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HomeMy Public PortalAbout2022_tcwsmin0321 Council Work Session March 21, 2022 Council Chamber, 25 West Market Street, 7:00 p.m. Mayor Kelly Burk presiding. Council Members Present: Ara Bagdasarian, Zach Cummings, Suzanne Fox, Vice Mayor Marty Martinez, Kari Nacy, Neil Steinberg, and Mayor Kelly Burk. Council Members Absent: None. Staff Present: Town Manager Kaj Dentler, Deputy Town Manager Keith Markel, Town Attorney Christopher Spera, Director of Finance and Administration Services Clark Case, Director of Planning and Zoning Susan Berry Hill, Director of Parks and Recreation Rich Williams, Director of Plan Review Bill Adman, Director of Information Technology Jakub Jedrzejczak, Director of Utilities Amy Wyks, Economic Development Director Russell Seymour, Director of Public Works and Capital Projects Renee LaFollette, Director Thomas Balch Library Alexandra Gressitt, Airport Director Scott Coffman, Chief of Police Gregory Brown, Deputy Director of Public Works and Capital Projects Leonard "Bud" Siegel, Management and Budget Officer Cole Fazenbaker, Senior Budget and Management Analyst Holland Schellhase, and Clerk of Council Eileen Boeing. Minutes prepared by Deputy Clerk of Council Corina Alvarez. AGENDA ITEMS 1. Items for Discussion a. Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2023 —Final Mark-up Session Council and staff discussed the item. The mark-up results are as follows: It was the consensus of Council to: • add$2,4Kfor establishing a cost-ofliving adjustment for Council compensation equal to the cost-ofliving adjustment for employees • add$100Kfor the Energy Savings/Emergency Management position • add$40Kfor neighborhood improvements • add$80K to mothball the 16 Wirt Street property • use$125K for a one-time traffic model update from the Unassigned Fund Balance • use$250Kfor a traffic study from the Unassigned Fund Balance* *It was the consensus of Council to have a future Work Session discussion to clarify objectives before staff moves forward with the Traffic Studies. There was no consensus of Council to: • add$12Kfor Council pay increase • add$60Kfor Council healthcare upgrade • add$6Kfor Council one-time pay adjustment in January 2023 ------ --------- -- - --- 1 IPage Council Work Session March 21, 2022 Council Member Nacy requested a chart of the tax implications by household type for the proposed tax rate. b. Affordable Housing Ms. Berry Hill gave a presentation on inclusionary zoning, accessory dwelling units and attainable housing related to affordable housing. Council and staff discussed the item. Staff was requested to return with a plan for establishing a Steering Committee on Affordable Housing It was the consensus of Council to add this as a future Work Session discussion. Staff was asked to initiate Zoning Ordinance amendments to expand accessory dwellings to include other than family members. It was the consensus to add this as a future Council action. 2. Additions to Future Council Meetings Council Member Fox requested that staff investigate if the Town can opt into the legislative relief program for a lower vehicle tax rate. It was the consensus of Council to add this item to a future Work Session discussion. Council Member Fox asked to add a Council action to reinstate employees or Board and Commission members terminated or removed due to the Vaccine mandate to the next Council Meeting agenda. Item added to the April 12, 2022, Council Meeting agenda. 3. Adjournment On a motion by Council Member Bagdasarian, seconded by Council Member Cummings, the meeting was adjourned at 8:26 p.m. (e •oeeeeliel late.Q Clerk of Council 2022_tcwsmin0321 ------- -- --- 2 I P a g e March 21,2022—Town Council Work Session (Note: This is a transcript prepared by a Town contractor based on the video of the meeting. It may not be entirely accurate.For greater accuracy,we encourage you to review the video of the meeting that is on the Town's Web site—www.leesburqva.qov or refer to the approved Council meeting minutes. Council meeting videos are retained for three calendar years after a meeting per Library of Virginia Records Retention guidelines.) Mayor Kelly Burk:We are going to begin our Town Council work session of March 21, 2022. Our first item for discussion tonight is the Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2023, the Final Markup Session. Hello, Cole. Cole Fazenbaker: Good evening. Madam Mayor, Council Members, members of the public. My name is Cole Fazenbaker, Management and Budget Officer for the Town. Real quick before we start the meeting, I wanted to introduce our new Senior Management Budget Analyst Holland Schellhase. This is her third week starting. She's still learning a lot, but excited to be here. She comes from the State of Tennessee, so we're excited. Mayor Burk:Welcome. Cole Fazenbaker: We just wanted to kick off and do a little recap of the last budget work session. Where we left it on March 7th, you can see the green highlights of everything that was passed. Then as we discussed a little bit last time,where there's an asterisk that means there's no tax rate implication. Where we left, it was at 17.66, but we went back and looked at the things that were passed that increased the tax rate. We can actually use Unassigned Fund Balance, if you wish, to make the items be funded with Unassigned Fund Balance and it'll make the tax rate go back to 17.6. Then also you'll see below, on the March'8th was the rescinding of the COVID-19 testing. We just wanted to let you know that we took that out of the budget as well, but that doesn't have a tax rate implication because it's funded with Unassigned Fund Balance. We just wanted to open up the final work session for any questions. We have all the directors here and we can answer any questions for your add and deletes session. Mayor Burk: Do we have on there the CIF component we were going to look at? Cole Fazenbaker: That wasn't voted on, but that's included in the budget. We're using Unassigned Fund Balance to fund the CIF implementation. Mayor Burk: Okay, thank you. I have one more thing, but I'll let everybody else go first. Kari, do you have anything you want to talk about? Council Member Kari Nacy:Just one thing.Thank you. I was going to ask about if there was anything we could switch to bring the tax rate back down a little bit, back to 17.6. That would be my preference just because as I mentioned last time and as we all have been hearing in the news, I'm feeling real estate assessments are up, so that means taxes are going to be up across the board for everybody. If there's anything we can move to Unassigned Fund Balance and then just figure it out again next year, I would prefer that please. Mayor Burk: Do you have any suggestions? Cole Fazenbaker: Ida Lee Memorial Pauper Field and then the Parks and Rec Commission and also the COPA request, Lisa's going to put the asterisk side and you'll see what it does to the tax rate. It'll lower it to 17.6 and we have sufficient Unassigned Fund Balance to pay for those to get back to the original 17.6. We can do that now. Mayor Burk: We have enough money-- Cole Fazenbaker:Yes, basically from the FY'21, last year's fallout surplus funds which are now in the Unassigned Fund Balance we have enough money to--Since these are one-time expenditures,we use those one-time funds to pay for this for FY'23. Page 11 March 21, 2022 Mayor Burk: Okay, so you are switching the--which ones are you moving? Cole Fazenbaker: It was the Ida Lee Memorial Pauper Field,that one Lisa's got her cursor on it. Then the Parks and Rec Commission request,that's for the signage, and then also the COPA request for the events. Mayor Burk: The Ida Lee Memorial Pauper's Field. What is what's the Pauper's Field part? Cole Fazenbaker: Potters Field.We may be able to discuss, but it was signage. Mayor Burk: I thought we were putting signs in the parks, but I didn't-- Kaj Dentler: No,this was, I believe it's the Black History Committee working through Balch has a project for the Pauper Field. Mayor Burk: Oh. Kaj Dentler: They had looked at Union Cemetery, but there was some complications there. They've identified potential project at Ida Lee. There hasn't been further discussion with the Parks Commission, et cetera. There is more work to be done. For now, it's just identifying some funding that could be used should that project go forward versus locking into exactly Ida Lee because that may or may not work. That's the only reason you see it there. Clark Case: One thing is that by doing this, we're saying these are not going to become part of the base budget for next year. When we go to go to the budget, these are one-time things for this year. If there's going to be funding for these sorts of things in the next budget,there'll have to be enhancements for the next budget. They're not going in the base budget. Mayor Burk: They did what you asked? Council Member Nacy: Yes, thank you. I appreciate it. That was my only real big thing. Mayor Burk: Thank you. Mr. Bagdasarian? Council Member Ara Bagdasarian: Nothing right now. Thank you. Mayor Burk: This is our final one. I'm coming back to you. Ms. Fox? Council Member Suzanne Fox: Thanks. Just a couple of questions really quick before I decide on something up there. You're saying one, two, three, four, five, six of these projects will just come out of the Unassigned Fund Balance. How much is committed in total with