I dream. Sure. Um, hello. Um, let's see. I just had a tree commission meeting and a parks and w uh commission meeting. The tree commission meeting about half of the board turned over, so we have a lot of new members. Um, there's continued
interest in working with NDS on stronger tree preservation measures for private property because they feel like, you know, we've done a lot on public property, but how do you keep some of these very um old trees
that offer a lot of shade? Um, trying to think what else was discussed. Well, and they had just done the state of the forest, so we sort of went over what was in that report. Um, parks and wreck, we were looking at the fees for programs,
um, and some fees and policies that might be changing. Um, and we actually voted to make the potentially make the pools free for 17 and under this year due to um the s
it's a long story. The summer camps can't use these schools because all of the schools are moving the the fifth graders to elementary. You know, there's a lot up in the air. They can't take as many kids in the summer camps and blah blah blah. So anyway, so there was some
discussion about like maybe for this summer we'd kind of release the valve a little bit and just please come to the pool. Um and I think that's all for now. >> Okay. >> Thank you.
Um, no tech did not meet since our last meeting, but the NO policy board uh did meet and one of the things that they did was uh move along the smart scale applications which are due to the state on August 1st. So there are four no
projects, four Al County projects, uh, and I think just one city project. And so the one that's most relevant to us is the Ridge McIntyre West main intersection um which I know there's been some public meetings about um city council I believe
is going to um consider a resolution to support these applications at some point in July. Um, but this is kind of we're getting close to the close to the end of this well beginning of this. I don't know where the applications go in and
then we find out next year what is being funded through smart scale. That's all I have. >> Thank you. >> The Virginia Department of Housing Community Development uh board met to discuss uh fire code and building code yesterday. Uh they adopted a single
stair at the fourth story in R2. Uh they did not adopt it uh at the fifth story and the sixth story. Uh they did not adopt uh smaller and more affordable elevators at six stories and below. >> And that's for the 2027 Virginia
building code. >> We can you email that to us? I was trying to write that down. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> It sounds good, but not as good as it could be. Okay. I've got nothing to report tonight.
>> Uh nothing on CDBG. We're done. We spoke to them last last meeting. Um briefly, I was at BPAC last week and we heard updates from the city about projects on Rose Hill Drive. They're proposing a pre alternative, which is a two-way cycle track on the um east side of Rose Hill.
Um there's information on on Connect Seville. Um and also a loading zone project at Summit Elementary where this there's troubles with um dropping off and picking up kids. They're going to experiment with a quick build loading or drop off zone um on the road behind
Montichello. Um possibly controversial so good to follow. Also on um can I ask questions to previous reports or is that out of out of order? Okay. uh on MO policy and next steps on smart scale projects. You mentioned
there will be a presentation to council. Uh I know that some of the projects are uncontroversial and some maybe are more controversial. Who has to say yes for them all to go forward or is that not certain yet? >> Uh the no currently plans to ask city
council for a resolution in support of the no projects. My read of the smart scale technical manual is that it's not actually required by smart scale. Um but there are two MO projects where two city reps on policy board did not support the
two county reps did support and VOTE um uh broke the tie voting in support which is kind of odd for VOTE to be participating in and the NO in that way but that's that's what they did. So, um I believe the NO would like the support
of city council, but it's not legally required. >> Okay. Thanks. >> All right. Um had a couple of meetings. The uh first meeting was with Loop Heek. um uh a couple of presentations, but at
the end of the day, they all revolved around 29 North and what's happening with the intelligence facility out that way and what will be happening with Astroynica when Astroenica uh arrives. I copied you guys on uh the presentations, but a couple things that just made me
go, hm. Um number one, they're going to invest $4.5 billion in that facility. The other thing that made me go hm >> Astroenica. Okay. >> I'm sorry. Yeah. Astrogenica. The um the other thing that made me go is the
minimum salary for people that work for Astroenica at that facility is going to be $125,000. Unbelievable. They hope to break ground uh third quarter 2027. So looking forward to seeing that happen. The other
meeting was uh with uh the BCVA and this was a revisit of the fight bill uh issue that's been in the uh news quite a bit. If you remember, we ruled um a couple of months ago with the zoning administrator. Um the question
before us was is this development with within 0.5 miles of the grounds of UVA? Uh a couple of months ago we ruled that it was but the vote was uh two to two tie. So the uh the ballot gets to appeal
again. They came back uh last month and appealed again. We ruled again in favor of the uh zoning administrator that the development was in fact within uh.5 miles of uh UVA. This was an objective ruling. It was a technical ruling. It
had nothing to do with whether or not this is uh good for the community, whether or not it's uh we we we like this the aesthetics, but I have to say that I totally agree with the bar ruling uh because the bar rule uh voted to deny
the application and I was a little disappointed that council overruled the bar. Mr. boards. >> I have a few updates regarding upcoming UVA capital work. Um these items will be shared at the uh building and grounds committee that's scheduled to take place
in the first week of June. So the first one is the school of data science entrepreneurship building. Uh some of you may you know if you know where the existing school of data science is, this is the parcel that's immediately west of it. Um it's currently a service drive and some uh patches of green lawn. on.
It was always imagined as a development site and what's being proposed is a 60,000 gross square foot um academic building across five stories. Some of the program highlights include classrooms, research and seminar spaces, faculty office, and entrepreneurial engagement spaces. Uh the design is
primarily red brick. It uh it draws from the architectural material pallet that's used by Hopkins and VMBBO School of Data Science and it does incorporate some references to the recently opened Virginia Guest House and the Future Center for the Arts. Um the next one is the main heat plant. So this is at uh
1321 Lee Street. So uh this is an infrastructure project, but it has significant civic and environmental benefits. So um this plant is this primary source of steam and hot water for the uh for a large portion of grounds and uh primarily the UVA
hospital. And so uh this project is sort of an outline in a framework to help uh guide the transition from coal to natural gas. Uh so this fuel conversion the goal is to improve efficiency, increase resilience, and help ensure uh long-term continuity of operations for
the hospital. And so one of the things that's exciting is once the new gas plant is fully operational, the existing four coal silos, which are very visible, uh they'll be removed. And so right now you can see them prominently on University Avenue and 14th Street um as you kind of head south. So that's coming
in the not too distant future. So, and then the last one I just wanted to point out was just sort of a a clarification because it's a it's a lot of visible work uh and there's not a lot of signage on it, but um is that so currently right now you'll see a significant number of trees being removed along EMTT Street
between Ivy Road and Arlington Boulevard. And I just so just to clarify, this is not a project managed by the UVA. This is a city-led enabling effort associated with the upcoming smart scale shared use path and uh with the goal is going to provide safe pedestrian connection between the
barrack shopping center and grounds. So that's the kind of the first step to sort of uh get utilities and get the infrastructure in place to do the smart scale project. So >> that's it. >> I appreciate that. I think that's my committee. I I appreciate you telling me.
>> I've not driven down um a rivety for a bit, but will those trees be replaced? >> Yeah, there is a I mean at least from the documents I've seen from the city, there is a planting plan for it. Okay. And so, >> and some of them a lot of it was just stuff I think that happened um
naturally. It wasn't it was not like a designed state. So, as they move the sidewalk off the curb line and widen it, um that's in the area where they had to take clear of the tree. >> So, Gotcha. >> Thank you. >> Um so, at the B last month, um I was a
really uh simple. I actually missed the meeting, but it was a really simple agenda. Uh nothing of interest. Um was followed up by a report from staff on um uh updates to the downtown mall and uh preparation for the um 50th anniversary. And I guess some of you already noticed
the fountains are free or or open. You can approach them. You can get your, you know, you can touch the water now. Um and uh yeah, an update on the um I guess the the crossings continuing to be repaired. Uh the vehicular crossings.
So that's it for our reports. Uh does NDS have a report? >> Yes. Lots of stuff. Um, so first I can reiterate some of the things that Matt may have mentioned to you a couple minutes ago. So the May 26 work session on the citywide mobility plan, uh,
scoping for that has been postponed. So there will be no May work session for the B the planning commission. Uh, the planning commission will be kicking off the 2026 development code cleanup this month with a subcommittee meeting on May 19th. And as part of this effort, there
will be a work session on Tuesday, June 23rd. And the work session will be a listening session with local builders and developers. Uh it'll follow the same format as last year where the builders and developers will have an opportunity to let the planning commission and city staff know which aspects of the
development code are working well and which areas of the code can be improved. Uh we are working on getting the word out regarding this meeting, but please spread the word yourselves if you can. Also, staff is in the process of setting up a technical working group for missing middle housing. This group will be a mix
of staff from across the city along with local builders and developers that focus on building missing middle housing types. We are looking for one or two planning commissioners to be a part of that working group. Finally, uh another note that staff did present to council the ADU manual and
student housing study on their key findings and preliminary options for potential changes to the inloo fee expectations. Based on councils and public's feedback, the team is refining the model to assess financial feasibility of potential policy changes to support housing
production. The team will also ask for feedback on the feasibility of new development at a cadre meeting scheduled for May 22nd. staff will share updates on potential next steps for this study and the tax abatement study in the summer once new staff have joined the team to support this work moving
forward. Uh so those are the statements I have. I believe that our long range planner Tori also has an update for you. >> Do good evening commissioners. Um my name is Tori Kennelopoulos a long range
planner with NDS. So, just wanted to provide a brief overview of an item that will be coming to you all for a public hearing later this year, which is a comprehensive plan amendment to update the community facilities and services chapter of the comprehensive plan. Uh,
next Monday, we have a request on the consent agenda for council to formally initiate the amendment and then staff will draft the amendment and hold public hearings with the commission and council for adoption. And the primary purpose of the amendment is to incorporate the most
up-to-date information for public water, sanitary sewer, and storm water management facilities and utilities. The current chapter includes goals and strategies along with associated maps um and plans which are in the comp plan appendix and the chapter and these maps
were last updated in 2021. So updates are needed to several of the strategies and maps to reflect changes in the city since 2021 to today. and those include new and updated city and partner agency public utility and facility planning
maps and projects. So the updated chapter will replace the 2021 water and sanitary sewer network maps with the current network maps and then also add a map for storm water management facilities. Any relevant strategies will be updated to include known planned
projects. And then the chapter will also incorporate references to relevant partner agency plans adopted by reference such as the RWSA community water supply plan. So the amendment is really focused on incorporating these existing known projects and plans and it
doesn't change the city's overall goals or approach for this chapter. And we plan to come back to the planning commission once it's drafted and scheduled for a public hearing. So, this is just kind of a notice that this is coming um and it's on council's consent agenda for next Monday and happy to
answer any questions and also um some staff from utilities are available if there's any questions, but this is just u more of an FYI of of something that's coming up. Thank you. >> Thanks. Any questions?
Thank you. Is that it from NDS? Okay. Um All right. So, now we've got um matters to presented by the public, not on the formal agenda. So, if anybody has anything they'd like to say to us that um is not about the zoning map
amendment, um please uh was there anyone in the audience who um has wants to speak about anything? No. Is there anybody online? >> Yes. Anyone online who wish to speak can click the raise hand icon and I will cue
you up to speak. >> Mr. Chair, I see no raised hands. >> Okay. Thank you. Um there is nothing on our consent agenda. So um I guess we have until 6 o'clock and we will start with our um zoning map amendment and
zoning text amendment. L you have something to say. >> I have a small correction. Uh I was not on that committee. Lisa Green was on that committee. I sometimes get us confused, but that was definitely Lisa Green. Forgive me. >> Noted. Um, all right. So, yeah, we will be back at 6 o'clock for our uh our
public hearing. I don't know. At least that right All right. >> All right. Everyone ready? >> Great. Um All right. So, we will uh start our meeting with the um our first and only public hearing, the zoning map
amendment and zoning text amendment for 801 West Street. ready to go, Patrick? >> All right. Good evening, commissioners. Uh, my name is Kate Richardson, and I'm one of the preservation and design planners with Neighborhood Development
Services. Tonight, I'll be presenting staff's recommendation on two companion applications, a zoning map amendment and zoning text amendment for the property at 801 West Street. Next slide. On behalf of the property owner, staff
is requesting that the planning commission recommend to city council both zoning amendments. Together, these two actions will formally designate 801 West Street as an individually protected property or IPB. This is the first public hearing on this matter with the
community meeting having taken place earlier this year on March 11th. Here uh is the subject property at the corner of 8th Street Northeast and West Street with a view towards Preston Avenue in the background. Just wanted to orient everyone.
Next slide. 801 West Street is located in the Tenth and Page neighborhood, which in a 2021 survey submitted to the Department of Historic Resources was listed as eligible to be nominated as a National Register historic district. The subject
parcel is zoned RNA with adjacent parcels on the north zoned CX3 along Grady and Preston Avenues, one of the city's entrance corridors. Importantly, the IP designation does not change the underlining zoning. RNA remains in place. It simply adds a layer of
historic preservation protection or simply a design control overlay on top. Next slide. These photos give you a sense of the property. As you can see, the structure is a wellpreserved example of early 20th
century residential architecture. A two-story frame dwelling clad in stucco is characterized by a hipped roof with pedimented gables, a wood railed widow's walk in the center, and an attached singlestory rear edition. Built in 1905
by a local carpenter and purchased by James and Mud Fleming during World War II, the home has remained in this family for over 80 years. Mr. Hunt, the property owner, is here this evening and will tell you more about the history and meaning of this home to his family and for our larger community.
Next slide, please. The property is not a time capsule. A garage dependency was removed in the midentth century and more recently the side porch of the addition was enclosed. Overall, however, the home exhibits very good architectural integrity with many
exterior and interior features being preserved by Mr. Hunt and family. As these pictures reflect, the home retains excellent integrity and its sense of place within the larger historic Tenth and Page neighborhood. Next slide, please.
