. Um, whereas the columns are different different financial evaluations of that abatement. So the first two are yields and IRR. Uh, and you can see that as you increase the abatement, you have a larger sort of
change in yields. In this case, we're looking specifically at a typical mid-rise project that's in a tier three area, which means it's like 135 units or thereabouts. It's around $2,500 a month on average for rents. These buildings all assume kind of a various unit mix, which can be changed uh by the user if
they want. But you can see then that there's just increasing or increasing financial benefits for yield and IR the larger the abatement. Um, but I think what's notable also are the are these next four next four columns. The third one looks at effectively the the owner, the
developer, whoever has this property, the loss, the financial loss that comes from an affordable unit. So in this case, for with 10% units, it's you know, so we'll say 14 units are affordable, it's about $1,000 a month difference between the rent, the market rate rent,
and the affordable rent. So with inclusionary zoning requirement, this effectively costs the owner $13,000 a month in revenue. An abatement though is some kind of return on that. Uh and that's in column
four. But you should note here that under the sort of traditional method when we're only abating the affordable units, which again isn't the only way you can do an abatement, but if we're only abating the affordable units that you never really get anywhere close to a return that's equivalent to the
inclusionary zoning costs. So just just a note you know that you can do with that information what you'd like but I do think it's I do think it's interesting and informative. Uh another way >> again >> uh sure that with the traditional tax abatement on affordable units the
abatement itself the the the amount of money you get back never approaches the amount of money that's lost by the by making these units affordable and requiring them to be affordable. So, the $13,636
it costs the owner of the building to subsidize these apartments gets paid back by the city in the fourth column. >> So, there's always a gap. >> Correct. >> And so, the financial incentive for the owner of the building is
there isn't one. I would yeah you would expect it to be fairly limited under under this specific model this specific model. Right. Yeah. >> Right. >> Um but at the same time um that doesn't necessarily mean that if you've gone ahead and gone down this path that there isn't some amount of money that's coming
out of the the you know the city's coffers in the future. Uh and and depending on h how you look at this information, you could either think of that as this is effectively revenue that is waved by this by the city. Um which can be the equivalent of more than
$50,000 a year under this under this situation. >> How the number calculated? Is it calculated from any of the data points on this? >> Uh no, it's sorry. Yeah, you're you're not seeing the the amount that's that's coming. Yeah, it's the so it's we have to calculate the the improvement value
component uh uh for taxes and then abate a percentage of that that that portion. Yeah. So it's a little yeah it's a little behind there but it's all in the model and can be and can be seen transparently. It's you know it's just the just the calculation.
But then the other way to think about it is let's say there was a smaller building or something else that was there that wasn't earning this level of tax revenue. So yes, potentially we could have made um I don't know $540,000
in tax revenue. We're only making 527, but before we were only getting 25. >> Yeah. So or potentially zero. >> Still ahead. >> That's right. And so Yeah. And so you can think of this you can think of this as waving. You can think of it as investing. Um you can think of it as you've created something that has new
tax revenue and you could think of it as well that's less new tax revenue and like it's you know ultimately there's sort of no one right way to look at this but I think it helps to consider all sides. >> Instead of looking at it as a difference between five and 10 you look at it as a difference between zero and five. >> Yeah. Thanks.
>> So let's do the same exercise now with the um with the rent gap method. Uh, and as noted previously, the impacts here are are much larger. Could >> just before we leave this last chart, >> I I'm I'm thinking that the math works
out so that the last two columns, if you add them together for each row, they're the same. >> Mhm. >> Okay. Normally in a graph like this, I sort of expect the bottom right hand answer to be the the the thing I'm supposed to act
on the basis of. >> What is it in that last column that I'm supposed to be looking at and saying, "Oh, that's that's dispositive." >> Oh, I I would say each of these is independently interesting. You could almost imagine this as six separate tables all lumped together. There are
different ways of looking at what the financial implications are of this abatement. No one is sort of more right than the other. No one is more necessarily to me more powerful than another. They're just different ways of looking at this same issue of what does it mean to provide a tax abatement.
>> Okay. >> Right. >> Yeah. >> So here is that same table now under the rent gap method. And I think maybe the most critical part to notice here of course is that for a rent gap method, if you were to say have an rent gap
abatement of 100%, it effectively means you are reimbursing the entire amount of the the loss uh as a result of that affordable unit. So you can see in in row four column 4 $13,636 is is returned in the abatement uh which
matches the the loss, you know, and any number any combination therein. But you know a large with the same sort of effective abatement percentage you're seeing much larger uh financial impacts both to IRRa and to revenue waved or invested or to new new tax revenue.
Uh it's worth talking a little bit about the pros and cons of uh these two methods. The valuebased method it's maybe its primary pro is that it's a tried andrue method. There are lots of other people have done it before. or if you were to begin the process of writing the policy, administering the policy,
there'd be lots of sort of best practices you could look to. Uh and and you know, that's that's got its that's got its merits. And again, it is worth noting that while we only looked at an abatement, a traditional abatement on affordable units, you could look at an abatement on the entire the entire project. There's nothing to prevent you
from doing that. The the cons are that again, as as currently constructed, it never really closes a a current market gap. And in this case, sort of as noted, it probably doesn't encourage a lot of development in difficult market conditions. If you can't make a project sort of pencil out of baseline anyway, and you're not giving them all the money
back, you're probably not really stimulating the market in any in any serious way. For the rent gap method, the pros are it's it's direct addressing of the financial loss associated with inclusionary zoning. It's sort of like, we'll, you know, we recognize as a city
this was important to us. We need you to help build this stuff, but we will reimburse you. and we're just tying it to that to that number. Um, and because of its it its larger financial impacts, it may be more appealing in more difficult financial conditions. It may be one that moves the needle more often,
but the cons exist too in that it's it's rarely used. The Baltimore was the only example we found and that's still relatively new. They're dealing with the same macroeconomic market conditions. So, they've not had a a large infusion of projects that we can show this is working great. Um, so I think there are definitely some administrative unknowns
that still exist. So that's I think that's, you know, that's worth saying despite all the I think the myriad benefits of a of a rent gap method. And then just for tax abatements on the whole, I think it's probably just worth making making these notes that regardless of what abatement one were to
choose, the possibility absolutely exists that you provide financial benefit in a way that makes new housing happen. Like absolutely the case that can that can happen with the right abatement in the right market. It's also the case that for any abatement there does this risk exists that they're not
sufficient to stimulate uh development during down market conditions and may well be the kind of thing that just helps to facilitate um stronger market conditions in situations where in fact you could even be providing an abatement to project that would have been built even without
it. It just that just does exist. Um, and to that end, we also looked at some other kinds of incentives as well. We didn't we didn't go into a lot of detail with this, but we thought it was important as part of this leave behind to be looking at some other things like gap financing or land provision. Uh,
lots of lots of communities deal with uh timeline delays. That's not the case here in Charlottesville, so I don't think you'd have to focus on that one too much, but loans. Um, and just doing some real basic things. You can see that each of them has sort of various levels of of impacts. Um, but again, you're never seeing anything even when you're
talking about fairly large financial uh uh allocations. You don't necessarily see gigantic leaps in some of the numbers that matter, but they all but they're still positive. They still matter. Um, uh, and so, you know, this tool can can continue to help you explore some of this stuff as you move forward if there are other options that
you're interested in. So, with that final slide, just to say let's look back at some of the key findings again and happy to answer any other questions you might have here. So point one as of today market challen market market conditions are challenging for new for you know for private sector
housing development and from a financial perspective inclusionary zoning adds to that challenge. Uh it's pretty clear that traditional tax abatements can help um but that at least again as of today you might say that alone they are currently inefficient or insufficient and that they may be fairly small. this
rent gap tax abatement method I think does merit some further consideration uh as sort of a better a better com uh um connection between private sector decision-m and and public sector decision-m uh that other incentives or policies may
still be needed regardless either now or in the future and as such uh our hope is that this leave behind tool that staff can now use in perpetuity can allow for sort of future uh exploration adaptation improvement uh over time.
With that, I'll just leave you with uh contact information if anybody ever needs to to reach out. But uh thank you for the time and I hope this has been useful to all of you. >> You thank you. So um
I'm sure we have some questions. Um I'll start with you, Natalie. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Um, I'll start with a little out of order from the notes I have, but uh, since you just mentioned it on one of those last slides. Um,
the um, let me scroll back to it. The potential for the the risk that the city has to provide a tax abatement to a project that could have been built without it. Um but then one of the features of the um the rent gap
abatement is that that is kind of adaptive to market pressures, right? >> Indeed. >> Um can you talk a little bit about that? >> Sure. Well, um no, I mean I think that I think that's I think that's exactly right there. Uh
I think maybe without any further comment that the hope of the of the rent gap method would be that it would help to alleviate um th those sorts of those sorts of issues. Though um it it probably would require situations where the market rate and the affordable rate
are very close together. And in Charlottesville that seems fairly un unlikely. So there's probably always going to be some kind of legitimate market gap that does make it difficult uh for you know project to work without it. And then in case in cases where there's a very robust market um then you
know you you would go along and build this project regardless but there'd still be a gap between market rate and affordable rents and then you could ask for that you could ask for that uh that money back. >> Yeah. Sure. Um okay cool. Um but it does it is it is more attentive to market
pressures than the other models. >> It is absolutely more attentive to market pressures. That's exactly right. And that's one of its primary benefits. >> Um so uh it was it was good looking at the the report and reading the values that you included in the um the tool and
I was trying to think like are there any that I would have added? Not really. But um we didn't have a link to play with that on our own. >> Oh, sorry. Um, but uh, one of the the questions that I had was what if you had used fewer units because all of them
started at 10%, but like what is the I know it already doesn't pencil out with no no units, but like how much further away would it be if it was five or >> or something. So, I think it'd be fun if we were able to play with that a little bit on our own. >> And you are >> absolutely love.
>> Um, thanks. And then um there was the legislative issue um that was noted in the report that said an important caveat about tax abatement in Virginia is that a state code does not allow abatement of taxes to private entities for affordable
housing development. So as you mentioned they would have to pay their full taxes and then we grant them back this amount. Um, why is that? And is that something that we need to put on our legislative agenda to try and get them to change or is it
just like finally as is? >> Uh, it's not that you can't work around it. I imagine it just is a a bit of an administrative complexity, but there are plenty of communities in Virginia that employ abatements of some form or fashion. And so I don't, you know, I don't think it necessarily has to be
changed. So it might not be worth going to the general assembly. >> So uh our commissioner revenue has >> a bill that's probably going to pass that um is kind of loosening some of that up that would allow uh for-profit
entities to merge with nonprofits in a more amiiable way to do some of this. >> Okay. Okay. I don't have a bill number for me. >> Okay, cool. Um,
>> thanks. Um, and then um >> Oh, while you're looking I can tell you uh the just informed the tool itself is available on the city's website. >> Oh, fab. Okay, great. Thank you. >> Um, >> where
>> under under the housing section? >> Housing. housing program NDS and NDS. >> Um, okay. And the the comps that were listed um included Minneapolis, Columbus, and Baltimore, each of them had a slightly different situation.
>> Um, with Minneapolis providing a 10-year affordability requirement, whereas Charlesville provides 99. Um, Columbus waved all improvement taxes, not just on affordable units, I believe. And then Baltimore does the the the rent uh
difference. Um do were you able to get a sense of how long the requirement is in other areas beyond just Minneapolis's 10? Is 99 out there? Is 99 normal? is how does
that affect the >> well without yeah without having done like a comprehensive look at all the abatements th this is the first place I have seen with a 99-year >> um >> requirement >> which makes it harder to pencil out as well. >> Yeah. Um and then
okay so the land this is a just a thing to to clarify for the explanation. Um the land provision does this mean that the seller artificially deflates the land value for the sale? Is that what that that alternative
>> Oh no sorry I just >> what does that mean? It just means like suppose you you had access to land and you gave it to somebody for free or at a discounted rate, you know, so the land in instead of assuming that the land cost is generally equivalent to whatever the assessed land value is, we're going
to assume it's discounted by by some percent by the the person who sells the land. >> Yeah. So the seller would So the subsidies are coming from somewhere. >> Subsidies are coming from somewhere. Correct. Um, and then, um, I've got a question more
for the city. Um, which is, uh, one of the things you noted that had a pretty high IRA return adjustment was a reduced review and approval speed. So, what would the city
need to get it faster? Is it personnel? Is it software? Is it just changing the timeline? I I will I would like to have somebody step uh and and at least uh corroborate this, but um to to my understanding,
Charlottesville is beholden to I think a state regulation for how fast uh they have to review uh uh processes. Um and so there's honestly not much additional benefit in reduced timelines. That that's that's a it's a common concern
across the country, which is why we put it in. In fact, we kind of put it in even before we heard about this rule. And so I I say you could in some ways ignore ignore it for the for the time being. There's always a risk in continued back and forth between the the
submitter of a plan and the approver of of the plan, but there there are lots of different reasons that projects sort of don't get approved. And and that's I think beyond the purview of of a tool like this at least. >> Okay. Thanks. Um, those were the
thumbs up. Thanks, Kelly. Um, those were the questions I had, but there are a couple points that I wanted to emphasize. Um the um uh really the the the
way the gap financing works is what we kind of talked about earlier is is such that while we are not maximizing our tax revenue because we are foregoing some of it, we are still getting more than we would have gotten before which we then can use for all the other projects and
things that we want to do. Um and as you mentioned that the gap between market rate and dedicated affordable uh units is far but you know the more we build perhaps it will get closer. It might not
ever get there but it might. Um, and I know that frustrates a lot of people who um who don't want who who think that the only building we should allow is dedicated affordable or that market rate isn't good enough or doesn't make a big
enough impact. And it absolutely doesn't until it does. Um, but if it takes that 50th building to get to that even out space or the the um the tipping point, uh, you can't get to that 50th building
without 1 through 49. Um, and so I think that's just something that's good to remember um, in general that there is a we are so far behind that it's going to take a while to get to the point where we see that naturally occurring difference, but that doesn't mean we
shouldn't work to get there on the way. Um, okay. I will I know we're we don't have all the time in the world, so I'll let somebody else go. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Lloyd. Do you have any? >> Yeah. Um, it appears as I'm sort of looking at the
the page where you've got it's page 65 in our packet, one about we didn't quite get there what you had, but this other potential incentives >> that there are basically three different incentives. a gap gap financing, land
provision, and forgivable loan that are mentioned. Uh, and if we were to do all of them at a cost of roughly 4.5 million for this 135 unit mid-rise tier 3 development,
that would amount to a subsidy of $35,000 per unit, whether affordable or not. In other words, that we don't get to the po and at that point we get into the uh the the yellow range but don't even get
to the green range >> um that we're basically we're so far behind that even market rate units don't pencil out. >> Yeah. I mean, I think you can look around town as evidence of like what
what things work and what don't right now and you're probably not seeing a lot of these lower density kinds of buildings. Um, that's just because of the underlying uh market dynamics though those change. Yeah, >> there are periods of time when they work and periods of times they don't. >> How stable over time have are these
input costs? I remember I mean for the last four or five years uh I remember when we started on this when I started on council in 2020 we were being struck by what seemed to be an inordinate rise in the cost of 2x4s.
>> It's never gone down. It's only gone up from that inordinate rise. Um, I'm just wondering if if the costs if the input costs of basically building materials and labor costs and land costs are not going to go down
and I think we should at least in the short to medium term figure that that's true. Um, and that there's very little that we're going to be able to do to change any of them because they are larger market forces than we can control or even influence much.
What can we influence? >> Oh, well, I think where you're influencing is is on the margins. There's still plenty of people when we when we, you know, worked with stakeholders across the the city. There's still a lot of interest in tax abatements and belief that these kinds
of things can help move the needle. It wouldn't necessarily make every project work, but it can still make uh, you know, a a goodly number of of projects work. Maybe even during these kinds of constrained environments, it may be, you know, particular kinds of projects and not the wide array of housing types that
perhaps we, you know, we would envision in sort of an ideal situation. Um, but there's no reason not to continue to sort of try and be party to helping to solve this, you know, this this housing problem. But it's definitely the case
that costs right now uh relative to revenues and to you know to incomes we're at a we're at a challenging time from from a macroeconomic perspective. Uh and it's just all the more reason why it's likely the case that cities need to become more involved
in this process in order to overcome these these these underlying underlying conditions. I'm I can't help but think of John Maynard Kane's wisdom that the markets can remain irrational longer than I can remain solvent.