these projects? I didn't add it up. I'm sorry. How much money is committed? Cole Fazenbaker: Just highlight the green. She'll highlight it. It'll add. Mayor Burk: I think she's asking for you to add it up. Council Member Fox: Yes, sorry. I'm sorry. Twelve? Cole Fazenbaker: $62K if you include those three items. Council Member Fox: Thank you. This is not a use it or lose it situation. We can roll this over if we chose not to use any of the Unassigned Fund Balance? Clark Case: If you use the Unassigned Fund Balance, if you don't use it, then it depends on whether you decide to use it for something else during the year because it's one-time money. If you don't spend it, then it's still sitting in an Unassigned Fund Balance. Council Member Fox: Okay. Page 21 March 21, 2022 Clark Case: But if you don't spend it and then you allocate it to something else during the year, it won't be there for the next year. It would have to be re-appropriated for next year if you don't use it and you didn't decide to want to use it in the next year, because the budget authorization will not carry over. Council Member Fox:Alright. I guess it's not going to matter that much, but I'm going to go ahead and just take my name off of anything that has passed. I'm just not going to advocate for any extra spending. I took a quick look the other night at the Board of Supervisors meeting, and it sounds like there's some deficit spending coming up because of Metro, and I'm just a little worried at this point about that, that it's going to trickle down to us. Our gas tax was taken away because of Metro and it was reassigned to that, and I see it coming. I'm just not going to advocate for any extra spending with the inflation and this new information that I got. Thanks. Mayor Burk: Mr. Steinberg? Council Member Neil Steinberg: I'm not looking to add anything, but we did bring up the possibility of a future acquisition fund. Are we planning that for a future? Kaj Dentler: Yes. We're meeting with our financial advisor on that, and we're not ready to discuss a plan at this point. Council Member Steinberg: Thank you. Mayor Burk: Mr. Martinez? Vice Mayor Fernando "Marty" Martinez: I sent an email out earlier this or last week about a request I want to make about the Council pay. I was thinking anywhere between 5%to 10%, increase on Council pay, and then tie the increases to a COLA,some type of CPI index,whatever that staff feels comfortable with.Then the last thing I wanted to include was money for medical insurance for the Council Members, that covers our costs and move our category to full time so that the cost itself drops down per member. I wanted to see what that would add to the budget if we'd had four people willing to accept that. Council Member Bagdasarian:Are we talking about both or are these separate items? Vice Mayor Martinez:We could make it separate items. Mayor Burk: Both of them but separate items. Cole Fazenbaker:Would you like to separate those out? Vice Mayor Martinez: Yes. Mayor Burk: Yes. Cole Fazenbaker: You want to vote on the Council pay to COLA first and then the healthcare one? Vice Mayor Martinez: Yes. Kaj Dentler: We have three items. Council pay increase, then you want pay tied to a CPI, and then you're talking health insurance. There's actually three different things. Vice Mayor Martinez: Correct. The reason I'm asking is it's not for my benefit, but I know it takes a toll on people, on Town Council. You talk about the different budget hearings, other meetings we have, upcoming meeting with the County, a lot of our time is spent on doing other things. We're devoted to the Town to do what's right. I just think that what we do as a Council member in no way reflects what we could or should be paid. I'm willing to accept something like this for the current Council and the new Council coming in next year. If anybody wants to accuse me of doing it for myself, I'm sorry, but this is my last year on Council, so I'm not going to get any benefit from it, but I do believe our Council Members deserve it. Thank you. Page 31 March 21, 2022 Mayor Burk: Mr. Cummings? Not yet.We're going to put them all together first. Council Member Zach Cummings: I don't have anything. Thank you. Mayor Burk: The only thing-- Cole Fazenbaker: Just for clarification, did you want 5% or 10%for the pay increase? Vice Mayor Martinez: It just depends. Before we go to a percentage, yes or no. Then once we say yes, then we can argue about a percentage. I personally think 10%would be the best. Mayor Burk: You kind of leave them hanging. They're trying to figure out how to put it in. Cole Fazenbaker: 10%would be about$12K added to the budget,and 5%would be about$6K added to the budget. Yes, so the 12. Mayor Burk: The only thing I have is the Environmental Advisory Council asked for a part-time employee. I know that the Emergency Manager also needs a part-time employee. I wondered if we could include that as one full-time employee that half their time is working with the energy audits and things of that nature, and the other one is for the Emergency Management Team. Cole Fazenbaker: We've figured that cost out to be$100K. Mayor Burk: I'm sorry? Cole Fazenbaker: $100K for that position. That's including salary and benefits. Mayor Burk: Anybody else? Nothing at this point? There's four things on that have been added. The first one is a Council pay increase, and it's set at 10%but a Council pay increase.Are there four people that would support the Council pay increase at this point?Yes, Mr. Bagdasarian. Council Member Bagdasarian: I've got a question.When was the last Council pay adjustment? Been that long? Kaj Dentler: I'm not sure. It's been a while, but we would have to double-check tomorrow. It's been a while. Clark Case: I don't believe there's been one since I've been here since 2014. It had been before then. Mayor Burk: I think there was one when I first came on as Mayor and that was six years ago. I'm not sure of that so I don't know. Council Member Bagdasarian: It's been a while. Mayor Burk: It's been a while. Are there four people that would be interested in a pay increase?We'll determine whether it's 5% or 10% at this point. Raise your hand so you would be interested. Mr. Steinberg, Mr. Martinez,myself, anybody else?That fails. Healthcare for full-time employees.Are there four people that are interested in adding healthcare to a full-time employee status? Council Member Nacy: I have a question. Mayor Burk: Yes. Yes, okay, sorry. Thank you for-- Council Member Nacy: I just have a question on how that would play into the budget, converting us to an FT. Cole Fazenbaker: Currently, how we budget is essentially pick the employer plus one plan, which would be approximately $15K, depending on who selects to have healthcare coverage. Just for budgeting purposes,we'd estimate$15K per Council Member. Page 41 March 21, 2022 Council Member Nacy: So, it just depends on if it passes or not. Cole Fazenbaker: Yes, it depends. If we think four Council Members might take it, we can say$60K just for budgeting purposes. Council Member Bagdasarian:An additional$60K or total? Cole Fazenbaker: It would be total.We can look at who has it now and what that would do.That would probably bring the cost down probably$20K. Just thinking out loud, it's going to be probably between $40K and$60K. Council Member Fox: May I ask a question, please? Mayor Burk: Yes. Council Member Fox: If it was a full-time offering, why wouldn't we expect other people to sign up for health benefits?Why won't we take that into consideration? Mayor Burk: Because some people don't need it. Council Member Fox: I understand that, but some people might want to switch. Cole Fazenbaker: Yes. Just like some employees, their spouses have healthcare through other employers. Generally, there is a more expensive plan so it's the middle of the roadway of budgeting [unintelligible]. Mayor Burk: This has come up before and part of the problem with this is that then the person that doesn't take that doesn't need it because they're on some other program,they lose out on the pay raise, technically, it becomes a pay raise for someone, because they no longer have to pay for their insurance. The other people that don't take the insurance, that then ends up with them not getting the benefit. That's the only argument I remember previously. Vice Mayor Martinez: The thing is that everybody has the opportunity. If they choose not to, that's on them, not on us or the Town. Mayor Burk: Are there four people that would like to consider having the full-time healthcare designation for Council Members?All right,that's Ms. Nacy, Mr. Bagdasarian, and Mr. Martinez, so that doesn't pass either. How about the next one, Council pay tied to COLA increases?That one would be meaning that every year there would be an automatic small increase tied to whatever the COLA increase is for employees. If they get a 2% increase, then the Council would get a 2% increase in the cost of living.Are there four people that--You have a question? Council Member Bagdasarian: Now I have all these questions. I think it's important that the Council COLA policy is tied with the employee's COLA policy. If there's a period where we freeze COLA, then Council is also frozen. Mayor Burk:Absolutely.Yes,they would have to be tied.Are there four people that would be interested in doing that one? Mr. Steinberg, Mr. Martinez, Mr. Bagdasarian, Ms. Burk. Anybody else? That one