Town Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

All right, everybody, hello and welcome. Thank you for coming out tonight. This is the work session for May meeting. Before I start all the meetings, I'll say a couple of tips and things to get ready. The first thing is to ask everyone to please silence your cell phone. Just take a second and actually pull out your cell phone so that you can make sure it's not just on vibrate, but actually fully on silent. I do say that because it is quite disruptive during the meeting. We do want to make sure we can hear everyone speaking and give them the attention for the town business that's being conducted. So just double check your cell phone and make sure it's on silent, please. We ask for your patience and understanding as Council deliberates on various agenda items. We do have a very long agenda and lots of public hearings tonight. We will go through the public hearings one by one. There are a lot of sign-up sheets up there. If you have been confused about which one to sign up for or anything like that, don't worry. We will be patient and we'll make sure everybody has an opportunity to speak at whichever public hearing they would like to or all of them. There is open public comment as well. That's at every meeting. And so there is a sheet up there for just general open public comment. So if you are speaking to a specific public hearing, then there's a sheet for that. But then there's also just general open comment. You can speak as well. We want to acknowledge the staff's work in preparation for the meeting tonight. Their insights are invaluable to each topic of town business, obviously with the budget items and several different zoning things that are up tonight. There's been a lot of effort in many months in preparation. We want to appreciate our town manager, Natasha Tucker. She is out for a family engagement this week, but we have our assistant town manager, Kyla Brower, with us tonight at the helm. We operate under the council manager form of government, and our town manager handles daily operation and department administration, while our town council provides direction and authorizes policy in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia and our town charter. While each council member has the ultimate responsibility to contribute and vote distinctly, the town council does work as a body. We are duly elected to serve responsibly and ethically the citizens of Colonial Beach. Participation of each member contributes to effective leadership. Collaboration is key to productivity in local government. Let's engage in constructive discussion, remain open to different perspectives and work together for effective resolutions. And finally, I just remind us all that the meetings of the town council are formal proceedings and are thus recorded. And with that, we will call to order the town council work session, May 6th, 2026. And I got 6 0 9 PM. A roll call of members. All members are present with the exception of Mr. Allison. If he does come in, we will announce that so we can add that into the minutes when he arrives. I don't have any additions to the agenda. Is there approval of the agenda? Is there a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. Is there a second to that?

Second.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Moving right along is our consent agenda. It's a budget amendment for a Versa grant that we get every year. Can I have a motion for the consent agenda?

So moved.

Is there a second to that?

Second.

Is there any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right, moving forward is our council member liaison and commission reports. And I will start with Mr. Wood on your side, if that's okay.

Good evening, everyone. We'll start with the Planning and Community Development and Planning Commission notes. There were 88 permits issued in April, 65 short-term rentals, three of which are new, four driveway permits, five free removal permits, 10 accessory structures, two demolition permits, one minor home occupation, and one food truck at Washington Street Food Court. Average days for permit issuance is eight. There were 114 walk-in customers. We've received 92 short-term rental applications to date, including those received in May. A planning community enhancement officer has been hired and will begin working on May 18th. That's good news. Thank you. and the Planning Commission upcoming meeting Thursday, May 14th, Comprehensive Planning Discussion will be the main topic. Moving on to Parks and Rec, special events, Coffee Walk May 8th at the Buzz, Sip and Stroll on May 8th, beginning at six. I know you're gonna be disappointed the Worm Composting class has been canceled. May 9th, we're going to have the parks and green space cleanup, meet at the community garden. May 12th, the community board game at community center. Dog Day event hosted by River Dogs and CB Humane Society. That's at Town Hill, the corner of Washington and Colonial. Memorial Day, Reef Lane at the big gun at the corner of Beach Terrace and North Irving. Try to make it out for that, guys. Support those who supported us. May 30th, the town-wide yard and garage sale. June 6th, the outdoor movie, Jurassic World Rebirth. ongoing pre-activities, volleyball open gym, age 15 and up, Sundays at 2.30 at the school gymnasium, functional fitness class Tuesdays, Colonial Beach Community Center, Hatha yoga class also at the community center, and May 15th adult dance class at the CB community center as well. Thanks.

All right, Mr. Larson.

Good evening. So news from the school, as anybody who's associated with the school probably knows, the last day is coming soon. A week from Friday, May 15th, is the last day of school, and there's all kinds of goings on leading up to that. This past Sunday, 29 seniors participated in the baccalaureate program that was held at Colonial Beach Baptist Church. Apparently it was a full house. Let's see, this week, all this week has been the staff and teacher appreciation week. Runs through Friday. We're honoring the dedicated professionals who are dedicated to the success and well-being of our students. The kindergarten and seventh grade graduations will be May the 14th. And the kindergarten is at 9 a.m. And the seventh grade is at 6 p.m. And the high school graduation is May the 16th, which I believe is a Saturday, in the gym at 10 a.m. That's it for the schools. As far as finance, I don't have a specific report. I know the real estate tax bills are out there and due by, I think, the 3rd of June, the 5th of June. So get those done. There's a lot of finance topics on the agenda tonight, obviously. So that's it for me.

Mr. Williams?

good evening everybody just a few updates from the police department uh the neighborhood watch meeting date has been moved to may 13th it's still in the community room at the police department it's going to be at 6 30 i think it's normally like 5 30 so it's going to be a little bit later that's going to be a joint meeting with westmoreland county sheriff's department uh the next worship watch meeting will be held on thursday may 21st at 6 p.m at the little zion baptist church located at 7748 leestown road colonial beach there will be guests from loudon county speaking on the relationship between law enforcement and the faith community The police department would also like to remind everyone that due to the dry weather, there is currently a countywide burn ban. That's in effect. And let's see, that basically is to prohibit all outside fires and the ban will continue until further notice. And then finally, the police department would like to remind everyone to make sure the doors on your homes and cars are locked and all your valuable items are secured. Keeping your property protected is the best way to prevent theft. That's all I got for the police department.

All right. Thank you, Ms. Grandstaff.

Good evening, everyone. As liaison for economic development, I will be reporting in two parts. First, economic vitality and then tourism. On the economic vitality side, they're finalizing the business survey and business letters to begin the business initiatives for the local owners. They've also distributed the upcoming business breakfast flyer. That event will be scheduled for May 14th at 7.30 a.m. at the Ice House. They also have dates confirmed for the local financial services point of contacts to discuss partnerships that can support the town and the local business owners. The two financial services, they'll be in discussion and talks with the Truist Bank and Atlantic Union Bank. They'll be meeting with the branch manager and business bankers assigned to the Westmoreland Colonial Beach areas. Now I shall give the tourism committee report. The committee met on the fifth and the following items were discussed. The history and heritage subcommittee continues to work on developing sea, shop and stay itinerary packages to market to group tour and bus companies particularly focused on the shoulder season. The committee continues to work on a collaborative marketing campaign with Northern Planting District Commission and Westmoreland County focused on the Virginia 250 and targeted to the Richmond, Petersburg, and Greater Washington, D.C. markets. The campaign will encourage visitors to, one, start your vacation where the revolution started with the Stratford Resolved Weekend. Two, explore our wild side with the natural wonders surrounding Colonial Beach and to discover all of the fun and exciting things that are to do in our charming community. The campaign is planned to run from late May through the end of June. A second campaign is also targeted to these same markets for early fiscal year 27. The committee and chamber are working to produce a series of historical banners to be displayed along the boardwalk in celebration of the Virginia 250. That's it for both committees. Thank you.

Thank you. Mrs. Sanford.

Good evening, everybody. So for NGOs, I was able to attend my first alliance meeting on April 22nd via Zoom. Elizabeth Richardson from the Volunteer River Counties was there and was able to talk about the River Counties Volunteer Hub that the alliance is going to be able to use for free. So they're going to have a page on there where it's going to kind of be a place for all volunteer opportunities within town so it seems like a great resource and with more information to come for that and that's it

Great thanks. Well I will keep it short tonight just to quick things one is we have a new business in town Maddie wags a dog groomer just one block from here on North Irving so if you've got a dog go check her out. Small business more excited to see that in our downtown and a second thing is to give a shout out to miss Heather Oliver who is our town clerk. It is municipal clerks week and we couldn't do what we do without the work that she does. She has been with the town for some years now. I won't date you, Heather, but I think it's been an institutional knowledge base that she has that helps all of our staff, not just the town council up here and supports us, but with every department as well as she's a resource for all of our prior minutes, all of our prior meetings, the history of the town's ordinances and the town code, and so a wealth of information. And just want to thank you, Heather, for all that you do for us. Appreciate it. All right. And with that, we will move forward with our proclamations. A couple of proclamations tonight. The first one is proclaiming National Law Enforcement Week. This one's for you, Chief. Whereas law enforcement officers play a vital role in maintaining public safety, protecting individual rights, and enhancing the quality of life for residents and visitors, and whereas the dedicated men and women of the Colonial Beach Police Department serve the community with professionalism, integrity, and courage, often placing themselves in harm's way in a performance of their duties, and whereas law enforcement officers in Colonial Beach work in partnership with residents, businesses, and community organizations, to promote safety, build trust, and preserve the town's welcoming coastal character. And whereas Law Enforcement Week provides an opportunity to recognize the challenges faced by law enforcement officers, honor those who have lost their lives in the line of duty, and express gratitude for the daily sacrifices made in service to others. And whereas the town of Colonial Beach values the commitment, compassion, and service demonstrated by its law enforcement officers and acknowledges their essential contribution to the well-being of the community. Now therefore be it proclaimed that the Town Council of the Town of Colonial Beach proclaims May 11th through May 17th as Law Enforcement Week in the Town of Colonial Beach and encourages all residents to join in recognizing and thanking our local law enforcement officers for their dedicated service. Make sure you pass on our appreciation to all the officers. Thanks. The next proclamation is celebrating the heart of Colonial Beach with small business and tourism and so our economic development liaison, Ms. Grandstaff is gonna read that proclamation.

Whereas the town of Colonial Beach recognizes that small businesses are the backbone of the local economy, providing employment opportunities, supporting families, and contributing significantly to the town's economic vitality, unique character, and quality of life, and whereas travel and tourism are essential components of Colonial Beach's economy, attracting visitors who support local businesses, generate revenue, create jobs, and strengthen the town's position as a vibrant destination. And whereas Colonial Beach's natural beauty, historic charm, festivals, recreation, dining, and hospitality offerings enhance the visitor experience and showcase the town as a welcoming place to live, work, and visit. And now therefore, be it proclaimed that the Town Council of the Town of Colonial Beach, Virginia does hereby proclaim the month of May as National Small Business Month and National Travel and Tourism Month in the Town of Colonial Beach. be it further proclaimed that the town encourages residents, visitors, and community partners to support local small businesses, explore local attractions, and celebrate the entrepreneurs and tourism professionals who help make Colonial Beach a thriving and welcoming community. In witness whereof, the town council of the town of Colonial Beach, Virginia has caused this proclamation to be adopted on this sixth day of May, 2026. Thank you.

I'm gonna call on you more often, Lisa, very good. Okay, we're moving right along. As you know, we have a long agenda tonight. Next up is our public comment.

Oh, thanks.

