Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

I'm going to call to order this meeting of the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors on Monday, July 13th. The first item on our agenda this evening is to go into closed meeting. Be it resolved, the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors of Montgomery County, Virginia hereby enters into closed meeting for the purpose of discussing the following. Section 2.2-3711, one, discussion, consideration, or interviews of prospective candidates for employment, assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salaries, disciplining, or resignation of specific officers, appointees, or employees of any public body. One, Social Services Board. Is there a motion?

Motion. Second.

Okay. Madam Clerk, if you'll call the roll, please.

Mr. Kitts? Aye. Mr. King? Aye. Mr. Grafsky? Aye. Ms. Caron? Aye. Chair DeMont? Aye. Five ayes.

We are in closed meeting. Okay, is there a motion to come out of closed session?

Motion. Second.

Okay, Madam Clerk, if you'll call the roll, please.

Mr. King?

Aye.

Mr. Grafsky?

Aye.

Ms. Caron? Aye. Mr. Kitts? Aye. Chair DeMont? Aye.

Five ayes. Next, we'll certify the closed meeting. Whereas the Board of Supervisors of Montgomery County has convened a closed meeting on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. And whereas section 2.2-3711 of the Code of Virginia requires a certification by the Board that such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Board of Supervisors of Montgomery County, Virginia, hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge, one, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification resolution applies, and two, only such public business matters as were identified in the motion conveying the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered by the board. Is there a motion?

Motion. Second.

There you go.

Okay, Madam Clerk, if you'll call the roll, please.

Mr. Grafsky? Aye. Ms. Caron? Aye. Mr. Kitts? Aye. Mr. Keene?

Aye.

Chair DeMont? Aye. Five ayes. Thank you.

And I'll just take a moment and acknowledge we do have Vice Chair Fijikowski and Supervisor Biggs are not with us this evening. They both had prior meetings. of town engagement so they're not able to join us but they will be watching the recording of this meeting so I just wanted to acknowledge that we're not here they're not here and we do miss them the next item on our agenda is a moment of silence and Pledge of Allegiance led by our County Administrator Angie Hill please rise as you're able for a moment of silence and then join me as I'll lead us in the pledge

Let us pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.

Thank you, Angie. Next up, we have Mr. David Clark from the Virginia Department of Transportation to give us an update on Montgomery County Road projects. Welcome, sir. Glad to have you with us this evening.

Thank you very much. Just kind of an update here on the last month, which was the last month of the fiscal year, so we were kind of slowing down with... Some of the workers are trying to stay within our budget and everything, but now beginning July 1, we've got a brand new budget, which is great. The last kind of month, we've been trying to stay ahead of the overlay schedules that are coming up. Right now, the plant mix schedule is going on and we've got, I don't know how much they've gotten done already, but I do know they're on Meadow Creek Road right now. We've been doing some other patching for where we'll have some surface treatment on oil well, Seven Mile Tree Road. We've been doing a lot of brush cutting, and we will continue to do mowing and brush cutting, tree trimming, and things like that over the next few months. And it's pretty much continuous with that, and we'll be working with the school transportation to make sure we get all the bus routes. And normally, as soon as the buses start rolling, we know which roads we weren't able to catch. And then it's just been the gravel roads, some patching, and oddly enough, We have had some storms here and there, but it's been dry, but I think even the dry weather makes the trees come down soon because we've had a lot of trees down. I don't know exactly what causes that, but we have had quite a number of trees out, tree calls out. For construction, we'll be starting Taylor Hollow Road off of Lester's Gate. That's your next road in the six-year plan. That should be starting here in the next couple of weeks. Some other projects that are going on that aren't kind of maintenance related or doing, you probably noticed on 460 between the interstate and Christiansburg where we're doing some shoulder wedging. That's a safety project that was prompted by some accidents a few years ago of cars leaving the road, hitting that low shoulder. So there's some fairly wide shoulder widening going on right there. And there'll be some guardrail as well. And then we've got a couple pipe replacement and bridge replacement going on on Walton Road. In fact, I think the bridge redecking is going on tonight or tomorrow. And in the next few weeks, we'll be having to close Walton Road right at Peppers Ferry to replace a large pipe in advance of the turn lanes that are going in there later on this year.

So that's all I've got.

Great, thank you. Let's see if supervisors have any questions. Supervisor Caron? I do, unfortunately.

I've been hearing again Mount Tabor Road potholes, the ones that I think we talked about it before that I shared the pictures. I think they're still there. More citizen coming forward and I think some of them even did online Request that okay those holes. I'll check those.

I do know they they've been concentrating on the Roads that are gonna get overlaid as soon as those are all done and they're pretty close to getting those We'll be getting the other complaints and things like that. So it should be soon that we get that.

All right. Thank you Supervisor Grafsky

I just want to say I was pleasantly surprised on my drive on Merrimack Road a couple of weeks ago to find that completely repaved top to bottom. So thanks about that. I do think that there was some residential frustration just at I mean, as there always is, right, when we have pavings. I don't know how much, if any, notice we give to residents along the roads or post about that, that there's going to be road construction. I didn't drive it before, and so I didn't see anything. It doesn't mean there wasn't anything.

It's probably in our regular, like, email and stuff like that, the road watch, but, you know, not a lot of people read that unless they know something's coming up. Sometimes we will try to put the message boards up and probably should, in retrospect, probably should have done that for Merrimack just because, you know, when they get off paving early, it can cause some delays in the morning.

Yeah, yeah. Well I appreciate that but other than that I don't have any other issues.

Supervisor Kitts.

I noticed the guys were trimming all the grass and the tree limbs as we're moving up Pepper's Ferry. They did a great job doing that, really be able to adjust traffic. The one thing they left out, though, was clearing the signs, so like the speed limit or the warning signs. They cut the grass on the side, but not the branches or whatever, the higher stuff covering a couple of the speed limits. Other than that, I know they've done a little work on Vickers Switch right over in there. I know they've been cutting over there. But the only other thing, and it's the other one I follow up with, is the Bradford sign, the blinking light where it's been awarded.

