City Council Regular Meeting

Catherine ReadGood evening. I would like to call the regular meeting of July 9th, 2024 to order. Welcome to everyone here in the chamber. I am grateful tonight for air conditioning. I hope those of who are watching from home also have air conditioning. I wish upon the world air conditioning. 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,

Veve Schofield-Davisindivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Catherine Readand now we have the favorite part of my evening is to do proclamations and I am going to ask that VV, Shofield Davis and Donovan Davis and all of the people who are with them to celebrate Fragile X Day come down into the well while I read the proclamation.

Melissa ShinneberryclerkYes, I have to do that first. Hang on.

Catherine ReadAnd while we're doing that, I'm going to ask if there is a motion to Councilmember Staley.

So LimIn accordance with City Council adopted policy and as permitted by Virginia Code Section 2.2-3708.2, I move to approve Councilmember Staley's request properly submitted in writing prior to tonight's meeting for remote participation subject to compliance with the requirements outlined in the City Council adopted policy and applicable law in all or portions of the City Council meetings of July 9th 2024.

Thomas RossSecond.

Catherine ReadAll right the motion has been made and seconded a roll call vote. Roll call vote. Councilmember Greenfield?

Melissa ShinneberryclerkAye. Councilmember Ross? Aye. Councilmember Lim? Aye. Councilmember Bates?

Billy BatesAye.

Melissa ShinneberryclerkMotion passed unanimously.

Catherine ReadAll right so welcome Councilmember Staley.

Jon Stehle JrThank you all very much appreciate it.

Catherine ReadAll of you very fine people.

Veve Schofield-DavisWelcome. Welcome Donovan.

Catherine ReadWhereas, Fragile X Syndrome is the most common cause of inherited intellectual disability known genetic cause of autism or autism spectrum disorders, and whereas over 1.5 million Americans are carriers of a fragile X mutation and thus have, or are at risk for developing, a fragile X associated disorder, and over 100,000 Americans have fragile X syndrome. And whereas fragile X disorders are also associated with tremor, ataxia syndrome causing tremors, balance deficiencies, and memory problems, ovarian insufficiency causing reduced fertility infertility, menstrual deficiencies and early menopause, and neurophysiological conditions. And whereas Fragile X is a powerful research model for neuropsychiatric disorders such

as autism, schizophrenia, pervasive developmental disorders, and similar conditions including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, reproductive problems in women, and other genetically-based medical conditions. And whereas, although the genetic defect causing Fragile X has been discovered and is easily testing, Fragile X frequently goes undetected due to its rare nature and lack of awareness about the syndrome, even within the medical community. And whereas raising awareness of Fragile X with the public and the medical community will help patients with the Fragile X gene make better informed medical decisions and help those living with Fragile X syndrome to adapt into society and provide significant contributions toward better understanding autism and other fragile X associated conditions.

Now, therefore, I, Catherine S. Reed, mayor of the city of Fairfax, do hereby proclaim July 22, 2024, as Fragile X Day in the city of Fairfax. Raising awareness of Fragile X syndrome with society will assist families living with a disability to make better informed decisions about their health and life in general be more productive in society. to those that may not be aware their family members even have the disability due to this awareness done on this ninth day of July. So I'm going to invite Vivi Schofield Davis to say a few words about Fragile X and also about the foundation.

Veve Schofield-DavisThank you all for Mayor Reed for recognizing Fragile X Day and proclaiming it. this day we are elated that you are making this day awareness and advocating for donovan angel foundation so it's not just donovan angel foundation but with donovan angel foundation donovan is our son this is my husband they're our supporters and we are just really elated that we can share this day here in the city of fairfax and that you are bringing awareness to this day So we want everyone to recognize Fragile X Day on this day from this day forward. And thank you so much. Thank you for all you guys coming, supporting us, supporting this day, and making families aware of Fragile X because there's so many families that is not aware of what Fragile X is.

We didn't know anything about Fragile X. Genetic testing, early intervention is very, very important. With Donovan Angel Foundation, we want to make everyone aware of what fragile X is and rare diseases. So our mission is to help kids and individuals with fragile X syndrome through different therapies, speech, equine, occupational therapy, and music therapies that sometimes make things better for their lives with taking those therapies. So that's what our foundation is based on, and we also deal with people with intellectual disabilities because that falls under Fragile X. So we're just elated to be here and to bring awareness to Fragile X syndrome. Thank you so much, Mayor. Thank you. Now

Catherine Readwe're going to get a photo. All right, we're going to get a photo. We'll let them. Do you want a little proclamation there? And we have

Laszlo Palkostaffsome of these short

Catherine Readpeople in the front. Come on short people. Come on short people. Right there, right there. Can you see everybody? Get everybody in. Everybody in. Is Donovan in there? Come hold it Donovan. There you go. One,

Laszlo Palkostafftwo, three. Thank you so much.

Catherine ReadThank you. It's for you, darling. Thank you

Speaker 24so much.

Catherine ReadThank you all for coming out. We appreciate it so much. Thank you for recognizing you. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right, a smaller entourage. Kate Mattheis. And anyone you want to bring with you, Kate. You could have brought more people. Okay, but this is really very important. Like, Kate Mattheis is the executive director of Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, and they are celebrating their 60th anniversary. And I can't begin to tell you, although I will tell you in the proclamation, how important this organization is to the Northern Virginia region and specifically to the city of Fairfax. So let me proclaim herewith. Whereas Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, NVTC, created by the General Assembly of Virginia in 1964, will celebrate its 60th anniversary on September 5, 2024.

Catherine ReadAnd whereas the NVTC began with an initial district of five jurisdictions, including the counties of Arlington and Fairfax, and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, and Falls Church, with 11 elected officials from those jurisdictions, and the chair of the State Highway Commission serving jointly as commissioners. NVTC membership has grown to include the county of Loudoun and now has 21 commissioners, including six members of the General Assembly of Virginia and a designee of the Virginia Secretary of Transportation. NVTC district now has a population of approximately 2 million people in a territory covering 100 is covering 1,000 1,000 square miles connected by a robust transit network providing residents with 1.5 million transit

trips each week on Metro Rail Virginia Railway Express VRE local and express bus services and para transit services and whereas NVTC played a pivotal role in creating the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, WMATA, whereby the resulting interstate compact requires WMATA's Virginia board members to be appointed from among the NVTC's commissioners, who now provide additional oversight and reporting responsibilities directed by an update to state code in 2018. And whereas NVTC consistently promotes transit innovations leading to improved efficiency, environmental stewardship, and customer service, fare payment systems hybrid and zero emission bus technologies improve bus speeds on local and interstate routes bus stop improvements and policy

considerations for fare free transit and whereas nvtc routinely leads regional planning efforts to provide coordinated emergency responses by northern virginia's transit systems to facilitate faster transit reactions and better communication with customers police fire departments and other public safety personnel during emergencies and transit system shutdowns. And whereas in 60 years of leadership in transit system development, expansion, funding, and research, each of the current and former board members and staff have played an integral role in building and operating the transit network required to sustain the regional economy. And whereas NVTC has been and continues to be a trusted partner to the City of Fairfax,

providing valuable leadership, expertise, and advocacy in the transit arena. Therefore, I, Catherine S. Reed, Mayor of the City of Fairfax, do hereby proclaim and commend the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission in the occasion of its 60th anniversary in the City of Fairfax, celebrating on reaching this landmark in the Commission's history and appreciation for the leadership of the Commission in promoting public transit and other sustainable commuting options in Northern Virginia to the benefit of the region and the entire Commonwealth of Virginia. so I will turn the microphone over to Kate

Kate Matticethank you so much and indeed it is absolutely you're thinking back the 60 years that I have not seen all of it but I do know that the city has been a part of NVTC during our entire history and we really are the regional body that brings the small cities the larger cities and our counties together to talk about how we can have a better public transit network and so the partnership that we have with the city whether it is helping in different places talking about fare free and making sure that we have a good strong reliable metro system is right at the core of NVTC it is wonderful to see some previous commissioners here as well and so this is just absolutely fantastic 60 years there's been a lot I you

know for those who've been in the area for 60 years this has changed a lot but the fabric of the transportation network that we have here in northern Virginia is making it possible to have such an incredibly healthy environment and a great place to move around as somebody who's seen the city embrace public transit and all those great things bike share and otherwise I'm really proud to be here tonight to receive this proclamation

Catherine Readso I am your current commissioner but for many years councilmember Greenfield was the the commissioner from Fairfax City

Jeffrey GreenfieldIt's been five years since I've seen you. So I served consecutively for 10 years. When I started, Wendy was my staffer, and we call them a staffer because they were the person who were the expert that made us all look good at NVTC. And so we have come a long way as a region. We've come a long way with what we've been able to do with NVTC and NVTA, but it doesn't happen without people like Kate and the fantastic staff that we have at NVTC and the wonderful staffs that we have in all the jurisdictions throughout Northern Virginia that make up NVTC so thank you I appreciate that and I can't tell you how great it is to see you all

Catherine Readright we're gonna have a photo stay here for the photo okay

So LimThank you.

Melissa ShinneberryclerkOkay. We can move on to the adoption of the agenda.

Catherine ReadIs there a motion to approve the agenda?

So LimI move to adopt the agenda as presented.

Catherine ReadSecond. The motion has been made and seconded. A roll call vote.

Melissa ShinneberryclerkCouncil Member Greenfield? Aye. Council Member Ross?

Catherine ReadAye.

Melissa ShinneberryclerkCouncil Member Lim? Aye. Council Member Bates?

Billy BatesAye.

Melissa ShinneberryclerkCouncilmember Staley?

Billy BatesAye.

Melissa ShinneberryclerkMotion passed unanimously. We'll go on to the initial general public comment. I had two speakers sign up prior to 5 o'clock p.m. today. Our first one is Anita Light, if you may come forward.

Anita Lightpublic commentgood evening Mary and members of City Council again my name is Anita light and I'm chair of the Fairfax village in the city advisory board I'm joined tonight by Jason Skadron who without whom our village would not be as successful as it has been in the past two years I'm joined also by several members of our advisory board and they are sitting in the audience tonight I'm here to share information about our village is compiled in the annual report and provided to you yesterday by Melissa China berry in it our highlights from our last year's activities in our strategic plan from 2023 we set a goal of an increase of 50 percent both for our volunteers and for our membership as of the printing of this report we have accomplished that goal we have 90 members and

46 volunteers who have provided transportation to medical appointments the grocery store the bank and other places that members needed to go we have shoveled snow we have raked leaves we have helped with minor household repairs and we even helped install one of the rain barrels from proposed by fairfax city all total we provided over 1100 volunteer hours and that's valued at over 37 000 for the city of fairfax this past year we conducted another successful home for life expo with over 200 participants four speakers 36 exhibitors and this year we were fortunate enough and all of our evaluations were very positive and encouraged us to do the expo again next year. Also new this past year was our Friday morning speaker series,

and we covered topics such as learning how to navigate the technology in new cars, how to be safe in your own home, learning more about dementia, and how to be a successful solo ager. We also conducted our first volunteer appreciation event. social at Blenheim and I think all of our volunteers felt very much appreciated for for the work that they've done on behalf of our members our greatest accomplishment however is what our members get out of being a village member in April we conducted what will be an annual member evaluation preliminary review of that survey indicates that they are very satisfied with the program and believe the village will help them remain in their own home looking forward we have much to do to continue to be a viable entity that

serves this community for instance from our work with a national research project supported by village to village Network ran corporation and Rutgers University we're examining the types of research that is needed to demonstrate to decision-makers a village's value to the community on behalf of our advisory board we'd like to express our deepest appreciation for the support this given to you all you've approved resources that allow us to continue to do this work and many of you have participated in our events and I think this lets us our aging city residents know that Fairfax City cares about them and that their Fairfax City is a safe place to grow old so thank you very much and if you have any questions Jason I'll be happy to answer them in a later time

Veve Schofield-Davisthank you

Catherine Readthank you

Melissa ShinneberryclerkAll right, our next speaker is Monique LaFleur.

Monique LaFleurpublic commentGood evening. Thank you so much for allowing me to speak tonight. I come to speak to you about the George Schneider Trail again. Taxpayers are still having questions about their concerns regarding the George Schneider Trail project. I want to say that public projects are not static. the needs of the people are not static the george snyder trail project is occurring now not 10 years ago not five years ago so blindly following decisions of previous public officials does not serve the current needs and values of taxpayers this blind allegiance turns the george snyder project into a vanity project which is not an appropriate use of the city's resources Voters in the city have, when given the opportunity, voted by large margins in favor of preserving

clean air, clean water, and natural resources such as large wooded areas. The increase in the amount of pavement, loss of old growth trees, and lack of meaningful improvement in transportation under the George Schneider Trail is inconsistent with voters' values. It's also inconsistent with the city's public statements that the city is a tree city. a soil city and a city that discourages excess pavement, as evidenced by attacks on residents and businesses based on the amount of runoff caused by pavement on their properties. I do not come here to continue to ask for fiscal environmental accountability by the city because it's so much fun, because it's not. But sadly, it feels necessary. Over a year ago, 2,500 individuals and organizations signed a petition

asking for accountability regarding the George Snyder Trail project. Not all of those individuals and organizations are able to keep coming to speak to this council due to work and family obligations. But they are, however, still waiting for explanations for modifications to the George Snyder Trail project. As a resident and a taxpayer, I would prefer that the city stop allocating so much manpower and time to pushing through the massive and unnecessary George Schneider Trail project. And allocate more resources to addressing the increased crime in our city, especially in and around our businesses. Our police and our businesses need more support. As a voter and a taxpayer, I would prefer to see a realignment of priorities

instead of a realignment of the George Snyder Trail. Thank you.

Melissa ShinneberryclerkThat's all the speakers we had signed up, so we can go to the consent agenda.

Catherine ReadIs there a motion to approve the consent agenda?

So LimI move adoption of a consent agenda for agenda item number 7A, consideration of the July 9th, 2024 regular meeting minutes. July 9th. Agenda item number 7b, consideration of appointments to board and commissions with following amendments. Appointing Jeffrey Balls to the George Mason University Fairfax Campus Advisory Board for a two-year term extending through July 9th, 2026. Appointing Brenda Young to the Commission for Women starting July 15, 2024 for a three-year term extending through July 15, 2027. Agenda Item 7C, consideration to approve the Virginia Career Works Northern Region Paren Area 11, Close Paren Consortium Agreement. I move to approve the consent agenda item number 7A through C and the motion accompanying the consent agenda items as printed.

Catherine ReadSecond. A motion has been made by Council Member Lim and seconded by Council Member Ross. Are there any items Council would like to pull for additional discussion?

Melissa ShinneberryclerkI just want to make, so agenda item 7A should be June 25th, regular meeting minutes, not July 9th.

