Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

I'll call I'll call to order the August 13th meeting of the McGomery County Planning Commission. Mr. Lincolnis, you'll perform the roll call. Mr. Croll here. Mr. Miller, here. Miss Sharp Robinson here. Miss Simkins here. Mr. Waltz, absent. Mr. Workman here. Mr. Link is here. Chair Foster, Vice Chair Foster, Vice Chair, Vice Chair here, Chair Rice here. And um we have the agenda in front of you. Seeking approval. Move approval. I've got a motion and a second for approval. All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

Those opposed likewise. And then the consent agenda consists of the minute meeting minutes from July or June 11th, 2025 and then the the final plat. Move approval. Second. Have a motion and second for approval of the consent agenda. All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

And those opposed likewise. And we do not have a public hearing at this time, but uh we do have a a public address portion of the meeting. If anyone would like to approach the plan commission to speak about a topic, please do so now. And seeing none, we will close the public address portion of our meeting and then we go into work session. move we go into work session. So I've got a motion and a second to enter into a work session. All those in favor signify by saying I.

I. Those opposed likewise. And we are now in work session. Mr. Justin,

good evening. It's good to see all of you. It's been a little bit of time since we've been together. Um we wanted to bring forward this evening for you an update on where we are with McGomery Matters, particularly as it involves the village plans. Um so just an update on where we are in terms of the overall comprehensive plan update. Uh we are a little over a year and a quarter into our update. Um and we are in our village planning stage. So we've collected quite a bit of public feedback um through a variety of different meetings. We have finalized the state of the county data report that I've shared with you previously. Um and at this point we're moving into drafting recommendations for the plan. Um that will run parallel to our village planning efforts over the course of the next few months. Um we have held four of our six village meetings that are planned for this year. Uh we've been in Prices Fork, Riner, Belleview, and Elliston Lefayet. Uh and then we still have two remaining meetings. Uh we'll be in Shawville next week on August the 21st. Uh and then in Plum Creek on September the 4th. So, I wanted to go over with you this evening. I know some of you have had an opportunity to join us at the village meetings, but for those that haven't yet had that opportunity, wanted to talk to you a little bit about how those meetings are formatted and then get a little bit into some of the early insights that we're finding from those meetings. Um, so as uh participants join us, we are holding this in an openhouse format. So, if you've been here for the countywide meetings, um it's similar to that in that we have various stations for citizens to progress through. Uh we have presentation boards for them to present information. Uh and then we also have opportunities for them to engage and give feedback at those different stations. So, when citizens first arrive, they're they're uh able to sign in with us and they get an introduction about the McGomery Matters process. What we're finding through the village meetings is that we're having a number

of individuals that have not participated in the process up until this point. So, it really gives them an orientation on the larger comprehensive plan update and how the village plans sort of fall in that overall scheme. There's a summary of the activities that we've had to date, the different engagement opportunities that we've had for folks, uh, and then how the county currently defines the villages. At the next station, we get into village visioning where we're talking about why the village is important to those residents. What are some of those must-have qualities that they would like to see in the village going forward? And we have asked folks to talk about other places that they have visited, other amenities that they've seen in other communities that they may want to bring into the village in the next 20 years. And then the the largest station that we have is our third station, which is our growth and land use station. We talk about different types of development there. We want to really frame that development is not just new construction. There's a variety of different ways that development can be obtained. We talk first about how where development should go in the county at large. And this gives folks an opportunity uh to look outside their specific village and look at the county as a whole about where development should occur. Uh and then we go down to the village level talking about develop development within the village boundaries. And then we have some visual preference surveys about what development in the village could look like. Uh as we've mentioned at a previous meeting, uh the county has also contracted with the same consulting firm to do the parks master plan update. Uh so we're working with parks and recreation and have a station there for folks to look at parks assets here in the county and what recreation opportunities they would like to see within their village. Uh and then a larger visioning for parks and recreation facilities throughout the entire county. And finally, as folks get ready to leave us, we tell them how they can remain involved in the process. Uh because we really do want that continued

feedback from the community as we move forward. So the various ways that we are collecting that feedback, as I mentioned, we at the presentation boards, we have opportunities for people to provide us written comments uh in long form. We also have the opportunity for people to engage by placing dots on statements that they agree or disagree with. Um, our staff is at each of those stations. So, there's also the opportunity to have one-on-one conversations with a member of staff and we can capture feedback in that way. And then in that last station, we have our social pinpoint activity where folks can drop points on the map. Um, the great thing about that, it gives folks a little bit more anonymity. If they're maybe a little more timid in sharing that feedback with a staff member or while a staff member is at the station with them, they can do that in an anonymous way. So, I'm going to go station by station and look at the questions that we're asking and the feedback that we're getting. So, at the village visioning station, we ask how the citizens define a village. What characteristics, what attributes do they see a village containing? We asked them why is a village why is the village important to them uh whether they live or work there what future qualities the village should have as I've already mentioned and what other communities could inspire village development uh this these are images here from our riner meeting and our prices fork meeting and you can see we had some really robust engagement from the participants there in our growth and land use section we're asking to uh we're defining what growth means and again that's the various ious types of development that can happen, the desired location of growth throughout the county. We also talk about the land constraints of available land within the village, and I'm going to dig a little bit deeper into that with you all this evening. Where location of growth should happen within the village, and then that village uh visual preference survey that talks about the aesthetics of construction,