Yeah. We should have the schedule on that soon because they've probably done some of them already. It's a district-wide project, so they'll be getting it. Okay. Well, thank you very much. I greatly appreciate you being here today.

Supervisor King?

Just a couple of things. On Paul School Road and Camp Kerrybrook, there's a lot of limbs hanging out in the roads and people are having to get in other lanes to keep from scratching up their vehicles. Yeah, we'll catch those. Yep.

All right, and I do appreciate your work on Pig Path, Meadow Creek. Yep, we got that. And we did a few pipe on Route 8, too. Now, that caused some delays, too, but I think they did most of those at night. Appreciate it. Mm-hmm.

All right, and I don't have anything besides just to acknowledge that the updates on 460 are nice and much needed. They're looking good. So thanks for the work behind the scenes to make sure that's executed. Not seeing anybody else flagging me down, so thank you so much for being here this evening, sir. We'll see you again soon. Thank you. Thanks. Okay, next we'll move into public hearings. So we do have three public hearings this evening. The first public hearing is a rezoning request by Shaw Development. This is related to .91 acres and doing a rezoning from agricultural to residential. Justin has a presentation for us. Welcome, sir. Thank you for being here.

Good evening. It's nice to be here not talking about Montgomery Matters. So as Chair DeMont's noted, we have a fairly straightforward rezoning request for you this evening. I'll go ahead and click through here to show you the vicinity maps. The subject property is located just west of the jurisdictional boundary for the town of Christiansburg along Mud Pike Road. This is the intersection here with Harcrater Street. The aerial here shows you the subject property that's owned by Shaw. You can see it's a very odd shaped parcel. The segment that we're talking about for rezoning is this long stretch here that borders Christ Wesleyan Church, which is here. As we go through the description, I'll just call back to a couple of features here on the aerial map. So this is the church proper here, their parking area. and this is their parsonage located on the same parcel. Here is Mud Pike, and then this is Hart Crater Street. So again, we're focusing here on this long, narrow strip. You can see the zoning map here. Everything in light green is denoted as A1 Agricultural. Everything in the darker green is R1 Residential. The reason that we're talking about this rezoning request is because the church wishes to acquire this long strip But because there are two different zoning districts, when they vacated that lot line, we would have a split zone parcel. Um, so they're asking for the rezoning to avoid that split zoning. So the total acreage we're talking about is 0.91 acres of that larger 3.5 acre parcel. It does facilitate the transfer of that property to Christ Wesleyan Church. Following the transfer of the property, the church will do a lot line vacation to add that 0.91 acres to their parcel. The plat has already been preliminarily approved by our office and the revised Christ Wesleyan Church parcel after that combination will be 6.15 acres. As I mentioned, the church parcel is accessed via Hart Crater Street and the Shaw parcel is accessed off of Mud Pike. None of the access will change. The church was constructed as a by-right use in 1990 and the parsonage in 2019. So the portion that is being rezoned is approximately 74 feet wide, does not have public road access, and it's not developable unless it was combined with another parcel. We did send this to VDOT. They reviewed, they had no complaints or exceptions taken to the request. Any development that happens on the church parcel would be by right in the R1 zoning district and would have to meet all county codes during site plan review. There are two septic systems on the church property, one servicing the church and the other the parsonage. And any expansion of those systems would require VDH approval. So here is that preliminary plat that we were talking about. The area shaded in yellow is the area that is being proposed for rezoning and would be combined with the church parcel. Here are some images. This is the rear northwest corner of the church property. You can see the area here that's heavily wooded. That's the area that's being considered for rezoning. And thick vegetation does cover that entire strip of land. This is that same strip of land from the church parking lot area. And then you can see here, this is down on Mud Pike Road. Looking back, you can see that thick vegetation that starts up at Mud Pike and goes all the way to the rear of the site. We did place these signs on the property. This is just as you enter the church property on Harcrater Street. And this is the sign that was posted on Mud Pike. Now, because we received this application prior to the adoption of the new comprehensive plan, we did evaluate it under the 2025 comprehensive plan for compatibility. The area in the 2025 plan is deemed residential transition. And these are the land use goals that are met with the rezoning request. So in staff's analysis, due to the pending transfer of the property, risk of creating a split zone parcel is minimal. Transportation, environmental, and infrastructure impacts are negligible, and approval will assist in maintaining community character because, again, it provides the church with opportunities for future expansion. The Planning Commission held their public hearing on June the 17th and recommended approval unanimously. We had no citizens come forward that night to speak, and we've received no comments at the staff level. We did notify all adjoining property owners in accordance with state and county code. The town of Christiansburg was also notified due to proximity to the jurisdictional border. And they had no comments. Public hearing signs were placed on the property ads running Cardinal news. Um, and while we didn't receive any feedback up until this point, there may be someone here this evening to speak during the public hearing. I will note that a representative from the church is here this evening. If you have any questions of them, but no one from Shaw is here this evening and I'll take any questions you have a staff.

Great. Thank you. So before we open the public hearing, does anybody have any questions? Okay. Thank you, sir. Stick around. I think you're up next in the show. All right. Um, so we're going to open this public hearing. We do have three public hearings plus public address tonight. So I'm going to read the guidelines for public hearing and public address. I'm reading them all now. Um, but they apply to all three public hearings and our public address section. So sign up sheets were available outside the meeting room in the hallway. Speakers are requested to provide their name, address, and phone number and list their subject matter on the sign up sheet. Following everybody on the sign up sheet, other speakers will be allowed. Every speaker has four minutes, whether speaking as an individual or a representative, and all comments must be directed to the chair and other supervisors from the speaker's lectern at the front of the room. Please begin by stating your name and where in the county you reside and debate between speakers and members of the audience will not be allowed. Speakers may leave any written statements or comments to the supervisors with the board clerk and speakers will be judged out of order should they engage in personal attacks, use profanity or abusive language, or debate with the audience and not address the supervisors. Accepted etiquette is to not applaud or make loud responses. So we will open the public hearing first this evening on the rezoning request for Shaw development that Justin just presented to us. We did not have anybody sign up in advance to speak to this public hearing. Is anybody here that would like to come forward and address the board on this rezoning request? Okay, seeing no one come forward, I'm gonna close this public hearing. We do have this scheduled in our new business section this evening, so potentially the board can take action on this request this evening if it's our pleasure. The next item for public hearing is a special use permit. This is from Laura B. Owens for a special use permit to allow a bed and breakfast in tourist rental on Harding Road. Welcome back.

