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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/26/2013 - RegularFebruary 26, 2013 65 Roanoke County Administration Center 5204 Bernard Drive Roanoke, Virginia 24018 The Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia met this day at the Roanoke County Administration Center, this being the fourth Tuesday and the second regularly scheduled meeting of the month of February 2013. Audio and video recordings of this meeting will be held on file for a minimum of five (5) years in the office of the Clerk to the Board of Supervisors. IN RE: CALL TO ORDER taken. Chairman Altizer called the meeting to order at 3:06 p.m. The roll call was MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman Michael W. Altizer; Supervisors Joseph B. "Butch" Church, Eddie "Ed" Elswick, Richard C. Flora and Charlotte A. Moore MEMBERS ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: B. Clayton Goodman III, County Administrator; Daniel R. O'Donnell, Assistant County Administrator; Paul M. Mahoney, County Attorney; Teresa H. Hall, Director of Public Information and Deborah C. Jacks, Clerk to the Board IN RE: OPENING CEREMONIES Before the meeting was called to order Reverend Milton Marks of Raleigh Court United Methodist Church gave the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all present. IN RE: REQUESTS TO POSTPONE, ADD TO, OR CHANGE THE ORDER OF AGENDA ITEMS Mr. B. Clayton Goodman III, County Administrator, asked that the new business item for a resolution approving a proposed amendment to the Bent Mountain Community Center lease regarding insurance limits be removed as the insurance requirements had been met. There were no objections. IN RE: PROCLAMATIONS, RESOLUTIONS, RECOGNITIONS AND AWARDS VAMMAQ •• February 26, 2013 1. Recognition of the Roanoke County Emergency Communications Center Award Winners for 2012 (Bill Hunter, Director of Communications and Information Technology) In attendance for this recognition were Bill Hunter, Director of Communications and Information Technology; Nikki Crush, Communications Officer; Kathryn Kimmell, Communications Officer; Pat Shumate, Chief Communications Officer; Aleta Coleman, Training Coordinator and Beverly Orange, Communications Officer. All Supervisors offered their thanks and congratulations. IN RE: NEW BUSINESS 2. Resolution for Roanoke County's continued participation in the Roanoke Valley's community discussion regarding the state and condition of Broadband (B. Clayton Goodman III, County Administrator) Mr. Goodman outlined the resolution, which was a follow -up from a work session held on February 12, 2013. All of the Supervisors voiced their support. RESOLUTION 022613 -1 FOR ROANOKE COUNTY'S CONTINUED PARTICIPATION IN THE ROANOKE VALLEY'S COMMUNITY DISCUSSION REGARDING THE STATE AND CONDITION OF BROADBAND WHEREAS, Roanoke County along with other local governments, and private businesses have participated in a Broadband Task Force which had reviewed a study commissioned by local governments and business located in the Roanoke Valley; and WHEREAS, the report found: "The Roanoke Region is lagging behind other communities when it comes to its fiber optic network, and it needs to take action "; and WHEREAS, The Study prepared by Design Nine found that the four main challenges in the Roanoke Valley were: 1. Accessibility: There are many areas of the region which have limited or no access to broadband service 2. Affordability: There is virtually no competition among providers which drives up the cost. February 26, 2013 67 3. Reliability: There is no fully redundant fiber ring in the region, meaning that if a fiber line gets cut there is no way to re -route service and keep customers working. For businesses this is critical. 4. Speed: Businesses need faster access speeds that will allow them to work from their offices in the valley with companies and customers anywhere in the world; and WHEREAS, Victor lannello and Sam English conducted a work session at the Board of Supervisors February 12, 2013, meeting and presented the Task Force's recommendations and next step in pursuing the enhancement of broadband services and access to the internet for the Roanoke Valley; and WHEREAS, the task force has identified three primary areas that need to be addressed: 1. Develop local government policies and cooperative agreements that expand the infrastructure of broadband throughout the region. 2. Improve the availability of low -cost broadband for residents and business throughout the region. 3. Explore the need and economic feasibility of one or more data centers in the region. The Task Force's representatives at the February 12, 2013, meeting also recommended creation of a Wireless Authority to assist in implementing the recommendations and to move the Valley forward. The Wireless Authorities Act was established to help promote better public /private cooperation and planning in development of fiber. NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors does hereby accept the Broadband Task Force recommendations and authorize the County Administrator and designated County staff to continue participating in ongoing discussions on how best to move forward the Broadband Task Force's recommendation and establish robust fiber backbone to carry the Roanoke Valley into the 21 st century. On motion of Supervisor Flora to adopt the resolution, and carried by the following roll call and recorded vote: AYES: Supervisors Moore, Flora, Church, Elswick, Altizer NAYS: None 3. Resolution requesting the Virginia Department of Transportation to study safety improvements for the intersection