passes. The next one is the full-time individual that shares their time between Energy and Emergency Management. It's my understanding that we are going to have to hire somebody for Energy Management as a part-time or a full-time? Kaj Dentler: The Environmental Advisory Commission recommended a part-time position. They don't think and we don't think that there's enough work for full-time at this point.There is a need in Emergency Management, so our thought was to be more able to find the right person in the market to make it a full- time position where half of their duties are in energy management and half is in Emergency Management or Energy Savings and Emergency Management. We thought we'd be more successful with that versus trying to find a part-time person only in Energy Savings should Council want to do that. Page 51 March 21, 2022 Mayor Burk: It would be difficult to find that position. Kaj Dentler:That's what we think in the market.We don't know until we try. In all fairness,just full-time is more attractive, obviously. Mayor Burk: Mr. Bagdasarian? Council Member Bagdasarian: Yes, thank you. Is Emergency Management position a specialized position or is it more of the administrative type of role? Kaj Dentler: Yes, it's specialized. Energy Savings is specialized so we would focus on that position and then look for someone who has the ability to help and learn and grow, provide support to Joe in Emergency Management,so would be a required Energy Savings knowledge and preferred any Energy Management. Then, obviously, we would look for someone who has good project management skills, ability to learn fast, et cetera.Take advantage of that resource. Mayor Burk: Mr. Steinberg? Council Member Steinberg: Currently is Joe at department of one? Kaj Dentler: Department of one. Council Member Steinberg: Okay, thank you. Kaj Dentler: Officially an office of one. Mayor Burk: Are there four people that would be interested in supporting the full-time employee as between Energy Savings and Emergency Management? Mr. Steinberg, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Bagdasarian, Mr. Martinez, myself, so that one passes.This is it so far.Yes, sir. Council Member Bagdasarian:At the very end,of course, I have a few--I'd like to make a modification to Vice Mayor Martinez' pay increase of 10%. Given the fact that it's been longer than anyone can remember, I would propose having a one-time adjustment of 10% starting from the new Council in January, and then we already approved the COLA tied to the employer-employee policy moving forward. Mayor Burk: Does anybody have any questions on that? Do you all understand what he's proposing? Christopher Spera: Madam Mayor if I may, we were able to find the resolution that adjusted the pay the last time. It was in 2013 was the last time it had been changed. Mayor Burk: Okay, all right, do we have four?Yes, sir? Vice Mayor Martinez: Can I ask why January 1st when the new fiscal year starts July 1st? Mayor Burk: You can answer that? Council Member Bagdasarian: Yes, I will answer that. Thank you. I just think even though I'll be on the Council next year, I just think it's important to plan for the next Council not do things that will benefit us today. I understand this is not a substantial amount of money, but I just think, philosophically, it's important to set this forward for the upcoming Council. Clark Case: Pardon I mean, did you a percentage? Mayor Burk: He's doing 10%. Clark Case: Ten percent. Thank you. Page 61 March 21, 2022 Mayor Burk: Are there four people that would be interested in supporting this? That didn't pass. You have another one? No.All right,this is our final markup. If no one has anything else to add,this is what our budget will look like. Yes, ma'am? Council Member Nacy: Maybe. Renee. Ma'am, how much additional money would you potentially need in your budget to take care of some of the projects that some of the neighborhoods have asked for since we decided not to do the neighborhood grant program and you don't have enough money in your budget currently to meet some of the needs? Renee LaFollette: For the street signs, looking specifically at Country Club as the one that we've looked at, a neighborhood of that size to do that in-house would be about $20K a year. For the streetlights, looking at replacing just the fixtures,those are anywhere from$150 to$250 a piece.We have a number of streetlights in Town. Currently we have $20K in our conversion program budget, and we've transitioned 200 lights on that$20K in over three years or actually 20K times four years, so 80K.We've done about 225, 250 lights for conversion to give you an idea of how far$20K goes on that. It really depends.We have the bandwidth to be able to do it because it's an assignment that we give to Dominion Power.We have thousands of streetlights in Town. Council Member Nacy: Thank you. I would ask then if we're going to table the neighborhood grant program that we add an additional$40K to Renee's budget to take care of more streetlights and signs. Mayor Burk: Are you limiting this to Country Club street signs? Council Member Nacy: No, this would be across the Town. Mayor Burk: How would Renee determine which ones would be done? Renee LaFollette:What we have done with our asset management system is we have done a survey of all of the street signs in Town.They're listed in the system by condition and age.We would start with the oldest,worst condition signs and work our way around Town to replace those signs within the budget that we have assigned. Mayor Burk: Okay. Council Member Nacy: This would just be a mechanism to help some of them be replaced quicker. Mayor Burk: Then this would be all over Town? Renee LaFollette: It would be all over Town. Mayor Burk: You have a list. Renee LaFollette:We have a list of all of the street signs in Town with their condition and age. Mayor Burk:All right. Do you have a question, Mr. Bagdasarian? Council Member Bagdasarian: I do.Will this come from the Unassigned Fund Balance, or will this be added to the budget? Cole Fazenbaker: This would be a recurring expense. This would have a tax rate implication. Did you specify an amount yet? Mayor Burk: Forty thousand. Council Member Nacy: Forty thousand, yes. Cole Fazenbaker: Forty thousand, okay. This would be a recurring expenditure. Page 71 March 21, 2022 Mayor Burk: Why would it be recurring necessarily, because she's asked for a budget to put it in the budget to-- Cole Fazenbaker: If you specify it as a one-time,we can certainly use it only once. If you want it in the recurring operating budget, then it would be associated with the tax rate. If you just want it one time in Fiscal Year 2023, then we can use the Unassigned Fund Balance and it won't affect the tax rate. Council Member Nacy: I'm actually open to either based on Council. Mayor Burk:We won't get very many done if you [unintelligible]. Clark Case: Forty thousand will not do the entire Town. Renee LaFollette: Twenty thousand dollars would do all of the signs in Country Club. There were 85 signs within Country Clubs and $20K would replace all of those signs. Mayor Burk: Here's my rub. I think I'm concerned that if we're putting this only into one section, that's why I specifically asked. Renee LaFollette: I'm just using that as an example. Mayor Burk: Example. Okay. Renee LaFollette: There's 85 street signs in Country Club and when we look at replacing those signs, the total was $20K if we did that in-house. You magnify that across Town, a one-time expenditure will get very few signs done around the Town. Mayor Burk: Your list, again, is all over Town. Renee LaFollette: Is all over Town. We, basically, did the survey of all the signs based on how we have the Town broke up for our snow. We started in one zone and worked our way all the way around Town. Mayor Burk: Because I don't want to give the impression that we're just doing one particular area at this point. Renee LaFollette: Understood. Mayor Burk:We may end up doing that but that's not necessarily where it is. I guess I want clarification that we're not putting money towards one development at the exclusion of any other. That's not what we're doing. Renee LaFollette: That is not my understanding. Mayor Burk: That's why I wanted to make sure that that was stated. Forty thousand, okay. Are there any other additions, any questions? Council Member Cummings: I just had a question. I'm sorry, Renee,to make you come back up.You have a list and you're tracking all of signs, light posts. How are we typically funding the replacement or updates of those? Renee LaFollette: I have a line item in my operating budget that is for all materials, including signposts and signs and asphalt and stone. We replace the worst ones or the ones that get knocked over by accidents. We don't have a comprehensive replacement program;we're just not funded to do that. Council Member Cummings: Do you remember approximately how much that line item is? Renee LaFollette: I can look it up. Page 81 March 21, 2022 Council Member Cummings: I have mine too. I can look it up. You'll probably find it before I will. I'm just curious because if it's already$40K maybe we go even a little bit more just to ensure everywhere across the Town is getting updates done. Renee LaFollette: That total line item in in the budget is $90,4K but that includes the repair maintenance, guardrail, fence, signs, debris disposal, vegetation control and nuisance