Hello again. All right, so this request, let me forward through, I apologize. There we go. So this is a request by Laura Owens for a bed and breakfast in at property located at 2087 Harding Road. Here are your vicinity maps. Again, this property is located outside of the town of Blacksburg, the eastern portion. This is Harding Road here, and then this is Lester's Gate. Here's your aerial map of the property. Harding Road is here at the north of the page. This is the private driveway that leads up to the residence. And then on our zoning map here, you can see this is zoned R2 Residential. The area here in green is zoned Agriculture A1. So the structure is a three bedroom, one bath, totaling 1,178 square feet. The applicant says this will only be leased during high demand Virginia Tech events, including football games, parents weekend, homecoming, et cetera. This is the owner's primary residence, and for that reason, it's qualified as a bed and breakfast inn and not a short-term tourist rental. Meals will not be provided, and the owner will vacate the premises while she has guests, but will stay in the area and will be able to provide full-time management of the property remotely. Because of the zoning of this area, R2, a special use permit is required for a bed and breakfast inn. We have several supplemental regulations in the zoning ordinance related to Bed and Breakfast Inn. I just wanted to provide them here for you. Again, because this use is similar to a traditional Bed and Breakfast Inn, a lot of these are not going to apply because she's not serving meals to guests. But I wanted to give you those supplemental regulations because they're in the ordinance. So in evaluating the impacts, the dwelling is located on Harding Road and is accessed by that private driveway. The proposed use would create no greater intensity than its use as a full-time residence, and VDOT did review and took no exception to approval. The property is not located in a FEMA-designated flood zone and is served by private well and septic. VDH, existing septic system, they have a document called a safe, adequate, and proper form that's used to determine occupancy for short-term rentals, and that occupancy is limited to six guests because of the VDH permit. and there are no additional lighting proposed on the site. Looking at noise safety and security, the parcel is well wooded, an outdoor camera will be added for security purposes, and as I mentioned, the property owner will be available at all times for management of the property. Inside the dwelling, it's equipped with an emergency fire ladder, an emergency fire blanket, extinguishers on both floors, and smoke detectors will be verified in working order as part of the building permit process. The owner has also included additional restrictions in her property management plan, prohibiting parties and events. No more than six guests will be allowed at any given time. No more than three vehicles will be allowed during rentals and pets are not allowed on the property. Here are some images of the existing dwelling and the driveway with parking area. You can see, again, that private drive that snakes around down to Harding, again, very well forested property to assist with not harming adjoining neighbors. And then this is where that private drive intersects with Harding Road. And at the driveway, this is Harding looking back toward Blacksburg, and then this is looking down toward Luster's Gate. Again, because we received this application prior to the adoption of Montgomery Matters, it was evaluated under the 2025 comp plan. This area is residential transition, which means it meets the guidelines for that particular classification. Here are some of the planning and land use goals that are achieved through this request. Again, our land use goals talking about promoting tourism and then entrepreneurial economy and our economic resource goals. So in staff's analysis, we have determined that the use would remain residential, creating no more impacts than the existing use. The use of her dwelling as a primary residence qualifies this for categorization as a B&B. Owners will be providing full-time management for the establishment at all times. The application must meet all of those supplemental regulations that are outlined in code, and then additional lease restrictions by the owner further reduce potential impacts on neighbors. Planning Commission held its public hearing on June 17th and voted unanimously to recommend approval of the special use permit. No citizens came forward to speak. So in the planning commission recommendation, they listed four conditions for the special use permit. Number one, occupancy shall be limited to six occupants per the VDH approval. The property shall be registered with commissioner of revenues office for meals and occupancy taxes. Any applicable permits must be obtained from building department and all requirements and code related to bed and breakfast ends must be met prior to the issuance of a zoning permit. We did notify adjacent property owners in accordance with code, placed public hearing sign on the property, ran the ads in Cardinal News, and as I mentioned, we've not received any inquiries related to this request from the public, but there could be someone here this evening. And with that, I'll take any questions that you have.

Okay, does anybody have any? Supervisor Grafsky.

I have one, and I'm not asking you to speculate on behalf of the applicant, but What is the advantage or disadvantage of going the bed and breakfast in versus the more traditional short-term rental?

So that was not a choice by the applicant. So the definitions in the zoning ordinance allow someone to be categorized as a bed and breakfast in if they live on the property or an adjacent property. Whereas with a short-term tourist rental, they do not live on the property or an adjacent property.

Like never?

ever so generally we see short-term rentals being investment properties and not the primary residence but again because miss owens lives on the property that's why it's considered a bed and breakfast inn thank you for making that distinction absolutely any more questions okay great thank you

All right, so we also had a sign up sheet in the hallway for this public hearing for the special use permit that Justin just described to us. We did not have anybody sign up for this public hearing. Would anybody in the room like to come forward and speak to this application? Okay, seeing no one coming forward, we'll close the public hearing on that. We also have this on new business this evening. And then the final public hearing that we have this evening is a fiscal year 2627 budget amendment. Angie, I'll let you give us some information about that.

I'll be glad to. Anytime the Board of Supervisors considers appropriation resolutions that appropriate funding in excess of 1% of the approved total county budget, which includes the school operating, school capital, county capital, all the funds, a public hearing is required to be held. And typically the first meeting in July, we have a public hearing because we have a lot of appropriations that carry over projects that were started in the previous fiscal year and carried to the next year. So that's why we're having a public hearing this evening.

Great, and we have, this is many of the new business items kind of rolled up into one. Yes, combined in aggregate. Yes, that's right. Does anybody have any questions before we open the public hearing? Okay. On this public hearing, we also had nobody sign up to speak to this topic, but anybody in the room is welcome to come forward and address it at this time. Okay, seeing no one come forward, we will close the final public hearing of this evening. um the next item on our agenda is public address and this is where people can come forward and speak on any topic that they want to speak on we did have a sign up sheet in the hallway and two people did sign up in advance so i'm going to call both of the names on the sign up sheet and then anybody else in the room is welcome to come forward at the conclusion of those names the first person that signed up is Gwyneth Homer and the second is Kimberly Homer Welcome.