This is the general public comment. And as I mentioned before, there are several specific public hearings as well. So we'll read off the public comment. procedures here, and then hopefully I won't have to reread them at every single additional public hearing. They'll apply to all of them going forward. During all public comments or hearings, we ask that certain guidelines be followed. Please stand at the podium. And for the record, it is important that you state your name and address. If you would like to be contacted, please provide your contact information to the clerk. There was space on the paper where you signed up to put your contact information. If you did not put it at the time that you signed up, that's fine. Just hand the clerk a piece of paper and then that way she has it. Make your comments to the council as a whole. Be brief, state your position, and provide facts. And you may provide written statements or any supporting material to the clerk for distribution to the council and the town manager. Debate is prohibited. Follow up on comments is provided by the town manager. This is our time to listen. So it won't be like a volley back and forth. Speak clearly as we want to hear what you have to say. And the council will try to hear everyone who wishes to speak on any subject. The comments are limited to five minutes. Time cannot be transferred to another speaker. If you represent a group, you may wish to identify other members of that group who are also in attendance. And after public comment is closed, I encourage you to stay as council engages in dialogue and deliberation on subsequent agenda items. And so with that, we will start our general public comment. I have 6.26 p.m. Welcome, Mr. Stiles.

how are you all today on this beautiful day here in colonial beach the weather was great you know it rains in the morning and then it's sunny in the afternoon and it's very pleasant right now and beautiful sunsets. I want to say on Monroe Bay, everybody loves them. Okay, and that's not the first part that I want to talk about, but I'm here to talk about the tower that they want to put in right behind the McDonald's and the food line. I guess the fact of that is there's been studies done where you can go on Google and see this, where anywhere from I think 1,500 feet away from it can cause cancer. So if you're within 1500 feet of that tower, you can get cancer and there's the food line and then there's the McDonald's and that's that part of it. Um, and then the other thing too is, is I have a person that I know that owns property over near the public works and he's had it for about 15 years and I don't know if he's going to do anything with it. but I contacted him and he said that he would be interested in letting the town by part of that property. It's near the public works so they could pull the electricity from the public works to that property and it's away from the town. And the most important thing is, is all of those people that watch the sunsets and the beautiful things here in colonial beach, they're going to have that eyesore of a light flashing over top of the trees. And I think that's probably one of the worst things because people are going to come to this town, they're going to go, oh, it's a beautiful town and everything, but man, that light up there, it's taken away from the whole visual effect. And that's really all I got to say. Thank you. Thank you.

Next is Mr. Eric Nelson.

Good evening. Madam Mayor, Council, thank you for letting me speak this evening. I have a couple of things to talk about. One of them is I didn't realize that today was, or this month, was the month to recognize clerks of the town, and I want to say that I've had a lot of experience and interaction with our town clerk for many years, and actually since she was here, Since she and her family moved here, I have had that experience with her and she's been helpful and knowledgeable and always had a smile on her face and very, very easy to work with and I just want to commend her for what an excellent job that she's done. I know that there's no public hearing this evening on this, but I want to comment on the zoning text amendment. that you will be setting a public hearing for later on in the agenda. I have spoken on this, and I will speak on it again when it's appropriate, but I just want to say that I do support the text amendment that allows for small-scale production not to exceed 6,000 square feet in the appropriate zone. So I just want to go on record again supporting that. And then finally I want to talk in it because this month is the Sorry, let me pull up my exact title. It's the National Historic Preservation Month. I'd like to talk just for a second about Main Street, about downtown Colonial Beach. I want to mention that we just had a wonderful event that took place this past weekend on Town Hill. It was in celebration of the Kentucky Derby. And I really want to very strongly express my appreciation to Public Works. Thank you very much. Mr. Knapp was super helpful in making sure everything was set up and that everything went very smoothly. And one of the things that he and his staff did were we spent several hours putting up a tent on Friday night, and there was so much wind on Town Hill that the whole thing blew down sometime over the evening and broke into a bunch of different pieces. And we were trying to figure out how we were going to deal with that. before the event on Saturday and Mr. Knapp got people from Public Works and it all worked out really well. So I just want to thank them. And the police department was there. We want to thank them for participating and also the Parks and Rec Department for helping us make it through the permitting process. Also, I want to thank Ms. Lawrence for attending. She can tell you, I think, firsthand what a good event it was. She seemed to be enthusiastically enjoying herself. It was a great event, and I just wanted to express my appreciation for that. Seems like there was one other thing I wanted to mention, but now I'm drawing a blank. Anyway, thank you for, oh, no, yeah. Anyway, that's it, I guess. Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

Okay, that was all that was signed up for public comment, general public comment. Is there anybody else that'd like to speak at that? All right, we'll keep moving forward. Next up is Ordinance 778. This is the amendment of Section 8-2 to the Town of Colonial Beach Learning Ordinance for Communications Facilities. This public hearing was already held on April 9th. And I guess, Ms. Lawrence, you want to take it from there?

Sure, thank you, Mayor and members of Council. Next. We've got four items in front of you today. Like you said, you've seen this and Planning Commission had a public hearing in January. Council had one in February, sent it back to Planning Commission. And then you had the joint public hearing. So I know you've seen this several times. I'll keep it brief. But the applicant's representative is also here. for any questions on the CUP when we get to that. Zoning text amendments, the two zoning text amendments will allow for the telecommunications facilities in certain areas of town with specific regulations. Contingent on what council, if council approving the zoning text amendments, then there's a confirmation of the substantial accord and then there will be the CUP application will be addressed. As we said, the joint public hearing was already held on April 9th, we've talked before about the alternatives. We cannot prohibit cell towers from coming to the town. Our existing code only allows them in agricultural areas. We don't have agricultural areas, so the two options were to either rezone one lot of land to agriculture where we have no other, and it would be between the commercial properties or to do this text amendment and then a cup. Just a reminder that there are telecommunications towers have a lot of special protections in both the federal and state code. And one of the The fourth bullet down I'll just remind you is that if the tower is approved by the Federal Communications Commission, you cannot reject it on environmental factors. There's plenty of research to show the health issues and I'm sure the representative will get into that with you if you would like. So going on to the next slide, the first zoning text amendment is 2601, amendment to the code to add communication facility as permitted in the C1 General Commercial District with approval of a conditional use permit. After that will be the... one that sets the standards and requirements. But at this point, if there's no other discussion, I will say planning commission voted six to zero with one person being absent to recommend approval. And my recommendation is that you approve ordinance 778 amendment to the zoning ordinance of the town to add communication facility as a permitted use and see one with a conditional use permit.

Okay. So let's take up the issue at hand, which is just the, uh, ordinance amendment at this moment. Do we want to set a motion on the table?

So moved.

Uh, is there a second to that?

Second.

Okay. Is there any more discussion to the amendment to the ordinance? Yes. Mr. Williams.

Yes, I'd just like to ask a question. I know it was explained to us in the prior meeting, the joint meeting, but it's still a little strange to me that we have this, we don't spot zone, but it kind of looks on the map like it's a little spot. And I know we kind of rigged it so that like certain distance from is it from residential? What what gave us this little spot over by food line versus any place else in town?

Sure. That's addressed in text amendment 2602. But with the maps and stuff, I can answer. We wanted to go, I believe it's 100 yards from any residential area, school, shoreline. Those are all comments we heard in the first set of public hearings that people didn't want the towers on the shoreline. So we looked. And people obviously don't want them in their neighborhoods. So we did 100 yards out. And that gave us the area. That's not spot zoning. Spot zoning would be if we only allowed one lot to be zoned agricultural in the town when it's surrounded by commercial zones. It's also not rigging either. It's not what?

It's not rigging either.

You can call it however you want. I mean, it narrows it down to one little spot. I was just wanting to make sure that that's in stone, that we don't have any loopholes. So by the 100 yards, we're safe as far as what we're showing on that map.

Sure. And we can talk if you want to. I'll talk about that. I know you want all your answers before the first one, but, um, the, all the requirements are, um, on the next zoning text amendment in it.

So yeah, right now the, um, motion on the table is just to add the term communication facility to the C one under conditional use. And then the next amendment is the actual additional language around what that means.

Yeah, I just wanted to get it all straight before we start voting. So that's that's fine. That's that helps. Definitely.

Is there any further discussion on this particular portion of this process? I'll take a roll call vote on the motion at hand. Grand staff? Aye. Sanford? Aye. Wood? Aye. Larson? Aye. Williams?

Aye.

I vote aye. Next up is the amendment of section 18-7, which is the zoning ordinance to now include the telecommutions tower and related facilities permitting regulations. So getting a little bit more into the details, we kind of started at the top level of just adding the classification to a commercial district, and now we're adding in what governs that within that level. So moved. All right, there's a motion. Is there a second?

second okay all right and would you like to go into the next level just to answer mr williams question on in the packet under amendment two are all the regulations and the very first one is location that says telecommunication tower are permitted but they must be located no less than 100 yards from residential schools parks and shorelines and that's what's shown on the map there um It consists of a number of different parcels on both sides of 205, so it's not just one parcel of land that would be eligible for that area. That's all I have, unless somebody else has another question.

I just have one question. In the Planning Commission's approval, did they make any further amendments after our joint session with them?

Um, what you have in front of you is what they made in there. Um, for, for the text amendment, all they made was a recommendation. So I made verbally during the public hearing and they voted to accept those recommendations.

Okay.

And that's, what's in front of you now.

Got it. They didn't add anything else within their discussion. Not on the, on the cup. I can address that. Okay.

Question is Lawrence. Didn't they also request that, um, fencing be black because we had that's on the cup. Okay. Okay.

All right. We'll get in more granular detail at that point. Yes. Yes. Okay. Keeping with our levels. All right. There is a motion and a second. Is there further discussion on this portion, which that's in a number of regulations and permitting requirements within this use type? Seeing no further discussion, I'll go with the opposite way this time. Wood?

Aye.

Larson? Aye. Williams? Aye. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right.

Yeah, so there's a memo in your packet for that. A public hearing is not required for this, nor do you make that. All you're doing is confirming the determination that planning commission determined that this is in substantial accord with the comprehensive plan as listed in the memo in your packet. So we just need a motion to confirm. All right, do I have a motion to that effect?

You do, so moved.

Is there a second to that? All right, is there further discussion on the motion of substantial accord? All right, I do a roll call vote again. Grandstaff? Aye. Sanford? Aye. Wood? Aye. Larson? Aye. Williams? Aye. And I vote aye. okay now into the most granular portion of this which is the actual conditional use ferment that's 18-26 this is the application of an actual um tower radio tower telecommunication it's a pole

Again, this was pursuant to your approval of zoning text amendment 2601, 2602, and substantial accord determination confirmation, which you've just done, so we'll move ahead. Next slide. You've seen these slides before, but just in case somebody needs to revisit them, I wanted to just run through them real quick. They're talking about putting a, installing a wireless communications facility consisting of 150-foot monopole tower with related ground equipment and a three-foot lightning rod. And I'll let the representative speak, but I... One of the reasons we keep it at 150 feet and not 200 feet is the lighting requirements, so there won't be the lights that have been addressed. Next slide shows the actual parcel, which is, as you said, between the bank and the back of the Food Lion shopping center. It's just over one acre. Next slide. You can see the squiggly lines in the middle there. That is where they will be doing the work anything outside of that line the trees will remain where they are the land disturbance will be within those that area and you can see on the right of that where the equipment will be where the tower will be generally right in the middle of the lot and then above that you'll see where the driveway comes in and there's a turnaround for the trucks and a gate The lines around that are the fence. On the right-hand side, you'll see where the fencing is going to be. Next. So the conditional use permit is that the site will be developed in substantial accord with the site plan which you have in your packet and that you saw last time. The construction will commence within two years of final approval and be diligently pursued to completion. And I believe we'll see action much sooner than that. And then number three is where the planning commission heard the comments. They chose to approve number three without the word black in it and say a six foot black chain link fence. But they said it would be up to council, who I heard wanted the black fence. So I went ahead and put it in the condition. which is suitable to the client. We had noted there was some discussion about landscaping around the fence. It was not approved as a condition by Planning Commission, so we took it out. There was some recommendation to put some right in front of the fence where you could see it coming up the driveway to kind of mask the fence and discourage trespass. Anyway, the recommendation is to approve resolution 1826 in your packet, which is cup 2602 on the property identified as such, and the conditions included in attachment A, which are the ones shown on the screen. That's all I have. The applicant's representative is here if you have specific questions for either Verizon or the applicant.

