City Council - Regular Meeting

I call to order this 11 May 2026 city council meeting. Mr. Wood, would you lead us in the pledge of allegiance? I aliance 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, Mr. Wood. Councilman Slope is going to be a little late, but he is on his way. Item two is the adoption of the meeting agenda. Is there a motion to adopt the agenda?

So moved. Thank you, Mr. Short. Is there a second? I second. Thank you, Mr. Combi. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Eyes have it. 40. Item three, matters from the mayor. Um, a few things. Uh, first, happy birthday to Mr. Wood. Oh, happy birthday. He is he is 60 years old today. You have to tell everybody. Wow. So, just wanted to put that out there.

Uh, also, we have a number of uh proclamations that we're going to be reading. And I I just wanted to acknowledge uh one that won't be a proclamation, but I wanted to acknowledge May's military appreciation month. And so we uh say thank you to all of our servicemen and women who are currently serving and all of our veterans. And so we have a a lot of folks that that have served. Matter of fact, we have a city worker, I think, that is still currently deployed. Uh so we thank you all for your service. Uh on 29th April, uh Councilman Wood, Councilman Slo, and Vice Mayor Combi and I uh were present for the Kowanas uh Lo Springs uh natural area opening. Uh it's a beautiful little park that sits off the greenway. And so thanks to the Kuanas and also thanks to our uh parks and wreck department for being a part of that uh project. It's really beautiful. On 30 April, the city manager and I were at the Fairfax Hall grand reopening and they've done a lot of work and it looks great if you haven't seen it. Uh, one of the efforts that we're still trying to tackle is affordable housing. So, we were really excited about partnering with partnering with them on that uh particular project. And then tomorrow I'll be at Sunset Park at 6 PM for the Sunset Park hiking and biking trail grand opening. And that's all I have. Item four is matters from council.

Well, we were also at the pitch night for the economic development. Thank you.

Uh encouraging new business. A lot of good ideas that were pitched that night after they worked. I think it was a sevenweek business program. um all the rumors of someone trying to put a bowling alley in Wsboro apparently won first place and got a nice fat little check from a grant to economic development. So, we're looking forward to that and plenty of other new businesses coming into Waysboro. Also, we had the uh open house for the comprehensive plan the other night, too, that Leslie and her team put together. It was uh was a nice event uh good and eventful and uh very informative. So, we're uh thankful that uh a lot of the citizens came out to uh to take part in that night as well. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Item five is consideration of the consent agenda. Is there a motion to adopt the consent agenda?

Some moved. Thank you, Mr. Short. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, Mr. Wood. Is there any discussion? All in favor, please say I.

I. Any opposed? Eyes have it. 40 Z. All right, here's the fun part. Item six is to present a proclamation naming the week of May 10th through May 16th, 2026 as National Police Week and Peace Officers Memorial Day on May 15, 2026. Whereas the Congress and President of the United States have designated May 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day in the week in which it falls as National Police Week. And whereas the members of law enforcement for the city of Wesboro play an essential role in safeguarding the rights and freedoms of the citizens of Wesboro. And whereas it is important that all citizens know and understand the duties, responsibilities, hazards, and sacrifices of their law enforcement officers. And whereas members of our police department recognize their duty to serve the citizens by safeguarding life and property, protecting them against violence and disorder, and by protecting the innocent against deception and the weak against oppression or intimidation. And whereas the police department for the city of Wesville has grown to be a modern law enforcement agency that it unceasingly provides a vital public service. Now therefore, I, Kenneth B. Lee, senior mayor on behalf of the city council of Wesville called upon all citizens and upon all patriotic civic and educational organizations to observe the week of May 11th through 16th, 2026 as police week with the appropriate acknowledgement in which all of our citizens citizens may honor law enforcement officers past and present who by their faithful and loyal devotion to the responsibilities have rendered a dedicated service to the communities. and in doing so have established for themselves an inviable and enduring reputation for preserving

the rights and security for all citizens. I further call upon all citizens of Wayneesboro to observe Friday May 15th 2026 as peace officers Memorial Day to honor those off police peace officers who through their courageous deeds have lost their lives or have become disabled in the performance of duty. and witness whereof I have here unto set my hand and cause the seal of the city of Wayneboro, Virginia to be affixed this 11th day of May, 2026. Chief, you out there? No. need your signature.

I got you.

So, I just want to take a few moments. I know tonight's agenda is full, so I'll be briefing my remarks, but on behalf of the police department, the men and women that serve this community as police officers, I just want to say thank you. Um, one of the great things about Wesboro is we don't hold the recognition and support to just one week a year. Uh, a lot of that is carried through in our work daily through our partnerships and collaboration within the community. You know, you talk about there's over 800,000 law enforcement officers across the United States. And uh, also with that, there's a number of individuals over the years that unfortunately have paid the ultimate sacrifice through this line of work. Um, it's reassuring to know that here in Wesboro, our success is largely measured by the partnership and collaborations that we have within this community. A lot of those folks are represented in this room tonight, whether as individuals, representatives of of groups, uh, the elected body, city staff, other city departments. We're only successful because of those partnerships and collaboration. And I'd just like to close with saying, you know, in the last few years, we've seen a remarkable improvement in the support and the initiatives and um giving us the resources and the staffing that we need to be successful and those are measurable achievements. Um those metrics are improving and I hope that individuals see that work on daily basis. So again, I'd just like to close with thank you and we appreciate this.

Thank you, Chief.

Thank you, Chief. Item seven is to present a proclamation naming the week of May 17th as public works week. And Mr. Mayor, um um my pleasure to read the following uh proclamation. Uh whereas public works professionals provide essential infrastructure, services, and programs that form the systems supporting our community and the everyday lives of the citizens of Wsboro, Virginia. And whereas these systems could not be provided without the dedicated efforts of public works professionals who are responsible for maintaining our transportation and drainage infrastructure, water supply, wastewater collection and treatment, and solid waste systems and services that are essential for our citizens. And whereas the support of our informed community is essential to successful public works operations and programs such as water, sewer, streets, storm water, refuge collection, and snow removal. And whereas the year 2026 marks the 27th year that Wesboro has celebrated National Public Works Week with a special occasion. Now, therefore, it we, the Waysboro City Council, do hereby proclaim the week of May 17th through the 23rd, 2026 as public works week in the city of Wesboro and call upon all community uh in the community to acquaint themselves with the public works department and to recognize the contributions of public works professionals that make every day that that make every day to our health, safety, comfort, and quality of life. Signed by all of us up here.

Everybody I'll uh I'll keep my remarks brief as well since um like Chief Shaw said, I know you all have a a busy meeting tonight. Um, but good evening, Mr. Mayor and members of council. Um, on behalf of the men and women of public works, thank you for the support you show our department throughout the year, not just during public works week. As many of you know, there really is no offse in public works. Much like our fellow employees in law enforcement and emergency services, the work continues regardless of weather, holidays, or conditions. I'd especially like to recognize several outstanding employees who are here with me tonight during this winter snowstorm response. Two of those employees had just started their careers with the city. One employee clocked in at 12:01 a.m. on his very first day and spent the duration of the storm operating heavy equipment during the snowstorm. Another walked to work at 700 a.m. expecting to ride a trash truck. When trash collection was suspended because of the storm, he simply stepped in wherever help was needed. Other staff members repaired water and sewer main brakes and sub freezing temperatures before returning to snow removal operations. Those stories are only a small example of the dedication, perseverance, and teamwork our employees demonstrate every day. The mission of the city of Wsboro's Department of Public Works is to provide safe, reliable, essential services and infrastructure to our community. Whether it's maintaining streets, collecting refues, providing clean water, treating waste water, responding to storms, or preparing for the next season, our employees work every day behind the scenes to help keep this community running. When one season ends, another

begins. Snow operations transition into paving, mowing, leak detection, storm preparation, leaf collection, and then back again to winter readiness. The work is constant, but so is our commitment to the community we serve. So while there is no offseason, public works week is an opportunity to acknowledge the community we are fortunate to be a part of and to recognize the people behind those services, the employees who quietly show up every day to do difficult and essential work for the community. On behalf of all of public works, thank you to council for this recognition and for your continued support of our employees and the work they do for our community. We also look forward to sharing more about the people and services behind public works throughout next week. So, thank you all.

Thank you.

Item eight is to present a proclamation naming May as building safety month.

