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HomeMy Public PortalAbout1983_04_13 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF LEESBURG TOWN COUNCIL AND PUBLIC 214 HEARING ON ZONING ORDINANCE AMENDMENTS , APRIL 13 , 1983 . A regular meeting of the Leesburg Town Council was held in the Council Chambers, 10 West Loudoun Street, Leesburg, Virginia on April 13 , 1983 at 7 : 30 p.m. The meeting was called to order by the Mayor, with the invocation given by Mr. Tolbert, and followed with the Salute to the Flag led by Mr. Belles (in the audience) . Present were: Mayor Robert E. Sevila, Councilmembers Edgar L. Coffey, Jr. , Reginald K. Gheen, Marylou Hill, John W. Tolbert, Jr. and Howard M. Willis, Jr. ; also Town Manager John Niccolls, Deputy_ • Manager Jeffrey H. Minor and Town Attorney George M. Martin. Absent from the meeting was Councilmember Charles A. Bos . On motion of Mr. Willis , seconded by Mrs. Hill , the minutes of the regular meetings of February 23, 1983 and March 9 , 1983 were unanimously adopted : Aye : Councilmembers Coffey, Gheen, Hill, Tolbert, Willis and Mayor Sevila. Nay: None. PUBLIC HEARING ON PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO ZONING ORDINANCE: A public hearing was held on proposed amendments to the Zoning Ordinance. Mrs. Hill said the notice for the hearing listed only four sections of the ordinance to be amended and there are actually six sections. She explained the proposed changes in each of the six sections and said the Planning Commission recommended all these changes. There was no-one from the public to speak on these pro- posed amendments . Mr. Niccolls said we will check to see if the Planning Commission notice was also defective and will readvertise whatever is necessary. Mrs. Hill said there is a preliminary plat before the Planning Commission to divide lots in half - she did not know whether the latter two sections would prevent them from resub- mitting their plat or not. Mayor Sevila suggested that, if we dis- cover that the latter two sections were not properly advertised for the Planning Commission, as well as the Council , . we schedule a joint hearing. The public hearing was closed . Mr. Gheen asked what prompted the change in Sec . 3A-3 (a) ? Mrs. Hill explained that, when the Zoning Ordinance was changed, the in- tent was to allow duplexes in the R-2 zone. Now, for the first time, we have someone proposing duplexes in an R-2 zone. The Zoning Ad- ministrator determined that the wording in the ordinance was not clear as to the fact that they can divide the lot down the middle. So this is to clarify that you can divide a duplex down the middle. Mr. Gheen asked if this would then increase the number of dwellings in such an area? Mrs. Hill said it would not - this is just so a duplex lot can be sold separately in fee simple. Mr . Gheen under- stood the ordinance allows a lot to be a minimum of 75 feet at the building line . Mrs. Hill said this is correct. Mr . Coffey asked if this would mean that some houses could be sitting further back just to comply with this? Mrs. Hill felt they could if there were a cul-de-sac. Generally, though, they are all uniform. These changes do not address this though - they only address the duplex require- ments for cutting the lot in half. Mr. Coffey questioned the lan- guage "a horizontal two-family attached dwelling with a common party wall . " Here the common party wall would be the floor between the two, so this would not apply as far as division of property is con- cerned. The wording is awkward. Mr. Niccolls felt a horizontal duplex would be one where both dwellings are on ground floor. Both Mrs . Hill and Mr. Coffey thought a horizontal duplex would be one unit on the first floor and another on the second. Mr. Niccolls said they will check to see how duplexes are described by the real estate industry. Mr. Coffey suggested incorporating a definition in the ordinance. Mr. Niccolls said what we are doing is providing an option for the builder who is building a side by side duplex to divide the lot in half so the lenders can be happy that the building is sitting on fee simple . He felt a creative attorney and a reason- able lender could work this out by a series of common ownership of the 10, 000 square foot lot, with a bunch of easements and covenants restricting each other ' s use to half of the lot. If a lender would do that, we wouldn ' t have to go through this , but they won ' t. MINUTES OF APRIL 13 , 1983 MEETING . COUNCILMEMBERS ' COMMENTS : 215 Mrs. Hill called attention to the proposal from G.M.F . Carpentry Service for renovation of the museum bathrooms. The Board put this out to four bidders and only this one bid was received. Their bid was $7 , 840 . She asked that half of this amount, $3 , 920, be included in the proposed budget for next fiscal year . The county is being asked to do the same. The second page of the