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HomeMy Public PortalAbout2016_tcwsmin0222 Council Work Session February 22, 2016 Council Chambers, 25 West Market Street, 7:52 p.m. Mayor David Butler presiding. Council Members Present: Kelly Burk, Thomas Dunn, II, Suzanne Fox, R. Bruce Gemmill, Katie Sheldon Hammler, Marty Martinez and Mayor Butler. Council Members Absent: Council Member Dunn was absent between 9:27 and 9:46 p.m. Staff Present: Town Manager Kaj Dentler, Deputy Town Manager Keith Markel, Town Attorney Barbara Notar, Assistant Town Manager Scott Parker, Director of Planning and Zoning Susan Berry Hill, Director of Plan Review Bill Ackman, Director of Capital Projects and Public Works Renee Lafollette, Deputy Director of Public Works Charlie Mumaw and Clerk of Council Lee Ann Green, AGENDA ITEMS 1. Items for Discussion a. Courthouse Expansion Irish Grandfield reported on the changes to the application that were made in response to the public hearing. Key Points: • Revised proffers were submitted too late to be included in the public hearing staff report. • Rezoning amends the proffers and concept plan to increase the square footage to 92,000 square feet. • Town Plan amendment changes the land use for the Pennington Lot from low density residential to downtown. • Pennington Lot rezoning the property from R-6 to GC, to allow the parking garage use. • A four-story parking garage is still proposed. • Updated landscaping plan includes additional landscaping including evergreens. • Architectural elevations have been updated. Council Questions/Comments: • Burk: Questioned the offsite proffers for the Edwards Ferry Road/Catoctin Circle intersection. Staff answer: The Traffic Impact Analysis shows a light being needed for this intersection at some point in the near future. The proffer has been generalized so that it is not required to be used only for this improvement. • Hammier: Questioned whether the county has proffered design/build for the North King Street/North Street traffic improvement. Staff answer: They have only proffered$400,000, which is less than what the improvement is estimated to cost. 1 IPage Council Work Session February 22, 2016 • Hammler: Questioned whether the proffer for the improvement to Edwards Ferry Road and Catoctin Circle is worded broadly enough to allow the funds to be used for things such as moving the historic buildings that are slated for demolition. Staff answer: The Zoning Administrator would have final say, but the proffer would probably not allow for the use of the funds for non- transportation related uses. Public input was begun at 8:04 p.m. John Burnham, 114 Slack Lane, N.E., stated he did not receive notice of the public hearing in time to attend because the post office took 13 days to deliver the notice. He suggested that the length of time for notice be adjusted to take in to account slow United States Postal Service delivery. He addressed the over-parking of the project, noting that the garage should be made open for public use. He noted that the county employees will tend to park on the lower levels for convenience. Further, he stated he does not like the way the garage looks. Gina Mann, The Hamlet, stated she and her family are new in the neighborhood and moved there because of the proximity to St. John's Catholic Church and the downtown. She noted that the Pennington Lot is almost always empty during the week and it is unlikely that a four-story garage will be used. She noted that the woodland creatures that live in the woods where the garage is proposed would be displaced. The public input was closed at 8:14 p.m. Rich Brittingham of Dewberry, representing the County of Loudoun, presented his slide show that addressed the items in the staff report. He thanked the Council for giving those that did not get their notification on time to speak. • Proffered a later start of 7 a.m. and are hesitant to reduce construction hours further, thus lengthening the construction period. • Revision to the Edwards Ferry Road/Catoctin Circle Intersection proffer to give flexibility to the funds. • Lower levels of the parking garage are sunk into the hill, particularly on the eastern side. • Incorporated 55 evergreens and 72 supplemental evergreens into the landscape plan. • Fire Marshal no longer wants to have their emergency ingress/egress from North Street and prefers the Pennington Surface Lot. Emergency access point on North Street will be converted to a maintenance access only to maintain the storm filter. This allows the entrance to be made smaller— 15 feet and increase the landscaping. 2IPage Council Work Session February 22, 2016 • Proffer has been changed for the Catoctin Circle/Edwards Ferry Road improvements to allow other uses for the proffered funds. Council Comments/Questions: • Burk: Questioned the need for a four level parking garage when the Pennington Lot is currently under utilized. • Applicant answer: Use of the Pennington Lot currently is different from the expected use once the courthouse expansion is completed and explained the current spaces that will be lost. • Butler: Noted that the requirements assume that the Pennington Lot is currently full, but since it is not that extra capacity should be figured into the numbers. Applicant answer: 451 spaces required for the originally approved application, 50 of which were at the Harrison Street lot which is no longer available. • Dunn: Pointed out that the Harrison Street lot was never full when it was being utilized by the county. • Butler: Stated that the town may be overestimating the number of spaces needed based on the number of half empty lots around the downtown. • Dunn: Questioned whether the shortage of parking is only because of the county employees. Applicant answer: Visitors from out of town are directed to park in the county garage and at the Pennington lot, taking up spaces needed for county employees. • Dunn: Stated he