Catherine Readso let the record show that it is the meeting minutes from June 25th with that correction I will I will ask is is there any item that needs to be removed for discussion seeing none a roll call vote

Melissa Shinneberryclerkcouncil members daily aye councilmember Bates

Catherine Readaye

Melissa Shinneberryclerkcouncilmember Lim I councilmember Ross I councilmember greenfield motion passed unanimously we'll go to public hearings our first one is a public hearing and council action on a request of capital city real estate LLC applicant by Kozen O'Connor agent slash attorney for a zoning map amendment and friends free zoning from CR commercial retail to CU commercial urban while retaining the architectural control overlay district in parents AC OD with a general development plan and proffers a special use permit and a major certificate of appropriateness pursuant to city code section 110-6.5 for architecture and landscaping on the premises known as in 29 apartments in parents Willowood phase 1 and as identified as 10306

Melissa Shinneberryclerkeaton place and parents tax map parcels 47-4-0-2-0-2-0-0-2-a i'll recognize albert frederick city planners provide staff presentation

Albert Frederickstaffgood evening this is the public hearing here we go good evening everyone this is the public hearing for in 29 apartments also known as willowwood phase one the applicant is capital city real estate LLC the site is located at 1 0 3 0 6 Eaton Place the applicant submitted a formal application on June 20th 2022 the Board of Architectural Review recommend approval on February 7th 2024 the Planning Commission recommended approval on April 22nd 2024 the plans under consideration for tonight's public carrying were submitted on June 21st 2024 the applicant is requesting a zoning map amendment from commercial retail to commercial urban with proffers while retaining the architectural control overlay district a special use permit

to allow an upper story mixed-use building special exceptions and a major certificate of appropriateness for architecture and landscaping the subject North effect small area plan the overall site of 4.49 acres is owned by Willow Wood office LLC the applicant capital city real estate LLC is also the contract purchaser of a 2.96 acres of the overall 4.49 acre site so lot a which highlighted in in black is the subject property for for this public area and again that lot 2a is 2.96 acres here's an area of photo showing the existing parking lot for the five-story office building at 103 06 Eden place and also some ground photos taken throughout the of the site the subject property is Boulevard east of Chambers Road south of shallow Street Park west and south of

Occitant Creek and north of Eaton Place the subject property is located in the activity center place type in the North fact small area plan with a commercial retail as the current zoning the proposed zoning is for commercial urban the vision for the small area for the North North fact small area plan ultimately prescribes a comprehensive approach to providing public open space and green space also as part of reimagining North facts is redeveloping surface parking lots to green spaces and buildings with stormwater improvements the linear park serves as a public open space and a connector of neighborhoods and sure the North facts smile area plan is also a huge opportunity for for a transformation into a mixed-use activity center that centers and anchors around

the surrounding communities in the midterm 15 years the plan expects a sizable infusion of residential and retail uses that would help bolster North facts and bring public benefits and amenities to the area a key idea of the North Facts vision is to bridge the divide between North Facts and the surrounding neighborhoods and connect with the Occitane Creek watershed here's a closer look at the linear park north of Eden place the linear park provides gathering spaces for recreation and events anchored by joining retail office and residential uses it also provides a comprehensive look to open space and Again, it's an opportunity to reimagine redeveloping parking lots to green spaces and buildings with stormwater improvements.

The linear park would serve as a public open space connected to neighborhoods and green infrastructure for stormwater capture. So the site is captured here in the image on your screen. the the linear park is highlighted in in yellow so the subject property is bordering right on the on the linear park as proposed in a small area plan the applicant proposes to develop a mixed-use building with up to 260 apartments and 5,000 square feet of ground floor retail and a 10 levels below grade with approximately 676 parking spaces and eight surface parking spaces on 2.96 acres the 10 level garage is attached to the rear of the building the ground floor retail is approximately 5,000 square feet located at the corner

of Eden Place and the newly proposed Street on the northern on the on the western edge of the site the main entrance to the building has a large recess and is located on Eaton Place the applicant proposes a first floor amenity space that includes the lobby leasing the area mail package center fitness area and lounge interior to the building the applicant has proposed a courtyard with pool units surrounding the pool area on three sides the applicant has also proposed a small open space area near the proposed garage on the on the east side of the building the general development plan shows two access points that will continue to be operational and will be improved with the proposed redevelopment activity the applicant proposes to use existing

curb cut on this on the southern edge of the site and plans to shift the existing northern edge to align with the University Drive extension the proposed Western Street is it's 30 feet and what excuse me the proposed Western edge is less than 30 feet in width is there with ranges between 20 and 22 feet with 10 foot travel lanes that circulate around the building how the applicant has proposed sidewalks along the frontage and around the entire site there is also a mid-block crosswalk near the site that connects to the bus stops on both sides of Eden Place the applicant has proposed a stormwater management improvement system that is integrated into the streetscape and overall project project design the applicant has also provided a two-foot right-of-way

dedication along Eaton place as part of the requirement for the public facilities manual the applicant is also proposing ingress and egress easements on all private streets access ways and adjacent streets in terms of the building coverage and lot coverage the applicant is meeting the requirement it's below the maximum building coverage and also below the maximum lot coverage in terms of transportation the applicant has provided a traffic study within this traffic study the applicant demonstrates an estimated increase in am peak hour trips pmp car trips trips and daily trips upon the development build out. The site has access to the Q bus system and the gold routes and metro bus route 1C is along Eaton Place.

The applicant has provided transportation demand strategies to help mitigate traffic impacts. again the applicant has provided a dedication along Eaton Place in terms of the public facilities manual requirement the applicant is seeking a waiver to allow for streets to be designed below 30 feet again the private street ranges between 20 and 22 feet in width the applicant has provided a structured parking within this CU proposed CU district which would automatically require would receive a 10% parking reduction so the overall parking for both the proposed mixed-use building and the existing off-site building requires six spaces the applicant proposes 417 spaces on site and the outside building

would require 379 spaces so again the total for the project is 710 spaces and the applicant is seeking a reduction of 10% which is roughly 86 spaces so staff has reviewed the parking reduction submitted for their overall parking the the parking for the proposed rental apartments and five thousand square feet would be met on site within the proposed parking structure again the applicant has proposed a stormwater improvement system that is integrated into the streetscape and overall project design the applicant has provided two areas for the stormwater capture and staff has reviewed the stormwater management plan and finds no issues with the proposed stormwater management plan in terms of special use permit the applicant is proposing a special use permit to allow

upper-story residential mixed-use building and the commercial urban within the district, this application is subject to the requirements in the zoning ordinance in section 3.51D. And the applicant has provided that information within your packet and meets those requirements. This proposal is also subject to the affordable dwelling unit. Section of the ordinance with a minimum of 6% provided for the site, the applicant has proposed 16 units. uh the number of special exceptions the applicant is requesting uh the first one is to allow a reduction in the minimum square footage of 75 on the ground floor with non-resident uses in a mixed-use building the small area plan recommends that retail be captured along the linear park

and the zone in order states that 75 of the ground floor should be non-residential uses that requirement is roughly 30,000 square feet the applicant is proposing 5,000 square feet of non residential uses on the ground floor density the applicant has proposed a density of approximately 87.8 dwelling units per acre which exceeds the zoning ordinance of 24 a dwelling used an acre the small area plan however does not prescribe density and it looks for an increase of residential units and the midterm of 15 years so the applicant is requesting a special exception for density but the building itself is meets the overall small area plan and form and also in size the applicant is seeking a special exception to exceed the height and the

commercial urban district the small area plan recommends a seven-story building the zoning ordinance has a limitation of 60 feet and five stories the applicant is proposing a parking garage that is 10 levels and approximately 87 feet one level is below grade the apartment building is approximately 81 feet at seven stories so the applicant is seeking a special exception to height in terms of the mandatory build line for front side yard property lines the applicant is seeking seeking relief from the mandatory build to line along the front and also the side setbacks of a minimum of 10 feet the applicant is requesting relief on both sides on both sides of the building on the east side and on the on the west side on the east side the building ranges from five feet

to 76 feet from a property line and on the west side it ranges from 44 feet to 70 feet so the applicant is seeking a special exception to the setback requirements and also the mandatory building bill to line so the image before you shows the and the site with sidewalks around in the entire building the applicant has provided connectivity pedestrian connectivity around the building the applicant is looking for a special exception in terms of sidewalks on both sides of a arterial collector or a local street in this location and yellow is along the western edge of the site the applicant is looking for the special exception to not construct the sidewalk on the western side and finally the applicant is looking for a special exception for vehicular cross access the

applicant has provided a proffer for an easement for future access for and vehicular access along the western edge with connectivity to the adjacent parcel to the west. The applicant has provided a 10-year canopy. During the process of this application the canopy requirement for commercial urban became effective. a 10% requirement the applicant has provided 6.1% and also is seeking a reduction or seeking a contribution of 21,860 for the reduction from 10% so the 3.9% is a contribution that the applicant is seeking in order to make up for the 10% requirement so in your packet the numbers are slightly different based on the Planning Commission review and also the staff report so the previous plan that was a robust Planning Commission

showed existing tree canopy of 20,000 148 square feet with a proposed canopy of six thousand four hundred seventy five feet that would equal that six point one percent would like to draw your attention to the update for for the plans that are being reviewed tonight that the plans presented here show that the existing tree canopy coverage is eighteen thousand two hundred fifty seven square feet and the proposed number has slightly increased at seven thousand nine hundred and fifty square feet which is so equates to 6.1 so I just wanted to bring that to your attention to show that there's a slight discrepancy and the staff report and the change between Planning Commission and City Council this the applicant is seeking a special exception to meet the overall 10% tree

canopy requirement and so staff believes that the applicant has has met that requirement with the proffer that's provided and also the proposed tree canopy coverage in terms of proffers the app the applicant has contributed to Parks and Recreation again the the in lieu of tree canopy coverage a contribution for schools has been provided the applicant has proposed TDM strategies which is in your packet and also again the public interest ingress and egress easement for all private streets access ways and adjacent sidewalks has been provided as well the Board of architectural review has recommended approval of the proposed architecture and landscaping on April 22nd the the board the board reviewed I'm sorry that was February 7th the

board reviewed the plans and I recommend approval of the request just here's a couple of images showing a facade this is a facade looking on the west side of the building along Eaton place and the new proposed private street here's an southern facade along Eaton Place and the final image looking at the east side and also the southern side along Eaton Place and adjacent to the existing five-story office building here's elevations of the proposal so looking at the southern elevation to the top left of the screen the western elevation and the east elevations to their top right and on the bottom right planning Commission recommended approval of the rezoning on April 20 April 22nd staff recommends approval of the of the rezoning staff recommends approval of

special use permit with conditions approval of the special exceptions with conditions and approval of the major certificate of appropriateness with conditions and I'll stand by for any questions you may have

Catherine Readokay now we'll open the public hearing miss Shinneberry has this public hearing been properly advertised yes it has does the applicant have a presentation they would like to share

Zach Staffordpublic commentWhile we're getting that ready,

Evan Pritchardapplicantgood evening, Council. Evan Pritchard with Cozen O'Connor, joined by Chris Love with Capital City Real Estate. He insisted that he do the heavy lifting tonight, and so I'll drive the presentation from over here. But very excited to be here, and this has been quite the journey. staff support and all the the input they've they've provided for the project so very happy to be here tonight

Chris Loveapplicantgood evening Mary read members of council my name is Chris love with capital city real estate want to thank mr. Albert and staff for their support and guidance over the last three years as we've gotten to where we are today to start I do want to introduce team members we have from Capital City Real Estate. John Helms is our civil engineer with IMeg. Megan Ross tonight with Hickok Cole. Megan's our architect. Mike Rokoski with Wells. He's our transportation and traffic engineer. And then Evan Pritchard, our counsel with Cozen O'Connor. So just a brief overview of this next slide here. I think this is important because it highlights all that's going on in this a super block off eaton place so tonight we're talking about phase one which is a parking lot

it is owned by willowwood one and two which are the two office buildings you could go there

Nick Susiewe

Chris Loveapplicantgo the two office buildings that directly front eaton place phase two we will be here soon to talk about that in more detail but i want to point out that the two buildings to the north and that parking structure that abuts the woods those are under separate ownership to maintain access to that parking structure and that drove a lot of the design and you know what we were trying to accomplish here existing conditions so we're currently 89.8 percent impervious with the parking lot and you know I want to point out that the technology there the stormwater technology in particular you know design really dates the late 70s and early 80s key project elements. So Mr. Albert touched on some of the thoughts and threads of the NorthVAC small area plan.

One is the concept of a balanced mixed-use activity center. And so when we looked at the site, we noticed we were sandwiched between a 90,000-square-foot office building to our west and then 500,000 square feet of office to our east. And then to the south, there's a 65,000-foot retail center. one activity that was missing here was residential. In terms of kick-starting key elements of the small area plan, we touched on the street and block plan, the linear park streetscape, but another one is just the 1,400 units. There's the idea to have 1,400 units by 2035. To date, only 170 have been approved, and they're all in North Fax West. Sustainable elements, we'll touch on that in more detail later.

We will enhance the tree and plant palette and diversify that. And then finally, connectivity. Our bike room, we do not directly abut the George Schneider Trail, but our bike room is fixated towards the back of the project. So if and when adjacent properties redevelop, our residents will be able to get in their bikes and bike onto the trail. And then finally, we're right on the Q bus line as well, so our residents will be able to make use of that. In terms of project overview, 260 apartments. We have a courtyard that's roughly a third of an acre with a pool for our residents, 5,000 square feet of retail. And I do want to point out that roughly a third of the space will be open space or a third of the site.

Project milestones. I want to point out we did have a meeting for the Mosby Woods Citizens Association in May of 2023, and we met with Cobb Dale in early May of 2023 this shows where we are on the small area in the small area plan so our site is outlined in red and then I do want to touch briefly on retail so you know that it shows here that that red is the edge of our property along the linear park and that is called out to be retail so we go to the next slide we had initially proposed 1980 square feet and that was really driven by feedback we'd received from third-party consultant neighboring retail property owners to retail brokers we spoke with and we got a lot of feedback from the community from the council and from staff that a

larger retail components appropriate so we have increased it now so we're at 5,000 feet of retail we've been working with Chris Bruno and his team at trying to start in earnest a leasing effort and having them help us find a tenant and we do intend to engage a broker before the end of the summer to start marketing the space linear park so I do just want to touch on you know that this shows our property overlaid on to the small area plan again our design was really driven by the need to maintain access to that parking garage to the north so you know we put the access road and streetscape on our western edge there and this shows a little more detail you know the portion that's on our property and you know we feel that it is a start to what is envisioned there

in terms of sustainability I mean I think just taking 2.97 acres of surface parking and replacing that with lower impact uses is a good start. Provision of housing in and amongst all these commercial and retail uses. We will have a recycling center for our tenants. EV chargers will have eight and then we will have the infrastructure in place to add up to 20% of the parking spaces to have that at a later date. And again we touched on proximity to Q-Bus and Metro as well and our transportation demand management program density and height I know we touched on that during the staff presentation go through the renderings please Evan to streetscape improvements please yeah so this shows a little greater detail there's some precedent imagery at

So the one to the left, that is the University Drive extension onto our property. So we will have retail cafe-style seating there, stormwater management feature, as well as plantings. And then our little pocket park that's adjacent to the garage that abuts the office building. So that'll be something where, you know, creates connectivity with the office use as well as our residence. And then I just wanted to touch on tree canopy and tree cover. So currently the property line has moved a bit as part of the subdivision that we went through to get to where we are tonight. There are currently 46 trees on site. We will be replacing with 50 trees. 26 of these are canopy, which means they have a certain width and crown dimension.

The 20 canopy trees we do not replace. a monetary contribution. I do want to point out that roughly 13 of the trees on site are not in great condition currently so you know we feel this will be an improvement and also note we're gonna have 10 distinct species. So there was a study this urban forester in the city did in 2015 that highlighted roughly 50% or more of the trees in the city and public areas are either dogwoods or maples so we're going to have 10 distinct species across the site which added benefit to the community and finally our sight line here we at our Mosby Woods community meeting as well as our Planning Commission hearing we had a question raised from Shiloh Street you know what could a resident see of our

parking structure and so this shows that they'd see effectively see over it they wouldn't be looking directly at it

Catherine ReadThat's all I have,

Chris Loveapplicantso thank

Catherine Readyou. Thank you. I will ask the clerk to call speakers forward.

Melissa ShinneberryclerkI had somebody sign up prior to the meeting. Our first speaker is Douglas Stewart.