All right, let's put a motion on the table so we can get to discussion.

So moved.

Is there a second to that? Okay. All right. We'll open it for discussion. I'll go ahead and call up the representatives or the Verizon, whoever both of you may be, in case there's further questions about this. To address, I think one point that was already answered, the light at the top is not required because it is 150 feet and not 200 feet. Is that correct?

That's correct. FAA requires that red light for 200 feet.

Right. It's also in our ordinance that if it was to be required, then it would not be permitted, I read, in the regulations. And then also, we talked some about the health concerns that people have expressed about this. You wanna elaborate a little bit again on that?

Sure, happy to. The FCC, Federal Communications Commission heavily regulates all sorts of radio frequencies and telecommunication towers fall well below the regulated limits and they're heavily, again, heavily regulated. They follow FCC guidelines and will meet those standards. That's the only way they can get approvals from the FCC to build the tower and they will comply with all those regulations. And there are many outlets, national organizations, health organizations that have made statements that there's not a direct connection between the frequencies HEALTH CONCERNS.

ALL RIGHT. WHILE WE HAVE HIM HERE, YES, MR. WOOD?

COULD YOU ADDRESS THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN SHORT WAVE AND LONG WAVE RADIATION AND THE WHICH IS THE DANGEROUS ONE AND WHICH IS NOT AND WHICH IS THIS PARTICULAR SIGNAL?

THAT'S SOMETHING I'M GOING TO CALL UP, MR. CHAI.

We are completely required by the FCC to be compliant. So everything we broadcast is within FCC regulated limits. That's all I can answer for you on that. It's completely government FCC and regulated. We abide by their rules and their rules only.

Thank you.

Mr. Williams?

Just to follow up on that, the distance, I think I remember I talked to somebody that installs these and they said with the angle of being 150 feet up in the air and the angle, it would, the distance the radiation actually travels would dissipate well before it actually hit where people would even be, correct?

So these are licensed frequencies within a specific spectrum, and that's how it radiates. It goes from A to B. It only travels to the A from the tower to the next cell phone. And it bounces back. You could be here or there in the same distance. Okay.

So there's no single until it goes to an actual connection?

It's the same frequency, same power wattage. We don't turn it up. We don't turn it down. Okay. All right.

Thank you.

I did have a question last time, and I don't know if anybody's got an answer to it about what the communications tax revenue for the town, the expected communication tax revenue would be. Anybody look into that? I don't let things go.

Sorry, we do not have that information, but we're happy to work with the town assessor to get some information on that.

Okay.

And Lisa may be able to answer this, but again, we don't have it broken down when it comes from the state on any of theirs. So we don't know.

I'm just trying to get an idea of what the average revenue from the communications tax would be. I mean, is it $2? Is it $200? Is it $200,000?

So the FCC regulated tax, that's done through the state or the federal government, but you guys locally will assess us for the property tax. I'm sure of that as soon as we get done with it.

The property tax we will assess you for, but the state collects the communications taxes, and then it gets divvied up, and we don't get a formula for how that is divvied up. But, no, it's far more than $2. Do you know on the line item what we get altogether in one year for that revenue?

Right now, we're currently getting between $10,000 and $11,000 a month. So with the addition, I'm sure we'll see an increase, but I have no way of knowing. So that money comes from the state. It's collected by the federal government, given to the state, the state divvies it out, and we don't get anything with it other than the money in the bank.

Couldn't we ask somebody? Isn't there a contact or somebody? Couldn't we figure this out?

I'm sure we probably could.

I did think they were going to research neighboring counties and see what that was.

The problem I've run into with other localities is that they have multiple towers in their locality, and I believe it's also lumped in with the private cell. It's all communications tax when it comes to us. So I wasn't able to locate anything. I actually also reached out to the company that we have a lease with to see if they could tell us. The problem is, I don't think the cell phone companies, they're paying... They don't see the breakdown. What the state tells them to pay. Yeah, the state figures out the formula and tells everybody what to pay and sends us the money. But I'm sure there's a formula out there.

I guess we'll see after this, possibly. Yeah, we'll see.

Plus, we're looking at increased revenue, what it is, and improved signal, and local businesses being able to offer Wi-Fi. So it's a win-win situation. Hopefully it's closer to 200,000, but probably not.

We have one tower in the town limits right now.

So maybe that would make a pretty big impact. Okay. Thank you. I just wanted to follow up on my former question. Uh, is there further discussion from anybody? And this is the third or fourth time we've seen this now. So, all right, we'll call for a vote. All right. With the stack of staff recommendations as presented, Mr. Wood?

Aye.

Mr. Larson? Aye. Mr. Williams?

Aye.

Ms. Grandstaff? Aye. Ms. Sanford? Aye. And I vote aye. All right, moving forward, continuing forward. Next is a public hearing for the Colonial Beach Volunteer Fire Department. I see Chief back there. There are two portions to this public hearing. One is the substantial accord determination, similar to the portion that we just did before the cup, and then the actual cup as well. Ms. Lawrence, you want to walk us through, and then we will open the public hearing for it.

Yeah, you want to switch presentations? Yeah. Actually, Darla Odom is on the line, and she has got this project. Darla, are you on?

Sure am.

OK, great.

Thank you, Madam and your members of the council, Mr. Borrower. This is a public hearing.

There are two public hearings this evening, substantial accord determination 2601 and rezoning with conditional use permit case 2601 as well. This is a request by the Colonial Beach Volunteer Fire Department. Can y'all see my presentation screen? Yes.

Yes.

Okay. Thank you. All right. Hold on one second. So you do have the two separate hearings on the agenda. What I'm gonna do is while there are two separate cases and the two public hearings and two town council actions, I'll be presenting them at one time in one presentation since they are on the same property. The subject property is shown on the screen here. It's outlined in white here, the subject property. FRONTS APPROXIMATELY 200 FEET ALONG THE WEST LINE OF GARFIELD AVENUE, APPROXIMATELY 50 FEET NORTH OF COLONIAL AVENUE HERE. THE PROPERTY IS .7 ACRES AND IT IS A VACANT GRASS AREA AS YOU CAN SEE IN THE AREAL HERE EXCEPT FOR SOME STORAGE THAT THE FIRE DEPARTMENT HAS HAD OVER IN THIS CORNER OF THE PROPERTY AND A parking area that they've allowed Lenny's Restaurant to use for their overflow parking for many years. They will continue to have an agreement with Lenny's to allow them to use some of their parking area as it should work well with their different hours to be able to continue to offer that to the Lenny's. surrounding the subject property are really a mix of uses. You've got commercial uses along Colonial Avenue. You've got some commercial uses along Colonial Avenue. On the east side of Garfield Avenue, you've got single family residential back towards Franklin Avenue. And then on the Jackson Street side adjacent, you've got single family uses here and additional commercial uses along Colonial Avenue. So there is, you know, fairly good mix of uses in the area. This shows you the zoning map for the subject property as you can see outlined in the white box here. The existing Town of Colonial Beach Volunteer Fire Department is located here just across Colonial Avenue. Properties to the north are zoned general residential or two and are occupied by, this is in this area, these are occupied by single family residential uses or vacant properties to the west or zone general commercial C1 and residential R2, and they're occupied. There's a residential dwelling here and here, but they have the two different zoning classifications. Properties to the south are zoned general commercial C1 and occupied by commercial uses, and properties to the east are zoned commercial residential CR and general residential R2 and occupied by commercial and residential uses. The applicant, this screen is about too clear. This is the future land use map. The subject property is part of the comprehensive plan central area. The plan in the central area talks about the properties being located between Boundary Street and First Street and the plan refers to this area as the most diverse planning area encompassing a wide range of land uses. The plan encourages the continued presence of municipal and public office uses within the central area and recognizes that these facilities have assisted in keeping a constant stream of individuals in the area to support local businesses. The comprehensive plans future land use map as you see here and the subject property outlined in black actually splits the subject property. And the split that you see here on the future land use map follows that zoning boundary that we just looked at on the previous map. And so it actually does split the subject property right down the middle. Now, with that in mind, I think the intent originally was to allow some expansion of uses along colonial avenue back further in away from colonial avenue and then allowing you know some residential development here but you have to remember that we're talking about such short blocks the whole block itself is 300 feet long that's it And so with a short block like this, I think the intent was there to try to allow for, you know, commercial so many feet back and then allow residential. I guess from a staff standpoint, to me, this would be really along some of these blocks for off of Colonial on this north side of Colonial that this really is more of a mixed use kind of area and that the CR or a mixed use classification would be better not to split up. This allows only 100 feet of development in the property that could be commercial and then 100 feet on the north side of the subject property that was also 100 feet. It doesn't allow any room for transition when you have this line. So again, I think the plan following sort of a commercial residential zoning plan classification better fits the mixed use area here. Relative to the substantial accord determination, the Code of Virginia 15.2232 requires approval of a substantial accord determination by the Planning Commission for the public facilities to ensure that no public facility is constructed, established, or authorized unless the general or approximate location, character, and extent thereof has been submitted to and approved by the Planning Commission as being substantially in accord with the adoptive comprehensive plan. And then the council does have the authority given under 15.2.22.32 to review the Planning Commission's determination. And so that's what we're asking for you to do this evening. And I'm gonna talk to you about the Planning Commission's findings and staff's recommendation on that. The zoning ordinance offers guidance relative to rezoning properties and the zoning map amendments, which you have before you as proposed, the rezoning that requires you to, that the zoning should be required by public necessity, convenience, and general welfare, good zoning practices. That in conformance, it should be in conformance with the town's adoptive comprehensive plan and also that adequate public facilities should be available to serve the proposed use. And we have found all of those to be true in this case. The zoning ordinance also I'm waiting for my, I'm sorry. Yeah, I was waiting for my slides to catch up. The zoning ordinance also provides guidance on conditional uses. And basically you're aware that conditional uses are those uses that may be appropriate in a zoning district, but because they are unique and they may have potential impacts that are unique and different from other uses, they require individual consideration on the subject properties. And that's what you have here, not for the fire station, facility or building it itself because that is a public facility but the portion of the request if you know going forward in the cr district for the community facility requires consideration of a conditional use permit and so this is just providing letting you know what that guidance is in the zoning ordinance The zoning ordinance also provides guidance that should be considered when you're granting a conditional use permit. Basically, it would not have a detrimental effect on people in the area, other properties. It wouldn't be injurious to other areas. it would not be in conflict with the town's comprehensive plan. And in this case, the use of the community facility itself is in compliance with the recommendations of the comprehensive plan. This slide shows you the conceptual layouts that the fire department has offered with this case. They are proposing a 60 by 120 foot building. This would be for equipment and fire apparatus storage, allow for some site operations, and they do not plan to run calls out of this building, but they would have, instead of having their boat storage as you saw earlier out here open and not being protected by the weather, it would allow them to take their equipment and store it within an enclosed structure so as to protect it from the weather and help maintain it long term. They have an entrance here that you see off of Garfield Avenue. This would allow them to bring the fire trucks and the fire truck that they have into the property. It's a wide entrance and it would allow them to bring that in here. They have some parking area here for the use of the building, but mostly the parking area here would be for the community facility use. And then if they had any need for overflow parking, that would be over just across Colonial Avenue at the current fire station, which is here. The if you look at the property itself, they are going to have 30 onsite parking spaces, like I said, with overflow at the existing fire department. They are going to be complying with the ordinance requirements for landscaping as far as street trees along the front property line. The idea was made with this layout, again, because you're talking about 200 feet here, to pull the parking area away from the residential here and to pull that down closer to the Colonial Avenue action as well as keeping most of that activity along this and being able to allow the continued shared use of the parking area. They also are going to have the visual screening that's going to be provided with landscaping along the northern and the western property boundaries and that's as conditioned that would be a visual screen and in the conditions it would um in the report which is an attachment a of the report which would require two staggered rows of evergreen plantings in both of these areas to help mitigate the visibility from the properties to the north. There also is a control on lighting so that all of the lighting has to be downward reflecting and a covered source for the light as well as not exceeding a certain foot candle at the property boundaries to have a less impact on the area properties. And again, this is where the activity for the community center use would take place. This northern portion of the building would be all storage area. There are some conditions that deal with building materials and design as well. architectural drawing a very general drawing that the fire department got from the people that they plan to buy the building from it does show you know the fact that they are going this doesn't show the the architectural detail that they will have in the final building because it does not show the additional windows that they plan to have in this portion of the building here, some additional treatment that we've discussed as far as helping to break up and identify this as the entrance. These are the overhead garage doors. And then they will employ architectural elements and colors to break up the mass of the building and avoid monotonous building facades. from Garfield Avenue. And again, they said they probably would have some windows on the southern side of the building as well. So relative to the CUP, the conditions address the conceptual site layout, the architecture and building materials as we've discussed, site landscaping with the visual screen, limited hours of operation, a limit on any outside activities related to the community facility use, limits on lighting as well as screening of any refuse collection areas and mechanical equipment. The Planning Commission voted unanimously with a six to zero vote. One of the commissioners absent at their meeting after their public hearing on April the 9th, they voted to approve the Substantial Accord Determination, case SA-2601, finding that the fire department is an important community facility. The fire department owns the property. It is in close proximity to the existing fire station, so it would serve well as an auxiliary building, and that its location and how it's been laid out and designed satisfies the location, character, and extent as specified by the Code of Virginia. And so staff is asking for you to uphold that and confirm the Planning Commission's substantial accord determination. Relative to the rezoning, The Planning Commission, after its public hearing on April the 9th, voted unanimously six to zero to recommend approval of the rezoning from C1 and R2 to CR, commercial residential, with the approval also of the Cup 2601, subject to the conditions in the report. The Commission found, and staff also recommends, that the narrowness of the land use designations of the plan and the zoning district really restrict its being able to follow the exact general commercial and residential guidance of the plan in this case, that really it's a practical, more practical to look at this as a mixed use block, that the CR zoning is appropriate for this use. The purpose is to provide for a transitional mix of uses. It accommodates a public facility use and allows for the auxiliary building for the fire department. And as conditioned, the community facility would not adversely affect surrounding properties. or the area and with that I'd be glad to answer any questions you might have.