>> And my fear is that we have seen these costs go up and not come down. And they have created at this point a a stable base of costs that are almost out of our
abil out of the range of our ability to to solve that problem both for affordable units and and and market units. and that the only way we're going to be able to do anything is likely to be a significant cash subsidy
upfront, whatever form it may take. And that because of the time the the way time factors into the IRRa, that ends up helping out in a whole whole lot of ways. But that we would even have to do
that as to market rate units just to get market rate units built. it it's a possibility. Um I think I would say probably that uh more now than ever doing nothing is not going to work. Um but I I but beyond that, you know,
it's >> for for others to decide yet. But there's no question this is a this is a challenging um development environment specifically for new housing. >> Is there any you know another apherism hope is not a
strategy. Uh, is there any real prospect that those input costs are going to go down anytime soon? >> Well, I don't know. So, you know, I really couldn't say what what's going to happen to costs, but it's certainly the case that that revenues uh can change
independent of costs. Part of what the issue here has been a increased disconnect between costs and you know, wages uh what what can be paid by rent. uh and those two things are not necessarily tied hand inand um so it may
be that while the cost considerations look to be long-term concerns there are opportunities for changes on the wages side as well um that can help mitigate but yeah I mean I I I don't want to minimize your concerns I think there I think there are legitimate
uh you know and this is part of why this is a national conversation not a not a Charlottesville conversation is that everybody's trying to figure out these these pretty large pretty large questions And so the only the only answer you seem to be suggesting is higher wages for our
residents >> or lower tax rates. >> I think I would just suggest that any opportunities to change the cost revenue mismatches could have a material benefit to the extent that that's an important goal of of council. But I I certainly say I
really have I have no no particular recommendation here. This is meant to just be in informative and happy to answer any of these questions, but yeah, I would >> I'll defer to all of you on the recommendations. >> Um, Michael, you ch.
>> Um, so it sounds like did you look at student housing a specific submarket as part of this analysis? >> When we started, we we were uh decided not to look at student housing at the time uh because I don't believe that they were subject to inclusionary zoning
requirements. Um, and I think maybe it's as an inloo fee instead. Um, but we just didn't ultimately they weren't part of this. It is not a significant lift to add student housing or or co-housing. It doesn't have to be students. It's just, you know, the co-housing model. There's
nothing to prevent us from adding that into the tool very easily. >> Yeah. Um, and they are subject to inclusionary zoning, just a different policy student housing. Um, but I I think for this to be as actionable as possible, we we're going to have to an easy way to do that
could just be break down rent by the bedroom. >> But um cuz I believe in our market it can be twice as profitable per square foot. So basically I think this is underounting underestimating how
feasible student housing development is% and actually making things look even more optimistic for high-rise development because it's kind of capturing in that significantly more profit profitable subm market. >> Well the so for what it's worth the we didn't include any co-ousing styles into
our rental assumptions about about high-rise. So they they really were always meant to be like a three-bedroom apartment by one household. Uh we didn't look at it as say a a unit where it's rented by the bedroom and there four bedrooms in it. Um but yeah, I mean there's no question that there is much
higher revenues available in those situations especially when you have a a a captive high wage audience like the student housing projects do today. Yeah. I mean it you could if you wanted to I think fairly easily you can one of the one of the little toggles in the project
input area is just changing you can move construction or revenues or land costs from standard to high or low. And if you just move rents to high, uh, which would be, you know, a decent substitute, you you you get, you know, you get green
projects, uh, in that sort of tier one high-rise area. And that's that's a pretty good standard for for student housing. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Um, well, that's good that it's not making things uh look more optimistic for high-rise because it's not very optimistic uh as is. Um, but I
guess the concern would be if if we do move to a tax abatement uh program, it probably makes sense to think about student housing as a distinct kind of housing type as part of that. Um, just because it's going to have fundamentally
different kind of economic assumptions in it. And um, I mean that's kind of what we see. Student housing for high-rise works and there's multiple projects doing that, but it's only student housing. Um, did you
was there any looking at other localities that have done something like pairing this program with vouchers which would provide even more subsidy for the unit um, but also allow for even deeper
affordability impacts. >> So, so I have I have not done that work but some of the places we've done this work in have have taken that upon themselves. Charleston, South Carolina is one that comes to mind um that is sort of using this tool in or or you know a version of this the same concept
uh um in their work. >> Yeah. >> Um yeah, I obviously think that would be um if it's feasible extremely powerful because again it'll just be um cover even more of that rent gap for the the uh owners as well as bring AMIs for the
residents down further. Um, did was it Richmond that explored and implemented a tax abatement program and it what were their impacts from it just as
um kind of a comparison of how it worked in their local housing market? >> I I actually don't know the answer to that. Be happy to sort of look into it and report back. >> Good evening councilors. I'm Alen Pure. was actually the project lead for this. Um, councelor Payne, uh, the last I
looked at Richmond, they had not had any projects roll out, excuse me, from their performance grant program. Uh, and just to, uh, make it clear, they use the traditional um, base increment model and they only abate towards the affordable
units. They only provide an abatement against the percentage of a development that is affordable units. And the last time I looked, which was a couple of months ago, they had not had any uh projects take advantage yet. And I can only speculate that it has to do with
the same market headwinds uh that we're talking about here. >> And would kind of an accurate summary of the IRI results provided here being with the caveats that this is looking at the our current
market right now. um that inclusionary zoning obviously has a trade-off. So there's an impact on IR there. But even if we completely eliminated inclusionary zoning, we would not expect um a change in the amount of
new units developed. >> Yes. I'd say as it relates to new housing development, I think I would say inclusionary zoning for for the purposes of just getting something built, inclusionary zoning is a problem, not the problem. Is that is that a fair maybe a fair way to talk about that? Yeah, >> it's one of many marginal constraints,
but it's not the primary constraint that is stopping development. >> Correct. If it were eliminated today, I do not believe you would see a Yeah. a sizable change in all market conditions. Yeah. And along with that,
it's interesting that the only area where possibly feasible with or without inclusionary zoning or with a tax abatement is for high-rise construction in the mid-rise low-rise townhouse garden apartment is like not even close to potentially feasible. Um, and would
it be accurate that you know the reason the IR is it wouldn't spur new constructions because rents aren't high enough from the perspective of investors. >> Yeah. And it just seems that cost costs are very high. I I would still anticipate though that there probably
some kinds of specific projects and specific places that still work. But yeah, that seems at least from a typical perspective. Yeah, they they're pretty pretty far away from the the thresholds needed today. I know that in the past there's been work uh looking at some of
this and and at the time you know even two or three years ago that threshold for feasibility was a lower number than it is today. Uh and some of those were pretty close to feasibil you know those numbers would have looked pretty good a few years ago and now now they just don't. So you have to yeah you know
which again reflects costs not not just of you know materials and labor but I think also just you know the cost of money which has changed pretty dramatically over the last few years. >> It is accurate. It's not because these projects aren't generating a profit. It's because the profit is not high enough to make it a rational investment for an investor to give them the
capital. >> Right? On the whole, if an IR is greater than zero, then it theoretically has some kind of return. But yeah, why would you go through the effort of building a building when you could leave it in a savings bond, right? Yeah. >> Make more.
>> Um, and this is a staff question. Granted, these are current market conditions and they could change, but under current market conditions, this program would not have any impact on increasing or a very small impact on
increasing new development, which is fine if we create it because market conditions can change. Um, but what is is there a sense of the amount of staff capacity this would take? Like how many staff positions is this kind of an easy lift? Is this extremely difficult?
I don't think >> so. I think the short answer is that we really haven't conducted that assessment yet. >> Okay. Um, yeah. Well, I'll say, um, I do think inclusionary zoning is a positive thing,
but it has to be designed well. Um, one way I look at it is kind of like a a transfer tax that's taking housing opportunities that would only go to upwardly mobile professionals to people at 50 60% of AMI and below. But it has to be designed well. You know, if we have a program that's stopping all
development, terrible trade-off. If, as just a theoretical example, over 10 years it suppressed 100 market rate units, but you got $40 million for 0 to 50% AMI housing, that would be a good trade-off in my mind. Um obviously you know hard to know you're
getting it perfectly right. Um but looking at the national models um from grounded solutions who keeps the national database um we follow a lot of the best practices in terms of compared to localities where it's gone very well very poorly. Our AMI requirement is
lower um the percentage of units is lower. We have a payment in LU option. Um we don't have strict requirements on unit types or unit size. Um, and we paired it with substantial upzoning, which many localities didn't upzone at all when they created inclusionary zoning. Um, but it's true that tax
abatements are one of the the models that they show many localities do. So, I think it's not necessarily negative to pursue. I guess the question to me is what is the trade-off of if it's an easy lift for staff, no problem. If this is an extremely difficult, expensive lift
and this has no impact on increasing um new development, what does that trade-off look like? I think I'll just say for the moment that we would really need to assess kind of based on where we want to go in terms of how this sort of program would be applied from a policy perspective, what
it would take um to support that from a staff perspective. We do not currently have anyone um that would be able to dedicate time to this as part of their there's no additional capacity, let me put it that way. >> Okay. Um
um but yeah, I mean I think that's one of the main trade-offs I'm thinking of is is the juice to squeeze compared to other policies we can pursue even if the goal was just increasing new market rate construction. Um, and I think
I just wonder if in some ways we're kind of barking up the wrong tree in terms of everyone's going to be dissatisfied because we're not going to get the outcomes we want from this and we'd have a much bigger impact looking at access to capital and providing capital that is
willing to accept a lower rate of return. I don't know if we need to do that regionally to have the scale for it to be effective or look to legislative packet advocate for the states to make changes along those lines but I think that is going to have a much more transformative impact even if our goal is just new market rate units especially
for the mid lowrise. Um um but again I do think the inclusionary zoning program is good because it is providing uh housing opportunities for people at 0 to 50% AMI. Um and that is
tough part of the market to reach the market on its own at least with filtering over decades maybe could reach them but the immediate impact won't be there. So, I do think it it it's it's positive and I hope we don't make inclusionary zoning a boogeyman that's
blamed for the reason there's not a lot of new development. Because if we eliminated it or greatly reduced it, you're talking about an impact of a loss of potentially tens of millions of dollars that could go to poor and working-class people in the city. Um, but I do appreciate this analysis. I
think it's important and I think it's really important to look at our local market conditions. Um, >> thank you. Um, Jen, >> yeah, thank you for this report. This has been very helpful. Um, I think what I'm hearing is it's not a onetrick pony.
I mean, it has to be this multiple incentives and interventions. Can that occur in um although Kelly just plug your ears about the administrative lift this would be but like the um you you're
doing a traditional or rent um gap abatement for the affordable units but then you apply those as incentives or um um interventions to the other units that are more along the lines of you know the faster timelines or the you know any of the other things you recommended. Do
people do that? You mean like do they do they combine these incentives? Oh yeah. Yeah. >> All together. Okay. >> I mean I think you you may have heard in the past for those who are focused on like affordable housing development they sort of talk about the capital stack. They're talking about all the various places money has to come from. This is a
sort of very similar thing. We need we need multiple places uh to to make to make projects work when the rents are far below the costs. And that's what's happening right now in affordable housing. Well, that's what's happening now in affordable housing that goes in
brand new construction. I will say that, >> right? Not >> and there are other units out there in the world. >> Yeah. Recrafting existing units or Yeah. redeveloping. And so, um, the you mentioned the tiers that like instead of using having the tool
use the neighborhoods, you kind of tiered it out. So, so should abatements vary by location and t housing type? I mean, or do you just use a does the tool use a blanket? >> So, that really I I think that answer
depends on what your personal priorities are. If it's it it may be that getting an affordable unit anywhere in the city in your minds is functionally equivalent. Doesn't matter where it is, it's good and we'll take it. It may be that units in specific places in the
city are better than others. Um, and in in those situations then yeah, I would I would imagine there's nothing to prevent you from having an abatement that has a location component for sure. I think it really just depends on on the community's priorities uh with the
recognition of what you know the the the sort of relative power of this particular tool is. And my last question is just dreaming. The tool can't possibly have an input that's like if we invested instead of to
wages and incentivizing wages, then it magically shows us what happens if we spend our money there. >> It can't. It can't now. But if so, if there were a change in area
median income, that would change the affordable rent, right? I mean it and so if that was something that you want right now there's a part in the tool that has to list what area wide median income is and if that number changed yeah I mean it's kind of the fun of a
tool like this is playing around with th those kinds of things and and ultimately is a little bit of why we even went ahead and looked at some sort of you know modest examples of other kinds of provisions you can see they have different orders of magnitude effects even if it's the same amount of money so
like time you know what what time matter matters most. There's definitely communities that we've worked in where there were parts of town where providing land, but if the city provided land, it was an enormous boon for a development, whereas other parts of that town, it had almost no material difference. Uh, you
know, if if that becomes the case in in Charlottesville, well, then, you know, land acquisition is is, you know, a really strong use of your use of your money. Truth be told, I think because of the inherent complexities of of housing right now, being flexible and adaptable
in the tools that you want to provide is probably a pretty advisable direction to go in. You know, I mean, none of these on their own is necessarily sufficient, but it may well be that all of them in some ways are are necessary. >> And the rent gap version really kind of regulates itself because it's so tied to
the market at the moment. Mhm. >> Um, so but if you chose a more tradition the more traditional method, is there a is calibration built in? So you're you're constantly adjusting. >> It's still it's still based on the assessed value and that assessed value
should have some connection to to to market conditions. It's just not such a direct I mean you could imagine someone saying I have this unit. I know I could rent it and prove I could rent it for $2,500 a month. And you're asking me to rent it for $1,500 a month. I'd like to be in the program. and you're like,
"That sounds good. We know it's $1,000. Here it is." I mean, you know, just a very transparent kind of way of of abating the difference. And I think the assessed value is just a, you know, just a little bit more complex uh for folks. >> Can I interrupt?
>> Is that something that we could apply to smaller um developments like in a duplex? Could we say, "Oh, I could rent this for 2200. I want to rent it for 1,800. Will the city abate me that much? Is that
something we could apply to like a small >> situation? >> Is that something you could apply in a small situation? Right now, the inclusionary zoning requirement is for projects of 10 units or more. You could have picked 100 units. You could have picked two. Uh it's I think it's the same kind of thing here. If if that's the direction that you would want to go
with with a rent gap abatement program, there's really nothing in theory. there's nothing to to prevent prevent that kind of thing from happening. Yeah. Opening it up to existing existing projects opening, you know, I mean, it's all that it's all sort of all open
there. And that I think would be >> if you were to explore a rent gap method, I think those are the kinds of things you'd want to be looking into, making sure about, you know, are there legal ramifications? Are there administrative ramifications? But >> I mean, I personally, if this was Sim City and I was doing it myself, I would be very intrigued by that that kind of
concept, by its flexibility. So is um it's been Oh, I'm sorry, sir. Um yes, Mr. Mayor, councelor Ashern, if I could just put your idea though back into the concept of Virginia statute,
which means we have to do this within the the context of a performance grant process. >> Yes. >> And so doing this on kind of a very small scale gets a little complicated if you have to put it in that context of it's a performance grant, etc. So just
one constraint to factor into that idea. >> Got it. Yep. Okay. I appreciate that. Thank you. >> Um so my colleagues asked a lot of questions. So um based on your experience, is there
a city that has the right >> recipe that's that you feel that's don't? And I know every locality is is different. >> I I think I think that's a really hard it it's ultimately going to be much more about your own city's context than it is
about, you know, Toledo nailed it or something. It's not really the case. Sorry those who finny for Toledo. I didn't mean to throw the bus, but uh but yeah, I think it's just it's it's so dependent on your on your market conditions. I think the ones in general,
the more flexible you are and the more opportunities you have for for um intervening in your market, the better. I mean, there there's some places where they saw great success uh with abatements, but the goal was just just any kind of new housing. Um but you
know, so it depends on your on on your goal, >> right? Right. So, >> sorry, it's not a great answer. >> No, no, I I want to visit Toledo. >> So, this I don't know if this is for you. I spent a week there one afternoon. >> Um,
I don't know if this is for you, is this a comment, but I remember when we were doing the zoning ordinance, we talked about like the time period and that we talked about 10, 15, 20 years that that can go by pretty quickly. And that's
why, you know, generally speaking, we came up with like, you know, the 99 years. Sound like we're the only one that's that has that length. >> I'm sure you're not the only one, but it's the only one that I've that I've >> Yeah, it's not a lot. It's not like um
so um anyway, so um that's something that, you know, we we're we're going to have to to look at. So, um Sam, what what's the next steps? Um, oh, I mean, Kelly Winston.
>> Okay. So, the next steps are to go back and listen to all the questions you asked us so we can think about how that might inform the development of some options, some recommendations um, to bring to you for your consideration at a at a future meeting.
