HomeMy Public PortalAbout2023_tcmin0725COUNCIL MEETING July 25, 2023
Council Chamber, 25 West Market Street, 7:00 p.m. Mayor Kelly Burk presiding.
Council Members Present: Ara Bagdasarian, Kari Nacy, Vice Mayor Neil Steinberg,
Patrick Wilt and Mayor Kelly Burk.
Council Members Absent: Todd Cimino -Johnson and Zach Cummings.
Staff Present: Town Manager Kaj Dentler, Town Attorney Christopher Spera, Deputy
Town Manager Keith Markel, Director of Utilities Amy Wyks, Director of Public Works
and Capital Projects Renee LaFollette, Director of Economic Development Russell
Seymour, Airport Director Scott Coffman, Leesburg Police Lieutenant Bob Thompson,
Zoning Administrator Mike Watkins, Planner Shelby Miller, and Clerk of Council Eileen
Boeing.
AGENDA ITEMS
1. CALL TO ORDER
2. INVOCATION was given by Council Member Bagdasarian.
3. SALUTE TO THE FLAG was led by Council Member Nacy.
4. ROLL CALL Council Member Cimino -Johnson and Council Member Cummings
absent.
5. MINUTES
a. Work Session Minutes of July 10. 2023
MOTION2023-132
On a motion by Vice Mayor Steinberg, seconded by Council Member Wilt, the July 10,
2023, Work Session minutes were moved for approval.
Council Member Bagdasarian and Council Member Nacy were absent at the
July 10, 2023, Work Session and abstained from the vote.
The motion was approved by the following vote:
Aye: Vice Mayor Steinberg, Wilt, and Mayor Burk
Nay: None
Vote: 3-0-2-2 (Cimino -Johnson and Cummings absent, Bagdasarian and Nacy abstain)
b. Regular Session Minutes of June 27, 2023
MOTION 2023433
On a motion by Vice Mayor Steinberg, seconded by Council Member Nary, the June 27,
2023, Regular Session minutes were moved for approval.
Council Member Bagdasarian was absent at the July 11, 2023, Council
Meeting and abstained from the vote.
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COUNCIL MEETING July 25, 2023
The motion was approved by the following vote:
Aye: Nacy, Vice Mayor Steinberg, Wilt and Mayor Burk
Nay: None
Vote: 4-0-2-1 (Cimino -Johnson and Cummings absent and Bagdasarian abstain)
6. ADOPTING THE MEETING AGENDA
MOTION2023-134
On a motion by Vice Mayor Steinberg, seconded by Council Member Nacy, the meeting agenda
was moved for approval.
The motion was approved by the fallowing vote:
Aye: Bagdasarian, Naty, Vice Mayor Steinberg, Wilt and Mayor Burk
Nay: None
Vote: 5-0-2 (Cimino -Johnson and Cummings absent)
7. CERTIFICATES OF RECOGNITION
a. None.
8. PRESENTATION OF PROCLAMATIONS
a. None.
9. PRESENTATIONS
a. Visit Loudoun Update
Visit Loudoun President and CEO Beth Erickson provided an update on the
core tourism services provided by Visit Loudoun. The services are a key component
of the Memorandum of Agreement between Visit Loudoun and the Town of
Leesburg. Council and Ms. Erickson discussed her presentation.
10. REGIONAL COMMISSION REPORTS
a. None.
11. PETITIONERS
The Petitioner's Section opened at 7:21 p.m.
Brent Wensel. 1028 Laconian Street NE. Spoke to Council regarding the effects the
weekend street closures for the stormwater project at King and Market Street have had on his
business. Mayor Burk and Mr. Dentler noted that they would meet with Mr. Wensel to
discuss notification improvements as well as any other assistance the Town could provide to
minimize the project impacts.
The Petitioner's Section closed at 7:26 p.m.
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COUNCIL MEETING July 25, 2023
12. APPROVAL OF THE CONSENT AGENDA
MOTION2023-135
On a motion by Council Member Nacy, seconded by Vice Mayor Steinberg, the following consent
agenda was proposed:
a. Letter Ovposing Perimeter Rule Changes at Reagan National Airport
b. Town Hall Art Exhibit by Ligia Inra and Chrissv Gordon
RESOLUTION2023-095
Approval of Town Hall Art Exhibit by Ligia Inra and Chrissy Gordon
c. Award of Contract for Custodial Services
RESOLUTION2023-096
Award Custodial Services Contract to AEA Services, LLC and JV Cleaning Service, LLC
d. Sanitary Sewer Lining and Rehabilitation
RESOLUTION2023-097
Award Construction Contract for Sanitary Sewer Lining and Rehabilitation to Spiniello
Companies in the amount of$813,361
e. Purchase of Police Vehicles — Fiscal Year2024
RESOLUTION2023-098
Approve a purchase for Fiscal Year 2024 Replacement Police Vehicles to Sheehy Ford Lincoln
of Richmond, Inc. in the Amount of$732,286.36
Purchase ofAccessory Packages for Police Vehicles — Fiscal Year 2024
g
RESOLUTION2023-099
Authorizing the Purchase of Accessory Packages for Fiscal Year2024 Police Vehicles through
East Coast Emergency Vehicles, LLC in the Amount of $220,184.23
Appointment of Town Council Member to the Liberty Lot Redevelopment Proposal
Workgroup
RESOLUTION 2023-100
Appointment of Town Council Member to the Liberty Lot Redevelopment Proposal
Workgroup
The Consent Agenda was approved by the fallowing vote:
Aye: Bagdasarian, Nacy, Vice Mayor Steinberg, Wilt and Mayor Burk
Nay: None
Vote: 5-0-2 (Cimino -Johnson and Cummings absent)
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COUNCIL MEETING July 25, 2023
13. RESOLUTIONS /ORDINANCES / MOTIONS
a. I-1 Rezoning Text Amendment Initiation
MOTION
On a motion by Vice Mayor Steinberg, seconded by Council Member Bagdasarian, the
fallowing was proposed:
RESOLUTION2023-101
Initiating Amendments to the Zoning Ordinance to Allow Rezoning to the
Industrial/Research Park (F1) Zoning District for Expansion Purposes (as amended)
Ms. Shelby Miller presented the proposed Zoning Ordinance amendments to
allow expansion of the I-1 District. The Zoning Ordinance currently prohibits
rezoning property to the I-1 District. The amendments are intended to facilitate the
expansion of the Public Works Facility (Town Shop) on Russell Branch Parkway.
Council and staff discussed concems raised that this would apply to anyone who
wanted to rezone to the I-1 District. Ms. Miller and Mr. Watkins presented a revised
resolution to Council during their presentation which would limit the amendments to
public facilities. The amended resolution was accepted by both Vice Mayor Steinberg
and Council Member Bagdasarian.
MOTION2023-136
On a motion by Vice Mayor Steinberg, seconded by Council Member Bagdasarian, the
following was proposed:
RESOLUTION 2023-101
Initiating Amendments to the Zoning Ordinance to Allow Rezoning to the
Industrial/Research Park (I-1) Zoning District fir Expansion Purposes (as amended)
The motion was approved by the following vote:
Aye: Bagdasarian, Nary, Vice Mayor Steinberg, Wilt and Mayor Burk
Nay: None
Vote: 5-0-2 (Cimino -Johnson and Cummings absent)
b. Office Lease for the Department of Community Development
Mr. Dentler explained the need to lease additional office space to
accommodate the Department of Community Development due to space constraints
at Town Hall. Council and staff discussed the proposed lease.
MOTION1023-137
On a motion by Council Member Bagdasarian, seconded by Council Member Nacy, the
following was proposed:
RESOLUTION1013-102
Lease of Office Space at 222 Catoctin Circle for the Department of Community
Development
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COUNCIL MEETING July 25, 2023
The motion was approved by the following vote:
Aye: Bagdasarian, Nacy, Vice Mayor Steinberg and Mayor Burk
Nay: Wilt
Vote: 4-1-2 (Cimino -Johnson and Cummings absent)
c. Tower Operations Agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration
Mr. Spera presented the agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration
for tower operations at the Leesburg Executive Airport and the proposed funding
through Fiscal Year 2024. Council and staff discussed the agreement and funding.
MOTION2023-138
On a motion by Council Member Nacy, seconded by Council Member Bagdasarian, the
following was proposed:
RESOLUTION 2023-103
Authorizing the Town Manager to Execute a Tower Operations Agreement with the
Federal Aviation Administration and to appropriate $90,000 from the Unassigned
Fund Balance to pay the rent of the Mobile Control Tower from October 1, 2023
through June 30, 2024
The motion was approved by the following vote:
Aye: Bagdasarian, Nary, Vice Mayor Steinberg, Wilt and Mayor Burk
Nay: None
Vote: 5-0-2 (Cimino -Johnson and Cummings absent)
14. PUBLIC HEARINGS
a. None.
15. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
a. None.
16. NEW BUSINESS
a. None.
17. COUNCIL DISCLOSURES AND COMMENTS / ADDITIONS TO FUTURE
MEETINGS
Vice Mayor Steinberg noted Council canceled its Work Session the night before due
to a lack of a physical quorum. Vice Mayor Steinberg said that Council did not cancel a
single meeting during the COVID-19 pandemic. He asked Council Members to work to
minimize meeting conflicts as much as possible to avoid any future meeting cancellations.
18. MAYOR DISCLOSURES AND COMMENTS / ADDITIONS TO FUTURE
MEETINGS
Mayor Burk asked Council Members to start thinking about assessing the expansion
of Town Hall. Mayor Burk noted it is a long process and thought it would be good to start
thinking about the process. Mayor Burk attended a ribbon cutting for LuckyDog in the
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COUNCIL MEETING July 25, 2023
Village at Leesburg. Mayor Burk congratulated Chief Thea Pirnat on becoming the first
female Police Chief in Leesburg. Mayor Burk also thanked Major Grigsby for filling in as
Interim Police Chief. Mayor Burk thanked staff for doing a wonderful job of organizing the
swearing -in ceremony. Mayor Burk met with Mr. Herbert Valle and Supervisor Kristen
Umstattd to celebrate Dominick on his 100th birthday. Mayor Burk noted two upcoming
Meet the Mayor events. The first on July 29 at Dunkin' Donuts from 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
and on July 30 at Birch Tree Bookstore from 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. She encouraged
residents to attend and share their thoughts on Leesburg.
19. TOWN MANAGER COMMENTS
Mr. Dentler noted the three items scheduled on the canceled Work Session agenda
would be rescheduled to a later date.
20. CLOSED SESSION
a. None.
21. ADJOURNMENT
On a motion by Vice Mayor Steinberg, seconded by Council Member Nary, the meeting was
adjourned at 7:52 p.m.
Kelly Bkrk, 11M1 yo
Town of Leesburg
ATTEST:
s,
Clerk of Council
2023_mmin0725
61 Page
July 25, 2023 — Town Council Meeting
(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.leesburgva.gov 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: I'd like to call the order tonight's July 251h, 2023, meeting of the Leesburg Town
Council. If anybody in the room needs hearing assistance, please see the Clerk. Council Member
Bagdasarian will be giving the invocation, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by Council Nacy.
Council Member Ara Bagdasarian: Heavenly Father, we are thankful to gather this evening to
discuss matters of importance to our community. We ask for clarity in our judgment and decision
making. We ask for civility and empathy in our deliberation. Let's work together to constructively build
a better Leesburg for our citizens today and for the future. We ask all this in your name. Amen.
Mayor Burk: Please stand.
All: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it
stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Mayor Burk: All right. We do not have two members tonight, Council Member Cimino -Johnson and
Council Member Cummings, neither of those wish to participate electronically. I have the work
session minutes from July 101h. Council Member Bagdasarian and Nacy were absent, so do I have a
motion to accept the work session minutes?
Vice Mayor Neil Steinberg: So moved.
