City Council Legislative Session - Regular Meeting

Good evening, and welcome to the Hampton City Council legislative session. Madam clerk, will you call the roll, please?

Councilman Bowman. Present. Vice mayor Brown. Here. Councilwoman Campbell. Present. Councilwoman Fairby. Present. Councilwoman Harper.

Present.

Councilwoman Muggler. Present. Mayor Gray.

Present. And the invocation this evening will be given by councilwoman Carolyn Campbell followed by the pleasure of allegiance. So would you please stand and join us for a moment.

Eternal god, as we recognize National Crime Victims Rights Week and Youth Violence Prevention Week, please hold those in harm's way in your loving grace and grant them peace and comfort through difficult times. Gather us all as one even if we have various thoughts on how to support those around us as we all have compassion for those who need our help. Please instruct us and teach us the way. Counsel us with your loving eye and let our plans be orchestrated by you. In Hebrews 12, you teach us for the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Whatever it is that you want, Lord, guide us to that light. Amen.

This weekend, we had a couple of incidents in the city that kinda put our police department to the test, really. We we had two huge gatherings, one in a neighborhood which was a big party at a short term rental and with a large group of people that kinda refused to leave. And so our police department had to respond to that. They responded. They attempted to resolve the situation, clear the street so that people could get to their homes and all.

And then they left thinking it was under control, and then the the the party goers came back. And so police had to go back a second time and eventually resolve that issue. And then on the same afternoon, we had a very large gathering of young people at Buckroe Beach. We did know that that was coming. It was a social media post inviting people to take over the beach, and quite a few people showed up.

They did show up kinda gradually. And so, you know, there's nothing illegal about kids coming to the beach. We want them to come out and enjoy our beaches and but after a while, the crowd grew and it grew a little larger and a little larger. And then eventually, some fights broke out and police had to close the beach and again try to resolve that situation and get everybody out safely and wish they did. So, I wanna applaud our police department for their work and being able to resolve both of those situations without, as far as we know, anybody in the offices or anybody in the getting injured or harmed in any way.

So, I'm grateful for their response and for their patience and being able to work through both of those situations. And so, subsequently, there were several, you know, social media posts about the event and people we were telling people that, you know, you have to have a permit to come to the beach. And so, they wanted to know, well, why would teenagers or kids have to have a permit to come to the beach? Well, you don't. You don't need a permit to come to the beach.

Kids are free to come and enjoy the beach anytime that the beach is open. But the problem is is when a single social media organizer messages the public to come to the beach and do a takeover, that is a large public gathering in a public place. And under our current policy, that requires a permit. When you when you have an open event and you invite it, open it up, and anybody could come, we we require a permit for that. And so, the organizers of that event didn't get the permit, and what we got was this invitation for a large group of people to come to the beach.

So, I bring that up because, one, to compliment our police department for being able to handle it, but, two, is just to, you know, reinforce to the public that, you know, we we invite everybody to come and enjoy our public amenities like the beach, Buckroe Beach, and our parks and all. But, you know, these huge takeovers or huge unannounced gatherings where large groups of people show up are not permissible. And, they're not permissible because what's happening is they come with the intention of fighting. And, fights broke out and, you know, we we don't need that in our city. And, so, we're trying to discourage those.

And, if you know people who are planning to do those kinds of events, please discourage them to do to to not do it or if they want to try to do a large gathering or invite a large group of people to come to the beach, go to our parks and rec department, and apply for a permit. And and the police department will evaluate that and then attempt to provide the appropriate level of security if they can accommodate the event. But these unannounced unorganized groups of people is not healthy, especially for those who are at the beach with their kids and trying to enjoy a beach safely. To have that coming on is not is not appropriate and not acceptable. So, you know, do encourage people not to do it if you know it.

If you're young people or kids in your household see information which people are inviting them, please ask them not to go because in more than most likely that is a unpermitted event and not allowed and police are gonna try

to break that up. So once again, wanna thank our law enforcement officers for their quick response and and being able to handle those incidents. And we we expect, you know, that there could be others, so we'll continue to monitor those and make sure that during the summer, we try to allow people to come to our beach and enjoy it without any kind

of interruption, any kind of fights, other violent activity. So with that, I'm gonna ask the clerk to read the protocol for the consent agenda.

The consent agenda consists of routine non controversial items requiring council approval. These items are typically adopted with one motion and without discussion. Tonight, your consent agenda amends the FY twenty six council approved budget to appropriate approximately 1,800,000.0 from the equipment replacement funds unrestricted net position to the equipment replacement funds operating budget for Hampton Police Division vehicles. It appropriate $7,000 from the Wetlands and Croshman restricted fund balance to the community development operating account to fund the city's participation in the Virginia Conservation Assistance Program. It approves Hampton's participation and proposed settlements of opioid related claims and to execute the document necessary to effectuate the participation and approves the minutes from four city council meetings.

Alright. We need a motion and a second.

So move.

Second.

Call the roll, please.

Councilman Bowman.

Aye.

Vice mayor Brown.

Aye.

Councilwoman Campbell. Aye. Councilwoman Faribi. Aye. Councilwoman Harper. Aye. Councilwoman Mugler. Aye. Mayor Gray.

Aye. And we have a number of things being proclaimed this month during the month of April, and many of the proclamations are being read at various events throughout the city. So therefore, I will not be reading all of them this evening. They include the one hundred twenty fifth anniversary of r r Hayden Smith funeral home, child abuse prevention month, public safety telecommunicators week, and crime victim rights week. But I do have some proclamations that I wanna read this evening and which will not be read at other events.

So, me make sure I got the first one here. And, the first one of those is proclaiming the month of April as autism appreciation month in the city of Hampton. And whereas autism or autism spectrum disorder is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition that affects how a person communicates, interacts, and experiences the world. And whereas people with autism are part of a broader neurodivergent community, which includes individuals with ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and other conditions, each representing a unique neurotype. And whereas people with autism have a unique combination of strengths, challenges, and support needs.

And whereas some of their strengths include a strong attention to detail, creative problem solving, and a deep focus on areas of interest. And whereas autism acceptance goes beyond acknowledging autism, it involves actively supporting autistic individuals, embracing neurodiversity, and removing barriers in education, employment, healthcare, and community life. And whereas autism acceptance must provides an opportunity for everyone to focus on the importance of understanding, respecting, and including those with autism, and affirming their experiences and identities without judgment. And whereas the Alpha Beta Zeta chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated is dedicated to fostering a community of understanding and support for neuro diverse populations in the city of Hampton and surrounding communities. And whereas, 04/19/2026, the chapter will hold its annual autism acceptance walk and a donation collection drive.

And this effort aims to celebrate neuro diversity and offers an opportunity to provide essential items to local children on the autism spectrum. Now, therefore, I, James a Gray, mayor, on behalf of the city of city council of the city of Hampton, Virginia, do hereby proclaim the month of April 2026 as Autism Acceptance Month in the city of Hampton. And furthermore, I call upon all citizens in Hampton to join me in a supporting this worthy cause in thanking Alpha Beta Zeta Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated for the work that they do to bring awareness and acceptance to autism. In witness whereof I have here unto set my hand and cause the seal of the city of Hampton, Virginia to be affixed this April 2026. And we have some members of the sorority here in the audience.

Would you all please stand? As a matter of fact, stand and come on down here to the well so we can present the proclamation to you right here. Alright. In case you didn't notice, councilman Bowman and vice mayor Brown and I are wearing our autism awareness ties tonight for the occasion. So we were able to get this and proud to be a part of the effort to bring awareness to autism.

Thank you. Okay. So, the next proclamation is in recognition of National Volunteer Week and Volunteer Appreciation Month in the city of Hampton. And whereas our nation's heritage is based on citizen involvement and citizen participation, and whereas volunteerism is of enormous benefit in building a better community and a better sense of one's well-being, and whereas the tradition of volunteering best demonstrates the American ideal of concern for one another and for those in needs. And whereas volunteerism is increasingly recognized as a central partner with government, education, industry in doing the work of our nation.

And whereas our community and our citizenry all benefit from the actions, concerns, and dedications of these volunteers, and whereas the city of Hampton will celebrate National Volunteer Week and Volunteer Appreciation Month via various functions and events including a celebration hosted by our human resources department and our annual volunteer banquet hosted by the sheriff's department. Now, therefore, I, James a Gray, mayor, on behalf of the city council of the city of Hampton, Virginia, do hereby recognize April 2026 as National Volunteer Week and the month of April as Volunteer Appreciation Month in the city of Hampton. And I urge all citizens to observe this time by recognizing the outstanding contributions that are being made by our lives and in the community by hundreds of citizens who are volunteering their services and resources in this community. And witness whereof, I have here unto set my hand and cause the seal of City Of Hampton, Virginia to be affixed this April 2026, signed James a Gray, mayor of City Of Hampton. So to all of our volunteers in the city, people who volunteered their time on our many boards and commissions, people who adopt adopt highways and help us keep our city clean, to our volunteers who assist our police department and our firefighters.

We are grateful for all of the help that we get from all of our volunteers. So they all deserve a round of applause. Thank you. And then my final proclamation for this week is proclaiming the week of April 19 through the twenty fifth twenty twenty six as Youth Violence Prevention Week in the city of Hampton. And whereas Youth Violence Prevention Week brings communities together to raise awareness about youth violence and learning how to stop it.

And where this initiative shows the positive role young people play in making their communities and schools safer, and whereas everyone can play a role in preventing youth violence, and whereas the city of Hampton is committed to helping our citizens emerge against violence due to hopeful opportunities and engagement, and where whereas the city of Hampton supports pro social activities and grassroots organization and links communities to provide a positive experiences ensuring that Hampton's youth can heal, rebuild, and thrive. And whereas the city of Hampton continuously works to create better outcomes for youth and young adults by providing meaningful alternatives to violence, drugs, and gang participation while addressing unresolved trauma and supporting citizens who return to the community. Now, therefore, I, James a Gray, mayor, on behalf of the city council of the city of Hampton, Virginia, do hereby proclaim the week of April 19 through the twenty fifth twenty twenty six at youth violence prevention week in the city of Hampton, Virginia, and furthermore, call upon all citizens to in Hampton to join me in recognizing the work of our Hampton office of youth and young adult opportunities and the importance of youth violence prevention. In witness whereof, I appear unto set my hand and cause the seal of the city of Hampton, Virginia to be affixed this April 2026, signed James a Gray junior.

And did I see mister Hugo Morrison out there somewhere? Hugo, why don't you come on up? He is interim director of our office of youth and young adult opportunities, and we have a lineup of activities coming up this week to engage our young people in our community, to engage our college students, and they've been working hard to put all the events together. We're looking forward to those coming up not this week, but the following week, we'll kick that off. So Hugo, let's go down and present Hugo.

Okay. So I am now gonna ask the clerk to read the protocol for public hearings. The

city council was committed to fair and respectful hearings. The following guidelines help ensure an orderly process. Individuals wishing to speak must sign up in the city hall lobby starting one hour before the meeting and ending when the meeting begins. Speakers will be called in the order they signed up. Speakers shall address counsel from the center podium. Each speaker is allowed three minutes. The timer has a green light which will turn yellow with one minute remaining and then red when time is up. All comments must be addressed to the council and speakers may not yield their time to others. After all the speakers are heard, the mayor will close the public hearing and invite council discussion and action. Thank you.

Okay. I'll Clerk, you're gonna read the title for the first item?

Your first I'm sorry. Your first public hearing this evening is item number 6 526Dash0131. It's the f y twenty twenty six twenty twenty seven community development block Grant CDBG and Home Investment Partnerships Program Home Annual Action Plan.

I'll ask the city manager to introduce the item.

Thank you, mister mayor and council members. Tonight's presentation will be given by Travis Rasch, chief neighborhood development specialist. Tonight is just a public hearing. You will have action at a future meeting. But tonight we're providing a report on the annual action plan that's proposed and receiving any public comment. Hello,

honorable mayor Gray, vice mayor Brown, esteemed members of council, city manager Bunting, thank you so much for the introduction. My name is Travis Rash, and I'm here to present tonight on our program year 2026 annual action plan, which aligns with HUD's federal fiscal year 2026 and the city's fiscal year 2027. The annual action plan governs it's essentially a budget that tells us how we intend to use our community development block grant dollars and our home investment partnership program, home dollars. And the program year will run from 07/01/2026 through 06/30/2027. The annual action plan itself is part of a five year consolidated plan.

So it's an annual checkup essentially to ensure that we are accomplishing two things. Number one, it lets HUD know exactly how we intend to use the dollars from our entitlement grants. But number two, it also helps ensure that we are appropriately aligned with our five year consolidated plan. Our five year consolidated plan was passed in August 2025. And so this is actually year two of our consolidated plan.

Each year, the city continues to submit annual action plans to ensure programmatic compliance with HUD and that we are using our dollars appropriately. That next slide. The largest item that we use our funding for for these grants is housing. Why housing itself? First, the home investment partnerships program is was conceptualized via the Cranston Gonzales affordable housing act in 1990.

It is only explicitly used for affordable housing service provision. With the community development Block Grant, CDBG, we have a little bit more autonomy in how we could potentially use those dollars. We often use those dollars together to leverage them in order to create a larger impact for our community, for the residents here in the city of Hampton. We spend a lot of time focusing on those housing activities. We preserve affordable housing. We improve accessibility and quality in our housing. We do this in a number of ways. We use housing programs to improve accessibility. We also use it for weatherization purposes and home modifications. We use it to assist homeowners to actually be able to make that purchase of a home.

We also provide home ownership education, counseling services, etc. We also preserve safe, decent, affordable, and quality housing for our renters here in the city of Hampton by providing code inspections to ensure that those units meet the right code and to ensure that our housing for our renters is habitable and safe. Fair housing education, we have used our funding in the past for this particular purpose. What a great time to talk about this particular topic. April is fair housing month, so we're very excited about this.

I wanna give a shout out to our colleague who is not in the room with us tonight, Carol Wilson. She was actually able to acquire independent funding from Virginia Housing in order to fund two Fair Housing events this month. One just took place yesterday, April 7, and it was used to provide fair housing education and tenant landlord relationship law to our housing providers in the community. And then again on April 18, we have another event coming up for tenants and for the general public. We're very excited about that.

That will be in Rupert Sargent. So we are not using it for this particular purpose this year because we have that independently covered. Finally, we use our CDBG dollars and home dollars for program administration to help conceptualize how we intend to use these funds in the future. So the funding amounts that are included in this particular allocation, the ones that you can see on the screen, we are basing this annual action plan off of last year's allocation that we received from HUD and we do this for a couple reasons. The first is we have regulatory precedent to do so.

HUD says this is a great way to operate the program and to give us a tentative budget or a tentative idea of how you use the funds. But number two, at the federal level, the community planning and development dollars that HUD was awarded actually stayed level between last year and this year. So, with that staying level at the federal level, we hope that rolls through to us and we're gonna be probably about the same, we hope. The amount that we will intend to receive, again, these are just draft amounts, $897,498 from HUD for the Community Development Block Grant. That $40,000 number that you see up there on the screen with the little asterisk, that is projected program income and we get through that through a number of sources and I'm happy to elaborate on that if interested.

Home Investment Partnership Program, we will receive hopefully, you know, these again are draft numbers, $489,145 and we anticipate $50,000 in program income. Our services that we provide under the Community Development Block Grant, housing services, the housing services that we offer through the housing authority. These often include housing counseling, home ownership education, home maintenance and repair courses, various different kinds of housing counseling, foreclosure prevention, credit assistance, you name it. Housing programs, our largest housing programs that are funded through CDBG would include the WEAP program, which is weatherization improvements and modification, as well as ramp accessibility improvements. And those improvements are set aside, those services are set aside for low to moderate income individuals that are at 80% of the area median income and below.

Code enforcement, we serve about 1,200 households each year with our inspections. That's through the city's rental inspection program and finally planning and administration. For home, homeowner rehabilitation is pretty interesting. Whenever we invest a single dollar through the home program, we actually have to ensure that the entire house is brought up to code. So we need to be very careful and discerning when it comes to choosing which homes to rehab and generally those rehabs might cost us a little bit more per those dollars than the community development block grant modifications.

Home buyer assistance, providing home purchasing assistance for our homeowners here in the city of Hampton. Community based housing development organizations, we provide operating assistance to our local community housing development organizations. We have one right now, Habitat for Humanity. And then finally, home administration. So for the community development block grant, there are three programmatic objectives that are typically achieved. The first is decent housing. That's largely what we focus on. We do a lot of work to improve decent housing. Second, a suitable living environment. We accomplish this through a number of ways, improving the community as a whole, and finally, expanding economic opportunity.

Second, these activities must meet one of three major national objectives. The first, benefit low and moderate income persons. This is by and far our largest objective that we meet. For all of our dollars that go out into the community to provide that direct assistance, almost 100% of that money goes to individuals that are low and moderate income. Aid in the prevention of slums and blight.

We did a lot of this in the past. We are not doing as much right now or in the future largely because we have other local funding sources to help cover that particular expense. And finally, meeting an urgent need. This would be the case if there was something that was like a presidentially declared disaster. Some kind of natural disaster within the last eighteen to twenty four months where we could actually use these dollars to step in.

Very uncommon, we don't traditionally use these funds for that purpose. These are the anticipated allocations that we project in terms of a proposed budget that will be entered into the annual action plan. Housing services looking to serve about 22 households, 322 $323,000. Housing programs, $232,000 and that amount also includes that $40,000 program income amount. Planning and administration, a $132,000 and finally, code enforcement, $250,000 for that grand total of just under $1,000,000.

Next, the Home Investment Partnership Program. As we previously discussed, this program is explicitly set aside for the purpose of affordable housing service provision in various ways. It's designed to expand affordable housing opportunities, also designed to enhance the service provision of our community housing development organizations, our CHOTOs, and strengthen our ability as a local government to provide housing services. Matching Matching funds, 25% are required per codified federal regulation under this program. We don't ever, to the best of my knowledge, have any issue meeting that requirement for the program well in compliance there.

Non profit participation, 15% is required for federal regulations to be set aside for our community housing development organizations. We do not have any trouble meeting programmatic compliance under that category as well. These are the anticipated allocations for the home activities. First under homeowner rehabilitation, dollars 191,000. Homebuyer assistance, 226,000 and that also includes that $50,000 program income amount.

I would like to also add that we recently had a substantial amendment approved this past month by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which will give us hundreds of thousands of dollars more from previous year's fundings to actually use for homebuyer assistance. Very excited about that. Community housing development organizations, we intend to provide $74,000 to our local CHOTOS this year. And finally, home administration, 48,000, often used for project delivery cost associated with the home program for the grand total of 539,145 This is our annual action plan schedule. For the foreseeable future, we received our applications at the close of business day on the March 27.

Our public comment period began on April 3 and will run all the way through May 3. And then also we have our public hearing tonight that we hope will entice some public comment on this particular draft. May 13, we hope the city council will vote to approve our draft annual action plan. Finally, that plan will be submitted to HUD on May 15 or before May 15 of this year to ensure programmatic compliance. Do I have any questions from the council?

Any questions from council members? Councilwoman Harper.

Thank you so much for your presentation. This is one of my favorites of the year. I just have one question with some of your numbers here that you have. Absolutely. I'm glad to hear that you said you all have received more funding because I would love to see you all assist more households.

Understood. These numbers are to me, they're very low. And so I would I would like to see you all assist more households if you can as to and while I'm on that, is there a reason why they're a little low than what I, you know, feel that people can take advantage of the benefits of this program? Is there any particular number that you would like to The home buyer assistance five households?

Absolutely. I can elaborate a little bit more on this. Essentially, we may be able to assist more than five households with the homebuyer assistance. I would defer over to my colleague from the housing authority. One of my colleagues from the Hampton Redevelopment Housing Authority is in the room with us today potentially to provide further insight, but generally speaking, we have up to $20,000 in assistance per household and this may be a relatively conservative estimate given the $226,000 amount, which would give us a little bit of wiggle room potentially in that budget to serve more households.

Okay. I will note maybe to help as I I see Yvonne Hodges coming up to maybe say some things as well. The amount of money allocated is both staff to process it as well as the amount of money. So the 20 up to 20,000 is the cash available to assist but you have to have staff to administer the programs. Now this is simply the federal money that's coming from home and CDBG.

You may recollect that counsel had allocated $2,000,000 of funding that we had when we got CARES Act money. And so they're still continuing to work through the households that that was serving as well. We can get you an update on that, but they're just reporting on the federal dollars. And the federal dollars unfortunately have constricted each year and more rapidly under in recent years. So we got to cover the staff cost and then what's available for the actual assistance is there. But we do more than that with the dollars that council allocates from local dollars.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Did you wanna

say anything else or did I get it right?

Thank you.

Vice mayor Brown? Yeah.

Thank you. Along the same lines as councilwoman Harper. But for the public, I think you may want to elaborate on how these programs are marketed. People can benefit from them. The other thing is housing rehab. I think the person has to own or have a deed to the home. Is there any obligation to stay in the home once the rehab has been done?

Vice mayor, that is a great question. Absolutely. That's actually how we acquire some of our program income under these various programs. Lien is assigned for a certain period of affordability depending on the type of assistance and how much assistance is provided. For home rehab, generally it's about five years in terms of the affordability period. And if they were to sell the home during that time, we could recapture the amount that was actually supplied for the purpose modification. That is the source of the majority of our program income.

I have another question. Thank

you. Councilwoman Farabi.

Thank you. Wonderful presentation. So how is this program marketed? Because if it's towards seniors, I'm just kind of curious about how you can outreach the seniors because a lot of times they're not as apt to get onto a website or anything

That like is a great question. I will answer in a couple ways. The first way, from a very broad brush perspective in terms of what we are doing as a department here at the City of Hampton. We use variety of sources to market the information including newspaper as well as online on our website. But I will also turn it over to my colleague again from the Housing Authority who is an expert in direct programmatic enrollment and marketing.

Thank you. And I was also told that I am a senior as well.

So our program speaks for itself. We currently have a wait list that has increased again. We are at two forty nine households waiting for assistance. So, neighbors see work going on. They speak to their neighbor about it, we speak at churches, events that are held, we have marketing materials, we are currently working with codes and compliance to create some marketing materials. So if they go out to do any kind of inspection, they can share the flyer with them and have them contact us to see if they qualify. Thank you very much.

Sure.

As we're a victim of our your success in marketing if you have that many people on the waiting list. Thank you.

I have one more comment, Jimmy.

Vice mayor Brown.

Yep. I do wanna say too that I attend the Hampton Seen citizens Committee meetings and the lady from your office, I forget her name, Peyton. She gave an excellent presentation and it was just thorough answering all the questions about who qualifies, you know, what the criteria is and how they can access those resources. So you guys are doing a great job and like my colleague again, councilwoman Harper, I would like to see more people be benefactors of this of these programs. You're doing a fantastic job. And great presentation. Sound like a newscaster.

Thank you, vice mayor.

Other questions?

Any other questions? Okay. Thank you, mister Rash. Alright. This item does require a public hearing, and so we're gonna open the public hearing. There is no one signed up to speak, so we'll close the public hearing. And this item does not require a vote this evening. So thank you for the presentation and the questions. So I'm gonna ask the clerk to read the title for the next item.

Item number six on your agenda is 26 dash zero zero four seven. It's a proposal by the city of Hampton to amend and reenact the zoning ordinance of the city of Hampton, Virginia by amending chapter two, section two dash two entitled definitions and chapter nine article two entitled o dash c B P district Chesapeake Bay preservation overlay to improve to improve clarity and align language with current regulatory practices and state guidance as well as to bring the city's ordinance into compliance with Virginia code and state water control board regulations regarding trees and coastal resilience.

Mister mayor and council members, tonight one of our newer city planners, Valerie Taylor, will be making this presentation for you.

Okay. Good evening.

Good evening. Good evening, mayor Gray and members of council. I will be presenting proposed zoning ordinance amendments to definitions in Chesapeake Bay preservation overlay district number Z 0 A 26 Dash 0047. What is the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act? The act is a state law that tidewater localities are required to implement.

The purpose is to protect and improve water quality through effective land use management practices. It is located in and enforced through the zoning ordinance and operates as an overlay district. And it establish es three areas, the resource protection area known as the RPA, the intensely developed area known as the IDA, and the resource management area known as the RMA. Throughout this presentation the acronyms RPA, IDA, and RMA will be used periodically. And in like manner, the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act may also be referred to as the Bay Act.

This GIS image displays all three preservation areas. The RPA is shown in yellow, the IDA in pink, and the RMA shown in green. As previously stated, the purpose of the Bay Act is to protect and improve water quality through effective land use management practices. The RPA includes title features such as wetlands and shores in a 100 foot buffer adjacent to and landward of these features. It is the most environmentally sensitive of the three preservation areas, which protects natural habitats and where development is very The IDA includes those areas within the RPA where the 100 foot buffer was already developed prior to enactment of the Bay Act, so little of natural environment remains.

And the RMA is the land extending another 100 feet inland from the edge of the RPA buffer. It is the middle ground between protected RPA and fully developed IDA. It consists of land that drains into the RPA in areas that can impact runoff and pollution while protecting water downstream. Here is a citywide overview displaying the three preservation districts. Before discussing the proposed amendments, it's important to understand changes that have occurred at the state level.

During the 2020 legislative session, the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act was amended to direct the state water control board to adopt regulations that encourage and promote coastal resilience and adaptation to sea level rise and climate change, as well as preserving mature trees and planting new trees as strategies to protect water quality and enhance natural resource benefits. In June 2021, the state water control board adopted amendments to the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area designation and management regulations. These regulatory amendments include a requirement that an assessment of the impacts of sea level rise and storm surge on projects within the RPA and IDA be conducted and that provisions related to the preservation of mature trees and native plantings be included in local ordinances. Initially, the state water board regulations stated that localities had three years or until September 2024 to implement these changes. The deadline was further extended as the Department of Environmental Quality, known as DEQ, developed guidance for localities, which was released in July 2025.

City staff has been in communication with DEQ while drafting the proposed amendments and is on schedule with agency expectations for local adoption. As part of the amendment process, staff utilized digital media to inform stakeholders. We started public outreach in February with an announcement about the proposed Chesapeake Bay overlay ordinance amendments, which was posted on the city's website. We also introduced or I'm sorry. We also distributed notices to the development community in early March, including e news updates.

We intend to continue the public outreach following tonight's final action by city council. The proposed amendments focused on several key areas that strengthen environmental protection and clarify requirements. The remainder of this presentation will focus on these specific areas, measures of tree preservation, adaptation measures within protected areas, updated submission requirements, and other minor administrative updates. These proposed amendments in chapter nine article two are intended to reinforce existing practices for protecting mature trees and promoting the use of native plant species. A mature tree is defined as a canopy tree with a diameter at breast height of 12 inches or greater or an understory tree with a diameter of breast height of four inches or greater.

A native species as defined by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, known as DCR, is a plant that naturally occurs in the region where they have evolved and over time becomes well adapted to the local environmental conditions such as climate, soil, and wildlife. The impacts of these amendments are minimal and and primarily codify the city's existing practices for preserving mature trees and promoting native species. Another component of the proposed amendments focuses on climate adaptation measures as a permitted encroachment. The adaptation measures allow projects or practices that mitigate climate change impacts, such as sea level rise, storm surge, and flooding to be placed within resource protection areas and intensely developed areas. Examples include dry or wet swales, bioretention ponds, and the use of adaptation measure.

In this context, fill can be used in flood mitigation or resilience projects as long as it's part of a broader design that manages storm water and protects water quality. When these measures meet the specified criteria, they can be implemented without requiring a formal exception. The amendments also require applicants to submit a landscape plan for any development or redevelopment within the Chesapeake Bay Preservation overlay subdistricts, including RPA, IDA, and RMA. Adding this requirement helps applicants implement updated standards for tree preservation, native plantings, and mitigation early, ensuring a smoother permitting process. Another significant component of the amendments is the requirement for a resiliency assessment for development and redevelopment within the RPA and IDA.

The assessment uses identified tools to evaluate potential impacts from sea level rise, storm surge, and flooding over a thirty year time frame unless a shorter period is justified. The assessment benefits both the city applicants by identifying potential future impacts early and allowing proposals to be modified as needed. Staff will be available to provide guidance to the public throughout this process. Again, the purpose of the resiliency assessment is to evaluate the long term impacts of sea level rise, storm surge, and flooding on buffer function in relation to the proposed project. By considering future conditions, the project can be designed to protect the buffer, improve water quality, and ensure the development's long term viability, such as elevating a home or better withstanding future flooding.

This approach not only supports the applicant by reducing potential future risk, but also protects the environment by maintaining and enhancing natural buffers that help safeguard water quality. The assessment must utilize modeling tools developed or endorsed by the commonwealth such as those available on the ADAPT VA website, which is maintained by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science or FEMA models accessible through the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation website. All of these tools are free and available to the public. Here's an example of a resiliency assessment. The applicant is proposing an addition to an existing residence located in the IDA.

The existing structure is shown in green and the new addition is displayed in the pink color. These images depict the progression of sea level rise, flooding, and storm surge on the property over a thirty year progression. This assessment will serve as the basis for discussion between staff and the applicant to determine if any modifications to the proposal are necessary and appropriate. Living shorelines, as defined by Virginia code, are a natural approach to shoreline protection that helps manage erosion and preserve wetlands. An additional amendment allows living shorelines to be exempt from certain performance criteria under sections nine fourteen and nine fifteen when specific conditions are met.

This change streamlines the permitting and implementation process for living shoreline projects, supporting faster, more effective shoreline restoration. The final proposed amendments include updates to chapter two and chapter nine article two. Chapter two adds new definitions related to the amendments in chapter nine, removes outdated definitions, and clarifies an existing definition. These changes aim to ensure consistency and clarity in interpreting and implementing the ordinance. In conclusion, staff recommends approval of zoning ordinance amendment 20 six-forty seven, and planning commission recommends approval of zoning ordinance amendment 26 dash zero zero four seven.

I'm available to answer any questions with additional staff present to assist if needed.

Questions, comments from council members? Alright. You did a great presentation. Very thorough. Thank you. You. Alright. This item requires a public hearing. So we'll open the public hearing. There is no one signed up to speak on it. So we'll close the public hearing. Madam clerk, will you call the roll for the vote? I'm sorry. First, I need a motion and a second.

Mister mayor, I move that city council approve and adopt item number 26 dash zero zero four seven zoning ordinance amendments to the Chesapeake Bay preservation overlay as presented in the agenda package.

Second. Alright. We have a motion to second. Any further discussion? Alright. There being none, call for the vote.

Councilman Bowman. Aye. Vice mayor Brown.

Aye.

Councilwoman Campbell. Aye. Councilwoman Farabi. Aye. Councilwoman Harper. Aye. Councilwoman Muckler. Aye. Mayor Gray. Aye. Item number seven on your agenda this evening is 26 dash zero zero seven one. It's a proposal by the city of Hampton to amend and reenact the zoning ordinance of the city of Hampton, Virginia by amending chapter one article one section one dash two thereof to revise portions of the zoning district map defined in that section pertaining to airport airport noise and aircraft accident potential zones and boundaries.

Mister mayor and council members tonight we have our zoning administrator, Melvion to give this presentation. And just for the benefit of the public, AQ zones and other related accident potential information is very vital to our partnership and long term preservation of the base at Langley Air Force Base. So this is a very important continuation of our ongoing effort to recognize compatible use zones.

Alright. Hi. Good evening.

Good evening. Good evening, honorable mayor, vice mayor, member of council, city manager, city attorney, staff, citizen, and guests. My name is Melvin, I'll be presenting the proposed zoning ordinance amendment for aircraft compatible use zone, also known as ACOUS, z o a 26 dash zero zero one, for the adoption of the 2020 ACOUS maps and related ordinance updates. Today, I'll be presenting the amendment to the air installation compatible use zone, also known as ACUS. This study was updated in June 2020 for the joint base Langley Uses memorandum of understanding.

This presentation revisits the information that was originally shared with the City Of Hampton's council in 2021 following the release of that study. The purpose of tonight's briefing is to summarize the updated noise contours in accident potential zone and outline the regulatory updates to the city's mapping to adopt to to adopt the maps to remain consistent with the updated guidance. These updates help to ensure that the city continues to plan for compatible use land uses around the Langley Air Force Base while protecting public safety and supporting the long term mission of the installation. Hampton has maintained a strong partnership with the Langley Air Force Base for many decades. During that time, the city has implemented a number of planning tools designed to guide development in areas affected by the aircraft operations, and the tools include zoning overlays, flight approach districts, and construction standards for buildings located in a higher noise zone.

Tonight's presentation focus on a few main points. I will briefly explain what the ACUS program is and how the functions formulate as planning tool, summarize some key updates included in the 2020 study, and review the regulatory steps the city must take to align our city plan or community plan zoning ordinance and zoning maps with the updated recommendations. The ACUS program is a planning program developed by the Department of Defense to help communities plan for land uses near military airfields. The aircraft operation generates both noise impacts and safety considerations. The AQ study identifies the areas where those impacts are most likely to occur.

The study references several types of planning zones, the clear zone, which is the highest accident potential near the end of the runway, the accident potential zone, and the noise contour, which is the main focus of tonight's request. This measures the level of decibel for the noise between sixty five seventy five if not greater. These zones do not regulate land use directly instead it provides guidance for the local government to use when developing zoning and planning policies. This presentation is intended to enact the air insulation compatible use zone overlay district following the briefing that was presented to council in 2021. The briefing provides the overview of the proposed amendments to the noise contours only on the coordinated map, which is illustrates the flight patterns of the f 22 fighter jets, which are based at the Langley Air Force Base in Hampton and depicts the potential impact zones associated with their operation.

As shown on this map, you will see various colors. The gray shaded items would be properties that are ownership of The U. S. Government or under the ownership of the city of Hampton. The green contour lines indicate the new area of the contours and the red is indicated by the o.

The shaded red area shows the locations which were removed from the NOR's contour, and the green shaded indicates the locations which were added in following the study. Just to give you a bit of analysis of what that looks like in a calculated value, the old totals of parcels impacted by the Acus zone was 4,952 parcels. The new parcels that are impacted were reduced to 3,242 parcels, leaving a difference of 1,710 parcels, which averages out to a difference of 740 acres added back into our city. These updates are important for several reasons. The Langley Air Force Base serves a significant economic as a significant economic engine for our region, providing thousands of jobs and supporting a wide range of local businesses.

The aircraft operations can directly impact the land uses. Without careful planning, conflicts may arise between development and flight operation. By proactively updating our policy, the city can help prevent these conflicts while ensuring installation can continue to operate effectively in the future. This slide right here just indicates some of our regulatory framework, again, from our zoning overlay districts, which depicted our noise contour our noise contours for construction standards as well as the height and emission restrictions. To further discuss the noise standard when related to residential structures that are built within the Noise Contour District after 10/01/1992, they must be constructed to ensure that the interior noise value not exceed a decibel of 45.

This means that the standard use of windows, doors, roofing material must meet a minimum standard itemized by or outlined by the sound transmission control rating. This does not include any accessory structures such as accessory buildings like garages, sheds, storage area, or non habitable spaces. The aircraft accident potential zone shows three potential accident zones measured from high potential to measurable potential for accidents. The purpose to establish the three airport noise zones and the three aircraft accident potential zones are to distinguish between the severity of the levels of noise impact so that the appropriate performance standards can be employed to mitigate the at first impact of aircraft noise and to facilitate accurate identification of the noise zones for the proposed uses. The next steps with our presentation is to move forward with the amending of the noise contours only through this formal review.

The action will officially incorporate the updated noise contours within the l within the ACUS layer into our city's framework. Planning Commission and staff recommend approval of ZOA zero zero seven one. And this concludes the presentation, and I'm happy to assist with any question the board may have.

Okay. Questions or comments from council members? Alright. And being none, thank you, miss Forger. This item requires a public hearing, so we will open the public hearing. There's no one signed up to speak, so we'll close the public hearing. Just make sure of that. Okay. We'll close the public hearing, and I need a motion to second.

Mister mayor, I move that city council approve and adopt item number two six dash zero zero seven one zoning ordinance amendment to the noise contour district as presented in attachments one and two to the agenda packet item.

Second. Alright. We have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? Alright. There being none, will you call the roll, please?

Councilman Bowman.

Aye.

Vice mayor Brown. Aye. Councilwoman Campbell. Aye. Councilwoman Thierry. Aye. Councilwoman Harper. Aye. Councilwoman Mugler. Aye. Mayor Gray. Aye. The next item on the agenda is item number eight, which is 26 Dash0126. It's an ordinance accepting the bids submitted by Virginia Natural Gas Inc for non exclusive franchise agreement to occupy and use the public streets and public rights of way located in the city of Hampton for providing natural gas public utility services.

Mister mayor and council members, Virginia Natural Gas also known as VNG, a natural gas public utility service provider contacted the city of Hampton and advised that VNG can better serve the citizens of the city by having a franchise to use and occupy the public rights way located within the city for the purposes of providing natural gas public utility services. Pursuant to the constitution of Virginia and the Virginia code, the city has the authority to grant franchises and other authorizations for the use and occupancy of the public streets and public right of ways. But if the franchise is for a period greater than five years, the city must go through a bid process that's set forth in the Virginia code. Pursuant to the provisions of the code as amended, the city agreed to offer franchises to qualified providers by publicly inviting bids for a nonexclusive franchise agreement subject to the terms and conditions set forth in our proposed ordinance and agreement. The public notice for the invitation for bids for the franchise and for subsequent adoption of the ordinance was run-in the newspaper as required by the code of Virginia.

At the 03/25/2026 city council meeting, one bid from VNG was received and opened. City staff recommends accepting VNG's bid and granting VNG the non exclusive franchise as set forth. As required by the Virginia code, a public hearing has been scheduled for this city council meeting and is now appropriate.

Okay. This item requires a public hearing. There's one person signed up to speak. Morgan Whelan.

Good evening, mister mayor, vice mayor, of council. I'm really here just to say thank you. Morgan Whalen on behalf of Virginia Natural Gas. It has been an honor to serve the city and really wanna thank miss Bunting and Jason Mitchell on our team and and the city attorney and especially Tim Brewery who's been working with us. And so I'm happy to answer any questions, but thank you again for the consideration.

Questions for miss Whelan? Okay. Thank you. Alright. That was the only speaker. So we'll close the public hearing and call for the vote. So can I get a motion and a second?

Mister mayor. I move that city council approve and adopt item 26 dash zero one two six ordinance accepting bid of Virginia natural gas as presented in the agenda package.

Second.

Councilman Bowman.

Aye.

Vice mayor Brown. Aye. Councilwoman Campbell. Aye. Councilwoman Fairby. Aye. Councilwoman Harper. Aye. Councilwoman Muggler. Aye. Mayor Gray. Aye.

And that concludes all of our public hearing. So now I ask the clerk to read the protocol for public comment.

Council meetings are for conducting city business. Public comment is allowed on matters within the council's authority and follows public hearing items. Speakers must follow the citizen participation protocol. Speakers may sign up in the lobby one hour before the meeting and until it begins. Speakers shall address council from the center podium. Each speaker is allowed three minutes. The timer has a green light which turn yellow with one minute remaining then red when time is up. Please speak respectfully and avoid personal attacks. Focus on topics within council's jurisdiction. Do not use the platform for political campaign speeches.

Comments must be directed to the council and yielding time is not allowed. Audience must remain respectful and refrain from interruptions. Council typically listens without engaging in discussion. Responses may be provided by the city manager, city attorney, or council members after public comment. Failure to follow the protocol may result in removal from the podium or meeting after a fair warning. Thank you.

Alright. Thank you madam clerk. And as the clerk said, you have three minutes to speak. If you wrote a five minute speech, you still only get three minutes to say it. The indicators are right here in front of me. Green means go. Yellow, you have one minute remaining. And red, your time is up. And so, with that, I'll call the first speaker, Andrew Smith.

Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, and counsel. So I'm here simply because and I was having an event supposed to happen behind Buckroe Coffee Shop. And I received a letter stating that not one, I can't have the event but I'm suspended for eighteen months. One, I never did nothing in your city. Two, I never did nothing wrong.

I've been in business for thirty two years without any infection. What I'm doing is small potatoes custom to what I'm custom of doing. So with that being said, if something is wrong, I feel as though that someone's supposed to either give me an email or send me a call and telling me, hey, this is this. Come to find out from me doing my own prior investigation that there's a gentleman that I've hired to help me advertise that had a previous incident in the Hampton area. And I feel as though if that's the case, I should have got a phone call and say, hey, the gentleman that you have hired to help you advertise, you cannot use him.

So can you either find someone else to do it or scrap your situation? I got neither one of those. I've done business in Virginia Beach. On a bigger scale, I'm the one that does the Virginia Beach Caribbean Carnival. I've been doing it for five years in Virginia Beach, have great turnouts. Even with the stuff that I'm doing now, I'm very particular. One, you have to have a ticket to come to my event. It's for my protection and public. Meaning, if you have a ticket, I know who you are. If something happened, I'm able to go to the police department and say, these are the people that came to my event, let's find out what's going on.

Two, I'm able to control the crowd. If you went on my website or my Instagram or anything, For this particular event because it was being first done in Hampton, in the beginning we never released the address. And the reason why we didn't release the address, we did not know what kind of crowd we were gonna get. So we were able to say, hey, we're only gonna sell this amount of tickets. Nobody knows it. We told all of our ticket holders, you'll get the address hours before the event. They knew it was gonna be in Hampton. With that being said, I have created security plans for different events that have happened in Hampton. They all passed with no problem. All I'm asking for is for due process for me and not pen me with anyone else.

If there's a problem with someone, say, hey, you can't use that person. We have had a purse problem with that person before. So don't use them and let's move on. I have different events that I would love to do in Hampton. We had the bonfire. I was gonna do a r and b thing hosted by Trey Songs. I was getting ready to do a barbecue event hosted by mister Tenderism. He's the new sensation for food and stuff like that. We had a Caribbean thing that we was gonna do. One of the things, mayor, that I heard you spoke about earlier where I would be more careful of, I wanted to do a pep rally for schools, going back to schools. We have a lot of sponsors and we were going

to get Mister Smith.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Thank you, sir. Next speaker is Kondarius Newsom.

Hello, mister mayor. My name is Condarius. So I wanna speak on about two years or one year ago. I did host the Buckroe Beasting, and I apologize for that. This year, I did not have anything to do with that. So the only reason I'm coming up here to speak because I wanted to let you see my face and everything. I'm not a bad person. I didn't know that I needed a permit for the event and everything. I'm originally from Mississippi because in Mississippi, we didn't have to do, like, the permit because of how small the town was and everything. So when I got here, I end up getting banned from doing public events, outside events for eighteen months.

But now I can't even do, like, no eighteen plus inside event, like, venues or anything. Like, even in the seven cities, every time that I post something, they tell me that he can't do this event or he gotta do this. He gotta get a permit for this type of event for for the city. So the only reason I'm trying to come here and say, I'm not a bad guy. I just wanna do things for the public and safety wise as as he he speak.

I just wanna keep everything safe. And if you are willing to just give me a chance and appeal the eighteen months thing, I promise you, I just do the best thing for And I go about Condarius Noosen, and only thing I just wanna do is the right business the right way because I got a letter at the mail, and I never knew nothing about it because they were saying that I got suspended or eight been banned from the city of Hampton for eighteen months for doing public outside events. And, again, I can't do no 18 plus events inside a venue because at first, he did. He did. He had it on body cam.

He told me that I can do inside venues, but I just can't do outside public. But now I can't even do anything. That's how I make my money. I also work at the food bank. We volunteer. We we pass everything. We we do everything. So I just wanna do the right way, and how can I get set up the right way? So that's the only thing I just wanted to do. I I graduated from Phoebe's high school. I'm a alumni state champion, and so I just wanna do the right way. And that's the only thing. And that's all I got to say. Thank you. Alright.

Thank you for sharing that, mister Newsome. Next speaker is David Hudson. And if I add many of the things that speakers may talk about tonight, city manager will address them at the conclusion of the public comment period. So if you wanna hang around, she will either address it or point you in the direction of one of our staff members who might be able to assist. Go ahead, mister Hudson.

Yes, sir. Good evening. I'm the city of mayor Hampton City mayor, assistant mayor, and city council. My name is David Hudson. I'm not working tonight. I'm a citizen of Hampton, Virginia, and I'm here to address the ordinance on campus situation in the community. As some of you may know, I am a work in this field. Deal with the homeless population. You guys have sent messages for me to take care of various situations in the city of Hampton. And also, I work out of the Fort Oaks Day Center, and I also work out the port service centers also.

I'm not about discussing the ordinance. I'm about talking about solutions and collaborations within the cities. At the Four Oaks Day Center, we actually have a a homeless committee that we meet with all city heads every month. We we look at discussions. We meet with codes. We meet with PD. Has an outreach team now for Newport News. We meet with the with the city manager's office. Everybody is in this meeting, and we're talking about solutions in the community. You guys have some ordinance that I think miss Sevillana has sent you guys.

This has started from the meetings that we started, and we address those issues in the community. Every day, I see individuals coming in the center who actually we're talking about senior citizens. We're talking about people with intellectual development, autism. We're talking about individuals who have all type of disorders. People are aging out of the foster care system. This year has been a a whirlwind at the day center. The numbers have never been so high that that we've seen so far. Individuals with severe mental health issues. I'm looking we're looking at the solutions or trying to collaborate with the city. We are sister Hampton and Newport News.

I live in Hampton. It's the next street is Newport News from Hampton and Newport News. Let talk about trying to look at some collaboration with this with this issue. You know, a lot of people come to from Hampton to Newport News day center. You know, they are sent there through human services. When I started in this field about dealing with the homeless population about fourteen years ago, the city of Hampton human services had an outreach team. That has that funding has been cut. So there is no workers who's actually doing that at this time. They send out who they can, but a lot of times they are reaching out to the agency I work for to go out there and help out in those situations. We the population is just exploded.

This year is the first time I worked with CXX, VDOT. People are going somewhere everywhere. I just want some solutions. Maybe we can have some collaboration going on within the cities and to see how we can address these issues. And the last thing, 2027 is gonna be a terrible year from HUD proposals that they have sent already that they wanted to stop in 2026. So if we think homelessness is a problem, wait till 2027. Thank you.

Thank you, mister Hudson. Clapping is not allowed, folks. Alright. Our next speaker is Brenda Marks.

Mayor Gray, Vice Mayor Brown, council members, my name is Brenda Marks. It's that fun time of year again, budget. A few points I'd like to make. Miss Bunnings is quick to point out that the city has given us a 10¢ reduction in the real property tax over the last four years. She fails to declare that the real property assessments have increased by 51% in the last four years.

So, yeah, y'all gave us 10, but you kept 41. I have asked before, and tonight I'm asking on the record, the first year we got COVID money, tax assessments went up, rates went up. And as Bonning said, we're not allowed to reduce the tax rate because we accept the COVID money. We are watching several cases that attorney general said sued. And as soon as we get the outcome, we may be able to reduce your taxes.

Couple months ago, I asked, did you ever get the outcome of that case? And miss Bunnings was honest and said she hadn't really tracked it. So I'm asking for somebody to find out. Because if you don't wanna give us back out of this year, maybe if they those cases were successful, you can give us a little tax reduction you were gonna give us back then. I believe the real estate tax should really be no more than a dollar and 12.

But since I know that I'd have to believe in the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus to see that come true, I'm telling you that I'm expecting 1¢. And I think that with the amount of unbudgeted money that shows up in the audited report for the end of last year, The $8,100,000 we got when the jail was sold that we didn't buy or build a new jail. We signed the contract. Virginia Beach, this year, is giving their residents back $80 per vehicle on personal property. Chesapeake's wastewater treatment is 23¢.

Y'all want a dollar from us. What are you giving us back? We have not even been able to go in the main library for seven months because of poor maintenance and a roof leak that ended up causing it to be shut down because it was a health hazard. I just think that y'all need to realize that it is time for the property owners to stop providing you 64¢ or 64% of your budget.

Thank you, miss Marks. Next speaker is Gerrick Blunt.

Good evening, Mayor Gray, Vice Mayor Brown and City Council. My name is Gerrick Blount. I am an active downtown resident for over twenty two years. I own three businesses in the downtown, and I'm currently Chairman of the Waterfront Committee. I'm on the DHDB Board. I'm President of Hampton Rotary, and I'm on the Board of Directors of Hampton Yacht Club. And I want to make it absolutely clear, I'm not representing any of these organizations tonight. I just want to share with counsel how active I am in the downtown area. And I guess I should have started this off. I'm actually talking about the camping and prohibitor camping and storage in pub on public property.

Excuse me, Mr. Blunt. Quickly, could you raise the mic just Okay. A little

Let me get a little closer. Okay. Basically, it's not uncommon when you have two very different organizations or two different groups collide, that there'll be some issues with the differences. Unfortunately, this situation has a few who are basically disproportionately impacting a majority. And I commend the city for their actions, just like they did with the short term rentals.

And I also commend the city for creating a committee to address this matter. Due to my previous mentioned positions or one of my previous mentioned positions, I had a front row seat to basically the debate and the decision making amongst the committee. And I assure you, they did not make take it lightly. And I'd also like to thank them for their efforts. This amendment is not perfect, but I sincerely believe it's better than what we have, and I ask for the city to vote in favor of it. Thank you.

Thank you, mister Blunt. Next speaker is Jill Davis.

Hip replacements are moving really slow. I'm requesting that the city, should they pass the ordinance, provide the public with information on the implementation plan for it. Questions that come to mind are what organization or city agency will provide consistent outreach for people who are resistant to accepting assistance. What will that outreach look like and is there a time limit for how long this outreach will be provided? Does this support agency exist today and have the capacity to perform this task or will it need additional resources?

Can people be charged with a class four misdemeanor or a class two misdemeanor before outreach is provided? If a person is repeatedly charged with a class two misdemeanor, this can result in mandatory jail time of six months and a thousand dollar fine per incident creates a permanent record. And I just didn't want to bring up that point. I know that this is a very, very challenging topic. And I do want to commend the city for putting the time and effort in to considering it and looking at it. And I am hoping that you will look at all aspects and also the long term impact on the individuals who will be impacted by it. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Davis. Now, our next speaker is Lauren Bowen.

Hello, mayor Gray, vice mayor Brown, and counsel. My name is Lauren Bowen, and I'm a lifelong Hampton resident. I read the supplemental slides that were provided by the stakeholder committee for the ordinance that was just being discussed on camping, and I really appreciated that people came together with differing views to try to collaborate on a working group. I really liked the changes to the ordinance that ensured that it led with care and compassion, and I thought that the framing wording that was added to the ordinance was good, but I still felt that the words that were immediately invalidated by the continued efforts to use the criminal justice system to address the concerns raised. I emailed my concerns this week and miss Bunting replied and I really appreciated that, so thank you.

You mentioned that Hampton PD will not be searching for people to cite, but I'm concerned that the letter of the law would still open the door for this. I understand that today Hampton PD and city council are working closely. However, that's no guarantee about how Hampton PD may choose to enforce this ordinance in the future. The letter of the law should be adjusted to have the actual limitations that the council currently assumes. It shouldn't leave the door open for action that the council says that they don't want.

I understand that this ordinance was brought up to deal with some specific people that have, quote, caused problems. So I don't know exactly what those problems are that are happening. But if it's causing public discomfort, which is what the stakeholder committee supplemental slides indicated, I don't think that's a reason criminalize something. The stakeholder committee submit supplemental slides also indicated that there are safety concerns, that that was another cause for the ordinance being raised. But don't we already have laws that would address safety concerns? So the criminal justice system aims to deliver justice, not help. So I believe it's the wrong tool to address this concern. Thank you.

Thank you, miss Bowen. Next speaker is Bob Harper.

Mayor Gray, vice mayor Brown, Hampton City Council, and city manager Mary Bunting. I favor the passage of the camping and storage ordinance and advocate for its adoption by council so that the people affected under this ordinance would have the benefit of personal contact with a Hampton City Agent, in this case, a Hampton Police Department officer, to advise and assist them to obtain the essential services that we have and to which they are entitled. And the ordinance will provide for that, and I favor that the passage of that for that purpose. It also gives the city the ability to compassionately deal with this issue as talked about earlier by other people before me. Thank you very much.

Thank you, mister Harper. Next speaker is Rachel Winall.

How close do I have to be to this thing? Is that good?

Sorry. Get a little closer. Can

I touch it?

We can hear you. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Sorry.

It's my first time. Sorry. Good evening council members. I'm here to oppose the criminalization of camping in public spaces. Others have said a lot of the same things I'm gonna say, but I'm gonna say them anyway. This policy does not solve homelessness, it punishes it. Research shows that policies like camping bans do not reduce homelessness and can make it worse over time. This approach creates a cycle. A ticket becomes a fine, a fine becomes a warrant, a warrant becomes a barrier to housing and employment. Instead of helping people recover, we make it harder for them to move forward.

Here in Virginia, we know what works. State housing data shows that long term progress comes from investment in housing and that the core issue is affordability. Housing first approaches increase housing stability and reduce homelessness more effectively than punitive approaches. They also save money. Studies show that for every dollar spent, up to a dollar 80 is saved by reducing emergency services and hospital visits. But this this is about responsibility. People sleeping outside are not committing a crime. They're surviving a lack of options. When we criminalize that, we shift the problem at a higher cost with greater harm. We all want safe and accessible public spaces.

We achieve that by ensuring people have somewhere to go. This is a question of who we are as a community. I urge you to reject this proposal and invest in solutions that work. Thank you. I also brought a list of five practical entry level solutions for Hampton with links, and there are 10 copies of both.

Okay. Thank you, miss Winall.

Thank you.

Alright. Next speaker is Raymond Tripp.

Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, council members, city manager, and city attorney. My name is Raymond Tripp. I'm with Coliseum Central, and our office is located at 2101 Executive Drive. And tonight, I'm here to speak on the unlawful public camping and storage ordinance. But to start, I want to begin by recognizing that individuals in the public spaces are facing complex and deeply personal challenges.

Each person has their own story and deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. At the same time, we must approach this issue with clear, thoughtful and practical solutions. That is why I'm in support of the proposed unlawful public camping and storage ordinance. At its core, this ordinance establishes a clear framework so that our city can address these situations in a fair and consistent and lawful manner. Public spaces like sidewalks and transit stops are meant to be accessible to everyone.

When they are obstructed or used for long term camping and storage, it creates real challenges. It can discourage residents from using our public transit system and especially when they feel unsafe or inaccessible. It can also deter new businesses from investing in our district, which unfortunately impacts economic growth and economic development. This ordinance helps address those concerns by ensuring public areas remain open, safe, and functional for their intended use. I also want to be clear what this ordinance is and what it is not.

This is not a solution for homelessness nor should it be viewed through those lenses. Homelessness is a complex issue that deserves thoughtful, comprehensive discussion, long term solutions through appropriate channels, like including housing policy, social services, and community partnerships. What this ordinance does is provide our police division with clear direction. It equips them with tools and guidelines needed to respond to appropriately when public space spaces are being unlawfully occupied. Without this clarity, enforcement can't be consistent and ultimately serves no one, not the community, not the businesses, nor the individuals involved.

I encourage counsel to support this measure. It's a necessary step in helping our city function more effectively while we continue to address broader homeless challenges through proper avenues. Thank you.

Thank you, Tripp. Next speaker is David Likovic.

Good evening. I'd like to start out by mentioning that I'm here as my own personal individual, not as a member of any organization that I may be a part of. First, I'd like to point to the proposed ordinance on the public camping and state that this could lead to a violation of constitutional protections against homeless individuals, against unreasonable searches and seizures, and the right to due process laws. The fourth and 14 amendments of The United States constitution protects all individuals, including homeless individuals, from unjustified unjustified government interference with their properties. Section 24 dash 50 c states that property which is stored on public public property in violation of this section and which is unattended may be immediately seized by city staff or contractors.

Such property shall be stored by the city for thirty days. This provision authorizes the seizure of personal property without prior notice and without any requirements of justification or individualized assessments. Additionally, this allow this allows seizure by broadly defined city staff or contractors raising additional concerns over regarding oversight and accountability. This constitutionality has already been decided by federal courts in other jurisdictions that have had laws that are very similar. It has led to multiple lawsuits and class actions, which ended up costing those cities multimillion dollars.

Further, as the city has stated repeatedly that this ordinance is put in place to protect residents and business owners against homeless homeless people camping outside of their business and or residents. This law can be more narrowly tailored to address that issue without having a blanket prevention against camping on all public properties, which includes traditional public forums such as sidewalks that people have the right to enjoy. This ordinance is so broad that it could criminalize ordinary lawful behavior. Any family having a picnic in a park is now committing a misdemeanor. Any business owner having a sidewalk sale is now committing a misdemeanor.

And when it comes down to what has been told to me by the city manager that the police have discretion in applying this law, then that comes with the scope of the law itself. The ordinance also appears or that it creates a different problem. It means that the law is not being applied equally to everyone. When enforcement depends on subjective judgment, it opens the door to inconsistent applications, profiling, and discrimination. I am not against this ordinance overall. I am against how it is written right now. This ordinance should not pass in its current state.

Thank you. Thank you, mister Lykovic. And the next speaker is Craig Knott.

Good afternoon, city council. Mayor Tuck or I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Man, I I am way behind the times. I am sorry. Mayor Gray. I apologize, sir. Once again, sir, I I wanna commend you on doing your your little instruction for the speaking that absolutely helps everybody on knowing how the lights work on that. City council. I I have a couple items that I would like to address tonight. One of them is I wanna praise the city. I don't know if you guys did the fence on Mercury. I love it. It's great. It's very cost effective.

I don't know if we did or who did it, but I I love the idea. It's great to help try to push everybody towards the light crossing, everybody by food line there. But I do wanna ask if we could possibly, whether it be us or whoever did it, fund the debt, see if we could extend it from the intersection up to King Street. I think very much that they're very cost effective, and I I think it's doing its job very well. Secondly, 16 Fox Hill Road.

It's a little skinny stretch of land that the city owns. And I've been thinking about ideas of what we could possibly do as a city. And one of the things that we have that a lot of people are very interested in is the little gardens. So one aspect that I think that we could possibly do to try to raise some revenue is on that little stretch right there, have a little gardens, little garden boxes or something like that and just throw a little cost on it to have somebody, you know, come in and have their little garden. I don't know.

I'm thinking maybe 1,200 to 2,500 per year to help bring in a little revenue for the city and help bring a little joy to people that wanna go do that. And also on your way down Foxtel Road, you'd see little flower boxes on the side. It may just bring a little bit of joy to your life. One other thing then that I have is I like running and I like going to Sandy Bottom. Now we're very flat. We don't have a lot of up and downs here But if there's one way to get some hills over there, I would love to see it. Maybe have a little couple of mountains or something like that. I don't know if we could do that. I don't know if insurance will allow us to do that, but I would love to see that happen. That's all I have. Thank you.

Alright. Thank you, mister Knott. Next speaker is Aaron Weaver.

Aaron Weaver. I wanna start by addressing something I keep hearing. This ordinance is being mischaracterized as a homeless ordinance. It's not being mischaracterized. It's exactly what it is because the majority of the people impacted by this ordinance will be our most vulnerable. Residents that experience homelessness. This is not an opinion. This is a fact. Note now let's deal with the court issue. The behaviors being used to justify this ordinance are are already illegal. Blocking sidewalks, public intoxication, disorderly contact, trespassing like you just heard tonight. Those are already on the books. You said that's those yourself. So the issue is not about the absence of law. The issue is enforcement, specifically what that misdemeanor crimes mustn't be witnessed by officer.

And by the time the officer arrives, if the act is often over, so what? The solution the solution being so what is that solution being proposed? Create a new offense to easier to make it easier to enforce? Sleeping. Because if someone is asleep, they are still there when the officer arrives. Let's be honest about that. The ordinance solves an enforcement problem by criminalizing sleep. And, yes, the language is broad that is written, and it's written that way to to to avoid directly naming homeless people. But in practice, it lands on the people with nowhere else to go. That is the function.

Now let's talk about the impact. The the ordinance does not create housing. The ordinance does not guarantee shelter. The ordinance does not solve addiction. The alternate ordinance does not solve mental health. The ordinance does one thing. It moves people out of sight into alleys, under bridges, into darker, more dangerous places where suffering is less visible, by far more severe. So we have a simple question to ask. If someone has nowhere to go, where are they legally allowed to sleep? Because if the answer is nowhere, then we are not regulating behaviors.

We are criminalizing existence. And I wanna be very clear about that. A yes vote does not sit in theory. A yes vote by you all owns this. A yes vote says that this is the direction that our city should go, and that when faced with a hard problem, we chose enforcement over solutions. When I say we, I'm talking about you all sitting on the diocese. You said this ordinance is not about solving homelessness, and that exactly is the problem because that is what we should be focused on. Real solution, housing, services. So I'll close with this. The better question is not why people are sleeping outside.

The better question is why are we comfortable writing ordinances that push them further into the shadows? Because ordinances are not neutral. They reflect the city's value and who a city values. Please vote no. When nights welcome close, the deep did not close. Have a good night.

Thank you, mister Weaver. Next speaker is David Mangelo.

Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, members of the council. My name excuse me. I've been talking for a while. My name is David Mangelo, and I'm a father and a United States Marine Corps veteran and resident of this community. In 1998, I stood in on the yellow foot sorry. Let me go again. Footprints and swore an oath to support and defend the constitution of The United States. The oath did not end when my service ended. It is something I carry with me every day. I'm here today because of a statement that should concern every citizen in this city and everyone in this room.

During an interaction with child protective services worker, I was told that the constitution does not apply here. And, anyway, I want to be clear. This is not just about my family. This is about whether my any government employee in any department believes they can operate outside the constitution. Following that interaction, I attempted to seek accountability through the proper channels.

I spoke with a police officer who told me that the matter would be addressed months past with no action. He passed it on to another officer and ghosted me. I then spoke with that, another officer who stated that, well, he upholds the constitution. This issue was not his department. I was refused the ability to file a report and told to go to the magistrate.

When I went to the magistrate, I was told that the agency involved were doing their job and that the matter was dismissed without review. At every level, I followed the process. At every level, the system failed to address the core issue. So I am here today asking a simple question. What safeguards are in place to ensure that all city employees, especially those with authority over families, understand that constitutional protections always apply.

Because if a is told that their rights do not apply in a government interaction and there is no mechanism for accountability, that is not just a personal concern, it is a systemic one. This is not about blame. It is about a clarity, accountability, and trust. I am asking the council to ensure that employees are properly trained and on constitutional limits. There is a clear process for reporting and reviewing these concerns and that no citizen is left without recourse when their rights are called into question. I believe in this country. I believe in the constitution, and I believe the city has both responsibility and authority to ensure that those principles are upheld and in practice. Thank you.

Thank you, mister Mangelo. And the final speaker is Joan Weaver.

Good afternoon, governance team. To include miss Glass, I am here regarding a rejection of your quote, unquote, ordinance. Let me be perfectly clear. Why do you call with your invocation on God when you turn around and do everything but what God would do? Let's ask this question, what would Jesus do? Would Jesus consider the homeless criminals? No. Let's keep that in mind. You all need to develop a moral compass and use it. You dull out and talk about misdemeanors like it's Easter egg candy.

A misdemeanor is a misdemeanor is a misdemeanor, and you can't change that. And there are negative things that follow a person for forever. If you, the governance team, had the integrity and the ability to do your job, you would not have to clutter up our judicial system. Our judges in the city of Hampton work hard. They have imminent and more important things to do.

So leadership in Hampton, learn what a leader does. Effective communication, this is not a dictatorship. This is a democracy, and the homeless are not criminals. The crime is you not doing your job and cluttering up the judicial docket, and you wear it like a tattoo. A bigger criminal 2022 over in my neighborhood, oh, with it should have never been sold to North Point.

63 acres. Can you imagine how many homes could have been put up there and help the homeless? How we could have food in our food desert? So if you wanna know who the criminal is, eeny, meeny, miny, moe. Everybody who set up their 2022 and voted to rezone that area, who voted to support that project, that's the criminal with the exception of mister mayor Stephen Brown. And I do commend you for standing for the people, for the citizens' need, not city greed. Thank you.

Thank you, miss Weaver. And that's the last speaker. And so city manager, did you want to address some of the issues that were raised?

Certainly. I will address all the homelessness ones when we get to that ordinance just for ease of keeping the information together. Mister Smith and mister Newsome, if you look in the back of the room, standing in the back is Jason Mitchell. He's our assistant city manager who's currently overseeing public safety and parks and recreation. The event permitting process falls under those two departments and I've asked that he get with you to get your contact information so we can schedule a sit down conversation.

It is much more effective to deal with issues that you're raising, you know, in a sit down meeting as opposed to this very time limited constraint. But we're more than willing to sit down with you and make sure you understand this special event permit process and work through whatever issues you have run into. Ms. Marks is obviously entitled to her beliefs and opinions and she represents some people in our community who feel the same way. When we did the iValue budget process, the majority of folks indicated their comfort level with a $1.14 So there are always people who are on different ends of the spectrum and I just wanted to note for the record that the council and I were not picking a number in absence of community dialogue.

We do have active dialogue every year before I make a manager's recommended budget and I take that input seriously. The $8,100,000 from the Hampton Roads Regional Jail, we did end up using some of that money to buy into the Western Tidewater Regional Jail. The timing of all that was such that it didn't all flow by the time we closed out the year, but we could not go into the Hampton I mean the Western Tidewater Regional Jail without buying into it. So all 8,100,000.0 that you referenced is not available currently because we had to commit to that. And we're also currently looking at with Sheriff Baldwin, what we need to do for our local jail capacity and that money is sitting there in the reserve account.

It's one time money because it was sales proceeds. So it can't be used for recurring expenses like salaries or to lower the tax rate. It is sitting there once the jail study is complete and we ultimately as a community come to a decision about what we want to do with the local regional jail. So I did want to address that. I also want to explain that the length of time the main library has been closed is not all attributable to what caused it to close initially which was we found some mold in the building.

It took some time to go through the public procurement to get that all remediated and we were about ready to open and I asked, know, were we painting new? Were we putting in new carpet or flooring or those kinds of things? And they said we're gonna do that next year. And I'm like, it makes no sense to have the facility closed for the months that it's been closed, open it up, and then have to close six to nine months later. So I asked Public Works to move up the money, switch out projects so that we could go ahead and get the public library completely renovated so that we're not closing down.

So that's what added to the length of time for the record because we wanted to go ahead and when we reopen it, not have to do this in a piecemeal fashion, take care of the mold, but also take care of the modernization that we would have been doing naturally in fiscal twenty seven. So we escalated some money to be able to do that. I think the next several comments were all about the camping and storage ordinance. So I'll go to mister Knopp's question about can we extend the fence on Mercury Boulevard further down? That's one of the things we polled the public on.

I don't currently have it in my budget recommendation. It may be something we would be able to do with VDOT grants, which is how we funded the first piece of that. So just because it's not in my budget recommendation currently does not mean we wouldn't look for other avenues to pursue it. And Mr. Mitchell, who I think you know, also indicated he'd be willing to talk to you about some of your other ideas.

He's in the back. I have addressed previously, you know, the concerns about constitutional adherence. We train our people to to we want and expect everyone to commit to the constitutional amendment principles. But you have to understand the context of everything that may be involved in any consideration. Just because someone takes a snippet of a conversation doesn't mean that they have violated someone's constitutional rights in general.

But that said, as I mentioned on both prior occasions that this issue came up, I cannot disclose what we do to add employee for retraining or discipline or anything like that when concerns are made and investigated and found valid. We have to adhere to privacy rights of employees. So you're welcome to come and talk about it every time you want, but I can't say anything more on the public record than I have said on the public record. As I understand it, you're represented by an attorney and your attorney can communicate with our attorney's office and we can deal with it. But we cannot deal with these issues in the public discourse.

I believe, mister mayor, the rest of them all dealt with the camping and storage ordinance, which I believe we're gonna be going to next. So if you don't mind, I'll address all those comments with my introductory comments there.

Okay. Thank you. Alright. So we're gonna move on to general items and I'm gonna ask the clerk to read the title for the first item in that category.

Item number nine on tonight's agenda is 25 dash zero one seven zero, ordinance to amend and reenact the city code of the city of Hampton, Virginia by amending chapter 24 offenses miscellaneous article one in general section 24 dash 50 to prohibit camping and storage on public property.

Mister mayor and council members, as you know this item was deferred from last month to today. In the intervening time we have talked with various folks. People have emailed us, called us, have talked with council members. Council members have shared ideas and we have some potential modifications to the proposed ordinance that we want to share with you all tonight. But before Ms.

Law does that, I do want to set the context for this ordinance and I will repeat some of what was said by folks both to agree and in some cases to clarify and other cases to answer questions. This proposed camping and storage ordinance came up never as a homeless solution. It was initially suggested and examined to address concerns of homeowners and businesses. It was not developed as a toolbox. No one has ever represented it would solve homelessness.

We don't think it will solve homelessness. It's not really about homelessness. It is true. There are unhoused people who may be impacted by it, but that's not the intent. The intent is to ensure that the city has a tool for police officers to be able to ask people who are causing disruptions to neighborhoods or businesses to leave public property when they're doing that.

I think mister Weaver talked about the challenge that I have described previously that yes, there are rules and regulations on the books that say you can't do certain things. And if the police officers could observe that, they could use those tools. Many times when a business owner or a homeowner calls us about a particular problem on the public right of way in front of their establishment, the police can't get there in time to observe the behavior. And so they need a tool to be able to ask people to leave and that's what this tool is about. Now anytime you give an ordinance that gives someone I.

E. The police officer in this case the authority to do something, the law requires you to say what happens if you don't. If we could write this in a way that did not have any penalty, we would have gladly done that. However, if you say you can't, the legal principles are such you have to say what happens if you don't abide by that rule. So the hope and belief is that most people, almost all people we interact interact with, with when when asked by the police and told by police they have to legally leave a property, they do.

We are hoping and believing that if we get to that place with someone where we have to ask them to leave and by the way, it's not always unhoused people. There are sometimes people, for instance, panhandlers who are making lots of money and are not unhoused that are in these same kind of situations. So when we ask them to leave right now, they say you can't make me leave. We don't have an ordinance on the books to require them to leave. And so that is what this ordinance was, an ordinance to protect neighborhoods and businesses when these kinds of problematic behaviors occur.

Now we're gonna talk a little bit more about the ordinance and we've added some language to make even more abundantly clear the things that we've said here, to put into the ordinance the things that myself and chief Weidman have committed to because we accept and understand I think it may have been miss Davis, I'm sorry if I'm misattributing that maybe you know while we're here it's all good, but if we're not here somebody else they may not follow it the same way. And so you'll see in just a moment Ms. Law will add some language that makes it even more clear how this is supposed to work. One of the things that we're going to be talking about and this was a debate of the stakeholder committee was we had initially had a class one misdemeanor for the record for this which is the highest level of misdemeanor. And the theory had been that this is by the way private trespass is a misdemeanor one.

So if someone's on your property and you ask them to leave and they don't leave and you either authorize the police to deal with that or you take out your own personal warrant, it's a class one misdemeanor charge. And so the original thinking was this is very akin to trespass which is why misdemeanor one was the initial. But the concern was that because a misdemeanor one can carry up to a thousand dollar penalty or up to a year even though we didn't believe the judges would do that. It was it was a concern obviously of the community and I think that's what led people to think that we were trying to criminalize homelessness which no one ever was. So we got the committee together that has referenced and that committee struggled with these issues and I will tell you almost everybody who started there didn't necessarily want an ordinance but they wanted something that would allow police to deal with the kinds of situations I've described.

I was looking at a picture earlier today someone was showing me where we had a homeless person who was defecating and putting, you know, their spoils and bags and leaving it on the public right away. You can imagine how that might feel for a parent of a child who sees that or whose child has to walk by that. And so those are the kinds of situations. Now again, some of the most egregious examples are on house people. I would acknowledge that but there are also other kinds of people who do these behaviors for whatever reason.

They may be housed but they may have mental health issues or whatever. The way we always try to deal with these issues first is that we send people out. The people being our community services board which are our experts in mental health and substance abuse addictions as well as people with varying abilities and then we also send our social services team out. We have added to our team members. I think Mr.

Hudson mentioned that we had no longer an effective outreach team. We have bolstered that in recent months. We have always sent someone out when we get a complaint, but we have bolstered that and the CSB and our Hampton Social Services team has stepped up their efforts to go out. The CSB worker who we were working with on this committee, Joy Cipriano talked about how sometimes it takes a very long time to get someone to accept the help. The most recent example she gave took 18 different interactions before they were able to get that person to accept help.

