Planning Commission
Planning Commission
Tue, May 12, 2026
Agenda items
Vote records
Discussion summary
Transcript
Meeting summaryAI-generated
Planning Commission — May 12, 2026
This was a regular Planning Commission meeting that included two zoning applications, two critical slope special exceptions, and two substantive work session presentations on environmental regulations and the Downtown Mall Action Plan.
Commissioner and Staff Reports
Commissioners shared several noteworthy updates during reports:
Tree Commission: Half the board has turned over; the group continues to push for stronger private-property tree preservation measures, noting that most progress has been on public land. The State of the Forest report was recently presented to council.
Parks and Recreation: A proposal is under discussion to make city pools free for residents 17 and under this summer, partly because school construction is displacing summer camps.
MPO / Smart Scale: Four MPO projects, four Albemarle County projects, and one city project (the Ridge-McIntyre/West Main intersection) are moving toward an August 1 state submission deadline. City Council is expected to vote on a supporting resolution in July. Two MPO projects passed only because VDOT broke a 2–2 tie on the policy board, which commissioners found unusual.
Virginia Building Code: The state board adopted a single-staircase allowance up to four stories (not five or six) and declined to adopt smaller, more affordable elevators at six stories and below — falling short of what some hoped for in the upcoming 2027 code.
BPAC: A preferred alternative for Rose Hill Drive is a two-way cycle track on the east side. A quick-build drop-off zone is planned near Summit Elementary. Trees being removed along Emmett Street between Ivy Road and Arlington Boulevard are part of a city-led Smart Scale shared-use path project, not a UVA project; a replanting plan is in place.
UVA: Upcoming capital projects include a 60,000-square-foot School of Data Science and Entrepreneurship building (five stories, red brick) and a major infrastructure project converting the main heat plant from coal to natural gas — which will eventually allow removal of the four prominent coal silos visible from University Avenue and 14th Street.
NDS: The May 26 citywide mobility plan work session has been postponed. A development code cleanup subcommittee meets May 19, with a June 23 listening session for local builders and developers. Staff is forming a technical working group on missing middle housing and is seeking one or two planning commissioner volunteers. The ADU manual and student housing study was presented to council; the financial feasibility model is being refined.
Zoning Map Amendment and Zoning Text Amendment — 801 West Street (PL-26-0042 and PL-26-0043)
Staff planner Kate Richardson presented two companion applications to designate 801 West Street as an Individually Protected Property (IPP). The home, a 1905 two-story stucco-clad dwelling with a hipped roof, widow's walk, and several preserved original features, sits in the 10th and Page neighborhood — a historically significant African American community that a 2021 survey found eligible for National Register of Historic Places nomination.
The property owner, Mr. Hunt, spoke movingly about his family's connection to the home, purchased by his grandparents during World War II. He described recent investments in the foundation, plumbing, and kitchen made to preserve it for future generations. He said he approached the city about IPP designation to honor his grandparents, his family's deep roots in Charlottesville (including the Charlottesville 12 and a grandmother who taught at Jefferson School for 40 years), and the 10th and Page community.
One online commenter, Brian Schott, expressed general support while noting curiosity about how the designation connects to the broader character and current state of the 10th and Page neighborhood.
Commissioners discussed the scope of the IPP overlay: it does not change underlying RNA zoning, does not preclude construction or subdivision, but does subject any demolition, new construction, or exterior alteration to BAR review. One commissioner (who disclosed their own home is an IPP) raised the tension between preservation and housing production; staff acknowledged the concern but noted fewer than 10% of the city falls within ADC districts or IPPs. A question about solar panels led staff to clarify that administrative approval is now standard for rooftop solar unless it involves unusual roof alterations.
Vote: Motion to recommend approval of both PL-26-0042 (ZMA) and PL-26-0043 (ZTA) passed 6–0–1, with Commissioner Karp abstaining.
Critical Slope Special Exception — 2010 Meadowbrook Road (PL-26-0037)
NDS planner Dan O'Connell presented a request to allow a rear addition, patio, and landscaping on a developed residential property in an RA district. Critical slopes surround the property on all sides — apparently created by original construction — and a sanitary sewer easement blocks front-yard development. A zoning code build-to-width requirement also effectively prevents side additions, leaving the rear as the only viable location. Staff recommended approval with no conditions under Finding A (unusual topography effectively prohibiting reasonable use).
Commissioners noted that the critical slopes appear man-made, originating from the original foundation excavation. One commissioner flagged a potential inconsistency in the code between the 50% build-to-width requirement and the 60-foot maximum width on a 175-foot-wide lot, and suggested it warrants attention in future code cleanup.
Vote: Motion to recommend approval passed 7–0.
Critical Slope Special Exception — Botanical Gardens of the Piedmont (PL-26-0044)
The same planner presented a request on behalf of the Botanical Gardens of the Piedmont, covering three parcels within McIntyre Park. The critical slopes along Meadowbrook Road and a creek corridor must be disturbed to install accessible pedestrian paths connecting the botanical garden to existing park trails, including a bridge over the stream. The project is phased but the full site plan — including all phases — was submitted together, and the executive director confirmed no further critical slope variances are anticipated.
Staff recommended approval under both Finding A (topographic constraints) and Finding B (public benefit of the botanical garden as a city park asset).
Vote: Motion to recommend approval passed 7–0.
Environmental Regulations and Policy Update
Long-range planner Tori Kanelopoulos and climate program manager Emily Irvin presented a comprehensive update on the city's environmental regulations review, organized around six topic areas: stormwater management, tree canopy, flood management, stream buffers, critical slopes, and energy efficiency.
Key updates:
An RFP for a stormwater management regulations update was released the prior week, with a consultant to be selected this summer and the project expected to wrap by late 2028. The primary focus is making on-site stormwater management more feasible for smaller infill projects (under 10,000 square feet of land disturbance).
Urban Forest Management Plan community engagement is underway through May 24 via a Connect Charlottesville survey.
A community flood preparedness fund grant has been awarded; procurement for a consultant is beginning.
The high-performance buildings resolution was approved by council April 6; updated standards for city buildings are in place. Private-sector energy efficiency resources are in development.
An EV charging study is complete; next steps include a potential residential curbside charging ordinance and options for city fleet charging.
Substantive discussion centered on several themes:
Commissioners Harness and Karp both raised the tension between the 2028 timeline for stormwater reforms and known, present-day barriers to housing development (particularly the 6,000-square-foot land disturbance threshold). Staff acknowledged the concern and committed to exploring whether any interim measures could be identified through the missing middle working group.
Commissioner Karp challenged the commission to think about mode share goals and transit as climate solutions, noting that 33% of city emissions come from transportation and that EV infrastructure addresses a fraction of that. Crystal Ritterbold (Office of Sustainability) confirmed ongoing collaboration with CAT, which has taken delivery of its first two electric school buses and expects two electric transit buses this summer. Commissioner Harness extended this, arguing that reliable, full buses running on diesel accomplish more for emissions than low-ridership electric or hydrogen buses. Staff acknowledged concern about the viability of the hydrogen bus pilot given changes to federal incentives and hydrogen supply chains.
Questions were also raised about drought mitigation (staff noted coordination with RWSA and specific strategies in the forthcoming Resilient Together plan), wildfire preparedness (addressed in Resilient Together), FEMA funding uncertainty (Emily Irvin described difficulty colleagues in Asheville are experiencing), and schools as resilience hubs (CHS is designated as a potential emergency shelter).
Commissioner Harness noted that a neighbor received a citation for a native prairie and asked whether the city's grass ordinance conflicts with goals around bioswales and native plantings; staff confirmed this tension is noted in Resilient Together.
One commissioner asked about the state legislature allowing cities to more aggressively protect tree canopy on private property; staff indicated the new authority likely takes effect July 1 and doubles what was previously permissible, though quality of planting sites will also matter.
*This was a discussion item; no vote was taken.*
Downtown Mall Action Plan Implementation
Brenda Kelly, Downtown Strategy Manager, presented an update on implementation of the 21-item Downtown Mall Action Plan, timed to the mall's 50th anniversary on July 3, 2026.
Key accomplishments since the team was formed in mid-2025:
A cross-departmental Downtown Mall team is now in place.
Parks and Recreation completed a full maintenance assessment and established a regular maintenance schedule.
The Block by Block Ambassador Program launched February 1 and is now fully staffed (a manager and four personnel, Wednesday–Sunday, 1–8/9 p.m.).
The 4th Street and 2nd Street vehicular crossings are under construction and expected to complete mid-June.
The Free the Fountains initiative has reopened the three smaller interactive fountains; the central fountain restoration is in progress.
Tree management plan implementation has begun, with phase one (Central Place) expected to start July 1. New species under consideration include swamp white oak, tulip poplar, and willow oak; commissioners encouraged species diversity to avoid monoculture risk.
The July 3rd anniversary event will feature a lantern parade (with community lantern-making classes underway), music, and a full year of events. Friends of Charlottesville Downtown is coordinating; new branding and banners are installed.
On items still in progress or to-be-determined: lighting (the city manager has expressed strong interest in a consultant-led comprehensive lighting study), pedestrian connections to the mall from surrounding neighborhoods, a parking and loading strategy (including rideshare pickup zones), public restrooms (currently rented at York Place), and side-street closures.
Commissioners asked whether data is being tracked during the current vehicular crossing closures as a natural experiment. Staff said data is not being formally collected, though foot traffic comparisons are done informally. Commissioner Schwartz asked about the Landmark/Dewberry Hotel site; staff offered to seek an update from other city departments.
Commissioner Werner (BAR member) raised concern that improvements appear on the Mall without BAR input — even informally — and cited up-lights and Christmas lights as examples where maintenance and code consistency are issues. He asked that the BAR be included as a stakeholder going forward. Kelly agreed to carry that feedback forward.
On the transit center building, commissioners noted the upper floor has sat empty for years and asked whether it could be repurposed. Staff noted that federal transit funding used in its construction may complicate adaptive reuse. One commissioner asked that someone at least clean up the peeling posters visible through the glass.
On rats: staff confirmed the population is thriving, that a pest control contract is in place, and that better business cooperation is needed to reduce food sources.
*This was a discussion item; no vote was taken.*
Key Takeaways
801 West Street designated for historic protection: The Planning Commission unanimously recommended IPP status for a 120-year-old home in the historically significant 10th and Page neighborhood, the first such designation initiated by a property owner in that community.
Both critical slope exceptions approved: The Botanical Gardens of the Piedmont and a Meadowbrook Road homeowner both received unanimous commission support for disturbances needed to make their projects viable.
Stormwater reform is years away, but pressure is building: An RFP is out, but the full update won't arrive until 2028–2029. Commissioners pressed staff to identify interim relief for infill housing projects blocked by the current 6,000-square-foot land disturbance threshold.
Transit and mode share missing from climate conversation: Multiple commissioners pushed staff to better connect transit, density, and mode-share goals to the city's climate plans, not just EV charging and building efficiency, and raised doubts about the viability of the hydrogen bus pilot.