In summary, the physical and contextual conditions of the property are consistent with a structure worth preserving and protecting as a contributing resource through IP designation. Next slide. Since IPB designations are infrequently
established, I thought it important to quickly provide an overview. The IP lists exist to safeguard culturally significant resources, buildings, and sites that are not within an architectural design or ADC district. It's one of the city's tools for
protecting community heritage. It's um why in January of this year, the board of architectural review recommended to city council 801 West Street be added to the IP list. In this map, you see several ADC districts to the southwest
um and the closest neighboring IPs indicated so you are aware of their general locations and then where 801 West Street is. Thanks, Patrick. For the commission's consideration, the following review review criteria were assessed. First,
does the amendment conform to the comprehensive plan? The comprehensive plan expressively um expressly recognizes historic preservation as a core community value and identifies the protection of historic resources as essential to sustaining Charlottesville's character, identity,
and sense of place. The 10th and Page neighborhood is historically significant to the African-American community and the subject property represents a tangible physical connection to that heritage. Second, does it further the purposes of the zoning chapter and serve public
necessity, convenience, and general welfare? The IP designation mechanism under chapter 34 exists precisely to achieve these goals on a property specific basis providing targeted protection for structures whose loss would constitute an irreversible harm to
the community's heritage. And third, is there a need or justification for the change? The subject property is historically and architecturally significant and designation provides a local level of regulatory safety. Given the context for both community and neighborhood, there is certainly both
need and justification for the change. In response to the fourth criteria, the IP designation does not under alter the underlining zoning district classification in any way. It does not adversely affect surrounding properties and it has no impact on public services
or infrastructure. Finally, designation is appropriate for this property in two primary ways. Number one, advancing an important equity goal by establishing IP protections to a property within Tenth and Page. And number two, continued and
enthusiastic support of the property owner and family for the protection of their home. Next slide. In short, staff believes this designation is well supported, appropriately justified, and protects something irreplaceable in our
community. Based on all of the criteria reviewed, uh we seek your recommendation of approval to city council for both reasonzoning applications, PL260042, the zoning map amendment, and PL2600043, the zoning text amendment.
Thank you, chair and commissioners, for your time. Um, I'm happy to answer questions and uh Mr. Hunt is also here to speak and answer questions. >> Any questions for staff? >> Really just interested in the the area. I'm a resident of the the area, so it's
it's near and dear to me. Uh, status questions on the national and state district. >> Yes. The questions regarding the difference between or what its current status is. >> Current status. >> Current status. So it the 10th and Page neighborhood is not currently designated to the National Register of Historic
Places. It was listed as being eligible to be a historic district >> and state >> and so and the state that would be the same. So the Virginia landmarks register would be like the first step then the DHR sends it to the Secretary of Interior for consideration. So VLR's
first followed by NRHP. >> What what is the the concern? Why why not submit it? So it is actually the community um who is charged with bringing forward a nomination. So um it is not staff's um sort of prerogative to
just list and nominate. Um it is the fact that it is been surveyed and it has been found as eligible which is significant here. >> Uh is there there was a there's been some work on a small area plan for the area for many years now. Uh is there a
connection between this IP that uh uh district and the small area plan? >> That's a great question. I actually am going to defer to my planning colleagues um answering that. >> Now this is a request from the property owner.
>> Yes. Yeah. Short answer, but >> that's what I have. Thank you. >> Thank you. And I guess for this public hearing, I'm going to have if planning commission has any other questions, we'll field questions first and then allow the the public to comment. >> You have a question.
>> I read in the report that it is not believed that it is believed that there are structures that had been built previously to this one which is I believe from 1905 in the area. Do we have any idea of the quantity of structures that are before 1905? There's
certainly several um staff can certainly do a deep dive into that and and provide a list. Um I think it's good research to just do um overall uh given the the nature of um now this potential listing um and just also for the community. It's
a good thing that you do to do the research. >> Sure. Um is that are the structures that are older that we know about in a similar condition? Again, I would want to do more investigating before commenting um just because I don't know the breadth of how
many and the number. >> Sure. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Um you made a comment about how the underlying zoning remains the same. >> Correct. >> As we saw with the discussion around the mark, there's a lot of unknowns or gray areas I might call them.
While the structure may be protected through this process, does that prevent anything from going on on the property as it stands today outside of the structure? Or potentially, if the current owner or
future owner subdivides the property, does it prevent something be done from that parcel that is no longer containing the protected property? Does that make sense? >> It does. Yes. So, yes. And so my um my
the great the greatness of working with someone like Mr. Hunt is that he is willing he he has said that this property is going to stay in his family and the reason for the IP designation is that he wants to maintain that parcel and that lot and that structure as is uh
because it's important to his family in the past um and it's important to Charlottesville as a community and 10th and page. As far as the future of any property owner's desires, that would be totally up to them. Um, and so I can't speculate on whether they would
subdivide or how that could impact >> I guess I'm not asking for you to speculate. I'm asking for >> possibilities. Does it does it prevent a future owner or future sub parcel from being developed for RNA? >> No. The only thing it does is results in
this parcel being subject to uh the new construction, demolition or alteration to the existing structure is subject to uh review by the board of architectural review and as you know all actions by the BAR are appealable to city council. So the
overlying the underlying zoning remains >> y >> the IP is a overlay on top of that. So whatever is allowed however again the it goes through the bar and so if they wanted to do something later subdivision
is not precluded construction is not procluded uh demolition in fact as we've seen has been allowed uh of of designated structures I think what's unique about this uh situation here is that Mr. Hunt approached us about uh uh
putting this overlay onto his property into his family's home. So this is this is uh while we came forward and asked you all to sponsor it as a city initiated change, this is coming entirely from the property owner. And um
>> that's why we're trying to >> I guess I guess what I'm trying to get at is the IP runs with the building even though it's contained within within the parcel. So if you break up the property and then you have two properties that once one property
>> it only runs with the property that >> no both would retain the IP status as an overlay that sticks with the parcel no matter what unless you do a zoning text zoning map amendment >> right because the IPS are identified in the code. >> Yeah. >> Uh the ADC districts are simply defined
but individual IPs are listed in the ordinance by parcel number. So to change that parcel number through subdivision, uh if somebody wanted to reduce the IP overlay, they would have to go through that zoning text amendment process. So
there is a step there and we face this and uh uh you know Carl could probably sum it up as well things we've dealt with on the bar level but uh no the overlay is over this parcel and then the contributing structure we are identifying as uh the the building on
it. So there's not other secondary things there. Uh >> so if somebody wanted to put a building in the backyard of this, the BA would review it. It's not procluded, but it would be under review. Even if they subdivided the lot, the B would still
review it. >> For the record, uh my househ here is an individually protected property. Um I knew it when I bought it. and uh and yeah, so it's uh if you have any questions outside of this about IPS, I think I can speak with a certain level
of expertise on those. Um my questions are around how this overlay potentially impacts the develop the further development of the of housing in a area of town that needs housing. So that's the genesis of my question.
>> Yeah, it does. It does. Yeah, it does. And um but it's a there is a process for that. That's why you know the city established the um historic districts established the design guidelines which are adopted by council and appointed the board of architectural review to to
implement that uh plan and with those things appealable to council. So there is a process for that and uh but for the record too we uh I don't know it's like less than 10% of the entire city is within a an ADC district or an IP. So
it's not as if this is shutting down growth and development throughout the city. >> Thank you. >> Sorry I a quick question. I may ask you back up if if you don't mind. Um, uh, just a sub question of Commissioner Harris's question, but, um, I remember
going back a few years, uh, there was a church, I want to say on Park Street wanting to put on solar panels on the roof and the BR reviewed it and said, "No, you can't do that." >> On where? >> I think it was a church on Park Street. >> I can >> First United Methodist. >> Thank you.
>> Solar. >> Okay, so Oh, God. >> We're going to go to that again. God, >> sorry. No, that's okay. To be very very very very very clear. >> Council told us >> council made a decision on that that this what the board of architectural Yeah, I want to be but I it's good
because I caught a lot of grief about this uh and unwarranted uh what the board of architectural review did >> um they also look at the historic character of building. They also look at the sustainability and things like that. You had a I think an 80year-old building
um with a Buckingham slate roof on it. uh buckingham slate will last a long long long time. Um the idea of removing that slate in order to put solar panels. The B kind of questioned that. They said there are other opportunities there to
install panels and you leave intact this sustainable material and a character defining architectural feature. So that was the question before the B was to remove the slate roof and the B said that doesn't make sense. So, uh, everybody made it about BARS against,
uh, solar panels. I think we've looked at in my years, maybe looked at 20. We don't even, we just review them now and approve them. But the B has never denied, uh, something like that. So, I I I just want to be clear. >> This is a very rare case with
material. >> So, do you see, and I I'm not trying to >> Sorry, forgive the commercial. And, by the way, I'm Jeff Warner. I think most of you know me, preservation design planner, but uh just uh I had to put in my commercial for the I hear so much about the roof at uh First United. Can't
pass up an opportunity to correct the record. Sorry. Yes, sir. >> Sorry. Just to I don't I don't mean to drag up. >> That's good. It's just good. It's just a learning opportunity. Everything is a learning opportunity and a teaching. In this particular case, would this
designation preclude any owner now or in the future from putting on rooftop solar? >> Absolutely not. >> So, it wouldn't go to the B >> to put on a solar at currently as it stands. Um, and this is a a somewhat uh informal decision of the B and informal
decision of staff. Um given the path we took at First United Methodist Church, um I mean unless somebody is significantly offering uh altering the roof plane, unless there's something really unusual going on, we
will okay it administratively. Um >> and many of them good. Well, thank you both. And we approve uh the the little uh electric gas thing all the time. We don't we don't even So, we're doing our part.
>> Other questions this side? >> No. >> No. >> No more down here. Okay. Thank you. Um I guess we will open up the public hearing. Um Oh, yeah. Does the applicant wish to speak? I'm sorry. >> Uh I was born at the university in June
1956. So, if you're doing the math, you know that's a long time. And still, when I hear Mr. Hunt, I still turn around and look for my dad. It just it sticks with you. Anyway, I won't take up much of your time. Commissioners, thanks for letting me chat with you for just a bit. You
probably want to know why the heck I did this. I didn't know anything about this until my property manager, Kevin Blair, was doing some work with Jeff about a year ago, and the subject came up and I learned about IPs. And when I read about
IPs, it pretty much sounded like it was defining our house and our neighborhood. Certainly given that Penton Page had already been identified as being a possible place for such designation. I said, "Okay, this sounds good. This will
honor my grandparents who bought the place. This will honor the community. Uh this will honor my ancestors. Um, my connection with the university goes back. My great great great great-grandfather
was Henry Martin, the bell ringer. Some of the people in this community still remember my grandmother who taught at Jefferson for 40 years and then retired and then somehow, and I don't know how this worked, then went to become the librarian at Venable
>> for a few years. Um, and there's a plaque outside Venable and outside Jefferson, the Charlottesville 12, my cousin. My family has deep roots. I'm a son of Charlottesville. I think this
designation is appropriate for the house, for the life that they built. It's appropriate to honor the community, which has been such a foundation for the city. Um, and if you saw the house today, I think you'd recognize that it fits the
description. Plus, thanks to Kevin, we've done enough work to make sure that this house exists way past the time that I'm here. And I told my stepson, if he screws up, I'm coming back. Uh, one of the first things I did when
my mother deeded it to me was to bring in a structural engineer. One of the first things I did after I read the report was call Kevin and we now have a new foundation. He can describe it if you want, but it's And then we took to the back and we
replaced all the plumbing. Did a few things in the kitchen. It's very nice. Um, but we kept everything as either either it was or as my grandmother would have wanted it. Um, I have nothing else to say, but I'll
answer any questions and I look forward to your approval. >> Thank you. >> Great. Thank you. >> All right. Um, well, no other questions from the commission. We will, I guess, move on to comments from the public. Um,
are there any members of the public who'd like to speak on this item? No one here. Dan, is there anyone online? Yes, I see one raised hand for uh Brian Shot. Brian, if you'd like to speak,
uh you may do so now. This is the first time I've done this. Um I'm uh on the one hand new to Charlottesville, but on the other hand, uh I've been in and out of Charlottesville for most of the last 30 plus years. So, uh, this is going to sound a little bit naive to those of you who are much more familiar with the
area. Uh, but I would, uh, I would support the comments of the previous speaker, uh, with regard to the significance of the house, the significance of, um, uh, the, uh, uh, the heritage that goes along with it. Uh, based on the pictures that we saw,
it's certainly been in very good shape. Um, my the gap in my own knowledge and understanding is the 10th of Page neighborhood. So I guess I would put the question forward or raise it as an issue and it's been done uh before by one of the previous speakers the extent to
which it represents the current um uh status and nature of the 10th and page neighborhood because giving it this IP designation which I think is uh I think is a good thing though then it becomes a symbol of uh not just a symbol but it becomes a living symbol of uh of the
neighborhoods. So I need to go out and do a little bit more ground work. uh but uh in lie of doing that this evening I will put that issue forward. That is uh the extent to which uh this lovely structure and the heritage that goes along with it uh is representative of uh uh of the neighborhood as it currently
stands. Over. >> Thank you. Are there anyone else online? >> Right. Right. Last call for inerson speakers. Oh >> no raised hands.
>> Great. Um, all right. That is the end of our public hearing. Um, comments from the planning commission. Happy to offer up a motion if you like. >> I'm good with that. >> All right. I um, let's see. I move that
the planning commission recommend that city council approve application resilient applications PL-26-0042. That's a ZMA. in PL-26-000043 that is a ZTA and I would be looking for a second please >> second.
>> Is that format acceptable to staff for the motion? >> I mentioned both applications. >> Yes. >> All right. Um uh Dan, would you mind calling a vote, please? >> Sure. Commissioner Solates, >> I. >> Commissioner Harnesses, >> I.
>> Commissioner Karp, >> abstain. Commissioner Yoder, >> yes. >> Commissioner Brooker, >> yes. >> Commissioner Mitchell, >> yes. >> Chairman Schwarz, >> yes. All right. So, that passes. Um, and I
just want to thank the applicant for I guess I don't Yeah. Uh, submitting your house for as an IP. I think that's um it would be great if more people would would do that. >> All right. Um, next item.