Mayor Burk: That was moved by Vice Mayor. Seconded -
Council Member Patrick Wilt: Second.
Mayor Burk: -by Council Member Wilt. An in favor indicate by saying aye.
Council Members: Aye.
Mayor Burk: That's three. Nay? Abstainers?
Council Member Bagdasarian: Abstain.
Mayor Burk: Okay. Two people are absent, so it's 3-0-2-2. The regular session minutes of July 11",
2023.
Vice Mayor Steinberg: So moved.
Mayor Burk: Moved by Vice Mayor. Seconded?
Council Member Kari Nacy: Second.
Mayor Burk: Seconded by Ms. Nacy. AM in favor indicate by saying aye.
Members: Aye.
Mayor Burk: Nays? Absents are two and abstain is one. Got it. Can I have a motion to adopt the
meeting agenda?
Page 11 July 25, 2023
Vice Mayor Steinberg: So moved.
Mayor Burk: Vice Mayor.
Council Member Nacy: Second.
Mayor Burk: Council Member Nacy. Is there any additions or deletions? All in favor indicate by
saying aye. I don't have to look the other way tonight. I can just look this way. All in favor, indicate by
saying aye.
Members: Aye.
Mayor Burk: Opposed? That is 4-0-2.
Chris Spare: Five.
Mayor Burk: 5-0-2, you're right. Sorry, I was not going to count one of you. We have no
proclamations or certificates, but we do have a presentation from Visit Loudoun. Beth Erickson is
here, and she's asked for 12 minutes. Does anybody have an issue, she gets two additional minutes.
All right.
Beth Erickson: Good evening. Thank you very much, Madam Mayor and members of the Council. I
appreciate the additional two minutes. We always have a lot of content to get through and I am very
excited to dive right in. This evening, we're going to talk a little bit on the update of core tourism
services, which is a key component of our MOA, our memorandum of agreement with the Town. I'm
going to give you a few slides of insight on our hotel market data. We're going to talk a little bit about
our digital and social marketing. We're going to also touch on media wins and then I'm going to close
by telling you a little bit about what's next.
I know that it is being passed out. The report card which we put into effect several years ago is now
before you. It's a lot of content and it really goes and covers the core tourism services that are within
our MOA. As much as I'm sure you would love to dive into it, some of it will be covered here, but most
of it is, again, at administrative between Russ, the Town, and myself. I'm very excited to tell you that
we have included that and have met those objectives.
When we take a look at the Leesburg hotel data, we always look at three key components. I know you
see this as a part of your monthly packet. When we look at occupancy, I'm very pleased to see that
we see continued growth in occupancy numbers. You'll see your biggest impact was in 2022 as a part
of the recovery. Average daily rate, we are seeing and tracking year-to-date, a strong 7% year -over -
year increase, which again, is what we want to see.
Then RevPAR is revenue per available room. That is the key indicator that hotels are looking for when
they talk about the health of their business, that's a very, very important indicator. Again, we are
seeing strong continued growth, but I wanted to bring one item to your attention. This is comparing
month over month. When we take a look at Leesburg's occupancy from May 2019, which would have
been right on the cusp of the pandemic, to where we are today, again, we are seeing about a 1 O% -
growth in occupancy, ADR, some really good strong indicators.
What I think is important when we take a look at this, is that the County's growth is tracking 21
above the exact same month in 2019. I bring this to your attention because I do think that there are
opportunities and challenges with Leesburg hotel properties, but I think more than anything else,
there's some great opportunities for the Town. We look forward to the ribbon cutting for the new
property coming online and then seeing some of the things that are before you and the Council.
One of the things that Visit Loudoun does is we do direct sales for Leesburg properties. As we look at
it in the FY23, we sent out over 1200 leads. This is the way that it broke down into those market
segments, which I think is really important for you to see. Wedding market continues to be a strong
Page 2 1 July 25, 2023
growth within this pie. One of the things that I think is important is that corporate association
government meetings, as that continues to grow, I think that's going to be a really important segment
because that's where people are coming in midweek.
That's really what we want to see. We know that we can fi11 every single available hotel room on
weekends, but we want to see that midweek come back, which we do believe will happen as we
continue to see the return of the business traveler. Along those lines of those nearly 1200 leads, this
is the direct revenue impact of Visit Loudoun's activities within our hotels. The transient occupancy tax
that's generated by our activities alone totaled 122K nearly 123K in revenue.
1 know that you will remember this from our strategic plan, but I wanted to bring it back in to talk about
really with those areas of interest from a visitor's perspective. What you're looking here is the darker
color is what visitors had done in the previous three years. The lighter color is what they're interested
in doing in the next three years. We are in the second of those three years. What you're looking for
are those larger, lighter colors.
When you're looking at things like music, that's a 16% increase in interest in what visitors are looking
to do. Museums, outdoor activities, dining, performing arts, visual arts are all the things that I know
that you are discussing and looking at, but these are the things that make Leesburg such a great
destination.
Let me tell you how we market and promote Leesburg. On our website, visitloudoun.org, the
Leesburg -related website traffic, 86K page views. There are multiple pages and ways that people,
visitors, residents can engage on our website specifically for Leesburg content. We are very excited
that it's not only just the Leesburg Town page but also the Arts and Cultural District because we
recognize that the Arts and Cultural District is the only one in Loudoun County that is a key driver for
us when we talk about Leesburg.
Who visits our website? Not surprisingly, females still drive a lot of the traveler experiences. We know
where they are targeted, so you'll see that on the map, but we really look at that DMV region and the
mid -Atlantic region, and that's where we direct a lot of our advertising and our efforts in earned media.
Our social slats continue to grow.
When we talk about Facebook and Instagram, those are really, really key, and important drivers.
Instagram grows more and more because it is so visually rich in its content, but we put between the
two of those 150 pieces of content that relate to Leesburg alone over the course of the last year, that
is more than 2.5 every single week. Our blog continues to grow in reach and throughout our blogs,
and I certainly hope that you all follow all of our social channels, but also our blog because that drives
a lot of that traffic back to our website.
