Government Glance for December 5, 2022: Charlottesville to get update on FY22 surplus, new police chief
The first of potentially several installments this first full week of December 2022
There is a lot different about December. The last week and a half is more or less limits for government meetings, which means these first two weeks will have more meetings that’s the usual. That’s certainly the case for yesterday’s Week Ahead edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement, which clocked in at 5,500 words.
That may seem like a lot, but isn’t government a lot? I’ve spent a good portion of my career devoted to reporting on what’s happening. I began this newsletter to learn more about the decisions made at the local level across the entire Fifth District. So far, that just means summaries of the meetings, but I’ve recently added a bit at the end with links to what journalists are writing about the things this newsletter previews.
I hope in the future to expand this, but the Charlottesville area keeps me busy. But, the work doing this newsletter allowed to make references to Lynchburg’s legislative agenda, as well as the boundary line adjustment between Goochland and Fluvanna County.
What I have not been able to do today is preview many of the Fifth District localities that are not the ones I’ve been writing about in CCE since July 2020. So, this installment is mostly a reprint of what’s on that other channel. More updates on the rest tomorrow.
Monday, December 5, 2022
Charlottesville to get final number on FY22 budget surplus, hold first reading on modified Mount View PUD
Charlottesville City Council will meet at 4 p.m. for a work session followed by a regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. (meeting info)
There are two items on the work session, both of which have something to do with the formation of next year’s budget. This City Council has asked for more information as the budget develops, and the current city leadership is responding. Interim City Manager Michael C. Rogers gave a preview of this year’s process at a budget work session in mid-October. (City Manager Rogers predicts more difficult budget season for FY24, October 25, 2022)
First, applications are in from various nonprofit organizations for a portion of their budgets. Staff will provide an update on what requests have come in through what’s known as the Vibrant Community Fund.
“There were a total of 50 applications submitted (some organizations submitted more than one application),” reads the staff report. “ In comparison, last year, we received a total of 28 applications.”
The total amount of funding requested is $4,315,608.01, up from around $2.72 million in FY23. There is a sixteen member group that is reviewing the submissions. Staff is recommending more funding be directed toward this fund.
Next, Council will receive the results of an audit of the books for fiscal year 2022, which closed on June 30. This will provide the official figure for a city surplus. In June, this figure was believed to be $14 million, as I reported at the time.
“State Code requires the City's auditor to report to the governing body at a public session,” reads the staff report which does not have any information about the audit itself.
The regular meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. One of the first items on the consent agenda are the minutes of the budget work session I wrote about. This is what we learn from the draft minutes:
“After the slideshow presentation, Council engaged in discussion. Individual councilors shared their priorities.”
Charlottesville has a budget of $212,889,291 for the current fiscal year, with some of the proceeds coming from a tax rate increase as well as a 10.76 percent increase in real property assessments. Perhaps the public deserves more than 13 words to describe an hour-long conversation on something as important as how tax dollars are spent.
Until then, you can rely on me to cover the process as close as I can. Please share the work so more people know what’s happening.
The consent agenda also contains two second readings of land use items. One is for a drive-through window for an undisclosed restaurant along U.S. 29 in Hillsdale Place and the other is for a daycare on Albemarle Street.
There are several action items on the agenda. The first is an amendment of the 2018 agreement between Albemarle and Charlottesville related to the new General District Court on the Levy Opera House site. That agreement compelled the city to provide parking spaces for the county.
“As contemplated in the MOA, the City initially explored developing a new parking structure proximate to the new courts facility on land owned by the City at 701 East Market Street,” reads the staff report. “However, by resolution approved June 21, 2021 the City Council directed the City Manager and staff to halt planning for the new structure.”
Now the county will assume “exclusive control” of 63 spaces at the East Market Street Parking Lot during court hours as well as 27 spaces at the Market Street Parking Garage. If this arrangement fails, the city would sell the surface lot to the county at fair market value.