of Starkey Road and Buck Mountain Road in Roanoke County (B. Clayton Goodman III, County Administrator) Mr. Goodman explained the request for a resolution. Chairman Altizer allowed the following citizens to speak before the Board held their discussion: 68 February 26, 2013 Karen Pendleton of 4379 Rock Garden Lane in Roanoke, Virginia advised she is the Principal of Clearbrook Elementary School and lives off Buck Mountain Road not far from the intersection that the Board is talking about. She thanked the Board for giving her the opportunity to speak about this item. Within the past ten years, the traffic on this road has increased significantly. One is the addition of Walmart at the end of Route 221 and has now become a passageway to get there. Faith Christian School has increased the traffic there and there are three subdivisions that have been built off of that road, one of which still has the potential to have almost as many houses as have already been added to the area. Over the past ten years, there have been three redistricting and most of the redistricting that have come to Clearbrook Elementary involves communities that pass that intersection in order to get to the school. They have four (4) buses that pass through that area and can hold up to one hundred fifty (150) students or those same students may pass with their families through that area coming to the school. When you talk to parents about their concerns, they have a couple of concerns. First, the folks coming out of Branderwood have trouble seeing around that corner so they say often when they look out and look again there is someone coming around the curve and they cannot see. Another concern that people have expressed is the signage there. While the signs are great, people do not tend to follow them. So when they get to the intersection at the yield sign, people run the yield sign or the stop sign where they have to come across, so that is another concern. A lot of folks had reported they had almost been hit because somebody did not pay attention to the signage that is there. You can imagine if a car coming out of Branderwood has trouble seeing around the curve, you can image how much slower a bus comes out of that intersection heading down Buck Mountain Road. During peak times, it is very difficult sometimes for folks to get out of the Branderwood area at all. Parents also report more large truck traffic going through that area. Personally, she added that traffic will back way up Starkey Road where you have to make that intersection in the evening when folks are coming in and it does make it very difficult for those people who are trying to enter the Buck Mountain Road area to come across there. She added she would personally like to thank the Board for allowing her time to talk and hope they will make a consideration of that because she thinks it would be a large benefit for our families and children that attend Clearbrook Elementary. Linda LaPrade from the Cave Spring district stated she respected the Board and its ability to deal with county residents in an honest manner and in that spirit of honesty asks the Board to examine her questions and know that the citizens are watching and involved in their decisions. She stated she was quite surprised to see an item asking for a VDOT study of the intersection of Buck Mountain and Starkey Road. Immediately questions came to mind as she is sure they came to mind for all responsible citizens and taxpayers. We know through viewing the General Assembly this year, transportation is a huge issue with many needs causing taxes to be raised for all Virginians. That begs the question, how much is this needed? I want' safe roads and safe intersections. I travel this intersection frequently coming from all directions and February 26, 2013 69 have never seen even a fender - bender there. The longest wait to merge onto Buck Mountain road occurs at rush hour and I don't recall ever seeing it backed up over five or six cars. Keeping that in mind, these are my questions to you in the spirit of transparency. 1) Is this the usual method of asking for a VDOT study on Roanoke County roads? I can't help but think you have an internal process for this since you must get many citizen requests for stop lights, road improvements and other things. 2) Is this the result of the survey that was placed in many locations that asked "Would you like to see safety improvements in the Buck Mountain and Starkey Road intersection ?" As I mentioned before the question itself is ridiculous. I looked at the signatures yesterday. There were 684 signatures with at -least 277 of them not residents of Roanoke County. I saw signatures from many parts of the County, Greensboro and one from West Virginia. doubt many of these people know where the intersection is. If you set this precedent, you can expect any area or individual who has a transportation request to gather signatures and present them to you, and to be fair you will have to request a VDOT study. 3) Will this cost the taxpayers of Roanoke County any money? 4) Is this truly an unsafe intersection? How many accidents have there been in the last year or five years? How serious were they? Does this make a list of the top ten accident -prone areas in Roanoke County? If the issue is really citizen safety, shouldn't those places be our emphasis? 