Again, when we take a look at specific Leesburg content, 91,000 views. This year we received ARPA
funding to really hit very hard, Think You Know, Think Again campaign. This was a three-part
campaign that allowed us to really start working with influencers and paid social. We're really pleased
that not only did it have incredible impact, it was recognized by several awards. You'll see this is part
of that from the Leesburg content.
We had our first entry into working with two influencers. This is one of our influencers and her
experiences within Leesburg. What I love on the right-hand side are those comments. Statements
like, "I live in an Old Town, and like you, it never occurred to me to go there, but these look great. This
is my next weekend getaway. My husband and I are going to be taking a weekend trip. Great
recommendations."
That influencer alone, again, 100% women are her followers, and her reach is strong and it's exactly
the target market that we want to look for for Leesburg. The next one I want to bring to your attention
is four sisters out of New York City called Sistersnacking. They travel the country, and they focus
specifically on culinary. They are young, they have a very strong following.
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These are their experiences at the Conch in Leesburg and then October One, so this is their reach
and their engagement across TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. One of the things that we have seen
that has been incredibly successful is a partnership with Loudoun Now, and we work with them
specifically on the Get Out Loudoun Magazine, but it also allows us to repurpose a lot of our content
that specifically will hit on Leesburg.
You'll see Tally Ho in the one on the right. Our media wins. We've got an incredible team that really
looks at working very closely with media. We have an agency that we work with DCI out of New York,
and when you take a look at this is our first time-- we really hit TV very, very hard. When you take a
look at how that drove impressions for Leesburg content alone, we are estimating 482,000,000
impressions.
I'm very excited that the Mayor will be with us on Friday at a television segment for Fox 5 as we take a
look at the-- Oh, here we go. On a couple of these Leesburg broadcasts, you're going to see the
breadth of what we're looking to do. We talked about Marshall, we talked about Craft Beer Month,
looking at public art and Black History and then also looking at some of the small business owners
and promoting them on media. This is Dana from Dana's Cake Shop in your upper left. You can take
a look at some of the reach on these television segments.
On print and digital, I've got three slides to show you a little bit of that. These were two really big hits.
AAA Magazine for day trippers, which I know is a key component and a target for the Town, that's
huge. We've been working on that for years. We were excited to have that come out. Good
Housekeeping, looking at it, it was interesting that they put it under the moniker or the headline of
Cheap Places to Travel. Again, I think what they were talking about is that there are so many
wonderful experiences at every price point in Leesburg, which I do believe is absolutely 100% true.
When we look at print and digital working, I brought these two specifically one of which is Northern
Virginia Magazine. The other is World Atlas. When you take a look at the reach on those two, what
you're seeing is really the impact of those media outlets and channels. They are both incredibly
valuable, they reach a different audience, and we continue to cultivate those relationships.
Outside of Leesburg in terms of where the properties are that they drive demand directly into
Leesburg, I wanted to bring with you the incredible event that we had at the National Conference
Center, which was the US Olympic Parafencing event, which was really remarkable. Then the other is
when we take a look at things like Lansdowne when they are marketed and promoted as within
Leesburg, we know that those visitors are coming into the Town specifically to dine, shop, and enjoy
Leesburg.
What is next? We will be launching our new website in August. We're going to have a focus on
accessible Loudoun so people with different varying disabilities can have access into Loudoun. We
want to make sure that all feel welcomed. We have our lodging outlook forum on August 29'^ and so
we will make sure that Leesburg hotel properties are there. We also are going to be reaching out to
our B&Bs, short-term residential rentals that we're aware of to bring them in to explain a little bit about
the market.
We have a signature songwriting festival that is scheduled to come in at the end of May. I reached out
to Russ and his team to have our first meeting on that so that they're well aware of it. We're hoping to
meet on that next week. We are focusing under our diversity, equity, and inclusion, and accessibility,
we are going to be rolling out our autism kits or our sensory kits for visitors to our hotels, restaurants
so that we are creating that welcoming environment. We continue to work with the Town on certified
tourism ambassador training and next year marks the 40'^ anniversary of DC's Wine Country. Madam
Mayor.
Mayor Burk: Good job.
Beth Erickson: I am done.
Page 4 1 July 25, 2023
Council Member Bagdasarian: Wow. That's impressive.
Mayor Burk: Thank you for that.
Beth Erickson: Thank you for that additional two minutes. I'm available for any questions you may
have and thank you.
Mayor Burk: Does anyone have any questions for Ms. Erickson?
Council Member Bagdasarian: Thank you, Ms. Erickson. Appreciate it. A couple of things. Is the
TOT fund primarily lodging? Is it hotel lodging or are there other aspects to that?
Beth Erickson: It's transient occupancy tax, so it is absolutely bed tax. That can only be charged
within anybody that is providing accommodations, so it's your hotels, it's your short-term residential
rentals.
Council Member Bagdasarian: The data, the leads by market segment, I thought that was very
interesting. Do we have that historically, like the last five years?
Beth Erickson: We do. We will be issuing our-- Every year we do a hotel lodging report which we
provide to Russ and work with our partners on it. Again, we look at those market segments. It is a bit
of a challenge, as I imagine you could see, in terms of coming out of the pandemic. How many years
do we go back? That's why I think that 2019 was a really good metric to balance against to see how
we are coming out of recovery. All of those components, there is a historical look back in the hotel
lodging report.
Council Member Bagdasarian: I know you mentioned Loudoun Now. I know Norman Slyer sent an
email yesterday about the best live music scenes in America, and we'll be up there eventually.
Beth Erickson: What I think is exciting, what Council Member Bagdasarian is referring to, is we
received an email about Charlottesville being ranked as a great music destination. What's interesting
is when we did our brand study for DC's Wine Country, we actually, within that brand study, outpaced
Charlottesville for live music. It's always depending on who's doing the survey and what they're
looking for, but I completely agree with you. I think that Leesburg has got an opportunity and will
continue to grow as a live music destination.