And I shall read this one. Proclamation building safety month, May 2026. Whereas the city of Wesboro, Virginia is committed to recognizing that our growth and strength depend on the safety and essential role our homes, buildings, and infrastructure play both in everyday life and when disasters strike. And whereas our confidence in the resilience of these buildings that make up our community is achieved through the devotion of vigilant guardians, building safety and firerevention officials, architects, engineers, builders, trades people, design professionals, laborers, plumbers, and others in the construction industry who work year round to ensure the safe construction of buildings. And whereas these guardians are dedicated members of the International Code Council, IC, a nonprofit that brings together local, state, territorial, tribal, and federal officials who are experts in the built environment to create and implement the highest quality codes and standards to protect us in the buildings where we live, learn, work, and play. And whereas these modern building codes and standards include safeguards to protect the public from hazards such as hurricanes, snowstorms, tornadoes, wildland fires, floods, and earthquakes. And whereas building safety month is sponsored by IC to remind the public about the critical role of our community's largely unknown protectors of public safety, our code officials who assure us of safe, sustainable, and affordable buildings that are essential to our prosperity. And whereas built to last, the theme for building safety month 2026 encourages us all to get

involved and raise awareness about building safety on a personal, local, and global scale. And whereas each year in observance of building safety month, people all over the world are asked to consider the commitment to improve building safety, resilience, and economic investment at home and in the community, and to acknowledge the essential service provided to all of us by local, state, tribal, territorial, and federal building safety and fire prevention departments in protecting lives and property. Now therefore, I, Kenneth B. Lee, Senior, Mayor, City of Wsboro, Virginia, do hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as building safety month. Accordingly, I encourage our citizens to join us as we participate in building safety month activities. Signed, Kenneth B. Lee, Senior, Mayor, City of Wsboro, Virginia. Who has the pitch? I'd like to just take a moment to thank you all for acknowledging this important um factor in our lives. You know, the the element of uh construction safety. It's uh a lot of times it flies under the radar, but it's uh very important element of uh of of our lives. And um I think uh as as the proclamation was being read, it was it it occurred to me,

you know, a lot of the building codes, they're they're designed for disasters. They're designed for, you know, high winds and high snow loads and and um um extremes. So, you know, so when we do get a storm come through, we can feel safe and secure knowing that, you know, our our homes are going to be be intact at the end of the day. And uh we appreciate all the contractors that we work with and and uh all their efforts and of course our our staff which uh some are here today. They um very very professional, very very great people to work with and the citizens of Wesboro great people to work with as well. So thank you all.

Thank you.

All right. Item nine. Item nine is to consider adopting an ordinance amending the zoning map upon application by Wells Land Development LLC amending properties for tax map numbers 31-1-18 31-1-108B and 32-2-1B located at 0 Force Drive and 0 Bookerdale Road also known as Silver Creek Subdivision Williamsboro Virginia. Mr. Sir, I don't have anything to add this evening other than the process has brought us to the to this point. Um the ordinance was introduced, seconded, and discussed Friday. And so, um unless there's additional question or discussion among council, um you're free to call the question. Any questions from council?

All in favor adopting the ordinance amending the property, say I. I any opposed? Nay. I have 41. Item 10 is consider adopting an ordinance imposing taxes for calendar year 2026. Mr. Mr. McCormick or Mr. H. Actually, it's me. Okay.

So, items 10, 11, and 12 um all relate to the budget, and I don't have any additional uh remarks this evening. So, as was case previously, these ordinances have been subject to a public hearing, introduced, properly seconded, and discussed. So, unless there are additional questions or um consideration from council, you're free to call the question. Any questions for council? I think my notes might be a little um incomplete on this. Yes, sir. All those in favor of considering adopting an ordinance imposing taxes for calendar year 2026, say I. I.

Any opposed? Eyes have a 5-0. Item 11 is considered adopting an ordinance amending section 66-3 C, 66-3F, 86-28A, and 86-139A of the city code utilities. Anything to add, Mr. H? No, sir. All in favor adopting the ordinance amending the specified code sections and establishing the utility rates, say I.

I. Any opposed? Eyes have 5-0. Item 12 is considered adopting an ordinance establishing the annual budget for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2027. All in favor adopting an ordinance amending the specified code sections and establishing the budget for FY2027, say I. I.

Any opposed? Eyes have it. 5 Z. Item 13 is to hold two separate public hearings and consider in introducing two ordinance. The first is to amend the zoning map by reasonzoning a 3acre portion of tax map number 41-3-112 located at zero Ludowit Boulevard from RG5 General Residential to HB business. Applicant is Roser Development LLC. M uh Miss Tate will provide a staff report. Miss Tate,

so the two public hearings before you um this evening, uh one is a zoning map amendment. Um and the other is a conditional use permit request for multif family residential in the highway business zoning district. So the two really go together and I'll explain that um as I move through the presentation. Um so the star here represents the general location of the property. Uh the property is outlined in red. Um you can see the adjacent development, Walmart, the Creekwood Village subdivision, the recently developed secure store, um Pratt's Run subdivision across the street. Um and then also Lowe's in the vicinity as well as the future location of the the Tiger Wash. This just shows the intersection. So the Ludowit and Bryant Drive intersection. So the property in question is over here kind of behind these trees and this is kind of showing that from the Ludit and Ridgeline Drive intersection. Um so that a different angle. So the request kind of um is representative of two parts. So the first is a zoning map amendment to reszone a 3acre portion of tax map number 41-3-112 from RG5 which is our general residential to highway business. This small 3acre portion kind of reverts this portion of the parcel back to its original resoning of highway business prior to the time that it was reszoned to RG5 with the Creekwood Village subdivision in 2020. Um so you can see uh the highway business zoning here and then that adjacent RG5 zoning just shows the two two separate parcels and this area here um is representative of that portion of the property where the request is to amend the zoning from RG5 to highway business to match the remainder of that other parcel.

And then the second part of the request is a conditional use permit for multifamily residential in the highway business district. So currently in our highway business zoning district, you can have apartments that are not on the ground floor. But if you want to have a complete multifamily development in highway business without a groundf flooror business um use, then you do need a conditional use permit. So, this request is for tax map 41-3-115 and that 3acre portion. Um, it proposes 232 apartments across four buildings along with a clubhouse and multif family is permitted in this zoning district with a conditional use permit. This shows kind of a general concept of the layout of the buildings and the parking. um the proposed clubhouse, the connection over here to the signalized intersection of Ludit Bryant Drive and the connection um also to Ridgeline Drive and its intersection um with Ludowit. These are kind of general um building renderings of what the um proposed apartments would look like from the outside. And another one of those that was provided by the applicant. The comprehensive plan designates this area for business use. So some of the zoning standards related to this request. So in order to have a residential use in business zoning, in order to apply for that conditional use permit, the parcel must be larger than 20,000 square feet, which this one is. Um and then it also identifies that other area and dimensional standards related to the residential use would be set through the conditional use permit process. And you'll notice that as we go through some of the proposed staff recommended conditions. So the project area is over 11 acres. Um and there have there were some conditions that were

recommended prior to the planning commission meeting and then some um additional conditions that were recommending before you. And so I'll cover all of those. This just shows the conceptual layout again. So when staff begins to analyze kind of the best use for the property, certainly we're looking at various factors. Um you know, what is the potential use of this property for residential over commercial and kind of what are the pros and cons of that. So we did consult with our economic development department to see kind of their uh thoughts on the viability of the property for a commercial use. Um they did note that there were some limitations from a commercial development standpoint. Um the distance from I64, limited frontage on Luduit and some limited access points. Again, these are for particular types of commercial uses. Um they did note that it could possibly be marketed as a host hotel site or for daycare storage units is another option. Um or some kind of outdoor entertainment. um staff notes that residential is not out of place on this parcel kind of for the surrounding kind of mixeduse nature of the area.

