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HomeMy Public PortalAbout2007_07_09 Council Work Session July 9, 2007 Council Chambers, 25 West Market Street, 7:30 p.m. Mayor Umstattd presiding. Councilmembers Present: Kelly Burk, Kathryn Sheldon Hammier, Susan Horne, Marty Martinez, Ken Reid, Kevin Wright and Mayor Kristen Umstattd Councilmembers Absent: None Staff Present: Town Manager John Wells, Town Attorney Barbara Beach, Assistant to the Town Manager Nicole Ard, Assistant to the Town Manager Kathy Leidich, Director of Planning, Zoning and Development Susan Swift, Director of Economic Development Betsy Fields, Director of Engineering and Public Works Tom Mason, Director of Utilities Randy Shoemaker, Director of Capital Projects Management Nagi Elsewaissi, Senior Planner Scott Parker, Senior Engineer Asghar Pariroo, Environmental Planner Irish Grandfield, Management Specialist Tami Watkins and Deputy Clerk of Council Debi Parry. AGENDA ITEMS 1. Questions on Tuesday Agenda Items Council Meeting of July 10, 2007 Council Member Wright asked to withdraw the item from tomorrow night's meeting regarding initiating amendments to the Leesburg Zoning Ordinance to eliminate allowance by special exception bank with drive through facility and eating establishment with through facility in the B-2 Zoning District. He stated a special exception application was filed today which c10uds the discussion of a broader Town-wide decision. Further, he stated we can discuss this amendment later once the special exception has made it's way through the process. Council Member Hammier concurred with Council Member Wright's comments. She stated Ed McMahon from the Urban Land Institute will be briefing Council in two weeks to discuss best practices. Further, she discussed the progress being made in Arlington and Richmond. It was the consensus of Council to withdraw this item from tomorrow night's agenda. 2. Work Session Items for Discussion a. Polling Places Report - Dianna Price, Secretary of the Electoral Board Dianna Price, Secretary of the Electoral Board and Judy Brown, registrar provided a briefing to Council on the polling places in Town. Ms. Brown stated Loudoun County has adopted changes to split the two larger precinets, precinct 405 Greenway and 505 Cool Spring. She asked that Council adopt the splitting of these two precinets and creation of two new precinets for Town elections so as to Iimited confusion on the part of the voters. Mayor Umstattd verified this would create 11 voting precinets in Leesburg. Town Council Work Session of July 9. 2007 Page 2 Ms. Price stated the addition of these two precinets will cost $2,000 to $3,000. Council Member Burk verified the precinets are bei ng split because they are very large and will be difficult to run efficiently during the Presidential election. Further, she stated she will support this decision to avoid voter confusion. Vice Mayor Horne stated she is in favor of keeping the voting precinets consistent. She discussed the way the boundary Iines are drawn for the Catoctin District stating her neighbor across the creek will vote in a different polling location. Ms. Price stated they struggled in finding a boundary for that precinct as they tend to look for natural boundaries such as acreek. Council Member Wright asked if the standards for precinct size in Loudoun County are similar to those used in Fairfax County. Ms. Price stated there are certain standards that have to be met; however, precinct size does vary across the state. Council Member Reid verified there will be a voter education program. b. Supplemental appropriation for Loudoun Arts Council Kathy Farmer, Loudoun Arts Council, addressed Council regarding the request for funding. She outlined the history of the First Friday program stating the program appears to be declining. Further, she stated the First Friday Committee has met to discuss potential changes to the program including the possibility of moving it to Saturday night and eliminating the months of January thru Mareh. Ms. Farmer stated improvements have been made to the First Friday program including partnering with the hospitality industry and adding musical performers throughout the downtown. She stated the Loudoun Arts Council did not realize their funding would be reduced by Council. Further, she stated the original plan was to hire a director to work on the program. Further, she stated the Loudoun Arts Council feels this is an Economic Development program and does not fit into the mission of the Council, except with respect to the entertainment portion. She stated therefore, they are only requesting $2,500. Council Member Burk thanked Ms. Farmer for her comments. Vice Mayor Horne stated it is a good idea to partner with the Arts Council to help support this; however, the money should be directed more to Crossroads or the Leesburg Downtown Business Association (LDBA). Further, she stated there are opportunities to look at best practices to see how other communities run these programs. Council Member Martinez thanked Ms. Farmer for her energy and attitude. Town Council Work Session of July 9. 