City Council
City Council
Mon, May 18, 2026
Agenda items
Vote records
Discussion summary
Transcript
Meeting summaryAI-generated
Charlottesville City Council — May 18, 2026
This was a regular meeting preceded by a work session on two substantive reports. The session included proclamations, an extensive public comment period dominated by concerns about the Stribling Avenue sidewalk project, and several action items.
Work Session: Police Civilian Oversight Board (PCOB) Proposed Ordinance Revisions
PCOB Chair Jeffrey Frazier and Acting Director Mr. Walker presented proposed revisions to Article 16 of the City Code, which governs the PCOB's structure and authority. The core proposal is a transition from an investigation-dominant model to a monitor, audit, and review (MAR) model of oversight — a nationally recognized framework used in other Virginia cities including Alexandria and Virginia Beach.
Frazier was candid about the board's history: in over six years, the PCOB has been unable to hold a single hearing under the current ordinance due to structural barriers including conflicts with the police collective bargaining agreement, the Law Enforcement Officers Procedural Guarantee Act, FOIA limitations preventing closed sessions, and the practical impossibility of compelling officer testimony while also offering Garrity protections.
Walker walked through the specific changes: a revised purpose statement emphasizing accountability and transparency; new dedicated sections defining what monitoring, auditing, and reviewing actually mean in practice; a restructured hearing power focused on policy topics and audit reports rather than adjudicating individual officer complaints; revised subpoena authority that removes the ability to compel officer testimony while retaining it for outside evidence; and consolidation of the former SOP and MOU documents into the ordinance itself to eliminate document sprawl. The board's term length would also be shortened from the current lengthy term to two years with four consecutive terms, aligning with city council norms.
Councilor Payne raised the tension between the new model and the community's original desire for independent investigations, noting that the collective bargaining agreement appeared to conflict with the city's own ordinance language excluding civilian review boards from bargaining. Walker acknowledged the CBA effectively reintroduced LEOPA protections that state law would otherwise allow oversight bodies to bypass. Board member Frazier emphasized that the MAR model would likely produce *more* oversight in practice — potentially reviewing five or six cases per month — compared to zero hearings under the prior model.
Councilor Snook noted approvingly that he had advocated for an audit/oversight model for years. Vice Mayor Oschrin summarized the shift as moving from "duplicating an internal affairs investigation" to "oversight over that investigation." Councilor Fleisher asked about the community messaging strategy; Walker described ongoing outreach through NAACP meetings, community events, and social media, emphasizing that the clearer mission will make community conversations more productive.
The revised ordinance is currently under review by both the city attorney's office and the PCOB's independent outside counsel. The board aims to bring finalized language back for first and second readings by late summer. No vote was taken; this was an informational work session.
Work Session: Home Stay / Short-Term Rental Report
Neighborhood Development Services planner Missy Creasey presented findings from a year-long study of Charlottesville's short-term rental (STR) ordinance, which is approximately a decade old. The city has implemented a new software platform called Granicus that aggregates STR listings across all platforms and maps them, significantly reducing staff research time. A dedicated staff member now focuses primarily on STR compliance.
Key findings: most STRs rent entire homes; 17% of transient lodging tax revenue comes from online hosting platforms; community survey respondents (approximately 500) cited economic and tourism benefits alongside concerns about housing impacts and neighborhood nuisance. A recent state law now requires localities to allow renters (tenants) to operate STRs with landlord permission — but only if the locality changes its existing ordinance. Because Charlottesville's ordinance predates the law, staff was advised it is not currently required to incorporate this provision, though any future code change would trigger the requirement.
Staff recommendation: maintain the existing ordinance, focus resources on enforcement, monitor how other Virginia localities handle the new state renter provision, and allow the Granicus system and additional staffing to demonstrate results before introducing new unknowns. The planning commission echoed this approach, also noting interest in extending permit terms beyond one year and allowing building codes to determine maximum occupancy.
Councilor Payne expressed concern that enforcement remains insufficient, particularly regarding investment LLCs operating full-time STRs without residing on-site, and argued that the problem is especially acute in neighborhoods like 10th & Page and Fifeville near UVA. Councilor Oschrin clarified that the new state law on renters applies regardless of any local action, prompting staff to note that legal interpretation may need revisiting. No vote was taken; this was an informational work session.
Closed Session and Board Appointments
Council convened in closed session to consider appointments to numerous boards and commissions. Upon returning, Mayor Wade moved to approve the following appointments:
Board of Architectural Review: Jen Trompeter
Community Policy and Management Team: Marquez Mitchell
Historic Resources Committee: William Bergen, Lucy Pola, Jonathan Rice, Richard Guy Wilson
JABA Advisory Council on Aging: Katherine Zuber
Jefferson Madison Regional Library Board: Janelle Lynch
Piedmont Virginia Community College Board: Brian Pinkston
Region 10 Community Services Board: David Opper, Emily Warren
Retirement Commission: Casey Parker
Sister Cities Commission: John Mason, Stella Mattioli, Elizabeth Smiley
Thomas Jefferson Water Resources Protection Foundation: Aaron Mills
Tree Commission: Roger Gedig
Vote: 5–0. Remaining applicants were deferred.
Proclamations
Council adopted proclamations for Public Works Week (May 17–23) and Dementia Awareness Month (May 2026). Public Works Director Steve Hicks highlighted completed projects including the Belvane Bridge, the VDOT locally administered program turnaround (nearly $60 million in projects moving to construction), and a second-place finish at the Mid-Atlantic APWA equipment rodeo. Community member Norman Dill, a former Albemarle County Supervisor living with dementia, spoke movingly about the daily challenges of the condition and the importance of public awareness.
Community Matters — Public Comment
Public comment was dominated by two topics:
Stribling Avenue Sidewalk: Seven speakers — residents of the Fry Springs neighborhood — urged council not to pause the Stribling Avenue sidewalk improvement project. They noted the street is dangerous, has no sidewalks, features a blind hill and curve, and is heavily used by pedestrians and cyclists. They emphasized that the $2.9 million infrastructure funding agreement was a explicit condition of council's 2022 approval of the 240 Stribling rezoning (adding approximately 170 units), and that pausing the sidewalk while construction traffic increases is unacceptable. Several expressed fear that a child or pedestrian would be seriously injured before the project is completed.
Unhoused residents: Two speakers called on the city to engage directly with unhoused community members in policy decisions, to provide portable restrooms and sanitation services to existing camps immediately, and to stop treating encampments primarily as problems to be managed or relocated rather than communities of people with rights and dignity.
One speaker addressed development concerns in Fifeville, invoking the history of redlining and urban renewal and criticizing recent council votes on development approvals. Another speaker from the Community Climate Collaborative provided an update on a utility decarbonization study and raised concerns about two community members detained by Israel while on a humanitarian flotilla.
Stribling Avenue Sidewalk — City Manager Update
Following public comment, Public Works Director Steve Hicks addressed the project directly. He explained the pause stems not from construction cost overruns but from escalating right-of-way acquisition costs. The total project budget is $5.7 million. Of 48 parcels requiring easements, 12 have been secured. Some remaining property owners have responded to city offers of $2,000–$6,000 for small slivers of land with six-figure counteroffers, and 8–10 condemnation/eminent domain cases may be necessary. An additional $400,000 buffer is needed to proceed with confidence, bringing the anticipated total to approximately $6.1 million.
City Manager Sam Sanders clarified the project is not canceled — "paused" was meant to signal a brief reassessment, not termination — and committed to bringing updated information to council for a decision on additional funding. He acknowledged that not all property owners on Stribling support the project, complicating community-based negotiation approaches. No vote was taken; council received the update.
Consent Agenda
Council approved the following items as a block. Councilor Payne highlighted that several items represent significant investment in affordable housing and homeless services, including funding for the Haven eviction diversion program.
Minutes from February 17 and March 2 regular meetings
$389,975 appropriation from VDHCD for the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS/HIV grant
$98,484 appropriation from VDHCD for the Virginia Homeless Solutions Program
$200,000 reallocation of CIP funds for the Downtown Mall Crossing Project
Approximately $1.2 million in HUD-funded activities for Program Year 2026–2027, including CDBG funds (~$464,924) and HOME funds (~$92,568)
Resolution initiating amendment to Chapter 9 of the Comprehensive Plan
Special exception permit for 408 Harris Road
$55,527.91 in CDBG funds for the Pollocks Branch Trail Bridge
Repeal of obsolete provisions in Chapter 3 (Amusements) of the City Code
Vote: 5–0
Youth Council Annual Presentation
Youth Council members presented recommendations for improving the program, including: involving members in applicant selection; creating a renewal application process to ensure active participation; establishing stipends to remove financial barriers to participation; partnering with school history, AVID, and public speaking departments; increasing meeting frequency from monthly to twice monthly; and hosting open forums at Charlottesville High School. Deputy Director of Human Services Charlsie Stratton confirmed that changes to onboarding structure and stipends would require council action. Council directed the assistant city manager to work with staff on bringing those items forward. Council members invited the youth members to sit at the dais briefly.
Quarterly Financial Report
Budget Director Chrissy Hamel reported that as of March 31 (end of Q3), the general fund is approximately 78% spent at $205 million. Revenues are tracking to a projected $5.5 million surplus over the FY26 budget, driven by stronger-than-projected business and professional license tax, meals tax, and personal property tax collections. Expenditures are tracking close to budget; no large underspending is anticipated. The first half of 2026 real estate taxes, including a one-cent rate increase, will be due June 5.
Solar Power Purchase Agreement — Charlottesville Middle School
Director of Sustainability Crystal Ritervold presented a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a 25-year solar power purchase agreement (PPA) with Madison Energy Infrastructure for Charlottesville Middle School. The system requires no upfront capital from the city. The negotiated PPA rate is below current electricity costs from day one, with projected avoided costs of nearly $1.3 million over the 25-year term. Council noted urgency: federal tax credits that reduce the PPA rate are sunsetting in July, making timely execution critical to securing the benefit. The high school PPA has already been executed by the School Board.
Vote: Moved by Councilor Snook, seconded. Passed 5–0.
Business Tax Refund — $33,863.14
Commissioner of Revenue Todd Divers presented a resolution to refund $33,863.14 in business tangible personal property tax and business license tax to a business that moved from the city to Albemarle County without notifying the city and continued paying city taxes. Refunds over $10,000 require council approval; interest is owed on the business license portion.
Vote: 5–0.
2026 Homeowner Assistance Grant Program
Divers also presented the annual Charlottesville Homeowner Assistance Program, which provides grants to lower-income homeowners based on household income and home value. Grant amounts range from $1,000 to $2,500. Income thresholds are now pegged to HUD's median family income and self-adjust annually, eliminating the need for annual renegotiation. Applications open in July through the Commissioner of Revenue's office.
Vote: 5–0.
Swords Into Plowshares — Location Endorsement
Deputy City Manager James Fries and Jefferson School African American Heritage Center Executive Director Dr. Andrea Douglas presented a resolution to endorse park locations for the Swords Into Plowshares memorial project — the effort to transform the former Robert E. Lee statue (transferred to the Jefferson School in 2021) into a new community memorial. Three artist/design teams have been finalists; community voting/feedback closes May 30 at cipcville.com. The resolution provides non-binding guidance to the design teams as they finalize a single proposal, which will return to council for a binding acceptance vote.
Staff recommended endorsing at minimum Market Street Park and Court Square Park. Councilor Payne moved to amend the resolution to also include Booker T. Washington Park, Tonsler Park, Forest Hills Park, and Belmont Park, giving all three design teams maximum flexibility.
Vote: Amended motion passed 5–0.
City Manager's Report — Homelessness Update
City Manager Sanders provided a brief update on homelessness efforts following last week's work session. He reported meeting with the Rivanna Trails Foundation, which expressed a desire to partner rather than simply oppose encampments. He is meeting with PACEM to explore whether they can operate an overnight shelter sooner than currently planned. Staff is working with architect Mitchell Matthews to assess what is lost by not adding the planned small addition to the Lowberry shelter building and how to offset that. The Community Foundation has expressed willingness to help facilitate development of an operating plan for the COC.
Key Takeaways
PCOB overhaul is coming: The board is proposing a fundamental shift from an unworkable investigative model to a monitor/audit/review framework, with a revised ordinance expected before council for formal votes by late summer. The board argues this will produce more real oversight, not less.
Stribling Avenue sidewalk is paused, not canceled, due to unexpectedly high right-of-way acquisition costs that may require condemnation proceedings; the city manager committed to bringing updated cost information back to council, with significant neighborhood pressure to move forward promptly.
Middle School solar PPA approved 5–0, locking in federal tax credit benefits before a July sunset and delivering nearly $1.3 million in projected avoided electricity costs over 25 years at no upfront cost to the city.
Swords Into Plowshares location endorsed 5–0 across six city parks, allowing the memorial design process to proceed with confidence; community feedback on the three finalist designs closes May 30.
Short-term rental enforcement is ramping up via new Granicus software and dedicated staff, with council opting to hold the existing ordinance steady rather than risk triggering a state-law requirement to allow tenant-operated STRs.
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
Report: PCOB Proposed Ordinance Revisions
# Summary: PCOB Proposed Ordinance Revisions
Chair Jeffrey Frazier presented the Police Civilian Oversight Board's proposed revisions to Article 16 of the City Code, recommending a transition from an investigation-dominant model to a monitor, audit, and review model—a nationally recognized framework that Frazier emphasized would provide more comprehensive oversight rather than less. The current ordinance has created insurmountable barriers, preventing the board from holding a single hearing in over six years due to Virginia law constraints, constitutional issues, and police union complications. Under the revised approach, staff would conduct day-to-day monitoring and auditing work with the police department, allowing the board to review 5-6 cases monthly instead of approximately 1 case monthly, while also expanding the board's mandate to include technology systems, policies, practices, and departmental decision-making beyond internal affairs. Council member Lily praised the revisions as a significant improvement over 2022 attempts, and the board aims to bring the finalized ordinance to council for first and second readings by the end of summer, with additional review expected in July. Staff emphasized that enhanced community engagement and content generation would communicate that civilian oversight is expanding, and noted that Charlottesville's new access to police department operations exceeds that of comparable Virginia localities.
Chair Jeffrey Frazier presented the Police Civilian Oversight Board's proposed revisions to Article 16 of the City Code, recommending a transition from an investigation-dominant model to a monitor, audit, and review model—a nationally recognized framework that Frazier emphasized would provide more comprehensive oversight rather than less. The current ordinance has created insurmountable barriers, preventing the board from holding a single hearing in over six years due to Virginia law constraints, constitutional issues, and police union complications. Under the revised approach, staff would conduct day-to-day monitoring and auditing work with the police department, allowing the board to review 5-6 cases monthly instead of approximately 1 case monthly, while also expanding the board's mandate to include technology systems, policies, practices, and departmental decision-making beyond internal affairs. Council member Lily praised the revisions as a significant improvement over 2022 attempts, and the board aims to bring the finalized ordinance to council for first and second readings by the end of summer, with additional review expected in July. Staff emphasized that enhanced community engagement and content generation would communicate that civilian oversight is expanding, and noted that Charlottesville's new access to police department operations exceeds that of comparable Virginia localities.
Report: Home Stay/Short-Term Rentals Report 5:30 PM Closed Meeting (Board & Commission Appointments) 6:30 PM Business Session
# Summary
Ms. Missy Creasey from Neighborhood Development Services presented a comprehensive report on the home stay and short-term rental study, covering recent Virginia state code changes that now require localities allowing home stays to permit renter-operated rentals with landlord permission. Staff presented findings from the ordinance review, highlighting the implementation of Granicus software to improve enforcement capabilities by automatically tracking listings across platforms and generating enforcement letters. Key recommendations included maintaining the current ordinance while strengthening enforcement efforts through a dedicated staff member and proactive monitoring, rather than making immediate code changes, with staff planning to monitor how other communities implement state law requirements before making local adjustments. Community engagement revealed support for short-term rentals with increased enforcement, though concerns were raised about housing costs, neighborhood impacts, and nuisance issues. The council voted unanimously to convene in closed session to discuss board and commission appointments.
Ms. Missy Creasey from Neighborhood Development Services presented a comprehensive report on the home stay and short-term rental study, covering recent Virginia state code changes that now require localities allowing home stays to permit renter-operated rentals with landlord permission. Staff presented findings from the ordinance review, highlighting the implementation of Granicus software to improve enforcement capabilities by automatically tracking listings across platforms and generating enforcement letters. Key recommendations included maintaining the current ordinance while strengthening enforcement efforts through a dedicated staff member and proactive monitoring, rather than making immediate code changes, with staff planning to monitor how other communities implement state law requirements before making local adjustments. Community engagement revealed support for short-term rentals with increased enforcement, though concerns were raised about housing costs, neighborhood impacts, and nuisance issues. The council voted unanimously to convene in closed session to discuss board and commission appointments.
Minutes: February 17 regular meeting; March 2 regular meeting
# Public Works Week Proclamation Summary
Charlotteville City Council proclaimed May 17-23, 2026 as the 60th annual Public Works Week, recognizing engineers, managers, equipment operators, and skilled trades workers for their contributions to infrastructure, facilities, waste management, street maintenance, and traffic operations. City staff highlighted the department's recent achievements, including completion of the Belvane Bridge, advancement of nearly $60 million in projects over the next 36 months, and recognition at the Mid-Atlantic American Public Works Association Conference, where operator Josh Weiland placed second in snowplow operations and the department received an Honorable Mention Project of the Year Award for Fire Station 1. A public works representative thanked the council and emphasized the importance of recognizing both the people behind the work and the success of the team's efforts in improving quality of life and responsiveness to community needs. The council approved the proclamation as part of the consent agenda, urging community members to join in activities and ceremonies to pay tribute to the public service professionals.
Charlotteville City Council proclaimed May 17-23, 2026 as the 60th annual Public Works Week, recognizing engineers, managers, equipment operators, and skilled trades workers for their contributions to infrastructure, facilities, waste management, street maintenance, and traffic operations. City staff highlighted the department's recent achievements, including completion of the Belvane Bridge, advancement of nearly $60 million in projects over the next 36 months, and recognition at the Mid-Atlantic American Public Works Association Conference, where operator Josh Weiland placed second in snowplow operations and the department received an Honorable Mention Project of the Year Award for Fire Station 1. A public works representative thanked the council and emphasized the importance of recognizing both the people behind the work and the success of the team's efforts in improving quality of life and responsiveness to community needs. The council approved the proclamation as part of the consent agenda, urging community members to join in activities and ceremonies to pay tribute to the public service professionals.
Resolution: Resolution to appropriate $389,975 from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS/HIV grant 26-HOPWA-303 (2nd reading)
# Summary
City Council designated May 2026 as Dementia Awareness Month, noting that over 11% of Charlottesville residents age 65 and older are living with dementia and emphasizing the need for community-wide support from government, businesses, faith organizations, and healthcare providers. Norman Dill, a longtime city resident living with dementia, shared personal testimony about the challenges the condition creates with driving, finances, and spatial awareness, stressing that people with dementia often conceal their struggles and that community understanding is essential. The proclamation called on residents to engage in education and awareness programs, support research, and utilize resources like the 1-800-Dementia hotline, with council members emphasizing that dementia-friendly initiatives benefit all community members.
City Council designated May 2026 as Dementia Awareness Month, noting that over 11% of Charlottesville residents age 65 and older are living with dementia and emphasizing the need for community-wide support from government, businesses, faith organizations, and healthcare providers. Norman Dill, a longtime city resident living with dementia, shared personal testimony about the challenges the condition creates with driving, finances, and spatial awareness, stressing that people with dementia often conceal their struggles and that community understanding is essential. The proclamation called on residents to engage in education and awareness programs, support research, and utilize resources like the 1-800-Dementia hotline, with council members emphasizing that dementia-friendly initiatives benefit all community members.
Resolution: Resolution to appropriate $98,484 from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, Virginia Homeless Solutions Program Grant 26- VHSP FED RRH- 37 (2nd reading)
A resolution to appropriate $98,484 from the Virginia Department of Housing & Community Development Virginia Homeless Solutions Program grant was presented for second reading. This funding was part of the consent agenda addressing homelessness and housing interventions approved by the council.
Agenda items (22)
Procedural (22)
1ProceduralReport: PCOB Proposed Ordinance Revisions
City Council will review proposed changes to city ordinances that the Planning Commission has recommended.
What happened
# Summary: PCOB Proposed Ordinance RevisionsChair Jeffrey Frazier presented the Police Civilian Oversight Board's proposed revisions to Article 16 of the City Code, recommending a transition from an investigation-dominant model to a monitor, audit, and review model—a nationally recognized framework that Frazier emphasized would provide more comprehensive oversight rather than less. The current ordinance has created insurmountable barriers, preventing the board from holding a single hearing in over six years due to Virginia law constraints, constitutional issues, and police union complications. Under the revised approach, staff would conduct day-to-day monitoring and auditing work with the police department, allowing the board to review 5-6 cases monthly instead of approximately 1 case monthly, while also expanding the board's mandate to include technology systems, policies, practices, and departmental decision-making beyond internal affairs. Council member Lily praised the revisions as a significant improvement over 2022 attempts, and the board aims to bring the finalized ordinance to council for first and second readings by the end of summer, with additional review expected in July. Staff emphasized that enhanced community engagement and content generation would communicate that civilian oversight is expanding, and noted that Charlottesville's new access to police department operations exceeds that of comparable Virginia localities.
2ProceduralReport: Home Stay/Short-Term Rentals Report 5:30 PM Closed Meeting (Board & Commission Appointments) 6:30 PM Business Session
Council will receive a report on short-term rental and home stay policies, followed by a closed session to appoint members to city boards and commissions, then the regular business meeting.
What happened
# SummaryMs. Missy Creasey from Neighborhood Development Services presented a comprehensive report on the home stay and short-term rental study, covering recent Virginia state code changes that now require localities allowing home stays to permit renter-operated rentals with landlord permission. Staff presented findings from the ordinance review, highlighting the implementation of Granicus software to improve enforcement capabilities by automatically tracking listings across platforms and generating enforcement letters. Key recommendations included maintaining the current ordinance while strengthening enforcement efforts through a dedicated staff member and proactive monitoring, rather than making immediate code changes, with staff planning to monitor how other communities implement state law requirements before making local adjustments. Community engagement revealed support for short-term rentals with increased enforcement, though concerns were raised about housing costs, neighborhood impacts, and nuisance issues. The council voted unanimously to convene in closed session to discuss board and commission appointments.
3ProceduralMinutes: February 17 regular meeting; March 2 regular meeting
Council will approve the official written records from the February 17 and March 2 regular council meetings.
What happened
# Public Works Week Proclamation SummaryCharlotteville City Council proclaimed May 17-23, 2026 as the 60th annual Public Works Week, recognizing engineers, managers, equipment operators, and skilled trades workers for their contributions to infrastructure, facilities, waste management, street maintenance, and traffic operations. City staff highlighted the department's recent achievements, including completion of the Belvane Bridge, advancement of nearly $60 million in projects over the next 36 months, and recognition at the Mid-Atlantic American Public Works Association Conference, where operator Josh Weiland placed second in snowplow operations and the department received an Honorable Mention Project of the Year Award for Fire Station 1. A public works representative thanked the council and emphasized the importance of recognizing both the people behind the work and the success of the team's efforts in improving quality of life and responsiveness to community needs. The council approved the proclamation as part of the consent agenda, urging community members to join in activities and ceremonies to pay tribute to the public service professionals.
4ProceduralResolution: Resolution to appropriate $389,975 from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS/HIV grant 26-HOPWA-303 (2nd reading)
Council will approve accepting nearly $390,000 in state grant funding to help provide housing assistance for people living with AIDS and HIV (second vote on this item).