Hello. My name is Gwyneth Homer. I live at 222 Price Street in Blacksburg. I'd like to begin by thanking you for stalling the permitting process. Can you hear me okay through my mouth?

You might pull the mic down just a teensy bit.

I'd like to begin by thanking you for stalling the permitting process for the proposed compressor station in eastern Montgomery County. It's unclear whether the conflicting decisions, the site approval along with the project condemnation, were intended as a way of slowing the project or was an attempt to remain neutral. As the saying goes, you can't be neutral on a moving train and you also can't be neutral when a train is trapping a community within the blast zone of a pipeline. But even if the train issue is resolved, I strongly urge you to take a firmer stand against the project. Some believe that the compressor station will bring jobs, gas for us to use, and tax revenue. However, as we've seen in our community and in others, this is a false promise. There may be temporary construction jobs, but these may go to out-of-state workers who are already employed in the industry, and monitoring of the station can be done remotely. As for local use of the gas, why would they need to increase pressure and push the gas down the line if it were staying here? EQT's quarterly report allocates the additional gas to data centers and the southeast with its export terminals. All that local customers may see of this would be an increase on their bill to subsidize the cost of the project. As for tax revenue, this also seems unlikely. The pollution and noise of a compressor station makes the surrounding area pretty undesirable, which strands homeowners in a lousy spot with nobody willing to buy their property. Lower property values, lower tax revenue. A medical company recently moved to Roanoke, citing their employees' interest in outdoor recreation. So should we not preserve the green spaces of our county in order to entice others to come here and preserve this Appalachian haven, sheltered somewhat from the worst effects of climate change? MVP will not bring the things promised, but the turbines powering the station will increase our exposure to pollutants like carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, formaldehyde, and particulate matter. Some particulate matter is so small that not only can it penetrate our airways, it can penetrate our blood vessels. causing conditions like COPD, chronic bronchitis, lung cancer, hypertension, plaque deposited in the arteries, heart disease, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, and developmental disorders as well. These conditions are debilitating, leading to an increased absenteeism from work and school. So much for those bike deaths and improving engagement. As the federal government eliminates environmental protections, it is up to our local leaders to help keep us safe and to keep our water and air clean. So please continue to stand up for us. Thank you. Thank you.

Next up, we have Kimberly Homer.

Welcome. Good evening, my name is Kimberly Homer and I live at 222 Price Street in Blacksburg. And I'm building a woodland gathering place in Elliston right across Roanoke Road from Easter Montgomery Elementary School, home of the Mustangs. I recently read that EMES was the recipient of a $15,000 desk bike donation from Mountain Valley Pipeline. The desk bikes are supposed to integrate movement with instruction, ultimately supporting stronger academic outcomes, according to EMES Principal Kate Stewart. There was also mention of supporting neurogenesis brain development for children with wiggles. I have a few alternative suggestions for learning activities while corralling young mustangs, and most of them involve going outside. A cycle track is probably too expensive, but what about an accessible walking biking trail over to Eastmont High to use their track sometimes? What about an outdoor classroom? This could be made of simple benches under retractable canopies, and children could learn about weather instruments, birds and bugs, native plants. There could even be a greenhouse or a pollinator garden and a compost bin. There could be signposts about local history. EMES was built on the Fotheringay Plantation, and there are rumors of Indian artifacts there. The school is also very near a wetland habitat. If the weather or poor air quality keeps active Mustangs inside, what about more library books and reading nooks? Yoga balls can also be used for active seating, and they don't need batteries. What about a maker space with a sewing machine and woodworking tools? Eastmont High School Mustangs just won an award for their beautifully crafted canoes. What about a free school store with writing and drawing supplies and maybe even extra clothes and costumes for dramatic play? And if the weather is truly dreadful, could EMS be an emergency shelter? What would it need in terms of solar battery backup, potable water and emergency communication? These are STEM skills Mustangs can put to use now. Today's children are facing climate chaos and habitat degradation. The more they engage in tactile and collaborative learning, the better prepared they will be. Mustangs deserve a better learning experience than training for a job in a cubicle. Thank you.

Thank you. So we've reached the end of the signups on the sheet. So anybody else in the room is welcome to come forward to address the board on any topic.

Welcome. Welcome. Good evening. Crystal mellow, Poplar hollow, Charlottesville, Virginia. And that is just beautiful with Kimberly. Like I was just an envision and all that. So thank you, Kimberly, for just that beautiful vision. Um, I want to say thank you. to the Eastmont Fire Department because they do fill up our containers at the garden, which has been very hard this year with the drought and the extreme temperatures. So we appreciate them so much because just in the past two seasons, we've been able to donate over 2,500 pounds of produce to Dale's Food Pantry, the Free Fridge, parking lots at Dollar General, gas stations, the trailer parks, wherever we can get rid of vegetables. So them helping us helps that continue to happen. And when that doesn't happen, we all go to the river and fill our cars with jugs and bring the water back up. It's a whole lot, but it's out of love. Um, I wanted to talk a little bit about the presentation that the gentleman did three weeks ago, the third party for the fire and rescue and EMS. And I've been slowly trying to read that. I love that they use that swap strength, weakness, opportunities, challenges. We also use that in organizing. Um, and a couple of things that stood out to me were on page eight and nine. Municipal agencies having their own dispatch and operation channels so that other departments may or may not be operating on is an extreme safety issue. Page 140, within the NRV 911 Center, There are no policies in place nor do the dispatch personnel receive training nor regular practice with how to handle a firefighter mayday situation, officer down, or EMS crew in trouble scenario. This can present a significant safety risk to the field personnel if a mayday or at-risk situation by a crew is not handled appropriately. I mean, we have that fear in Eastmont with the pipeline and added pressure possibly coming to that And reading that the dispatch folks don't have training to look after the men and women who are choosing to come and fight these things for us, that's scary. Page 315, community engagement. There were six people who showed up to the two meetings for community engagement. Four were associated with firefighters. And on that, that was a strength. That is sad. That is so sad. That is a huge red flag. That is not a strength for community engagement. Y'all should readdress that and figure out Justin has done a great job posting on the Elliston Charlottesville page, all the different pages, six people that that's not community engagement. And that definitely is not a strength. Um, that's just a couple of things that I pulled out on that and. MVP responded to Powers' letter to FERC, and I appreciate that they're working with y'all to help with the train, but cannery is still not being talked about. I need cannery on that list to be examined. And Steve mentioned, they quoted Steve about the 48 compressor stations in Virginia. And I promise you none of them are 136,900 horsepower. We cannot find a bigger one on the East coast. So let's not just act like, oh, well there's 48 other compressor stations in Virginia. This is a whole new ball game. And I don't know who's advising y'all. Um, but I think you should reach out to some groups or listen to some groups that are actually doing this work and really digging in. and not listening to Maurice Royster who is a billionaire lobby person for EQT. That's ridiculous also. That's not a strength either. Thank you.