Okay, we're going to take these one by one. The first is the Substantial Accord. We'll open the public hearing on that. It is 7.09 p.m. Is there anybody signed up for the Substantial Accord public hearing? Would anybody like to speak to make sure the fire department's new facility is in substantial accord with the town's comprehensive plans? All right, we will close that public hearing. It is 7 10 p.m.. Since they were presented together, I'm going to subsequently call the public hearing for the actual conditional use permit. This is a rezoning of the property in order and then an application for the conditional use as presented by staff. We'll open this public hearing. Still 7.10 PM. Is there anyone signed up for this? Would anyone like to speak to it? Chief Roby? Say something up here. Come on up.

If y'all have any questions, I'd be more than happy to answer. But the facility, like I said, we're not going to be running calls out of it. It'll be a storage building for apparatus in storage. We're just running out of space at the firehouse now that we have now. The apparatus is 10 times bigger than it was 20 years ago. It's just tight in there. We don't have the room. And then the other section would be while we were putting this building up, we wanted to have like a hall that we could rent out to have a little bit of an income also to come in. And that was the purpose of combining the two. So that's where we stand on that. Any questions, I'd be more than happy to answer. But I think Darla has explained what the goal was.

OK. Does anybody else want to speak to it? All right, we'll close your public hearing at 7.11 p.m. And we can take this action up if we'd like, or we can defer it to the next council meeting. What would council like to do?

I move that we go ahead and discuss it and vote it.

All right. We'll do the substantial accord first. Is there a motion to that effect?

So moved.

Is there a second?

Second.

All right, is there further discussion on the substantial court motion? I have to do a roll call on substantial court? Yes, of course. All right, Grandstaff? Aye. Sanford? Aye. Wood Larson. Hi Williams. I have an eye. All right. Next step. Is there a motion for confirmation of the conditional use permit with the rezoning to RC? This is now going to rezone that split land and it will be, I assume consolidated. Is that correct? Yeah. All right. Do I have a motion to that effect? So there's a second. All right. Uh, is there any further discussion on that? I felt like the presentation was pretty clear. All right. Uh, we'll call for the vote. Wood. Hi, Larson. Hi, Williams.

Hi.

Grand stuff I Sanford I have a I thank you very much. That's the luck with everything. I'm excited to see you guys getting some I know you've needed for a long time.

So we're running out of space. So glad to see you guys getting together. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you. All right, I'm going to take a 10-minute recess because we have been sitting up here for a minute. 10-minute recess. We'll reconvene 7-25.

Next up, CID, Public Hearing for the Adoption

Oh, sorry.

All right, so this is a chemical improvement program. Sorry, I just turned my microphone off instead of...

So you have tasked the Planning Commission with the annual preparation of the capital improvements program under the authority of the state code. The CIP requires a public hearing with Planning Commission prior to making recommendations to council. They had their Planning Commission and now it's your turn. or their public hearing, I'm sorry. They voted unanimously to approve the CIP with a few revisions that have since been made. I noted in your report that there was one new item that came in and we'll go over that as we work through this. Next. Wait a minute. Sorry. No, go back. I'm still trying to find the right one. so it's a five-year plan as you know it serves to guide the financial decisions annual budgeting and the coordination of major public investments in the preservation it's a working document with approximations designed to provide advanced project identification evaluation scope obviously we don't have we can't pinpoint how much a project is going to cost in five years but we use in the industry standards as well as current costs you'll see like the police department we've just put in a percentage to increase every year for some of their items that they buy annually. Next. It supports the commitment. I think I had this slide last month, but it's just a way for us to show our commitment to infrastructure and to better plan that infrastructure. So next. So the plans, comprehensive plan mirrors last year's plan very closely with just a few revisions. So the projects revised, so there are several projects that were revised to update cost estimates based on current costs and projected inflation and those, and including grant amounts. So I think some projects last year were only, the only numbers you saw were how much the town was paying, not what the, full price was for the grant. So now you'll see it looks like some of these numbers have really grown, but it's because we're also including the grant amounts in there as well. But the new projects were the new police vehicles and the mobile vehicle and portable radios. The Dwight Avenue extension, you'll see some updated cost figures on that. The sidewalk repairs per the consent order. North Beach shoreline erosion control has moved back up here. I think when Planning Commission saw it, we were thinking that the first phase would be done this year, but as we learned last... Recently, it won't be, and we did update the cost for that as well. And then in the blue are the water and sewer, and those are the communication system for the water meter system, the wastewater treatment plant repairs and upgrades per the consent order in the I&I. so um the additions are uh the portable bollard vehicle arrest system was added after the public the planning commission public hearing and um but it is in the in the table now and i don't think planning commission would have an issue with it um and then um the jetter and factor truck was in when planning commission heard it but it is a new addition it's the only Those are the only two brand new items in the CIP. So projects that are expected to be completed this fiscal year, so they weren't included, are the trash truck, the beach rake and tractor, utility and plow truck. Azalea Park Playground Equipment, Monroe Bay Avenue Shoreline Area, Eleanor Park Phase 1, the Denison Well Abandonment, and Generator Upgrade Third Street. So when you look at the chart, you'll notice that there's some missing numbers. We kept the numbers from the previous CIPs and moved the ones that were finished down. So the next chart is straight out of the CIP that you have in the packet. There's the Dwight Avenue extension, beach and riprap nourishment, sidewalk repairs, and town pier refurbishment. So public work investment is $5,700,278. Again, this is a five-year project. If you look at the Dwight Avenue extension, that makes up most of it, over $4 million. But if you look at the breakdown, almost all of that is paid for by VDOT. Next. This one has item number 10, which is the Emergency Operations Center Study. It's just a study for $50,000 for administration and technology. Then for public safety, you have police vehicles. They rotate two vehicles each year. And you'll see the worksheets that correlate with this table explains that they used... Actual cost for this year and then we're just adding 5% to cover it every year thereafter It may not go up that much But that's what is projected the mobile and portable radios as you know Westmoreland is updating their system those figures were updated slightly based on actual cost estimates from the county and then the portable bollard vehicle arrest system was added and Next slide is resiliency and sustainability. So that's the Monroe Bay Avenue shoreline area and Then the North North Beach shoreline erosion control was updated for the actual contract amount that for the contract that you all approved so total general fund project total cost is just over eight million dollars and Next slide is the water and sewer program. So the water fund is the communication system and the worksheets. Everything on this table, you have a worksheet that correlates with that number and explains a little bit more of where the phasing is. Also Chris and the chief are here to answer any questions as well. The sewer fund are the crew vehicles that they continually look at or replace. 19 is the sewer replacement study. is the engineering study for replacement of wastewater piping, 21 repairs, 22 repairs, 23 is the INI, and 24 is that jetter vector truck that is new. So those costs are just over $8 million. Next slide. I guess that's the same thing. So the next slide after that is the total. So you'll see general fund supported projects total just over $8 million, utility fund just over $8 million. So the total capital improvements for five years is $16,199,000. Next slide. We have included the school just as an appendix for your information. It's not included in our total numbers that are presented to you. So of course we'll take some recommendations and have the public hearing, but then the recommendation would be to approve this capital program and move it on to the treasurer's office.

Are there any questions? With that, we will open the public hearing for the CIP. And I know we took a recess. Same public comment. Guidelines apply as the former public hearings. So make sure you state your name, address for the record. And if you want a response back or anything, make sure you leave your contact information with the clerk.

