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HomeMy WebLinkAbout6/6/2017 - Regular June 6, 2017 257 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, Fourth Floor Training Center, for a special meeting with the Planning Commission. Audio 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 Chairman McNamara called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. The roll call was taken. MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman Joseph P. McNamara, Supervisors George G. Assaid, Al Bedrosian, and Martha B. Hooker MEMBERS ABSENT: Supervisor P. Jason Peters PLANNING COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman Wayne Bowers, Members Rick James, Paul Mahoney and Jim Woltz PLANNING COMMISSION MEMBERS ABSENT: Member Troy Henderson STAFF PRESENT: Thomas C. Gates, County Administrator; Daniel R. O’Donnell, Assistant County Administrator; Richard Caywood, Assistant County Administrator; Ruth Ellen Kuhnel, County Attorney; and Deborah C. Jacks, Chief Deputy Clerk to the Board IN RE: REQUESTS TO POSTPONE, ADD TO, OR CHANGE THE ORDER OF AGENDA ITEMS Ms. Kuhnel added a new business item as item C-2, which was the Request to approve final documents to facilitate the transfer of the former William Byrd High School Property to the Developer. There were no objections. June 6, 2017 258 IN RE: NEW BUSINESS Resolution establishing a written policy for participation in Board of Supervisors meetings through electronic communication (Ruth Ellen Kuhnel, County Attorney) Supervisor McNamara explained the necessity for the resolution. Supervisor Bedrosian stated he did not have a copy and requested copies to be presented to the Board. Supervisor McNamara asked that this item be moved after the next New Business item in order for the requested copies to be disseminated. There were no objections. Request to approve final documents to facilitate the transfer of the former Wm Byrd High School Property to Developer (Ruth Ellen Kuhnel, County Attorney) Ms. Kuhnel outlined the request. There was no discussion. A-060617-1 Supervisor McNamara moved to approve the staff recommendation to approve final documents for the former William Byrd High School property and Supervisor Assaid seconded the motion. Motion approved by the following vote: AYES: Supervisor Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara NAYES: None ABSENT: Supervisor Peters Resolution establishing a written policy for participation in Board of Supervisors meetings through electronic communication (Ruth Ellen Kuhnel, County Attorney) Ms. Kuhnel outlined the request for the resolution. Supervisor Bedrosian stated he is not ready to approve this resolution. There was no further discussion. RESOLUTION 060617-2 ESTABLISHING A WRITTEN POLICY FOR PARTICIPATION IN BOARD OF SUPERVISOR MEETINGS THROUGH ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION WHEREAS, Virginia Code § 2.2-3708 allows members of local governing bodies to participate in a meeting through electronic communication means from a remote location in certain situations; and June 6, 2017 259 WHEREAS, a written policy must be established for such participation. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, as follows: That the following policy is established for Board members’ remote electronic participation in Board of Supervisor meetings: 1. On or before the day of a meeting, the member shall notify the Chairman that the member is unable to attend the meeting due to an emergency or a personal matter. The member must identify with specificity the nature of the emergency or personal matter. A member may also notify the Chairman that the member is unable to attend a meeting due to a temporary or permanent disability or other medical condition that prevents the member’s physical attendance. 2. A quorum of the Board must be physically assembled at the primary or central meeting location. The Board members present must approve the participation; however, the decision shall be based solely on the criteria in this resolution, without regard to the identity of the member or matters that will be considered or voted on during the meeting. The Clerk or Deputy Clerk shall record in the Board’s minutes the specific nature of the emergency, personal matter or disability and the remote location from which the absent member participated. If the absent member‘s remote participation is disapproved because such participation would violate this policy, such disapproval shall be recorded in the Board’s minutes. 3. Participation by the absent member shall be limited in each calendar year to two (2) meetings or 25 percent (25%) of the meetings of the Board, whichever is fewer. 