Douglas Stewartpublic commentGood evening. I'm Douglas Stewart, 10822 Maple Street, and I'm speaking tonight for Fairfax City Citizens for Smarter Growth. We are a group of city residents that promote mixed-use walkable communities with a diverse range of housing options. And the main way we do that is we try to meet with people who are proposing development and try to shape those developments to match our priorities, recognizing that development's going to happen, it should happen, and we want to have an opportunity to help shape it. So we have met with Capital City Real Estate a couple times during this process, and we've really had two chief concerns about the project. great idea a surface parking lot creating housing there and creating a

more pedestrian friendly environment to us is is almost a no-brainer and it fits well with the Northfax small area plan our main concerns were about the vision of a linear park on the University Drive on the western side this what's proposed originally was was really far we thought from that vision wasn't enough pedestrian space we didn't see enough green space and it's it's improved pretty substantially with more landscaping at the corner and landscape buffers between the the sidewalk and the building but there's going to be more work that will need to be done on the west side if that property redevelops because the small called for 15 feet of a landscape strip. I mean, a linear park is a linear park.

And what we have now is not really through the applicant's fault. There's constrained space, but it's not really a linear park. So that vision is going to have to be realized and filled out when we do the development of the West. And the city will have to probably maybe take some responsibility for that street, maybe turn it into a public street, in order to help shape that vision and make it happen. Otherwise, it's just a good plan without implementation. So we hope that happens. But what's here is really obviously an improvement of what's there now and really an improvement of what was originally proposed, and it will be a nice street that people want to walk on. The second thing related to that is just the amount of retail space on the ground floor.

Originally, there wasn't much, and now there's a little more. opportunities in the future if there's more you know retail demand from all these new residents there can we build out more retail going further north on that west side of the road or in the corner of uneaten place so those were two major issues but we in general this this application is a really good step forward thank you I

Melissa Shinneberryclerkhave no other speakers who signed up there's anyone on this item, please come forward.

Catherine ReadOK. I will close the public hearing. Council, are there any questions of staff or the applicant? Council Member Bates.

Billy BatesThank you. Just a clarification on the tree canopy. Based on communication with staff, so they're going to be planting 7950 square feet of new canopy on the subdivided site plus 1260 on the adjacent site and then retaining 5616 on the site itself and so there would only be a decrease in total of 3431 feet on the entire site and then the monetary contribution is equivalent to 5,000 square feet so it you know if given that it's you know possibly an increase if that is all going to be going toward planting new trees so um you know staff feel free to make any further clarifications but I thank you for sending that information I think it's really important to acknowledge This project is overall going to at least, you know, be equivalent to the tree canopy that's there now,

but it's going to be, I think, a major improvement for stormwater management. And overall, you know, we're having a lot of major apartment development that's going to be adjacent to the bus route modal infrastructure and is going to be able to achieve a very small impact on land consumption per unit. Go ahead.

Albert FrederickstaffI was just simply going to say that you captured a summary of the improvements, the proposed tree canopy improvements. and there should be an increase in improvement from current conditions to what's based on the information they provided. So, yeah, I would agree with you that it's going to be an improvement.

Billy BatesYeah, yeah, great. Thank you. So it's an improvement, I think, for environmental sustainability, and it's certainly an improvement for the housing supply. and it's you know I do have concerns over the relatively small amount of retail that's proposed but that has been increased drastically through negotiations and after speaking with both the applicant and our economic development staff I'm confident that what's proposed is worthy compromise on that and plus the 16 units proposed to be part of the county's affordable housing program is certainly I think a significant contribution to you know below median income household housing affordability as well thank you

Catherine Readall right councilmember Ross thank

Thomas Rossyou mayor and thank you to staff and to the the developer for their presentations I did have two particular questions I'd like to ask the the developer that came up in the presentation. And first of all, you mentioned there was maybe somebody could come forward if they answer these. You mentioned that there had been discussions with both the Mosby Woods neighborhood and Cobdale. Was there any particular feedback, any particular concerns that you heard? And how did you address those?

Chris LoveapplicantMr. Sure. So as it relates to Mosby Woods, we did have the concern about the visibility of the from a shallow park area. So we did do the line of sight diagram and feel that that addresses, you wouldn't be staring directly at the garage. There was also concern about overflow parking into their neighborhood.

Thomas RossOverflow parking.

Chris LoveapplicantOh, correct. So that our residents would park there. You know, we actually did go back in the woods and look, and we don't feel that that's really likely, just given the nature of the woods back there. It's quite a distance. It's almost 800 feet. So that was the concern there. I think it relates to our meeting with the Cobbdale Citizens Association. We met with the President. Her question was really just around schools. And so we did speak with the superintendent earlier this year. And what we've proffered is a contribution that would cover the cost of building a new classroom. An estimate is 28 students would be generated by our project.

Thomas RossGreat, great. And I want to compliment you on the contributions you've made in both to Parks and Recreation and the schools and the other things you've made here. I think those are positive steps toward helping this become an important part of the community, and I wanted to express my appreciation for that. The other comment I wanted to focus in on, we've had some discussions about the linear park. And to me, that is a vital, vital part of what eventually occurs in Norfax. It's going to provide a real opportunity for some green space for connecting people and providing an outdoor amenity that's, I think, very important to the area. And your wording is what I would refer to as sufficiently vague in your presentation, and I understand why.

Uncertainty when neighboring parcels will be redeveloped but will contribute to the linear park concept. I just want to acknowledge again and underscore will contribute. So if you could talk a little bit about what you might be able to do to help make that linear park concept a reality. Sure.

Chris LoveapplicantSo I think if you do look at the small area plan, it does show a road. Do we

Speaker 24still have our presentation?

Chris LoveapplicantSo if you look, we took this, I guess the base layer comes from the small area plan. And as you see, it shows the road being partially on the property that we've submitted the plan for. does go over to the western parcel there it's so you know given our constraints with the neighbor to the north and maintaining access to that parking structure we have had to put the entire road on the property that we'll be developing so that does limit the ability to shift the building more over a little bit. So we have put the road on the property. We did have greater streetscape right at University Drive where it crosses Eaton Place that we feel does, you know, for now for this interim condition, kind of kickstart the feel of the linear park.

And then we've also proffered that the road can become a public road at a later date.

Thomas RossYeah. Well, I appreciate that commitment to helping see this as a reality. I think that's very important given, as I said, the significance of what that will be to the North Fax area. And thank you. Two other points I wanted to make is thank you for your work on the retail space. I think that's a really important addition. I think we've got to look at that in the context of the larger area. So I think this will be, from what I understand, adequate in terms of your expected need that will be the new housing coming in and that sort of thing. directly adjacent to a major retail location and other places in the area. So I'm fine with that as an amenity. And then finally, I think you mentioned there will be, or maybe it was one of the speakers

talking about, that you are making efforts to have seating areas on the outside. And I think that will contribute to street life and getting people out once the temperature cools a little bit. But it will. and as we as this moves forward I think it's really important again to have those amenities that encourage pedestrian walkability and a sense of being outdoors and seeing people and that sort of thing so thank you thank you again for your presentation and I'm looking forward to supporting this thank you Mark thank you

Catherine Readokay other questions councilmember Bates

Billy Batesyeah actually to that point just for the record and again to jump in but on the plans i'm seeing at least for um most of that the length of that western edge there uh there is uh 20 feet between the building and the roadway which is what the small area plan recommends um so and then you have the entire roadway provided by the applicant so um to my mind i think that they are definitely at least meeting the um their recommended that linear park and street on that side so

Albert Frederickstaffin terms of a small area plan the small area plan showed the the linear park on the adjacent property and so yes I think it's really a step in the right direction in terms of them providing the road on their site so and there's also there's a change in grade so that's another kind of obstacle or hurdle that they they were able to to move forward with you know by providing the road on their side and then providing access easements so I think they're making a step towards the right direction in for the vision of a small area plan.

Billy BatesYeah, thank you for that.

Catherine ReadOkay. Council Member Staley, are you out there?

Jon Stehle JrI am mayor and no questions. Thank you.

Catherine ReadOkay. Any other questions? Council Member Greenfield.

Jeffrey GreenfieldThank you, Mayor. Mr. Frederick, talk a little bit about the transportation demand management strategies that you've identified in your staff report as a proper current conditions right now Anywhere 2 o'clock to 3 o'clock in the afternoon, traffic backs up three-quarters of the way down western Eaton. So from 123 down past this project, a little bit to the lower entrance to the Willowwood office complex. So how are we going to add 260 cars to Eaton and not make that worse?

Albert FrederickstaffGive me one second while I look for the proffers. Okay. Here we go. So the applicant has

Eric Foremanstaffprovided

Albert FrederickstaffTDM program that includes encouraging residents to ride bikes. They've also provided ride sharing, bicycle road, maps. it's also on the transit line or on the bus line the applicant is looking at providing no incentives also with a paid transit card for one resident of each unit there's offering a carpool program also parking management program and pedestrians and bicycle amenities they've provided on site they've met the requirement in terms of the number of bicycle amenities and spaces on the site in terms of parking or the traffic demand i believe kurt mccullough is here the traffic engineer he may be able to speak more exactly on how the traffic impacts would occur with this project and you know you mentioned

that you know there's potential backing up along Eden but they provided some some TDMs in order to mitigate that but in terms of the traffic impacts that Kurt McCullough may be able to to address some of those issues Kurt's here

Jeffrey Greenfieldtheir application though is presented tonight is asking for a reduction in parking correct they

Albert Frederickstaffare meeting they're meeting the parking for the for the proposed residential units and the retail what they're asking for the reduction is for the off-site for the adjacent office space so there is there is some shared parking that would go on between the two sites and they're looking for a reduction in order to meet the in order to satisfy the parking for the existing office buildings so but in terms of the project itself what's being proposed tonight they meet that parking for residential and the 5,000 square feet of office or of retail

Jeffrey Greenfieldbut if we're if we're saying that we are are keeping people off the street right then why do we need so much parking That's not a fair question of you to answer. I'll listen to what Mr. McCullough has to say.

Speaker 24Yes, this traffic impact study was based on the existing configuration. When the project was initially scoped, the configuration of Chambridge and Eden was different. At that time, we had a different lane configuration there. VDOT had their plans for the new signal. last June that all changed we spoke with the applicant they updated their traffic impact study to what is out there now yes the additional traffic will cause a little bit of you know a different additional traffic and back up there we could possibly do some traffic signal time shifting which is what they're showing that will lessen that impact but in reality we have additional intersection improvements that are planned at the intersection of train

bridge and Eaton that are not shown because those are currently in the design process so we do expect the traffic out there to get better with that new project likely before this can be built

Jeffrey Greenfieldso does that include phase two yes so but

Speaker 24that phase two is not included in their study because that is currently in design it was when we were discussing with them

Jeffrey Greenfieldso what you're telling me and mr. Summers I'm looking for you to concur in that that we have evaluated all planned development either what what we're considering tonight or future planned development along Eaton in the improvements at Eaton in 123 will be able to handle those additional cars is that what you're telling me

Mr. Summersstaffthat is planned as accurately as they can at this point. So with the information they have now, what's proposed, they're planning for that, all

Jeffrey Greenfieldthat. So what residents see today with the cars backed up on Eaton in current conditions, you're telling me when we're done with Eaton and 123 that that will not be worse, it will be better?

Mr. SummersstaffYes. Yes, I am confident with this 123 three and Eaton project that you will see improvements okay all right thank you mayor

Catherine Readother questions or comments councilmember Bates I

Billy Batesjust want to add that with a project like this again it's right on the bus route it's adjacent to multimodal infrastructure and if there is demand for this amount of housing in the area with all the new construction that we're seeing especially further out where land is more plentiful these people are going to be moving into the area so to me it's a question though do we want them to be moving into development like this that is right across the street from grocery store and is near potential employment centers and again near you know non-car transportation options or do we want them potentially moving further out and being on the road longer you know hypothetically and possibly contributing more to traffic consuming more land

as we see more construction further out thank you

Jeffrey Greenfieldmayor just a procedural question is there a did i miss that there's a motion on the floor and we're speaking to the motion and debating the motion because I was pretty sure where we were in the process was asking questions of staff.

Catherine ReadWe're asking questions of staff and the applicant and there we have not looked for any motions yet in a series of motions. There will be a series of motions. Thank you. Okay. Any other comments or questions? I will just say I concur with what Councilmember Bates had to say about multimodal transportation and how about that George Snyder Trail and the I 66 Trail and the proximity of that housing to both of those so do I have a motion this is a series of motions there are a series of motions for this item is there a motion for the rezoning council

So Limmayor

Catherine Readcouncilmember Lim

So Limbased on the public convenience welfare and good zoning practice with respect to rezoning application z-22-00583 which has been filed for the land known as n29 apartments willowwood phase one and more particularly described as and identified as 10306 eden place paren text map I move that the City Council approve the zoning application Z-22-00583 to rezone the subject property from CR commercial retail to CU commercial urban while retaining the architectural control overlay district. and approval of the general development plan with the proffers, which has been prepared and submitted by the applicant.

Catherine ReadSecond. A motion has been made by Council Member Lim and seconded by Council Member Ross. Is there any discussion on this motion? Seeing none, a roll call vote.

Melissa ShinneberryclerkCouncil Member Greenfield? No. Council Member Ross? Aye. Council Member Lim? Aye. Councilmember Bates?

Billy BatesAye.

Melissa ShinneberryclerkCouncilmember Staley? Aye. Motion passed 4-1.

Catherine ReadOkay. Is there a motion for the special use permit, Councilmember Lim?

So LimYes, Mayor. I move that the City Council approve the request of Capital City Real Estate LLC for a special use permit pursuant to City Code Section 3.3, Allowed uses for an upper story residential mixed use in CU commercial urban district. In the architectural control overlay district on the premises known as N29 apartment. Willowwood phase one and more particularly described as and identified as 10306 Eden Place, paren text map 57-4-02-02-002A, close paren, with the following conditions. One, development shall be in conformance with the general development plan and proffers.

Thomas RossSecond.

Catherine ReadSecond. A motion has been made by Councilmember Lim and seconded by Councilmember Ross. Is there any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, a roll call vote.

Melissa ShinneberryclerkCouncilmember Staley? Aye. Councilmember Bates?

Catherine ReadAye.

Melissa ShinneberryclerkCouncilmember Lim? Aye. Councilmember Ross? Aye. Councilmember Greenfield?

Jeffrey GreenfieldNay.

Melissa ShinneberryclerkMotion passed forward is one.

Catherine ReadIs there a motion for the special exception, Councilmember Lim?

So LimI move that the city council adopt the attached resolution to approve the request of capital city real estate LLC for special exception to allow a reduction to the minimum square foot area of 75% on the ground floor with a non-residential use in a mixed use building per section 3.5.1.D, upper story residential mixed uses, special exception pursuant to city code section 110.6.7 from the requirement to allow the building height to exceed five stories slash 60 feet for section 3.6.2 non-residential districts a special exception pursuant to city code section 110.6.7 to allow the density to exceed the maximum density of 24 units per acre in the CU commercial urban district for section 3.6.2 paren non-residential districts, close paren.

A special exception pursuant to city code section 110-6.7 to allow modifications of the 50% mandatory build to line and maximum front yard and side yard requirements per section 3.6.2 paren non-residential districts close paren and a special exception pursuant to city code section 110-6.7 to eliminate the construction of sidewalks on both sides of all streets per section 4.4.4 and to allow the site to reduce the the requirement in CU commercial urban per section 4.5.6 and to modify the requirement to allow a waiver to the inter parcel of vehicle, vehicular access requirement for section 4.3.3, paren cross access, close paren, on the premises known as N29 apartments. paren Willowwood phase one close paren and more particularly described as and

identified as 10306 Eden Place tax map 57-4-02-02-002A with the following conditions development shall be in conformance with the general development plan and proffers

Thomas Rosssecond

Catherine Reada motion's been made by council member limb and seconded by council member ross is there any discussion on the motion seeing none a roll call vote

Melissa Shinneberryclerkcouncil member Greenfield council member Ross council member limb I council member Bates

Catherine ReadI council

Melissa Shinneberryclerkmembers daily motion passed four to one is

Catherine Readthere a motion for the certificate of

So LimI move that the City Council approve the request of Capital City Real Estate LLC for a certificate of appropriateness in accordance with section 110-6.5.6.b of the City Code. On the premises known as N29 Apartments, Paren Willowwood Phase 1, close paren, and more particularly described as and identified as 10306 Eden Place tax map 57-4-02-02-002A with the following reasons as may be amended by City Council number one the proposed development shall be in general conformance with the plans and renderings received by staff in January 2024 and recommended for approval by the Board of Architectural Review as of February 7th, 2024. Number two, the applicant shall secure all required zoning approvals and

permits prior to construction. Number three, landscaping is subject to change per urban Forrester comments at site plan approval stage.

