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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-06-17Minutes of the Town Council meeting held Tuesday, June 6, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Building at 42 First Street, NW. There were present: Mayor: Robert N. Glenn Council: James A. Radcliffe, Gregory C. East, Joseph K. Goodman, David L. Clark, H. M. Kidd, Lane R. Penn -Aye Staff: Shawn M. Utt, Town Manager - Aye Spencer Rygas, Town Attorney - Aye Nichole Hair, Deputy Town Manager Patricia Cruise, Clerk of Council David Quesenberry, Assistant to the Town Manager Gary Roche, Police Chief Rebecca M. Reece, Finance Director Bill Pedigo, Town Engineer Kim Caudill, Administrative Manager Robbie Kiser, Fire Chief Others: Clark Payne Linda Hall Kevin Meyer Debbie Linkous Isley Quesenberry Sandra Hillyer Jerry Haney Irene Turman Fay Shamanski Mike McMillion Jay Jones Terry McPeak Elmer Hanks Michael Gay Kevin Lindamood John McElroy Thom Rutledge Mike Williams, Press Brooke Wood, Press At 7:00 p.m., Mayor Glenn called the meeting to order. He advised that the first part of the meeting was a joint meeting between Town Council and the Planning Commission. Councilman Radcliffe led the Pledge of Allegiance and Councilman Clark gave the Invocation. Following roll call for Town Council, Mr. Meyer called the Planning Commission to order and Mr. Quesenberry called the roll. Councilman Kidd moved to add item 13B, Discussion of Council Committees and item 14, Closed Session under Virginia Code 2.2-3711 (A-7), legal matters on Ridge Avenue site lease to the agenda. Councilman Clark seconded the motion and carried on the following recorded vote: James A. Radcliffe -Aye Gregory C. East - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Joseph K. Goodman -Aye H. M. Kidd - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Mayor Glenn advised that the next item was a joint Public Hearing regarding Planning Commission Case # 2017-03RZ (Rezoning). Mr. Quesenberry advised that the Hearing had been called to consider a request for a rezoning of 529 Pierce Avenue from R-4 Residential district to B-1, Local Business district, with the building to be used as an office for Calfee Park. He noted that the structure is located directly adjacent to the park and offers staff ready access to the facility as well as a permanent structure and location to house park operational offices. Page 1 of 8/June 6, 2017 Mayor Glenn opened the Hearing at 7:03 p.m. Thom Rutledge, the Project Manager for Shaw Development, addressed Council offering to answer any questions that Council might have. There being no questions, the Hearing closed at 7:10 p.m. Since Mayor Glenn was a member of the Planning Commission, he turned the meeting over to the Vice -Mayor while he attended the remainder of the Planning Commission meeting. Vice -Mayor East moved on to a Public Hearing from VuhVanagon, LLC., agent Kevin Lindamood, to vacate an undeveloped portion of the Eastman Street right-of-way. Ms. Hair advised that VuhVanagon, L.L.C. had requested closure of a portion of the Eastman Street right-of- way to accommodate the development of Mr. Lindamood's property with buildings for the storage of vehicles near the intersection of the Eastman Street right-of-way and Lee Highway. She noted that the Town had received a letter Mr. Dennis Turman speaking against approval because he would not have access to his property which were lots 11 & 12. Vice -Mayor East opened the Public Hearing at 7:12 p.m. Mr. Turman addressed Council, speaking against approval of the request because he would not have access to his property, which were lots 11 and 12. Jerry Haney spoke against approval of the request as it would block access to his lots 8, 9, and 10. Kevin Lindamood addressed Council advising that he would maintain the egress and ingress if that would help the owners. He continued that he planned to maintain the driveway that leads to the house on the hill. He added that his goal was to build buildings to house the full inventory of vehicles on the property. He advised that he was seeking to vacate the street so that he would have more room to build his buildings. Michael Gay with New Properties Inc. advised that he was helping Mr. Lindamood develop a plan while remaining in compliance with Town Ordinances. He described the structures as a Quonset but style. He noted that Mr. Haney and Mr. Turman lots fronted on Monroe and would have access to their land from Monroe. He offered to answer questions from Council. Councilman Radcliffe asked what the time frame was for completion of the project. Mr. Gay responded that there was 6 structures with approximately 3 months allotted for each structure, so approximately 18 months. Councilman Radcliffe asked how many vehicles the structures would hold. Mr. Gay responded that all of the vehicles would be stored in a hut. He added that if all of the vehicles would not fit in the huts, then Mr. Lindamood would have to get rid of the vehicles. Councilman Goodman asked what the plan was to be able to maintain the fabric structure to make sure it wasn't damaged in the storm. Mr. Gay responded that the huts were made of steel with a cloth type roof. Vice -Mayor East asked whether the analysis addressed the close proximity to the creek and the underground springs. Page 2 of 8/June 6, 2017 Mr. Gay responded yes. The creek and spring had been addressed with Town staff. He added that they would install a spring box. He noted they follow the storm water management regulations and were getting a storm water permit from the Town. Councilman Radcliffe asked Ms. Hair why VuhVanagon did not have to have state inspection stickers and vehicles be operable like other car lots. He commented that the rules should be enforced equally. Mr. Utt responded that one of the goals of Mr. Lindamood's request was to store the vehicles out of site in a building. He added that would meet the requirements of inoperable