proposal has to do with moving the furnace - we have nothing to do with this - the mu- seum will pay for this . They want to do this at the same time the bathrooms are redone. Mr. Tolbert asked if they plan to have a kit- chen in this building in the future? Mrs. Hill said they will have a sink of some sort - from time to time they have to wash the arti- facts. They hope to move the plexiglass room upstairs down to the kitchen area and use the upstairs of the old museum for offices . Though we bought the building and said we would not pay for any- thing else, this sort of gets around it because there are no public restroom facilities in the town - this way we don ' t have to worry about maintenance. Mr. Coffey said they had a good meeting with the Airport Commis- sion last night - it was very informative. He thanked the Commis- OD sion and the operators for coming in and expressing their views. ICt Mayor Sevila asked Mr. Tolbert to take Council ' s sentiments back to the Airport Commission - everybody said it was a very help- OD ful meeting. QMr. Tolbert said he received a call from a lady yesterday re- questing a pedestrian walk across Route 7 at the jail corner. Mr. Niccolls said there would be no problem with doing this. Mrs. Hill said we were supposed to have pedestrian lines out of the alley be- tween Caulkins and The Green Tree. Mr . Niccolls said this will be done . MAYOR' S REPORT: (1) Mayor Sevila echoed Mr. Coffey' s feelings with regard to the meeting last night - he commended Mr. Minor for his capable re- port, as well as the members of the Commission and the two fbo oper- ators. It was a good session. (2) The EDAC committee met today and considered the issue of repeal of County personal property taxes on Loudoun County-based air- craft - they have adopted a resolution which will be coming to Coun- cil . They learned from Jim Haynes last night that the Chamber of Commerce is considering a similar resolution relating to town and county personal property taxes. Mr. Minor will be putting together a "statement of justification" concerning this. ( 3) The EDAC committee also made some progress on the East Mar- ket Street study - it will soon be presented to Council and then to the merchants on East Market Street . We are anxiously awaiting this. MANAGER' S REPORT: (1) Mr. Taylor and his staff are working on the Budget now and it will be out to Council on Friday. (2) A written Activity Report will be out on Friday as well . Three people have been trained on the word processor and it has al- ready been applied to some difficult and repetitive tasks. As we move through the training and familiarization process, we hope Council will see an improvement in our work. The Lamplighter, which was sent out on Monday, was done on the word processor -, it goes through about four edits before Council sees it. If there are any objectionable items, errors or ommissions, please mention them. (3) The FAA has delivered a lease draft and this is being re- viewed. MINUTES OF APRIL 13 , 1983 MEETING. 216 (4) On the Airport project for the FAA, a staff group has narrowed to four the number of consultants qualified to do the engineering, etc . work on the flight service station and the ter- minal building. The so-called Request For Proposals has been de- livered this week to four firms, requesting their proposal on how they would conduct the work, as well as their firm cost price for the work. The firms are KDA, HNTB, HBC&W and Ballou and Justice. All are capable of doing the work, some more than others, and we will find out as they respond to the RFP. We are using the competitive negotiation procedures of our new purchasing procedures , which involves the selection of one of these as the best qualified and then negotiations over price and details , then a rec- ommendation. (5) The meeting to open the bids on the bond issue is a week from today at noon, the 20th. If Council would like to hold its committee meetings following this meeting, this could be done, rather than having these meetings at night. 83-47 - RESOLUTION - MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30 , 1983 . On motion of Mrs. Hill , seconded by Mr. Tolbert, the following resolution was proposed : RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Leesburg in Virginia as follows : SECTION I . Appropriations are made to the General Fund ac- counts in the amounts shown below for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1983 : Account No. & Name Amount 3101 . 101 Salaries & Wages $3 , 000 3101. 523 Telephone 800 4102 . 300 Contractual Services 2 , 000 4400 . 530 Insurance 100 SECTION II . An appropriation is made to the Utility Fund, Account No. 5300 . 520 , Heat, in the amount of $3, 000 for the fiscal year ending June 30 , 1983 . SECTION III . An appropriation is made to the Airport Capital Project Fund, Account No. 8300 . 