2007 Paqe 3 Council Member Hammier stated she would like input from the Economic Development staff to see how we can partner with Crossroads and the LDBA to help the program grow. Council Member Wright stated if we are looking at reducing the Loudoun Art Council's role we need to be sure the LDBA or some other organization can continue support for this program. Further, he stated he continues to have reservations about making allocations out of the budget cycle. Council Member Reid stated the budget has been set and there is a lack of equity when certain groups have 15 minutes to address Council while other social services groups are only getti ng $2,500. Ms. Farmer stated the Loudoun Arts Council wants to see the program more forward; however, this is not the group to do it. She stated they can continue to manage the program for a couple of months. Vice Mayor Horne asked to defer this item on tomorrow night's agenda and that the Economic Development Staff provide a report at the next Council work session. c. Appointments to the Utility Rate Committee Council Member Burk stated she planned to bring forward two names for appointment to the Committee, Dave Butler and a gentleman who Iives out-of- Town. She stated Ms. Beach informed her that the out-of- Town resident had submitted all of the Freedom of Information Act requests which led to the litigation documents. Mayor Umstattd stated she has asked a couple of individuals to consider serving. Council Member Reid stated he will bring forward a nomination tomorrow night. Ms. Beach c1arified Council had stated they did not wish to appoint any person who is an officer of one of the entities suing us. Council Member Reid stated he would not support appointing anyone involved in the law su it, including someone who filed the Freedom of Information Act requests. Mayor Umstattd verified the residents of Potomac Station are not involved in the law suit. d. County Government Center Expedited Review Mr. Wells stated staff has a draft letter to the County for consideration regarding our support for the KSI development's consideration as a County Government Center site. He stated Gary Klaeik is here to represent the development. Town Council Work Session of July 9. 2007 Page 4 Mayor Umstattd stated at the interchange groundbreaking she was informed by Kettier that there was feeling among County staff that the Town could not approve the plans quickly or may be opposed to having the government center located there. Further, she stated the representatives from Kettler asked that Council send this letter to the County indicating our support for the site and ensuring County staff that we will do what ever is necessary to enable this site to move forward expeditiously. Mr. Gary Klaeik, representative of the applicant, stated Kettler is looking for the Town to provide assurances to the County that Leesburg would be willing to move forward with any rezoning or site plans quickly. Council Member Burk expressed her support for this request. Vice Mayor Horne and Council Members Martinez and Hammier expressed their support and apologized for missing the ground breaking ceremony on July 3. Council Member Wright stated it is great to see this moving forward and expressed support for the request. Council Member Reid asked if this property would fall into the H-2 Overlay District. Mr. Klaeik explained there is aproffer stating the project would be subject to Board of Architectural Review approval. Council Member Reid encouraged Mr. Klaeik to get a consultant to critique the properties in Ashburn stating the County is under a false assumption that those properties would be better suited for the Government Center location. Mayor Umstattd ensured Mr. Klaeik is comfortable with the draft letter. She thanked Mr. Klaeik for bringing this situation to Council's attention. e. Virginia Department of Forestry Master Tree Planting Grant Tami Watkins stated matching funds for this grant were allocated as part of the budget. She stated staff is requesting Council action tomorrow to allow Mr. Wells to sign the agreement documents for the grant. Council Member Hammier asked staff to provide an update on the Memorial Garden at a future meeting. f. Crosstrail Update Mr. Wells provided Council with a summary update of the status of the Crosstrail project. Scott Parker stated last Friday staff received a new set of plans and proffers for Crosstrail. He stated the primary focus of Peterson is to get past County staff's recommendation of denial. He stated the biggest change to the proffers was the removal of the age restricted component from the 1,000 residential units and the addition of 20 workforce housing units. Further, he stated the developer has removed the residential units from 100 acres at the Town Council Work Session of Julv 9. 2007 Page 5 southern portion of the property zoned as JLMA 20 and are proffering 40 acres of land for sale to the Town zoned as JLMA 20. Mr. Parker stated the remaining 1,020 residential units are townhomes and multi-family units. Further, Mr. Parker stated some of the encumbrance language has been removed from the airport property proffer; however, the language detailing the uses of the property is still included. Mayor Umstattd stated we've requested 40 acres at pre-rezoning price; however, Mr. Toth was told that 40 acres would be sold to the Town at a price in accordance with the plan. She stated she is getting the impression that this is not a good deal for the Town as we would have to pay what the market would pay if it were zoned to business community. Mr. Parker stated the concern is that there is no zoning category connected to the proffer statement and it could fit under a variety of zoning categories. Ms. Beach stated she received a phone call from Jeff Saxe in which he said his attorney would be in contact to discuss preparing the option agreement now, meaning there would be a finite