complaints. Mayor Burk: That's a lot. Renee LaFollette: It's a lot of everything within that dollars which is why there's not as much replaced as you'd probably like to see replaced. Council Member Cummings: Thanks. Mayor Burk: Mr. Steinberg, did you have a question? Council Member Steinberg: Similar idea. This is, obviously, a priority in the Town already, but we are making it in effect more of a priority by giving it a higher level of funding, but it's certainly something that needs to be done on an ongoing basis.We're just not able to get to it to the extent we would like to now. Renee LaFollette: Correct. Council Member Steinberg: Okay. Mayor Burk: Mr. Martinez? Vice Mayor Martinez:Am I going to assume that you're going to put this in the budget every year now? Renee LaFollette:Yes. Vice Mayor Martinez: I know it's already there but the amount. Renee LaFollette: That would be how I understand what you are requesting is that it be an ongoing program. I would appreciate the additional dollars. Vice Mayor Martinez: Well, I'm not saying that you don't need it. I would just like to had a formal line item in there that captured this and captured the increase in monies and a plan instead of just trying to put it all together at a budget session. Renee LaFollette: This particular line item in the budget is split out into different categories. If we wanted to add a specific breakout in this particular line item for sign replacements for that, it's easily done the way our budget is set up. Vice Mayor Martinez: What does $40K get you? Mayor Burk:Well, it gets she said [unintelligible]. Renee LaFollette: About 168 to 200 signs a year. Vice Mayor Martinez: Thank you. Renee LaFollette: I have no clue what the total number of signs in Town is off the top of my head. Vice Mayor Martinez: Well, I would have been very supportive of you having a plan in place that captured all of this. Even if it meant increasing your budget by a few percentage points just to do that, I got no problem with it because we do need to have that happen. Thank you. Mayor Burk:Any other additional items people want to add? Page 91 March 21, 2022 Kaj Dentler: Madam Mayor. Mayor Burk: Yes? Kaj Dentler: Do you have the slide for this? Last time, we had a lot of conversation about the traffic, transportation items so I want to make sure that we share that with you tonight because there was confusion. Let me know.All good?To update to traffic model, Renee has gone back and confirmed the price. The estimate is$125K to update that model. The recurring annual cost you see is$92K. There may be a few years where we don't need to do it every year but that's the estimate. Then if you go to the second slide, Council talked about a variety of different traffic studies that will be used from that model, or as part of that model and these are the breakdowns. Everything in there with the exception of the updating the 92,5, if you go back to that first slide,would be Unassigned Fund Balance. The 92,5 would be a recurring cost to the budget. Everything else would be taken care of by the Unassigned Fund Balance. Our recommendation, if you go to the studies, is that if you're comfortable, go ahead and appropriate the funding that you're comfortable with.We scheduled a work session after the budget to ensure that you're getting the traffic study that you want. Because we really haven't had that conversation unless you're very comfortable moving forward with those studies. I've gotten the sense that you're not there. It's your call. We can appropriate the funds tomorrow night with the pledge that we come back to have a deeper conversation on the studies before staff goes further. That's our recommendation. Renee is' here to go further with the conversation. Mayor Burk: I particularly don't have a problem with the study. I don't know how everybody else feels about it. Mr. Cummings? Council Member Cummings: I'm confused which I apologize about. The second slide that$378,5K did we already add that to the budget or using-- Cole Fazenbaker: No. We have$250K right now for all of it. These are just estimates so these aren't exact costs. It could obviously be higher or lower. Council Member Cummings: Thank you. Mayor Burk: Mr. Martinez? Vice Mayor Martinez: Well, nothing related to this. The house we bought that we had talked about either demolishing or redoing it is that part of this budget? Kaj Dentler:As of now,there's$625K in the budget from the Unassigned Fund Balance to use as you wish. Council did have a vote that failed earlier on a markup session to demolish it. That failed. Your decision that you'll have to make,you don't have to make it tonight or tomorrow,you can if you're ready, is do you want to upgrade it or do you want to just mothball it? My intent was to bring it back to you after the budget session. As of now, the short answer, Vice Mayor Martinez, is there's $625K in the budget from Unassigned Fund Balance. Vice Mayor Martinez: Well, considering some of the other things that are going on in Council on property,so to speak, I would be in favor ofjust right now mothballing it,and wait and see what happens. Kaj Dentler: Sure. It's entirely up to Council. I'll need your direction. Mayor Burk:Are there four votes is that what you're asking for[unintelligible]. Vice Mayor Martinez: Yes, if we had four votes so we don't have to go through this exercise. Mayor Burk: -to do nothing on the house that we've just purchased. Page 101 March 21, 2022 Council Member Cummings:Just a point of clarification. It's not do nothing.There's going to be a cost to mothball. Mayor Burk: There is going to be a cost? Council Member Cummings: Yes. Just I know I figured that's what you meant, but I just wanted to make sure everyone else was clear. Mayor Burk: Okay, sorry. To spend whatever, it is to mothball it, it was 200 and something. I forget how much it was at. Kaj Dentler: [inaudible]. Cole Fazenbaker: Eighty thousand. Kaj Dentler: Eighty. Renee LaFollette: Eighty thousand to mothball it. Council Member Bagdasarian: Up to eighty thousand. Mayor Burk: Are there four people that would prefer that it be mothballed rather than renovated?You have Ms. Nacy, Mr. Bagdasarian, Mr. Martinez, Mr. Cummings. Council Member Bagdasarian: I'm sorry. Mayor Burk: No, you're not. Council Member Bagdasarian: [Unintelligible] down this building. Mayor Burk: Well,then it's going to be mothballed and nothing will be done with it for a while.What a shame. Anything else? Anybody adding? All right. We didn't vote on the Neighborhood Improvement signs operating budget. How many people are in favor of that, adding that to the budget?Ms. Nacy and Mr. Bagdasarian. Everybody but Ms. Fox. Kaj Dentler:Are you clear on your direction for the transportation studies to bring it all back,the studies themselves, for work session? Okay,we'll do that. Mayor Burk: Do we have four people that want to bring it back to have a discussion on the particular? Ms. Fox, Mr. Steinberg, Mr. Martinez, and Mr. Bagdasarian. Kaj Dentler: Do you want us to include the total amount of those potential studies from the Unassigned Fund Balance when you authorize the release of that, or you want to just appropriate that at another time? Mayor Burk: I don't think we want to appropriate it at another time. I think if we're going to have that discussion we want to know. Kaj Dentler: Can you show that slide again?I just want to make sure everyone's clear because--That's okay.We'll take the sum of that 3,785 plus 143. Mayor Burk: Excuse me for interrupting you. Kaj Dentler: Okay. That's what I want to know.What do you want us to do? Mayor Burk: I thought we weren't going to do the next one till we did the first one. Phase 1 is first. When phase 1 is finished, then you go to phase 2. Some of these may not be done in a year was my understanding. Did I get that wrong? Page 111 March 21, 2022 Renee LaFollette: No, it can be done in phases.When we were talking to most of the traffic consultants that we reached out to for the average costs, they all recommended that phase 1 and 2 be done together, phase 3 and 4 be done together because you're combining and then you're doing the counts. They can all be done individually. Mayor Burk: It seems like we do need to have a discussion on what we actually want. Kaj Dentler: You don't have to appropriate any funds for this because the source is the Unassigned Fund Balance. You can basically kick the can down the road a little bit— Mayor Burk:We don't want to use that term. Kaj Dentler:--schedule the work session, have in discussion, decide what you want, and then you can decide if you want appropriate funds. The money's there. It's just a matter whether you appropriate it tomorrow night or you do it after your next meeting. Council Member Nacy: I just have a quick question on that. Didn't we already allot? Isn't there 250? Kaj Dentler: We have 250. You can use that as a base to work with and add more later. It's entirely how you want to handle it. Mayor Burk: Yes, Mr. Steinberg? Council Member Steinberg: I just wanted to clarify one thing. Here we have Phase 5 develop Town traffic model. Go back to the slide previous. Here we have update traffic model one time 125.What are we looking at here? Renee LaFollette: The difference is it's the fifth phase of an overall study. This update traffic model is just one time and all they're doing is that traffic model. They're not relying on all of the other information that