Thomas RossSecond.

Catherine ReadA motion has been made by Councilmember Lim and seconded by Councilmember Ross. Is there any discussion on the motion? Seeing none a roll call vote.

Melissa ShinneberryclerkCouncilmember Staley? Aye. Councilmember Bates? Aye. Councilmember Lim? Aye. Councilmember Ross? Aye. Councilmember Greenfield?

Anita Lightpublic commentNay.

Melissa Shinneberryclerkmotion passed four to one we could go on to our second public hearing which is a public hearing on the chain bridge road in parents taba cove court to Warwick Avenue sidewalk and bus stop improvement projects I'll recognize Wendy Sanford transportation director to provide a staff presentation Thank you.

Wendy SanfordstaffGood evening, Mayor, members of the City Council. Tonight we are having our public hearing on the Chambers Road pedestrian and bus stop improvement project from Tabakove to Warwick Avenue. There is no council action. I apologize. No, I'll start over. Good evening, Mayor, members of the City Council. Tonight we are having our public hearing on the Cambridge Road sidewalk and bus stop improvement project from Tabakove to Warwick Avenue. There is no council action required tonight. Tonight is a public hearing, which is an opportunity for the public and the city council to learn more about this project at the intermediate design prior to us finalizing the plans. Just so for the benefit of the public, the plans are out in the hall.

there is also comment sheets that have been provided this is an opportunity for the public to comment either in person and the public comment period will be open until until july 21st this evening we will give a brief presentation about the project we did update the city council back in january we then had an open house and now we've been working on developing the plans we've had property owner meetings and we're now here at that 60 design plan with me this evening is nick Susie from Timmins and he is our consultant on this project so tonight we will just recap that information that we presented at the work session in January discuss the progress since then there have been a number of changes to

the plans based on the feedback that we heard both from the open house that we held and from our individual property owner meetings that we have had since then we'll review that updated design information review the schedule and then And we will host that public hearing. Just to recap this project, this project was included in our multimodal plan back in 2017. It is shown here on the screen in a red box that this project was to add the sidewalk in this location. This was then adopted into the comprehensive plan. It's really important to mention that this is the last significant piece of sidewalk that is missing on Chamber Ridge Road. So this is really the we're getting to the end here. and this is we have made significant progress adding sidewalks and completing

that network and this is truly the last major link on Chambridge Road this project was included in our two-year program in 2019 we subsequently applied and applied for and received smart scale funding in FY 20 that funding is now come online and we are in that design process at this point I will pass it over to mr. Susie to present the information about the design

Nick Susiethank you So again, as Ms. Sanford noted, in January we presented

Evan Pritchardapplicanta preliminary design. And so

Nick SusieI'll quickly go through the first few slides here just covering the major design features of the project and then we'll again talk about some of the things that have changed since then. So what you see here in the picture is just an existing image towards the southern end of the project of what is out there today as Ms. Sanford noted. There is no sidewalk, generally no sidewalk, along side of Chambers Road in this segment and this project will provide great improvement to what you see there. So the first of the the primary elements here is the sidewalk itself so it's roughly 1850 linear feet of sidewalk improvement. The sidewalk ranges from five to six feet wide and has a grass buffer strip between it and the curb and gutter that will be installed. The image that we

showed previously there's also areas of this corridor where there is an existing shoulder and roadside ditch old drainage pipes all of that will be replaced with new curb and gutter to match the curb and gutter recently installed and existing along the east side of the corridor in addition with pedestrian and multimodal mobility through here being a primary focus of the project will improve pedestrian crossings at four side streets as well as two existing pedestrian crossings of Cambridge Road we'll provide more information on that in terms of the enhancements that we make but generally speaking accessible ramp ramp improvements crosswalk marking signs things of that nature the bus stops are also another key component of this

project there are two existing bus stops today which frankly are not much more than a sign on the side of the road so the minimum amenities that go along with the city and Q standards for these stops include dedicated boarding waiting areas benches trash cans and lighting that would be provided along the corridor also of note and as we mentioned previously there will be some retaining walls to retaining walls proposed with this project and still are at this point. These walls are highlighted in the two locations in the red boxes there. Really the goal of these walls is to minimize the amount of property impact that we have on the back side or private side of the right-of-way line and keep our corridor as close to the right-of-way as possible.

Speaking of property acquisitions, we've identified there's work along 13 properties along the western side of the corridor there seven of those properties will require an acquisition of some kind whether that's easement or an actual fee right-of-way acquisition the average acquisition as we discussed for roughly 2,500 square feet per parcel so it's really just those first few feet you know averaging about 12 feet into some of these properties there are several properties that have right-of-way wide enough for this project already dedicated and there would be no acquisition on those coincidentally or accordingly with those property acquisitions many of these properties have landscaping that's been planted along the corridor some in right

of way some out of right away so there will be a similar loss just as there is to property boundaries, there will be a loss or a take or an impact to the existing landscaping along the corridor. Any landscaping that is lost or taken as a part of the project on the private side of the right-of-way line would be compensated for and dealt with through the right-of-way negotiation process as is required. regarding so now to kind of take a step back that is the high-level overview of the the design elements that were or are a part of the project as Miss Sanford said in January we were down the hall for a work session and then on the 17th we had of January we had an open house outside in the atrium had little over 20 people attend and we've received a variety of

comments both in person that that day via email and as well as via the engaged Fairfax site in total about 20 comments that have been received and then since then in March and into April we sent out notification letters to property owners the impacted property owners along the corridor and offered to meet with them I'll touch more on that in a bit. And then since that time, again, we've been working to incorporate some design changes ahead of tonight, and we'll discuss those further. So to discuss specifically the seven properties that are impacted and that we anticipate to require an acquisition from, the city sent out letters to those seven properties offering to meet in person or however the property owner would choose to discuss the impacts to their property specifically.

five of those owners took the city up on that request or that offer and meetings were conducted with them and some of the feedback from those property owners has been incorporated into what we've changed here it's worth noting there are two properties of the seven that did not respond but a series of four communications have been sent to those property owners one via certified mail one being that offer to meet in person and then two other notices of the two night and January. So to summarize the feedback that we've received at this point, generally there is a theme of positive support for the project. There are certainly some specific areas of concern in terms of locations, specific property

impacts in defined and limited locations. generally some of the the common themes across the comments were the existing speed and safety concerns loss of that landscaping that i mentioned earlier property acquisition limits and boundaries pedestrian safety and crossing safety in particular across chambered road and then the right turn lane at providence way that's actually a recent comment that has come up since the comment period for this meeting actually opened and so we've been actively working on addressing that and we'll talk a bit more about that later what i do want to call your attention to in this image on the right there two of the things the items that are listed on the left but improving the pedestrian crossings

at there's one that's at taba cove there in particular that was of concern and then we heard specifically about the property that you see there in the image on the west side of chainbridge road One of the concerns being the impact to that northeast corner of the property or the far right in the image there. To just kind of discuss that briefly here. There's an adjacent just to the north, and you see on the far right of that image, recent residential development which dedicated right-of-way and constructed a sidewalk along that stretch of Cambridge. bridge. So with that in place, our goal was to reuse as much of that sidewalk as possible. And so our original plan was really to connect to the end of that sidewalk. But that would

have required putting our proposed sidewalk across the corner of this property that's shown in the image there. So as we move to the next slide, our current plan has shifted that transition about 20 feet north so that the sidewalk stays entirely within existing right-of-way. There will still be the need for some easements for grading and things of that nature to tie everything in in that area, but the sidewalk would remain in the right-of-way and then transition back to that what is now an existing sidewalk north of the property. The existing ditch line that is there and pipes, drainage pipes that are between that newly built sidewalk and the edge of would be filled in completely it'll be a level grass strip between the sidewalk and the new

curb and gutter that would be installed along the road as well and then at taba cove the crosswalk across chambridge road certainly have heard some good feedback about concern for that's that crossing and so you know working through that we've looked at that further and have confirmed that the flashing beacons or rrfb as they're known similar to the flashing lights that are up are warranted and are now going to be or are now proposed at this crossing as well so there would be new pavement markings new signs new flashing beacons at this location other feedback was in regard to the retaining walls specifically concern over what type of materials locations heights things of that nature luckily since January the project on the east side of the road which is what you see in the

image at the bottom left there has been completed and that's really a good guide for the general aesthetic that would be proposed and provided with this project for the retaining walls on the west side will look slightly different just because it's a slightly different wall type that's required to limit the impacts to these properties on the west but the general aesthetic of that natural stacked stone look railing and then some landscaping provided behind the the retaining wall would be consistent on the west side also heard some concern over access to in and out of the property owner driveways that are along the west side and meeting with each of those property owners discussed adjustments that can be made and have

been made to the plan to ensure that those property owners are able to continue to use their driveways and out of their properties as they do today. I mentioned earlier some recent feedback about the excess pavement that's being used today really as a right turn lane there at Providence Way. Originally in the design, as you see in the image there on the right, the excess pavement was proposed to be removed in its entirety and repurposed for the construction of the new curb and gutter, sidewalk, buffer strip, bus stop facilities, and the right turn lane or what functions as a right turn lane would not have remained because the right turn lane warrants are not met purely based on a traffic volume standpoint.

However, based on the public feedback, discussions with city staff, and the desire to have a location for the bus to actually pull out of traffic when it stops southbound due to the proximity to Fairfax Boulevard. Staff is planning to provide a right-turn lane, a newly constructed right-turn lane at that location where you see the X there. We will still, there's 22 feet of pavement, excess pavement there today, so we will still repurpose a good amount of that. We only need 12 feet for a lane. We don't need 22. So we'll repurpose what's left of that area to provide the same ADA compliant sidewalk, bus stop improvements, and again provide a spot for the bus to pull out of traffic as well as a right turn opportunity or lane for the folks to Providence Way.

So looking ahead a bit here to the construction phase, we just wanted to make sure that there was some awareness of potential traffic impacts during this project. Again, we're a couple years out from that being the case, but so that we get it out there early. Consideration is being given to the need for a potential road closure of Chambridge Road, whether that's a full road closure or just closure of the southbound travel lane. Based on the type of construction that needs to take place, the grade differential between some of the adjacent properties on the west and the proposed road, We see the potential for cost savings, overall time savings of the project, and getting things done quicker and getting out of the way, as opposed to just being able to work a few hours during the day.

And so this is one option that will be considered further, and certainly more updates will be available as we get closer to the construction phase. So to start kind of wrapping up some of the project details here, project budget. Again, as Ms. Sanford mentioned at the beginning of the presentation, this project is funded entirely with VDOT smart scale funds, which means no city dollars directly spent on the project. We can see the different values associated with the different phases of construction. As I mentioned before, we do have a good amount or seven properties to acquire easement or right away from. And so we do have a budget associated with that. And then our construction budget of $5.7 million for a total of the $9.25 allocated.

Wendy SanfordstaffOkay. And so, as we mentioned earlier, the public hearing is this evening, and this is an opportunity for the project team to present the project, which we have done, and receive comments. There will be an official public hearing transcript of this that we will provide to VDOT. all comments can be recorded from this evening and also those that we receive on our engage page all of those will be recorded into the public hearing transcript there's a QR code for anyone who's watching that you can that will take you directly to the engage page and as I mentioned everything is also available this evening the notification of the public hearing it was placed in the newspaper we also had a frame signs in the project area notifying the public

of the meeting tonight. We also sent the letter to 135 households. We looked at a certain radius from the project area and sent that letter out as well as to the Civic Association. And there have also been numerous social media posts about this evening's meeting. In terms of next steps, we will compile the comments and address any outstanding issues prior to finalizing the plans. As I mentioned, this comment period is open until July 21st. We will provide responses and note any additional changes over and above what has been presented this evening and those will be posted on the project website so right now we are at that public involvement 60 stage we will move into right-of-way acquisition in the fall and that will take us approximately

nine months to get through and then we're looking at construction beginning in spring of 2026. that concludes our presentation we'd be happy to take any questions all

Catherine Readright are there any questions of staff councilmember Bates

Billy Batesthank you just one question can you remind me how wide the sidewalk is going to be is it six feet okay

Wendy Sanfordstaffthank

Billy Batesyou

Wendy Sanfordstaffthere might be some places where it's five it

Nick Susievaries it's five to six feet when it's in front of the retaining wall it's wider at six feet generally speaking it's five feet okay

Thomas Rossthank you

Catherine Readcouncilmember ross

Thomas Rossuh not a question thank you first of all for a very effective presentation on this i just want to add compliments for the work that was done on the east side i know that's not part of this project um but i remember that from my first almost my first week on council approving that process to get it going and it looks absolutely excellent it's a beautiful addition to the area it's safe walking and it's it was done in a very high quality fashion so I want to compliment the staff and the work that was done on this thank you mayor

Catherine Readthank you nice that we could do that for you council member Ross any other questions council member Staley are you out there I

Jon Stehle Jram no questions appreciate the presentation

Catherine Readokay council member Bates

Billy Batesyeah just like to second councilmember Ross's comments you know my family were all really thrilled to see the Roberts Road sidewalk when that was constructed that was an extremely treacherous walk up Roberts Road before that was put in and I've walked up Shane Bridge Road a few times here and there before these projects came into being and that was close to that level of treachery for residents. And, yeah, I'm sure that a lot of the residents who live along there feel even more strongly about it. So this is exactly really what we're here for, you know, as a city council, to support and sign off on projects like this and to make sure that we're providing for the safety and well-being of our residents.

Thank you.

Catherine ReadAll right then I will open the public hearing. Ms. Shinneberry, has this public hearing been advertised? Yes it has

Melissa Shinneberryclerkand we have two people who have signed up prior to the start of the meeting. I will call the first speaker Peter Klosky.

Peter Kloskypublic commentGood evening, Bayer Reed, everyone here online. My name is Peter Glosky. I live on Providence Way. This project, when completed, will be highly useful to myself, my wife, my daughter, who is a person with a disability, and everyone in Fairfax. After reviewing the plans at the open house, reviewing the plans online, discussing the project with city the officials and neighbors, I'm 110% in support of this project as proposed. I have some further comments on maintenance. Again, it's all kudos to the city. I'm here simply with a vote of support. I've recently retired and have every intention of remaining here. I'm very happy with Fairfax City services. The services are important to maintaining sidewalk rights of way.

I'm not exaggerating when I mention that the consequences of poor sidewalk maintenance go as far as injury and death, some of which I've encountered firsthand. The two hazards I've encountered are falls from tripping on uneven panels and sidewalk users forced into the roadway where drivers strike them. Council Member Bates' comment, the word treacherous definitely applies to this walk. When I walk from Fairfax Boulevard to my home now, I'm walking in that riprap, dodging the traffic. It's extremely treacherous. That's why I'm here, and I think this is a great project. Shrubs, dumpsters, cars, whatever need to be kept off the sidewalk. We need to maintain the right of way when this project is completed.

