City Council Regular Meeting

welcome you all to the regular meeting of September 10 2024 I'm calling the meeting to order I am going to ask if there are any motions for consideration out of our previous meeting councilmember Staley thank you mayor Reed pursuant to the city charter section 6.3 in parentheses F and city code section 66-5 in parentheses 2 I move the city council concur in the city managers appointment on August 12th 2024 of Jason Kozak to serve as human resources director okay the motion has been made by councilmember Staley and seconded by councilmember Lim a roll call vote councilmember Doyle Feingold aye councilmember Staley aye councilmember Lim aye councilmember Ross aye motion passed unanimously all right if you are able and so choose please

rise for a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance 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 thank you my favorite part of the evening we are doing proclamations tonight starting with the emergency management for the national preparedness month if the the people here present could join me at the front the city of Fairfax to prepare their homes businesses and communities for any type of emergency including natural disasters extreme weather wildfires extended power outages and acts of terrorism and whereas investing in the preparedness of ourselves our families businesses and communities

can reduce fatalities and economic devastation in our communities and in our nation and whereas the federal emergency management agencies ready campaign and other federal state local tribal territorial private and volunteer agencies are working to increase public access to the the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the shows the

And whereas emergency preparedness is the responsibility of every resident of the City of Fairfax, and all residents are urged to make preparedness a priority and work together as a team to ensure that individuals, families, and communities are prepared for disasters and emergencies of any type. And whereas all residents of the City of Fairfax are encouraged to participate in preparedness activities throughout the month of September and become more prepared, now therefore I, Catherine S. Reed, Mayor of the City of Fairfax, do hereby proclaim September 2024 as National Preparedness Month and encourage all residents, businesses, and visitors to work together toward creating a more prepared City of Fairfax.

Good evening, everybody. First of all, I would like to start by thanking everybody for coming out to our Preparedness Fair this past weekend. It was great to see so many of our families and friends and residents come out there. As Mayor Reed said, we really just want everybody to be prepared. This actually started out as a week way back in the 1950s with civil defense. We've come a long way from air raid sirens till now. That's because our hazards are getting much worse. So we really urge you all to be prepared, make a kit, make a plan. And if we can help in any way, please reach out. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, just a photo. Short people in the middle? I mean, just, you know, the elephant room. Right hand, one, two, three. Got it. All right, thank you so much. Thank you. All right. Brittany Marin from the Chris Outwood Foundation. If Brittany could join me down here. Thank you for being here. Whereas mental health and substance use disorders affect all communities nationwide, with commitment and support, those impacted can embark on a journey of improved health and overall wellness. And whereas the focus of Recovery Awareness Month each September is to celebrate all people that make the journey of recovery possible by embracing that tagline, recovery is for everyone,

every person, every family, every community. Recovery Awareness Month spreads the message that people can and do recover every day. And whereas the impact of mental health and substance use disorders is apparent in our local community, and an estimated 1,592,000 people in Virginia are affected by these conditions. And whereas through Recovery Awareness Month, people become more aware and able to recognize the signs of mental health and substance use disorders and encourage people in need of recovery services to seek help. Managing the effects of these conditions help individuals achieve healthy lifestyles, both physically and emotionally. And whereas the Recovery Awareness Month observance continues to work to improve the lives of those affected

by mental health and substance use disorders by raising awareness and educating communities about the effective services that are available. Now, therefore, I, Catherine S. Reed, Mayor of the City of Fairfax, on behalf of all residents of the City of Fairfax, declares the month of September as Recovery Awareness Month in the City of Fairfax and urge the community to observe this month with compelling programs and events that support this year's observance, the 33rd anniversary of Recovery Awareness Month. Brittany? Good evening, Mary. Good evening, members of the City Council and fellow community members. I stand before you as a person in long-term recovery to express my sincere gratitude to the City of Fairfax

for this meaningful sentiment in recognizing September as Recovery Month. This declaration sends a powerful message of hope and support to those who may still be struggling with substance use disorders and to their loved ones. The opioid epidemic has cast a long shadow over our community and state, leaving countless families devastated and broken. But in the face of this darkness, there is light, and that light is recovery. Recovery is possible, and it deserves to be celebrated. September Recovery Month is a time to acknowledge the courage and resilience of those who have battled addiction and emerged victorious. It's a time to honor peer support specialists, counselors, sponsors, support groups, families,

and many others who helped us find our way back to health and wholeness. By declaring September Recovery Month, the City of Fairfax is sending a clear message that we care about our community members and that we are committed to supporting them and their families on the journey to recovery. Thank you again for this important recognition. Together we can create a Fairfax where recovery is possible for everyone. Thank you. Thank you. And one, two, three. Perfect. This is so high. I'm going to ask Linda Bell, Fairfax Walk Chair and Committee Member Vita Murphy, TJ, a high school student, Lizzie Carroll, and I think there's someone else here too. We've got two students. Three students. Okay. Thank you all for being here.

So this is an interesting follow-up to the previous proclamation, but it's also about acknowledging the realities of the communities that we live in as well. And the struggles that our communities have. Whereas, suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the United States, the second leading cause of death among children and teens aged 10 to 19, and the second leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 20 to 34 as of 2021. And whereas, the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2022, over 49,000 people died by suicide, with an estimated 1.6 million suicide attempts. The suicide rate peaked in that year after two consecutive years of declines. And whereas, at least four times as many active duty personnel and war veterans of post-9-11 conflicts have died of suicide than in combat.

In 2020, the suicide rate was 57.3% higher than that of non-veteran adults, with PSD, traumatic brain injury, homelessness, and depression identified as contributing factors. And whereas, in Virginia, the CDC reported that in 2022, suicide was the 11th leading cause of death in Virginia, with 1,208 suicides reported in our Commonwealth. And whereas, over 90% of the people who die by suicide have a diagnosable and treatable mental health condition, although often that condition is not recognized or treated. And whereas, organizations such as the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention are dedicated to saving lives and bringing hope to those affected by suicide through research, education, advocacy, and resources for those who have lost someone to suicide or who struggle.

And we urge that, one, recognize suicide as a preventable national and state public health problem and declare that suicide prevention is a priority. Two, acknowledge that no single suicide prevention program or effort will be appropriate for all populations or communities. Three, address the disparity in access to mental health care for underserved and underrepresented groups and advocate for ending those disparities. Four, fund new suicide research to support culturally informed and evidence-based mental health care and services. Five, encourage initiatives based on the goals contained in the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention and the 2016 Suicide Prevention Across the Lifespan Plan for the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Five, promote awareness that there is no single cause for suicide, that suicide most often occurs when stressors exceed the coping abilities of someone struggling with a mental health condition. Seven, develop and implement strategies to improve and increase access to quality mental health, substance use, and suicide prevention services and programs. Eight, continue advocacy to ensure we can reimagine a comprehensive suicide mental health and substance use crisis and develop a response system that builds on the new 988 number for the suicide and crisis lifeline. Now, therefore, I, Catherine S. Reed, Mayor of the City of Fairfax, on behalf of all residents of the City of Fairfax, designate September 8th through 14th, 2024 as National Suicide Prevention Week.

In the City of Fairfax, here in the City of Fairfax, encourage the community to better understand mental health care and to advocate for public conversations about mental illness, substance use disorder, and trauma as public health concerns that impact our schools, our workplaces, our families, and our community. We invite everyone to participate in the upcoming Out of the Darkness Walk hosted here at City Hall on Sunday, September 29th at noon. I will turn this over to you. Thank you. My name is Linda Bell, and I am the chairperson for the Fairfax Out of the Darkness Walk. I became involved in AFSP in 2014, a year after my only child committed suicide. It is my passion and mission that no parent or loved one should ever receive that call.

On behalf of the Foundation for Suicide Prevention, we would like to start by thanking Mayor Reed, Chairman McKay, Supervisors Smith and Waukesha, and the entire Board of Supervisors for supporting this proclamation, recognizing Suicide Prevention Month, and for supporting the Fairfax Out of the Darkness Community Walk with your team, Fairfax, boss, once again this year. Good evening. My name is Feta Murthy, and I am an 11th grader at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, and I am a member of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Fairfax Committee. The reason why I am standing here today talking about suicide prevention is because three years ago I lost my dear brother to suicide, and this has completely changed my life and my parents' life forever.

Hi, my name is Lizzie Carroll, and I am a senior at James Madison High School. I stand before you today because I myself have struggled with my mental health. It is so important for me to be a part of this cause to help spread information. We are grateful to be here as representatives of AFSP in our National Capital Area Chapter, serving Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. We would like to extend our gratitude to all the organizations present here today, as well as those within our community who are dedicated to fostering mental health awareness in Fairfax County and beyond. Through our collective efforts, we can raise awareness to break down the stigma surrounding mental health and suicide and ultimately save lives and bring hope to those affected by suicide.

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, or AFSP, is a 37-year-old voluntary health organization that gives those affected by suicide a nationwide community empowered by research, education, and advocacy. We are leading the fight to stop suicide. As the largest private suicide prevention organization in the United States, AFSP serves its mission by engaging in the following core strategies. First, by funding scientific research. AFSP is the largest private funder of suicide prevention research in the United States, and their investment in research has helped shape the field to answer the most important questions about suicide and how to prevent it. From that research, AFSP develops programs and resources to educate the public about mental health and suicide prevention, teaching us how we all have a role to play in preventing suicide.

We also provide support to survivors of suicide loss and those affected by suicide. And we advocate at the national, state, and local levels for public policies in mental health and suicide prevention. For instance, we helped lead the change to establish the 988 as the national three-digit suicide prevention hotline, mental health, and substance use crisis hotline. Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the United States, taking more than 49,000 lives in 2022, according to the CDC. In Virginia, it is the second leading cause of death among children, teens, and young adults aged 10 to 34 years of age. But it shouldn't be, and it should not be, because we know that suicide is preventable.