deal on the table. Council Member Burk asked if the traffic study was redone af ter the age restrietion clause was removed from the housing. Mr. Parker stated the removal of the age restrietion clause will increase the County's trip generation calculations; however, he does not know how the County plans to address this issue. Council Member Hammier asked the status of reaching 100 percent vertical integration of these units into the mixed use center. Mr. Parker stated the application does not support that proposal. Council Member Hammier asked the status of the discussion that we as a Town have had conversations related to the fact that Peterson Companies could save $10 million by naming Leesburg as the utility provider and that the $10 million saved could then be used for transportation proffers. Mr. Wells stated their determination is that a joint system could provide a different set of savings from their perspective. He stated there has been reluctance to apply those funds in any particular way. Council Member Hammier stated for the meeting we have with the Board this week, it would be helpful for us to come with our numbers and methodology to show the amount saved and how those funds could be applied to the transportation funding shortfall. Mr. Wells stated we have plaeed that proposaion the table with them previously and this could be reiterated again. Town Council Work Session of July 9. 2007 Paqe 6 Council Member Wright asked if the County feels the applicant has met their transportation obligation, or is there is list of outstanding transportation issues to be addressed. Mr. Parker stated to the best of his knowledge the County does not have a list of outstanding transportation issues. Council Member Burk verified the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approves of the land purehase option being extended to 10 years. Dennis Boykin, Airport Commission Chairman stated the FAA has expressed concern with the land use limitations attached with the proffer for land purehase. Mr. Parker outlined the onsite phasing for the application. He stated the applicant is attempting to get credit against the capital facilities cost for completion of Hawling Farm Boulevard and Sycolin Road widening Phase III. Further, he stated staff is concerned that Hawling Farm Boulevard is scheduled to be completed north to south in two phases and the Sycolin Road widening Phase III is not scheduled until af ter the 900th home is constructed. Vice Mayor Horne thanked Mr. Parker for his efforts. She stated she is encouraged to see some movement from the applicant; however, she remains concerned about the ultimate cost of the 40 acres for airport use. Council Member Wright stated it is important to know what the impact will be on the schools given the removal of the age restricted housing clause. He stated the harder discussion with the Board will be related to hou sing as we continue to maintain our position that there should be no residential uses near the airport. Council Member Reid asked when the fire and rescue site is proffered. Mr. Parker stated the site is to be provided to Loudoun County once it is serviced by water and sewer. Council Member Reid addressed the need for a fire and rescue site south of the bypass. He asked if there is room in the development for the dedication of land for a ramp going north on the Greenway from Hawlings Farm Boulevard. Mr. Parker stated nothing in this current iteration has affected that area. He stated the County has taken no official position on that option. There was further discussion regarding the Greenway. Council Member Reid verified staff does not know whether the Community Finance Corporation would be relocating their offices to Crosstrail. He stated an active adult community was plan ned for this development and now that it has been removed we have the new issue of funding for schools. Further, he asked that staff provide analysis of the water and sewer costs and whether utility funds from this development would allow us to lower our out- of-Town surcharge. Town Council Work Session of July 9. 2007 Page 7 Mayor Umstattd thanked Mr. Parker, planning staff, utilities staff and Airport Commission for their efforts. Council Member Reid asked that Council consider requesting a cash transportation proffer for this project so the funds can be used for any number of different roads. g. Establishing a policy for the use and Iicensing of the Leesburg Star Logo Betsy Fields stated we had a request from a merchant who would like to license the logo to put on t-shirts to seil. She stated previously we had to ask an organization to remove our logo from their website because it was deemed to be inappropriate. Further, she stated we are still in the process of getting a federal trademark for our logo; however, we have received state trademark registration. Ms. Fields outlined the policy including the list of prohibited items and design standards. She presented the sample logo agreement form for cooperative advertising and co-branding stating this form would be used by organizations using the logo in print ads and on marketing pieces and would require administrative approval. Further, she outlined the license agreement to be executed by the Town Attorney for each business or individual seeking to license the logo for use on merchandise stated a $100 Iicensing fee and royalty of 10 percent of net sales would be required. Council Member Burk stated $100 seems high and asked how staff would determine 10 percent of