The Department of Public Works in Fairfax City responds promptly to maintenance requests. They trim and trash when needed to get the job done. When my darling wife, bless her heart, tripped on a one-inch uneven sidewalk and fell, the city was quick to place a temporary asphalt evening up patch. Just today, they poured concrete on Providence Way, fixing that to sidewalk. Previously, the Department of Public Works has tackled even more difficult heaving from roots. The Department of Public Works shows architecture and engineering skills. In closing, the project will present challenges for you, its implementers. And I have every faith will enjoy and sustain an excellent result. Thank you for letting me speak.

Melissa ShinneberryclerkAll right, our next speaker is Zach Stafford.

Evan PritchardapplicantThank you.

Zach Staffordpublic commentGood evening. My name is Zach Stafford. I am a lifelong resident of Fairfax City. I was born and raised in Fairfax off of Cleveland, and my parents own 3746 Chambers Road, which was where I was raised for much of my life. and that is one of the properties effective that is going to require acquisition of property. This slide is actually the one that has been recently amended to show the impact on my parents' property. That property also houses the Stafford House bed and breakfast. The Stafford House is a bed and breakfast, just two rooms. It's my mom who runs it. She used to run the bailiwick inn as their head breakfast chef. The concerns I have about the property impact and the concerns my parents share, and just so I can be clear, I am a licensed attorney here in Virginia.

I practice here in Fairfax City. I represent my parents in their capacity as property owners and as business owners here in Fairfax during the impact on this property for them. And so the concerns I have is that you've developed properties both to the south and to the north of their property. And as a part of those property developments that you'd required sidewalks to be installed, and now this new plan is attempting to utilize those sidewalks that have previously been installed. And it's created what looks like an EKG of a sidewalk going up and down and up and down in order to connect to existing sidewalks and to avoid utility pole that's there also on the property. The simplest solution is a straight line, is that there's no reason,

because right now just north of their property in front of the newly developed property there is a still a giant ditch it's a drainage ditch and that's where all the water flows in from the property that was developed north of them and so that's the only ditch along 123 if the goal here at least in some part is to try to beautify fairfax city this is one of the grand entrances to fairfax city is continuing to keep that drainage ditch doesn't make any sense at all And the only reason to do so is to utilize that sidewalk that was installed north of the property. I think the simplest solution is just to have one straight line of a sidewalk. That would also minimize impact on my parents' property.

So as you can see, and I appreciate the comments that were made by the developer who indicated that they, I think, anticipated my parents' concerns. And so they agreed to cut off some of that existing sidewalk. However, it's still going to require, as you can see with that blue line, it's still going to require infiltration onto the property as an easement in order to develop that land for a sidewalk. And right there on that northeast corner is a, like, I want to say 50 or 60 year old magnolia tree. That's an irreplaceable tree. It's part of the staple of that property. It's one of the things that's been painted and we've restored and kept to its full existence. It will cut down portions of that tree.

to be removed so I think there's a simpler solution it's just a straight line sidewalk it require demolishing existing sidewalks on the north and the south side of the property and taking care of that drainage ditch and also relocating a utility pole thank you

Melissa Shinneberryclerkis there anybody else in the room that would like to speak on this agenda item you may come forward

Stephanie Deptulapublic commentHello, council members. Thank you for allowing me to speak. My name is Stephanie Deptula. I live at 3902 Railroad Avenue. I am here today to talk about the sidewalk proposal along Tabla Cove to Warwick Avenue. I am against the portion of the sidewalk that connects Warwick Avenue to Providence Way. There's a historic home along that portion that was built in 1860, along with two other historic homes built in 1920. By adding the sidewalk along this side, it will ruin the streetscape of this charming portion of the city of Fairfax. There are not that many preserved historic properties left in the city, yet this is such a historic neighborhood dating all the way back to the early 1800s. By changing this area, you will be destroying the integrity of these properties and disrupting 100-year-old trees and a stone wall and the streetscape along the road.

I believe that the city should revisit the idea of destroying character and charm that is present along this portion of Chain Bridge Road. Again, you will be taking down an old stone wall entrance and trees, and it will change the whole look of Chain Bridge Road as you enter into historic downtown. And just like I hadn't considered the Stafford House, But again, that also is a historic property that it creates an entrance into the historic city of Fairfax that by taking down these trees and removing the fence and making these alterations, it's really going to impact the whole look and feel of what makes the city of Fairfax so unique. there's already a sidewalk on the opposite side of the road so by not

adding this portion it will not negatively affect pedestrian traffic a newly improved crosswalk has been constructed making it easy to get to the already existing sidewalk without destroying these existing properties I love walkability I support walkability I have three little kids I'm always walking around, Chambridge Road and Cedar Avenue. But again, I don't think we should destroy the history and charm of City of Fairfax by adding this small portion of a sidewalk. I think there's probably a way we could either implement another crosswalk so that we don't destroy that stone wall that was probably built in 1860. I'm not sure. the photos shown by the staff don't show the streetscape along these three

properties it basically just shows weeds so I wish there was a picture showing the stone wall with the lions that I'm referring to along with there's a white fence that's really beautiful so thank you again

Melissa Shinneberryclerkis there anybody else in the okay

Catherine Readwe can move forward so

Melissa Shinneberryclerkthere's no action for this item yes

Catherine ReadI will now close the public hearing okay

Melissa Shinneberryclerkour next public hearing is a public hearing council action on amendments to zoning ordinance provisions for erosion and sediment control storm drainage facilities and Chesapeake Bay preservation Satoshi Ito public works programs manager will provide the staff presentation Thank you.

Satoshi ItostaffGood evening, Mayor and Council. This agenda item is a follow-up to a work session that we had on zoning ordinance revisions on June 11th. So the current zoning ordinance includes separate sections for stormwater management, erosion and sediment control, and Chesapeake Bay, and these sections were last updated in 2016. The code was recently revised and became effective on July 1, and DEQ has directed localities to implement revised ordinances that are compatible. We used the model ordinance from DEQ to develop the revisions, and we presented these revisions to Planning Commission on June 10th and City Council on June 11th. No revisions were made to the revised ordinance following those work sessions, and so the

evening is the same one that was presented at the work session. Yesterday evening, planning commission voted to recommend approval of revisions. The city's municipal stormwater permit requires that we operate an erosion sediment control and stormwater management program and we do that through plan review, construction inspections, and post-construction maintenance activities. In addition to that, the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act requires that we manage a resource protection area, which is a 100-foot buffer from each bank of a stream. The Chesapeake Bay sections of the zoning ordinance are also revised to be compliant with the new state code, and the primary changes are requirements to consider climate change and sea level rise,

as well as protection of mature trees in development proposals. The City's responsibility is to administrate these programs, while DEQ's role is to ensure that localities programs meet state and federal standards and to assist localities in implementing their programs. One of DEQ's goals with the new ordinance or new code was consolidation of erosion and sediment control and stormwater management sections because these sections have similar requirements and processes. The revised zoning ordinance also consolidates these sections. There are numerous administrative changes within the revisions. We revised references in the zoning ordinance to the new sections of state code and the updated design standards that they reference.

Definitions are referenced in the zoning ordinance rather than included as a copy. And to follow with consolidation, the city's Virginia Stormwater Management Program is now referred to as Virginia Erosion and Stormwater Management Program, or VESMP. As I mentioned before, one of the new requirements under the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act is to consider climate change and sea level rise for any disturbance or development within the resource protection area. That assessment requires considering impacts over a 30-year period and to mitigate them. DEQ has provided references to climate change forecast data that can be used for this assessment. only applies to development within the RPA, which is already restricted, we do not anticipate

that this will impact many projects. However, we will need to consider this in the Fairfax Circle Small Area Plan, as well as future stream restoration, flood mitigation, and outfall restoration projects, which will have impacts to the resource protection area. The Chesapeake Bay Ordinance also includes requirements for protection of mature trees allowing for their removal only when necessary. There are also requirements to mitigate removal and restore the buffer area and its functionality. The revisions also clarify that tree removal permits and their associated performance standards are separate and still apply to projects exempted from the Chesapeake Bay Ordinance. The revised ordinance also supports the Tree Preservation and Planting Guide,

and this is a set of design and development standards to meet tree conservation requirements, and it is currently under development by the Urban Forester. Current status is that Virginia Department of Forestry's review of the city's tree-related ordinance is underway, and more information will come from the Urban Forester once that audit is complete. along with the revised state code DEQ has consolidated several design specifications and manuals into the new stormwater handbook which became effective on July 1 that handbook includes two new stormwater management features that engineers can use to meet stormwater quality requirements one is regenerative stormwater conveyance which are like small-scale stream

restoration projects. The other are tree plantings. They are creditable with some limitations. The requirements are that the credited trees cannot be ones that replace trees that have been removed and they also cannot be trees that meet any other state or local requirements such as canopy coverage. One of the key changes is in how water quality standards are calculated. This is reduction method and a spreadsheet that DEQ developed. Stormwater pollutants from developed properties are measured in terms of phosphorus, and one change is that the maximum allowable phosphorus discharge has been reduced. However, the calculation of pollutants that are discharged from different types of land cover have also changed.

The net result is more consistent water quality requirements across different types and sizes of development. One other change is land cover. In the prior version of the Virginia runoff reduction method, there were three types of land cover, impervious, managed turf, and forested. The new version adds a fourth, mixed open space, which is between turf and a forest. Because of these new standards, there will be a one-year transition period where either version may be used. However, a developer that would like to use one of the new BMPs or one of the new stormwater management facilities or mixed open space land cover will need to use the new calculation sheets. We do expect that the number of stormwater management facilities in the city will continue

to increase with new development. We currently have approximately 400 privately owned and maintained stormwater management facilities. We also anticipate that reducing runoff as opposed to treating created runoff has been and will continue to be a more effective compliance approach. The construction general permit is issued by DEQ through the city for all developments that are one acre and larger. The new permit became effective on July 1st and all active permits for projects within the city have been reviewed, renewed by DEQ. The permit does include a requirement to monitor turbidity when dewatering a site, which is monitoring the amount of sediment in water that is pumped out of a site. So site operators will need to measure the runoff and ensure that it is sufficiently filtered to stay under turbidity limits, and they will need to maintain records of having tested that runoff.

The city's responsibility is to ensure that the operator is conducting those tests and maintaining those records. This requirement applies to all watersheds that have a sediment-related pollutant limitation. Since all watersheds in the city have a sediment-related pollutant limitation, or TMDL, this requirement will apply to all developments one acre and larger anywhere in the city. Inspectors have been relaying this new requirement to site operators that are currently working in the city and will continue to do so as new developments come online. So this is just a summary of the process. We had work sessions with Planning Commission and City Council on June 10th and 11th. We had the public hearing with Planning Commission yesterday evening,

and they recommended approval of the revisions. And this evening, we're presenting the revised ordinance for City Council's consideration. If adopted, the revised ordinance would become effective immediately after. That concludes the presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Catherine ReadAre there any questions of staff at this time? Okay. I will open the public hearing. Ms. Shinneberry, has this public hearing been advertised?

Melissa ShinneberryclerkYes, it has. We had nobody sign up prior to the meeting to speak. If there's anybody in the room that would like to speak on this item, please come forward.

Catherine ReadOkay. I will close the public hearing. Is there a motion? Councilmember Lin?

So LimI move the City Council enact an ordinance amending chapter 110 zoning to amend portions of articles and sections contained therein pertaining to storm drainage facilities erosion and sediment control and Chesapeake Bay preservation

Catherine Readsecond a motion has been made by councilmember Lim and seconded by councilmember Ross is there any discussion on the motion seeing none a roll call vote

Melissa Shinneberryclerkcouncilmember Greenfield councilmember Ross aye councilmember Lim aye councilmember Bates

Billy Batesaye

Melissa Shinneberryclerkcouncilmember Staley aye motion passed unanimously we'll go on to the second general public comment no one has signed up to speak during this portion if there's anyone in the room that would like to speak under this item please come forward

Catherine Readokay it's getting to that hour of the evening. I think we will now I will now recess the regular meeting to go into a work session we will stay in this room for the work session.

Melissa ShinneberryclerkOur first item is a discussion on potential zoning text amendments regarding urban agriculture staff presentation presented by Eric Foreman City Planner.

Eric ForemanstaffWell thank you very much good evening. tonight's agenda item is a work session

Stephanie Deptulapublic commentfirst

Eric Foremanstaffagenda items to share the presentation it's good there we go okay okay it's always something so this is a work session to discuss potential zoning text amendments pertaining to urban agriculture. We had a general discussion about the use of urban agriculture here last month. Council directed staff to draft zoning amendments in order to permit urban agriculture in our commercial zones. The draft amendments we're discussing tonight would create a new commercial use within the zoning ordinance and that would permit urban agriculture in commercial areas. Really the overall goal is to provide greater flexibility within the ordinance for permitting a type of use that currently is not permitted. So the reason that we're talking about this new use within the context of the zoning ordinance

is that when new uses come up they sometimes need to be expressly permitted in the zoning for them to be allowed. Now we'll review just what this use is momentarily, but as we discussed at last month's meeting, this topic originated with the city's Economic Development Office. Economic development staff has talked with some companies in this field that may be interested in locating in Fairfax City. Economic development has taken part in some discussions on this topic, as it says here, with the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District. And Chris Bruno from the Economic Development Office is with us today in the audience. And Mr. Bruno and I would both be happy to answer any questions you all might have.

So as I mentioned, we had a work session here to discuss this use with City Council last month. And just last night, Planning Commission held a work session to discuss these draft amendments, the same amendments that you all have before you right now. Planning Commission was supportive of these amendments. The Commission did have a few comments and a few questions, and I'll mention the more significant comments as I get to them, as I get to the relevant sections in tonight's presentation. Now, this use of urban agriculture really does warrant a little bit of an explanation because it's not necessarily intuitive what this means, especially for folks who might not have watched last month's work session.

Urban agriculture, as we're discussing it here, is basically the process of growing agricultural products in an indoor environment. Being indoors means that it's in a controlled environment. And among other things, that means fewer negative externalities than traditional agriculture. And what that means is that it's something that could be well suited to commercial areas, to office areas, to retail areas, and so on. Now, if you're like most people and grew up thinking that plants need soil to grow, then a little bit of explanation might be helpful. There are actually many different types of indoor agriculture. These go by several different names. The illustration here at the bottom is one of the more common.

This one is called hydroponics. Hydroponics involves cultivating plants in a nutrient solution rather than in soil. Sometimes in indoor environments, this is done with grow lamps to replace sunlight. So you see a very simple diagram of this process down here on the lower right. This is obviously oversimplified and it's also a small-scale example, but this can be done on a larger commercial scale as well, and that's really what we're talking about. in a commercial setting here at the top right. But really the reason for showing these images is just to give the overall idea of what this use can be in a commercial context. Now this is a relatively new type of use overall. It's something that's not directly defined in our zoning ordinance.

As of now, these types of firms would likely be categorized as plant nurseries and greenhouses, You see the definition here. But this is a relatively intense type of use, and as such, it's permitted only in industrial zones, also by SUP in some residential zones. But the big takeaway is this is not permitted in commercial zones and commercial districts in the city. Now other jurisdictions are in a similar position when they consider urban agriculture. existing zoning ordinances usually need to be amended in some way to allow for this. Now, as we talked about last month, there are a few local jurisdictions that have modified their zoning ordinances regarding urban agriculture. The three jurisdictions that you

see here have done that. They've used different approaches sometimes. Often that's dictated just by the structure of their own ordinance. But these examples and other examples nationwide tend to have some similarities. For example, there's usually a definition included. There's usually some general use standards. These use standards are important for limiting potential negative externalities of a specific use. These are things that could negatively affect neighboring areas. and another important element here is listing the types of zoning districts where this use would be allowed. Now at last month's work session, we took a general look at urban agriculture and like it says here, council has directed staff to proceed with these amendments

to permit urban agriculture in commercial zones and that's the reason that we're here tonight. So the best way to accomplish that within our zoning ordinance is to add urban agriculture as a use within our ordinance. And this doesn't require getting into a great amount of detail about the specifics of agriculture or about directing the details or operations of a specific use. really instead just general types of terms and it's similar to what we see in other ordinances that have enabled this use. In the draft we're discussing tonight this includes four elements and you see them here a definition, a listing in the ordinances principal use table, a few commercial use standards, and a minimum parking ratio. So we'll take a look at each of these elements and of

tonight is in your packets as well that you have before you. So the first element here is a definition. Definitions are found in Article 9 of the ordinance, and this is obviously important because it describes just what this use is. And like I'd mentioned, we want to avoid getting too detailed in the definition regarding specific operational items. So instead, this is fairly general, and it's really in two parts. The first part, which is shown in black here, is a description of the use. And this reads that urban agriculture, and as it would pertain in our ordinance, would be an establishment for the cultivation, retail sales, and distribution of agricultural products where such activity takes place within a fully enclosed structure or on the rooftop of a structure.