We don't abandon anybody. We're not going to give up on anybody. And frankly as I've said and you'll see with the things that we say in the ordinance, this is not about going out and finding all the homeless people. It's about dealing with those limited circumstances. Someone mentioned about the equal application of law and if it's the law everyone has to be charged under.

There are many instances and I'll give traffic fines as just an example where police officers are allowed discretion under the law. They may give you a warning if they think you didn't mean to, you know, go too far over their speed limit. They may remind you to be safe and those kinds of things. Officer discretion has has always been recognized as something that can be done provided that we're not doing it on unconstitutional grounds, like treating white people differently than black people or or or males different than females or older people different than younger people and those kinds of things. And our police undergo quite a bit of extensive training to make sure that they don't violate people's constitutional rights.

So we have written this ordinance in a way as you will see in just a moment that the first interactions with someone is always simply a warning, an offer of services both for housing and for mental health or social service supports. No threat at that time of any citation or anything like that. Then if it happened subsequently, they would come, they would give a warning again, same offer of services, but if the person still refuses to leave and is still causing problems then and only then would the person get a citation. I liken that too. If any of us were asked to leave a space by a police officer, I think we would all expect to leave the space and if someone didn't leave a space when the police officer cited code they were violating, they would expect that that person should be properly, you know, counseled about why they need to handle that situation.

This isn't about locking people up. It's not about giving fines. In fact, we've talked with our general district court judges about this as recently last week to confirm that they are more than willing to work with the homeless people should any get caught up or mental health patients who may be housed but may be on the street causing problems for people in the behavioral health docket. Now to access the behavioral health docket, it typically needs to be a misdemeanor too. And the committee had debated whether to go to a misdemeanor for first and then a misdemeanor too or just to a misdemeanor because you get immediate access to a public defender and preferably the behavioral health docket.

And they will offer that and they will accept that so long as the person in question is willing to receive that help. I think they understand, we understand that if someone is unhoused, a fine, they're never going to pay it. We don't want them to pay it. We don't want them to to get in further financial trouble or anything like that. We just want them to leave and cease and desist with the disruptive behavior that is causing a business owner problems or a homeowner or you know, like with children who are seeing the kinds of things I described.

We have had so many requests for us to do something about that. That frankly is why we were led to look at this ordinance in the first place. And last but not least, I wanna assure you, again, I said this is not about solving homelessness. We have a whole set of other arrows in our quiver that we're looking at using for solving homelessness. Earlier today, I released my manager's recommended budget and I talked about the fact that we have $4,500,000 set aside to devote to supportive transitional or permanent supportive housing, which is really what we need.

We are blessed with the HELP program to have winter sheltering, emergency weather sheltering, those kinds of things. We have you know, HELP has a day center here in Hampton For Oaks, which was described earlier by Mr. Hudson is in Newport News. But what we don't have much of either in Hampton or Newport News, frankly, is available transitional and permanent supportive housing. And that's why I put money in the budget and also Alan Archer, the Newport News City manager put money in the budget.

And we have been working this issue together. Our councils, our our human service professionals went out to Salt Lake City because we were really, really impressed. They're oftentimes listed as one of the most supportive communities because in addition to providing the housing, they also provide social entrepreneurship and find ways to get people who were in the temporary homes I mean, the tiny homes money so that they can eventually plan to move out of the tiny homes and even aspire to own their own homes one day. So we're trying to replicate programs like that that are smart solutions that will really make a difference for the homeless. So it doesn't have to be either or.

And again, this was never part of the homeless homeless solution. The kinds of things I'm describing now, the tiny homes, briefing up our outreach teams, we've even put money in place for when an individual is not appropriate for the limited shelter resources we have currently. I mentioned at the last meeting, the biggest need frankly is in emergency shelters for men because the only one that we have on the Peninsula is the Peninsula Rescue Mission that will take single men. And in that particular case, they require you to participate in their religious and faith based programs which are helpful to many, but not everyone is willing to accept that. And so we don't want to impose religious beliefs on folks who for whatever reason don't choose to gravitate towards that.

So we need to have other solutions across the board. And that's what my budget dealt with earlier today and I suggest if you're really interested in all the things we're looking at doing with Newport News that you go back and watch that budget presentation. But this again is to help the businesses and homeowners. The tiny home community, the money for hotel and or emergency shelter placements, the outreach teams. All that money that I talked about is really the key to working on the homelessness issue.

So with that as an introduction, I want to turn it over to Ms. Law who is a senior deputy in our city attorney's office. She is the one who did all of the research to make sure that what we are doing, unlike what was represented earlier, is in fact constitutional and appropriate with recent Supreme Court and other case law cases that have been held in district federal districts and has written this in a way that the city attorney's office believes that we are doing things properly and with respect for the people who we're all concerned about. So I'll turn it over to her to share the changes that have been suggested and that are in the form of substitute for the council's consideration this evening.

Thank you. City manager Bunting. Good evening, mayor, members of council. So I'm just going to briefly go over the changes that have been made since the last time we spoke and specifically these are very recent changes that have been made in reaction to comments from this week. For the benefit of the members of public, this has been added to the public agenda as an attachment, but only in the last hour or so has it been added.

So it is on there now and it is called the alternative red line. It's also attachment number five. So I'm just gonna go over the changes. A few things that we changed were in the wherefore paragraphs. And actually, if someone from the public is looking at their old version of this red line, the original version of the red line, I was going to bring their attention to line number 14, which is where these two wherefore paragraphs begin.

So we you you'll see there that we have struck language. No one has the right to endanger others and no one should be abandoned, but added additional language in the next wherefore paragraph that states that this ordinance is intended as a measure of last resort only to be used once an individual has been given access to resources and the opportunity for compliance. And we'll talk more about that in the body of the ordinance as well. The second change that has been made in the alternative version is that instead of a first offense being a class four misdemeanor, the first offense now will be charged, the first offense and any subsequent offense can be charged as a class two misdemeanor. But this does allow immediate access to the behavioral health docket for those who qualify And hopefully that process can result in no convictions at all.

And then finally, and for the benefit of the public, this is on the second page of the original red line and is subsection e that I'm looking at here. So we have added specific language for the police officers who are enforcing this to indicate the warnings that they must provide and the length of time that they must provide for compliance. So specifically, previously it said that a warning had to be provided and that the police officer had to provide information for alternative accommodations. Now we have added that the officer also must include information for resources that provide mental health and other human services support. And then it's only on a subsequent occasion that the officer encounters the same person not in compliance and it has to be at least twenty four hours later.

So, you know, for members of the public who felt like an officer may give someone a warning, give them resources, and then come back ten minutes later and issue them a summons. We wanted to make clear that the police officer has it has to be at least twenty four hours later. And then on that second encounter, the police officer must give an additional warning and encourage the person to come into compliance to move along. And only then if the person declines to comply, may the officer issue a summons. And the word may is used here because the officer does still have discretion.

And those those were the changes that are found in the alternative red line.

Mister mayor and council members, I also wanna add, it was suggested but not appropriate to put in the actual ordinance. But the staff does agree that it would be a good idea to include in a motion should a motion be made to approve any of this tonight, and it may not be made to approve it. But if it were to direct staff to come back in six months time to do a report on what has worked, what maybe hasn't worked, what modifications if any need to be done to the ordinance. And frankly, it's not working, are there problems to recommend revocation of the ordinance with the notion that we would have a six month trial period effectively so that counsel and the community could see how this really plays out. I know that there's a lot of fears and I understand those fears.

I had shared this when we first started talking about it, but just for those who may not have known, I had I grew up with a father who was homeless. And it's very, very hard when they resist services as my father did. We had the capability of helping them helping him, but he did not want it. So I have great compassion compassion whether whether people people think think it it or or not for the homeless. I have I have lived with a very close loved one who was in that situation.

And so I understand the fears. I understand those of us who are advocates for the homeless wanting to make sure that we don't trample upon them as human beings and that we respect their dignity. But our staff belief is, and unless and until we try something to help everybody, to help the neighborhoods and the businesses as well as the homeless, we won't know if it will work or not. So that's why I'm suggesting should you be inclined to approve it tonight that you add the six month report process so that we could come back and share very clearly with the public and the council can hear from the public again their thoughts on how we've actually executed.

Mister mayor. Councilwoman Faribi.

Thank you, mister mayor. I I just wanna start by reading something that I prepared, and then I'll I have some other comments just based on some of the things that have been said today, if if you can bear with me. I recently heard a statement that resonated with me. You're not wrong, but you're far from right. That captures how I feel about this encampment ordinance.

After months of work, it represents a solution, but from our perspective, it's not the right solution. I wanna acknowledge the work that has gone into this effort by the police department, the city attorney's office, the city staff, and the task force, and any others that have have and and just all the citizens that have provided feedback both for and against this. Each person involved, especially the task force in the city offices that I've already mentioned, have invested significant time and effort with this shared goal of addressing a very difficult issue. And I believe everyone involved has acted with positive intent. And I respectfully ask those who oppose this ordinance to please refrain from demonizing the individuals who've worked to bring this proposal forward.

That said, I cannot support the ordinance as it stands, stands, and I believe there's a better path forward. I know I have a pretty quantitative background, and I don't typically believe in kicking the can down the road. And sometimes, most of the time, I do feel that sometimes you gotta get to the 80% solution and then work from there to try to make it better. And I do appreciate the fact that my peers have even been working on making modifications up till today, including the city managers and the in in collaboration with the city attorney's office. But for me, I just don't feel I feel like we need more time.

And and so for this reason, I do plan to vote no. I do fully respect the the Peninsula Town Center, the the business owners. I I I have full empathy and understanding of what you're having to deal with trying to get citizens to to to support our businesses and and to come here for tourism because, you know, we're talking about the tax base. We if we have a more diverse economic development, then that would allow us to be able to continue to reduce the rates. So so, again, I I really don't want us to demonize the people that are want to move forward with a solution.

It just for me, I don't feel that I can support it at this time, and I just wanna make that really clear. My preference would be to defer this decision, but my peers feel that it's time to make a decision and try it, and I do respect that as well. But I I hope at some point that we can just continue to work together to find a more effective and balanced solution if this does not if this does pass. I do appreciate the feedback that I've received from individuals both through email and discussions and on both sides of this difficult issue. I am I feel good even though it took 18 times to get someone to accept the help.

They did accept the help. And I think that's why I feel that maybe we could have some more discussions and really look at where we might be able to do more without having to go with the way that it is now. I I will I will yield my time at this time, but I I felt like I wanted to explain myself because I I think we just need to continue to try to work through this and do what's right for everybody. Thank you, mister mayor.

Councilman Bowman. I looked down there and looked at the wrong light. Any other comments, questions? Councilwoman Camp.

Thank you, mister mayor. I prefer to talk in specifics versus abstract. So we've talked in general about the homeless, but I wanna give a couple of examples where it works and where it doesn't work. We have helped people. I had a grandma and two kids in their car in Walmart and they got a home and they got a place and now they have jobs and that's a success story.

We also have those that don't want to accept help and those are the difficult ones. We go, we talk, we ask and many of them will accept the help, but there are those that won't. So I want to read you a text that I just got this weekend and I'm gonna try to skip over anything that would give you identity, but it says, good evening. Could we use some help dealing with this homeless man? He's refused service from the CSB. He is trespassing and trashing both of these properties. He's been sleeping on the sidewalk and on the private property. Help. He's across the street now, trash everywhere. I approached this man myself yesterday and today.

I made calls while I was talking to him trying to get him help and off of private property. He got angry with me and said he doesn't want or need help. I'm going to respect respect that that and and when I see him again, I will call the police because he's trespassing. The property has signs posted. I and others don't want to have to keep picking up garbage and human waste belonging to others on property in our neighborhood. We are empathetic but tired. Something has to be done. Deal with this, our little gem of a neighborhood. Thank you for your assistance in this manner. So we know that this gentleman has tried or people have tried to help this gentleman, but he just does not want help and he's continuing to trash the neighborhood.

We have to do something. I know this ordinance is not perfect, but it's a start. And I do agree with the six month read and come back and check and see how it's doing. So for that reason, I will be voting yes on this ordinance. And I will be watching the numbers at the six month mark if it does pass to see what what goes forward. Thank you.