250, Legal , Financial, Adminis- trative in the amount of $8 , 750 to remain in effect until com- pletion of the projects. SECTION IV. An appropriation is made to the Sewage Treatment Capital Project Fund, Account No. 8400 . 250, Legal, Financial, Administrative in the amount of $13 , 250 to remain in effect until completion of the project. SECTION V. An appropriation is made to the Street Construction Capital Project Fund, Account No. 8100 . 250, Legal , Financial, Administrative in the amount of $4 , 500 to remain in effect un- til completion of the projects . Mrs. Hill explained that the first two items are for the Police De- partment, the third is for snow removal equipment and the latter for insurance on a new truck . Mr . Niccolls said there was a ques- tion at committee meeting concerning the printing expenses of the bond issue . - 600 copies of the Official Statement were printed. There was the pre-bid and there will be the post-bid. Typeset- ting of numerical data is always more expensive than straight copy. There were three printers ' proofs and this costs more. Also, we tend to rush such things. He felt the price was reasonable though - Blacksburg paid $10 , 000 to have the same thing printed. Mrs . Hill also found it was reasonable. Mr. Niccolls explained the amount for heat in Section II - the Sewer Plant requires a lot of natural gas to supplement the methane gas produced by the plant itself and used for process to keep the digesters warm. Apparently they did not produce as much methane as usual , so this amount would be for MINUTES OF APRIL 13, 1983 MEETING. natural gas. Sections III , IV and V are bond issue costs. 21 7 Mayor Sevila reminded that they wished to change the format to show the fund from which transfers will be coming, as well as the fund to which they will be going. Mr . Niccolls said this will be done for subsequent agendas - this was already done. In addition, there will be a report which will set out the actual beginning balance, the estimated revenues, expenditures and fund balance. The resolu- tion was unanimously adopted : Aye : Councilmembers Coffey, Gheen, Hill , Tolbert, Willis and Mayor Sevila. Nay: None. 83-48 - RESOLUTION - RESCINDING RESOLUTION NOS. 82-159 AND 83-41 AND AUTHORIZING AN OFFER TO RAYMOND R. RODRICK AND AN AGREEMENT FOR PROPERTY ACQUISITION TO ALLOW CONSTRUCTION OF WEST CATOCTIN CIRCLE. On motion of Mr. Willis, seconded by Mrs. Hill , the following resolution was proposed : WHEREAS , Resolution 82-159 of November 22 , 1982 offered Ray- 00 mond R. Rodrick the sum of $9 , 500 for a portion of his land CT for the proposed construction of West Catoctin Circle and this O offer was rejected; and OD WHEREAS, Resolution No. 83-41 which altered the offer outlined OD in Resolution 82-159 was also rejected; and Q WHEREAS, the town attorney has prepared an agreement which has been approved by Raymond Rodrick which would permit the town to enter upon his property to begin construction of the street prior to institution of a condemnation suit for payment of the sum of $9, 500 ; and WHEREAS , the town attorney has advised that there are valid rea- sons for approval of the agreement and recommends the agreement be authorized by council; THEREFORE, RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Leesburg in Virginia as follows : SECTION I . Resolution Nos. 82-159 and 83-41 are repealed. SECTION II . The sum of $9 , 500 is offered to Raymond R. Rodrick for the land and temporary construction easement to allow ex- tension of West Catoctin Circle. SECTION III . The manager is authorized to execute the agree- ment dated March 31 , 1983 between the town and Raymond R. Rod- rick for the land and temporary construction easement to al- low extension of West Catoctin Circle. SECTION III . The manager is authorized to execute the agree- ment dated March 31, 1983 between the town and Raymond R. Rodrick which directs payment of $9 , 500 to Raymond R. Rodrick as provided in the agreement which will allow the town to en- ter upon the Rodrick property for construction of the road. This agreement does not finalize the cost of the fee simple acquisition by the town and does not waive any rights of the I/ town or Raymond R. Rodrick in arriving at a cost for the prop- erty. SECTION IV. An appropriation is made to the Street Construc- tion Capital Project Fund Account No. 8200. 703 , Catoctin Cir- le West Construction in the amount of $9 , 500 for the fiscal year ending June 30 , 1983 . It was felt that Mr . Martin ' s memorandum was very good and should be made a part of the record - this would provide the basis for Council ' s action on this matter. The resolution was unanimously adopted: MINUTES OF APRIL 13 , 1983 MEETING. 218 Aye : Councilmembers Coffey, Gheen, Hill , Tolbert, Willis and Mayor Sevila. Nay: None. 83-49 - RESOLUTION - COMMENTING ON THE VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF HIGH- WAYS AND TRANSPORTATION ' S PROPOSED DISTRIBUTION OF ROAD CONSTRUCTION FUNDS FOR THE 1983-84 FIS- CAL YEAR. On motion of Mr. Willis, seconded by Mr. Coffey, the following resolution was proposed : WHEREAS , on March 30, 1983 , the Virginia Department of High- ways and Transportation held a public hearing for the Cul- peper district concerning the distribution of road construc- tion funds and public transit aid for the 1983-84 fiscal year; and WHEREAS, the Town of Leesburg ' s 1974 comprehensive plan indi- cates several deficiencies in the existing road system; and WHEREAS, this comprehensive plan is currently being revised and a new plan is expected to be adopted within 12 months; and WHEREAS, an annexation agreement has been reached with Loud- oun County and endorsed by the Commission on Local Government to increase Leesburg ' s area by approximately seven square miles and population by approximately 1200 effective January 1 , 1984 , and proposed developments in and around Leesburg will require construction and upgrading of urban arterials ; and WHEREAS, it is critical that the highway department recognize the needs of the Town of Leesburg for urban arterial road con- struction over the next decade; and WHEREAS, the highway department has made an urban transporta- tion planning study and determined that several roads in Lees- ' burg are considered urban arterials and are eligible for state funding; THEREFORE, RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Leesburg in Virginia as follows : SECTION I . The Virginia Department of Highways and Transporta- tion is requested to maintain the balance of approximately $300 , 000 previously allocated for Project No. 007-253-103 (West Market - Loudoun one way pair) and the $200 , 000 pre- viously allocated for Project No. 007-253-102 (East Market Street project) for future urban arterial road construction in Leesburg. SECTION II . The department is further requested to accrue funds for urban arterial road construction within the town based on the town ' s needs which will be more detailed when the compre- hensive transportation plan has been completed. SECTION III . The manager shall forward this resolution to the highway department to be included in the record of the public hearing on March 30 , 1983 . Mayor Sevila said the draft before Council at its last meeting has been changed considerably to address certain concerns raised at tha meeting - it does an adequate job of saying exactly what council- members want it to say. The resolution was unanimously adopted : Aye : Councilmembers Coffey, Gheen, Hill, Tolbert, Willis and Mayor Sevila. Nay : None. MINUTES OF APRIL 13 , 1983 MEETING. 83-50 - RESOLUTION - AUTHORIZING A CONTRACT WITH THE VIRGINIA 219 DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH FOR PUMPING AND HAUL- ING OF SEWAGE FROM THE POTOMAC RIVER WATER TREATMENT PLANT. On motion of Mrs . Hill , seconded by Mr. Coffey, the following resolution was proposed and unanimously adopted : WHEREAS, no practical economic method now exists for disposal of sewage from the Leesburg water treatment plant except by pumping and hauling to the Leesburg sewage treatment plant; and WHEREAS, the town has the necessary labor and equipment avail- able or has authority to contract for pump and haul sewage collection services; and WHEREAS, the town operates a sewage treatment plant under per- mit from the Virginia Department of Health with capacity for treatment of sewage hauled from the water treatment plant: THEREFORE, RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Leesburg in OD Virginia as follows : O The manager shall enter into a contract with the Virginia De- partment of Health setting forth that the town will provide OD pump and haul services, either directly or through a private I contractor holding a sewage handling permit, from the Lees- Q burg water treatment plant or until connection can be made to an approved sewage facility. The manager shall give ap- propriate assurances to the Virginia Department of Health that provisions of the sewage handling and disposal regula- tions shall be met in the operation of pumping and hauling sewage disposal under the auspices of the town. Aye : Councilmembers Coffey, Gheen, Hill , Tolbert, Willis and I/ Mayor Sevila. Nay: None. 83-51 - RESOLUTION - AUTHORIZING NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ON UNIFORM REAL PROPERTY NUMBERING PLAN . On motion of Mr. Willis, seconded by Mr. Tolbert, the following resolution was proposed: WHEREAS, the council is considering adoption of a uniform real property numbering plan; THEREFORE, RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Leesburg in Virginia as follows : A notice shall be published in the Loudoun Times-Mirror on April 28 , 1983 and May 5, 1983 that the council is consider- ing adoption of a uniform real property numbering plan and that a public hearing on the plan will be conducted at 7 : 30 p.m. , Wednesday, May 11, 1983 in the Council Chambers, 10 West Loudoun Street, Leesburg, Virginia. Mr. Gheen suggested that our public hearing notices be printed in larger type in the newspaper. There followed discussion on this matter and Mr. Niccolls suggested that a study be made on this problem and a report will be presented to Council on the alterna- tives. The resolution was unanimously adopted : Aye : Councilmembers Coffey, Gheen, Hill, Tolbert, Willis and Mayor Sevila. Nay: None. MINUTES OF APRIL 13 , 1983 MEETING. 220 83-52 - RESOLUTION - AUTHORIZING A CONTRACT FOR ADDITIONAL. DESIGN SERVICES FOR THE WEST CATOCTIN CIRCLE EXTENSION. On motion of Mrs. Hill, seconded by Mr. Coffey, the following resolution was proposed and unanimously adopted : WHEREAS , the original contract for design services with the firm of Bengtson, DeBell , Elkin & Titus for the West Catoc- tin Circle extension did not include design of alterations to the Loudoun County High School bus loading facilities; and WHEREAS , a bond anticipation note has been sold for this pur- pose : THEREFORE, RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Leesburg in Virginia as follows : SECTION I . The manager shall enter into a contract with Bengt- son, DeBell, Elkin & Titus for engineering services for the design of alterations to the Loudoun County High School bus loading facilities as outlined in their proposal No. 62-83L dated March 29 , 1983 in an amount not to exceed $2 , 635. SECTION II . An appropriation is made to the Street Construc- tion Capital Project Fund 8200; 702 , Catoctin Circle West De- sign in the amount of $2 , 635, to remain in effect until the project is complete. Aye : Councilmembers Coffey, Gheen, Hill, Tolbert, Willis and Mayor Sevila. Nay: None. 83-53 - RESOLUTION - REQUESTING VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS AND TRANSPORTATION PARTICIPATION IN THE INSTALLA- TION OF TRAFFIC SIGNALS IN LEESBURG. On motion of Mrs . Hill , seconded by Mr. Willis , the following resolution was proposed and unanimously adopted : WHEREAS, the town is constructing two major road projects that may require installation of traffic signals at the Ca- toctin Circle/South Harrison Street intersection and Catoc- tin Circle/Dry Mill Road intersection; and WHEREAS, Highway Department Project No. 007-253-102 (East Market Street Project) currently under construction does not include a traffic signal installation at the intersection of Ft. Evans Road and East Market Street but changed traffic con- ditions may warrant a signal at that location; and WHEREAS , traffic signal installations on designated urban ar- terial roads are eligible for 95 percent funding through the Virginia Department of Highways and Transportation. THEREFORE, RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Leesburg in Virginia as follows : The Virginia Depprtment of Highways and Transportation is re- quested to proceed with the required studies to determine if traffic signals are warranted at the Catoctin Circle/South Harrison Street intersection, Catoctin Circle/Dry Mill Road intersection and Ft. Evans Road/East Market Street intersec- tion and if so proceed with the design and construction of these traffic signals as soon as possible. Further , the de- partment is requested to provide the town with a commitment for the study, design and construction and a schedule for work to be completed. Aye : Councilmembers Coffey, Gheen, Hill , Tolbert, Willis and Mayor Sevila. Nay : None. • i MINUTES OF APRIL 13 , 1983 MEETING. 83-54 - RESOLUTION - AUTHORIZING AN AGREEMENT AND APPROVING A 2 21 PERFORMANCE BOND FOR LOTS 8 AND 9 , PARKER SUBDIVISION. On motion of Mrs. Hill, seconded by Mr. Gheen, the following resolution was proposed and unanimously adopted: WHEREAS , the Planning Commission granted preliminary approval of the development plan for Lots 8 and 9, Parker Subdivision, on February 3 , 1983 : THEREFORE, RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Leesburg in Virginia as follows : SECTION I . The manager shall execute the contract for public improvements for the development of Lots 8 and 9 , Parker Sub- division, dated April 6 , 1983 , which contract has been altered to require installation of the public improvements within a one year period. SECTION II . The Peoples National Bank of Leesburg irrevocable Letter of Credit No. 9 in the amount of $6 , 040 guaranteeing OD installation of public improvements in accordance with plans approved by the Director of Engineering for the development O of Lots 8 and 9 , Parker Subdivision, is approved. m SECTION III . This resolution is in effect upon approval of [D the contract and letter of credit by the town attorney. Q Aye : Councilmembers Coffey, Gheen, Hill, Tolbert, Willis and Mayor Sevila. Nay: None. On motion of Mrs. Hill , seconded by Mr. Tolbert, the meeting was adjourned at 8 : 55 p.m. Mayor .tc.nC .�,,/ r_.,/ Clerk of^Council