Um, >> where are we? Critical slope special exception for 2010 Metobrook Road. All right. So, hello planning commission. Um, Dan Okonnell, NDS planner. I will be presenting this and the other critical slope special
exception on the agenda. So, the first one is for 2010 Metobrook Road. It's a developed property in the RA district and the applicant is seeking to add a rear edition on to it as well as some patio and landscaping.
We have a presentation. I can show just a few slides of it. There it is. Okay. So, on the next slide, you'll see the the property um and the existing conditions and critical slope. So, there's an existing house there as well as critical slopes basically surrounding
the property on all sides. Um, the next slide I thought was from the applicant's presentation. I thought was instructive. Um, and basically shows there's a number of constraints on the existing property. So, the red shaded area is a sanitary sewer line as well as
a a sanitary sewer easement that kind of cuts off the entire front of the parcel um and the front of the yard and kind of precludes development in that area. And the property is also non-conforming regarding uh a number of new standards in our zoning code particularly building
width. So that yellow area on the side uh even though there's no critical slopes in that area uh the applicant would not be able to build any additions in that area by right because it would make the house too wide. So the proposed addition is located in the rear and the critical slopes that would be impacted
are shown there in uh green. So the next slide just shows the um the standards for critical slope special exceptions. Um in the staff report cited that uh condition or finding one would apply uh because of the topography and
the um the restrictions that were mentioned in the previous slide that would prevent the the redevelopment of the property um and restrict its use. uh finding B would not be applicable because it's not a public property.
So on the last slide, um we did recommend approval of this critical slope special exception and would not recommend any conditions. Although based on what we talked about in the premeating, um if there is any concern that maybe the the recommendation would be denial, we would suggest
uh that the planning commission to defer this application based on that code section just so we can check with the city attorney. But yeah, happy to answer any questions. I also believe the applicant is in the room and they can answer any questions as well. >> Does the applicant want to add anything?
>> You don't have to. >> No, we can. >> Great. Uh questions from planning commission. >> All right. I have a question. Um just a clarification. So, it looks like, if I'm understanding this correctly, the current critical slopes in the site were
probably created by the construction of this house in the first place. And it looks like they're not really making anything any steeper. Correct. There's kind of cutting into what's the the existing critical slope.
>> It seems accurate. Um, I guess the applicant can comment on the design. >> Yeah, that's right. We're cutting and then we have retaining walls to deal with the cut. >> Okay. >> But it is this critical slope is kind of man-made from originally digging out the
foundation of the house. >> Okay. >> All right. Other questions. >> I had a question about uh parks. This uh drains into a public park. Did parks have any comment on that?
>> They did not. Um, park staff is included on the the review chain for this critical slope special exception. Um, but we did not have any comments from them during this review. >> All right. Uh, comments from the plane commission.
I'll make make a make one. This is more about the zoning code. I mean, I think this in my opinion is kind of a classic case of you look at the constraints and you kind of see why the critical slope is an issue here. Um, but if I'm reading the zoning code correctly, the build to
width is 50%. Which is why you kind of can't add on the side of the house. But, um, for RA, the max width of a structure on for the primary street facing side is 60 feet.
Um, and since since the lot is 175 ft wide, that would kind of make the build to width and the maximum width disagree with each other. So, I think this kind of highlights maybe an issue with the zoning code that I don't know what we do
about it. But um that's the thing that caught my eye with this application to be honest was just that I don't think our I think some of our dimensional requirements uh don't seem to work for lots of this size. Um so that has no impact on I
think what we should do for this with this waiver request. But I just wanted to raise that because I think it's something we should consider as a commission and as as staff. Agreed. Well, if we have no other comments, um, is anybody prepared to make a motion?
>> Or I can make a motion. >> I think I have it up or >> I don't have >> All right. Can I am I not allowed to? I'll move to recommend approval of the critical slope special exception for tax map and parcel 4 00000061000
as requested with no reservations or conditions based on a finding that due to the unusual size, topography, shape, location, or other unusual physical conditions or existing development of a property. The requirements of section 34-410.1 would effectively prohibit or
unreasonably restrict the use, reuse or redevelopment of such property or would result in significant degradation of the site or adjacent properties. >> Second. Great. >> Okay. Chairman Schwarz. >> Uh, yes. >> Commissioner Mitchell, >> yes.
>> Commissioner Ruter, >> yes. >> Commissioner Yoder, >> yes. >> Commissioner Karp, >> yes. >> Commissioner Hares, >> yes. >> Commissioner Solates, >> yes. Motion passes. >> All right. And now we have um
950 Melbourne Road. >> All right. So, this is the second critical slope special exception. This is for the botanical gardens of the Piedmont. Um technically spans three different parcels, all part of McIntyre Park. um as well as a little bit of Almar County which is not in our
jurisdiction. Um but this is >> that piece. >> Okay. Yep. So the next slide um you can see the existing conditions um and there's critical slopes kind of along Melbourne Road as well as um along the waterway that kind of cuts through this
property in this back part of McIntyre Park. And the next slide shows um kind of difficult to see but this is an excerpt from the site plan showing the critical slope impacts. The impacts are those kind of hatched areas that are um part
of the limits within the limits of disturbance. Those dashed lines um kind of along the roadway and to the uh west and south of the creek. There is a little bit of critical slopes in the bottom right corner of the screen that is in within Almaro County that is not
technically included in this request but is shown there anyways. Again on the next slide is the um criteria for judging a critical slope session exception. In this case found that um finding A and B would apply. A
because um basically the the location of the critical slopes would need to be disturbed in order to allow the the path connections to join the botanical gardens with the existing trails in McIntyre Park and B because it is a public botanical garden as part of a
city park and so it would the out the benefit of that would outweigh the benefit of keeping it undisturbed. So the last slide um we would recommend approval of this critical slope special exception. Again, we did not recommend any conditions be placed on it, but happy to take any questions. I believe
some of the applicants team is here as well to take questions. >> And does the applicant want to add anything? >> I don't think so. Just to clarify too, the the hatch in the stream that's not the hatch that we're impacting that was just something in the survey part of the
stream. Just clarify that diagram. It's what makes it look like a a really fat dash line. Is that what you're talking about? >> Yeah. Okay. >> Um I have some questions about the
the plan. Um and I think it's more of just actually if um Patrick if you could pull the plan back up. Um, could you guys all explain just some of the areas that you're you're impacting
and how what the plan is? Are you just putting it back how it was? Like I can see what clearly looks like you're burying a utility line and I'm assuming you're just going to put it back how it was. But it it's there's so much going on here. It just be nice to know kind of what am I looking at? >> Yeah, you can't tell by that. So, >> I apologize.
>> It's a big unlabeled plan. So, so congrats to you guys if you can actually decipher what's on there. Um, so yeah, you're right. That kind of cross shape there is uh indeed a utility and I believe that's also a fence line that will be put around the site. So that kind of wraps the entire parcel to keep
the deer out um and protect the botanical garden itself. So that's probably the line you're seeing on the perimeter. Um some of the other areas like the bottom right corner is being impacted by slightly by the parking lot and mostly by the uh parks and I wreck
trail that's going to go through there. So >> that's that. >> This is a trail here. >> Uh a little bit down. Yeah. Kind of. >> Oh, yeah. It kind of ties into the intersection of John Warner and Melbourne. >> So you're you're flattening that area out. Is that what's >> Yeah. So there's Yeah. To put the trail
in uh city will be a flattening. I think it's a 10 foot wide I believe paved trail that will connect down and there's a bridge that will cross and it will tie up kind of go off to the page on the left >> to cross. That's a bridge there. >> Bridge. >> Exactly. Yeah. That'll be the city
bridge and then that kind of keeps going and then all the way up basically to the skate park. So that we're interfacing with that project, but we're showing it on our plan just because it's in our property property line. Um other areas there's a bunch of pedestrian trails
that gets you up accessibly to kind of the page left side uh which is the woodland garden and there's some amenities like >> this is what we're talking about. >> Yeah, exactly. So, we've got a to get an accessible path up from uh basically the
stream area is kind of the low part and then it rises up and there's some switchbacks that um get you up to the top there. But we're trying to minimize, as you can see, there's a lot of holes in the limits of disturbance. We're trying to preserve if any trees we can and we've done extensive tree survey and
we're we've targeted um it's kind of a scrappy woodland. It's got it's a younger woodland. It used to be a farm field not too long ago. Um so we've preserved a lot of the existing trees of good quality and in good condition. Um and it's also a phase plan. So that um part of the the garden will be um down
the road a ways. So what's happening kind of right now and in the near term hopefully will be on the kind of page right side with phase one phase two um and then that's phase three on the left. So >> Okay. And kind of top middle is that like a covert that you guys are >> that will be another bridge. So, um,
because of the, uh, the city will be building their own bridge eventually, hopefully. Um, and then we'll we'll have another bridge, uh, that's more for just pedestrians internal to the garden within the deer fence. So, yeah, that's that little line you're seeing there. So, again, we're just trying to minimize
put abutments on either side and float over the stream, keep it out of the flood plane. U, but there is some in order to get an ADA path through there. um that would be we'd be putting a retaining wall to hold up the grade at that point where it kind of the curve in that line. And I could really get into
the weeds of why the bridge ended up there, but it's uh that's a long story. Um but there's a lot of challenges on this site in terms of underground utilities and >> Okay, thank you.
So, uh, I really appreciate what the, uh, botanical garden is trying to do here, and I'm lightly familiar with long-term visions. When I look at this plan, all of the, uh, limits of disturbance, the dash line, pulls my eye
to the left, but I believe that the like physical infrastructure of buildings and stuff is actually on the right side of the screen. Yeah. >> Is this maybe this is a question for staff. Is this a one-time uh request for the
special exemption on critical critical slope for the entire all phases of the project or is this limited to what they're trying to do today? >> The request is limited to the areas that are shown on that um exhibit that's on
the screen in front of you. um excepting that little portion on the bottom right which is in Almar County. >> So it's it's just the most dark hash within the dashed >> Yes. Those are the areas that are part of our critical slope map which the applicant is requesting to disturb as
part of this botanical gardens project in all phases. >> And so from that none of the building site is included >> there. >> There's no critical slopes for the building site. I think that's the >> that's your takeaway. >> I Yeah, I mean that's Yes.
>> Yeah, I would I would agree to that. Okay, >> other questions. Move on to comments. >> There's comment over. >> Did you have a >> I do have a comment. >> Oh, okay. >> Thank you. I'm Jill Trishman Marks. I'm
the executive director of the botanical garden and I wanted to further answer the question that you just asked. The design that you're looking at is for the full buildout and design of the site. It will be constructed in phases. So, we don't foresee coming back and asking for
additional critical slope variances. We're doing it all at one time. Our site plans are in their final site um fourth submission at this point for both the city and the county. We don't expect to be changing this at any time. Thank you.
>> Thank you, >> Mr. Chair. I have a motion, please. >> I move to recommend approval of the critical slope exception for tax map and parcel 4602 460120 and 4500
as requested with no reservations or conditions based on both findings listed in the packet. >> Second. I think Commissioner Ruter got that. Um, minutes. >> Um, can we call a vote, please? >> Commissioner Solates,
>> I. >> Commissioner Harnesses, >> I. >> Commissioner Karp, >> yes. >> Commissioner Yoder, >> yes. >> Commissioner Ruter, >> yes. >> Commissioner Mitchell, >> yep. >> Chairman Schwarz, >> yes. >> Yay.
Oh. >> Um, I have to step out and I think I'm missing the >> the downtown wall presentation. >> It'll be recorded. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Thank you. >> All right. Um,
yeah. What is next? We at uh the environmental regulations and policy updates. Can I ask a question before we get started here? >> There's a lot of different sections of discussion in the presentation. Are we
going to ask questions for each one or are we going to wait till the end? >> How would you like us to handle it since I think this is for your benefit? >> Yes. Um, I was planning to go through the whole presentation first, although I could stop um maybe at each kind of
progress point to stop for questions if that sounds good. >> Okay. >> Um, so we can kind of pause on each topic. Good evening. Uh, Tori Kennelopoulos, long range planner with NDS. Um, here to present an update on the environmental
regulations and policy review project. Next slide. So today I'll do a brief uh review of the project objectives and potential outcomes. Um and just as a reminder, those were previously shared at the planning commission work session on
October 28th and again with council on January 5th. Um but I know there might be some new folks um both here and online. Um, so we'll try to go through some of what we shared at those meetings and then focus mainly on the project progress. Um, and then also highlight
the overlap with the city's climate program and then talk about immediate next steps. Next slide. So a quick overview of the project objectives. Um they include balancing community and comprehensive plan priorities of housing and byite density
with protecting the natural and built environments, increasing community resilience, including to potential increased flooding and extreme heat risks, ensuring alignment between regulations across topics, and using an equitable framework for prioritization
and implementation. So potential project outcomes include city code updates, updated policies for the five-year comp plan review, updates to city programs and policies, and coordination on related projects and plans. Next slide.
And this is a reminder of potential project outcomes um which will ultimately depend on the resulting recommendations that come from the various um standalone projects that are associated with each topic which I'll talk about in more detail on following
slides. Um but again they include potential updates to code, potential updates to the comp plan, u best practices to share with the development community um and other potential projects. So, these have stayed pretty much the same since they were first
presented. Um, and again, I'll walk through some of them in a little bit more detail. Next slide. So, this is a project road map um which was to show the topics that already have identified projects, how those are related to each other, approximate
timelines, and where additional scoping is needed. So, as staff identifies additional projects by topic, um we're anticipating transitioning the environmental review into these individual projects with continued collaboration across project teams. So
when this project originally started um it kind of started as one large project with these six topics um partly coming out of a need um for additional um scoping and refinement to investigate some of these topics further
especially ones that were um an interest from previous studies and planning efforts. So several of them now have specific standalone identified projects that have been identified. Some of them have made quite a bit of progress and then some of them are still more in the scoping phase.
So many of the um project teams and projects themselves overlap. So even as we transition to more individual projects, there will still be significant collaboration across the project teams and different departments. And the road map um is also meant to reflect previous planning commission
comments to align topics and their timing with relevant parallel projects and initiatives. Um and at the previous planning commission work session, the commission had mentioned additional topics to incorporate including drought mitigation planning, wildfire risks and
resilient infrastructure. And those topics are addressed in resilient together and will also be incorporated into other projects as applicable. Next slide. So, as we walk through these projects, um I also wanted to highlight that they
are led and supported by staff across the city. So, including departments, uh such as neighborhood development services, the office of sustainability, public works, utilities, and parks and recreation. And there will be other departments involved at key points, but
just wanted to highlight um to date the main project leads. And then also noting um the commission had identified a few other departments to make sure that are involved as applicable such as fire rescue and the Ravana Water Sewer Authority. Um so just noting those other departments will be involved along the
way as well. Next slide. So before kind of walking through project progress to date, also wanted to spend a little time um talking about the city's climate program. So the climate action plan and resilient together and highlighting these plans as they came up
um during the previous planning commission and council work sessions and because the environmental review projects will be implementing strategies from both and their key considerations for those projects. So the climate action plan was adopted as part of the comprehensive plan in 2023
and it includes uh key actions as shown on the right side across the different sectors to move toward emissions reduction goals and those are a 45% reduction by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050 using 2011 as the baseline year.
And again the climate action plan is informing environmental review project recommendations and we're ensuring consistency across those. So, one example would be that there are strategies in the nature-based solution section of the climate action plan that include updating the urban forest
management plan and integrating tree canopy and transportation planning such as cool corridors. Next slide. So, each fiscal year, the climate program team develops a cross-dep departmental work plan to support implementation of the climate action
plan. So that includes initiatives led by the office of sustainability and also other departments and it's organized by outcome area as shown on the slide and uh they also present an annual report on the work plan and plan implementation
progress also organized by those outcome areas. Next slide. So the climate action plan is focused on mitigation while resilient together is focused on adaptation and resilience. So when talking about mitigation, we're
talking about reducing greenhouse gas emissions. And when talking about adaptation resilience, we're talking about planning for and adjusting to changes in impacts that are already going to happen due to climate change even as we keep working to reduce emissions. So adaptation is changing how
we operate to account for specific effects of climate change. And then resilience is strengthening community systems to withstand shocks and stressors. So, as you can see in the graphic, there's significant overlap between the two, but they do also have separate implementation activities,
which is why we have two plans, and the environmental review uh will be implementing both. Next slide. So, as a reminder, resilient together is a joint planning and community engagement process between the city, the University of Virginia, and Alamarell
County that have been working in parallel to develop their climate adaptation and resilience plans. The city is currently doing um the first round of internal review for resilient together and the strategies will point to the environmental review projects. We've been collaborating across teams to
ensure consistency and the primary overlap areas are shown in orange on the right side. So that includes energy efficiency in buildings, uh stream buffers, flood management, uh tree canopy to address urban heat islands, urban storm water and wildfire
preparedness. Next slide. And then this is an example of project overlap from resilient together. So in the urban storm water section of the plan talks about facilities and infrastructure that can withstand
projections for severe precipitation and projected population growth, prioritizing nature-based solutions. And then one of the actions in that section references the environmental review project um and the storm water management project that I'll talk a
little bit more about. Next slide. And I think this is where I'll go through this slide and then pause to see if there's questions and discussion as we kind of walk through each of the implementation projects that have been identified to date. Um and other staff are available to help answer questions
as well. So the first update is that um we have released an RFP um for the storm water management regulations update. So that was released um last week and we'll be open through mid June. And then our city review committee will review the
RFPs and we'll select a consultant this summer and the project will hopefully kick off late summer, early fall. So the primary purpose is looking at increasing the feasibility of smaller infill developments that have landfill disturbance under 10,000 square feet, balancing the comprehensive plan goals
of housing choice with a protected and restored natural environment. Um, and so the scope includes updating the storm water management requirements, developing associated technical reports and toolkits, and then also noting previous commission feedback on the need for clear engagement materials and the
use of visuals and graphics, which will be a very important part of this project both for engagement and information sharing. Um, and so this project is also looking to hopefully increase the use of on-site facilities and green infrastructure. um and looking for the
best ways to do that on these smaller sites. So, I'll pause there in case there's questions or feedback. >> Thank you for this. Um and I'm appreciative that the RFP just went out for this plan. It's my I gathered from
the the road map that you provided earlier that sort of the recommendations from that study that comes out of the RFP aren't programmed until late 2028. Is that correct?
>> Yes. It will take some time to kind of you know evaluate existing conditions and regulations u come up with recommendations do community engagement um but also commission and council feedback and then also um we'll need to make a justification to the state water
resources board since they have to approve any changes to our storm water management regulations. So, it's anticipated to be about a two-year time frame kind of taking into account all of the engagement and steps that we would need to do to formally update the regulations and also develop any
associated technical resources that we could share with the development community. >> Yeah, I can appreciate how long this would take and I can appreciate the amount of work uh that staff is going to have to work with the consult to get that done. I just am worried about the
protracted timeline. There are items today, like you've noted in this slide, about um the city's 6,000 ft land disturbance uh limit that we've heard, or at least I've heard is limiting projects or stopping projects from being built
today. And I just wonder if there's anything that we could do sooner than 2029 to um sort of mitigate some of these things that we know about here today that are making an impact on the city.
And I think that probably parlays with uh the working group that Matt mentioned to us earlier um might be something you hear about from the developers trying to do missile missing middle housing here in the city. So I understand trying to be uh
comprehensive about it and to really understand the full picture. I just question that there are items that we know today are creating real real hindrances to the creation of housing in the city and if there's anything we can do sooner. >> Is that a question to hear back?
I guess my question is, is that part of this process of trying to figure out if there are some things that we know about today that we can maybe take action on sooner than 2029? >> And I don't know that I have, you know, a specific answer yet, but I think it's a um a good point to, you know,
collaborate across our teams and working groups to see if we can identify some potential earlier solutions. So, I don't don't have any specific ones in mind, but we'll definitely we'll consider that. >> Yeah, thank you for the consideration. So you um you alluded to my concern
about a posity of water um the drought mitigation planning. At what point do we do we get a little more meat on that on that problem? I mean for you I do I do appreciate that public works has mentioned that they've got something in the file that talks about it but this
really I mean as except for the words that you used a moment ago um it's not spoken to in this document. So but you did suggest that we're going to get there. When are we going to get there and what's it going to look like when we get there? >> Sure. I guess maybe a two-part answer.
Um, one is I know there's regular coordination between the city and RWSA for you know drought mitigation planning and monitoring. Um, there are also some specific recommendations um in resilient together um related to drought mitigation as well. So there will be
specific strategies there even if they don't appear in those other six topic areas. And you just mentioned my other thought. You talk about UVA, the city and the county being partners, but I think uh Warden and Su try to or Ravana Water and Suit ought to be a partner as
well. So we should intentionally list them as a partner we're going to be working with Josh. Um a couple high level questions. Um one thing I like to ask about any presentation like this is what problems
are we solving that we actually have. So we've heard from commissioner harness there are problems about restrict restrictions on development right. So density is a climate solution and we are limited in pursuing that. So that's that's a problem to be solved. Um other
things you've mentioned imply problems now or in the future but I don't actually know what the status is. So we're talking about storm water management. How are we doing that now? Is there a problem urgently? Is there a problem in 30 years? What what caused
you to undertake this this study? What's what's actually deficient right now? Well, I think as far as this study specifically, um, is more focused on the kind of development code, comprehensive plan, implementation side of things, um,
and trying to encourage more onsite um, especially water quality treatment just because, you know, developers often choose to buy nutrient credits for for off-site um, because it's more feasible and less expensive um, to do so. So trying to address those types of issues
with this project, but looking at things like um you know the state of the infrastructure for storm water management is a little bit beyond the scope of this particular study um but is being considered with other kind of parallel projects. >> Okay. Is there I understand the thing
that you're going to study but I'm still not sure why it's why now. Um is there a problem? So you mentioned developers using off-site nutrient credits. What's the extent of that and is it is it a problem?
>> Well, and I think the the bigger driver of this study in particular was the new development code um and the kind of threshold for um land disturbance for storm water management and trying to fit um you know the allowable density on a site while also fitting required
infrastructure for storm water management. >> Okay. Okay, that makes sense. Um second thing, last thing, sorry. It's it's um sort of like uh Commissioner Noder's point on a previous item. Something that does struck me about the presentation
overall um is I think I saw that our emissions since co have been flat as a city. I remember a presentation from I think Emily or even last year. Uh hi Emily. Um that uh one of the one of the
drivers of that flat trajectory is transportation. Um, and I would I'm just a little surprised not to see more about density and transportation as climate solutions in these materials. I know it's not your the scope of this work is about how to
have more infill without causing problems with storm water management, but in general talking about the city's mitigation and adaptation plans. Um I'm surprised not to see more discussion about how people get around the city,
about transit, about whether people can live closer to the places that they're going to. Um it's probably out of scope, so I apologize for what you're presenting. I just seeing all the climate graphics, there are just some holes that I expect to hear more about.
Um, you know, there's there's a big word phrase that says waste waste diversion. Great. I think and I can confirm this. Uh, but I think in terms of drivers of of continued high emissions in the city, it's probably a lot less compost and a lot more people driving alone in their
cars. So, just something that I would like to hear more about in general on the on the climate topic. Thank you. Other questions? >> I like to talk about terrible things. Uh some of the most uh most questions that
I get from the public are, hey, those fires in Los Angeles. Hey, that flooding in Asheville. What are you doing about that? And I say, ah, probably something. What are we doing about that? Well, there are actually um for both those topics, flooding and wildfire
prevention um multiple strategies in resilient together. And then on top of that um which is actually the next slide. So, jumping ahead a little bit um or two slides ahead, the city um has a flood resilience plan now and then also
um received a community flood preparedness fund grant to um take a kind of comprehensive look at our flood management program um and make updates where needed to have it be, you know, more future-looking, more robust um planning for these anticipated impacts
of climate change. There have been some changes at the federal level around emergency management. How are we thinking about that? >> I'll have Emily come up to answer a few questions related to resilient together. >> Thank you. >> Thanks.
>> Hi everybody. My name is Emily Irvin. I'm the city's climate program manager. So I'm actually leading the development of our climate adaptation and resilience plan uh which we will bring forward for public comment later this year. Um so to sort of answer Josh's question a bit um
I will be giving an annual update about the climate program which is currently really focused on our um climate action plan which is all mitigation focused coming up in next month. So, I'll be giving our annual update with our annual
our annually updated inventory and all of the things that we have been working on to mitigate our climate emissions, our carbon emissions. Um, and then we um have worked very closely with our
emergency management team here in the city. They have been a key partner in the development of our adaptation and resilience plans. So Tori showed the slide where she was talking about the development of the adaptation resilience plan um with the graph where we invest
in preparedness and that is the thing that really helps us to strengthen our systems um should we experience an extreme event here in our community. And so in the development of that of that plan that is forthcoming um and I want
to just sort of help you all understand that we really view that adaptation and resilience plan as the sister plan to the climate action plan. So the climate action plan is focused on reducing our emissions and then the resilience plan is focused on how we're going to adapt to these changes that are baked in with
the emissions we've already put out into the atmosphere. So um it's at that high strategic level that the climate climate action plan is. And so we developed strategies and the same sort of key actions, we call them implementation projects in the framework of the
adaptation plan. And that is really pointing at a lot of these projects that Tori is talking about this evening that those are the implementation instruments of bringing that plan to life in our community. So I want to help you guys understand that connection um between
that resilience plan that is in development which I think it's actually very well timed in with this work that we're talking about because we will be we're already working on implementation of some of those strategies that are in the forthcoming um adaptation resilience
plan. Did that answer your question? >> Federal changes. >> Oh, federal changes. Yeah. Uh that's been difficult. Um, so I just got back from a conference with um, sustainability professionals doing this type of work from across the southeast.
Talk to colleagues from Asheville. It's very um, disheartening to hear the impacts that communities who have experienced extreme weather events are having difficulty with FEMA. They are cutting.
It is difficult to access funds. um they're approving dollars based on how you vote. It's it's hard. Um I do I can say that here in the city, you know, we recently hired a new emergency manager.
They've been very closely involved with the development of this plan. I feel like city leadership um is taking this really seriously and we're working as staff to um really up our emergency preparedness game. I wish John was here tonight to talk about it, but um I can
say that we've been working closely together. Um and so it's definitely something that's we're thinking about. Um but it's hard to control what's happening at the federal level and um
I think we should hope uh that nothing we don't experience too much extreme weather in our region in the near term. >> So >> last question. Oh, >> schools. >> Can I say >> please? >> Schools. >> Schools.
>> Uh, what specifically about them? >> How can we they be resilience hubs? How can they be part of our uh res response to disasters? How can they be part of preparation? >> Yeah, that is something that's being talked about is how can we um utilize the buildings that we have access to?