>> Okay. Thank you. and you have a lot. So, >> again, so >> um other Oh. >> Oh, I was just saying, >> oh, >> you're late for your next presentation. >> Just want to make sure this is pretty big. If
>> any other comments um from >> council, >> a lot more work to do, but >> yeah. >> Yeah. Thank you for the great job so far. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you all. Appreciate the time. >> Thank you. Um the next um item we're going to listen is update on the West
Haven redevelopment um project. Um John will be um doing that. >> So how's it going? >> Great. Sir, >> I do have a presentation that was sent over. >> I'm sure they're bringing it up right now. >> Okay.
>> Well, I'll go and get started. We don't have much time. Uh so the initial uh slide is about the history of West Haven. So West Haven is the oldest and largest public housing community in the city of Charlottesville. Has 126 units on 9.9 acres. It was constructed in 1964
with very limited uh renovations since uh construction. Uh it has 126 units. 20 of those units are onebedroom units. 35 are two bedroom. 49 three uh 15 four bedrooms and seven >> I'm sorry. Are you pressing? It's It may
have been pressed. >> Yeah, >> sorry. >> Thank you. Now we can go. Um, so on the screen is a a layout of the current West Haven site with its boundary lines identified. So it backs up towards Main
Street, has some frontage on 10th Street, frontage on 8th Street, and a little bit frontage on Page Street. Uh on the screen is a historic view of the site before it was West Haven. Uh and so I wanted to bring this up because
we're going to be looking to make some connections. Um this is a diagram of the accessibility of West Haven. So currently um the only accessible route to get to the bus stop on Main Street is going through the tunnel under 8 Street
by Jenkins Park and coming up around. Uh we currently have a set of steps, but if you can't go through the steps that are beside the standard um then the only other way is around uh it's double the uh size the length to get to that bus
stop if if you can't make those steps. Um so the residents resident planners have been planning uh the West Haven site for about 3 years now. uh they initially came together and it's about 30 residents that meet every other week.
Uh and they created goals for their redevelopment. Uh and so those goals are improving the health and safety of the community. Um recognizing the memory and history and honoring that, balancing density and livability, cultivating community, and making urban connections.
So, we'll talk about each one of those and how the site, the current site or the new site, uh, takes those things into heart. All right. So, health and safety. Um, we knew we needed more units because we have a a lot of families that need
housing. And so, we're going to be looking at a larger site. So, we wanted to make sure we're addressing traffic calming, flood mitigation, trash removal, security, and sustainability. And so the residents looked at site lighting, trash pickup opportunities,
security points, visibility, uh traffic coming and sustainability, of course, uh memory and history. Uh and so this is going to include public memorials, arts, art, art and murals and placemaking. And
so we uh went to the public housing art museum in Chicago and we're going to be looking at uh working with them to identify some areas where we can memory do some memory and history uh in uh art presentations, public art um to make
sure that the residents that live in the site 20 years from now uh know how West Haven got here and all the work that folks did to make that happen. uh balancing density and livability. So, everyone knows it's a huge problem here.
We have to build more units. Uh but the units we build must be livable. The residents on that site, um have to have green spaces, adequate trees, playground spaces, um adequate parking, um addressing storm
water management. um as you build more larger buildings, uh we're taking those things into account. And so, as you're going to see on this site, uh the residents were um really intentional uh when it came to placements of buildings.
Larger buildings are backing up to larger buildings and the site drops down as you get to more of neighborhood style homes. Uh cultivating community. Uh so the site has 126 units. We have uh nine different
spoken languages at our site. And so we want to make sure that everyone is heard um and everyone has opportunities after the site is redevelop. And so we're looking at a lot of open spaces, multigenerational play spaces, walking trails, uh garden spaces, pocket parks,
and indoor community spaces. Urban connection. Uh, and so West Haven, like I said on like I showed on like the third slide, the accessibility, uh, it's really hard to get to Main Street if you cannot go up the steps. And so, uh, with this redevelopment, we're actually
adding some switchbacks on the hill in between the apartment buildings, which will make it possible for anyone, uh, to get to Main Street without having to go through the tunnel and go up and around to get to that bus stop on Main Street. And so we'll look at a little bit more of those, but that's right in between
the two buildings, the sidewall switchback, and it will come up between the standard and the proposed LB collective building. So this is the site plan. Uh it's 140 units, I mean 140 apartment units. It's
102 uh townhouse units, which are uh the white rectangles. A lot of them are stacked town houses. Um and then there's a multi-use building which is currently planned as a recreational center with SRO single occupancy units above.
Uh so the max build out I think is 260 260 units. Um, and so that connection that we're talking about making to Main Street actually lines up perfectly with Cox's Alley, which was an
historic street, uh, before the site was developed. And so, uh, we're looking to honor that connection, uh, and actually make it make it so it's actually used. Currently, that there's a stair connection there now that goes from stairs to grass to like a sidewalk by
the standard. uh it's not very inviting and so we're going to be opening opening that up. We're working uh with the resident planners on what that will look like. Um and also LB Collective would play a role in that as well because they are the land owner on the main street
side. Um, this chart also talks about the density and how we're stepping back from the high density towards the student housing properties which are on Main Street. And as you get back to Main Page Street, those properties step down traditional twotory with a basement unit
which is very similar to what the property will look like now. Uh and so this is a breakdown of all the different types of units and amenity spaces in those buildings. Uh so the first two buildings on those in our phase are the apartment buildings is a
senior apartment building that has 68 onebedroom units and eight two-bedroom units. Um that is slated to be constructed in phase 1A. Uh also you'll see on that build right beside that building is an apartment building for
families. Uh that is also um slated to be in first in the first phase but 1B. Uh we're looking at uh tackling the projects in a hybrid tax credit deal. The first phase will be a 9% LITC deal
and the second phase will be a 4% which is why we're splitting them. Uh it really is the only feasible way to make this project happen without um a whole lot more money coming from a lot of different sources. >> Um what makes it a senior building?
>> Um uh we're going to restrict it by age, but it won't just be seniors. It actually be seniors and disabled. We've called it seniors because that's mainly who lives in our >> So there'll be accessibility differences with the the spaces within the building. >> Correct. >> Got it. And is there a reason why they're all in
one building and not spread out between the two buildings? >> Um, no. But one reason um I think we've done that in the past. I think it's just been a little bit more successful when it comes to management management of those spaces. Um, but I don't I don't think
any there was any other particular reason. Residents wanted two separate buildings. >> Okay. Um what else do the town houses are currently not planned in the first phase. Um there is a high cost to
building low-inccome housing tax credit units. Uh so we're looking at ways to build those tax credit I mean to build those townhouse units without using tax credit. Um we're estimating that's additional $150,000 per unit based upon
doing it under Latte. Um, and so we could not find another option for the apartment buildings, but we are looking for other options for the townhouse units on the site. >> What was that? 150,000 >> 150,000 per unit the cost. And so that's
we're using special doors, using special windows. >> Well, that um using Litech, you have to >> we have to hit certain benchmarks. We >> uh for energy efficiency and so uh the cost of construction is a lot higher.
All right. And so this is going to break down the phases. So this is phase 1 A. Uh 76 total unit, 68 one bedroom, 82 bedrooms, 5,000 ft of health clinic space. Um it does have structured parking, has a fitness center, resident lounge on each floor. Estimated
construction cost is $44.3 million. The city requests, what we're requesting from the city is $8 million for this phase of the project. Uh these are the financials and it can't really see them on the screen. You should be able to see them better in
your packet. Um there's $16.1 million in loan from housing tax credit equity. There's $27.5 million in permanent financing and the tax credit is at 81% 81 cent per credit.
Uh all the units in this development will be available for 30% AMI and lower. We're going to project based voucher assistance to those units. So, the housing authority will still be able to collect close to market rate rents, but we'll be able to assist families at 0 to
30% AMI. All right. So, phase 1B, uh, multifamily building, 64 total units. Uh, has a dedicated teen center, dedicated leasing center, a computer room, ample residence space. It also has structured parking. The estimated construction cost is $37.1
million and our request from the city for this phase is $7 million um for the >> credit when you say 1 A 1B is that just simply representing the fact that there are two pieces to the same phase they're
going to be done more or less simultaneously. So, they are going to be done simultaneously and that's because we're trying to look for a great economy scale to reduce price. Um, but they have to be done separated because they're going to have separate owners. One's going to have a 9% deal which is going to have one ownership group and then
there's going to be a 4% deal which will have a separate ownership group. So, they have to be separated. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Uh, for 1B, which is the 4% deal, um, there is two different tax credits that we're going after. We're going after the Virginia Housing Opportunity Tax Credit,
which will give us $5.4 million, and those are sold at 55 cent uh a credit. Uh there then there's $14.9 million from the 4% tax credit investment as well.
Um both projects are higher cost than what we estimated 3 years ago. Um, resident planners work through the livability of the site for current residents, future residents in the respect for the residents of Tenth and Page. Um,
part of the cost has to do with parking. Each of those parking spaces about $150,000. We have to have parking. Um, residents have vehicles and so yes, we want to live in a world where there are a lot
less vehicles. Um, but these deals are approved based upon uh meeting certain requirements and and part of that is making sure that you have adequate parking on the site. And so we needed to build parking. We also needed to go higher up to build additional units. And
so it required us to do structured parking. Um, I know it's very expensive. I would rather not spend $150,000 on a parking space. Uh but we really don't have many other options. Uh we've maximized as
much of the uh surface parking spaces as we can. Um and I I think if you look on our site plan, you'll see a lot of street parking which a lot of the zoning ordinance is not a big fan of right now. And so we are trying to build as many street parking space as possible, but
the structure parking is needed and it comes at a really big cost. Um >> is there also bike parking? >> Yes. bike park and storage in both of the apartment buildings. Um any additional units built in phase one would not have
additional unitbased subsidy and so we're committing to providing 140 subsidized units through the voucher. We cannot subsidize anything more than that. Um the housing authority by doing a project this size um which we need to
do is going to pull a lot of HCV resources to close gaps. So our average voucher cost for a family that's on the regular voucher program is about $1,000 a month. These units are going to cost us about $2,000 a month. And so that's a
gap of $1,000 per voucher that we're going to be paying more than we're currently paying for a family that's in the voucher program. And so you're looking at $1.5 million a year in additional funding just going to West Haven from the voucher program. So we
can't subsidize anything more than 140 initially. In a couple years after that, we should be able to come back and subsidize additional units. Uh but initially one more is going to be our cap. >> Okay. >> So how about how many more slides do you have?
>> You're all good. 10 minutes. >> Yeah. >> So um so it's part A and part B. So that I had like $15 million from the city for um
>> one to B. Yeah. which is the amount that you have already allocated uh in your CIP over a three-year period. So that $15 million based on your presentation is your contributions to phases one and 1 A and 1B. >> Is there more, sir?
>> Well, yes, there there will be more. Uh but we're we're not we're not there. And so part of the the phase two which will be the town houses uh that's a conversation around looking for other funding options uh other than LTC. Latte
is really expensive to build a townhouse unit. Um and so we we're going to be looking for other options around financing that will not require us to go towards Latte. When we looked at South First Street the cost to build a market
rate townhouse is around 230 to 240,000. When we added the LTC Litec layer, we're now at $400,000 townhouse. >> What is the cost of the parking? I know what it is per space. What is the cost
for the structure? >> Uh I can pull that number and send it to you. I didn't pull out just for the garage itself. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> How many phases total are we seeing at this moment? So 1 A and 1B will be built
at the same time as two separate deals. Y >> but how many phases do you see total? >> We're looking at two phases. >> Okay. >> Um obviously LITC is a very flawed program in many ways. Unfortunately, it's kind of the only game in town. Um very few
affordable housing developments get built without LITC being part of the stack. if the town homes at lower AMIs are not feasible without liking for if it is necessary because I I just imagine if
they're home ownership I mean there's a land trust model but if they're rentals I mean that's just going to be hard to find enough subsidy. >> Oh, it's going to need um it's going to need to voucher subsidy to make them affordable uh or deeply affordable. Uh
the question is how long do you stagger in between them? So if we work on this project and this project takes two years um and then the town houses take a year and a half to two years to be built. I then have four years where I'm planning and staggering
voucher issuance. So like last year we didn't issue any vouchers. I'm not anticipating is issuing any this year either because we have South First Street coming online which is going to take 55 vouchers and then we have Strick Sixth Street coming online next year which is going to take uh 41 vouchers.
And so I'm already tapped out on what I plan or what we planned on issuing. We're going to be project basing over the next year. And so as long as I have some years in between, I can stagger and plan accordingly. Uh but if we want to
do above 140 for this first phase, we couldn't do it. >> Mr. Sales, could you while you have the floor, could you describe the two requests that are coming before council at the next meeting >> relative to this project >> for this project? So we had the funding
commitment and then the um >> revitalization >> revitalization and so to make this project competitive uh with other um 9% applications that are going in um it's required that or it's good for the
project to be in a revitalization area that's been identified by city council. Um so then Virginia housing has additional reasons to make investments in that area. And then the other one is actually the funding commitment for these for at least phase. Are you doing
phase one and B or just one one A? >> Maline, are we I I believe we're doing both. Yeah. >> Both parts of phase one. >> Okay. So the funding commitments for phase 1 A and 1B, which would be the 15 million, 8 million for phase 1 A and 7
million for phase 1B. >> So we're just formalizing that. >> Correct. >> Okay. Uh I got two quick questions if you don't mind. Uh one, how many folks were in the planning group? >> Uh so we average about 35 35 a meeting.
Uh but I think we've probably engaged with 80% or 90% >> overall. I mean 80% of the neighborhood definitely. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Okay. Um and were those met those meetings conducted in multiple
languages? So we have a um we have a language access team and they come to the meetings uh and they will work with the families uh and so we have pauses in between and there's some translation going on. >> Uh it's really neat. So we just started
the language access about a year and a half ago >> and so we had already started the redevelopment process but we were able to get those folks in and we've been engaging with them. >> That's great. And then um you talked about this at the presentation last week, but um for everyone else um where
are people relocating during this process? >> Yeah. So part of the reason why this is um really really important that we strike while we can is because we have a lot of new units coming online. So we have 113 units at South First Street and
then 47 at Sixth Street. And so between those two sites where we're building larger units, three, fours, and five bedroomedroom units, we're going to be able to relocate the families at West Haven uh in some of these new units. Um while we're working on the actual West
Haven site, uh if we did this project two or three years down the road, I can't guarantee that we'll be able to find a five bed unit to move a family to. uh just because there's number one there's not that many of them and the ones that we do have are not affordable
and so uh we're actually like at the perfect timing where we have the right number of units coming online at the time to actually do a relocation so when we do relocate folks we won't have folks that fall in between the cracks and can't find housing. >> Great. >> Thank you.
>> Okay. So just any quick questions >> I would quickly say I think obviously this is a project that needs to happen. It's many years overdue. It's going to be extremely large and complex um with with many unanticipated things happening throughout it. Um
I will say the project itself is obviously critically important as I've mentioned before on these streets. You know, the gap in life expectancy is 10 years lower than other areas in our city. So, I just hope the city beyond even West Haven itself is thinking about
around West Haven how to be more intentional about things like facilitating blackowned businesses, facilitating business opportunities for members of the refugee community, businesses that meet their needs, as well as um I know resident services is increased capacity, but services around
that area um because uh you know residents don't want to be physically or economically segregated from the broader Charlottesville community. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. We will be read Thank you, John. Will be read into close session.
>> Pursuant to section 2.2-3712 of the Virginia Code, I move that the city council close this open meeting and convene in close session as authorized by the Virginia Freedom of Information Act as follows. Pursuant to Virginia Code section 2.2-3711A1 for discussion and consideration of prospective candidates to be appointed
to the following boards andor committees. Board of Architectural Review, Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund Committee, Charlottesville Economic Development Authority, Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority, Citizen Transportation Advisory Committee, Community Development Block Grant and Home Task Force, Housing Advisory Committee, Human Rights Commission, Java Advisory Council on Aging Java Board of
Directors, Local Board of Building Code Appeals, Minority Business Commission, Pedmont YMCA Board, Sister Cities Commission, Social Social Services Advisory Board, Thomas Jefferson Water Resources Protection Foundation, Towing Advisory Board, Tree Commission, Vendor Appeals Board, and Youth Council. We are running late so I move it fast.