Thank you. Would anybody else like to come forward? Welcome.

Hi, Josh Vanna, District F. I wanted to respond to something Supervisor Fijikowski said toward the end of last meeting, though I was unfortunately not able to be there myself, but on the subject of train blockages and the likelihood of a catastrophic event at a compressor station in Virginia. Mr. Fijikowski said, we have lots of compressor stations in Virginia and none of them have had catastrophic events. And the likelihood is I'm sure in the millions and then when you throw in it a blockage of a train at the same exact time as a catastrophic incident, now you're into the odds where the lottery people want you to be because that's gonna be highly unusual. I don't know how often, um, catastrophic explosions on pipelines and compressor stations happen at the same time as train blockage, but I would like to identify, and this may not be within the common knowledge that gas pipeline explosions happen every year, several times a year across the United States. Um, just this year, Cameron Parish, Louisiana, there was a LNG pipeline explosion that injured a worker and blew up his truck. Um, And amazingly, a lot of people walk away with their lives for these things. There was also, as you might remember, this actually did get covered in the news, but in Fairfax County in Centerville in February, a house exploded while a guy was standing on his back porch. He lived, but that was from leakage and pipeline right of way, Williams Company and Washington Gas. They haven't done full report yet, I guess, but I wanted to point our attention to the relevant incident which happened about three years ago where the Columbia gas line directly next to Interstate 81 exploded that and there was a miracle it wasn't worse because it's three pipelines in that right-of-way that line had been been recently placed back into service after being undergoing some maintenance and And, um, within the few years before that, as part of the WB express project, um, the Spra Strasburg compressor station, just one or two miles up the row, other side, 81 had had its horsepower increased. Okay. So I understand that there are folks that want to believe everything about the gas industry tells them that these problems don't happen or what, if they do, they're not a big deal. And if they are a big deal, what couldn't have been predicted? Um, most of the things that communities fighting mountain Valley pipeline have said would happen have happened. Terrible sedimentation erosion control issues, they all happened. People's wells getting ruined, they happened. My friend Maury Johnson in Monroe County is a farmer, hasn't been able to use water on his property for more than two years now. That happened. People's farms in Franklin County, they were ruined. A lot of these things happened. And it's a project that's fundamentally incompatible with the landscape. So our concerns are based off of real incidents that happen with disturbing regularity. And so I know Mr. Fitchikowski does maybe not want to interface with that reality, but we're looking at an extremely powerful new compressor station facility being put into construction Um, operation with a pipeline that is already unsafe. Um, it has happened before in slightly different circumstances, but everything isn't, um, as, as, as smooth and safe as the gas industry would like one to believe. So I just wanted to add that to the record.

Thank you very much. Would anybody else like to come forward and address the board during public address? I'm seeing nobody else moving to come forward, so I'm going to close public address. We do not have an addendum this evening, so our next item is the consent agenda. Is there a motion on the consent agenda?

Motion.

Okay. Is there any discussion? Okay, Madam Clerk, if you'll call the roll, please.

Ms. Caron? Aye. Mr. Kitts? Aye. Mr. King? Aye. Mr. Grasky? Aye. Chair DeMont?

Aye.

Five ayes.

All right, and now we'll move on to new business. Our first item of new business was the subject of our first public hearing this evening. This is the rezoning request from Shaw Development to rezone .91 acres. Is there a motion?

Motion.

Second. Is there any discussion? Madam Clerk, if you'll call the roll, please.

Mr. Kitts? Aye. Mr. Gretzky? Aye. Ms. Caron? Aye. Mr. King? Aye. Chair DeMonts? Aye. Five ayes.

Okay, the next new business item is the second public hearings subject for this evening, the special use permit related to a bed and breakfast on Harding Avenue. Is there a motion? So moved. Second. Okay, is there any discussion? Madam Clerk, if you'll call the roll, please.

Mr. Grafsky? Aye. Mr. Kitts? Aye. Mr. King? Aye. Ms. Caron? Aye. Chair DeMonts? Aye. Five ayes.

Okay, the next item is to schedule a public hearing. This is to amend Chapter 2, Section 2-36 of the Montgomery County Code related to return check fees and electronic payments. Did we have any additional, Marty?

The purpose behind this amendment is a state law change that enables localities to charge a return check fee. And what we're required to put in our code is where it addresses electronic payments. And so the purpose for that is you basically get two strikes. So if you put in the wrong, if you put in your wrong bank routing numbers and the payment isn't honored because of that, you get actually another chance to do it before you would get the return fee charge.

Okay. Is there a motion?

So moved.

Second.

Is there any discussion?

Are we going to raise the fees? Is that what we're doing?

No, sir. We're not touching the fees. We're just addressing another situation where people put in routing numbers to pay it. And so if the routing number is wrong or if the routing number doesn't honor the return fee, the state requires you to put in language where if they've done it only once in the last 12 months, there'll be no fee, that you give them another chance to honor it. If they've done it twice in 12 months, then the $50 fee would be charged, which is what we have now on return check fees. So we're not touching the fee.

Any other questions, comments, concerns? Okay, seeing none, Madam Clerk, if you'll call the roll, please.

Mr. King? Aye. Mr. Grafsky? Aye. Ms. Caron? Aye. Mr. Kitts? Aye. Chair DeMott? Aye. Five ayes.

So the next many items are related to fiscal year 26 closeout. I think the first of them does have a brief presentation and then staff will give kind of a summary presentation of the remaining, I think E through R on our agenda. So the first allocation is the fire and rescue fiscal year 27 capital allocation. Welcome, sir. I understand you've got a little bit of information for us. And it's Chief Hanks, correct? Chief. I don't want to call you by the wrong honorific. Welcome.

Welcome. Thank you. Glad to be here, Chair DeMond, members of the Board of Supervisors. I'm Billy Hanks. I'm the Chief of Fire and EMS for the Town of Christiansburg. I'm also the Chair of the CIP Fire Truck and Ambulance Replacement Committee. I want to give you a little background upon how we determine who's going to get new apparatus in the upcoming year. We, all the chiefs meet once a year, sometimes twice a year to review all the moving fleet within the county. When we're looking at the fleet, we're looking at the age of the apparatus, the age of the ambulance. We're looking at the mileage on the ambulance. We're looking at mileage on the fire trucks and especially Hours on the fire trucks because fire trucks sometimes don't have a lot of mileage on them But they have a lot of hours where they sit and pump So we take all this stuff into factor and we look at look at all the rolling fleet and we we go down the list and we see what's the what's the most aged out piece of equipment and Amongst the Chiefs throughout the county we sit down and we come up with recommendations on an upcoming replacement cycle and Um, for this year, uh, we're, we're gonna look at, uh, the CIP committee recommended that the runner volunteer fire department, uh, be able to replace a 2008 international, uh, fire apparatus. Uh, it's a tanker apparatus to haul extra water. Uh, this truck is, uh, becoming a money pit for the runner fire department. They're spending a lot of money on maintenance and, and, and, uh, upkeep of this truck. So we recommend. that they'd be able to replace this apparatus. We also recommend Reiner Fire Department has a brush truck that was donated to them back in 2005 by a local resident. I think it was Mr. Larson at the tree farm, I believe, on Childress Road, donated the money to the Reiner Fire Department for them to be able to buy this apparatus. This apparatus was not originally in a replacement cycle because it was a donated piece of equipment to the fire department. However, the CIP committee sat down and we talked about it and to get Reiner in line with the rest of the departments in the county by having two brush trucks, we felt like that we would replace this truck that was donated to them in 2005. So we've got Reiner Fire Department would be up for a new tanker this year, upcoming year, and a new brush truck. We also looked at the Reiner Volunteer Rescue Squad. They'll be replaced in a 2010 Chevy Tahoe truck. that is just worn completely out. Mileage is really high on this vehicle. We've got a lot of mechanical issues. So we recommend that the Reiner Volunteer Fire Department be able to, or Volunteer Rescue Squad be able to replace their first responder. The last vehicle that we're going to be able to replace over the funding that you graciously provide us It's an ambulance for Christiansburg EMS. It's replacing a 2017 county-owned piece of equipment that has well over 100,000 miles on it this year. So these are our recommendations for the funding that you guys have provided us in the budget, and I'll be glad to answer any questions if you have any.

Great, thank you. Let's start, we'll take a motion in a second and then open it up for discussion and questions. Is there a motion on the transfer?

So moved. Second.

Okay, now do we have any discussion or questions for Chief Hanks? Great. Thank you so much for being here and thank the CIP committee for their work.

Thank you. And I just want to speak on behalf of all the chiefs with the fire DMS agencies in the county. We really appreciate you guys and the funding that you provide us every year to be able to operate and to be able to keep our rolling stock up to date. It, uh, it, it takes a lot of money to do what we do. And, uh, we're very gracious for, for the funding that you provide us. Thank you very much.

Thank you. All right, we have a motion and a second. Madam Clerk, if you'll call the roll, please.

Mr. Grafsky? Aye. Ms. Caron?

Aye.

Mr. Kitts? Aye. Mr. King? Aye. Chair DeMott? Aye. Five ayes.

All right, Angie, do you wanna start by introducing the next mini?

Yes, I'm gonna first introduce item E and then I'll do the others as a group. Okay. E is a little different. Item E is to appropriate funds that were earned on the bond proceeds for Christiansburg high school interest was earned in excess of the legal requirements in accordance with the Internal Revenue Service. I just wanted to make it clear that this is not county taxpayer dollars, this is a return of interest of $4.8 million, and we had shared with the board previously that that payment would be coming due. We didn't know the exact amount, but now that we know that, the payment is due, so this will appropriate that interest earned.

Okay, so is there a motion on the arbitrage payment appropriation? Motion.

Second.

Okay. Is there any discussion or questions related to that? Okay, I'm not seeing any questions. So, Madam Clerk, if you'll call the roll, please.

Ms. Caron?

Aye.

Mr. Kitts?

Aye.

Mr. King? Aye. Mr. Grafsky? Aye. Chair DeMott? Aye. Five ayes. You're back on.

Okay, the next group of appropriations carries over funding from fiscal year 26 into fiscal year 27. It's a combination of purchase orders, so orders for goods or services that have been placed before the end of June that had not yet been received, or capital projects that had already been appropriated but not yet spent. So that's a summary of what's coming up. If you have questions as we go along, I can answer those or we have representatives from the schools, Dr. Gimple, Dr. Brown are here as well to talk about any school questions you might have.

Great, thank you. So we'll go through these one at a time. So on each one there will be plenty of opportunity to ask questions. These are all, I'm sure you guys remember this from last year, it's just a lot of individual business items. So the first is the Montgomery County Public Schools Patron Fund encumbrance carryover. Is there a motion? So moved.

Second.

Okay, is there any discussion or questions on this one? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, if you'll call the roll, please.

Mr. Kitts? Aye. Mr. King? Aye. Mr. Gretzky? Aye. Ms. Caron? Aye. Chair DeMont? Aye. Five ayes.