does not feel there is a need for that many spaces. • Fox: Questioned whether county staff would be directed to park at Pennington. Applicant answer: Yes. • Burk: Questioned the applicant on the possibility of green walls. Applicant answer: The added support for the weight of the green wall and additional ventilation is cost prohibitive. • Hammier: She expressed a desire that the proffer be written to allow the funds to be used for creative parking solutions partnered with the county. • Fox: Requested information about the traffic calming measures and All-way stop King Street and North Street. Mr. Tushar Awar with Gorove/Slade Associates: Stated that based on the existing and projected traffic counts, the volume does not justify a four way stop at King and North Streets. He noted that a traffic signal would work well at this location and would be coordinated with the Market Street traffic signal. • Dunn: Requested feedback on whether the homeowners in the area would want permit parking and whether the county would be willing to 3 ' Page Council Work Session February 22, 2016 pay for it. Further, he requested whether an analysis was done on what would be needed to expand the current county parking garage. Applicant answer: Analysis confirmed that the existing foundation for the garage is not sufficient to accommodate another level; however, they estimated an additional structure on the outside of the existing structure would cost approximately$8 million and add about 110 spaces. • Dunn: Stated that if the county government moves out of Leesburg, then the courts can use the County government center and the need for parking will be reduced. Applicant answer: Currently, only the Economic Development Department is planned to move to Loudoun Station. • Dunn: Questioned whether parking could be reconfigured to create more spaces. Applicant answer: Reconfiguration does not achieve the necessary number of spaces without the fourth level of the proposed garage. • Gemmill: Questioned whether three tiers could be built now and as the need arose, a fourth level could be built later. Staff answer: The proposal includes 213 additional spaces over what is required by the zoning ordinance and removal of one tier would still be in excess of the zoning ordinance minimum. Applicant answer: It would have to be taken back to the Board of Supervisors. • Burk: Questioned whether this will be built on limestone. Applicant answer: Extensive geotechnical studies have been done and appropriate building measures will be taken for construction on limestone. • Burk: Questioned whether undergrounding of all utilities including telephone will occur. Applicant answer: Proffered undergrounding of all utilities which will improve the ADA accessibility for the site because of the removal of telephone poles. • Burk: Questioned the economic impact study and forest management plan. Applicant answer: No economic impact study has been performed and the forest management plan is required by the town when you are asking for credit for tree save areas in lieu of required landscaping and buffering. It identifies invasive species that are problematic to the existing tree stand and at risk trees that may be dangerous to construction to promote the long term health of the tree save area. Staff answer: Forest management plan improves the health of the tree save area. • Burk: Questioned the amount of blasting that will need to occur for construction. 4IPage Council Work Session February 22, 2016 Applicant answer: Could not answer the question because the amount of blasting is not known in advance; however, notification will be made to a wider area than required by code as per proffer. • Hammier: Invited the public to come to the meeting on Tuesday to give additional comment regarding the changes that have been made. Further, she questioned whether the Board of Supervisors could be polled before tomorrow night's meeting to see whether they would be willing to work with the town to find options other than the fourth floor of this parking garage. Applicant answer: Specific direction from the Board of Supervisors was to add an additional level to the parking garage to alleviate the shortage in parking created by the loss of the Courthouse Square leased parking and the Harrison Street lot. • Hammier: Stated that the town would love to partner with the county because the town has additional parking needs. Further, she noted that Pennington is not the most desirable place for additional parking and stated that the Town will continue to look for the best possible way to partner with the county to find parking. • Fox: Stated that any other parking options would require purchase rather than using property already owned by the town or county. She questioned when construction on the garage would commence. She requested clarification of whether the county would continue to work with the town to seek better options, even if the parking garage is approved. Applicant answer: Approval is needed so that the project can continue to move forward, but will be committed to continuing to work with the town for another solution for parking. • Butler: Questioned how sensitive the motion sensors would be on the top level of the parking garage. Further, he suggested parking county employees on the third level until space needs required them parking on the fourth level, eliminating the question about the lights for a few years to give vegetation time to grow. Applicant answer: Something around the size of a medium sized dog will trigger the lights. • Butler: Requested clarification on the quantity of additional spaces that are needed for County use. Applicant answer: Somewhere between 100-200, which varies from day to day. b. Planning Work Plan Susan Berry Hill stated the two subjects that will be covered are the Town Plan Action Program and the Planning Staff Work Plan. Key Points: • Town Plan Action Program is reviewed with the Planning Commission on an annual basis. 