Downtown Mall turning 50 with real momentum: After years of fragmented oversight, a cross-departmental team, an ambassador program, a tree management plan, and a July 3rd anniversary event are all underway — though long-term funding, lighting, parking strategy, and the emptying transit center remain unresolved.
AI-generated summary from voice-to-text transcript. Not the official record. Verify important details with the source documents linked above.
What happened at this meeting
Critical Slope Special Exception - 2010 Meadowbrook Road [PL-26-0037]
# Commissioner's Reports Summary
Ms. Rucker reported on Tree Commission and Parks and Rec Commission meetings, noting that the Tree Commission discussed stronger tree preservation measures for private property in coordination with NDS, while Parks and Rec voted to potentially make pools free for ages 17 and under this summer due to school scheduling changes. A commissioner reported that the MPO Policy Board advanced Smart Scale applications (including four MPO projects, four Albemarle County projects, and one city project focused on the Ridge-McIntyre West Main intersection) due August 1st, with City Council expected to consider a supporting resolution in July. Additional reports covered a Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development Board meeting on 2027 building codes, a BPAC meeting discussing Rose Hill Drive cycle track and Summit Elementary loading zone projects, and Route 29 North development meetings regarding an intelligence facility and AstraZeneca's $4.5 billion investment with ground-breaking expected in Q3 2027.
Ms. Rucker reported on Tree Commission and Parks and Rec Commission meetings, noting that the Tree Commission discussed stronger tree preservation measures for private property in coordination with NDS, while Parks and Rec voted to potentially make pools free for ages 17 and under this summer due to school scheduling changes. A commissioner reported that the MPO Policy Board advanced Smart Scale applications (including four MPO projects, four Albemarle County projects, and one city project focused on the Ridge-McIntyre West Main intersection) due August 1st, with City Council expected to consider a supporting resolution in July. Additional reports covered a Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development Board meeting on 2027 building codes, a BPAC meeting discussing Rose Hill Drive cycle track and Summit Elementary loading zone projects, and Route 29 North development meetings regarding an intelligence facility and AstraZeneca's $4.5 billion investment with ground-breaking expected in Q3 2027.
University of Virginia Report
# University of Virginia Report Summary
The University of Virginia provided updates on multiple campus capital projects to be presented to the Building and Grounds Committee in June, including a 60,000 square foot School of Data Science Entrepreneurship building with red brick design and a heat plant infrastructure project converting from coal to natural gas, while Mr. Schwartz clarified that tree removal along Emmett Street is a city-led project associated with the smart scale shared use path, not a UVA initiative. The commission unanimously approved a critical slope special exception for the Botanical Gardens of the Piedmont project at 950 Melbourne Road, with Jill Tuschman Marks, Executive Director of the Botanical Garden, confirming that the design represents full build-out in phases and that no additional critical slope variances are anticipated. Staff presented on the Downtown Mall Action Plan Implementation, which includes 21 action items organized into three groups addressing physical, social, and operational elements, with key accomplishments including establishment of a cross-departmental team, completion of maintenance plans, and dedicated budget allocation for the first time, along with initiatives such as the tree management plan, Downtown Ambassador services through Block by Block, and cross streets construction expected to complete mid-June. Staff also discussed the Urban Forest Management Plan update, community engagement through the Resilient Together collaborative planning process between the City of Charlottesville, Albemarle County, and University of Virginia, and funding strategies for Downtown Mall projects, with commissioners raising concerns about infrastructure prioritization, wayfinding signage connections to UVA and other destinations, tree species diversity, and the need for greater BAR stakeholder input on Mall improvements.
The University of Virginia provided updates on multiple campus capital projects to be presented to the Building and Grounds Committee in June, including a 60,000 square foot School of Data Science Entrepreneurship building with red brick design and a heat plant infrastructure project converting from coal to natural gas, while Mr. Schwartz clarified that tree removal along Emmett Street is a city-led project associated with the smart scale shared use path, not a UVA initiative. The commission unanimously approved a critical slope special exception for the Botanical Gardens of the Piedmont project at 950 Melbourne Road, with Jill Tuschman Marks, Executive Director of the Botanical Garden, confirming that the design represents full build-out in phases and that no additional critical slope variances are anticipated. Staff presented on the Downtown Mall Action Plan Implementation, which includes 21 action items organized into three groups addressing physical, social, and operational elements, with key accomplishments including establishment of a cross-departmental team, completion of maintenance plans, and dedicated budget allocation for the first time, along with initiatives such as the tree management plan, Downtown Ambassador services through Block by Block, and cross streets construction expected to complete mid-June. Staff also discussed the Urban Forest Management Plan update, community engagement through the Resilient Together collaborative planning process between the City of Charlottesville, Albemarle County, and University of Virginia, and funding strategies for Downtown Mall projects, with commissioners raising concerns about infrastructure prioritization, wayfinding signage connections to UVA and other destinations, tree species diversity, and the need for greater BAR stakeholder input on Mall improvements.
Chair's Report
The Chair reported on UVA's Architectural Review Board (BAR) meeting from the previous month, describing it as having a simple agenda with nothing of particular interest. The Chair also noted updates on the Downtown Mall in preparation for its 50th anniversary, including that fountains are now accessible to the public and vehicular crossings continue to be repaired.
Department of NDS Report
# Department of NDS Report Summary
NDS staff reported that the May 26 citywide mobility plan work session has been postponed with no May work session scheduled. The Planning Commission will begin the 2026 development code cleanup this month, with a subcommittee meeting on May 19th and a listening session with builders and developers on June 23rd, while staff establishes a technical working group for missing middle housing. Staff also presented findings from the ADU manual and student housing study to council, refining financial feasibility models with summer updates expected. Additionally, staff presented an informational update on a Comprehensive Plan amendment regarding public water, sanitary sewer, and stormwater management facilities, which council will formally initiate next Monday and will incorporate updated utility maps and facility projects reflecting changes since 2021, including new stormwater management facility maps and references to partner agency plans.
NDS staff reported that the May 26 citywide mobility plan work session has been postponed with no May work session scheduled. The Planning Commission will begin the 2026 development code cleanup this month, with a subcommittee meeting on May 19th and a listening session with builders and developers on June 23rd, while staff establishes a technical working group for missing middle housing. Staff also presented findings from the ADU manual and student housing study to council, refining financial feasibility models with summer updates expected. Additionally, staff presented an informational update on a Comprehensive Plan amendment regarding public water, sanitary sewer, and stormwater management facilities, which council will formally initiate next Monday and will incorporate updated utility maps and facility projects reflecting changes since 2021, including new stormwater management facility maps and references to partner agency plans.
Matters to be Presented by the Public not on the Formal Agenda
The Chair opened the floor for public comment on matters not on the formal agenda. No members of the audience or online participants raised their hands to speak, so no public comment was received during this portion of the meeting.
Agenda items (6)
Procedural (6)
1ProceduralCritical Slope Special Exception - 2010 Meadowbrook Road [PL-26-0037]
A property owner at 2010 Meadowbrook Road is requesting an exemption from steep-slope protection rules to allow development on their hillside property.
What happened
# Commissioner's Reports SummaryMs. Rucker reported on Tree Commission and Parks and Rec Commission meetings, noting that the Tree Commission discussed stronger tree preservation measures for private property in coordination with NDS, while Parks and Rec voted to potentially make pools free for ages 17 and under this summer due to school scheduling changes. A commissioner reported that the MPO Policy Board advanced Smart Scale applications (including four MPO projects, four Albemarle County projects, and one city project focused on the Ridge-McIntyre West Main intersection) due August 1st, with City Council expected to consider a supporting resolution in July. Additional reports covered a Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development Board meeting on 2027 building codes, a BPAC meeting discussing Rose Hill Drive cycle track and Summit Elementary loading zone projects, and Route 29 North development meetings regarding an intelligence facility and AstraZeneca's $4.5 billion investment with ground-breaking expected in Q3 2027.
2ProceduralUniversity of Virginia Report
A representative from the University of Virginia will present information or updates relevant to the city.
What happened
# University of Virginia Report SummaryThe University of Virginia provided updates on multiple campus capital projects to be presented to the Building and Grounds Committee in June, including a 60,000 square foot School of Data Science Entrepreneurship building with red brick design and a heat plant infrastructure project converting from coal to natural gas, while Mr. Schwartz clarified that tree removal along Emmett Street is a city-led project associated with the smart scale shared use path, not a UVA initiative. The commission unanimously approved a critical slope special exception for the Botanical Gardens of the Piedmont project at 950 Melbourne Road, with Jill Tuschman Marks, Executive Director of the Botanical Garden, confirming that the design represents full build-out in phases and that no additional critical slope variances are anticipated. Staff presented on the Downtown Mall Action Plan Implementation, which includes 21 action items organized into three groups addressing physical, social, and operational elements, with key accomplishments including establishment of a cross-departmental team, completion of maintenance plans, and dedicated budget allocation for the first time, along with initiatives such as the tree management plan, Downtown Ambassador services through Block by Block, and cross streets construction expected to complete mid-June. Staff also discussed the Urban Forest Management Plan update, community engagement through the Resilient Together collaborative planning process between the City of Charlottesville, Albemarle County, and University of Virginia, and funding strategies for Downtown Mall projects, with commissioners raising concerns about infrastructure prioritization, wayfinding signage connections to UVA and other destinations, tree species diversity, and the need for greater BAR stakeholder input on Mall improvements.
3ProceduralChair's Report
The chair of the meeting will deliver remarks and updates on council business.
What happened
The Chair reported on UVA's Architectural Review Board (BAR) meeting from the previous month, describing it as having a simple agenda with nothing of particular interest. The Chair also noted updates on the Downtown Mall in preparation for its 50th anniversary, including that fountains are now accessible to the public and vehicular crossings continue to be repaired.4ProceduralDepartment of NDS Report
The Department of Neighborhood Development Services will report on their activities and projects.
What happened
# Department of NDS Report SummaryNDS staff reported that the May 26 citywide mobility plan work session has been postponed with no May work session scheduled. The Planning Commission will begin the 2026 development code cleanup this month, with a subcommittee meeting on May 19th and a listening session with builders and developers on June 23rd, while staff establishes a technical working group for missing middle housing. Staff also presented findings from the ADU manual and student housing study to council, refining financial feasibility models with summer updates expected. Additionally, staff presented an informational update on a Comprehensive Plan amendment regarding public water, sanitary sewer, and stormwater management facilities, which council will formally initiate next Monday and will incorporate updated utility maps and facility projects reflecting changes since 2021, including new stormwater management facility maps and references to partner agency plans.
5ProceduralMatters to be Presented by the Public not on the Formal Agenda
Residents who are not on the formal agenda will have an opportunity to speak to the council about any topic.
What happened
The Chair opened the floor for public comment on matters not on the formal agenda. No members of the audience or online participants raised their hands to speak, so no public comment was received during this portion of the meeting.6ProceduralConsent Agenda III. Planning Commission Public Hearing Items
The council will vote on a group of items that the Planning Commission has already reviewed and recommended.