Okay, next is Montgomery County Public Schools Capital Fund and Encumbrance Carryover. The total on this one is $18,186,059. Is there a motion? So moved. Second. Okay, is there any discussion, any questions?

As the county administrator said, this is going towards what the already POs. That's right.

Purchase orders and any funding that's been appropriated but not allocated to a specific purchase order, it is not an allocation of new funding.

Right. Just want to emphasize that. Right.

Any other questions, comments, concerns? Okay, Madam Clerk, if you'll call the roll, please.

Mr. King? Aye. Mr. Grasky? Aye. Ms. Caron? Aye. Mr. Kitts? Aye. Chair DeMott?

Aye.

Five ayes.

Okay, the next is appropriation of a one-time funding request. The total on this appropriation is $683,565. Is there a motion? Motion. Second. Okay.

This item is new funding. It was discussed as part of our budget process, but I wanted to clarify that because this is coming out of fund balance for items we addressed during the fiscal year 27 budget process.

Okay, are there any questions, comments?

This is new funding? It is funding out of fund balance, yes, for the county projects.

And could we show... This is what we're doing right now. Could we just kind of go through so the citizens here can see what it is?

Yes, I can review them all. I'll be glad to do that. The first items are under the category of general government administration. There's some IT equipment and one-time labor infrastructure to make sure that our employees IT systems are stable and reliable. There's also included in that for the Office of Election, the Office of Elections, 12 additional poll pads for the largest precincts to help accommodate voter registration for same-day registration. That total for those two items is $92,960. Next, there's an item for public safety, $337,700 for the purchase of equipment for a whole blood program to use for our career fire and EMS staff to help with trauma patients. Also, stair chair to assist with moving patients in and out of areas with steps, and stabilization equipment to help with heavy truck rescue when responding to rescue incidents. You probably know more about that than I do. General services, $195,000 will replace a compactor at one of our consolidated sites and also help us comply with the Q regulations related to the Thompson landfill, which has been closed for many years, but we have to continue to. monitor that and make sure it's safe. Then $32,000, the library requested to replace outdated computer routers that won't be supported after October of 2026. Again, that's $32,000. And the final item is $25,905, which is to replace a large format plotter for planning and GIS and also to help us continue to implement the Montgomery Matters Comprehensive Plan land use recommendations. Thank you. You're welcome.

And after all of that, I can't remember if I took a motion in a second. I did, okay. Any other questions? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, if you'll call the roll, please.

Mr. Grafske? Aye. Ms. Caron? Aye. Mr. Kitts? Aye. Mr. King? Aye. Chair DeMoss? Aye. Five ayes.

Okay, the next item is economic development engineering services. This is a total of $65,000 for engineering services in Falling Branch Corporate Park, phase two, site two. Is there a motion?

Motion. Second.

Okay, is there any discussion or questions? Okay, seeing none, Madam Clerk, if you'll call the roll, please.

Ms. Caron? Aye. Mr. Kitts? Aye. Mr. King? Aye. Mr. Grafsky? Aye. Chair DeMott? Aye. Five ayes.

Next is the appropriation of fiscal year 26 donation balances. The total on these donation balances is $124,807. Is there a motion? Motion.

Second.

Is there any discussion? Madam Clerk, if you'll call the roll, please.

Mr. Kitts? Aye. Mr. King? Aye. Mr. Grafsky? Aye. Ms. Caron? Aye. Chair DeMott? Aye. Five ayes.

Okay, next is the appropriation of fiscal year 26 grants, year-end balances and encumbrances carryover. The total carryover for grants is $2,119,736 and then encumbrances adds an additional $11,550 to the total. Is there a motion? Motion. Second. Okay, is there any discussion? Madam Clerk, if you'll call the roll, please.

Mr. King? Aye. Mr. Grasky? Aye. Ms. Caron? Aye. Mr. Kitts? Aye. Chair DeMonts? Aye. Five ayes.

Okay, we're moving along. Next is fiscal year 26, county capital fund carryover and encumbrances. The total carryover amount on this is $32,858,446. Total encumbrances, $10,528,510 for a grand total of $43,386,956. Is there a motion? Motion. Second. Okay, any questions? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, if you'll call the roll, please.

Mr. Grafske? Aye. Ms. Caron? Aye. Mr. Kitts? Aye. Mr. King? Aye. Chair DeMott? Aye. Five ayes.

Okay, next is appropriation of fiscal year 26 general fund earmarked balances. The total on this resolution is $1,278,036. Is there a motion? Motion. Second. Okay, any questions or discussion? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, if you'll call the roll, please.

Sorry. Mr. Grafsky? Aye. Ms. Caron? Aye. Mr. Kitts? Aye. Mr. King? Aye. Chair DeMott? Aye. Five ayes.

All right. Next is county capital fund transfers. The total amount requested here is $4,107,076. Is there a motion? Motion. Second. Any discussion? I'm moving along slowly so we can get everybody. Okay, seeing no discussion, Madam Clerk, if you'll call the roll, please.

Ms. Caron? Aye. Mr. Kitts? Aye. Mr. King? Aye. Mr. Grafsky? Aye. Chair DeMonts? Aye. Five ayes.

All right, next is the general fund encumbrances carryover. The total for this carryover is $2,051,360. Is there a motion? So moved. Second. Is there any discussion or question? Seeing none, I feel like I'm not part of whatever is going on. Madam Clerk, if you'll call the roll, please.

Ms. Caron? Aye. Mr. Kitts? Aye. Mr. King? Aye. Mr. Grafsky? Aye. Chair DeMott? Aye.

Five ayes. Okay. Next is carryover of American Rescue Plan, also known as ARPA funds. The total carryover for this request is $255,530. Is there a motion? Motion.

Second.

Okay.

Is there any discussion? Madam Clerk, if you'll call the roll, please.

Mr. Kitts? Aye. Mr. King? Aye. Mr. Grafsky? Aye. Ms. Caron? Aye. Chair DeMont? Aye. Five ayes.

Okay, the next item is county reserve funds. This gives the ending balance of fiscal year 26, the added value and the beginning value of the reserve funds as of fiscal year 27. Total there is $9,105,574. Is there a motion? Motion. Second. Anything?