So often you're also looking at the impacts of the proposed use to adjacent properties. So staff notes that the project is mostly surrounded by commercial uses. So, it's not likely to have an adverse impact on the neighboring commercial uses, but you do want to consider how potentially adjacent commercial uses could have an adverse impact on um the the multif family development. Um staff recommends a condition requiring a class C landscaping buffer around all project area boundaries. Um staff has noted in the condition that as much existing mature vegetation would be preserved as possible. If you'll remember from the earlier picture, there are kind of a significant stand of trees along the frontage. So, if that could be maintained and then where existing vegetation is removed, staff does recommend a class C buffer per that section of the zoning ordinance, which is a minimum of 20 ft in width. And it requires um it typically requires a wall, fence, or burm in addition to the landscaping. and staff felt like the wall, fence, or berm might not be applicable or necessary in certain areas to have the same effect. So staff's recommending that that not be required unless in certain locations as staff evaluates, you know, we could make that determination that it would be helpful to meet the intention of the landscaping and buffering in that area. Another component that is looked at is transportation. So the prop the project does propose two access points. So, Bryant Drive and Ludowit, which is a light controlled intersection, and then Ridgeline Drive near Ludowit. Um, it does meet fire code requirements for multif family developments that have to have two um ingress egress points with more than 200 units. Um, a traffic analysis um was completed based on certain factors that staff was asking the applicant to review. So, storage length of existing turn lanes, signal timing for the traffic light at Ludit

and Bryant Drive, and then some evaluation of pedestrian crossings at the Lu Ludit and Bryant Drive intersection. Um, this just kind of shows the general concept layout um overlaid on to the aerial so you can see kind of the existing uses. Um staff will note that at the planning commission meeting there was some concern um about how the apartment um use might um impact the Ridgeline Drive and Lud Dit intersection. Um, so since that time, staff has done some additional um kind of research and and requested some additional input from VOTE related to the Creekwood Village subdivision and the traffic analysis that was proposed at its original development. So at the time when Creekwood Village was created, their traffic impact study planned for 600 residential units. What is actually occurred at Creekwood Village is closer to 350 residential units. That traffic impact analysis in addition to that increased number of residential units also included a significant amount of commercial development on the adjacent property. So that's where the secure store has now located. Um there are some additional properties that are undeveloped that could develop there. Um, but after kind of reviewing all of that with VOTE and the fact that the original Creekwood study only had two access points and this will create two additional so four total um VOTE really felt like there weren't significant concerns at the Ridgeline Ludit um intersection based on those changes um and then the secure store being significantly less of a traffic generator than the type of commercial use that was envisioned as part of that study. And I know all that's a little confusing. So if you have any questions, um, please feel free.

Another component that was evaluated is the infrastructure. So public water is available. Um, public sewer is not easily accessible. Um, at one point the applicants did propose a private pump station to serve this development. Um, staff does believe that the project would be more reliably served by Gravity Sewer. um because it is a dense multifamily development rather than a commercial use which would likely have less sewer demand than 232 apartments. So staff has discussed extending gravity sewer across Lud Dwit with the applicant and they do plan to look into the feasibility of that. So staff did propose a condition that gravity sewer will be required unless staff determines during site plan review that it is not feasible or for some reason how that sewer gets extended is not in the best interest of the public system. Um we always reach out to the school system to kind of get an identification of where they are with their school enrollment numbers. This project is in the Westwood Hills district. The school system notes that they do not have concerns regarding school capacity currently. Um you can see here for Westwood Hills Elementary. Um and these numbers are September 2025 and that's when they kind of update those or the next update um hasn't occurred yet, but they mentioned that they don't expect a major difference in these numbers from from what we've seen. So, multif family residential is permitted in the highway business district with a conditional use permit. Um, the reasonzoning of that small 3acre portion from RG5 to highway business allows it to be included in the conditional use permit application. So, these requests really kind of go together. Um, the rental market in the city remains extremely tight. Adding new units will help that. the applicant will be able to speak a bit on their other project at Town Center Drive and and

kind of the leasing numbers on that to give you a better feel for that. Um, we did note that the project area may be difficult to market exclusively as a commercial use and that mixed use or residential development is a reasonable alternative for this property. Um, extending gravity sewer will open opportunities for future development along Ludowit and provide that um to adjacent properties. Um the recommended conditions address our zoning ordinance requirements, any staff concerns, and then compatibility with the area. So part one, the planning commission does recommend approval of the reszoning request to reszone the 3acre portion from RG5 to highway business. It does comply with the comprehensive plans future land use map for business zoning in that area and it does revert that portion of the parcel back to its original zoning pre the creekwood reszoning. And then the recommendation kind of the second part is that the planning commission does recommend approval of the conditional use permit request for multif family residential in the highway business zoning district. Um, and at as I mentioned at the time there were only a certain number of conditions that staff had proposed and there are two additional ones that are highlighted here, but I will review them all. And the two additional ones highlighted really came from, you know, the planning commission recommended approval, but they had some general traffic and pedestrian connectivity concerns and asked us to do a little bit more work on those in the interim and we've done those and added those additional. So, it's not against any recommendation of the planning commission. it's actually u meeting their recommendation to look into those in a bit more detail. So the first condition is that the development will be developed in conformance with that concept layout that has been identified. Um these numbers might be wrong as we received an update on that layout today. Very minor update just adding some labels and things but what you've seen is the general layout of the buildings. The number of buildings is the um

concept plan that they would be kind of required to generally follow. Um the maximum number of residential units would not exceed 232. The class C buffer would be required along all boundaries of the property. Priority given to keeping existing vegetation. Where it cannot be kept, the class C buffer would be installed. And then that requirement for a wall, fence, or BM would be waved except where determined to be necessary during site plan review. The next condition is that a gravity sewer system is required to serve the development. If city staff determines that a gravity sewer system is not feasible or presents service, maintenance, or other issues that make gravity sewer to be not in the best interest of the public sewer system, an alternative system such as a pump or forced lateral can be used. So that would be worked out at site plan um with the determination of city staff. The next condition is that buildings shall not exceed a maximum building height as measured per the city of Wesborough zoning ordinance of 60 ft. And then the two additional um conditions recommended since the planning commission meeting is uh to install a high visibility crosswalk along the south side of Ludwit at its intersection with Bryant Drive, an ADA accessible landing on the corner of Lud Dit and Bryant Drive, pedestrian crossing signals and appropriate signal modifications to permit for safe pedestrian crossing. And this would include a crossing study if required to be completed as part of this condition. So originally staff had not recommended a condition for um a pedestrian crossing because there is not receiving infrastructure on the low side. Um that did come up as a concern from the public at the planning commission meeting and from planning commissioners. So we reached out to V reached back out to VOTE for some additional input and they felt like even though there's no receiving infrastructure at a minimum if an ADA compliant landing on the other side of the street was provided that that we could or it would create um a

safe crossing at that location. And then the other condition just related to traffic analysis and how things move throughout. Um I don't believe it was the applicant's desire at all to block off anything through their development. Um, but VOTE just asked and recommended that a public easement for ingress egress through the property from Ridgeline Drive to Bryant Drive would be granted during the site plan approval process just to make sure that any of the traffic that the general public could travel through to get to the um signalized intersection. So, that's all I have. Um, the applicant is here to speak on their requests. Um, but I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have. Are there plans for sidewalks along Ludowit? Um, similar to what Secure Store has?

Yes. To connect. Yes. Define receiving infrastructure for those of us that don't know, please.

So on So on the low side, there's no sidewalk. So if we put a crossing there, it would be a crossing to a curb. So, you know, if you're not an able-bodied person and you're in a wheelchair, you can't get up onto that. So, to direct people in that way, we might be saying this is the safe crossing, but then not providing that kind of full infrastructure. So, the at first the recommendation was just don't have them do a crossing at all. We'll wait until sidewalks exist in front of Lowe's and then we could make that connection. Um, but certainly the question always comes up of who's responsible for that and why don't we get it now if the development is happening. So after reaching back out to VOTE, they felt like even if we weren't going to have sidewalk yet across the Lowe's frontage, if the developer in city rightway was to provide for an ADA compliant landing, so to not have that curve situation that it would be um recommended to have it.

Okay. Thank you. you the gravity sewer system. Yes.

Um what type of issues would make that not feasible? The only thing that I have heard from public works and some of the engineering department and the applicant may be able to speak to this a little bit also is just you know without it being engineered or designed if there was some kind of depth issue or there was some reason why and I don't know all what all that looked like but if the city said the only way they're able to get it there that's not some kind of astronomical cost is you know would make our system not what we would like in terms of depth or any other number of things that we could maybe look at something else, but it's certainly the desire of the city without any of that being done yet to have it be extended as gravity sewer.