What happened
Staff planner Kate Richardson presented the zoning map amendment and zoning text amendment for 801 West Street (companion applications to formally designate the property as an Individually Protected Property or IPP). The property, a well-preserved 1905 early 20th century residential structure in the R-N-A zone, will receive historic preservation protection through a design control overlay while retaining its underlying zoning. The IPP designation does not change zoning but adds a layer of historic preservation protection. Property owner Mr. Hunt was present to provide additional testimony about the home's history and family significance.Additional votes recorded in minutes
Recommend approval of ZMA and ZTA for 801 West Street (PL-26-0042 and PL-26-0043)
aye 7 · abstain 1
Chairman Schwarzaye
Commissioner Carpabstain
Commissioner Harnessaye
Commissioner Joyaye
Commissioner Mitchellaye
Commissioner Roettgeraye
Commissioner Solla-Yatesaye
Commissioner Yoderaye
Approve Critical Slope Special Exception for 2010 Meadowbrook Road (PL-26-0037)
aye 8
Chairman Schwarzaye
Commissioner Carpaye
Commissioner Harnessaye
Commissioner Joyaye
Commissioner Mitchellaye
Commissioner Roettgeraye
Commissioner Solla-Yatesaye
Commissioner Yoderaye
Approve Critical Slope Special Exception for Botanical Gardens of the Piedmont (PL-26-0044)
aye 8
Chairman Schwarzaye
Commissioner Carpaye
Commissioner Harnessaye
Commissioner Joyaye
Commissioner Mitchellaye
Commissioner Roettgeraye
Commissioner Solla-Yatesaye
Commissioner Yoderaye
Verbatim transcript available
553 transcript segments indexed
Like dream? Yeah. Wait, which one's Landmark? It's the Dewberry now. Yeah, okay. Or at least it's almost- It's fine. I don't have to pick it tomorrow. That's true. Commissioner's reports. Ms. Rucker, do you want to start?
Sure. Hello. Let's see. I just had a tree commission meeting and a parks and rec commission meeting. The tree commission meeting, about half of the board turned over, so we have a lot of new members. There's continued interest in working with NDS on stronger tree preservation measures for private property, because they feel like we've done a lot on public property, but how do you keep some of these very old trees that offer a lot of shade?
I'm 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. Parks and Rec, we were looking at the fees for programs, and some fees and policies that might be changing.
And we actually voted to potentially make the pools free for 17 and under this year due to... It's a long story, but the summer camps can't use the schools because all of the schools are moving the fifth graders to elementary.
There's a lot up in the air. They can't take as many kids in the summer camps and la, la, la. So anyway, so there was some discussion about maybe for this summer, we release the valve a little bit and just please come to the pool.
And I think that's all for now. Okay. Thank you. MPO Tech did not meet since our last meeting, but the MPO Policy Board did meet, and one of the things that they did was move along the Smart Scale applications, which are due to the state on August 1st.
So they are four MPO projects, four Albemarle County projects, and I think just one city project. And so the one that's most relevant to us is the Ridge-McIntyre West Main intersection, which I know there's been some public meetings about.
City Council, I believe, is going to consider a resolution to support these applications at some point in July. But we're getting 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 Board met to discuss fire code and building code yesterday. They adopted a single stair at the fourth story in R2.
They did not adopt it at the fifth story and the sixth story. They did not adopt smaller and more affordable elevators at six stories and below. And that's for the 2027 Virginia Building Code. 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. Okay. Nothing on CDBG. We're done. We spoke to them last meeting.
Briefly, I was at BPAC last week, and we heard updates from the city about projects on Rose Hill Drive. They're proposing a preferred alternative, which is a two-way cycle track on the east side of Rose Hill.
There's information on Cadet Seville. And also a loading zone project at Summit Elementary, where there's troubles with dropping off and picking up kids. They're going to experiment with a quick build loading or drop-off zone on the road behind Monticello.
Possibly controversial, so good to follow. Also on Cadet Seville. Can I ask questions, previous reports, or is that- Yeah ... out of order? Okay. On MPO policy and next steps on smart scale projects, you mentioned there will be a presentation to council.
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? The MPO currently plans to ask city council for a resolution in support of the MPO projects.
My read of the smart scale technical manual is that it's not actually required by smart scale, but there are two MPO projects where two city reps on the policy board did not support, the two county reps did support, and VDOT broke the tie voting in support, which is kind of odd for VDOT to be participating in the MPO in that way.
But that's what they did. So, I believe the MPO would like the support of city council, but it's not legally required. Okay, thanks. All right. Had a couple meetings. The first meeting was with Lou Peck.
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 when AstraZeneca arrives.
I copied you guys on the presentations, but a couple things that just made me go, "Hmm." Number one, they're going to invest $4.5 billion in that facility. The other thing that made me go, "Hmm," is- Who's the- AstraZeneca.
Okay. I'm sorry, yeah. AstraZeneca. The other thing that made me go, "Hmm" is the minimum salary for people that work for AstraZeneca at that facility is going to be $125,000. Unbelievable. They hope to break ground third quarter of 2027, so looking forward to seeing that happen.
The other meeting was with the BZA. And this was a revisit of the Fife deal issue that's been in the news quite a bit. If you remember, we ruled a couple of months ago with the zoning administrator. The question before us was, "Is this development within 0.5 miles of the grounds of UVA?" A couple of months ago, we ruled that it was, but the vote was two to two, a tie.
So, the appellant gets to appeal again. They came back last month and appealed again. We ruled again in favor of the zoning administrator that the development was in fact within 0.5 miles of UVA. This was an objective ruling.
It was a technical ruling. It had nothing to do with whether or not this is good for the community, whether or not we like the aesthetics. But I have to say that I totally agree with the BAR ruling, because the BAR voted to deny the application, and I was a little disappointed that council overruled the BAR.
Mr. Schwartz. Mr. Schwartz. I have a few updates regarding upcoming UVA capital work. These items will be shared at the 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. If you know where the existing School of Data Science is, this is the parcel that's immediately west of it. It's currently a service drive and some patches of green lawn.
It was always imagined as a development site. And what's being proposed is a 60,000 gross square foot academic building across five stories. Some of the program highlights include classrooms, research and seminar spaces, faculty office, and entrepreneurial engagement spaces.
The design is primarily red brick. It draws from the architectural material palette that's used by Hawkins and VMDO School of Data Science, and it does incorporate some references to the recently opened Virginia Guest House and the future Center for the Arts.
The next one is the main heat plant. So, this is at 1321 Lee Street. So, this is an infrastructure project, but it has significant civic and environmental benefits. So, this plant is this primary source of steam and hot water for a large portion of grounds, and primarily the UVA hospital.
And so, this project is sort of an outline and a framework to help guide the transition from coal to natural gas. So, this fuel conversion, the goal is to improve efficiency, increase resilience, and help ensure 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, they'll be removed. And so, right now you can see them prominently on University Avenue and 14th Street as you head south.
So, that's coming in the not too distant future. And then the last one I just want to point out, just sort of a clarification, because it's a lot of visible work and there's not a lot of signage on it.
So currently, right now, you'll see a significant number of trees being removed along Emmett Street between Ivy Road and Arlington Boulevard. 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 with the goal it's going to provide safe pedestrian connection between the Barracks Shopping Center and grounds.
So, that's the first step to sort of 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 appreciate you telling me.
I've not driven down Emmett or Ivy for a bit, but will those trees be replaced? Yeah. At least from the documents I've seen from the city, there is a planting plan for it. Okay. And a lot of it was just stuff, I think, that happened naturally.
It was not a designed scape. So as they moved the sidewalk off the curb line and widened it, that's in the area where they had to clear the trees. Gotcha. Thank you. I just looked at the BAR last month.
It was a really simple... I actually missed the meeting, but it was a really simple agenda. Nothing of interest. Was followed up by a report from staff on updates to the Downtown Mall in preparation for the 50th anniversary, and I guess some of you already noticed the fountains are free or are open.
You can approach them. You can touch the water now. And yeah, an update on the crossings continuing to be repaired, the vehicular crossings. So that's it for our reports. Does NDS have a report? Yes. So first I can reiterate some of the things that Matt may have mentioned to you a couple of minutes ago.
So the May 26 work session on the citywide mobility plan, scoping for that has been postponed, so there will be no May work session for the Planning Commission. 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.
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.
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, another note that staff did present to council the ADU manual and student housing study, their key findings, and preliminary options for potential changes to the in-lieu fee expectations. Based on council's and the public's feedback, the team is refining the model to assess the 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.
So those are the statements I have. I believe that our long-range planner, Tori, also has an update for you. I do. All right. Good evening, commissioners. My name is Tori Kanelopoulos, 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.
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 stormwater management facilities and utilities. The current chapter includes goals and strategies along with associated maps 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 stormwater 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'll 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, and it's on council's consent agenda for next Monday. And happy to answer any questions, and also some staff from utilities are available if there's any questions, but this is just more of an FYI of something that's coming up.
Thank you. Thanks. Any questions? Thank you. Is that it from NDS? Okay. All right, so now we've got matters presented by the public not on the formal agenda. So if anybody has anything they'd like to say to us that is not about the zoning map amendment, please...
Was there anyone in the audience who wants to speak about anything? No? Is there anybody online? Yes. Anyone online who would wish to speak can click the raise hand icon, and I will queue you up to speak.
Mr. Chair, I see no raised hands. Okay. Thank you. There's nothing on our consent agenda. So I guess we have until 6:00, and we will start with our zoning map amendment and zoning text amendment. Do you have something to say?
I have a small correction. 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. All right. So yeah, we will be back at 6:00 for our public hearing.
All right. Okay. Oh, they're here for the downtown presentation. Oh my God, there's a bunch of folks. Many people. Oh, Jake is here. He might be on. My computer says 6:59. Yeah, mine says 1:08. I'm going to go off.
Yeah. Well, at least that one's on the right hour now. Yeah. Oh. I think it's so we just catch up to the time change. Yeah, I think they leave it on daylight savings. So it'll be here- All right, it's 6:000 ...
have to find the right to set them. All right. Everyone ready? Ready. Great. All right. So we will start our meeting with our first and only public hearing, the zoning map amendment and zoning text amendment for 801 West Street.
You ready to go, Patrick? Good. All right. All right. Good evening, commissioners. 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 IPP. This is the first public hearing on this matter, with the community meeting having taken place earlier this year on March 11th.
Here 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 10th 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 R-N-A, with adjacent parcels on the north zoned C-X-3 along Grady and Preston Avenues, one of the city's entrance corridors. Importantly, the IPP designation does not change the underlying zoning.
R-N-A 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 well-preserved example of early 20th century residential architecture.
The 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 single-story rear addition. Built in 1905 by a local carpenter and purchased by James and Maude 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 mid-20th 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 10th 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 IPP designation.
Next slide. Since IPP designations are infrequently established, I thought it important to quickly provide an overview. The IPP 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 why in January of this year, the Board of Architectural Review recommended to City Council 801 West Street be added to the IPP list.
In this map, you see several ADC districts to the southwest, and the closest neighboring IPPs 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 criteria were assessed. First, does the amendment conform to the comprehensive plan? The comprehensive plan 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 IPP 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 IPP designation does not alter the underlying 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 IPP protections to a property within 10th 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, we seek your recommendation of approval to City Council for both rezoning applications, PL26-0042, the zoning map amendment, and PL26-0043, the zoning text amendment.