What can we do to think about opportunities to build resilience within all city facilities, including schools? Um, you know, I think CHS is designated in some of our emergency plans as a
potential shelter location. Um, and we will continue to look for opportunities to um to build resilience within our city building portfolio for sure. And there will be lots of there are lots of implementation projects pointed to in
the resilience plan that speak to that very thing. Thank you. That makes me less stressed. >> Okay, good. >> Um I have a question. The um we talked about uh having collaborating with uh UVA and the county and I remember we had
that work session. I don't know was that last year or whenever it was um when we met with the planning commission uh for the county. Um but I'm wondering what is that um what does that collaboration actually look like? Is there day-to-day collaboration at some point? Is the
county going to critique our plan and we're going to critique theirs or how does it Yeah. >> Yes. So uh resilient together was is our collaborative planning process and we worked very closely with the county and
with UVA on staff engagement other stakeholder engagement like the Ryana authorities um and you know uh other agencies and um to do the engagement and gather the input. We always said
throughout this planning process that we were really reliant on our colleagues from across the organization and working this space um in other supporting agencies uh the planning district commission um we were really reliant on their expertise to help us to shape the plan and also understand what they're
doing because we're not trying to reinvent the wheel. We're trying to you know build connections between the work that is already happening to invest in that community resilience that we talked about. Um and so it was always a part of the plan of this project. Um we knew
from the outset that it would be really difficult to adopt a plan uh across the organization. So we had always planned for each entity to adopt their own plan. So we are at the process at the part of the project where we have broken off
into the three entities are working to put the final touches on their plans and um we have been working with both um we've been working very closely with UVA to really align our um timelines on the
various strategies and projects um the prioritization levels of the various projects be so that we will be as aligned as possible possible. Um the county felt like they needed to do a little bit more um socialization with
their leadership and so they have I think um stepped back a little but they tell us they're still very committed to the project. They're still um very committed to the collaboration, but I think uh the adoption of their plan has um gone off the planned path just a
little bit, but I they have shared with us that they are hoping to be on a similar timeline for adoption eventually. So, but we are continuing to work together across those entities and um I will say since emergency management has come up, we've had very close
collaboration like um amongst the emergency managers from the three entities. Um they were very instrumental in helping us with the plan development. >> Welcome. >> Thank you. >> I had a question. Um it's in regards to so resilient together. I know we are the
county, the city, university and you know obviously the water authority working together. Have you has has this resilient together sort of looked at other national sort of similar trends or best practice or even global best practice to help uh you know pick up
lessons learned as we kind of try to make these connections between these various efforts. >> Yes, certainly. So um I mean our regional collaboration and then having a university partner is pretty unique. Um and um you know a lot of people say to
us like oh regional planning for the is we're happy to see you all doing this right but we certainly were not trying to you know start from scratch and reinvent the wheel. We um have done a lot of learning from other jurisdictions. I always cite uh Fairfax
County Virginia. and I have a close relationship with the resilience staff in Fairfax and we um have sort of modeled our plan layout after them and have done a lot of learning from them. Um and like I said, I just got back from
a conference like I have talked to many other jurisdictions about this, done some learning from our friends in Asheville. We were not trying to totally start from scratch. We have really done a lot of learning. Um we also um from
the before times the federal government had some resilience planning tools available to localities that we also relied on um when at the beginning of our planning process. >> Thank you. >> All right. And I I think I jumped us ahead a little bit. Were there any other
questions about storm water management before we move on to tree canopy? Okay. Um so looking at tree canopy and tree preservation uh the primary project there is the urban forest management
plan update. Um and community engagement is now in progress. So, there is a Connect Charlottesville page for the project um which I'll share a link and a QR code um at the end of the presentation um but it is on Connect Charlottesville and if you go to the main page um you can find it there.
We've done some tableabling, including at EcoFare and the Ravana Riverfest. Um, and also handed out some flyers um at last Sunday's neighborhood walk in Rose Hill. Um, and on the website, the survey and the activity, which is to share your favorite tree in Charlottesville, which
is like very nice, fun activity, are both open through May 24th. Um, and we've gotten pretty good responses total number-wise on the survey, but would like to see more. Um, so hoping to to boost that. And then after this round of engagement, the team will review
community input and develop the draft plan which will then be shared for additional feedback prior to finalizing it. Um and then as mentioned earlier, the tree commission and parks and wreck shared the 2025 state of the forest report um at the April 20th council
meeting. So, there's a lot of really great information in there. Um, and highlights a lot of the really great um existing work and programs that are going on, including um city and partnerships um with local organizations and community members, including the
Charlottesville Invasive Plant Partnership, which is building neighborhood based teams um that are trained to identify and safely liberate neighborhood trees from invasive vines. So I think a you know big piece that will come out of the urban forest management plan is the need for um you
know all community members to be involved since uh we can't achieve our canopy goals just on public property alone. So some good partnership opportunities there. And then NDS and parks have also been collaborating on improving uh tree preservation review and enforcement for site plans. Um and
then there will also be um upcoming guidance um that the tree commission and parks and wreck are working on um for best practices for the development community um including for tree planting and preservation. So I'll pause there if there's any questions on this topic or
on the urban forest management plan. Um I like what the city is doing here with the urban forest management plan. There's a lot of benefits that come from having a good strong tree canopy. I have a question about um our favorite time of the year in autumn when all of those for
trees that make up our forest uh shed their leaves. What happens to the um leaf litter that's collected by the city? >> Hi there. I'm Crystal Rittervald. I'm the director of the office of sustainability. So I'm going to speak on behalf of public works. They collect the
loose leaves that are brought to the curb and those are then um taken to Panorama Farm and turned into compost. >> Okay, great to hear. That was basically going to be my question because those leaves are a lot of >> they're a lot of >> if they end up in a landfill they are not going to the landfill they haven't
for ever. >> Okay, that's that's great to know and that's sums up my question. The uh city of Charlottesville requested expanded tree canopy protections uh for Richmond uh and we got them. Uh what do we do?
>> How are you thinking about that? >> Um could you share more about the I guess update from Richmond? >> Yes. >> Like my understanding was that we were still um constrained by state code for
>> we were Uh I I don't remember. I think it probably starts July 1 first. Um but we we basically just wrote our code to what was legally permissible at that time. Um >> so what was the change?
>> I I think it allows us to do twice as much. I think I think that's right. >> Um which I would recommend that we not do everywhere. Um but there are some places where it probably makes sense. >> We can uh take a look. But one thing
that we've um kind of been finding at a high level as well is that um sometimes depending on the site it can be challenging to you know fit an increased canopy um where the trees will actually you know kind of thrive and survive. So
sometimes might be um important to also just kind of focus on quality as well. >> Thank you. Okay, no other questions. Okay, we can jump to the next one. So, a few different topics on this slide, but I'll um stop after each one. So, just a quick
update um on flood management. There's the community flood preparedness fund project that I mentioned earlier um to build a more robust and future forward flood management program. And so just the update there is that the procurement process has started um and looking forward to collaborating across that
project um with the storm water management um project as well. So any questions there? I guess I have a bigger question about flood preparedness outside of just this grant project as we um densify following
our comprehensive plan in the city. Flooding as we see in some of our larger cities uh could become an issue. Um it wouldn't if we are in the amount of rain we're getting this spring, but that won't always be the case. I'm just curious
about u maybe it's part of the resilient together plan as well. uh the water that falls on Charlottesville isn't just going to stay in the city, it goes places. If that is part of resilient together or if um sort of prepared
preparing for future impacts is part of maybe this grant project or other efforts the city or county is taking on. >> Yeah, I think I'll start with an answer and then Yeah. Do you want to jump up too? Um I think both um the this project
and then resilient together um you know do kind of take a regional and and watershed approach. So definitely acknowledging um that the impacts don't just you know come from or stay in one community. anything to >> Yeah, I was going to um I was just going
to share that this is a good example of a project in the resilience plan pointing to this as being an implementation step and that um some of the data sets that we're looking at are giving us 100red-year flood pro like in
in uh 2100 what are flood plane projections looking like and trying to establish lish not only riverine flooding but flooding that we will see in the interior parts of a city disconnected from streams because of low-lying areas, storm water
infrastructure. And frankly, we increasingly know and see that there just like the vin diagram between mitigation and adaptation, there's a ven diagram between storm water management and flood management. And so this project is really intended to try to do a baseline study of what is our program
consist of now? what are some best practices? What are some gaps? And what is the opportunity or the barrier to evolving the program that exists now? And when we say future forward, it's thinking about this specific topic with that climate lens
>> and taking into account the densification of the city >> taking into um Yes. >> Okay. >> I have a question on this one. Uh city of Charlottesville 10 square miles. We we're pluckucky. We try hard, but uh in terms of sort of control over the
landscape, pretty limited, especially around things like flooding. Um how are we thinking about the overall flood plane? Uh especially um upstream of us. >> When you say upstream of us, are you literally meaning up river?
Um well, we won't have any control over land use upstream of us, but the flood plane maps take into account regional nature. Those floodplane maps aren't um uh designed or created within
jurisdictional boundaries. So what we will see as projections will take into account the watershed, the drainage areas. Specifically what I have in mind is uh some other localities have just started buying up the uh properties upstream of them to protect them and protect
themselves sort of. >> So most of our upstream is outside of the city. >> Indeed. I'm not sure that what's that >> we can buy property >> the royal we can buy property. >> Yes. >> Right. Or or easements. >> Right. But I think a a lot of
communities um similarly are thinking about their riverine areas as um natural resources that serve multiple functions, right? Not just recreation, but that that natural area and connection to flood plane um does some controlling of
severe flooding in upstream and downstream. And our neighbors in Almor County have very smart water resources professionals as well. They're investing. City and the county are working on a res stream restoration or have done down in biscuit biscuit run.
Um so there are recognition that there are joint water resources projects that benefit both jurisdictions. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> All right. Next topic. Um so combining the water protection ordinance stream buffers and critical slopes.
Um so for both of these topics for next steps uh staff needs to determine um what the overall staff capacity would be and then ideally um have results um and data from the buildout analysis and infrastructure study that's going on in
parallel to these projects and then looking at the results from that um and evaluating um potential priority areas to protect. So looking at what's the feasibility um of updating regulations and what impact would it have? Is it
worth going through that type of process if there's only a few parcels that are you know kind of undeveloped or have the potential to redevelop that would actually be impacted. So there's a lot more kind of background study and further analysis um that staff feels is needed before diving into these topics
and then also seeing once we have um a consultant for the storm water RFP. There was funding that was allocated at the beginning of this environmental review project um for these parallel projects. So how much will be left over and could it support potentially um
stream buffers or critical slopes topics? So kind of still in the very early scoping phases for those. All right. And then the last update is um on the energy efficiency topics. So
wanted to note that for both the high performance buildings and electric vehicle charging that the office of sustainability has been leading these um but that going forward other staff capacity and support is likely needed and supporting roles uh still need to be determined. So council approved the high
performance buildings resolution on April 6th and staff has updated the high performance building standards for city buildings. So those define specific requirements by project type including energy and water usage intensity targets and there are standards for project
planning and design, building envelope, materials and systems, basic site design and then monitoring and maintenance. And then in the private sector um the city cannot require energy efficiency standards that are more strict than the building code but can provide incentives
and best practices. So staff is working on some of those resources now. Um and those could be shared uh along with other best practices such as the work that the tree commission and parks are working on um to share best practices for tree planting and preservation.
And then for electric vehicle charging um the EV charging study is completed and staff is working to determine next steps. Um recommendations include a residential curbside charging ordinance as a lot of um people who don't have driveways and garages have to pull
cables across the right of way. So figuring out um potential options for that to make sure that it's done safely and then options for city fleet vehicle charging. So any questions or comments on those items? >> I've got a question on the EV charging.
So yeah, curbside EV charging has been a challenge for a lot of cities. Um, we have streetscape requirements in the zoning code. So, I just say whatever you all are kind of recommendations you're developing, keep that in mind if we need to adjust those requirements because I
think a lot of cities, you're trying to avoid the electric cable going over the sidewalk for ADA reasons. So, you have to like put something in the if there's a um a planting strip. And if if we need to change the streetscape to accommodate
that, we should definitely make sure we do that. >> Keep that in mind. >> Yeah, I have a few comments and a few questions. Um, kind of uh off of Commissioner Karp's comments earlier, I'm a little
disappointed to see that CAT or transit isn't really mentioned in here. I'm using the uh electric EV charging section as the only transportation related item to bring it up. Uh in the E plan, it says something like 3% of
vehicles registered in the city in 2024 were EVs. Um, and I I just uh question the balance of the impacts potential impacts of EVs in a real pragmatic world versus the
magnitude of the transportation related greenhouse gas emissions. I believe in the city's climate plan uh 33% of our communitywide the highest um bucket is related to transportation and
the way and just the the focus on EV. I'm not saying it's a bad thing. It is it's a good thing. I'm here for it. I just think that our transportation related sustainability actions are focused on a smaller impact area than
what we would be able to achieve if we instead spent that energy working on a transit system that works um for more people uh from a frequency and reliability standpoint. Um,
with that in mind, I'm curious to know how much the office of sustainability is working with CAT to implement their um strateg strategic plan. Um so one comment is that um CAT is
doing a number of things on the electrification journey. It's just not captured or connected to the environmental policy and regulations review project. So CAT has um they run pupil transportation. They've just taken um ownership of the first two electric
school buses that are out on the road now. There are two more that have been ordered. No, I take that back because federal programs changed. Um, CAT side, there's two transit buses that are expected for
delivery this summer. They are actively putting the charging infrastructure in. They do have two more ordered. So, that was part of the pilot that was approved by council for a zero missions bus transition. Um, and I know that there have been a lot of conversations
specifically about the reliability and frequency of service regardless of the technology that's being used. So, our position is that public transportation is a climate action and then the tr the technology is another climate action on top of that.
And we don't think that EVs are the silver bullet. There's all kinds of transportation related issues. It just happens that these align with some of the policy and regulation challenges or gaps that were identified for this project. >> Yeah, I can appreciate the work that Kat
is doing with the uh battery electric vehicles. I guess the point that I am asking about is that's I would much rather have a bunch of diesel buses carrying a whole bunch of people around with fewer single occupancy vehicles on the road than a bunch of battery buses
that aren't carrying a bunch of people because the system doesn't work very >> we have we have said out loud empty buses are not a solution. >> Okay. So from that comment the office of sustainability is having those conversations with cat. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Yep. We work with them pretty often and
we just we are meeting with them to establish like how are we going to judge and track the school bus pilot like how do we what is it that informs future decision- making we need to understand how this works and stuff. >> Yeah. Okay. And then back to the EV. Um
>> oh I did have one more point about the EVs. Um, even if we didn't even think of EVs as a climate action, EVs are coming and many of our peer communities are tackling charging infrastructure questions more
as an economic development issue, as a tourism issue, as a people aren't going to come to our community if we don't have the infrastructure. So, there are multiple benefits of trying to get a little bit ahead of understanding what this future transportation looks like.