A previous City Council spent $2.85 million in January 2017 to purchase the lot occupied by the Guadalajara and the Lucky 7 convenience store for the garage. At the time, the city was in a legal battle with the Charlottesville Parking Center over control of the Water Street Parking Garage.
The reason I draw attention to the minutes above is that there has been a pattern in Charlottesville of large amounts of money being spent with little transparency and perhaps without the full story being told.
Next, Interim City Manager Michael C. Rogers will ask for consent from Council for the police chief he has selected from three finalists. The staff report does not identify the person selected, but the three people under consideration are:
Latroy A. “Tito” Durrette, acting Charlottesville Police Chief (view resume)
Michael Kochis, Chief of Police in the Town of Warrenton (view resume)
Easton L. McDonald, Major-Division Commander, Loudoun County Sheriff’s Department (view resume)
For more information, take a look at my story on the forum last week held by the Charlottesville Police Civilian Oversight Board.
Speaking of the PCOB, Council will be asked to approve an amendment to their enabling ordinance and approval of new operating procedures.
“Recognizing that investigations of citizen complaints and investigations of incidents have the same structure and objectives, these two functions are now combined into one procedure,” reads the staff report. “Most importantly, this approach abolishes the distinction between a ‘Preliminary Investigative Report’ and an ‘Investigative Report’ and does away with the former.
The PCOB is currently without an executive director as the previous person left after just over a year in the position.
After that, Council moves to land use with the first of two readings of a rezoning of 3.4 acres from R-2 to Planned Unit Development for land in the Locust Grove neighborhood near the Mount View Baptist Church.
“A maximum of 60 units are proposed within five structures that are integrated into the landscape,” reads the a revised application that has been changed since the Planning Commission’s public hearing on September 13.
“The discussion centered on the affordable housing proffer; particularly concerns with the proposed duration of affordable housing unit availability and specifications for qualifying residents; and general support of the proposed density and proposed building form,” reads the staff report.
Council has three choices. They can decline to hear the revised application, hold a new public hearing of their own, or send it back to the Planning Commission.
Here is a link to the list of changes. They include reducing the affordability level for the seven affordable units to being for households lower than 60 percent of the area median income, and increasing the affordability period from 10 years to 20 years.
The Office of Community Solutions would like to see a longer period of rental. Note that the Affordable Housing Plan aspires to a period of 99 years.
The applicant is also seeking a waiver from sidewalks. (read the staff report)
Next, Council will consider the transfer of $350,000 from the capital improvement program fund to a project to renovate Washington Park pool. This funding had previously been set aside for the city’s share of a project to build lighted fields at Darden Towe Park.
“The County has not approved this project and recent deliberation confirms they are not moving forward as originally planned,” reads the staff report. “Staff would like to reallocate funds to resurface the Washington Park Pool shell and all the pool amenities, including shade structures and mirror renovation.”
This will be the first of two readings.
Next, Council will be asked to express support to use city resources to add disabled access to the Dogwood Vietnam Memorial in McIntire Park. The memorial was dedicated on April 20, 1966 and was relocated when the John Warner Parkway was built along the eastern edge of McIntire Park. A rededication ceremony was held in April 2016.
“The City Manager's Office recommends that City Council should continue to explore its options as to how to select and commence a competitive process by which a project to establish a new surface parking lot, and a handicapped accessible pedestrian walkway from the parking lot to the Memorial, can be officially scoped out and added to the City's Capital Improvements Program, to be funded by private as well as state or local funding,” reads the staff report.
According to the staff report, Senator Creigh Deeds has said he will seek legislation to assist with the project.
Finally, Council will vote to approve a legislative priority list. Two of the five City Councilor have put together nine priorities separate from the overall list put together by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. (read the full list)
The first seeks enabling authority to enact a one-cent sales tax increase. Such legislation died in Committee in the 2022 assembly. (House Subcommittee kills school sales tax bills, February 25, 2022)
The fourth would remove the requirement that a law enforcement officer be present with someone under an emergency custody order until a bed is found. This is also a priority of the Lynchburg City Council, as you can see in their wish list approved in early November.