Did you have something to add to that? Yes. This is just to set the reserves. It's not an appropriation of funding. Thank you.

All right. Any questions or discussion? Madam Clerk, if you'll call the roll, please.

Mr. King?

Aye.

Mr. Grafske? Aye. Ms. Caron? Aye. Mr. Kitts? Aye. Chair DeMott? Aye. Five ayes.

And for something totally different, we have a resolution of recognition. This is for Mary Pettit, who is retiring from her role as the Commonwealth's attorney, and this is a resolution from our board recognizing her and thanking her and congratulating her on her retirement. Our hope is that we approve this and are able to present it to her at a future meeting. Is there a motion? Motion.

Second.

Okay, any discussion? Madam Clerk, if you'll call the roll, please.

Mr. Grafsky? Aye. Ms. Caron? Aye. Mr. Kitts? Aye. Mr. King? Aye. Chair DeMont? Aye. Five ayes.

All right, we made it to the end of new business. Now we're on to board reports. Marty, what you got for us this evening?

I have no report, Madam Chair.

All right. County Administrator's Report.

Ms. Hill? I have a couple fun and exciting things to report about and then some updates for you as well. Two exciting things with tourism. The first was on June 30th, our Tourism Director, Samantha Livesey, and her team hosted an inaugural sports events and hospitality advisory meeting at the end of Virginia Tech. And the purpose of that is to help strengthen collaboration among those stakeholders and our community partners in those areas, and also to help us identify some opportunities that can contribute to local visitor economy. It's specifically geared toward events that we can hold that will help support overnight visitation and enhance visitor experiences to help folks want to come back to us and visit again. And there was a representative from the sports marketing brands from the Virginia Tourism Commission, so that was exciting. Several members of our staff and other community members attended as well. It's going to be a quarterly meeting, so the next meeting is scheduled for September 29th. And then on July the 8th, Samantha and her team partnered with WDBJ 7 to feature Montgomery County on their 7 at 4 program. I think that Jen and her staff did a good job sending out information about that. You might have seen that. The goal of the Montgomery County Roadshow segment was to highlight the events and attractions and experiences that take place in our community, Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Montgomery County this summer. it was geared toward summer staycation sometimes folks say what's tourism doing for us we don't see anything on our social media popping up about our tourism well that's because we live here we're not tourists here but in this case for the staycation there are some things that are popping up in my social media I know that are fun things that we can do that we might not think about and The segments talked about food, arts, parks and recreation, history, and several individuals from our staff were interviewed for that as well. And they highlighted Restaurant Week in Montgomery County, which is this week, and also MC and VA 250, and Jen's team with that. The Montgomery Museum was highlighted as well, so that was, and our Parks and Rec folks were recognized, so that was exciting. On this Thursday, Anthony and I, Supervisor Graske, and I will be participating in a local government leaders panel during the chamber's annual leadership and ROV class. They have different topics for each class, and this week we'll be able to talk about that. And then on Thursday, July 23rd, I'm gonna be participating in the Eggs and Issues panel related to infrastructure in the community, and the other panelists will be Amy Sebring from Virginia Tech, Dr. Kim Eagle from Christiansburg, and Carolyn Howard from the town of Blacksburg, and Kevin Burr will be moderating that session. And then the final update I wanted to give you, Chris emailed some information to you previously about the Legacy Housing Education event, We have a date for that, it's July 22nd. Chris has more information he can send to you if you want to attend that. He'll be glad to sign you up or have somebody else do that. And then later in the summer, there's gonna be a ribbon cutting event for the Legacy Housing Project. So we'll have that invitation to come. Thank you.

Great, thank you. So now we'll move to board reports and we'll start with Supervisor Caron. Sorry, I can go somewhere else if you prefer. Turn your mic on if you don't mind. Forgot that part.

July 24th I attended the Montgomery Museum's 250 year celebration and also the opening of the ADA accessible elevator. I did ride the elevator and I think News Messenger covered it and I have a picture. And also that same weekend actually I went to Richmond and finished the second module of the supervisor certification program. So it's going well. That's all. Thank you. Great.

Thank you. Supervisor Kitts.

So last week I had the opportunity to attend the Founders and Friends after hours, like a... a meet and greet kind of thing over at the ERC over on Craft Drive over at Virginia Tech. It was an opportunity to meet a lot of young people starting businesses. And you'd be surprised at some of the things being started within the community and the support they get. They offer classes for entrepreneurs. They help you with business planning. and things like that. And I think it's a unique resource that we have that a lot of people don't understand and take advantage of that gives people that have an idea the opportunity and the tools necessary to start a business and to sometimes ask the questions you didn't even know you needed to ask um so it was a great opportunity to sit around and talk to a lot of different people with a lot of different ideas and some of the things that people come up with you're just like wow that makes complete sense and why didn't somebody else think of that but it was it was really interesting and they and some of the things that they offer are i think kind of eye-opening for the community and i think a lot of people should take advantage of those resources that we have so that's all thank you great thank you supervisor grafsky

I'll say this so I've been contacted by several folks in my district as it relates to the price Park properties there off of prices fork back in the Montgomery farms neighborhood as I think everybody knows right those were set to go to auction later this week based on a couple of quick minutes of internet searching it would appear that they've been able to raise the funds to kind of stave off the auction which is good news for now there's still another parcel um that compromises part of that that park um but i just think it's it's um At least I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up something about Price Park and the significance of that property for the community there. I think everybody's been out there now. And I just applaud the efforts of that community to keep that within or to protect that land for the community and wish them well as they continue to work on acquiring the remaining parcels All right, that's all I got.

Thank you. Supervisor King.

Just got one thing. Talking to several citizens, and they would like for this board to have a discussion about going back to, some of you may remember years ago we used to have community meetings. We sit up here and citizens come talk to us, but we can't talk back. Years ago, we used to have where we went to each area in the county. And me and some of the other citizens I have met with would like us to start that back up again. That way we can converse with our neighbors and all. That's all.

Do you think we could add that to our next extended work session as a discussion topic? That will be good, yes. Thank you. And bucking the trend a bit, I have no report this evening. So seeing nothing else before this board, this meeting is adjourned.