Throughout Suicide Prevention Month and all year long, the AFSP National Capital Area Chapter will continue to provide the Fairfax County community countless programs and resources at no cost to the public, and the public, and the public, and the public. And we also want to thank the public, and thank you for the support of our volunteers, advocates, donors, sponsors, and community allies who raise awareness and fund in support of our mission through our local chapter events, like the Fairfax Out of the Darkness Walk happening at Fairfax City Hall September 29. We hope each of you here today and those all across the country will connect with the AFSP National Capital Area Chapter. We also want to urge everyone to follow in the footsteps of Fairfax County Board of Supervisors who have formed their very own team for the Fairfax Out of the Darkness Walk, led by Supervisors Kathy Smith and James Walkinshaw.

Please take action to fight suicide and support the walk by registering to walk, giving a gift, or signing up to volunteer at AFSP.org slash Fairfax. Again, we are truly honored to accept this proclamation on the behalf of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and thank the board for recognizing our efforts and helping to give a voice to the individuals in our community who have been impacted by suicide. Thank you. And now for the... All right, and then one, two, three. Perfect. All right, I'm looking for Chloe Ritter and Wendy Sanford. I see Chloe. All right, this is a very, very exciting proclamation. Very exciting. All right. All right. Whereas, the City of Fairfax is a member of the National Transportation Planning Board and supports the region's annual Car-Free Day campaign organized by the Commuter Connections Program.

And whereas, the City of Fairfax is celebrating Get There Differently Month in September and invites citizens to telework or try alternative forms of transportation such as the city's Q-Bus. Metro Rail, carpooling, bicycling, walking, scootering, skateboarding, and water taxis. And whereas, reduced reliance on driving alone provides community benefits such as improved air quality, reduced congestion, energy conservation, and reduced parking demand. And whereas, the City of Fairfax envisions a sustainable community and supports the development and use of safe, convenient, and energy efficient transportation options. Now, therefore, I, Kathryn S. Reed, Mayor of the City of Fairfax, do hereby proclaim September as Get There Differently Month and further proclaim September 23rd as Car-Free Day in the City of Fairfax.

And encourage members of the community to enter the Get There Differently Raffle, Take the Car-Free Day pledge and enjoy other promotions in September while discovering local trails, public transit, and other transportation options available in the City of Fairfax. Chloe? Thank you, Mayor Reed, and thank you, City Council, for all of your support for sustainable transportation and encouraging people to travel sustainably. As Mayor Reed said, Car-Free Day is a regional event every year with the Commuter Connections Program, and it's a good way to try out a different commute, whether you're teleworking or carpooling or biking, walking, taking the Q-Bus. And there is a Get There Differently pledge that you can take online for September 23rd, and you'll be entered into a raffle for a number of regional prizes.

And in addition, this month, or this year, we are celebrating Get There Differently Month to encourage people to take alternative transportation all month long, no matter where you're going. So if you are biking, walking, taking the Q, it's a good chance to try out different environmentally friendly and healthy options. And you can enter a raffle if you share on social media how you get there differently. A raffle for one of the City's Flex Cards, which is a gift card at local businesses. And there's also promotions for Capital Bike Share, Bird and Lime Scooters, and of course the Q-Bus, which is always free. So thank you. All right, thank you. A photo. A photo. All right, and one, two, three.

Got it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We can move forward to the adoption of the agenda. Is there a motion to approve the agenda, Council Member Staley? Thank you, Mayor Reed. I move to approve the agenda as presented. Second. been made and seconded a roll call vote councilmember Ross aye councilmember Lim aye councilmembers Daley aye councilmember Doyle Feingold aye motion passed unanimously we'll go to the initial general public comment I had one speaker sign up prior to 5 o'clock p.m. today Alex Hill is in the room please step forward to the podium may speak sorry thank you for allowing me to speak Miss Mayor and councilmembers

this I would like to speak on the assessed value for property especially or in particular for vehicles I was not aware of the process of how the city assesses values on vehicles I did talk to mr. Paige Johnson in the tax office and he did explain to me how the assessed value is made however the concerning part to myself and to my wife was that our assessed value of our vehicle was $57,000 and we've had our vehicle for a year and a half and we bought it for $58,000 now I know the pandemic caused shortages and chips and caused vehicle prices to maybe not go down as quickly as they normally would however the fact that it's only gone down a thousand dollars after a year and a half of driving with a toddler

and two babies in there it's quite concerning considering that common knowledge is that you lose 10% of the value of your vehicle when you drive it off a lot and about 15% thereafter so I would just hope that the city might look at a different way of how they assess the value of vehicles to be a little bit more realistic and practical and if that is not a way to do it then maybe to either lower the amount that's taxed per $100 or to maybe raise it to taxing per every say $200 I know that'd be a decrease in the city's revenue that they'd be getting from taxes but again I think it might be something that would more accurately reflect the value of the vehicles the citizens are driving within the city and would go a long way towards increasing citizenship morale I would say put it that way

and I think that's all that I wanted to say to the council and I really appreciate you hearing what I had to say thank you you Consideration of the July 23, 2024 regular meeting minutes. Agenda number 8B. Consideration of a resolution adopting the establishment of the nonprofit grant program for human services nonprofit organizations. Agenda number 8C. Consideration of a revised Virginia Conservation Assistance Program, parentheses, VCAP, in parentheses, MOU, between the city and Fairfax County. Agenda number 8D. Consideration of an MOA between the city and county on sediment TMDL compliance strategy between the difficult run and Akatee Creek watersheds. Agenda number 8E. Introduction of a resolution for reappropriation of general slash operating capital and expense funds carryover to FY 2025 that were appropriated in FY 2024 and have not yet been spent as of June 30, 2024.

I move to approve the consent agenda items number 8A through E and the motioning accompanying consent agenda item as printed. Second. Motion's been made by Council Member Staley and seconded by Council Member Lim. Are there any items Council would like pulled for additional discussion? Okay. Seeing none, a roll call vote. Council Member Doyle Feingold? Aye. Council Member Staley? Aye. Council Member Lim? Aye. Council Member Ross? Aye. Motion passed unanimously. We'll go to public hearing. Our only public hearing tonight is a public hearing and Council action on an ordinance amending Chapter 2 in Parent's Administration, Article 3, Division 3, Section 2-96 of the Code of the City of Fairfax, Virginia.

Pertaining to the position of the acting city manager. Staff presentation would be by Brian Lubcomit, our city attorney. Thank you, Mayor and Council. Very brief staff report. This is a housekeeping item to reflect the recent reorganization to add a deputy city manager position. We always want to make sure that there's a process in place for both the temporary absence of the city manager, which essentially is controlled by the city manager unless the manager fails to act, or the incapacity death resignation or other vacancy. There's a set process in here for that. However, that process is also ultimately within the control and the purview of the city council, if it so chooses. With that, happy to answer any questions.

Are there any questions for Mr. Lubcomit? Oh, I see none. I will open the public hearing. Ms. Shinaberry, has the public hearing been advertised? Yes, it has, and no one has signed up to speak prior to the meeting. If anyone's in the room that would like to speak on this item, you may step forward. All right. I will now close the public hearing. Is there a motion, Council Member Staley? Thank you, Mayor Reed. I move to an act and ordinance amending Chapter 2, Article 3, Division 3, Section 2-96 of the Code of the City of Fairfax, Virginia, pertaining to the position of acting city manager. Second. Second. A motion's been made by Council Member Staley and seconded by Council Member Lim. Is there any discussion on the motion?

Seeing none, a roll call vote. Council Member Ross? Aye. Council Member Lim? Aye. Council Member Staley? Aye. Council Member Doyle-Feingold? Aye. Motion passed unanimously. We'll go on to the second general public comment. I had nobody sign up prior to the meeting starting, so if there's anybody in the room that would like to speak, may step forward. Okay. Go in the work session. Okay. I will now recess the regular meeting to go into the work session. We will stay in the room for the work session. All right. Our first item is a discussion on the five-year review of the City of Fairfax 2035 Comprehensive Plan. I'll recognize Paul Napty, Planning Division Chief, to provide staff presentation. Thank you.

I'm going to turn it over to Chair Feather of the Planning Commission to get us started. Good evening, Mayor and Council. It's a delight to be back here. We were last before you on this matter a couple of months ago. We're back. Perhaps, I'd like to believe, that perhaps the last time for a discussion on this with you before we move to public hearings. The Commission and Community Development Planning staff have spent a considerable amount of time and effort over the last 15 months fulfilling our responsibility for the five-year review of the comp plan. I'm happy to report that the Commission, I think, as Chair, has done an outstanding job. I just think you should know that because they're your appointees.

And Mr. City Manager, your staff has been outstanding in its support as well. I just want you to know that too. It's been a wonderful team effort. We've engaged other boards and commissions. We've engaged staff across the city in the various departments. We've engaged yourselves. You've been with us in this process from the beginning last year, and we hope to see it to the end with you this year. So thank you for helping us all to get to this point. Tonight, we're going to present some additional information on changes to the plan since we last met with you. Our goal is to seek your concurrence that we are in a position to move forward. Our intent from the Planning Commission is to go to public hearing at the end of this month and have your public hearing next month.

I hope you've taken the time to familiarize yourselves with the plan and some of the changes. There have been a few updates since you last saw this. If you haven't read it all, don't worry. We read it so you don't have to. I do want to point out a particular mention on the issue of equity. When we met with you early in this process, we had an agreement with you that we would strive to incorporate more language about more equitable distribution of city services, development, and so forth. We believe we've done that. You'll see references throughout the plan in housing, environment, sustainability initiatives, for example, access to food, parks and rec, access to programs, and so forth, community services.

So we try to honor our commitment to you and the discussion we've had by doing that. I just wanted to point that out because we hadn't talked about that the last time we were together. So at this point, I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Dapty for most of the presentation, and we'll take some time here and there for questions. I'll just stand by silently. Thank you. Thank you, Chair Feather, Mayor Reed, and members of the Council. A quick review on the process we've gone through so far. This process began back in the summer of 2023, and we started with going through a process of identifying what the process would be and having introductions with appropriate boards and commissions, getting feedback from those boards and commissions on the current comprehensive plan,

and then spent a lot of time with the planning commission over the spring of this year in bringing all that information together and recommending amendments. We last met with you on June 11th, where we shared the draft action plan portion of the comprehensive plan with you. That's really the meat and bones of what is giving the guidance on what we're doing as a city. Based on that meeting, along with similar meetings we had with the planning commission and other boards of commissions and community outreach meetings, we have since prepared some additional amendments. There aren't too many of them, but another significant amount of effort has gone into developing the actual formatted document since that time.