What happened
# SummaryCity Council designated May 2026 as Dementia Awareness Month, noting that over 11% of Charlottesville residents age 65 and older are living with dementia and emphasizing the need for community-wide support from government, businesses, faith organizations, and healthcare providers. Norman Dill, a longtime city resident living with dementia, shared personal testimony about the challenges the condition creates with driving, finances, and spatial awareness, stressing that people with dementia often conceal their struggles and that community understanding is essential. The proclamation called on residents to engage in education and awareness programs, support research, and utilize resources like the 1-800-Dementia hotline, with council members emphasizing that dementia-friendly initiatives benefit all community members.
5ProceduralResolution: Resolution to appropriate $98,484 from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, Virginia Homeless Solutions Program Grant 26- VHSP FED RRH- 37 (2nd reading)
Council will approve accepting approximately $98,500 in state grant funding to support homeless services and rapid re-housing programs (second vote on this item).
What happened
A resolution to appropriate $98,484 from the Virginia Department of Housing & Community Development Virginia Homeless Solutions Program grant was presented for second reading. This funding was part of the consent agenda addressing homelessness and housing interventions approved by the council.6ProceduralResolution: Reallocation of $200,000 in Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) funds for the Downtown Mall Crossing Project (2nd reading)
Council will redirect $200,000 from planned capital improvement projects to fund a crossing project at the Downtown Mall (second vote on this item).
What happened
A resolution reallocating $200,000 in capital improvement plan funds for the Downtown Mall Crossing project was presented for second reading as part of the consent agenda and approved without discussion.7ProceduralResolution: Proposed One-Year Annual Action Plan & Associated Funding Recommendations for HUD-funded Activities for Program Year (PY) 2026-2027, a Major Amendment, approximately $1,205,469.64 (2nd reading) a. Resolution: Resolution to Approve the City of Charlottesville-Thomas Jefferson Area HOME Consortium One-Year Annual Action Plan for PY 2026-2027 (2nd reading) b. Resolution: Resolution to Appropriate Community Development Block Grant Funds anticipated from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for PY 2026-2027, approximately $464,924.00 (2nd reading) c. Resolution: Resolution to Approve Award(s) of HOME Investment Partnership Program Funds anticipated from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for PY 2026-2027, approximately $92,568.21 (2nd reading)
Council will approve how to spend approximately $1.2 million in federal housing and community development grants for the 2026-2027 program year, including grants for affordable housing and community development projects (second vote on this item, with three related resolutions).
What happened
# SummaryDuring public comment on the proposed one-year annual action plan and associated funding recommendations for HUD-funded activities (totaling approximately $1,205,469.64 for program year 2026-2027), community member Laura Sergagne criticized the city's approach to homelessness policy, arguing that unhoused people are treated as problems rather than as human beings deserving dignity and autonomy. Sergagne specifically pointed out that a recent city working meeting on homelessness excluded people with direct experience working with campers and made no effort to notify campers themselves, contrasting this with the city's more inclusive approach to other community issues like the Fifeville shelter and Holiday Drive property purchase. The resolution, which includes community development block grant funds ($464,924) and Home Investment Partnership program funds ($92,568.21), passed as part of the consent agenda for second reading.
8ProceduralResolution: Resolution Initiating Amendment to Chapter 9 (Community Facilities & Services) of the City’s Comprehensive Plan
Council will initiate a process to update the city's Comprehensive Plan section covering community facilities and services to reflect current priorities and needs.
What happened
A resolution initiating an amendment to Chapter 9: Community Facilities and Services of the city's comprehensive plan was presented as part of the consent agenda and approved.9ProceduralResolution: Resolution Considering a Special Exception Permit Request for 408 Harris
Council will consider a special exception permit request for a property at 408 Harris Street to allow a use that is not normally permitted in that zoning district.
What happened
A resolution considering a special exception permit request for 408 Harris Road was presented as part of the consent agenda and approved.10ProceduralResolution: Resolution Approving the Public Works 2025-2026 Pollocks Branch Trail Bridge Activity, a Minor Amendment to the City’s Annual Action Plan, in the Amount of $55,527.91 in Community Development Block Grant (“CDBG”) Funds (Previously Approved by Council)
Council will approve using approximately $55,500 in federal community development funds for a bridge project on the Pollocks Branch Trail.
What happened
A resolution approving the public works 2025-2026 Pollocks Branch Trail bridge activity with a minor amendment to the city's annual action plan in the amount of $55,527.91 in CDBG funds was presented for approval. This item was included in the consent agenda and passed.11ProceduralOrdinance: Repeal of Obsolete Provisions in Chapter 3, Amusements, of the Charlottesville
Council will remove outdated rules from the city code chapter that covers amusements and entertainment.
What happened
An ordinance repealing obsolete provisions in Chapter 3: Amusements of the Charlottesville City Code was presented as part of the consent agenda and approved.12ProceduralAction Item: Resolution Authorizing the City Manager to Execute a Power Purchase Agreement and Associated Site Access Agreement for Charlottesville Middle
Council will authorize the City Manager to sign a power purchase agreement to buy electricity generated at or near Charlottesville Middle School.
What happened
# Summary: Resolution Authorizing Power Purchase Agreement for Charlottesville Middle School Solar InstallationCrystal Ritervold, Director of the Office of Sustainability, presented a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a solar power purchase agreement (PPA) and site access agreement for Charlottesville Middle School, explaining that PPAs allow the city to install solar systems with no upfront capital investment while supporting its climate goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. The final PPA proposal projects nearly $1.3 million in avoided costs over 25 years with savings beginning in year one and guaranteed energy rates providing long-term price stability. Council Member Natalie asked about installation timeline, and staff confirmed that utility upgrades would begin after execution, with solar installation expected within a year, likely during summer vacation to minimize school disruption. Council Member Michael praised the project and inquired about expanding PPAs to other city facilities undergoing roof replacements and the airport, which staff indicated openness to exploring based on timing and financing considerations. The council voted unanimously 5-0 to approve the resolution, expressing enthusiasm about the avoided energy costs and noting that Albemarle County had successfully implemented similar projects on schools in 2016.
13ProceduralResolution: Resolution for Approval of Refund of Business Tangible Personal Property Tax and Business License Tax, totaling $33,863.14
Council will approve refunding approximately $33,900 in business taxes and license fees to a business that overpaid or was incorrectly charged.
What happened
Staff presented a resolution for approval of a refund of business tangible personal property tax and business license tax totaling $33,863.14. The city manager explained that a business had relocated from Charlottesville to Albemarle County without notifying the city and continued paying taxes, which was eventually discovered and corrected. Interest must be paid on the business license tax refund portion but not on the tangible personal property portion. A council member asked whether this was a different case from a previously discussed business that required court approval. The motion passed unanimously 5-0.14ProceduralResolution: Resolution for Approval of 2026 Homeowner Assistance Grant Program
Council will approve a program to provide homeowner assistance grants to eligible residents in 2026.
What happened
# 2026 Homeowner Assistance Grant Program SummaryStaff presented the 2026 Homeowner Assistance Grant Program (CHAP), administered by the Department of Social Services, which provides income-based grants ranging from $2,500 for households earning $39,000 or less to $1,000 for those earning $55,000–$65,000, with home value limits tied to the city's median assessed home value. Staff explained that the $65,000 qualifying income limit is automatically adjusted annually based on HUD's median family income rather than requiring yearly council approval, a mechanism that prevents the program from stagnating. In response to a council member's question about how the income threshold was determined and when it was last adjusted, staff clarified the self-adjusting mechanism. Staff reported that 296 households received CHAP assistance in the previous year and noted that applications open in July through the Commissioner of Revenue's Office via in-person or online submission, with questions directed to 970-3160 or citycorps@charlottesville.gov. Council voted unanimously (5-0) to approve the resolution.
15ProceduralResolution: Resolution to Endorse the Location for the Swords Into Plowshares Project
Council will endorse a specific location in the city for the Swords Into Plowshares public art project.
What happened
# Report: Youth Council Annual Presentation - SummaryThe Youth Council presented their annual report with members including Alex Zembren, Nora Erkens, and Olivia Zembren, proposing significant changes to expand the program's impact and reach. Key recommendations included increasing meeting frequency from monthly to twice monthly, implementing a renewal application process to ensure active participation, involving youth members in recruitment, and hosting educational sessions on local government and civic engagement. Deputy Director Charlsie Stratton identified two areas requiring City Council action: changes to the onboarding and applicant acceptance process, and implementation of a stipend program to remove financial barriers for youth. Staff and council members commended the youth for working cohesively and thinking beyond themselves to reduce barriers to participation, while acknowledging the need for better program promotion to students who were largely unaware Youth Council existed. Assistant City Manager Roman was tasked with coordinating with staff on implementation of these changes, including exploring the possibility of holding meetings at school locations to increase accessibility.
16ProceduralReport: Quarterly Financial Report
City staff will present the quarterly financial report showing revenue, spending, and the city's overall financial status.
What happened
Budget Director Chrissy Hamel presented the third quarter financial report as of March 31st, showing the general fund budget at 78% spent (just over $205 million), with salary and benefits at $59.1 million and other expenses at $147 million. Revenue collections stood at 67% or just under $179 million, with a projected revenue surplus of $5.5 million (2% of total budget) due to increases in business and professional licenses ($400,000 timing adjustment), strong meals tax performance, and personal property tax increases from ongoing assessments. Expenditures are tracking close to budget with no anticipated large underspending, though year-end closures and other funds may impact final figures. Council members Jen, Natalie, and Michael had no questions following the presentation.21ProceduralThis is an in-person meeting with an option for the public to participate electronically by registering in advance for the Zoom webinar at www.charlottesville.gov/zoom. The meeting may also be viewed on the City's streaming platforms and local government Channel 10. Individuals with disabilities who require assistance or special arrangements to participate in the public meeting may call (434) 987-1267 or submit a request via email to ada@charlottesville.gov. The City of Charlottesville requests that you provide 48 hours’ notice so that proper arrangements may be made.
This item explains how residents can participate in the meeting in person, online via Zoom, or by watching on the city's streaming platforms and local channel 10, and notes that people with disabilities can request accommodations by calling ahead.
22ProceduralThe presiding officer shall ensure that individuals address their comments to City Council at appropriate times, in accordance with the meeting agenda and Council’s Rules of Procedure.
This item states that the meeting leader will ensure speakers address their comments to City Council at appropriate times and follow council meeting rules.
23ProceduralNo person who is not a member of the city council shall orally address it until leave to do so has been granted by the city council or until invited to do so by the mayor. (City Code sec.2-71)
This item explains that members of the public must receive permission from City Council or an invitation from the Mayor before speaking.
24ProceduralRemarks and actions that disrupt the progress of the Council meeting, and remarks from persons other than councilors, the City Manager, the City Attorney, or a presenter for an Agenda
This item outlines that the meeting leader will prevent remarks and behavior that disrupt the council meeting or come from people other than council members, city staff, or authorized presenters.
25ProceduralThe presiding officer shall call an individual to order, including a councilor, when that individual goes afoul of these rules. The following are examples of remarks and behavior that are not permitted: i. Interrupting a speaker who is addressing Council at the speaker's microphone, or interrupting a speaker who has otherwise been invited to address Council during Community Matters or a Public Hearing ii. Interrupting a councilor who is speaking iii. Shouting, and talking (either individually or in concert with others) in a manner that prevents a speaker or a Councilor from being heard or that otherwise hinders the progress of the meeting iv. Blocking paths for emergency exit from the meeting room; engaging in any conduct that prevents a member of the audience from seeing or hearing councilors during a meeting; standing on chairs or tables within the Council meeting room v. Threats or incitement of violence toward councilors, City staff or members of the public vi. Engaging in conduct that is a criminal offense under the City Code or the Virginia Code vii. Campaigning for elected office viii. Promotion of private business ventures ix. Using profanity or vulgarity x. Personal attacks against Councilors, City staff or members of the public xi. Behavior which tends to intimidate others
This item lists prohibited behaviors during council meetings, including interrupting speakers, shouting, making threats, blocking exits, using profanity, making personal attacks, and other conduct that hinders the meeting or intimidates others.
26ProceduralDuring a City Council meeting the presiding officer shall have control of the Council Chambers and the connecting halls and corridors within City Hall, and any other venue where a Council meeting is being held. In case of any conduct described above, the presiding officer may take measures deemed appropriate, including but not limited to suspending the meeting until order is restored, ordering areas to be cleared by the Sergeant at Arms, or requiring any individual to exit the meeting room and adjacent premises (connecting halls and corridors.)
This item gives the meeting leader authority to maintain order in the council chambers and take actions like suspending the meeting, clearing areas, or removing individuals who violate conduct rules.
Additional votes recorded in minutes
Adopt meeting agenda
aye 5
Jen Fleisheraye
Juandiego Wadeaye
Lloyd Snookaye
Michael Payneaye
Natalie Oschrinaye
Convene closed session
aye 5
Jen Fleisheraye
Juandiego Wadeaye
Lloyd Snookaye
Michael Payneaye
Natalie Oschrinaye
Certify closed session
aye 5
Jen Fleisheraye
Juandiego Wadeaye
Lloyd Snookaye
Michael Payneaye
Natalie Oschrinaye
Approve board and commission appointments
aye 5
Jen Fleisheraye
Juandiego Wadeaye
Lloyd Snookaye
Michael Payneaye
Natalie Oschrinaye
Adopt consent agenda
aye 5
Jen Fleisheraye
Juandiego Wadeaye
Lloyd Snookaye
Michael Payneaye
Natalie Oschrinaye
Authorize Solar Power Purchase Agreement for Charlottesville Middle School
aye 5
Jen Fleisheraye
Juandiego Wadeaye
Lloyd Snookaye
Michael Payneaye
Natalie Oschrinaye
Approve refund of Business Tangible Personal Property Tax and Business License Tax
aye 5
Jen Fleisheraye
Juandiego Wadeaye
Lloyd Snookaye
Michael Payneaye
Natalie Oschrinaye
Approve 2026 Homeowner Assistance Grant Program
aye 5
Jen Fleisheraye
Juandiego Wadeaye
Lloyd Snookaye
Michael Payneaye
Natalie Oschrinaye
Endorse location for Swords Into Plowshares Project
aye 5
Jen Fleisheraye
Juandiego Wadeaye
Lloyd Snookaye
Michael Payneaye
Natalie Oschrinaye
Adjourn meeting
aye 5
Jen Fleisheraye
Juandiego Wadeaye
Lloyd Snookaye
Michael Payneaye
Natalie Oschrinaye
Verbatim transcript available
754 transcript segments indexed
I call the Charlottesville City Council meeting of May 18th, 2026 to order. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll? Councilor Fletcher? Here. Vice Mayor Oshrin? Here. Councilor Payne? Here. Councilor Snoop?
Here. Mayor Wade? Here. Is there a motion to approve or amend the agenda? So moved. Second. Okay. All in favor, please say yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. All opposed, please say no. This meeting will be divided into three sections.
The first one is a work session, where we will hear and discuss presentations that do not require a council vote. Then we'll go into closed session, and then we'll come back at our regular business meeting at 6:30.
Today, we're going to hear two reports, and the first one will be the PCOB proposed ordinance revisions. Sam, I'm not sure if you're going to open it up or... Yes. I will say that tonight, the goal here is that the Police Civilian Oversight Board and staff will be presenting to you long-awaited updates, proposed revisions to the current framework that outlines its existence.
We've all been aware that there's been challenges in the past of the PCOB being able to operate in the full light of what was imagined and therefore authorized in the past. We feel good about where we are today, look forward to the presentation this evening, and the goal is to frame how we go forward without there being any question as to the ability of this body to perform the function that we think is very important.
Thank you. Good afternoon, Mayor Wade, members of city council, Mr. City Manager, and other officials. Thank you for inviting us to this joint session of the Police Civilian Oversight Board. My name is Jeffrey Frazier.
I'm the current chair of the PCOB. I have been the chair since last November. I've been a member of this board since February of 2021. I've seen it through some stormy waters, but as the city manager indicated, things are beginning to settle, and we're quite pleased with where we are at this point.
I'd like to introduce my board members if they would raise their hands. They're all here except for one who is out of town. And we have a robust full board now, which I'm very pleased to report with a lot of diverse perspectives, and it's the most excited I've been about this organization since my appointment in 2021.So we are here to introduce a series-- Oh, I'm sorry.
Our acting director, Mr. Walker. We are here to introduce a series of requested revisions to Article 16 of the City Code, and this is the ordinance, as you know, that governs the structure, the authority, and the function of the Police Civilian Oversight Board.
I'll refer to, going forward, as the PCOB. Before I ask Mr. Walker to walk you through some of the more detailed substance of the requested revisions, I'd like to take just a few minutes of your time to frame the why we are here, what we are proposing in sort of an overarching way, and what we hope to communicate to you through today's discussion.
So we have three goals for today. The first is review. We want to walk you through the core ordinance revisions that we are requesting and recommending. This has been a real slog, but we're finally at a place where we can bring it to you.
Secondly, we want to inform you, to answer your questions, and to hear your input. And then thirdly, discuss any details, our rationale, and any implications of these changes, any concerns that you might have about the changes that we're proposing.
We're respectfully asking for your engagement, your insight, and your candid feedback. Now, let me say, at the heart of this whole effort is a recommendation that a proposed transition in the model of oversight itself.
So stay with that point, if you would. The current ordinance contemplates an investigation-dominant model in which the board and the director are expected to conduct independent investigations of complaints of police misconduct and employment misconduct, and hold hearings to adjudicate those complaints.
In practice, however, as you probably know, that model has presented significant insurmountable barriers to implementation. We are recommending a transition to what is known as a monitor, audit, and review model of oversight, which Mr.
Walker will explain to you in some detail shortly. This framework is a nationally recognized one. It's not something we just came up with out of whole cloth. It is a model of many other civilian oversight boards throughout the country.
Now, I want to be very clear about something important. The proposal we are presenting to you tonight, in which we're asking for your approval, is not a retreat from oversight. It provides for more oversight at the end of the day, not less.
Again, Mr. Walker will explain that to you shortly. But it is a refocusing of our oversight role as an achievable, sustainable, and actionable set of procedures under Virginia law within the realities of the local statute, constitutional issues, employment issues, police union issues.
The list goes on and on. The current ordinance, while well-intentioned, contains formidable structural challenges that the board has encountered firsthand. And I will just say to you, in short, that in my over six years on the board, we've been unable to hold a single hearing.
We've done a lot of other good things, but we've not been able to hold a single hearing because of those formidable challenges and obstacles which have consistently come up whenever we've tried to move forward.
So the board now, in good faith, has attempted to operate under that ordinance, but without much success, as you probably know. Needless to say, this has been extremely frustrating to the board. The revisions before you this afternoon are the product of that experience, what we've learned from those years of frustration and barriers, and many hours of work during the past year to bring to you a workable ordinance, one which we think is going to be effective and robust.
Currently, the proposed changes that you're seeing tonight, this afternoon rather, are being vetted by both the city attorney's office and by our independent outside counsel. They're both looking at it from a legal perspective.
We also have sought input from the chief of police and from the city manager's office. Mr. Walker's detailed presentation will walk you through each requested revision in turn. Excuse me. So he'll do a fairly detailed walkthrough.
Together, these changes are intended to give us, the PCOB, a workable, legally sound, implementable, and community-facing framework that produces real public results. Our goal is to bring a finalized ordinance to council for first and second readings, hopefully by the end of the summer, with your approval.
In closing, I would emphasize that the work of the Civilian Oversight Board is too important, in our view, to be limited by a framework that cannot, in practice, deliver on its original promises. The revisions you will hear about in a moment from Mr.
Walker represent a thoughtful, honest, and committed effort to strengthen oversight, not weaken it, by aligning the PCOB's authority with what can actually be accomplished. In closing, let me say, because I know this has been a lot of sort of legalese and verbiage, we are completely committed to being the eyes, the ears, and the voice of our city and our citizens with regard to police oversight.
You have my word on that. So with that, I'll turn it over to Mr. Walker. Thank you very much for your time and attention this evening. Mr. Walker? I'm always a little bit above the microphone, so I apologize.
So, good evening, Mayor, members of council, and Mr. City Manager. First of all, I just want to thank Dr. Frazier for doing the lead in there, as well as for all the board members who are here. Our eighth board member would've been here had he not already had a pre-scheduled event.
So, I want to appreciate their time, their dedication from the moment some of our newest members have joined, to those who have been around for quite some time and have stuck with us. So I appreciate them.
I appreciate their time and commitment. And so I'm here because of them and for really no other reason than to support and facilitate their work and their mission. So this evening, we have the presentation up here.
Dr. Frazier used the word detailed. It is, but this is, I would consider, the high level view of the changes. There are several deeper levels. I believe you have seen the table that lays out every change and the reason why that change was made.
And then the deepest level is certainly working on the actual language at the final version level. And so everything I say tonight, I do want to say that I'm presenting it with the caveat that, as Dr.
Frazier mentioned, it is going through legal review. So just because I expressed something this evening, I do want to make sure that the city attorney's office is definitely going to have their say, and I want to make that clear.
And so with that said, I will go ahead and start. Let's see if this... Oh yeah, it does. Great. Dr. Frazier covered some of this this evening about the purpose. So the three core things are to transition the model from an investigation-dominant model to a monitor, audit, and review model of oversight.
Second thing is to show the barriers that are being removed from the existing ordinance. And thirdly, to clarify those duties, processes, outcomes, so that there is a clear sense of what does it mean to monitor, audit, and review.
So, and Dr. Frazier already covered those points, review, discuss, inform. Really our goal tonight is to hear your feedback and answer any questions that you have and be able to then hopefully provide answers for you tonight or in the future months.
So looking at the purpose statement, this is one of the biggest things that we've spent as a board, and myself at the meetings, just talking about the purpose statement of the board. I think this sets the tone for the entire document.
And so, I think we've gone through several revisions as discussions have happened during meetings. And really what the reason for this change is, the purpose was very broad. It talked about trust, which is a great concept.
However, it didn't specify how the board was meant to achieve that. And so the purpose statement change is meant to actually lay out what is it that this entity wants to achieve? What is its ultimate mission?
What are its goals? Trust might be an outcome of that, but actually clarifying that the work is meant to be community-focused, civilian-led. Terms like accountability and transparency I use quite often.
Accountability meaning that if something happens that needs to be corrected, it can be, and transparency meaning that there is a perspective inside of something that didn't happen before. So the board, I think, is able to provide both of those in a unique way.
I think we're still working on some of this language, but- ... this has been a work in progress for sure. So the big topic is the transition to the monitor, audit, and review model of oversight. Many times, oversight entities have two components.
There's usually an office, a staff-led office, and then there is the civilian panel, board, or commission. And oftentimes, the work is divided up between them because in the staff, you're there every day.
You have greater access to things like the police department and some of the systems. So if you think about it, the monitoring and auditing component is largely done by the office on a day-to-day basis with the police department, with police department systems and data.
And so that includes things like going to various meetings, which board members have been invited to by the chief, whether it's CompStat or to roll call of police officers. So they can see that, too. But on the day-to-day basis, my goal is to show up at those things, show up at internal affairs interviews, and be there and see what's going on.
The eyes and ears of the board. The audit framework really is that deep dive, jumping down into data systems like with Flock when we had it at the time. Looking at the Flock data was an example of that kind of audit level.
And then finally, everything is meant to flow back to the board. So if you think about it as a funnel, the office is trying to funnel everything back to the board so that the board can review it and make determinations, recommendations, and decisions on that to then forward to the chief of police, the city manager, and to the council as appropriate.