but also density as well. So I just wanted to give you a few snippets of some of the posters that we're using within the openhouse. Uh so the growth uh section starts off with defining development in four ways. Either new development in construction, redevelopment of existing parcels, infill or adaptive reuse. And then the poster on the right is that countywide growth exercise that we have. So all the blue dots that you see have been identified by participants as areas where they would like to see growth happen in the county. The yellow are areas where folks do not want to see growth and development happen. Now what we're seeing over time as we keep building with this map is when we go into a village, we see a lot more yellow dots that are coming into that specific village and a lot of blue dots being put in other villages. So that's been interesting for us to watch. Um, and what we're really seeing at this macro level is people are having an initial reaction that they don't want to see any development. But as we start to talk with them as they go through the stations, they're starting to understand, well, if we don't think about just new construction, yes, I do want to see development happen in the village. So, we can drill down a little bit more with them there. But again, some initial takeaways that we're seeing with this exercise, that area between the two towns that we refer to as Mid County. Um, we're seeing a lot of uh feedback that they would like to see growth and development there. We're seeing uh sort of a consensus that more development outside the town of Christiansburg on the Pepper Ferry corridor. Uh and then again there around the town of Christensburg and Blackburg. Um we are seeing though some some reactions from citizens within the village who do want to see development happen within their village area. So you are seeing a little bit of blue there in the village corridors as well. So one of the um projects that we worked on with the consulting team we really

wanted to understand uh part of this process is going to be looking at our current village boundaries and whether those need to be adjusted to accommodate development. Um so we went through an exercise in each of the villages looking at really how much land is available to be developed. Um and we know um as land use planners that there are a lot of constraints that come with available land. Um so in this exercise we took out land that was already developed. We took out land that was in parks and green space land that was publicly owned by local federal or state government. and then any land that was held within a privately held conservation easement. So that was the first layer of analysis and we pulled that out and that's what you're seeing there with the white. We then went another layer with the analysis and looked at areas that would be uh riskprone for development and that was our steep slopes which we define as anything over 25% slope or areas that are contained within a flood hazard zone. So that is also reflected in in the white area. So what we're left with is what's depicted there in pink and in orange. Uh pink is going to be land that is developable um but is potentially considered prime farmland. That is we use the USDA soils index to determine whether land is prime farmland. And then when we remove that out of our calculation what remains uh is everything that is in orange. I will mention that pink also contains areas that may be considered climate resilient and that's going to be areas that maybe have wetland features or some other natural feature on them um that may prevent development in those areas. I will say that this is not parcel specific. We've had some citizens that have said my land's in there and I know that there's an issue on the parcel that would prevent development. We didn't go down to the parcel level to go into individual properties. This is again

just sort of a bird's eye view. So here in the Belleview Village, you can see this is one of the villages that we have the most available land within the existing village boundary. So 51% of the available land there could be developed. And then when you remove prime farmland, you're left with about 12% of area within that village. When we get down to Ellist Lefayet, that number goes down. about 17% of the Ellist Lefayet village within the existing village boundary could be developed and then when you remove prime farmland you're down to about 2% for priority developable land and I will notice that or we'll note that that large pink there on the bottom of the page is the father and gay property that was recently brought into the village through the last comprehensive plan amendment. When we get into Plum Creek, again, 16% of that land is considered developable. And then when you remove prime farmland in climate resilient areas, you're down to about 7%. Um, in Plum Creek, I think it's important to also note this doesn't take into account the transportation network. Um, so, uh, all development is not created equal. There are some areas that may be considered developable, but wouldn't be able to accommodate density because they don't have the transportation network associated with them. in Price's Fork you can see and um Miss Sharp Robinson I know that you know this being from that area there is a lot of land that could be developed in the Price's Fork village but it is in prime farmland so about 43% of the village uh is developable but only 2% meets that priority developable criteria. Riner Village, 34% of the land is considered developable, but only 10% is in that prime developable category. And then in Shawville, 14% and 4% are our numbers. And what this is telling us and in the discussions that we've been

having internally with staff um if the model of concentrating development within the villages is maintained in this next comprehensive plan, we're going to have to have a serious discussion not only about the boundaries of the village to accommodate development, but finding that balance between developing land and maintaining prime agricultural soils. So that's a conversation we're going to have to continue to have going forward.

Excuse me, Justin. Can I inter and interrupt for a question? Um, did you all consider or look at um vacant buildings or because it seems like uh reuse and infill is kind of missing from this analysis. Is there another um exercise that staff or the consultant are going through to help kind of vet out? I know um with some of those low numbers of priority developable land um if you added in some of the vacant commercial buildings and and other things might bump that up quite a bit.