Now, the second part of the definition is shown here in blue, and this simply sets out some examples of urban agriculture methods. The reason for this is really just to let someone reading the zoning ordinance know what kinds of activities this is describing. The examples here are hydroponics, aeroponics, vertical farming. These are all common methods or common terms within the industry. It wouldn't be limited just to these, but this serves as guidance and explanation. On to the principal use table. This is the table. In the ordinance, this table is two pages long. this lists what uses are allowed in which zoning districts. Now, since urban agriculture would be a new use, it would have a new entry, a separate entry here in the principal use table.

Again, since this use would likely have really few negative externalities, it's reasonable to make this a widespread permitted use. And in this table, the P indicates a use that is permitted by right within certain zoning districts. In this draft, we have urban agriculture listed really identically to retail, identically to general retail uses. And that is it's permitted in the CR zone. CR is the biggest of the commercial zones. It's permitted as well in the CG and in the CU zones, and it's also permitted in the industrial zones. So again, this is identical to where a retail store would be permitted. So as I mentioned, zoning ordinances that allow for urban agriculture tend to have certain standards that are associated with that use.

And again, this is a way, and particularly for buy-write uses, it's a way to ensure that that use is as compatible as possible with neighboring properties or with neighboring uses. There's four standards in this draft. You can see them here on the screen, ensuring that this is done in an enclosed building, a limitation on animals, standards for controlling odors, and ensuring that urban agriculture that's in commercial areas has some kind of a retail presence. This is the full text of those standards. Since there's just four here, I'll go over these and explain the rationale. I know it will take a few minutes, but I think it would be helpful for understanding. The first one here says that all growing and production activities shall be conducted wholly within a fully enclosed building or on the rooftop of a structure.

I know that's repetitive because it mentions it in the definition as well. we found that most urban agriculture zoning amendments, zoning ordinances tend to have a standard like this, even in this case where similar wording is in the definition. It's just an important point to reiterate that production activity needs to take place indoors. Now, the second here involves the keeping of animals. This is an interesting topic in urban agriculture. really tend to be all over the place with this use. Just in our regional examples, in the three examples that we had talked about, they range from a hard no on any animals, including insects, to a permissiveness in some cases, to a maybe. The draft language here permits animals as accessory to the urban agriculture use,

accessory to the cultivation use. So what that means is if there are insects or worms or in the case of aquaponics, for instance, aquaponics is the cultivation of fish and of plants in an integrated system together, that that would be allowed. but it seems that the actual raising of animals as a principal use may be more involved in the growing of plants and this draft limits the principal use of urban agriculture to cultivation rather than to animal husbandry now this was discussed a little bit at last month's work session there was some discussion for example about whether to permit aquaculture aquaculture is the raising as a principal use. Planning Commission discussed this last night as well.

Planning Commission was comfortable with the language in this draft. The commissioners thought that the raising of fish in particular could bring up issues like water consumption, excess water consumption, disposal of waste products, things that really suggest a more intensive use than what is contemplated generally by indoor urban agriculture. So this was one of the items the Planning Commission spent some time discussing last night. Number three here, waste and odors. These tend to be negative effects of any agricultural process. This use standard stipulates that operations, urban agriculture operations, need to control odors that are discernible off-site. This language here, number three, is identical language to a use standard

ordinance for animal care facilities, kennels, veterinary clinics, and so on. Animal care facilities is another use that's subject to potential off-site odor problems, and it's something that has been effective for that use, so it's the same language that's used here. And finally, the last standard in this draft reads that in commercial districts for facilities being urban agriculture, located on the ground floor of a building, that 25% of the building frontage that's associated with that use must be dedicated to retail purposes. Now, this is also something that's not uncommon for urban agriculture in commercial areas. Both Arlington County and Fairfax County have some sort of retail requirement

in their ordinance that's similar to this. It's a way to ensure that there's a benefit to the public realm from this type of business in a commercial area, rather than having something that is just purely cultivation that's in an area that would ordinarily be a retail use that would contribute to the public realm. It gives us the retail feel that we would really look for in a commercial area. This would not apply to industrial areas, which is why it starts off saying in commercial districts. to upper storey uses. So if one of these facilities would go, let's say, into the third floor of an office building, and these are appropriate in some cases for office environments, there would not be a retail requirement.

So this is just for uses that are on the ground floor in a commercial area. And we have the last element in this draft amendment package. That's a minimum parking ratio. All uses in the zoning ordinance have a parking ratio. In this case, what's proposed is one space per 300 square feet of floor area. So like it says here, that's less than the general retail ratio. General retail is 1 to 200. The 1 to 300 ratio is equal to the office, to the general office ratio. And what that means is that this use, urban agriculture, would be suitable for conforming sites both in retail and in office settings. So just about any commercial area. And there's not a whole lot of sites that are under-parked, you know, since the zoning ordinance rewrite,

that this is something that could go into any commercial area just about without triggering a special exception for parking. Planning Commission last night wanted to ensure that a parking ratio used here would be suitably flexible for various iterations of urban agriculture. So for example, specifically really wanted to ensure that the ratio wouldn't be too high for businesses that might not have a retail component, that they might not have a lot of visitation or employment. And again, the reason that we have this 1 to 300 ratio is really to help ensure the suitability for most commercial sites. So even if a non-retail urban agriculture facility were to locate, let's say, in an office building, it wouldn't trigger a special exception due to the parking requirement.

Let's see. So, the planning commissioners did have a few comments and questions. These last two, animals and parking, I think we've talked about already. I'll spend a little bit of time on these first two bullet points here. One question last night involved how wastewater would be treated from these kinds of facilities. And the reason the planning commissioners were interested in this is just because of the nutrients or potential chemicals or other biological substances that's in the water that's used in a process, for example, like hydroponics. Now, that's not a zoning issue, but we followed up today with Public Works and with Code Administration to kind of figure this out. My understanding is that those departments would work with an urban agriculture firm

to ensure that the city's wastewater discharge guidelines and city's wastewater limits are followed. Those departments can't really provide detailed information without knowing just what kind of substances would be involved, but the takeaway is that staff would ensure that city code, and the city already does have limits on discharge, that city code is followed in this regard. Concern of the Planning Commission. Another topic of discussion last night regarded the cultivation of cannabis products. So as the draft is written right now, there's no regulation on the type of agricultural products that could be cultivated under this use. That could potentially include marijuana, and that would be assuming that there would be state legality to do so.

at some point in the future. A few planning commissioners expressed unease about marijuana cultivation under this urban agriculture use. Now, cannabis or any other product really could, just from a purely zoning perspective, could be excluded from this use. There's a few ways to do that. There was not necessarily consensus about this from planning commission, but I think the commission was curious to see city councils take on this matter prior to any public hearings. So these last two topics, animals and parking, I think we had talked about. There's one other thing I should mention as well, just to follow up from our June meeting. There was some discussion at our June work session about shipping containers,

whether the zoning ordinance allows things such as shipping containers to be used as commercial buildings. I know this isn't specific to urban agriculture, but we did follow up on that with our zoning administrator. Now, shipping containers are not expressly prohibited from commercial properties in the zoning ordinance, so they can be allowed from a zoning perspective. At the same time, it's important to keep in mind that any shipping container that's used as a building, first of all, would have to meet building code, but also if it's used as a main building, it would need Board of Architectural Review guidance or consideration just like any other structure. It would be treated as any other building would be treated.

A BAR review ensures that the design is well integrated into the site. container is something that could probably be done well and could probably be done not well and it's not so much a zoning consideration as it really is a visual consideration at board of architectural review consideration but generally on the subject of shipping container containers and again I'm just mentioning it because this came up in June it is something that could in theory be used as a commercial structure right now so as far as next steps being a work session we're really at the beginning of the process we're anxious to hear feedback on on these topics or on anything else the process can move forward if city council wishes to do so as i mentioned

The Senate Planning Commission last night was generally supportive of this idea. The Commission indicated an interest in potentially formally initiating a zoning amendment on this topic, which is something the Planning Commission can do, and that could occur as soon as the Commission's next meeting, which would be later this month. If that does occur, actual public hearings on this series of amendments would take place following the August recess. That is the draft as we have it, so I'd be happy to take any questions you all might have.

Catherine ReadAll right. What questions do we have on urban agriculture, the ordinance? Council Member Bates.

Billy BatesThank you. As far as the question of marijuana, I recall seeing a marijuana dispensary, you know, Fairfax Boulevard and Chambers Road is, but I believe that's only allowed to dispense for medical use, and is that buy right in that zone?

Eric ForemanstaffThat is buy right in that zone because there is no detail on cannabis sales, whether medical or not. It's something that's not mentioned in the zoning ordinance, so it is allowed as general retail.

Billy BatesRight, yeah. Well, I don't see the, from my perspective, I don't see the need for any additional, you know, restrictions on that in regards to cultivation either, especially with the standards in place for odor and waste management.

Catherine ReadOther questions, comments? Council Member Staley, are you there?

Jon Stehle JrI am there. appreciate the presentation i look forward to hear my colleagues comments but i'm very comfortable with what was presented

Catherine Readall right councilmember greenfield

Jeffrey Greenfieldthank you mayor could we go back for a second to the um possibility of of growing fish you know in a retail area and specifically concerns about waste and things like that we currently allow So the one that comes to mind is at Perfect Circle Scout on the Circle. We allow an animal hospital on the first floor of that building in a retail space. Generates waste, generates, in fact, probably generates a different type of waste that you've got to deal with differently, right? So why couldn't we allow for that in certain areas?

Eric ForemanstaffSo are you talking about the aquaculture growing fish? It was a concern from the planning commissioners. I think the two aspects that they brought up was both water usage and waste. My understanding in talking with Public Works today about waste in general is that there could potentially, there are standards that would have to be met. Right now, whether any specific firm like this would meet those standards because they don't have experience in it, there are ways to eliminate waste, such as from fish or from animals, that don't involve flushing it down the drain. And there are cases, which is my understanding, and anyone here who's more familiar with this is welcome to speak up. My understanding is that Public Works and Code Administration monitor those types of uses and have some kind of a plan in those types of uses for waste discharge that would not use the sewer system.

Jeffrey GreenfieldSo I, for one, would like to see us. I appreciate my colleagues on the Planning Commission and their feedback, but I'd like us to come back and explore whether this is something that we could consider. Thank you, Mayor.

Catherine ReadAny other questions or comments? I think I would just, where cannabis is concerned, growing it is different from selling it or retailing it. We have restrictions in the Commonwealth of Virginia like Beyond Hello, and we toured that facility. Some of us on the council toured Beyond Hello, and you have to have a prescription in order to purchase it. So it's a dispensary. It's not for retail recreational use. cultivating and growing it, it could only really be sold under the laws of Virginia and retail use. So it seems to me that simply cultivating it for sale to people who are licensed, wherever they are, to sell it would be different. I just, I think that I don't want us to kind of cross retailing a substance with growing it,

and then selling it to people who can legally retail it. So it's just another agricultural product. But I'm sure people have feelings about it. I don't doubt that people have a lot of feelings about it. But it's an agricultural product, and if there's restrictions around its retailing, then that is a separate issue from simply cultivating it. All right. Council Member Lee. Can you read?

Jon Stehle Jrokay go

Catherine Readcouncilmember staley and then councilmember limb

Jon Stehle Jrapologies my screen was a little hard to see if someone was raising their hand i just had a quick question for mr forman i forgot to ask and that is would this zoning ordinance allow urban agriculture to be done for instance at one of our schools if they so choose

Eric Foremanstaffuh right right now this is limited to commercial zones uh Now, as far as I know, all of our schools are in residential zones. In residential zones, community gardens are permitted. You know, that is just an extension of gardening. Commercial gardening, which means being run by a company, would not be permitted in residential zones. This was something the Planning Commission talked about this as well. While we're interested in potential future use of large residential properties such as schools, it's something that could be added in the future to, you know, once there's a firm idea of commercial use on a residential site such as that. Right now, as the draft is, the draft is just for commercial areas for commercial use of

agriculture.

Jon Stehle JrI appreciate that clarification.

Catherine ReadCouncilmember Lim.

So LimYeah, for me, as far as cannabis product, even though currently our law doesn't allow retail sales, it could one day. So I don't want us to not limit it and then be caught later having a zoning that allows it already.

Monique LaFleurpublic commentif we don't

So Limkeep up with the zoning, if we don't change it as soon as Virginia allows it, you know what I mean, so we can't do it. Am I making sense?

Eric ForemanstaffYes, and this came up a little bit at the planning commission. No one was quite sure whether commercial cultivation of marijuana is permitted right now in Virginia. I don't

So Limthink

Eric Foremanstaffso. I looked it up today. today it appears to me it is not permitted right right now that's what the Planning Commission was thinking too but like like you mentioned they're thinking more proactively into the future it if it would be permitted someday it is it better to get out ahead of it so that that's the issue that they you know we're interested in getting

So LimI feel the same way especially if we're gonna require 25% of the building to be the frontage like retail right if they cultivated it the they would be selling it retail within their location so I wouldn't want that so I would want to prevent that now we're writing the zoning change thank you

Catherine ReadSo the question came up about schools. What about churches? And the only reason I bring up churches is because they have a lot of land. You know, there's a lot of faith communities that have a lot of land. If they decided that they wanted to engage in urban agriculture, would they be permitted to do that?

Eric ForemanstaffIf that church is in a commercial zone, they would. Now keep in mind that urban agriculture is indoors. Right. So it's something that would require constructing a building. If that church would be in a commercial zone, then it would be permitted. In a residential zone, it would not be permitted. And it's just the commercial use of a residential zone, just like retail, just like offices and so on.

Catherine ReadThat makes sense. Anything else from anybody? Okay. Well, thank you very much. This has been illuminating and sparked a lot of conversations. So that's wonderful.

Melissa ShinneberryclerkOur last work session item is discussion on the recommendations from the Homelessness Task Force. The staff presentation will be presented by Laszlo Palco, city manager.

Laszlo PalkostaffCouncilmember Staley.

Zach Staffordpublic commentCouncilmember Staley, can you see that? The slide?

Laszlo PalkostaffYes, I can. Thank you. Perfect. Okay. Good evening, Mayor Reed. and members of City Council on June 25th you received a presentation from our deputy city manager of Almarie Turner on the results and the report of the homelessness task force which worked for over a year diligently to come up with the report that was shared with you all along with recommended priorities for how to proceed staff now is looking for guidance about next steps there was a lot of hard work put into that report from from residents from volunteers and manager Valmarie, Melanie, Leslie, and other departments that contributed to that effort. A lot of good work was put into that, and we don't want it just to kind of disappear now.