So the goal is to really take the ordinance and explain what each of these mean. And there is now a new section that is specific to each of these. So what does it mean to monitor the department, audit, and review the department?
One other key section that I think goes along with this and that I have continued to return to over and over again is what types of products and outcomes is the board creating as a result of its work?
That has been a question ever since my two years here and long before is asking what work is the board producing? What work is the board getting done? And so this section makes that very clear. What is expected to come out of the board?
How will it be reported? To who? What audiences? And what is going to happen as a result of that? And so the aim of this section in the ordinance is to just clarify all that and make it unambiguous. That this is what the board can decide, here's what they do with it, and here's how the police department or the city is meant to receive that information.
So one of the things that Dr. Frazier had mentioned is the concept of a hearing. That is grounded in the state legislation that allows for oversight bodies like this one.The hearing as it was written largely looked like a trial.
Adjudicating officers, complaints against officers, bringing in witnesses and testimony. There are many reasons why there are barriers that exist in that model. Whether it is privacy laws and FOIA requirements, public meeting requirements, the lack of certain exclusions to go into closed session for certain things that the board lacks in many ways.
All of those shape to create a situation in which the hearing, as it was written, wasn't very functional. The goal is not to take that away, but the goal is just to transition the purpose of a hearing, which is to really bring in testimony, experts, research, public comment, questions, all that kind of stuff into a single forum for a specific topic.
And so the hearing power remains, but it focuses more on large picture things, whether that's an audit report that has come out and we're going to have a hearing on that specific audit, or it could be on a specific policy or topic or issue in the community.
And so it is just that focused public meeting of the board to be able to really dive into the details of a specific topic. Alignment of the subpoena authority. This went closely in hand with the hearings.
The subpoena authority is again grounded in that state legislation, but from the beginning, it existed as a conflict within the own ordinance. The ordinance said you cannot compel officer testimony. The subpoena said you can compel officer testimony.
And so that conflict right there raised many issues on how that would work, how it would be implemented. Does it only get implemented in the hearing authority? And so removing this aspect of it, keeping it in a way that allows for collection of outside evidence from maybe a video camera that's not within the control of the city or, a witness.
I think this would be reserved for very key issues, and this is not a power that would be used with any frequency. But it was important to leave it in there because the concept of having that final authority is really a part of the teeth of the board.
And again, that is grounded in the state legislation. But what it does do is it removes it from compelling that officer to appear or even make an attempt to do that. Part of that conversation happened as a result with the judge and just kind of going through the legal framework of that and some of the challenges around that.
So getting into those barriers, as Dr. Frazier said, one of the key things throughout the entire ordinance is that it said, hey, you can monitor, you can audit, you can review, but it didn't really discuss any of those topics throughout the ordinance.
The only thing it really discussed was independent investigations. And so in removing that language, that's why it's really important to replace it with the monitor audit review context and really laid out what does that mean.
The independent investigation model had many barriers. This is where I'd say 90% of the challenges arise. It's because it's connected with the hearings, it's connected with subpoenas. It's also connected with the disciplinary recommendations that might come out of an investigation.
And so by removing the investigation model, it just frees up the board to actually focus on the core aspects of oversight that it can reasonably do on a monthly basis during monthly meetings, during work sessions.
And as a small office, it allows this office to focus on supporting that work rather than thinking about investigating every complaint that comes in. So as it is now, when a complaint comes in, it ultimately is referred to the internal affairs of the police department with monitoring by this office.
So that means going to those interviews, watching body cam footage, sometimes talking to the complainant if the complainant calls the PCOB office, kind of guide them through what's going to happen with their complaint, make sure they're being attended to by the internal affairs department.
And so those are kind of the aspects of monitoring that replace this independent investigation model. Another big barrier, and I handle this separately, although it's tied in, is the disciplinary recommendations.
So as it stood right now is that the board would recommend discipline before the chief made the determination. There's a number of reasons why that's really problematic. The easiest one being that the chief has a defined window of time from the moment a complaint is received to the moment discipline must be given.
And so if you think about it, the board only meets once a month. Unless they're calling specific sessions very quickly within 24, 48 hours to actually review a case and then provide a recommendation, that would be unworkable generally in that timeline.
An investigation might take 30 days. Chief might have a couple days to make the decision about discipline. And so that's one of the big changes. Now what is left and what remains as part of that disciplinary action is being able to look at the discipline policy, which is a matrix.
So if officer commits this act of misconduct, then it would fall on this level of the matrix. And the chief uses that matrix to determine discipline. So the board can speak to that disciplinary matrix, and the board can also speak to how the chief applies that matrix.
And so those items still remain in the ordinance, but it is kind of like an after-action report. Discipline's already been given, so the goal is to change the systemic approach to discipline going forward, not necessarily to recommend discipline on a case-by-case basis.
Clarification of board membership. There's really no major change to this section other than I know the council had made some changes back, I believe it was 2024. And one of the outcomes of that was just to clarify some of the aspects of who has priority, in the sense of who to appoint to council.
I will say this is one of the number one topics that members of the community speak about, about who should be on the board and who shouldn't. With that said, it basically clarifies that level of priority from city resident to county resident to a larger look if needed.It also does a couple other small things.
It changes the term length. One piece of feedback that has been going on over the years with board members is that the term is quite long. And so to bring it in alignment with city council's existing ordinance, it just changes it to two years with four consecutive terms.
And so there's some other language in there to allow the continuation of some of our members who have just joined and are filling unexpired terms to be able to help with that transition. So- Yep ... I'm sorry.
A quick question. When we've had a few work sessions on this, and one of the obstacles in us keeping members was the required training. As I recall, I think it was this group that required significant training.
It did, yes. Yeah. With this new proposed change, would that change? So that aspect was addressed when we met back in September. Mm-hmm. That was one of the big changes that was made at that time to reduce those numbers of training.
And yes, it was. It was between all the different elements, it would've been like 18 hours worth of training, which is very hard to do, especially the different types that it specified. Yeah. So as an example, this board has already done training with the city attorney's office on FOIA requirements.
We're slowly working that out. It'll also extend the length of time to do the training. Yeah. Yep. Thank you. So one of the big changes also is there were two subsequent documents that came out of the ordinance.
It was the standard operating procedure and the memorandum of understanding. Both were with the police department. One spoke to access to information and records. The other one spoke to the monitoring side.
What does it look like for this office to monitor an investigation, observe interviews? Both of those, which had language from the city attorney's office, have been now consolidated into the ordinance.
So what it does is helps prevent that document sprawl where one document's speaking to another, and this one's speaking to this one, and potential conflicts arise in that process. Takes all that language, brings it into the ordinance, and simplifies it a little bit.
And the goal of that is really just to eliminate all this excess documentation. The goal is to have the ordinance and operating procedures that speak to the board's function, and those two documents can work hand in hand without anything additional.
These are kind of smaller things that were at the end of the ordinance, but one thing that it said, in the existing ordinance is that the board could initiate mediation between a complainant and an officer.
Realistically, the board has no authority to do that, right? And so I know the chief at times has looked into that type of program, and so the ordinance still leaves that option as well as some alternative resolutions.
Sometimes when a complainant calls, they just want to share some things. They want the board and the city to know that these are the things that happened and for them to be on our radar, not necessarily to file a complaint.
And so this section speaks to some of those other options that are before a formal complaint is filed. But every time that someone calls with a complaint, that option is always given to them before the end.
Do you wish to file a formal complaint? And that way, that choice always rests on the complainant. But this is just a little bit of cleanup language. Another area of a little bit of a cleanup is there was a commendation section, and the board felt strongly that this was an important thing to leave in the ordinance so that we can commend officers when they show exemplary service and other acts that merit that.
This section was very generic, and the goal was to actually lay out some of the parameters of what it might look like, what criteria need to be met, where does the information come from, and then how does the board make the decision on that to commend an officer or commend the department.
So that's made to be a little bit more robust. And then lastly, there is a definitions section that has been added. So there were many definitions scattered throughout the document. There was also some in the SOP and the MOU that we consolidated.
This just gives us a specific section to add definitions. If in the future we need to make some amendments, and bring those to you, and it's a definition, very easy to add, doesn't mess with any of the numbering in the document, just goes into the list.
So that is the big picture of all of those changes. Again, very high level, but the whole goal is to seek to address some of the issues that existed up to this point and move forward with a workable model that is workable both for the board and for the office.
And so of course, there are much more detailed explanations related to all of that, but I would be happy to answer questions or if you have questions of the board members. I don't have a question. I just want to thank you all for your service.
Everyone's busy, but you all take time out to get trained and to serve the city in this capacity, so thank you very much. With that being said, I'll ask council if they have any questions. Michael, I'll start with you, sir.
Excuse me. Well, first off, thank you for the presentation. I know a tremendous amount of work has gone into leading up to this moment. And I always just reflect on even when the PCOB was being created, looking at how it plays out nationally, it was almost always the case they're created in a crisis moment, and there's that huge community pressure to create it.
And then after that they typically struggle to figure out how to work as effectively as possible. And there's a huge dichotomy between cities that just abandon that work or they stick with it and figure it out, but it often does take several years.
ButI think we're in that moment of figuring out how to get it firing on all cylinders and stay committed to police oversight. A few questions. You had raised a couple points in the presentation, concerns around the collective bargaining agreement, and I just looked at the original collective bargaining ordinance, and it excludes from bargaining anything, quote, "Matters pertaining to the composition, duties, or powers of any civilian review board applicable to police officers or to any decision rendered by such a board." So how did we end up with collective- So, sure.
There's two items that I can answer that question with. In the police's collective bargaining agreement, there is a section that basically overrides the state legislation. The state legislation there is something called the Law Enforcement Officers Procedural Guarantee Act.
It is the way in which officers are guaranteed rights as part of their investigative process for misconduct. The collective bargaining agreement for the police department establishes that as a core parameter of their internal investigations.
So even though the state law says that oversight entities actually can ignore that, it says that in the legislation that allows oversight bodies, the collective bargaining agreement brings that back into the picture for the officers.
So there's a tension there. There's a second piece in the collective bargaining agreement that says any disciplinary findings, recommendations, decisions from the board cannot enter into appeals or grievance processes when an officer appeals or grieves a decision of discipline.
So though that- And the remarks from the chair address this point, that there was a lot of community conversation and intentionality on choosing the investigative model. And there's certainly some people in the community who I imagine will have a concern of saying, "Well, isn't this watering down what the community chose?" Because at that time, the community believed that was the most powerful model.
Just how would you address that concern? And I know you made the point that this is about improving oversight, but if you could just walk through why you view that as being the case. So I think the primary aspect of that is removal of the barriers resolves the problem of the last seven years that everyone has recognized.
So in that sense, you're going to get more oversight as a result of that. Also clarifying what does monitor, audit, and review actually mean versus before, they weren't clarified. You also have the public reporting component that has been added to clarify what is meant to come out of the board.
So yes, I would agree. The independent investigation model, it would be the highest level of oversight where a board is adjudicating specific case by case allegations against officers. That would require a major review of collective bargaining, budget, powers and authorities within the ordinance itself, certain decisions made at levels above the board about the authority of the board and the staff.
And so that becomes outside of our core. What I would say is we're taking an approach that is within our core that we can move forward with, that we're doing now, and trying to actually formalize it. And that I think is going to produce more results than it has in the past.
Mm-hmm. If I could add, Council Payne, to that, just a specific example. If you could just, sorry, go to the mic for the public. Just a specific example is it's been made clear to us that we cannot compel officer testimony, nor can we give a Garrity guarantee to an officer that anything they disclose.
So there's going to be no cooperation, nor can we compel cooperation from an officer were we to do an investigation. That's just one piece of a larger puzzle, notwithstanding the questions of hiring an investigator, paying an investigator, putting boots on the ground.
It's just been an absolute unworkable situation. Mm-hmm. But the Garrity alone is a major barrier for us. Mm-hmm. Well, and without question, as was touched on, there's that dynamic of when it's not possible to follow through on what you've said on paper are your goals, that that reduces the community's trust.
There's no question about that. And I guess final question is, you touched on it at a high level, but just for the community, could you walk through why specifically were hearings not feasible to actually implement?
And this gets back to a much broader legal discussion, but it comes back to the fact that if the ordinance from an officer. But then there's a power that says you can compel testimony from an officer, but you have to go through these steps first.
There exists a tension in that, and it brings in the Garrity question of can this board, can this entity extend a protection to officers that they, by providing testimony, are protected against criminal suit as a result of that testimony?
So we're creating these strange conflicts and inconsistencies with the way that it was worded. Is it impossible? No. But the board would need the ability to compel officer testimony, and the board would have to follow, unless it was amended, the collective bargaining agreement saying that we need to follow the Law Enforcement Officers Procedural Guarantee Act and the tenets laid out in that.
SoI think the state legislation is possible. I don't know that there's any oversight entities in Virginia doing it into the full extent, because it does require a much more nuanced approach. I think the other thing with the hearing, something that we've been dealing with recently, is that the board does not contain any exclusion from going into closed sessions, so from FOIA to go into closed session.
So if you're in a hearing format and there's a number of provisions related to confidential information, private information, personal information being protected from a public hearing, but there's no ability to enter closed session, it does then create this inherent tension between, is the hearing meant to be a public thing or not?
Or is it partially public and partially not? Is officer testimony public? Is it not? Witness testimony. So these are things that at the time, a couple of years ago, the hearing desk book was trying to answer, but it existed in a larger, I think, framework of problems beyond just the hearing component.
Because then you're talking about, well, what does discipline look like? Can we adhere to the timelines established by that with a hearing? What do subpoenas look like? Do we have this authority if we've never tried it before?
So I think it creates broader questions, and that is the reality. Mm-hmm. And then just going forward, after this presentation tonight, is there a timeline or set process for soliciting community feedback and then city council making a final decision on these recommended changes?
So I think that one of the things that we started off the year as the board with a work plan that said community engagement and seeking community input is the first thing we do, no matter what we do. Whether it is reviewing policies, auditing, changing ordinance stuff.
So collectively, the board has been making those connections in the community. Everything from, there was a recent Simba RS events that we attended. There's NAACP, which Mr. Dillard thankfully, graciously invites us to as the vice chair.
Vice president? Vice president. Vice president. And so these are the kinds of things that we're attempting to do more and more. And meanwhile, just trying to shape the ordinance to say, "When we go and have a conversation with somebody in public, here's what we can do," and they can trust us when we say that.
I admit that's been a difficulty where if you're talking to the community and they're asking you, "Can you do this? What about this? What about this?" And we're like, "Eh, it says we can. We're not really sure if we can.
We have these problems." That's a much more difficult message than, "Yes, we have a clear mission, we have a clear purpose, and we can communicate it back and forth to you." And so some of these changes are probably not of interest to some of our community members.
We understand that. And that's why I'm asking those community members, have the conversations with us. Speak to board members, come to our meetings, share those opinions, help us direct our work. Mm-hmm.
Well, I'll let others go and will just say again, I strongly believe the board is committed to robust, independent oversight, and these conversations are absolutely necessary to expand trust and effectiveness in the community.
So, I just appreciate the presentation and all the work. Thank you. Thank you. Na- Natalie? Hi. Thank you. Echoing what Counselor Payne said that we appreciate that you're sticking with it, that we haven't abandoned this project because it does mean so much to the community.
But what it sounds like to me, to kind of sum up this presentation, is that the model would be switching from attempting to duplicate an internal affairs investigation to oversight over that investigation.
Is that- That's one component of it, yes, absolutely. I would call that probably the most primary component. But I would say that the change also tries to expand that some too, where it's not just overseeing internal affairs, but also looking at technology systems, policies, practices, how decisions are being made by the department.
So it expands what does monitor audit and review look like beyond just internal affairs. Okay, great. Thank you. Can you briefly summarize for anyone who might be listening or here in the audience, what does it look like to file a complaint?
How does that process work? Sure. And has that changed? That has not changed. There's a variety of ways. So you can always go to the police department. You can go to the front desk of the police department, you can contact internal affairs.
If you come to the PCOB, you can show up at the door, which I admit is sometimes challenging. I'm the only one in that door. So it can be hard at times, depending on what's going on. But you can call the phone.
It picks up the voicemail. That individual will call back. You can email PCOB@charlottesville.gov. That email goes to everybody, all the board members. I will be the initial person who responds to that email, and tries to get on the phone with you.
You can also send a letter. We have an address. And then finally, there is an online portal on the website. So if you go onto the main city page, departments, you'll see PCOB. One of the first things you'll find on our page is a place to submit a complaint online.
When that occurs, and my goal is to talk to that person, to collect as much detail as possible, and to ultimately reach the point of, can I provide other ways of addressing this question? Sometimes it's not within our jurisdiction, just sometimes there's an information giving process.
But if they wish to file a formal complaint, that is then referred to internal affairs. What I do is I try to make sure I am at any interview of an officer related to that complaintI keep track of the status of that investigation so that the person on the other end knows who should be calling them from internal affairs, where it is in the process.
There's no content given as part of that, but it's pending or you should be receiving a closure letter soon that tells you about how your case has come out. And then also telling them that the board can fully review this case and give a final determination opinion and recommendation on it.
So they're hearing that someone's paying attention, someone's watching the process, and that they have a board of members of the community who are going to see and give their opinion as well. And so that's part of the process of explaining that to the complainant.
Okay, great. Thank you so much. I don't have any other questions at the moment. I look forward to-- You said this is coming back in front of council in- The hope is the July timeframe, because it is being reviewed by the city attorney's office right now.
Sure. It is a lot, so I've done as much as I can, but I am no lawyer, so I also have a baby coming at any moment, so- Oh, amazing ... within the next 24 to 48 hours. So when this is all- Oh, wow. Okay.
... I'll be calling my wife. Well, we wish you all the best with that. Thank you. But I am looking forward to hearing the community feedback. Thank you. Thank you. Lily? Yeah. First of all, let me say, as one who tried mightily in 2022 to get some sort of an agreement, this is just so much beyond where we were able to get to at that point.
It's really very impressive. And I will say, just for the benefit of those who did not live through some of those times, in 2022, when we were trying to redraft the ordinance, because the first draft that had come out of the initial process that everybody was upset about because of the way it ended up in 2019, that didn't work well, so we were trying to redo it.
And at that point, we had no city attorney, we had no city manager. We had, let's see, no police chief. And we didn't really have any of the people in place who could possibly weigh in and really help us figure this stuff out.
And so Bill Mendez and I tried for many, many, many months to make sense out of all of this stuff, and we ran two primary obstacles. The first obstacle was the community had a desire for an investigative model, and as you have documented, that is just really, really hard to do.
It's hard to do with any kind of credibility when you can't make the officer talk to you. Second was that there was a desire, which we couldn't figure out how to do, to have some input into officer discipline, and office issues of confidentiality and time deadlines and everything else got in the way there.
And we finally said, "Okay, we're at our limit." And at that point, it was taken over by the city attorney and by the attorney who was working for the PCOB. And what happened to produce the ordinance that we got in 2023, and more importantly, the about 70 pages of operating procedures that was completely beyond the ability of any of us to produce, or even really to parse, was the best that anybody thought we could do at that time.
But I think everybody recognized as they sat there and looked at this mass of stuff, that it didn't really provide any guidance as to how you all were supposed to go about your jobs. And so when I heard that there was going to be another attempt to do this, my initial thought was, "Godspeed." But the desire to go to the monitoring kind of model is something that I had been hoping for, having recognized the difficulty with the investigative and discipline kinds of models.
I hope that you're going to be able to implement all of this. It seems, I will tell you, I've read everything that you've provided, and it's about, I don't know how thick this is, it's probably 30 pages.
While I'm not going to claim that I understand it all and that I've figured it all out, I do think that it makes sense from what I've been able to see. I do think it's probably going to be far more workable than what we had come up with before.
And the kind of monitoring and auditing and so on, I think, is a valid function for the PCOB. I had suggested some years ago, and this is sort of a variant on the auditing concept, that at some point the PCOB ought to go back and take another look at the data on disproportionate minority contact, and that that's an auditing kind of function that could have been performed all along and perhaps would be a welcome issue for you all to tackle when you have nothing else to do.
Well, I don't- Those are my general statements. I don't have any comments because I think-- I don't have any questions because I think you've done a good job here. I think that's an important point that I want to highlight is the work that we've been doing in writing this is built upon what was learned in the past.
So I think without what was learned in the past, it would not be possible to create what has been created today. I'm glad that our failures are able to help you. Isn't that how science works- That's right ...
and technology and advent? So I think, and I want to highlight one thing is that some of the original members who first sat down in that working group, they did hundreds of hours of research. I have some of their files.
I have thousands of files from them.And so looking back historically, just all that documentation research, it is very commendable. The amount of time and effort put in from the start to lay at least an understanding of the framework and the foundation of what this community was looking for.
And I don't think that this is possible without that. Yeah. Ms. Chin? Thank you. Yes. Echoing the gratitude for all of your time, thank you so much. And there's no faster way to get a doula to get you off behind the mic than tell her you're on call.
Geez. So, I'll just ask, what's the community messaging plan to help the public understand that this isn't a reduction in oversight? So I think the number one thing that the board has as a tool is the work plan that was created.
The work plan is meant to actually lay out what is the board working on month to month, and how does the community input feed that work? So whether it is topics that bubble to the surface, an example would be school resource officers, that have a tie-in with the board, or it is related to some of the other work that we hear going on in the community.
The whole goal first is to talk to people. Without that talking and listening, the board is not going to know what is the highest priority. And so more than anything, our role is to get out into the community, myself included, and members have been doing that.
And we need to do it more. So there's never enough of that. And that truly is meant to guide the work. There's only so many things that can be prioritized at any given time. And so for example, myself and Dr.
Dobson were at the work group session for the school resource officers by the school board. Just showing up, talking to people, answering questions. We also have a lot of content that we've been generating to put out, website, social media, wherever it needs to go.
Anything and everything is a method. Got it. So yeah, when there is something brought before you that would more traditionally have gone the independent investigation way, you will go engage with the community to talk about how it's doing to reassure them that the oversight is still happening in this new model.
But that might be the most effective way to do that anyway. We'll use it. Yeah. If I can just chime in real quickly. Sure. Councilor Fletcher. Excuse me. In an investigatory model, it would be ambitious to be able to do one case a month, given the volunteer nature of the board and how often we meet.
With an oversight model, we could do five, we could do six, because Mr. Walke will be looking at every single case. Any that he flags or we flag, we'll review. And because we have a model for how to condense a case in a way that the board can look at it in a time-efficient way, with a specific body cam footage, with specific witness reports, we don't have to throw the wide net that we would in an investigatory model.
So that's what we meant when we said this will provide more oversight, not less. And that's our takeaway message to the community. We're not taking this away. We're expanding our repertoire. So I just want to leave council with that message, because we envision in a meeting, and we're still haggling over whether we can do closed sessions because of issues of confidentiality and privacy, five or six cases a month, which would be outstanding from my perspective and make up for all those lost years.
But anyway, thank you. Great. Thank you very much. Can I ask you a quick question following up on that? Yes. Has there been that demand that the PCB hasn't been able to keep up with, or are we anticipating that level?
IA is handling that many cases- Okay ... and we're looking at all of those. We're just not able to do what we're proposing tonight. And so we will look at every single case. Right now, we couldn't do that, and we certainly couldn't do that under an investigatory model.
We'd have to find the most egregious violations of policy or officer conduct before we could then even start to look at it from an investigatory perspective. And I can say I've had conversations over the years with Councilor Snook, who's been asking for years for more of an audit oversight model, and we finally got the message.
Okay. Does that answer your question? Yeah. I was just wondering if that demand existed. Oh, yeah. No, we'll have plenty of work to do, but it'll be a much more robust, streamlined process, which we're all pretty excited about because we really want to get to work.
We've been spinning wheels for years. And it'll be work that you can actually do. Yes. Thanks. Yeah. Thanks. Jen, did you have any other questions? Nope. That's good. So I know we're tight on time. I just had one question, comment.
When we met in September, we talked about other cities, what they're doing. I can't remember what other city is doing this model, if anyone is doing this particular model in Virginia. So there is a couple cities doing a variety of the different components of these models.
So typically, most cities have at least one or two of these categories, if not more. Alexandria, as an example. Virginia Beach is another. Richmond is kind of building up, as well as, I believe, Fairfax, I think is the other one.
Yeah. Or Arlington. And so everyone looks a little different. We actually have now a monthly group where we meet with those other oversight entities and share what's going on, challenges being encountered by different entities.
Everything looks different. I can say one thing that is very certain, we have more access into the police department than any of those other Virginia localities. Chief Kochis has created a culture of access and openness.
I don't think that any board member has asked to be a part of something that the police department is doing and been denied that request. So one of the things that I've been trying to emphasize is that To do true monitoring, auditing, and review, you have to be present and have the access.
If you don't, then you're only getting some of the picture. So I think that also speaks to the ability to provide more oversight, not less. And the chief, in conversation about this ordinance change, understood the reason of putting some of those things that were in the SOP and the MOU that governed how the board would access information, how we would monitor, putting that in the ordinance.
So, I'm thankful for that and thankful for the access, and that's an important component. So- One other thought, Mr. Mayor. Yeah. Quickly. In addition to the access, which has been remarkable, we are very grateful for that.
I've encouraged all the board members to do ride-alongs, to go to the citizens' police academy, to interact with the police, to get to know them, because we really feel like-- I don't want to suggest it's a cozy relationship.
It is still, we are monitoring them. But the kind of access is a function of a collaborative relationship that has proven, and I think will continue to prove, to be incredibly valuable in fulfilling our mission.
Thank you all. Mr. Mayor, before we leave the topic, could I ask one of the two of you all to introduce the other members of your board? Yes, I can. Dr. Kyle Dobson. Mr. George Diller, retired law enforcement officer.
Ms. Corinne Menore-Kelly, Mr. Andrew Fry, and Mr. Albie LaFave. And if you know these folks, you'll know- And Matt. Oh, I'm sorry. Ms. Matt. And each of these folks brings a unique set of skills and experience, mental health, law enforcement, law, whatever, research.
So I feel like we really have an incredible group of us. I am the most enthusiastic in my six years on this board than I've been. That's great. I'm very excited about where we are. Great. Thank you, Louie.
That's it. And again, thank you all so much for your work on this. Looking forward to, I guess, in June or July, it'll be coming back to us, and we'll have another opportunity for public input during that time.
And I'm sure that people will be talking and emailing us as well. And it sounds like you all are out in the community getting input, and that is amazing. I'm glad that you all were at the school board's hearings when they had that.
So it's just good to be out there. Thank you. Thank you so much. For the opportunity. Appreciate it. Thanks very much. Thank you so much. The next item we're going to have is a report on home stay short-term rental.
Ms. Creasey. All right. No, Remy will take care of it. Thank you. All right. Good evening, mayor, council- Good evening ... community members. I'm Missy Creasey. I'm with Neighborhood Development Services, and I'll be guiding you through the materials that we've compiled through the home stay and short-term rental study project that we did over the last year.
I'll attempt to complete the presentation with time for questions if that's what you all would like to do. But if there are questions for clarity that come along the way, please do let me know and I'll assist with that as well.
Next slide. So our agenda, this is very similar to the presentation that we provided to the planning commission. There are some changes and some updates that we've done. So I do want to make that clear.
We'll do an introduction process, a study of the process, research that we did as part of this, options that were considered, and moving forward to our community engagement steps, and then implementation and next steps.
I did want to point out that there is a website that's dedicated to having information on the things that have taken place through this. So that is something that is available for folks to take a look at.
Next slide. So we're starting with the end. We're giving you a summary of where we've been and where we got to with this study. So we researched a number of jurisdictions as well as state code, which had some changes on this issue.
We looked at potential for development code changes that could arise from this, and we went through a community engagement process as part of this as well. The presentation's going to give you all an overview of where we landed at the end.
There is an unknown potential impact for some of the changes that the state code has provided. The state code now requires if you change your ordinance pertaining to home stay short-term rental, that you must include an allowance for renters to operate home stays.
However, if you do not change your code, you do not have to do that at this moment in time. And you'll see as we go through this presentation, why we landed the way we landed. There are benefits to code changes, but they may or may not outweigh additional issues that are involved.
We have put additional staff resources towards focusing on home stay enforcement and running of the program, and so we'll talk a little bit about that. And then, at this point in time, we're recommending maintaining the ordinance, continuing to monitor the situation, allowing some of our new enforcement-- or basically stressing on enforcement and the program itself to try and get some results there to be able toMake sure that we're making some progress there before we add additional unknowns into the situation.
So next slide, please. So begin with a definition. What is a homestay? It's a residential property that's rented less than 30 days, and this includes the R districts, and they are shaded in yellow in this map.
And for those sites, the property owners have to reside at the residence at least 185 days of the calendar year to apply for the permit. What we determined last spring to take a look at this, because our ordinance was about a decade old.
It's one of the earliest ordinances that was put in place for this type of use, and a number of communities have reviewed our code as they were forming their own along the way. The number of homestays in our community has increased significantly, and this was just a good opportunity to look at how that was complying with the comprehensive plan that we've had changed recently, of course, make sure we're kind of lining up with our goals and intentions for the community.
So next slide. Okay. Our current regulations have a number of milestones in them. One is proof of residency with an ID. The permits are valid for a year at this point in time, and there's a $100 fee involved with that.
The code requires a number of safety measures, having detectors within the units, as well as, there is a provision in our code that does allow for staff to access the premise once there has been notification given to the individuals that are there.
Again, the owner must reside in the unit at least 185 days, and up to six adults and any number of children may lease a homestay. Next slide. So there are a number of key concerns and issues that fell into the categories of code compliance and impacts on the neighborhoods.
Next slide. So we get to the study process, and then again, next slide, this diagram provides an overview of the timeline beginning in the spring of 2025 with a project scoping and information gathering phase, followed by a community survey, and then the procurement of the Granicus system, which I'll talk about in a few minutes.
Drafting of recommendations based on those findings followed with additional outreach in the winter of 2025/26. And we met with the planning commission and received feedback, and then we're meeting with you all, and we'll go to our next step at that point.
So next slide. Research and data. Again, the next slide. Thank you. Granicus. So Granicus is a software that we've obtained that has been tailored for the city of Charlottesville, and it provides a number of services related to short-term rentals.
It allows us to locate the short-term rentals, helps assist with the proactive enforcement and licensing of short-term rentals. It ensures that occupancy taxes are collected, and it generates letters for us.
So use of the system has provided us with quite a bit of information. We've identified quite a few short-term rentals. Many of them on our first pass, they're in lots of districts around the city. So there are only the residential districts is where we focus this study because in the other districts, there is already a hotel short stay allowance.
It tracks rentals from every platform, and catalogs that rental history, as well as being an enforcement tool. So prior to us having the system, we would have a staff member go from platform to platform, so each of the different websites that host short-term rentals.
They would look for the address. They would then need to screenshot what any listings would be and create this file over time. Whereas now this system catalogs that for us. We go into the system, it shows us spots on the map where someone has a listing for a short-term rental that they've gleaned from the web, and then we're able to go into that listing or listings from there and then work through the permitting process.
So it's been very helpful and we've also done this in partnership with the Commissioner of Revenue's office, and they have been able to utilize this software as well. Next slide. All right. So a couple of charts.
We've got one that shows that most of the time if it's a short-term rental, the entire house is being rented. And then we were able to glean the bedroom count from what is showing up there. And that was something that was helpful along the way with number of individuals because that ends up being one of the concern issues that has come up along the way, which we'll talk about a little bit more.
Next slide. So budgetary impacts. This is some information the Commissioner of Revenue was able to provide to us. 17% of the transient lodging tax comes from locations using online hosting sites. Now, that's residential commercial sites, anything that uses a platform.
So we weren't able to split out the residential to really kind of get the gist of what that is. But you can also see that hotel/motel is still a pretty significant amount of revenue that comes in through transient lodging.
Sorry, you said 17%? 17. Okay. Thank you. All right. The next slide. This provides guest accommodations in the Charlottesville-Albemarle area. The available sites don't hone down to within the city borders, so it's a little bit broader in what we've found.
But a number of the data sources out there give us a very... They give the same numbers generally, a couple of different sources. So that is always a good sign when you see multiple sources seeing a similar amount.
Next slide. So in addition to tax revenue, of course, there are a lot of other things that homestays and short-term rentals provide benefit to the community. Tourism, weddings, breweries, these are all things that are very big in our general community.
Local restaurants and businesses, and then the cleaning and repair companies have additional opportunities that come through this being a use that's allowed in our community. Next slide. So as part of the research process, we did a comparative research study.
We reached out and gleaned information from a number of communities, and got different points from that as we were gathering data along the way. I know you guys are on a bit of a time constraint, so I won't read every single one.
But I'll just note that we were in line with a lot of our communities that are around. And then next slide, actually. One thing that's brand new to short-term rentals in Virginia is the requirement for human trafficking certification.
So anyone who is performing this service to the community has to do this training. Now, we've heard it's a bit of a challenge. They're still trying to get that ramped up, but it is definitely something that's a benefit to making sure that things are as well as they can be.
All right, so next slide. So the- Sure ... I'm sorry, that training is provided by the state. It's like an online- It's an online state Yeah. Mm-hmm. Would the applicant be required to take that training, or who involved in the stay process would- The persons who are renting.
And sorry, by applicant, I mean on the permit. Well, again, since this is one that they haven't really gotten up to speed yet, they have approved it. We haven't integrated it into our system yet. But we would, of course, as they make that much more clear as to who and what and where that training is, we'll definitely provide that.
I know there's some folks in the community who are out here who may have experienced it. I know that the last grouping we talked to, folks were a bit frustrated because they didn't have access to it yet.
It's not a thing that we, the city, is in control of. The state is doing that. Thanks. All right. So, Virginia Assembly passed a new law that requires localities to allow for tenants to be able to operate short-term rental with the permission of their landlord.
So this is a requirement that came to pass in the last general assembly, and it came to light as part of our research process with this. And it would only be required for us if we change the current code.
It definitely would open up homestay opportunities to more operators within the community, and definitely has potential to increase the number. And there's potential increased impact that could come from the community.
So, we'll continue through, and y'all will get more of what we're doing here. Next slide. All right, options considered. All right, next slide, please. All right, so we've put together a chart that had the current regulations with the options that we considered along the way.
And they were very minor changes. Some were minor, some were not. We'll go to the next slide so we can walk through those a little bit better. So we had a few more stringent requirements that we had considered as part of this process.
Having an internal safety inspection requirement, again, the code allows us to do that, but instituting a requirement in order to get a permit to have that be done on the front end, and it would be used to establish the occupancy allowance that could occur for a short-term rental.
So we did recommend, after looking at many opportunities, a potential increase in number of adult guests, and that would allow additional people the opportunity to perhaps utilize this. So that was one piece of the puzzle.
Also, let's see. Having a permit that was more than one year would also reduce... year staff time that goes into reviewing permits. So those are some of the benefits that we found, but then there were some potential costs involved, of course, because we would have increased staff time that would be needed to do internal inspections.
We'd need to make sure that the staff doing that had the correct training, and so there are definitely some costs that would be involved with that. Changing the code, again, would require us to include the provision for tenants to operate the short-term rental, and there are those potential impacts of additional guests.
So those were some of the costs that we pointed out. All right, next. So if the tenant is to be operating a short-term rental, the tenant would have to get the application filed? Yes. They would have to- Would the owner have any say in that matter?
Yes. Of course. The owner would have to sign that the tenant could do it. Many leases have some provision for sublets- Mm-hmm ... which this is sort of a species of, but not. I'm just wondering how that is expected to break out.
Well, again, another unknown. Yeah. Yeah. So. Okay. Thank you. And perhaps new leases will be rewritten stating that a sublet is different than an Airbnb. Yeah. Okay. All right. Next slide. So we'll talk a little bit about our community engagement with this.
Again, the next slide. We had a community outreach meeting, we had an online survey, and we had a meeting with the short-term rental advocacy group as part of our dialogue. We've had continuous dialogue with a number of interested parties along the way.
Next slide. For the community survey, we had about 500 people respond to the survey, and they noted a number of benefits, which included economic tourism type options. And then we had some concerns that were noted, which was impact on housing, neighborhood, and nuisance related items.
And then there was a subset of the respondents that noted that they didn't have any concerns from short-term rentals, and those identified primarily as resident homeowners. All right. So our next slide, we had a community meeting in December of 2025.
We had a lot of different people from a lot of different walks of life who came to learn more about this, view displays that we had, as well as ask questions. And then we had a formal presentation that ended up in a pretty extensive question and answer session.
So there was definitely a lot of information that was shared during that time. It was noted in summary that home stays generate economic benefits, boost tourism, and offer unique options for lodging. But there were also the concerns raised about rising housing costs and loss of housing within the community.
So next slide, please. So through the community meeting, there was a group of short-term rental operators who organized and contacted us with a different model for regulating home stays. And this group provided a number of questions for review and suggestions that could be part of that, and we've highlighted a number on the slides there.
We do want to note also that staff received comment from providers in the community that were not a part of this group and did not feel that that group represented them. So they just wanted that to be a piece of the puzzle as well.
All right, so next slide, please. All right. We have key findings and the staff recommendations. Again, next slide. So much has been learned and confirmed through this process. Community engagement supports short-term rentals with increased enforcement efforts.
Current occupancy of six adults limits larger properties but provides opportunities for a number of operators. Strengthening requirements for home occupancy would be challenging to enforce. Key item that came to light was the change in the state code provision, which really led to potential unknown impacts.
And so that was something we definitely focused on. Yes. All right. Next slide, please. Okay. So we've recently been enacting a number of measures concerning short-term rental. We have focused staff. We have most of one of our zoning team.
Most of their time is focused on building up this program. And so they've been working extensively with the Granicus program. Also been navigating the concerns that come in, and assisting with the permit reviews that occur.
All right. So for the recommendations that we have, at this point in time, we recommend maintaining the existing ordinance. We want to strengthen the monitoring of the home stay compliance permitting requirements, and then continue with educationAnd monitor the impacts of how this change in the state code happens in other localities around Virginia, to see what other sorts of things that are unknown now perhaps have a little bit more information.
For homestays located in other zoning districts, which we have many other zoning districts, there's a lot of interest in actually doing the yearly inspections, because they do fall into a different building code requirement.
That is something that we've been working with the fire department on how to implement. And then to consider a potential study for issues and other opportunities as part of a future work plan. So the next slide, we'll talk a little bit about what the planning commission had to say from their meeting.
They had a number of key themes, support for maintaining the existing regulation and pursuing additional enforcement, as well as interest in understanding future or potential impacts for renters being able to occupy or operate homestays.
Other comments included allow current codes to determine maximum occupancy, and they were referring to building codes at that point. Continue the discussion on the permit timeframes. I know there's debate back and forth about one year versus three years versus five years.
There's lack of support for having a 90-day maximum allowance on homestays from the commission. Support for operators to continue to sign off that they are adhering to the rules. There was a request about other localities, everyone coming together to try and get the platforms to comply, and then consideration of a two-unit minimum on site to apply.
Next slide. That gets us to the end. I wanted to talk a little bit about these enforcement issues that we have been talking about. We started the year, so the permits are due... Well, they're supposed to be due right at the beginning of the year.
It takes people a bit to remember that, so we reached out to everyone that we had a contact for who had done a short-term rental and received a permit in the past years and reached out to them with a preliminary message noting the timeframes and when permits were due.
And from that, we gained a flurry, so we ended up with 84 permit applications as part of that effort. We had a few that came in as they're supposed to come in, but we got quite a few once we sent the reminder out.
And then, with that, a number of those permits, not a huge number, but a number were for folks that didn't qualify for those permits. And so we're continuing to ask them for the correct information if they have that, and continuing to work with sites about if there's situations where they could conform or not.
Soon after, we sent out a press release. That was something that definitely got a little bit of flurry of information as well. People reached out when they saw that, and that was really just an education opportunity to link people to where you go to fill out the permit and what information that you need.
And we have been working with our Granicus software team over the last couple of weeks here, and we have a mailing that went out today. Well, it went out through the system. It'll probably be later in the week where it will go to about 200 eligible operators who have not filed for their permits.
And so they're going to receive another notification that specifically says, "Hey, you have this. We see that you're doing this because it's on the internet. And here's how you get your permits, and please reach out to us if you have questions." We'll let that part go for a little while, try and manage what the feedback we're going to get from that because we definitely assume that we will get some.
And then we'll move to our next group of properties in residential areas that don't appear to comply that are showing listings online, and take those one by one. Well, actually, first, we're going to plan to send out a warning letter and then hope that they come and dialogue with us so that we can either help them get into compliance or maybe that's just not the opportunity that they need to be taking at that point in time.
So that is an overview of what we've done. The software has definitely been incredibly helpful in minimizing our research time. We still have to go and look at each site to see what the listing is, but it compiles it for us, which has been a really good tool and saved a lot of time.
Thank you. Is that- Yeah So I know we probably will go a little bit over, but this is an important topic. I want to get comments from my colleagues, but I just had a quick question, and that is as far as enforcement, because I agreed that we should probably leave it the way, make no changes at this time.
But after you send out the letterFor those that we know that are doing. Because ironically just in Richmond Paper today, they talked about how, I don't know, 70%, they're sending letters out, but they're not getting in.
So what's our next card? So yes, we'll move to that next group, and warning letters, and then we will work in collaboration with the attorney's office as to the best way to move forward through the enforcement realm.
There are fines that are available. There is the option of taking people to court. These are all considerations, and we will work in partnership to make sure that we're doing the most palatable situation.
Okay. Jen, I'll start with you. Yeah, I think my question is similar to yours. So over the next year, strengthening monitoring means more... It means actually getting people on the books, is our start.
We now know where they are. If someone has put a listing in an Airbnb or whatever, even the more obscure ones, this thing is taking it from the internet, and we have a map that will show us. We can click on it.
It'll say, "This house has listings here, here, and here." So, there's a little less speculation that goes on with that, which is really helpful. And so now we're trying to get people in compliance. That's kind of our first move.
And then we also want to work on the situations where people are not in compliance and see if there's a way for it to get into compliance or if it's a situation... We have had situations where zoning has noted that the person doesn't meet the criteria, and someone actually sold their house that they were using for this use that they did not live in, because they weren't able to adhere to the rules.
Those, again, are outliers. We do have a number of situations in the community where there are challenges with the individuals who are renting the establishments. There have been involvement with other groups within the community, the police.
And some of these are just really hard. But the majority of the people that we're finding who are doing this, it's not something that people see, or at least the people around them are not concerned about it.
But there's a healthy handful of situations that are not going well, and we work with those neighbors the best we can. So the same team that's going to do the Granicus follow-up on the ID-ing and starting the conversation will be doing the active complaint follow-up?
Mm-hmm. Okay. And do we know how many of the STRs are ADUs versus homes renting entirely or single rooms? While we have the little bit of data that Granicus gave us on that, I don't believe that it says if there's more than one unit on the property.
It just notes for that property. So that'll be something we'll have to dig into a bit more. Ooh, quick follow-up there. So if it's like a house with an ADU, but the ADU is like a whole house, but small, does that count as a whole house rental, or does that count as a part of a property?
In their data, I'm not 100% sure on that. Okay. Back to you, Jen. No, that's all. Donal? Are there streets or neighborhoods where you are aware that there's a concentration of short-term rentals that is causing neighbors to be upset about just the sort of character of the neighborhood or anything like that?
Yes. Is there anything that we have the ability to do about that fact? It is somewhat limited if the individuals are able to comply with the code requirements. We do continue to educate folks, but yeah, there are definitely some pockets of the community where there is concern that has arisen.
Okay. Thank you. Natalie? Hey, thanks. So I was at the meeting earlier this year, and the presentation to me seemed like the changes weren't that onerous, but the changes in the current or the options considered, not super significant.
Mm-hmm. It really is kind of the change between the ability to enforce what we already have and not being able to enforce what we already have, that caused a lot of the stir. Yes. I believe that that has to do a lot with it.
We had a zoning team of two people, and now we have a zoning team of three people. And so- Plus the software, that helps ... and the software. And so these tools have made the process easier to work through.
Because when it was a research of a case where they had to go platform by platform, that would take a very lengthy time to gather enough data, whereas we have this in one-set in place. But yes, because of this being such a concern for a number of people in the community, we've dedicated a good portion of one person's staff time to making sure that this program gets up and running well.
And so is the idea to pause on the options considered because we haven't really gotten the chance to enforce our existing procedures- That's a piece of it ... so we'll try that, and we'll circle back in a year to see, or what is the plan for the options considered?
Well, definitely to kind of pause. We're hopeful that with the enforcement and the work that we're doing now, that we'll start to get many more people in compliance. We'll be able to know where there are the concerns, and we'll be able to work collaboratively with other departments to make sure that we're doing as much as we can to make those situations not as hard on people.
We also don't want to do small tweaks to something and then have to introduce a very big unknown. As part of our community engagement process, we didn't really focus on a renter-type situation where there would be renters allowed to do that, and that felt like something that the community would want to weigh in on as well.
And so we were hopeful to have some time to see if some other communities around the state enact changes to their code and to gather what kind of information they're getting, what kind of impacts that may have on their community.
So sorry, to clarify, the state law allows a locality to allow renters. It doesn't allow renters in the locality. Council, there must be a mistake in the presentation because the state law says that we are not allowed to prohibit renters from operating a short-term rental, so long as they have the landlord's permission.
Right. It does say that we can change the ordinance to only permit them to add a single short-term rental, the renter, the lessee. That's the extent to which state law says. Okay. It doesn't hinge on us changing our code.
Yes. It's the state law. Okay, so yeah. Thank you for that clarification. My follow-up was going to be what would the community engagement process give to that if it's a state law that we can't do anything about?
The other question I have regarding this state law is you seem to indicate, and I might have misread the presentation, that something hinges on whether or not we change our ordinance. I think it was that.
Right. If we were to make a change, again, this is something may have been prior to Mr. Maddox coming on board, and we may need to revisit the interpretation on that. But noting that since we had the code in place prior to the date that they had noted, we had been given guidance that as long as we didn't change the code, we wouldn't have to add that in at this point.
At this point, but at some point there's like a- But if we change our homestay regulations, then we would have to- Okay ... that would be added in no matter what. Okay, but if we don't change our homestay regulations, is there some point of grace period where it would then apply whether or not we made any adjustments?
I would anticipate that the general assembly could change it at any time to say, "It doesn't matter if you change it or not, you got to do this." Okay. Gotcha. Okay, I know we're running low on time, so I'll just say that the planning commission recommendations, the thing that stands out to me as the most useful thing would be the changing...
This is part of the original plan is made, and so you don't have to do it every year. Mm-hmm. But every two or three, I think that seems perfectly reasonable. I know we have to suss out what happens if we change anything.
But if it's not pressing now and we want to see how it works for a while with the Granicus of it all, actually being able to enforce the laws we have, then sure, because it's not a huge jump from the laws we have now to the recommended ones.
But if we were going to change anything, I think that's kind of top of the priority list. Okay. Michael. So you've had the Granicus system for a year now, and so increased enforcement activity has not yet been happening?
Not as much through the system. We had to, of course, onboard the system, which took a little bit of time, and then we were working through what the system was telling us. So that was a piece of the puzzle as well.
