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HomeMy WebLinkAbout6/3/2025 - Work Session1 MINUTES OF A JOINT WORK SESSION BETWEEN THE VINTON TOWN COUNCIL AND VINTON PLANNING COMMISSION HELD AT 4:30 P.M. ON TUESDAY, JUNE 3, 2025, IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE VINTON MUNICIPAL BUILDING LOCATED AT 311 SOUTH POLLARD STREET, VINTON, VIRGINIA MEMBERS PRESENT: Bradley E. Grose, Mayor Laurie J. Mullins, Vice Mayor Michael W. Stovall Keith N. Liles Sabrina M. McCarty PLANNING COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Keith N. Liles, Chairman David R. Jones, Vice Chairman Robert W. Benninger, Commissioner Jonathan P. McCoy, Commissioner Joshua Mullen, Commissioner STAFF PRESENT: Richard Peters, Town Manager Cody Sexton, Deputy Town Manager Megan Lawless, Executive Assistant Anita McMillan, Planning and Zoning Director Nathan McClung, Planning and Zoning Assistant Director Julie Tucei, Planning and Zoning Coordinator Jill Loope, Special Projects Assistant to the Town Manager Scott Stephenson, Code Enforcement Officer Mayor Grose called the work session to order at 4:32 p.m. The Executive Assistant called the roll with Council Member Liles, Council Member McCarty, Council Member Stovall, Vice Mayor Mullins, and Mayor Grose present. The Planning and Zoning Director then called the roll for the Planning Commission with Commissioner Mullen, Commissioner Benninger, Commissioner McCoy, Vice-Chairman Jones, and Chairman Liles. The next item on the agenda was the update on Vinton 2050 Comprehensive Plan Mike Callahan and Vlad Gavrilovic with 3TP Ventures presented a PowerPoint presentation highlighting the Vinton 2050 Comprehensive Plan. This presentation will be kept on file in the Town Clerk’s office as part of the permanent record. Mr. Callahan started off by explaining where we are in the project. The plan is documented into two Volumes. One Volume contains all the information through the community needs assessment, community engagement, existing conditions and issues along with opportunities. The other Volume contains all the forward-looking policies and investment recommendations. For citizens, this tells them what the Town thinks about the future but also shows what happened in the past. Mr. Callahan went over the flow of the presentation and spoke about the different sections that will be reviewed. Mr. Callahan shared a graph that showed where Vinton has been. He went on to share that there was outstanding involvement from the public during this process. There were two pop- ups at the Dogwood Festival (2024 & 2025) with over 100 people stopping by each year who shared their thoughts and ideas. Two community surveys were issued with 500 respondents. 2 A traditional Open House was held, and it produced good results. Last, the Advisory Committee was actively involved and helped shape the plan into what it is. They met seven times throughout the past year. Mr. Callahan pointed out that this was the third joint meeting with Town Council which is important to staying on track. The Downtown area was a heavy focus from the community feedback at the 2025 Dogwood Festival outreach event along with support for roundabouts. Mr. Gavrilovic spoke about how proud he is of this comprehensive plan and highlighted how modern and exciting the plan is. The plan is user friendly with clear graphics. Mr. Gavrilovic shared the analysis of the needs to include the market value of housing and land, demographics and redevelopment potential. The plan includes descriptions of policies and visuals about the kind of development in each area. Mr. Callahan returned to the podium to speak on the implementation strategy which includes goals and actions to help achieve the goals such as policies or specific investments. The plan also includes long-term redevelopment potential of community facilities. Mr. Callahan advised that the Town would want to look at codes and adjust them to be consistent with the goals of the comprehensive plan. Mr. Callahan explained that VDOT will have to review the plan and then we will be ready for a public hearing. Planning the next steps involves an assessment of stormwater needs, a zoning update that aligns with the plan and then a downtown master plan update. The next item on the agenda was a discussion on the information provided. Mayor Grose thanked the consultants and all the folks who worked to put the plan together. He went on to comment about how we need to concentrate on the shopping center on Bypass Road. Mayor Grose agreed on the concept of connecting it to the existing downtown area. Council Member Liles likes the way the plan is readable and makes sense and complement the good work. Chairman Jones commented on the point that was made about checking of the things that go back 25 years. Most things have been completed the way the plan was laid out then. Vice Mayor Mullins shared that everyone did a wonderful job on this project. Jonathan McCoy, Commissioner presented two questions regard zoning. He went on to say the housing goals detailed on Action 4.1 talks about buildings with residential space above commercial space in the downtown area. Many other policy actions call for amending the zoning code to do away with the requirement to have commercial space on the bottom floor. Mr. McCoy asked if there was disconnect between the two. Mr. Callahan answered yes and no and further explained that the recommendation included the area around the downtown corridor to not require a commercial ground floor use. There is a lot of land sitting undeveloped on the outside of downtown area and a lot of commercial space in downtown so adding some housing units near downtown will help it thrive more with flexibility. Mr. McCoy then asked if there were any areas in the zoning section that could be a conflict with some of the roles within the comprehensive plan. 3 Mr. Callahan answered by mentioning the housing outside of downtown. With the current zoning requirements, Housing can be developed, but only a few units based on the lot size restrictions. Lot sizes are the main issue for residential developments that will contain two or more units. A little bit of tweaking will need to be done. There are certain holdovers that need to be revisited. Nathan McClung, Planning and Zoning Assistant Director advised the biggest conflict in the comprehensive plan is multi-family zoning which is defined as three or more units. It is not permitted anywhere in R-1 or R-2 residential districts. Current use requirements and zoning districts do not permit what the comprehensive plan is recommending for residential districts. Mr. Callahan pointed at that the current plan does not recommend dramatic density increases but more of filling in overtime and evolving in the core areas. Walkability is much more than a sidewalk and everyone wants it. Walkable places tend to have a mixture of uses in close proximities. Council Member Liles commented on the ordinances and how downtown had a height limit of two-stories, but the ordinances were changed to four-stories indicating there is potential for housing. Participants circled back around to some of the presentation highlights for additional clarification. Richard Peters, Town Manager added we have great actions that can be implemented within the comprehensive plan. We have had a lot of success with the last five years from having a strategic plan, so the next step is to take the 25-year plan and bump it down to smaller actionable items. For the next five or ten years we must look at what are we going to put our limited staff time and revenue sources towards. Mr. Peters thanked the staff for their work. He is proud of this plan and appreciates the citizens, staff and consultants for their contributions. Mayor Grose thanked everyone involved and expressed his excitement for the plan. Anita McMillan, Planning and Zoning Director advised the adoption of the plan will be in July and suggested to use the website for further questions or comments. No further discussion. Council Member Liles made a motion to adjourn the work session at 5:32 p.m.; the motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Mullins and carried by the following vote, with all members of the Town Council voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) – Liles, McCarty, Mullins, Stovall, Grose; Nays (0) – None and all members of the Planning Commission voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) – Liles, Benninger, McCoy, Mullen, Jones; Nays (0) - None. APPROVED: _________________________________ Bradley E. Grose, Mayor ATTEST: _________________________________ Richard W. Peters, Jr., Town Clerk