>> Yes, you second the motion. >> Second. All in favor, please say yes. Please say no. We'll be back 6:30 or close to Thank you. Part: 2
close session. And so, uh, will you >> please read it out of close session, please? >> I don't have to read all the boards again. No. >> Yes. Um, I move that this council certify by a recorded vote that to the best of each council member's knowledge only public business matters lawfully
exempted from the open meeting requirements of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and identified in the motion convening the closed session were heard, discussed, or considered in the closed session. >> Second. >> Okay. All in favor? Is everyone logged
in? Um, >> no. >> Oh, okay. >> I'm in. What do I have to do? What? Hold on. >> But we'll do it on the next one. All in favor, please say yes. >> Yes. >> All oppose, please say no. Okay. Um, we're back in the session. So, thank
everyone for coming. We will, um, >> I had to back out and then get back in. Yeah. >> Okay. >> We will have a moment of silence. Thank you very much. Are there any announcements?
>> I do have one. Alexand sent me some information. I want to I need to bring it up. >> Yeah. Let's see. Do you want me to pull up? >> Um, we would like to announce the um
passing of one of the Charlottesville 12 and you many of you may have already heard about this news of Marvin L. Townson. He was 79 years old. He was one of the original um Charlottesville 12. um passed away on February
um the f the the 4th. Um and so um this was one of the um trailblazers and that's why we you know um name renamed the school trailblazers elementary. Um um he I'm just going to read a little
bit of the information that Alexand sent sent us that he um was two the um two other Charlottesville students and Raymond and um Regina Dixon preceded Marvin. Marvin served 25 years um in the
Charlottesville Police Department and later with the Fana Sheriff's Department until his retirement about um 10 years ago and as one of the um 12 tribal ages in education at at Venbo. Marvin at an
early age was instructed by his mother to watch out for the younger kids um according to Sandra Wil Lewis, one of the younger classmates. So he's always kind of had that role of being um a caretaker even um in his profession. So
I would just like to um um just give a moment of silence for um the life of Mr. Townson. >> Thank you. We'll send prayers to his family. Hey, I'd like to add one other thing about Marvin Townsen. Marvin uh
was it was mentioned that he was a police officer in Charlottesville for 25 years. He was also a true community police officer. He lived in the community. He that he policed. He lived down in Tenth and Page for many years.
That's the community he worked in. People knew him. People trusted him. He was the the really the epitome of the kind of police officer and the kind of policing we want to to foster in Charlottesville. >> Yeah. Thank you. Um we have um several
um >> read the boards. >> Oh yes. So we >> Sorry to interrupt. >> We made several um board um appointments during close session and will you please read them all? >> Certainly. Uh to the economic development authority, uh we've
reappointed Denise H. Hearnden. Uh for the CDBG and home task force, we've appointed Laura Brown. Housing Advisory Committee, Heather Griffith, Dan Rosenwig, and Terry Tyrie. Uh the Human
Rights Commission, uh Jessica Kochi, Emily Courier, Elizabeth Stark, and Jason Whitehead. Jabba Advisory Council on Aging, Evelyn Boatright. Jabba Board of Directors, Richard Bro and Elliot Weiss. Minority Business
Commission, Terry Tyrie. Uh, Pedmont YMCA, James Brown. Sister Cities Commission, Kaja Edwards, Social Services Advisory Board, Nicole Hawker. uh Tree Commission, Jordan Hackworth, Worthy Martin, Elizabeth Meiselle,
Woodson Parish, Helen Snder, Cole Thornton, and Sheay Wales. >> Is that a motion? We have to >> motion to appoint all of those folks. >> Second. >> Um I think we can do that
online. >> I'm not sure that's one of the options we're given. >> Yeah. There we go. >> If we can vote electronically. >> Great. Um the motion passes 5 to zero. We have um three proclamations that we
would like to um honor. Um today the first would be um a recognitions of the Charlottesville boys tennis coach um John Neil being named the national federation 20 25 coach of the year and
it looked like his team is here. So um >> switch with Jen she knows them. >> I was great to see T and Sean and Patrick and this team just keeps showing up here year after year. It's getting a little boring. you know, you could just win some more national titles to make this
more exciting. But John, um, whereas John Neil has demonstrated exceptional leadership and dedication as head coach of the Charlottesville High School boys tennis team, transforming a once strugglingly program into one of Virginia's premier high school tennis programs in just seven years. And whereas under coach Neil's guidance, the
team achieved a 39 and5 record over the past two seasons and earned back-to-back Virginia High School League state championships, including the school's first state title in 37 years during the 2023 2024 season. And whereas in recognition of these outstanding
accomplishments accomplishments, John Neil was named Central Virginia Boys Tennis Coach of the Year in 2025 and selected as the 24-25 National High School Boys Tennis Coach of the Year by the NFHS Coaches Association. And whereas Coach Neil's recent appointment as director of tennis at Charlesville
High School reflects his commitment to excellence and equity as he now leads and unifies both the boys and girls tennis programs to ensure high quality coaching and opportunity for all student athletes. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that the city of Charlottesville hereby recognizes and
congratulates John Neil for his extraordinary contributions to student athletes, Scholastic Athletics, and the Charlottesville community. signed a date the 17th day of February 2026 by the mayor >> here. >> Yeah. Jen, you want to get a picture? >> That picture?
>> Yeah. Jen, you want to get >> the parents? Somebody with a camera. >> The boys, you want to come up and stand there too, >> please? >> I don't think he could have done it without you. Tighten up. Tighten up. Coach Neil, you can say something if you
like. You can say something if you like. >> Um at the at the um microphone. >> I'll say one thing. >> Okay. Thank you for the recognition and um it's really quite a humbling honor to receive, but these boys are an absolute
joy to work with every day. So, I'm the lucky one. So, thank you all. >> Thank you. >> Slightly different tenor. I would like to talk about invasive species awareness week. February February 23rd through 27th, 2026.
I'll pause. Uh whereas Charlottesville's tree canopy is a vital resource for neighborhood health, safety, and resilience against climate change by providing shade, purifying air, managing storm water, reducing the heat island effect, and sequestering carbon. And whereas
invasive vines and other invasive species jeopardize the health of our urban tree canopy by outco competing native species, restricting the flow of nutrients and causing breakage or leading to trees falling. And where Charlottesville's commitment to as a biophilic city, B city, and tree city
seek to promote awareness and education as well as foster a culture of stewardship and a sense of belonging in the natural world in which community members feel responsible for the health of our urban forest and the natural world. And whereas the nature of this work relies on the ongoing support and
collaboration among local organizations such as the Charlottesville area tree stewards, Ravana Master Naturalists, Re Relief Seville, Pedmont Master Gardeners, and the Botanical Garden of the Piedmont, the Virginia Native Plant Society, Ravana Conservation Alliance,
Blue Ridge Prism, the City Tree Commission, and various city departments. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that we, the Charlottesville City Council, declare February 23rd through 27th, 2026 as Invasive Species Awareness Week and encourage residents to participate in upcoming events hosted
by the Charlottesville Invasive Plant Partnership and other Virginia Invasive Species Week affiliates to raise awareness and learn skills for protecting our community's urban tree canopy from invasive vines. Side and sealed on this 17th day of February, 2026.
>> Is someone here to So if you want to come up, you can have a picture and then someone can say something if they would like. >> Wonderful. Hi. Uh, my name is Rowena Zimmerman and it's so nice to be here today. I'm the um director of the Virginia Invasive
Plant Coalition, which is an arm of Blurge Prism and I just want to commend Charlottesville. Charlottesville is one of the five cities and 12 counties that Blurge Prism covers throughout Virginia. And Charlottesville is one of the most dynamic collaborations um in the state
um of a group of nonprofits and government entities and private citizens who are addressing the impact of invasive plants on our landscapes. So, I just want to say thank you and congratulate CHIP, the Charlottesville Invasive Plant um partnership and
everyone here who cares so much about preserving native plants and landscapes for future generations. and we hope you join us. Um, Virginia Invasive Species Awareness Week actually starts this Saturday, the 21st of February and ends
March 1st. And there is a ton of stuff going on throughout the state online as well as in person. So, if you want to see how you can get involved, please go to bluerprism.org. Thanks so much. >> Thank you. >> Everyone's happy about this.
Um our final um proclamation is the benefit program specialist appreciation month. Um this proclamation is um is whereas the department of social services provides a sa a safety net to most to the most vulnerable citizens of
the city of Charlottesville by administering benefit programs including um the SNAP program, TANNIF um the view program. And whereas the benefit um program specialists strive to adhere to the Virginia Department of Social
Services core values of commitment to excellence, performing high quality work with integrity, civility, and accountability, embracing differences, being culturally sensitive, valuing um diverse backgrounds, and ensuring
fairness, inclusion, and um and people first by upholding a commitment to the Commonwealth working um working each day to create a better outcome for the citizens. Whereas Charlottesville Department of Social Services has demonstrated leadership throughout the
state in and in the professional organizations, innovative service delivery and supportive programs that improve the quality of life for people served. Now therefore, it be proclaimed that the city of Charlotte hereby recognize Charlotte's February as
benefit specialist appreciation month, commending staff for a job well done and to all and to and as we call upon members of the Charlottesville community to acknowledge their public service and contribution signed this day by Mayor Juan Diego Wade. So, I know we have Leon
here. So, I'll say briefly, uh, just want to say thank you to city council. Thank you to our city leadership, city manager. You all have been very supportive of us. I know that in this environment right now, there's been a lot of changes in social services. It's a lot of different
expectations and every day is something different. And our team members have a lot of uh just a lot of work at hand trying to make sure that we meet the need for community at the high level. You talked about most vulnerable individuals in our community. You know, we just brought one of our team members,
Tina, who's one of the more senior workers on our team. he's been working for benefits programs for 30 years, you know, so that's the type of experience we have. Um, so I'm just grateful to be a part of this team and be able to work with uh the social services department and just appreciate everything that you
all do to support us and just say thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you so much for Thank you for recognizing our our efforts and our work. >> Thank you for your 30 years of service. Thank you. all July. >> Yes.
>> So, we're now at the opportunity for a community matter. So, um we have opportunity for eight um 16 speakers. Eight people have pre-registered. We do have um other public hearings today. Um and so if you are planning to speak on
those items, if you can wait until the public hearing for that comes up, that would be awesome. So for now, the first speaker is Alicia. >> Good evening. My name is Alicia Lennahan. I live in the county. When we demand better of our elected officials
and demand that our laws reflect our values, we expect to see better outcomes. The resolution passed by the city council and the proposed legis legislation working its way through the general assembly are helping Virginia to catch up with other states. The community is still waiting to learn
whether and how law enforcement will respond when ICE is battering down a front door without a judicial warrant. We are still waiting to learn whether and how law enforcement will respond when residents are brutalized while exercising their constitutional right.
The resolution and other legislation are reactive. Policies, planning, and practices must reflect the changing landscape. ICE agents should be unmasked, in uniform, and in many instances carrying judicial warrants. However, we now know that they are
showing up in jeans and hoodies. They're driving innocuous vehicles, some without license plates. At least one has posed as someone stranded on the side of the road, luring people in. Others have posed as helpers. If law enforcement is committed to
keeping all of us safe, it will have to be vigilant, proactive, and strictly adhere to principles of deescalation, they will have to be resolute in upholding the law, especially when the lawb breakakers hold themselves out as federal agents.
Now, the spectre of ICE agents at polling places looms large. In April, Virginia will hold a special election addressing a proposed constitutional amendment that will allow the general assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections. What
better opportunity for a dress rehearsals so ICE agents can ensure that the right people are voting? This is not normal. You cannot wait for the storm to pass. A tornado touched
down in Springfield, Massachusetts, and cut a path of destruction over 20 miles long. Our friend Chris heard it coming. He pushed his wife and son down the basement stairs and threw the dog down after them. Then Chris jumped down and covered everyone with his body. When the
noise stopped, their house was gone. Other than heed the warning and take cover, there was nothing else Chris could have done. Not true for this body. You know what's happening. You have time to plan. You have resources. The city
manager oversees law enforcement. Council holds the purse strings. Together, you have the authority and responsibility to ensure that the actions of local government reflect our values. You can protect this house. The
outcomes will tell the story. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening. >> Good evening. >> Um, first I would like to say since I'm over there doing four, seven, eight count breathing, if you all would reconsider the remote participation for
these meetings, this building disrupts my spirit. I know it's not all about me, but I'm sure there are other people who would like to um participate and um not have to come down here. So, two, the last time I was here, um
the community honored Eddie Harris. One of the comments I didn't want to make that day, but I want you all to think about when we changed um ABRT to Vimemer communities, Eddie Harris was the type of person that could not get funding through vibrant communities. So, as you
think about how that process works, um what needs to be done with it, consider that. And um why I'm here today, I would like for you all to let me know where 40 to 90 units, I think that was the master agreement change you all
agreed to with PHA um is going to come from. I know there are other developments in the pipeline, but we know what um the thousands of units that were needed before and Sunshine came did the presentation. It
was pretty dismal um presentation. Um, and I know Michael, you made some comments or counselor Payne, but I don't think you were fighting hard enough um, and asking the right questions of though you all and Sunshine kept referencing
units, but you're talking about homes and homes for people that can't afford any other place. If you know the previous comments that I made about it, I've always been concerned about what happens at phase four of that development
there. He said um QCTC status was uh no longer available for that area. So that um affected the funding. He said gentrification which is happening all over the city. You all don't own land. So if you don't own it, I mean you own
some land but you don't own enough land to house everyone who needs housing. So why I didn't see anyone fighting to figure out that 4.5 to5 million? And there were a lot of question marks. We knew when we sat that master agreement that there was uncertainty in the
federal government. The first election of this current administration had already occurred. Sunshine made the effort um the decision to not include subsidies in phase 4, which was my primary concern about what happened and whether that phase would be market rate.
So my question to you all today is where are 40 to 90 units homes for families who can't afford to live in this community going to come from and why are you all not fighting harder to make sure that that development is as maxed out as
possible? It's prime real estate downtown part of the urban renewal story in Charlottesville and it was so easy for him to come in and say which is not his style. So very surprised but for him to say we can do this somewhere else.
Where is the somewhere else? So I would like for you all to dig deeper into that and figure out a better solution because there are no other place to put families who need housing. And my last comment, councelor Asherin keeps making the
comment about if you build more we will be able to pay for more things. So many counselors before they made that same comment. There are other buildings on West Main Street that other counselors made that comment and it did not happen. So that is a common playbook that has
not served the most vulnerable members of this community well. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> My name is Bill Atwood. I'm an architect in town. I'm here to talk about the mall. Um, I'm old enough to be say I was here when it was built. Was actually a
practicing young architect. I think Lloyd was probably a fifth grader. Uh, and we returned to the scene after watching it not move forward at all in '89. Created a a process of including
county people with the other three, University of Virginia, city and tourist. These were our targets and about 300 to maybe 800 people came to Charlottesville. They complained for a while. People had have to be directed
after an hour and a half of complaining. They got into the business of creating ideas and they created great ideas. And dur through that process we actually started to a two-way water two-way market and other things that now you
see. We also did certain, you know, children's activities. The skating rink is gone, which is unfortunate. Today, we're faced with another dilemma. The, you know, we've always felt I was on the minimum school board that paying through
the the the mall, we benefit for tax retail, we be able to pay for our schools. Now we're back taking a look at now an old boat that people have told me needs to be revised and needs to re
reook. That said, we still want to start before the the anniversary to get back to our basic shows, which is uh children's um activities. We have a very good record of drawing kids from the
county and the city. The county right now is back to where they were in ' 89. They're not happy. They're threatening to not come, but the kids do. If we put together an Easter egg hunt, the kids come. If we put together an art show,
the kids come and they come with their parents. And that's how we win. And that's what we want to do. Along with that, we back then had a musical on the mall and it worked, an original. We intend to have that again. These things
are easy, but the big thing that we need to realize is that the mall, it needs to adjust now. It needs to be updated. We have plenty of brick, possibly too many. Could use some gardens. You can't see across the mall. There's so much between one end of the
other, you just can't see it. There's so much stuff on the mall. We need to kind of clean it up and try to try another approach. possibly some residual gardening so you don't have to have steel and you could have an access
covered by gardening uh and change the da the nature of the mall as it probably like every other downtown is now struggling with the future of what a downtown is some would say that probably more residential but definitely more
green >> and that probably where we are thank you very much >> thank you >> the next speaker Richard Thank you, Mr. Thomas, for what you do for us. I'm Richard Allen. I live a measured 25
ft outside of the city limits in Riverside Village and I'm an enrolled member of the Live Oak Chakto tribe of Jackson County, Mississippi. I spent 15 years researching four books about how
my creoleized ancestors history was, here's the word, erased by a dominant power structure by restoring a missing sign. just north of where we are right now. You are the five town leaders who
could change that at Court Square. At our at your January 20 meeting, uh you asked us to solicit input from other agencies and descendant groups about their views and needs for such a sign. I
just gave you 12 replies. We promised we would bring those to you. And I do especially ask you to pay attention to the highlighted final entry on what I just handed you. We're waiting five more of those. Uh Mr. Sanders, and I'm going
to pass them to you as quick as we find those to uh alert council about. Uh the cumulative answer from these groups seems to be yes, we we do support restoring the auction block sign up at
Court Square or we do not object to the restored sign. Our enslavement memory group is now proposing to use different wording. It was given to us last week by the Jefferson school and I will show
that to you as I finish my remarks. At the bottom of an in information sheet that uh our member Heidi will hand to you, you're going to see 40 names of uh our enslavement memory group, including 15 of our leaders. Seven of us have
spoken to you over the last two months. So, we are turning to you now, Mr. Sanders and renewing our request that you would schedule an up or down, a yes or no vote by you leaders uh to restore the sign that we have given you a lot of information about.