vehicles. Councilman Radcliffe responded that went back to his original question, which was what is the time frame for completion of the project. He added that he was not trying to stir up problems. He was simply passing on the question that was asked of him. Mr. Gay responded that there were 6 different phases and 3 months per phase. Councilman Radcliffe asked when the first phase would begin. Mr. Gay responded as soon as they get approval. After ascertaining that the huts would be sitting on a gravel pad, Councilman Goodman asked whether any remediation would be done to the existing gravel from vehicles that had been parked. Mr. Gay responded there was none proposed. Councilman Goodman continued so if there is oil or other fluids on the existing gravel... Mr. Gay responded that unless there were amounts discovered that would need remediation, none would be done. He continued that he was not aware of any problems. Mr. Lindamood interjected that the majority of the vehicles had already been drained of all of their fluids. He added that he was an environmentalist and he had no interest in doing anything that in any way impedes the water that flows through the property. Councilman Goodman asked who owned the bridge at the end of the right-of-way. Mr. Pedigo responded that he did not think the Town owned the bridge. He added the Town had never done inspections on it and it was not in the state system. Mr. Gay advised that it was in the Town's right-of-way. Mr. Pedigo responded that was a good point. Mr. Lindamood addressed Council informing them that the huts were manufactured by Clear Span. He continued that the buildings were arched, stainless steel trusses that came with a 50 year warranty. He added that the Tyvek type material was impervious to the elements and came with a 30 year warranty. He advised that if Council wanted more information he would be happy to provide them with documentation from the company. At 7:40 p.m., there being no further questions, the Hearing was closed. Mr. Utt commented that it appeared that there were several questions that still needed to be answered. He suggested that Council might like to table the request to allow Mr. Lindamood to connect with some of the Page 3 of 8/June 6, 2017 property owners and work out some of the access questions and concerns and bring back a revised proposal to Council in the coming weeks. Councilman Goodman commented that he always hated to close alleys because once they were closed they could not be reopened. He asked why, in this situation, the setbacks could not be changed to aid Mr. Lindamood in completing his project, while leaving the alley open for future development. Mr. Utt responded that the only way to do that would be to change the zoning ordinance or to request permission to build in the setbacks through the Board of Zoning Appeals. He continued that the easiest choice would be to look at closing the alley. Councilman Penn moved to table Mr. Lindamood's request. Councilman Goodman seconded the motion and carried on the following recorded vote: James A. Radcliffe -Aye Gregory C. East - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Joseph K. Goodman -Aye H. M. Kidd - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye At this time, the meeting was turned back over to Mayor Glenn. Mr. Quesenberry addressed Council advising that the Planning Commission recommendation regarding the rezoning of 529 Pierce Avenue was to approve the rezoning. Councilman Clark moved to direct staff to approve Planning Commission case 2017-03RZ. Councilman East seconded the motion and carried on the following recorded vote: James A. Radcliffe -Aye Gregory C. East - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Joseph K. Goodman -Aye H. M. Kidd - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye The next item on the agenda was the Public Comment period. Sandra Hillyer addressed Council requesting that they allow renters to pay a lesser water bill deposit. She continued that she had been picking up trash in areas of Town. She advised that vagrants were living under the bridge on the Trail next to the Train Station and were throwing trash around in the area. She advised that Mr. Barbatini and Taking It To The Streets played their music very loudly on Saturday nights. She continued that she could hear the noise from her terrace. She asked why he could not keep his speakers inside the building. Following discussion, Mr. Utt advised that he had planned to provide a recommendation regarding the water and sewer fee schedule for Council. He continued that currently it was $140 deposit for the water and $45 for garbage. Ms. Reece advised that the reason the deposits were so high was that if someone leaves without paying their water bill, it generally takes a two month cycle to catch up. The deposits were intended to cover a lot of the bill if necessary. She continued that she had looked into letters of credit, but found that there were not a lot of agencies that give letters of credit. Mayor Glenn suggested this be discussed further in the Finance Committee. Mr. Utt suggested that Council could implement a temporary decrease in the deposit for a time period and see how that affected Town collections. Page 4 of 8/June 6, 2017 Following further discussion, Ms. Reece was asked to give a presentation giving a brief basic overview of how the Finance office worked at the next Council Work Session. Regarding the litterers in the park, Mayor Glenn asked the Police Chief what the patrol situation was in that area. Chief Roche advised that litterers could be cited but that it was a one second crime. Mayor Glenn asked the Police Chief to do extra patrols in the area around Kiwanis Park. Regarding the noise from Taking It To The Streets, Mayor Glenn advised that staff would contact Mr. Barbatini. Mike McMillion addressed Council advising that he agreed with Ms. Hillyer regarding the litter in the Park. He added that people are hanging out under