we'll open up this public hearing i got 7 31 p.m welcome mr knuckles good evening 204 monroe bay avenue is my address william knuckles is my name uh items that caught my attention during the cip um i'm going to continue to beat the same drama i always beat about the shoreline and rip rap and beach renourishment stuff is that it still is not in to me at all apparent that we have any sort of even a rudimentary understanding of how coastal processes work, which means to me that this is a really uninformed estimate as far as the costs you're looking at, right? So you're talking about making a multi-year plan based on a sort of a general misunderstanding of how these processes work and some of the processes and the money you have been spending in the past. My professional judgment, having worked on this stuff in the past, is that you're actually spending money to make problems worse. therefore costing yourselves more, so sort of the cost escalation you see is from sort of a mismanagement side of things, so that's probably not the best way to be doing long-term financial planning. Sidewalks, an ongoing issue for the public who complains about this every year, since I've lived here at least, and I've been told it predates that significantly. It got to the point so bad that some folks had to uh, get ahold of the state and the feds and actually try to force the town to do something. Um, that's only been successful in the fact that now there's some plans to do the bare minimum to sort of get out of trouble with the feds. Uh, that's probably not the best longterm financial planning for the town. Um, it seems like there's some significantly, you know, uh, broader scope because the complaints, uh, didn't actually go through and walk the whole town. They just sort of cherry pick some things that were extra annoying to some individual citizens. It's, again, not exactly a great way to do long-term financial planning. It seems like the town itself should be doing some analysis that sort of better depicts what the problem is, the scale of the problem, and the timeline that you want to address it in. Right now, it just says we're doing what we've been told to do, kind of like the big parents have come to town and said, you must do this. Again, that's not really a plan, and this is supposed to be a long-term capital plan exercise. A few years ago, we talked about the fact that the table as it was presented, both to the Planning Commission, y'all, and the public, when it lists things like combo town slash grant, that that's very hard to follow because it doesn't really inform anybody as to whether or not you're talking about Whether the grants are aspirational, whether these are cost share grants, you know, like Corps of Engineers grants or other, you know, federal grants that actually have a mandated cost share in them, or whether this is just a hope that the grant will come through. And it also doesn't say in any way that it would allow you to plan. If you don't get the grant money, does that mean that you're fully planning on funding this with town money, right? So all that is really nebulous in this. So it seems kind of like, again, from a planning document point of view, It's pretty confusing. There were some promises several employees ago to try to fix this, and I think we made some headway, but it seems like to me we may be going backwards. And hopefully that will get fixed, because like I said, it's really hard to make plans when things are sort of nebulously sort of combined. North Shore Erosion Project, it's unclear as to whether or not this $3.25 million project will completely fix the problem or not. And I still haven't heard a definitive determination as to whether or not all of the land is going to be publicly owned or a mix. And in which case, from the funding mechanisms you're talking about, does that even matter? As well as from the initial fixed side of things. Plus, if you're talking about this in terms of a long term plan, the ongoing, it's not like the short term, like put a Band-Aid on it now. It's the long term ownership of this concept and making sure that that's maintained. when you have different owners involved this gets particularly messy I don't see any of that analysis and sort of trying to figure out what you're depicting in the plan is whether that that's the entire plan or is that just the public piece of the plan and there's actually a private cost share piece of this that mates up with that and none of that's really transparent in this sticking with the the shoreline side of things the VIMS grant part I get that part you know saying it may just take longer to implement than that but I was disturbed to see that Once again, we're citing the fact that we have to do this sort of stuff based on satellite imaging, which is not tide controlled or adjusted in any way that actually the field would normally try and determine what erosion rates are like or the fact that this is happening. It gets even worse because that's what you have to do for the ocean coast. Here you have a river that moves too, so the water level in the river. It gets even more confusing when you just pull a few images and you go like, hey, this is what's happening, and then you try and make projections based on that. nobody's actually taken the time to actually figure out whether what you're seeing is actually what's happening in the real world or not because that actually takes a amount of sophistication that we don't seem to have inherently nor does there seem to be a willingness to try to go get that expertise it's not that big a deal these are pretty common concepts most any even like early in their career engineering person would be able to help you with that thank you mr knuckles we'll call it time

Is there anyone else signed up?

I'm going to sign up, but I'd like to say something.

Welcome.

I'm signed up for other things, but my name is Gail McKay, G-A-Y-L-E-M-C-K-A-Y. I live at 332 12th in Colonial Beach. Specifically, I would encourage you to bump up to the top of the list, the sidewalks. I've been disabled for 36 years. I've had to relearn to walk. read, write, crawl three times in 36 years. This is a darn good day. Because I got out of bed by myself. I made my own breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Went for a walk. I could go up and down my steps in and out of my house. I can't walk on the sidewalks by the beach. I can walk on the beach easier than I can walk on the sidewalks. That's pathetic. Sorry. It's really difficult to walk in sand, but the sidewalks are awful and dangerous and It's a safety issue, not just for me. But y'all are caring about having all these new people come to town and tourism and all that. And they're going to trip and fall. And then you can have a lawsuit. It's a risk management problem. I don't get it. Fix them. That's it.

Thank you. Anybody else? All right, we'll close the public hearing for the CIP. I'll have 7.38 p.m. for the record. We can defer action on this. Is there discussion? Yes, Mr. Williams?

I'm not sure if anybody else has anything, but I do have some concerns. One thing that was pointed out is priorities. I know we had like a prioritization meeting for the CIP specific last year, spent a few hours on all this. And so, for example, I see we do have something that says priority slash project type slash stage. So is a one high priority and a four the lowest priority or what is that indication?

That's correct. And these priorities were all carried over from the previous session because the plan really hasn't changed much. And you you all haven't changed much, but.

Because I recall from that CIP meeting, council did not have, you know, we put all the stickers on everything. We didn't have the Dwight Avenue extension as a number one. I don't think it got the majority support from council, but that's somehow on here as a number one. I just, I feel like there's so many number ones and almost no two threes or fours that we really, we're not able to really determine or the citizens can't determine from looking at this what really is our highest priorities and what we're really gonna start hammering away on say next year versus what's gonna be maybe 10 years down the road or maybe not at all if we don't have any money for any of some of the stuff.

Do you think it was helpful to do another, should we do another workshop like that in the beginning of 27 with the CIP that gets adopted again? Did you find that to be a helpful workshop?

I did I just I think maybe we could have even had a follow-up after that just to to recap what we discussed and kind of see it laid out on paper I mean I I do come in the town for for listening to some of the things that we've asked for like more detail I remember Tom asked for that last year. More organization and prioritization, stuff like that. But I still feel like if somebody handed this to me and said, manage the town and go buy this for your capital improvements, I wouldn't be able to probably put a good functioning plan together because I know for a fact we ain't got, what is it? Eight million or whatever was listed on here. So I wouldn't know how exactly to prioritize. If we have $20 million worth of number ones and we only get a couple million for the year, then we're really gonna be stuck trying to figure out. I mean, this is just my feedback.

Can I jump in on that?

Go ahead.

So I was gonna make a request that I like what you did by making the totals costs of the project including alternate sources, grants and so forth. But the grant totals don't show that split. So when you see $8 million at the bottom of the page, some of that's grant money, some of it's not. Some of it's from taxpayer money, and a lot of it isn't. But it's not real clear. Is that an edit that you guys would consider making? It's just a documentation edit, not a change to the plan, really. I think it would help with transparency.

You're talking about in the total, that chart that had the total numbers, just the numbers themselves, the 8 million, 8 million? Right.

I'd like to see the total number, but the... Yeah, if you look at the...

To get to both the comments that I've made, if you look at, say, starting on page 10, you will see it broken down each year. And so, for instance, item number one, Dwight, you'll see that $2,117,617 is from a VDOT grant, and $327,299 is from the town, and that's for fiscal year 27. And then again, a fiscal year 30, we have the breakdown there. What you're asking me to do is total those those years and and by grant and by general fund.

Yeah. OK. OK. Yeah, exactly. I mean, I don't really care what the alternate sources are that are not, you know, taxpayer funded, but, you know, taxpayer funded and not probably sufficient detail.

I only put the charts up in the presentation that were for this coming year. But starting on page ten, They are broken down by year for the five-year. Again, it's all a plan. It's an evolving document. It may change.

To add into that conversation, I find the chart starting on page 10 to be very helpful and maybe more helpful to me than the summary kind of pages ahead of it. But this is getting to more information being provided, and I appreciate that. I think the... prioritization to Mr. Williams' point. There are a lot of number one, some of them. I too think I'm not sure about the numbering of them. Um, I don't know. I know we've liked to add in priority and we've had comments before that we should be showing what is the priority. Although we also know that obligation legal consent orders, um, funding availability, you know, grant application processes and awards all end up shifting these priorities as we move through the fiscal years. Um, If the work session type thing with the, which I also thought was very helpful last year and effective to our town manager, who's not here today, but I mean, maybe Kyler, you can attest to, she seemed to really take and run with that. And if you have noticed in this last fiscal year, we have accomplished an enormous number of our CIP items. And I think part of that was because there was clearer defined direction to her by council as a body. And also clear to find direction as to where to go get funding and what to do about that. Because a lot of it is grant supported, obviously. We don't have $16 million sitting around. So I think that was effective. Maybe the priority numbers within the... document itself aren't as, because they're going to shift and change. I don't know if I'd pay as much attention to them. They're not in stone to me, it's a living document. I think doing another workshop like that to reinforce what's coming up this next year and how that's working forward is probably more effective than just the number in the chart. I do want to bring up a couple of things I did not see in it. And most notably is the zero plan. I know I talked about this many times. I really think it needs to get into the CIB because it is a grant you have to pursue through the Federal Department of Transportation. And it is ultimately what gets us a plan for walkability for comprehensive sidewalk solutions. If we do not have a plan comprehensively of all of our safety concerns related to transportation, that is not just walkability, but bikeability and traffic safety and everything, which can be funded by the federal government in what's called a zero plan. we do not go for that and do that, then we will never access federal dollars to do the sidewalks. And we cannot afford to do the sidewalks without the federal help. So I would like to see that added into the CIP, the pursuit of that. Yes, Mr. Brower.

Yeah, Natasha's not here to speak to the specifics, but I know she was in a, I think it was an eight or 16 week training course on the zero plan to learn how it works. So when she gets back, we can follow up on kind of her expectations as to our next steps, whether or not we can get that into this CIP or not.

I mean, I think even just identifying our line item at this point, you know, as a placeholder, oftentimes these are placeholders until we have figured out the rest of the pieces to the puzzle. But when we go to apply for that grant, having the placeholder connect the dots for us saying, there's a comprehensive plan, we have a sidewalk problem, we have a transportation issue, we're applying for this and it's documented here. They're looking to connect those dots when you apply for those grants.

And I think staff would appreciate having another workshop like we did last year, probably earlier if we could than we did it last year, because that does help us prioritize even better. But also it's going to have us have some great conversations about some of the projects that are on here of does the council actually want to move forward? For instance, one is the Municipal and Emergency Operations Center study. Does the council actually want to look into building a new building? Is that legit? If so, let's start planning properly. but if it's not gonna happen, let's not have the study in there. So this workshop would be very beneficial to us.

Let's tentatively, Heather, let's put us on July. I'm just throwing something out there. July of this year? Not of 2029. August, July, August. I'm just saying that because I think June is coming up quick. You want June? June is quick.

do we need anything before we deal with the budget i mean right now well this is i mean this would be an anticipation of right the fiscal year we were going into understood but it's more chafe while we're trying to get to a budget.

That's what I'm saying, July. We have to have a budget before July.

Yeah, well, somebody mentioned June.

No, no, no. Don't you normally cancel your July work session so that you'd only have one meeting in July? We did.

So this would be like in replace of the regular meeting then, or maybe August. I don't know. I'm just kind of throwing some of that out there. Heather can figure out what our calendar is looking like in that time frame. Do you think July is better? I worry about it. earlier better would you like that to be in conjunction with the planning commission a joint meeting or i think last year it was it was just us it's just us okay so maybe august but early august like work session time let us look at the schedule of what's coming up and then provide some some options earlier the better though okay so i just uh so we'll put that on the radar also i think the zero plan might address um i know we had some comments emailed in as well for many of the items tonight the dcb study with walkability and things and incorporating some of those things i think that that is the kind of information in context that adds that study adds to the zero plan it adds context to that ultimately the zero plan then organizes those things and needs So to me, they're still the same item. They're all together about getting a comprehensive sidewalk study. And the comprehensive plan is to be updated this year, between this year and next year, 2027. We're working on it now. So I just highlight that as We move through the CIP and the CIP is a living document that as we update the comprehensive plan, let's make sure we're hitting the mark still and those aren't ever divergent. If our comprehensive plan is staying, there are things that we need to be doing. We need to make sure they're getting translated to the CIP. I know we do that. I just highlighted that it makes sure they still talk to one another consistently. as we make changes and updates.

Right. And technically with the state code, that's why it comes through planning commission because it's supposed to be a reflection of the comprehensive plan.

Yeah. Yes. Mr. Williams.