Thank you, Chair and commissioners, for your time. I'm happy to answer any questions, and Mr. Hunt is also here to speak and answer questions. All right. Any questions for staff? Really just interested in the area.
I'm a resident of the area, so it's near and dear to me. Yeah. 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, 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 state.
So, in the state, that would be the same. So, the Virginia Landmarks Register would be the first step, and then the DHR sends it to the Secretary of Interior for consideration. So VLR is first, followed by NRHP.
What is the concern? Why not submit it? So, it is actually the community who is charged with bringing forward a nomination. So, it is not staff's sort of prerogative to just list and nominate. It is the fact that it has been surveyed, and it has been found as eligible, which is significant here.
There's been some work on a small area plan for the area for many years now. Is there a connection between this IPP, that district, and the small area plan? That's a great question. I actually am going to defer to my planning colleagues answering that.
Yeah, they're on it. Thank you. 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, if the planning commission has any other questions, we'll field questions first and then allow the public to comment.
Is there any question? Do you have a question? I read in the report 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. Staff can certainly do a deep dive into that and provide a list. I think it's good research to just do overall, given the nature of now this potential listing, and just also for the community.
It's a good thing to do the research. Sure. Yes. Are the structures that are older that we know about in a similar condition? Again, I would want to do more investigating- Okay ... before commenting, just because I don't know the breadth of how many and the number.
Sure. Thank you. Yeah. 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 being done from that parcel that is no longer containing the protected property?
Does that make sense? It does. Okay. Yes, and so the greatness of working with someone like Mr. Hunt is that he has said that this property is going to stay in his family, and the reason for the IPP designation is that he wants to maintain that parcel and that lot and that structure as is.
Because it's important to his family in the past, 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, and so I can't speculate on whether they would subdivide or how that could impact this- I guess I'm not asking for you to speculate.
I'm asking for possibilities. Does it prevent a future owner or future sub-parcel from being developed for R&A? No. The only thing it does is results in this parcel being subject to theIf new construction, demolition, or alteration to the existing structure is subject to review by the Board of Architectural Review.
And as you know, all actions by the BAR are appealable to city council. So the underlying zoning remains. Yep. The IPP is a overlay on top of that. So whatever is allowed, however, again, it goes through the BAR, and so if they wanted to do something later, subdivision is not precluded, construction is not precluded.
Demolition, in fact, as we've seen, has been allowed of designated structures. I think what's unique about this situation here is that Mr. Hunt approached us about putting this overlay onto his property, into his family's home.
So 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 that's what we're trying to- I guess what I'm trying to get at is the IPP runs with the building, even though it's contained- It runs with the property ...
within the parcel. So if you break up the property, and then you have two properties- That's right ... that were once one property- So this is a situation- ... it only runs with the property that- No.
No. Both would retain the IPP status. It's an overlay that sticks with the parcel no matter what, unless you do a zoning text or a zoning map amendment. Right. Because the IPPs are identified in the code.
Yeah. The ADC districts are simply defined, but individual IPPs are listed in the ordinance by parcel number. So to change that parcel number through subdivision, if somebody wanted to reduce the IPP overlay, they would have to go through that zoning text amendment process.
So there is a step there, and we face this in, Carl could probably sum it up as well, with things we've dealt with on the BAR level. But no, the overlay is over this parcel. And then the contributing structure, we are identifying as the building on it.
So there's not other secondary things there. So if somebody wanted to put a building in the backyard of this, the BAR would review it. Sure. It's not precluded, but it would be under review. Even if they subdivided the lot, the BAR would still review it.
For the record, my house- ... a few blocks north of here, is an individually protected property. I knew it when I bought it, and yeah. So if you have any questions outside of this about IPPs, I think I can speak with- Yeah, sure ...
a certain level of expertise on those. My question's around how this overlay potentially impacts the further development of the housing in an area of town that needs housing. So that's the genesis of my question.
Yeah. It does. Agree. It does. Yeah. It does. But there is a process for that. That's why the city established the historic districts, established the design guidelines, which are adopted by council, and appointed the Board of Architectural Review to implement that plan, and with those things appealable to council.
So there is a process for that. But for the record too, I don't know, it's less than 10% of the entire city is within an ADC district or an IPP, so it's not as if this is shutting down growth and development throughout the city.
Thank you. Sorry, I have a quick question. I may ask you back up if you don't mind. Just a sub question of Commissioner Hunt's question. But I remember going back a few years, there was a church, I want to say on Park Street, wanting to put on solar panels on the roof, and the BAR reviewed it and said, "No, you can't do that." On where?
I think it was a church on Park Street. The church on Park Street. I can- First United Methodist. Methodist Church. Thank you. The solar panels? Okay, so, oh, God. We're going to go to that again. Sorry.
No, that's okay. To be very- We got our wrists slapped ... very clear. Council told us what we could do. Council made a decision on that. It was a decision. What the Board of Architectural- Oh, okay. Yeah, it's good, because I caught a lot of grief about this, and unwarranted.
What the Board of Architectural Review did, they also look at the historic character of the building. They also look at the sustainability and things like that. You had, I think, an 80-year-old building with a Buckingham slate roof on it.
Buckingham slate will last a long time. The idea of removing that slate in order to put solar panels, the BAR 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 BAR, was to remove the slate roof, and the BAR said that that doesn't make sense. So everybody made it about BAR is against solar panels. I think we've looked at, in my years, maybe looked at 20.
We just review them now and approve them. But the BAR has never denied something like that. So I just want to be clear. It's a very rare case with slate being a- Yeah ... preferred material. So do you see, and I'm not trying to- Sorry for giving the commercial.
And by the way, I'm Jeff Werner. I think most of you know me, preservation design planner, but just had to put in my commercial for the, I hear so much about the roof at First United. Can't pass up an opportunity to correct the record, sorry.
Yes, sir. Sorry, I don't mean to drag up- No, it's good. It's just good. It's just a learning opportunity. Air of protest. Everything is a learning opportunity- Yeah ... and a teaching moment. But even 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 BAR? To put on solar? Yes. Currently, as it stands, and this is a somewhat informal decision of the BAR, an informal decision of staff. Given the path we took at First United Methodist Church, unless somebody is significantly altering the roof plane, unless there's something really unusual going on, we will okay it administratively.
Okay. And then you bend the arm up. Okay. That's good. Well, thank you both. And we approve the little electric gas thing all the time. We don't even... So we're doing our part. Good job. Other questions?
This side? No. No? No more down here? Okay. Thank you. I guess we will open up the public hearing. Oh, yeah, does the applicant wish to speak? I'm sorry. I was born up at the university in June 1956. 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 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 IPPs.
And when I read about IPPs, it pretty much sounded like it was defining our house and our neighborhood. Certainly, given that 10th and 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. This will honor my ancestors. My connection to 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.
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 this city. 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.
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 to the kitchen. It's very nice. But we kept everything as either it was, or as my grandmother would have wanted it.
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. Well, with no other questions from the commission, we will, I guess, move on to comments from the public.
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 Brian Schott. Brian, if you'd like to speak, you may do so now.
This is the first time I've done this. I'm, on the one hand, new to Charlottesville, but on the other hand, I've been in and out of Charlottesville for most of the last 30-plus years. So this is going to sound a little bit naive to those of you who are much more familiar with the area.
But I would support the comments of the previous speaker with regard to the significance of the house, the significance of the heritage that goes along with it. Based on the pictures that we saw, it's certainly been in very good shape.
The gap in my own knowledge and understanding is the 10th and Page neighborhood. So I guess I would put the question forward or raise it as an issue, and it's been done before by one of the previous speakers, the extent to which it represents the current status and nature of the 10th and Page neighborhood.
Because giving it this IPP designation, which I think is a good thing, though then it becomes a symbol of... Not just a symbol, but it becomes a living symbol of the neighborhood. So I need to go out and do a little bit more groundwork.
But in lieu of doing that this evening, I will put that issue forward. That is the extent to which this lovely structure and the heritage that goes along with it is representative of the neighborhood as it currently stands.
Over. Thank you. Are there anyone else online? I don't. All right. Last call for in-person speakersOh. No raised hands. Great. All right. That is the end of our public hearing. Comments from the planning commission?
Happy to offer a motion if you like. I'm good with that. All right. Let's see. I move that the planning commission recommend that city council approve rezoning applications PL-26-0042, that's a ZMA, and PL-26-0043, 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. You did. All right. Dan, would you mind calling the vote please? Sure.
Commissioner Sully-Eates? Aye. Commissioner Harness? Aye. Commissioner Karp? Abstain. Commissioner Yoder? Yes. Commissioner Brugger? Yes. Commissioner Mitchell? Yes. Chairman Schwartz? Yes. All right, so that passes.
I just want to thank the applicant for- Yeah ... I guess, yeah, submitting your house as an IPP. It would be great if more people would do that. Very pleasant, Chair. All right. Next item. Where are we?
Critical slope special exception for 2010 Meadowbrook Road. All right. So hello, planning commission. Dan O'Connell, NDS planner. I will be presenting this and the other critical slope special exception on the agenda.
So the first one is for 2010 Meadowbrook Road. It's a developed property in our A district, and the applicant is seeking to add a rear addition 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 property, and the existing conditions and critical slopes. So there's an existing house there, as well as critical slopes basically surrounding the property on all sides.
The next slide was from the applicant's presentation. I thought it was instructive, 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 sanitary sewer easement that kind of cuts off the entire front of the parcel, and the front of the yard, and precludes development in that area.
And the property is also non-conforming regarding a number of new standards in our zoning code, particularly building width. So that yellow area on the side, even though there's no critical slopes in that area, 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 green. So the next slide just shows the standards for critical slope special exceptions.
And the staff report cited that finding one would apply because of the topography and the restrictions that were mentioned in the previous slide that would prevent the redevelopment of the property and restrict its use.
Finding B would not be applicable because it's not a public property. So on the last slide, 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 pre-meeting, if there's any concern that maybe the recommendation would be denial, we would suggest that the planning commission defer this application based on that code section, just so we can check with the city attorney.
Gotcha. 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 concur with the reports.
Okay. Great. Questions from the planning commission? All right, I have a question. Just a clarification. So it looks like, if I'm understanding this correctly, the current critical slopes on 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? They're just cutting into what's the existing critical slope? It seems accurate. I guess the applicant can comment on the design.
Yeah, that's right. We're cutting the retaining walls to be able to cut. Okay. But this critical slope is man-made- Man-made ... from originally digging out the foundation of the house. That's what it looks like, yeah.
Okay. C flat C. All right. Other questions? I had a question about parks. This drains into a public park. Did parks have any comment on that? They did not. Park staff is included on the review chain for this critical slope special exception.
But we did not have any comments from them during this review. All right. Comments from the planning commission? I'll make one. This is more about the zoning code. I think this, in my opinion, is a classic case ofYou look at the constraints, and you kind of see why the critical slope is an issue here.
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 to the side of the house. But for RA, the max width of a structure for the primary street-facing side is 60 feet.