>> Sure. and agreed to an extent. Uh Ford just made an announcement that they're converting their battery electric plant that they were using for EVs into grid scale batteries. >> Uh there's a lot of things going on. The federal uh incentives are gone. So I'm
curious to see really how much that impact makes. So, just to put a nail in my point here is while the market might take care of some of the electric vehicle stuff, I would like to see some of that energy, I'm going to have this conversation with
CAT as well because they're the ones that are really going to drive it about u using transit as a environmentally friendly climate plan. Um, and then on the hydrogen buses along
a same but maybe even more uh dear to my heart conversation. What is the status of the hydrogen buses for the pilot? We were just in a conversation this morning acknowledging
that the supply of hydrogen is more questionable today than it was when this zero emissions bus plan was presented. And so I think it's, you know, we owe it to the process to revisit what's realistic and practical. And if I I've also suggested that um just because the
current administration has stepped away from significant financial once in a lifetime generational sort of infusion of support for this type of clean energy transition. We shouldn't stop planning. >> Yeah.
So, I appreciate to hear the city is uh I'm going to use the word reconsidering because that's what I want the city to do about hydrogen buses and I know that was a pilot that came from council to do. So, maybe it's a conversation to be had with them. >> I mean, we we still we still have seen
that hydrogen >> theoretically and and in some business usea cases is a really good fit. >> Sure. And so I don't think that there is a strong recommendation to cancel that direction. I think it's more about understanding
what would the infrastructure look like, what would the logistics look like, what do the costs look like, what do the local costs look like. >> Yep. I just coming from my uh world previously in utility scale energy the
supply of hydrogen that's not just split off from a methane particle that the carbon dioxide then gets leaked into the air which gets rid of the top level uh environmental benefits from
having a hydrogen bus is the number one way that we get hydrogen and the ways that the industry was trying and the federal government was trying to incentivize via green hydrogen or pink hydrogen from nuclear or turquoise hydrogen which is
carbon capture. Those things from a the supply side that I was on are dwindling >> or have dwindled quickly. I think the if the city was to go the hydrogen route, the most logical understanding or the
the most logical path forward on that is to use methane from the city's gas utility to then create the hydrogen. But at that point, you might as well just have a natural gas bus and skip the interim step. Um, so I just want to
encourage the city to have these conversations about the practical realities of I of having hydrogen buses. I appreciate trying to do the pilot. I appreciate what the goal of the pilot was. To my comment earlier, is I'd rather have a bunch of diesel buses running around
full of people than to have a couple hydrogen buses. >> And and there's a lot of industries out there that are trying to decarbonize and that's what this is. Um, couple things. One, I apologize for
being that guy. This is more of a comment than a question. Um, but to put a point on some things that Commissioner Harnesses mentioned, I just think we should be seeing mode share goals as part of the climate plan. Um, I again to
agree with Commissioner Harnesses. I do not care what fuels the buses. I care if people are riding the buses and I do not think we can make single occupancy vehicles, whatever fuels them, sustainable, right? So, I would love to, you all are doing great work, but I would love to see more in your headline
materials about here are mode share goals for 5 years out, 10 years out, and here's our plan to get there. U, I'm not saying it's not happening. I'm just saying it's it's very helpful to actually hear it as an explicitly described goal. Um let's see on the EV charging quick
point, not to repeat too much. Um obviously we can't be obstructing sidewalks for legal reasons and also because we want to be able to walk, not fall down. Um, I reported earlier tonight on a proposal by the city to put a bikeway in on Rose Hill, which would
be parking protected, meaning uh, if I'm getting this right, uh, I am Am I doing this wrong? Uh, sometimes the the charging cables might cross a bike lane as well as a sidewalk. So, not a question, something to consider. That
also shouldn't be obstructed by charging infrastructure. Um, third thing, final thing, apologize. Um, speaking about building efficiency and Ross mentioned the gas utility. How are we doing with plans to wind that
down? That's actually a question. >> I think it's a climate, it's a gas decarbonization question, though. Um, here. >> Hey, good evening council. Um, I'm sorry, commissioners. Uh, my name is
Jason Mley. I'm with utilities. Um, currently, as you all know, we have a decarb study that we completed about two years ago. C3 is currently working on a decarbonization study as well, which I think they are looking at a time frame of December
>> to have a report back to us. Um and then they will come that that uh will come to council and then uh we'll go from there. But at this point that's where what we're looking at is decarbonization and uh how we get there. We're still
studying that and looking at uh our options. So >> that's I didn't know that. That's great to hear. Uh is just curious is C3 a vendor in this process or are they doing their own assessment? >> They are doing their their own assessment separate from what we
completed. Okay. But that's something that you're all planning to evaluate or take some action on once they deliver it. >> Jason, do you want me to say anything? >> Sure. Go ahead. >> Um, yeah, this project is cool. C3 got a grant from a private funer and they
reached out to the city starting with leadership and they have ga engaged both leadership and the office of sustainability and we are on their technical advisory committee and working with their consultant to sort of take the next steps from utility study. >> Thank you.
>> So very good. Since we're talking about bus tech, I must raise again, uh, trolley buses, wired trolley buses. Um, I understand there's problems with methane. I understand there's problems with, uh, CNG. I understand there's problems with
batteries. They're big, they're heavy, they're expensive, they explode. Um, hey, you know, copper wires, they're great. Just amazing technology. Really old, but still good. Uh, how are we on copper wires?
I think we should have our transportation colleagues here because it's really not part of again the scope of this regulations and policy study, but we can take it back to them that there's interest to know. >> Thank you. >> Yes, agreed.
>> For those that don't have a mic, she said that they were going to bring the transportation folks to talk about it. Oh, we we talked >> and we will also, you know, relay back to the transportation planning team, you know, kind of just the overall interest and better connecting these projects, at
least the way that we present them. Um, so we'll try to kind of coordinate that as we share as well. But we have been talking a lot internally across the different planning efforts. So, we'll work to better integrate those as well. I I had just a comment and um I mean a
question uh and it has to do I know uh data centers and AI are kind of a flash point politically right now in the Commonwealth, but I was curious um as we develop resiliency plans and as we evaluate storm water management and other tree canopy are what's the city's
stance on leveraging AI tools to help um sort of expand the scope of which these studies can look at data sets. >> That is a great question. I think um excuse me, still something that we're
exploring. Um but also as we work with consultants on these different projects, making sure that we establish with them when they are using AI and being clear if we have used it. It's not something that we've really, to my knowledge, used extensively in any of these projects to
date, but we do want to be clear about that going forward. I think that we're open to it but with caveats and making sure that we understand how it's being used and what data it's using and that it's accurate. So I think again open to it but very cautious and thoughtful
about using it. >> Yeah, I think the UN may have some guidelines around where they're kind of proponents of using it for sustainability studies. So maybe there's some help to sort of look at how you can put the guard rails up for it. So All right. And then last slide.
Um, so hopefully this QR code will work, but there's also the um link at the bottom. So that's connect.sharlottzville.gov/urbanforest-management plan. And again, that survey is open through May 24th. Um, so just want to put in another plug for that. And other
short-term next steps along with urban forest management plan engagement include reviewing the RFPs and selecting the consultant for the storm water management regulations project. Um selecting the consultant for the flood management program updates and then uh
wrapping up high performance buildings best practices to share with the private sector. and then as mentioned additional next steps identifying project leads and funding resources to scope the remaining topic areas and then transitioning this project into the multiple standalone
projects. Um so both on connect Charlottesville and then likely in future work sessions you all will probably start to see um more presentations that are focused on one or two particular projects especially as we dive deeper into them as they get established. Um, and we'll also work to,
you know, kind of note the overlap um, with some of the other topics mentioned, especially transportation. So, that's all I have this evening and thank you for your feedback. >> Um, I've got a additional comment on one that I couldn't pitch into a different
topic. On one of your first introduction slides, you have a rain garden or a bioail. Uh I know there's been conversations on this dis before my tenure about implementing them and how there's really just the one in the uh FIL neighborhood
near the 501 Cherry project and what maybe I could have pigeon holed it into the flood conversation. Um what is are you guys having comments in the city? Are you guys involved in discussions about increasing rain
gardens or bio swailes or um those sorts of things in the public rideway? So, I think it's something that we'd like to, you know, take a look at encouraging with the storm water um RFP study, but one of the challenges um that
I've heard before um from the public works engineering team is that it is difficult to fit them into the public right of way um as it's very constrained and then also um would need to be maintained. So, there' have to be
considerations for that. So, I think it's something that we would look at, but there are a lot of challenges when those are actually in the public right of way versus, you know, being used within a property, >> understood the difficulties around it. I just want to have make sure those con
conversations are continuing. And then my last one on this whole thing. Um the city just put out a press release about growth season and making sure properties have their um
grass or weeds cut to under 18 in. Uh the way that I read that the ordinance I'm worry about the how you balance that ordinance and policy with the idea of having prairies
and rain gardens and bioailes on private property. Uh, I know that my my neighbor got a citation for having a native prairie in their front yard that was actually provided by a grant that may
have been money from the city originally for them to mow it down. Uh, thankfully they did not get it mowed down, but I just want to make sure that we're having conversations and understand how those different uh, pieces of code and ordinance might play against some of
these other policies we're having. No question for you, but just a comment I wanted to make. >> Thank you. That is um specifically in resilient together as well. So definitely something we're taking a look at. Thank you. >> Last call for questions. >> All right.
>> Thank you. >> Um are we on the downtown mall? Is that our next item? Good evening. For the record, I'm Brenda Kelly and as of July, I um inherited a new role and a new title as downtown
strategy manager and I've been asked to come to you tonight to talk about the downtown mall and give you an update on the downtown mall action plan. We actually presented made a similar presentation to city council earlier this year, but we've expanded it to talk
a little bit more about implementing the action plan also as you requested. So, I have additional city staff in the audience tonight. So, if there's questions I may that I can't answer, I will probably be turning and looking at
them for some help. And with that, uh, Patrick, next slide, please. So, as you all know, a couple years ago, the uh city manager commissioned a report on the downtown mall. It's also
known known as the action plan. Um, and it was involved with some community engagement and there were recommendations made and we'll give you some update on those recommendations at the end of this
presentation. Next slide, Patrick. Here's some general information about the downtown mall. A lot of you are very aware of it. Um, some of you use it on a regular basis. So, this just kind of
gives you some background on the mall itself. Next slide, Patrick. And generally um the downtown mall action plan was put together in advance of knowing the 50th anniversary of the downtown mall was coming up this year.
It's actually July 3rd of 2026. And so this presentation tonight kind of gives you an an overview of what's going on and what we're doing in advance of the big celebration for the downtown mall 50th anniversary. Next slide,
Patrick. So generally we have just as of basically July of 2025 put a downtown mall team in place. That's a multi-ep departmental uh group of folks that are specifically focusing on the downtown
mall. One of the things the committee that was looking at the action plan putting it together identified as a problem was that there didn't seem to be a specific city focus on the downtown mall and there was not a department or a
responsible party for anything that was happening on the downtown mall. and there were no um specific resources that were regularly allocated to improvements for the downtown mall as an important asset of the city. Um so since that time
uh parks and recreation has done a a spectacular assessment of all the assets and the inventory on the downtown mall and the maintenance needs. Um, you might have seen a lot of work going on recently in preparation for the July 3rd
event. We've also begun working as a group to identify where funding was allocated that went to the downtown mall and also identifying um additional needs uh such as implementation of the tree
management plan is a good example of the city was not really looking at what funding was needed to put that in place. So, we've holistically looked for this current budget cycle. Um, we did meet in advance and talk about what needs are
upcoming and we're now very specifically including that in the city's budget. So, the the budget that was just recently approved approved does look at outgoing years and what's needed to maintain and improve the downtown mall for the first
time. Uh you may have seen we have uh contracted with uh block byb block that's the name of the company that provides downtown ambassador services that's been complete and we are currently planning for the big downtown mall 50th celebration uh that's in
progress. We have some big plans going on and that'll be on another slide coming up. Next slide Patrick. So, as to maintenance and repairs, parks and wreck has been working on um improving all the assets. So, these are some of the things they've been
accomplishing. Um they have now put together um a maintenance plan for ongoing maintenance, but a lot of this was specifically addressed for the downtown mall 50th, but there is now dedicated
focus and a team that looks specifically at the downtown mall. Next slide. So lights are a integral part of this. Um we need to take a better look at for safety and aesthetics, but there is some projects going on now to take a look at
the lighting. Next slide, Patrick. The annual tree trimming is complete. That's done uh in the very early part of the year and the implementing the tree management plan has started. One of the first phases is uh what we call the free
the fountains. So that's in progress and the next phase will look at starting to uh do some replacement or some planting of the tree canopy. Um next slide, Patrick. So again, our downtown mall ambassador
program is now in place. They started February 1st. As of last week, they are fully uh staffed up now. They have a manager and four personnel people. One of them is seasonal, so they are fully staffed up. Next slide, Patrick.
And they have what's called a smart system where they can input calls for service and what they see and what they do on the downtown mall on a regular basis. And we are still working on getting reports in a format that we feel
the information will be useful. We have the city has provided uh the block byblock company with um items and elements that we would like captured in the information. So as we kind of work
around what they're doing and how they're reporting, we still have a lot of work to do on this, but eventually we will be getting regular monthly reports and then quarterly reports and then year-to-year comparisons on the work they're doing. So, right now with the
ambassador services, um, parks and wreck pretty much takes maintenance from 5 in the morning till 1:00 in the afternoon. And then our downtown mall ambassador program folks come on at 1 to approximately 8 or 9.
Um, they do have off Monday and Tuesday, so there are Wednesday through Sunday services. So, we have maintenance going on pretty much on the downtown mall at almost all times between the city departments and the blockbyblock ambassadors.