And this includes developing the supporting text and formatting the document, which we included in your packet, which we are sharing now publicly for the first time. So we are now here in the process. We met with the planning commission last night and had a similar presentation. And as Chair Feather said, if all goes well, depending on the feedback we get, we will be scheduling our public hearing with them on September 23rd, and we could be back to you for a public hearing as soon as October 8th. If we are looking to make any significant changes and we are able to move that date, we aren't necessarily confined to this. The changes that have been made, and I just want to also point out that the presentation that you received in your packet,

we have abbreviated this based on the experience we had last night with the planning commission. It took us quite some time to go through that. So we're going to focus more on the changes that have been made since June that result in actual changes to guidance in the comprehensive plan and less about the supporting text. And I'll explain what the difference between those two is in just a moment. So the structure of the comprehensive plan is broken down by looking at the table of contents. There are six chapters. The first chapter is an introduction, and then the remaining five chapters are topic areas, each with guiding principles that sum up the 14 guiding principles that provide all of our guidance.

We have two appendices. We won't be going over those tonight. We are working on amendments to the data for those. We won't be preparing any amendments to the guidance from the appendices, and we'll share that with you at the public hearing. So as we go through this, the supporting text that I mentioned that was recently developed and is now in the draft document for the first time is broken up into several components, including chapter introductions, guiding principle introductions, and goal-supportive text. And I'll explain what those are in a minute. But everything below that is what we plan to focus on as we go through the changes tonight. We have some new and amended actions that are a result of the last discussion we had with you,

as well as others back in the spring. There is a proposed new mixed-use place type on the future land use map, which is addressing the issue that we previously discussed with you about the potential for housing and what are now commercial corridors. This is the approach that the Planning Commission is moving forward with, and we'll go over that with you in detail. We have supporting references to the Fairfax Circle Small Area Plan that was adopted in July, some changes to the street types, and cost estimates for the transportation projects on the transportation projects map that we previously discussed with you. So explaining again what the supporting text is, this is the elements that have been modified since we just talked to you

that we won't be going over with you in detail. So each chapter, as I mentioned, has a chapter introduction. This is an example for the Environment Sustainability Chapter. There are opportunities and challenges associated with that that help guide what the recommendations and the actions are for that chapter. And then each guiding principle, as there are multiple guiding principles for most of the chapters, has their own introduction. Then below that, under each guiding principle, there are goals, outcomes, and actions. These are really, again, the meat and bones of the comprehensive plan that give us our guidance, and that is what we went over with you when we last met. We have some changes that we'll go over with you,

but for the most part, these are items that have been discussed. Under each goal, however, there are supporting texts, so the goal statement is one component of that, and then the supporting text explains that. And the supporting text is another piece that's been updated, but again, that doesn't provide as much guidance. It just explains where we're coming from. So with that understanding, we'll start going through the changes of the document. The first piece is the introduction, and I won't go through all of these in detail. I will focus on the primary components. The first change under the background history that I wanted to talk about is that a sentence or two were added acknowledging inequalities of federal housing programs.

The reason this is important, as we discussed earlier in the process, is that equity is becoming a more important issue in the comprehensive plan, and part of that is acknowledging our history. And so a significant portion of the growth of residential uses in the city occurred in the 1960s before the Fair Housing Act of 1968 was adopted, and a lot of that was supported by federal housing programs that came out after World War II, which it is now recognized that those weren't necessarily applied equally across all races and incomes. So that's something we want to make sure is understood. That could influence some of the actions that we look at, particularly regarding housing as they relate to equity.

Another thing I wanted to point out for the process and community outreach section, these are typical components in comprehensive plans, and when the full conference of plan was conducted five years ago, a significant portion of the introduction was dedicated to explaining what the process was and what community outreach was done. This is something that we don't find as referenced very often, and it's also quite dated now since it's been so much time since that occurred. Of course, we did have a new process and community outreach with our five-year review, but it wasn't nearly as extensive as it was during the previous effort. And so we have shortened that, and we removed the community outreach section.

We will create a separate document that will be on our webpage, so if anybody is interested in seeing that, they can take a look. But the way it was located in the comprehensive plan, it just used unnecessary space. Looking at the land use chapter, the first thing, and one of the most important components of the comprehensive plan, of course, is a future land use map. We discussed this with you in June. We're looking at specifically changes to specific sites throughout the city. This includes the American Legion site, Old Town Square, the Camp Washington Water Tower, the Matthew property, several natural areas that were previously designated as open space public that are being changed to open space private.

And one that we didn't discuss with you at that time was the expanded Fairfax Circle Activity Center. That is the area where the number six is in the northwest quadrant of Fairfax Circle. That was incorporated in the study area at the request of the Planning Commission and City Council and ultimately recommended to be in an expanded activity center. So that change is now shown on the future land use map. Just for reference, this is, barring any future changes, this is the future land use map that's proposed to be included in the comprehensive plan with those amendments. One new action is proposed in the land use strategies guiding principle, and this is to review and update the small area plans.

As we are doing this now with the full comprehensive plan, there has been discussion about new information that may be available, additional analysis that can be done that we should look at and potentially amend the smaller plans based on those. So that will be an upcoming effort. Also, as mentioned earlier, the addition of the mixed-use place type. This is in response to the desire to look at potential additional residential uses and what are now commercial corridors. And we will go over this in more detail as this, I believe, is the most significant change that we're looking at since we last talked to you in June. So the way the mixed-use place type is intended to work, and this is based on several discussions with the Planning Commission,

is that the new place type is set up to allow a mix of uses, including residential and commercial and other types of uses. However, this is limited to new locations, only those locations that have a partial-specific consideration. Partial-specific considerations are a section of the comprehensive plan that looks at several sites throughout the city that have unique characteristics that may warrant different ways of looking at them. And so in order to not support too much conversion of commercial to residential space, we want to limit this to certain sites that we have proactively identified. So unlike with other place types, a property owner can't simply request a future land use map amendment.

Their site has to be already identified as a partial-specific consideration, and we'll talk about what those are now. There are two locations that have been identified by the Planning Commission, and we'll be discussing a third. And in addition to that, there is design-based criteria similar to what we have for the other place types, and I'll go over what that is. The main components are residential density, height, ground floor, and parking for design-based criteria. And just to show you how this compares to other place types, we have a commercial corridor and the activity center place type. This is for activity centers before a small area plan is developed because a small area plan has its own criteria.

But the mixed-use place type is proposed to have a maximum density, a residential density of 48 dwellings per acre, which is similar to what the activity center supports. Maximum height of five stories, which is similar to both the commercial corridor and activity center. No residential uses on commercial mains. We'll talk about what commercial mains are in a minute, but essentially those are our main roads, and that is similar to the activity center place type. Only commercial uses are supported in commercial corridor. And lastly, parking is recommended to be on the side or rear of buildings, and structured parking is preferred, and this is similar to both what is in the commercial corridor and activity center place types.

Going back to the two sites where the Planning Commission is recommending supporting the mixed-use place type, and again, we are not mapping the mixed-use place type. The future land use map is not showing this place type anywhere. A property owner will have to request it, but that can only be supported if they have this support in the partial-specific considerations. So these two sites are Fairfax Square, which is a large office complex on Main Street east of Old Town. This is included partially based on a request by the property owner, but also based on analysis that was done for the Planning Commission looking at property sizes and building-to-land value ratios. The text in the partial-specific consideration for this site

recommends that if redevelopment occurs, that the central commercial building remains, that there be no net loss of commercial space, and that any new development be done so that it is cohesive with the surrounding apartment community, and that additional open space be provided. The second site is the ANOVA site on Chambridge Road. This site is already in the comprehensive plan for a partial-specific consideration, and it already supports the types of uses that are included in the mixed-use place type, and so we really just took what we had and added that the mixed-use place type could be supported. The type of language for this partial-specific consideration is that commercial uses are supported along Chambridge Road,

and residential uses, including multifamily or townhouse, are supported on the eastern side of the site, and that buffering and transition of height be accommodated with any new development as it relates to surrounding residential uses. And then the third site under consideration is a site at 10655 Fairfax Boulevard. This is the Baskin-Robbins property. This came up because of a letter from the property owner that you all received. The Planning Commission received the same letter from the property owner identifying that they were interested in having residential uses on the second floor of the existing building. The Planning Commission discussed this last night and essentially expressed support for the idea of residential uses on the upper floor of the building.

However, they didn't feel the site is consistent with the intent of the mixed-use place type as their evaluation really looked at opportunities for cohesive, consolidated developments, and they felt that the proposal could be considered with a special-use permit without having to change the comprehensive plan to include this. So that's kind of a summary of the staff's analysis of the mixed-use place type. We do want to hear if the City Council has any thoughts on this, but I wanted to turn it over to Chair Feather first to share some of the Planning Commission's perspectives on how this was developed. Thank you. So we've got to, obviously, given considerable time, careful consideration to this matter,

it's a relatively new concept for us. Our comprehensive plan as it stands today discourages, and we've actually adhered to this, residential development along our commercial corridors. Now, we have such development, but those are in planned development communities and the activity centers, which are fully intended to be these sorts of mixed-use place types. So what we're really trying to focus on is opportunities where it makes sense to expand some of this mixed-use development in commercially zoned properties, not ones that are necessarily part of a planned development, for example. We've been seeing some proposals bubble up now, and it's time for us to consider this in the comp plan. We're aware of the desire for additional housing in the city,

but we're also aware of the important need to maintain a strong commercial base as well. Mr. Napkey referred to some of that and some of those considerations in what we've been weighing as well in developing our recommendation to you. The Economic Development Office has been a key partner with us in this whole process as well, so we welcome their input as well. So we've worked out with staff. They spent a lot of time working on this, and we think we've developed what we believe is a good, at least, starting point. Call it a stepping stone. This may be transitional, but I think the significance of the change, considering water history, is warrants measured steps, not wholesale change at this point.