One thing I wanted to bring up tonight was I did a presentation. Madam Mayor, you may have remembered. I'm not sure if everybody was here. 2024, I think it was June, I think. One of the concerns that I raised, I did a presentation on the Castlewood safety concerns that I had. And I sent council kind of an update on that since everybody wasn't here. It actually got a news article in the newspaper and everything. They wrote up about the concerns that I raised. And then I think in February I sent something to council with that article and then some of the concerns I raised with the parking lot there, specifically in the walkway and stuff like that. And then I met with the town manager and I think the public works director and I think Ms. Grant's staff attended as well just to kind of show them what my concerns were with that wide open parking lot where there's probably 400 feet or actually if you count the parking across the street on the Monroe Bay waterway there, there's several hundred feet of just basically road to parking lot, no like entrance exits or anything like that. And so I brought it up when I talked to the town manager, but also when we discussed it in 2024, you and Mr. Ellison said that we should consider putting that on the CIP. So I just wanted to bring that up again as a possibility. And it may tie in with the zero plan that you're talking about as well. And I'm not even sure that it would necessarily even need to be a CIP item. The town manager seemed to think it would. But I think a lot of the concerns can be addressed minimally, like parking concrete, what do you call them, parking bumpers or whatever. You could get... For a couple thousand bucks, you could get those put throughout where they indicate the parking places and you could put pilings or something up to block so that people aren't driving through the entire area but have entrances and exits, stuff like that. But so anyway, I just wanted to bring that up and see if people are interested we don't have to actually make that decision tonight, but For our next meeting if we decide When you met with the town manager and the public works director that you had mentioned that you thought it was unsafe What feedback? I got mixed Feedback from them. They they actually Chris can tell you because he was there.

He was a big feedback Chris.

I

i don't know that i would call it mixed feedback it was very direct feedback it was feedback that this had not been made a priority there was no money in the budget to do this and in the short term the corrective action that we would take would be to place pedestrian traffic ahead signs there's a total of six of them that have been placed and we've also placed multiple markings on the asphalt that say slow to indicate slow down through the area to help accommodate this until council decides what direction they would like to go in on this park that also matches the park's master plan so the configuration as it exists now you see it as being dangerous i've worked here for a long time it's been relatively the same There have been millions added to the area. I'm not going to say it's not dangerous, but I don't, in my 13 years here, know of any major issues that have ever happened at Castlewood Park.

It's also mostly a boat ramp, isn't it? Or a boat parking lot? Because it's right in front of the boat ramp?

Multiple parts of it are, yes, sir. It can be used for boat and trailer parking or... There is actually about 20-ish spaces that are specifically for boat and trailer, but where the cars park adjacent to that, trucks and trailers can also park there if there's room to do so due to the fact that during the summer there's quite a few boaters that use boat ramp.

So putting concrete there would make it more onerous to park boats and trailers there, I would think, right? It could.

Okay, hold on. I still think this might qualify as a CIP item, like as I said before, because I think ultimately to get to a decision that matches the marks master plan, we should get a site plan officially done for the area that accommodates the fact it needs to be versatile for boat trailer parking and all of the things that it does. Um, and so if we wanna, and to your point, maybe this is also a part of the zero plan and all these pedestrian and all these, um, traffic safety things are a part of that. So I think it should be included in that for sure. And if we wanna get a engineered site plan done for how to park there the best way, I don't know that that would cross the threshold of a CIP, just the site plan, but probably the implementation and the plan would, as far as dollar amount. So we can, either put a blank item or you know when I say blank I'm warming up a placeholder kind of like the zero plan where it's to put something in the CIP for now and then bring it up at the workshop or we can still bring it up at the workshop regardless I'm open-minded about where that goes

I want to also say in visiting and looking at it with Chris and Natasha that day, yes, it's an open area and I think it should be more controlled. And then two weeks ago going to Dockside because it's like open, there was a family coming from that area and there was a car coming around from the Monroe and because they couldn't get through, they just came right through. to cross over into Bancroft. So I think there should be review it to see if there can be more safety precautions or some parameters there so that people aren't cutting through and created like an issue for those who are in the park because they had to back up because they see they could cut through there.

Yeah, a lot of people use that as a cut through, basically as a road, because it looks like a big open road. And I understand what Chris is saying. The reason, well, one of the things that the town manager said that she didn't feel like it was really a safety concern or she had been there during busy times because I pointed out busy times and she didn't think it was a safety concern. But at the same time, if you look at Wilder parking lot or any of the other parking lots in town, there's very specific ways to get in and out. The Wilder parking lot, which holds about the same amount of cars as Castlewood, has one entrance and one exit. And Castlewood basically has, you know, dozens of entrances and exits.

Let's put the engineering plan placeholder in the CIP. I mean, you know, everybody's making good points and we're trying to solve a very specific problem.

problem that's not even in the plan yet do we want to couple it with a zero plan like all uh because to be honest with you the i think that does that would need to be a part of that plan as well like it would get addressed in that do we want to just kind of put sidewalk and pedestrian safety in a you don't have to call it zero plan but in some sort of walkability comprehensive Point or do you want it to separate it out? And I just am asking because I want clear direction for staff So they bring us something back that we'll be able to vote on and so that we have a document Which can continue to be revised to continue to live in and change as we go forward But just so we're clear with staff what we want, okay?

so two separate items or one it can be one public safety and walkability because Okay, it's both one in the same

Do we could just put an asterisk in there that that would be one of the places to be addressed that would help. Okay.

I can put that in a descriptor on the worksheet. Um, kind of some examples of things. So first you would have your, your comprehensive bike ped traffic study and then is that enough direction for you then? I think so. Are you going to vote on the CIP tonight or do you want me to bring this back at the next meeting with that worksheet and

I assume we're bringing it back at the next meeting. Okay.

Everybody prefer that. Yeah.

Okay. Is there any more discussion on the CIP at this moment? All right. We're going to keep moving forward. We still have a lot of public hearings to go tonight. Next up is our public hearing for the town of colonial beach, water and sewer, residential flat water and sewer user fees. The following public hearing will be the commercial flat water and sewer fees. I just want to make the distinction between the two public hearings. And Lisa, would you like to introduce?

Yes. Good evening, Council, Madam Mayor. So we're bringing forward Ordinance 782 to increase the residential fees and service charges for water and sewer. Water is going to increase to $422.56. And the sewer would be increased. That's annually. Sorry. And the sewer will increase to $1,094 and 48 cents annually, which is a difference of $94 and 60 cents.

Can we make that clear for the annually what the annual difference is?

I think I have it in a slide that I'm going to be presenting for the budget. I think it's $96.40. Okay. Yeah, the total annual increase is $93.64. Okay, is that it?

If you're okay with it, we actually have a presentation that will talk about the utility rates as well as the budget that will kind of clean up all three of these items.

Okay. So that'll be for ahead of all of them. Yep. Let's go ahead and do that now. Okay.

I might make it more simple for Lisa.

You want to go ahead and do the presentation before all of it? Okay.

All right.

All right, we're gonna start the next slide. The budget process overview. We start working on the budget November, December. We submit our capital improvement items to the town manager. Budget worksheets are distributed to the department heads. And then January we ask for the outside agencies to contact the town manager's office with their funding requests. We start working on revenue projections, and then the department budget worksheets are submitted to the town manager. Then we have our town council strategic planning session, and then we start doing a detailed line-by-line review with the department heads and of the revenue. In February, we did initial budget discussions held with individual council members. In March, we did a budget works out public meeting. That was on March 10th. Then we did a follow-up and the Colonial Beach School budget presentation that was on March 18th. Last month, we did another budget presentation with some changes and updates we had made, and we advertised for the public hearing to be held.

Next slide.

So the purpose of the general fund, um, the general fund serves as a town of County beaches, main operating fund. It supports the essential services residents rely on every day. They include public safety streets, infrastructure, maintenance, parks, and rec community development and overall administrative functions because many of these services do not produce significant revenue on their own. They are largely financed through general tax revenues. And next slide. Here are some budget impacts that we had to face this year. Health care costs went up 10.8%. Dominion Power had an increase of 15%. The E911 cost, an estimate from the county, was $114,659. And I believe they're still waiting on their state budget to determine that final cost. The volunteer fire department requested a $25,000 increase. We still face continued inflationary costs for goods, services, and materials. As we know, gas prices are now $4 or more. The rate of revenue growth has not kept pace with the costs of our operations. As a tourism-based community, the town must support seasonal visitor demand while sustaining consistent year-round services for our residents. Next slide. What brings in our revenue? So you see our biggest chunk is our real estate and public service taxes, followed by our property taxes, personal property taxes, and our PPTRA money that we get from the state. Meals, lodging, and cottage comes in third. Then we get state funds for the police and for our streets. Parking fees and fines, they're only bringing in about 4.6%. Other tax revenue, 9.8%. Fees for our related services are only 3.47% of our revenue budget, and then all of our revenue, 4.13%. Next, our expenditures. So as we see, our biggest expenditure is our school system making up 31.39% of our budget. And you can see the kind of numbers from there. Next slide, go through those. The bottom line, the general fund is balanced with no proposed tax increase. And we were able to do that this year with no increases. We did that by reductions and we deferred positions. We deferred a grant writer manager. We deferred the senior planner. We deferred a parks maintenance crew member. That was for the third year. We deferred a part-time parks and rec assistant and our part-time admin staff. Our proposed additions was a 3% cost of living for our employees and one new part-time position, a public relations communications liaison. Next slide, our tax rates. As you see in this slide, there's no change in any tax rate on the general fund for fiscal 27. now we're going to go into our water sewer funds the purpose of the water sewer funds in the town of clinic beach the water sewer funds are structured to function much like self-supporting operations relying primarily on user fees and service charges rather than general tax revenue These revenues are intended to fully cover the cost of delivering specific services including staffing, day-to-day operations, maintenance, debt obligations, and appropriate share of administrative support. While they operate with a business-like model, these funds are not designed to generate a profit. Instead, their purpose is to ensure that services remain financially stable, efficiently managed, and fairly funded by those who use them. Next slide. Why utility funds should remain self-sustaining and not be subsidized by the general fund. Okay, we'll skip that one. Let's go on to additional cuts made. We've gone over this slide before. We did these cuts, brought that proposed, our first proposed rate increase, 1.65%, 6.5%, which we were able to reduce that to, 1.8%. And let's see our next slide. Water revenue sources. You see the bulk comes from our service fees we charge for your water usage. Then we got water connections, reconnection fees, and plan review inspection and availability fees. Our expenditures, the bulk of it is to maintain your water department and admin costs, things like that. Debt service is only roughly 27 and a half, 27.99%. And then these are additional cuts we had made from our first proposed budget. The first proposed budget had a 14% increase, which now has gone down to an 8.5%. proposed increase. Next slide. Your sewer revenue. Still the bulk comes from our sewer service fees, then our wastewater processing fees, and then our sewer connections and plan review and inspection and availability. Last slide, this is showing the rates that we're proposing. Next slide. In this budget, I said the water is a 1.8% increase, which equals 65 cents a month. for $1.96 a quarter. Our sewer usage rate increase is 8.5%. That's gonna increase by 7.15 a month or $21.44 a month. I mean a quarter, sorry, thank you. The bottom line is with your trash service included, your bill's going from 385.86 to 409.26. All right, is that everything?

Okay. All right, next up we'll do our public hearing on the residential flat rate user fees proposed. I will open this public hearing at 8.12 p.m.

First up is Gail McKay.

Welcome, Ms. McKay.

It's pretty hard to pay bills as it is with a not very big Social Security income only. So an extra $100 a year doesn't sound like a lot to most people. To me and a whole lot of my elderly friends, it is a lot, and it makes a big difference. So my real question is, what are you going to do with the money? Are you going to make the meters work? Because I'm one person in my house. My next-door neighbors are five adults. I guarantee they use more water, and they flush the toilet a lot more. I mean, I can't verify that because I haven't asked, but I bet that's true. Can anyone answer that question? Is that something to expect to happen? Or what am I paying for? Do I get an answer?

We don't respond in public comment, but you can go to the town manager and he can answer that question.

I do want an answer from somebody, please. Yes. And also the connection fees, my understanding is that they're not equal across the board. And I'd like an answer as to why that's true. And if it isn't true, tell me that. That's it.

Next up is Rusty Curley.

I think Mr. Curley left.