Yeah. And as I said this is since this is a bird's eye view and not looking at individual parcels that's not accounted for in this map. However, when we go through the future land use map we will be looking at properties that could potentially be redeveloped. What we're also doing is we're getting feedback from citizens through the mapping exercises that we're doing with them to identify maybe some of those properties that are blighted, uh, underutilized that that would go into a future calculation for developable land. Yes, sir. Likewise,

off Mr. Are we looking at the availability of utility infrastructure, sewer, water? Not at this not not at this level of analysis. This is again just available land. Again, transportation is not considered. Public water and sewer is not considered. Um with the caveat that we know that the public water and sewer that is available in the county is primarily in our villages and adjacent to

Thank you. Other questions on this before I move forward? Okay. So, we're also doing, as I mentioned, a visual preference survey. Again, it's it's great to look at the bird's eye view and say land is available or not, or new construction is something that we want to do or not. Um, but something that we're looking at particularly because following the comprehensive plan update, we're going to be looking at doing a zoning ordinance update. Um there's been some discussion about uh whether there are maybe some development standards uh that we would adopt in the villages. So getting an idea from folks what type of development would they like to see. So giving them examples of different types of residential development be it lowdensity residential, medium density residential or highdensity residential. Um, this also gives us an opportunity with the the photographs to give people an opportunity to identify key features within those photographs that they'd like to see. Uh, for an example here, maybe folks like the spacing between homes in the lowdensity residential, but that first image is missing a sidewalk. So, they can identify they want a walkable neighborhood but have less density. Um, again, we get into materiality when we, especially when we get into the highdensity residential, people are making comments. I don't want to see the brick. I want to see stucco or concrete. Uh, maybe they want to see hardy plank on buildings. It gets us down to that level that we can start picking up some of those preferences. And then, particularly in the medium density residential area, we can start talking about creating density in the villages and what that could look like uh from an aesthetics point of view. So, a lot of these look like single family residential structures, but they're actually either duplexes or triplexes. So, it starts the conversation that we can introduce density into communities without changing the visual um that they're used to seeing in single family neighborhoods. Um we can also talk about location of

parking using the visual preference survey, circulation patterns, walkability, and then different densities. Um, we also do this with commercial and mixeduse development. Again, giving some folks some ideas. Particularly within commercial, we're looking at architectural styles, whether we're mimicking maybe some historic patterns in the villages or whether the construction that's being done is going to be more modern and new. Um, and then we go into specifically the density conversation on the panel on the right. um showing folks what density could look like in terms of how driveways are placed off of an artiller arterial road or how we can actually group uh different uses together in mixed use. Again, it gives people that visual to sort of identify what we're talking about when we're using these concepts and terms with them. Uh the next station is the parks master plan. Um we're very lucky that our colleagues in parks and recreation have been coming and and supporting us in this station. Um, but really they're gathering information about the resources that people are utilizing within the county, what recreational opportunities folks are taking advantage of, and it really does help with planning uh for the future with parks and recreation. I will say their plan is a little bit shorter term than ours. They're looking at 5 to 10 years in the future, whereas comprehensive plan is going a full 20 years out. Um, but again, the the cross-pollination that we're getting between the two plans and the surveying efforts, it's really been helpful for us as we've gone through the process. And then, as I mentioned, we give people the opportunity to get involved. We're utilizing QR codes to direct folks to the McGomery Matters website. We have a station set up that people can do the social pinpoint activity while they're at the open house. U, but again, having those QR codes and those links available, they can take them afterward. We're seeing a lot of folks that participate in the open house are actually going back and sharing this information with other people in the

community. So, we're getting responses. Even though people aren't coming to the open houses, they're still being able to interact with us through social pinpoint. So, again, some of the initial takeaways that we're seeing, uh, residents are weary of growth achieved through new construction within the villages. Again, when we're having conversations with folks, they really want to see redevelopment, adaptive reuse, infill really be sort of the primary drivers of development within the village. We know again based on the available land data that we've looked at and then the feedback that we're getting from citizens, not all villages will grow in the same manner. Uh we heard this particularly in Prices Fork. um they have seen probably the largest uh influx of development over the past 5 to 10 years and we're the feedback we're getting there is we don't need more large subdivisions in our village please put that somewhere else. Uh similarly this is the Elliston Lefayet map. You can see a lot of yellow there around the father and gay property. We obviously have had a lot of conversation about that property over the course of the past few months. Um but you can start to see there are some people and we started to see this division within the community even at the village meeting people who do want to see housing in that part of the village. The question is how dense should it be and what should it look like? Um here in Alustin Lefayet 2 that large concentration of red you see there in the center of the village that is in the area the village near the Masonic lodge. Um there are a lot of underutilized and vacant buildings there that people would like to see revitalized. Um, so again, development is not going to be replicable across all six villages. It's going to vary. Um, as I mentioned with the countywide growth map, the village residents do wish to see development occurring outside the two towns uh where those services already exists. Um, and when they do see want to see development, it's smaller scale development and small businesses within the village. And then in terms of participation, we have been very very happy with the

number of folks that have been coming out. These are these numbers are leaps and bounds above our last village planning initiative for the last comprehensive plan. 60 attendees in Prices Fork with 35 interactions on social pinpoint. 55 in Reiner with 33 social pinpoint interactions. Belleview 17 with seven interactions on social pinpoint. Uh and then with Ellison Lefayet we had 37 attendees with 38 social pinpoint interactions. Um we are looking forward to our Shawville meeting next week and then Plum Creek in September. Um at the Plum Creek meeting we're going to be holding at the Plum Creek Park. We think again that's a good opportunity for us to work with our parks and recreation colleagues uh and get that feedback. Um the only downside to doing an outside event is if we get inclement weather, if that occurs, we'll hold the meeting here at the government center the following Tuesday. Um that's going to be September the 9th. and then how we're spreading the word. Um, so it was really important to us that we reached as many citizens as possible. Um, obviously there are financial and logistical constraints with reaching every single member of the the county community. Um, so we've really been relying on electronic media, uh, the county website, our Facebook page, uh, to promote things via social media. We're again promoting everything on the McGomery Matters website. Uh but something that we also did throughout the villages is anyone that is within a village boundary received a mailed postcard uh notifying them of the event. Um those are uh depending on the village that's been anywhere from 300 to 500 postcards that we've been sending out for each meeting. Um and the majority of people that are attending the meetings are telling us that's how they heard about the village meeting. So that has really been a good investment for us and a good return. Um, and then we also again are using the social pinpoint again to get people who may not want to come to a public meeting to still be