Some of the considerations we put in to our thinking about selecting the parcels before you tonight covered a range of things, as Mr. Napkey said. We looked at size, something that would make for a meaningful mixed-use development, something that's cohesive, something that fits in with some of the neighboring areas. So we did tend to focus on larger parcels at this time. There are many, many, many, many small parcels in the city, many discontinuous sort of feeling of natures of businesses next to each other. Looking at individual small parcels like that could create kind of an undesirable mix of neighbors with housing and car repair shops and things. These are the reasons we weren't focusing on small parcels.

There's nothing that would prevent a good proposal coming through for consolidation to step up to the level that might warrant this change. But for this time, we think this is the right proposal to put before you. So when I talk about meaningful, what does that mean? We're talking about a parcel that's large enough to accommodate a mixed-use. I talked about cohesiveness and compatibility with surrounding areas. These are the kind of things that went into our considerations. To be sure, we still need to continue to focus on the mixed-use redevelopment in our activity centers. That's what they're there for. We have plans that guide this. This is where we'd like to see it. We have established through the consultant target housing development there.

And we're granting some provisions to enable additional height and density to allow that to happen. You'll see the proposals before us for the mixed-use place type are more consistent with kind of our historical development, which is really appropriate in some of these other areas where there's perhaps lower density and a varied mix of uses nearby. So the Planning Commission did spend considerable time talking about the property at 10655 Fairfax Boulevard. As Mr. Napty described, it is supported by the Planning Commission. We don't have a role in making a recommendation on this formally with our current review authority, but the consensus of the group was this is a parcel worthy of doing this on the commercial corridor today.

It's a standalone. It's kind of an isolated property now with the Boulevard 6 development to its west and south. To its east is what will become an expanded car dealer. But very nearby is a large residentially zoned community. This parcel makes sense. This is not one that if the Planning Commission had a role in the decision would not take exception to residential and commercial corridor. Just wanted to make sure that you understood that and heard that from us directly. That was the consensus of the group. So I think that's all I wanted to say about this. I think we'd welcome any questions you might have at this point, at least on what's been presented up to now. Councilmember Ross, do you have questions?

Yes, I do. Thank you for that presentation. And again, I think this is you've really handled this the whole write-up professionally. But in particular, I had a couple questions on this particular goal and dealing with land use. And I know it's a tremendous balancing act that we have to face because there are, as you pointed out, and we've seen there are changes in their mixed-use developments going in not only in the activity centers, but in other places in the city. And we've seen what, how much over time the concept for the commercial or the business boulevard plan has evolved and changed. And a lot of that has to do with just changing circumstances, including the development, the IDI development at Pope Paul VI.

In terms of the process, assuming that this plan goes forward, would it still be a requirement for a property owner who desires to add some housing into a commercial corridor to apply for a special use permit? Is that where you're headed with this? Or there are several examples, as you pointed out, that lend themselves to that, including Fairfax Square, ANOVA, and the property on Fairfax Boulevard. If we proceed as is, would they still have to go through a special use permit to gain approval? Yes. This won't affect the zoning ordinance at all. Okay. And so anyone that has to go through that process now would still have to go through that process. Right. So they would still be required to go through a special use permit, which would mean a separate process.

Okay. Correct. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Staley? Thank you, Mayor. I think this makes a ton of sense in there, and I want to just plant this seed here that we'll come back to a little bit. As I look at the comprehensive plan, it tells our story over time. And I think you're introducing a new chapter in our story that's going to benefit future councils as a tool in their toolbox when we look back on it and the next time we review it over the next five years. So I think it makes complete sense to introduce it the way you're setting it up there as part of the next journey of our stories. I think we'll see a lot of that conversation come in as we touch on other points throughout here.

But so for me, it makes sense that you don't start writing a whole new novella. You start with this particular approach there. So thank you for the opportunity to come in. Any other questions? Council Member Bates. Thank you. So from what you're saying, you see this as sort of like a first step, and you all might look at maybe more proactive allowances for residential and commercial corridors beyond what's already kind of being looked into in the future, more of like a standardized criteria for where it should be in the city? I'm not quite sure how to answer that. I think frankly, as in the case of this parcel, Mr. Napp can correct me on the procedural matters, but any applicant can come and put in an application to do this now as a special use.

We're trying to establish some guidelines for what we want to look at mixed use, true mixed use. Again, we have the issue of many, many small parcels. There are some larger ones. Some larger ones are actually good, solid commercial properties. It would be difficult to see a path forward, that it would be a benefit to the city. When we make decisions, we have to consider the whole picture and benefit to the city of making important changes. Again, we think this is a good first step. There are other parcels, by the way, that we did look at that are some size, and some brought with them some concerns. There are a number that are immediately abutting resource protection areas, for example. So if we were to try to increase density on there, we have particular concerns about listing them today as potential for this because of the potential impact on the RPAs.

It doesn't mean somebody couldn't apply for it, but these are not the kinds of cases we want to look at now as our starting point. So, again, I've raised the issue of the many, many small parcels and the potential for discontinuous and unharmonious adjacencies. We're trying to be sensitive to that, too, and not stand in the way of potential future consolidations that could bring us something even more, even better later. So that's why we're at a starting point. But given if this amendment were to be made, then we're still recommending officially in the comprehensive plan against any residential and commercial corridors outside of these locations here. Is that correct? It's a recommendation. That's what I always say about the comp plan.

It's not a contract. It's a concept, right? But because of the history, and Mr. Ross referred to the Fairfax Boulevard Master Plan as a key guiding principle that is part of our history, it's carried a lot away. And in conjunction with conversations with the Economic Development Office, we're trying to strike a balance. Nothing would prevent somebody from putting in an application, if I'm not mistaken. But we believe the priorities should be elsewhere right now. And for the properties that are recommended for this mixed-use place type, where it says no residential along commercial mains, that means on the first floor, right? I think I read that. Yes. That means, right, no residential along commercial mains.

And in the actual text, it clarifies on the first floor. Oh, that's what I thought I saw. Okay. Yeah, that's right. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And anyway, yeah, I look forward to looking at this. And, you know, and I hope that this is a starting point. I hope to see further exploration of perhaps other sites. Maybe a potential consideration could be that they have to at least maintain the amount of commercial that's on the site when they redevelop and, you know, add residential. There's an allusion to that, actually, in the wording now, maintaining a significant or substantial commercial presence. Those are some of the words we use. Yeah, yeah, I think that rings a bell. Yeah, thank you. Councilmember Lim.

Thank you, Mayor. So I just want to clarify and understand it clearly. So currently, if the address, the Fairfax Boulevard, the Baskin-Robbins building owner wishes to have residential on the second floor, he can still apply special use permit. That's right. And what you're recommending on this revised comprehensive plan is for them to still apply special use permit. Yeah, we will not mention that parcel specifically in the comp plan. But if the planning commission had a voice in the matter, we would support that. Okay. Yeah, because we would not propose it be changed to the mixed use place type. It's such a very small parcel. So you say you recognize two locations. That's right. Okay. Is the other location, I'm sure you're going to go over it, but the other location is the same scenario.

You would recommend them to also apply for special use permit rather than giving them the right to just go ahead and do the residential in the recognized mixed development area? I would personally like to see the planning commission recommend to us to let's change those locations to let them do a residential on the second floor rather than kind of leaving at the same anyway. They could still apply to SUP and then your recommendation is for them to still apply. So a couple of things. Neither of these properties probably are talking about second floor residential on top of ground floor commercial uses. The residential on the Fairfax Square site would be elsewhere on the site. It wouldn't be facing the commercial main.

On the Inova site, we don't have a plan yet, right? But in that area, the commercial main is Cambridge Road, which is where the commercial would be focused, including maintaining the emergency room, as we understand. Residential would face School Street, not a commercial main. George Mason Boulevard, not a commercial main. And again, as Mr. Napty pointed out, this doesn't change the zoning ordinance. Right now, the zoning ordinance still would require the special use permit. To do what you're suggesting would require a significant change to the zoning ordinance. Probably create a whole new zoning district or something. Just a guess. Yeah, if I could just add to that. There's nothing the Planning Commission could do with changes to the comprehensive plan that would remove the requirement for an application process for any of these.

That would have to occur to the zoning ordinance. We could make a recommendation to review the zoning ordinance. We are actually doing that anyway, and we'll be talking to the city council the next couple months about that. It's a separate process. Okay. Again, this is a concept, not a contract. It's a planning document. It's not the law. So the comp plan can't be. I guess I just don't see the point. We understand. We know what you're saying. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. And as Mr. Napty said, we are looking at other zoning text amendment changes related to the small area plans, for example. Just getting that kicked off, I think. Other comments or questions from anyone? I'm quite captivated by unharmonious adjacencies.

That is just like the term of the evening. I think I picked that up from the small area plan discussion. I tell you what. They just synthesize my own version. It should be enshrined. We want to avoid unharmonious adjacencies. I love that. I love it a lot. So I think with no further questions, we commend you for your work. This has been excellent. I think the recommendation. We're not done yet. Yes. Okay. Only on that subject. Just getting started. Okay. Next. No, no, no. I think that was probably going to be the bulk of the discussion. Mr. Napty. Yes. We are not just getting started. We're quite at least through. Continuing with the land use chapter, there is one new action proposed since we last met.

This stemmed from comments received from the city council in June, particularly at that time with concerns about the current issue that we've all been hearing about, particularly more recently, about that algorithmic price fixing. That is, certain national apartment complex managers supposedly have been using to allow themselves to increase apartment rents. This is undergoing a lawsuit by the Justice Department right now. But based on this comment, we started looking at the comprehensive plan at how we should be handling these types of issues. And we noticed under the housing section, there are a lot of efforts about what we can control within the city in terms of establishing programs to establish new housing, to protect existing housing, and those types of things.

But there's nothing to address issues that are really beyond our own control. And so this will require partnerships with outside agencies. And so this new action goes beyond just this one particular issue, but it suggests that we do participate with local, regional, and national entities in trying to combat any type of issue that is making housing affordability more difficult. Moving on to the multimodal transportation chapter, one of the main changes here since June is that we're proposing changes to the street types. The street types, every street in the city has a street type classification to it. And then there are typical cross sections for each street type. These are used either when the city has its own project, when developing a new street or a streetscape, or when a private property owner is proposing improvements where they're required to design new streets or streetscapes to be consistent with our comprehensive plan.