Mr. Will Muffles.

Again, we'll look close to a form in Reba Avenue. Water and sewer fees are sort of the equivalent of a regressive tax, right? So we're talking about a disproportionate burden on our most vulnerable parts of our communities, right? We've heard some comments tonight about the real world impact on very specific people who have very constrained income. discretionary money to spend right and this is I don't think being overblown at all because I've heard this from from quite a few people none of which when I've actually met them look like they're just you know floating out ideas to try to have less of a burden I think they really are that constrained and if you look at the income statistics that you can look up for our town as well as our county I think it's quite believable And this is not an optional thing, right? So when you set these things, nobody can get out of this, right? In order to live, you pretty much have to have access to water and to be able to have your sewage carried away. So this is something that's forced on everybody. And I think the implications of this are something that should be taken extremely seriously, especially the way that it's being structured now, right? So part of the cost implications on our users are due to policy decisions that this body and its predecessors, people who have been there before you both, have decided that this is the way we're going to structure how to make payments in this town. It's a system that tends to encourage wastefulness. It can encourage an attitude of forget conservation. If I'm going to actually have to pay this much, I'm going to try to get my money's worth out of it. And there's no downside to that at all on the user side. But there is a real world downside to that because when the plant has to run more, It costs more. And then the plant comes back and says, like, here, here's our increased cost, right? And then it turns back into a race. It's a bad cycle based on, I think, poor planning as far as the rate structure goes. And we got a tease of this earlier about how there's generally, and I understand this in government in general, not wanting to bring in general fund money into dedicated funds. Uh, as a general policy piece, that's probably a sound, uh, fiscal, uh, way to operate. But at the moment we're in a transition period, right? We've got no real way to track what the usage is on the residential side, right? Cause we've made a bunch of policy mistakes in the past, a bunch of implementationist mistakes in the past. We're having to live with that. So I think it's not unreasonable to look to the general fund which is not nearly as regressive as this would be in terms of impacts on households and use some of that money in the short run while we get our act together on trying to have the infrastructure that works appropriately to be able to measure and then hopefully bill and come up with conservation programs that actually try to lower all over plant costs because really for a lot of things, particularly on the drinking water side, it's kind of an input output thing, right? It's largely electricity. It's largely driven just by the more you run pumps, the more you run the equipment, the higher the cost is. So most communities are way ahead of we are and trying to do cost control. We're kind of only seem to focus on the rate increases. That's where we spend most of our time. Not a lot on the sort of cost reduction side. Similarly, on the water, the water plant side of things, we're not doing very much in terms of having the in-house expertize to understand whether what we're being recommended by our vendors, which are quite expensive, as to whether or not they're providing accurate information, because we haven't really invested in having the in-house professional staff here that has the expertise to understand whether what they're feeding us is accurate or not. time and time again hit us with cost increases that they say are sort of unavoidable and you kind of have to deal with this. We don't have the technical expertise to be able to push back on that. I think that's something we really need to be looking into because really all we're doing is taking more cost increases from vendors, more cost increases from our utility companies, more cost increases from usages with sort of no ability to redress any of that other than to have meetings like tonight where we go like, I guess we're stuck with this big bill. lets up our rates again so um i encourage you to look for funding sources i do think that this is the time to do a hybrid of the cost that would go directly from the utility costs but also a hybrid we would mix in some general fund costs in the short run while we spend some serious time trying to get our act together on this because clearly the trend has only been going up and if that doesn't set off alarm bells that this is not just coming from utility costs this is coming from our own mismanagement and we got to fix this at some point because our neighbors are getting hurt in the meantime, and I think we need to stop that.

Would anybody else like to speak at the public hearing? All right, we'll close that public hearing. I have 8.19 p.m. Um, I'd like to go ahead and do the next public hearing since they're so closely related, which is for the commercial rate. We'll open the commercial rate public hearing at 8 20 PM. Uh, welcome back. Yep. That's what we're here for. So I have more questions.

So there's a flat fee for not only residents, but there's also a flat fee for businesses. Do Drift and Muse, I don't know if they're two separate businesses, it looks like it from the outside, but they're connected, so do they have two separate fees or one? Just curious. But the real question is why Again, it goes to meters. Why would you charge the same amount for water and sewer to, say, Peddler's Market, who has no public restroom, I've asked, and the same fee to El Toro that's busy and open every single day? People use their restrooms. They use the kitchen. I don't get it. And I would like answers. And when would I expect those realistically? Next year? Next week? When? I don't know who I'm talking to. I'm talking to everybody.

So I can answer that. So I have your contact information here. So I'll reach out by the end of the week.

Perfect. I'll give you my number too. All right.

I have it right here.

Okay. Thank you.

Next is Mr. Wilmotles.

Similarly on the commercial side, we haven't really done very serious homework to try to incentivize conservation on this part of the puzzle either, right? So at least we have some indication as to what usage is because there's a lot more data on that side. But it doesn't seem to be that we're utilizing that data to try to make informed public policy making decisions to try to figure out how do we get out of the mess that we're in. So this is not a good indicator as to what it's going to be like when we get the residential meter side, right? Because we're sort of like not doing very good work with the information we have on the commercial side. But hopefully we can, you know, make some improvements because really driving conservation is going to be the thing that lowers the cost on the whole. On the revenue side that was being depicted, you know, part of our revenues come from expansion in town, right? New development, new developers. uh there has been uh some indications i haven't seen this publicly uh disclosed by the the town operation itself but there seems to be some indications that there is a not insignificant amount of waivers that are given to developers over the over the years um both in terms of an inconsistency and i'm always a person who's all about fairness and business i think everybody ought to be on the same playing field and any sort of you know abilities to reduce costs ought to be available to everybody or be available to nobody THERE SEEMS TO BE AN INCONSISTENCY PROBLEM ON THAT THAT ACTUALLY AFFECTS OUR REVENUE BOTTOM LINE. THERE ALSO JUST SEEMS TO BE THE QUESTION ABOUT THE AUTHORITY TO REDUCE THE REVENUE SIDE. SO ON THE EXPENDITURE SIDE, WHEN WE LOOK TO THE PROFESSIONAL STAFF AND WE SAY, LIKE, HEY, YOU KNOW, I WANT TO SPEND $100,000 OR I WANT TO SPEND $200,000, RIGHT, THEY WOULD LOOK TO SEE, YOU KNOW, WHAT'S ALLOWED IN THE BUDGET AND IF IT'S NOT THERE GENERALLY WITHOUT COMING BACK TO COUNCIL TO THE both voice that to the public and then to ask our elected officials, is that okay? That's usually a no-go, right? But in terms of it looks like being able to impair the revenue side of this, which ultimately has the same impact when we're talking about having to change rates as a result of this, that doesn't seem to have any oversight that I can tell of, and certainly not a specific allowance and not in the aggregate as well. It doesn't seem, I understand the practicality of saying if you wanted to change somebody's bill by 20 bucks or something to do an accounting correction, that's a different thing. But my understanding is we're talking about tens of thousands, if not in aggregate, well over $100,000 in terms of these allowances which are reducing our revenue stream. How that's allowed without your oversight, much less your affirmative blessing is beyond me. Um, and like I said, I, I think some real investigative work should be called on, uh, to try to get down to the root of this, to figure out where these one-time things are, these ongoing things. And with the possible expansion of the things like, you know, the Lennar properties and the seemingly hundreds and hundreds of possible, you know, new developments, if somebody just said like, Hey, don't worry about it. Just, we'll just skip all those connection fees. Cause we want you to come to town. the revenue implications to that would be huge because we're going to get stuck with the delivery side of this. And we need all of those revenues on the front side to help partially mitigate those costs. And right now it just seems to be happening in a complete sense of opaqueness, right? Nobody really knows what's going on. I don't know. Um, I've talked to a number of businesses in town. They only hear sort of things through the rumor mill and nothing is coming up in the reporting that actually puts numbers to this. And I'm hoping that that should be known by Public Works, should be known through the administration, should be known by the finance office. Everybody should be having constant understanding of where these revenue changes are. It's not apparent that any of those groups are, if they know about it, they're not reporting it and they're not being transparent. So hopefully you can put forth some data calls to try to understand this better before you get to the point of actually setting rate changes. Because right now I think you're, shoot in the dark a little bit on this right because you're looking at you know these projections but you don't know if historically that's been panning out and you certainly don't know from a projection point of view whether that's going to be viable in the future or not so please do some more homework thanks that's all that signed up for the commercial rate public hearing would anybody else like to speak

All right, I'm gonna close that public hearing at 826pm. All right, I assume we're deferring action along with the actual budget to the May 20 meeting. Huh? It's Clerks Association Month, we forgive you for all. We're so happy to have you here. Okay, we wanna have discussion on those items while we're on that topic. Yes, Mr. Williams.

I just wanted to point out, since we don't actually read public comment anymore that's written in, I just wanted to mention that we had about a dozen people write in, and they all, several, All of them basically said no to the increase. Some of them cited, you know, we need to fix our income issues. They also said, you know, some about $156,000 in discounts. Concerns over the increase, people on fixed incomes, more discount concerns. A lot of them just basically simply said no to the increase. Some of them brought up the meters and them not being operating, which I know we actually are on the way to finishing that, hopefully by the end of the year. I'm hoping that we don't have to actually wait until six months. I know, I believe Mr. brower had mentioned that it would take six months of data but i don't know historic it seems like it shouldn't be take six months because i know i've lived in a town where they metered water and it seems like we could easily find out what the typical average family uses but anyway that was one of the comments that was made it's just people saying that we should find other ways to make cuts instead of raising the rates As Mr. Knuckles and others have mentioned, possibly this year trying to make some cuts in the general budget fund in order to offset this for this year until we can get things under control. I just wanted to mention some of those things and I have some of the same concerns. I personally feel like we need to do a town-wide audit to make sure that everybody in town, all apartments, accessory dwellings, everything that's in town is paying a water bill. I mean, I have several examples where I believe that they're not There's accessory dwellings that are being rented as Airbnbs that are not paying separate water sewer bills. There's apartments. There's houses. I think there's a house. I've got to do more research, but I think there's a house on my street that may not be paying a separate water bill because it's on the same lot. So there's just a lot of concerns that I have before I could actually support an increase. That's my two cents.

I saw a lot of those comments too. Obviously I read all the emails. I do want to make sure that we're, as a council, providing information that is helpful to our residents. One of the big things that comes up is affordability with the water sewer bill on people off of social security. And I just wanna make sure that we all do our part to disseminate information about the senior discount program that we have for all seniors that are eligible for that. and for disabled, senior and disabled discount program. And so I just, when these concerns come up, I wanna make sure there is information given out about that. The application is with Ms. Oliver, who is our clerk, and we do have several people in that program, we expanded the program qualifications to match the HUD guidelines. And I know it doesn't help everyone, but it may help some of the people who are having these concerns. And if they just don't know about it, then it's sort of up to all of us to make sure we disseminate that information to help them. Also, on this, I think this, I just want to say thank you to the staff for now the fourth revision in trying to reduce this as much as possible. I have one more question about it. I know we're going to be at the next meeting. The only item in it, and I've been back through it as many times as through every item, but the last item is the sludge disposal number. Is there any portion of that that is reimbursable by the DEQ funds because if there's any portion of that that can come out of the operating costs because it's reimbursable, then maybe we could get it even a little bit lower than we are advertising the public hearing for.

So if I could have Mr. Ruckte answer that question.

Oh, you're ready for the question.

The answer to that question is no. The ARPA funds that are allocated for the sludge disposal will be for the rented press that's coming in on May 11th, which will be hooked up to the nitrification bank number two to pull a million gallons of sludge directly out of that tank because it has to be removed so we can get in and inspect it. And after... That tank is emptied. If we have time, we will continue doing other tanks that have been out of service so we can get into them and inspect them as well. And that's where that $200,000 in the ARPA grant for sludge disposal is going.