How far along in the project would they go before that decision was made? Um, so once they started to submit the site plan, that's when we would and we would be reviewing that. So, none of that has come through yet, but I would assume that if they receive approval from council on the resoning and the I mean the conditional use permit and resoning that they would move quickly to site plan review.

Yeah. Um couple questions. So, the um uh first is is is just a a question to recollection of what's the maximum height of our ladder truck? just going to get to the 60 foot along a large corridor. Um, you know, we're not getting more land. Um, uh, you know, the annexation ban is not going to ever get lifted and, um, it seems, well, maybe just arbitrary a little bit to hold it at 60. Uh, I would just be curious if our new ladder truck, um, could accommodate something larger. So,

I'm not sure about that, but I do know that that number wasn't based on something they restrict like fire restricted and said it was purely that in our um zoning ordinances it says we'll just set that standard during this process. So, we asked them, you know, how tall do you envision going and it was like 60 ft. But it wasn't something that fire said we need you to keep it lower if that Yeah, that's that's what I was like because I I I kind of remember that it's that it that we when it's on the planning commission and we set the 60 foot, it was based off of our current assets, right? And so I think our ladder truck exceeds that now because I think we did that in in 2007.

Um so just for giggles. Um the next is um uh I didn't hear it but I'll just sort of ask it. Um, has there been any uh offer or consideration or commitment or any discussion from the applicant at all related to uh providing any percentage of these units at a below market rate? We have had the conversation that we know it's something that the council desires and is important to to council. Um, so we have communicated that to the applicant, but we have not received any commitments for that that they would just be market rate.

Okay. Um, hard to tell on the um on the uh conceptual site plan, but uh just just for to just ask the question, I don't see a sidewalk on Bryant Drive uh to the uh the u egress ingress into the development.

I think so it wraps around. Yeah. So, I think this is Yeah, it's just not called out. Okay. Yeah, I think the intention is that they're supposed to have it. Um but

Okay. So, I'll flag that one. Sure. All right. Okay. Um uh and then the next was just a more of a legal question. Um just out of curiosity, uh because goes I would imagine it goes effect July 1. um unless there was a a delay on it. But um the newly uh passed general assembly provision of highway business um and um in the future would communities like Wesboro have a voice in denying or having adjacent consideration for residential allow permitting that by right um in a highway business district. As I understand, the new, if you're familiar with that, um, uh, bill that was, uh, passed, and I believe the governor signed, it would preclude our ability to establish any requirements such as a conditional use permit on a highway business.

That's my understanding. Um, this might be the last one, then, right? Yeah. Okay. And we so staff kind of was following that bill and identifying like so with you know there are some conditions that we're recommending with this application that if um this bill moves forward and we get these requests that we would we would not have the ability to get. We could say pretty pretty please. I guess say that. Okay, cool. That's all I have.

To that note, does the three acres increase the total number of units? Would they be restricted with just the eight? Because as of right now, they're only at eight and I don't know if that would restrict it to a lower portion. So, um, you know, that might be a better question for the applicant in terms of their actual layout on the concept plan, but as far as our zoning ordinance is concerned, we typically operate off of a 20 units per acre type number for our multif family. If it's in if it's a conditional use permit and highway business, we don't have that maximum, but you know, typically we follow the 20 units per acre. So, it's a little more flexible in that our zoning doesn't specifically tie us to anything, but I think they would certainly say to get it all to fit, it could likely affect those those overall numbers.

Yeah, my my my fuzzy math over the applicant here, but it looks like an entire building Yeah. wouldn't be feasible. The clubhouse wouldn't be feasible. And that's probably it because I mean I think you'd probably be able to hit the parking um otherwise but in the storm water management area. Well, you probably still use storm man storm water management residential but um so is the applicant for sure going to be speaking tonight or we have choice in the matter. Yeah. Yeah. They they have signed up to speak for the public hearing. Yes. Any other questions for

See, that's why I almost feel like it's a little bit of a missed opportunity. Yeah. So, we're 75 to 100 foot on the on the ladder truck.

So, that's that's what sort of begs the question of you're at a minimum you're probably missing an entire additional floor. And the only reason I bring that up is like, you know, let's just I'm not saying let's go build as many apartments as we possibly can, but we also are running out of land, right? At some point, we're going to run out of land. And so uh vertical is the solution. Um and if if we have apparatus that we've paid a lot of money for to uh u to make available for to service the community, it only seems reasonable to see if there are opportunities to to go higher. But Any other questions for Okay. So, what I'll do is I'll open up the public hearing, the first public hearing for the uh zoning amendment. If I open up the public hearing for the zoning amendment, and I'll give the applicants an opportunity to speak first. Good evening, council members. My name is Bill Moore with Westwood Professional Services, formerly Ballser Associates, who have been providing engineering consultation for the applicant. Uh, with me tonight is the applicant, Garrett, and my colleague of mine, Ben, and uh, I'll turn over to them to to provide some more information, and then we'll answer questions, and we would ask for the chance to do a rebuttal on any of the other public comments that come up afterwards. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Lee, members of council. I'm Ben Crew with Ballser and Associates. Bill, appreciate the uh introduction. Um we're going to walk through a couple of highlights with you all for just a minute and then I'll invite Garrett up to the podium. Um I'm not going to restate what Miss Tate went through. Um but I would like to hit a few highlights and answer some of the initial questions um that you that you

all brought up as as we're looking at this. So, um, appreciate the opportunity to share some additional background. Um, our team has taken a long time to get to this point. We're excited to be with you all this evening. You know, we had our first presem meeting about 12 months ago to discuss this project. Um, obviously involves a team from our side. We've taken into account a lot of um, staff comments, including feedback from VOTE that we've kind of been through this evening. Um, and we're excited about our positive recommendation from uh from planning commission. So, walking through this a little bit, um, I'd like to kind of walk through the the conditions by staff and and and break these down a little bit. So, you know, we talked about five of those conditions at the planning commission meeting, which we're tremendously comfortable with. Um, obviously we're making a commitment to you all with those conditions that we're going to build what we say we're going to build. What we're showing on our concept plan and our elevations and our narrative is exactly what um we're going to provide as part of the project. So, you know, conformance with the concept plan, maximum number of units, the class C buffer, the gravity sewer requirement, and then the max height that we just talked about a little bit ago. Um I want to comment just briefly and this may involve a couple of questions that we'll come back to but the sixth condition um is a little bit unique for this particular property um related to the pedestrian accommodations or proposed pedestrian accommodations across Ludwit. So um you know we're providing the required accommodations along Lud Dit you know 600 plus feet of public sidewalk curb returns sidewalk um or excuse me crosswalk along uh ridgedale along our frontage and then now we're being requested to extend those public accommodations across Ludawit and so you know installing curb returns putting in

crosswalks those type things um are all kind of palatable to the design team and the developer. But when you talk about changing the signal and installing pedestrian accommodations and modifying the cabinet to allow for um PED uh phases within signal, then you start to get into a lot of complexity baked into that. So, at the core of the request, um, we'd like to understand a little bit more because we're we're not exactly comfortable with, um, that condition number six, and we'd like to we'd like to better understand that um, that discussion. And then the last requirement about the public access um, easement, which is through the site, which is from Ridgedale, Page North to Page South down to Bryant. um in concept that uh everyone's amendable to that and you know it's what VOTE and localities are looking for with interconnectivity of streets right so people aren't caught here or there there's interconnectivity and that what's make what what makes traffic flow but we would want to understand a little bit about what that agreement looks like and that may not be necessarily for this body this evening but let's say we wanted to you know have an event adjacent to the clubhouse or there was a resident gathering between buildings two and three which are the buildings would that area be able to be closed for a little bit or would we need to get a permit from the city to be able to facilitate that? So, we just like to understand that a little bit more but um in theory we like the interconnectivity. We're supportive of that condition but we want to make sure that there wouldn't be any specific restrictions related to that within the development. Um and so and so I'll share that a little bit so we can we can dive into that. Miss Tate touched on the transportation side. So um you know we've we've been working