5) Lastly, and sadly to me, this brings to mind the request tabled in a work session earlier. .for the county to purchase the house for sale at that intersection for a "possible future roundabout ". She stated she hopes that is not a reason for this because that brings more questions of transparency and manipulation. Bill Gregory of 3312 Pamlico Drive in Roanoke, Virginia stated when this Starkey Road /Buck Mountain Road roundabout issue came up recently, his antennae went up. It went up because the group Common Cause with its Sierra Club influences and the particular Board member pushing for this roundabout has been very ICLEI friendly. As you aware, ICLEI has been promoting the voluntary advancement of Agenda 21 in hundreds of counties and cities across the country with their CCP milestone program and their CACP emission software. He stated he wondered what the back -story was behind the push to get these roundabouts built over the past five (5) years, two of them have recently been built. On a hunch, he did a little investigating for connections between roundabouts and ICLEI; he hit the motherload. Many climate action plans from localities popped up in search results. In any of these climate action plans, safety was even mentioned. Instead, the concern appeared to be using roundabouts as a strategy for reducing carbon footprint. Here is just one example of many called the City of Urbana Climate Action Plan, Phase 1. In their quest to reduce carbon emissions by a certain percentage a year before 2020, under the Transportation Sector, gasoline usage section on page ten of thirty it states as a strategy, "providing energy efficient transportation infrastructure including roundabouts and other yield control intersections speed control and traffic calming." ICLEI and its emission software were mentioned several times in the plan. Also, he visited ICLEI's website and immediately he found two roundabouts from the articles there. So, he suspects these 70 February 26, 2013 roundabouts are being heavily pushed, primarily to help the County reach its carbon emission goals. Safety is likely a secondary concern, although a good concern. Please consider there could be a back story other than just safety to this heavy push for roundabouts in the Cave Spring district. On the topic of safety, he stated he regularly drives around but existing roundabouts in the Cave Spring district. He stated he finds the Penn Forrest /Colonial roundabout to be dangerous; it is too small and the entrances to the circle are too close together. There is not much time to react when someone entering the circle does not yield the right -of -way to those in the circle. In two situations, had he not been a defensive driver and anticipated this by slamming on his brakes, there would have been an accident. Melissa Moslow of 6144 Burnham Road in Roanoke, Virginia stated she is from SW County in the Castle Rock Farms area. She stated she signed a petition requesting VDOT to make a public safety improvement to the intersection of Starkey Road and Buck Mountain Road. After signing it, she asked her employer if she might put a copy of it at the front desk where she works at Faith Christian School so the guests and parents and the delivery personnel might have the same opportunity that she had been afforded. Without exception, anyone that saw the petition and read of the area that was in question signed it and had their own story to tell, their own comment to make. It was easily identified. It is a piece of Buck Mountain Road that raises concern for those of us who commute there every day. It is one of the things that perhaps we can address regarding safety. She stated she is very grateful for this opportunity to hear other citizens and their views and their research, but thought of coming to speak and making her own personal request. She stated she is not representing Faith Christian School; it is just where she works and the public she encounters and know the opinions of those people who come through from what they said in signing the petition, but when she considered just standing and speaking to the Board and requesting this personally, she thought of her own safety and the 205 families of which she serves came to mind, her children who travel and the young students who drive, the buses she sees full of students there every weekday. She stated she would rather be at the dentist than speak publically, but when she thought of standing and asking the Board personally to ask VDOT to look into this, she thought of Normal Rockwell's picture of the four freedoms and the farmer who stands in the Town Hall meeting just giving his own opinion, but perhaps speaking for others as well and so she asked respectfully that the Board would let and ask the professionals who can determine and answer these questions that have been raised here by the other citizens by making a study to consider the safety improvements necessary at the intersection of Starkey Road and Buck Mountain Road. Linda Wright of 6328 Merriman Road, SW in Roanoke, Virginia stated she is the principal of Penn Forest Elementary. She thanked the Board for allowing her to speak this afternoon on what she considers to be an area of concern for those who live, work and travel in the area of the Starkey Road /Buck Mountain Road intersection. Physically challenging to maneuver, the amount of traffic that passes through this February 26, 2013 71 crossroad on a daily basis creates a dangerous and frustrating situation for its users. She advised her school alone has three buses that travel through this intersection carrying 165 students. Many other students likewise travel through this intersection as parents bring them to school. Staff members also navigate this cumbersome stretch of roadway as they move to and from work. Additionally, three other schools, Cave Spring Middle, Cave Spring High School and Clearbrook Elementary, all have buses picking up students and