net sales. Ms. Fields stated the merchants would have to provide sales data to the Town. Council Member Burk stated the Iicensing seems to add an extra layer of bureaucracy and seems arduous. Mr. Wells stated the idea of a royalty for the Town was suggested by the businesses. Vice Mayor Horne suggested increasing the Iicensing fee to $250 and eliminating the royalty. Ms. Fields stated most retailers use a point of sale system to track their sales for them. Vice Mayor Horne expressed concern that this would create additional work for staff. She stated it is important to license the logo as it gives the Town control over the brand identity. Council Member Martinez stated he supports the proposal. He asked how much staff time would be used to monitor the program. Mr. Wells stated it would be handled by the Town Manager's office. He stated our greatest opportunities will be associated with Court and Market Town Council Work Session of July 9. 2007 Paqe 8 Days and the upcoming 250th Anniversary. Further, he stated having worked with the County's store this process is much better as it can be centralized to allow for broader distribution. Council Member Hammier asked if the logo could be used by Iittle league or girl's softbali teams. Ms. Fields stated the policy could be amended to allow community organizations to use if they are non-profit. Council Member Hammier asked how much revenue is generated from the County's store. Mr. Wells stated they break even at the end of the year, but have not generated revenue to cover the start up costs. Council Member Hammier stated she would like to see data in the monthly Town Manager's report regarding who is Iicensing the logo. Council Member Wright expressed his support for the proposal. He verified the other Town logo depicting Town Hall is not trademarked. Further, he stated he would like further information regarding the fiscal policy for the fu nds received. Council Member Reid stated if the program goes ahead it should be done with a flat fee. He stated af ter the anniversary he feels there will be limited interest in use of the logo. Mr. Wells stated this is a public relations opportunity for the Town. He stated one of the big vendors for Loudoun County was the museum. Council Member Reid stated we should allow businesses to use the logo for a flat fee. Mr. Wells stated if we do not license the logo then we do not have control over its use. He stated there are a list of places where the logo could show up that would be of concern. h. Billing inserts update Mr. Wells stated the business Iicense bills are currently pressure sealed; however, we still have other billings that have not been converted. He stated the cost of including an information sheet would be nine cents for one-sided and twelve cents for two-sided. Council Member Burk verified a color information sheet would cost more money. Council Member Hammier stated we currently have newsletters mailed from the Utilities and Capital projects Management Departments and asked if we are going to convert to a Town-wide update at some point. Mr. Wells stated we are also looking at an annual report in the near future. He stated there are various wa ys to get information out including the Town Council Work Session of July 9. 2007 Paqe 9 quarterly Parks and Recreation booklet. He stated the best method would depend on the type of information we are trying to get out. Council Member Hammier stated we need to think this through and come up with a strategie initiative to find a solution to get the information out. Council Member Wright stated he thought this program could be used to provide a flyer that residents could put on their fridge providing information such as what can and can not be recycled. He stated the real estate tax and personal property tax mailings could be used for community information and the business license bills could be used to distribute economic development information. Council Member Reid stated this is an excellent opportunity to promote our upcoming events. He asked if there is any attempt to make the billings uniform. Mr. Wells stated we are working towards the pressure sealed mailings for all bilis; however, if we want to use the billings to distribute information it may make more sense to use the traditional envelopes. Council Member Hammier stated people are increasingly paying their bills on time. i. Brick Sidewalks discussion Council Member Burk stated pressed concrete has the look of brick, but at alesser cost and asked if that would satisfy the ordinance. Mr. Elsewaissi stated the imprinted concrete looks like brick, but is harder to maintain. Further, he stated the cost difference is not that significant. Vice Mayor Horne stated this policy was implemented 30 years ago and we still have a long way to go with installing the brick sidewalks. She stated the brick signals you have come into a very special and unique area of Town and it is a policy we need to ho nor and continue. Council Member Martinez stated he has no problem with the brick sidewalks; however, he is concerned that in many places you can see grass growing through the cracks and they need to be maintained. Mr. Elsewaissi stated the brick sidewalks are now being installed with a concrete base to prevent the growth of grass. Council Member Wright stated he supports the brick sidewalks in the Historie District. Council Member Reid stated the 1980 policy gives more flexibility where as the 1989 policy dictates that all sidewalks in the Historie District should be brick. He stated he would support a revision to the policy to allow flexibility to put brick or stamped concrete. Further, he stated Council Town Council Work Session of July 9. 