And so some of the changes here are that we're proposing consolidating two of these street types. These are called commercial mains and boulevards. Essentially, these are our main roads. However, with the previous comprehensive plan, they had different designations, whether they were in an activity center or not. But essentially, we had the same cross section. The only difference was what happens outside the right-of-way. And there really was no need for that. It was causing confusion. We're identifying cross sections as examples as opposed to standards because every site is unique, and we run into conflicts with nearly everyone. We're providing only one example of each with verbal descriptions for options as opposed to trying to cover every issue with the graphics.

We've updated the street tree zone standards per current policy. So the street tree zone on this graphic is letter T in both of these examples. It's the area between the curb and the sidewalk or the shared use path where landscaping and street trees can be planted. The previous comprehensive plan recommended a five-foot width for this. We're increasing that to a minimum of six feet. This is based on current VDOT standards. And in addition to that, there's a footnote that refers to the recently developed tree preservation of planting guide that has specific calculations based on soil planting volume. So in some cases, this might have to be more than six feet. We are also proposing a 10-foot wide shared use path on both sides of commercial mains and avenues.

For both of these streets, right in the current comprehensive plan, there's a 10-foot wide shared use path proposed on one side and a 6-foot wide shared use path proposed on the other. However, it doesn't clarify which belongs on which side. So every time this comes up, there's an argument about what is actually required. Also, all of the small area plans recommend 10-foot wide shared use path on both sides of these streets when they're within their study area. So this would make the entire city consistent with those typical cross sections. And to show you where all these streets are, this is the street type map. The map on the left is from the current comprehensive plan. The map on the right is for the proposed new comprehensive plan.

You can see the green line disappears. That was the areas previously identified as boulevards. Most of those are now shown as commercial mains. A couple of them has changed to avenues, which are a little bit narrower roads, such as Blenheim Boulevard and Germantown Road. Other changes include changing where neighborhood circulators are to match the neighborways from the bicycle master plan. Neighborhood circulators are identified for the more major roads that are within neighborhoods. And for these streets, elements such as traffic calming and bicycle amenities are proposed. And then a few additional changes are proposed based on recommendations of the smaller plans to make sure these maps are consistent with those.

Transportation projects. This is a requirement from VDOT that this be included in the comprehensive plan. We went through all of these with you when we met in June, and these have not changed since then. However, what has changed is that we have developed cost estimates. These were done by Public Works staff. This is also a requirement from VDOT that these cost estimates be provided in here. So I won't go through each of these, but I did want to point out that the total you see at the bottom is around $50 million for all the projects identified. This is a significant change from the previous comprehensive plan where the total project cost was around $150 million. The reason for that is that when the previous comprehensive plan was developed, it came on the heels of the multimodal transportation plan where we had support from a consultant in identifying what our needs would be.

And it had a lot of large projects in it. Since that time, the majority of those large projects are underway. They've received funding. They're under construction. They're somewhere in the process. And so they've been backfilled with smaller projects that have been identified either through smaller plans or where other needs have been developed. And so we don't have those large-scale projects, as many of them, anymore. But one of the other recommendations of this plan is that we develop the next major transportation project is a Safe Streets for All, also called the Pedestrian Master Plan. This will be our next effort to look citywide at improvements. And coming out of that project, we expect to see some other larger projects identified.

And so with future updates to the comprehensive plan, we'll see some new larger-scale projects in here. Moving on to the Environment Sustainability Chapter. There are proposed changes to this action. This is results from feedback that we received from the public meeting in June, talking about new standards that are needed for tree maintenance and care. This also points to the newly developed tree preservation and landscaping guide that I previously mentioned. This is a resource that is now used for any city project or any new development project with specifics about how we deal with trees on each site. For the Natural Environment Guiding Principle, a couple of the things I wanted to mention here.

This gets into the weeds of the text changes to the supporting text, but there were a couple of major elements I wanted to point out. Invasive species have now been identified as a challenge. We've had this added to several actions in the comprehensive plan. Invasive species were previously not mentioned at all in the existing comprehensive plan, so that's a major change. And then we've added some statements about resiliency. This outcome had the most number of additions to it for the actions from all of them, and this was based on the input received from the Environmental Sustainability and Sustainability staff. For the Sustainability Initiatives Guiding Principle, we have one change to one of the actions.

This was based on feedback from the City Council in June. Our reference to the Solid Waste Management Plan identified solid waste and recycling. We've added composting to that. And then a couple of other elements from sustainability initiatives. The major topics, electric vehicle infrastructure is a new outcome. Right now it only has two actions included with it, but we have the EV readiness plan that is under development, so future amendments to the comprehensive plan will likely have more actions there. And then the goal related to physical activity and health has been significantly revised. Components about physical activity have been moved to the Parks and Recreation section, and there is more descriptions about regionally grown food

as we have some new actions related to that. For the Economic Vitality Chapter, we have one new action. The first one up here, EV 1.1.6, was developed based on feedback from the City Council, and this was a recommendation for us to be proactive in identifying business trends to make sure our codes don't prevent new ideas and new types of businesses from easily locating in the city. And then we revised the action about leveraging our proximity to George Mason to attract recent graduates to invest into the city. This is also based on comments from the City Council. Additional language in the Economic Vitality Chapter, I did want to touch on the office market and the retail market really quick.

I know you've heard a lot about this lately, but there are significant changes from where we were five years ago in how we approach the office and retail markets. And one of the major things is that our office vacancy rate is lower than it was five years ago, and we seem to be in better standing than we were at that time, despite the challenges of COVID. We also had some language about concern about the over, this more significant amount of Class B office space within the city, which has proven to be something that has helped us in maintaining our low vacancy rate. But that being said, the national office market is still very volatile, and this could impact us at some point. And so while we are more confident than we were and our actions have been slightly shifted,

we are ready to change this if we need to, if changes occur. Similar situation for retail. There was a lot of concern five years ago about how much online shopping would dip into the retail environment. While that has happened, it's been backfilled by other types of retail uses, and our retail market remains relatively strong. But again, this could be volatile, and this could change at any time. So we're ready to continue to review that. And then lastly, in our community services chapter, the only major change that we wanted to point out in the Parks and Recreation section, we added a reference to the Parks and Recreation Strategic Master Plan. We previously did not have a reference to this in the previous comprehensive plan.

And as you know, the Parks and Recreation Department is just beginning the process of updating this. And so we removed our reference to the 2014 Parks and Recreation Strategic Master Plan because many of the recommendations in there have been superseded by other policies. But we added this action to reference the Strategic Master Plan in general because the upcoming revision will give us a lot more identification of guidance. And then the last thing we wanted to mention to you was the vision statement for the comprehensive plan. And you might recall last November, I believe it was, we had a couple conversations with the city council about this. The planning commission continued to discuss it

and essentially recommends that the general language of the vision remain the same, let it be reordered. And the reason for that is the way the current statement is read, there's really two pieces to the vision statement, is that in, sorry, this is today in 2035, not 2025, the city of Fairfax has a strong sustainable economy, which is the first piece, that supports a vibrant 21st century community, which is the second piece. The vibrant 21st century community we feel is more important because that addresses all of the council goals and that's supported by the strong sustainable economy, which really references one of the council goals. And so the reordering is that the more important statement

that addresses all the council goals comes first, and that's only supported by the economic development council goal. So the proposed reorder of the language here, primarily the same words, just a different description. So I'll leave it at that, and I'll turn it over to Chair Feather to share his final thoughts. So the vision statement I said previously is to make the main thing the main thing. That's what that change is. I just want to thank you for your attention. I guess if you have any other questions on what else has been covered to this point, we're open to that. Otherwise, we will wrap up with a couple comments. Yes, Council Member Ross. Yeah, thank you for a very thorough report, update,

and analysis of the proposed changes you'll be coming forward with. And obviously there will be several public hearings. You'll have a public hearing. We'll be having a public hearing. I'm just curious to ask how much public engagement have you had thus far on this update. I know there were several workshops or at least one that was held. Can you quickly give us a summary of that activity? Yes. We had two workshops, one during the earlier data collection phase, and then one once we had our initial recommendations back in June. And then when the action plan was finalized, we shared those with each of the boards and commissions who participated as well. Great. And we had an engaged page. Oh, sorry.

We also had an engaged page. Great. And that is continuing, I assume, as this goes forward? The engaged page is still open. Okay. And we'll be posting this. We wanted to hear what the Council's initial thoughts were. We'll be posting the draft plan tomorrow. Great. And I hope there'll be some information we had, community, along those lines from our superb communications staff. When will your public hearing be scheduled for review of this? For the Planning Commission? Yes. Two weeks from yesterday. Two weeks from yesterday. So that would be September the 23rd, Mike? Yes, that's correct. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Staley. Thank you, Mayor Reed. A couple of just notes, and I'm going to zoom out for a second.

So first off, I really appreciate the thoughtfulness that's gone into here and the way you're bringing the action items and the changes together. A particular shout-out to page A24 and A4-22. I think you've woven in the discussion of urban agriculture very well to where the Council currently is and is moving forward. Just to say it out loud, when I look at outcome on A4-22 that talks about solid waste management and composting and the one that follows to enhance zoning regulation and other city standards to support initiatives that encourage adequate solid waste management infrastructure, I see composting in there, right, as part of that. So I like the way that's come together. I'm saying that out loud because I don't think we need to add a word,

but just want to make sure that I'm not missing the intent as that fits together. I also am very encouraged by action under goal two in that one that supports healthy lifestyles and regionally grown food. I think that's an excellent wording change. And I really enjoy the action item that's to encourage and support development of community gardens and educational growing spaces on public and private land. I read educational growing spaces as anything associated with A2-24 in that particular area. So I think you've encompassed it well, so I just want to call that out. I think you've done an excellent job weaving that in. Where I want to end tonight, though, is the storytelling conversation. When I zoom back out a little bit and I take a peek at the reference that,

Mr. Napty, you made to kind of acknowledging the history of where we've been as an organization, kind of as a nation moving, I think you're referring to A2-2 in the introduction where you've added a sentence that says, homeownership opportunities were not equitably available to all races. However, as much of the single-family homes in the city were developed prior to the Fairhouse in the House of 1968. I think that's an accurate and important statement. I think we're missing, though, the story of the past five years and what this community has done in that journey going forward. And I don't know how much more needs to be added in there, but it feels like we're leaving the reader missing the fact that we had an entire citizen group

have an excellent discussion of things like the book The Color of Law and what that actually meant. I think we're missing an opportunity to, again, as we talk about this chapter of our journey, reference people back to what actions the community has done and how we're still continuing on with that so that when people read this in five years, they take a look back at where we've been because it is my hope that that journey continues, that we're not done with that journey. To me, the structural imbalance that was created because of that sentence is part of the reason we have the HCAP. It's part of the reason that we have a responsibility to remind ourselves that things didn't just magically happen.