Our group represents many clergy, collective congregations and the wish of a host of Charlottesville citizens. Thank you for letting us come to you for the last four meetings and thank you for how you lead our community uh forward
and thank you for voting yes when this comes up. >> Thank you Mr. >> This is the sign that we had been requesting of you a traditional sign and this is the sign that was given to us a suggestion given to us by the Jefferson
school auction block of enslaved. Thank you. >> Um, Miss Drifus, what? >> Good evening. My name is Emily Drifus. I'm a community organizer with Legal Aid Justice Center, and I'm here to share comments from one of the interns of the
Public Housing Association of Residents, Angela Cox. I'm writing this with a heavy heart, watching the skyline change while the ground beneath our feet feels increasingly unstable. There is a quiet, devastating grief in watching a neighborhood be dismantled. For decades,
these black neighborhoods were more than just a collection of addresses. They were sanctuaries. They were the porches where elders passed down wisdom, the streets where children played safely under the watchful eyes of neighborhood parents and the small businesses that served as the heartbeat of our local
economy. The cost of quote unquote progress. Now, we see those same black blocks being cleared to make way for luxury highrises and revitalized spaces that aren't meant for us. When a neighborhood is rebuilt for the wealthy, it isn't just a change
in architecture. It is an eraser of culture. Displacement. Families who have been the bedrock of this community for generations are being priced out by soaring taxes and soaring rents. Loss of identity. The historic markers of our
heritage are being replaced by sterile glass and steel that don't recognize our names. Economic exclusion. The affordability being promised often remains a dream that is out of reach for those who actually built this city. A cry for the unseen. Beyond the
construction fences, there is a growing tragedy we can no longer ignore. While millions of dollars are poured into luxury developments, our streets are filled with brothers, sisters, and veterans who have nowhere to lay their heads. There are so many people currently experiencing homelessness. People have lost everything and are
forced to survive on the margins of a city that is becoming quote unquote richer every day. They aren't asking for the world they would appreciate just a little, a little stability, a little dignity, and a small corner of this world to call their own.
A call for balance. Progress shouldn't mean a clean slate. It should mean a bigger table. We need housing that prioritizes human life over profit margins. We need to preserve the black neighborhoods that have given this city its character. And we must ensure that affordable means truly accessible to the
people who need it most. We are watching our history be demolished. We are asking you to see the people behind the blueprints and take action. >> Thank you. Um, Heidi Bout. Hi, my name is Heidi Bertu and I live
and work in Charlottesville. Speaking with and for our group, the Court Square Enlsment Memorial Memorialization Citizen Group, I'd like to share some facts and probabilities about the enslaved people's auctioned in
Court Square. Between 1815 and 1865, the five counties surrounding Charlottesville contain Virginia's largest sur supply of surplus enslaved labor. On both sides of Zero Park Street, also
known as number nothing, traders of enslaved people, also known as Negro traders, boarded at uh boarded at the Swan and Eagle Eagle Taverns using holding pens under the Red Land Club and
the building number nothing to assemble their human purchases for selling them to the Deep South Cotton. The outdoor bidding ground on the south side of number nothing building was twice as wide until the past few decades. It was
shrunk by current parking spots. The Historic Resources Committee found little documentation of sales inside the narrow number nothing building, but 600 court days of active negro trader
commerce occurred at that previously larger space on the south side of number. Merchant Samuel Lich occupied that building's left duplex. A local slave dealer and farmers bank President John R. Jones occupied the
right duplex. Each of them are documented as being successful and rich. The stone auction block was removed from the south side of number nothing in the 1920s. A gray slate sign commemorating the
block read site of slave block. It was placed on number nothing in 1962 by the city council and removed by the same in 2002. Jeffrey Werner, city historic
preservation planner, knows the chain of custody of this original relocated auction block. The Jefferson School recommends the following wording for a new sign, auction block of enslaved persons.
We believe Charlottesville will benefit from restored signage, as would revolutionary tourism. Thank you for listening to our group address you for these past four meetings. >> Thank you. Um the next speaker is Paul
Mack. >> Good evening. My name is Paul Mack and I'm a member of the justice and advocacy committee of the Sojourers United Church of Christ and I live in the county and I'm a member of the enslavement memory group. uh for the past four for the past three meetings. Here you here's a list
of topics that we've shared. This is just a summary of the things we've talked about and I have copies of all this. We asked you to end the historic um eraser of state auction of the slate auction block sign authorized by city council in 1962. We told you how
Freriedman, Fountain Hughes, Isabella Gibbons, and William Johnson experienced the blacks oppressions. We told you how two citizens gave a mach auction in 2004 that embarrassed the Jefferson Festival's local history glory story. We listed 10 auction block towns
surrounding Charlottesville that are unafraid to acknowledge hard auction black history. We named 33 area plantations and owners who certainly use the auction block to make themselves rich. We asked that a black city a black city
urn n of growing plants or flowers be placed next to the restored sign. We shared that the documented wooden building behind number nothing was likely a kitchen for penned up uh basement captives. We provided a list of about 37 citizens who descend from
enslaved ancestors and demand restoration of the auction block sign. We informed you that young Martha Swear was trafficked from Charlottesville as a sex slave to FAB Richmond to New Orleans. We told of 1834's 300 person cough
chained and marched from Stanton to Natches. Our local block likely provided some captives. We explained that our CEM mission is to transform Court Square Corner from soul harming to soul honoring.
We suggested as appropriate wording for restored sign. We suggested then traditional site of enslavement auction block. Tonight we present a sign wording as a proposed by the Jefferson school auction block of enslaved persons. And there's a copy of this on the back of the sheet that you'll get. Tonight, Mr.
Sanders, we ask you as our history uh our history advisory citizen group asks this. Please schedule a vote in March by council approving a restored sign on the East Jefferson Street curb site. Finally, to paraphrase the late Reverend Jesse Jackson, the enslaved women and
men were somebodyies. Thank you very much. Thank you. Um Timothy Santiago and some Timothy Timothy Santiago. That was our last um
um pre-register speaker. So we have opportunity for nine more if I my math is correct. Who would like to speak? Yes. get you next. >> Hi everyone, my name is Rachel Mulaney. You know me by now. I'm involved with Friends of FAR and I'm here again today
to support residents of West Haven and Tenth and Page. I'm here to echo the concerns of others who have spoken regarding the LV Collective development on West Main. And I'm also here to ask city council a deeper question about justice and whether actions align with
stated values. In 2020 in 2025, you titled your vision statement, quote, "Charlottzville a great place to live for all of our citizens." In that same document, you cited Charlottesville as quote a leader in social and economic justice and healthy
race relations. If that is who we are as a city claim to be, why week after week are their residents standing here asking merely to be heard? Why are the communities most vulnerable for displacement essentially
the only ones fighting for their protection? The proposed zoning amendments for core neighborhoods do not go far enough to protect Charlottesville's historically black and low-income neighborhoods from displacement and eraser. Development of LV Collective is not neutral. It will
reshape who this city is for. A city for students. When a project of the scale prioritizes student luxury housing while adjacent neighborhoods worry about blocked access blocked access to downtown blocked sunlight, the future and health of their communities in a
ratio. It sends a clear message about whose interests carry the most weight in the city. Councelor Fleer, I call on you. You state on your website that quote you ran for city council to help us build a city where we all can lead a happy, full, and healthy life. End
quote. That promise holds weight. It requires thoughtfulness and it requires growth that does not not come at the expense of communities who have been in this community for years unlike student and who have historically been failed by Charlottesville city for decades.
LV Collective does not reflect a Charlottesville that is a great place to live for all, but merely only for some. I ask you to reject this collective, take more expansive zoning changes, and live up to the justice you all claim that you care about.
>> Thank you. >> No, the gentleman Good evening everyone. >> Good evening. >> My name is Colonel Robert Guest III. I live at Redfield subdivision. I have been part of our enslavement memory
group now for 5 years. As you councilors well know, 20% or more of Charlottesville population are people of color. Many have families that have been here since the enslavement era, since Vinegar Hill was demolished. Many feel
oppressed by the powers of leadership. I am here to speak for us. It doesn't matter to me that I'm not one of them because I am one of them. I am speaking for people like Eugene Williams and my good friend Dr. Marie Baker Kohl's, both
of whom have died recently. Since 2002, both were important leaders of our group. Last November, we asked Deputy City Manager Freeze to reinstall the site of enslavement auction block sign. He directed us to consult with
descendants of enslaved ancestors. We did so. We also got NAACP backing. We gave Mr. Freeze a list of 38 descendants who want the sign to be restored. Last meeting you directed us to consult other groups who need a say about returning
the sign. Tonight my colleague Richard Allen is giving you that list. Please do not delay another year or two. We feel strongly that to replace the marker is to return a historically significant and important part of the city's moral
fiber. As we said when we met with Mr. freeze. We believe that city council is ignoring the part that enslaved people played in this area. This is nothing less than historical eraser. The selling of human beings on a stump was worthy
enough to be approved by HRC descendant consultants. The same is true for traditional knowledge of our sign. Nothing about that has changed. We state clearly that waiting more long years for something so right and simple is not
logical. We have just lost two important leaders. Many in our group are over 80 years old. I speak from experience because no matter how handsome and young I look, last week I turned 89.
>> All right. Amen. Rest assured, our group will establish a fund filled with money so city budgets are not burdened by the cost. We hope that our request for a rewarded sign will
fall on open ears and hearts. Please vote in March to restore the dignity of our time town's earliest builders. We need to have that sign reestablished. Thank you for listening.
>> Thank you. Anyone over here? Anyone over here? >> Yes, ma'am. Susan, I think. Hi, I'm Susan McCauley and I'm a property or owner in the city.
First, thank you. Thank you for passing the resolution regarding recent immigration enforcement actions and the letter to the Virginia congressional delegation and statewide leaders. Your reiteration of the city's commitment to civil rights, due process, and community
trust was welcomed and much needed. Thank you also for the words each of you spoke regarding the resolution. You voiced the council's responsibility to respond with timeliness to comm community concerns. You pointed out the important historical context of current
federal actions and you con confirmed the inherent loss of trust and safety when any agency acts with disregard for the law or the constitution. Now that you've passed the resolution, we ask that you continue to build
greater transparency, clearer standards, and meaningful accountability to the community with concrete action. Important questions remain regarding what the city will do to keep all residents safe, particularly those impacted by federal overreach.
We stand in solidarity with Sinber and Fua Latina, two organizations representing those being dehumanized by the federal government. What the community asks of the city is first to expand the resolution, which
does prohibit actions aimed at schools, medical facilities, courouses, and houses of worship, to include prohibiting agent access to any city facilities not accessible to the public. An example of language can be found in
the Fairfax County Trust policy, which I've provided to the clerk. Second, funding for legal representation for immigrants, including habius corpus petitions. Third, funding for financial assistance for those whose livelihoods have been
impeded. And finally, funding for mental health services for a community that has been intentionally and systematically traumatized by inhumane, unwarranted federal actions. In councelor Snook's comments on the
resolution, he quoted Whin's poem September 1, 1939, which says, quote, "All I have is a voice to undo the folded lie, the lie of authority. As a body, you can both speak with your
collective voices, which are louder and stronger than ours, and you can take concrete action. We are counting on you to do both to establish greater transparency, clearer standards, and meaningful accountability as we move together into a menacing future.
Thank you. Yes. >> Thank you, Council, Mayor Wade, City Manager Sanders. My name is Frank Bectar. I live in Fville. Council, thank you for your support of 501 Cherry and the proposed grocery store there. Thank you also for your reappoint of three
board of architectural review members January 5th, which suggests they've acted well. And thank you again for the excellent video recordings of these meetings and of other official proceedings here, such as meetings of the board of architectural review
council. On December 18th, the bar denied a certificate of appropriateness for a project on 7th Street. That denial letter referred the applicant to the relevant video recordings. But council, the applicant doesn't want
anyone to see those videos. They don't want you to see the bar's strict deference to your guidelines. They don't want you to see the clearly specified reasons for denial, height, scale, mass. They don't want you to see in fact the
entire official discussion and the work done by the applicant all focused on compatibility. The compatibility of their high-rise with two individually protected properties because council in their appeal letter
the applicant makes a very big and highly unexpected claim erasing the entire substance of all these meetings and of all of their own work. They say the bar has no jurisdiction at all to tell them how tall or big their
high-rise can be. And so there's something even more important they don't want you to see. They don't want you to see their own proposal contained in the bar's agenda packet for August 19th. On page 12 of their
submission, page 278 of the August 19 record, we see bar request two. Our second request is seeking permission to construct the proposed project behind the IP homes at 204 and 2087th Street.
On that same page, they then cite three projects on West Main. quote recent projects that have been supported by the bar and have been granted the same permission this project is seeking to construct a new building behind the existing structures
council. This appeal letter is a Hail Mary. The applicant wants us to make believe a certificate of appropriateness was requested solely for rehabilitating two brick dwellings. It wasn't. They specifically asked the bars permission to build the high-rise behind the IPPS.
They specifically cited precedent for needing such permission. They specifically worked to make their high-rise as compatible as they could with the IPs, even to the last seconds of the December 18th meeting. And they never once at any meeting questioned the bar's jurisdiction over this matter.
Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Hi, my name is Sophia Morero. I'm a community organizer with the Public Housing Association residents. Um I'm here to not only elevate what has already been said specifically by Rachel. Um but as a future student
because um I went to UVA for my undergrad and I'm actually planning on staying here for my master's program. Um, and I was doing some googling this morning because I need a place to live. Um, and I want to be close to grounds. And when you Google offgrounds off grounds housing, literally all that
comes up is luxury student housing. Um, you go on the offgrounds housing website that UVA has for students. It's all their university partners, which guess who they are. Um, I'm here because as a
future student and as a past student, we don't want it. We don't want luxury student housing. What we need is affordable student housing. Um, not just student housing. We need affordable housing in general. Um, I'm also here because we talk a lot about history. Um,
and we talk a lot about the wrongs that everyone in this country has done towards immigrants, black people, queer people, any marginalized community. But we act sometimes like that's all in the past. Um, and it happens every
single day. Um, it happens with ICE. It happens with affordable housing. It happens when we don't give black residents the voices that they need. It happens when we don't give space for people who have been historically silenced. And I urge council to really
think about the fact that it's not just in the past. It's happening right now and it continues happening. Whether it's gentrification, whether it's the silencing of marginalized voices, whether it's the usage of police as a
way to control people. And I want to finish off by saying that as I grew up, um, I often, and I'm sure we've all heard it, everyone loved I don't know if I I hate it, but everyone loved to refer to this country as a
melting pot. And it is so wrong for so many reasons. But the fact is that this country is not a melting pot because it has never respected its black residents. It has never respected its immigrants. It has never respected its queer community and
it continues to not do so. The resolution was nice, but it doesn't go far enough. And so I'm here advocating for immigrants, for affordable housing, for queer communities, and forever there are people who have been silenced. And I
ask you to please listen to what everyone has been saying for months. Residents come here again and again to tell you that they don't want it. We even have students come here. I don't know what else you need. Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Who else would like to speak, Miss Carr? Hi everybody. My name is Cathia Carr. Um I'm the CEO and founder of Not Me, I believe. Um I stand and and a farmer um far intern. Yes.