The ninth seeks to extend the spirit of the Future Land Use Map to the entire Commonwealth.
“We support legislation to abolish the designation of ‘single-family’ zoning areas throughout the Commonwealth,” reads this policy list. “Policies encouraging ‘inclusionary zoning’ would allow for more affordable housing and create more diverse communities.
Louisa Supervisors to hold public hearings on county bonuses, land use amendment
The seven-member Louisa County Board of Supervisors meets at 3:30 p.m. There’s no agenda for that meeting, but there is one for the 6 p.m. open meeting (meeting info) (agenda packet)
The meeting begins with the usual invocation, pledge of allegiance, adoption of the agenda, approval of previous minutes, approval of bills, and the consent agenda. There’s also the recognitions period and then the public comment period.
In the packet is a notice from the Virginia Department of Health’s Office of Drinking Water with a notice of an alleged violation against the Gum Spring BP station for failure to monitor for coliform bacteria, a violation of waterworks law. This letter was copied to County Administrator Christian Goodwin and included in the packet. There are lots of these types of notices available to the public and I appreciate it being distributed to Supervisors.
The first public hearing is to amend the county ordinance to allow for the awarding of bonuses to county employees.
“It is the desire of the Louisa County Board of Supervisors to add Code Section 58-5 to the Louisa County Code to allow monetary incentives, awards, and bonuses to County employees for exceptional services rendered by employees in accordance with Va. Code § 15.2-1508,” reads the ordinance.
The second public hearing is to amend the county ordinance to allow the recognition of non-contiguous parcels that are separated by a roadway. This may seem like a trivial issue, but it’s a crucial step in an urbanizing community. Here’s a section from the staff report from Josh Gillespie, Director of Community Development.
“More specifically, the purpose of these standards and procedures is to provide a guide for the change that occurs when lands and acreage become urban in character as a result of development for residential, business or industrial purposes; to provide assurance that purchasers of lots are buying a commodity that is suitable for development and use; and to make possible the provision of public services in a safe, adequate and efficient manner.”
The Planning Commission voted to recommend approval on a 4-2 vote.
The third public hearing on the agenda is for a rezoning of 15.277 acres of land on Lake Anna from General Commercial to Planned Unit Development. This is for a project called Lake Anna Resort that also has a request to increase the maximum height of buildings from 60 feet to 80 feet.
In October, the Planning Commission voted to recommend approval of the rezoning with two conditions, but a motion for the special use permit to increase the height failed on a 3 to 3 motion. (Louisa County Planning Commission recommends rezoning for resort, but declines to recommend 80-foot buildings, October 19, 2022)
However, Tammy Purcell reports that this item will be deferred until a later date. Take a look at the tweet thread and make sure you are subscribed to Engage Louisa.
In other meetings:
The Halifax County Board of Supervisors meets today as well. Unfortunately their website still isn’t functional and I did not ask for the agenda on Friday before the weekend began. I will try to get this out tomorrow by noon. (meeting info)
The Mecklenburg County Board of Supervisors is also scheduled to meet today but the agenda was not posted online as of Sunday. I will try to get this out tomorrow by noon. (meeting info)
Additional reading material for the Fifth District:
Additional SRO will not be hired for Appomattox County High School, Charles Conrad, Appomattox Times-Virginian, December 1, 2022
Amherst schools chief hopeful for high school addition, renovation to begin in May, Justin Faulconer, Amherst New Era-Progress, December 1, 2022
Board approves federal grant to fund healthcare needs for Appomattox County schools, Charles Conrad, Appomattox TImes-Virginian, December 1, 2022
Attorney Kevin Bailey announces plan to run for 56th Delegate seat, Charles Conrad, Appomattox TImes-Virginian, December 1, 2022
Lynchburg staff, nonprofits work to close the affordable housing gap, Bryson Gordon, Lynchburg News and Advance, November 26, 2022