they've done. I ask them to ala carte price, updating that model. Council Member Steinberg: Do you do this first and then those other five? Renee LaFollette: We can do them in any order. Think of it this way. A traffic study, like what we're talking about with phase one inside the Catoctin Circle loop is looking at a specific area. Okay, it's very specific to an area. The traffic model or the travel demand model is global through the entire Town. It's specific versus global. They're two very separate and distinct items. [crosstalk]- Council Member Steinberg: Understood. I'm just trying to say, how is this travel traffic model different from the traffic model in phase five? Renee LaFollette: They should be the same, but the way they priced them as the fifth phase, that's how the numbers came out from the consultants. Council Member Steinberg: Okay, but it's basically the same item with slightly different price tags. Renee LaFollette: Basically,the same item. You've got a difference in price. Council Member Steinberg: Okay, all right. Thanks. Mayor Burk: Mr. Martinez? Okay, Mr. Bagdasarian? Council Member Bagdasarian: Yes. Rather than going to a rabbit hole also, I think we'll discuss this. Just to be clear,this would not impact the tax rate because this is Unassigned Fund Balance.We could go with that. Mayor Burk: Are there four people? I need to make sure that I got four people that want to have this discussion at a later date, Ms. Nacy, Mr. Bagdasarian, Mr. Steinberg, Ms. Fox, Ms. Burk. Okay,all right, got your answer?Thank you. Page 121 March 21, 2022 Cole Fazenbaker:Just for clarification, you don't want the$250K appropriated now.You want to come back later, or do you? Mayor Burk: I think we have it already allocated, so we now don't want to allocate it. Kaj Dentler: The two fifty is in your budget today. If you appropriate it tomorrow night,we would not be authorized to spend any of that until we come back for a discussion on the studies. Council Member Fox:Yes. Kaj Dentler:We would be authorized to proceed with updating the traffic model,which we have to do. Mayor Burk: Okay. Kaj Dentler: So, there will be a future discussion we can include one[crosstalk]- Council Member Fox: So that phase five is going to be phase one? Mayor Burk: Sorry, go ahead. Kaj Dentler: Do you have that slide, first slide on the traffic? We will include the $125K from the Unassigned Fund Balance in order to update the model because we have to update the model and that's been what your direction has been today.We'll also include the 250K from the Unassigned Fund Balance to address some of those studies that you have an interest in, but you will not allow us to proceed with using the$250K until you have your work session, because it's more specific. Mayor Burk:Are there four people that are okay with that? Mr. Steinberg, Mr. Bagdasarian, Ms. Nacy, and myself. Okay, Ms. Fox, you have a question? Okay, all right. Okay. Kaj Dentler: Okay, thank you. Mayor Burk: All right, anything else at this point? If this is all we're adding, this is what will go to the public hearing tomorrow? Right?We will vote on it tomorrow. Council Member Nacy: I have a quick question. Since the tax rate jumped back up can we see, and I don't need an answer to this tonight, but maybe tomorrow night, can we see the effect of the real estate how much it's going to cost people? Cole Fazenbaker: On the tax bill? Council Member Nacy: Yes. Cole Fazenbaker: Sure. Council Member Nacy: Thank you. Kaj Dentler: All right,we'll have everything ready tomorrow night. Mayor Burk: Okay,thank you. I think it's getting cooler in here. Council Member Cummings: Can we pull that back up? I just want to correct one thing. Mayor Burk: Okay, one question. Council Member Cummings: Sorry. Sorry to be the pain. Mayor Burk: Give us the preamble to what you want to correct. Page 131 March 21, 2022 Council Member Cummings: I think it was one of the corrections to changing full-time employees' insurance. I think it had me as a head nod on there. I want to make sure I did not give a head nod on that. Oh, no. You're right. Sorry. My mistake. I was looking at the wrong one. It was the full-time employee Energy Savings and Emergency Management, so. Mayor Burk: You're alright? Council Member Cummings: My apologies. Mayor Burk: That's all right. Next item. Thank you, gentlemen, and ladies, sorry, and ladies and gentlemen. Vice Mayor Martinez: The assumption is that the Energy Management person will save us enough money on our energy needs to pay for himself. Mayor Burk: There you go. Vice Mayor Martinez: Or herself or themselves. Mayor Burk: The next one is Ms. Berry Hill. Vice Mayor Martinez: Since it's so late in the evening, I think we should just postpone it until the next- Mayor Burk: Until another time. Susan Berry Hill: Thank you. Madam Mayor and Members of Council, this next item on your agenda is Affordable Housing. We had discussed this at previous meetings on October of 2021. At that time after the work session, Council asked for continued discussion of inclusionary zoning and Accessory Dwelling Units. Then in January, there was a request to discuss Attainable Housing. Tonight, we're combining those requests from Council. The question I'll start with a slide here that I'll finish up with as well is,what are the options for Council to consider this issue? Council can address it in an individual incremental approach, you could look at it in a strategic comprehensive approach, or you could defer action tonight. There are options for you, and there are probably more options other than these three that I've provided. Background on the past work sessions on Affordable Housing on November 23, 2020, you discussed inclusionary zoning, which is our ADU ordinance that's currently in the zoning ordinance. On April 12, 2021, we invited the Town Manager for Round Hill to come and discuss their Accessory Dwelling Unit ordinance and what that can contained. Then on October 25th, Council continued to discuss that topic of Accessory Dwelling Units, and at that point, decided to continue that discussion. We do know that housing affordability is a problem in Leesburg as it is in Northern Virginia and much of the rest of the country. The anecdotal input received through the Economic Development Steering Committees a number of years ago pointed to this issue whereby people in the service sector were having difficulty, restaurants, and so forth were having trouble hiring people because Leesburg is an expensive place to live. We also heard that in our public engagement portion of the Legacy Leesburg Town Plan Project,where we heard from many different members of our community that affordability is a difficult situation for people just starting out in their careers, all the way through to of people who are retiring and wanting to downsize in Leesburg. It's an issue that we've heard from many members of our public on.We do know that the empirical data shows that about 50%of renters and 25%of homeowners spend more than 30% of their income on housing. We do also know through public comment that we received, particularly on the Mobile Home Park issue, that there are a number of members of our community who are experiencing deep affordability issues beyond what is mentioned earlier. Page 141 March 21, 2022 The question has come up, how do we define affordability? If you refer to the Housing and Urban Development definition, no more than 30% of income should be spent on housing, that's a general standard.Another way to look at affordability is looking at the average median income,the Housing and Urban Development Department also uses this as a means to address affordability and assigns different levels of affordability throughout the nation. In Loudoun County, our AMI is$126K.What we do know is there are different housing solutions. Many of them that will target different percentage points on that spectrum, affordability spectrum. So, no one solution fits all. Now, defining affordability further. Workforce Housing and Attainable Housing, you've heard of those descriptors and they're essentially the same thing. Workforce Housing is typically 60 to 80 to 120% of AMI. Attainable Housing is usually in that 80 to 120%AMI range. It addresses household incomes that are not eligible for assistance through such programs, such as voucher programs or the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program. Essentially,Workforce Housing and Attainable Housing is addressing that moderate housing affordability needs.The middle-income needs. This is a diagram that I found in the Montgomery County Affordable Housing or Attainable Housing documents. It kind of is one that's typically used when discussing Affordable Housing anywhere where it shows a spectrum of different housing needs with small-scale housing, types of housing on the left. Then, moving, as you move to the right on the spectrum, larger-scale housing. It's good to think about affordability in terms of, not just AMI but what are the housing types that we're trying to provide at the different levels of affordability in our community. On the reddish area where it says small scale, that can include types of housing such as duplexes, triplexes,fourplexes, courtyard apartments, bungalow courts, and Accessory Dwelling Units.Then,you move into the medium scale, which is addressing stacked flats or two over twos, as we call them, apartment buildings, three-story townhomes, and so forth.Then, you move into the larger scale,which is mixed-use, live-work buildings that include stacked townhouses and apartment buildings so you're moving up in density on the spectrum. Strategies that we have discussed to date are twofold. We've discussed inclusionary zoning, the ADU ordinance, as I mentioned earlier, I'll go through briefly again what that includes, and Accessory Dwelling Units. These are two types of tools that are used to address Affordable Housing. In our ADU ordinance, this is contained in section 3.17 of the ordinance, and again the definition in the ordinance says it to address moderate-income needs and it defines that as a percentage of average medium income. For ownership projects, it's 30 to 70%AMI. Based on the 126K which is Loudoun's AMI now, that is 37,8K to 88,2K. For rental projects, it's 30 to 50%AMI. ADUs are defined as units for which the rent sales price is regulated to meet those ranges. It applies to residential proposals that are 24 units or more and are receiving public utilities and at least one unit per acre or more. Again, we ask for single-family detached projects and single-family attached projects, 12.5% should be ADUs. There are density bonus provisions in the ordinance as well. Multi-family is 6.25%. Timing of construction is also an important factor in the ordinance whereby 50% of the ADUs should be provided by 50% of the market rate units and 100% of the ADUs should be provided when 75% of the market units are built. Then, there's the cash in-lieu option to opt-out of doing the ADU. We do have a memorandum of agreement working with Loudoun County on administering those ADUs that was initially approved in 2008 then updated in 2018. It currently caps the number of ADUs to be administered by the County at 120 units. We currently have 44 units that are approved and there are no current issues with administering that MOA. Then the second type of affordability or Affordable Housing tool that we've talked about in the past is Accessory Dwelling Units. This diagram just shows the different types of accessory units, it could be detached, it could be attached, it could be an upper level of a home, it could be a basement area of a home, it could be a garage, above a garage, or it could be a garage conversion. These are the six different types of Accessory Dwelling Units that are typical. We talked about last fall, we do have the Extended Family Residence, which is currently in our ordinance. It's an Accessory Dwelling Unit that is specifically for family members. It does not include members outside of that family unit. Then there are different factors for how to do that in the ordinance. Page 151 March 21,2022 Affordable Housing decisions going forward, questions for Council to consider, what are the specific affordable needs of Leesburg residents,and how much Affordable Housing is needed?Identifying those factors might help you to understand which approach you would like to use and what your goals are. I've listed a number here, but again, the question for you tonight, I think is, do you want regulatory strategies or non-regulatory strategies?Then your options going back to that initial slide that I showed, you could defer action tonight to consider this further, you could consider incremental steps to addressing affordability or you could approach it in a strategic fashion. With that, I will close and answer any questions. Mayor Burk: Thank you, Ms. Nacy.Any questions? Council Member Nacy: I do. Thank you. I just have two and they're both regarding the zoning ordinance currently. Why is it capped, our MLA capped at 120 units with the County? What was the thought process behind that? Susan Berry Hill: It used to be lower than that, and with the update in 2018, it was expanded to that. That was the number of units that the County agreed that they would administer. If Council wish to expand that, you could certainly ask the County if they would increase the number of units that they would administer. It does not seem to be a problem at this point because as I said, we have 44 units right now that they're administering, so we're not approaching that threshold right now. Council Member Nacy: Then my second question is, how often do developers do the cash-in-lieu option? Susan Berry Hill: We've not had any so far. We did have interest in that with the Church and Market project and they decided not to. They decided to provide the units. Council Member Nacy: Okay, interesting. Mayor Burk: Mr. Bagdasarian? Council Member Bagdasarian:Yes, thank you. One of these days,there we go. Thank you. I have to also ask for the caps too. The current requirement for ADUs is 6.25%. Is that correct? Susan Berry Hill: For multifamily. Council Member Bagdasarian: Multifamily, and I saw somewhere there. Is there an escalation the ability to increase that to a higher percentage as a proffer is that-- did I see something in there about 10%or what was that 10%? Susan Berry Hill: That's the bonus provisions. That's to incentivize developers to provide Affordable Housing,we haven't had any developers who have used that. If you wanted to increase the percentage of ADUs that are required, that's something you could explore through a text amendment to the ordinance. Council Member Bagdasarian: Yes, I think we should definitely explore that. Given the demand and the need for. We always talk about Affordable Housing, and this is certainly one method and I know that the Accessory Dwelling Units is an approach, but I would like to see if it's possible to increase the base amount but also allowing an escalation to a higher percentage as a proffer to allow for additional development percentages by increasing the Affordable Dwelling Units. I think there are a few things I think that we can address now relatively quickly, I think, especially from recent projects,but I do strongly support and would recommend that we approach this comprehensively. One of the strategies here is to consider the creation of a citizen group to study Affordable Housing. I think this is something that I would like to really bring the community in on and have a group of individuals appointed by Members of Council to study this and come back with different strategies from a more comprehensive perspective. Page 161 March 21, 2022 I do think there are certain things that we can do now given the timeliness of this topic. It's been around for a long time, I think we should make a few quick things now that we'll make an impact, but also look at this more comprehensively. Susan Berry Hill: That was one of the recommendations that came out of the Planning Commission was to establish a Steering Committee or a committee to look at Affordable Housing, so it's currently in your Town Plan, Legacy Leesburg. Council Member Bagdasarian:Yes. Thank you, Mayor Burk: Mr. Martinez? Vice Mayor Martinez: Now,the developers have weighed up out of ADUs by contributing money to the County who takes the responsibility of issuing that money out to people in need. Correct? Susan Berry Hill:Are you talking about the fee in lieu of providing? Vice Mayor Martinez: Correct. Susan Berry Hill:Yes, if a developer were to exercise that option,the money would go in a trust fund, a Housing Trust Fund, that the County would administer, and they could direct that money to any number of different projects County-wide. Vice Mayor Martinez:That's to any project in the County, not specific for Leesburg.So, in other words, if we give them in lieu of, and they pay the money to the County for development in Leesburg, there's no guarantee we're going to see that money. Susan Berry Hill: No guarantee, now that's correct. Vice Mayor Martinez: Okay. Let's say they have this program, what hoops does a homeowner, or a family have to go through to be part of that program, and is there a limit to income or anything else that would prohibit them, do you know? Susan Berry Hill: The County has a number of different programs that they administer for Affordable Housing programs. I don't really know specifically how to answer your question because I don't know enough about all [crosstalk]. Vice Mayor Martinez: The only reason I'm asking is a great example is the trailer park families who either didn't know or didn't qualify, or there was so much bureaucracy involved,they didn't bother. I just feel that we need to figure out a way that any monies that we or developers in Town,give to the County for in lieu of,we should find a way to have them apply that directly to Leesburg. I just wondered if there's a way, we can do that, or what would we have to do to do that? Do we have to go legislatively to the State to have that lieu of be given to the Town of Leesburg instead of the County? I think that would be part of a solution now. I don't know what the value of the monies are that that the County gets from the Town of Leesburg developments, but if it's anything, we could at least apply it to our residents in Town. Anyway,thank you. Susan Berry Hill: As I mentioned,we haven't received any payments in lieu for ADUs in the Town so we've not contributed any money to that trust fund. However, to your point that there are different programs the County administers and one of the non-regulatory approaches that Council could consider is doing education and outreach to our residents to let them know about what programs are available to them at the County. Mayor Burk: Mr. Cummings? Council Member Cummings: Thanks. Obviously, incredibly important issue here in the Town and it's only going to get even more important as the demand to live here in Leesburg continues to grow. I obviously have an awesome experience when I sell a house, it helps someone buy a house and get it Page 171 March 21, 2022 to hand them the keys. I can see the excitement in folks' face and the more folks that we can get a chance to own their own home, it just builds wealth and it's a great thing. I'm incredibly supportive of all of the above approach to the policies to make housing more affordable. I would concur and support putting together a comprehensive strategy to make housing more affordable here in Leesburg. When we talk about the specifics, I'm not sure we need to have a citizen task force to talk about whether we need Affordable Housing. I think we all know we need that. As we move forward, I hope that we can take the next step to not talk about how expensive houses are and how it's hard to afford one but to really get into the nuts and bolts of both regulatory and non-regulatory actions that we can take to add to the houses available to buy and sell and rent and just policies to help us move forward. What my hope is with Council Member Bagdasarian's comment of putting together a task force following with the Planning Commission and what's in the Legacy Leesburg Plan, my hope is that we take the next step and really come up with strategies and tactics and solutions rather than just talk about how expensive housing is because it is expensive. Thanks. Mayor Burk: Mr. Steinberg? Council Member Steinberg: Thanks. I think we can all agree. We have a consensus that it's a complicated problem,which it is,and just trying to grasp all these moving parts work is a big challenge. My first question,and maybe it's an obvious one,why do we need the County involved in this equation? You say,apparently,there's a number of 120, but why do we need the County involved in our Affordable Housing strategy or program? Susan Berry Hill: We don't have a dedicated program in the Town to address housing. In lieu of that fact, in the past Councils have entered into an agreement with the County to administer those ADUs that we get over time and so they do that. They track them in their-- all of the ADUs that are obtained through the development process throughout the County, including Leesburg, track that when they became--when they're provided, and then track the affordability over the length of period that it applies. The short answer to your question is we do not have staff dedicated to doing that,the County does. Council Member Steinberg: Okay. It seems like there are two parts.We use the County to administer the program, but do we need the County to determine what our program is in terms of requiring or gaining Affordable Dwelling Units? Susan Berry Hill: No. Council Member Steinberg: That's on us. That can happen in a variety of ways. This maybe gets to the Steering Committee as to how we actually do it, even though the County is the administration. Back to the cash-in-lieu, which strikes me as a program that's about maybe as effective as our cash-in-lieu for parking in Town.What is the amount that a developer,whether it's been used in Leesburg or not, at what amount is the developer buying his or her way out of Affordable Dwellings? Susan Berry Hill: That's a good question. Our experience is limited with this. Like I said, we had one applicant who was interested in pursuing this and so the steps are they would go to the Affordable Dwelling Unit Advisory Board at the County, ADUAB. They look at what that affordable equivalent is or what the amount should be for the contribution based on whatever factors they use. To be honest, I don't know what those factors are. They make a recommendation to the Town of what that amount is and then we have to decide whether we accept that or not. That is a glossed over the process. It's a little bit more complicated than that. Again, we've not had anybody that has exercised that option. Council Member Steinberg: I guess I'm just trying to get a handle. Is it$10K for a unit or 50K? Is it $3K?What's the ballpark here for? Hard to say? Susan Berry Hill: It's a percentage of what it costs to produce the units. I don't know ADUAB's process or how they do that. Page 181 March 21, 2022 Council Member Steinberg: Then how is the money, once it's pooled, how is it actually used? Susan Berry Hill: It's put in the Housing Trust Fund at the County, and they can apply that money to creation of new affordable projects. I know that this has been a big issue in the recent budget where they're trying to have a certain amount of tax income goes directly to the Housing Trust Fund to be able to build Affordable Housing in the County. It's a source, it's a part of their overall program but it's just one element of their program. Council Member Steinberg: This may seem a fairly simplistic way of putting it. Seems like in its workings, you're allowing one development to buy its way out and you're taking that money and giving it to another development to buy its way in as opposed to both developments living up to their responsibilities in the first place. I realize that's glossing it over but that's what it seems like. Is that too far-fetched, no? Susan Berry Hill:Yes,that's essentially it, and Council could certainly consider deleting that option for developers to contribute to a Housing Trust Fund. Council Member Steinberg: Okay, something to think about. We have the presentation about Accessory Dwellings. Once an Accessory Dwelling is built,what assures us that it actually stays in the Affordable Housing pool as opposed to it simply becoming another Airbnb rental unit?How do you deal with that? Susan Berry Hill: That's an issue. I think many communities who have looked at Accessory Dwelling Units, that's something that they're considering as a part of do they want to use this tool for Affordable Housing? Conversions to Airbnbs or short-term rentals has been an issue in effect. That would be something if we were interested in looking at this tool, we wouldn't want to delve into that and see how we could prohibit that from happening. Council Member Steinberg: It strikes me that, that approach is fraught with all kinds of issues, that certainly being one of them. Plus, it's, in my opinion, poor planning, because it jumps around a lot of necessary issues that may arise utility, certainly being one, parking, and all those things so not particularly happy about that. If affordable housing is an issue for 50% of renters and 25% of homeowners, how did these numbers of 6.5% and 12.5%, how did they become the benchmarks then based on the reality of the numbers? Do we know? Susan Berry Hill:Yes. Council Member Steinberg: Okay. Susan Berry Hill: We modeled our ordinance after Loudoun County's and so I just checked today to make sure those numbers haven't changed and they're still in the ordinance,the 12.5%for single-family detached and attached units, and then 6.25% for multifamily. Our ordinance was modeled after the County's and at the time when the County was looking at their affordable ordinance,they were looking at Montgomery County model. Council Member Steinberg: Is this a nationwide model? Susan Berry Hill: I don't know. I don't know. Council Member Steinberg: If you build an accessory unit for extended family and the property sells, then what happens to that designation? Basically, you've got a property with two units on it and no longer an extended family so how do you deal with that? Susan Berry Hill: Yes, that has been an issue that, again, one of the issues that communities who have looked at Accessory Dwelling in their ordinance have had to grapple with so that would be something we would want to consider as well. How do you maintain that as an affordable unit when it's privately controlled by the property owner? • Page 191 March 21, 2022 Council Member Steinberg: Well, thank you. Well, I concur, there's no question we need a strategic plan and I concur with Council Member Cummings here that we don't need someone to tell us that we need it, we need people to tell us how we actually get there in the end. Okay. Thanks. Mayor Burk: Miss Fox? Council Member Fox: Yes, just two questions. I'm confused on the question Council Member Steinberg just asked you about, we have up to 120 units that are administered by the County through our MOU, correct? Susan Berry Hill: That's the cap. Council Member Fox: That's the cap? Susan Berry Hill: Yes. Council Member Fox: But we're able to do whatever we want within our policy and if our policy says we're going to have 500 of them or something like that, how will they be administered? Susan Berry Hill: The ADU ordinance in our zoning ordinance is one tool for affordability. So, if we have developer-proposed projects, and we start to see more ADUs that are garnered through that process, as we approach that cap of 120 units, then the Council might want to approach the Board of Supervisors or County staff to see if that could be expanded. Council Member Fox: Okay. Susan Berry Hill: That's one tool that the Town can use is the ADU ordinance and trying to maximize that as a tool. There are other things,the Accessory Dwelling Unit ordinance if we were to approve one has nothing to do with that. It's a completely separate tool. Council Member Fox: Right, and my next question is about that ordinance. Right now, if, and correct me if I'm wrong, I thought I heard or I thought I read that right now Detached Accessory Dwellings are not permitted to be used as rentals. Correct? Susan Berry Hill:Correct. We have what's called an Extended Family Residence. It applies to our four, six,and eight districts. It's an option that, essentially, if you remember,we used to call them granny flats or housing that could serve a family member that's not a part of the main unit. We approved this a number of years ago, we've had one, I guess, application or one approval of an Extended Family Residence. I mentioned that just because it's similar to Accessory Dwelling Units discussions for affordability, one option for Council to consider is they could expand that to be not just for family members, but also as a rental unit[crosstalk]. Council Member Fox: That's exactly what I'd like to do tonight. I would like to ask Council to have either a discussion or consider it using including detached in our ordinance. Right now, it's not included. Thank you. That's it. Mayor Burk: A couple of things. Someone asked about why does the County do our ADU programs. Not only do they do the programs,the housing program, but they also provide services for those people. They don't just put them in a house. They have staff that helps them to understand their finances and how they're going to be able to budget. They have staff that works with them on daycare and finding a daycare. They have staff that works with them on all sorts of other social issues that they--so it's not just that they take care of the numbers and say, "Okay, this is done, you can move into this house,"it's more complicated than that. It really deals with social services and trying to help people move up out of poverty. That's more of the reason why we don't have it because we don't do social services. That's a County proviso that they have to take care of, and it would be a huge change for us to take that on, it would be huge. From everything from daycare to substance abuse, to budget financing, and all of that it would be huge if we were to take it on. Page 201 March 21,2022 I have heard realtors say that the reason that we have only 44 units for Affordable Housing out of the 120 is because they're not the right size units. That we're not requiring that. Many of them are one- bedroom units, and many of the Affordable Housing needs are for families of two or three kids. We're not requiring they look at the size of the unit, and that really penalizes and keeps a lot of people from using those units, and that might be something we want to look at in the future. The whole concept of the-- I didn't realize that we had a payment in lieu that horrifies me. That is something I think that we should try to get rid of as soon as possible because that's just awful. The concept of having the community come forward,having a Steering Committee to discuss all these things that we talked about tonight, certainly, are very important things. We have had a discussion about the Accessory Dwelling Units. There's nowhere that I've been able to find that says that those stay as affordable units, they almost all end up as rentals at market price. Unless we can say, "You can't do them at market price,they have to be affordable units,"that would be something we would really have to look at.Whether it's detached or connected or whatever because a lot of from what I've read the majority of may end up being Airbnbs or something to that nature and just at market rates. I think that you've been given a number of things that the Steering Committee could be looking at. Where do we proceed from here? What do you need from us tonight? To tell you to go back to the Planning Commission and say, "Yes, we want to have the Steering Committee". Do you want us to-- what? Susan Berry Hill: I think it's totally up to Council what approach you want to use. If you want to direct staff to think about how to approach the Steering Committee, we can certainly come back to you with some ideas on how to start that and you could give us direction on what to do. If you're interested in pursuing some incremental approaches, again, you can tell us what you would like to do on that front. Mayor Burk:All right. Ms. Fox, your light is on. Council Member Fox: Yes, yes. Thank you. I did want to see if it would be okay. I mentioned an idea and I'd like to try and get a straw poll on that or the head nod thing that we do at work sessions about the zoning ordinance detached units, all that good stuff. I wanted to have a discussion. Mayor Burk: You want that before we actually have any discussion on it? Council Member Fox: Well, I think this will probably take a long time, and yes, I want to have a discussion just on that. Mayor Burk: Okay.Are there four people that want it? Kaj Dentler:What specifically? Council Member Fox: It's, specifically, I'd like to include detached units in our zoning ordinances' Accessory Dwelling Units. Mayor Burk:All right. There are four people that--you have your light on Mr. Steinberg. Council Member Steinberg:Yes. Susan Berry Hill: Just so we're clear,the detached units are an allowance under the Extended Family Residence under the R4, 6, and 8 districts. The question there again is it's restricted to family. I think what you're suggesting is they not be restricted to family but as rental? Okay. Mayor Burk:All right.Are there four people that would like to have that happen?All right.That passes. I hope you guys realize what you've done. Okay. I always make little comments to myself. Sorry. Susan Berry Hill: I didn't hear them. Page 211 March 21, 2022 Mayor Burk: All right.Are you good?We most certainly-- Susan Berry Hill: Look to the Town Manager. Kaj Dentler: What I heard is, we'll come back with a plan of the task force and try to scope how that would be. Since this is Susan's last work session, that will now fall to the Acting Planning Director, Mr. Markel who's taking very copious notes by the way. Susan Berry Hill: No, no, you heard. Kaj Dentler:We'll come back to you with a plan. Mayor Burk: Okay. Thank you. Kaj Dentler: Okay. Thank you. Susan Berry Hill:All right. Thank you. Mayor Burk: Thank you. We will most certainly miss you.We wish you all the luck. Susan Berry Hill: Thank you. Mayor Burk: I hope you enjoy your retirement. I met your lovely mother at the- Susan Berry Hill: Oh, she said that.Yes. Mayor Burk: Yes. She's very excited to see more of you. Susan Berry Hill: Yes. I'm excited to see more of her too. Mayor Burk: Okay. Clark Case: [Unintelligible]. Susan Berry Hill: Thank you. Mayor Burk:All right. Thank you. Okay. Is there any items for future meetings, Ms. Nacy? Council Member Nacy: No. Mayor Burk: Ms. Fox? Council Member Fox: Yes. I have a couple. One of them has to do with giving localities a choice to opt in to lower the car tax. There was a bill signed by the-- or about to be signed by the Governor that will give localities that option to opt-in. I don't know if that means just counties, I don't know if that means counties and Towns, but I'd like to explore with the inflation the cars went up in value so, so much,just exponentially. I wanted to see if we can explore if whether we can give some relief or at least opt into that program as a Town. Mayor Burk: Will you look into that? That's something-- Do we have four people that would be interested in looking into that?Yes? Council Member Bagdasarian: I have a question. As far as automobile relief, what aspects will the Town have or what aspects does the Town have on that front? Kaj Dentler: Well,we have our own property rate so we would look into that. I need to do some-- Council Member Fox: Just to see what the effect would be. Page 221 March 21,2022 Kaj Dentler: --homework on what the legislation is and what our options are and bring that back to you at a future work session. Mayor Burk: Are there four votes that would like to pursue that? Ms. Fox, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Bagdasarian, and Ms. Nacy. Council Member Fox: Just one more quick thing. I would like to see if Council would be willing to offer or support a resolution to reinstate any employees or commission members who lost their jobs with the implementation of the vaccine mandate. Mayor Burk:Are there four people that would be interested in doing that?Ms.Fox and Ms. Nacy.Okay. Council Member Fox:Well then, I'd like to go ahead and put that offering on the next business meeting agenda for April 11th, 2022. That would be a resolution to reinstate any employees or commissioners who lost their jobs due to the vaccine mandate. Mayor Burk:All right. Yes, Mr. --Oh, you have your light on. Council Member Cummings: Oh, I'm sorry. Mayor Burk: Oh. Mr. Steinberg? Mr. Cummings? Council Member Cummings:Just one,the Thomas Balch Library is celebrating the 100th anniversary so we need to do a proclamation for that. Mayor Burk: I believe that is- Council Member Cummings: I think it's already in the works but just I just officially asked for that. Mayor Burk: Is that it? Council Member Cummings:Yes. Mayor Burk: Mr. Martinez? Vice Mayor Martinez: No. Mayor Burk: Mr. Bagdasarian? I don't have anything. Do we have a motion to adjourn? Council Member Bagdasarian: So, moved. Mayor Burk: All in favor? Council Member Bagdasarian: I think all of them. Mayor Burk: I didn't hear, all in favor? Council Members:Aye. Mayor Burk: Thank you. Opposed, okay. Page 231 March 21, 2022