So, but the $200,000 that's in our budget right now.

Is for day-to-day operations.

It is not. So that is in addition to the sludge disposal and operating budget.

Yes, ma'am.

Okay, and then I'm sure there's other questions by other council members. I wanna make sure we address the meter situation. As Mr. Williams said, we are working on getting the water meters fixed, the relay, the communications relays have been the problem. There were not enough. receivers to receive the information. They just sent, sent, sent, sent, sent until they died. It's my recap of that utility issue. They are under warranty and they are being commissioned to be replaced back out right now. As a resident though, for pretty much my whole life here, I will tell you I am adamantly opposed to meter rating on residential units. Adamantly opposed to it. And I will just go ahead and put that on the record and out there. This town residents, us that live here full time, whether you are a single person by yourself or a family with three kids, uses more water than 40% of the houses in town, which are second homes and sit vacant. Our second homeowners, God bless them, we love them, we are so grateful for them here, they subsidize your bill. They are paying the same water and sewer rate and trash rate, and they come to their house maybe twice a year. They do not flush their toilet every day. They do not flush their toilet 10 times a day. And they are paying the same rate as you. And while we are very grateful for that, part of our economy is very important to us, for the people that live here year round. Those of us that live here year round would substantially have to pay a lot more if we go to metered usage and that is even if you are a single elderly senior citizen by yourself because the house two blocks down from you or next door to you that is a second home is sitting there not using any water for at least six months out of the year. And so it would put enormous undue burden on our full-time residents who we need desperately in order to have an economy at all year round to work at all the jobs that are here in our town, which are restaurants and food line and gas stations, our police department and our teachers, which are not high paying wages as we know from our median income. We're very aware of that and very sensitive to that. And so I would just say that while there are a lot of comments that we get about going to metered usage, I think it's important to inform the citizens of what that really means to the full-time resident. because it is not maybe what they think it means. And it has been told to me numerous times over many years by many former mayors as well, that if we were to go to metered usage, that the full-time residence bill would go up and they would be the ones paying for that. And the 40% of our houses that stay vacant for most of the year would be the ones getting the discount. And we have to operate that plant in every single part of our utility system 365 days a year, whether they come one weekend or they come every weekend. So I just put that out there as information. I have had former mayors say this. I'm repeating it myself as well so that it's very clear that We do not, we want to take the burden off of the year-round resident as much as possible. And a big portion of that is because our seasonal second homeowners are paying that flat rate along with us. and taxes of their personal property or real estate taxes as well to help support our schools for the kids that end up working at our shops and growing up here and then becoming professionals that open up things like our new dog grooming business. So I just think it's important to note that in this conversation. Also, we should, though, use the data. The data that we get from the meters is important, and we can do a lot of good with that data. And we should be conscious of our environment and water usage. And not to say there shouldn't be penalties for people that use water in excess at a certain amount. You know, I can understand that. We want to be conscious of the environment. That data is important, but it is important also has been from prior data analysis with the water meters was that we must analyze the data for at least one year, not six months, because we are so seasonal. The usage rate in August is exceptionally different than the usage rate in January. And if we do not understand the seasonality differences in April, May compared to September and October or compared to December, then we're not going to be able to analyze the data appropriately for what that really means for our town. So we want to be intentional and thoughtful about that. We can use that data and do the meters are good and they are also mandated by the state. We don't have a choice, though. We're gonna make sure they work and try to get some good context out of that. But I get a lot of comments about the usage thing, so I just wanted to clarify that. Mr. Wood, I see your hand up. Sorry, I went on a rant there.

No, no, no, no. It's all valuable information. I'm going to piggyback on that and ask either Lisa or Chris, whoever is the best person to ask this, okay? I'm a single person on a fixed income. Once meters are all the way through once we're all the way live, is my Waterville going to go down if I only flush the toilet one day, one time a day?

No.

Okay. So what's going to happen because is it because we're not paying for the product we're paying to get it pumped to us basically. Correct.

Well, we would still have a flat rate up to a certain number of gallons. The meters would be, it's like so we do our commercials now. When they go over a certain amount of gallons, then we charge them extra money. So that flat rate will not change. We still need to have that flat rate revenue to cover our operating expenditures.

Well, see, and that's what's important I don't think people understand. And I can understand why you wouldn't because it's counterintuitive. okay but there is a flat rate that you're going to pay for yes every water system has one my mine at placid bay i have a flat rate i get three thousand three thousand gallons a month and over that then i get metered now hopefully what will happen once we have a year's worth of data or two years worth of data is that we see my neighbor who fills the swimming pool okay then ultimately because they're getting more revenue from them don't need as much from me. Okay, that's not something we can determine daily.

Right, once we get enough data, we can analyze different things and we could present to council, maybe we can lower the, or maybe we need to raise it. The average household is, right now the flat rate is 5,000 per month. maybe we need to raise it, maybe we need to lower it, but we need that data to make those kind of determinations.

But it's important for everybody in the audience to understand, okay? And don't believe things that aren't true. You're going to be paying the water bill that you're going to be paying, even if the meters go up. So it's not a question of the town wants to overcharge you guys, okay? Because I'm in the same position you are. Again, I'm on a fixed income too. I don't wanna pay any more than I have to, but I do want clean water. I want water on demand. I want it to show up and there aren't people who are getting these backroom deals. I see all kinds of weird stuff on social media, but the town isn't cutting backroom deals with people. Okay, I know the integrity of our town manager. Okay, and you have my word on it that people aren't get backroom deals. So if you hear things that pit you against your neighbor, you can rest assured it's not true. But it's important for everybody to know that that 400 bucks that you have to pay in your water bill, once your meter goes in, you're still gonna pay it. And that sucks. Paying that kind of money sucks. but it's what it costs to actually get the water safely to your door. Is that a fair statement, Chris? Absolutely.

Mr. Williams, I see your hand up.

Yeah, I don't want to get into a back and forth, but I mean, I just disagree. We'll agree to disagree on the usage thing. I mean, I feel like conserving water does make a difference, and we're completely leaving that factor out of this, and it's very easy to figure out what the average household uses for water, and you set your gallon limit at that, but that's, like I said, I don't want to spend all night arguing back and forth on that. As far as I mean, if you think that $15,000 for nine condos and two businesses is not a deal, then I guess we can disagree on that as well when the going rate is much higher. But one of the things I wanted to ask, I don't know if Lisa or Adam could answer, but are the,

um businesses now being metered because maybe i'm misremembering but i thought a year or two ago they've been being metered if their meters are working um as they're coming back online as chris is getting those replaced under the warranty they are starting to get back on those commercials are are now being metered but when the meters weren't working we couldn't meter them So now that we're getting the systems back online, and I believe the commercial ones were the first ones that Chris went after, so we can get those bills back to where they need to be.

So they're all paying, like, usage now?

We're still not all. We're still working on getting the rest of the system. We're waiting for the rest of the parts to come in. It's a very long, tedious process working with the vendor, working with the vendor's representative, We're getting all of that pieces in now, and that will start commencing very hard and heavy in the coming months. 95% of the collection system has been upgraded and is operating. We're waiting on the last piece, which is the last collector, which is we have one on each water tower. That's what collects all the information from the repeaters. So that system is coming back online. We're up to about a 47 to 50% read rate right now where we were at nil. So it is changing, it is making forward progression. However, it's a time consuming process and it will take a lot of staff time to get that done because the warranty only covers the parks, not the labor. So that labor will be commenced by public work staff when they're not doing anything else. Every staff member will be trained to go do this so we can get this project done because there's roughly in the neighborhood of about 1,800 meters that need to be corrected, replaced, or repaired under this warranty. And that's going to take a time-consuming length of time that it takes because you can only do so many in a day.

Okay, I wasn't aware that the labor wasn't covered, but that's definitely good to know. What's the most expensive part, the labor or the part? It seems like the labor might be.

It depends. If we run into an issue, the labor could become the most expensive, but right now it's getting the parts here to get it fixed. That's all at their expense, the shipping back and forth. and they're sending us upgraded versions of what we currently have. So right now the part is the more expensive part.

Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it.

All right. Is there any more comments on this? We'll have a public hearing for the school board's budget next. All right, we'll keep moving forward to the school board's budget. This is a public hearing for the 2027 budget and adoption.

Now, does this... Our budget and the school board budget.

Okay, for both. And the school board has a deadline of June...

No, their deadline is May 15th, and their school board has already approved their budget.

Okay. All right, got it. All right, so this is a public hearing for both budgets then, and this was all part of the presentation already given, right? And we don't need an additional walk-in to this. All right, let's open this public hearing. I got 8.47 p.m.

i understand that this is a large part of the cost to the community as it is in in all communities in all states uh it's an important investment right in the future of not just the the people that are here but the important investment in the town itself um that said uh From the presentations I've seen, I've been a bit confused about the variations over time that relates to needing more or less money based on the student population, but more recently, there's like a reduction in the population, but not necessarily feeling for a reduction in cost. There may be very valid reasons for that. Some of this is gonna have to do with basic carrying capacity of the school, that you have to have sort of a minimal investment sort of have some basic functionality. I just wish that that was a little clearer in the way that the budget numbers were being presented, because I think that if the more clarity we can have to have the public understand, it's not just that you take the budget and divide it by the number of kids, that it's actually a bit more complex than that, because even with small student enrollment, and some of our enrollments are actually quite tiny in some pieces of the demographic as they go through the years, that we still have to fund a basic amount of competency in order to be able to get those kids educated no matter whether there's two of them or 50 of them in any given cohort but i think some some better explanation might make the comp might make the public a little more comfortable with understanding why these costs are so high so that's my comment more in relation to the way the information is being presented to the public less so than the actual cost thanks

Anybody else? Going once, going twice, okay. All right, it's getting late. 8.49 p.m., we will close public hearing. All right. Is there any further discussion on that topic before we move on to the next? We've had multiple presentations by that point. Okay, all right, I think we're good. Next up is the, we're authorizing public hearings for zoning tax amendment. This is for a small scale production. Is this Angela, is this you? Yep.

It is, and you'll be happy to know I don't have a formal presentation tonight. But as you know, we've gotten a request for a potential business in town. No firm location yet or not, but came forward, and we didn't really have a place to put a coffee roastery. It wasn't in the zoning code. So rather than add coffee roastery to one zone, we decided to look at what other localities do. No locality I talked to, and I talked to a whole lot, had coffee roastery. Most have light manufacturing in their towns and counties, and that's where they would go, but we don't have that. We looked at combining a whole lot of different small-scale productions, so that would be anything from a coffee nursery to a jewelry maker or other people that make small-scale production items. that they would sell somewhere else. So we tried to look at it in a comprehensive way, and that's what we've come back to you with. So attachment one in the report is an amendment to add a definition for small-scale production to section 20-2. It would be not to exceed 6,000 feet, and it lists a whole bunch of different stuff that could fall under that, furniture making, glass, all small scale, less than 6,000 square feet. But it would all be in all the districts. So for attachment two, the proposed zoning text would list all three of the commercial districts. We have resort commercial, C1, and then... Yeah, RC and CR. And all three of those would then require a conditional use permit so that if something does come in that has, say, an odor to it that needs to be vented a certain way, we could control that through the conditional use permit and everybody would understand what the impacts of the neighboring businesses or residents would be. So all I'm asking for is authorization to hold that public hearing planning commission did forward a recommendation to approve both those zoning text amendments to you so moved yeah do you have a date uh not the next meeting i'm told but um the first june work session the june work session you tracking that heather all right i heard a motion is there a second second

Any discussion on setting the public hearing for June work session? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. With that, all in favor say aye of adjourning the meeting at 8.53 PM. Aye. Aye.