5jPage Council Work Session February 22, 2016 • Planning Commission recommended Council be briefed on the Action Program and confirm priorities. o Develop criteria for how to put items on the Capital Improvement Program—completed. o Update the town's ordinances for consistency with Federal Emergency Management guidelines—on hold, but to be restarted this spring. o Revise or replace the H-2 Design Guidelines and develop a small area plan for the East Market Street corridor outside the bypass —work has begun on the small area plan. o Development of low impact development regulations —would like to commence work on this upon completion of the floodplain ordinance. • Planning Commission recommended that staff review Appendix B of the Zoning Ordinance, the Preservation Plan, and Plan for Public Park areas. • Things that need further discussion and direction include development of a capital intensity factor proffer guideline, recommendation from the EAC to do watershed planning for the Cattail Branch and Big Spring. • Petitioners have requested bikeway planning throughout town. • Airport Master Plan and update of surveys of the historic district. • Staff recommends continuing with the current work projects as they are currently prioritized. • Reached out to the University of Virginia for assistance from students on the East Market Street Small Area Plan. • Zoning Ordinance Text Amendments: Flex Industrial, Commuter Lots in the I-1 and Planned Residential District to be completed in the spring/early summer time frame. Council Comments/Questions: • Fox: Questioned why the floodplain ordinance requires updating. Staff answer: FEMA has commented that the town's floodplain ordinance is out of date and has provided a template of what should be contained in the town's flood plain ordinance. Further, state mandates for stormwater require the flooplain ordinance to be updated. • Fox: Requested an example of low impact development. Staff answer: Some things that the EAC has looked at are making public parking facilities by-right as opposed to special exception, include provisions in the Design and Construction Standards Manual regarding "green roofs" and rain gardens to retain drainage on site rather than creating run off. • Hammier: Stated her support for moving the Capital Intensity Factors research up on the list. 6IPage Council Work Session February 22, 2016 • Burk: Agreed that the Capital Intensity Factors research needs to be moved up on the list. Further, she questioned when the last time Appendix B was updated. Staff answer: The indexing has been updated; however, the methodology has not been updated for over 20 years. • Dunn: Questioned how long a text amendment takes to complete. Staff answer: Depends on the complexity of the text amendment and what the current work load is for the department. If Council directs it as a priority, it gets moved up. • Dunn: Questioned how much time would be needed to remove the H-2 Overlay. Further, he noted that items with possible economic impact need to be moved up the list of importance. Staff answer: Removal of the H-2 was combined with the Market Street area plan because there are sections of East Market Street that are developable. • Dunn: Stated that removal of the H-2 was a Council priority that has not been done and now additional work is being added to it. He expressed that this is unacceptable. He stated the H-2 is a failed process that slows down applications. Staff answer: If Council wants to add repealing the H-2 to the work plan, staff will work on repealing it. • Butler: Suggested that staff return with specific items that can be completed to the next work session. Staff answer: If Council can identify what their top priorities are, staff can create a plan to achieve what is being suggested. There was Council consensus to bring this back to the next work session. 2. Additions to Future Council Meetings Council Member Hammier requested the following items: • Memo from Parks and Recreation regarding seeking grants for riverfront parks —there was consensus from Council for this. • Direct staff to work on a parking partnership with the Board of Supervisors to find parking downtown—there was consensus from Council for this. • Memo on residential permit parking that was brought up by a citizen— this has not been brought to the Town Manager for a public hearing at this time. • Debrief on the work the Association of Police Chiefs is doing in the search for a new police chief—The IAPC is developing a profile which will develop the job description and advertising. Once five or six applicants have been identified, on-site interviews will occur. Mayor Butler requested the following items: 71Page Council Work Session February 22, 2016 • Removal of his nominee to the EDC and appointment of a new nominee—this will be added to the consent agenda for tomorrow night's meeting. • Renewal of discussion about Arts and Cultural district incentives—this will be discussed as part of the budget process. • Northern Virginia Regional Commission Adopt a Hydrant Program— will be added to a future council meeting. • Recommendation for change in the rules of procedure to require pre- approval of items to be brought into the Council Chambers for display purposes by speakers— staff was requested to produce a memo on this. • Requested a text amendment regarding recreational facilities to allow indoor recreational facilities to be within 50 feet of the property line— this will be added to the next meeting. Council Member Dunn requested a short list from Council of items to send to the county for which Council would like to see funded—staff noted that this has already been completed and transmitted to the county. On a motion by Council Member Fox, seconded by Council Member Hammier, the meeti : was adjo • ed at 10:37p.m. 0%, 4 ..07.. ...._ •— Clerk of .upcil 2016_tcwsmin0222 8IPage