>> Um as well as workers. So you know, I'm definitely going to voice for them. They are great. So, um, but my concern is is that, um, many of you sit in these seats and we know what the issues are. We see the
issue. We see that we are displacing people within the community. We see that they are not coming here to voice. So, we need to go out to them and see what they're saying because it is a lot of them that I work with every
single day that tell me they do not understand the jargon that is in the room. So, they cannot stand up here and voice for something that they do not understand. So that it is very important that we start to teach them so that they can
come in to tell you what it is that they would like and what they don't like because one of the things is that big overhauling building is not going to cut it. It's not. We already are shined down on anyway
because we're black. We're African-Americans. It's been that way for years. It is It is here. We see it. We know it's here. We know it. It is plain and simple. But we have to do better. I I am for housing for every
single person, but it has to be affordable. It is not even affordable for me. I have a grandson two years old. I am fighting to stay where I am. So I can just imagine everybody else behind
me. So, but I'm I'm tired. Our voice for education, our voice about nutrition, our voice about housing, and it's going to be continuous. But you guys got to do better.
I only hear pain up here talking about continuously to help. You guys see the issue. I understand about lawsuits, everything. But you say you stand for the people, then stand for the people because all voices count. Not just those
that have money. >> Good evening everyone. Um my name is Latricia Gals and I'm the executive director of FAR. Um a few things I do want to start. I want to stand in agreement with what Mayor Walker started with earlier. Um, a few weeks ago when
Sunshine was given the presentation, I actually was kind of jarred in my seat when talking about the the loss of the qualified track and him specifically naming gentrification as a leading cause. And I think that it is important that that was named because we're
talking about LV Collective and what that would mean on the community and we're talking about protecting residents for future. So their future of redevelopment is being impacted for gentri gentrification that does not even impact them. They're not receiving the
benefit. So I wanted to just start with that. And I also kind of wanted to talk a little bit about something that I meditated on my little dinner before coming back here because I know I'll be spending dinner with you all tonight. Um and uh councelor Snook, what you said, uh hope is not a strategy. Um that is
actually something that my team knows very well because that's something that I've been preparing u my team anyway and telling them hope is not a strategy. So um that kind of reated resonated with me and with many residents here in Charlottesville. I think that they would agree with that as well. Residents
cannot hope that their rent stays affordable. Uh families cannot hope that their neighborhoods survive gentrification, continued low wages in our community and then continuously also being priced out. They need action. Charlottesville stands at a crossroads
where we can grow in a way that protects the people or we can grow in a way that replaces them. right now too many of our residents and as you've heard um they feel like growth is happening to them and not with them. So we are urging you to as we have come here week week after
month month it's been a couple of months now um standing with some of what the Charlottesville lowincome housing uh coalition and far saying we want to stop and slow displacement and prevent repeating the same historic harms that
have already been acknowledged. We know that when um we know what happens when development moves forward without protection for the vulnerable communities and we have seen that in our history before. We talk about history month after month here. Um so if hope is
not a strategy, prevention must be the strategy. That means directing student housing to the appropriate areas as we've been asking um and talking about when planning for their infrastructure. It means requiring student housing developers to support affordable housing. uh more supply or provide
deeply affordable apartments, not just units that meet technical definitions. And it means expanding relief, including emergency rent assistance and prevention uh for displacement and for homeless. So um I know we keep asking so we will
continue to ask you to choose stability, fairness, and community. And I thank you all. >> Thank you, Joy. Good evening everyone. My name is Joy Johnson and I am the chair of FAR. I'm back again asking you all um about
changing um the zoning code. If not changing the zoning code because I've spoken to a lot of you and you said you can't do it or you might get sued but what about amending the zoning code? community member have been coming to the
city council for over six months and we have been telling you that the city council can go back and change or amend the zoning code if you want to. You just have to choose to do it. You just have
to initiate a zoning text amendment process. Number two, we know some of you on council would rather wait for city lawyers advice, but while we are waiting, LV Collective and the other developers are waiting and
planning. Number three, some city councilors want to encourage student housing to get the tax money in the affordable housing, but once the city gets that money, everyone is competing for a piece of
that pie. That money isn't going to the most low income or extremely low communities. It's legalized extortion. developers are paying the city a fee to build these buildings in
poor communities. If it's not extortion, then what is it? If it's not gentrification, then what is it? Sunshine from PHA presented at the last council meeting and said that HUD
designated Kendallwood qualified sensor strap. But I want to clarify that HUD didn't do that. Sunshine said it himself. Gentrification did that. You can blame HUD for a lot of things, but
you can't blame HUD for that. You city council allowed these build these building to be built. It was the city it it's what the city allows to be built that gentrifies.
Project that accelerate gentrification not only raise rent and property value for homeowners. Gentrification shift sensor track eligibility and reduce access to funding mechanism that help
preserve and produce deeply affordable housing. Gentrification cause displacement now and also undermine our ability to find long-term affordable in the future. What is happening to Kenwood right now
is what I'm hoping does not happen to West Haven after the residents have sit and plan for 3 years. The other thing I want to clarify is that every collected building is not neutral with the West Haven redevelopment plan. The building is
still going to sit right on top of us. LV collected used the resident planners footprint to design their plan and then came to us if that building get built it won't be neutral it will be a symbol of
UVA urban renewal and white supremacist towering over West David >> just like the standard >> we have opportunity for one more speaker Wendy Um, hi. I wasn't planning to speak today, but Miss Terry Tyrie asked me to
read a statement on her behalf because she had to leave. Um, my phone's at 2%, so I hope I get through this. Good evening, mayor and counselors. My name is Terry Tyrie, and I'm a resident at South First Street, a chapter leader at Virginia Organizing, and I'm also the president of the new nonprofit organization known as the Charlottesville Community Resilience
Center at CC or CCRC. Before I begin, I want to sincerely thank you for the recent appointments to the recent committees. As someone who lives these issues every day, these appointments give me hope. They told me that maybe finally people who understand our struggles are being invited into the rooms where decisions are made. That
matters to families like mine. It makes us feel seen, and I appreciate that more than you may realize. But tonight, I'm here to say that being seen must be followed by being protected. Right now, I have a section 8 voucher. And yet, even with that voucher, I cannot find an affordable apartment in the city.
Landlords refuse it. Rents are too high. Units are disappearing. Because of a reasonable accommodation related to my physical needs, I must move by March 1st. That deadline is coming up fast and I still don't have a place. Imagine trying to explain to three small children that you don't know where you'll be living in a few weeks. Imagine
packing your life into boxes with no destination. Imagine going to sleep every night worried about homelessness, not because you failed, but because the system failed you. Projects like the Mark and the proposed LV Collective building may look like quote progress on paper, but for families like mine, they
represent displacement. They represent rising rents, fewer affordable units, and more landlords who can say no to people like me. Our core neighborhoods are not empty spaces waiting for development. They are homes. They are histories. They are communities built by black families, working-class families, and low-income families who are often
shut out of opportunity in the first place. This is not new. This is historical injustice repeating itself. For generations, black families were pushed out through redlinining, highway construction, and so-called quote urban renewal. Today, it's happening again through luxury development, and weak zoning protections. We talk about
honoring history. We talk about naming West Main Street from Mel. But what does that mean if living black residents are being pushed out at the exact same time? You cannot celebrate black legacy while displacing black families. You cannot honor the past while harming the present. If you allow these developments to move forward without stronger
protections, you are choosing profit over people. You are choosing buildings over babies. You are choosing displacement over dignity. Without stronger zoning protections, more families will lose stability. More children will change schools. More parents will miss work. More people will fall into homelessness. And once they leave, they will never come back. As
president of CCRC and an active peer and advocate for my community, I see this every day. I work with families in crisis. I see and have experienced the trauma of housing instability. I see how it affects mental health, education, and long-term success. This is not just a housing issue. This is a public health issue. This is a justice issue. I'm
asking you to act now. Strengthen zoning protections for the core neighborhoods. Protect affordable housing. Require deeper affordable affordability. Hold developers accountable. And recognize that the proposed amendments don't go far enough. This is about whether families like mine have a future in this city. My children deserve stability.
They deserve safety. They deserve to grow up in the community they know. And I deserve the chance to raise them without constant fear of displacement. Please don't let Charlottesville become a city only for those who can afford it. Choose justice. Choose community. choose families. >> Thank you. So, that was the last opportunity for
public to um speak at this time. There'll be another opportunity opportunity at the end. We will now have the consent agenda. Madame clerk number three, minutes January 29th budget work session. February 9th joint
council school board um budget work session four. Resolution to appropriate National League of Cities Southern Cities Economic Initiative Program Funds $60,000 and there is a clerical error that will be corrected for the final document.
Number five, ordinance amending section 11-131 of the Charlottesville City Code regarding compromise and payment of claims against the city. Second reading. Six, resolution appropriating existing funds to the ebike voucher program.
Second reading. Seven, resolution appropriating $198,910 in additional Virginia Department of Transportation funds for construction engineering and inspection on the project bundle of 10th and Grady uh UPC
113916, Monichello second, UPC 113 917 and Preston Harris UPC 113 918 one of two readings. Okay. Is there a motion to adopt the consent agenda? >> So moved.
>> Second. >> Okay. Can we vote, please? >> Okay, the motion passes 5 to zero. We um are now will hear um the city manager's report. So, Miss Hamill is going to present
quarterly financial report. >> Good evening, council. >> Good evening. >> Uh, tonight we're just going to present the quarter 2 quarterly report. This is part of our regular series for um each quarter to present a financial report to you. Much of what you're going to see
tonight is a repeat of what we talked about last week at the budget work session. Um but nonetheless, we'll just go through this uh for the public. Um the uh expenditures at the end of quarter 2 are tracking uh exactly what we would expect. They were we were about
57 just under 58% spent at $155 million. Salary and benefits of that accounted for just under 40 million at 39.6 million and the total expenditures were 115.8. This is very consistent with what we saw
for the second quarter last year um which was a little bit um right around the same at 58%. So basically we're tracking the same revenues uh on the other hand um they are tracking better than we thought. Uh as
you'll recall um we at early in this process for the 27 budget development we were talking about revenues that weren't performing as well. Um we've seen a turn on that which is good. Uh so this chart here will show you the 26 adopted budget
with the revised numbers on the far side and then what the 27 budget looks like um for proposed. These are the revenues that we're looking at. Now again we'll um city manager will be presenting his budget on March 2nd and then we will
also get another pass at looking at those revenues before you finally adopt the budget in April. Uh so basically here what you see is um we're looking at for the 27 budget just under $7.6 million of new revenue for the 26
revised or this quarter right now. That number is on the far column. We're looking at a slight increase. Um and basically that accounts for a slight change in personal property and the new reassessment um numbers are included
there as well. for license and permits. No real change there. Um we will business and uh professional license are due I think the first. So uh we will be looking at those one more time. Right now we're showing
those as flat. Um there was a few changes in the licens and permits but nothing material. Intergovernmental revenue. Uh here we're making some guesses about what may be in the state budget. um in terms of the highway
assistance, constitutional officers as well as state aid for uh police protection and we have the new number for the city county revenue sharing um which represents about just under a million or about a million7 increase for
27 charges for services. Uh no real change here. Um basically there there is a slight increase in the pilot um from the utility funds. Um most everything else
is basically flat transfers from other funds. You'll notice that no change uh we're not revising anything for 26 but for the 27 budget we are going to be drawing down a little more on that reserve. um it's been out there for
years and so we're just escalating our draw down a little bit to match the escalating um costs that are there. Uh and then finally there is a in under miscellaneous revenues um interest has continued to stay higher than we had originally anticipated higher than what
the markets were projecting. So there is um we have revised that number for both 26 and 27. Um and then the designated revenues, they're basically just representative of um our one the equivalent of 1% on the meals tax. Uh
the city county revenue sharing agreement. Um we do allocate part of that to the operating budget, part of that to the CIP. So these transfers here represent what was in the proposed CIP with a few adjustments. Um and then the
school contracted services. And so with that uh in 26 we're basically uh our revised projections are showing just under a percent and a half or $3.8 million of additional revenue over
budget. And then in for 27 we're currently looking at 11.9 million in new money or an increase of about 4.5%. And so with that, I will pause and answer any questions. >> Any question from council? Jen, I'll
start with you. >> No, no question. >> Lloyd, >> no questions. >> I ask this every time, but just because it's an important date. When will the next update be? >> Um, well, we are winding down this week
for the proposed budget. Uh so in terms you talking about update for revenues, correct? >> Correct. >> Um it probably won't be until your last work session in April uh before you adopt the budget. >> Thank you. >> Mhm. >> Okay.
>> Thank you. >> Is there one more slide after this? Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, there is. This is just a reminder of the work sessions again. the city manager uh will be presenting his proposed budget on March 2nd. We will be
spending every Thursday evening together uh in March um and the first week in April to go through different parts of the budget. There'll be two public hearings, tax rates on March 16th, the budget public hearing on April 6th. There's a community budget form on the
19th and then budget adoption on the 9th, April 9th. lots. Uh we're going to be seeing a lot of each other in the next four to six weeks. So, >> we will. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> So, just a couple other um items. Uh there were two news blasts that went out today and I just wanted to use this moment since it happened today uh for um the public's benefit. Uh with uh snow and all disappearing finally, uh we're
able to resume basic services. So leaf collection services will restart on Monday, February 23rd. Uh we just remind individuals if they would be if they'd like to have more information, they can call the city hotline which is uh
434-9703830. You can also go online to the public works page uh look for leaf collection under public service and the information in regards to where to place your leaves and the schedule uh can be found there. And the second announcement was that we
are engaging in a pothole blitz around the city. Uh we're that will be from February 23rd to March 13th. We're inviting members of the public to point out to us uh what has or has not been reported up to this point. Again,
calling 434-9703830 or using the My Seville app. We will use all that information to prioritize this pothole blitz as a part of our regular process for managing roads in the city. So there's my report. >> Thank you. Um we will now go
>> I'm sorry. Can I ask a quick question? When is the pothole blitz starting? >> I just deleted the message. Um I'm looking for help right now. >> Did anybody catch that? Uh >> because I thought I had it. >> They're taking information now.
>> Yeah, we're taking information now. >> Just want to give folks a deadline of when they have to have that information. >> February 23rd through March 13th. >> Okay. So, get in get info in now is >> Yes, that was the message ASAP. >> Thanks. >> Thank you. We will now um go to action
items. We have a public hearing um a resolution of appropriation to amend the FY um 26 budget for 10 10,000 is that 10 million8 $87549.
Um >> I make that as difficult as possible for you to read that. Sorry about that. Uh good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of council. I'm Chris Cullinin, the city's director of finance. Uh, as the mayor mentioned, this agenda item is a public hearing and resolution of appropriation to amend the FY26 budget, uh, also known
as the year-end appropriation for the most recently completed fiscal year 2025 and to close the city's financial records for 2025. Several year adjustments to various accounts require city council action. These carryovers are the result of either previous city council policy direction or requirements
associated with the funds. And there are really four elements um of this appropriation. I'll touch on each one uh briefly. Uh the largest one is the general fund uh the uh surplus left over once we net out uh the city's reserve
policies and other restricted uses. I discussed this uh at your last meeting as part of the city manager's uh report. That total is 8,52,177 or roughly 3.4% 4% of the FY25 budget. I won't go into the same level of detail
that I did previously, but as you'll recall, uh revenues performed um better than expected, roughly about $7.5 million to the good and expenditures were about $3 million uh under budget. uh per the city's uh long-term financial management plans uh policy, I should
say, uh is recommended that these funds be uh put in the CIP contingency account, and those will be approved by city council with separate resolutions when necessary in the future. In addition to the general fund, there are a few other uh uh housekeeping items
that we need to take care of as well. Facilities repair fund, $24,490.54. These are for uh restricted funds associated with courthouse maintenance and construction that will be carried over uh to the new year. In the grants fund, $10,4428.
These are unspent state fire uh grant funds to be used for eligible expenses. And finally, the last piece is the school's gain sharing amount uh returned to the city of $1,464,765. Uh the recommendation being that these be deposited in the city's debt service fund to help offset debt service costs
related to school projects. Uh that concludes my remarks. I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have. And then as uh as the mayor mentioned, there is also a public hearing on this item. >> Yes. Um council if they have any questions on this, any questions on this? No.