We want to continue to bring this back up and talk about next steps, and that's the goal for this evening, is to first talk about having city council adopt priorities, whether it's from the Homelessness Task Force priorities, from the report that they have, other ideas that you may have, but city staff is looking for guidance from city council, about how you would like us to proceed on this important issue, and that's what we want to talk about tonight. One of those recommendations from the Homelessness Task Force that we believe is a good idea is establishing an advisory board to continue to guide staff, continue to guide city council, provide support and guide us as we talk about implementations,

reviewing priorities, goals, and reporting back to city council as well, providing that expertise that we continue to need and to institutionalize this program as well going forward. institutionalizing this program there were funds set aside for Homelessness Task Force implementation in FY25 there was also the agreement to fund a housing position the goal or recommendation tonight is to go ahead and move forward on hiring that position quicker to help us proceed with all the planning policy evaluation program implementation evaluation of priorities that are needed from a staffing perspective. And then finally, we want to talk about next steps. How do we proceed? So the goal tonight really is more discussion

to evaluate what we have right now and talk about next steps and hear your guidance about those next steps. So I synthesized the top 10 priority recommendations that the Homelessness Task Force has. You can see the different categories that they had with legal and policy, which really focus on working with the city attorney and city staff with understanding all the laws of the city, laws perhaps in other jurisdictions best practices and what we can do as a city that includes looking at the encampment ordinance I know that's been a discussion about what what's currently permitted right now what the City Council would like to see permitted as well that's one of the priorities here is to tackle that issue head-on and come up with with City Council guidance on

what what you all would want to see as well administrative goals include like we said establishing that advisory board to really continue to help institutionalize this and guide city staff and City Council and residents forward, adding staffing resources as well to help us with implementation and planning, and then going to the categories of services and support involving partners, the faith community, CSB, others, nonprofits to help us with the comprehensive approach to homelessness, including mental health services as well, and then the Fairfax Circle focus strategy, which was also discussed last night by the Planning Commission when they were looking at the Fairfax Circle small area plan as well, the concern about being able to proceed with

development without getting a better control of the security situation there, and we hear that from businesses and residents in that area as well. Shelter and housing, this is a huge one. As we talk with the LAM Center and others, when they ask the question, where do people go if they're not allowed to camp, we don't have an answer right now, and we have to figure something out, and there's no shelter in our region. I think that's something we have to work with the county to get addressed to give people to be safe and to be sheltered as well. And then lastly, data and research. Really understand what's happening. What do the statistics look like? What's the data? What's the background for this issue in our city?

I went ahead just as kind of a planning exercise, just from hearing from different sources. There's kind of two themes that I felt needed to be added to these priorities. One of them is I've been engaging with the LAMP Center. They want to do additional data analysis, have more intake services where they do a better job of identifying Who's coming to the LAMP Center? What's their story? What brought them there? What were the issues that led to them to becoming unhoused so we can better plan for services and be a little bit more predictive in our analysis? That's good and fine at the LAMP Center, but there are people that we're going to have to do outreach to outside of the community. So I believe kind of having an outreach team in the future was going to be critical for us to get a better control of the data.

So you can see those two points there, along with the last one that kind of mirrors what the LAMP Center is going to be doing, asking some additional questions about where people are coming from how did they become on house just getting a more breadth a larger breadth of understanding of what's happening in our city you know who are residents who are becoming in house where people coming from from outside her own house what support do we need from the county from the state can we handle this ourselves or what what what partnerships do we need to continue to do that the other is for adding staffing there was no mention of at least from the summary of security programs. I think that's going to be critical, just engaging with law enforcement and the business

community. Again, if there's concerns about security in parks and the Fairfax Circle area, speaking with law enforcement, there's certainly a recommendation to add additional resources because we don't want to pull officers who are on normal patrol duty covering the entire city as we search capacity to reestablish security in some of these areas. So there's going to have to be some additional security funding as well for resources as well, and that's why I added that. So you can see my highlighted recommendations are in red. But again, we're looking for you all to adopt your own priorities. So really the questions are going forward is, you know, what kind of priorities do you want to adopt? There was a lot of great work from the Homelessness Task Force.

There's a lot of good ideas in that comprehensive report. But now we need guidance from you about how to proceed. And we don't want their great work to go in vain. We want to continue this program and continue discussing this issue going forward. So what is it the council wants to do? Do you want to adopt their top ten priorities? Do we need more? Do we need less? Do we want to amend any of this? The goal for tonight is to begin that discussion and we know it's going to take some time for you all to think through this, to ask us any follow-up questions, any additional analysis that you may need and you'll see in the next steps as well the possibility for additional town halls if needed as well.

So one of the key parties that we do want to move quicker forward at least is establishing advisory board to keep the institution going forward to continue to evaluate this program. So the goal would be to establish a board to continue to advise city staff, continue to advise you all, engage with residents, bring some expertise on these issues for discussion, to talk about implementation steps as well, to review that with city staff. And because this is such a complex issue, really a holistic approach is needed. We can't just look at affordable housing, which is one of the key items that are needed, There's also mental health issues and substance abuse issues as well. So we're calling this advisory board, this is a staff input housing and

healthy communities to kind of reflect this reality. And you can see kind of the makeup of the board, thanks to the deputy city manager who put in the big work and kind of coming up with a big chunk of this list and also our mayor who we engaged with, who had a good understanding of kind of what are the institutions in this region that can really help us out with resources, with expertise as we develop this board. We really want you all to provide your input on what should this board be? What should the members be? This is, you know, our recommendation as a good starting point. But, of course, we understand that that's something you all need to discuss and see what membership you need. You know, residents and other experts as well.

And then staff representation, having our future housing program manager to be the staffing lead, but recognizing that this is going to be holistic. So other members of staff across all city departments are going to have a role to play here along with the housing program. program coordinator would be the lead staffing person for this committee, for this advisory board. So with that, as discussed previously in the FY25, there was approval of funding about $53,000 to help with the Homelessness Task Force implementation program. My recommendation is that we utilize that funding to hire the housing program coordinator sooner than what was previously planned in the budget it's scheduled for hiring in January

1st. we want to move quicker on having this program established and guiding city staff with some expertise on housing. So we'd like to take that funding and start with the hiring as soon as possible, ideally around September, to get the ball rolling on this program. Again, the housing program coordinator would advise city staff, advise you all, advise residents, advise any advisory board, provide their expertise, but also be kind of that program-ly to help with implementing programs that we establish. in conjunction and coordination with all the different departments that we have in the city because this is really a holistic approach across every city department which has a role to play in this issue.

So really for next steps, to start off with, there was a town hall before the Homelessness Task Force completed their project. Many residents showed up. There was great participation. But there was some issues in terms of the structure. I think a lot of residents were frustrated that they weren't able to engage in dialogue or voice their opinion. So I wanted to bring back the idea, do you want us to do another town hall before you settle on priorities, adopting your own priorities, to go over what those written comments were that we received with the public, solicit any additional input, provide additional context to residents as well, before we come back and finalize any priorities. I leave that all to you all, but I know that was a discussion that we were having with different council members

who were attending that event and from what we heard from residents that evening as well. your priorities, how you want to approach that, voting to establish a board, discussing the makeup of the board, whether you want to establish a board. Our recommendation is that we do proceed with establishing a board so we can continue this process going forward and it doesn't just die with the homelessness task force with all their hard work that they put into this. And authorizing the city manager to hire the housing program coordinator prior to January 1st, 2025. And I apologize. I think on the first slide it said 2024, but I meant 2025, like what it says on this slide. So with that, I'm here to answer any questions you all may have.

Catherine ReadOkay, questions from the dais. Okay, Council Member Ross.

Thomas RossI'll start with one. Thank you, first of all, for having this item on discussion tonight and bringing back some ideas for us to continue the dialogue. And I think it's, as you pointed out, absolutely essential. essential. I'm just curious why the number 17 and where did that come from? And I guess there should be some context to why that number. I'm a little concerned about the size. I want it to be, or I would envision a group that would be a robust enough group, but small enough that they can move very quickly because I think that we all recognize that time is is important in this process so I was curious where the number of 17 came up and why not 10 went at 12 why not

Laszlo Palkostaff25 we just kept thinking of the people who had to be on the board it doesn't have to be 17 a way we can get around this is to have a smaller board but to that of voting members right to kind of provide the advice but for them to invite as maybe non-voting members other experts in the community guidance that's a way to do it as well but we just we wanted to put this on a sheet of paper for you all to see that the different range of expertise that we believe are needed to be successful in this program I

Thomas Rossguess I would would initially at least suggest that a smaller board might be appropriate and I think that ought to be something that ought to be thought about it doesn't mean other expertise as you pointed out can't be involved but I think either a steering committee or a smaller group that can make decisions quickly and bring them to the council as needed or to the community as needed would, to me at least initially, be

Catherine Readmore productive.

Thomas RossThank you, Mayor.

Catherine ReadOkay, I'm going to take that one up just to talk about the number 17. The Homeless Success Force was 15 with three support staff members. so that you don't have a deadlock right so you have an odd number so the thing about 15 which was what the number was the homelessness has force and the two that ended up getting added that we had not really thought of before is somebody from George Mason University and we are thinking of the College of Public Health and some from somebody from the Fairfax City Public School System a counselor in one of our schools who works with families and so to me it's not the size resources and the expertise because some of the people on this list bring something very specific.

But they also bring resources, like when we talk about having somebody from the faith community, we have a lot of faith communities in the city, but one of our faith communities is also building affordable housing on their parking lot. So to me, when you start to think about who needs to be sitting around the table, who has experience, expertise, and also access to resources. Like we're asking faith communities to work with us on things like, can people park in your parking lot overnight? So to me, 15 is kind of a standard on the boards that I have sat on. 15 is kind of a standard number for board members. And sometimes you have vacancies because you can't, as we were just discussing. Tonight when we were interviewing for boards and commissions, sometimes you have vacancies.

So it's not always going to be 17 because there might be vacancies. But I think really it is about the expertise that we're trying to assemble based on the year-long work we did to say we're trying to solve these problems, who in the community can help us. So it was a very thoughtful list about who do we engage around the table. You know, Wesley Housing is working with Lamb Center. You know, they develop affordable housing projects. They also run them. So having somebody from an organization like that would be helpful to us because we don't have on staff some of this expertise. And these people are also bringing resources because they're already working with us in the city. So that's my explanation of why there are 17 and why we specifically said these are the seats.

This is the expertise, the resources that we need to discuss how to implement. a matter of assembling people to help us implement the things we say are the priorities, or at least to explore them. Because maybe not everything we thought of is going to be a winner of an idea, and that's why we prioritize 38 down to 10 that we thought are the things we should address most quickly. But again, when you get people around the table who are already building affordable housing, or already working in the community with permanent supportive housing for people with mental illness and things like that, Then you find out whether what we think we're doing or what we've prioritized is really kind of the most feasible course of action because you've assembled these folks around the table.

Thomas RossI think those, I appreciate those points, and I think those are certainly valid. I don't have any great thoughts on what the number should be. I'm wondering, but again, I think one of the basic parts of this is to move things forward. got to find that right balance between what's the right number and how efficiently can that group work and I I'm not there yet I just I'd be anxious to hear from my other colleagues on what they think the number is and and perhaps you know other staff comments that may be thoughtful on this thank you

Catherine Readany other questions councilmember Staley are you out there somewhere I

Jon Stehle Jram thank Thank you.

Catherine ReadAny comments?

Jon Stehle JrJust a quick comment regarding the housing coordinator. I think that's a very logical position. I guess from my perspective, I viewed the funding we set aside during the budget cycle as things that you could do immediately, based on what the task force identified. I think hiring someone you can do through the normal appropriations process, in particular the Q1 review and taking time to ramp up and finding the FTE space, I think we can look at holistically. So I don't view those as two things that need to be tied together necessarily. And I would certainly be more interested in things we could do in the short term. I've certainly had residents talk to me about, you know, the park monitors that we have at Draper and Stafford,

maybe increasing the amount of time they provide. I've had, you know, certainly had residents talk about when the bike teams will be ready and so I think I look at that funding we set aside is something that you could move forward faster on things already in hand and I certainly would be open to talking about the position being advertised and maybe funded through the Q1 appropriations process so just some quick feedback on the on the slide questions you shared

Catherine Readokay thank you thank you for that councilmember Lim thank

So Limyou mayor as far as all the four bullet for next steps adopt City Council priorities I think we should adopt all ten priorities but you know we should have a timeline some of them can be done immediately whereas some of them will take longer so adopt all ten but set definite timeline goals and objectives and as far as having a town hall to review the comments again i don't know if that would be necessary i think it's um i think it's better to establish the board first and then maybe they need to be participating in a town hall for them to get a fresh look on what the residents have to say residents as well as the business owners and as far as having 17 board members i don't see a problem with it although you know

August and we're gonna have to kind of you know advertising month of August and start looking to place people on this board it may take a little longer to find 17 so what what mr. Park was said earlier about maybe having like a voting member you know I think the voting members should be definitely residents and city business owners so maybe have those members you know be a priority to select those members first and then select the experts on the other like the real estate agents and I don't know I can't think of all the all the experts but maybe find those later find those individuals later to fill the 17 members as as complete board and as far as you know hiring a housing program coordinator I mean I I have no problem hiring them before January 2025 but you

though we want we want to hire somebody right away it may not work out that we're going to find somebody before september 1. so i think that we should start advertising and start looking definitely and then you know if that happens to be december 2024 it happens to be 2025 you know whatever happens but definitely start advertising

Laszlo Palkostaffyou're right it does take some time to be able to recruit someone

So Limi think i think that's it thank you

Catherine Readcouncilmember ross you had Yes, I did.

So LimThank

Stephanie Deptulapublic commentyou.

Thomas RossThere we go. First of all, I think that moving ahead with the housing coordinator makes sense, and I also agree with my colleague's suggestion that we look at that as a funding out of the concept he proposed. We have a small amount of money for the homeless program, And I think we need to generate some ideas on how that could be used on a project level rather than hiring someone. And I'd be very supportive of doing both. I think what we need to have coming back in the fall is how, where that money could be used effectively. And I've been having some discussions with neighbors and with residents and also with some city staff and others and trying to think through, are there some things we could do right away?

I share literally the frustration you mentioned at the open house we had, and I think there was a missed opportunity for hearing and allowing people to talk about what they were concerned about. I think people welcomed the opportunity to come together and provide feedback to the homeless task force, but I think we need to do a little bit more in the way of hearing from our residents. And it strikes me that we have several areas in the city, and particularly around the Fairfax Circle area, which are sort of the major areas that are being impacted by homelessness. We visually see people out on the streets and in the areas. We hear neighbors that are concerned. We have in those areas neighborhood associations.

And I think we should take the time between now and early fall to reach out to the homeowners associations in those neighborhoods and offer them the opportunity to gather and hear feedback from them. Rather than perhaps a citywide meeting, it might be more effective if we did neighborhood meetings in the particular areas that have really had some impacts. I think, one, to reassure them that we're listening to them. We want to come back to them with some actions that will be helpful. And, again, that's why we have some money in the budget to start to do some implementation. And I think that would be a logical source for us to hear some feedback from those neighborhoods that are especially effective.

And I'm going back a long time in my history, but then again, I go back a long time in my history in this community. We used to have neighborhood watch programs. I participated in at least two neighborhoods where I lived. They were added and implemented because people felt concerned about crime in their neighborhoods or the potential for crime. Quite frankly, we didn't see, there may have been some, and it was done in collaboration with police and coordination and communication. Maybe we need to think along the lines of another neighborhood watch program in some of those neighborhoods. To put some eyes on the street, eyes out there in the neighborhoods. And maybe that would be something the neighborhoods would like to see.

I don't know. I think that's why it's important that we, before we jump to any conclusions on how we use this money, that we get some feedback from those neighborhoods affected. We know there's a need for continued outreach to the homeless community, and there are ways that they can be assisted to get services. That doesn't always work. We know that from what we've heard and read. But we seem to fall into several categories here, and I think we've got to find the right sort of balance between additional security, and I think that is happening. I've heard from the police department about the establishment of an officer in Fairfax Circle. Apparently, the bike patrols will be starting sometime this fall, and I've heard that there's a lot of interest from the police in being involved with that.