able to have input in the process. So that kind of summarizes where we are with village meetings. I did want to let you know about where we are in the overall plan development. Um, so our next steering committee meeting is going to be this Friday. Um, at that steering committee meeting, we're going to be going through with the citizen steering committee, um, the village updates, uh, talking about how we're actually going to format the plan, what it's going to look like visually. Um, we're also going to be talking to them a little bit about the future land use map to sort of get some initial takeaways. Um, as I've mentioned to you on several occasions, we really want this new comprehensive plan to be citizen and user friendly. And a future land use map is probably one of the most unfriendly tools for a citizen who doesn't have their their feet in the planning world. Um so we're looking at ways that we can simplify the future land use map uh and make it a little bit more user friendly. We're going to have our next round of stakeholder meetings on August the 29th. Um we'll be taking all of the recommendations that have been drafted back to our stakeholders and getting their feedback on whether those recommendations are actionable. Um, we know that the county is not going to be able to achieve all of these goals alone. So, we're going back to our partners who provide these services in the community and making sure that we're hitting the mark uh in alignment with the work that they're doing. And then we'll have our next open house for the entire community on October 22nd here at the government center. Our plan with the village plans is to complete our open house events and then analyze that feedback. We'll be looking at goals and recommendations for each village and then we'll be going back to the villages in the spring of next year to share out the results and get that final feedback. So, our hope is plan adoption in early 2026 with the village plans following shortly thereafter. As I mentioned, our next step is going to be looking at the future land use map. Um, we're going to be bringing uh some

preliminary findings to you all at the joint meeting that you're holding with the the board of supervisors on October the 6th. um and we'll get some hopefully good robust discussion from all of you then. As I mentioned, we're going to start drafting individual chapters and then reviewing those formatting options with the consulting team. Again, we really want the plan itself to be very texlike and have all of the data and information contained within appendices and have the plan really be a very visual plan. Um, we are, as Miss Sharp Robinson brought up at our last conversation, we're making sure that that is going to be accessible for all users. Um, so looking at at colors, looking at typography and and various other things uh to make sure that the plan is going to be accessible to everyone. And our plan is to bring those chapters to you and the board of supervisors um so that we can talk about them individually as opposed to talking about the whole plan at once um so that we can work out those issues as we go through drafting the chapters. And with that I will take any questions that you have. Justin, at what point do we interface or interact with other agencies? I'm thinking specifically um transportation and VOTE. Uh and more specifically, I think about things like the traffic D or traffic circle it sometimes called so that we don't have boondoggles along the way. So, as as you all remember, and we talked about this a little bit last time, when we did transportation matters, our intention all along has been that transportation matters will serve as our transportation chapter in the plan. Um, what we have been waiting for is to get these recommendations crafted, look at the future land use map, get all of that

set, and then go back to transportation matters to find out how all of this is going to fit together. Um at that point we will be re-engaging with VOTE to ensure that everything we did two years ago in transportation matters is still kosher with VOTE. Um we also have a requirement that VOTE will have to review the entire plan before it's adopted. Um but they are also part of our stakeholder group. So they have been involved at every step of the process as we've developed these goals and objectives. Yes sir. M Mr. Sanders. Um, I have a couple of questions. One is how do you

convert the residents preference for the aesthetics of a development or commercial enterprise, excuse me, into a developer's uh preference. And then the second question is how do you deal with um all of the pink land for lack of a better term um that you want to set aside that really is an area that's going to be preferred for development. So I'll answer your first question. Um, I think the thing that we have to keep in mind a as planners and as people who are looking to recruit businesses is that we need to have as much flexibility as possible uh in any design standards that we adopt. Um, so again, we're we're getting a feeling for materials. You know, we're not going to exclusively say this material only. That would probably be part of a larger list of acceptable materials. Um, there are things within the zoning ordinance that we can do. And again, the the comprehensive plan will really sort of set the vision and the goal that the teeth will be the zoning ordinance. Um, we've talked about different ways that that could be done, whether that's through an overlay district, whether that's through um looking at different setbacks, requiring that parking is in the rear, requiring um, you know, with residential developments, we require intercality. So there are things that we can require within the zoning code that are developer friendly but also reflect the character that we're seeing brought up in these village meetings. So I think to to answer your question, we will get to that point as we go into the zoning ordinance update. Um but again it's it's good for us to get that feedback from the citizens. Now we can also look at

things. Um a lot of what we're seeing in the visual preference survey is also scale. So in the villages maybe we have a height restriction of two or three stories, nothing higher than that in the corridor. Um how we how we get that onto land use regulations I think is to be determined but again we're getting that good feedback from the citizens about what they want to see. The second question is a little harder. Um and I think that's when we've been looking at these maps internally as staff we have I think been a bit more surprised. I think we all thought maybe there was more developable land than there actually is. So, as I mentioned, there's going to be a a pretty serious conversation that's going to have to be had on where we balance developable land and farmland. Um I to be honest with you, I don't exactly know what that end result is going to be. I think when we get into the future land use map, um we're going to have to then factor in to Mr. Miller's point the transportation network, public water and sewer availability. I think the other thing that this is really bringing forward to us uh and it will be a conversation with the board of supervisors um is that some of this land that is identified as developable may not have those services and if the county wants to prioritize that land for development, there might have to be some capital investment on behalf of the county um or some sort of a partnership between county and developers to be able to make that land appealing to them. How much do you think on a percentage basis you would knock down availability if you do the water sewer overlay?

I would imagine that that would bring those numbers down even lower than they currently are. Um and again I think going back to the earlier conversation uh with Mr. Croll, I think we're going to have to start thinking seriously about redevelopment infill and adaptive reuse particularly in the villages. Um and I think there are ways that we can incentivize that kind of development. I think the prices the old Prices Fork Elementary is a good example of that. That was a great opportunity for us to do public private partnership uh to to make that development work in terms of numbers. There are a number of initiatives that are going on particularly in the residential sphere related to affordable and attainable housing programs that the countyy's participating in that might be able to help developers um be able to get those projects off the ground. So I do think and one of the things that's going to come out of the comprehensive plan are some actionable strategies that we can look at as a county to make that development happen. I think um over the past 20 years, we've been very developer-led on where development happens in the county and I think this plan is going to give us a much more actionable plan on centering that development in the areas that it needs to go.

I also want to add is um when you look at these maps, you're just looking at the village. Um so we have to remember there's a lot of land outside that village. We have seen an overall county map um that's the same with the pink and the orange and there's a lot of pink outside the village too. So it's going to be that balance of we know we don't have infrastructure here and this is prime farmland. So this is definitely an area that we need to protect. So maybe we can sacrifice this part farmland here in an area that can be developed. And I think those conversations will happen when we look at that future land use map because then we'll be taking more of a countywide approach versus right now we're so zoned in on the villages. And I think the other thing that's important particularly as we look at the future land use map in the context of the villages is while we may still want to push more development to the villages than in the un other unincorporated areas of the county, we still want to maintain open space, green space, agricultural land within the villages. We don't want the villages to become many towns. Um, we want them to still have that character and we want to find ways to keep that character going forward, but also addressing the issues that we know we have in the county and a need for housing and other commercial space.

Appropo of the pink land issue. um it may not be desirable or or encouraged uh to uh increase restrictive covenants. Um, but we certainly, I think, owe it to our community to say, "Here is an option. If you have land that's farmland or simply land you don't want to develop, here are ways that you can restrict that development, sometimes in perpetuity."

I think that's one tool. We we're looking at a variety of different options. One one great thing about working with an outside consulting firm who've worked in other communities, they can bring those strategies and those approaches to us to see if they would work here in McGomery County. Um, one of the the members of the project team um is is a recent addition to EPR. He was in Shannondoa County and his primary focus is village planning and small town planning. Um, so having that lens I think is also really really helpful for us. There are transfer of development right programs. we've seen um wetland and stream mitigation banks that we've created here in the county that can offset some of those development impacts in other areas. So, it's I think it's really about building our toolkit um to be able to address those issues through policy as we go forward.

Scott, in the stakeholder meetings, uh how engaged has the development community been? um are they providing feedback and attending the meetings and getting their perspective on the table so that can be incorporated with all the other input that you're receiving because I I think that's a key component to address Mr. Fosters's point is that you know realtors, homebuilders association, developers, you know they have a stake in in this as well.

Yes. and they have been involved from the beginning of the project. We have a member of the development community that's on the steering committee. Um as part of our community development work group, we have multiple developers that are part of that through various organizations. Um a representative or two from the association of realtors as well is is in that group. Um and even though they may not be at the stakeholder meetings, we've had stakeholder questionnaires and other ways to get that feedback from the development community. Um, we said early on in this process, this plan will mean nothing if it act is not actionable and we can't work with developers uh to achieve these goals. So, we've made sure that they've been involved in every step of the process. Justin, I have a question for you.

Yes, ma'am. Um, so the village plans, some of them existed, right? They went into play 20 years ago. I believe Bri was involved with it back then. The rest of the staff is relatively new, has not been there for part of that. Was there any attention given to past concerns from the village? Because I would say for Prices Fork, something that has come up consistently is sidewalks,

right? And part of me feels like there was two big developments that got approved and and I wasn't here at the time, but I would have said more. Um, but two big developments and there's no sidewalk on Prices Fork Road to even get to the school. I mean to me how did something like that get past I'm not questioning past actions what I'm asking is was or has attention been given to that because when I went to mine what I heard and I don't know about others was we've done this before and they don't even do what we say they didn't listen to us

so I would ask whether you do at least answer the question why we didn't do sidewalks, but we're this is important now and carry it forward. I just feel like there needs to be some closure to what the past plans were. I don't know how others feel.