And since the lot is 175 feet 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 that's the thing that caught my eye with this application, to be honest, was just that I think some of our dimensional requirements don't seem to work for lots of this size.
So that has no impact on, I think, what we should do 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 staff. Agreed. Well, if we have no other comments, is anybody prepared to make a motion?
Or I can make a motion. All right. I think I have it up, or- I don't have it. All right. Am I not allowed to? I'll move to recommend approval of the critical slope special exception for tax map and parcel 400006100 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 34-4.10.1 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 Schwartz? Yes. Commissioner Mitchell? Yes. Commissioner Rutger? Yes. Commissioner Yoder? Yes. Commissioner Karp? Yes. Commissioner Harness? Yes. Commissioner Soliates? Yes.
Motion passes. All right. And now we have 950 Melbourne Road. All right, so this is the second critical slope special exception. This is for the Botanical Gardens of the Piedmont. Technically spans three different parcels, all part of McIntyre Park, as well as a little bit of Albemarle County, which is not in our jurisdiction.
But this is- On that piece. Okay. Yep. So the next slide, you can see the existing conditions. And there's critical slopes kind of along Melbourne Road, as well as along the waterway that kind of cuts through this property in this back part of McIntyre Park.
And the next slide shows, 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 within the limits of disturbance, those dashed lines kind of along the roadway and to the west and south of the creek.
There is a little bit of critical slopes in the bottom right corner of the screen that is within Albemarle County that is not technically included in this request, but is shown there anyways. Again, on the next slide is the criteria for judging a critical slope special exception.
In this case, found that finding A and B would apply. A, because basically the location of the critical slopes would need to be disturbed in order to allow 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 the benefit of that would outweigh the benefit of keeping it undisturbed. So the last slide, 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 applicant's 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 hatch in the stream, that's not a hatch that we're impacting. That was just something in the survey. It's part of the stream upgrade, just to clarify that diagram.
Mm-hmm. That's what makes it look like a really fat dashed line. Is that what you're talking about? Yeah. Okay. I have some questions about the plan, and I think it's more of just... Actually, Patrick, if you could pull the plan back up.
Could you guys all explain just some of the areas that you're impacting and what the plan is? Are you just putting it back how it was? 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 there's so much going on here, it'd just be nice to know kind of what am I looking at. Yeah. You can't tell by that? I apologize. It's a big unlabeled plan. So congrats to you guys if you can actually decipher what's on there.
So yeah, you're right. That kind of cross shape there is 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 and protect the botanical garden itself.
So that's probably the line you're seeing on the perimeter. Some of the other areas, like the bottom right corner, is being impacted slightly by the parking lot and mostly by the Parks Interact trail that's going to go through there.
That's- Is the trail here? A little bit down, yeah. Oh, along that. Yeah. It kind of ties into the intersection of John Warner and Melbourne. Yep. So you're flattening that area out, because that looks- Yeah.
To put the trail in, the city will be kind of 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'll tie up, kind of go off to the page on the left to cross.
That's this bridge there. Okay, so this is the bridge? Exactly, yeah. Okay. 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 line. Other areas, there's a bunch of pedestrian trails that gets you up accessibly to kind of the page left side, which is the woodland garden.
And there's some amenities like- This is what we're talking about? Yeah, exactly. Okay. So we've got to get an accessible path up from basically the stream area is kind of the low part, and then it rises up, and there's some switchbacks that 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 any trees we can, and we've done an extensive tree survey, and we've targeted...
It's kind of a scrappy woodland. It's a younger woodland. It used to be a farm field not too long ago. So we've preserved a lot of the existing trees of good quality and are in good condition. And it's also a phased plan, so that part of the garden will be down the road a way.
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, and then that's phase three on the left. Okay. And kind of top middle, is that like a culvert that you guys are- That will be another bridge.
Just another bridge. The city will be building their own bridge eventually, hopefully. And then we'll have another bridge 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 floodplain. In order to get an ADA path through there, 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 a long story. But there's a lot of challenges on this site in terms of underground utilities, and yeah. Okay. Yeah. Thank you.
So, I really appreciate what the 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 limits of disturbance, the dashed line, pulls my eye to the left.
But I believe that the physical infrastructure of buildings and stuff is actually on the right side of the screen. Yeah. Maybe this is a question for staff. Is this a one-time request for the special exemption on 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 exhibit that's on the screen in front of you, excepting that little portion on the bottom right, which is in Albemarle County. So it's just the most dark hash within the dashed- Yes ...
block. 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? Yeah. I mean, that's, yeah. Yes. I would agree to that. Okay. Other questions? Move on to comments. Or a motion.
There's a comment over... Did you have a- I do have a comment. Oh, okay. Comment. Thank you. I'm Jill Tuschman 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 build-out 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 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. Mr. Chair, I have a motion.
Please. I move to recommend approval of the critical slope exception for tax map and parcel 460002000, 460001200, and 450001000 as requested, with no reservations or conditions based on both findings listed in the packet.
Second. Oh. I think Commissioner Rudder got that. If for three minutes. That's what I got. Can we call a vote, please? All right. Commissioner Soliyates? Aye. Commissioner Harness? Aye. Commissioner Karp?
Yes. Commissioner Yoder? Yes. Commissioner Rudder? Yes. Commissioner Mitchell? Yep. Chairman Schwartz? Yes. Yay. I have to step out. Mm-hmm. And I think I'm missing the downtown mall presentation. It'll be recorded.
Yeah. Okay. Thank you.All right. What is next? We are at the environmental regulations and policy updates. Can I ask a question before we get started here? Mm-hmm. 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. I was planning to go through the whole presentation first, although I could stop maybe at each kind of progress point to stop for questions, if that sounds good.
Okay. So we can kind of pause on each topic. Yeah. Good evening. Tori Kanelopoulos, Long Range Planner with NDS. I'm here to present an update on the environmental regulations and policy review project.
Next slide. So today, I'll do a brief review of the project objectives and potential outcomes. 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.
But I know there might be some new folks both here and online. So we'll try to go through some of what we shared at those meetings, and then focus mainly on the project progress, 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. They include balancing community and comprehensive plan priorities of housing and by-right 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, which will ultimately depend on the resulting recommendations that come from the various standalone projects that are associated with each topic, which I'll talk about in more detail on following slides.
But again, they include potential updates to code, potential updates to the comp plan, best practices to share with the development community, and other potential projects. So these have stayed pretty much the same since they were first presented.
And again, I'll walk through some of them in a little bit more detail. Next slide. So this is a project roadmap, 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, we're anticipating transitioning the environmental review into these individual projects with continued collaboration across project teams. So when this project originally started, it kind of started as one large project with these six topics, partly coming out of a need for additional scoping and refinement to investigate some of these topics further, especially ones that were 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 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 roadmap is also meant to reflect previous Planning Commission comments to align topics and their timing with relevant parallel projects and initiatives. 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, I also wanted to highlight that they are led and supported by staff across the city, so including departments 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, to date, the main project leads. And then also noting the commission had identified a few other departments to make sure that are involved as applicable, such as Fire Rescue and the Ravenna Water Sewer Authority.
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 talking about the city's climate program, so the Climate Action Plan and Resilient Together, and highlighting these plans as they came up during the previous Planning Commission and council work sessions, and because the environmental review projects will be implementing strategies from both and they're key considerations for those projects.
So the Climate Action Plan was adopted as part of the comprehensive plan in 2023, and it includes 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-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 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 and 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 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 Albemarle County that have been working in parallel to develop their climate adaptation and resilience plans.
The city is currently doing the first round of internal review for Resilient Together, and the strategies will point to the environmental review projects, and 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, stream buffers, flood management, tree canopy to address urban heat islands, urban stormwater, and wildfire preparedness. Next slide. And then this is an example of project overlap from Resilient Together.
So in the urban stormwater 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, and the stormwater 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.
And other staff are available to help answer questions as well. So the first update is that we have released an RFP for the stormwater management regulations update. So that was released last week and will be open through mid-June.
And then our city review committee will review the RFPs and will 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.
And so the scope includes updating the stormwater 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.
And so this project is also looking to hopefully increase the use of onsite facilities and green infrastructure, 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. And I'm appreciative that the RFP just went out for this plan. I gathered from the roadmap 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 evaluate existing conditions and regulations, come up with recommendations, do community engagement, but also commission and council feedback. And then also, we'll need to make a justification to the State Water Resources Board since they have to approve any changes to our stormwater management regulations.
So it's anticipated to be about a two-year timeframe, 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 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 the city's 6,000-foot land disturbance 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 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 the working group that Matt mentioned to us earlier, might be something you hear about from the developers trying to do missing middle housing here in the city.
So I understand trying to be comprehensive about it and to really understand the full picture. I just question that there are items that we know today are creating real hindrances to the creation of housing in the city, and if there's anything we can do sooner.
Is that a question related to your back book? 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 a specific answer yet, but I think it's a good point to collaborate across our teams and working groups to see if we can identify some potential earlier solutions. So I don't have any specific ones in mind, but we'll definitely consider that.
Yeah. Thank you for the consideration. Mm-hmm. So you alluded to my concern about a paucity of water, the drought mitigation planning. At what point do we get a little more meat on that bone? I mean, for you- Uh ...
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, agrees with this, except for the words that you used a moment ago, 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. One is, I know there's regular coordination between the city and RWSA for drought mitigation planning and monitoring.
There are also some specific recommendations in Resilient Together 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 point. You talk about UVA and the city and the county being partners, but I think water and sewage, or Ravana Water and Sewage ought to be a partner as well. So we should intentionally list them as a partner we're going to be working with.
Josh. A couple high-level questions. 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 restrictions on development, right?
So density is a climate solution, and we are limited in pursuing that. So that's a problem that needs to be solved. 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 stormwater management. How are we doing on that now? Is there a problem urgently? Is there a problem in 30 years? What caused you to undertake this study? What's actually deficient right now?
Well, I think as far as this study specifically, is more focused on the kind of development code, comprehensive plan, implementation side of things, and trying to encourage more on-site, especially water quality treatment, just because developers often choose to buy nutrient credits for off-site because it's more feasible and less expensive to do so.
So trying to address those types of issues with this project, but looking at things like the state of the infrastructure for stormwater management is a little bit beyond the scope of this particular study, but is being considered with other kind of parallel projects.
Okay. I understand the thing that you're going to study, but I'm still not sure why now. Is there a problem? So you mentioned developers using off-site nutrient credits. What's the extent of that, and is it a problem?
Well, and I think the bigger driver of this study in particular was the new development code, and the kind of threshold for land disturbance for stormwater management and trying to fit the allowable density on a site while also fitting required infrastructure for stormwater management.
Okay. That makes sense. Second thing, last thing, sorry. It's sort of like Commissioner Newder's point on a previous item. Something that struck me about the presentation overall is I think I saw that our emissions since COVID have been flat as a city.
I remember a presentation from, I think Emily Irvin last year, hi Emily, that one of the drivers of that flat trajectory is transportation. And I'm just a little surprised not to see more about density and transportation as climate solutions in these materials.
I know the scope of this work is about how to have more infill without causing problems with stormwater management. But in general, talking about the city's mitigation and adaptation plans, 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.