Next slide, Patrick. So, as you may have seen, one of the improvement programs we have going on right now is the Cross Streets construction repair of Fourth Street and Second Street. This is a project that was in the planning stages for many
years um and is now under construction. This is supposed to be done in the middle of June. Next slide, Patrick. And we work very closely with some other folks that help with downtown mall. In
this case, uh Friends of Charlottesville downtown we work very closely with. Um, we do provide them some funding to provide services to the city that overall benefits the downtown mall. So, they have developed uh logos and
brandings for the downtown mall that you may start seeing being used regularly. There's some new banners up all down the mall that uh is part of their new uh uh branding um promotion. They are working on written narratives
uh about the downtown mall and they are also the ones that are working big time on our July 3rd anniversary event that's coming up. Next slide, Patrick. So, here's what's proposed so far for
our July 3rd anniversary event. and any additional information can be found on the friendstown seville.com website. Um, that's the proposal right now. There may also be a kickoff event Thursday night that you may start hearing a little bit
more about at the Bradberry. Next slide, Patrick. So, you saw on the previous slide the lantern parade. This is an example of a lantern parade that was done in North Carolina. So, that's one of the big focuses of the July 3rd event. There's
some uh classes going on right now that the community is invited to attend to learn how to make a lantern and have a lantern that they can actually carry down the mall during the lantern parade. Next slide, Patrick.
So, uh, Friends also developed a, uh, commercial. It's being shown on Violet Crown and at, uh, the airport and you might have seen it on local, uh, advertisements on TV. The, again, the banner on the light poles, and there'll be a new banner coming up on the Market Street parking
garage elevator shaft. And not only is it a July 3rd event, but it's actually a full year of events since 2026 is the anniversary year. So there'll be uh continued events going on for the downtown mall. Next slide, Patrick.
We also work very closely with the um historic resources committee and the historical society. They are doing a recollections program right now. Uh you can still I think go and sign up if you want to do some type of story. And when
all the stories about memories of the downtown mall and thoughts about the downtown mall are um put together for the July 3rd event, the uh results will be archived with the historical society. So that's ongoing right now.
Also, uh, Charlottesville Alba Marl con Con convention and visitors bureau has been a, uh, big part of, um, celebrating the Virginia 250 at the same time as we're celebrating the downtown mall 50th. So, they have some events going on
that they're coordinating with. Montichello's doing some events. You might recall that we recently had the mobile museum that was on the downtown mall and the album Charlottesville Historical Society has started their
spring uh tours. Um they are ongoing and you can go to their website to find information about that also. Next slide, Patrick. So, here's some more um things that the uh convention visitors bureau is working on associated with the the Virginia 250.
Next slide, Patrick. So, as I think you were all requesting an update on the downtown mall action plan, there were 21 action items identified in the plan and they were broken down into kind of three groups of
elements. And so if you want, I'll go through these kind of quickly, one by one, and talk about what the status is of each one. So number one, create a downtown mall division within the existing city of Charlottesville departmental structure.
While the plan talked about a very separate department, it's not a department. It's a cross departmental team. Um, but that has been done. We have very clearly assigned who's doing what from which departments and working
very closely together to make sure we're focused on the downtown mall. Next item is identify the existing maintenance plan for the multiple elements of the mall. As I talked earlier, parks and wreck has done that and they have worked on a maintenance
schedule to continue regular maintenance of all those elements. Number three is create a budget and funding sources to implement the plan. Uh we talked also about how that's already been done and will continue to be addressed as we uh
work through future budget cycles. Number four is establish short, medium, and long range objectives. This is kind of looking back at the action plan and the intent of the committee and what needs to be done. As you could imagine, that's in progress
and outgo and ongoing. What have we accomplished? What still needs to be done? Maybe uh you know addressing changes to the plans or funding sources needed. So that'll be an ongoing item. Next slide, Patrick.
Number five falls under social elements um and action items. uh create a framework for ongoing engagement and dialogue with businesses, property owners, the public and other stakeholders. That's in progress and ongoing. I identified some of our partner outside
agencies right now. So, we are developing additional relationships to access for example friends of Charlottesville downtown. They have the best outreach uh to the businesses themselves. So, we don't want to
specifically overwhelm the businesses with messages from the city. So, we're coordinating those types of things. Uh, and Friends of Charlottesville downtown are the best folks that are kind of good partners to be able to address them directly. Number six, foster robust
relationship amongst downtown mall stakeholders. Um, that's kind of the same venue as five. Um, working all together. We also need to work with the stakeholders and how best to re reach them and engage them in dialogue and
discussions about the downtown mall and improvements. Seven, create a consistent presence of staff on the mall to enhance cleanliness and safety for all users. I identified the cross now between what parks and wreck is doing and what downtown mall ambassadors are doing and
how those services are providing visibility on the downtown mall. Number eight, uh, diversify the types and number of events and other uses of open spaces. So, this one's a little bit of an anomaly. Uh, right now it's pretty much
outside agencies that apply for special events and do events on the mall. the city uh parks and rec recreation department mostly. Maybe looking at doing additional events on the mall as we kind of discuss, you know, what's the
use and how do we engage, you know, all ages and and folks across the city and communities that all have access to the mall. Number nine, expand bicycle infrastructure for the downtown mall and surrounding areas. As you know, we have
a very lively bike ped community. Um, and our NDS bike ped folks are very good at all this. So, we will be engaging with them and continuing to look at the bicycle infrastructure. Um, some of the things in the um action plan actually
talk about, you know, are there other things than just putting bike racks out? Maybe we look at lockers. Um, the bike ped folks are doing that right now. there. You know, maybe looking at putting some lockers in the parking garages, that type of thing. So, it's
more than just the infrastructure you're seeing and the routes you're seeing. There's probably more thoughts about more infrastructure that can help make the downtown a better area. Next slide, Patrick. Number 10. This is still under the social elements or action items. Improve
pedestrian infrastructure on adjacent streets providing access to the mall. One of the things that the action plan talked about is the downtown mall may look good and be great and be used, but what happens to get there? You know, how's it look to get there? Um, so we
will probably be doing a lot more to address how that works, what that looks like. Um, it may involve quite a bit of additional funding, but that is one of the things in the plan. So we have marked that in progress ongoing and TBD
because that's a much bigger issue about all those connections to neighborhoods. Number 11, utilize demonstrations and pilot project to explore side street access solutions and aesthetic options with opportunities for community
feedback. This may actually be a bigger project to look at um a bigger overall plan of do we want a consultant to look at the overall access? Do we think about parket pocket
parks? Do we think about you know wider sidewalks? All those kinds of things. So, it's a bigger infrastructure question and dialogue that may need to happen about what those connections look like. So, that's why I've identified
that with a a TBD. That could be a a big project. And yes, maybe we start with a pilot project if we come up with a good idea. 12. Create and implement a new parking and loading strategy for the downtown area. As you all know, this is
a continual dialogue in the city. Um, we hear about, you know, ride share now. We should have pickup sites and drop off sites that are specific to ride share. Uh, food delivery services, uh, loading
zones, you know, are there enough handicap spaces close to the downtown mall? Of course, we got the garages. We've got the continual discussion about you know meters paying cost access around all those kinds of things. So
that will always be an ongoing discussion and there needs to be I think probably a little bit more comprehensive look at everything that's going on and then again a continual reassessment of that. 13. Increase the frequency and
consistency of public transportation to and around the downtown mall. You just had a little discussion about that with CAP, you know, and how that looks. The downtown mall action plan talks about one of the biggest connections is the UVA downtown mall connection and how
does that work. So that is all in that bigger discussion about CAT services and public transit and all those types of discussions. 14. explore the addition of a permanent restroom facility centrally located and
convenient to mall visitors. I don't know if you are all aware, but there the city does pay rent for the public restrooms at York Place currently. Um I have not been instructed to start looking at this, you know, specifically
for another location. That's a whole bigger discussion also. But we do right now have a resource on the downtown mall. Next slide, Patrick. The next action items were considered
physical action items in the downtown mall action plan. Implement the tree management plan. You heard a little bit about that tonight, too. That's in progress and ongoing. Number 16, create a piloting or test program for alternative shade structures to help
manage any necessary and temporary loss in tree canopy. You talked about that with your resilient program. Also, there's more discussion about when we start replacing under the tree management plan those huge canopies of
the trees on the downtown mall. Is there another remedy for short-term replacing canopy with shade structures? Um, I don't know if we've really looked into that yet. That's why
I have a TBD in the status. um that might be something that we talk a little bit more about, you know, internally, but right now I'm not aware of any definitive answers or suggestions or solutions to if and when that needs to
happen. Number 17, include attention to the repair and maintenance of the crosswalks and sidewalks around the mall. Um that's in progress and going on. I know public works has a lot of work going on right
now on uh trip hazards and shaving down concrete sidewalks. Um we've identified, you know, crosswalks that could use some painting and some things like that. So that'll be in progress ongoing and there might be a little focus at some point
about you know specifically looking at those as we talk again interdep departmentally about how and when that happens. Number 18, create a plan for safety and aesthetic lighting of the downtown mall. So the downtown mall action plan
actually the recommendation was hire consultant and look at it globally the downtown mall and the side streets globally as to the aesthetics and the safety of the lighting. So I think and would recommend that that is something we need to do and staff may not be the
experts. We may need to go outside and look at you know hiring someone to do that. So, that's on our radar now. And I know that's one of the city manager big things is that he'd like to see more lighting on the downtown malls. So, that may be something that rises to the front
sooner rather than later. Next page, Patrick. Number 19, retain the cafe spaces. I put no action required. Um, I've inherited the permitting of the outdoor cafes, so we've got ongoing dialogue with that.
Um, there is some work to do, but uh, you know, it's just part of life of the downtown mall right now. 20. Consider a plan to incorporate the center central fountain back into the interactive landscape of the mall. That's in progress right now. Uh, as you might
have seen, the three smaller fountains have now been integrated back into the mall. There's work going on right now to integrate the central fountain back in the mall. This is all part of the tree management plan also. So, that's in progress. 21 repair and add seating. Um, as you
all know, this has been an issue for years, too, but there uh is dialogue going on and some work going on talking about, you know, what that may look like and and how that may move forward. So, that's in progress right now. Next
slide, Patrick. And that's what I have for you. I hope that uh we gave you a good overview of what's going on, and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. I got a bunch of questions, but I'll let you guys go first if you want. >> I've got a ton. I'd like people with
fewer questions to start. >> That was a ton. I got a couple. >> You know what? >> Go, Josh. >> Go, please. >> I I'm I'm curious to see how many questions people consider. A lot. Uh I think I actually have not very many. Um
one is on timing. You talked about um bike lockers possibly. I assume it's NDIS working on that. I've been hearing about it on and off vaguely for a while. Is that an active project or something to be worked on one day? >> I think it's both. >> Okay.
>> I think there's my understanding is of course funding is an issue. So it's a big cost. So are there grants available? And again we had discussions tonight about federal grants which may siphon off to the state, that type of thing.
So, but I know that's on Tommy's radar to be working on that. >> Okay, I'll talk with Tommy. Um, one thing not on the list, I've been hearing for about 9 years, uh, I think that's nine years, that, uh, maybe there shouldn't be car crossings over the
mall. >> You see what I did there? >> Uh, what is the city's appetite for closing the crossings? Well, as you said, there's been discussion for many years about that. Uh, if I recall correctly, the downtown mall action plan
committee suggested those not be closed. Not necessarily. That would be left up to the committee. That is a higher level discussion than me. Um, and I'm not aware that anybody's been given any instructions to proceed on looking at
that at this point. >> Okay. Thank you. I'll go >> on that question. Since we have a natural experiment going on right now with the closure of the vehicular crossings, is there data being tracked
about the impacts to businesses or downtown visitations or vehicular traffic management around the mall? Like, this is a perfect opportunity to test out some of these theories and I'm curious to know if the city is tracking that at all. um not specifically um and
we were not uh instructed to specifically track it. However, we do look at um visits to the downtown mall data uh regularly and compare it to like last year a lot that's going on. And of course, as you can imagine, we're certainly hearing personal stories from
businesses about the effect that's having. Um a little bit more though about the sidewalk closures getting to the mall. um and the impact of you know traffic foot traffic going in front of the spaces but other than that we're not
specifically looking at tracking data on the impact. >> Uh I know it's probably not an easy endeavor. I would hope that we could find a way to empirically study our little natural experiment we have going on right now.
Um, and expanding further, uh, pun intended, councelor Payne has mentioned the idea before about expanding the pedestrian only zone into the side streets that are sort of sub streets right now. And I think earlier you mentioned potentially
pocket parks. I in my mind imagine that those could go there potentially. Uh, what's the level of discussion within the city about that concept? >> Um, none that I'm aware of at this point. >> Okay. And then I guess my last
question is about prioritization. There's a lot of to be determined. Uh what are we doing about prioritization? I just think about benches and bathrooms on the mall and where those are prioritized. So, in the downtown mall
action plan, actually the item that I read those off to you, that was the committee identified those as the priority items in that order. So, um
some things, you know, were easy to address like, you know, preserve the outdoor cafes, you know, was close to the end, but there's really nothing to address on that. Some of those are bigger items like address public transportation to and around the downtown mall. Those are bigger items
that'll be harder to address. So I think at some point and maybe you know the team gets together once, you know, we kind of have everything going for the downtown mall 50th party and we have a little time to take a you know a little breath after July or something. Maybe
the team sits down and goes again specifically through these items and maybe identifies what we think are the priorities, put a recommendation together to the city manager's office and say, "What do you want us to work on?
>> Thank you." And if there's any input from of course the planning commission that you also have ideas, I mean we're always welcome to hear that and provide those recommendations forward also. This is exciting. Thank you. Thank you
for this opportunity. Uh just in order, uh South Street was on the map included in the ambassador program. That's so interesting. Why did you do that? >> Um I don't know. I wasn't involved in that RFP process, but yes, it is. And it
only goes to the south side of Market Street. So, it's I I think it's more because they the ambassadors also need access to the city properties south of Water Street for storage and maintenance
of their equipment, all that type of thing. So, it was kind of more natural to address how properties and stuff look south of Water Street. >> Um, is there anything the commission can do to move forward a study on
considering uh closing the cross uh crossings of the downtown mall? >> I can take your comments from tonight and put to forward a suggestion that you have requested that. >> Thank you. I just wrote landmark hotel.