And and I will say I think that in in the design of the meetings, the ability for residents to talk individually with staff members is is really critical to answering those questions. Um you know, there's only so much that can be achieved within the comprehensive plan. Um we are and and to be able to talk to them about other initiatives that the county is engaging in to achieve those goals I think is really important. Uh particularly on the Prices Fort corridor. We are currently working with VOTE in the town of Blackburg on a study of the entire corridor from the roundabout on Main Street in Blackburg all the way to McCoy Road. Part of that plan is looking at strategies to get pedestrian connectivity. Um and sometimes that's not going to be a sidewalk. that's maybe is not the most safe alternative. So, particularly in Price's Fork, we're looking at shared use trails to be able to provide recreational access for people on bikes, those that are choosing to walk, but also making sure that we have a path that would maybe be accessible for those who aren't walking in the community.

And I think that's great. I want that verbalized to others right in within the community that feel like it's not worth my time because I did it before and I didn't get an answer.

And and I will say um on both of those developments, we did obtain easements and rideways, whatever we might need on the front of those properties to put in those multi-use trails. The reason they weren't developed right now is because then you have something I mean you just have it for that link. So it doesn't go anywhere because you have to get it to those other properties. So West Hill doesn't directly adjoin the school. So you've got to get across the church, you've got to get across tech and then get to the school. Um same thing with um the preserve at Walnut Springs, but both of those have dedicated areas for those future multi-use trails. So once we can get funding through VOTE to get a full trail in there, that will be an easy part. We don't have to obtain any of that. It's already in place

and that's great. Yes. Yes. Agree. And and that is something we can definitely note. and our next round of village meetings that will take place

early spring, late winter, um we are actually we will actually be having a presentation that we will give at a certain time and so that'll be a good time to to tie in some of that. I think some of the other issues were after the last comprehensive plan there was not any changes to the zoning ordinance. So the zoning ordinance had been adopted in 1999 before we even had villages and then there was not a zoning ordinance after that that was ever adopted. Um we already have some funding set aside for a new zoning ordinance and we already have a draft RFP. So our goal is as soon as we get close to the finalization of the comp plan, we put that RFP out and we start on a zoning ordinance rewrite. So, hope you guys are ready because just because the comp plan's not done doesn't mean the work's done. We we've got another whole thing to go into. And

and I think having having those issues codified within the zoning ordinance, the subdivision ordinance, it gives us the teeth to require that with a development. Um whereas with both of those projects, those were resonings that we were relying on voluntary profers to be given by the developer. Um and as and again as we continue to move through the process having the development community involved from the beginning of the development of the comp plan um our approach with the zoning ordinance is going to be very similar. There's going to be a lot of community input that's going to go into the zoning ordinance update. We're going to have the development community at the table as we're developing the zoning ordinance. So we're hoping that what we're doing with Montgomery Matters is going to influence the zoning ordinance, move us forward, and the way that we do development is going to be fundamentally different. I really like what you're doing. So don't I don't want to sound negative. I'm just have concerns.

And I'm glad you brought up those concerns because that is those are things that we heard uh in Prices Fork. We we heard some similar issues in Reiner with connectivity. And the good thing in Riner is that we were able to point to those projects that we were able uh to develop. Um, I think the other thing that is important and we need to keep in mind as we go through this, there's an education piece as this of this as well to the community that we can say all day long that we want these things, but then we also have to figure out how to fund them and how to get them constructed. And I think that's particularly with transportation projects. Um, very hard for citizens when we are saying, well, that funding has been approved, but we aren't going to construction for six or seven years,

right? Um, and I think a lot of folks feel like we're maybe kicking the can down the road when we're just at the mercy of the VOTE. But I think there's that that education piece is really important. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Justin. I'd like to also say that we need to applaud some previous efforts. For example, the Safe Roots to School program that that uh provided connectivity and Riner uh was headed by Brie before she was director and it's been a couple of years ago, but but uh if we can continue to get those sorts of funds

and some of those projects end up coming back around with another life like the Belleview crosswalk that we have went through the entire funding cycle for and we're told by VOTE that couldn't build and now it's in the plan that VOT gave to us with the Pepper's Fairy Corridor study. So, how far forward thinking? Any other questions? All right. Thank you all very much for your continued support. We look forward to sharing more with you in October at the joint meeting. Thank you, sir. Thank you. And uh next for work session is the New River Valley Hazard Mitigation Plan. I think Miss Hopkins, are you going to Yes. speak to that?

Um, so this is just going to be a brief overview. We just wanted um to present it to you. It's going to go to the board of supervisors. Tenatively, it's scheduled for September 8th. Um, but it's going to go before them. Um, they will have a public hearing and then um hopefully adoption. So, this is a plan that that we've had a representative on the committee um along with a representative from our emergency services department and they've been working on this for a little while now. It is for the entire New River Valley. So, it was headed up by the regional commission. Um you can see the New River Valley there includes a lot of different localities, especially a lot of towns. Um all these people were involved along with several others that that we'll go over here in a minute. So, um, here's all the collaboration. We had local police, fire, um, many nonprofits, Newer Valley Agency on Aging, Radford University and Virginia Tech, um, the health department, the Forest Service, the Department of Forestry, our hospitals were involved, um, the National Weather Service um, helped us with this as well. And so there were a lot of lot of people around the table as we went through this. So, why do we do it? Um, well, the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 says we have to do it. Um, without an approved plan, we do not have access to FEMA assistance. And you all know we are we do participate in the National Flood Insurance Program. So, it's important that we're able to um get that assistance from FEMA. We have to have approved plans. They have to be updated and reapproved every 5 years um to remain eligible. adoption is required by each locality and um this supports continued participation in that flood insurance program. So background on hazard mitigation in