And because this is kind of on a calendar, it's hard midstream. It would've been really hard at the end of last year to implement something when the next due date is coming. So we've kind of worked with moving to when the permits were required to kind of start fresh.
Mm-hmm. And there's a new Granicus system. There's that one additional staff member. Those have changed. What other primary constraints exist around the ability to do proactive enforcement? Well, we get plenty of complaints, so we spend a lot of time on those.Some people choose to tell us what they choose to tell us, and it's not always something that we can find any evidence to the contrary.
And so, that is something that we battle with quite a bit is, folks will say, "That person doesn't live there." But they've provided us with the information that they're supposed to provide us with, and we're very limited as to what we can do in those cases.
Do you monitor LLC ownership in terms of if there are investment vehicles that are owning and operating multiple Airbnb properties? I know that it has to be an owner signing off on it, so the individual is going to have to note that they are the person for that group.
Mm-hmm. And as just a random example, if today there's a complaint that there's an LLC, it owns three different properties, it's being used Airbnb full-time, what would the city's enforcement actions look like?
We would work through sending out violation notices. There's fines that are involved. And then, if we end up moving forward, we would collaborate to see if there was another way to enforce that. Mm-hmm.
Well, I'll just say I think- In residential zones. Yes. And this is in... Yeah. Again, thank you for that. It's in the residential zones. In the mixed use and in the commercial zones, there are allowances for transient lodging already.
Oh. They don't require a home stay permit. Right. Well, I would just say, I think the current system of enforcement, I don't think is working nearly well enough. And I think we do have to significantly step up our enforcement and be more proactive and be willing to do things like take people to court, because in my mind, the issue is if someone lives in a place and they're using Airbnb to help pay bills or supplemental income, fine.
Airbnb as part of the market is fine, but I do think there's a real problem of investors investing in Airbnb who aren't living there at all. And I think there's a huge risk that it will highly distort our long-term rental housing market because it's just always going to be so much more profitable to do that as opposed to investing in renting.
And I think we're kind of a ground zero for the type of community, with UVA being here, who can have Airbnb substantially distort the housing market in a way that just would not apply in most other places.
And I think this is a particularly acute problem in 10th and Page in Fifeville, just because of the proximity to UVA of, I think it's a significant part of the dynamic of the risk of those places becoming places that are just purely of buying for UVA, and Airbnb supplanting long-term rentals as the most profitable use of land in those areas.
And I think our current enforcement regime is just not able to stop that, which hopefully changes. But anyway. So, my colleagues have hit on a lot of my questions. Just a little bit more on complaints.
If someone has a complaint, is it clear on the site where and how they do that? Sure. And is there any follow up? Yeah. We have an email, zoning@charlesville.gov. We have a phone. We have forms that people can fill out online as well.
And, we have people who are using all of those methods to get that information to us. Mm-hmm. And so it's not, when someone submits a complaint, is there a way to follow up with them, or you acknowledge that you received it type of thing, or?
It'll depend on the complaint. Sometimes people don't always put their name. Most of the time they do. Okay. And sometimes it's something that we're able to kind of get to the next steps with, and sometimes it's just an unfortunate situation where there were guests that were behaving poorly, and it was a difficult situation for those individuals.
Got it. Other questions or comments at this time? Yeah. I just wanted to provide one clarification. Earlier I said that the permit time frames were a priority list. I really meant low-hanging fruit. Mm-hmm.
Thanks. Yeah. Okay. Sam, what is the next step with this? Is this information or... I don't know if I know that there's any further action. I think one thing we definitely need to make sure of is that we clarify the renter matter, because we probably need to make sure that we put that information out for public benefit just so that they know.
It doesn't appear that they know that they can participate. So I think that's just one thing to follow up on, is what I've noted for the gallery. Mm-hmm. But I don't think that there's any action because based on what Ms.
Creasey just presented, our goal is to not change the code so that we don't have to do anything else. So the goal is to try to push forward and just focus on enforcement. Yeah. Or change the program, I should say.
I'm sorry. Go ahead. So we just need to- It's not a long one. Yeah. Pursuant to section- Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Pursuant to Section 2.2-3712 of the Virginia Code, I move that this City Council close this open meeting and convene in a closed session as authorized by the Virginia Freedom of Information Act as followsPursuant to Virginia Code Section 2.2-3711 , for discussion and consideration of prospective candidates to be appointed to the following boards and/or committees: Board of Architectural Review, Board of Zoning Appeals, Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund Committee, Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority Board, Community Development Block Grant and HOME Task Force, Community Policy and Management Team, Historic Resources Committee, Housing Advisory Committee, JABA Board for Aging, JABA Board of Directors, JM/RL Board, Local Board of Building Code Appeals, Minority Business Commission, Piedmont Virginia Community College Board, Region 10 Community Services Board, Retirement Commission, Sister Cities Commission, Social Services Advisory Board, Thomas Jefferson Water Resources Protection Foundation, Towing Advisory Board, Tree Commission, Vendor Appeals Board, YMCA Board, and Youth Council.
Second. All in favor, please say yes. Yes. All opposed, please say no. Thank you. We'll be back probably a little after 6:30, but we'll be back. Thank you.I call the Charlottesville City Council meeting back into order.
Madam Vice Mayor, will you please read us out, please? Certainly. I move that this council certify by a recorded vote that to the best of each council member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempt from the open meeting requirements of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and identified in the motion convened in the closed session were heard, discussed, or considered in the closed session.
Second. Second. All in favor, please say yes. Yes. All opposed, please say no. Great. So, we can start logging in if we need to. Everyone's in. Everyone's in. Okay, good. We're going to have a moment of silence, please.
Thank you very much. We have a couple announcements and proclamations. The first announcement is that on May 30th at 3:00, there will be a community unveiling of Mel's Walk. It's going to be right by the diner.
It's a street there. And for those who didn't know it, the actual location is Main Street between 7th Street Northwest and 8th Street Northwest. And so if you didn't know Mel, he was a long-time owner of Mel's Diner for nearly 40 years.
He passed away in 2024. Just a staple in the community and just working with the family and community members to figure out the best way to acknowledge him and recognize him. And so this is something that we can do.
I'm planning to speak, as well as Cree Deeds and probably others. James Bryant will be singing, so it's going to be a wonderful, festive day. So, I hope people will come out. This is being coordinated by Ms.
Alexan, who's another amazing community member. So, if you could please add that to your calendar. It's a busy time of year for festivals and carnivals, not carnivals, but events like that in the community.
Any other announcements? Excuse me. Yes. Mm-hmm. It continues to be Bike Month. And if everyone checks bikecville.com, you'll see a calendar of events, a bingo card that you can fill out for different activities, and tomorrow there is an e-bike demonstration that's open to the public.
That will be located at the county office building from 4:30 to 6:30. So you can swing by and test out an e-bike in the parking lot, so you won't be on a busy road. You'll be safe. And they're super fun, a great way to get around town.
There'll be a bunch of different types to try and a bunch of people there to help you figure it out, as well as helmets to stay safe. So again, that's bikecville.com for the full calendar of events. Can I add to that Bike C-Ville piece for just a quick minute?
Mm-hmm. Also, if you join connectingva.com and track your bike rides this month, we're in a bike-friendly, it's not so friendly, bike-friendly city challenge. I don't think it's friendly because what's happening is Richmond is beating us by like five rides right now.
Yes. So I need you guys to sign up and track your rides so we can beat Richmond as on the leaderboard. But we are number two right now, ahead of City of Roanoke, and I think we can win. Yes. So, yeah, get on your bike and track it.
Last week, Jen and I had a fun outing with city staff to ride around the city. First time I got to try the Meta- Glasses ... Ray-Ban glasses, so ... But please, as a way to test using alternative modes of transportation is a good way to do that, fun way to do it, and realize that maybe you can do more and more trips that way.
So, thank you very much. Any other announcements? Should I read the boards? Yes, so we made several board appointments during closed session. And we're going to be doing some interviews, but we were able to make some appointments.
And we do want to thank everybody who applied. Some of the decisions were super close. For the Board of Architectural Review, we're appointing Jen Trompeter. The Community Policy... Oh, I'm making a motion- Oh, yes.
Yeah ... to appoint. Thank you. Jen Trompeter to the Board of Architectural Review. Community Policy and Management Team, Marquez Mitchell. Historic Resources Committee, William Bergen, Lucy Pola, Jonathan Rice, Richard Guy Wilson.
The Java Advisory Council on Aging, Katherine Zuber. And I do apologize if I mispronounced anyone's names. Jefferson Madison Regional Library Board, Janelle Lynch.The Piedmont Virginia Community College Board, Brian Pinkston.
The Region 10 Community Services Board, David Opper and Emily Warren, and the Retirement Commission, Casey Parker. The Sister Cities Commission, John Mason, Stella Mattioli, and Elizabeth Smiley, and the Thomas Jefferson Resources Protection Foundation, Aaron Mills.
Lastly, the Tree Commission, Roger Gedig. If you applied for a commission and you didn't hear it announced there, it is being deferred, so stay tuned. Yes. Second the motion. Second. So I think we can vote electronically.
Yes. The motion passes five to zero, I believe. Yes. Thank you all so much, and again, for those that apply. We have a couple of proclamations, and the first one is Public Works Week, May 17th through the 23rd.
Whereas public work professionals focus on infrastructure, facilities, waste management, street maintenance, engineering, and traffic field operations and services to make Charlottesville quality of life better for all people to live, work, play, and visit.
And whereas these infrastructure facilities and services could not be provided without the dedicated efforts of public work professionals who are engineers, managers, skills, trades, equipment operators, and employees at all levels of government who are responsible for rebuilding, improving, and protecting public buildings and other structures and facilities essential for our community members.
Whereas in the public interest, Charlottesville, to gain knowledge and maintain an ongoing interest and understanding of the importance of public work programs in their respective communities. Whereas the year 2026 marks the 60th annual National Public Works Week, sponsored by the American Public Works Association and Canadian Public Works Association.
Therefore, it be proclaimed that the week of May 17th through the 23rd is Public Works Week in the city of Charlottesville, and we urge all community members to join in activities, events, and ceremonies designed to pay tribute to our public service professionals.
Steve, so- Thank you ... thank you. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Member of Council. Public work is about recognizing the people behind the work, but it's also about recognizing the success of the team.
The story of public works today is just not about maintenance, it's about execution, it's about outcomes, but most importantly, it's about our workforce. Over the past year, we have changed the way the department delivers through collaboration, accountability, and stronger focus on execution.
We have taken projects that sat on the books for years, in some cases over a decade, and moved them forward. The Belvane Bridge is now complete, reconnecting neighborhoods and restoring a critical link in our transportation network.
That shift from planning to delivery. We have turned around a locally administered program with VDOT and transformed what had been struggling program into a clear success story. Projects that once were stalled are now advancing to construction with nearly $60 million in projects moving forward over the next 36 months.
At the same time, we are tracking longstanding challenges that require coordination and persistence. Our work with Dominion Energy, Brightspeed, and other telecommunication partners to relocate utility poles is directly tied to our ADA compliance efforts.
Progress may appear slow at times, but it's steady, and many of these conflicts have existed for 15 to 20 years. Today, we are working through them to make our system safer and more accessible. We are also challenging how we deliver work internally.
We're expanding our in-house capabilities and building crews that allow us to take greater control of our outcomes. Where it makes sense, we're reducing reliance on outside consultants and contractors and doing more work directly with our teams.
That'll allow us to move faster, reduce delays, respond more directly to the community needs, and deliver work at lower costs. This past winter, the same commitment showed up during multiple snow events.
Our team opened roads, cleared key public access areas, and did what it took to get schools, businesses, and community moving again. Snow response is not simply putting plows down and spreading salt. It requires planning, timing, equipment placement, and real-time decision-making.
A delay of even an hour can determine whether you stay ahead of a storm or fall behind. Our team understands that, and they execute. The same level of professionalism was displayed last week at the Mid-Atlantic American Public Works Association Conference.
During the equipment rodeo, there were six of our equipment operators competing and demonstrating their ability to safely and effectively operate heavy equipment. I'm proud to share that Josh Weiland placed second in the snowplow operations, standing out among more than 150 equipment operators competing in multiple equipment events.
That includes West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia. While at the Mid-Atlantic APWA Conference, Public Works was recognized with the Honorable Mention Project of the Year Award for structures from 5 to $25 million category for the Charlottesville Fire Department's New Fire Station 1.
That recognition reflects both the quality of projects this team delivers and skills of the workforce behind the work. We have a similar progress in the land development process, but making our reviews more predictable, more solutions-oriented, and more focused on producing better outcomes while keeping projects moving.
5, 19, 15 Our expectations is keep additional review times 21 days or less, which reflects our commitment to consistency, responsiveness, and accountability. And as important as what we build is how we communicate through work.
Infrastructure projects affects neighborhoods, businesses, access, and daily work routes routine. Our teamwork is in the space every day, explaining the work, hearing concerns, and helping moving complicated projects forward.
The common thread through all this is the people doing the work. The team shows up every day with ownership, pride, and professionalism. They don't look for credit. They focus on doing the work well. Tonight, I thank you for the proclamation recognizing Public Works Week, May 17th through May 23rd.
This proclamation means a lot, but it also is a reflection of a team that is delivering, improving, and helping move the city forward in a very real and measurable way. Thank you. Thank you. Net, you're next.
Yes. I have the proclamation for Dementia Awareness Month. Whereas dementia is a growing public health crisis, with more than 11% of city of Charlottesville residents over the age of 65 living with this disorder, and approximately 14% of the city's population being over the age of 65; and whereas family caregivers are facing increasing physical, mental, emotional, and financial strain; and whereas the number of people living with dementia or caring for someone with dementia is expected to grow in the coming years as the number of older residents increases; and whereas the city of Charlottesville wants to ensure that the city is welcoming and inclusive to all of those impacted by dementia; and whereas local government businesses, the faith community, financial institutions, first responders, healthcare providers, educational institutions, and the residents of the city can make small changes to provide a community in which people living with dementia can continue to be involved, active, respected, valued, and understood; and whereas the Dementia-Friendly Central Virginia Initiative is dedicated to raising community awareness of dementia and the needs of those living with dementia and their caregivers in our area.
Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that the month of May 2026 is Dementia Awareness Month in the city of Charlottesville, and the Charlottesville City Council recognizes Charlottesville as a dementia-friendly community, urging all residents to participate in education and awareness programs to support research and innovation, and to share support and services such as the 1-800-Dementia hotline for taking care of oneself or others.
Mayor, Vice Mayor, and City Council members, I would like to thank you very much for declaring May Dementia Awareness Month to recognize this important issue and the impact it has on our community and to support our dementia-friendly efforts.
So I'd like to introduce city residents Sue and Norman Dill, who are living with dementia. Thank you. Here's the mic. Okay. Thank you very much. Norman Dill, longtime resident of this city, and having had several businesses here and five children in the county and the city.
I've been in both places. It was very surprising to me. I kind of knew what dementia was, but didn't really realize it until I was having trouble driving and having some near misses in parking lots and on the road.
I remember Sue, a couple Thanksgivings ago, I said, "Well, I don't want my grandchildren in the car when I'm driving because I'm just feeling like I'm wavering a little bit or something." And she wisely said, "Well, maybe if you're worried about your grandchildren, you should be worried about everybody else on the road, too." Which struck a chord, and I stopped driving.
But that's a huge problem for so many people with dementia. They are just so intent on keeping their car because you're stuck if you don't have a car for a lot of places. That's one reason why I moved from the county into the city to be able to walk to the downtown mall and to stores and that kind of thing.
So, we've made some adjustments, but it's still frustrating at times to not be able to do everything I want. But I really appreciate this announcement and that it hopefully is a way for people to understand that it's just, for example, and I won't go on beyond that, but it's really hard for some reason.
It's hard to deal with money and paperwork, and I had heard that, but what's so hard about money? $1, two, three, four, or five. It's not that complicated. But then shortly after having that kind of dismissal, I was in the bank and getting some $5 and $1 bills because I like to have some money in my pocket.
And then I dropped them all, and they went all over the floor of the bank, and people were picking up my money and- ... well, in their mind, they were helping, but to me, it was like, "People are stealing my money." And so we figured that out, and now when I go to the bank, they know me, and we have a relationship andIt's not a problem, of course.
But so just to be aware, people are usually in denial about their limitations in the beginning. Everyone I've talked to has the same experience of, "No, I'm fine. I just need a little more time to mow the lawn or whatever." But there is a lot of danger in not being able to know exactly where you are, or how fast you're going, or where to turn, or that kind of stuff.
So I think it's important for people to keep being reminded that if you or people in your family, your neighbors seem like they're struggling, they probably are, and they probably are struggling more than they let on.
So that's, I guess, what I'm trying to just drive it home, that it's a real thing. It's a form of... What's the overall disease? Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's. So it's an aspect of Alzheimer's. At the same time, it's very important that I heard, I don't know, a few weeks ago that I'm almost done.
Thank you, Sue, for keeping me on track here. But being forgetful is not the same as being stupid. You don't lose your intelligence when you have Alzheimer's or a related condition. You keep your intelligence, you just have to apply it differently and not do things automatically.
Without going into too much detail. So, thank you. Thank you, Norm. So Norm, thank you for your service to the community. Norm is a former supervisor for the Rivanna district in Albemarle County, and a longtime business owner.
Recently served on a panel with George for the Tom Tom Festival, where we're looking into making Charlottesville a dementia-friendly community. And what I found when transportation, when we do make it friendly for dementia residents and others, it's really going to make it more friendly for everyone.
And so it's an effort that's going on to do that, and I'm happy to do that. But this proclamation brings some notoriety to this issue, and I think that it's going to go a long way in us working with that.
So George, thank you. Norm, thank you again for your service to the community, and coming up to speak today. I really appreciate that. So thank you so much. Okay, so any other proclamations? We're now at the opportunity for- Zoom ...
This is a different one. Okay. We're now at the opportunity for community matters, and we have seven people that have pre-registered to speak, so we have an opportunity for nine more after the registered speakers have already spoken.
And the first one is Laura Sergagne. Did I- That's good enough. Okay, I'm sorry. Thank you. My name is Laura Sergagne. I'm a community member who's been working with unhoused neighbors at Free Bridge and local camps for the last year and a half.
I have seen these folks build community together and support each other despite difficult living conditions and constant harassment in many cases. And I'm infuriated by the way the city has continually treated these community members as a problem instead of as human beings deserving the same autonomy and dignity that housed community members enjoy.
The city's working meeting last week unfortunately demonstrated this attitude. None of the people at the table at that working meeting regularly work with campers, and no attempts that I know of were made to let campers know the meeting was happening.
When the city was discussing a shelter in Fifeville, they invited comments from the neighbors of that community. When they began looking into purchasing the Holiday Drive property, they made sure to engage the business owners there.
So why haven't they invited the input of the people most affected by these policies and plans? Clearly, they consider unhoused community members to have fewer rights than community members who own houses and businesses.
This is wrong-headed and immoral. At the city meeting, determinations of safety and well-being at the camps were being made by people who spend little to no time there or talking to the people who live there.
And as such, the solutions that were being offered were without understanding of the needs or the rights of the unhoused. Providing alternative camping locations with access to resources is welcomed, but even if a totally ideal option is presented, it can't be compulsory to move there, whether that option is a camp, a shelter, or even housing.
From the discussion, it was clear that the city's ultimate goal is to force unhoused people to move to a location that can be further surveilled and controlled under strict rules. This plan devalues community and denies the humanity and autonomy of our unhoused residents.
Instead, the city should provide better infrastructure that can be accessed by unhoused neighbors and benefit all community members. Starting with the portable restrooms the city has been promising, and providing consistent sanitation services to current camps, which are immediately actionable items.They even have the support of local businesses, as was shown at the meeting last week.
Access to clean water and showers would also support the safety and wellbeing of the community. Regardless of any measures taken, no decisions should be made without unhoused people, not just at the table, but leading the discussion.
Unhoused people know their needs best. Ask them. Don't make assumptions that lead to further harm. Start engaging with the people that you claim to be serving. Our unhoused neighbors are part of this community, and we all deserve better, and we demand it.
Thank you. Laura Josey? Laura Josey. Good evening. My name is Laura Josey. I'm here to discuss the importance of the Stribling sidewalk project. I've lived in the Fry Spring neighborhood for 15 years, lived on Stribling for seven years, and currently own property on Stribling.
I'm also on the board of the neighborhood association. In April 2022, council approved the rezoning of 12 acres of wooded land with critical slopes, with the understanding that Stribling would be upgraded with a sidewalk.
Conversation between councilors at this April 2022 meeting was this was a win-win for the city. The city was improving density, gaining future tax revenue on 170 new units, and improving the infrastructure due to the 2.9 million infrastructure funding agreement that was agreed to.
In 2024, there were two public involvement meetings for design input on the project, and at the July 2024 meeting, the display board the city created listed that construction would be complete in the fall of 2027.
However, just a few days ago, on May 8th, the neighborhood association was made aware that the project is temporarily on hold for the rest of the fiscal year. This delay has the neighborhood concerned.
Stribling Avenue, if you have not been, is a pedestrian street a few blocks from Scott Stadium. The majority of residents are renters and middle-class families that regularly walk to the bus stop, UVA, or many of the local Fry Spring businesses.
There are no sidewalks. There is a blind hill, a blind curve, and many cars drive too fast as it is, making this street exceptionally dangerous. Having lived on this street with my kids, I experienced this sense of danger firsthand.
It felt unsafe before this council approved to rezone the land, doubling the density of residents and the number of daily vehicle trips. Now, without sidewalks, the street will become twice the pedestrian hazard for families and renters due to council's approval to rezone 240 Stribling.
If the city's goal is to increase density, which results in more tax revenue for the city, the city also needs to keep its end of the agreement to improve the infrastructure for this higher density. Council approved the rezoning on the grounds of the funding agreement.
Putting a pause on this project is not acceptable. The construction trucks on the street are not on pause. The development is not on pause, and it is highly unlikely constructing a sidewalk a year from now or the year after that will be less expensive.
We need to see this project through, and the city needs to deliver on the 2.9 million infrastructure funding agreement. Can this council provide the residents of Stribling Avenue some assurance that this pause is only temporary?
Thank you for listening. Thank you. Alicia? Alicia. Good evening. My name is Alicia Lenahan. I live in the county. Redlining is a discriminatory practice involving the systematic denial of access and services to specific neighborhoods and their residents, primarily based on race or ethnicity of their inhabitants.
Although officially outlawed by the Fair Housing Act of 1968, the echoes of redlining remain heavily embedded in the economic and demographic makeup of modern American cities. In Charlottesville, redlining is alive, well, and allowed to move to accommodate UVA and developers.
The half-mile boundary explicitly influences private student housing developments built near UVA. This rule acts as a massive financial leverage point for private real estate developers operating just off grounds.
They routinely push the limits of this boundary by aggressively banking on the closest interpretation of the line. Developers continue to secure approval for high-density luxury complexes by claiming they fall within the 0.5 mile zone.
They're not required to include any affordable units, and they pay vastly reduced fees. Because the value gap is so affordable for multimillion-dollar private equity firms, developers treat it as a minor negligible tax.
You know, the cost of doing business. They gladly pay the cash fee to buy out 100% of their affordable obligations, ensuring their luxury buildings remain entirely occupied by high-rent tenants who may be students.
You could intentionally create affordable housing. You could support local businesses and public infrastructure that increases Black wealth. Instead, you sell out to create areas that cater to the interests of UVA students.
You could implement more ambitious development strategies that intentionally try to rectify the negative impacts of urban renewal, like 501 Cherry and the Carlton Mobile Home Park. Instead, you are leaving $10 million on the table for the two projects in Fifeville and West Main Street.