Any other comments regarding the presentation from staff? Okay. So with substitute to the original ordinance, and that's been presented here. So is there a motion to accept the substitute?

Mister mayor, I move that city council approve and adopt item number 25 dash zero one seven zero ordinance regarding unlawful public camping and storage. Did not the alternate version presented during the 04/08/2026 legislative session and in attachment five to the agenda package item. I further move the city council direct staff report back to council in six months regarding activities conducted pursuant to this ordinance, including services provided, enforcement, and other material data.

Second. Okay. We have a motion and a second to accept the substitute, and then this requires a second vote to

Actually, the city attorney's office ended up finding a way to put it all in one motion, which

Okay.

Councilwoman Campbell properly read. I thought it didn't catch that earlier. I'm sorry.

Okay. I'm I'm going with my script.

You're going with what we had told you earlier.

I

have So, mister mayor, just for real, real, real clarity, clarity, if I vote this is the vote for the substituted motion. So this is not a motion to we don't need to. Okay. Thank you.

They ended up when when I was first discussing this with one of the attorneys before miss Signer got back, there was a belief there would have to be two motions. When miss Signer got back and looked at it, she wrote one motion that councilwoman Campbell has properly read, so it will only take one vote. It will not be two as I had previously told you. I apologize. I didn't catch the updated motion. The one this is there will be one and one only vote. It would be either up or down.

Okay. Alright. We have a motion and a second on the floor. Is there any further discussion? Okay.

So I I do want to address a couple of things related to this ordinance, which I do intend to support, particularly with the substitute language that's there, some of which I I asked for. But I wanna first address one thing, and that is that it was stated earlier that we don't have or we've done away with or no longer have funded a team in our human services department that responds to people who are homeless or when we sometimes get complaints about people or see people who are homeless and we call them. And so I'd I'd like to ask the city manager to address first what is our ability to respond a team of people or at least staff members to assist a person on the street who's homeless.

To be clear, anytime we get a call, you know, whether it comes to us from the council or from a citizen or a text or an interaction at a neighborhood meeting about an individual who needs help, we do send out a social services worker and a community services worker. I think where the confusion came in to be is we used to have people whose only job was to be an outreach team every day and over time as we were tighter on manning, the CSB and the social services team made sure that someone was always available to respond to calls but they weren't necessarily defined as an outreach team. We are working to put that outreach team back in place and the budget I've given you will permit that. But we currently whether we have an official outreach team or designated workers, we respond to every call.

Okay. And then I also wanna ask, mean, you know, when people a person who gets a citation or summons for violating the the ordinance would have to go to court. I wanna make clear or understand that this is not get off the property or go to jail. Could you explain that?

Correct. The police will not be putting anybody in a car and taking them to jail unless they do something, you know, and this would be always the case. If someone, say, assaulted a police officer or something like that, they have the right to do you know, take them to lock up. But that is not what we anticipate in this situation. In this situation we really believe most people when told by the police officer that they need to legally move, they will move.

If they don't move, first the first time again remember they're getting just a warning, an offer for services. No threat of citation or anything like that. The second time they would get the you you need to leave, here are some resources, you want us to help get you to the resources, Do you want us to call someone? Any of that and if they say no then they'll be asked to leave and if they don't leave that is when they would get a citation. The citation much like a traffic ticket citation would give them the day and time they're supposed to go to With us going to the misdemeanor too, they will automatically be entitled to a public defender and that's when the public defender would work with the individual and the court to determine how to best process that case.

Our hope and belief is that the majority of those would go through the behavioral half docket. The only reason why they wouldn't is if the individual again continues to refuse service because so that folks know and I had to deal this with my own father, we can't make people accept service even if we think that it's in their best interest unless they are a direct danger to themselves or direct danger to others which involves a competency hearing and and some other tools that we have available if they really are doing harm to themselves or to others. But if it's just we think we know better than they do, we can't make them accept services. It'd be a lot easier if we could, but that would violate their individual constitutional rights of self determination. So that's why we would have to give them the citation and hope that the process with the public defender, the individual, and the court would net to them finally getting help.

Okay. Then lastly, if a matter goes to court, who are the people who would be representing the city in court in prosecuting the case?

The city attorney's office. In all likelihood, miss Lawler, one of the attorneys that works under her her section.

Right. And I and I asked you to explain that because I think, you know, the city attorney's office and miss Law and those who would be in court with this of staff members who understand what we want to accomplish with this ordinance that we're not trying to criminalize homeless people. We're not trying to, you know, tell people to get off the street or go to jail. And so these are the staff members who have helped us, you know, work this ordinance and work it some more and work it some more to try to get a level of comfort based on what we've heard from many emails in the community, talked to many people that, yes, we need something that allows us to help a person get into the right situation and resources for services, but it's not about criminalizing. If this was about criminalizing homelessness, I I would not be supporting this.

But having been a part of this, having been a part of, you know, our efforts in in our region to address homelessness and understanding what we're working on with Newport News or others to try to find housing solutions for homelessness, then I feel pretty comfortable that we're we're going down the right path with this. Particularly, as we change the ordinance and and again, you know, language that I asked to be put in here that, you know, that you you know, police officer has to give a couple of warnings and then after giving a couple of warnings, he may or he or she may issue a summons. It doesn't direct the city attorney or the police officer to prosecute a person after only giving them one warnings. And so I think we have kinda narrowed this down to language that kinda at least gives me a level of comfort that it's all about trying to be compassionate with the matter that we're dealing with, but yet trying to resolve issues for our business community, for our downtown, and those, you know, where people tend to exist and sleep on the sidewalk. So with that, I plan to support the ordinance.

Mister mayor, may I add one more thing that

Yes, sir, ma'am.

As you were speaking. I also wanna be clear. I know you all heard this before, but for the benefit of people who may be new to the issue tonight, Chief Weidman has indicated that he assuming counsel were to prove this, will develop a training bulletin that all officers will receive. And I mean the reason why I bring that up is I've heard from some folks the fear that you know, well, we know Chief Weidman isn't gonna abuse people or you know treat them with disrespect but he has you know 300 officers. How do you make sure all the officers act in accordance with the same?

Well first off, the chief will take great care to make sure every officer gets the exact same instruction about how to deal with this. Second of all, in case you don't know, all of our officers wear body worn cameras. So if we get a hint of anything that has been allegedly done improperly, we can immediately pull up the body worn cameras and investigate the actions of our officers. I will tell you the overwhelming majority of the time like nearly all of the time anyone accuses a police officer of doing something wrong, the body worn camera actually backs up the police officer. But I do allow that there are sometimes individuals who do the wrong thing and this chief myself are not unwilling to take the appropriate disciplinary action if someone abuses their trust. But I wanted to make clear that he will be developing a training bulletin so every officer gets the exact same instruction.

Good. Okay. Thank you. Any further comments from council members? Okay. We have a motion and a second on the floor to approve the ordinance with the substitute language there that was presented. So I ask the clerk to call a roll.

Councilman Bowman.

Aye.

Vice mayor Brown.

Thank you, mister mayor. Now I'll make my comments before I cast my vote. 11/07/1980, I was ordained into the ministry the gospel ministry. And I remember as I began to study scripture and what I was called to do, I was reminded of scripture Matthew, where Matthew talks about what is the love of God. I'm not preaching tonight, so please hear me out on this.

Everybody say this, say it. I'm gonna have mine. And one of the things Matthew said that really shows that you have compassion and love for your brothers and sisters is that when they're sick, you heal them. When they are hungry, you feed them. When they are naked, you put clothes on them.

And when they're in prison, you visit with them. When we first start talking about this ordinance, is nothing new to my colleagues on this dais, I I had a heartburn with penalizing persons who were already downtrodden, struggling, lack of resources, and and and many other issues. And I contended to say that if we were going to put any amount of money, a fine toward a person who was unhoused, unhomed, I could support that. The work of the staff has been extraordinary. I have commended staff on this many many times.

And like my colleague, councilman Farrabee, said in the mayor and others tonight that even to the midnight hour, the final hour, there were edits and changes and massaging this. But about thirty years ago, I visited Jamaica. Jamaica has some areas that are very impoverished. And I went to a little village called Spanish Town. And my nativity, I'm thinking there are Spanish speaking people here, but Spanish Town is one of the poets regions in Jamaica.

And as as I was over there to make your presentation, I went into this what it was a church and it was made of cardboard. And there's a little guy there about five years old, and he had a broom with few few broom straws on it, and he was sweeping a dirt floor. And I was told about Spanish Town that if the city felt like it, this week, they'd they'd give them water, cut the water hose on through the through the area there. If not, then they wouldn't have water. They wouldn't be able to shower, wouldn't have food, whatever it was.

That was this that was another time that I thought about why am I called to ministry. And I went home, flew back home, and the first thing I did was take and I'm gonna be brief. I'm gonna shut this down, my first closing. Oh, that's Jim man, I got something going on with that with these closings. So I went home and I took a hot shower.

And I remember going to Jamaica, and the first time I went into the shower, it was ice cold. It was unbearable. And I'm thinking all these creature comforts I have at home, and I gotta come over here to a cold shower. Went up that night to Elizabeth Mandeville to preach a service that night, and it was pitch dark. It was so dark, the stars like they were in my hand. It was that dark. The stars were beautiful, but impoverished. And as I think about the ordinance,

and I

understand, you know, the police and the city staff and all of those who would try to make sure that the first incident does not put someone in jail or maybe the second one, but if, you know, something goes awry, they have to be arrested, that will happen. But when you go to the behavior health court and every homeless person that need behavior health assistance, There are some folks who don't need that. And so I had a concern with that because I don't want to stereotype people saying everybody's homeless gotta go to behavior health court. Because in behavior health court, which I have was a part of getting that established, you have to want to get that assistance. It can't be mandated to to to get the assistance.

You have to want it and volunteer for it. And so that's an issue. So as I thought about this and I shared with my colleagues last month, I called each and every one of them and told them what my position would be on this ordinance. Yes. We have to do something. And this is a problem and I think the gentleman shared tonight that in 2027, and I've done that research as well. It's gonna be tremendous. It's gonna expand. It's gonna it's gonna be off the chain. But we have some plans in the city of Hampton to address that.

We they won't happen overnight, but there are some plans to address that. So as I as I look back over the oath that I've taken and and the commitment I've made to to the least of these, the less of these, the under the underrepresented, those can speak for themselves. I cannot support the ordinance. I love small businesses. I when I ran eight years ago, that was one of the key points of of of my my campaign to expand, to grow, to enlarge small businesses because small businesses are the economic engine to our city. I love PTC. I love downtown. I love fever. I love I've been born and raised all of my life. My mother raised 11 children here.

And we we were we were were po. We were so po, we couldn't afford the next two letters. So we were po. You'll get that tomorrow. But my mother never instilled in us a poor mentality.

And so as I somebody get in and see you back there. As I get to my my second and final close, My colleagues on this dais love the city of Hampton. They love everybody here, and and we we were trying to make the best decision. But as I lay my head down at night, I wanna know I love God, I've done justly, and I've shown mercy. And so I'll be voting on tonight. Thank you.

Councilwoman Campbell. Aye. Councilwoman Faribi. No. Councilwoman Harper. Aye. Councilwoman Mugler. Aye. Mayor Gray.

Aye.

The motion carries.

Alright.

Evening, so I'm gonna ask the clerk to read the motion for appointments.

The motion required this is to consider appointments to the Virginia Municipal League twenty twenty six policy committees, and the motion required is to appoint councilwoman Campbell and councilwoman Harper to the Community and Economic Development Committee, councilwoman Farabi and councilwoman Mugler to the Finance Committee, mayor Gray to the General Laws Committee, vice mayor Brown to the Human Development and Education Committee, and councilman Bowman to the Infrastructure Committee.

Alright. I need a motion to second on the appointments. Motion, sir.

Second.

Councilman Bowen.

Aye.

Vice mayor Brown.

Aye.

Councilwoman Campbell. Aye. Councilwoman Farabi. Aye. Councilwoman Harper. Aye. Councilwoman Mugler. Aye. Mayor Gray.

Aye. And with that, are there any other reports by city manager, city council staff, or committees? Alright. There being none, is there any new business? Alright. There being none, then we are adjourned.