the NRV. Um so NRVwise, it is a joint effort throughout the New River Valley. The original plan was adopted in 2005. Um this is the third update. The plan focuses on natural and human-caused hazards, and we've listed some of those out there. Um, it goes over each one of these sections and sets goals for mitigation. So, the update began just a short while ago in October of 2022. And, um, the steering committee did meet monthly until August 2023. We did bring in a lot of local experts. Um, McGomery County was represented, as I stated, by um, Tyler Hall, deputy director of fire and emergency services, and Kim Wright, um, who's a planner in our office. Um, she also is on the agency for aging. Um, public input was solicited throughout the process from the New River Regional Commission. Um, they did put out some surveys. We shared those surveys on our social media accounts. So there are four basic phases of emergency management, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. Um we are looking at new efforts um to prevent future property damage and they did partner with the American Planning Association and FEMA on looking at what some of those new efforts could be. So in 1969 to 2022 we had 53 presidentially declared disasters in the state of Virginia. 10 of those were declared as disaster by Montgomery County. That excludes any COVID declarations because you as you know there were several of those. Since that time two declarations occurred in 2024 due to tropical storm Helen. As you can see on the graph, declared disasters

have risen greatly over the the past several years. Small incline in 2023. Um assess assessment is based on two criteria. The locations where the hazard is most likely to have negative impacts and the severity of the hazard should it occur. Each risk was evaluated by f by criteria con such as history, assessment, vulnerability, um mitigation goals, objectives, and you can see they ranked the the most common ones to Montgomery County here. Um severe or to the region rather. Severe winter weather, high winds and flooding are definitely a high risk for us. um wildfire and drought are medium and then low or car tornado, rock flaw, rock fall, landslide and earthquake. Doesn't mean those won't occur here. It's just a much lower risk. So then we take that and we develop goals to identif each each goal and then we created an objective to help mitigate those impacts. They were specific. Um, we've listed out several here that they look at. Some of them's educational, seeking grant funding, um, looking at rescue preparedness, encouraging preparation, research and development. So, there's a lot of different ways that you that you can do this. And these goals are not all just what do we do the day it happens. A lot of it is about educating the public. So, these are some completed and ongoing mitigation efforts that Montgomery County currently has. We do participate in the NFA NFIP um and our standards are more stringent than what they call for. So, we do have some standards that go above and beyond what's called for to participate in that

program. We do use our GIS um in order to identify several flood hazard areas, Clater Lake inundation zones, wildfire risk, um shrink swell, and then of course underground gas pipelines. Um we have eye flows, rain and stream gauges. Those are operated by the um National Weather Service. We have several of those throughout the county. We have reverse 911. We are a storm ready designated community um and have been for several years now. And then we also collaborate with VDOF um the New River Highlands RCND they mainly concentrate on wildfire wild fire mitigation um and then the National Forest Service as well. And then the big one which is why it's coming in before you is comprehensive planning. So some of the things that come out of this report will be in the comprehensive plan. So it won't be the last time you see it. That's why we wanted to bring it before you just to let you know. So we have identified some other mitigation opportunities um such as an equalization basin to protect wastewater treatment plant protect our water sources um pre-development database to utilize our GIS as it relates to wildfire risk that will allow us to look at things if you have a new neighborhood going in and there's a large wildfire risk maybe we have a roofing ordinance that that requires a certain type of roof um or maybe we require require the clearance of brush or trees within a certain distance. We have done this before on a new development um right around the Brush Mountain area. I believe we had we had a development that went in there and we require that they clear within so many feet of the home and that was to mitigate any wildfire. Um they were right outside the Jefferson National Forest. So that that's why that was very important. Um, we currently have 25 properties in McGomery County

that experience repetitive loss. Um, so we want to start looking at funding for those areas um to create green spaces so they don't have to continue to experience that loss. Increased capability to protect soft targets from vehicle ramming attacks and then additional eye flow gauges. So, moving forward, um the plan will be reviewed and hopefully adopted by all participating localities. Montgomery County will take a look at this on September 8th. Um we will have a public hearing that evening and then once the once we get it adopted, then we move into the plan implementation. So, that's where we'll adopt those policy changes. So, we'll be looking at this as we go through the comprehensive plan and our zoning and subdivision ordinate zoning rewrite and potential subdivision ordinance updates if needed. Um, projects that physically change environment to reduce impacts. And then we'll also work to educate land owners and residents on how to protect themselves. We want to look at grant funding, partner with other agencies to support other identified mitigation opportunities. So that will definitely be a goal put into our comprehensive plan and we'll start to look to see how we can do this. Keep in mind this is not just for the planning department. This is for the department of emergency services too. So some of these goals directly relate to them. Um we will continue to review the plan annually with the new river regional commission and we will review it after significant hazard events. We do that currently and then we will update it in 3 years. So that is the current status moving forward was a real brief description. I will send you all a link so you can see the entire plan if you're interested. Um it is very lengthy just to let you know. Um but is on the New River Regional Commission website

and that's all I have. Bri, how many counties and municipalities are part of the flood insurance uh group? I am not sure as far as in the state. I know I mean in our all of our regional all of our new river valley communities participate with FEMA and the national flood insurance program. Yes. Any other questions? All right. Uh I will entertain a motion to close our work session. Got

a motion and a second to close our work session. All those in favor signify by saying I likewise and we do not have any items of business and no items of new business either. So we'll move into our liaison reports and up first would be uh Mr. Graphsky with the board of supervisors and the public service authority. Evening.

How's everybody doing tonight? Thank you. Um, thanks for having me up here. Thank you for your service. Um, I would say that you the big thing that I wanted to talk about tonight, this was a discussion that was had at Monday night's board of supervisors meeting um, as we were preparing our uh, or drafting our legislative priorities for this year. We had a a discussion around data centers. Bree's shaking her head because it turned into work for her and her team. Um, you know, as you know, uh, Bodatat County, uh, is is the the now the closest, uh, locality to us, uh, that will be, um, gaining a data center here in in in the future. And so, you know, we wanted to have a discussion around, you know, currently what what ordinances, things like that do we have uh surrounding um navigating a request like that that might come across uh you know, the planning uh team's desk, you know, ultimately get to the board of supervisors. So, we've asked the planning uh department to look into, you know, current what we have, maybe make some recommendations about future considerations um you know, in the event that we do get a request like that here in the future. Um but yeah, I think that's probably the biggest thing for us. Any questions or anything like that for the board supervisors?

Did people ask? They have not. They've had a couple of um solar farms, but they have not had any data centers as of yet. Good point. You know, and this kind of comes on the tale of of us having a much more robust solar ordinance. Yes. Yes. Um data centers is definitely on our list. Um, it's and it's funny that it was brought up at the board meeting because I had just had a discussion with Chris Lawrence the week before the board meeting and said, "Hey, we're gonna have to start looking at data centers. Like, they're coming this way." So, yes. Yeah. Awesome. Very timely.

Perfect. Oh, and I I I liked uh when I was reading through the the hazard plan, the the inclusion of of some uh strategies or or at least some uh consideration for, you know, mitigation prevention efforts, you know, particularly for for residents that are in these areas that u you know, have a history of of flooding or you know, things like that. Yeah, we've I' I've got a couple of folks in my area that are have had it kind of up to here literally and figuratively with uh some of their infrastructure challenges and things. So, look forward to seeing what might come out of that. But, all right. Well, thank you all. Thanks, sir.

Blackburg Planning Commission with Miss Sharp Robinson. Um they met in July and uh Bob might know about this. They approved for the historic Lincolnis Kips historical house to get a conditional use permit to operate an outdoor educational recreational camp with a lodge for occasional overnight lodging and planned events. So that was approved in July. And uh let's see what else. They're reviewing the subdivision ordinance changes. That's coming up for them as well. Um and in August, the uh tech terrace apartments resoning's coming up for them as well. That's it.

Thank you. Uh the Cruzburg Planning Commission and I don't have a report. I don't know that we even had a meeting. Um and then the next is uh Radford Planning Commission with Miss Hkins.

Yeah, I went to the July 21st meeting. Um and there they talked about um with work with their consulting consultant on updating their zoning ordinance. So they're tweaking language on it, but they didn't finalize it. And I just got a notice today that they're meeting on Monday um the 18th of August and it's back on the agenda to look at that again, elect officers and then looking at one other thing. So I'll go to that meeting on Monday and report back.

Thank you. Tourism council, Mr. Miller. Now I'm happy to report um that u Samantha lives our new director is a extreme breath of fresh air. She has wonderful ideas, great leadership and uh exciting things going on including a upcoming uh workshop conference in October, two days in October where you'll hear hear more about as we get closer to it. But uh we had a very spirited meeting and it was uh it was wonderful.

Good. Good. Thank you, sir. And the parks and recck department. No report. Yeah. And then planning director, Miss H. I just have a few things. Um I want to start. We have a new member of our team and I would like to welcome him, Liam Ward. Um he is our new transportation planner. Um so he started just yesterday. So, this is his second day here. We made him attend a night meeting. Welcome to planning. Um, but we're glad to have him. He's going to be wonderful. I'm going to haul him to Rono with me tomorrow to the TTC meeting. So, he's we're just going to throw him right into the into the pot of water. And we we meet every night.

We meet every night. Um as you know black diamond um that came before you for the inert field you guys had had delayed that then the applicant requested some additional time. Um we are anticipating that they will be back before you in September. Jude will be taking that over um from Kim due to her absence. Um so that that will come back to you then. Fathering gay is still on hold. um likely you will not see it before October or November is is what we're thinking. Um just want to remind you to save the date for the joint board of supervisors meeting on October 6th. We're going to go over the comp plan. Might try to get a few other things in there, but right now it's looking like the comp plan may tie up most of our time. So, we'll we'll see how that goes. Um if you haven't seen your email, this is and if you have, this is just a reminder. I will be out beginning the 29th of August for four to six weeks. Um, so if you need anything, grab Justin. I will be doing some work from home, so hopefully um, we'll see how much, but um, so I may be able to respond to email, but if you need anything, Justin will be there.

And that's all I've got. Anything further? Any comments, questions? Second. We've got a motion second to adjurnn. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. We'rejourned.