You know the history. Vinegar Hill, Gospel Hill, Star Hill.The repeated displacement of Black Charlottesville did not happen by accident. It happened through public decisions, public neglect, and public willingness to call harm by other names, urban renewal, market rate supply, urban density.
You have shown us again and again that only the interests of those with money and power matter. Voters will remember. They'll remember the $10 million. They'll remember your utter disregard and disrespect for the residents and community members who have named the harm here at every meeting for nearly a year.
Thank you. W.N. Martin? W.N. Martin? Hello. First, thanks to the public works people. Well deserved. I'm here as a resident of Fry Springs also, like Laura Jose was. I've lived in Charlottesville for over 40 years and in the Fry Springs neighborhood for all of that.
I don't own property on Stribling, but I have friends that I've known, so I'm on Stribling at least once or twice a week with those friends. And I know how the street is a danger and a hard place to navigate by both bicycle and walking.
I also know the history that Laura does. I was at all those public meetings about the different aspects of it. The notion that the easement seems to be a late-breaking issue is kind of unusual, as that kind of thing was the sort of easements that are needed or needed by all the plans, and so that could have been well underway already.
But the other thing I'd like to mention is that there's been a recent utilities project on Stribling. This is not the central line. This is a separate one. And the citizens along there, the residents along there, have been putting up with almost two years of a pretty mismanaged construction project along that line there.
And I think a lot of people who were putting up with that really thought, "Well, it's okay because we're going to get a new sidewalk, and that's going to do a new street covering, and we're all going to have something really nice by maybe into '27 or '28." And so there was a lot of goodwill toward what I think was a fairly bad, bad in the sense of digging up the street and leaving it gravel for weeks and weeks and weeks through rainstorms, so it was dangerous to drive through with potholes.
But I think a lot of that was, "Well, that's okay. The city's going to come through with this sidewalk, and we're going to have a really nice street to walk on and a good pavement for doing that." So I think not going ahead with the project would be a major disadvantage for the people there in terms of safety, but also a major loss of trust in the city of actually coming through with things they have said that they're going to do, understandings of how they're going to finance certain pieces of it, and getting the job done, letting the public works crews get out there and do their good job and get a good project going.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Don? Don? Good evening. Don Gathers- Evening ... city resident. I do not come here this evening in peace. I come today trying my best to understand why some of you still continue to ignore the will of the people.
Some of you have seemingly sold what's left of your soul to the countless stream of developers that continuously swoop into Charlottesville. Councilor Payne, Councilor Fletcher, I applaud you for standing firm, listening to the people, and doing what you knew was morally right.
The other three of you, Lloyd, Natalie, and Juan Diego, the egregious, horrific vote that you placed at the last city council meeting will probably be your lasting legacy. You all routinely and systematically go against the very direction of the boards and commissions that you've empaneled.
You disregard the words of the citizens heard during Community Matters. Lloyd, you have morphed into Charlottesville's version of Rudy Giuliani, brazen, verbose, mean-spirited, and wrong, all while snookering the people of Charlottesville.
Natalie, you would seemingly be the love child of Margaret Thatcher and Nancy Reagan could procreate. Your Ostronomiks bear the hope of trickle-down housing that does not, has not, and will not manifest itself in any meaningful way.
And you, Juan Diego, you are turning into the Mike Signer 2.0. To hell with the people, damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. You sit on the precipice of becoming a modern-day N***o pen. A what? N***o pen.
You are the Charlottesville's answer to Clarence Thomas, leading the charge for the newest version of Jim Crow redlining, betraying the people of Charlottesville. I would like to think there's presently a crisis of conscience, yet I'm left to wonder if there is a conscience.
What you demonstrate is not leadership, it's cowardice. Cowardice in its worst form. You're being used as the modern-day racist tools of white supremacy. Your seemingly thoughtless actions will surely drive up the homeowners' cost in taxes, causing many of them to have to leave their family homes.
This, at best, is backdoor gentrification. These developers are Charlottesville's weapons of mass destruction, and you would never allow this to go on in Greenbrier or Park Street or Belmont.You may think that this fixes the previous screw-up on the zoning ordinance, but in reality, it's the moral equivalence of changing your shirt because you've crapped your pants.
While your actions will surely expand the city's tax base, it will simultaneously change the very landscape of the Fifeville community. It will most assuredly change the fabric of an established community that you were elected in part to protect and not to destroy.
You were elected to represent all the people, not just the rich, but here you've missed the mark. Thank you. The next speaker is Jason. First, before I speak about why I'm here, I wanted to say that my wife turned 50 last week, and her first job in Charlottesville was working for Norman Dill.
Yeah. He's done a lot for our community. Good. That was 20-plus years ago. Yeah. So, thank you for all you've done. Mm-hmm. My name's Jason Halbert. I live in the Fry Springs neighborhood. While I'm on the board of the Fry Springs Neighborhood Association, these are my own comments.
I've enjoyed seeing the capital projects that are getting done under City Manager Sanders' leadership, with Steve Hicks at the helm. You guys are doing a good job on the city projects with public works.
It's been a long time. Some of the projects that I've advocated for for over 20 years are finally getting done, and that's great to see. Small things and big things, from affordable housing on the big side, the new schools on the big side, to small things like retaining walls in our neighborhood that have been ready to fall over for a long time.
So I thank you for that. I've been silent though, as our assessments jump and the tax rate increases twice in the last few years because of those improvements, but I'm here to speak about the slowdown or stoppage of the Stribling Avenue sidewalk improvements.
I think that would be a big mistake on council and the city manager's part if you were to slow that project down. It's been in the works for years. You've spent a lot of money on it. The designs are well past the 60% mark.
And I get that there's a lot of budget shuffling and reprioritization, but this thing is underway, and you need to get it done. As Laura and Worthy said before me, the neighborhood is expecting it. The neighborhood deserves it.
We've come forward to city council long before the 240 Stribling development was approved, asking for improvements to Stribling Avenue. It's just not a safe street. If you're going to add 170 families to that street at the end and not improve the street, you're just asking for a kid to get hit on a bike or a stroller to get hit.
You're just asking for it. So I understand the complications of being a city councilor and managing and juggling a budget. There are always more demands than money can afford, but I don't think you can slow down and stop this one.
I think you need to move forward with it. Thank you. Thank you. Carlisle Wade. Good evening. My name's Carlisle Wade. I live at 112 Stribling Avenue. I want to start by saying I'm not here to oppose anything.
I've spent 30 years in construction and development, and I believe in what density does for a city. More people equals more ideas, more vibrancy, more support for our local businesses, and frankly, a smaller environmental impact than the same number of units spread across, say, half-acre lots.
I support the 240 Stribling project, and I want it to succeed. That's exactly why I'm concerned that the Stribling sidewalk project has been paused. This wasn't an optional add-on. The city acknowledged the safety problem on Stribling.
The city accepted a $2.9 million proffer tied to it. The city made these improvements a condition of approving 240 Stribling. The city made a commitment. Now the development is underway, but the sidewalk and roadway improvement meant to keep pace with it is not.
In the meantime, construction traffic has made Stribling less safe to walk than it was before any of this began. The need has not paused, but the project has. I understand the reason given was that it's over budget.
In 30 years, I've rarely, if ever, seen a project that came equal to or under its initial estimate. Costs can rise for a myriad of reasons. That's not a surprise. It's reality. A budget overrun isn't a reason to abandon a safety commitment.
It's the normal, expected part of the work that the city signed up to do. I understand the most difficult case is the property owners that may lose on-site parking. That's a real impact to them, and it deserves a real solution.
That's negotiation, and negotiation takes creativity. I don't know any of the details. Perhaps dedicated parking permits tied to specific addresses. Perhaps new retaining walls that move existing parking closer to the units.
It might simply be a fair monetary deal, but that's the work, and it's solvable. I'm asking the council for three things. First, take the project off pause and recommit to delivering it in a timely manner.
Second, consider phasing it. Begin construction while negotiations with the affected owners continue. Progress and negotiation can happen concurrently. Third, give the neighborhood a timeline. We've been patient.
You committed to these improvements. I'm simply asking the city to be true to its word and to do so before somebody gets hurt. Thank you. We have the opportunity for nine more speakers. Who would like to speak?
I'll start over here. Anyone over here? Yes. Can I go up to the mic? Yes, please come up to the mic. Good evening. Hello. Thank you for allowing me to speak. My name is Amanda Nelson. I live at 123 Stribling, and I'd just like to paint a picture for you of life on Stribling Avenue.
The other night, I witnessed three young kids, one scooting, one biking, one running behind and kind of chasing the biker, all under six years old, down the street, up down the hill, back up, and having a wonderful time on a lovely evening.
That was my kid, who is graduating this week, when we moved into that house. And we were really confident that there were going to be sidewalks to make that street safer. And I have lived there since 2012, and we have seen a lot of other things happen, but the sidewalks are not there.
It is not safer. My kids are growing, and other kids are coming in. And maybe half hour after I saw those kids, there were two vehicles speeding at least 40 or 50 miles an hour down that road. I try my best to call those license plates in, but I can't get them all.
And I don't know that unless you live in that neighborhood or on that street, you become aware of how dangerous it is. But I will tell you, I have been shoved off the road as a walker. I have been pushed or drawn off the road as a biker.
And I just am so afraid that any pause here is going to be too long of any waiting time. And unfortunately, that could be the time that something really tragic happens. I'm just so nervous that every day something's going to happen.
I would urge you to listen to my neighborhood residents and others in the neighborhood to take the project off of pause, commit to the project you said we would do and that we signed a budget for. Move it along.
Let's get creative. We can solve this, but it needs to happen before anything happens to our kids. Thank you. Thank you. Do you want to stand over here? Hello. My name is Senlin Means, she/her pronouns.
I'm a pretty much lifelong resident of Charlottesville and Albemarle County. This is not prepared, so forgive me if it's rambling, but I'll do my best. I wanted to add a voice in support of what Laura Segani said.
As long as I've lived here, of course, affordable housing has been a scourge of the city. We've never seemed to be able to do anything about it. I don't know much about development or building houses.
I'm sure it's really difficult. But if you look at this city from Pantops or anywhere else, there's so much green space. There's so many just woods and, I don't know, whatever, vacant lots and vacant forests that can accommodate campsites.
And camping is a pretty good way to stay sheltered, have your dignity, have your life, and live, and it's a lot cheaper than affordable housing. It's kind of the least we can do and the least we should do.
So you see it all over when homeless folks go to an encampment. They set up a community. They start living a life for themselves, start building their own lives, and we go in with cops, we kick them out, and all we do is make their lives worse, and we make that problem worse and worse and worse.
And I use quotes on problem because whenever we talk about the homeless problem, it's really a problem for the people who have no houses, and we forget that, and we think of it as a problem for us. But it really isn't at its core.
And it's something that we can solve. And I've lived here for so long, and this city never fails to disappoint, never fails to live up or always fails to live up to its values. And along with so much stuff like White supremacy and fascist governments, taking care of people is simply the one thing we should always, always do.
It's not hard. It has nothing to do with politics. And if you're going to be making rules about the lives of homeless people, you have to go talk to them. You have to spend time in the communities, because I have.
I've worked with them. I'm friends with them. We talk on Facebook. And so many of the myths that just stay in the minds of most of us who are privileged enough to have a roof over our houses and food and a car.
So many of these things we think, like safety, they could pull themselves up by their bootstraps, all this garbage. It's just myths. And if you spend time with them, you not only see that they are wonderful people, members of our community, and that it is so hard to pull yourself out when you get into that place.
And most of what cities do makes it worse. So please, please try to work harder on that. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone over here like to speak? Anyone over here like to speak? Hi. Sibe O'Flynn with the Community Climate Collaborative.
C3 is currently leading a utility decarbonization study that follows on from a preliminary study done by Charlottesville Gas in 2024. We got grant funding to work with the Southern Environmental Law Center and UVA Center for Community Partnerships, contracted with an environmental consultancy firm named Dunsky to investigate financial, legal, structural pathways toward decarbonization.And there's a firm grounding in equity to protect Charlottesville gas ratepayers from any changes.
We're about a third of the way through the study. We have a few progress points to share this evening. So UVA's Center for Community Partnerships, they are leading public engagement opportunities, including focus groups, workshops from community members.
Participants will be compensated for their time with gift cards. Their input will directly inform pathways identified in the study. The project lead from the consultant will be visiting Charlottesville between July 6th and 8th to engage with councilors, city staff, the public, to answer some of the more technical questions that benefit from his expertise.
He'll also be able to present a status update to city council during the July 6th regular meeting if we want. C3 is also glad the city's not doing a five-year contract renewal to buy carbon offsets from British Petroleum who profit from both the sale of fossil fuels and ratepayers' good faith attempts to mitigate burning fossil fuels.
We hope alternative uses of the enterprise fund can be identified without buying another year of BP credits, which the city is currently considering. Another C3 supported initiative, the Green Teen Alliance, is a student-led group that unites various high school environmental clubs in the area currently circulating a petition through the community to improve recycling and composting systems in the Albemarle and Charlottesville schools, which will be presented to both municipality school boards this and next week.
The petition has hundreds of signatures, but more support is needed from the school boards' peer decision-makers like yourselves. We understand the timeline is short, but the GTA is asking for support from individual council members for that.
On a very personal note, and why my voice is a bit choked, just before coming here, I was shaken to learn two of my friends, Logan Holler Smith and Kel Riggle, were kidnapped today by Israel in international waters while on a humanitarian mission with the Global Summit Flotilla to deliver aid to Gaza.
In my fears for my friends and all Palestinians, I move to thank the city for having passed a ceasefire resolution a few years ago. I want to live in a community that continues to address the fact that we in the US bear massive responsibility for the ongoing Israeli genocide of Palestinians.
When incredibly brave people like Kel and Logan respond to that responsibility with direct action, they sail knowing there's a swell of support behind them from that growing majority of Americans that know what genocide looks like.
Because there has been no ceasefire, please consider what are the ways you as a city council and as individuals can divest from the US and Israel's ongoing genocide. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening.
Thank you. William Abrahamson. I live at 123 Stribling Avenue. When I moved here in 2010, we kind of threw a dart at the map as to where we were going to live in the city, and we landed in Fry Springs.
We found a very welcoming neighborhood, and one of my favorite parts about it was the fact that I could walk to the free trolley stop at Moore and JPA. When my family looked to buy a home, we drew a circle of where we could afford and where we could drive to, and it was pretty far out there.
So we made the choice to invest in the city to buy a fixer-upper home because we loved being able to access public transportation in the city and be able to move around the city, and we wanted that life for our kids.
I think it's very fitting that two of our first proclamations reinforcing our values here in the city. One is the value of investment in our infrastructure, the investment in the people that do that work, and making our city accessible for all throughout their entire life.
You've heard about children, you've heard about elderly. This is critical infrastructure that we have said is part of our value system. Tonight, I ask you as stewards of both our budget and our values to put those two things together.
Put the money where it has already been invested, where we've already spent years and years of your staff's time, of professionals' time, of the neighborhood's time building an idea that is going to make this a better neighborhood for generations to come.
That is something that is absolutely critically important. I was part of the group back in 2019 that had this conversation with multiple city managers at the time, in particular Mr. Sanders. And we established the long history of the value of this project to the neighborhood and the city, the 2015 bike ped assessment as well.
And it was great to have partners within the city helping educate the neighborhood about where the cost drivers were, about what were the difficulties of the grading, and the stormwater, and the right of way procurement.
People understand that. We can have that conversation going forward. People are invested in continuing it, and the staff that you just recognized deserve that right to see this project through. One of the first things that Deputy Manager Freese mentioned to us was, "What if we did something a little different?
What if we got a little creative with this?" Because it was such a big problem. It was so big that it couldn't be done in typical fashion. I hope we can continue that thinking, whether it be through phasing, different types of right of way tax accommodations, but let's keep that creative thinking going and get this project done.
Thank you. Thank you. Someone in the center? Anyone in the center like to speak? Anyone else over here? Yes, sir. Hello. Stuart Gardner. I'm a resident of Fry Springs neighborhood. I'm on the Fry Springs Neighborhood Association and former member of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Citizen Transportation Advocacy Committee, CTAC.
Talking about the 170 units at the end of Stribling, I was inspired tonight just to hear so many people already talk about quality of life forpedestrians, for cyclists, for people with dementia. And my message is clear, no sidewalk, no subdivision.
We've been talking about this for years. If we want to put in all these units, if we want a safe place to live, work, and play, as you guys mentioned earlier, there simply must be the infrastructure to support that.
So please follow through with your commitment, put a sidewalk on Stribling, and help invest in the community. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone in the center? Anyone else like to speak? I will close public hearing at this time.
I mean, not public hearing, community matters. There'll be another opportunity at the end of the meeting, and we are now going to our consent agenda. Madam Clerk- Mr. Mayor, if I could- Oh, Councilman ...
just ask for a point of privilege to ask our public works director to come forward and speak to this matter of this Stribling sidewalk. Good evening. Steven Hicks, public works director. So I've been asked to come to explain the reason this project is just on pause, as we really think this through and figure out other strategies.
As you all know, for years, this project has been in the works. The original estimate was around $13.5 million. Since then, we revisited, and we're using 100% of just city general funds. In most projects that are at this magnitude, we use VDOT funds.
What has happened is it's not so much the infrastructure that's the cost in the project or there's a risk to the project. It's the actual purchasing of permanent easement and temporary easement. Temporary easement to allow us to work in the area.
Permanent easement is to allow us to maintain the infrastructure we install. So the budget project right now, the status is $5.7 million. As of now for P, we spent close to a million dollars. Right away, the budget amount is $735,000, and we'll talk about needing more money in the right of way phase, and I'll explain why.
And then the construction budget is only about $4.1 million. The total budget is $5.7 million. All right. The challenge is through the process, we have a total of 48 parcels. We already have agreement of, we secured 12 of those parcels already.
We have a remaining parcels of 33. The additional parcels that we have went and started to negotiate with, some are coming back in figures that are concerning to us. The typical offer we're given, and we're only taking slivers of right away.
We're literally trying to stay within the property line or within our right away, ranges between $2,000 to $6,000. The counteroffer are in six digits. And so while we work with them, it also requires us as part of negotiation, and it's been mentioned here, that we can also make some property improvements to offset some of the damages they feel may occur.
Now, not all of them are coming back at six digits, but some are still three to four times the cost that we didn't foresee when we started a neighborhood project where we got the community involved and people wanted to participate and assist in moving this project forward.
So the unknown right now is mainly if we do not negotiate a price, and some have already told us, "We'll see you pretty much in court," that means we will have to do condemnation, eminent domain. Which means council will have to authorize the city manager to negotiate the property or condemn it, and then the courts decide how much we pay.
That's an unknown risk. And we anticipate already eight to 10 of condemnation cases coming forward. So let me give you an example. Where you see in the yellow-orange area, that's the permanent temporary construction easement.
And the reason why that's just a temporary construction easement is the area where you see the black and the hatches, that's where we're tying in the driveway. Either it's going to be gravel or paved, depending on what exists or what we negotiate.
You could see where the sidewalk, and that's hard, it looks like little dots where, if it's close up, it looks like little pizza. That is where the sidewalk is going, and the green is just the permanent easement.
So we're not talking about a lot. We are really doing a great job keeping it within, near the property line or actually just purchasing a little bit of the easement. And the road will be repaved, and we're also going to adjust the crown, because in some areas, the road looks like this, and some it's like it's flat.
And so by doing that, we have to raise the road up a little bit. That's requiring us to purchase a little bit more easement so we can get a decent road. All right. Here's another example, though. To the left, if you see where 63 is and 64, those are drainage structures where we are making enhancement to the drainage.
All right? Right now, it's not necessarily the improvement, but we're just going to try to control the runoff the best we can because we are creating an impervious surface new sidewalk. And we know what that means.
We have to follow DEQ code. We can't just say we're not going to improve some of the drainage. But the drainage is not that significant where it's going to be the reason the project can't move forward.The unknown, as I shared with you, I don't know if I can go back, is the right of way process right now.
So, we shared with the city manager's office the concern that it looks like we'll need an additional $400,000 just based on some of the numbers we're getting back as part of the negotiation to give us a comfort level to move forward.
This is an unknown area. Unlike VDOT, if we did condemnation, depending on the percentage increase of what the court settles or where we go, VDOT will contribute for those condemnation cases. So, that lowers the risk when you all do condemnation process.
So, the pause is just getting our engineers to huddle up to really look at what can we actually do, just the bare minimum, to still make this project successful, and then how do we work with the property owners, and some who don't live here, and explain to them this is a neighborhood project where the right of way that is needed to make this project successful is starting to cost a lot more than we ever anticipated based on all the community meetings.
Because I've been to four, and we've been to a lot of community meetings. Some of them, there would be 50, 60, 70 people there. That's the only concern. We see this project moving forward with no problem if we can get the right of way.
And that's the hiccup, and we want to be as transparent to everyone. That's an unknown cost to council to decide, too. That's all I have to share. I can answer any questions. Thank you. Yeah. One question I had.
Is it possible if the people who are demanding the greatest amount for their property are on, let's say, the north side, that you could shift the road three feet to the south or something like that? No, we looked at everything.
I have to admit, this is one of the better engineer teams I've been with. We are doing everything we can. The road already goes back and forth. We've got crosswalks in the road. We're doing everything we can to minimize, one, the canopy along the road, some of the retaining walls, and trying to do the best where it doesn't impact the property owners that much, but still gives us a proven enhancement to the safety and the character of the road.
We've tried everything. I guess my question is if the purpose of the pause is to figure out whether there are some tweaks to the project that you could make. Obviously, you don't want to make the tweaks to the plan after you've already started putting things in the ground.
If the idea is we're going to pause it, the statement was made until the end of the fiscal year, which is only six weeks away, and that in that intervening six weeks, you think you may be able to figure out ways to shave a certain amount of money off the project to make it work better.
Is that what you're looking at? No. We're relying on the city manager's office, the council give us guidance on additional funds, not with the cost estimate, for the construction estimate, for the right of way estimate, to increase those funds.
That's the concern we have. Okay. So, the amount of money that we've got, you had a sheet up there showing, like, $5.7 million budgeted. Yes. The memo that we got a couple of days ago, I thought was saying that the difference was between 4.3 and 6.0 million.
Is that between 5.7 and 6 million? I hate to be casual about it, but- I'd have to refresh my memo. I do reflect a memo, but the increase would be, the total project would be 6.1 million with the additional $400,000.
Okay. Which we may or may not need. That's just buffer to allow negotiation purposes. That's buffer to move forward with recognizing this has been very costly for a sidewalk project- Yeah ... that I've experienced.
Well, I- For right of way purposes ... if difference is between 5.7 and 6.1 million, that's- I could go back. I wish I had go back ... that's 6%. That's a year of inflation and construction cost. It's still- But the- It's- Go ahead.
It's an assumption at this time, and- Well, sure ... the point of the pause, let me just state it clearly. I apologize to the residents who didn't appreciate that the reference to the pause was supposed to indicate to you that it's not cancel.
Because I could've easily said, "Cancel it," right? So, we didn't do that because we're trying to figure out what the real numbers are so that we can bring that information back to council. It's probably going to be more challenging as we continue to move.
It's 400,000 right now. This is a very complicated project. It is more than likely to exceed that number even. So, we'll be coming back again. That's already more or less being predicted. So, I think the reality here is that we were hoping to get the pause and to get the information to this body so that you all can appreciate what I bring to you all the time, the tensions and trade-offs.
You have a big list, a long list, and this is more money for things that need to be addressed on that list. If the decision is that you want to move forward, then we want to bring you all the information that we can and make sure that that's clear.
I'll also say that not everybody in the neighborhood is supportive of this. They don't want to give up the right of way. So, that's one of the things that we are now having to negotiate on behalf of everyone else who has spoken up on this project.
So, it's complicated. That's really the message. And I just regret that we made the comment to you that ... caused this because we were trying to figure it out so that we could then give you the update.
So this project is not canceled, it's paused, and we're talking weeks. It's not going to throw anything off its major schedule of what we've already shared with you. The goal is to get the information to bring to council and make sure that we're satisfied with what they need to know to be able to authorize the additional funds.
Since there are motivated neighbors, which I've been to the meetings in Forest Springs- We're not going to send neighbors on neighbors. But could we ask them? We're going to leave it to the neighbors to be neighborly.
I didn't say that specifically because... And we don't want to show even addresses and things of that nature. This is a community project. We have appreciated how well the community has responded, but I made the statement that I made being transparent.
Not everybody wants this. I've had other conversations in other neighborhoods where folks don't want the sidewalk. They would rather continue to live without it because there are other issues that come with that.
So that's just being straightforward in that regard. So if the neighbors were to, say, do a door-knocking survey and check that out- I mean, they could. Okay. Just wondering. But this can't be a project where for a little sliver of property, someone is going to- Take a lot of money.
Right. It's a lot of projects out there, so- Well, there's a lot of those instances- Yeah ... so we can't afford for every one of them- Yeah, it is a complicated issue ... to triple, quadruple or more.
I heard also that there's the Stribling extension through the back that comes up on Fontaine. Mm-hmm. There was a little scuttlebutt from UVA that they were maybe thinking about turning that into a shared use path.
Does anyone know anything about that? I've not engaged on that. It's under county. Hmm? It's in the county. Yeah, but to coordinate this project. No contact from UVA. Okay, so we proceed as- That's correct ...
we proceed and hope that... Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Other questions on this project? Thank you, as you made it crystal clear, the- We're trying. Yes. I will provide an update and a future city manager's report.
We'll get a message to the neighborhood group so that everyone can appreciate that we're back on track. The project is just temporarily paused, which doesn't mean we're not working on it. It just means it's not moving as the schedule outlined.
I think we were at the consent agenda. Consent agenda. Yes. Yeah. Consent agenda number three, minutes February 17th regular meeting, March 2nd regular meeting. Four, a resolution to appropriate $389,975 from the Virginia Department of Housing & Community Development Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS/HIV grant.
Second reading. Five, resolution to appropriate $98,484 from the Virginia Department of Housing & Community Development, Virginia Homeless Solutions Program grant. Second reading. Six, a resolution reallocating $200,000 in capital improvement plan funds for the Downtown Mall Crossing project.
Second reading. Seven, resolution, the proposed one-year annual action plan and associated funding recommendations for HUD-funded activities for program year 2026 to 2027. A major amendment, approximately $1,205,469.64.
Second reading. And that has three sub-resolutions. One is to approve the City of Charlottesville Thomas Jefferson Area Home Consortium one-year annual action plan for program year 2026 to 2027. Second reading.
Resolution to appropriate community development block grant funds anticipated from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for program year 2026 to 2027, approximately $464,924. Second reading.
The third is to approve awards of Home Investment Partnership program funds anticipated from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for program year 2026 to 2027, approximately $92,568.21.
Second reading. Number eight, a resolution initiating amendment to Chapter 9: Community Facilities and Services of the city's comprehensive plan. Number nine, a resolution considering a special exception permit request for 408 Harris Road.
10, a resolution approving the public works 2025 to 2026 Pollacks Branch Trail bridge activity, a minor amendment to the city's annual action plan in the amount of $55,527.91 in CDBG funds previously approved by council.
11, ordinance. This is a repeal of obsolete provisions in Chapter 3: Amusements of the Charlottesville City Code. Would just highlight that on the consent agenda, there's several items of hundreds of thousands of dollars total related to affordable housing interventions, particularly around homelessness, including investment in the Haven eviction diversion, and other housing programs.
So just wanted to highlight it, touch it, just given the conversation as it touches on a little bit of some of the things we do. In that said, would make a motion to approve the consent agenda. Is there a second?
Second. Okay. I have initiated a vote. Hold on. Coming. Okay. Motion passes five to- Sorry Five to zero. Thank you very much. The next item on the agenda is city manager's report. So there's a couple of items this evening.
I'm going to give comments, but I'm going to wait and go last. Misty Graves is going to... Right. Sorry. We're going to have our youth council make their presentation this evening. Greetings, everyone.
My name is- Greetings ... Wanika Howard, a youth council opportunity coordinator, and I brought my youth council here. They would like to present on what they've been working on this school year as far as moving youth council forward, their recommendations, and how they would like their voices to be heard.
So you'll hear from youth council. Next slide. If there's a- Next slide please ... clicker, yeah. If you want to click it yourself. Hi, my name is Alex Zembren. I'm going to introduce the members of Youth Council this year.
So this year we had David Daring, Dylan Grist, Emma Bennett, Ishan Panicker, Lela Castleman, Lucia Clarence, Olivia, and Nora. Good evening, councilors, mayor, and vice mayor. My name is Nora Erkens, and I'm a sophomore in high school at CHS, and this is my second year doing Youth Council.
I am Olivia Zembren. I'm a freshman at CHS, and this is also my second year doing Youth Council. Okay, so today we'd like to present on first how Youth Council will look moving forward, and we want to talk about how we might amend the sustainability and membership of Youth Council in the future.
And we want to improve the Youth Council experience through increasing knowledge and information of different events going on within our community. We would also want to increase community partnerships and school partnerships, as well as community building and engaging outside of the four walls.
Okay. To expand on ways that we can create enrollment in the future more sustainable, we have some recommendations. And to start, I want to say we want to include youth council members somewhat in assisting the adults who run Youth Council and bringing in new members and selecting the new members.
And we want to change a bit the current guidelines where we would instead select applicants based on the percentage of the pool applying. And then we would also like to possibly present a renewal application process for current youth council members, where we would reopen their applications and possibly reassess if they're still meeting the attendance requirements or are motivated and showing up, because this year we had a bit of a drop-off in members, and this would just make sure that everybody who's part of Youth Council would want to be there and be active members.
We were also interested in creating a program that was stipended as an incentive rewards for the people who are in Youth Council and for their work. They shouldn't feel like they can't engage between work and participating, and we would also like to create partnership with middle school and high school history departments, AVID, public speaking coursework, and more, which would promote and engage schools to partner with Youth Council.
Okay. Thank you. Who is next? Hello. My name's Ishan Panicker, and I'm a sophomore in high school. CHS. Sorry. Hi, my name's Dylan Grist. I'm a junior at Charlottesville High School. So we're here to talk about the changes we want to make to how Youth Council works.
So our main thing, during our monthly meetings, we usually discuss about how there are many youth in the city of Charlottesville who are really interested in involving themselves in community matters.
But often they don't know how or where to start and what resources are available to them. This is why we want Youth Council to be more than just monthly meetings. We want it to be about education and real youth empowerment.
We want to host sessions regarding how the local government works, how to use your voice in board meetings and city council meetings, and also understanding your rights as a young person. In addition to civic engagement, we want to discuss about preparing youth for their life after high school.
So this would involve sessions related to life skills such as navigating through college, employment, and financial independence. Oh, shoot. And another issue that came up this year was that due to weather concerns and different things like that, we missed a good amount of meetings, and we really weren't able to have the same level of Like preparedness or something like that, that we would usually have because of the fact that our meetings are monthly and if they're canceled or delayed in some way, we did not get them back.
And so we want to increase the frequency of meetings from maybe from once a month to twice a month. And in addition to the frequency, we would also like to host a meeting at CHS to support inclusion. Not only people in youth council be included, but also it be open to students from the whole school or maybe from other schools to come in and share their opinions and share their voices.
And this would be a opportunity for students to share their opinions about what's the status of the school and what they believe that the school is doing right or wrong, or what they would change. And having something like that without consequence, and just having students speak their minds.
And of course, this would be in partnership with the school and it would be probably advertised and announced over the loudspeaker by the school. Okay. I'm filling in for those who weren't able to be here.
Mm-hmm. So another thing that they wanted to do is take their voices out into the community, and some of the things that they suggested is having a table at Fridays After 5, having school walk feedback sessions where the students can walk and talk about things that they want to change.
Also having a table where they can also advertise or promote youth council and what it is that they do. And again, they're also asking to have some type of voice and place within the school, so that way they can reach the crowd.
The causes of what evoked some of these conversations this year from our young folks was the presence of ICE, nationally and locally, and also being inspired and encouraged by their youth who participated in walkouts.
And so we had to have some conversations on, how do we use our voice effectively, and what does that look like when you are a young teen? Another thing that came up was the special election, and a lot of folks didn't realize that when they are at 17 and some months, that they can register to vote.
And so that also was a conversation of, why aren't we being educated on these things? And so being able to have a place and a space where we can have these deeper dives and conversations to truly empower our youth so that they can go out and be the leaders that we know that they can be.
Thank you. Any questions? Thank you. Can the youth come up, please? Just want to thank you all so much for your input. I just wanted to just ask the question, what did you get most out of this, your last year in participating on this committee?
I can start. So this year, as it may have been Ishuan who had said, we definitely missed a lot of meeting time due to weather and the ginormous snowstorm that hit in the winter. Yeah . So we didn't get as much substantial boots on the ground work as we could've wanted to this year.
Mm-hmm. But this year, I think we all really gained just getting together and talking and noticing and identifying what in our community is something and issues that need to be touched on, and what are things that we, as youth, can do to create more of a community and more of a cohesive way that youth in Charlottesville can get together, and just talking about these issues.
I think that was really great this year. Good. Anyone else want to chime in? They won't say this, but I noticed that they actually came together and worked more cohesively as a group. And for teenagers to think outside of themselves- Mm ...
and consider their whole student body, that was more present this year as far as how can we open this up and reduce as many barriers as possible so we can truly hear the voices of everyone? That was something that really stood out for me this year as they were talking about the changes that were taking place in the high school and how they wanted to use their voices effectively.
So I'm going to let them take it. Does other councilors have questions? Yeah. It struck me as I was hearing you all talk about the things that you wanted to do. Sitting up here, I'm used to people saying, "Here's what we want council to do." And I was struck by the fact that almost nothing of what you were talking about was anything the council would do, but things that you working through the school administration, maybe through the school board.
But there are things that maybe the major constraint is sort of everybody's energy level. I know it takes a lot of time to do all this stuff in addition to school things. Is there anything that you saw there in what you're talking about that council needs to do?
Can I answer that question? Yeah. I'm sorry, y'all. I was like... She's coming- I'll take advice anywhere I can get it. Yeah. She's coming to ask for money, just be real. Money today. Today . Not today.
I'm Charlsie Stratton. I'm the deputy director of the Department of Human Services. I get to hang out with these wonderful children and Ms. Wanika. The answer is, the changes to how the Youth Council runs in terms of onboarding and accepting applicants is out of our hands.
That is something that city council has to change, and we can give you the list of ways we want to change that . But that would need to come from city council. And also, the stipend piece where we can be more inclusive of kids that have to choose between working and being a part of city council, especially as we're looking at adding in more meetings and more time together.
We want to get rid of that barrier where kids have to choose if they help mom with a bill or come participate in this wonderful council. So, those are the two things that city council can really help us with, changing how it's structured.
You did kind of slide in as if we reminded her . You right. She's good at it. But I called it a stipend. No, I just- She wanted to prove to me that she is. So, we will make sure that Assistant City Manager Roman will be in conversation with Ms.
Graves about that, make sure that we get that information passed forward for consideration on how to take it forward. And how would you work on the part that Dylan mentioned about the school meeting on-site in the school and being more inclusive?
Would that be school board or- Administration Administration? Yeah. Just curious. Administration. And so we did have school board members and the principal come at the start of the school year, and so hearing that we can take it beyond where we are currently meeting, which is city space, revisiting that with Dr.
Malone, seeing how we can actually get that on the school calendar and their after-school activities. Fantastic. Thank you. I guess- Oh, go ahead. Two questions. One of the things that was brought up that was an interesting reflection is the intersection of ICE and national politics in the work, as well as how to approach walkouts and protests.
And one, I'm just curious what reflections that you all had around that. And then two, the topic of better information about how to advocate in front of local government was also something that was discussed.
What areas would be helpful, or were there specific questions around how to be effective with local government? Sure, yeah. So I was one of the students at Charlottesville High School who participated in the ICE walkout, and I think there was a large amount of turnout.
And I think that just continuing to have programs or have resources that educate people on local and national politics and educate them on what they have a right to, how they can make a difference in their community, I think that's really important.
I feel like something that maybe council could be a part of is sharing Youth Council so more students know about it. For me, before this year, I wasn't even aware that I could go to the general assembly, and then I did go, and I advocated for a few bills, but I didn't know until now.
And I didn't know about early voter registration. And Youth Council is a great place to learn about that, but I feel like most students don't even know about Youth Council. So, yeah. Yeah. Well, I would definitely say the walkout certainly got a lot of people's attention, and I think spurred a lot of important conversations and raised a lot of awareness.
So it certainly, I think, was noticed and felt throughout the community. I think that something that you pointed out is the difference between national and local and what we can do, and then how we advocate through our general assembly to reach national level, but then how we can affect Charlottesville and our own residents.
Is this everyone's first city council meeting? No? Okay, great. That's awesome. Something we briefly just chatted about on this end of the dais is we noticed there were five of you and there's five seats up here and wanted to see if you all wanted to come sit up here real quick to see what your future could look like one day.
Come on. And we're going to have you all vote on upcoming items. You'll do a better job than us. This is the best seat. You are welcome to take this seat. Don't worry. I promise you it'll be back. Hi, I'm Thank you so much for coming.
Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much for taking the seat. Yes. Excellent. Thank you. I know. That's why I'm staying. Yeah, please do. It makes me younger. Yeah. You feel the power surging.
I know. It looks different up here, right? It does. I know. When you look back out there. You have to wear Natalie's crown. Oh. Well. Oh, there we go. Yeah. Yeah. There we go. How about yeah. You got the gavel.
No, that's yours. Yeah, go for it. Oh All right, I wouldn't be on if I didn't, now would I? Go for it. Thanks, everybody. Thank you. Thanks so much for your hard work and input. Good idea, Natalie. Thank you.
It does feel different up here. Yeah. That's what I said the first time. Next up is Ms. Hamel, going to give us our quarterly financial report. Because we are having separation anxiety. Will they get to sit up here?
She doesn't want to sit up here. No, I'm good. I feel like I'm the wah-wah after that. Oh, I hope not. Good evening, Council. Chrissy Hamel, budget director. We're here to take an opportunity to present the third quarter financial report to you.
As you know, our revenue team continues to meet every month at least, more frequently during the budget session. We take more opportunity. In fact, tonight I have even a more recent update than what's in the actual packet.
But first, just to give you some highlights. At the end of the third quarter, as of March 31st, the general fund budget is about 78% spent at just over $205 million. Salary and benefits account for $59.1 million of that, and then other expenses are about $147 million.
Discretionary spending departments, almost every department is about around the 75% spent mark. So while our expenses are not actually that easily quantifiable a quarter, that does indicate that our budget is tracking pretty well on the expenditure side with our budget, although there are things that happen towards the end of the year that will impact that.
So, the spending piece is still quite a bit of an unknown at this point. But in comparison to '25, our third quarter expenses in '26 are a little bit lower than in the previous year. So while it's not significant, our third quarter spending in FY24 was 24.6%, and in '23 was 23.9%.
And this year we're about 19% spent. So, most of the things that are influencing that, from what we can tell, is that our third quarter expenses are traditionally lower than the first two. That's usually because of contractual services, also computer software, annual license that are due, those types of things.
But moving on to the revenues, as it's stated in the report, as of March 31st, revenues were about 67% collected or just a little over... or actually, I'm going to do it a different way, just a little under $179 million.
As you know, June 5th marks the day of real estate taxes that will be due for the first half of 2026. And that will include the one cent tax increase that you included with the '27 budget. So, if we can turn to the projections for the revenues, there are a couple changes from what's in your packet.
Overall, we are looking at a revenue budget surplus of about $5.5 million, or just over 2% of the total budget. The things that are highlighted in yellow on the screen, and then also in red, indicate the changes from what was originally put in the packet.
Most of the increase from the packet to tonight, the three big things, one was BPAL, or business and professional license, and that is strictly a timing issue based on how things were working and updated numbers that we got from our things commissioner.
That was about a $400,000 increase. In addition, our meals tax continued to perform strong, although they've started very slow this year. They have continued every month to be strong. And then personal property, again, as the work of the commissioner's office has continued with assessments, we are projecting an increase there.
So all of that together, again, is about $5.5 million revenue surplus over and above what was included in the '26 budget. And with that, I'll be happy to answer any questions. So plus 5.5 on the revenue side, and what's the expenditure?
We don't know. Right now everything is tracking pretty close to the budget, but there are lots of things that happen at year-end as other- Sure ... funds close out and things. Yeah. So, it's a little bit harder to project expenditures, but right now it seems to be tracking.
We're not anticipating any large underspending at this point. Thank you. Jen, do you have any questions? No, thank you. Natalie? Thanks for the update. Yeah. Sure. Michael, do you have any? No. That wasn't bad.
Yeah. Thank you, guys. Thank you. No questions. Thank you. There's that stipend money for the kids. Yeah. She was just worried that it wasn't fun. Yeah. The next, the last item that I have is just taking you back to last week.
In the work session on Wednesday, we talked about the state of homelessness part two. In that session, Councilor Snook asked that I give a two-minute update on homelessness going forward, just to keep you all posted.
So here it goes. I have continued to work through a series of conversations that I was aware of at that meeting last week that would be coming up, and just want to share just some of the moments that have happened since Wednesday.
On Friday, I met with the Ravenna Trail FoundationThey came to discuss the concerns that they have as it relates to encampments in the city along the river. But what was different in that conversation, and one that I appreciated and shared with them directly, was that they spoke from a place of wanting to partner and wanting to coordinate.
So I thought that was well-received. I received that well, and I thought it was important to be able to hear that. Naturally, they have a concern of being able to take care of the trails to make sure that those trails are available to the larger public.
There's just conflict in the idea that we can't make everyone happy. I shared that with them. They were very responsive, very supportive of the idea of getting the information that they felt like they needed to speak to their members, speak to their donors, because they're concerned about being in a position that they might lose support for some of the ongoing work that they have if they felt that people were going to stop using the trail system.
So that conversation was good, and I promised to get back to them. I'm meeting with Possum tomorrow. We're going to talk a little bit about their budget projections, as well as following up on the comment that I made to them about could they operate the overnight shelter now.
Now meaning as soon as possible. So that question is being further explored in a conversation with their executive director tomorrow. In addition to that, we've initiated a conversation to try to gain some clarity on...
Mitchell Matthews did the design work for the Lowberry Shelter Group. In the conversation last week, I confirmed that we were only focused on the use of the 27,000 square foot building that was purchased, that the small addition would not be a part of this implementation.
And the question was whether or not we could identify... Well, not whether or not. When we identify what we lose by not adding the small piece to the building, how can we offset for that potentially with other ideas inside the building, or what is it that we just have to simply accept as a loss?
So we've initiated that conversation and hope to be able to get that information through our Director of Human Services, Misty Graves. And the Community Foundation, I've been having conversations with Leslie Smith, who is the director of the foundation, and she has indicated a desire to engage with the COC members to help facilitate the conversation of production of the operating plan.
I think that is definitely something that we would like to have sooner rather than later, and she's going to try to see if we can help get that produced faster. And that's the two-minute update, and I will give you another one at the next meeting.
Thank you. Thank you. That is my report. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is our action items, and the first action item is a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a power purchase agreement and associate site access agreement for the Charlottesville Middle School.
Crystal. Good evening, Mayor Wade and councilors. I'm Crystal Ritervold, Director of the Office of Sustainability, and I'm here today to present you with a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a solar power purchase agreement and associated site access agreement for Charlottesville Middle School.
As you recall, in February, I provided you with an overview and an update of our efforts related to power purchase agreements, or PPAs, for two City of Charlottesville school sites. I subsequently brought the same presentation to the Charlottesville City School Board.
The presentations shared how these clean energy projects will result in both substantial cost avoidance, as well as progress towards our greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals and renewable energy goals.
They also covered what a PPA is and how they work. Since then, the school board has taken action, and a power purchase agreement for Charlottesville High School has been executed. I'm joined this evening by Megan Milo, Director of the Solar Empowered Schools from Madison Energy Infrastructure, with whom we've been working closely on this opportunity.
As a quick reminder, the important context for this project is Charlottesville's climate commitment, which comes in the form of goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030 and to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.
Charlottesville's Climate Action Plan identifies the installation of solar energy production systems on suitable municipal properties, including schools, as a key implementation strategy to generate clean energy, reduce electricity bills, and reduce greenhouse gases.
And it identifies PPAs as a mechanism to expedite this. We have, as have many in the community, been eyeing big buildings like CHS and CMS with big roofs and their potential for solar for quite some time.
With two new roofs on these two schools, they present themselves as ideal candidates for solar deployment. And we have been aiming to align the life of the roofs with the life of the solar systems on them.
The projected project size for the projects on CHS and CMS came with substantial installation cost deemed infeasible to pursue with local capital funding. As I shared with you in February, the power purchase agreement or the PPA is an alternate financing strategy, which presents an appropriate mechanism and an intriguing opportunity to deliver on-site power generation.
The PPA enables the customer to receive predictable and often lower cost electricity with no upfront capital investment, while also enabling the owner of the system to receive income from the sale of the electricity.
So here is just a quick reminder of the slide you saw in February about what the PPA is and how the model functions. The PPA is a contract between a power producer, referred to as the seller, and a buyer, referred to as the purchaser, outlining the terms of sale and purchase of electricity over a set period of time.
The site owner, shown here in the middle, has an arrangement with two power providers. The first one is with a solar developer who finances, installs, owns, and operates a new power generating system on the owner or purchaser's propertyAnd provides that power directly to the site through a long-term contract at an established rate.
The other is with a traditional electricity provider, in our case, Dominion Energy, who continues to provide electricity from the grid as needed and compensates for any excess power that the solar system generates and goes back into the grid.
So PPAs provide both price certainty for both parties, they can help the purchaser meet their climate and clean energy goals, and they can also help reduce long-term electricity costs. As I mentioned, we first received and reviewed a power purchase agreement for Charlottesville High School, which underwent significant vetting by the city attorney's office and the school board's council.
We now have a final PPA proposal for the Charlottesville Middle School for your consideration. The table here presents the roles of purchaser and seller, the system capacity, and the amount of annual traditional electricity that the system production will offset.
The negotiated rate versus the current electricity rate will result in avoided costs starting in year one, with nearly 1.3 million in avoided costs projected over the 25-year term of the agreement. And importantly, this proposal does not require any expenditure of funds by the city.
Another quick reminder on this slide, you see a graphic that I shared with you that shows the projection of avoided costs over time based on a guaranteed energy rate over the term of the agreement. You can see this hypothetical cost comparison.
The upper portion of the chart shows traditional energy costs rising upward. The lower portion of the chart shows the PPA energy costs in comparison, staying lower with less significant increase. And over time, the amount of savings or avoided costs increased as these two lines deviate.
My favorite slide of the presentation is this one. I can't pass on the opportunity to show you how great solar all over Charlottesville Middle School looks. So in conclusion, we see a number of benefits to entering into the power purchase agreement for the school.
The PPA offers a strategy to rapidly install large solar systems on our large eligible roofs without local capital investment. They support the growth of renewable energy resources. They provide significant long-term cost savings.