the bridge. He complained about the smokers at the Train Depot and the litter left by the smokers. He advised that the no smoking signs at the Depot were taken down and have not been replaced. He continued without the signs, no enforcement was possible. He reported a homeless camp on the Trail. He reported excessive driving speed on Dora Highway. He advised he was not asking for more Ordinances, he was asking for zero tolerance of the Ordinances already in place. Mayor Glenn asked how far down the Trail the problems he was describing occurred. Mr. McMillion responded all the way to Cool Springs. He added that the railroad put up some signs and now the path goes around the sign. Councilman East asked why are we still having this discussion? He continued that he had someone ask him the other day which parks were close to downtown and he was afraid to mention Kiwanis Park. He added that Council had approved a Resolution that there would be police presence on the Trail and the Park at different times during the day. He added that he got the sincere sense from Mr. McMillion that has not happened. He expressed disappointment with the lack of progress and he felt that was unacceptable. Mr. Utt interjected that the Resolution had been to add some funds to the bike patrol. Councilman East responded that everything comes down to funds. He continued that basically, a Resolution was passed by full Council and we need to make it happen. Councilman Goodman commented that this problem perplexed him the most. He continued that the Town had many officers and had obtained a grant to pay for bicycles for them. Staff needed to come up with an actual plan and implement it to deter the issues on the trail. Councilman Goodman moved to require staff to come back to the next Council meeting with a plan to implement community policing on the Dora Highway bicycle trail. Councilman East seconded the motion and carried on the following recorded vote: James A. Radcliffe -Aye Gregory C. East - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Joseph K. Goodman -Aye H. M. Kidd - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Councilman Radcliffe asked whether cameras would help the police department with this problem. He continued that the Sheriff department utilizes cameras to take pictures of problem areas. Chief Roche responded that all sounds good, but he had eight bike officers, four of which work daylight and are administrative people. He continued that left four that work the shifts. He added that they were currently training other people. He noted that his report that he sent out today showed 1,200 some calls just last month. He continued that in the last 2'h years, he had run skeleton crews trying to get the leave time down. He added Page 5 of 8/June 6, 2017 that cameras sound like an easy solution, but he can't invent someone out on the trail. He continued that when he has a shift that is running two people and another one on a bike, they have to go back to the Municipal building to get in a car and then go assist other officers in an emergency. Councilman East interjected that getting a plan developed and understanding the resource requirements should help. Councilman Goodman commented that Council was not saying that the entire problem falls on the Police department. He continued that all of the staff needed to meet and come up with a plan. The issues needed to be identified and then each department work on the problem. The next item on the agenda was the Consent agenda. Councilman Clark moved to adopt the Consent agenda consisting of the May 2, 2017 Council meeting minutes as written. Councilman Kidd seconded the motion and carried on the voice vote. Mayor Glenn moved on to the Project Review Chart and review of short-term goals. Mr. Utt summarized the 3/6/9 departmental goals including that there were some items that needed to have the completion dates revised and some that had been completed. He continued that the Brookmont water system needed to be delayed about 60 days due to the Health Department reviews. He added that the landscaping design for the plantings was under way and would continue throughout the current growing season. He advised that staff was working to get the sealant applied to the current skateboard park; the weed spraying program was scheduled to begin that week especially on the creek walk and the downtown area and the pump station generator should be delivered the following week with installation to follow. He continued that he had postponed installation of the conduit and electrical connections throughout Jackson Park until after Pulaskifest. He advised that the PER for James Hardie Sewer "direct injection" project was on track to be completed by the end of the month; that he expected to have a draft Zoning Ordinance for Council review by the August Work Session; staff was still working on the wayfinding signage and the Town website. He continued that 4 proposals had been received for the website and interviews were due to be scheduled. Following comments from Council, Mayor Glenn moved on to Old Business. The first item was Resolution 2017-11, Appointment of Vera Carter to the Cemetery Board of Trustees. Mr. Utt advised that this completed action of Council. Councilman Kidd moved to adopt Resolution 2017-11 as written. Councilman Goodman seconded the motion and carried on the following recorded vote: James A. Radcliffe -Aye Gregory C. East - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Joseph K. Goodman - Aye H. M. Kidd - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye The next item for consideration was recap of FY18 budget draft. Mr. Utt advised that Council had a budget work session last week to review the draft budget. He asked if Council had any comments, questions or concerns regarding the budget. Councilman Radcliffe advised that he and Councilman Penn had a few questions, but that they would make an appointment to discuss them. Page 6 of 8/June 6, 