Vice Mayor Steinberg: Thank you for everything you're doing, Beth.
Beth Erickson: Certainly, my pleasure.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Steinberg?
Vice Mayor Steinberg: Thanks Beth for the presentation. Just out of curiosity and my ignorance, in
these metrics for Leesburg Print and Digital. Good Housekeeping, 416,000,000, what is that exactly?
Beth Erickson: It's their reach through— again, it's digital so everybody, they know how many people
are downloading the articles, how many people— you can never guarantee that those eyeballs are
actually reading it. It's very similar to what all print metrics have been, which is the Washington Post
will tell you how many people receive their print version and how many people sign up to receive their
electronic version. It's the reach of that article across their channels.
Vice Mayor Steinberg: Their reach is defined in-- that's more people than are in the country. I'm just
curious as to how that number.
Beth Erickson: The beauty of that is that's the magic that we don't have to pull out. That comes
directly from the outlet themselves and we pull that through our reports with DCI, which is our media
Page 5 I July 25, 2023
company. You'll see that frequently because again, a lot of it is with digital, it doesn't have to be within
the United States, and Good Housekeeping is one of those really strong brands that still is read very,
very well.
Vice Mayor Steinberg: Thanks.
Beth Erickson: Certainly.
Mayor Burk: One of the things 1 noticed on there was the whole thing about people want to come for
museums. I have to say it's very frustrating that we have a museum here, but I rarely see it open, and
I don't see many activities associated with it. I sure wish we could work on improving that.
Beth Erickson: I think it's a great opportunity. One of the things that I think that we are looking to do
in probably the January timeframe is to convene a meeting of museums to start looking at really how
can they work together to increase everything from visitor engagement to hours, whatever it needs to
happen. We have done that for our bed and breakfast, for our wineries, for our craft beverage, or for
our breweries. I think that it's a great opportunity for us to convene some of those conversations.
Mayor Burk: Thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate it Now, Eileen, the clock is not working in
the back and I can't get into the agenda, so I don't know if something's going on. It keeps saying that
my session has been discontinued.
Beth Erickson: I think it was all that great data broke the system. Thank you all so much for your --
Mayor Burk: Thank you. I appreciate it. Anybody have any regional commission reports? The next
section is our petitioners and one of the first orders of business is to hear from the public. All
members of the public are welcome to address the Council on any item, matter, or issue. Please
identify yourself and if comfortable doing so, give your address for the taped record. Any public
speaker will be requested to state their name and spell it for the purpose of closed captioning.
In the interest of fairness, we also ask that you observe the three -minute time limit. The green light on
the timer will turn yellow when you have one minute remaining. At that time, we would appreciate your
summing up and yielding the floor when the bell indicates your time has expired. Under the rules of
orders adopted by this Council, the time limit applies to all. There is one person signed up and it is
Brent Wensel. Brent?
Brent Wensel: Hi.
Mayor Burk: How are you tonight?
Brent Wensel: I'm Brent Wensel.
Mayor Burk: You can pull them up for you if you like.
Brent Wensel: Thank you. My name is Brent Wensel. I live at 1028 Laconian Street Southeast. My
wife and I are the co -owners of Range Global Goods, 18 West Market Street. I'm here to talk about
the road being closed. Last weekend, we were on a family trip in South Carolina and one of our
employees mentioned to us that it is been very light today, very light traffic in here. Then she took a
picture outside and the whole street was closed down. I was not notified about that before.
As a result, my sales last week were about three to four times less than what they were the week
prior. I think really what I wanted to talk about is we have received notification that this weekend there
will be another closure, which will severely impact our business, but Russ and the Economic
Development team have sprung into action. I appreciate them for doing that with some signage and
some social media blasts and that sort of thing to get the word out that we are, in fact, still operating
businesses on Market Street.
Page 6 I July 25, 2023
Where I'm coming from, my wife and I opened this shop in April together, and brick -and -mortar retail
is not easy by any means, especially at a high -interest rate environment where consumers spend less
of their discretionary dollars on pretty much the stuff that's in our shop. Since April, we've had some
other issues.
We're dependent on foot traffic at the onset of our business, the parking garage being in various
states of repair or disrepair, however, you want to qualify it. Also, we've had issues with adjacent
property owners about loading and unloading at our shop. I'm just here to point out some of these
issues that we've been having and really would like to work with the Town, to be partners with the
Town to help our business.
Anything that I need to do, I want it to be out on the record that I'm willing to work for, my wife and our
business. The closures on Market have not been well received in our household but also it just makes
a tough business a little bit tougher when streets close. Thank you.
Mayor Burk: Thank you very much. Like you said, the Economic Development team has put together
a plan to try to help get people down there and this is temporary. It's not going to be a long-term thing,
so we hope that we can get it done sooner than later and get you back.
Brent Wensel: Is the plan to get this done this weekend?
Mayor Burk: Will it be completed this weekend Mr. —?
Kaj Dentler: The closure will occur again this weekend. It's the last weekend closure. The night
closures will continue until the project is done. It's going to take significant time, it's a major
reconstruction of stormwaler in the Downtown area, but the street closure for the weekend, this is the
last one.
Brent Wensel: All right.
Kaj Dentler: Yes, sir.
Brent Wensel: Well, thank you.
Kaj Dentler: I want to apologize to you, if we didn't get the word to you, we should have. That was our
plan. We definitely did things. I don't know where it dropped but regardless, that's on me. My
apologies for that.
Brent Wensel: Thank you, sir. Appreciate that.
Mayor Burk: Maybe Mr. Seymour and you could have a meeting then we can sit down and talk about
what are some things that you see that could be changed.
Brent Wensel: Thank you. Thanks for your time.
Mayor Burk: Thank you. All right. Is there anybody in the audience that did not sign up to speak that
would like to speak at this point? Oh, thank you. There's nobody then I will close the closed -session,
petitioners' section. I'm confused here. Let me move this over here. The next thing we have to-- Now I
just lost my agenda.
Vice Mayor Steinberg: Here.