So that's a really positive sign. And I'm also hearing that the business community is feeling a little more secure, a little more pleased to hear that we're adding more response and more activity down in the Fairfax Circle area. So I think those are positive things, and I think we need to talk about those. We need to reach out to the communities that are most directly affected and see if there's some things that we could begin to move on very quickly. and those are just my thoughts for where we need to go between now and early fall. Thank you, Mayor.

Catherine ReadSo we're in an election year and the homeowners associations are doing all kinds of candidate things. So I fully expect that we will hear, because of the gatherings around candidates, what is on the minds of homeowners associations around the city. And I think that will be a very public thing. residents will come out to talk to potential candidates and to talk about these things too the establishing this board by vote at the next meeting on July the 23rd helps us to start to set something up over the month of August to advertise that these positions are available and we're going to be interviewing and setting up the board because this board needs to be independent of whoever is sitting on the dais in my opinion they're here to

people who will be elected and who will be serving in 2025 and we already know that half of this dais will not be there so setting up this advisory board getting subject matter expertise around to to look at practical real-world feasible affordable effective solutions the whole point of this is that they need to advise whoever's sitting here on January 1st and so that's why I think to move without delay to decide if we're going to set up this board and then while we are on recess to advertise these openings so that we can start and it might and it will take a long time to interview people I'm not saying it's not going to take a long time to interview people but we have to set up a really strong foundation of people who can help the city most effectively

and and again it's a it's a collaboration between the people on the dais the people people who are out there who are subject matter experts to come together to figure out because at the end of the day what we're looking for are the best solutions the best solutions for everyone involved we are just we need to be solution focused and so this is kind of my motivation for putting and again if we are going to do this by resolution at the next meeting if you want to adopt council priorities with a timeline then that's what we need to be thinking about establishing the board and I and I like the idea of the the housing program coordinator a housing policy person but I don't want to decimate the only money

we have until FY 26 because then we've got nothing and so I to me that is a cost that is too dear to just decimate the small amount of money we have but I do support the fact that we should hire somebody more quickly than January I Martinez to like I don't know do magic or something magic money go shake the money tree in the back of the City Hall and the only other thing I would add to this is that I think you know in our quest to be as responsive as possible to the community we also don't want to move so quickly that we don't get it right either and so there's been some back and forth about the amount of notification days for people in encampments. And, you know, it had been four days and then it got moved

to 24 hours and there was some confusion about the policy. And so, you know, moving quickly doesn't always give you the best result if there is confusion or if the end result is that you've solved one problem and you've created another one because there's no place for people to go. We don't have a shelter. And so simply moving people from one location to the other. And I would remind people that just because people are unhoused does not mean that they're unemployed. There are people who are trying to work who don't have a home. And so when you decide that we're going to basically take their stuff and check it with 24 hours notice, you know, we're not helping them to be successful. We're not helping the city in solving a problem.

And so when we move quickly to do these things, I'm not sure that we're really solving the problem in the way that we intend or for long-term results or the best long-term results for businesses and residents and people who are unhoused and the people who are trying to provide them services. So that's my only thing about talking about doing things quickly or moving fast. I don't want to move so fast that we are not being effective. So I think if we're going to do something from the dais at the next meeting, we need, as a dais, to be very thoughtful about what it is we're asking for. And I would like to ask that we vote to establish this board. And I think adopting the city council priorities would be excellent.

and if a timeline makes sense to say, you know, getting a homeless shelter for Area 4 is not something we're going to be able to do by December, right? But there are other things on there that we probably could do sooner than that, and so maybe we should set up priorities for what things we want to work on to try to do more effectively. So out of these next steps, I mean, those are the two that I'm looking at, the council priorities and establishing the board. want to hire a program coordinator but I don't know how we pay for it I don't know how without decimating the budget to zero and as far as the town hall I do think if you stand up a board these are the people who need to go out there because they need to understand and talk to if people want to discuss things with

someone who has knowledge of services or housing or safety then those are the So I think that is something that could be delayed until we have stood up and started to fill up this board to be a standing advisory council. And again, we have to look at the fact that our elected officials will change in a matter of months. and this this body needs to take up the work of the homelessness task force and it needs to move forward regardless of who's sitting here in january that's that's that's my perspective yes

Laszlo Palkostaffcouncil member staley's raising his hand i just want to let you know

Catherine Readoh staley yes council member staley

Jon Stehle Jruh thank you mayor i i guess to maybe put a fine point on it i i would be comfortable um adopting the board on the 23rd i don't know that i would be comfortable uh really thinking all the actions of the Homelessness Task Force and to prioritize a whole other set of them. I think you did an excellent job of talking about how this current body has a limited time span on it. And so if there's a few items we want to focus on in the next six months as we're a body, I'd be open to that discussion. I think the value of the 38 recommendations and the 10 priorities is it lives on for the board or the next council to take on. So I would be comfortable moving forward adopting

Satoshi Itostaffthe

Jon Stehle Jrthe sun formation of the board um and again if i understand your thinking correctly it's a resolution of the body and so if we had to alter it at any point in time the body could then make a validation so i think you know moving forward makes a lot of sense

Catherine Readthank you for that any other feedback comments yes councilmember ross

Thomas Rossi i've sort of debated back this and forth and back and forth in my mind, and I still think there would be value in staff outreach to the neighborhoods that are most directly affected. We do have, and I agree, I agree with the process for getting a board established and looking at that. I think that's very important. But we are in an election year. A board is going to be created, hopefully, this fall, but the likelihood of them being able to make some decisions and come back to us with recommendations is going to be probably delayed until we have a new council and whoever is sitting up at the dais. They're going to need time to get organized. They're going to need time to get established. They're going to need to have some time to develop that sense of trust among themselves.

And that's why I come back to the fact that we do have some money in the budget this year to begin to do some things that would be responsive to the community. And I think a failure to do that would be sort of sad because I think there are some things we could do that would help address some of the concerns that are out there. And $50,000 is not a lot of money in the big world of government and even in our city. But it could do some things to help get things started and help address individual or not individual but people's concerns out there. School's going to start August 19th. That's a little over a month away. Kids are going to be walking to school. They're going to be walking on the bus stops.

Are there things we could – they're going to be using. parks, playgrounds, trails? Are there places that we're hearing where people are frightened? And I think we have an obligation to listen to those and then to consider actions that would help with that. And I think it would be welcomed by the community, especially in those areas where they're most impacted. I'm not expecting a staff outreach to those neighborhoods to come back all the answers. But at least let's start the dialogue, show that we care about what's going on, and do you have some thoughts on how we might still ultimately is our decision about what to use the 50,000 for. But if we could add some resources to help partner, to develop some

safety protocols or some establishments so that people feel more comfortable going in the parks, playgrounds walking to school taking the bus helping with that visibility then let's let's seriously consider that Thank You mayor

Catherine Readcouncilmember Lim Thank

So LimYou mayor you know when the when the homelessness task force was established we had three listening sessions one in Fairfax circle and one in the downtown the library, and I forget what the other one was. But anyway, we had three listening sessions where the residents and business owners came and talked to us about their issues and the problems and the hard times that they were having. So I don't want the new board to be established and then make new set of priorities. The priorities has already been established. So if we come up with the board members, they need to be addressing the priorities that's already been made by the Homelessness Task Force and hopefully if the council members are not ready to

adopt the City Council priorities at least establish the board first and then maybe we can pass the City Council priorities September when we come back thank you

Catherine ReadI think that makes sense it seems like we're coming to sort of a establishing the board at the next meeting and after the break looking at the priorities and then coming forward with an idea of what kind of public what outreach would look like because when you say staff should use to do outreach it was the homelessness task force with staff support that did the outreach so absent sort of this group of people staff I don't know how they would manage that because we have limited staff to do that so that would be the other reason to try to get this board set up because they they would have to provide that sort of labor-intensive outreach to since we don't have a homelessness task force that is done so and then as far as the hiring the the housing person I

think we're all behind it we just don't see how we're gonna fund it

Laszlo PalkostaffI just make Correct me if I'm wrong. It seems like you want a little bit of what's called participatory budgeting, where we have this $50,000 and perhaps having participatory budgeting in areas that there are concerns, right, to develop kind of quick impact projects that can make some impact right now to move this in a positive direction. Is that correct?

Thomas RossI think what I'm suggesting is that we have the money available, and are there some immediate needs that we need to address? And yes, we do need to move ahead with the formation of the task force. I agree with that. I don't disagree. I think we also need to be prepared to provide that task force with our agreement on the policies and the priorities. We've heard from the task force. They've given us good recommendations. I'm glad they came down to prioritizing it because I think that's really important. And we ought to do both pretty much at the same time, establish a task force and provide them with a framework for what we want them to focus on. But in addition to that, I'm suggesting that between now and the time we come back, asking the staff for how those funds could be used,

not for hiring a housing coordinator. I think that's important, and I think we can – I'm confident in JC's magic and the fact that we often have positions that lapse or some fluidity with that to come back and look at how we can accelerate that process without dipping into the 53,000 or 54,000 that we have for implementation of projects. And I'd like to hear back. I'm only one of counsel, so I think it would be up to others to support this. But give us some feedback in the fall. What could we do? Could we add cameras to some locations? Could we add some increased security in certain areas? Could we provide additional information for how people can feel secure as school starts, as the fall activities start, especially in those areas that are most directly impacted.

Laszlo PalkostaffSo it sounds like the consensus is next meeting, bring back the board for a vote, bring back in September the priorities for a vote, and then make some recommendations. And maybe that needs to be clarified because I've heard that from Councilmember Ross and Staley, bring back some recommendations for some immediate impact project with the $50,000 versus everything. agrees with hiring the homeless person or the housing person with the $50,000 they want to do some other initiatives do you all agree with bringing back some recommendations in the fall for some quick impact projects with that $50,000 maybe not all of it but using some of it in the fall to show some progress I

Catherine Readthink we we yes I think we should consider we should can because we can it can all be considered and I do think that the public is anxious for us not to is the problem with having concluded something in June, having an August recess, setting up an advisory board, is that people are like, so what are you doing in the interim? Like, what are you doing? I understand the public wants us to do something. So I think we should consider all the things that can be considered, but we have got to set up something that is far more thoughtful, that is for the long term, that brings in policy experts, subject matter experts, and people who can bring resources to solve the long-term issues that are creating unhoused folks in our city.

Thomas RossMayor, just to clarify my comments, I'm not suggesting that the use of $50,000 is going to be the fix. It's an immediate way to show that we're addressing some of the issues we're hearing, but clearly it's a long-term issue we're going to have to deal with and that's going to require funding it's going to fund require resources and it's going to require commitment from this dais to continue that after this one's done with their terms

Laszlo Palkostaffokay to mayor or to councilmember limbs and the mayor's point I think putting in some timelines and kind of what short-term medium term and and long-term with the priorities is that something you all agree we should do

Catherine ReadYes, but I think Council Member Greenfield has.

Jeffrey GreenfieldComments? Two items. One, as part of the budget adoption process, you've got an authorized staffing plan. If you've got vacancies within that staffing plan, I'd encourage you to look at are those needed, and if the answer is no, then take one of those positions and use it for the housing program coordinator. When I agreed to add money to the budget for recommendations, it wasn't to eat up that $53,000 for hiring someone. I would also encourage you, we can put something out on the street right now that says we are accepting applications, and then you can make a decision whether you actually hire or not. And so you've got, as the city manager, you have that ability. I support that type of position, but that's within the existing budget that we already have

and the existing staffing plan that's already been approved as part of the operating budget for this fiscal year. Second item, just when they come back to us at the next meeting, it would be helpful. We have two different categories here. We say we want five city residents, then we say down below three city residents. So is it five, is it three, or is it eight? And so having that subset, I think, is going to be very important. And then we can go out and begin to add some of the other people. So you don't need to clarify it tonight, but if we can get that for the 23rd, that would be helpful. Thank you, Mayor.

Catherine ReadAll right. It looks like we're closing in on a consensus to do something at the next meeting. Does everyone feel confident that we have a plan? Okay.

Wendy SanfordstaffSufficiently

Catherine Readcomfortable that we have a plan. All right. That said, I will now reconvene the regular meeting. And we will start with the manager report out.

Laszlo PalkostaffI'll stay here for that. So the only thing I want to report is to give a heads up to residents and to you all that July 23rd, the meeting that we're bringing back the acquisition of a property for the new, for the fire station replacement of fire station three. We're not ready to announce what that property is, but please just stay, you know, tune in to what's going to be in the packet to get information. We don't want this to be a surprise to anyone. That's why we're bringing that up right now to give people a heads up that this is coming. And that's funded in the CIP. So it's been discussed before, but I just want to give residents a heads up that this is coming.

Catherine ReadCouncilmember Bates, anything to add? Thank you, no comments. Okay, Councilmember Lim.

So LimNo comments, Mayor. Thank you.

Thomas RossCouncilmember Ross. I am going to shock everybody again and say I do have some comments tonight. A couple things I wanted to mention. First of all, I want to thank the folks from Village and the City that provided their annual report comments and their comments tonight. I serve as your rep to that group, and I want to say I am totally impressed with the work that's done for that program, for those in our community retaining. And we have a member of the committee here tonight, Jennifer Rose Beckwith from the Chamber of Commerce, who has ably served on that group. The programs that have been put on have been highly important to the seniors in this community and those about to become seniors. And the volunteer efforts really are important in strengthening and helping our community even stronger, become even a stronger community.

I want to compliment our city police. We've had a number of incidents recently, but even before that, there have been times when there have been incidents that concern people because they see police cars, they see police activity. They don't know what's going on, and they've been, I think, very effective at putting out communication, and I think they need to continue to do that. We need to support that in a way that leaves that up to them because they're the professionals, and they have to make sure they do it the right way. But I have been very pleased. I know when I came on council almost four years ago, over four years ago, So I asked for information just so that we could be aware if there's an incident going on.

And I think they've been very responsive to that. And they've got a lot of things on their minds and a lot of things that need to be done. But I think they have been very helpful in terms of getting the word out to the community, word out to us. And I want to compliment them on that. Finally, we had an amazing Independence Day celebration in this community. If you think for a moment, and I was obviously in the parade along with my grandson, which was very exciting for, I hope, for him and certainly for me. But at night at the high school, the number of people that were there for the celebration was in the thousands. I don't know what the number was in terms of estimate. People were celebrating.

They were having a good time, and everyone came out of that in a safe situation. That doesn't always happen, and it happens because we have amazing police, amazing volunteers, amazing city staff from Public Works to Parks and Recreation to Q Bus, just about everybody else. So I know we always respect and appreciate our city staff, but I think they deserve special credit for the work they did. They were there day long working very hard, and I just want to remind us how grateful we are for our city staff. And, again, I don't want to pick on Ms. Beckwith up there, but she was also the Master of Ceremonies at the evening event, and she did a phenomenal job, and it's great to have that partnership with folks like that that come in

Catherine Readand volunteer.

Thomas RossThank you. Thank you, Mayor.

Catherine ReadAll right. Thank you. Greenfield okay council member Staley

Jon Stehle Jrthank you mayor just a quick reminder to everybody that the City of Fairfax band annual children's concert is this coming Thursday the 18th hope to see you all there and getting some ice cream thank you mayor

Catherine Readall right so I am now going to conclude this meeting and we are going to come we are going to convene a closed meeting so I move that convene a closed meeting under section 2.2-3711.a1 of the code of Virginia to discuss personnel matters all council members in favor of the motions please signify by voting aye aye aye aye any voting nay okay the city council retired into a closed meeting at 10 30 p.m. Thank you. Thank you.