4. The Board shall make arrangements for the voice of the absent member to be heard by all persons in attendance at the meeting location. On motion of Supervisor McNamara to adopt the resolution, seconded by Supervisor Hooker and carried by the following recorded vote: AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Hooker, McNamara, NAYS: Supervisor Bedrosian ABSENT: Supervisor Peters IN RE: WORK SESSIONS 1. Work session with the Roanoke County Planning Commission to discuss the draft Reimagine/419 Town Center Plan (Philip Thompson, Deputy Director of Planning) June 6, 2017 260 Mr. Gates gave a brief introduction. In attendance from Stantec was Steve Kearney. Mr. Thompson provided the Board with a PowerPoint presentation providing the Board with the draft Reimagine/419 Town Center Plan. Supervisor Bedrosian asked what was the cost of the study with Mr. Thompson advising base was $265,000 and with options $312,000, which the cost paid for the County. Supervisor Bedrosian then asked who the largest property owner was with Mr. Thompson advising there are three large property owners: South Peak, Tanglewood mall property and Old Heritage. All three of those total more than 50% of the study area. Supervisor McNamara stated he has been to a similar area called Crocker Square outside of Cleveland and if somebody thinks Tanglewood Mall is going to make it in its current form, just look at the history. It is going down, so we are really are at a unique opportunity/time frame to really transform that entire area. It could be the hub of this valley. The challenge is we are not developers. From what he saw if you can imagine the potential of this area; it would be transformative for this area. The current status quo is not going to work and not have us where we want to be in 20 years. Supervisor Bedrosian stated he would agree, but the big question he always has and a lot of people have talked to him about where is government and where is the free market. When he looks at this, he feels we should be in the Board room of the developers instead of the County. He thinks it is beautiful, but when he looks at what we have now, he sees dollar bills. The other thing is how is Valleyview Mall doing. He sees stores moving in all the time. Jim Woltz advised they have a lot of transition of new owners. Valleyview is not a good comparison because it draws from a broader area than Tanglewood ever thought about; West Virginia and North of 81. Supervisor Bedrosian says if they draw people they must do something that attracts them. Tanglewood does nothing. Twenty-five years ago it was a booming place and it seemed to just sit there. Mr. Woltz stated the broad area that it draws from and the diversification of what is there. They have attempted a little of this, i.e. Barnes and Noble. They have tried to create an atmosphere like we are talking about here. He thinks one of the keys is if we can structure this so that it is allowed, the developer is going to be the one that comes in and pays to develop this, but nobody is going to step in unless we make our ordinances and the plan friendly enough that they would take an interest in doing this. There is a perfect example in Sarasota. If you travel around and look at these real estate developments that are going up, it would allow Roanoke County to have a “city center” and have something that feels like a core. If you look at Roanoke City you can see what has happened once it started. We can make the building codes and standards so we can attract this. He would not worry too much about the cost, the cost will be the developers cost. There needs to be flexibility in how this is done. Mr. James stated that if we keep it user friendly then the developers will be there. He agrees that we are not going to do it as government. We are going to create a plan that somebody will say they are willing to develop in that regard. June 6, 2017 261 Supervisor Bedrosian would like to see a similar locality that has done this to see what was done. Do we have that? Mr. Kearney responded they have some examples of populations vs. what the governments put in to get going that they would provide. Mr. Kearney also noted that Tanglewood was not designed to pull from other areas and Valleyview was. Mr. Mahoney stated the owners of Valleyview have somewhat repurposed their facility implementing some, but not all, they don’t have mixed up development, resident like what is suggested in this plan, but if you look at the out-parcels, there are different restaurants and commercial activities that are just outside the mall. They are trying to create a central open space with internal parking. They were seeing some of the problems and if you look at the turnover of the shops inside the old mall, Valleyview has done outside. Mr. Woltz added that you could change a couple of ordinance; there are a lot of things that could be changed that would not be that difficult and then you could see if there is somebody out there interested. Multiple heights could change the whole area and some developer would take a look. He thinks it would put Roanoke County on the map to become a target for a developer that otherwise would not look at it. Ms. Hooker commented that if she understands Mr. Woltz, the Board needs to look at this whole study as a zoning issue and talking about relaxing some of the standards and giving great ideas, but not talking about doing it as a government with Mr. Woltz confirming. Mr. James added that from the Planning Commission standpoint, it is their job to steer the ship to bring in potential investors. Supervisor Bedrosian stated he understands, but what he sees is that as soon as we do that then they require a $2 million investment from Roanoke County