>> If not, I will open up the public hearing for this item. Would anyone like to speak on this? Miss Walker. I advocate for you all to consider using funds like this and funds that will come up in the future and maybe even consider
some of the policy um changes that we considered before, whether the reserves needed to be at the level that they are currently um at and bond ratings and stuff like that to make sure that your most vulnerable citizens that black citizens, as all the members of the
slave auction block group just talked about, people who built this city, the descendants of are taken care of. I also know that you are are probably still advised to not use one-time funding for things that will take, you know,
multiple years of funding, but this is an example PHA presentation of one-time funding. I also would like to say that, and I wasn't planning on saying this, so I'm getting my thoughts together as I go. When we put the $10 million towards
affordable and with 50% of that deeply affordable, that was the minimum and we were supposed to increase that every year for housing to maintain ownership in the city um through CHAP program. Those are programs that you all have failed to increase and I think when I
made them a priority, the CHAP program hadn't been changed since 2006. Um, again, no notes, but that's what I think. So, when you all consider uses for this one-time funding, I know you all have taken a very conservative practice. People thought that Wes and I
spent way too much way too fast, but I think it would be equivalent to how many times the um FAR has been um here over the last 20 years begging you all to listen to them, the individuals that just spoke about the slave auction block, how many months it takes. What I
repeatedly heard when I was on council was for us to wait and not advocate as strongly for black people and lowincome people, which meant that people who were normally prioritized, the wealthiest of this community, continue to be prioritized. So when you think about
what does one-time funding look like, I don't understand why you don't consider usage like PHA. I know there's a deadline on that decision. You all made that decision I think February 2nd. Um I know Sunshine is rapidly working to
change plans and you all will have to provide input to say we can come up with a different strategy for that for whatever the current plan that he and his team um are going to construct to change course. And so please consider
that when you think about good um usage of funding like this and the fact that we have a surplus every year. I know it's decreasing, but it's still pretty significant. >> Thank you.
Would anyone else like to speak? >> If if not, I will close the public hearing. And this is the first of two readings. So, we will um if there's no objections, we can move this to the
consent agenda. or does anyone have any comments as we close this out? This >> I would I raise this every time, but I think moving the majority into it to
um as we are definitely makes sense and I know where it is provides flexibility and council votes on it. I do still think explicitly earmarking some portion of it for land acquisition for affordable housing would be important just to ensure that we kind of
institutionalize that practice within the city. Um I thought it was interesting in the work session that he called out land acquisition as one of the most impactful policies for affordable housing. It's cheaper per unit than new construction. And we know we're going to have some
high-profile um affordable housing communities with low-inccome housing tax credit affordability periods ending. So, I know this doesn't eliminate that flexibility for us, but I do think it would help us just to be clear in
the intent of what we're prioritizing. >> Thank you. Um, is there um desire to move this to the consent agenda item? Do we want to have further discussion on this? >> I'm fine with moving a consent agenda
unless I mean if if Michael wants to have another discussion of it next next time, that's fine, too. But >> I mean, we've discussed this before. I mean it's a if I'm not in the majority there's no reason to have a discussion but
>> okay >> is fine with me. >> Okay. Thank you. The next item we have is the public hearing ordinance an ordinance for city code chapter 34 the development for zoning text amendment. This is on tier one and two.
All right. Good evening, Mayor, City Council. I'm Matt Alfie, the development planning manager with NDS. Tonight, you have two related public hearings. One for the proposed amendments to the development code and the other for the updates to the neighborhood development services
fee schedule. While these are separate actions, you will need to hold and you will need to hold separate public hearings. I will cover both of these items in one presentation tonight. When the city adopted the new development code in December 2023, it represented a
major shift toward a form-based zoning ordinance aligned with the 2021 comprehensive plan. As expected with any framework, it we identified areas that needed refinement. And over the past year, staff in the planning commission has worked to address these issues
through a tiered approach. Tonight, we are present the tier one and tier 2 amendments along with the fee schedule update to support some of these changes. This is an annual process and staff and planning commission have already begun work on the 2026 amendments.
This evening's public hearing will cover both these amendments. Both actions are part of the ongoing commitment to improving the development review process. Maybe there we go. The development code was adopted in December 2023 to implement a
form-based zoning ordinance and increase housing opportunities by allowing more types of housing throughout the city. Since adoption, staff has identified issues ranging from minor errors to clarifying needs uh and clar needs for clarification. We organize changes into
three tiers. Tier one for technical changes, tier two for small amendments and improvements, and tier three for future work policy changes. The best analogy I give in this is like having a car. Tier one is washing the car. Tier
two is changing the oil. Tier three is there's something wrong with the transmission and we need to to look at it professionally. Tier one includes 63 amendments mostly technical in nature and uh that correct spelling errors and grammatical errors and include legislative updates.
Examples include fixing uh scrier errors, restoring missing language, and incorporating state law changes like HB 2660 and SB uh 974. These changes ensure clarity and compliance without altering
the policy of the co of the development plan. on the screen are some examples of these uh small changes and these are the outline of the two bills that I spoke to. They clarify some
of the uh review timelines and uh clarify some of the functions that planning commission can now do. The tier 2 amendments include 23 amendments addressing oversightes and clarifying standards. These changes improve interpretations and
implementations without changing the oversaw overall policy or intent of the development code. They also support our development review process through improvements. Some of the highlights from the tier 2 examples are clarifying setbacks to
allow attached dwelling types such as duplexes in town homes to clarify the accessory structures uh to make it easier for additions um or supporting structures in the non-conforming section of the code to
clarify the height bonus standards that align with our affordable housing requirements. This goes to that um we actually have one R district that allows a height bonus, but it's not spoken to in the bonus section. So, this clarifies that. And also clearing up our fences
and walls, which has been um an area that has eaten up a lot of staff's time and the review process and also very importantly improving our development review process. Uh we are changing some of the development review
to allow for more streamline review for smaller projects and to codify some of the exemptions that have been currently done through policy and that is supported in that is supported in the update to the fee schedule. Uh as part of the
development review process update, we are going to one development plan and a major and minor site plan. Um, and so the fee schedule represents those changes along with getting sublots as a fee category and having a uh dedicated
application and fee for our transportation uh our TDM plans. Uh the public engagement uh for this has been ongoing. We uh the amendments reflect nearly a year of work including multiple planning commission work sessions and a public hearing on January
13th where the planning commission voting unanimously to recommend approval of these amendments. Staff recommends council approve both the development code amendments and the updated fee schedule uh with a target implementation date of late March.
Uh this concludes my formal presentation and clo in closing. These amendments and fee updates are not just technical fixes. They are part of a larger effort to make our development review process more efficient, practical, and aligned with the city goals. By adopting these changes, we ensure the development code
remains a strong tool for shaping growth and supporting housing and land use priorities. Before closing and moving to the public hearings, I would like to take a moment to thank the dedicated development review staff with Indian within NDS who have worked very hard over this past year to get where we are
tonight. With that, thank you and I'm available to answer any questions. >> Thank you. Before we open up the public hearing, um, does council have questions? >> Yes. >> Okay. I'll start with you can start. um
on the redlinined list of of uh the track change list of um updates. Um for the rules for accessory uses, there's uh a new line that says no accessory building or structure may be used for dwelling purposes. This is not the same
section as accessory dwelling units, right? That is >> correct. We don't have accessory dwelling units. Accessory is meaning a shed. Um we just have dwelling units. So like I know we're all very used to ADU term and under this code that is only for affordable dwelling unit not
accessory dwelling unit >> right which is frustrating but that's okay but for this this no accessory building or structure may be used for dwelling purposes that doesn't preclude someone from building a unit in their backyard. >> Correct. No it's just a house. >> Correct. No you could have that if that
allow that density is allowed. It is just saying you can't you need to provide a principal use before an accessory use. having two dwelling units, even if one's smaller, those are two principal uses. It's not accessory to anything. >> I see. Okay. Thank you. That made me
nervous. Um, but I also did want to appreciate the um there's something down here. Oh, um the updated graphic uh page 2-41 um that adjusted the um visual that
originally had a step back. Now it doesn't. And I wanted to appreciate that um because I don't like stepbacks. But um it was nice to it was confusing. It indicated it seemed to indicate that a step back was required and I appreciated cleaning that up along with all of the
other work um that uh that was done and uh for your team and for the planning commission to review this in advance. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Is that Michael?
I'm happy to move to the public hearing. Um, just for the public's benefit, these are zoning text amendments. Could you just walk through uh what that process is, how it plays out, and what goes on to get us to this moment where council is discussing and voting on a zoning
text amendment? >> Certainly. And I'll put it in the context again of these being a tier one and tier two. So um these were initiated by planning commission which takes an initiated action either planning commission or city council can initiate
a zoning text amendment. Um the next step is then for staff to study what has been asked. Uh there needs to be a at minimum a public hearing at planning commission so they can make a recommendation and then city council
holds a public hearing where they take final action. for the more complicated tier three. Those we when those issues arise, we identifying those as needing a very dedicated and robust public engagement aspect. These the really the
only public engagement is the public hearings. There were some work sessions um and a listening session with builders where there was feedback, but for items um the example I'll give that's been on the the uh tier three list is commercial and residential neighborhoods. That was
an idea that the code originally had. You know, we stepped back but wanted to address it again. That would need a very robust public engagement aspect going to the public. uh going to where the public is to get their input in forming that which adds you know adds more time. So
something like this where we identified the public engagement steps would be the public hearing do move a little bit quicker but still require 3 to four months minimum in um obviously initiating a zoning text
amendment is not a requirement that any change gets made but it is the beginning of a process which allows something to be publicly considered and discussed. >> Correct. Thank you. >> I have a quick question. Is there a plan
to revisit the fee schedule on a regular basis or? >> Not necessarily regular. It's as as needed. That does not go to planning commission. It just comes to um city council for a public hearing. I imagine it would probably be amended in the not
too distant future. As you know, there's a um process going on with the homeay the Airbnb. And as they're they're working through those changes and policies, there's probably be a need to amend the fee schedule again to add uh any new fees for that.
>> Thank you. >> I also wanted to make one more note. Um something that had been confusing and frustrating in the original draft and is cleaned up here was the story versus height, how it was both, but you really just need one. And so I also appreciate
that that was adjusted. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. So, did you have anything? >> No, I I spent an inordinate amount of time going through the 60some changes and I all I can say is I didn't see
anything that jumped out at me, but there is an awful lot of hyper techchnical stuff in there and frankly I that's the sort of thing that I've always relied on the planning commission to get right. Uh they spend more time with the details of that than than
council does. Uh, and I didn't see anything in there that caused me thoughts of, hey, this is really a uniquely a council problem. So, I'm I'm fine with it as it is. >> Thank you. Um, I will now open up the public hearing um for
um um so what I know we're having you just covered both of them. What which one should this one be? Does it make a difference? >> You're right. amendments. I probably would do the amendment public hearing um and then the fees schedule. >> That's first on the agenda
>> version for sure. Okay. Are there any comments on the um zoning text amendments? I'm sorry. We're open the public hearing for that. Would anyone like to speak on this? Emily, >> good evening again. Emily Drifus with
Legal A Justice Center and um I appreciate that you all recently stated council's commitment to prioritizing public engagement. I also appreciated the concept of building public trust that the mayor emphasized recently. Um and you really stand at a crossroads.
These particular zoning amendments that are before you are um not very relevant to most people because they are like Matthew shared that they're correcting typos and small things that need to be tweaked. Um but public input and
building trust really need to focus on you making a correction that has not yet been discussed. Fear and pressure from developers need to be set aside and fairness should really carry this moment. Um, from 19 2019 to 2023, I
worked closely with members of the Charlottesville Low-Income Housing Coalition to ensure that the voices of over 300 historically harmed people were heard. They resoundingly supported anti-displacement protections and quality of life improvements for the major corn neighborhoods, Tenth and
Page, Rose Hill, and Fville. One of the key protections was the core neighborhood corridor overlays to ensure no more dairy markets would tower above people's homes and to slow mass displacement and loss of culture. However, the overlays were not
implemented as promised and they're not strong enough to meet their intended purposes. You can correct that now. um and the zoning text amendment that the community needs would it could establish a three-story limit specifically around the core neighborhoods and perhaps
include a special use permit process to potentially offer two more stories of increased height if 20% of the building's homes were dedicated to 50% AMI affordable housing. We don't need studies or lengthy engagement processes
because we did that in from 2019 to 2023. That was done. This really is a correction. Core neighborhood residents should not have massive new developments overshadowing and isolating them and eroding their communities. Developers
concerns can be addressed by increasing height in the JPA and Stadium Road neighborhoods. The information about West Haven redevelopment that was included in your packet tonight showed the proposed LB Collective building as though it was a fact, even though no application has
been submitted. So, it truly is not too late to correct and not continue the patterns of racist land use decisions made by past city councils. Loss of culture isn't an academic idea. The unraveling of neighborhood fabric
means that elders and families face a variety of unmet needs. And it's likely that you, as more affluent community members, have not experience the benefits of these types of support. But they truly are critical and can mean all the difference between a child's success or an elers's placement in a nursing
home. Amending the zoning text to fulfill the strong core neighborhood corridor protections that were discussed and promised to residents will help preserve culture, improve quality of life among historically harmed residents, and support future affordable housing redevelopment. Please
immediately correct the code. Thank you. >> Thank you, Emily. Um, Wendy, >> um, I am going to second what Emily just said in more blunt terms. Um, the tier system, it's BS, frankly. Um, the issues
that community members have been coming to y'all for months and months. It's almost been seven months at this point. um it needs to be faster than this tier three that y'all are trying to consider in like months. Um the NDS staff member said that tier three is like if there's
a problem with the transmission and the it needs to be professionally looked at. The professionals have looked at it. They have diagnosed it. The professionals are the people who live in these communities. There is no other professional. There's no other consultant that you need to hire. There's no other city staff, no economic
analysis that is going to beat the people who are literally living this whose ancestors and they come from lineages that have lived this. Those are the professionals. They have diagnosed this. It is it's been diagnosed to you all. You don't need any more any more
studies. You need to listen to those professionals who are coming to you and telling you what needs to be done. I think the justification that the city and NDS has been using for this like long drawn out tier three approach is that it needs to like be like there needs to be extensive community engagement that needs to be done. But
the community engagement is being done for y'all. Like there are people who are coming to city council. It's literally saving you all staff salary and staff time to just listen to the residents who are showing up for you. And every resident that comes to you is a node of community. Like Miss Althia told you,
Miss Terry told you, Miss Angela Carr has told you, everybody who comes to speak publicly and come into this room represent so many families and so many like um like community connections. They're doing the community outreach for you guys. You just need to listen to
them. So, you need to fast track a zoning amendment, initiate a zoning text amendment. I know y'all are worried about lawsuits or whatever, but like in order to start the legal analysis, you have to start the process. Um, and then last thing that I will say because I'm already here. Um, councelor Fleer, I'm
just going to say it like it's been disappointing seeing you up here. Like you couldn't even second counselor Payne's um land acquisition for affordable housing motion. Um, I'm It's been disappointing for me. It's been disappointing for community members who
I work with. Um, Friends of FAR has said it like we thought that you were going to step up for us more and you haven't. Um and and we thought that you would so I just wanted to name that. >> Thank who anyone else like to speak on
this? Yes, sir. >> Hi there. I'm Frank Bector again and maybe I'll have 30 seconds to just formulate some thoughts on this, but it's a simple idea. Uh, I'd like if I could to relate this to the previous
section, which I wish I could have raised my hand for if I knew what the heck I might say, but you were talking about surpluses then. That's really great to have surpluses. Um especially in a situation where with
zoning, which many people, including myself, have strongly encouraged you just as as the previous two speakers did to to to really address significant zoning changes now. And if I
might may just first note, why not already? That's it. It just seems strange or offensive that you know it's one thing if somebody raises their hand a couple people come but for month after month after month meeting after
meeting at least some people a good number of people have shown up at various meetings and including here. So why hasn't there been a direction let's initiate uh whatever study needs to be done if a study needs to be done because it
strikes me that if you have a if if you establish a process there's a study going on now about zoning changes you're somewhat protected legally. I don't I'm no lawyer I don't know that exactly but in the context of surpluses I just want
to point out as an idea um Mr. Sanders is emphasizing, you know, it's it's um he's I I've really enjoyed attending workshops that Mr. Sanders has hosted and about how how we budget out money, what are people's preferences and and
the complexities of that. So, I think now is a context where I have heard, you know, it's just there's nothing we can do. We're worried about lawsuits and things like that. We just have nothing to do. But when I'm told, at least as just some citizen, that you have
millions of dollars of surplus, I do think that that conceivably there's a lot of uses those surpluses can go to. So, and I hope they're put to the best uses, but one possible use is buying out areas that are currently you feel you
can't do anything about, you'd like to do everything about. You really agree with people who want something done, but you just feel you can't do anything. Well, one thing you might do, especially if those things are for affordable housing, is simply buy out the current interest in those and then you can be
responsive to community and to your own goals uh that in in a way that you would be more pleased with for developing those areas for affordable housing. So, um that's from the previous section, but also for this one too. July 2nd and
third the notion of getting to the major changes now and I hope public engagement doesn't mean a way to dilute all of the things that have already been told to you. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else like to >> Yes. >> Good afternoon. Yeah,
>> I mean what evening. Um, still as a lowincome resident, there's still harm that is still being done to us. And even in that harm, that's daily living of still trying to figure out what is it that we're going to do? Why are we going
to continue to have these zoning codes that are not in place for displacement? It still feels as Vinegar Hill can still take place at any time. But I want to ask the question. I know
majority of y'all own your own home. So if you don't own your own home or you're renting, you're probably in prestige neighborhoods. You're not in lowincome neighborhoods. So with that being said, how would y'all
feel if y'all had a building over towering your home where you can't see anything? You can't really see no sunlight. You can't sit on your porch and enjoy what you were looking at. You might, you know, you might see a bird or
two. You might have a little bush over here. But when you have a big building or building, multiple buildings that are enclosing you in, you don't be able, you don't enjoy the beauty. You're paying your money what what you're barely
making to afford to live, but you have all this beauty with the big luxury. This zone over here gives them access to do this, gives them access to do that. But in your neighborhood, you're not living like that. You're living where
you pay your money and you want to enjoy where you live. That's what we want to do. We want to enjoy where we live at as well. We don't want to keep looking at buildings. Even though I know things going to going to be going up, right, but we don't want to continue to have to
look up like we look up every day. Every day it's I mean, it's time of looking up. We've been looking up in this city for a long time. And the longer we keep looking up, y'all continue to look down. So, I need for y'all to please
take heed and listen to us and really understand what it is that we're asking. I mean, these lawsuits, yeah, we've been in lawsuits for years, but what has that done? That hasn't rectified the problem that we still as the people still
endure. So I would just like still ask put yourself in them neighborhoods and put those uh obstructions in those buildings over towering you and tell me how you will feel. Thank you.