2017 Mr. Utt responded that would be fine. He continued that at the last meeting, Councilman East had asked for a time line for the budget goals presented in the narrative. He added that this information had been included in the Council packet narrative. He reviewed the information. Mayor Glenn moved on to review of current position vacancies. Mr. Utt advised that at the last Council Work Session, Council talked about a hiring freeze. He added that he wanted to provide a list of current vacancies or vacancies that would occur in the near future. He continued that the positions were Building Permit Tech, Town Planner, Executive Secretary, Community Development Director, Public Works Laborers and Museum Coordinator. During discussion, Council advised that the hiring freeze had been meant for the newly created positions and the Museum Coordinator, not replacing existing positions. The consensus was to hire someone for the Building Permit Tech, the Town Planner, the Executive Secretary and the Public Works Laborers and to wait on the other positions until more information could be provided to Council and more discussion held. The next item for discussion was New Business. Mr. Utt advised that state employees had been given an additional holiday on July 31 since the 4th falls on a Tuesday. He continued that the Town's Personnel Manual states that Town employees follow the state's holiday schedule, so Town offices would also be closed those days. He added that the regularly scheduled legislative meeting falls on July 4. He asked Council to consider rescheduling that meeting from the 4th to the 5th Following discussion, Councilman Goodman moved to change the July 4th Legislative Meeting to July 5 at 7 p.m. Councilman Radcliffe seconded the motion and carried on the following recorded vote: James A. Radcliffe - Aye Gregory C. East - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Joseph K. Goodman -Aye H. M. Kidd - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Mayor Glenn moved on to discussion of Finance Committee and Human Resource Committee. Mr. Utt advised that Councilman Radcliffe had requested this be added to the agenda. Councilman Radcliffe moved to eliminate the Human Resource and Finance Committee effective immediately until more rules, regulations and guidelines could be discussed and approved. Councilman Penn seconded the motion. Councilmen Goodman and Clark spoke against eliminating the Committees and asked that if Council desired this action that the Human Resource Committee be allowed to complete the work they had started as they were very close to completion. Mayor Glenn advised that he was concerned over the angst over something. He wished to find out the problem and work on it. Councilman Clark commented that no matter what the decision was for this motion, he would still like the Human Resource Committee be able to finish what they started. He continued that there were things that need to happen and the issues had not come before the Council yet and the Committee needed to bring forward a product that Council could look at, talk about and have the information in front of them. He added that from that stand point, whether the Committee is still active or they were doing it because they agreed to do it, he would like to be allowed to finish it. Councilman East and Kidd approved of that idea. Page 7 of 8/June 6, 2017 Councilman Goodman was opposed to the idea. He again asked for Councilman Radcliffe's reasoning. Councilman Radcliffe responded that he felt Councilman Goodman was creating havoc for the Town Manager by speaking with the employees, creating paperwork and keeping staff after hours. He added that 6 Council members had been elected and 6 should vote, not 1. He added that you committee yourself to death. He continued that he had called for the motion and asked for a vote. The motion then carried on the following recorded vote: James A. Radcliffe -Aye Gregory C. East - Aye David L. Clark - No Joseph K. Goodman -No H. M. Kidd - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye At 9:25 p.m., Councilman Clark moved to enter into Closed Session under Virginia Code 2.2-3711 (A-1), discussion for consideration of employment, assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salaries, disciplining, or resignation of public officers, appointees or employees regarding retirement incentive review and (A-7), discussion for consideration of disposition or acquisition of publicly held property regarding revolving loan fund application and legal matters on Ridge Avenue site lease. Councilman East seconded the motion and carried on the following recorded vote: James A. Radcliffe - Aye Gregory C. East - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Joseph K. Goodman - Aye H. M. Kidd - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Councilman Goodman left with a medical emergency during the Closed Session. At 10:30 p.m., Council returned from Closed Session and adopted the Certification Resolution on motion by Councilman Clark, seconded by Councilman East and carried on the following recorded vote: James A. Radcliffe -Aye Gregory C. East - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Joseph K. Goodman - Absent H. M. Kidd - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Councilman East moved to authorize the Town Manager to enter into a Letter of Intent with SBA regarding Ridge Avenue property pending attorney review and modification as needed. Councilman Clark seconded the motion and carried on the following recorded vote: James A. Radcliffe -Aye Gregory C. East - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Joseph K. Goodman - Absent H. M. Kidd - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye There being no further business, the meeting adjourned on motion by Councilman Kidd, seco Councilman Clark and so carried. /� ` r ATTEST: , a, g " 7 a... /�., David N. Quesenber Jerk of Council Approved: Page 8 of 8/June 6, 2017 N. Glenn, M