to do something before they move in and we say yes, we don’t have the money, we borrow it, etc. and that is how it always ends up. It never ends up where we say we are going to relax the standards and we never touch it again. There is always money that we have to put in. Mr. James added that Stantec can provide us with information if we do put in $2 million can we make $4 million back. Supervisor Bedrosian stated that he has always heard that before and that is why he was interested in seeing another County that did it and how much did the locality have to put in and what did that look like. Supervisor Assaid commented that he likes the discussion about relaxing standards and seeing what type of participation we can get from the landowners. June 6, 2017 262 Mr. Woltz stated from a revenue standpoint, you have to look at it not just the tax revenue. He knows the County has to look at that because that is where the budget comes from. However, what it may do for the overall community and not what happens right there with the retail space, but then it becomes a whole different development plan for builders, people that want to develop areas that are close to that area. It may make Clearbrook become an area where people would want to build something out there that could benefit because of the development. It may really spin up more revenue; not just the tax revenue. We need to be careful saying “relaxing these.” All we are trying to do is not really relax these ordinances and codes but create an ordinance and codes that would allow for this type of development that is currently not allowed. Supervisor Assaid stated we are going to guide the owners and developers of the property. Supervisor Hooker added and create more options. Mr. James stated he felt putting in residential and building some apartments and have people move in you will have revenue back pretty quick. Supervisor Bedrosian asked if he thought if we did that tomorrow what would happen. Mr. James stated just look at downtown Roanoke. Mr. Woltz stated he thinks you would see developers start to respond, even that one simple change. Supervisor McNamara stated if we do nothing, we know exactly where we are going and he is not interested in going there. Mr. Mahoney stated from the Planning Commission perspective, he thinks they are very excited about working with the Board to begin an implementation of this process. What he would like to hear from the Board that this is the path you want to go down. There is a whole lot of opportunities. Roanoke City changed their ordinances so that they do allow for the mixed use of commercial and resident and you can see how successful that has been for a whole variety of neighborhoods in the city. We believe, we hope that same kind of catalyst could occur here. The concern he has if you look at your implementation matrix, there is a lot of “stuff” that you may not want to do. So, he would ask the Board when they have a chance, go through the various steps that are set out starting of page 57 to page 65; there is some very specific steps that are talked about with regard to what the Board would want to do or not want to do. Supervisor Bedrosian stated that he would like to see actual data with what it costs the taxpayer. Supervisor Assaid reminded everyone that Roanoke City has access to historical tax credits that Roanoke County does not have access to. Supervisor McNamara asked what were the next steps. Mr. Mahoney asked if the Board were comfortable with the implementation steps. June 6, 2017 263 Supervisor McNamara asked for thirty days to review and get back to the Planning Commission. The work session was held from 5:10 pm until 6:18 pm. IN RE: CLOSED SESSION 1. Section 2.2.3711.A.1 Discussion or consideration of the employment contract of specific public officers, appointees or employees, namely the County Administrator At 6:18 p.m., Supervisor McNamara moved to go into closed meeting pursuant to the Code of Virginia Section 2.2.3711.A.1 Discussion or consideration of the employment contract of specific public officers, appointees or employees, namely the County Administrator. Supervisor Peters seconded the motion. The motion carried by the following recorded vote: AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara NAYS: None ABSENT: Supervisor Peters At 6:19 p.m. Chairman McNamara recessed to the Board Conference Room for Closed Session. Closed session was held from 6:46 p.m. until 6:58 p.m. IN RE: CERTIFICATION RESOLUTION At 6:58 p.m., Supervisor McNamara moved to return to open session and to adopt the certification resolution. RESOLUTION 060617-3 CERTIFYING THE CLOSED MEETING WAS HELD IN CONFORMITY WITH THE CODE OF VIRGINIA 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. 264 June 6, 2017 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 McNamara to adopt the resolution, seconded by Supervisor Assaid and carried by the following recorded vote: AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, NAYS: None ABSENT: Supervisor Peters IN RE: ADJOURNMENT Chairman McNamara adjourned the meeting at 7:00 p.m. :u omitted by: Approved by: t / Alf��i� Deborah C : s eph P. McNamara Chief Deput ' erk to the Board hairman U;