Mayor Burk: Thank you. The next thing we have is the approval of the consent agenda. A is a Letter
Opposing the Perimeter Rule Change at Reagan National Airport. B is the Town Hall Art Exhibit by
Ligia, I hope I'm saying that right, Inra and Chrissy Gordon. Award of Contract for Custodial Services.
D is Sanitary Sewer Line Rehab, Purchase of Police Vehicles Fiscal Year 2024.
Page 7 July 25, 2023
F is Purchase of Accessory Packages for Vehicles Fiscal Year 2024 and G is the Appointment of
Town Council Member to the Liberty Lot Redevelopment Proposal Group. I believe that Town Council
Member is Mr. Bagdasarian. Do I have a motion for the approval of the consent agenda?
Council Member Nacy: [inaudible]
Mayor Burk: Council Member Nacy. Second.
Vice Mayor Steinberg: [unintelligible]
Council Member Bagdasarian: [unintelligible]
Mayor Burk: Vice Mayor Steinberg. Is there any item that anybody wants removed? All in favor
indicate by saying aye.
Members: Aye.
Mayor Burk: Opposed? That's 5-0-2. A11 right. That takes us down to our resolutions. The first
resolution is for 1-1 Rezoning Text Amendment Initiation. Do I have a motion to begin the discussion
on that?
Vice Mayor Steinberg: So moved.
Mayor Burk: Vice Mayor. Second.
Council Member Bagdasarian: Second.
Mayor Burk: Seconded by Council Member Bagdasarian. Do we have someone talking about that?
Anybody doing a presentation?
Shelby Miller: Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council Members. Tonight, we are speaking about
initiating a text amendment for the 1-1 rezoning. The purpose of tonight, just to give some bullet
points, is to initiate amendment to the Zoning Ordinance to allow the expansion of the 1-1 zoning.
Currently, the Zoning Ordinance explicitly prohibits rezoning property to the 1-1 district.
This was brought about to facilitate the expansion of the Public Works facility, also known as the
Town Shop on Russell Branch Parkway. To give some more background, the 1-1 district explicitly
states in the description it is not intended to be available for future rezonings nor as a means of
expanding the boundaries of the existing 1-1 districts.
Then the Town Shop uses are defined as public utility major and fleet storage. These uses are most
appropriate under the 1-1 district. In March of 2022, the Town acquired the property adjacent to the
existing Public Works facilities for expansion. You can see on the map above that it's located directly
next to the existing facility. The property that they acquired for the Town Shop is currently zoned B3
and it does have proffer restrictions with the use explicitly for vehicle sales.
The effective amendment would be to permit the rezoning of the property directly adjacent to the
existing 1-1 zoning, excluding public right of way. It would be completely adjacent so it wouldn't be
able to jump over the public right of way. Staff's recommendation tonight would be to initiate a Zoning
Ordinance amendment to eliminate the restriction on expanding or rezoning to the 1-1 district for
parcels immediately adjacent to the existing 1-1 . Here's an example of your motions, approval/denial
alternative. Do we have any questions?
Mayor Burk: Thank you very much. Appreciate that information. Does anybody have any questions
on this item? Mr. Steinberg?
Page 8 I July 25, 2023
Vice Mayor Steinberg: Thank you, Madam Mayor. When I saw the original language for this
resolution, gave me pause because it concerned me that we were potentially opening up the entire 1-1
box to potential rezoning. After voicing those concerns to several members of Council and
conversation with several members of staff, we now have a revised resolution that basically limits this
rezoning to public facilities. 1 think that satisfies my concerns for now until we gel done with our zoning
rewrite. That's all 1 have to say. Thanks.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Wilt?
Council Member Wilt: Thanks. I just wanted to probe on the existing statement that is not intended
to be available for future rezoning, nor as a means of expanding the boundaries of existing 1-1
districts. What was the purpose of that and what are we giving up by overriding that?
Shelby Miller: So the intent of that, they way that it is written in that no future or no existing parcels
within the Town can request a rezoning to the I-1 district. What we would be, I wouldn't say giving up,
is that we would be allowing them to apply for a rezoning to the 1-1 district That does not mean it's
granted. Its just giving them the ability to apply for the 1-1 district.
Council Member Wilt: Then understanding what I think Neil just said, who can apply for these in the
future?
Shelby Miller: As Vice Mayor mentioned, we did do a revised resolution. I 'll get this to Eileen to
[unintelligible].
Council Member Wilt: Is the text of the resolution in this presentation?
Shelby Miller: We're going to pass it out now. This is the resolution that we did amend for the
concerns that Vice Mayor had.
Mike Watkins: Council Member Wilt, I think for your previous question, the County or when the Town
annexed land from the County, the great 1990 expansion that incorporated several County proffered
industrial zonings, and subsequent to the 2003 Zoning Ordinance, at some point in time, there was
concern about further expansion.
Before our time, the ordinance was modified based on that perceived cautionary measure of
expanding the district beyond its footprint at the time. That's the reason why the text there today is
that at the time that the Zoning Ordinance was amended, there was a perception of an expansion of
the district. The language was amended to close it off.
Council Member Wilt: Removing this restriction, but we are-- I guess I'm not reading this word-for-
word. Can you summarize for this? We allow the application for a contiguaus property to an existing 1-
1 and any property owner in an I-1 can request this. What are the parameters?
Shelby Miller: The parameters in this new amended resolution is that it would only be limited to the
expansion of existing 1-1 adjacent to existing 1-1, and then as well as it would be limited to existing
public facilities. It would be limited to only public uses. That would be Town, County, VDOT, Feds.
Council Member Wilt: So public entities only, contiguous properties only?
Shelby Miller: Correct.
Council Member Wilt: No private property owners at all?
Shelby Miller: [inaudible]
Council Member Wilt: 1 understand. Thank you.
Page 9 1 July 25, 2023
Mayor Burk: Anyone else at this point? All right. Thank you very much. Is there --
Chris Spera: Mayor, just for clarity, Mr. Steinberg made the motion, but then I think he referenced
this document later. Mr. Steinberg might want to remake his motion to make it clear that it's this
revised document that he's moving as part of his motion.