dropping them off using this same stretch of roadway, creating sometimes frustrating and even dangerous situations, especially during the morning commute when everyone is a little frazzled before even getting into their cars. As buses stop to pick up students, traffic comes to a screeching halt many times each morning as people using this shortcut to 220, 221 and downtown Roanoke rush to work. As the area grows with new business opportunities, traffic increases exponentially. All of these factors escalate the concern for the safety of our children by those of us responsible for their well- being. While it is unrealistic to think that we can effectively reduce the number of vehicles in this scenario, there are effective ways to manage and improve the flow of traffic similar to those means implemented in front of Penn Forest. Many of the same vehicles that end up in the Starkey /Buck Mountain vehicular amalgamation also travel Merriman Road. Traffic management was certainly a major concern for County administrators when the new library was built and one that was managed very effectively in rearranging traffic flow through the roundabout. She stated she would ask that the Board request VDOT to give the intersection of Starkey and Buck Mountain Roads the same attention and priority that was so successfully implemented on the previous project. It is important to many people, not only to those who signed the petitions, but also to the little people riding with mom or dad or the bus driver through the maelstrom, the ones she represents. Supervisor Moore thanked everyone who came and spoke today. She stated they definitely need to take a look at this intersection. She advised she also traveled it frequently and does not think she could add anything more than what the citizens have said other than there is a fueling station for tanker trucks fuel on Starkey Road. There are several trucking companies that travel that road. These tanker trucks are quite large to get around to make a right turn onto Starkey from Buck Mountain and also to make a left turn from Starkey onto Buck Mountain. This intersection is very congested right now and she knows it will just get worse in the future. We need to think about the safety of our children and we need to think about the safety of the motorists that travel that intersection every day. So, she stated she thinks VDOT would make a good study; they would use their own common sense and knowledge and strategic planning. On this petition she does not see anything mentioned about a roundabout. She thinks VDOT will take a look at this hopefully and will make their own determination on this intersection. Supervisor Flora stated it is not unusual for a Board member to bring an issue before this Board that might deal with traffic or safety or anything relating to the State Highway Department. The Board typically refers these matters to VDOT as they 72 February 26, 2013 are the ones that maintain the roads. They are the professionals and generally do their analysis all in -house so it does not cost any additional money. He stated he thinks everyone wants safe intersections and because VDOT has the responsibility of providing those, he feels that it is quite appropriate to refer this to VDOT. Supervisor Church thanked the previous speakers for their comments. He stated he did not believe that the issue was whether this issue would be referred to VDOT; it will be referred to VDOT. He questions how we got here today. As a senior member of the Board, he does not recall a situation like this coming to the Board as a resolution and has checked with Community Development. In his district, he has thousands of miles of roads, intersections, etc. and routinely, it is not written, but when citizens call to check about speed limits, curbs, stops lights, etc. he contacts Community Development and they have an engineer who works directly with VDOT to start the process. So, don't think he is not about public safety; his question is about how we got here. We first got a request for this item to go into closed session, without the public and no media for the possible purchase of land at this intersection. This piece of land is on sale for approximately $300,000. So anytime we are talking about taxpayer money, he feels that it should be transparent and in the public. He requested this item be placed in open session and the Chairman refused. When another Board member requested the same thing, it was placed on the agenda as a work session. He has looked at this intersection several times, and knows it is heavily traveled. Last week, he called the Police Chief and inquired about accidents. He was advised that there were eleven (11) accidents or "fender- bender" and six of which were not reportable during the last five years. This does not mean it cannot happen next week. This is going to go to VDOT. His question is the process and do we need a resolution every time a citizen contacts us; if so, we are going to waste a lot of staff time and taxpayer money doing this. He is sure citizens would want to sign a petition all over Roanoke County. He asked Mr. Arnold Covey, Director of Community Development, to step forward to answer some questions. He asked Mr. Covey if he was correct that when a citizen calls, VDOT is contacted. Mr. Covey responded when they receive a request, it is provided to VDOT and looked at to see if it will go on the six -year plan and brought to the Board. At that time, it is brought to the Board if there are funds to add to the six - year plan. Over the last several years, because there has been no funding, projects have been pulled. Through years 