And this PPA, as with the high school, is projected to save money in year one and substantial avoided costs over the proposed five-year term. And they provide price stability. So this evening, staff recommends that city council approve a resolution authorizing the execution of a solar power purchase agreement for the Charlottesville Middle School and the associated site access agreement in order to provide on-site generation of clean energy for that facility, and thereby achieve significant cost avoidance over the term of the agreement, as well as greenhouse gas emission reductions.
Before I open this up to any questions or comments you may have, I wanted to thank Kirk Vizier. He's the city's energy management coordinator on my team. He's been diligently facilitating many of the site and data logistics involved in getting us to this point.
And I also wanted to thank April Wimberley from the City Attorney's Office for her thoughtful support and guidance. So with that, thank you, and I welcome any questions you may have. Thank you. I'll start with you, Natalie.
This is one of those things that we heard about, we heard about, we heard about, and it's very exciting to see that it's something we're very close to checking off our to-do list. Especially considering the federal shenanigans about the tax incentives that are being sunsetted, and knowing that we had a timeframe to get this done.
So thank you so much for all of your hard work and for your presentation and your updates. What is the remainder of the timeline for installation? So once we have the agreement executed, there will be a letter of authorization issued to Dominion by Madison, but the city has to sign it, and that will then start the clock on them developing their timeline to do the utility side upgrades.
And the project installation timeline will get backed out from there. It's well understood that nobody wants equipment up on a roof doing nothing. But both Madison and the city are motivated to get that system up and running as soon as possible.
So this time next year, we should be installing. Okay. But it's a multi-month project. Okay. And I assume you probably aim for summer vacation. It's a project that, again, I will defer to Megan, but they have experience doing portions of projects when the schools are in session.
Okay. And that would be a similar scenario with the high school, and the school board understood that. Okay, excellent. And the equipment purchased before the tax credit situation we talked about last time is- We're all good.
Okay. Could you give just a brief summary for folks who might not remember what we're thumbs-upping about? Sure, yeah. So thank you everybody, and thank you for your support and the great presentation, Crystal.
Yeah, so there is a change in tax credit eligibility, which is a benefit that is passed on through a lower power purchase agreement rate, and that is sunsetting in July. So this is really important that we are coming to this agreement now before July so that the city can leverage all of those benefits in the form of its PPA rate.
And so by executing this agreement now, you're securing that 30% extra benefit for the city. Great. Thank you.That's all the questions I have at the moment. Thank you. Okay. Michael, you have anything?
Yeah, obviously just a long time coming, but a very positive advancement for the city. I know one thing at a time because this project still has to be completed, but it just makes me think, for the city, thinking midterm, long-term, are there other kind of major sites where you think could be next opportunity areas for additional PPAs?
Any building that's getting a nice new roof is the next opportunity. Mm-hmm. And I know- And you have a series of schools- Right ... with roof replacements in your CIP. Right. And I know our airport is jointly managed by the city and county, and has some significant renovation projects coming up as well as large unused field areas.
Does that seem like a potential opportunity area that the city could use its seats to advocate for a PPA in that context? I think the answer is always yes. I think the timing of when that discussion happens and what the financing of a PPA looks like or solar in general will have to be looked at in the moment.
But my understanding is that if that's going to be a gateway to the community, it could look like what this community wants its gateway to look like. Right. That's it. But again- Mm-hmm ... definitely exciting to see it move forward and hopefully becomes a model we just continue to build off of.
Can I ask a quick follow-up question before- Sure. Mm-hmm ... somebody else jumps in? For any of those new projects that may happen, other new roofs for the schools, are we able to purchase equipment in advance without those projects being completely secure yet so we can take advantage of that tax credit?
We can't purchase equipment because we don't have the funds in place to make those purchases- Or- ... or to store them somewhere. Okay. But there's a December 2027 deadline under which we might still be able to access some of the federal incentives available to tax-exempt entities, so we're looking at what options exist for that.
Mm-hmm. And what about, you mentioned the airport, thinking of other modes of transportation, parking lots, parking garages, is that something we can chat about? So I think it was definitely our priority to get these over the finish line, and we're almost there.
Yeah. We haven't voted yet. Not to pile on, but- But I- Just put it to- The financials of some of the other systems, like canopy systems, are hard because it's actually the structures, the canopy steel systems that are expensive.
So there's a lot of projects that we can look at how to build that in. Mm-hmm. I don't know that we should feel limited by some of these imposed deadlines because we were talking about solar before those types of incentives existed, and we will talk about solar after those incentives go away.
Okay, great. Thank you very much. Just quick on that front, somehow I didn't realize until a week or so ago that Albemarle did it in 2016 on some of their schools, so it just points to the fact that- Yeah ...
it can still work. Mm-hmm. Lloyd, yeah. I'll just say this was part of my campaign seven years ago. Glad it's getting done. I'd like to encourage looking at parking lots and so on, too. Yeah. Jen? Nope, that's all of it.
Yeah. Thanks. Same here. Excited about this. Is this a public hearing? Can we get up on the roof for a ribbon cutting or something? Oh, yeah. We might. I can go on a roof. I will also say it is really- No ...
strategic. Well, Sam can't come, but it's really strategic to be doing this as well as we see news about rising energy costs. Oh, of course. Yes. Some of the projected avoided costs we'll realize as bigger.
So. Yeah. Okay. I think we're just all very excited, both for the checking it off the list, but also for the many wonderful benefits that it brings to the community, and thank you so much for working with us and for the partnership that you've created.
Thank April, and I'm sorry, your name? Megan. Megan. Thank you all so much. I think we- So will you take a vote? Yes. Yeah. Yes. We would like to- I would move approval of the resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a power purchase agreement and associated site access agreement for Charlottesville Middle School.
Second. Okay. Start with me. Okay, I'm coming. It's failed five to zero. Yeah. The next item that this motion passed five to zero. Thank you all so much. Thanks, April. Thank you. Great. The next item on the agenda is a resolution to approval of a refund of business tangible personal property tax and business license tax totaling $33,863.14.
Evening, Mr. Mayor, members of council. Happy Monday. Hopefully, this is the last one of these for a while. They kind of seem to come in spurts that as we renew business licenses, that's kind of when we uncover these things or when people self-report.
This is an instance where a business had been located in the city of Charlottesville and moved to Albemarle County and never told us and kept paying their taxes to the city. We eventually caught it and- And that's a problem ...
so now we're trying to get it straight. And that's basically it. Part of it's going to be a refund of business license tax. Unfortunately, we have to pay interest on that. The other piece will be business tangible personal property.
We don't have to pay interest on that. Any refund over $10,000, we have to bring to you guys for approval.That's it. Okay. Any questions or comments on this? Quick question. Mm-hmm. This is ringing a bell.
We've talked about this recently-ish. Is it the same one that we talked about before or a different one? It's a different business. Okay. There was one business I had to bring back twice because we had to go to the court to get permission to do the out years, and that took a little bit longer.
Right. Yeah. Okay. Thank you so much. Mm-hmm. I'd like to move approval of the resolution. Okay. Second. Start the vote. The motion passes five, zero. Thank you, sir. You're welcome. You have the next one, too.
This is a resolution for approval of the 2026 Homeowner Assistant Grant program. Yes, sir. This is the, like you said, Charlottesville Homeowner Assistance Program. It's not real estate relief because we can't give a tax exemption to just anybody, but this is a grant that we administer for the Department of Social Services.
It's entirely based on income. I have to bring it to you guys every year to approve, and the most, probably, meaningful piece of it is where the income thresholds are set. And you'll see any household that's 39,000 or less is going to get $2,500.
Any household between 39 and 52 will get a grant of $2,000. Incomes between 52 and 58,500, be a $1,500 grant. And then anything 15 five to 65,000, that's a household, would be eligible for a $1,000 grant.
These incomes are based on area median incomes, and then there is a limit on the value of the home. That is pegged to the median assessed home value in the city. So if your home value is below average and your income qualifies, you can qualify.
Thank you. Any questions? Direct many people to you, so thank you so much for- Yeah. Good. Yep ... for your time. Yeah, it helps a lot of people. Folks who can't quite qualify for the elderly disabled program, they can a lot of times still get in under this.
Any questions or comments on this? Did you have a question? Yeah. Todd, how was the $65,000 chosen? When was the last time that was adjusted? I do it every year. Every year. It's pegged to the median FMI.
Your family- No, MFI, median family income that we get from HUD. Okay. It's just a number I pull every year. So that way I don't have to keep coming back to you guys to keep adjusting it year after year after year the way we used to.
So now it self-adjusts. Okay. So there were 296 households that got CHAP, was that right? And so- That sounds right. Yes. How many do we think are eligible but not applying? Do we have any idea? We do our level best to get the word out.
Okay. We do some stuff with the communications office. We put out press releases. We've got some videos out there. I've done the TV spot with Mr. City Manager a time or two. But you never know. We try to build in a little bit of an increase year to year just to make sure we don't miss anybody.
But you guys budget for this as part of the annual budget, so this has already been allocated. Okay. Thank you. Mm-hmm. And on that point, just for the public, I know you've talked about this many, many times, but could you just walk through how in the past the qualifying limits used to have a hard limit that was determined by state law, and every year we would negotiate whether or not to increase or how much and explain how that is totally different than the past and it automatically increases each year?
Yeah. It used to be. It's just like you said. Typically, we would do it during the budget cycle. And there would be just this negotiation of, well, what if we set the income value here and we have two or three tiers, and so then I was coming back constantly with different variations and estimates.
And it was the thing that we did every single year. And if we didn't do it, it didn't get adjusted. And so there were years where it stagnated, and it didn't move until somebody had time to ask about it and think about it.
But a few years ago, we changed that, and I figured out a way to peg it to incomes so that they adjust automatically. And I think it's a pretty fair way to do it. So as long as incomes are rising, it's going to go up, and hopefully people won't fall out of the program.
That's the idea. No, I think it's been a very positive change. Thank you. Any other questions? If not, can- Just quickly, can you give a brief spiel on applying, the process- Sure ... how people can get in touch about it?
We will start taking applications in my office, Commissioner of Revenue's Office, in July. You can come into the office and do it. You can also do it online. Go on our website. I don't think it's live yet, but there will be a link where you can go in and supply your income documentation, attest whatever you have to attest to, andYeah, we try to make it as simple as we can.
But if you have any questions, you can call our office at 970-3160 or citycorps@charlottesville.gov if you've got questions. Go on the website, there's information on there. Thanks for asking that. I move approval of the resolution- Second ...
for approval of 2026 homeowner assistance grant program. Second. Vote's started. Thank you, Todd. Motion passes five to zero. All right. Thank you all. Thank you. Thanks. The next item on the agenda is a resolution to endorse the location for the Swords into Plowshares project.
Mr. Fries. Good evening, Mayor Wade. Good evening. My name is James Fries, deputy city manager. Trying to get this up and running. All right. Good evening. So the item before you this evening is a resolution to endorse a location or potential locations for the Swords into Plowshares project.
You will recall back in December of 2021, the Charlottesville City Council conferred ownership of the city's Robert E. Lee statue to the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center. The proposal that was approved at that time in conferring ownership basically included melting down the statue and then reforming it into a new memorial following a community engagement process.
The Jefferson School is currently engaged in that process, has been for quite a while, and I'm sure many of you have been tracking that. At this point in time, that process has narrowed down to three potential artist/design teams, each presenting a different vision for what that memorial could look like.
Once that process is complete, the Jefferson School will be presenting to the city and ultimately to the City Council for your all's decision that final design, and City Council will then vote on whether or not to accept that piece into the city's public art collection.
What we're doing this evening in putting this resolution before you is to provide some guidance and feedback along the way so that the project can move forward with a certain degree of confidence that they're on the right track.
And so the item before you this evening in particular would be a resolution to endorse one or more locations for aspects of this memorial piece to be located in the future. Now, it's noted that this is non-binding because ultimately the final decision is the decision of which you will accept the piece, and you'll be able to accept that piece as a whole or not, as council chooses.
But again, this is an opportunity to provide some direction and guidance back to the design group as they move forward. So the resolution is kind of in the choose your own adventure style in that it gives you an opportunity to identify what park locations you would want to endorse at this time.
Staff is recommending that at least at a minimum, we would anticipate the Market and Court Street parks, but you will recall, if you've looked at the three different proposals, those include a much wider range of parks.
I believe it's six parks in total, and when I was preparing my notes earlier, I forgot to note those parks, but I'll do it from memory right now, and anyone can test me if I get it right or not. Sure.
It includes, obviously, Market and Court Street. Washington Street Park is included in that list. Forest Hills, Belmont, and Tonsler. That's it. All right. I'll note that Dr. Andrea Douglas is also here with me tonight, and both of us are available to answer any questions you all may have.
Okay. I'll start with Jen. Super. Thank you. Thank you for being here. So if we only said two parks tonight, we didn't say a minimum, and we just limited it to two, I'm just doing a hypothetical- Sure, yeah ...
just to make sure I understand everything. Could Hood's and Push, can the two other groups still move forward with their vision? I'd defer that question to Dr. Douglas. Am I not- I'll- Am I... Uh-oh. I'm getting the stink eye.
Dr. Douglas. I thought you were coming to me. I feared for- The answer would be that as part of the plan for the project anyway is that the designs that you have before you would then need to be altered significantly.
Okay. Super. So they could still be... I didn't want them to get knocked out- No ... in that theoretical method. No. Yeah. Each one of them in one form or another does address at least Market Street Park.
Okay. Right. Right. Super. Thank you. And then- Just stay right there. Yeah, maybe stay close. I'll speak for yourself. How are you? So my last question was when you come back the second time on scale and specifics- Yeah ...
what will you need from us then that we don't need tonight? Just ex- or am I messing it up? No, you're not. It'd be essentially the same process. So our next step, their next step, is that they're going to finalize down to one design team, and then we're going to begin a process of meeting with staff.
We're going to essentially do it in a similar way to the way we do design review processes with development projects. That's going to be a technical review, right? Staff is not... is not gonna be judging these in any artistic sense.
But in the same vein, we want to bring forward and get that endorsement from council that you're okay with the scale as presented as that project has moved forward, before they go into more detailed design work.
Okay. But it would be essentially the same process as we're going in right now. Got it. Crescendoing. Got it. Thank you. Mm-hmm. That's it. Louis? I don't really have any questions. I will say that I saw the presentations at our meeting a month or two, whenever ago it was, and while I have not spent the time that I should have to come down to look at the whole exhibits and so on at the school, I intend to, but I just haven't been able to.
My gut feeling is that I'm concerned about the proposals that would have pieces of a larger thing scattered around the city in ways that might make them seem almost trivial in those locations. And that I sort of feel-- The design that appealed to me most was the one of the schematic represent-- or the symbolic representation of the baobab tree in Market Street Park.
But that was from what I saw of it in Market Street Park, and I guess I'm just not clear on how well I'm likely to react to having things sort of scattered around at the other places. Again, it feels to me like it's going to invite a response in a lot of those parks, or maybe not a lot, but some of the parks anyway, to say, "I don't understand why this is here." But that's an issue that we'll deal with in greater detail later on, after I know more and after the design gets worked out in greater detail.
So... Okay. Natalie? I just wanted to kind of summarize that when we had our special work session, we realized that this project is kind of moving along in parallel to what the city's thinking, but there hadn't been a formal agreement at any point to make this space available.
So this is really just kind of solidifying a process we all kind of were vibing along together. And so if we're endorsing at least Market and Court Square, Market Street and Court Square parks, would the recommended motion, because there's not one here, do we- There is one.
Is there? You're endorsing. Read us the motion. The motion to endorse, and the motion would include the list of parks. Okay. Page 239 of the packet. Oh, I'm- The very last page. I just see that it says, "If applicable," and a blank.
Oh. But someone else can make the motion. I was just clarifying that that's how we're getting to here, is just to make sure that we're in agreement at the steps along the way. So thanks. Michael? Well, I know it's a community-involved design process, and I know voting is still going on.
Just for anyone who may be watching or listening, when's the deadline for voting, and how can people get involved at that level? The deadline is May 30th. We'll close voting then. And there are multiple ways to get involved with that.
You can go to the exhibition, and actually cast a ballot there. You can go online to cipcville.com, and there's an opportunity to cast your ballot there. We have also created a handout so that if you weren't willing to vote after being there, and you wanted to think about it a little longer, the handout also has a QR code.
And the handout mimics every single thing that you can find on the website and in the exhibition. We've worked really hard to make this as portable as possible. Mm-hmm. Thank you. And I would just say, as I said at the work session, I think this is a huge positive opportunity for the city to, after the removal of the Confederate statues, to not just replace it with nothing and have them be public spaces that could be any public space in the entire country.
So I think it's an enormous positive opportunity for the city that I think city government should embrace. So I'm fully in support of the resolution in front of us tonight that allows us the flexibility of accepting whichever project is chosen in numerous park locations.
Yeah. Can I ask a quick clarification? Mm-hmm. For the feedback on cipcville and at the school or the QR code, is it voting and the most popular vote wins, or is it feedback that is then considered? It's feedback.
What we're asking-- the question is, which one do you like, and why? Right? And at the end of the day, as James mentioned, we will tabulate all of that, but we also want to have conversations with city staff to make sure that we understand what are the pushes and pulls in each one of those, and whether or not we need to increase budget, or there are ways in which that we can make sure that what is proposed can actually happen.
Great. And since you brought up budget, can you just briefly remind everybody- Sure ... about the funding sources and allocations? Well, we're raising funds for it, and so we intend to do foundation and private funding for it.
We're not asking the city for any money.Just so you know. But we never intended to. Mm-hmm. But the way that we've been approaching it is the next phase of it is a community engagement, and that's what we're working on funding right now.
And then we'll continue to fund. Now, once we have something in hand to take around, we'll be in a better position to understand that. Great. Thank you so much. Sure. So this is tagging on with, I support all of my colleagues' comments.
What Natalie was talking about is how you're going to make the choice, because they all are really nice. They kind of come from a different angle. But the public in general, they're not artists. And so how are you going to decide?
Well, I believe that we've provided quite a lot of information for the public. There is the installation that gives you information on how we got there. There is a full description on why we began to highlight the kinds of parks that we highlighted.
So we have available on the website, and through all three of the facilities, an opportunity to watch a story map about the five parks. We originally started with five parks. It was one of the designers who felt like Tonsler Park needed to be addressed.
So the bulk of the project is really about five parks with one design team addressing an additional park. And so most of what we have been working on is what we've been calling community awareness. And so trying to bring people to the place where they have the full spectrum of understanding of the issues that led us to the place where we were thinking of taking them down, then a discussion of where we are now.
And ultimately, by the time we begin a community engagement process, we will hope to have brought the greatest number of people to the understanding of all of our reasoning in that. So, I think that what we all have to remember is that what you're looking at is concept drawings.
I've been involved with monuments in this town for about 15 years. We are, in some ways, following the same process, the monuments and enslaved laborers that was used, the community engagement used to build that project was very successful, successful in the ways that they tried to reach out to various groups.
As we're looking at the demographics now, we have a good age mix. Gender is always a problem. Women answer questions more than men. And so we continue to work towards that. But the exhibition in itself, although we'll stop accepting opinions on the 30th, the exhibition will stay open through the beginning of July so people have additional access.
And we'll continue to do the tours, and we'll continue to do all the things that we've done to prepare people. We've been touring since November, and we do two types of tours, park tours, and a tour that is about the built environment and the visual language of that built environment.
And so we've done a lot of work to get people as aware about the project as we can, and we'll continue to do that. And how can people find out about the tours? Tours have ended, but there are other tours to be able.
But mostly it's going to SIPCville. SIPCville is our evergreen site, so it's not just even-- There are resources on there. So we have the Blue Ribbon report is on there. In 2024, we published the first phase of our community engagement project, where 600 people responded to that.
So if you aggregate all of this work, all of that information is in the resources part of SIPCville. So if people run through that website, they'll be able to keep up with the project and learn more about all of the issues that are involved in the thinking of it.
And I lastly want to say, the three design groups that we've chosen, they average 30 years of experience in this work. They are the three groups that are both nationally and internationally known for this kind of work.
So we feel like we're bringing to the community the capacity to have a very strong conversation moving forward. Great. Yeah, I was in some meetings when they first kind of was listening to the public to determine what they were going to design, and they were just all really, really good.
And we see why they were asking all the questions when they came back with the three designs. So my last question or comment is do you see any big obstacles now? Obstacles are always opportunities for me, so no.
No. All right. Before making a resolution, a question. So the resolution that's in our packet endorses it for Market Street Park, Court Square Park. Obviously, some of the designs have additional ones.
Would there be value in amending the resolution to incorporate those other parks? I think it says minimum. Yeah, my intention in drafting that was to fill in those first two and then allow you all to fill in the rest in making the motion.
Yeah, I just know the language is to endorse the use of the following listed parks, and then it's just Market Street Park and Court Square Parks. And so, yes. If the procedure would be to amend that, then amend that, but the intention was for you all to decide what parks to include on that list.
Understood. Yeah. But just to have as much clarity as possible, I wouldMove the resolution with the amendment of incorporating Booker T. Washington, Tonsler Forest Hills, and Belmont Park into that list.
Second. Is there a second? Is there a-- Yeah, second. Okay. Just a moment. Trying to... Thank you. Okay. I'm sorry about that. Okay. The motion passes five to zero. Thank you so much, Dr. Douglas. Thank you.
Leah Puryear, who's chair of the board, who's been part of this, thank you so much for coming out and all your work you've done on this. That is the end of the regular items. We're now for general business.
Last opportunity for the public to make announcement. Robin. Thank you, City Council, for listening to my emails. I got really scared when I took out my bike for the first time at the end of April and saw all the encampments.
But mostly I was nervous because I saw a lot of people who needed a lot of help right away, and this was different from last November when there was five people or five tents. As of yesterday, there's at least, and I'm not exaggerating, 20 more than I saw when I went on my trail ride April 29th or whatever it was.
But on May 5th, when I took my next ride, I noticed the charred area, the burnt area. But in between that time, we had smoke on Caroline Avenue, like thick smoke. In fact, I came out of my house because I thought my house was on fire or something was going on.
And I saw another resident of Caroline, and she said, "I'm not calling the police. You call the police." And I said, "Why wouldn't you call the police if you always smell smoke, and you always have this situation on 500 Caroline Avenue?" Which is the lower part near Fairway.
And she said, "Because nobody listens" or something to that effect. So I don't know who she complained to, but anyway, I called the police, and the captain of the fire told me it's not in my hands to go down there and to tell them not to burn unless I actually see a fire.
Well, I got really nervous, and then May 4th happened without anybody being alerted on Caroline. It took them three hours. I heard, not heard, but I spoke with a fire truck that actually put out the fire.
And that was my biggest fear because it is dry. And just today on the news, Channel 29, the fire chief, whatever, forestry, just said, "Yeah, it's really scary." Maybe the driest that we've ever had in this area, and this is the most trees is in Virginia, so.
And all of those fires being... Okay. So quickly, please address the fires. Tonight, I spoke to the person who had the fire. He happened to be here, and I just left because I didn't want to talk on it then, but they said they don't care to go to a shelter for food, and they should be privileged to cook.
And I say you all need to set policy, just like I can't open burn in my house. You all need to allow everybody who says their hands are tied to be able to set some kind of piece of paper that says, "This is a warning." Just like a ticket, a traffic ticket, or anything else, that they're not allowed to do that.
And so I couldn't go to sleep because my neighbors, my little baby neighbors- Thank- ... they're going to be- Thank- ... in trouble. Okay? Thank you. And it's going to happen, just like I said before, and so.