>> Thank you >> Joy. Again, my name is Joy Johnson and I am just a little annoyed because we've been coming to this council now for months. It seemed like six
months. It seemed like a year. I think I only missed three meetings. And this text amendment um thing is coming up. But yet still no one reached out and said, "Hey, you need to pay attention to this." I think
Miss Scar spoke to this about the people who is going to be mostly effective don't understand. So they don't come in these chambers and the people who kind of understand come in here and plead to you all. It's a reason we plead to you
all. We know a little bit. We don't know enough. And so why is the planning department in this city not engaging better with residents or engaged better about these things so
that you can have people coming to council voicing the opinion and if they don't understand this is where you come and ask in the public hearing that you don't understand. I'm back there looking like oh wait a minute why haven't we paid attention to
this? We've been paying attention to so many little things that some of these things that you all are getting ready to vote on overshadow us. But why is Mr. Freeze, why is the planning department not engaging a little bit more with the
community that these um changes that you're making is going to um affect us? Why? That's why I'm a little annoyed. I've been in a meeting with you, been in a meeting with some, been in meeting with rest of you all. But nobody said, "Hey,
you might want to pay attention to this. This is coming up." That's engagement. Shame on you. That's engagement. But then when we come here and we plead, it's like, "Oh, we can't do anything." We pleading because we don't understand.
We don't know. And we want it to affect the neighborhoods correctly. I am just annoyed with this council. I love you, Sam, but I'm a little annoyed right now because there is no
detail saying what does, you know, the height bonus and all of that. What does that mean? Now we have to go scrambling and go back and and double check. Some of us don't understand it. I rely on click and them lawyers to tell me to pay
attention to certain things. But I also know that the planning department has a responsibility to to the residents here to be an advocate and I don't see that. >> Thank you. Would anyone else like to
speak? It's just going to be quick. Um because what I've been sitting there and just the car it it was it was the car analogy thing for me that kind of set me off when I'm thinking about um repair. Um, I don't want my car transmission to
continuously be broken if I know that I've had the diagnos or the diagnostic tools or it's been given at least in some capacity. And I think that that's why people are feeling the way that they're feeling like to say we will
prioritize small track changes when we understand the bigger problem, >> right? >> That is I think why people feel that the way that they're feeling. it it doesn't it doesn't feel good to know yes I have this car I have I I I want to fix it I
have the resources let me fix it um and so just putting that back out there um and trying to like from a far perspective I'm once again still new we're still figuring it out but I absolutely wholeheartedly agree
with Miss Joy there has to be better community engagement coming from you all as well because we are doing our very best to get community members here. I don't think you know how difficult it is to ask someone who's worked maybe two, three, four jobs, and I know some of
y'all do as well, but to come and then sit here all night long, most of it, you know, it's it's over my head sometimes. I'm just being honest. So, how are we really helping communities to really engage in dialogue in these huge
lifealtering things that are going to happen? My car is now broken and now I have to walk to work because I know that I have a problem and I can't get it fixed. That's like having a a German car and I only have a Japanese uh representation to fix
it. Like it it's not making sense. But we know what car we have here. Tier three. Y that's I've learned that one, two, and three. I don't know anything else. I know where one, two, and three. If we're at mass three, fix the car. We
got the resources. And so that's the best way I can do it. I will continue to empower our community members to be encouraged and come to this space even when sometimes they don't feel welcomed because of how they do feel unwelcomed.
They don't understand what's happening. and we are not doing all of our due diligence as community to make sure that all community is welcome. So, we're doing it. We're trying to bring them here. Help us help you. Help us to make our car better to so that we can drive and get to where we need to go because
it doesn't make sense to have this vehicle that's now just sitting when we know the problem. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Um, would anyone else like to speak on this item? If not, I will close the the public
hearing on this. Um um I appreciate your comments. Um we we should and do a better job of public outreach and and that's something that we need to work on. So thank you. Appreciate that.
Um so um any other comments um from council on this? Well, I would say the amendments in front of us tonight are very small technical ones that don't really have any substantive impact. I shouldn't say
that, but a very small substantive impact on the code. Um, I think all of the amendments in front of us tonight I have no issues with. They're very small and technical. And everything I'm about to say is not at all a criticism of staff because staff has done what city council has directed you all to do. And
but I am going to cast what I know is a protest vote against this. Not because of the substance of the specific text, but this process will not and cannot address concerns we've heard from the community for almost a year now. Um the tears approach won't work and we do need
to address the concerns being raised by the community on a much faster timeline. I think the way that has to look is initiating a zoning text amendment which does not force us to even say a change would be made but starts a process by which we could investigate different questions
around it. Have the planning commission discuss it and have it come to us and be transparent with the community about wherever we end up on the issue. Um, but if we don't do that, we're not going we're just not going to address the concerns that have been
raised o over the past few months. Um, and um, I'll just end by stepping back. I mean, what we've heard again tonight, we have a radical economic change being imposed right behind one of the oldest black
churches in the entire state of Virginia, over 250 years old. the building, a congregation that formed during the Civil War. We have a radical economic change being imposed next to our largest public housing sites in areas that were the exact places urban
renewal happened. And I include myself in this in terms of the the when the new zoning was developed, and this is no one's fault, but it was the pandemic. We did not have the ability to go to people and meet with them and say, "Do workshops. This is what CX3 looks like.
This is what CX5 looks like. this is what NX10 looks like. Let's walk through the economic implications, what it's going to mean for your neighborhood. And so, what we're hearing is almost nobody in these neighborhoods even knew that NX10 and CX8 and CX-5 were the designations and the implications of that. And I think if we can just
initiate a zoning text amendment to either establish renting by the bedroom as a use type and have a special exception permit for it or expanding the core neighborhood overlay, we can at least create a foundation to have those conversations that just weren't possible
in the pandemic because otherwise we're imposing massive economic changes on these communities when they simply weren't involved in that process. And I do think um again, this is no criticism of staff because you're doing what city council has directed you to do, but city council has to adjust and acknowledge we
made a mistake. There's a different way to do this. >> Thank you, Michael. Other comments on this before we take a vote on the tier one and two two changes. Uh, just to clarify, now that the tier one and two
changes are checking off the list, does that give staff bandwidth to review any tier three items that might already be on their list? >> So, just for for clarification, one of the um the tier 3es are part of the NDS
work plan. So when something is identified as tier three, then it needs to be worked into the larger development NDS work plan that the director is putting together that involves the the long range planning department. So our side is the development review partner.
So we're only on actually reviewing plans and then our long range planning department is looking at some of those larger issues. Do you are you quite familiar with the work plan off the top of your head or >> I'm I'm not but I know um Director Brown
will be coming forward uh in the near future with looking at the 2026 27 27 work plan with y'all. >> Yeah, I know we've seen it. I don't have it in front of me so I I can't refer to it exactly but um my question would only be um at
meeting last month, I forget if it was the first or the second one. um we all kind of loosely seem to agree that revising the um uh co-l livingiving I liked that that word that he used
earlier um uh area to reflect closer the geography of JPA Stadium Ivy was something that we would all be um inclined towards. So Sam, do you know if that made it on the work plan?
I don't I'm looking at the schedule right now. The next presentation by Miss Brown is scheduled for April 20th and that's the ADU manual. >> Okay. So, we can maybe reach out and see if that's on the work plan somewhere. Um but um because it does take three of us to
direct any one thing and so gathering that and and initiating that is a strategy to to make things happen. So all five of us kind of lean towards that at the meeting, but other stuff is has yet to be kind of specifically >> Would you restate the item that you're
interested in? We can at least I can actually take a look at that. Certainly the um the request to shift the uh co-l livingiving um uh radius to be more
along uh JPA stadium Ivy areas as discussed in the meeting two or three ago. >> Yeah. So the the ADU manual updates and other related items are are part of the update that uh Miss Brown will be giving at that meeting. And when we say ADU
here, >> affordable dwelling unit. >> So this is this item is meant to follow up on on what on that discussion from January. >> Yeah. Thank you. Okay. So that likely is in the work plan somewhere. >> Great. >> Yeah.
>> Which to be clear does not address the concerns raised tonight. Although I do support uh reducing or eliminating the 0.5 mile student housing radius, but it simply does not address the concerns.
And I just want wherever majority of council comes down, I I genuinely believe this. These communities deserve to have clarity from us. If this is the direction we want, let's be clear about it to them. At least that >> Mr. Mayor. >> Yeah. I I just wanted to make a couple
of comments. The first in response to something that uh Mr. Rifus had suggested talking about the possibility of giving a twotory height bonus if 20% of the units are affordable. The problem with that very specifically is the extra
two stories drive us into a more expensive method of construction which means that they don't make money. So having more affordable units as a consequence isn't the benefit. And so one of the things that we found as we looked at the economics
uh one of the things we've found repeatedly as we've looked at the economics in the last couple of years is that the only thing the the only kind of construction that is going to pencil out as they say uh in um to to go higher is
university student oriented housing. Nothing else gets to where it needs to get to to be able to be built. Um the other just a couple of other comments. Um I don't
I remember that we had some mention of the question of whether there should be increased density in the JPA neighborhood. The one caution I'm I had made at the time was don't think that it's necessarily going to give many more units as a consequence because we are
displacing university students when we build in some of those places. Uh and so number one there's a there's a certain cost in that respect as well. Number two, uh we've heard a lot over the last
few years, not in the last six months, but the last few years, uh from the people in the JPA neighborhood, the residents in the JPA neighborhood, not just students, who really don't want to be more overrun by large apartment
buildings. Uh and I think we we need to be I I don't think we've had the the full-blooded or the fullthroated discussion of that issue. uh that you know may be suggested that we've had um
and I can't help but note that um I' I've said this before when in into in 2023 when we were having the discussion of more height more density uh and there was specifically a suggestion that I had
made that we limit uh the greater density and greater height to five stories in in and around the the core neighborhoods without a special use permit. I didn't even get a second for that. Uh I think that if there is a change in heart or because we've got a
couple new members of council now that we didn't have at that time, maybe there would be a change in the numbers. U that that would be fine. But >> I don't just want to quibble, but I creation of the core neighborhood overlay is because
there was agreement on that concern. So, it's not as extensive as I would have wanted in the process, but the may not have been as extensive as you wanted either, but the core neighborhood overlay was at least an agreement to move in that direction. And so I'm >> certainly the people in the JPA
neighborhood I don't think are aware that somebody would be up here saying that council has agreed that we need to increase their density. >> I don't think that that has been communicated to them. >> There would need to be community engagement like there would need to be
for for any neighborhood, but I think we all kind of indicated that's something we would be interested in starting the process towards. Um and for I absolutely appreciate your first note about it's going to replace some so it might not be as much as we think but the verve uh
which is 1,200 beds replaced 64. So yeah we lost 64 but we got you know a ton more. So >> if your answer is you want to put more Verve hotel Verve units or Verve apartment buildings in JPA that I
suspect is going to be a difficult cell. Mhm. >> So, I we're already getting the Verve and the other the one on JPA is 350 beds or something like that and we're getting uh the Ivy Road and
>> Yeah. And I'm sorry we're we're off your presentation topic a little bit, but um something to note about that is as we got the the student demand study um with 27,000 students and only 10,000 housing units for all of those students, there's
still 17,000 students that need somewhere to live. And that 10,000 includes the 3,000 that are currently under construction, I think. So anyway, it's 10 10 total by the end of what's being built at the moment. Um, which means that
we're not putting a dent yet. We still have to have more larger things and and >> Well, I'm going to call a question on on this if any other comments on it. >> Okay.
Um, we can um vote on this one tonight. So, is there a motion to um >> I move to adopt the attached ordinance amending the city DC chapter 34 as presented? >> I'll second that.
>> Okay, we will vote electronically. The motion passes 4 to one. The next item on the agenda is a public hearing and ordinance update to neighborhood development services fee schedule for land use and development
review. councilors. I won't redo the presentation, but this ties into the amendments, updating the development code to include some of the changes in the amendments, including uh going to a just a straight development plan, having
a major and minor site plan, a uh sublot application, an easement application, and a traffic demand application with a fee. And you'll need to hold a public hearing on this. >> Okay. Okay, before we do, see if there's
any questions or comments um from council >> down here. >> Quick question. Were the Were these also run by the various stakeholder groups that you double checked with at first? >> The these were not necessary because
they didn't go to planning commission. They were ran through um our peer review and and checked internally. They actually reflect fees that were kind of in place before we adopted. So, they're very similar fees. um back to our old code when we had a uh preliminary site
plan and final site plan. So they're they're very much in line and we did do um we did do uh Pier City research research which is similar but that is all over the map just depending on the community. >> Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it.
>> Okay. >> So um I will open up the the public hearing. Would anyone like to speak on this? If not, I will close the public hearing on this. Any further discussion among council on this on this? If not, I will
call the um vote. Um >> I move to adopt the attached ordinance amending the city's NDS department and city's public works fee schedule as presented. Okay. Second. >> Second. All right. So, we will vote on this.
Motion passes five to zero. The next item on the agenda is a public hearing and ordinance for a quick claim natural gas easement. Um Jason Jason. >> Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, and counselors. My name is Jason Mwley. I'm
the deputy director for utilities and tonight I will be speaking with you uh to you about a uh quick claim natural gas easement in the 5B block of the sub Belvadier subdivision in Alamarl County. In 2023, the city of Charlottesville
acquired a natural gas line easement from Greenwood Greenwood Holdings. Portions of the easement are located within Miranda Crossing and Fowler Street in block 5B of the Belvadier subdivision. The roads are now public rights of way and the Virginia Department of
Transportation is prepared to accept those roads into the state highway system. The attached ordinance proposes to quick claim portions of an existing natural gas easement for VOTE to accept these roads into the state maintenance system. The natural gas facilities will
continue to be owned and maintained by the city even after the easement is quick claimed to the state. The city's natural gas facilities are required to remain in their present locations and if any street cease to be part of the highway system, the gas line will revert. The gas line easement will
revert back to the city. In accordance with Virginia code, a public hearing is required to allow the public a chance to comment on a proposed conveyance of a public property interest and notice to the public was uh advertised at least 7
days prior to this meeting. City utility staff recommends city council adopt the attached ordinance authorizing the quick claim of the portions of the existing natural gas easement to VOTE, allowing it to accept said roads into the state highway system. City utility staff also
recommend city council wave any required second reading and I'm available for any questions that you may have. >> Okay, thank you. Before I open up the public hearing, I see if council has any questions. >> No questions. Okay, I will open up the public hearing
for this. Would anyone like to speak on this matter? >> If not, I will call I will close the public hearing and um call the question um for this, please. I move to adopt the attached ordinance authorizing the quick claim of portions of an existing city natural gas easement
to VOTE allowing it to accept said roads into the state highway maintenance system. I also move that city council wave any required second reading. >> Second. >> Second. Okay, we'll vote on this. Thank you. Um, we're now at the opportunity for second community
matters. Would anyone like to speak? >> If not, um, can I get a motion to adjurnn, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Second. All in favor, please say yes. >> All oppose, please say no. Thank you all very much. It's a great, great meeting.