from the transportation side for six or seven months now. You know we identified a a scope of study with the project. I'm not going to go into the details of that because I think that was covered well in the staff report but um you know talked about turn lanes and tapers being adequate. talked about access points on side streets, making the interconnected grid um and then touching on the pedestrian accommodations being proposed along Ludit Boulevard and then the connectivity to um to Ridgedale. Uh to answer a quick question on Bryant, there is sidewalk shown on Bryant. So on the page north side of Bryant, there's sidewalk connected. I don't have a laser pointer. And then it makes a left and goes into the development. And then as part of the Bryant Drive extension, there's also sidewalk being proposed by us on the other side of Bryant, which comes across the future Tiger Wash uh commercial access there on Bryant Drive. There's kind of two two uh pedestrian accommodations that are being extended um along Brian Drive, both on the north side and the south side um of that particular road. So, you know, our our team is is happy and committed to um provide the pedestrian improvements, you know, on really three sides of our development. And I think the main question that we have is related to related to condition number six and where that request stops of we're kind of the this is kind of the first request along Ludowit Boulevard where we're coming across where you know we've kind of matched the similar expectations of the adjacent developments of um let's see Napa Tractor Supply Secure Storage those similar you know public pedestrian improvements that have been uh done similarly along this same corridor. So, I just share that a little bit as background. It is important to note as part of this project from an investment side that this project's being provided with no

grants, no incentive packages from economic development or locality, no state or federal supportive funding. This is private dollars being invested in the city of Wesboro. I think that's really really important um because in this day and age doing projects without any supportive measures from another party um is pretty unique and I think I think shares a little bit about um the strength of of Thomas Builders which which Garrett will share a little bit of background in just a minute. So you talk a little bit about the housing you know city of Wesboro like many localities struggles with the you know diversity of housing options and lack of inventory. I think we've touched on that and and one positive step that we've taken in many localities um including this one with the adjacent project at the town center is providing additional stock to the inventory. So there are choices, there's additional options um to help alleviate some of the current issues that we're experiencing not only here in the city but but in other locations. Touched a little bit on the on the appropriateness of the zoning side. I'm not going to I'm not going to get into that or the comp plan. I think that was well covered from that side. But, you know, corridor connectivity, good zoning practice from that end. Um, I will share that, you know, and Garrett can cover this in just a minute in greater detail, but you know, there there's very few of these of this high quality apartments being constructed um within the region. And it's we're excited to bring it before you all um this evening because there there's a lot of aging infrastructure in a lot of different localities from an apartment standpoint. Um and there's not a lot of folks that are providing this highquality fourstory um elevator serve type product which is pretty exciting to to continue to bring to Wesboro. I'll touch real quickly on um

the building code site of the hike of the height question because I think that was really important. And so what you'll see in a lot of construction in a lot of buildings, not only multif family but in the hospitality industry related to hotels, when you go above four stories, the building code changes and it changes significantly. And so that's why you'll see a tremendous amount of buildings capped at that fourstory level because it's an allwood construction type setup and once you go to five, you get to a different building construction type and it kind of changes the game. So I'll just share share that as additional background. Um those those are my comments. Thanks for spending a couple minutes with me to listen to that and I'll invite Garrett up to the podium to share a couple thoughts and then we'll be happy to answer any questions that you all have generated.

Thank you Ben. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, council for hearing us tonight and uh opportunity to get to speak and present this to you guys. I'll keep it brief because I know we've gotten a lot explained. I just wanted to tell you a little bit about of our company um because I think it's a little different than most you probably see and speak a little bit to the market, at least that we've seen. Um for more than a decade, we've been very active throughout uh central and southwest Virginia designing and delivering communities. Um they combine thoughtful planning, quality construction, and long-term value. To date, we've delivered over 2,000 multif family units, hundreds of single family homes, and uh thousands of square feet of commercial and uh retail parcels throughout Virginia. One thing that really sets us apart is that we're not just simply bringing this project to resoning and walking away. We're long-term owners and operators. We not only um design, we also build, lease, and manage these properties that we um present out here. Um, one things Ben mentioned is we are all self-funded. We use small banks and stuff like that. We don't have a bunch of um, investors behind us. We're not doing joint venture product projects. And a big reason for that is it really allows us to look at the community and do what we think's best for it and listen to feedback on that. One of our recent projects, which you're probably familiar with, uh, I believe was mentioned earlier is Elevate Apartments Now Town Center. And, uh, that thing has performed extremely well. Each building has been pre-leasasing at roughly 50% or more prior to opening. We've been opening building by building. There's five buildings there. Three are open. The fourth is set to open soon. And I think that speaks volumes to the strength of the Waysboro market and the demand for quality housing. Um, and I truly believe this project is an extension of that success and really aligns with the city's continued growth and housing needs. As mentioned in staff report, the vacancy rate remains extremely tight. It's below 2% in

Wesboro and additional housing supply is clearly needed. We believe this project and this location are a strong fit to help that demand. This project proposes 232 apartments which I think was mentioned earlier. The density it's it matches what you normally would see for um what's it 20 acres per yeah 20 acre

and right down I'm sorry. um with a mix of one, twos, and threes. Uh we do believe we can fit that what's what's shown here and with parking very comfortably based on other projects. Um these buildings as Ben had mentioned are all elevator served interior corridor corridor heated and cooled very similar to town center project. This one takes a little more modern look with flat roofs um and some contemporary colors. Our goal is not to simply just meet your expectations, but to exceed them by delivering this high quality housing that residents are really proud to call home. I thank you guys again for the opportunity to present and uh appreciate any questions you guys have. Thank you. Any questions for the

um I want Mr. Short to ask his question that he asked earlier or I'm going to ask it.

Which one? Which one was that? the one regarding uh below market um because you guys didn't address it in your uh uh comments to us. And so um if you can address that and then also if you can speak to um where you think uh because you said one bedroom, two bedroom, three bedrooms, what do you think the rates are? Um, and I know that that's a kind of hairy situation. Uh, maybe a scary question at this point, but I mean I'm sure you guys know what it is or have some idea. So, so let us know.

Yeah, I'd love to speak to all that. So, uh, we've actually seen it's a common question to get asked about, uh, more affordable housing and especially in Wesboro market. We've seen by bringing a higher class housing that really doesn't exist around here, nothing like this, it really actually frees up more of that uh housing. So instead of actually just putting it on this project, it allows people that are currently in something maybe that they don't love to move out of that and move into here. And that's a lot of what we see all the time in these communities. And that's what we really expect and have seen even with Town Center uh project we've done. Speaking of rents, um don't hold this to us because the market may shift. Who knows? But what we're seeing right now is a one bed, one bath is going for around 1300,400 depending on the square footage. A two bed, two bath around uh 14-,500 and a three bed, three bath going for 18 to,900 per square.

So basically, you have an address. I mean, I like how you put that you couched that that answer. it it but it totally evaded what I what I asked or it told me you you didn't answer it so it it gave me an answer that you haven't address uh below market in in this right we've looked at it it's a hard it's a hard thing to uh financially make viable and and make doable and we've really like I said and we we do evaluate it we look at it and it's a market bymarket thing

yes I I get you I'm not trying to you you know, tar and feather you, but I am trying to be transparent. Uh, because we will hear it and so I'm I'm asking you to address it so it comes out of your mouth so people can listen and and hear what it is that you know you're offering. And so, um, I'll let someone else speak. Thank you. Well, I think just as a as a piggyback, I think maybe to to to your um comment rather it's more of a of of a obser observation relative to the comparison of um expected infrastructure, right? So sidewalk placement, I'll allude to it and and then comparables to Napa or um the storage facility or otherwise is that you know combined you're looking at 460 human beings living there, right? Um if 25% of them uh want to go walk over to Lowe's or go go grab a burger at Five Guys, they're going to cross Ludit.

So that's the that's the difference. That's the distinction I think respectfully that I think is not comparable to any of the other ones that are out there because again it's 400 human beings. So we made some of those changes when they did the town center to make sure there was a pathway between apartments and the shopping center which we're grateful for. Which great we're grateful for. Yeah. For the same same exactly that's an excellent point. Yeah. So thank you.

I had one question. So percentage-wise for your ones, your ones, your twos, and your threes, where do you because I I like the variety because the one one gives, you know, the single household, single person householder, just young couple an opportunity to get into a place prior to, you know, starting a family, but what what percentage of those 200 plus units would be your ones, your twos, your threes? Kind of what are your priorities with that?

That's a that's a really good question. And I actually appreciate you asking cuz I would have told you before CO we would have relied heavily on three bedrooms but it after co people don't really want to live with other people and I I like my space so I can't blame them. Um but we are looking at so the three uh bigger buildings you see would all be ones and twos and then the smaller building there would have a few three bedrooms in it. So total count for you, we're looking at uh 100 111bedrooms, 113 two beds, and eight three beds. Wow. Okay.