There were intentionalities that were done generations ago that this body and future bodies are not shying away from but are working through. So I am ecstatic that the Planning Commission was so forward-thinking to make sure to include a sentence like that, and I just put out there that I feel like we're missing just a little bit more there to help continue to tell the story, to set the stage for the next look at this comprehensive plan down there, because I think the story will continue with the next council. So great work on framing this. I put that out to the ether as we go through the public hearings because people fall smarter than me. I think we'll figure out how to continue to highlight in there.

But I didn't want to miss that because that is a big deal, at least from my perspective. So thank you for raising that. Thank you, Mayor. Councilmember Doyle Feingold. Thank you, Mayor. So I noticed a sentence in there talking about the price-fixing software that's in use in rental units in the city. I think that we could take a more active stance in that. The Scout on the Circle is one example. They have 600-square-foot units starting at $2,350. It doesn't include utilities, parking, and a number of other costs. That's astronomical. I believe that the rent-fixing software, and Scout on the Circle uses RealPage, which is one of the – you mentioned DOJ is involved in a lawsuit. The Virginia Attorney General has not joined it, but I believe that there are plenty of statutes on the books.

Our Commonwealth attorney could move forward on charges for this kind of behavior. There are other price-fixing software. If we want to take action for improving fair housing, improving access, improving cost, I think that we have a lot of opportunities right now. I think from this dais, we can take steps, too. When developers come to us and say we want to build a 330-unit apartment building, we can say, hey, we looked at your other units, and you use price-fixing software. We're not going to approve that here. I think we can take those steps, and I think that we should if we really want to improve affordability for housing in the city because I think it's huge. There are federal research that shows that for every $100 average increase in rent, you have a 10% increase in homelessness.

And I know people who live in Scout, their rent went up $900 from one lease to the next. That's huge. And so we can have a really big impact here locally, I think, on those issues. We don't have to sit back and wait for DOJ and other things to occur. I think my only other comment, big picture, is environmental sustainability is our second council goal. And I think that we have to make sure that that carries through interactions in the projects we're recommending, in the voices that we hear from, the urban forester and those kinds of recommendations. I think we need to reflect that that is our second goal. And those are the only comments I have. Thanks. Any other comments on this? Well, I concur with what Council Member Doyle Feingold says.

You know, when the DOJ finally did take action, Council Member Doyle Feingold had been talking about this for a very long time. And if there are actions that we can take, I do believe that to the best of our ability, we need to do something at the local level because people are being thrown out of their housing simply because the increases are unaffordable. And if it's price fixing, waiting for the DOJ to get to it is not going to solve the problems we are having here. And I am not an expert. I am not an attorney. I am just saying I think it's worth exploring what we can do more immediately. And that is something that is impacting on a daily basis people losing their housing. So I would concur that we need to raise the urgency of that if it's at all possible.

And I would expect that that urgency would be reflected in our implementation guides as to the importance and the urgency of getting it started, getting it finished. If the language that we have currently, the broad objectives and goals are sufficient, then it becomes an implementation item, an operational item, and the priority should be high. That's the way I hear this. And this is a start. I mean, you've put the intention out there. Which is what the comp plan is for. Yeah. What's operationalizing. Exactly. You put the intent out there. And you're right. These intentions have to have something behind them that say we are taking what we intend to do and we're going to figure out what we're going to do.

I also concur with Council Member Staley. This has really been a very comprehensive endeavor that you've taken. And it's very well laid out. It's very clear. And I think going forward, when you engage with the public, looking at your presentation, it's going to be easy for people to follow what you're trying to do and the intentionality of what you're trying to do. So thank you. Thank you for this presentation. Any other final thoughts? Let's make a final comment. A couple final comments, Mr. Daley, to your comment of urban agriculture. Just as an aside, the Planning Commission in its meeting last night held its public hearing on zoning text amendment changes. And we've recommended bringing those forward to you.

So you know that. Otherwise, I hope we have your concurrence to move ahead to our public hearing phase. I'm not hearing anything that makes a significant change to our plan. As it is, we got some important operational feedback that we should include in our implementation guide. So thank you. You've been with us the whole way. You've been our guide from the start. You've been our ears. The Planning Commission, other boards and commissions invested a lot in it. We just want to partner with you to the end while you're still here to get this over the finish line. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Our last work session item is a review of the highlights of the 2024 Virginia General Assembly actions and preliminary discussion regarding the city's 2025 legislative program.

I'll recognize Melanie Zipp, Assistant City Manager, to provide the staff presentation. I feel like I need a booster seat. I'm not aging. All right. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Tonight I'm going to review with you how the city council creates the components of the legislative program, some of the highlights from 2024 session, and at the end of the presentation I have a list of topics that staff will be asking the council to review and possibly whittle down in preparation for the city council's 2025 legislative program. Just to start off, the city is part of State Senate District 37, and our senator is Senator Salim, and the city is part of State House District 11, and Delegate Boulava is our delegate.

So how do we build our program? The city's program is broken down into three areas. Policy statements, which are amended annually based on regional and state partner actions. In addition to the policy statements, the mayor and council will choose priority focus areas that can either be connected to policy statements, such as preserving local authority, or they can be direct requests to change specific codes within the state code based on the needs of the city and the will of the city council. Once city council has a list of priorities, staff will ask for three or four priorities to highlight on a one-page handout that we use on VML legislative day to hand out to our legislators of the areas we want them to focus on.

Every year, staff begins this work reflecting on the city council goals, the city values, and the strategic plan. We compare the city's priorities with the changing legislation being proposed by the General Assembly. This work is also coordinated with the city's regional liaisons, Fairfax County specifically, as it relates to schools, social and human services, courts, and the judicial system, because we contract with Fairfax County for those services. So we try and stay lockstep with them on our legislative priorities. Our state partners, Virginia Municipal League, our member associations from all of our various departments, and of course our city staff and our board and commission members.

As you may remember, in 2024, the city council priorities were K-12 funding because of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, JLARC, because of the watershed report that came out from that about the improvements to the state K-12 funding formulas. Our other priorities were transportation funding to include the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which is WMATA, the needs, as well as the regional needs as they relate to transportation. We continue to request that the state stop meddling in local authority, and finally our request to expand speed enforcement via cameras. The next couple slides, or the next several slides, are highlights of the 2024 General Assembly that we received from VML.

As they relate to the city, I'll try and move quickly through these slides and only point out a few key statements on each. If there are items you would like further information on, just stop me and let me know. I probably don't have the information for you tonight, but I will get that to you. So, this slide here is highlighting the challenges and changes in the 2024 General Assembly. Two items of note, as you can see from the membership, close to half of the members in the Senate and a little over a third of the House were new in their seats. As it relates to the budget, the budget language required the Joint Committee on Tax Policy to explore efforts to modernize the Commonwealth's income and sales and use taxes.

Their first meeting is on September 17th, so we'll be interested to see what comes out of that study. Unfortunately, the website does not have the date in which the study is to be concluded, so we will just keep an eye out for that. K-12 priority bills. So, there were several bills regarding K-12. Only one of them passed of the ones that we have highlighted here. One of the big disappointments was the veto of the HB 805 and SB 14, which relates to the use of a 1% sales and use tax dedicated to school construction, modernization, and debt service. You'll see this on our list of priorities for the 2025 for Council to consider. For transportation bills, we did see the expansion of the photo speed monitoring in high-risk intersections.

However, these intersections still have to be located more than 1,000 feet from the limits of the property of a school that is part of or adjacent to the intersection containing a marked crosswalk that is identified in the manner provided in this section as one in which a traffic fatality has occurred since January 1, 2014. Our legislation that we continue to ask for is to be allowed to use speed enforcement, speed camera enforcement in high pedestrian areas, so staff will be bringing that forward again for Council to consider. In Health and Human Services, there was a concerted effort to address the shortage of social workers throughout the industry through a multi-state licensing compact. The seven states that have signed on so far are Kansas, Missouri, South Dakota, Washington, Utah, Kentucky, and Virginia,

and all 50 states are eligible if they meet the requirements. It would be great if we had Virginia, Maryland, and D.C. where people could move around and still stay relatively local. We'll continue to watch what happens with SB 590. As all CSBs are stretched more and more, this bill will add to the list of mandated services and remove the requirement that case management services would be provisional on the availability of funding. This language is an important reminder to the state that it's not acceptable to continue to mandate services and not provide for the funding mechanism for those services. In public safety, there were several bills of note that were carried over to 2025, including the changes to the fire program fund, the creation of the fire and emergency medical services grant fund,

local collective bargaining, workers' comp claims related to firefighter infertility, data collection in local correctional facilities, and police use of privately owned security cameras. Oh, sorry. In line of duty, the regulations HB 321 and SB 649 increases the death benefit to $75,000 for a death related to a line of duty disability. The General Assembly continued legislation related to enhanced benefits for 911 dispatchers, animal control officers, and juvenile detention specialists. This would be to allow them to receive enhanced retirement benefits like other public safety employees have access to. As it relates to the Freedom of Information Act FOIA, the number of all virtual meetings has increased.

This does not, unfortunately, include the city council or school board or any board who has the authority to expend funds. It is our intent to add that to, you'll see it on our list, to expand that to city councils and school boards. They also have allowed persons with disabilities or their caregivers to participate remotely and be part of the quorum. They also clarified the definition of a meeting and codified the validity of meetings that occurred during the pandemic as long as access and notice requirements were followed. This is in relation to the Berry versus Fairfax County case related to their zoning ordinance. So that has all been taken care of. And then finally, they addressed an older sub-public records request

and exemptions related to criminal records. I guess I took that one out. I'm sorry. As it relates to zoning and housing, there were several bills that were passed. One example is expanding the current law to allow all localities the ability to establish a community revitalization fund used to prevent neighborhood deterioration. Richmond City is currently the only one that has that authority. There were more bills passed in housing and zoning, and we will continue to bring things forward for the council related to zoning ordinances in the city. I thought I took all those out. Okay, on to procurement. The General Assembly passed procurement bills that increased contract thresholds, contract terms, and small purchase limits.