It's probably out of scope, so I apologize for what you're presenting. Just seeing all the climate graphics, there are just some holes that I expect to hear more about. There's a big phrase that says waste diversion.
Great. I think, and I can confirm this, but I think in terms of drivers 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 climate topic.
Mm-hmm. Thank you. Other questions? I'd like to talk about terrible things. Some of the 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, for both those topics, flooding and wildfire prevention, multiple strategies in Resilient Together.
And then on top of that, which is actually the next slide, so jumping ahead a little bit, or two slides ahead. The city-... has a flood resilience plan now, and then also received a community flood preparedness fund grant to take a comprehensive look at our flood management program, and make updates where needed to have it be more future looking, more robust, 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? Would you like to? Thanks. I'll have Emily pop to answer a few questions related to Resilient Together.
Thank you. Thanks. Hi, everybody. My name's Emily Irvin. I'm the city's climate program manager, so I'm actually leading the development of our climate adaptation and resilience plan, which we will bring forward for public comment later this year.
So to sort of answer Josh's question a bit, I will be giving an annual update about the climate program, which is currently really focused on our climate action plan, which is all mitigation focused, coming up next month.
So I'll be giving our annual update with our annually updated inventory and all of the things that we have been working on to mitigate our climate emissions, our carbon emissions. And then we 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, with the graph where we invest in preparedness, and that is the thing that really helps us to strengthen our systems should we experience an extreme event here in our community.
And so in the development of that plan, that is forthcoming, 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, it's at that high strategic level that the climate action plan is. And so we develop 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's 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 between that resilience plan that is in development, which I think is actually very well timed with this work that we're talking about because we're already working on implementation of some of those strategies that are in the forthcoming adaptation resilience plan.
Did that answer your question? Federal changes. Oh, federal changes. Yeah. That's been difficult. So I just got back from a conference with sustainability professionals doing this type of work from across the southeast.
Talked to colleagues from Asheville. It's very 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.
They're approving dollars based on how you vote. It's hard. I can say that here in the city, we recently hired a new emergency manager. They've been very closely involved with the development of this plan.
I feel like city leadership is taking this really seriously, and we're working as staff to really up our emergency preparedness game. I wish John was here tonight to talk about it. But, I can say that we've been working closely together.
And so it's definitely something that we're thinking about. But it's hard to control what's happening at the federal level and I think we should hope that we don't experience too much extreme weather in our region in the near term.
So... Last question. Oh. Schools. Should I stay? Please. Schools. What specifically about them? How can they be resilience hubs? How- How can they be part of our response to disasters? How can they be part of preparation?
Yeah, that is something that's being talked about, is how can we 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?
I think CHS is designated in some of our emergency plans as a potential shelter location, and we will continue to look for opportunities to build resilience within our city building portfolio for sure.
And 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. I have a question. We talked about collaborating with UVA and the county, and I remember we had that work session.
I don't know, was it last year or whenever it was, when we met with the planning commission for the county. But I'm wondering, 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 Resilient Together is our collaborative planning process, and we worked very closely with the county and with UVA on staff engagement, other stakeholder engagement like the Rivanna authorities, and other agencies 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 are working this space in other supporting agencies, the Planning District Commission.
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 build connections between the work that is already happening to invest in that community resilience that we've talked about.
And so it was always a part of the plan of this project. We knew from the outset that it would be really difficult to adopt a plan across the organization. So we had always planned for each entity to adopt their own plan.
So we are 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 we've been working very closely with UVA to really align our timelines on the various strategies and projects, the prioritization levels of the various projects, so that we will be as aligned as possible.
The county felt like they needed to do a little bit more socialization with their leadership, and so they have, I think, stepped back a little, but they tell us they're still very committed to the project.
They're still very committed to the collaboration, but I think, the adoption of their plan has gone off the planned path just a little bit. But they have shared with us that they are hoping to be on a similar timeline for adoption eventually.
But we are continuing to work together across those entities. And I will say since emergency management has come up, we've had very close collaboration amongst the emergency managers from the three entities.
They were very instrumental in helping us with the plan development. Okay. Thank you. I had a question. It's in regards to, so Resilient Together, I know we have the county, the city, university, and obviously the Water Authority working together.
Has this Resilient Together sort of looked at other national sort of similar trends or best practice or even global best practice to help pick up lessons learned as we kind of try to make these connections between these various efforts?
Yes, certainly. So, our regional collaboration and then having a university partner is pretty unique. And a lot of people say to us, "Oh, regional planning for the-- We're happy to see you all doing this." But we certainly we're not trying to start from scratch and reinvent the wheel.
We have done a lot of learning from other jurisdictions. I always cite Fairfax County, Virginia. I have a close relationship with the resilience staff in Fairfax, and we have sort of modeled our plan layout after them and have done a lot of learning from them.
And like I said, I just got back from a conference. 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. We also, from the before times, the federal government had some resilience planning tools available to localities that we also relied on at the beginning of our planning process.
Thank you. All right. And I think I jumped us ahead a little bit. Were there any other questions about stormwater management before we move on to tree canopy? Okay. So looking at tree canopy and tree preservation, the primary project there is the Urban Forest Management Plan update, and community engagement is now in progress.
So there is a Connect Charlottesville page for the project, which I'll share a link and a QR code at the end of the presentation. But it is on Connect Charlottesville, and if you go to the main page, you can find it there.
We've done some tabling, including at EcoFair and the Rivanna River Fest, and also handed out some flyers at last Sunday's neighborhood walk in Rose Hill. And on the website, the survey and the activity, which is to share your favorite tree in Charlottesville, which is a very nice fun activity, are both open through May 24th.
And we've gotten pretty good responses total number wise on the survey, but would like to see more. So hoping 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.
And then, as mentioned earlier, the Tree Commission and Parks and Rec shared the 2025 State of the Forest report at the April 20th council meeting. So there's a lot of really great information in there, and highlights a lot of the really great existing work and programs that are going on, including city and partnerships with local organizations and community members, including the Charlottesville Invasive Plant Partnership, which is building neighborhood-based teams that are trained to identify and safely liberate neighborhood trees from invasive vines.
So I think a big piece that will come out of the Urban Forest Management Plan is the need for all community members to be involved since 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 tree preservation review and enforcement for site plans. And then there will also be upcoming guidance that the Tree Commission and Parks and Rec are working on for best practices for the development community, 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 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 our favorite time of the year in autumn when all of those four trees that make up our forest shed their leaves. What happens to the leaf litter that's collected by the city? Hi there.
I'm Crystal Ritterbold. 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 taken to Panorama Farm and turned into compost.
Okay, great to hear. That was basically going to be my question because those leaves, if they end up in a landfill, they could just become methane. Yeah, they are not going to the landfill. They haven't forever.
Okay. That's great to know, and that sums up my question. The city of Charlottesville requested expanded tree canopy protections for Richmond, and we got them. What do we do? How are you thinking about that?
Could you share more about the update from Richmond? Yes. My understanding was that we were still constrained by state code for- We were. I don't remember. I think it probably starts July 1st. But we basically just wrote our code to what was legally permissible at that time.
So what was the change? I think it allows us to do twice as much. I think that's right. Okay. Which I would recommend that we not do everywhere, but there are some places where it probably makes sense.
We can take a look, but one thing that we've been finding at a high level as well is that sometimes, depending on the site, it can be challenging to fit an increased canopy where the trees will actually thrive and survive.
So sometimes might be important to also just 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 stop after each one.
So just a quick update on flood management. There's the community flood preparedness fund project that I mentioned earlier to build a more robust and future-forward flood management program. And so just the update there is that the procurement process has started, and looking forward to collaborating across that project with the stormwater management project as well.
So, any questions there? I guess I have a bigger question about flood preparedness outside of just this grant project. Mm-hmm. As we densify following our comprehensive plan in the city, flooding, as we see in some of our larger cities, could become an issue.
It wouldn't if we aren't in the amount of rain we're getting this spring, but that won't always be the case. I'm just curious about, maybe it's part of the Resilient Together plan as well. 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 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, if you want to jump up too.
I think both this project and then Resilient Together do take a regional and watershed approach. So definitely acknowledging that the impacts don't just come from or stay in one community. Anything to...
Yeah, 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 some of the data sets that we're looking at are giving us 100-year flood project.
In 2100, what are floodplain projections looking like? And trying to establish 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, stormwater infrastructure, and frankly, we increasingly know and see that they're just like the Venn diagram between mitigation and adaptation.
There's a Venn diagram between stormwater management and flood management. And so this project is really intended to try to do a baseline study of what does 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... Yes. Okay. I have a question on this one.
City of Charlottesville, 10 square miles. We're plucky, we try hard, but in terms of control over the landscape, pretty limited, especially around things like flooding. How are we thinking about the overall floodplain?
And especially upstream of us. When you say upstream of us, are you literally meaning upriver?Well, we won't have any control over land use upstream of us, but the floodplain maps take into account regional nature.
Those floodplain maps aren't 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 some other localities have just started buying up the properties upstream of them- Mm-hmm ...
to protect them, and protect themselves, sort of as a- So most of our upstream- ... reason ... is outside of the city. Indeed. But we could buy property. So I'm not sure if it... What's that? We could buy property.
The royal "we" can buy property. Yes. Right. Or easements. Right. But I think a lot of communities similarly are thinking about their riverine areas as natural resources that serve multiple functions, right?
Not just recreation, but that that natural area and connection to floodplain does some controlling of severe flooding in upstream and downstream. And our neighbors in Albemarle County have very smart water resources professionals as well.
They're investing. City and the county are working on a stream restoration, or have done, down in Biscuit Run. So there are recognition that there are joint water resources projects that benefit both jurisdictions.
Thank you. Yep. Thanks. All right, next topic. So combining the water protection ordinance, stream buffers, and critical slopes. So for both of these topics for next steps, staff needs to determine what the overall staff capacity would be, and then ideally have results and data from the build-out analysis and infrastructure study that's going on in parallel to these projects.
And then looking at the results from that, and evaluating potential priority areas to protect. So looking at what's the feasibility 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 undeveloped or have the potential to redevelop that would actually be impacted?
So there's a lot more background study and further analysis that staff feels is needed before diving into these topics. And then also seeing, once we have a consultant for the stormwater RFP, there was funding that was allocated at the beginning of this environmental review project for these parallel projects.
So how much will be left over, and could it support potentially 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 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. But that going forward, other staff capacity and support is likely needed, and supporting roles 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, 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, and those could be shared along with other best practices, such as the work that the Tree Commission and Parks are working on, to share best practices for tree planting and preservation.
And then for electric vehicle charging, the EV charging study is completed and staff is working to determine next steps. Recommendations include a residential curbside charging ordinance, as a lot of people who don't have driveways and garages have to pull cables across the right of way.
So figuring out 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. We have streetscape requirements in the zoning code, so I'd just say whatever you all are, kind of recommendations you're developing, keep that in mind if we need to adjust those kind of 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 put something in the... If there's a planting strip. And 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. Kind of off of Commissioner Carb's comments earlier, I'm a little disappointed to see that CAT or transit isn't really mentioned in here.