>> What do we do? >> That's a very good question. What do we do? So, I know there's other departments in the city looking at that. I am not aware of it. I don't think anybody here is involved in that. I can try to get
you an update by reaching out to other departments and see if there is anything if you're interested in me providing you something >> that would be helpful. It's one of the biggest questions I get from the public and my answer is always I have no idea. >> Yes, I I'm with you there. But I'll put something together and then uh provide it to Matt and he can forward it off to
you if I can get an answer. >> Funding. I'm guessing we're mostly from the general fund. I don't think we have a lot of other pools of funds. I guess like the the cafe fees go to. >> So we have a couple different um sources
or line items. So of course the staff and everything would be in the parks and wreck general fund budget for the department. Um, generally the outdoor cafe fees go into there's some line items in
the CIP that fall under the parks and wrecks projects such as downtown mall infrastructure, downtown mall trees active life cycle management, downtown mall tree management plan. Um,
that's pretty much it. So there it's both general fund and CIP. >> We have recently gotten permission from Richmond to change the way we think about property taxes. It's an exciting time. We don't know what to do about that. Uh
but we now have the power to tax land more than buildings. I'm not clear that we have that the power to do that like district by district. Um but is this a potential solution to our funding problems downtown? Um, probably not because a downtown mall specific is
basically buildings. There's, you know, basically no vacant land. Um, we have had discussions and will continue to have discussions as there has been over many, many, many years. Do we create a business improvement district or other
funding sources like that? So, those kind of things are all up in the air at all times. So that may even come into discussions about you know is there a dedicated funding source to support the downtown mall at some point. >> The challenge for doing this has been that people kept saying oh we'll we'll
fund that eventually and we didn't. >> Right. Correct. >> Fun physical and signage connections for bicycle pedestrian and transit to the university the train station the airport. Montichello we got anything on that? We do not have
anything on that. Again, that's probably a um discussion point for CAT and those connections and how to get around. So, I know they get a lot of feedback. Um and again, the downtown mall action plan specifically addressed one of those most
important or used connections was UVA to the downtown mall. So, is there a way that that can be improved? I because I I just have to add that I walking down West Main Street every once in a while you get tourists or where's the downtown mall? >> Yep. >> And it's kind of hard to explain that
it's like you know got a bare lift as you go past the the really big buildings. >> Yes. >> Well, and one of the other things, interestingly enough, it's a little change from subject here, but as I was doing like an inventory in my new role, um looked at all those, you know, those
green directional signs, welcome to Charlottesville. you probably know what I'm talking about, the ones with the dog woods and everything, and found out there's not really a city in the department that owns that. So, that's something I'm looking at right now is
how do we address those? Is there a need for updating, you know, that type of thing. So, hopefully we'll be looking into that a little bit. >> I was in the room at that time. That was Jim Tolbert at NDS. Uh did a one-off project and then nobody owned it after that. >> Correct.
>> Yeah. I've learned a lot of things in my new role. >> Storm water. Uh most places in the city, we don't have the right of way or the people on site to do proper storm water management, you know, besides just a pipe. Uh the downtown mall, downtown
mall is special. Uh we could do more interesting things downtown. Uh can we think of storm water differently on the downtown mall? >> That um I have not heard that as a discussion. I know there's been discussions about like where does all the sand go from the between the brick
pavers, you know, where is that actually falling into the storm water system? That's a bigger discussion item. I'll add that to my list of things to, you know, maybe bring up is there a need to discuss that and especially with the
sustainability folks and the utilities folks that I'll bring that up uh following your previous discussions, your previous agenda item. I was recently in Blackburg. Uh their downtown is not as nice as ours. Ours is very nice, but they do have some lovely shades that they put up on a temporary
basis. Very attractive, colorful. It's an interesting uh example that we might consider. >> Okay, >> that's what I have. Thank you. >> Other comments, questions? >> Yeah, I had a couple comments just also answered. So, I was on the task force for a year. It was a really great experience and uh I was there under a
capacity as being a citizen not as my represent not as a representative university but I was going to give a couple just updates on the closure of the street. So, one of the arguments that came up that was quite compelling uh had to do with accessibility and drop off and pickup. And so, the side streets
tend none of them meet ADA. Typically, sidewalks are limited. And so, there was a lot of sort of um sort of helpful and moving sort of testimony from folks who rely on those cross streets to either pick up uh someone who's a loved one or
drop them off or they had their own mobility disability. And part of the challenge is everyone sees the benefit of closing it. So I don't think they did that. The challenge is is actually coming up with something that works. And I think uh it's imperfect in its current
way. I know Port Street had their higher way that everyone agrees it's not the great location to have it and and the challenge is when the transportation center was built, they closed down the previous crossing and they slid it over to Fourth Street. So, it is a complicated issue and I think it really
was a point of um constrnation by the task force. So, I don't think it was one that they sort of said, "Oh, keep them open. It's great." I think it they know it's a challenge. And I think the trolley access had benefits because it allows for easy on on and off. And so, um I think it was more one of those ones we acknowledged it was hard to figure
out how to come up with something better because if you do close them, the loop you have to go, particularly on the east side, is very ownorous. Yeah, you have to go past the bridge, you have to go into an area that's not really designed or has the infrastructure to accept that kind of loop. So, um it'd be great to
continue to look at it. Um there was the um the pedestrian only side streets that come in. I think you mentioned councelor Payne. The challenge there is a lot of businesses. It's the it's the access of deliveries, you know, people who rely on this for either products or goods or food or supplies and so closing those
off and not a lot. I mean, it's already a difficult delivery situation for the retail component. So that was one um area we were thinking of there ways to kind of streamline and standardize the delivery so each side street wasn't different. So um the shade structures
were I think were to be introduced in between the tree bosses so that as the trees became small and wispy and there was no shade that you could find some comfort in the areas in between and then once the trees sort of establish themselves they could come down. Uh I
think the lighting goals, it's great that the uh you know the city manager is interested in the lighting. I know one of the things that Halpin's original design for the lights were full cut offs and so they lit the surface. They didn't put glare in your eyes and at some point they got redone where you get they keep
making them more intense but it actually creates contrast issues where even though it's very well lit, it doesn't feel like it's well lit. >> So it' be I'm all for sort of revisiting lighting. But then the questions I had was the tree action plan you mentioned was that derived from Wolf Jos's tree framework plan.
>> Yes. >> Okay. Um that's a great if you guys want to look it up that PDF uh really great war against it's exciting that it's being uh seen through. Um and then the time horizon when do we have an idea when we're going to do the first Bos of
trees like of the willow oaks? I don't know if you guys know but you can't replace them one at a time. They all have to come. Yeah. So, if there's five trees, all of them have to come and you have to replant all five. What's that? >> Uh, good evening everyone. I'm Katie Lockhart. I'm the deputy director for parks. Uh, so we actually met this
morning uh with somebody from Capital Development to talk about maybe taking this project on next year um because we have funding for it. So, it's a 20year plan. It's broken into four phases and each of those phases is five years to
come up with a 20. Um so this first one focuses mostly on central place and um yeah it's the removal of some of these trees that have reached the end of their life which um quite a few of them have and our urban foresters here and can speak more to that. Uh but yeah just
going in and also updating that infrastructure so that it can support uh larger caliber trees. Right now uh they're not in an ideal setting for growth. So this would address that as well for long-term sustainability. So, it's I guess we're gonna the first
phase would be in the next five years, you think? >> Yeah, we'll get started um July 1st basically and we're not really sure yet what it's going to look like. We'll have to phase the phase. Um but yeah, we're ready to get in there and start planting some trees.
>> Is the goal to stick with the willow oaks or is it going to be a new strategy? >> There's a new strategy. Um there's a couple of options and a lot of it's based on color is my understanding as well for >> for pizzazz. Um but yeah, there's a few
different species that have been recommended. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Uh good evening. I'm Steve Gain from Urban Forest Parks and Recck. Um yes, there are a few different species gate being considered. Um some of them as you know Halpern did have a color scheme in
mind. Um so we do have a couple of different ideas. Most of the ideas are really built around trees are going to be able to tolerate heat and the stress of the this urban situation. So swamp swamp white oak is one that's
we're considering. We're considering um tulip popppler as well. Um so I think there's and willow oak also. Um, of course with you know oaks we also have acorns and leaf size. These kinds of things are also something that we're very much considering. >> Are is the is the plant still keep them
all uniform like homogeneous in the bos or would you create some diversity for resiliency? >> There's some discussion there. Um, personally I am not a fan of monocultures. >> Yeah. >> Um, so yeah, there there's a lot of discussion there too which is actually really pretty exciting. I think
diversity is going to be helpful here. >> Yeah. Yeah, I was always worried if there would be some pest come out of nowhere and it would completely wipe out all of them. >> Yes, sir. That's that's the problem. >> Great. Thank you. And then the last question I have, this is it was something I think it was in 2021 ABC in Virginia has these designated
outdoor refreshment areas and I remember that there was a mixed camps where people wanted a downtown mall to be one of these designated or a areas where you could have open container. >> Is that still being discussed? Is it part of this action plan or is that where do things stand with that?
>> That was not addressed in the action plan and I don't know enough about that to address your comment, but I do hear that discussion randomly and occasionally. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I also want to point out to follow up on your comments about the committee
talking about the road closures is the committee was meeting at the time the Belmont Bridge was under construction too. So that might have had an effect on your conversations because Water Street had some one-way traffic going. So there were some other impacts during your
construction during your meetings. >> Yeah, be again it be great to have those continue those conversations and figure it out. >> But yeah, great work. It's exciting to see it come to fruition and start to be implemented. And thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Um I guess my comments are they may sound like grumbling. They're not they're not meant to be grumbling. Um, and I think you probably are starting to address more of these, but I feel like as a BA member, I feel like there's been a lot of things that just kind of appear on the mall without knowing who made
what decision or how that decision was made. Um, and I know, you know, recently, not last month, but the month before, I mean, we looked at trash cans. So, yeah, you are, the city is bringing stuff to the bar about the um the downtown mall, but there are other things that seem like they're like it
would be good if the shade structures came to the B or if you know any of these other improvements, not necessarily in the sense that I mean I know it's a public rightway so the BA we're not we can't issue a COA and say no you can't do that but it would be good to have us as a stakeholder just to
get some feedback. Um, like the lights for example. Um, the up lights are they're cool, they're fun, but they are up lights which is against our zoning code and they're a weird purple blue color which is against our zoning code.
Um, and they when they look great when they're all on and they're all pointing at the trees, but at some point they start moving or rotating down and shining in your face or um there's a couple that I think are not actually at trees. they're at tree stumps. Um, so it
just kind of is there it would be good to know that there's actually some oversight that when the when the city puts things on the mall, are they continuing to look at them to make sure that they stay in place and they get maintained? Um, I mean, the Christmas lights are another example. They're they're great when they go up, but they
start failing during the season. Does the city want to take care of them and make sure that they replace them throughout the season so they stay lit? Um, it's kind of a jumble of comments, but I guess it's one, can we please include
the BA as a stakeholder? Um, and two, um, is there a is the city looking at ways to make sure that what they put on the mall gets maintained and gets continues to look nice and continues to do what it's supposed to do? >> I will be happy to share your comments.
>> Okay, one more question. Um, just cuz I wonder this every time I walk by it. Is there any use for the transit center? I mean, we talk about needing bathrooms. We talk about needing, you know, space for ambassadors or whatever. I mean, is there been sitting empty for so long?
And honestly, I don't I don't go to the transit center. Are the bathrooms downstairs still available? So, it's my understanding, I could be wrong, is that um the restrooms at the transit center are kind of controlled under the Ting Pavilion lease.
>> Even downstairs? >> Yes, because that's Oh, downstairs, I think, is the transit center yet. The upstairs one, I believe, are under the Ting Pavilion lease control. >> Are those Are they still open? Still, >> as far as I know, the transit center still open downstairs.
>> Um, yeah. Is there any way that we could fill the upstairs with something of use to them all? >> I can >> it's a >> forward those comments. >> Really cool building that just didn't seem to >> it did come up on the task force and there was a concern at the time uh that
it was a federally funded project and that re any type of adaptive reuse may run a foul of its dollars that came for a transit hub. So I don't know if that was what I think I recall hearing. >> Repurposing it may be complicated. So,
>> okay. All right. Just Yeah, seems kind of >> I agree. It'd be great to >> I mean, there's probably a meeting space in there as well that Yeah. I I don't know. Um I've always wondered cuz I just walked by and it's Well, it would be nice if somebody would go inside it and clean up the garbage that's still kind
of there's boxes and there's posters that are from two years ago that are, you know, contests that happened again two years ago on the glass and starting to peel off. be nice if somebody just kind of tidied that up a little bit, assuming that's still city- owned property. Sorry, I know it wasn't meant to be
grumbly, but this is kind of it's been on my mind for a while, and this seemed like, okay, the perfect opportunity to ask. >> Um, any other thoughts, happier thoughts? >> Oh, I don't know. This is a happier thought. Um, I I I'm often here at
night, uh, because planning commission meetings can go late. Uh, so I'm familiar with the the rat population. Oh, >> how are my friends doing? How are we thinking about that? >> Hi. >> They're frightening.
>> Yeah. So, uh, I don't even know where to go with this. We have a contract um for services on the mall. They have recommended uh some participation with the businesses to be more successful um to set up more bait stations with them.
Um, and the hotel also plays into this. We can't encourage them to treat there because we don't own that building. Um, but it is agreed that there are probably tens of thousands of rats living there. >> Lovely.
>> Take take that home with you. >> Your friends are doing well. >> Yeah, they're thriving. I guess on a happy note, I'm just glad to hear that there's attention being paid to the downtown mall. It's
uh a major attraction for the city. It's a major asset to the city and I'm thrilled to hear that there's thought and intention going into it and I'm excited to see how we can maintain it into the future, how
we can grow it into the future, expand it into the future, and keep it around for many, many decades to come. >> And I think we're all happy to come give you regular updates if you want to request them. We'd be happy to do that. >> Thank you.
Um Dan and Matt, is there anything else? Are we I think that was it for our agenda. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Um I move to uh to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Yeah. I don't know if there's some rule.
You guys can vote me off in September.