2018, there is approximately $300,000 a year. There are three projects currently on the six -year plan totaling well over a million dollars, so as you can see it takes a while. There are three options: the six -year road plan, revenue - sharing depending on whether the County has any funds and is split fifty percent (50 %) with VDOT and the third option is for the County to fully fund. We do take all petitions and look at the merits of the projects; we have eliminated several projects in all districts due to lack of funds. It generally takes more than six -years for projects. Supervisor Church then asked Mr. Covey how much the roundabouts on Penn Forest and Colonial cost, with Mr. Covey advising about a million as well as the one on Merriman. February 26, 2013 73 Supervisor Moore stated she thinks we are here today because a large group of citizens wanted to make this intersection safer and made their voices heard by signing a petition and coming forward today and speaking. She stated she thinks politics overrides common sense and she is hearing some of that today. She knows there is a process; the roundabout at Merriman was part of the Library project. This would be a VDOT project that we are asking them to take a look at safety concerns at this intersection; not asking for a roundabout. We are just asking them to study this project to make this intersection safe for our children and our motorists. Supervisor Elswick thanked those who spoke today as the Board always wants to know what citizens are thinking about. He travels this intersection during the day, but has not experienced the traffic problems mentioned. The concerns are valid with regard to the safety issues; however, there are a lot of other locations in the County with similar situations with only so much money to go around. He stated he thinks it was a shame this project was brought up with the way it was instead of going through the normal procedure. The Board was asked to consider buying the lot on the corner at $325,000 with a six percent (6 %) commission with an $18,000 payment to a realtor that Supervisor Moore is associated with. He stated he thinks a better way to go about this was to go to Community Development, the way we normally do and ask them to contact VDOT. Then, our people would meet with VDOT and decide which one has the highest priority based on accident rates and traffic volume. There are some of these intersections where people are killed and he would assume they would take a higher priority. Our normal routine is a good one and should have been used in this case because the way it was done overshadows the fact that there is a legitimate reason for a traffic study here. Safety is always a valid concern and VDOT is very much aware of what the traffic volume and accident rates are at all of our intersections. The petition has a lot of people on it, but found it hard to believe that people from West Virginia and Greensboro really travel that road a lot. He stated he would have called them, but there were no phone numbers, which is not like the other petition before the Board today. He stated we ought to follow our normal procedures and the Board should not duplicate work that we already have someone on the payroll that does as a part of their normal routine. He does not think we need to get into the business to have a resolution for every traffic issue in the County; we have other things to do. Let's follow our normal routine. In addition, he stated he does not think we need to be asking our State representatives to get involved with one intersection in Roanoke County. Is that the kind of thing we should be asking our State representatives to spend their time on — no. We should be asking them for more money so that we can fix these types of intersections. Chairman Altizer stated things happen and perceptions are created and sometimes perceptions are reality and sometimes perceptions are not a reality. He is going to liken this to his district and remind Supervisor Church that he himself brought a resolution to the Board to remove tractor trailers from Route 116. He went to Mr. Covey who asked him that he was wasting his time, but he believed in the safety of tractor- 74 February 26, 2013 trailers coming over Windy Gap Mountain and asked this Board to make a resolution to stop it, so we have done it. To him, it is about safety, it may take a long to get it done. He doesn't think there will be an overbearing amount of people to come; he thinks Supervisor Church is right there are very few of these to come forward. Since its safety, he thinks we owe it to them to turn it over to VDOT and let them decide. They may come back and say there is not a problem; but they might well say there is a problem. It is a concern to the citizens to that area, but does not think there will be money for some time. Let's have VDOT come back and tell us if it is or isn't a problem. Supervisor Church stated he does remember that situation in that area, but there was no money or land acquisition involved and there was a tractor trailer accident. He stated he thinks that everyone on this Board is concerned about safety and calmly and respectfully he takes great exception to the comment from Supervisor Moore that politics should not dictate; nothing comes before safety with this supervisor. There are no politics involved at all. It is a matter of transparency, openness and an ethic that we operate on. It would be like asking the two principals to change everything they do at their school; you cannot do that if it is not broken. There is a process. This item is going to go to VDOT, no matter what the vote happens to be on this issue it is going to VDOT. So, if this was put aside it does not mean it is stopped; it does not mean that someone does not care about the children or school buses; it just means that it can go through the process and if we do not allow the process, he can assure everyone that there will be chaos. He can remember a particular issue with his area, Route 11/460, there were thousands of people and it took twenty (20) years to get that road widened. There is a process and the Board is going to have a steady stream of people coming in his opinion and he would not blame them. In his opinion, the County cannot afford to circumvent what has been going on for many, many years. The process is not broken and he is happy the people signed petitions, but in reality they did not have to sign petitions at all. The attention of the Board was gotten very quickly with a call to Community Development. Let VDOT recognize what most of us do understand, that it needs to be looked at. Even though there is very little accidents or problems there right now does not mean that tomorrow or the next day, it will not happen. He cannot hardly believe that this intersection became dangerous in the last three days or three weeks; it has probably been dangerous for quite a while. So, his point is, we are here needlessly because it can go back to VDOT in its regular channel. He stated he thinks the Board is setting a precedent that he is not sure this Board wants to spend an hour during our meeting or more for people possibly coming, because we will need to acknowledge them and let them have their say. Supervisor Moore moved approval of this resolution. Supervisor Church made a substitute motion to lay this item on the table and get back to VDOT normal process, it does not mean it is cancelled or rejected. Chairman Altizer stated if passed this item could not be brought up again with Mr. Mahoney, County Attorney, advising at a future meeting a motion could be made to remove the item from the table and then revoted upon. February 26, 2013 75 The motion to table this item was denied by the following roll call and recorded vote: AYES: Supervisors Church and Elswick NAYS: Supervisors Moore, Flora and Altizer RESOLUTION 022613 -2 REQUESTING THE VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO STUDY SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS FOR THE INTERSECTION OF STARKEY ROAD AND BUCK MOUNTAIN ROAD IN ROANOKE COUNTY WHEREAS, more than 690 citizens have signed a petition requesting the construction of safety improvements at the intersection of Starkey Road and Buck Mountain Road; and WHEREAS, Penn Forest Elementary, Clearbrook Elementary, Cave Spring Middle School, Cave Spring High School, and Faith Christian School all have school buses that travel this intersection twice a day, and Country Bear Day Care is also located on Starkey Road, and these parents use this intersection; and WHEREAS, many large trucks and fuel tanker trucks utilize these roads to access U.S. Route 220 in order to avoid traffic congestion of Route 419; and WHEREAS, many residential subdivisions are located near this intersection. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia, as follows: 1. That the Virginia Department of Transportation study possible safety improvements for the intersection of Starkey Road and Buck Mountain Road. 2. That the Virginia Department of Transportation consider making public safety improvements to this intersection. 3. That the Clerk to the Board of Supervisors send a copy of this resolution to Delegate Greg Habeeb, Congressman Bob Goodlatte, Senators Mark Warner, Timothy Kaine. On motion of Supervisor Moore to adopt the resolution, and carried by the following roll call and recorded vote: AYES: Supervisors Moore, Flora, Altizer NAYS: Supervisors Church, Elswick Supervisor Church reiterated his concern as a matter of procedure and the possibility of opening up an endless box. IN RE: REQUEST FOR PUBLIC HEARINGS AND FIRST READING OF REZONING ORDINANCES - CONSENT AGENDA 76 February 26, 2013 1. The petition of Old Heritage Corporation to rezone approximately 1.880 acres from R -1, Low Density Residential, District to C -1C, Office, District with proffered conditions, located near the intersection of Crossbow Circle and Franklin Road (Route 220 South) and including a portion of 5259 Crossbow Circle, Cave Spring Magisterial District Supervisor Moore moved to approve the first reading and set the second readings and public hearings for March 26, 2013. The motion carried by the following recorded vote: AYES: Supervisors Moore, Flora, Church, Elswick, Altizer NAYS: None IN RE: CONSENT AGENDA RESOLUTION 022613 -3 APPROVING AND CONCURRING IN CERTAIN ITEMS SET FORTH ON THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AGENDA FOR THIS DATE DESIGNATED AS ITEM H- CONSENT AGENDA BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia, as follows: That the certain section of the agenda of the Board of Supervisors for February 26, 2013, designated as Item H - Consent Agenda be, and hereby is, approved and concurred in as to each item separately set forth in said section designated Items 1 through 5 inclusive, as follows: 1. Approval of minutes — February 12, 2013 2. Confirmation of appointments to the Community Policy and Management Team (CPMT); Grievance Panel (at Large) and the League of Older Americans 3. Request to approve the Health Insurance Plan and premiums for 2013 -2014 4. Request to approve the Dental Plan and premiums for 2013 -2014 5. Resolution expressing the appreciation of the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County to Doris J. Johnson upon her retirement after more than twenty -one (21) years of service On motion of Supervisor Church to adopt the resolution, and carried by the following roll call and recorded vote: AYES: Supervisors Moore, Flora, Church, Elswick, Altizer NAYS: None February 26, 2013 77 IN RE: CITIZENS' COMMENTS AND COMMUNICATIONS Noah Tickle of 1603 Frosty Lane in Salem, Virginia advised he has been a Roanoke County resident since 1956. He advised in 2010, IPCC chief Ra-- chen - -dra Pac-- ha - -uri refused to acknowledge that global temperatures had not risen for over a decade when at the UN's COP 16, Cancun, Mexico. COP is the "Conference of The Parties" a deceptive cloaked for The UN Convention on Biological Diversity. This week Pac-- ha -yri caved and conceded 17 years without warming at a speech at Deak -in University in Melbourne, Australia. Pac-- ha - -uri is the IPCC -- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's highest climate official, but is not, by the way, a climate scientist..... He is a railroad engineer.... Remember this the next time you encounter a " "warming activist "" (who is also "A self- appointed" climate scientist) who insists that you may not evaluate global warming policy because you are not a climate scientist. Global warming advocacy is a " "world of double standards and double speak " ". As is all Trojan horse deception. If the head of the IPCC -- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is ready to acknowledge that The Meteorological Office and NOAA National Ocean Atmospheric Administration's data show no warming for 17 years, he should also acknowledge that their data shows no more than three quarters of a degree of warming altogether. That's it, three quarters of a degree and it is highly debatable how much of those three quarters, if any, is man -made rather than natural and solar. Climate change /global warming is ALL the result of the fusion reaction by the Sun. In fact, the "'whole" of humanity's effect on anything on planet Earth is less than 1.5% throughout history. The ignorance about this is amazing. In fact, ladies and gentlemen, it has nothing to do with climate change. It is "RATHER" deception to have us believe we are global polluters destroying The Planet Earth "AND" we need to be controlled their way for they are the so- called self- appointed worthies of transparent color green sustainability. The longer we wait, the more we expect observational reality to continue ", to intrude "" on hysterical global warming "Chicken little" claims. We cannot afford to allow policy makers to lock in $ trillions in waste and inefficiency while we wait for observational reality to debunk the climate scare. We need to wake up now and tell them to stop. Let's start here and defund ICLEI. IN RE: REPORTS Supervisor Flora moved to receive and file the following reports. The motion carried by the following recorded vote: AYES: Supervisors Moore, Flora, Church, Elswick, Altizer NAYS: None 1. General Fund Unappropriated Balance 78 February 26, 2013 2. Capital Reserves 3. Reserve for Board Contingency 4. Treasurer's Statement of Accountability per Investment and Portfolio Policy as of January 31, 2013 5. Comparative Statement of Budgeted and Actual Revenues as of January 31, 2013 6. Comparative Statement of Budgeted and Actual Expenditures and Encumbrances as of January 31, 2013 7. Accounts Paid — January 31, 2013 IN RE: REPORTS AND INQUIRIES OF BOARD MEMBERS Supervisor Church stated last week the Roanoke Valley lost one of its best friends, Chip Woodrum, died unexpectedly in Florida on a trip. Long time delegate in Richmond, a tireless worker for the Roanoke Valley and for the people. It was such a shock to open the newspaper and see that and to learn about Chip's passing. He was a good friend of his, different party affiliation, parties never came into play when he and Chip were together, political labels were never mentioned, we respected each other and the job we both tried to do. We also belonged to a large golfing group, 80 -100 members and got to see each other every once in a while; probably the worse bunch of golfers around but they had a wonderful time. It is sad to see Chip leave so unexpectedly. He was respected so much; he never heard a bad word about him in the valley. He was a good man, a wonderful family man and we lost one of the best. He stated his heartfelt prayers and condolences go to his family. "May God take care of you now Chip, we miss you; rest in peace." Supervisor Elswick stated he would like to comment on the other petition the Board received today and whoever did that did an excellent job; the names on the petition are printed and signed so you know who it was. There is their home telephone number where you can actually call them and talk about the situation. There is a summary at the end where obviously the list of names was audited and the person that submitted it to the Board had found some duplicates. They put a lot of effort into the petition and would like to ask any citizens that bring us petitions to give the Board their contact information, show us that if the Board has questions and want to discuss the issue there is a phone number and a legible address and a legible name, you can print it and sign it so that the Board can get in contact with that person. February 26, 2013 79 Chairman Altizer reminded everyone of the important summit that is taking place this Thursday in Roanoke County at Green Ridge, an economic summit. If anybody thinks this economy in this valley whether you are in Roanoke City, Roanoke County or Franklin, etc.; people want jobs, localities need investment. Economic development