I'm using the electric EV charging section as the only transportation related item to bring it up. In the EV plan, it says something like 3% of vehicles registered in the city in 2024 were EVs. And I just question the balance of the impactsPotential 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, 33% of our community-wide, the highest bucket is related to transportation. And the way and just the focus on EV, I'm not saying it's a bad thing. 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 for more people from a frequency and reliability standpoint.
With that in mind, I'm curious to know how much the Office of Sustainability is working with CAT to implement their strategic plan. So one comment is that 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, they run pupil transportation. They've just taken 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. 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 emissions bus transition. 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 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 CAT is doing with the battery electric vehicles.
I guess the point that I am asking about is, 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- Yep ...
the system doesn't work for anybody. We have said out loud, empty buses are not a solution. Okay. So from that comment, the Office- But, but- ... of Sustainability is having those conversations with CAT?
Mm-hmm. Yep. Okay. Yep. We work with them pretty often and we are meeting with them to establish how are we going to judge and track the school bus pilot? 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- Oh, I did have one more point about the EVs. Go for it. 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. Ford just made an announcement that they're converting their battery electric plant that they were using for EVs into grid scale batteries.
Mm-hmm. There's a lot of things going on. The federal 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 one that are really going to drive it about using transit as environmentally friendly climate plan. And then on the hydrogen buses, along the same, but maybe even more 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 we owe it to the process to revisit what's realistic and practical.
And I've also suggested that 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, I'm going to use the word reconsidering because that's what I want the city to do about the 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.
But- We still have seen that hydrogen theoretically and in some business use 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.
Yeah. Just coming from my 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 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 the supply side that I was on are dwindling or have dwindled quickly.
I think if the city was to go the hydrogen route, the most logical understanding or 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.
So I just want to encourage the city to have these conversations about the practical realities 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 there's a lot of industries out there that are trying to decarbonize, and that's what this is.
A couple things. One, I apologize for being that guy. This is more of a comment than a question. But to put a point on some things that Mr. Harness mentioned, I just think we should be seeing mode share goals as part of the climate plan.
Again, to agree with Mr. Harness, 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? You all are doing great work, but I would love to see more in your headline materials about here are our mode share goals for five years out, 10 years out, and here's our plan to get there. I'm not saying it's not happening.
I'm just saying it's very helpful to actually hear it as an explicitly described goal. Let's see. On the EV charging quick point, not to repeat too much, obviously we can't be obstructing sidewalks for legal reasons and also because we want to be able to walk, not fall down.
I reported earlier tonight on a proposal by the city to put a bikeway in on Rose Hill, which would be parking protected, meaning if I'm getting this right... Am I doing this wrong? Sometimes 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. Third thing, final thing, apologize. 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. We are a utilities, folks here. I think it's a gas decarbonization question, though. Both here. Hey, good evening, council. I'm sorry, commissioners. My name is Jason McElwee, I'm with utilities.
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 timeframe of December- Yes ...
to have a report back to us. And then that will come to council, and then we'll go from there. But at this point, what we're looking at is decarbonization. And how we get there, we're still studying that and looking at other our options.
So... I didn't know that. That's great to hear. Just curious, is C3 a vendor in this process, or are they doing their own assessment? They are doing 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 a few words? Sure. Go ahead. Yeah. This project is cool. C3 got a grant from a private funder, and they reached out to the city starting with leadership, and they have 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.
Great. Thank you. So... Yeah. Very good. Since we're talking about bus tech, I must raise again, trolley buses. Why are trolley buses? I understand there's problems with methane, I understand there's problems with CNG, I understand there's problems with batteries.
They're big, they're heavy, they're expensive, they explode. Hey, you know, copper wires they're great. Just amazing technology. Really old, but still good. 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.
No, we talked to Transpo. Yes. Just like you said. And we will also relay back to the transportation planning team, kind of just the overall interest in better connecting these projects, at least the way that we present them.
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 had just a comment and I mean a question.
And it has to do-- I know data centers and AI are kind of a flash point politically right now in the Commonwealth, but I was curious as we develop resiliency plans and as we evaluate stormwater management and other tree canopy, what's the city's stance on leveraging AI tools to help sort of expand the scope of which these studies can look at data sets?
That is a great question. I think, excuse me, still something that we're exploring. 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.
Mm-hmm. So maybe there's some help to sort of look at how you can put the guardrails up for it. Mm-hmm. All right. And then last slide. So hopefully this QR code will work, but there's also the link at the bottom, so that's connect.charlottesville.gov/urbanforest-managementplan.
And again, that survey is open through May 24th, so just want to put 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 Stormwater Management Regulations project, selecting the consultant for the Flood Management Program updates, and then 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.
So both on Connect Charlottesville and then likely in future work sessions, you all will probably start to see more presentations that are focused on one or two particular projects, especially as we dive deeper into them as they get established.
And we'll also work to kind of note the overlap with some of the other topics mentioned, especially transportation. So that's all I have this evening, and thank you for your feedback. I've got an additional comment on one that I couldn't pigeonhole into a different topic.
On one of your first introduction slides, you have a rain garden or a bioswale. Mm-hmm. I know there's been conversations on this dais before my tenure about implementing them and how there's really just the one in the Fifield neighborhood near the 501 Cherry project.
And maybe I could have pigeonholed it into the flood conversation. Are you guys having comments in the city? Are you guys involved in discussions about increasing rain gardens or bioswales or those sorts of things in the public right of way?
So I think it's something that we'd like to take a look at encouraging with the stormwater RFP study. But one of the challenges that I've heard before from the public works engineering team is that it is difficult to fit them into the public right of way, as it's very constrained, and then also would need to be maintained, so there'd 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 being used within a property. Understood the difficulties around it.
I just want to make sure those conversations are continuing. And then my last one on this whole thing, the city just put out a press release about growth season and making sure properties have their grass or weeds cut to under 18 inches.
The way that I read the ordinance, I worry about how you balance that ordinance and policy with the idea of having prairies and rain gardens and bioswales on private property. I know that 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.
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 pieces of code and ordinance might play against some of these other policies we're having.
Yes. Not a question for you, but just a comment I wanted to make. Thank you. That is specifically inResilient together as well. So definitely something we're taking a look at. Thank you. Last call for questions.
All right. Thank you. Thank you. Are we on the Downtown Mall? Is that our next item? I think. All right. Good evening. For the record, I'm Brenda Kelly, and as of July, I 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 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 that I can't answer, I will probably be turning and looking at them for some help. And with that, Patrick, next slide please.
So as you all know, a couple of years ago, the city manager commissioned a report on the Downtown Mall. It's also known as the Action Plan, 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. Some of you use it on a regular basis. So this just gives you some background on the mall itself.
Next slide, Patrick. And generally, 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 gives you 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-departmental 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 specific resources that were regularly allocated to improvements for the Downtown Mall as an important asset of the city. So since that time, Parks and Recreation has done a spectacular assessment of all the assets and the inventory on the Downtown Mall and the maintenance needs.
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 additional needs, 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. 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 budget that was just recently approved does look at outgoing years and what's needed to maintain and improve the Downtown Mall for the first time.
You may have seen, we have contracted with Block by 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.
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 Rec has been working on improving all the assets.
So these are some of the things they've been accomplishing. They have now put together 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 integral part of this. 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 in the very early part of the year. And the implementing the tree management plan has started. One of the first phases is what we call the Free the Fountains.
So that's in progress, and the next phase will look at starting to do some replacement or some planting of the tree canopyNext slide, Patrick. So again, our Downtown Mall Ambassador Program is now in place.
They started February 1st. As of last week, they are fully 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. The city has provided the Block by Block company with 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, Parks and Rec pretty much takes maintenance from 5:00 in the morning till 1:00 in the afternoon. And then our Downtown Mall Ambassador Program folks come on at 1:00 to approximately 8:00 or 9:00.
They do have off Monday and Tuesday, so they're a 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 Block by Block 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 4th Street and 2nd Street. This is a project that was in the planning stages for many years, 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, Friends of Charlottesville Downtown, we work very closely with.
We do provide them some funding to provide services to the city that overall benefits the Downtown Mall. So they have developed 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 is part of their new branding promotion. They are working on written narratives 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 friendsdowntowncville.com website. 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 Bradbury. Next slide, Patrick. So you saw in 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 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, Friends also developed a commercial. It's being shown on Violet Crown and at the airport, and you might have seen it on local advertisements on TV. Again, the banners 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 continued events going on for the Downtown Mall. Next slide, Patrick. We also work very closely with the Historic Resources Committee and the Historical Society.
They are doing a recollections program right now. 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 put together for the July 3rd event, the results will be archived with the Historical Society.
So that's ongoing right now. Also, Charlottesville-Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau has been a big part of 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. Monticello's doing some events. You might recall that we recently had the mobile museum that was on the Downtown Mall, and the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society has started their spring tours.
They are ongoing, and you can go to their website to find information about that also. Next slide, Patrick. So here's some more things that the Convention and Visitors Bureau is working on associated with 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 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, 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 Rec 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. We talked also about how that's already been done and will continue to be addressed as we 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 ongoing. What have we accomplished? What still needs to be done?
Maybe 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 and action items. 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 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. 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. That's kind of the same venue as five, working all together. We also need to work with the stakeholders in how best to 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 Rec is doing and what Downtown Mall ambassadors are doing and how those services are providing visibility on the Downtown Mall.
Number eight, diversify the types and number of events and other uses of open spaces. So this one's a little bit of an anomaly. Right now, it's pretty much outside agencies that apply for special events and do events on the Mall.
The city Parks and Recreation department mostly may be looking at doing additional events on the Mall as we kind of discuss what's the use and how do we engage all ages 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. You know we have a very lively bike ped community, 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.
Some of the things in the action plan actually talk about are there other things than just putting bike racks out. Maybe we look at lockers. The bike ped folks are doing that right now. They're 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?
How does it look to get there? So we will probably be doing a lot more to address how that works, what that looks like. 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-And a bigger overall plan of do we want a consultant to look at the overall access? Do we think about pocket parks? Do we think about 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 TBD. That could be 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. We hear about rideshare now. We should have pickup sites and drop-off sites that are specific to rideshare.
Food delivery services, loading zones. Are there enough handicap spaces close to the downtown mall? Of course, we got the garages. We've got the continual discussion about 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, 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 the city does pay rent for the public restrooms at York Place currently. I have not been instructed to start looking at this 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? I don't know if we've really looked into that yet. That's why I have a TBD in the status. That might be something that we talk a little bit more about 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. That's in progress and going on. I know public works has a lot of work going on right now on trip hazards and shaving down concrete sidewalks.
We've identified 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 specifically looking at those as we talk, again, interdepartmentally 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 a 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 hiring someone to do that. So that's on our radar now, and I know that's one of the city manager's big things is that he'd like to see more lighting on the downtown mall.
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. I've inherited the permitting of the outdoor cafes, so we've got ongoing dialogue with that.
There is some work to do, but it's just part of life of the downtown mall right now. 20, consider a plan to incorporate the central fountain back into the interactive landscape of the mall. That's in progress right now.