The cannabis bill on retail sales was vetoed, and I bring this forward for your attention to share the taxes proposed to be collected. The total tax in the bill is just under 12%, and the breakdown of that is 9.125% of that would go to the state, and there would be a max of 2.5% that a locality could add to that. That was vetoed. It will most likely come back again in 2025, and we will see how that goes. In relation to city council, there were bills on the statutory salary cap for city council that can be increased following the stated regulated process. Revisions to the frequency of meeting notices in newspapers. That was a cleanup bill. And the process for appointments to filling vacancies on city councils,

which has changed. These are just some other bills of interest that the council may be interested in. One of those is the door-to-door vendors. This does not pertain to anybody that is going door-to-door for political activities. It regulates the door-to-door vendors. And then there were four studies of note, one being about artificial intelligence, AI. It's a big discussion, obviously, around the state right now. The fentanyl crisis is another one. FOIA changes. They're always studying Freedom of Information Act. And then the towing regulations. I can't read my own handwriting. So now on to our 2025 legislative program position requests. On the staff and regional side, we had our first regional meeting.

We are very early in the process right now, so we're just collecting information, and then we'll be coming back to the council as we whittle these things down. But from a regional perspective, fully funding the K-12 education based on the JLARC study is going to continue moving forward. The 1% sales tax for school construction, modernization, and debt service. Circular recycling as it deals with composting. Like I said, bringing forward the speed cameras in high pedestrian areas, specifically like our old town is what we were looking at, where it's difficult. There isn't enough room to pull a vehicle over safely. Local authority we always keep in our regional package, and we will, well, I would hope that the city council would keep this in our city package,

especially for zoning and high-risk operations and accessory developing units. Cannabis taxation, just ensuring that the state's collection is not categorized into the general fund. Clarification on, I apologize, this is supposed to be cannabis oil use by employees. There's discussion right now with people who use CBD oils are testing positive, and how do we handle that when we've got drivers who have CDL license. FOIA, we'd like to bring forward extending all virtual authority to all public bodies, standardizing the advertising notices, and allowing .gov websites to post in lieu of newspapers. Probably won't go forward, but we want to continue to ask. Dedicated funding for the village and the city programs.

This is something that the statewide villages are working on, and so our village coordinator has asked that this be included. And then we received a few requests from a few of you. Local authority to ban or regulate gas-powered leaf blowers and to limit the number of cars used by residents of a home. Golf cart use on residential streets. Driver's license on smartphones. Penalties for dishonest business practices. Tree removal companies was the example given. Income-based progressive real estate tax structures. This is an income tax, revenue sharing, universal preschool and childcare. Reversing the Dominion Energy Solar interconnectivity requirement that have stalled many of the large school solar projects in the county.

And then any other ones that you bring to me to add to the list. But this is the list we have going on right now. If there are items on this list the council knows right now, you do not want us to go through the effort of researching and including, please let me know. Otherwise, we will start going through this list and providing feedback to the council. So this is our 2025 legislative cycle. Tonight we are doing the introduction of the program and the process. November 12th is when we will hold a public hearing on the proposed legislative program. It will not be a night for council action. Yeah, it will not be a night for council action. November 25th is the date that all requests for draft legislation be pre-filed

with DLS by 5 p.m. This really means if we have something that is a specific code section and we want specific language struck or added, that's the kind of information we will need to get to DLS before November 25th. December 3rd, we will have our final work session on the proposed program and then ask for council's consideration on December 10th. And then the General Assembly begins on January 8th. And January 30th is our BML local government legislative day, of which you will all be invited to, and we will go down and meet with our delegation. One other item of note, on December 3rd, I have asked our delegation to attend our meeting, and they have both confirmed that they will be here. So that is the December 3rd work session.

And that is all I have. If there are any questions or additions. Anything to add at this juncture? Council Member Bates. Thank you. Given Council Member Doyle Feingold's earlier comments on rent fixing, I think it would be a good idea to maybe look into anything that can be done to enable greater enforcement of prohibitions on that and maybe allow for jurisdictions to take more of a stance in handling that themselves. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments, questions? It's a pretty good list, I think. I'm the one who added the driver's license on smartphones because I attended a blockchain conference here in the city where they were discussing the many uses of blockchain, and it is fascinating.

But there are five states that accept driver's licenses on smartphones as opposed to presenting a card. And that would be a boon, I think, to people who regularly lose their documents, and that includes people who are unhoused, to be able to have something as simple as a driver's license where they can access it without having to replace it constantly. Before this conference, I wouldn't have even considered that, but as I said, there are five states that accept driver's licenses on smartphones. And I would like for us to consider putting that forward here in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Thank you so much for your work on this, and I'm sure we will have more suggestions for you before we tackle this again.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay, I will now reconvene the regular meeting. We have the manager report out and council comments. So we'll start with the manager report out. Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. So tonight, a couple items, but I want to start off first with an update of the after-action review of the July 4th event. With us tonight, we have Stacey Summerfield, the director of Parks and Rec, along with other Parks and Rec team members. Before I turn it over to Stacey, I just want to make a couple comments. Number one, I just want to thank not just Parks and Rec staff, but every staff who was involved with that event, being able to attend this year, walk around, engage with employees, engage with our residents,

stay at the command post and see how everything was managed. It was done beautifully. It's a very well-organized event, and I think a lot of people enjoyed it and just a long day for many of our employees and a lot of work from our staff, not just day of event, but this year, especially pivoting based off the circumstance. That's the second point I want to highlight to our residents, that the option of the old way of doing fireworks was not a real option anymore because of the turf fields that were placed there. We didn't really have the option without significant risk to damaging that turf field of doing the old show. So we had to pivot this year, but we're always open to hearing comments, and you'll hear that tonight about how our residents enjoyed the event and what changes they would like to make.

And we want to constantly try out different things to see what works for our residents. But going back is not necessarily a good option for us right now because of the risk to the turf field. So tonight we'll propose an option for next year. We heard residents' comments. We did a full evaluation of multiple options across the city. So thank you, Stacey, and her team for doing that to make sure that we're kind of ruling out different options. But we'll talk about those this evening, and we'll let you know kind of where we'd like to head for next year and some potential future options as well. So, Stacey. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Thank you for having us here tonight. And as City Manager Palco mentioned, we did have to pivot last year.

So that's where we start here. So in 2024, there was the installation of the turf, the synthetic turf on the baseball field, as well as what we call the band practice field, which is a multi-sport field. So each year, city officials, school officials, and our fireworks vendor, Pyrotechnico, meet in the spring to assess our shoot location. And although our shoot location would remain off the synthetic turf, the fallout zone would be in the synthetic turf. So at that time, they mentioned to us that their insurance would not be able to cover the fallout zone. So typically, one of the things we receive from the fireworks company, along with the wonderful show, is their insurance. So pivoting from there, we looked at several different alternatives.

And on June 11th, we presented to you all about our new shoot location, being the Army-Navy Country Club. That change did require that the venue pivot from the stadium to the parking lot. So that was a change for the event. And working diligently, Mitzi and Deanna and the special events team working with city officials was able to make that happen. Now, following the event, we did solicit public feedback. We did receive 295 emails. 43% of those were disappointment with the evening show venue, concerning safety, accessibility, crowd control. 26% were disappointment with the location and visibility of the fireworks. 11% were concerns with the crowd and safety of the parking lot venue. 10% concerns with the traffic, neighborhood traffic.

8% people requesting more parade entertainment and a potential time change. They love all of you, but they'd like us to have less businesses and elected officials and more exciting things happening. So we're always working on that. There were some potential requests for an earlier time for the parade, which we would love to do for the temperature of the day, but it's a very big challenge when our staff already starts at 4 a.m. I'm not sure how much earlier we can get everyone here in the city and get those parades lined up. So unfortunately, we're probably not going to be able to change the parade time, but we do appreciate that it is very hot. And then 2% were just suggestions for new entertainers or food vendors.

So a majority of the comments did focus on disappointment with the fireworks venue and visibility. We also solicited staff feedback. We had challenges with the parking lot venues, ADA accessibility. At the last minute or last week or so, we were informed that Falls Church would not be doing their fireworks, so I think that that definitely impacted the number of people we saw there that night. Our placer AI numbers put us right around 8,500 people at the event that night, so we just had a lot of people there. And unfortunately, the parking lot venue just didn't allow us to create egress in the form of aisles and ADA accessibility that the stadium has. We did have a crowd rush at the end of the night, and we did have to cut some of the gates and fences.

That did create a later struggle with us trying to move everyone off of the Blenheim Roadway in order for buses to get through. So we had some big safety concerns, which have really led us to look forward to 2025. And so when we look at finding an event venue, we have three things we have to find, which is a shooting location, so we have to have a significant fallout zone around it. So for each inch diameter shell, we need 100 feet in all directions of no buildings or any sort of obstacles. We also need an event location, which is a space where we can host approximately 10,000 people with ADA accessibility, good egress, secured entrances and exits. And we need a parking location. So we bus a lot of people in with the Q bus.