he believes is one of the things that needs the biggest attention that we and this valley as a whole can give it and find ways to position ourselves for the new economy. The new economy is the way that people are doing business. The paradigms upon which we have governed in the past in relationship to economic development have changed. He thinks it is incumbent upon us to change with them if we are going to be able to compete with other localities for jobs and jobs that we do not have a chance. They come in here with two hundred (200) jobs, three hundred (300) jobs, one hundred (100) jobs and $200 million in investment and want a hundred (100) acres of land and they want it ready to go because they are ready to build and we have to say we would love to have you, but we have nothing for you. If we continue that trend of doing business that way and it is not because we want to do business that way, but it is because that is the way the economy is. All localities have been stripped down to cutting everything that we can cut, not raising taxes. So if we are going to accomplish and be positioned for those types of jobs and if we had those types of jobs we have to be positioned for it. He stated he believed the only way we can achieve that is by doing it on a regional basis with other partners who have like conditions that we do. Some localities have no land, we have land, but it is cost challenging to develop. If you want to go onto a ridge in a hollow. We have to look at new ways and hopefully we will have a collaborative effort starting Thursday and we will start sharing ideas that really positions the Roanoke Valley, Roanoke County, Roanoke City, Salem, Montgomery, Franklin and Botetourt will be in a position to start entertaining those types of businesses. Supervisor Elswick advised that due to the bad weather conditions he would not able to attend the remainder of the meeting. IN RE: WORK SESSIONS 1. Work session on transferring title to the real estate in the Center for Research and Technology from the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors to the Roanoke County Economic Development Authority (Paul M. Mahoney, County Attorney; Jill Loope, Acting Director of Economic Development) The work session was held from 4:31 p.m. until 4:36 p.m. In attendance were Paul M. Mahoney, County Attorney, Jill Loope, Acting Director of Economic Development and B. Clayton Goodman, County Administrator. Ms. Loope explained why the request was being made was to shorten the time frame for a potential business 80 February 26, 2013 and thus makes the property more marketable. Supervisor Church asked if there were any other benefits and Mr. Mahoney responded in the negative. There was no discussion. It was the consensus of the Board to hold the first reading of this ordinance at the meeting scheduled for March 13, 2013. 2. Work session to discuss the 1 -81 Corridor Improvement Study, Tier 2 Environmental Assessment (David Holladay, Planning Administrator) The work session was held from 4:31 p.m. until 4:36 p.m. In attendance for this work session was David Holladay, Planning Administrator and B. Clayton Goodman III, County Administrator. Mr. Holladay advised the main focus of this area was from Christiansburg to 581. Mr. Holiday went through a PowerPoint presentation giving the background on this study. It was the consensus of the Board to draft a letter reiterating our position and follow -up with a resolution at the March 12, 2013, Board Meeting. Mr. Holladay asked the Board to provide any additional comments they would like to see in the letter and resolution. IN RE: CLOSED MEETING At 4:15 p.m., Chairman Altizer moved to go into closed meeting following the work sessions pursuant to the Code of Virginia Section 2.2 -3711 A 19, Briefings by staff members and law- enforcement officials concerning threats to public safety; and discussion of reports or plans related to the security of County facilities, buildings and structures, and the safety of persons using these facilities, buildings and structures. The motion carried by the following recorded vote: AYES: Supervisors Moore, Flora, Church, Elswick, Altizer NAYS: None This closed session was held from 5:08 p.m. until 5:40 p.m. IN RE: CERTIFICATION RESOLUTION At 5:40 p.m., Supervisor Flora moved to return to open session and adopted the certification resolution. RESOLUTION 022613 -4 CERTIFYING THE CLOSED MEETING WAS HELD IN CONFORMITY WITH THE CODE OF VIRGINIA February 26, 2013 81 WHEREAS, the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia has convened a closed meeting on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in accordance with the provisions of The Virginia Freedom of Information Act; and WHEREAS, Section 2.2 -3712 of the Code of Virginia requires a certification by the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia, that such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia, hereby certifies that, to the best of each member's knowledge: 1. Only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting which this certification resolution applies; and 2. Only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed or considered by the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia. On motion of Supervisor Flora to adopt the resolution, and carried by the following roll call and recorded vote: AYES: Supervisors Moore, Flora, Church, Altizer NAYS: None ABSENT: Supervisor Elswick IN RE: ADJOURNMENT Chairman Altizer adjourned the meeting at 5:41 p.m. Submitted by: borah C. Jac Clerk to the Board Approved by: Michael W. Altizer Chairman • February 26, 2013 PAGE LEFT BLANK INTENTIONALLY