Mayor Burk: Okay. Thank you.
Chris Spera: Thank you.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Bagdasarian, you've read the changes. Are you okay with this being the motion?
Council Member Bagdasarian: I am. I also had questions about the history behind this, so thanks
for the clarification.
Mayor Burk: Does he need to read this out?
Chris Spera: No, he doesn't need to read this second, as long as Mr. Steinberg makes his motion
clear and there's no objection from the seconder we're fine.
Mayor Burk: Okay, but does he have to read it?
Chris Spera: No.
Mayor Burk: Okay. All right. We have a motion and a second accepted for the new -
Chris Spera: With the replacement resolution.
Mayor Burk: -the replacement resolution. All in favor indicate by saying aye.
Members: Aye.
Mayor Burk: Opposed? That passes 5-0-2. Thank you very much.
Shelby Mill: Thank you.
Mayor Burk: All right The next resolution that we have is the Office Lease for the Department of
Community Development. Who's speaking to that one?
Kaj Dentler: That would be me. There's no presentation. I've talked to each of you individually. I have
requested that the Town lease office space at 222 Catoctin Circle, known as a Jewell Building, half of
the second floor, over 5K square feet, estimated around $153K a year, our annual cost, to provide
adequate office space for us. As you know, this building is bursting at the seams. We continually
move people in and out. There's a saying in the office, "Don't get too used to your space because it's
not going to be yours tomorrow."
That's what happens. We cram people in and we got to move them around and we move them out.
This building was constructed in 1990, as you know. At that time, there was about 157 employees in
the Town. We have 413 authorized full-time positions today. There are about 105 in this building back
then and today. We have moved people out continuously. We have moved the entire Police
Department out. They were originally on the third floor of this building. They now have their building
on Plaza Street. We're getting ready to expand that because they are too big. They don't have
enough space for that.
Utilities Administration has been moved over to Russell Branch Parkway by Lowe's. They used to be
located in this building. Capital Projects and Public Works have been in and out of this building at
Page 10 1 July 25, 2023
different times. We had the opportunity years ago to buy property across Wirt Street. We chose not to
do that as a Town. At that moment in time, it was the right financial decision. Long-term, bad decision.
Today in this building alone, our HR office has six full-time employees. We only have space for five.
In 1990, there was one HR position, again, today there's six. In 1990, there was no IT department.
There are 11 or 12 full-time employees today. That department will inevitably continue to grow simply
because of the needs of technology if were going to remain an organization of the 21st century. You
get the picture that this building ultimately needs to be expanded and that is a mega undertaking for
us. I do recommend that the Council begin to have some considerations of that. It's a long-term
project not only a massive amount of costs, but also it takes a long time to grow.
Can we make it work? I've told all of you straight up, well continue to shoe horn people in and do
what we have to do. We also have people remote working just to give us capacity, but this building is
no longer adequate for the size of the organization that we have. That's why we need additional
space. The request is to move Plan Review and Planning and Zoning to the new location to Catoctin
Circle, so they have adequate spaces. They're a new department that is being merged as Community
Development.
Last thing I would say is that none of us want to see this happen. We're moving Public Works out,
recommending that we make a move for the second floor. It is always better. We're still a small town
and its a lot more efficient for us if we're all in the same building. We simply don't have the space.
That is the request. If you choose not to approve it tonight, that's obviously your discretion. At some
point in the near future, you will be forced to make this decision.
Either do it now or you're going to have to do it later because the Town is going to continue to grow in
some capacity. Certainly, on the IT side, I see that it just has to continue. With that being said, we'll
address any questions that you have.
Mayor Burk: Are there any questions at this point? Then do I have a motion? You're going to move to
approve the proposed resolution to lease approximately 5,500 square feet of office space located at
222 Catoctin Circle and approve the supplemental appropriation in the amount of $153,522 to the
General Fund for the Unassigned Fund Balance. Correct?
Council Member Bagdasarian: [inaudible]
Mayor Burk: Ok. Is there a second? Council Member Nacy. All in favor indicate by saying aye.
Members: Aye.
Mayor Burk: Opposed? That passes 4-1-2.
Kaj Dentler: 4-1-2.
Mayor Burk: Thank you. All right. The next item is the Tower Operation Agreement with the Federal
Aviation Administration.
Chris Spero: Similarly, Madam Mayor, no presentation for this one since you just heard from Mr.
Coffman just a few weeks ago in a work session about this item. What this memorandum does is
basically document to the FAA's satisfaction the deal that we made with them which was basically
FAA covers all costs associated with air traffic control and the temporary tower through the end of
September.
The FAA continues to fund all costs associated with air traffic control. While we, from that point
forward, while we work on building a tower at the Town's financial responsibility from October 1
moving forward is the funding of the temporary-- the leasing of the temporary tower structure.
Obviously, as we move forward, we would look to our State and Federal legislators to help us pay that
cost. It's approximately $10K a month, Scott? Yes.
Page 11 1 July 25, 2023
For that, I know, Mayor, you've been in the lovely temporary tower. I don't know if any of our other
Council Members have had the chance to go out and look at that piece of equipment. It was made
evidently clear to us is we negotiated with the FAA, this was the best we were going to get. The
memorandum that was attached to your agenda largely driven by the FAA, largely driven by meeting
their programmatic requirements and sources of funding for them. It really had no impact. I didn't
really care which bucket of the FAA's money they were paying for the air traffic controllers from, but
they really dictated much of the form of the memorandum, but it accurately memorializes the
proposed deal.
Mayor Burk: Whatever we do here, we still will be looking for grants and funding from other locality,
other sources.
Chris Spera: Absolutely, Madam Mayor. On two elements, we'll be looking for help from both our
State and Federal legislators on the cost of renting the temporary tower, and then working with the
FAA and their various grant resources to fund the various siting and construction costs associated
with the building of the permanent tower. This is basically an MOU, that helps us get from the
discontinuance of the mobile-- I'm sorry, the remote tower program to us having a full-fledged brick -
and -mortar tower.
Mayor Burk: All right, thank you. Does anyone else have any questions? Mr. Wilt?
Council Member Wilt: Just one question. There's a number of items which come through taking
money from the Unassigned Fund Balance. Is there a current scorecard on that balance where it
stands to date? This is going to draw another 90K from it.
Kaj Dentler: Don't hold me exactly to the number but I believe that the Unassigned Fund Balance has
about $7 to $8M that's not assigned, that is available for us to use. Using this funding source allows
us to manage through this budget because we obviously didn't prepare, didn't know we were going to
have to pick up this tab until the FAA made the decision to pull the plug on the remote.
Then we begin to budget, and then it will be in the FY25 budget be part of what we do. It would not be
drawing continuously from the fund, just one time.
Council Member Wilt: Got it.
Kaj Dentler: You don't want to use any funds from Unassigned Fund Balance that are recurring,
that's bad practice.
Council Member Wilt: Okay. We're about halfway through the year and there's still $7M that's
untagged.
Kaj Dentler: Yes, $7, $BM. I can get you the actual number and send it to you tomorrow, but I'd have
to check with finance, with them.
Council Member Wilt: That's good. Thank you, Kaj.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Bagdasarian?
Council Member Bagtlasarian: Thank you. Just please, refresh my memory. What happens after
June 30",2024?
Kaj Dentler: Budget-- Talking budget or procedure?
Council Member Bagtlasarian: As far as the mobile tower and operations?
Page 12 I July 25, 2023
Kaj Dentler: The mobile tower will continue to function until were able to get the permanent tower
constructed, which will take at least five years. It's a long process to go through, so were in this
process for paying for the rental of the mobile tower for probably a good five years or more. We will
look for funding from either Federal dollars or State dollars to offset our $120K obligation. Again, we
didn't create this issue. It's been dropped on our lap, and we really have no choice but to pick up the
tab, but we need to continue to also chase funding to offset our responsibility for someone else's
decision. Thanks.
Chris Spero: Just to add onto that Councilman Bagdasarian, the cost of the air traffic controllers is
significantly more than the cost of the renting of the mobile tower, about three times as much, Scott?
Scott Coffman: [unintelligible]
Chris Spera: Yes. The FAA picking that up was a significant step by them. Essentially, what they are
doing is they're characterizing the temporary tower as if we had already constructed a permanent
tower. That's the financial bucket they're drawing the cost of the air traffic controllers from.
Mayor Burk: All right, thank you. Do I have a motion for this?
Council Member Nacy: So, moved.
Mayor Burk: So moved to approve the resolution. All right, is there a second? Council Nacy, Council
Member Bagdasarian, made the second. All in favor, indicate by saying aye.
Members: Aye.
Mayor Burk: Opposed? That's 5-0-2. That takes us to our future meetings and agenda topics. Mr.
Wilt?
Council Member Wilt: [unintelligible]
Mayor Burk: Mr. Bagdasarian?
Council Member Bagdasarian: I have nothing.
Mayor Burk: Nacy?
Council Member Nacy: I have nothing.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Steinberg?
Vice Mayor Steinberg: Yes, I have no disclosures, no future agenda items, but I did want to
comment that this Council went through its entire COVID pandemic emergency without missing a
single meeting. 1 appreciate that schedules sometimes get jumbled, but we owe it to the public and
staff to hold our meetings when they're scheduled. I just ask all Council members to try and
coordinate schedules so that we're not left short of a quorum in the future. Thanks.
Mayor Burk: I have a couple of things. One item I had was that I would like to begin the process of
assessing the expansion of the Town Hall. I know that's going to be a long project and a long process,
but we need to start doing that. I'm not asking if it could be on the next work session, but we need to
have it on our radar and get it started. On the 151h, I did a ribbon cutting for LuckyDog in the Village of
Leesburg. I have to say I did think of Marty, the former vice mayor because he loved hot dogs. There
were so many different kinds of hot dogs. It's a really charming, little place in the Village of Leesburg.
If you get a chance, stop by, and say hello to Art.
Page 131 July 25, 2023
I want to congratulate Chief Pirnat on her becoming the Chief of the Leesburg Police Department.
Very historic, the first woman. I want to thank, again, Major Grigsby for her filling in and doing such a
wonderful job. Parks and Rec, as usual, did another outstanding event. The swearing -in ceremony
was a truly wonderful occasion and very impressive. Thanks again to Park and Rec staff for all their
hard work.
On the 22nd, I met with Herbert Valle to congratulate Dominick, who turned 100 years old. There
were so many family members there that attended from all over the country, and Dominick was so
very excited. He was an amazingly healthy 100 -year -old, and I think he could have outrun me. He
offered to try, but I didn't take him up on it. Supervisor Umstattd joined me at that celebration. It was a
lot of fun.
I wanted to let the public know that this weekend there will be two Meet the Mayors. One will be July
29th at Dunkin' Donut down on Market Street, and that's from 9:00 to 11:00, and then July 30th at the
Birch Tree Bookstore 11:00 to 1:00. Please, if you have a chance, come by. See these businesses,
give them some of your business, but also come and talk and tell me what you're thinking about how
Leesburg is going and what are some things that we could do better, or what are some things that
were doing really well. I'm going to move it now over to the Town Manager.
Kaj Dentler: Just one item, that is, since the meeting was canceled last night, there were three
discussion items that 1'11 reschedule with the staff and ft it into the schedule so that you can hear the
topics that you've asked for.
Mayor Burk: Is there a motion to adjourn?
Vice Mayor Steinberg: So moved.
Mayor Burk: Second?
Council Member Nacy: Second.
Mayor Burk: All in favor?
Members: Aye.
Mayor Burk: Opposed? Who made the motion?
Vice Mayor Steinberg: I did.
Mayor Burk: Okay. Vice Mayor. All in favor. That passes 5-0-2. All right. We are done.
Page 14 I July 25, 2023