And I also will say that's also influenced by our other project which we do we was pretty heavy on three beds and so seeing the market and be able to understand that a little bit. The other project being the town center. Yes sir. Where do uh how what percentage is that full now? The town center. So, we've got three buildings open. Um, just out of the three buildings, you're we're probably 80% 87% occupied. Do you find that the people who are renting those buildings are Wesboro citizens or people moving from out of the area? I've seen mostly Wesboro citizens. I'm not necessarily in the day-to-day operations, but from what I've seen of applications come through, I've seen a lot of Wesboro citizens.

How do you target your your potential renters? Uh, what marketing? We just well apartments.com and stuff like that. We don't really pay for uh postings or anything like that. We post it on all your sites. You can So you find that more young professionals, families,

a lot of young professionals. Um we have seen a few families, not as many as some other projects, but a lot of young professionals. So I think the other other one I I guess if if if if we if we're cool with profer six I guess um uh for the reasons I I had stated then um I think the only other one was the special event permit right so the interconnection one um and you know I certainly want to press y'all but also just want to get business done right so um if uh um you know that I mean the special event permit uh process is it's a a form online, right? So, if you wanted to go fill out a form and and I mean the turnaround is pretty dagone quick. They're done administratively uh with the exception of unless you guys are going to have like a hoot and holler, you know, beerfest over there. Um there's uh they're done administratively. Am I right, Mike?

That's correct. Yeah.

So, I mean they're pretty pretty they're kind of nothing burgers um for the for the permits. I mean, if that if if that sounded reasonable and we could even bake it in of, you know, um uh that uh um you know, expedited review or some some you know, something reasonable um so that you all if you just decide on a whim on a Wednesday to have a party on a Saturday, then you can. But yeah, I I I would I would echo that. think that would just free it up is particularly as this as this corridor is continues to evolve. Uh um and how the terrain doesn't support itself to ever making connections to the back. Having loop-de-loops through something I think would be pretty helpful. Um so that answers the party party on the weekends question.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think we just more or less wanted to understand the practicality behind what was expected because it's not it is a private drive that's maintained by us. So you know what is what are the expectations you know open 247 you know just kind of wanted to understand that a little bit more. Yeah, I mean I I I I would I don't know words and SAS mouse I mean we could we could push it and just and and table you know make a motion to table until you all wanted to to air it all out. But um I mean I don't think there'd be an expectation that you guys are going to be on the same snow pushing schedule that we're on, right? Because this just that's probably the the thing that I would be worried about if I were you. Um, yeah,

but I think we're trying to avoid a permanent blockage. And uh, again, to to Terry's point or Mr. Short's point, you're not going to be on our snow removal uh, schedule. And the occasional block party or if you have maintenance, those things are fine. But what we don't want to discover is six months down the road, all of a sudden there's a no private or um, no through traffic or that kind of thing. Yep. Yep. Yeah. No. Yes. Yes. Yeah. No, I I I think that discussion is helpful to understand to have it in this in in in the meetings and so I think I think we've got a comfort level with that. Y Okay. Yeah. Great.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have any more? We do. Okay. All right, Eric Tranovich. Silver Creek, so I'm not gonna take a lot of time, but why the road across the future Tiger Wash, why doesn't that just try to connect to the Walmart? Wouldn't that traffic through that town community? If you look on the map, there's nothing

it's it's the constructibility. Yeah, it's the the grade. See the skip dash lines over by the legend. Yeah. So, it's just not possible at all. Yeah. I think maybe for the benefit of the folks at home, Mr. may mind maybe him coming to the podium just just so our friends our friends in YouTube can

um but this is the same problem with all these new neighborhoods that are going in that I've talked to all of you about multiple times. All of these people are going to have to go out and around. They're going to drive miles out of the way to try to get to Walmart. Right? There's no way for any of these new neighborhoods to connect to each other or to connect to any shopping center. So, by adding 230 more cars on Lou Dit, we're just going to create more traffic. All of those cars are going to have to go to all of these traffic lights and they're all going to clog Roser and Lou Dit and all of these other places. I really I mean I think this looks beautiful, but I don't understand why we have to cram a house in every single place in this town when all of these roads are already overly trafficked and busy. Have any of you tried to drive from the center of town to the target? It takes 30 minutes and now we're going to add 230 plus vehicle trips a day among the other seven or eight housing projects that have already been going on in this town for a while. It just doesn't make sense. I know we want tax revenue. I want I know we want to grow and improve, but we're growing so quickly that all of that money is going to have to go to take care of all of these problems that you guys are allowing to happen by just cramming houses in every single spot in this town. It's it's sad and it's disappointing. And if if there's no way for it to meet there, that just doesn't seem feasible to me. It's it's it's always about money and who has to spend it. And eventually it's going to be the citizens that have to spend the money to clean up all of these problems. And unfortunately, we're only going to be mad at you. We're not going to be mad at them or him or anyone else. We're all going to be pissed because you guys have to keep raising our taxes to fix problems that should have been fixed during construction when it could at least be

partially absorbed by the builders who are stand. They're going to make $350,000 a month based off average rent on this building. So, it's definitely not money. It's just no one wants to force anyone's hand to do the right thing in this town. And it's disappointing. Thank you,

Wayne Noly. Wayne Nley8 High Point Court Wesboro. My only comment in regard to this particular zoning amendment is to support the proper six that says we need to get a crosswalk across Lud Dit. You know, you're adding more dwellings here. There's Creekwood Village. It's on and on. as Eric was talking about all these other places. At what point do we get to the point where you can't safely cross lude dit? I'm a bicyclist and while I probably won't bicycle there very much, I read lots of magazine articles related to this and it just becomes unsafe to try to cross streets like that without the infrastructure. As Eric would say, let's make it part of this development. It's not like a tractor supply or an advanced auto. This is a lot of people, not just from this development, but the other people that'll come through there. So, council needs to start, in my opinion, um requiring improvements as we're done, unless you're going to start setting up budgets to just go in and do these things later. And I won't disagree that it will cost significantly more to modify the signals for the pedestrian things than just to put a crosswalk across. There's a big difference there. But look at the projects the city's doing now for ADA ramps and that type of thing. They don't come cheap to the taxpayer if you have to do them later. And one final comment, and I'm not at all trying to to reflect on this developer because I know nothing

about them, and I do not want to impinge on their reputation, but my comment is more related to the process. Don't let developers blackmail you with the threat of legal action or something like that to say you got to do this, you got to approve these profers, you got to eliminate these profers or whatever. Stand up for the citizens of Wsboro. Thank you. I hereby close the public hearing on the uh zoning amendment and I hereby open the public hearing on the conditional use permit.

Edith Ecman.

Good evening. I live at 229 Morgan Court in the Prattz Run subdivision and in answer to your question, it's already unsafe to cross Ludowit as a pedestrian. I can't walk to Walmart safely. Excuse me. There is actually nowhere along Ludowit that is currently safe for a pedestrian to cross. And I see that happen all the time. We have had increasingly increasing numbers of people running the red light there at the Lowe's intersection and turning into Lowe's from um from Ludit as if Bryant Drive doesn't exist. They treat the Lowe's entrance just like it's they're turning right off Bryant Drive. So that's already a dangerous intersection for those of us coming up Bryant Drive in our cars. And so for pedestrians, it's it's even worse. Um, a crosswalk with certain signals would certainly help. This is your opportunity, as others have said, to have the developer take on some of this. When you're adding that many units and that much traffic, you're going to have you definitely are going to have people crossing. I would like to be able to walk to Walmart instead of get in my car. So, I think it would help current citizens as well as the people who are going to be um moving in. And I think if we want to be a forwardthinking pedestrianfriendly city, it's time to not kick the can down the road and start creating these infrastructure improvements as we develop our land. And I don't really think this is a bad idea in general. I just would like to see the traffic and the pedestrian u questions taken care of. Thank you. Doug Nolan,