Q did a fantastic job this year getting everyone to the site and getting everyone out of the site. But we still do need some ADA vendor and VIP parking as well as emergency vehicle access. So those are the three big things we're looking for when we look for venues. Now we have looked throughout the city. We looked at some locations that would be outside of our current city that would require us to work with outside jurisdictions, including the Judicial Complex, George Mason, and Woodson High School. Now Woodson High School has some similar turf concerns. George Mason is outside the city jurisdiction. The Judicial Complex, we would be looking at probably shooting from the parking garage roof there,

but it would require smaller shells. We looked at Van Dyke Park. Now we could shoot from the park. But finding the viewing location for our city residents, an ADA accessible location, as well as parking is a challenge there. And then KJM slash Providence. If we could shoot from Providence and have the event at KJM, that would be amazing. However, that is too close to Interstate 66. And so we would have to shoot from KJM and host the event at Providence, which is challenging with the limited parking situation. It's not centrally located. It also has challenges for the event host. So these are all sites that we looked at and decided against. Now, based on all of this information, using both community and staff feedback,

we are recommending a return to the FHS stadium. We feel like the stadium provides us with egress, the ability to have ADA accessibility, safe entrances and exits to control those using security and bag checks. If we move back to the stadium, we have three options. A proximity show, which is the show from the roof. So it is a smaller shell show, but you are closer to it. So we're seeing smaller explosions, but we're closer to the fireworks. We did a test of this, and it is visible from other locations in the city, and it is very impressive to the individuals at the venue. The other option, the cost impact of the proximity roof show is approximately $35,000 to $40,000 more. It's more fireworks.

So we would be paying our vendor for more fireworks, but smaller fireworks. And they would create a lateral show, so it would be similar to what you see at the end of the evening in a theme park or at a big stadium show for the NFL. They do a lot of lateral work across from side to side. We could also return to our original shoot location. We would need to purchase a $900 insurance coverage for the fields. However, there is a potential $250,000 deductible. So that is an unknown cost of returning to our original shoot location. Our last option that we are still looking at is a drone show. Now, there's no fallout zone and less environmental impact. The challenges we have with a drone show is I think it's still hitting its stride as far as technology

and coming down in price. It has a pretty big price impact. Right now, we pay $50,000 for our fireworks show. A drone show would be between $150,000 and $200,000 for a 15-minute show. Some of the other challenges are that it is very impressive from the venue, but much like looking at a television screen from the side or from other locations in the city, it would just look like lights. It would not be in the shape of whatever the shapes that the drone company put together. So we're hoping that as technology improves, the price of drone shows might decrease and we might see some other options coming online. The other challenge with a drone show is finding a vendor. Our fireworks vendor does do drone shows.

They only have a very limited number of them. And so to be able to find one for this year. So the staff recommendation would be the proximity show as it has the least financial impact on our original budget and also still provides an impressive fireworks show. All right. And that is the end of the presentation. I would take any questions that you have about any of the public feedback or any of the staff recommendations. Questions from the dais? Comments? Council Member Ross. Thank you for this update. I will say I'm a little disappointed we didn't have this incorporated into the regular agenda. I think coming at the end is less visible for the public to have a chance to see and react to and being on the agenda.

And I hope in the future we will avoid that. This is an issue that, as we know, is pretty near and dear to a lot of residents. There's a tradition. There is a history. It is a well-celebrated event. It is incredibly well-coordinated by our city staff and handled. I know I've lived through at least 43. I think there was one year in 1981 when my son was born when everything was rained out. But I've made every other one. And I can say what a special event it is for the community. And I think this is an important enough item, Mayor, that I would hope we can have another work session on this in the future with an opportunity for public engagement. I think that's really important. I think it's unfortunate it's the end of the day.

I would ask one question that I think has remained unanswered. I understand the concern over the turf fields. And that came up early in the discussion last year. I didn't hear any discussion of what we could do to protect the turf fields. I believe there was at one point a discussion of having some sort of coverings for the fields. It might be excessive. I don't know what the cost would be. But I think it's worthwhile looking into as an option. And obviously these would be a long-term commitment to those kind of things that could be used more than one year, I would assume. So I don't know whether you have any response to that or not. Yes, we did look into turf coverings. We needed quite a few of them, just under 300 tarps.

And purchasing them, I think, is, of course, a good investment. It's not possible to rent them because everyone's trying to use them on the same day of the year. Right. Everybody wants them. Yeah, everyone wants them on the 4th of July. Our biggest challenge is storing them. So rolling them up after the event, ensuring that they're not wet, that they're fully dried out, and then finding a location to store them throughout the year. If we were to return to the original location and purchase the insurance, we could do some limited tarping of the field. We've also talked about running irrigation on the field during the event to try to mitigate any damage. It's just an unknown cost. Okay. I would urge us to take a look at that, Mr. City Manager,

and maybe come back later on with another work session on this and for the discussion as a part of the regular agenda. Thank you, Mayor. Councilmember Lim. Thank you, Mayor. Can we go back to the residents' feedback? Yes, here we go. So if the majority of the feedback were the fact that they couldn't really, they didn't really like how we handle the fireworks this year, I mean, going back to the same location next year or nearby location, how are we going to solve this concern? That's number one question. The other question is, with the insurance, is there a way that we could pay more premium and have a lower deductible, or is this like the minimum deductible that they're offering? Sir? Yeah, so for the first point, so that's the goal.

So I think the concern with the venue wasn't just the visibility of the fireworks. It was the viewing venue on the parking lot itself. So the recommendation we have for the proximity viewing would move people back to the stadium. So that would address that concern. And we do want to try out the proximity view. Again, it's not the same size shell, but to Stacey's point, it's closer. So it might still be a good show for our residents. That's why we want to give it a shot. The stadium is still the best location for it. In terms of the insurance, that's something we can look at. It's just there's a lot of risk with the damage there and interrupting what our schools have in terms of operations. So it's not just what we'd be paying,

but what's the impact to the schools of damaging those turf fields as well. And with the insurance, for a long time, insurance has not offered any turf coverage for fireworks. Now this is becoming a bigger issue because a lot of municipalities shoot from high school locations and there's more and more synthetic turf. And so this is a newly offered policy through our insurance provider. So this was what they had offered after we followed up with them to see if they would consider covering the turf fields. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Doyle-Fongel. Thank you, Mayor. Just for the future discussion, if we could have historical data on damage to, I know it wasn't synthetic turf, but to grass,

you know, and sort of trying to understand the risk, if we could look at that. Has there been fallout? Has there been damage or action that's needed to be taken? Thanks. Other questions or comments? To Council Member Ross's point, this is a beloved event in the community, and I think probably there's going to be more discussion between now and when decisions are made next year. I also think the environmental impact of fireworks overall is something that communities are probably going to end up addressing because of the noise and the ash and the pyrotechnics and what's put out into the environment. So the drone shows may be something that in the future, that's what communities do, and maybe the price will come down because of that.

But until we come up with something different, I do think probably that we need to engage in more community feedback since everyone had such a strong opinion about this year. We probably need to offer the opportunity for some feedback about next year. I think taking it back to the stadium would make a lot of people happy. I think being able to shoot the fireworks is going to solve the problem of smaller shells but closer so you can see it. But we probably need to give the community an opportunity to give us some feedback. So we'll look forward to doing that in future. Thank you very much. All right. So that is anything else from our city manager? Yes. You all received an email from the fire chief this evening

just reminding us that tomorrow is the 23rd anniversary of 9-11. So I just wanted to echo his comments and just ask that as a community we reflect on those victims that we lost on 9-11 and the brave first responders that we lost there and all the men and women of the military, they were lost in the wars post 9-11 and those who were severely injured and we continue to honor our public safety officials here in our city as well. So just wanted to echo the fire chief's statement. Thank you. Council Member Ross, thoughts? Yes. Two comments. And thank you for mentioning the 9-11. I think that has to be on everybody's minds as we remember that unbelievable day. Two items I wanted to mention. One is this is the week we have our annual homecoming parade on Blenheim Boulevard.

And I urge residents in that area to look at the information that's been put out. Our good friend Janet Jaworski keeps reminding people of this every day so that you can't come back and say, I didn't know about this. But I'm sure there are going to continue to be people that will get concerned because of the parade and the events. But let's remember this is a celebration that the kids put on, young people, not kids. And it's a nice celebratory event. It's going to be a beautiful day. Some of us will be riding and helping the young people celebrate. And let's just take a moment out and enjoy it instead of complaining about not being able to get up and down Blenheim Boulevard for a little while.

I know people are inconvenienced, but let's, sorry, my age, get over it a little bit. And let's celebrate. Secondly, I wanted to mention that there was an event at the high school earlier this week, a scary event where a young person made a threat. The police responded and the security personnel responded very quickly, found the student. Obviously, that student has had action taken against that person. It's very serious to make any kind of things. But I want to give great credit to our police for their excellent communication. They got the word out right away and also words to the parents, letting them know what was going on, but also reminding them of responsibility to make sure that young people act responsibly.

Having had two young people, I know that's a challenge. But it's really important that the community be aware that we responded appropriately and I think did a terrific job in getting the word out to the community. And it's really important. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Lin. No comment, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Staley. Thank you, Mayor. Just a quick comment and a thank you for highlighting Recovery Awareness Month in September. Mental health is an issue. It is health. And continuing to talk about it I think is incredibly important. So thank you for your leadership on that. Council Member Doyle Feingold. No comment. Thank you. Council Member Bates. I'd like to join in recognizing 9-11 tomorrow and the sacrifices made by first responders and spilling lives lost.

Thank you. My final comment is that I attended a two-day trail summit put on by Northern Virginia Regional Commission. It was virtual last Thursday and it was in person on Monday. And I will be following up with a summary of that two-day trail event conference. There's a lot of things going on in the Commonwealth of Virginia. VDOT has an office of trails. I did not know that. They've had an office of trails for a year and a half. Cassie Patterson spoke on both days. They are doing design matrices. They are going to have a resource hub. They are going to map every trail in Virginia that has public access and a name. That's a very ambitious undertaking in the Commonwealth of Virginia. But VDOT has put resources into helping communities come up with responsible design,

design around sensitive environmental areas, different surfaces for trails. There's just a lot that's going on that's very exciting. I thought it was a terrific conference. And I will do a summary and get it out to people so that we can think about trails in our own community differently and think about in the future what they might look like. So that was just a great conference. And I was glad that I had an opportunity to attend that. Yes, Council Member Ross. I'm going to carry on again. But I think it's really important to recognize that our trails are important to our community. But we're also part of a larger regional and statewide effort, especially in the region. And I sit, as you know, on the Transportation Planning Board representing this council.

There's a lot of interest in looking at the trails and the trail systems we have. And there's a very rich network. It's not just about us. It's about the region and how important we are to the region and vice versa. Thank you. All right. And with that, I will conclude the City Council meeting at 9.10 p.m. Thank you. Thank you.