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. As you all know, this has been an issue for years, too, but there is dialogue going on and some work going on talking about what that may look like 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 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. What's a ton? I got a couple. You know what? Go, Josh. Go. Please. I'm curious to see how many questions people consider a lot. I think I actually have not very many.
One is on timing. You talked about bike lockers possibly. I assume it's NDS 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. 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.
But I know that's on Tommy's radar to be working on that. Okay. I'll talk with Tommy. One thing not on the list, I've been hearing for about nine years, I think that's nine years, that maybe there shouldn't be car crossings over the mall.
Go ahead. You see what I did there? Mm-hmm. What is the city's appetite for closing the crossings? Well, as you said, there's been discussion for many years about that. If I recall correctly, the Downtown Mall Action Plan Committee suggested those not be closed.
Not necessarily that it would be left up to the committee. That is a higher level discussion than me. And I'm not aware that anybody's been given any instructions to proceed on looking at that at this point.
Good. 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?
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. Not specifically. And we were not instructed to specifically track it. However, we do look at visits to the Downtown Mall data regularly and compare it to last year.
A lot of 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. A little bit more, though, about the side rock closures getting to the mall, and the impact of foot traffic going in front of the spaces.
But other than that, we're not specifically looking at tracking data on the impact. 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.
And expanding further, pun intended, Councillor Payne has mentioned the idea before about expanding the pedestrian-only zone into the side streets that are sort of stub streets right now, and I think earlier you mentioned potentially pocket parks.
I, in my mind, imagined that those could go there potentially. What's the level of discussion within the city about that concept? 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-determines. Mm-hmm. 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, the committee identified those as the priority items in that order.
So, some things were easy to address, like preserve the outdoor cafes. It 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 the team gets together once we kind of have everything going for the Downtown Mall 50th party, and we have a little time to take 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. We're always welcome to hear that and provide those recommendations forward also. This is exciting. Thank you for this opportunity.
Just in order, South Street was on the map included in the Ambassador program. That's so interesting. Why did you do that? 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 I think it's more because 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 Is there anything the commission can do to move forward a study on considering closing the 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'm with you there, but I'll put something together and then provide it to Matt, and he can forward it off to you.
Thank 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 cafe fees go to... So we have a couple different sources or line items.
So of course, the staff and everything would be in the Parks and Rec general fund budget for the department. Generally, the outdoor cafe fees go into, there's some line items in the CIP that fall under the Parks and Rec's projects, such as Downtown Mall infrastructure, Downtown Mall trees active life cycle management, Downtown Mall tree management plan.
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.
But we now have the power to tax land more than buildings. I'm not clear that we have the power to do that district by district. But is this a potential solution to our funding problems downtown? Probably not, because a downtown mall specific is basically buildings.
There's basically no vacant land. 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 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 fund that eventually." We didn't.
Right. Correct. Physical and signage connections for bicycle, pedestrian, and transit to the university, the train station, the airport, Monticello. We got anything on that? We do not have anything on that.
Again, that's probably a discussion point for CAT and those connections and how to get around. So I know they get a lot of feedback. 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 just have to add that I'm walking down West Main Street every once in a while, you get tourists who are, "Where's the Downtown Mall?" Yep. And it's kind of hard to explain that it's like, you got to bear left as you go past 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 an inventory in my new role, looked at all those green directional signs, "Welcome to Charlottesville." You probably know what I'm talking about, the ones with the dogwoods 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, 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, did a one-off project, and then nobody owned it ever after that. Correct. Yep. I've learned a lot of things in my new role. Storm water. Most places in the city, we don't have the right of way or the people on site to do proper storm water management, besides just a pipe.
The Downtown Mall is special. We could do more interesting things downtown. Can we think of storm water differently on the Downtown Mall? That, I have not heard that as a discussion. I know there's been discussions about where does all the sand go from between the brick pavers.
Where is it actually falling into the storm water system? That's a bigger discussion item. I'll add that to my list of things to 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, following your previous discussions, your previous agenda item.
I was recently in Blacksburg. 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. That's an interesting example that we might consider.
Okay. Thank you. That's what I have. Thank you. Other comments, questions? Yeah, I had a couple comments, just also answers. So I was on the task force for a year. It was a really great experience, and I was there under a capacity as being a citizen, not as the representative of the 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 had to do with accessibility and drop-off and pick-up. And so the side streets tend none of them meet ADA, typically.
Sidewalks are limited, and so there was a lot of sort of-Sort of helpful in moving sort of testimony from folks who rely on those cross streets to either pick up 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 actually coming up with something that works, and I think it's imperfect in its current way.
I know Fourth Street had their higher way, that everyone agrees it's not the great location to have it, 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 consternation by the task force. So I don't think there was one that they sort of said, "Oh, keep them open. It's great." I think they know it's a challenge.
And I think the trolley access had benefits because it allows for easy on and off. And so, 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 onerous. 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, it'd be great to continue to look at it. There was the pedestrian-only side streets, that comment, I think you've mentioned, Counselor Payne. The challenge there is a lot of businesses. It's the access of deliveries, people who rely on this for either products or goods or food or supplies, and so closing those off.
It's already a difficult delivery situation for the retail component, so that was one area we were thinking if there are ways to kind of streamline and standardize the delivery, so each side street wasn't different.
So, the shade structures were, I think, were to be introduced in between the tree bosques 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. I think the lighting goals, it's great that the city manager is interested in the lighting. I know one of the things that Halprin's original design for the lights were full cutoffs, and so they lit the surface.
They didn't put glare in your eyes, and at some point they got redone, where they keep making it 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.
Mm-hmm. So, yeah, 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 Wolfe Josie's tree framework plan? Yes. Okay, great.
If you guys want to look it up, that PDF, really great work, and it's exciting that it's being seen through. And then the time horizon. Do we have an idea when we're going to do the first bosque 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?
Good evening, everyone. I'm Katie Lockhart. I'm the deputy director for Parks. So we actually met this morning with somebody from Capital Development to talk about maybe taking this project on next year, because we have funding for it.
So it's a 20-year plan. It's broken into four phases, and each of those phases is five years to come up with the 20. So this first one focuses mostly on Central Place, and, yeah, it's the removal of some of these trees that have reached the end of their life, which quite a few of them have, and our urban forester is here and can speak more to that.
But yeah, just going in and also updating that infrastructure so that it can support larger caliper trees. Right now, they're not in an ideal setting for growth, so this would address that as well for long-term sustainability.
I guess the first phase would be in the next five years, you think? Yeah, it will get started July 1st, basically. And we're not really sure yet what it's going to look like. Mm-hmm. We'll have to phase the phase.
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. There's a couple of options, and a lot of it's based on color, is my understanding as well, for pizzazz.
But yeah, there's a few different species that have been recommended. Okay. Joe? Yeah. Good evening. I'm Steve Gaines. I'm urban forester with Parks and Rec. Yes, there are a few different species being considered.
Some of them, as you know, Halprin did have a color scheme in mind. So we do have a couple of different ideas. Most of the ideas are really built around trees that are going to be able to tolerate heat and the stress of the urban situation.
So, swamp white oak is one that we're considering. We're considering tulip poplar as well. And willow oak also. Of course, with oaks, we also have acorns and leaf size. These kinds of things are also something that we very much consider.
Is the plan to still keep them all uniform, like homogenous in the bosque, or would you create some diversity for resiliency? There's some discussion there. Yeah. Personally, I'm not a fan of monocultures.
Yeah. So yeah, there's a lot of discussion there, too, which is actually really pretty exciting. Yeah, I know. I think diversity's going to be helpful here. Yeah, I was always worried that there would be some pest come out of nowhere, and it would completely wipe out all of them.
Yes, sir. That's a risk. Well, great. Thank you. And then the last question I have, it was something, I think it was the 2021 ABC in Virginia has these designated outdoor refreshment areas, and I remember that there was some mixed camps where people wanted a downtown mall to be one of these designated ORA areas where you could have open container.
Mm-hmm. Is that still being discussed? Is it part of this action plan, or 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.
Thank you. I also wanted 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 meetings. Yeah. Again, it'd be great to have those, continue those conversations- Yeah ...
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. I guess my comments are, maybe sound like grumbling. They're not meant to be grumbling.
And I think you probably are starting to address more of these, but I feel like as a BAR member, I feel like there's been a lot of things that just appear on the Mall without knowing who made what decision or how that decision was made.
And I know recently, last month or the month before, we looked at trash cans. So yeah, the city is bringing stuff to the BAR about the Downtown Mall, but there are other things that seem like it would be good if the shade structures came to the BAR, or if any of these other improvements, not necessarily in the sense that...
I know it's a public right of way, so the BAR, 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 give some feedback. Like the lights, for example.
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. And 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 there's a couple that I think are not actually at trees. They're at tree stumps. So it would be good to know that there's actually some oversight that when the city puts things on the Mall, are they continuing to look at them to make sure that they stay in place and that they get maintained?
The Christmas lights are another example. They're great when they go up. If 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?
It's kind of a jumble of comments. But I guess it's, one, can we please include the BAR as a stakeholder? And two, is the city looking at ways to make sure that what they put on the Mall gets maintained and 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, just because I wonder this every time I walk by it. Is there any use for the Transit Center? We talk about needing bathrooms. We talk about needing space for ambassadors or whatever.
It's been sitting empty for so long, and honestly, 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 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- Yeah ... yet. The upstairs one, I believe, are under the Ting Pavilion lease control. Are they still open? As far as I know, the Transit Center's still open downstairs.
Okay. But yeah. Is there any way that we can fill the upstairs with something of use to the Mall? I can- It's a- ... forward those comments also ... really cool building that just didn't seem to- Yeah.
It did come up on the task force, and there was a concern at the time, that it was a federally funded project- Mm-hmm ... and that any type of adaptive reuse may run afoul of its dollars that came for a transit hub.
So I don't know if that was what I think I recall hearing. Interesting. Repurposing it may be complicated. Okay. All right. Just yeah, seems kind of- I agree. It'd be great to- There's probably meeting space in there as well that- Ooh.
Yeah. I don't know. I've always wondered, because I just walk by it, and it's... Well, it would be nice if somebody would go inside it and clean up the garbage that's still... There's boxes, and there's posters that are from two years ago that are contests that happened, again, two years ago, on the glass, and they're starting to peel off.
It'd be nice if somebody just 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 a- It's been on my mind for a while, and this seemed like, okay, the perfect opportunity to ask.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Any other thoughts? Happier thoughts? Oh, I don't know if this is a happier thought. I'm often here at night, because planning commission meetings can go late. So I'm familiar with the rat population.
Oh. How are my friends doing? How are we thinking about that? Hi. They're thriving. Yeah. So I don't even know where to go with this. We have a contract for services on the Mall. They have recommended some participation with the businesses to be more successful, to set up more bait stations with them, and the hotel also plays into this.
We can't encourage them to treat there, because we don't own that building. But it is agreed that there are probably tens of thousands of rats living there. Lovely. Take that home with you. Your friends are doing well.
Great. 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 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. Dan and Matt, is there anything else? I think that was it for our agenda. Yep. Okay. So I move to adjourn. Second. If Dan would do adjourn, that's exciting.