Mr. Mayor, members of council, I'm Doug Nolan, live at 105 Jasper Lane. I am the president of the Prattzun Owners Association. Um, you saw a map of our subdivision when they showed that early on. We have a unit of 75 duplexes and triplexes. And additionally over there, there are some single family homes. For all of those units, the access on Dwit is Bryant Drive. That is the sole access to our subdivision. Right now, the entrance at Lowe's is dangerous. Folks run the stop sign. Folks turning into Lowe's sometimes get backed up onto Ludowit. So that planning of that intersection was poorly done. We have an opportunity now for you guys when you're looking at the planning because you're adding with 232 units 200 250 automobiles into that area which was significant um impact on us to look at. I do have a procedural problem in that when I looked at the material on Friday, the staff recommendations went through number six. Number seven, the one about the access through um the development for um the other folks was not in that. So that there was effectively no notice of that condition before the meeting tonight, which poses a little problem to me. I do applaud staff's recommendation to have a pedestrian walkway. Um, we have seen well crossing Ludowit Boulevard. We see people doing it. They do it midway between lights. It's dangerous anywhere to cross Ludowit, but they should be doing it someplace where we have some sort of

controls and some protection for folks to be able to cross the street. Um, when these developers talked about developing the apartments at the Target Shopping Center, they talked about the pedestrian access, about being able to walk around the um shopping center. So presumably we would presume that there would be pedestrians who would be walking from this development too. So it's reasonable to um request that um crosswalk. I would add Councilman Short if uh a hoot and holler uh beerfest is going on, we'd like to get notice of. Thank you very much for your consideration. So then the final U sign up are representatives for the developer, Mr. Moore and Mr. Crew. I hereby close the public hearing on the conditional use permit. Um I guess I have a question. Um my concern is with the ADA crossing. So, it seems that the applicant wants to get a a a better understanding of that requirement. Um, and I don't think that that's doable here. Um so with that with that uncertainty or or or that particular issue not being clear um I'm not comfortable with any type of of uh way forward at this session to introduce that the ordinance.

Well I heard Mr. me. I'm sorry. But um I saw heads nod that you guys were going to be cool with it um based off of the the sheer number of pedestrians that were going to um be generated from the site. That's what I thought, but then I but I I saw head snob, but maybe maybe I wanted to see heads nod. So some clarification.

No. Uh Mayor Lee, I appre appreciate the comment on that. Um, you know, hear hearing the concerns and the background related to that. I think we've got a better comfort level with profer number six is a little bit unique where Tiger Car Wash is putting in a portion of the signal and so we'll coordinate between staff and them for the improvements which is a little bit unique but I think it's I think it's important enough to the project that that we want to make sure to include that part of it. um we don't have the capacity or the due diligence timing to continue this um and so we need to we need to move forward um with that and and so at this time I'll just share on on behalf of Thomas builders that we're we don't have to be comfortable with the conditions but there as they're provided by staff but um we're okay to provide those improvements as part of the project.

Thank you. Yeah. Any other questions, concerns? I think just point of order for M. Michaelelsson about the procedural um with the addition of a of a of a interconnection prior to public posting. No, there's no due process or or notice um issues. All the Virginia code requires is a just a a a summary of what was going to be discussed, which was what was included um a an additional matter to be discussed in the same subject matter I don't think is material and anybody that would want to hear about and discuss you know

we heard about it they would have come anyway yeah okay later it was there okay yeah cool I just don't want to undo anything so okay cool all right is there a motion to introduce the ordinance reszoning the parcel at zero Ludwit Boulevard. I'll make the motion. Thank you, Mr. Slow. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, Mr. Short. Any discussion? All in favor say I.

I. Any oppose? I have 750. Is there a motion to introduce the ordinance granting the conditional use permit requested for zero Ludwit Boulevard? I'll make the motion. Thank you, Mr. SLO. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, Mr. short. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Eyes have it. 5 Z. Item 14 is the hold of public hearing to consider adopting an ordinance amending the fiscal year 2026 budget in the amount of 3,512,692. Mr. McCormack.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, member of council. This item was introduced at your April 27th, 2026 city council meeting. It was then properly noticed for the public hearing this evening. Um after the public hearing, you can call the question if you have any questions on the contents of the budget amendment. I'd be happy to answer them now. Any questions? I hereby open the public hearing. No one has signed up to speak. I hereby close the public hearing. All in favor adopting the ordinance amending the FY 2026 budget? Say you need a motion. Oh, I'm sorry. Is there a motion to adopt the ordinance amending the FY20 2026 budget?

So moved. Thank you, Mr. Short. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Wood. All in favor adopting an ordinance amending the FY202 2026 budget, say I.

I. Any opposed? Eyes have it. 5 Z. Item 15 is to consider adopting three resolutions of support for grant applications supporting the development of Nature's Crossing Technology Center and Waysboro Commerce and Industry Park. The applications are US Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration, Economic Adjustment Assistance Grant, a VEDP business ready sites program grant, Commonwealth Transportation Board Economic Development Access Funds. Mr. Hitch,

good evening, Mr. Mayor and members of council. Um, as you stated, we are here tonight to seek your support for three um, three different grants that we're working on. And just as a matter of review, we I know we talk about this stuff all the time, but Nature's Crossing Technology Center is the 170 acre parcel that's off of Delphine. Wesboro Commerce and Industry Park is the 35 acres remaining of our legacy industrial park between um, the businesses off Shadow Village Drive and Interstate 64. And tier four is a um state um level of site readiness and that means all infrastructure is in place and all due diligence is complete. You've also seen this map before. I'm glad to report that we can cross a couple of things off um as we get closer to um finishing this project. What we have um tonight is um the what we have left is the water tank on the east side by rep by represented by the yellow dot and um the continuation of the sewer line and the continuation of the water line to the public systems. Looking at that same information in chart form, uh the on-site water, sewer, and pipes uh was 100% grant funded by the state and that will be completed in June. The next three, the due diligence, the off-site water and sewer design and the elevated water storage tank um is also grant funded at 2/3 one-third. So twothirds grant, one-third local funds. Those will all be completed um this May, this month. the water tank construction. We have applied for a federal grant to cover roughly 50% of that and that application is pending. And tonight, one of the grants uh two of the grants will be um looking for funds for the off-site water and sewer construction. And I apologize my slides are the different order than um they are read,

but the first grant um is a state grant um the Virginia business ready sites program. This is for the off-site water and sewer construction and grading. Total estimate of this project is $32 million and that is a two for one match. So, it's 60 2/3 one-ird match. The second grant is the um second federal grant also for the off-site water and sewer construction which is $7.2 million. we would be asking for a grant of $3 million and the federal grant can be used as a match for the state grant and vice versa. So if we were successful in getting both of them, it would significantly reduce our expenses. The third grant, I'm sorry, is for um the Waysboro Commerce Industry Park. The um yellow line at the bottom here is the Shannidor Village uh I'm sorry, Shannon Village Drive extension, the southern corridor road. And this red line um is what we're talking about here. So, the Virginia Department of Agriculture through the Commonwealth Transportation Board has an access road design program. Um, the maximum value of that is $150,000. We've worked with our on call engineering firm and they feel they can design that road for $150,000. So, the grant would cover the total cost of that. I'd be happy to answer any clarifications or details about each of the three grants.

Any questions for Mr. I guess in terms of a form of a motion, would it be um amanable to um partition out uh grant A and B separately and then C individually? If council supports all three, um I can't vote on the com transportation board. Okay. All right. So is there so which one?

Um well I I can make I can make a motion uh Mr. Mayor to uh support adopting resolutions for um item A which is the US Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration uh economic adjustment assistance grant and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Business Ready Sites Grant Program. I'll second that motion.

Thank you. A motion has been made by Mr. Short to accept US Department of Commerce Economic Development Administrative Economic Adjust Adjustment Assistance Grant and the BEBP Business Ready Sites Program Grants seconded by Mr. Slo. All in favor accepting no say I. Any oppose? Eyes have that 5 Z. Is there a motion to accept and support the Commonwealth Transportation Board Economic Development Access Funds Grant? I'll make that motion. Thank you, Mr. Wood. Is there a second? Second.

Thank you, Mr. Slo. All in favor accept accepting that grant say I. I. I. I'll And Mr. Short, can you clarify why you're abstaining? I mean I work for the Virginia Department of Transportation reports to the Commonwealth Transportation Board. Okay. Thank you. Item 16, communications correspondence calendar.