2007 Paqe 10 approves all capital projects and can insist on brick sidewalks where appropriate. j. Natural Resources Proffer Guidelines Irish Grandfield stated with adoption of the Town Plan the Council also adopted an action program for implementation of the various objectives in the plan. He stated there are 11 objectives in the Natural Resource Section and 14 Natural Resource Action Program items. Further, he outlined Natural Resource Action items two and three and stated staff has developed sample proffer language and an environmental assessment procedure to meet the Town Plan guidance. Council Member Hammier stated when you look at the big picture of what things impact the Town's environment it is how we approve subdivisions which encourage short-term car trips and asked if there is anything else that could be added to the Master Plan related to cluster developments or reducing short-term car trips. Mr. Grandfield stated those are objectives that are c1ear in the Natural Resources Element of the Plan and will happen less so through proffers and more so through ordinance changes. Council Member Wright asked why we are excluding stands of Virginia Pine over 25 years of age in the Tree Conservation draft. Mr. Grandfield stated it is not a long living tree species and it is also subject to wind damage. Council Member Wright asked why we are encouraging the Silver Certification in this plan. Mr. Grandfield stated the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments has formulated a committee to look at green building standards and have prepared a draft report to go back to the Council of Governments. He stated that is the regional standard other jurisdictions are using. Further, he stated the Silver Certification is included to be consistent on a regional basis. k. Town Plan Monitoring Report David Fuller stated this also represents an action program item of the Town Plan progress. He stated this report was provided to the Planning Commission and has been posted on the Town's website. Further, Mr. Fuller outlined the various components of the report and the action program items. Mr. Fuller stated the report for Fiscal Year 2007 should be pressed to the Planning Commission in September. Council Member Hammier stated page 10 of the report points to the number of parks in the Town; however, we have made tremendous progress with the amenities we are offering which are important to highlight. Mr. Fuller stated this report is for Fiscal Year 2006 so the discussion of recent amenities such as new tennis courts will be in the next report. Town Council Work Session of Julv 9. 2007 Page 11 Council Member Hammier offered other suggestions regarding the document including itemizing our heritage resources, including information on the form based code, strengthening the language, itemized percentages related to housing stock, information on the types of jobs coming online and percent of time commuting, and detailing our progress on bus routes and adding mass transit. Further, she asked if Paxton should be included as a heritage resource. Council Member Wright stated pages 19 and 20 highlighted the need for us to focus on our office growth and our commercial development specifically a lot of our jobs tend to be low wage and do not provide the quality of life needed for our citizens. He stated the Planning Commission struggled with determining a way to calculate the jobs to housing ratio to show how many jobs pay a wage sufficient to live in Town as opposed to counting the actual number of jobs. Mr. Fuller stated part of the problem is getti ng the data to calculate the jobs to housing balance, which is more important than just the ratio. Council Member Reid echoed Council Member Hammier's comments in pointing out the conflict in the Crescent District. He stated he would like the transportation section to be more detailed to show the status of roads in the Town Plan. Further, he commented on the economic development statisties stating it would be interesting to see what the Town of Warrenton is doing as they have more restaurants per capita than we do. 3. For information only: Preview Topics for July 23, 2007: a. Loudoun Street Update There was no discussion of this item. b. Acquiring easements for the N. King Street Drainage There was no discussion of this item. c. Liberty Street Lot Development There was no discussion of this item. d. AADP Update There was no discussion of this item. New Business a. NVTA Public Hearing Mayor Umstattd stated we have a draft letter to vote on tomorrow night for presentation at the public hearing on July 12. Council Member Reid asked that the language in the last paragraph be amended to state "Fair Funding System". He stated it is an excellent letter as it reiterates how much we are spending on roads and our traffic volumes. Further, he stated he was disappointed to hear the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously against the funding implementation. Town Council Work Session of July 9. 2007 Page 12 Council Member Hammier asked if the letter should be more specific to which projects we would like them to fund. Mr. Wells stated staff can add some options for consideration tomorrow night. Adjournment On a motion by Council Member Burk, seconded by Council Member Hammier, the meeting adjourned at 10:44 p.m. 2007 _tcwsmin0709