Just a reminder that the Virginia Street Arts Festival is uh being hosted this weekend downtown. So, um I'm sure interested uh residents can see progress toward that celebration and just encourage folks to come down and enjoy it and be alert to um some downtown street closures over the weekend. But Saturday and Sunday this weekend, that's all I have. Item 17, citizens comment. Have anyone signed? No.

William Cromwell. Okay, Laura Reagan. So, I would remind all speaking at citizen comments, you have four minutes. Green light will come on. You have 30 seconds left. The yellow light will come on so you can have time to wrap up.

Good evening, members of city council. My name is Laura Rian. I live on Village Drive in the city of Wesboro. I'm speaking to you tonight on behalf of the Waysboro Education Association, the local union for the education professionals of Waysboro Public Schools. It is the end of the semester. Teachers will soon be preparing report cards, and students, we hope, are working diligently to finish up their assignments, pass final tests, and achieve their academic goals. Report cards help us all to have closure on the school year. Here in city council chambers, we've spent a fair amount of time together over the last three or four months. I've attended almost every council meeting since January along with many other citizens of Wesboro, teachers, parents, and taxpayers. Although your year does not end with final exams or the beginning of summer break, we thought it might be appropriate to give city council an assessment of your achievements on behalf of local schools this year. Let me explain a few things about this. Honestly, since it's not the official end of a grading period for you, I'd say that really happens on election day. I prefer to think of this evaluation as a progress report. Like my students, when we are only halfway through a grading period, you have the opportunity to make changes before the final grade is issued if you feel that the current evaluation does not reflect your best work. Also, I'll remind you that grades are neither rewards nor punishment. They're communication of strengths and weaknesses. I hope that you will receive that this and that spirit. After careful consideration, the educators of WA have assessed your progress in support of public public education as a C. We're basing our evaluation on your support of our public schools. You've dealt most directly with schools this year in two ways. First, you've agreed

to fund the renovation of Wesboro High School. It's a significant investment in this city and its youngest citizens and very much needed. Thank you for recognizing and answering this need. However, you've also demonstrated the level of your support for our public schools by way of your proposal to institute a cap on the revenues you budget for our schools. A cap is a cut. And that proposal was discouraging and upsetting for those of us who place public schools at the top of local priorities. I'd like to give you cheers for bringing this grade up from where it was a couple of months ago. You listened to the citizens who came here to speak and you backed away from your proposed funding limit, but you haven't yet convinced us that you are doing your best for public schools. Instead of promising as individuals or as a collective council that you will absolutely oppose any funding cap for our local schools, you have tabled the issue until a later date, November, maybe after elections. We're still waiting for all of you, for each of you to demonstrate and vocalize your unwavering support for our public schools. There is still room for improvement and there is still room for a higher grade. We're choosing to issue this grade for you collectively like a group project. When I assign group projects to my students, I recognize that sometimes there are individuals who do more of the work than others. However, I try to encourage teamwork. So, I always tell my students that unless there is obvious evidence that they don't deserve the same grade as a team, they're all getting the same grade. You all have seemed to work quite well together and how you decided to support public schools. I didn't hear any public dissension from any of you over the school budget, over the proposal to cap the school budget, and I

haven't heard any advocacy from any of you as individuals for closing the funding gap that spans the borders between Waysboro and our neighboring school districts. I applaud you for your leadership, your willingness to sit on that deis, put yourselves in positions of vulnerability and make tough decisions for our community. There are really big problems in our world today, and neither you nor I can solve most of them ourselves. The issue of public school funding in Wsboro doesn't have to be one of them. This is an easy place to do the right thing and put the discussion of cuts to our public school funding permanently off the table. Thank you,

Kurt Lily. Good evening. Kurt Lily, 649 Walnut Avenue. Let me start out with a cap is not a cut. You can grade yourselves on how you tax the citizens of Wesboro. Um, I'm assuming that the um income to the city's never been higher. Uh, many new businesses uh I'm sorry. Yeah, many new businesses and housing tracks continue to grow providing tax dollars to the city. Let's look at the taxes. Trash and water. I think that's going up. storm water, personal property tax, business tooling tax, which just incentivizes businesses to not invest in their their business, restaurant tax, lodging tax, sales tax, property tax. Um, I don't want you to think that uh raising property tax only taxes the property owners. Property owners pass those taxes on and higher rent rates. Those higher rents make it harder to save up for a first home. For the elderly on fixed incomes, you're putting them on a reduced income. Yeah, with all the extra income, I understand that the rate you're proposing is going to raise the taxes. I'm urging you to go ahead and keep the taxes at at the the flat rate, the expense that we actually have now, and not increase our taxes. Thank you.

Eric Kronovich. I'm back. Uh, good evening. My name is Eric Trinovich. I am a resident of Silver Creek Phase 1. Um, thank you guys. I know it's been a long night for all of us. We all do other jobs outside of this, so I appreciate you hanging out so late with us. Um, I feel for the five of you sitting up there. It must feel at times that regardless of what you decide, you still lose in some capacity. Such is the burden of public service. I suppose I truly believe that all of you are in a no-win situation regarding the profers and the neighborhood of Silver Creek itself. As Mr. Wood stated after the last special meeting, you were told by the city lawyers there was no legal grounds to deny the proposal, regardless of public or personal sentiment. And to vote no is to risk a lawsuit against the city. Voting yes, however, has caused a loss of trust and confidence in your voters. I've already talked tonight about how the continued approval of highdensity housing projects is going to cause us a lot of problems in the future. If the mayor and city council have no legal way to say no, then maybe we need to reassess the legal paths available to the city or decide if different city leadership would be a better path forward. You all must surely recognize that compromising the education of our children and the tranquility of our community always carries consequences when it's time to vote. Moving forward, I plan to attend as many of these meetings as possible to remind you of your responsibility to the citizens who elected you to your positions. I look forward to learning more about the city council and keeping all of you accountable to the citizens who ultimately hold the power. Mr. Wells, I hope for your success in the construction of these homes. As I've said, we've always preferred a local builder over a national entity. Our main

goal was and is to ensure phase 2 adheres to the spirit and desired guidelines of phase one while trying to lessen your construction impact on the current neighborhood. This project could have been a wonderful opportunity for all of us. Welcoming a hundred new families into our community should have been an amazing experience. I know there has to be a way for us to work together. You spoke to us, Mr. Wells, about being a hometown guy, growing up and attending school here, and even sharing a funny story about getting a speeding ticket on Bookerdale. Yet your strong desire to retain the Silver Creek name, coupled with your unwillingness and disregard to work with the current residents or at least provide assurances of your actual PL plan is a profound and laughable contradiction. Instead, you tell us to get over it, to move on, and I don't have to work with you. While technically that is correct, this risks more division and appears inconsistent with the image of a hometown guy. I do not know who has advised you to take this tactic, but I strongly urge you to get out of your own way and be a constructive part of the Silver Creek community you are so eager to profit from. I will be hoping for the best, but planning for the worst. The current citizens of Silver Creek also lose, but I wonder if we were ever had a chance to win. It seems to me that the current laws and regulations are not set up to help regular citizens, but to help protect corporate interests like Mr. Wells, leaving us to just navigate the fallout. Some of this has been self-inflicted. As Mr. Wells pointed out, we missed our opportunity to strengthen the community's position. We should have taken a stronger stance at having the HOA and the ARB turned over to the residents from a developer who seemingly lost interest in the neighborhood about two years ago. However, I'm not sure if that would have

made much of a difference. Mr. Wells has stated many times that since he now owns a 100 lots, I am the HOA. sometimes to seemingly act tough and on one occasion as a veiled threat. Regardless of everyone's past missteps, the path forward is quite clear. If you are unable or unwilling to be a constructive part of the original phase, at the very least, change the name to of phase two. Allow both neighborhoods to operate independently. This will allow you to build or do whatever you deem reasonable and profitable while giving us the peace of mind that lesser quality or lesserpriced homes will not negatively impact the values of the current Silver Creek customuilt homes. The integrity of this city rests on the promises made to its citizens. For the city council, a buil accountability for the future of Wesboro's infrastructure and school starts now. For Mr. Wells, the path to being a genuine hometown guy requires respect for the community you seek to join and cooperation to protect phase 1 residents.

I have to cut you off. We leave this chamber committed to upholding the promise of Silver Creek. We will not stop watching and we will not cease advocating for the future of our families.

Oh boy. I think that's it. It is. Thank you. Is there a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Thank you, Mr. Short. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr.