Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

I am. February 17th, 2026. Board of Supervisor. Mr. Holoid. Yes. Mrs. Null. Yes. Mr. Drury. Present. Mr. Ran here. Mr. Shepard here. Mr. Chairman, you have a quorum. Thank you. I'll call on Pastor Danny Duo of York Assembly of God for the invocation.

Thank you, sir. First of all, just want to say thank you for the opportunity to be here and uh Lori and each one of you. And with this assembly here today, I'm assuming there's going to be uh a busy meeting. So, I'll just uh share with you what the Lord has given me. I'm going to share out of the Bible in the book of Micah in chapter 6. It says, "The Lord has told us what is right and what he demands from his leaders. To see that justice is always done and to let your decisions always be done with mercy and concern for those that you represent, knowing that we have to live by the programs and decisions that are going to be approved by those that govern over us." And so that's a very important thing to look at. And second of all, he tells us in second Timothy, uh, first of all, I ask you that you pray for all people. Ask God to bless them and give them what they need and give thanks. You should pray for those that rule over you. Pray for your political leaders and pray for those that are serving in any kind of office of authority. Pray for those leaders so that we can live quiet and peaceful lives, lives full of devotion of God and respect for him. So, I'm just going to ask you if y'all bow your heads and I'm going to ask God to bless this uh meeting and uh his to be in control. Father, I thank you for the opportunity first of all to be here to represent you. And Lord, Father, I pray for this board of supervisors right now. They have an awesome responsibility, Lord, uh to take care of this county that we live in. And I ask you, Lord, Father, with those that are going to be bringing uh things to

them tonight, that you be on both sides, God, give each one wisdom. Help them to discern things that's going to be right, things that's going to be beneficial, and things that's going to be helpful and blessing. I ask you to be with them throughout this entire meeting. And I pray, God, that your hand will be upon each and every one that's here tonight. and those that you have given a safe travel and uh to this service and to this meeting. I also ask you to touch them and give them a safe journey back home. I ask all this in the mighty name of Jesus and amen. Amen. Thank you, pastor. For those able, please rise for pledge of allegiance. Mr. Shepard, would you take us through that?

Sirian 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. We'll now move on to presentations. I'll call on uh Mr. Brian Fuller, Deputy County Administrator, to introduce a comprehensive parks and recreation master plan. All right, there we are. That's why I don't do audio or IT stuff. Uh, good evening members of the board. Mr. Bellamy, Mr. Hill. First, I'd like to thank y'all personally uh for all the support that you've done with this project and the time that you've invested in talking with the consultants about this. Uh, McGill and Associates has conducted a a detailed survey. it embarked on a lot of community engagement and uh working with the community getting out and doing site visits uh all to help develop this plan. So tonight you're going to see a brief overview of their work. Uh they'll be here able to answer questions uh but this effort really represents a comprehensive review of parks and recreation operations plans and facilities. Uh the final report will include a detailed action plan along with funding me recommendations uh for you to consider in future budgets as we go along. So thank you again for your leadership. Uh this plan's really going to help strengthen parks and recreation programs and operations uh for our community uh and participants. So I'd like to u introduce from Miguel Nate

Ablau.

Good evening board. Hope everybody's doing well. Uh it's good to get to see all um again. Uh so I just want to before we kind of jump into the presentation, um just take us back a little bit. Uh the reason why we're here tonight is in the 2040 plan. There was a there was a key recommendation within that that uh it was recommended that y'all do a comprehensive parks and recreation master plan. Uh this is an attestment to y'all uh holding true to your word. So what we're going to do tonight is I'm going to give you uh we've gone through um a lot of public input data. the document itself that you're going to have a chance to start to review. Tonight will just be the kickoff. Um, we're just gonna kind of anecdotally I'll kind of walk through what we've seen and heard, but I want to walk through it's what we're going to present tonight is a a brief overview kind of the bridge to what we're looking at in the future. And and as we have questions that come up, I'm happy to either address those or because we put this together as a team, if I'm not able to answer the question, we'll be happy to to find that answer and get it back to you. All right. So, one of the things within the uh that was core not only whenever we just started the plan, but coming from not only y'all, but also from your leadership within parks and recreation department is how important it was for you to understand the public's voice. You you really wanted to understand what the the needs of the community were and and we did that through a statistically valid survey, an open survey. We had public input meetings that weren't held in just one location. They were held all around the county. Uh and then we also, as we've said, we've had meetings with your leadership as well as y'all um to understand the context of what's going on as well as really trying to deeply and richly understand what those needs are. Now, like I said, what I want to do is hit the high points of what we're going at and feel free to stop me as we go through. Okay. So, one of the the key takeaways that we had from this is um you have a lot of really great parks in your community and and we see some opportunities. So, one of the first opportunities that we saw is um your

largest park in the entire county is New Quarter Park. Now, the the key thing is that there was a lot of recommendations and a lot of input that came from your community about attracting young families, serving your current families, attracting young families, uh new workers into the area, but also being able to showcase what you have to the to the countless tourists that are coming into the community. So, we do think that there's the opportunity and and consideration for a feasibility study where you look at New Quarter Park through a new lens to where you're not only serving current resident needs, but you're also looking at a way to how do we showcase the community to those potential visitors and not only just showcasing it, is there a way to capture that revenue from tourists uh from visitors and also reinvest it back into the county into the park system so that they are thereby kind of indirectly subsidizing those taxpayer investments into that park. Before we go on to the next thing, are there any questions about kind of this first overview point that we found? All right. If there's not, the next piece. All right. So, right now, um, one of the things that we found is no two no two particular community systems or parks and recreation system are the same. Y'all have had heavy and and positive partnership with your school system over the years. and those school system facilities that you've developed, they're they're pristine, they're outstanding, which is why you have one of the best parks is one of the best school systems in the state. Um, one of the things that we're finding, and this isn't just within York County, but it's happening all around the country. And with there's some Pew Charitable Trust research that came back, is that more and more because of school-based security concerns, it's becoming more and more difficult to use your indoor facilities at schools for recreation. The other piece is because you're a heavy tourism center, you know, some of your staff members and and some of the workers that are working in your community may not work that 8 to5. So whenever you're whenever your school systems are open after 5, they may be working then. So one of the things that

we think that you need to consider and again this is based on a feasibility study uh being the next step is having some type of recreation center that really showcases your community. Well, and I want to hit pause for a second. Before I came here this afternoon, I I had been watching and I knew that y'all were doing some updates within your library system. I gotta applaud y'all. The the way that you've done your recent update to that library is not just a good library. It's a testament to the quality of life that you're trying to project not just for your residents, but for anybody that's visiting the area. If you do that level of quality of work within your park system, and you've done that in certain places, but if that's projected across your entire park system, man, what y'all are projecting is outstanding, not only for your residents, but your visitors as well. So, we do think that there is a need for a recreation center that serves the existing residents, but also projects that quality of life that you that you've come to expect in York County. Any other questions with that? All right. The next thing is um walkability is really important. We saw that with virtually every age group. We did cross-sections within whenever we did your public input. We did cross-sections and there's certain things that apply to the interest of your younger populations, to your teen populations, to your senior population. You know, there's various uh differences within that, but one thing that kind of struck a chord throughout the entire thing is that your community wants to be more walkable. Mhm.

And that looks at looking at not only improving the walkability within your parks and and I got to tell you, we see this in a number of different places, but also you have some key assets that you you can start to look forward towards. And y'all already are starting to do this. So the two of those that I want to draw attention to are the the 757 trail. Having some type of spur trail that connects into that creates um some some regional draw. Not only so that your residents can connect into there, but maybe if you have a visitor that's coming into the area and maybe they want to hop on there onto that trail and and do the 757 trail. But the other thing is you're also connected into the the East Coast Greenway. And if you're not familiar with that, the East Coast Greenway quite literally is that it's going to run from Maine all the way down to Florida. And you're on that. it is nationally significant, which that's just one of a number of different things to where y'all are nationally significant. So, we think it's important for you to increase your walkability, look down the road towards increasing your trails and greenways, but in the short term, capture those connections and improve your walkability within your parks. Before I go on to the next piece, are there any questions? Okay. All right. The next piece. All right. So you you have generally done a pretty good job of kind of spacing out your parks. Um there is one piece within the community that we do see that there's a need in the southern part of the county. There's an area of high population density. Uh I believe it's in district 5 to where there's a high density of residents, but right now there's not a whole lot of green space and there is some approximate parks uh with with Kil Creek uh and with the MAC. But we do think uh you know looking forward it would be good for the county to look for additional green space in that area to serve those residents but also to to like we said showcase um your your community the the the value that you have for green space for open space and connectivity. Any questions with that? Now what we before we go on to this what

we're not doing just yet is telling you what you need to develop on that. We do think it's important for you to capture that green space and then what goes onto that space is kind of the next level decision that will have to be made typically through a sight specific master plan. Any qu any questions with this?

Well, I was going to ask you that given the location, what would your vision be for amenities on a park like that? uh it you know so typically what we'll do is do a sight specific master plan to look at more specifically what the population what the demographic density what the age differences are in that particular area and and we do have a way the way that we collected the data in in one of the surveys we can draw out more specifically what the needs are in that particular district and say for this particular park to fit the needs of this area this is what you should develop that park for. You'll have to forgive me if if you uh I'm I'm happy to find out more specifically what needs to go into that. My recollection and and don't quote me on this. My recollection is that that area of the county um has more um senior uh more uh more of your aging population. It also has kind of your mid to um mid to late career professionals in that area. So you're looking at more possibly of a passive related system but also integrated with a lot of walkability in it.

Does the survey data data you have now have that information in it? Yeah. Yeah. So actually both parts of it. We have a way this the statistically valid data that we have. We have a way to bifurcate or to break out the interest in kind of age related needs. The way that we did the open survey breaks up the geographic region so that we can see this area wants this, you know, district two wants this, district one wants that. We wanted to be very mindful in that because no two parts of your county are exactly the same and that way whenever you get to this next level planning, you have that to rely on uh whenever you're making those decisions. Okay, thanks. Okay, any other questions about this before we move on? Did you do any density study? A a density study?

Yes, population density. So what we did um so we we heavily relied on your 2040 plan and one thing that came out of that 2040 plan which is critical is that you're approaching um population you're approaching buildout. So there's not actually a whole lot of green space left. Um the density study in in determining you know what's going to go into one particular area. Um, like I said, we relied heavily on your 2040 plan to help us understand what those trends need, uh, what those density related needs are.

And one of the reasons why we, you know, you you kind of bring up both of them in your study. The reason we don't have a lot of land at district 5 is because it's the most densely populated part. It's about 2900 people to 3,200 people per square mile. And if you go up to Mr. Holoyy's district, it's about 30 people per square 32 people per square mile. slight difference. Yeah, that doesn't give us an excuse for not having that's not an exaggeration, that's a fact. And uh and the thing is not having uh a park down there um is uh is telling.

Yeah, it's an attractive area, which is why I think there is so much density. And sometimes what happens is, you know, I think a lot of places would like to have a large community or a large district park. Sometimes whenever you have highly dense population areas like that, you have to have maybe a few smaller parks, a neighborhood park, maybe a mini park. Um we we would recommend that you look for a larger parcel if you can, but if you need to go to the mini park or the um neighborhood park, that that is something that should be explored. So um we did not go as far as recommending what parcels or anything like that. That's kind of next level decision. Good question. Thank you. Anything else with this particular part? All right. So, moving on. All right. And I don't want to spend a whole lot of time here. Um, one of the one of the key things that we took away from your 2040 plan is that you um there's a desire to attract more young families and and working age um individuals and also attract businesses. So, what I wanted to show here is that your your public safety and your library spending, and these are comparisons to uh other Virginia Peninsula communities, you're above average. You're hitting high marks with that. Now, the next piece is your schools. And and here's the thing is you're doing a very good job. Um my understanding is y'all have some of the best school systems in the entire state.

Number one, if if not the best. Yeah.

Yeah. So, um, certainly there's something to be said about, um, you know, making good use of the dollars that you do spend. One of the things that I want to point out here is, um, your spending in parks and recreation is approximately 65% what everybody else on the Virginia Peninsula is spending. Now, that's not meant to be a knock. It's not. What I will say is you're competing with each one of those communities that are listed up there for residents, for visit businesses, uh for new um new families to move in here. And certainly y'all are projecting quite well about what type of quality of life you have and your parks do that also. So again, this is not meant to be a knock. What I wanted to do is show only 2% and this is coming from your statistically valid survey. Only 2% of your population base based on that statistically valid survey want parks and recreation funding dropped

or reduced. 50 53% want it increased. And again, that's not a knock on y'all. We we've already shown you have you have a good system. You have opportunities to grow within that. This is to say, and we saw this through the open survey. We thought saw this through public input meeting that there is a lot of support from your community. They're not just saying, "Hey, we would like parks and recreation, but we don't want to fund it." They're saying, "We want more parks and recreation. We want it targeted and we're willing to get behind that."

Now, to what level that is, that's your decision. Uh what what we are doing with this plan is and and and there's what we fall into a lot of times is uh communities think that adopting a comprehensive parks and recreation master plan locks you into doing exactly what is named within the plan. What do we want you to see is that this is meant to guide to inform so that you have informed decisions whenever you're you're making those as leaders. So I want to pause there for a second before we go on. Any questions about this? Let's hold let's hold the questions to the end at this point. Sure. Thank you.

The last piece is, and I kind of led off with this, that this is an overview. It's a 300page plus document. Um, if we wanted to go through the whole 300 pages, it would have been tough to keep it within 20 minutes. That's all to say is not only do we break down a lot of the details that I've talked about tonight in much more detail, but we also do it with an action plan that helps you set those priorities. It gives your staff a way to kind of check through on how you do these things. Um but it also gives you a chance to say yeah this you know this is what's right for us or to say hey we need to further explore this. So with that I am more than happy to answer any questions that you have and like I said this is a team approach I will do my best to answer them but if if I'm not able to answer it tonight I'll go back to the rest of the team and we'll get you that answer

Mrs. N. I don't have any questions because I think the presentation has answered a lot of them already. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Shepard. No, thank you very much for the uh the study. I think uh it's interesting, you know, the desire to and need for parks and wrecks. I think most most folks really understand that the issue that we face as a board of supervisors is how much we going to spend for stuff. Okay, it costs it cost. Nothing's cheap. You want to come down in my district and buy some land,

you better bring a big truckload of money with you because it's really expensive down there and uh and there's not much of it available. But that but that doesn't mean we're gonna not look Yeah. at what we need and try to figure out how we can how we can fulfill that need. Yeah. But it's just a it's a big balancing act that we have to go through here. Y so thank you again. Thank you very much for the study. Thank you Mr. Shepard. Mr. Drury.

Yes sir. Thank you for the presentation. And um I think really for me maybe you could just share some ideas of things that we could put in these parks across the country of county because a lot of people out here may not know what the options are and the way forward as Tom says it's yeah sure cheap so yeah absolutely so some of the things um that we're looking at that uh came through there was a lot of interest for additional playgrounds

um there was interest for a splash pad So there was some interest for an aquatic center and we do think that that's probably something that's better to be tabled for the future. It's not not something that ideally needs to be addressed within this 10 years, but a splash pad gives a place for kids and young families to come out and get some of that aquatic experience without having as much of a a heavy burden that sometimes an aquatic center brings up. Um we didn't see a whole lot of support for a whole lot more ball fields. Uh what they want is more adventure recreation. you know, um it doesn't, you know, you can do that sometimes through private public partnership. Um sometimes you can build that on your own, whether it's maybe it's an adventure playground. Um maybe it's taking trails that you already have and uh creating a pump track and those type of things. So some of the things that are within here are not only cost-effective, but some of them like whether it's a cabin or a yurt or a campground, your residents have desire for that, but it's also something that you can set a kind of a and this is up to y'all, a tiered approach to where visitors can come in, use those facilities, and then also you capture the revenue and subsidize the cost for other amenities. I can go into a whole lot more depth about what that looks like um if if you'd like me to, but I hope that gives you a little bit of an overview. Yeah, I just thought the the people at large would probably want to hear some of the options that are available for us as we try to move forward and figure out what it is that we want.

And I will say that not only have we put out there a comprehensive plan that's 300 pages plus, but we also have um you'll have an executive summary that's about 30 pages that helps with those overviews of not only the different parks, but kind of what conceptually how those parks could be developed to serve the resident needs that have been expressed. So in your study um did you have anything broken out where people could say hey we really like these things? I guess that was part of what you were just talking about. Yeah. So we have we did that in a number of different ways. So we actually have within the it's more in the appendix part if you want to go into deep dive. That's what they make AI for.

Yeah. Yeah. So, um, but yes, we were able to break it down geographically, demographically by we have heat maps that break down that stratify the different age demographic groups to show, hey, you know, I'll give you an example. The seniors wanted more of a senior center and more of a pickle ball court, which you've addressed some of those needs through the recent pickle ball courts. The younger age groups want more splash pads, playgrounds, walking trails. Um, and then you have some amenities like fitness facilities is kind of reaching across all groups. Um, and then arts and culture. You you certainly have a strong arts and historic um um strength within not only your area but your park system, but there was some uh interest in kind of pulling that out a little bit more also. Thank you. Oh, you're welcome, Mr. Ro.

Yeah, thank you. Yeah, thanks for the review, the previous conversations. There's going to be a lot to digest here. Um, talk a little about funding. Funding is going to be a challenge, but but also what we fund. We got to figure out where the best bang for your buck is. You know, the number one requested thing may also be the most expensive thing, but maybe the number five thing is something that we can do come in a much more cost-effective part. And I'm really interested in exploring what you were calling private public partnerships. For example, you me mentioned the desire for more fitness um um options across the county. Well, there are a lot of fitness studios across the county, too. So instead of the county building, staffing, maintaining a dedicated fitness club, maybe there's a partnership that the county can get into with these existing studios rather than building our own. So I'll be very interested in exploring options like that as well.

Yeah, I I do think that's something that you'll be able to explore. We know that uh and we took into account the current partnerships that you have with the the local YMCA and uh I believe it's an ice rink also. Um so you know those can certainly be looked at. We have seen that there's been success in other places. Typically what we've seen successful is if you build a recreation center that some of the programming that takes place in that center whether it's a fitness or gym class or I know I believe right now some of your yoga classes are being held in a library. Um but that's to where you can partner with those program providers which lowers your cost but also you uh utilize your spaces better. to your point, yes, there are there are a number of different ways to address some of the needs within here, and that's where we think some feasibility and second level decision can help with that.

Right. Thank you. Well, in in reference to uh Mr. Shepard, I I like it at 32 per acre per square mile. That's why we call it paradise. Hey, if you if you find it for cheap in that area, let me know. Don't give um and uh thank you for condensing this. Initially he wanted to present 30 300 pages in 20 minutes tonight. Um that wasn't going to work and now we apprec we appreciate the consolidated report. Thank you Nate. Um what I found interesting was a comment about private partnership or private public partnership and what we can do on for instance some of the bigger parks like New Quarter. Could could we put in a botanical or or some

uh adventure recreation park in there and and get and call on a private entity to to help us with that? The other me point mentioned throughout the report and I didn't hear tonight was bike trails and that was clearly one of the key recommendations that we learned from this report and I just wanted to emphasize

yeah that that oversight was not on purpose. Yes, there is a great deal of emphasis uh throughout the plan that does talk about not only just pedestrian like u walkability but also bikes um bikeability. Um so that that theme definitely does run throughout there. And Mr. run. The other piece is um we not only recommend the capital items, but they are strategically laid out so that ideally if you're going to develop stuff that can help you draw in revenue, you do that earlier on in the 10-year phase so that that way it helps subsidize some of the things that it's a little bit more difficult to capture revenue on. Right. Thank you, Nate. Safe drive back tonight. I I uh if it'll be all right, I'm happy to stick around while there's public comment related to the parks plan. If there's anything that uh comes up, I'm happy to answer that.

Thank you very much. Sure. Uh it's been a pleasure to work with you all and look forward to hearing back from you if there's any other questions that pop up. Thank you. Thank you.

Next, we'll move on to citizen comment period. I want to reemphasize the uh the rules for this uh part of the agenda. Um so before we begin the public comment, citizen input is always welcome. This is an opportunity to address the board on any matter within it within its purview. Please come to the podium. Clearly state your name and address for the record. You have three minutes and we will uh beginning by introducing yourself. We will start that clock after you've completed your introduction. Please direct your remarks to the board as a whole through the chair. Public comment is not a question and answer session or a debate. If you have a question, direct it to myself to the chair. I may at my discretion ask the appropriate person to follow up outside of the board meeting. Please avoid repetitive comments. If you agree with the prior speaker, you may simply state your name position to which you agree. And finally, we appreciate everyone helping to keep a respectful and orderly meeting. Please focus your comments on the issues, speak with courtesy, and allow others the same opportunity to be heard. Be respectful, maintain decorum. With that, I'll call on our first citizen for this evening. This would be Pam Bushette. Sorry, bless you. I should know that French name

name and address.

Good evening. Pampush show ot uh 103 Kimberly Court. This is the first day of Ramadan for Muslims and Hindus celebrate a significant religious event too. This board fails to honor religions other than Christianity by holding meetings on days that are sacred to others. I ask why. Last November, voters chose to follow a new path. Unfortunately, it was a psychopath. Trump has renamed the US Institute of Peace the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace. Trump has formed the Peace Board, which has member countries are required to pay at least $1 billion to rebuild Gaza. Trump wants to build a playground for fellow billionaires. He will expel the Gazins. Trump will have the veto power, allocate funds, and remain board chair for life. The Trump family will further enrich themselves by building waterfront golf resorts, marinas, hotels, office space, and mansions. Pam Bondi's congressional hearing proved she is Trump's campaign manager, personal attorney, and chair of his revenge and retribution tour. She has no interest in prosecuting those who raped and trafficked Epstein's stable of girls, some as young as nine years old. She has corrupted the DOJ and isn't fit for office. State governments that don't follow Trump's orders are extorted. Minnesota was told if they turned over over voting records, ICE attacks would stop. New York and New Jersey were told that if they renamed Penn Station and Dulles airport after Trump, they would release illegally withheld funds for the rail tunnel between these states. Trump told the fossil fuel industry if they contributed $1 billion to his 2024 campaign, he would rescend EPA regulations, which he did. Trump has already said if his voter suppression save act is rejected by Congress, which Rob Whitman voted for, it will not stop him from carrying it out. Unless they have a passport,

married women will now have to acquire their birth certificates as well as marriage certificates to reregister to vote. None of these documents are free and can take months to acquire. You will have to register in person at your registars's office. Mail and voting will be restricted. Trump continues to insist without any proof that elections are rigged. If he gets his way, they will be. Surprisingly, only when he or Republicans lose does he scream foul. Trump formed a side hustle called Freedom 250, which is a pay-to-play scam. Pay a million dollars to fund his 250th anniversary events and get access to the Oval Office. Pay 2.5 million and he will let you speak at an event. He will have cage fighting on the White House lawn. Trump is demanding $10 billion and $230 million from US taxpayers for imagined flights. As president, he will negotiate and approve the amount to be paid to himself. US citizens, illegal immigrants, or the undocumented, homeland security continues to abduct, assault, imprison, and kill with impunity. Court orders, the rule of law, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution have no place in the Trump administration. Why does anyone continue to support him? Thank you. Thank you. Next, I have John Wiggins.

Hi, my name is John Wiggins, 103 Park Lane, Seer, Virginia. Um, I thank you for the chance to talk um speak tonight. Um, I want to talk about the parks and recck um study and survey. Um, Mr. Jerome was asking about what was number five um requested park feature that was actually a skate park. Um

with other type of adventure type recreation um and I worked with parks and wreck four years ago to conduct another survey that was conducted by parks and wreck and it also had a a a huge turnout of response. Over 2,000 people took the survey. And I just want to read a few of those comments with the zip code so you'll know what district it came from. Um 23690. Skate parks are a great way to keep skaters away from the spots in the city that people don't want skaters. Plus, it can be a productive activity for teens, helping their social skills, mental health, and getting away from screens. 23696. The children in our neighborhood ride skateboards and bikes in the road. They're good about watching for cars, but have to remove the ramps, etc. every time the car comes up the road. The thought of having a uh this is from 23692. The thought of having a designated area as a safe zone for skating, biking, etc. puts my mind at ease. I fully support a skate park in York County. 23692. a welcome addition to our children and community. Most residential areas in the county do not have sidewalks and forces children to play in the play or skate in the street. And then 23693. This would be an amazing This would be amazing. Today's generation needs an outlet other than video games and screen time. Getting something like this built would hopefully boost physical activity and community support as well as an outlet to meet new friends. This is two pages of comments. There's 50 pages of comments from your citizens in the county. Um, I don't know if any of y'all have looked at them. They're available. Parks and Recck Department has them. I encourage you to consider

it. Um, a skate park is not just for skateboards. It's a positive thing. You can talk to James City County, Iowa is White County. they don't have problems at their skate park because they put it in a location where there's a lot of supervision at their at their district parks and it's not a lot of money the same as the pickle ball courts. I think you can find money in the budget for that. Thank you. Thank you.

Next I have Nicholas Blli. My name is Nicholas Belli. I live at 158 Stone Lake Court on District 5. Uh I want to begin by uh speaking on behalf of Diana Dale from District 3. She's 87 and uh doesn't drive at night, which is why she's not here this evening. I've spoken with her at length and uh she's sharp, deeply engaged, and frequent patron of parks and wreck and uh through the senior center. When I asked her what I what she wanted to relay to you today, uh her word was immediate and simple. She wants more. We want more was her exact words. Speaking for myself now, I moved to York County because of the schools. Many of us did. As my children grew and wanted more activities, we started visiting parks across the region. We go to Sandy Bottom in Picosen or sorry, excuse Hampton. We go to uh Kiddberg in Kit Island, I think, in Picosen. We go to Newport News Park in Newport News. We live in the southern part, District 5. And you know, outside of the occasional visits to our homeowner association's uh smaller parks, uh we really don't use York County's uh parks very often. When we do plan a destination trip, we go to we could go to New Quarter Park. Uh it's about a 30-minute drive. It has open space. It's a good park, but it pales in comparison to places like Kiddsburg. Kiddsburg in Williamsburg is enormous. It uh it's newer, has shade, has zip lines, it has a pirate ship, and it's only a couple of minutes extra farther away. For the kids, it's perfect. Every Sunday during the summer, a group of friends and I set up some volleyball nets near the Tab Elementary School soccer field. We regularly have more than 20 people show up and we don't advertise. I'm part of the Bat Creek community uh for pickle ball and there's more than 700 members on just our group chat chain. I have a family plan at the YMCA. I'm a member of Tidewater Search and Rescue and we regularly use parks across the region for training and missions. I'm an active user of the

recreation spaces and from that perspective, York County needs to do more. I briefly want to touch on facilities. Uh when I first started looking for the parks and recck department, I was surprised to find it in a strip mall. Uh it looked so unofficial. I genuinely questioned whether I was in the right place. I expected a community center. And I'm really encouraged to hear in tonight's presentation that a community center is a a key takeaway item. And I as a taxpayer, I fully support my tax dollars going towards a venture such as this. Finally, I want to mention the MAC. I love the MAC. It's a beautiful facility, but there is a 1.8 mile uh multi-purpose path out there that has no shade. A walking path in Virginia summers without shade is is just not realistic. If you're meeting with friends to walk and talk on a 90 degree day, you will drive an extra 15 minutes to go to Newport News Park. The Max sits next to a beautiful reservoir that could be enjoyed far more. We can't build on it as far as developments for homes. we might as well utilize that space. A shaded boardwalk would transform that space and tonight's presentation reinforces that need as well. My message is simple. You know, we have strong assets. We have a good intentions and we've and you have accomplished some great things here and I we really appreciate what you've done so far. I do want to thank you for what you brought to the community. But as I see it in tonight's presentation validates Vienna's words match my own. We do need more.

Thank you.

Next, I have Christina Kang. Hi. Um, my name is Christina Kang and I live at 104 Lake Heron Court, District 5. My husband and I chose to move to York County primarily for the quality of the schools and we have been very happy with that decision. We're also drawn to the strong pickle ball community and regularly play across with the peninsula, especially at Back Creek Park. We love Back Creek Park and appreciate how active and wellused it is by residents of all ages. As we have lived here longer, however, we have noticed that York County offers fewer parks and recreation programs and community events compared to surrounding cities and Hampton Roads. Many of the activities we are interested in attending are offered elsewhere, which often means traveling to other cities or paying for private memberships like the YMCA, where we are also members. We're an active family. Um but while York County does a great job supporting soccer and baseball options beyond that um feel limited and we'd like to see more things like shaded walking trails, broader recreation program programming and a true community center are harder to find within the county. We would love to have more options in our community to walk under shade as Nicholas uh Nicholas Blliad stated and uh the summer heat does make it unbearable. As a parent of a young child, it was terrible to try to chase my child and we are sweating at 95 degrees in humidity. Um, we would love to see uh York County invest in more diverse parks, recreation programs, and community spaces that serve residents of all ages um and interests. Thank you for your time and for considering how expanded parks and wreck um offerings could further strengthen your county as a place to live.

Thank you. Next, I have uh Tony Kawwa. Mic is off. I have Tony Kawwa. Good evening. Uh it's actually Tony Cowoo. Tony Cow.

And I'm over at 109 Chismouth Point Road in in district three. Now, I've been a resident of York County for, you know, since 2013 when my family transferred from Langley, transferred to Langley Air Force Base from Turkey, and we've stayed into here after retiring from active duty because we fell in love with the community. Our community is growing and with that growth comes a heightened need for accessibility, safe outdoor, recreation opportunities. Expanding a trail network is not about leisure. It's a direct investment in the physical and mental well-being of our residents. Trails provide a cost-effective and accessible way for families, seniors, and children to stay active, and it reduces strain on public health resources. Furthermore, enhanced trail infrastructure makes our county a more attractive place to live and visit, boosting our local economy and increasing home values. It is time we view trails as a central public infrastructure like roads and libraries and physical facilities themselves. I'm here just to encourage the council to increase investment in our local hiking trails and public green spaces. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Uh Jennifer McPaters.

Good evening. My name is Jennifer McPaters. My address is 311 Ballor Street Apartment 2C in District 3. I've resided on the peninsula since 2008. My son earned the rank of eagle while a member of Troop 54 at Kirkwood Presbyterian Church. He and I are very aware, as many are, that hiking trails are extremely limited in York County and that we would have to go elsewhere for most of the extensive hiking and outdoor activities that he wanted to partake in if we chose to have any real variety. The benefits of having an outdoor experience such as Trail 757 in our local area would mean greater inclusivity, providing opportunities for all families and members of the community to take part in activities such as biking, hiking, skating, and running in a safer environment. Our community lacks areas and playgrounds where children with special needs such as autism and sensory issues can also gather. Our families deserve outdoor areas where all members of our community can partake and that all children can know that they are welcome and that they're thought after. Just as we see on other major hiking trails throughout the United States, local areas profit financially from those utilizing the trails by visiting local restaurants and staying at their hotels. As stated on the 757 trail website, when complete, the greater regional trail system will encompass some 190 miles, making it the longest continuous multi-use trail system in Virginia. As a resident of York County, I have a vested interest in its citizens and in its growth potential. Please keep the voice of your constituents close at hand. We see that investments in local trails and outdoor activities hold considerable value to this community. I also speak on behalf of Liz Barber. She is a um member of district 5. My name is Liz Barber, 106 Lambs Rest Lane, and I'm proud to serve on the York County Parks and Recreation

Advisory Board. I'm speaking tonight to express my strong support for our parks and recreation division and the work they do every day for this community. The parks and rec staff and volunteers deliver an incredible amount with very limited resources. They manage facilities, programs, athletics, special events, and community partnerships with professionalism and creativity. The data of tonight's report also makes clear that there is a significant room for growth in recreational offerings, community events, and facilities compared to peer communities. The gap is not a reflection of effort. It's a reflection of county priorities. Our residents value parks, accessible recreation, and meaningful community events. These are not extras. They directly impact public health, youth engagement, senior wellness, and overall quality of life. Strategic investment in this department would allow staff to expand offerings, enhance events, and better meet the growing expectations of our community. Investing in parks and recreation is an investment in the well-being of York County residents today and for years to come. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. McPers. Finally, I have Mark Williams. trying to sneak out. Board of supervisors, please say Mark Williams. All right, that was outside. The timing was perfect. Um, Mark Williams, 513 Charles Road, somewhere over there in District 4. Um, off of Lakeside. My clock is running, so I guess we'll get started. Can I borrow the sheet that I gave to you? Is that appropriate? Can I approach the bench as they say in court?

Sometimes I forget my notes. Pardon me. So everybody can hear me. Sometimes I forget the notes that I write down at a restaurant at the waterfront. There's a scroll in the river somewhere. Um, first amendment issues. I did my homework again. 250 years ago, we had some politicians that were talking just like politicians talk today. One Thomas Jefferson, one Patrick Henry, join one George Mason. George Mason, we all know, is a Bill of Rights author with the help of some other individuals because they were brothers that fought for what they believed in. They did not get along. Imagine that. They don't teach that in our eighth grade schools, but sometimes they did not get along because they were so strongly opinionated. needed a mediator. So much so that there was a prayer offered from one Thomas Jefferson to one George Mason that he prayed for one Patrick Henry's death much like the king of England did. They didn't like the way he spoke. He was too eloquent and he was smarter than they were and he was not as educated as they were. but he learned something from the church that he went to, what he believed in, and what the power behind that was. With that said, some of the things we hear from Pam, uh, the federal Uber van is not here for you tonight. I can't speak for it in the future, though. Although I am going to Washington DC in April, you're welcome to come visit 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I have a VIP package for you. We are down to one minute. I'm going have to skip over some stuff. Goodbye Batman. There's a new character coming. Whoever didn't know me as Batman maybe knew me as a pirate. Pirate went away and there's something new coming.

47 seconds. Ebikes, our budgets, that courthouse, that judge, that all still stands today. Is it still expects you guys to do whatever needs to be done for that courthouse? Nothing changes with that. Um, I've got 29 seconds. Grafton High School should be called the Grafton Bats or better yet the Grafton Knights because nobody knows what a clipper is. It's a hair shop. Last but not least, I was going to give one minute to this, but 10 seconds is what you get. Maybe 12. We just need a moment of silence to get our head together. We've seen too much on TV and our kids probably think us adults are idiots for the behaviors they see on the news.

Thank you, Mr. Williams. That's all that have signed up. Anyone wishing to speak who has not filled out a registration form? Seeing none, I'll close the citizen comment period. Mr. Hill, would you care to comment on uh any uh legal matters? Uh nothing other than to note to the board that tomorrow tomorrow is crossover at the general assembly. So that is the last day at which each bill each house can pass bills and send them over to the other. Hallelujah. Mr. uh Bellamy.

Yes, sir. Thank you. other than to uh share with you that my colleague on the other side of the dasis recently celebrated her birthday. Tell him happy birthday. But other than that, I have no comments. I'm available for questions. Thank you. Any questions? A question for attorney. We didn't ask. Go ahead.

Yeah. Um for the for the county attorney, we talked about this uh a little bit earlier before the meeting. Um there's certain bills that we have particular interested in the Senate bill and the change that deal with um with us losing the power to be able to zone and dictate the type and the concentration of housing uh in our uh in our county. And in fact, this would apply to all municipalities. Uh I'm particularly interested in following that. As many of you heard last time about two weeks ago, I kind of went nuts on that. But the uh the point is that that's they make changes and I expect there'll be a lot of changes or some changes I hope to those bills. So u please keep us informed of those that pertain to um to that that Senate bill dealing with that on that property issue. And one that you brought up uh to me that's up there and I didn't even know this was there is where um religious I want to say organizations, churches, stuff like that will have a byite ability to um build multifamily housing on their property. Um now the that's you know if you want to do that that's fine but then the uh the church organizations need to be aware of the fact that that's taxable um be under state code. So that bill is up there and that's something else going on. So we're keeping a close eye on on the what the general assembly is doing because it's really they're doing some really weird stuff this time. So thank you

Mr. Sheper. There may be people here tonight not familiar with that first bill. Do you want to give 30 seconds on what Well, the one I know it as 804, but there's another bill that's in the House bill similar to that. and 816 818 816

816 and they have variations in um essentially what they do is they say that in these bills to varying degrees that the all municipalities will essentially have to use a significant portion of their commercial uh property and industrial property for multi-use housing. Okay. if you I don't know what the repercussions if you failed to do that but the um what that does for us is if you think about your county um as you know we're only six miles wide 27 miles long we're not a large county we don't have a lot of open space that's ours that belongs to the federal government or the state or waterworks and um and so where where would they if we have to comply with that law they would have to go we could we have whatever limited amount of general business property we have and maybe even equal equal opportunity uh property or the limited very limited industrial property. We would have to uh allow 75% of that property to be used for multifamily housing and that is multifamily housing. I'm not talking I mean that's things like apartments uh uh condominiums a u u you know anything that can jam a lot of people into a lot of houses. When you do that, when you do that, it is going to cost all of us more money. Okay? Flat out, it's going to cost us money. It one, it eliminates the the business opportunities that we can have. And and historically, we have not at one time, we have like 52% of our general revenue came from businesses. Today, it's down in the 30s. Okay? We've lost we lost the power plant. We lost the refinery. uh maybe we can get some other more businesses to come in. However, if they don't have land to build on because we have more housing on it, where are they

going where we going to generate that? And the other part of this is that many of you out here that own homes that pay taxes on it for a tax to break even on the cost of a property for the county, it has to be right now, I estimate that have to be $800,000 to a million. Otherwise, what it's going to do, it's going to cost us in services. And the services are deputies, going to cost us on law enforcement. It's going to cost us in the fire and life safety, and it's going to cost us in education. Education's not cheap. We're getting ready to drop $40 million on one remodeling tab high school, and then we got a school after that, and a school after that, and a school after that because none of our buildings are less than 50 years. I think you guys get the picture. some of these rules and some of these bright ideas they're coming up with, I don't know how they apply to our county because our county is not built like a city. All right, we don't have that space. We have that brown space out there and we don't have a lot of the kind of space they're going after. Sorry, it took me more than 30 seconds.

Mr. Shepard, since we're on matters before the board and you're on a roll, continue, please. That was my matters presented by the board. I'm not talking anymore. All right, Mrs. No,

I'm going to change the subject. As a member of the Langley Civic Leaders Association, I was invited to the activation of a new command located at Fort Eustace. It's now called the United States Army Futures and Concepts Command. As you may have read, I'm sure you've you've all been involved in this as trade do was the army's training and doctrine command. Uh that was dismanted. Trade would been with us for 52 years. But now the army's preparing for the force of the future. After Lieutenant General Michael McCroy took command the other day, he began his remarks by recognizing the soldiers who fought in the Battle of Yorktown. He went on to say that we have an excellent fighting force now and the soldiers we have today have a rich heritage, but there is a need to design and train the future force and the challenges that they face in the years to come. The Army Future Ed Concepts Command will be designing the forces by developing those integrated concepts. You know what we what has gone before is a stepping stone to what the future holds. And as time changes, our militaries have to change also. And it was good to see what the army has now planned to do. And I have to tell you that it was a very formal presentation. It was a it was a installation of a new command and then a

new commander to take over. It was a very solemn ceremony and I wish General Mccur all the best in the future to come and I hope that we'll we will hear something about it. But I have to tell you, I really enjoyed hearing the fact that he recognized the Battle of Yorktown in his comments. Thank you, Mr. Ro.

Yeah, thank you. So, I'll be brief, too, because I know we're trying to stay on track for time. There's important public service announcements I want to share with everybody. And given the number of people in this room, this probably something that somebody in this room could probably take advantage of or will need to take advantage of. And that is the um the Vic your local YMCA, the victory YMCA on 134 by Tab Library uh has partnered with the Livestrong Foundation to provide what they call the LiveStrong at the YMCA program. And that's a program for people who are cancer survivors who are on their road to recovery to help people regain their strength, their mobility, their range of motion, and their agility coming off of cancer treatment as they start to recover. Um, that's a program they offer twice a year. There are two 16week classes that run two hours a night. Um, the current class is is just now getting started. So be so if that is something that can be helpful to you or to a to a loved one or to a to a family friend uh make sure that you and they are aware of that look on the YMCA's website for the next availability and sign up for it. They're um fairly small classes so they can get the care and attention that they need to get get better. Uh just want to make sure everybody knows that's a resource is out there for you right here in our community right down the street. So if it's something you need, please consider it. check it out. They'll be there to help you out. Thank you,

Mr. Drury.

Thank you, Chair. Um, so, you know, if you look around, uh, York County, um, something I'm really excited about is the business, small business growth that we've got coming to the county. Um, you know, I ran on that platform that, as Mr. Shephard said, "Used to be small business carried a a huge part or burden of our tax base and and that's flipped on its head. Now the taxpayers are doing that." So, uh, my plan from day one was to bring as many small businesses to York County as we can to start flip-flopping that back. So, small business now carries the brunt of our tax base. So, if you look up the the what I call the money pit corridor on 17, you see construction going left and right. Um Chick-fil-A is almost done. Um they just started a few weeks ago. Um and Chipotle started next door out. Cookout is is started underway. Um the Dutch Bros. uh coffee is coming. Chipper's going to have to move out. We've got Publix coming. We've got Sheets coming. Um what am I missing? Um Q Daddies. I went by there yesterday. They had some issues with some contractors. Uh I believe Earl may be able to tell us they've got a temporary CO as of yesterday or today. So we're waiting for the ribbon cutting to happen on that. Uh Virginia Beer Company is packed. I don't know if you've been by there, but it seems to be packed all the time. Uh so that's good. Um, Chill Ponds, we just attended the press release that they're bringing a junior hockey team into that facility over there, which is going to be great. We've got a new hotel opening up just around the corner. Um, and then uh we've got the pub, new restaurant down in Yorktown is underway as well. So, there's lots of really really great business growth coming to York County. Um, I'm putting

Darren and Christie on notice that we're going to continue to bring in good, reputable business to bring in revenue for York County. That's our goal and I hope you will support that as we go forward. Um, one thing I did want to bring uh to the county administrator and the board if I could. We visited this some time ago and I am still pushing for a business advocate uh to work with our planning, zoning, permitting office that help some of these businesses get through that process. I am constantly um bered with horror stories about how businesses are taking so long to get through the process. I talked to one owner the other day about a week ago. They said it's taken them two and a half years to get through our process. Now, that's not all on York County, but there's a process that we have to follow. Um, and I've I've heard numbers of stories of just problems that we should not have be having problems like this. So, I I know that with um the Plains property and Dominion gone, um we're probably going to have a big company coming there at some point and I think that business advocate would do well to be able to to advocate for that business and also a bunch of small businesses. Uh I was in the construction uh department or construction field for 20 plus years and I know how these getting permits and getting through zoning and planning it can be arduous at best and uh if you're not a builder and trying to go through there it is a nightmare. It can be a nightmare. So I'm I'm still back on beating that drum and I'd like to get some support from my fellow board members if I could. It's all I've got. Thank you.

Well, I think the I think the issue is always what does it cost? I think it's probably a discussion we should have during budget discussions. Um, I'm not disagreeing with you that an advocate would be useful. Uh, I just like to see the path forward. So, Mr. Bellamy, if you could kind of prepare some uh some remarks on how we would do that, about what the likely cost would be and we can address that during further budget discussion. Lord, it's okay with that. Yeah. Yep. I had uh I had several comments. First of all, uh Wayne already mentioned Chilled Ponds. It was a great uh press release for that. A new junior team coming to Yorktown. Uh we do have Yorktown night this coming Saturday.

21st. And Mr. Shepard will be dropping the puck at center ice and that ought to be worth the price of admission. Hit myself in the foot. Just the puck.

Um I have a couple of interesting comments. Uh, I have a resident up in District 1 who's celebrating his 100th birthday later this week. Gentleman's name is Frank Shhatz. Um, born in um born in Czechoslovakia. Uh, Jewish Jewish national. He was enslaved in a labor camp in uh in uh Romania uh during World War II. He escaped from there, worked for the underground in Hungary for the remainder of the war, immigrated to the US in uh in 1958. And where a lot of people uh recognized the name from, he became a columnist for the Virginia Gazette and offered a column called World Focus,

which for 40 years he uh he wrote stories about uh freedom uh and other and other topics, other interviews. um he celebrates 100 years of age this week. So we are actually uh signing a proclamation to that effect. Another uh interesting one. I' I've been attending a series of Veo courses. Now they have a year-long certification course which I've just about completed and this gentleman next to me has just started. Um they also run a uh a program for all the chairs and vice chairs across uh Virginia. And we had about uh we had about 20 chairs and vice chairs attend a two-day session uh week weekend ago. So it's Friday, Saturday uh just over a week ago. A lot of interesting discussions, a lot of shared issues and challenges uh but a lot of ideas on how to move forward. I just find anytime you can educate or continue to learn, it's just it's an opportunity to open your eyes and and and be a better citizen. But we did have a lot of talk on taxes and general assembly and what they're doing on housing and taking away zoning rights and particularly the collective bargaining uh rights that they plan to introduce on a statewide level to arbitrate for all unions at state level. no local no local authority provided anymore to work with your local unions to solve matters and discuss arbitration. Um, that's scary. That's concerning. Um, Miss Larson of JCC was quoted as stating that it would be a 24% 24.5 cent increase on property tax just to handle those two bills, the housing bill and the collective bargaining bill. Um, it's been estimated that $25 million per year for a community our size would

be required for the housing bill. That's 15 cents on our property tax. 15. That's ludicrous. We ought to be doing everything in our power to let our representatives know that we're dissatisfied with that approach. And finally, I can't I can't ignore My maps are gone.

I want the two maps. There's our current current uh map for the district redistricting in or the districtricting in um in Virginia. And that was um set up in 2020 after a statewide referendum was 66% in favor of it being a bipartisan committee that would establish those those districts. Uh I think it's very representative of the various regions of the state and now you have the current redistricting committee which has city of uh Alexandria and the county of Arlington as part of your county. Now now how much of a say are you going to get when the representative that you'll have from Arlington uh represents your county? You going to want to have to drive up to Alexandria every time you have an issue with your congressman? He's not going to come down here. population base that he represents

is all up there. Is all up there. Um very frustrated by this. I think we have a chance to go to the polls. It's April 21. I recommend people go. You know, right now the advertisements all over the all over the uh TV are vote yes for fairness. There's nothing fair about this. There's nothing fair about taking away our right to be heard. This is taxation without representation. That's how I equate it. Um I think we need to be very deliberate and and um address this referendum and make your voices be heard. So please get out and vote.

One one thing one thing on this when you see this map, this is the new map layout. Okay. So we're in district one currently. That's this pink area right here. Okay. That pink big square kind of squareish pink area. District 8 is what we're going to. And if you notice district eight, we're like down here on the corner. Okay. Little bitty little bitty green area down here on the corner and it goes all the way up the east coast up there to was it Fairfax, right? No. Well, it's it's Arlington and I'm sorry. But anyway, so they probably got more people in that little bit up there than we have down here. So it's uh it's gerrymandering big time. All right,

that concludes matters before the board. Uh we will take a fivem minute recess and be back here at 7:15. That's a big one. Wait a minute.

begin the uh public hearings now. Begin the public hearings. Call on uh Miss Carer to uh introduce Lafayette Gun Club special use application. Thank you, Jeie. Thank you.

Good evening. Hey, this application submitted by the Lafayette Gun Club is a request for a special use permit to establish an indoor firing range at 331 Dare Road. The subject property is about 26 acres in size. Most of its zoned resource conservation or RC with a tenth of an acre portion located at the entrance of the property zoned medium density single family residential or R20. The subject parcel is bounded to the east by Brandy Wine Housing Subdivision and a portion of the lake owned by the Brandy Wine Lake Owners Association. Uh to the south is Kohl's Horse Autism Therapy Station, otherwise known as Chats and Peninsula Hardwood Mulch. To the west is a single family dwelling, Jacob Springs Housing Subdivision and Lakeside Baptist Church. And to the north are three single family homes. Existing development on this parcel includes a clubhouse, an indoor firing range, outdoor firing ranges, and an outdoor shotgun range. The applicant is seeking authorization to establish a new approximately 12,600 ft indoor firing range on their property. The new uh the new building will be located on the north portion of the existing shotgun range. Therefore, the shotgun range equipment will be shifted south. The code states only completely enclosed indoor firing ranges are permitted. The subject parcel contains several outdoor firing ranges that were built in 1950. York County's first zoning ordinance was adopted in 1957. Therefore, the existing outdoor firing ranges are on the subject parcel are considered a legally non-conforming use and are allowed to continue. According to the code, no structure except screening fences and identification signs used for firing ranges shall be located closer than 100 ft to any residential lot line. The new indoor range would be approximate requirement. While existing legally non-conforming

facilities are not subject to new standards, the applicant has proposed measures to mitigate the impact of the outdoor ranges such as additional additional landscaping and fortification of the existing earth and BMS. The applicant states in their narrative that they plan to install additional landscape buffering along the property lines that abut Holden Lane and Pearly Court to serve as a visual block. The applicant also proposes to increase the height of the main shotgun BMS shown here. The applicant stated in their narrative that a majority of activity would be moved from the legally from the existing legally non-conforming indoor range that's located only 83 feet from the nearest residential lot line to the new indoor range. activity in the existing indoor range would be curtailed from a multi-caliber facility to a 22 uh rimfire only facility. The establishment of the new indoor firing range would reduce the impact of noise on the citizens of Holden uh Lane closest to the existing indoor firing range. Indoor ranges shall be designed so that no range noise is audible at the property line. Documentation certified by an architect and professional engineer to this effect shall be submitted with site and building plans. If the subject I'm sorry, if the special use permit is approved, the applicant will be required to submit the necessary documentation for the new indoor firing range during the site plan approval process. According to the applicant's narrative, the new indoor firing range will employ state-of-the-art to standard soundproofing and have a much lower sound signature than the current indoor range. According to the code, it shall be the property owner or leie's responsibility to ensure the firing range is managed by an individual currently certified to perform such supervision as a range master or range safety officer by a federal, state, local, or other nationally recognized certification. This does not need to be submitted during the special use permit process, but will need to be presented during annual inspections. The applicant confirmed that they can meet this requirement and will present the documentation upon request. The Lafayette Gun Club is secured by a

gate at the entrance of the property. The county's Department of Fire and Life Safety reviewed the application and requested that the applicant install a NOX gate switch on the main gate to allow emergency vehicles to enter the site. A condition of approval has been proposed that would make this a requirement. The proposed indoor firing range meets the performance standards of the York County code and is proposed to move most activity from the existing indoor range to an improved modern and sound attenuated facility. The new indoor firing range would be 134 ft from the nearest property line, reduce existing noise, and provide a betterment to the surrounding community. Therefore, staff recommends approval of this application subject to the conditions set forth in proposed resolution number 26-9. The planning commission voted six to zero to recommend approval as well. But thank you. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have and the applicant is here to answer your questions as well.

Questions for Miss Carter? Tom, go ahead. Could you walk us through the stipulations and the conditions that the gun club offered as part of the special use permit? So, sever there were several bullet points. Yeah, you mentioned a couple of them already, but

yeah. So, he talked about additional landscape buffering uh for which we talked about there. Um clarified updated internal procedural changes made and several more planned. agreed to increase the height of the eastern berm of the 50-yard range with a five- foot tall capture barrier netting sufficient to stop any fragments. Uh it says agreed to increase the height of the main shotgun BMS as depicted in the revised uh SCP special use permit. Agreed to limit airborne target shooting i.e. trap fiveand to 12 gauge and smaller eight and nine eliminates seven and a half after the range reconfiguration. agreed to bring in a shotgun range consultant for review of current and uh future operations. It says they're trying to reschedule or they're trying to schedule for January of 2026. So hope I don't know if they did, but the applicant can answer that.

Right. And I think there's also a regularly scheduled safety review by a third party also planned.

I think that he he mentioned that they're going to have one. I'm not sure if it was regular occurrence or not. And that that that and and we may be able to talk to the applicant too, but the um the resulting report too will be something in a summarized form will be shared to everyone. Do do you know what level of detail that the county will have access to for and do we have the the expertise on staff to to review such a plan to make sure we're everything is under compliance? So, our uh office of zoning and code enforcement uh would go out and um inspect those um documents that they produce. Um but I I don't know uh what the expertise level is.

Okay. So, we would actually review the documents specifically. Yes. Okay. All right. All right. Thank you, Mr. Drew. Mr. Conor, I had several questions. Um, first of all, I want you to confirm that this SOP is only to address the new firing range. Yes. So, there was a lot of conditions and and a lot of changes that the owner has approved, but we aren't reviewing that tonight. Correct. I'm sorry. Will you repeat that? We are not uh reviewing any other aspect of the range tonight, only the new building. That's correct. Okay. Is Has the owner indicated what he is doing with the existing indoor building?

Yes. He said he's going to curtail activity to a 22 rimfire only facility. So it does remain in use. Yes. Okay.

Finally, I had a question for our council. Uh, one of the questions raised by an applicant, uh, Jonathan Butler addressed concerns, procedural concerns, regulatory and protective um, nature in terms of are we following the right process? Are we in in conformance with the regulations requiring us to approve or disapprove this application tonight? Could you speak to that, please?

Yes, Mr. Chairman. Oops. I forgot. Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman, tonight's application is a land use application. Everything that has to be satisfied for you to vote on whether or not this is an appropriate use at this parcel with special conditions has been satisfied. If you do approve the special use permit request, there will be further review at the site plan level. There will also be review by building codes and safety. Indoor firing ranges carry their own uh requirements under the uniform building code and the various aspects of the county who are responsible for those pieces will each have a full stop in the process if those are not met. The only decision before the board tonight is whether or not they can move forward to submit a full site plan, a building plan, request a building permit, and begin the process. Um, prior prior to their doing anything further with that, they have to get the basic permission to actually engage in the endeavor that they've applied for.

And we had talked about non-conforming use. Is this specifically the outdoor range or does it also include the existing

the current application includes a proposed new indoor firing range uh which is allowed under our York County code of ordinances with the grant of a special use permit. Also on another section of this parcel as Miss Mrs. Carner showed us there is an existing outdoor facility and an aging quite aging uh indoor facility from the 1950s. Both of those items are part of a legally nonconforming pre-existing use. They are not affected in any way by tonight's vote. The only thing before this board is the new building. I believe that from what I've heard and and you all have heard there have been discussions about things that the applicant is willing to do with regard to their existing legally non-conforming use just as part of what they're talking about with the landscape. But the vote that you have inquired about, Mr. Chair, is limited to the special use permit as contemplated in the code.

That's my understanding. Thank you for clarifying. and and there is no conflict correct between addressing this special use permit and the fact that it is a legal non-conforming use. Correct. You are correct sir. We the the fact that we now in modern times have an ordinance that says an individual in this zone could apply to build for permission to build a new indoor firing range does not divest any pre-existing legally non-conforming. Right. Okay. Yep. I'll now open the public hearing. I'll call on the applicant to uh to begin.

Can you see that? Okay.

Yep. as uh little truncated up on the screen. Uh good evening, Zev York, 312 Victor Lane, District 2. Thank you. I'm the executive officer at Lafayette Gun Club and uh information brief tonight and hopefully I'll fill in some of the gaps exactly pertaining the questions you asked. And I really want to fill in some of the context of why we're doing this and some of the some of the conditions we're working on outside the new building to improve improve our club for the uh for the community. I'll give a little background. I do want to talk about some terms of reference to sort of level not just for the uh board but also for the community uh what we're looking to do, why we're building the range or the new indoor range. Talk about some of those aspects. very important community engagement and uh some additional actions we're taking that aren't directly related to the facility. Talk about some key takeaways and of course answer some questions. A little more background uh incorporated in 1949. We've been there a little while. Uh I wasn't there when they opened but uh been on in the member for about 12 years. Uh we're run by a board of nine directors about 20.

Excuse me one moment. Could we have that on the screen please? It's there we go. Thank you. Okay. Great. I imagine there's a screen down here you're watching. We got little ones. We got little ones up here.

Um about 2,800 members across the state. Uh we do have all our members uh present a pre uh criminal history and uh uh for their membership and over 100 law enforcement courtesy uh memberships where they can come in, test fire their weapons, do training, etc. uh our bylaws which are are are fairly well-developed. We do focus on um not just uh the recreational shooting, but safe handling of firearms, marksmanship, um fellowship, good discipline, team play, and our junior division of the club, a junior's team, which by the way, uh qualified three members last weekend for the Junior Olympics. Usually have three or four members every year. And for the past five years, our junior's team, which is called out in our bylaws that we support, have been in the top five uh ranked in the state uh over the folks in Northern Virginia. So, keep that in mind, please. So, we talk about non-conforming use. We're not expanding Lafayette Gun Club. Uh we're limited to those 26 acres. And quite frankly, when they snapped the chalk line back in the 50s with the ordinance, we're limited to that range space. we can't expand those ranges. So, part of that and working with the uh planning department, we are citing the new indoor range building on an existing range. So, we're not expanding that range footprint. We're held to that. That's that vested non-conforming space. Uh we're not expanding our ranges. We're not moving the shotgun range. And it's technically not a shotgun range. It's just a range, but we refer to it as a shotgun range. We're shifting some of the equipment on the shotgun range and uh making some room for the building. There is an approved plan on the books and this has caused some confusion too called an action shooting range that was approved back in 20124 and that was a large facility on the south end of our property with some dynamic shooting capabilities, a large uh 140 by 270 overhead structure. uh

revamping the road. A lot of work in the resource protection area. If we are approved for the new indoor range, we'll abandon that that plan. We'll overwrite it with the new site plan as as was mentioned and we'll keep a small overhead structure down there just to uh environmental protection for shooters. Community outreach. Uh this is an area we actually uh with some help from the planning council improved a lot. In the past, we had great community relations. We hiccuped on that. we'll we'll call ourselves out on that. So, we've been engaged with the three different homeowners associations surrounding our property, uh the Brandy Wine Lake Owners Association, and the NRA. So, we learned a lot. We learned some things we could do better, and I'll detail some of the actions we're taking in a couple slides based on those. We've done multiple range tours, off-site meetings, um and we implemented internal and external actions. You mentioned the uh I'll actually talk to them. So, stand by. So, why build it? Well, there's our juniors on the left side of the screen. That's our new state-of-the-art air gun facility, electronic scoring, great lighting. Uh, the center is our current range. Those are the juniors trying to do some practice in there. It's cramped, it's short, it doesn't meet the minimum distances. The lighting, it's a dance hall from the 1950s. So, on the right side of the screen, you see what a new facility could look like. clear uh well lit larger um spacing. And you notice all the soundproofing panels that run the length of the range as well. Significantly decrease the noise inside the range and obviously outside the range. So this is good for the club, good for the community, good for the county. It's a new facility. We have members, they pay dues. uh important to us is getting that indoor range distance to 25 yards, improved target systems, heating and air conditioning that actually heat and cool the facility. Uh that's a daily struggle

with us in a 50-year-old building. And um we'll transition that old range to a state-of-the-art 22 rimfire range. uh the the old indoor building. We can um decrease some of the uh uh back stop, increase the distance a little bit, but it'll be a lot quieter for the neighbors. That is a 247 in our most used range. Uh for the community, as mentioned, we're held to a pretty significant standard on that new range. Uh state-of-the-art, we contracted with companies that build ranges for the Department of Defense, police forces, Department of Justice, FBI. Um they're experts at this. They build hundreds of ranges and they they know how to do it. Um, additional visual barriers. Uh, we'll do certainly the landscaping. Um, but also the outdoor range, the shotgun range. We're going to raise the BMS and we're going to have a a back stop of a building. So, when they are using the shotgun range, that will actually project less noise to the community as well. We talked about economic development. Fortunately or unfortunately, this is about a $4.5 million project in the county. Um, plus I'm sure you'll hit us for tax assessments as well. Um, but we'll reduce the legal non-conforming use of that old indoor range. Uh, we'll eliminate that action shooting range, which is significant work in the resource protection area. And by the way, uh, a lot of shooters will come from that outdoor range that shoot at 25 yards on the indoor. It's a fully contained system, full lead, full uh, uh, capture of all projectiles. Uh, those go to the recycling center. Naturally, we get paid for them. So, uh, it's really a win-winwin situation. So, uh, Miss Carner did a great job of walking you through. I'm a little short on time, but this is a layown. Uh, the yellow building is the new range. We talked about the new BMS. I'll go to the next slide. These aren't directly related to the indoor range, but it affects our 50yard range. And the folks over in Brandy Wine, and we learned learned a little

bit through here. So, the bottom right corner is a a blow up of that 50 yard range. We had a lot of activity right on the edge of that which is about 85 ft from some of those neighbors. We moved that activity about 175% farther offset to the west. Uh eliminated some types of shooting. Um some things we're doing with buckshot on that range through concerns. Um certain things we do on the eastern side of that range, we've we're now prohibited. Um and we are going to bring that consultant in after we get a special use permit. So, uh, we can look at how the new shotgun range is going to be set up. Specifically about the range technical team. It's a service the NRA provides. We're going to have them come out every two years. Uh, they do an assessment. They do a report back to us. That's an internal document. That's something we pay for. Um, we're not comfortable, not that we're hiding anything, but um, just making that public knowledge, but we will employ a third party, most likely an attorney, to take the essence of that report. Are we doing things well? are we not doing things well? And we'll directly relate that to the Brandy Wine Homeowners Association uh and and other parties as needed. So question came up, hey, you're grading your own homework. Let's bring a third party in. Let's do a review of that. And as mentioned, we'll do that uh debris netting at an additional about 5T on that eastern part there. So the new range is beneficial to the club. It allows us uh update the old range, a great new facility, air conditioning, turning targets, better lighting, less environmental impact, whether that's noise impact to the RPA, recycling program, economic gain for the county, um community engagement, that's something that the club's got to be got to be good at. Uh we've made physical changes to the range outside the scope of the new building. Uh we added policy changes outside the scope of the new

building and we've added that independent assessment feedback loop. Uh bottom line, we're committed for balancing the membership needs, membership desires uh with with community desires as best we can. I guess I'll give back 50 seconds. Standing by for questions. Mrs. N. I'm interested in the fact that actually this is just the first step that you have to take in the process. Absolutely. So the and so uh each step of the way you will be advised whether or not it can be done.

That is absolutely correct. Uh the site plan is our next big step obviously where we have to detail um not just where those facilities are going to be that but then also the the criteria that they have to be built to. Yes ma'am. Thank you. Any questions? That's great. Good questions. Couple questions. Uh sir, does the club anticipate an increase in membership with this new amenity or not?

Good question. Uh a little history. We used to have about 4,000 members in the So short answer is no. We used to have about 4,000 members in the club a few years back. We as a board decided to cap that membership at 3,000. We are a nonprofit entity. Uh we don't really care about generating the dues. Our dues are quite low for our facilities. So, no, even though this uh new range will will give us additional shooting space, uh the indoor range is our most used range 247. Um and we want to be able to use it, not have to wait in line. So, uh we do not anticipate changing the membership cap above 3,000.

Okay. And I don't know you're far enough along with the site planet or the building design, but I was curious. The HVAC filtration system in in the new building, is that going to capture internally the particulate from from the fire end? Can you can you speak to that?

Another good question. Yes, I can. So, uh the company that we've uh made our initial contract with uh has put in uh hundreds of ranges uh for the air system. We have two companies that do turnkey solutions. One will put in the range package which is the back stop, the targets, the the ballistic walls. The other one focuses solely on the HVAC system. It is a 100% uh recirculation HEPA filter, DoD, NOSH, uh OSHA and about six other certifications uh with actually 247 remote monitoring to ensure that both air quality and air flow is sufficient. And that is a total capture system with the HEPA filters that that are changed and and disposed of accordingly.

Okay. So you want me to exhaust in any dirty air to the atmosphere. Negative. Okay. All right. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions, Wayne? No, I don't really have any questions right now. Comments may be later. Thank you, Zev. Okay. Appreciate the time and thanks to the department for all the help. I have two citizens who have signed up. Uh Jonathan Butler Good evening. Jonathan Butler, 115 Jacobs Run first. Can you hear me? Yes.

Okay. 115 Jacobs Run. I just want to say thank you. Um, a lot of the questions that I had seemed like you guys just asked them for me, so I might as well just tear my script up, but uh, thanks for positively engaging with me. I know I came in at this at the 25th hour, so I just want to, you know, thank you guys for that. Um, I do have a few additional questions. It seems like a lot of the stuff that I have on my list and a lot of the questions that I have for the board at large won't take place until the next step. So the next step happens will there be another meeting? How does this work? How do invested parties stay engaged?

Can I ask questions or not? Actually not. Okay. Um but I will direct that question uh to Mr. Bellamy. He can answer it after the meeting. Gotcha. Okay. Um just a just a

Were you gonna answer or no? No sir. I was asking Mr. Anderson to answer. Gotcha. As I did.

Gotcha. Um just a few things that were that I noticed from the changes. The burm is being moved or modified roughly about 150 ft. Um, this is another question that we could probably circle back on, but um, once that burm is moved, what aspects of it are being moved? Because like I'm dealing with this like I've military I did 20 years. So I did a lot of like digging underground and handling stuff like that. When you start moving things structurally, you start moving earth, anything more than six inches, it changes what the scope of work is. So being that the burm is now moved, is that grounds for a removal of that particular portion of the legally non-conforming use? Again, sir, we are only referring to the new indoor range. The SUP tonight is only addressing that subject.

So, the Burm is moving, correct? It's not related to tonight's discussion. Okay. Well, I have no questions then. Thank you, Mr. Bellamy. Mr. Greg Peterson is my next speaker.

Are you Mr. Bellamy? Greg Peterson, 138 Brandy Wine Drive. So, I want to say thanks for the opportunity to come up and speak to you. Uh, I know there was some discussion earlier is what's on your agenda. So, I'll call attention to the fact that that special youth's permit is a privilege, not a right. and you must ensure the safety of the surrounding community when and I believe we're not taking anything off from there. We're adding a range that's an expansion whether it's acreage or it's adding additional space. So I was in our community was one of the biggest reasons we pushed back on this to start with. For the last three years, I filed police reports with York County about bullets hitting my house, bullets landing in my p in my my uh pool, and I got absolutely zero help. Two police reports from me, two police reports from my neighbor. Thank you for the plan or the zoning commission for stalling this project and allowing me to work with Zeborg. Most of everything you're saying that is not related to that product is stuff that me and him and the and the uh Lafayette Gun Club work together to improve the safety of the surrounding community. The reason I wanted to get up here tonight and speak is because can you imagine the frustration of filing police reports because bullets are hitting your house and then the zoning planning commission recommending expansion of a club because they were completely unaware that there was any bullets leaving that range even though York County knew it was happening. So, the reason I'm up here to talk to you tonight is I want to give you guys the opportunity. I'm I'm telling you, this is an opportunity.

Nobody died. Nobody got hurt. Here's an opportunity for you to look internally to York County and figure out why you're not talking to each other and to figure out how to make sure you're making the folks around that gun club safe. And I'm sure it'll apply outside. Our residents were not there. Those residents or subdivisions were not there when the the gun club was there. York County approved to move them around there. So, you guys bear the burden of the safety of those communities. So, again, thanks, Zeb. I appreciate you working with us. I think we've got some great steps moving forward to keep this community safe. I'm just asking York County to step up and take the ball from here. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone wishing to speak who has not filled out a registration form, Mr. Williams? Pardon my delays. Mr. Hoy,

um 513 Charles Road. Let's get that clock going. Tick tock, flip-flop, and all that good stuff. I've had the um privilege to visit and tour the the facilities of Lafayette Gun Club. I met the director, had breakfast, blah blah blah. When he offered me the opportunity to come see the facilities, I was quite impressed. As far as safety, I can understand anybody's concern regarding that. Even driving past it, you don't be shot. Um but there's always a way to limit that. I don't know their history as far as um safety inside the facilities. I was just impressed with every member that I met the day that I went sometime about two years ago. Um if I was going to join a gun club, that would be it. Their facilities were were topnotch. Um I still have 2 minutes and 10 seconds, so let Batman do what Batman do. Um, when I was about 15, I had a three-wheeler and Washington Square Shopping Center hadn't been built. That was our fair grounds. To bore everybody to tears tonight, I used to ride my three-wheeler behind Lafayette. I did have a few ricochets go past my head once or twice, but fortunately, me as a dumb kid doing dumb things in the woods back there, I was never injured myself. I just stayed low to get past the BMS. I didn't know there was a gun club there, but I learned quickly. Um, but that was in the 80s. I'm an old I'm an old bat that hangs in a barn upside down all day and loves coffee. So, I do represent the YCIC in case anybody wanted to write that in their journal. Um, this facility is going to be an indoor facility unless we bring in some DoD equipment from DARPA and everything else. I don't see bullets

leaving the building unless we choose to do so. And I don't see that on their plate. One minute and counting. I'd give them the opportunities that they're looking for. Safety reviews and working with the community. They know what they need to do as far as outreach. Members know what they want to do to be able to continue to do what they do best. And if nothing else, if China ever invades us, you'll be calling Lafayette Gun Club to assist you to save your own house. That's what I can say about the members there. Top-notch. And uh most of them are first responders one way or the other. Or DoD. As we countdown on time, I'm going to add another 15 seconds to the 10 seconds I gave before.

No. So we can all breathe and have a moment of silence. Thank you. Any other citizens wishing to speak? I still claim my time. Seeing none, I close the uh public hearing. Oh, that's done. Any board discussion?

I have a question. Yes, a legal question. I mean, I I think I'm pretty sure I know the answer. Um, for our attorney here, um, me several members up here are members of the Lafayette Gun Club. Okay. Now over decades I've had opportunities to have issues have come before this board. Um and if I recall the only conflict of interest issue would be if one of us were or a member of the the governing body of that committee. Okay. Otherwise there is no conflict of interest. There is no conflict this evening sir. Thank you very much.

Any other board discussion? have comment period. Yeah, that that's what I'm asking. Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah.

So, and thank you for uh presenting tonight. Um reading through uh our packet. Um I noticed that um it seems to me like uh this is going to be quieter. It's going to be safer. it's going to contain all the bullets and shrapnel, whatever from the targets are going to be contained more closely now. Um, so I think that's a good thing. Uh, I do appreciate you saying you guys had a hiccup not getting the public involved right. Um, but from what I'm reading and seeing, seems like and the gentleman that spoke earlier, you guys have gotten together and you've gotten out to the community and asked questions and got feedback and concerns, comments, and you guys are trying to address those comments. So, you know, I think it's great that you're doing that together. I I would encourage other people when you come to the board, ask your neighbors, ask your friends, ask the people around you what they think and get their input um before you come and ask for the board to do something like this. It getting that public interaction going early on is is imperative. And so my hats off you that you were able to do that and looks like you got a pretty good consensus from what I'm seeing. not not too much opposition now, but it was a lot of opposition to begin with and I think it's because probably lack of knowledge or education to the people around there that needed to know what you were doing and what your plans were moving forward. And so I think you've addressed their concerns from what I'm seeing. So I just want to say I appreciate you taking that time. I know it took a lot of time to do this, but it's the most important part is getting public input. So thank you. comment.

Yep. Okay.

Um, so I've been really engaged on this for a number of reasons, not the least of which is among the board members here, I live closest to the club. In fact, one of the maps popped up. You could have seen my house on on that map. Um, so and been engaged you with the club even before it came to the county for for consideration. And also I want to commend the club's effort in community engagement. Um that was good direction the planning commission gave to do that and y'all have done an outstanding job working with the community and the surrounding area to get feedback from them take them to the club all of that and I and I really hope and encouraged to continue that engagement going forward there's nothing there's no downside to that that communication and transparency so I really hope you do that um so you I've lived where I've lived there in Brandy Wines you since 1999 and so I've really close to the the the club for for that whole time. And I've received very few complaints about the club, but the complaints I do receive for the most part have been noise related. And this new indoor firing range will address that those noise concerns directly. Um it is an opportunity to give the surrounding neighborhoods some relief from some of the some of the noise by bringing moving the the higher caliber um pistol cartridges away from the existing range that's close to the Holden Lane um community further away into a building that has much better soundproofing that's also further away from all the other property lines and will also attract some of the shooters from the um outdoor range who like to shoot pistols outside instead of in in the indoor range or just don't have the space. So that will further reduce noise there. So really it almost almost comes down to academic discussion. We can vote no and nothing changes. The noise level stays the same, the activity stays the

same, or we vote yes and have an opportunity to improve the noise intuition intuition with uh with with neighbors by approving this new club. So, I'm I'm supportive of it because it it's it's a like Mr. York said, it's a win-winwin across the board and we have an opportunity here to make a positive impact on the surrounding communities. Mr. Bellam, I had one follow-up question. The gentleman who talked about bullets hitting his house and hitting his pool. I think we need to follow up with Sheriff Montgomery and just establish Got it. Are you ready? Yeah. Thank you. Can I have a Can I have a motion, please? I'll move um where we at um R2619.

Yeah. 2619. Roll call. R2619. The motion made by Mr. Ran is to adopt proposed resolution R26-9 to approve the application as submitted. Mrs. Null. Yes. Mr. Drury. Yes. Mr. Ran. Yes. Mr. Sheepard. Yes. Mr. Hoy. Yes.

Motion carried. I'll next move to uh presentation number three, no wake zone and markers in York County waterways. I'll call on Brian Fuller, deputy county administrator, to introduce the item. And if you can specifically introduce the changes made in the resolution package that we've received. Good evening, members of the board. Um, there this ordinance in front of you tonight does have an R on it. There was a lot of discussion, a lot of talk about this as this went through uh the process that we did. We had public input session at the sheriff's office. We had about 100 people there. We got input from them. We also had the state representatives there. And then we had your work session at the beginning of the month again to talk about this. The difference is the there was some confusion about what we were trying to do tonight. Uh and I'm going to go through that here in a minute. Um so the R basically the ordinance in front of you, the revised ordinance is exactly just a combination of all the ordinances that are currently approved. So as I go through this, I think that'll be clear. So uh so what we're doing tonight is really administratively and clarifying action. Uh it's taking all the existing resolutions that were passed over the years and combining them all into one ordinance. Uh it'll improve clarity, transportation, and enforcement. Uh these ordinances have been passed and started beginning in the 50s and the 70s and they were all over the place. Uh this is going to put them all in one location. It does not create, change, or remove any of the existing zones that have been on the books uh for several years.

Like I said, how we got here, these zones have been establishes early on since the 70s. There were multiple actions over the decades, and there was really no way. Uh I have to applaud Shannon Forest. She spent hours upon hours combing through all the previous resolutions that were passed by the board and working with the state to find the resolutions and the ordinances they had. Uh so there was they were all over the place. So what happened is it was fragmented. Um and we just didn't there was a lot of uncertainty to it. So the action really before you tonight creates one clear section in the code. It eliminates all the ambiguity of of existing markers. It clarifies who's responsible for the maintenance. It one of the things we're going to do is uh work with the mapping and our GIS system to get a better mapping of these. And we're also going to work with the state and so that we can get some of these on the the websites that most of the voters use and they can look up on their app and so they'll know exactly where those noake zones are. So really what we're doing is just reaffirming the existing zones. It does not create any new zones or change any of the boundaries. It does not modify the policy. All future changes, any changes uh in the existing zones, any adding of new zones or any modifying of the existing zones will require separate board action and will be handled separately. So really the next steps comes down to really two things. uh consider this ordinance tonight uh 026-3r and then consider a process of how to move forward uh how we want to handle additional modifications, removal and additions to the zones. So really I'd be happy to answer any of your questions, but really it's just uh simplifying and

coordinating everything into one one process and one ordinance. Any questions for Mr. Fuller? Mr. I think during your your investigation of of other no zones, you did find some that you had no record of any board action to establish. Is that correct? There there were some we believe there are some markers that have been placed out there but were not approved. Okay. Uh those are not valid

and they're not part of this plan because no this is only board action that has been taken in the past in those existing zones. Okay. Before we hear from the public, I would like to offer a few thoughts. Um, if the board adopts the proposed ordinance before us tonight, all existing noake zones and markers would be consolidated into one clear section of the county code. This action improves administrative enforcement but does not change any current zones. Without any action tonight, the current zones will stay in effect, which is essentially what Mr. Fuller has just indicated after tonight as a next step I'm seeking the board's consensus to direct county administrator to establish a temporary advisory committee of a board of supervisor or member uh staff marine enforcement marina representatives boers waterfront property owners to review existing markers and recommend any needed changes this uh committee not to exceed one year once the committee's work is complete, the committee will be dispanded. I respectfully ask the board's consensus to move forward with this request of the county administrator.

All right. Yep. Okay. Yeah. Good.

With that approval, I'll open the public hearing. I have several speakers. Some of them may change their decision. Thomas Raf Rafetto. My name is Thomas Rafetto and I live at 206 Fielding Lewis Drive, Yorktown. Um, on February 12th, the county issued a public information release stating no expansion of existing no wake zones is being requested and it also directed the public to a web page. However, that page had outdated information from the February 3rd board of supervisors meeting and it's different from what you have before you tonight. Further, the county administrator's memo before you tonight states the proposed all U ordinance doesn't alter existing noake boundaries and that's not true. The moving the no wakeake zone near Goose Creek approximately 1,200 ft downstream towards Crockett Road is a major change and not a technical adjustment. So, we're left with three competing realities here. The public release says there's no expansion. The memo says there's no alteration. and the ordinance says otherwise. They can't all be true at the same time. It's a fundamental breakdown in transparency and the public is deprived of the opportunity to give informed consent and comment. Beyond this, demarcation of no wakeake zones is imprecise. The coin river boundary is described as across from the public boat ramp at the terminus of tide millill rain lane. You

need two points to draw a line there. You need it even less clear for Back Creek. The ordinance simply says the creek is an oake zone without any attempt at geographic reference. And if you look at the map, the yellow map, it was in the Yorktown Williamsburg daily today. The doc master had it. Chism Creek is dotted with no wake zones signs all over it. And what it implies is that there's a clear start and end to each no zone. You can tell by the position of the signs, but the ordinance doesn't address this and remove the ambiguities. So, you need to and also you've defined some of these points for the no zone by Crockett Road with street addresses. You need to do with latitude and longitude. That's the street addresses are not on Boers's charts. All in all, the lack of professional effort put into this reflects poorly on the county staff. Given these inconsistencies, you should table this ordinance tonight and until they're corrected, clarified, and properly presented for public review. Clarity is not optional. Precision is in a courtesy. They're requirements of lawful governance. Thank you,

Captain Bob James. Uh, good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, board. My name is Bob James. I live at 306 Mast Avenue in Seafford, uh, on Chisman Creek. I moved there in 1972. I've been a resident of that same house for 53 years. I raised my children on Chisman Creek. They learned to swim, boat, ski, everything else in Chisman Creek. I can't do that anymore behind my house because of no wigs on. I understand the the progress and have to swing with the punches and I'm certainly willing to swing with those punches. But uh I also operate the toeboat US boat and have done so in this area for about 23 years. This this particular measure is will affect me in some particular way. But I get paid by the hour. I pass my additional hours and times on to the client like everybody else, which is really not fair to me. I want to tell you something about me. I've served on several boards uh with the county over the years. I was on the wetlands board, and you know what? I was the only person on the wetlands board that lived on the water.

The rest of the people lived in the trees. And you know what? I I gave a lot of information to people that I say lived in the trees. They call them something else. But anyway, people live on the water, pay more taxes, they like to feel the water, like to see the water, they like to play in the water, whatever. I've also served on the no back no vote tax committee to try to convince you folks and the rest of the people in the county and you remember the vote how it happened and what went on and that that particular thing but we did away with a boat tax. You know what happened? The boats moved into your county. The marinas filled up. That caused them to make more money. You know what you got? You got more tax money. You got more money off of fuel. You got everything else. I volunteered for the lighted boat parade uh every year and no had no I'd get absolutely nothing for it. I I've worked the no uh the boat races all day long, sometimes 10 or 12 hours for absolutely no pay. I volunteer to do that. the fourth of July standby down around sandbox to catch people that run around through going back to the ramp and and pull them off. I worked at Dare Marina for 10 years uh when it was named Dare Marina before that and and uh also in my captain's license, I've moved boats. I've moved boats from Boston to to New Orleans. I've seen a lot of no zones. I've spent a lot of time on the water, spent a lot of time on the ocean and the inter coastal waterway. I I I think that that enacting uh this particular proposal tonight is is we're going backwards. So, let let me

just skip over that. This is my time. I I would go back to what maybe someone else recommended that we uh let let me first define try to define please wrap up sir. Excuse me. Please wrap up. Can you please complete your your I I can't hear very well. Could you complete sir? Your three minutes is up.

Okay. I I want to define the the what what a wake is. That's what we're talking about. And a wake is defined as a series of waves that trail behind a boat as it moves through the water. And of course, they go on to say about size of the boat uh uh and all that kind of thing. So, there's a lot of of inconsistencies in trying to come up with establishment like that. But basically, let me get to the final thing. Sir, I'm going to have I think we ought to establish the committee. I think you are out of time, please. Thank you. Mac McFaden, please.

Good evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is M. McFaden. I live at 216 Masten Avenue in Seafford, just down the street from Bob. And I'll try and finish his thought there for him. Uh, I agree with the gentleman that spoke first and with Bob. Uh, I've been at Masten Avenue and having to navigate down Chisman Creek for the last 12 years. It takes 35 minutes to get from my home to Legacy Marina because of the no zone. And my point is there is a huge difference between a no wake speed and a reasonable navigation speed down these creeks. Public safety and erosion is one thing. I don't think that's a problem on Chisman Creek, at least not that it's been documented or that I've seen in the last 12 years. And I think what Bob is trying to say about the establishment of no wake zones is there's got to be some kind of criteria that the county follows that establishes when a no wake zone is appropriate and when it isn't. I think it's been very arbitrary and very subjective now and back in the 70s when they first were established. I agree with Mr. Drury's idea that he talked to me about at the last meeting uh at the sheriff's office that a committee would be good to take a look at the no zones in York County and establish a countybased agreed to criteria of when a no wakeake zone is appropriate and when it isn't. Okay. And go from there with recommendations to get them established appropriately. Okay? Because right now it's very confusing. I didn't even know Chisman Creek was a no-ake zone and I lived on it for 12 years. I thought it was from Smith Railway around to the green buoy around Legacy Marina.

And then all of a sudden last year, people started getting tickets in areas that were not well marked or known or enforced. And I think that's inappropriate and doesn't do the citizens any good. The water's out there for us to enjoy safely. Okay? That's why a lot of people live on the water. That's why a lot of people live in York County. And I think it would behoove the board to take this issue seriously and bring some sense and discipline and structure to the establishment of the no zones in the county. Thank you. Thank you,

Charlie Barkley. Uh, good evening. My name is Charlie Barkley. I live at 113 Bailey Road. I didn't move to York County. I was born in York County. Uh, I did move away for a little bit of time for work, but uh, came back to York County because this is home. Grew up on the water. My dad was a commercial waterman for many years, worked on all the work boats around the area. Um, raising kids around the water is something we really enjoy and I really believe this issue needs to be tabled like was discussed earlier until the committee can be established and look at what makes sense and what doesn't make sense. I've heard a lot of um talk that the uh no zone sign was put up uh illegally. So I really think it needs to be further investigated and then proper decision made to that point. So I appreciate the time. Thank you very much.

David Walden. David might be Warden. Sorry. Go ahead.

My name is Dave Walden. I live at 107 Cove Crescent and Piney Point. I've been a resident for over 30 years. Um, I've had boats at Chisman Creek Marina, Dair Marina, Legacy Marina for the whole time. I've been running the creek for a long time. Um, the only no zone that I'm aware of that that I encounter is around D or around Legacy Marina rather. I know there's a marker adjacent to Wally Marina. My understanding has always been that it's illegitimate. Was put in by the either the previous marina owner or the local residents. It's so far away from the channel, no one even sees it. Certainly, no one adheres to it. I can tell you that right now. Um, I know a lot of people that live on the creek and they all have either bulkheads or or rip wrap. I don't know of any uh actual erosion issues. I don't know of any and I haven't observed any. So, I think any um attempt to expand or change what's there now is a gross overreaction and and is unwarranted. So, I appreciate what you guys do for the county and for the citizens, and I I thank you for the opportunity to speak.

Bruce Easley. Well, good evening to the board and to the attendees here. My name is Bruce Easley. I live at 116 Chetaloop Road in Seafford. It's a little arm off of Chisman Creek. Uh been there for 48 years, so I'm a newcomer. But uh there are two documents in front of the board tonight. Uh one is an ordinance, the other is the resolution. Ordinance is 26-3. The resolution is 26-18. And I'm here really just to speak about selfishly about my portion of Chisman Creek. Though the definitions for those two documents are not the same. So I have a concern with that. Um the county administrator's memo as I understood it indicated that the purpose is to develop a unified section of the county code and eliminate confusion on the part of enforcement officers and the residents. To eliminate the confusion, the language of resolution 26-18 should include the detail that's in the description for Chisman Creek that's in the ordinance 26-3 section 16.43b. Bravo. In other words, that definition in there pretty well defines the line that would be drawn. Um, I don't disagree with the gentleman earlier who said it should be latitude, longitude, that's fine. But if you if you attach those to that line, I'd be happy with that. Uh it should clarify the county

requirements and then comply with the department of wildlife and re wildlife resources code title 29 and settle the concerns of the majority of the bo the boers that were concerned about Chisman Creek's no expansion and also continue the historic uh enforcement zone for no weight. So, in other words, I guess I'm supporting the ordinance 26-3 as written, but suggest that it be made uh consistent with the language in the ordinance that defines Chisman Creek. On another note, you know, we've talked about uh the the time constraints are imposed on no wake zones, and I get that. And if at one time it was uh suggested that the no wake zone be expanded to the confluence of Chisman Creek and the Picosen River, that would add about 20 minutes or 30 minutes to the ride back in. And if any of you ever tried to get home in a thunderstorm in the evening or daytime in that open area with a lot of wind and lightning and all that, that's a long 20 or 30 minutes. So, I don't disagree with anybody that wants to have the no wake zones go away, but I can live with what's there according to the comments I made. Uh, any questions?

Okay, thank you. Next, I have Bart White.

Good evening. My name is Bart White, uh, 129 Landing Road. I've been a residence my whole life. I'm not a transplant. My parents, my grandparents, my great-grandparents, all born and raised here. I've never in my life seen something so ludicrous. I don't even know why we're here discussing this to be honest with you. Um, everything has been the same in Chisman Creek my whole life. Bat Creek, we live on Bat Creek. We run the STO business. Sito L Ches Peak. It takes ever since y'all did a no wake zone in there, it takes me 20 minutes to get out there to do a a call to do a service call. Chisman Creek, I run a boat out of out of Legacy Marine in Chisman Creek. It takes me five minutes to get to the no zone sign and I can go. If if y'all move that, if y'all change that, it's going to take me another 20 minutes to get out of that creek. If you're out there taking on water, sinking your 100 degree day, you want to wait 20 minutes for me to get out to the no weight zone sign to be able to to assist a a boater. I don't think so. Um I I think everything needs to be stayed the same. Um I I know y'all are going to be using the excuse of erosion. I think that's BS. The reason why y'all did the no wake zone sign in Bat Creek is because erosion. I spent days with an old truck bumper dredging a a boat a boat ramp on landing road and and hauling bricks to try to keep erosion. It don't matter. It don't it it it doesn't do a thing. You got nature. You can't you can't battle nature. You got a boat a boat wake makes one wake. Mother nature when you get a storm all day, all night you got waves crashing. You're you can't battle that. So, what's what's one boat way? So, I think everything needs to stay the same. Whatever you guys do, it's not going to make a freaking difference. Not going to make a difference at all. I think things just need to stay the same. And hell,

even on Bat Creek, change that. I mean, Thank you Chris Hall.

My name is Chris Hall. Um, I live at 109 Cheetah Point Road in Seafford and my wife and I own Legacy Marine which is at 821, 819 and 813 Railway Road. Between our staff and myself, we have over 300 plus years of experience serving customers in the community and in the marine business. I myself have almost 60 years, pretty much since I was born. I think you'all all got my email and read it. Um, I'm here tonight because I feel obligated to speak on behalf of our customers and the residents and the non-residents of York County. As you know, we depend heavily on tourism, specifically transient boats to build and sustain our economy, at least in our marina. This past summer, many of our customers were targeted by the game warden for violating a no-ake zone on Chism Creek. This is a no-w zone that nobody knew even existed. I think we can all agree there was little awareness of this particular zone which I'll refer to as Wildy Marina or Dayarker 4. It's on your right hand side coming into Chisman Creek. Many members of the community approached the board of supervisors including myself asking for clarity. A meeting that was held on January 21st attempted to gather members of the community together and bring transpar transparency to the forefront. We thank you for that opportunity and again the opportunity to further speak on this topic this evening. I'm here to represent over 1,000 and I sent all of you all this today as well. 1,000 members of our community who wish to continue to boat safely and experience the lifestyle that York County promotes. We are now at a,023 signatures. They're

all verified for people who boat or live on the water in York County. We'd like to see boating regulations resume under the last known zone, which does not include the one at Wy Marina, which in this case equates to formally removing the noake zone at Waldy Marina. Uh, I wrote on here, we're prepared to submit any formal paperwork, but I already did that this afternoon at about four o'clock to all of y'all along with the petition. Um, I will say y'all brought up the R26-3 that is moving those markers. That is not where those markers are now. So, that is incorrect. Uh and obviously a match 2618. In closing, thanks to your attention to this matter. We're trying to keep our uh York County one of the best places to reside and vote. Thanks

and James Dodd. Good evening board. I'm James Dodd. I will be quick. So, uh, I reside, my wife and I reside at 260 William Spencer in Williamsburg, but our business is located here in York York County at 7023 George Washington Memorial Highway and 6326 George Washington Memorial Highway. Um, RV and Marine, it's been our family for 70 years. And uh I'll start by saying that um my family and I have been boating in York County for about 20 years and it's one of the greatest things we do. Like Captain Bob here said a minute ago, voting with his young kids years back was one of the greatest things and I'm right in the thick of those things with our kids. They're small and it's the greatest experience for us. Um, with that said, what I see with these changes that are proposed for the no wakeake zones, I'm against it. More time to go places and do things and it's it's already stressful enough and timeconuming enough. The no zones that are there. We go all all the areas that are proposed for moving, we are changing, we we use them. So I think changing these no zones and making them larger will have a significant negative impact for those that that use it on the water. Thank you.

Thank you. That's all the people I have signed up. Is there any any other citizen wishing to speak? On this matter? Go ahead.

Evening board. My name is Tyler Sinclair, 821 Railway Road. The reason I say that address is because I spend most my life there. Been an employee there for almost 10 years now. Um, just want to say there's a lack of transparency. Like Tom Rafetto said, um, nobody really knows where the actual no wake begins. Even in the opening statements, there was no map shown to us, so nobody knows exactly what we're talking about here. So my only point to that would be let's see what we're actually talking about so we can all have a informed decision on the matter. That's all I have.

Hello and thank you. My name is Brad Moore. I live at 525 San Piper Cove and I'm up here Mr. Rafellow or Rafetto right there. What he said earlier, I think he should table this thing for tonight because the inconsistency in the information is just I came here tonight to figure out what this is all about and I signed the petition about the fifth or sixth or seventh one that came out on that petition and I came here to try to figure out what's going on and then tonight I find out that we've got a buoy marker 475 ft from Legacy Marina which isn't there today which we're trying to move that thing in that ordinance or whatever. So, I believe that this thing should be tabled, get the documentation correct, get everything in order, get a process so that we're not asking, maybe some are. I'm not asking for any buoy markers to be put in or removed today. And I don't think that's what you're doing either, except for that one R change. All you're asking for is to put them all together and make it one thing is what I heard tonight. That's okay. But take that one change, get it out of there, bring this back next time, and maybe that's a good one. But also come back with a procedure for somebody like Mr. Hall over here who wants to take a buoy marker out of here or the other people want to remove a buoy marker can get it done individually through the proper processes and and and approvals that the board can approve on, send it off to the DWR, get that approved, and then get that Chisman Creek buoy marker taken out. Thank you. I appreciate it.

Um, my name is Garrett Thompson, 124 August Drive, Seer, Virginia. I didn't write nothing down, but I will look all y'all in the eyes because I am one of these kids these people speak of, and so are the two right there. Um, also what you don't know is I'm a United States Coast Guard Merchant Mariner. Uh, I hold my captain's license and all the other credentials that come with that. Growing up in Chisman Creek, you know, that was a safe harbor for young children like me and all my friends to boat and learn how to boat properly. and uh speaking on behalf of the two toeboat captains that are in here who just told you that they use their business to save people's lives and they hold those credentials just as I do and they do not know that what's going on here. What what what is going on here is what we need to figure out because we've got this marker whatever. Okay, cool. How how are y'all going to enforce that is what I want to know because they're going out there to save lives and come back in this creek. They're stopping at the marker that they know is the no zone, not this one that people are just getting warnings about all this time that it's it's been there. So, I'm just asking you all to consider everyone that spoke before me's opinion and my opinion that let's figure this out because clearly is making sense but not making sense to anyone else here.

Thank you. Thank you. Go ahead.

Hi, my name is Kevin Early. I live at 408 Spy Lane and um I live right in front of this marker in front of Wildy Marina that you were talking about tonight and I think the vast majority of people want that marker removed and that's that's why I'm here. I'd like to create a resolution to have that remark marker removed. Um I shot my rangefinder on it today and from that marker to the other side is 650 yards. So that's about 2,000 feet. Um I do what they call boat of the day. I take pictures of boats coming in and out for years. I've got pictures of everybody's boat and I see people um tubing and skiing in this area, three or four boats at a time. And other boats are coming in out from the marina and traversing back and forth. There's no conflict. There's no animosity with anybody. Nobody's yelling at anybody. There's plenty of room for this for this creek to stay open. And it would be a travesty to close it. One of our greatest pleasures, we built this house 20 years ago and one of our greatest pleasures is watching everybody enjoying this creek tubing and skiing. All the families, I'm echoing what people said, other families just enjoying it, pulling their kids, jet skiing. There's no other places to go to do this really. And to shut this down would be a great travesty. Uh to echo some other things, coming in, boats coming in trying to get to the marina, if there's a bad storm, I see it. I see bad storms pop up and you do not want to have to putt all the way from the mouth of the creek to the to the marina. It's dangerous and this body of water is so wide it it just you can't shut it down. Um last week the wind was blowing 50 miles an hour. There were three-foot waves blowing all weekend into my shoreline. This this is more than any boat is going to do. Mother nature, you can't you can't control mother nature. And a boat wave is just a pittance of what mother nature's is going to do. All these shorelines are armored. My shorelines armored. I just spent quite a

bit of money armoring my shoreline. And everybody's shoreline here is armored. The wave the boat waves aren't doing any damage to these shorelines. It's not creating erosion. Not anything compared to what mother nature's doing. So my my point is remove this marker. Let's create a resolution. Mr. call has a thousand signatures from a thousand voters plus that have signed this to keep this creek open. A thousand voters. That's a lot. And I think we should listen to what everybody's saying here and remove this marker. Create a resolution and remove this wild and marine marker and put it back back at Legacy where it belongs. I've heard some talk about moving it off Crockett where that shaw is. Um, that's, you know, that that's up for discussion, too. But you should leave Chisma Creek open like it is. Thank you. I appreciate your time.

Any other comments?

My name is Aaron Rosario. I live at 1389 Pakosen Avenue. I run a charter company with my brother out of uh Legacy Marina. One quick thing on top of all this is that running these motors at no wake speeds for extended periods of time is not good for these motors. They're not built to operate that way. And you're going to end up with a whole lot of captains having to purposely mess their motors up. Now, I don't know if anybody's met a captain here, but personally making them mess up their motors is likely to make them honory. I see the boat is above everything else on your little sign there. That's all I got. Gary Vanessel, 102 York Point Drive, Seafford. U couple of points I want to make. One is um if we take the original where the marker is right now off legacy which is at uh green five buoy uh what you're proposing is to now move and extend an awake zone further out. I don't object to that. That's not that big a deal. The marker at red four day marker is illegally placed. It is not at War or Wy Marina where the all your maps, everything else that you showed over the time has shown a marker at Wy Marina. I've lived here 30 years. I've never seen a marker at Wy Marina. This marker showed up. It's about 600 ft further east. And so it's not placed where it's supposed to be placed by the ordinances that were filed at the time. So that marker is illegal. I believe you should type that marker out uh and keep the noake zone starting at green five off Legacy Marina. Yes.

Good evening. My name is Richard Moore. I'm a resident of Sever Shores. My address is PO Box 42. Um, I'm very happy to hear that y'all are going to commit uh put together a committee to review these no zones. I think that is awesome. I think that's what we need because we need to review why these no wake zones were put here in the first place. the one at Wildy Marina is I was truly shocked to learn that this is a legit no wake sign at Wild. Uh when we had our meeting at the sheriff's office, I was actually shocked to learn this is a legit no wake marker. And then I was actually shocked again to to learn that it was covering the whole creek. We thought it was just covering the marina, you know, like please don't wake our our marina. Um, when that no wake sign was put in at Wild, it was put in the guy that requested that to be put there was the owner of Wild Marina or he was at the time starting to put together an oyster business. It that didn't or take it didn't it didn't last. But that that no wake sign was selfserving. That didn't serve the community. That didn't I mean we got all these responsible voters going up and down the creek. It's an extremely wide creek. It's an extremely safe creek. When he applied for that no wake sign to be put in front of his business, that was self-s serving. And and I think we also need to review, you know, how many other no signs were are could possibly be uh self-s serving as well. I mean, we're all here. We're all responsible voters. We all believe in safety. Um, you know, maybe even some of these no wake signs could even be seasonal, you know, I mean, uh, during high boat traffic times and then, uh, do

away with during, um, winter hours or whatever. But I am very happy that y'all are going to put together a committee. We need to review all this. We need to figure out which ones are needed, which ones are not needed, which ones were self-s serving, and if y'all need somebody to be on that committee, I'll be happy to uh to to help with that. All right. Thank you.

I don't want to add a whole lot to what everybody's saying here. I agree. The the name and address, please.

Oh, I'm sorry. Harry Careway uh 115 Walters Lane in uh Yorktown. And uh I' I've grew up on Chisma Creek my entire life as well. And uh but one thing I wanted to say is the uh we're running out of time. Boating season is 60 days away. They're talking about putting this off till next year is what it sounds like to me. So anybody boating up and down Chism Creek is going to be getting pulled over for this no sign that people didn't realize was in existence. So I think something needs to be much more urgent. Uh somebody mentioned putting a vote on it tonight. I mean, the the no wake sign at Wy Road needs to go away. And uh where it's always been known to every boater up and down the creek is right at Legacy Marine. I used to work there when I was 12 years old. I was driving a a boat from Seafford to get over there. Um so that's all I had to say, but I think this is a much more urgent matter. What seems to me like what is being proposed to happen tonight is going to be in 2027 when something happens that no way. I think

talk to the microphone, please. I'm sorry. You can't hear you when you turn. I said I think we This is more urgent. We need to do something about this tonight because this is going to be 2027 when you're getting rid of that no sign that everybody wants to get rid of. I think uh this is is much more urgent. Thank you.

Is that complete citizen comments? Mr. Williams, stick to the topic. Arc Williams, 513 Charles Road. Topic is boating and wakes. Um, and keep it simple. You can have two minutes back. You know, clearly a lot of people passionate. I have Patrick's Creek. It's not the best creek, so I'm not too worried about creeks one way or the other. The people that are passionate about it, be careful when you ask for hasty things because you may not get what you want. I think taking the time to kind of think this over and using a committee that can really figure out the expertise of it all to give us the best solution that'll make the majority of people happy. Um, I think we've all learned you can't make everybody happy at all times. I'd like to thank the citizens for being as calm and courteous as they've demonstrated tonight because clearly it is passionate. Lady outside told me, "Mark, be yourself. let your hair down outside of the topic, but you had to know. Um, wrap this up with four words. Sunfish, boat, life, good luck. That's six words. Good night. That closes citizen comment period. Prerogative of the chair, I'm going to make a couple comments. First of all, tonight's ordinance is strictly to pull together into one document where the wake zones are so that we have one document to refer to. That's all we're voting on tonight. I couldn't agree more with the discussion that took place in this room tonight. We We all up here agree with you. We need to fix the wake zones. Uh I've spoken with officer uh Alan Fitzgerald, the VMRC representative on the water who was issuing the citations. There were no tickets issued. There were no tickets issued. He has simply tried to inform voters in the area where the wake zones

are, but we need to fix it. And the ad hoc committee that I've formed tonight or requested Mr. Bellamy to form is to do exactly that. Yes, it might take a few months, but we'll finally get it done right. We'll figure out where the wake zones need to be or don't need to be. That's the intention of tonight's discussion. That's what we're trying to do. So, I'm I thank you for coming out here and giving us that uh same message. Um we're in full support. Other comments from the board? Yeah, I got a few. Go ahead.

Well, I mean, yeah, my district I have Lamps Creek. Okay. The whole creek is got a no wake zone. I don't know anybody go fast enough in that muddy pit to be able to uh cause a wake, but uh you know when we when I don't know if how many of you were or watched or listened to or participated uh in the work session or saw the work session and I do I I got to tell you my from my perspective it was the most confusing thing that I had I have participated in government. I mean, the board up here was confused. The the it was just it was it was it was just very confusing and it's very uh up it was frustrating listening to the comments in here um about the you know the actual how you mark how you mark a an wake zone. I mean it's exactly correct. You got to mark it. You got to have the things that people can see and understand how long it goes. Uh, you know, I I my take on this was that a lot of this stuff was caused the weight. These markers, they were either put out there illegally or they were put out there on a, you know, what what we call Kentucky windage. You know, well, this looks about right. Just dropped the marker in here. Um, and it was just uh it's just totally confusing mess that is allowed to go on way too long. Way too long. So, The way I look at this thing tonight, and I know people want to table it and the the the person that talked about this getting this stuff done, that's going to hurt this process. We need that the our attorneys spent a tremendous amount of time doing the research, the legal research as to where these things are under the code of Virginia. I mean, I got questions about who has the

authority to do stuff. the process, how it gets done, and not only how it got there, how it gets how do you get it out of there. We don't sit up here and just arbitrarily wave a wand and and then the no wait zone goes away. We got to deal with the state code. State code governs a lot of what what's being required. And it's also these things being popped out there in because somebody I think years ago said, "Hey, you know, I'm going to go over there and see if I can get a zone in it." No one else knew about it. No one knew where it was and no one knew why it was. Where's the where's the criteria for wake zones? They're not clear. Great discussions on boats and then we we saw the paperwork and the research on that on how wakes are created and all that kind of stuff. So, what I would say to you guys, I think everybody talk up here should be on a damn committee. Okay? I mean, seriously, y'all had a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and and this affects your lives. So, why not be on the damn committee? Get in there and and uh and then you guys will get you in a big room and give you some ice cream and cookies and you can throw snowballs at each other. Just get the damn thing fixed so you can live on the creek and not have it interfere with yourself. But we have got to you got to start from some place and you got to have a reference because as our attorney told us before, if we don't do anything here, nothing changes. Nothing changes. And that's important because you want change and if we don't know where these all the laws and and you know gosh what some of these are 30 40 years old these no ways on we don't know where where the legal aspects of each one of these then what we're going to end up doing is having to go spend all that time digging each one of these things up trying to get them lined up together and figuring out how to get it done. And we would ask you, well, you want to get rid of these zones, you better know where in the hell it is now, and you better know what the law is

because 40 years ago, the code of Virginia was different than the code of Virginia today. There's a delta here. And why these things came up, you had different general assemblies, you had different people looking at this stuff. So, what this does in a very simple ways, it gives you guys a a start point. Okay? If it's not in this, if that that that buoy or whatever it is, that noake zone marker is not in this resolution, it doesn't exist. Okay? It doesn't exist. So, if you've got one out there, it doesn't fit in there. It doesn't exist. So, what we're going to do is get this thing so you have a book or something, a reference point, and from this then you can go in there and figure out which ones you really need and which ones you don't. And I personally hope you go in there and take every damn one of these things out of here because I'm tired of hearing about it. Okay? I mean I mean you got you got bulkheads, you got all this stuff. All that's changed. The wetland laws all changed. The you know I was on the wetlands board for before I became a supervisor and I was a marine biologist and I understood a lot of this stuff. So I'm telling you, we don't want to necessarily let the law get in the way of common sense. And it sounds like that's exactly what we got here. The law is one thing and common sense went somewhere else. So pass this damn thing. Get this thing done. You got a reference. Get the dad gum committee going. You guys get this cleared up in a couple months and then you won't have to worry about getting tickets running up and down the place your playground out there. That's my point on

more comments. Oh yeah.

Quickly. Not my not my mo. Um, all right. This has been very frustrating because it really started from a simple concept of simply let's identify all the legally placed markers, get them documented so everybody knows about them and then move forward. This started for me back last summer when I started getting word from people getting pulled over by either representative of Virginia uh Department of Wildlife Resources, the VMRC. Um, Mr. Hall raced that gave me a call. I went to visit him. He took me on a boat ride, showed me all the markers up down Chisman Creek up close and personal and again and that led to all right, let's take a look to see what are act the actual legal markers, get them documented and figure things out. But from a series of very confusing documentation, a lot of bad information went out. In in fact, some of the concerns and complaints that we're talking about tonight was referencing a line in the in the current ordinance that doesn't even exist in the last in the last draft that we have in front of us. It's changed. So, some of y'all have seen that. That that's how confusing this has gotten. Um, for for example, the concern about moving the marker up and down um Chisum Creek isn't even in the in the ordinance anymore. And that goes back to the the conversation we had that Mr. um Mr. Mr. Fuller said that all we're going to do is document what's there, make no changes to the existing markers, no expansion, no contraction at this point. And like Mr. Shepard said, let's get them all consolidated into one ordinance so this committee when it gets formed has a frame of reference or something to work with. So I don't think anybody up here has any desire to expand any of the no zones in the county. I know I don't. I grew up on the water. I mess around in the York River. I spent a lot of time on Stuts Creek, a hole in the wall at Mobjack Bay growing up. I don't like to have to slow down. I know you need to

slow down in some cases going going past some of the marinas. Um I I get that, but it's also going to be excessive and some of the communication made it sound like we're trying to be excessive and that's not the case. Um so I just want to be very clear and Mr. Shepard talked on this. If we table this, if we adjourn right now, turn lights off, go home, doesn't change the fact that these um no wake zones exist legally on the books in the county and the state of Virginia and they're open to they're subject to enforcement from DWR and BMRC. So, I think it behooves us to move forward, get this ordinance done in place, everything consolidated. Again, we're not changing anything that exists today. And I know some of these markers are a surprise to people and it was a surprise to us. We hear about people getting pulled over.

That's changed.

I know. That's what I'm saying. It's it that's what I was telling you. It's since since you've seen it, it has changed then. So adding the confusion. We get it consolidated. We get this board set up that I I was thrilled about. We had the U public um information session. I keyed on that right quick when they was talking about what what criteria exists. Like we don't really have no criteria. So I went to Mr. Drew. I said that's a great idea. Let's get a committee together of subject matter experts out there in the community and on on on staff and whatever and get and get the right minds together and figure this out. Um take them out where they need to be taken out, leave them where they need leave them where they need to be and we'll get it all done right one shot. But we we got to have a frame of reference to start with and that's what we're trying to accomplish tonight. Thanks. Much to Doug's your grin, I'm not going to be quick. No, I'm just kidding. Um, so I'm not going to belabor it too much. Um, what Mr. Ran just said. Um, we're trying to make this right. Uh, we hear you guys. We heard you at the sheriff's department. We know what the problems are. We know there's there's some clarification problems that we've had for now a few months. Uh, we tked our doc master to get out there and find out the information. He went and found all the ordinances, he and his team. And so what we have right now according to the docmaster are legal no zone no wake zone signs. They are legal whether you believe that or not. They're on the books. They're on the ordinances at York County that has been approved by this board of supervisors for years and years and years all the way back to the 1970s. So we know every one of them out there. Even though some think that they're not legit, they are legit. The big confusion was the one off of Wildy. Everybody thought it was 250 ft off of that sign, but when VWR came in here, they said, "No, that's all the

way across a creek." I live on Chisman Creek. I boated and skied and fished all over this place growing up. So, it was a huge shock to me when he said that was all the way across the creek because growing up here, we flew up and down that that creek all our lives. And so, I think when the ticket didn't get tickets last year, nobody got a ticket. They were just warned. That's when the the heat hit the fire because nobody had ever gotten pulled out there for that. So, what we're trying to do, again, like Doug said, we're trying to put all this in one ordinance so it's easy for us to find you. I don't I don't even know how much time it took the doc master to go out and find all these ordinances. We want it in one one document so when there is going to be a change or a modification, we know exactly where to go to do that modification. Okay. So, uh, I'm going to pass on here for a minute. One thing I needed to ask the doc master if I get some clarification. Um, I was under the impression until we got this straight that the powers to be authorities were not going to ticket people until we get this resolution straight. Is that correct?

The BMRC officer said he's not going to anybody until we get this straight. Okay. So, it doesn't matter, guys, whether it's three months or a year. Okay. So, I know that's concerning, but our thing is let's get this team together, this committee together, and move fastly on this as as quickly as we can to find out exactly what we the people want to do. Uh whether it's Chisman's Creek or Lambs Creek or Patrick's Creek or wherever it is, we just need to get that together. Um and so the other thing I was going to say is maybe Mr. Bellamy can address this. what's going to be the process of us getting people on the committee so people know how to put their name in the hat for that. Let's cover that later.

Uh I need an ordinance a motion for the ordinance please. I think we got to make one change.

Mr. Mr. Chairman, if I may just for clarification purposes there there's two there appear to be two different versions not the entire ordinance but only of the ordinance. the section B that refers to Chisman Creek. There there's there's some there's some references to a version of that that starts Chisman Creek and then it goes on for three more lines delineating a specific point. And then the version which I believe you intend to have a motion on is this is that exact same ordinance but just Chisman Creek and the rest of that removed marrying up the language exactly as what's in the resolution. So I want to make sure I I clarify that that's what

and is that R1 should be in R1 or R2? I mean I guess we'll call it R1. Okay. I mean, I'm I'm I'm

So, I'm I'm looking online right now and and that those lines are struck and the version I'm looking at that the version that's on is is the version that is Yeah, those lines you're talking about are struck. They don't exist in the version I'm looking at online right now. Okay. So, motion, please. I think you're looking at the PDF. Excuse me. Citizens comment period is closed, please.

So, I think you're looking at the PDF version where I'm looking at the actual online version of the agenda of of that ordinance. Does not include that language. It just says Chisman Creek and then boom, boom, boom. Everything else. basically no changes to the to the placement and and the existence of any um no wake zone as we all know them today. What you reading the ordinance or the resolution? I am reading the ordinance. Okay. What to give you a reference where where are you reading this? Um well it's page two. Page two. I mean it's only two pages long. Page two R3 uh 20 26-3 R. Yeah.

Which we will now refer to as R1. Well, not if it's struck. He's saying it's struck. I mean, you know, for resolution purposes, it needs to be R1. Okay.

For purposes of the discussion and what you're voting on, I think that's prudent to to refer to it as 26-3 R1, but it is the version that is currently published on the the county information site and it would read section 16.4 section 16.43 43 no wakeake zones and that it establishes a that portion of Picosen River delineated as across from the public boat ramp at the terminus of Tidemill Lane B Chisman Creek C Goose Creek Dat Creek E Queens Creek F Wormley Creek G Patrick's Creek H Lambs Creek

and that is only in context of where those no wake signs no wake zone signs are at and that that language is exactly what's in the resolution. Excuse me. That's enough. That's enough, sir. You're wrong. No, you about to leave. You're about to be thrown out of here. You're about to be removed. Now, I've asked for silence from the audience. Can I have a motion, please? Yeah, I move uh ordinance 26-3 R16. We have a motion.

Roll call, please. The motion made by Mr. Drury is to adopt proposed ordinance 26-3 R1 as amended. Mr. Drury, yes. Mr. Ran, yes. Mr. Shepard, yes. Mrs. Null, yes. Mr. Holoy, yes. Motion carries. I now ask for a motion for resolution R26-18. So move. I have a motion. Roll call, please. The motion made by Mr. Drew is to adopt proposed resolution R26-18R as submitted. Mr. Ran, yes.

Mr. Shepard, yes. Mrs. Null, yes. Mr. Drury, yes. Mr. Holoid. Yes. Motion carried. Now move on to item number four. Consider amendments to the county's zoning ordinance regarding theft deterrent wire. Can I ask a question before you go to that one? Okay. I wanted to make sure that it was clear to the board and maybe anybody's listening as to how what procedures are we going how are we going to get the procedure out about the committee? Quick recess while they leave.

Well, we just we just it's us. M Mr. Mr. Holoy discussed that earlier on and we are going to have a board bank application just like you do every other committee and we will advertise the opening of that kind of hoping they do application. So for those that want to be on the committee they need to they need to go to the website. Yep. And then fill out the application. It's there's an application form you need to fill out. Submit that and then that gives the board a chance to select people to be on the committee. So, I don't know if the word got out, but but I would I would ask that Mr. Bellamy first come back and advise when the ad hoc committee is established and where the citizens would go and that we communicate that on the county website.

And I'm going to want to advertise that. What? So, what time frame are you thinking? What? Never done this before. So, well, I would defer to Mr. Fuller since he's the uh author of of that portion of it. This will be similar to remember back in 2016 when we set up the advisory committee for the peers. No, I don't I don't remember that yet. Oldtimer. Yeah. Yeah, I've been here. Yeah. I didn't say 1989.

We could have though. We probably had a committee back then, too. So, we have a a draft uh we'll out very quickly and then I'll just have to get with public information and Heather knows so we can set up the board bank application because those categories that we've selected um for different members. We want to make sure they check one of those boxes so we can get a cross-section of all the different uh people and and like residents that live on the water, Boers, uh people that marina owners, dock masters, staff, those people. All right. But so March, April, what do you just ballpark? No, by the end of the month. I mean, we'll have it out fairly quickly. It won't take long.

All right. So, okay. All right. Just like I want to advertise the community so they know to go apply when we get when we finalize the draft. We'll send that to you if if you want to see that and they can and if you could bring it to the workshop meeting in the 1 of March and advise the public at that time. Okay. Sure. Thank you. And we we work with public affairs and we'll put the word out. Um and uh we'll get it maybe we'll get it get the word out especially to the marinas as well. Thank you Madison.

Good evening Mr. Chair, Mr. vice chair, other members of the board, Mr. Bellamy, Mr. Hill. Uh I will try to keep this as quick as possible. Um so this item is continued from last month's meeting. Uh and it involves proposed amendments to sections 104, 271, and 272 of the York County zoning ordinance related to the use of theft deterrent wire. So tonight's presentation focuses on the refinements made in response to the board's direction at the January public hearing. So, at last month's meeting, oops, excuse me. At last month's meeting, the board requested additional clarification regarding residential standards. Specifically, there was concern about the lack of explicit prohibition of highsecurity materials such as barbed, concertina, and razor wire. The board also raised concerns about excessive fence height and perimeter limits to prevent large security enclosures from being justified as garden protection in higher density neighborhoods. So the steps taken in response to this uh a planning commission work session was held to refine these new standards. Uh the revised ordinance now explicitly prohibits razor and concertina wire in residential districts as these highsecurity materials are inappropriate for neighborhood settings regardless of adjacent zoning. And all other theft deterrent wire is also prohibited except to limited barbed wire usage and low energy electrified fencing. um subject to defined performance standards. And I'll go real quick into those exceptions. So, one of these exceptions is in subsection J9A, and it provides um an exception consistent with Virginia code. So, this allows fencing including barbed wire uh for the confinement of domesticated livestock where permitted under state law. And then the other exception is in subsections J9B1 through 7. And these establish standards for garden and

landscaping deterrent fencing. Uh the fencing must be low energy non-lethal and intended solely to deter uh deter wildlife not humans. Uh so this ensures the exception functions at wildlife protection rather than perimeter security in residential areas. So it clar clarifies that. Um some acceptable materials include smooth wire, polywire and tape commonly used for garden practices. Uh the maximum heights that we included um are four feet in most residential districts, but if you're in resource conservation or rural residential, fencing can be up to six feet to address greater wildlife u presence such as deer. And then fencing is limited to rear yards in most residential districts except in RC and RR uh where the placement could be front, side or rear yards due to the rural lot configuration. And then the fencing must be adjacent to the protected area within two feet of its edge and limited to thousand square feet to prevent large perimeter enclosures. So these amendments um overall establish a comprehensive definition for consistent enforcement. They clarify residential limitations with defined expectations for livestock and garden use. And they also establish standards for commercial and industrial districts. Public safety, visual impacts, and security concerns were considered along with additional input in input from the planning commission. So based on these considerations, staff is recommending approval through the adoption of ordinance number 026-2R. Thank you for your time and attention. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

A clarification, please. Yes. the fencing between a commercial and a residential area a certain height which what 8 feet whatever will that also have deterrent wire on the top of that fence. Yeah. So thanks for the question. So if it's zoned commercial or industrial, the height is going to be six feet and then barbed wire, concertina wire, razor wire can be put on top and there's certain standards regarding that. If it's in zoned residential, the fencing cannot have that. Um they can't have the razor wire wire, barbed wire on top.

What kind of wire can it have on top of the fence? Um, in residential she's talking. She's you're Sheila, you're referencing the commercial piece. No, between the commercial and the residential that back up. What kind of wire would be on the fence between the two? It can be wire. When when commercial and residential neighbor each other, what can the commercial do? So the commercial can put in like six six foot fencing and can put razor wire, concertino wire, electrified wire um after the six foot mark.

Um so usually you'll see like maybe three bands of barbed wire or the other types of um wire such as razor concertina or the electrified wire that can be put on top. Um, but the the reason why that type of theft deterrent wire is put on top of that six foot threshold is for safety concerns. Um, I'm surprised you said you're saying that razor wire. I didn't take razor wire for commercial. We we were limiting it to bob wire. So, I made a definition that was all-encompassing. Uh, so because some people get razor wire, concertino wire, and barbed wire. There's a distinct difference.

Yeah. So there there's differences in between barbed wire, concertina, and razor wire. Uh razor wire and concertina wire were included because usually seen in an industrial um or heavily commercialized areas that need more security will use that type of fencing. So I wanted to make sure that that was also included in in the definition. I have a question for people. How would you like to have a home on one side with bob wire or that type of a wire separating you from another entity? That don't matter if if it's belongs to the business. The wire cannot go across. For example, one of the problems, you can't have the wire go across the property line.

That's fine. But when you're thinking about it, you you've got residential on one side and commercial on the other. You have people who have lived in the residential section 30 years and all of a sudden we're putting up a fence with deterrent wire on top of it. If it's necessary. No, it's not necessary. It's something that opinion. That's your opinion because we got a we got a business that's complaining about that losing. We have one we have one business that is complaining about it that he lives in your district. So I understand that. Madison, I had a question for you that and I think Tom explained it, but any um barb wire on a business has to be on their side of the property line.

Correct. Yes. And it cannot facing outwards, they have to move the fence inwards by whatever distance is required. Correct. Yeah. It cannot go over the the property line. And then I I refer to 241 271 9 um nine. And you've struck no barb wire electric fence. It says razor wire and concertina wire shall be prohibited. But you just spoke about con concert unc concertina wire or razor wire being acceptable. And I understood that it's prohibited. Oh, uh this Thank you for that question. Um thank you for letting me clarify this uh that section is purely just for um residential residential

residential standards, accessory uses and residential. Okay. Well, does that address the question of residential versus uh economic opportunity or business?

So, there are no standards in place right now for what would happen if there is close abuing. So, right now it's specific to if if this is zoned residential, these are the standards that they're going to abide by. or if they're zoned commercial or industrial, they're going to abide by these standards. A proposed hybrid mix that would address if if those two are next to each other have slightly been addressed based off of the performance standards, especially for the commercial and industrial accessory uses in 272. Um, I hope that answers your question.

Well, it brings up a question though. I I don't I'm not comfortable with concertina wire or um razor wire in a residential neighborhood even if it is a budding business. I'm okay with bob wire, but I don't think Constantina wire was ever part of the discussion for us. I don't know why that was in there. But but if it's in a business, that's not a residential area then. It's adjacent to a residential area. Yeah. When they butt up, the two property zones butt up against each other,

right? But if but if we limit if we say you can't put that the level of security they want there then you just created a a path for the bad guys to to follow to get to the property. I mean we still got barb wire. They got bob wire there. We're not taking that out. It's it's the Constantina wire and the uh the razor wire basically are military grade or prison grade stuff. They're not I don't know a business that I don't I've never seen a business actually use that. Okay. So, I'm not sure that's that something's necessary. Do we have anybody asking for that specifically? Is that something we could just limit

to barb wire where it butts a residential area? We can they're only allowed to use barb wire and not constantina and razor. There's a couple options that um could be had. We could just take razor wire and concertina wire out of the definition. That's what I do. I just take it out. I'm okay with that. Yeah. So, Okay. So, if we take it out, what's left in it? Um, and and say we do have a military facility comes in and they need it. Can we make that a special use or what do we do there? We don't have control over military sites anyway. Well, but

or or or say it's something else that they they would rather have razor wire. We we could perhaps some prospective businesses come in here that would that be a special use permit that and probably warrant that based upon I I would like to know about it using that stuff if it's an industrial or commercial. Yeah. If they want to use it for something that's their security requires even a lower level of it or some other use but the use specifically razor wire and constina wire that that would I would say that would be a special use requirement if you want to keep it. If you guys think I need we need to keep it.

I personally don't think that that the Constantina wire and the razor wire is something you really need in your county. I don't I just don't I've never seen it. I'm just saying can we make bob wire the standard and then razor wire conrina wire a special use request? That's what I'm asking. One moment. Is that is that procedurally correct? Could you do that? that.

Well, we already have in here um if you go to the to the ordinance proposal under the 272 accessory uses permitted in conjunction with commercial and industrial uses, a subsection F, um the zoning administrator may grant a written administrative exception to one or more of the above standards upon finding that strict application would create um any unnecessary hardship or if they could find an equivalent. Okay, so that would satisfy. Okay. I think so. Yeah, that would satisfy because I I can imagine some of our industrial areas building up businesses that would warrant a higher level of physical security than what Bob wire could offer. Not necessarily up and down the 17 corridor, right,

but other places. I just want that as an option if it makes sense and it sounds like what you just described that is an option administrative is only administrator decision then problem and I and I think the feedback you're receiving is barb wire default is barb wire but special cases you can make a call and allow something greater okay and I just want to take a moment to just say good job on the refinement in the residential area I believe you addressed the concerns that I had from the last meeting with the changes you made for residential. So, thank you for that. So, do we need a change to the definitions to strike razor wire and concertina wire? Okay. So, that becomes R1.

R1. We're already on an R. So, it's now R1. Are we striking it or are we I think it's we're striking that. Yeah. Okay. But you still have the flexibility to grant it if Right. Make That's good. I think that's a good that's a good place to be. Yeah. Uh and if I could uh to keep the language consistent under the residential to take out razor wire and concertina wire in the language there as well. Yes. Yes. Yeah. I don't know anybody in the residential that needs that. To clarif clarify, you're not taking out all the deterrent wire.

Correct. Yeah. Just taking out the the razor wire and and concertina wire specific. Again, I raised the question, how would you all like to have it in your neighborhood or your your constituents be faced with this wire? I don't know what you're talking about. We just took it out. No, no, she's No, there's another wire that fit that is like that, but it's a different shape. Do you have any further questions? I haven't had any answers. I haven't had the public session yet.

Go ahead. So, I'll now open the public hearing. Call on any citizens who wish to speak on this item. You had me confused. She was going to seeing none. I'll close the public hearing here. Now, I will have board discussion. I've already spoken.

All right. Well, I don't think your point was clear. Okay. your she is her concern if I understood you correctly and I just make sure that everybody understands that your concern is where residential property meets business property where the business owner wants a theft deterrent wire at the top of their fence and the then what we have said the standard would be if you want to put a theft deterrent wire it would be bob wire if you needed something stronger like constit wire razor wire Then you would have to get the county uh what is it? The neighborhood administrator. Yeah. The zoning zoning admin.

Zoning administrator. I'll get the words correct. That that that can decision can be made at that level without having to come back to the board. Right. Right. And I think they understand that. Our expectation is not to So what you're what you're saying if you want a a a theft deterrent wire on a fence that separates residential from commercial, you have to come back to get permission. No, not unless it's barbed wire. It has to be

bar. My whole point is that this is something that has happened to a neighborhood in my district that has been in there for over 30 years and all of a sudden this is what's what's happened. There used to be a there used to be a wooden fence that divided it and it was very nice. And then suddenly we've ended up with another kind of a fence and on top of that fence this is what he wants to put is a a theft deterrent wire in addition to the height of the fence.

And I have to tell you that that the person who was interested in this has never talked to any of the neighbors there at all. He has not cons he's not consulted them or shared with them what he was doing and why he was doing and I am thoroughly against this. Okay. So great. Well, I just let you know that the bobwire fence has been down on his property since the business was in was made there. It was always the bobbire fence. No, it hasn't been. I've watched it. I've been down and I've seen it. You're looking at a different section. No, I'm looking at the fence. Damn. I've watched that fence. Okay. So, anyway. Okay. So, a couple of things. First of all, it's all right, guys. You just go ahead and vote.

So, first of all, was that area zoned for business when the residents moved in or was it reszoned after they moved in? No, that was always there. There's always been business there. So, they knew there were always a button a a business. Second, if we say if we say no to this, what is the business owner's option to protect their property? If we say no to this, we take the responsibility away from him. So what what are our options then?

He had a wooden fence there for years and years and years which was a a a nice deterrent. It was a high fence and it it blocked the the commercial area from the residential area and everybody was quite happy with it. Then came through and he put up a a metal fence with things in it which does not really block it. And he says that he's going to fix it but he hasn't fixed it. And now he wants to put that deterrent wire on top of that all the time. He has not talked to one neighbor in that area. I mean, maybe he's talked to one, but he's never talked to the general neighborhood.

He's talked to the neighbors back there. I know this. Okay, that's keep it civil. Wayne, do you have any comments? No. Can I have a motion, please? I'll move it. Is this um 26-21? Yes. Yes. 26-2 R1.

Mr. Chairman, may I may I recommend a way of wording this that I I suggest might be better than simply striking. Um because the it sounds like the intention of the board is to at least open the possibility that there could be a scenario where uh razor wire or concertino wire would be permitted by by the zoning administrator in a special circumstance. If that is the case, then instead of striking it from the definition, I would recommend that section 24.1272 A5 be amended to now include a section F which says

got a section F. Well, a section a new section F. The existing section F will be come section G and the new section F will read razor wire and concertina wire shall be prohibited except as set forth in subsection F with special written or except as allowed by the zoning administrator pursuant to subsection F G which would be G in your example. Yeah, it would be right. G F would be push

would become G. I think that gets us to the same spot that more elegant legally elegant. So I'm fine with that. The reason for that being that it I think the way that the amendment is with the definitions and including an all-encompassing definition, I think it's easier to exclude it and say it's prohibited. You know, I'm I'm struggling because then all the other lines have to change. Number number five says when a fence incorporates theft to turn wire, but the definitions have included it in in the definitions. It's got to come out of the definitions.

It would have to be when the fence incorporates barb wire and not theft deterren. Yeah, it would have to be specific. It's everywhere it says theft to turn, right? It would have to be barb wire. We're making many many changes to incorporate it that way rather than just remove it from the definition.

If you remove it from the definition, then the definition all it says now is examples include that. That is not a that is not a limiting that is not limiting language. That's simply a way of saying this is an example of things that could be included. So if you want the definition to not include that then you need to say specifically in the definition not including not including right okay I can accept that so not including razor wire and concert wire yeah that would be fine

and then section F as it reads today would be fine yep and then J your TW u the one on the one regarding In residential, you just strike out razor wire and concertina wire shall be prohibited because it's already not included. Yeah, you just strike that out because it's not included. Because it becomes redundant then. Yep. Yeah. Okay. Did this one this one did address the minimum height for a fence with a bob wire up on top, right? Six feet or eight feet, something like that. Okay. So, it's not down low. All right. I thought that was saw that in there. All right. I think it's good. Heather, were you able to capture those changes?

Earl's got it. Okay. Okay. So, I'm looking for a motion to approve ordinance number 26-2R1. So, moved. A motion made by Mr. Sheepard is to adopt proposed ordinance number 26-2 R-1 to approve the application as amended. Mr. Shepard, yes. Mrs. Null, no. Mr. Drury, yes. Mr. Ran, yes. Mr. Hoy, yes.

Motion carried. And finally, number five, consider amending the county zone zone county zoning map to align zoning classifications with the comprehensive plan. Call on Jeannie Carver. It's been a long night.

This presentation will cover two applications. Application number ZM28-26 is a request to amend the York County zoning map by reclassifying various properties located along the boundary line between York County and the city of Pakosen. Application number CP11-26 is a request to amend charting the course to 2040 York County's comprehensive plan by adding parcels recently added to the to York County through a boundary line adjustment between York County and the city of Pakosen to the land use 2040 map in chapter 11 and by assigning them a future land use designation. that this application encompasses 27 parcels of land with 18 property owners, all of whom have been notified. Due to the land's proximity to adjoining localities, notices were also sent to the cities of Pakosen and Hampton. In December of 2023, the board of supervisors approved a resolution to adjust and relocate the common boundary line between the two jurisdictions. Following the adoption of the resolution, new land was added to the county. Adding new land requires an amendment to the comprehensive plan charting the course to 2040 to establish future land use designations for the affected parcels. This 2040 land use designation map shows the newly added land, which you'll see is uncolored because a designation has not yet been applied. The code states that any land area annexed or adjusted into uh jurisdictional boundaries of York County shall automatically be classified uh RC for resource conservation until such time as that classification may be changed through a specific reszoning action approved by the board of supervisors. Accordingly, the county is proposing to amend the zoning map by reclassifying these properties to match the adjacent zoning. Mhm.

So, the proposed amendment to uh to the comprehensive plan would revise the land use 2040 and the land use 2040 tab sub area maps to include the newly acquired land and assign it to future land use designation. Furthermore, a new paragraph outlining the reasoning for the amendment has been proposed for the tab east section. Prior to the execution of the boundary line adjustment in December uh 2023, most of the affected parcels extended across the boundary between York County and the city of Pakosen. As a result, and pursuant to the code, which requires newly incorporated land to be automatically classified as resource conservation, which is shown here in green, most of the affected parcels are currently splitzed. The proposed resonings would remove the existing uh split zone classifications for all of these parcels. The parcels previously divided by the jurisdictional boundary between York County and the city of Pakosen will be assigned a comprehensive plan land use designation matching the portion of the parcel already located within the county. Parcels entirely outside of the county will be assigned a comprehensive plan land use designation matching the surrounding parcels. Four of the 27 parcels are currently splitzoned as rural residential or RR and resource conservation or RC and are proposed to be reszoned to RR. Three of those four parcels are proposed to be designated lowdensity residential in the comprehensive plan and the fourth is proposed to be designated medium-density residential. The property at 100 Crryer Lane is the only parcel that is not proposed to be reszoned in conformance with the comprehensive plan. At the property owner's request, staff proposes to reszone the parcel from RR and RC to RR.

He wants his whole property. Yes, RR. Okay. All right. 18 parcels are splitz zoned R20 and RC. They proposed to be reszoned to R20 and designated medium density in the comprehensive plan.

The remaining five parcels are zoned RC as they were previously outside the county's jurisdictional boundaries. All five parcels are proposed to be reszoned to R20 and designated medium density residential and the comprehensive plan in conformity with the surrounding parcels. Proposed resolution number R26-25 and ordinance number 026-5 seek to give the newly acquired land a future land use designation, eliminate split zoning, and align the zoning classifications with the comprehensive plan. Therefore, based on the considerations and conclusions as noted, staff recommends approval. The planning commission voted five to zero to recommend approval as well. Thank you. Happy to answer any questions.

Did you get anything come in here? Uh any input from any of the people since most of them all in my district, but anybody come in late complaining about this? No. The only feedback we received was from uh the crers and we've we've addressed that and you've addressed it. Yeah. Okay. That's all I'd heard from. Okay. Great. I remember the boundary discussion back in 23. We're just getting around to making these changes. Is there anything else we're going to need to do to these properties or is this wrap everything up? This would wrap everything up. Okay. All right. Took forever to make change. Sure nothing else is on on the docket. All right. Right.

Open the public hearing. Calling on any citizens who wish to speak. Seeing none left in the room, I'll close the public hearing. Any board discussion? If not, I'll ask for a motion on the ordinance. I'll move R 26- 5 five. Roll call. The motion made by Mr. Shepard is to adopt proposed ordinance 26-5 as submitted.

Ordinance. Go ahead. Roll call, please. Mrs. Null, yes. Mr. Dury, yes. Mr. Ran, yes. Mr. Shepard, yes. Mr. Holoy, yes. Now, I'll ask for a motion on R26-25. So, moved. We have a roll call. The motion made by M is to adopt proposed resolution R26-25 as submitted. Mr. Drury, yes. Mr. Ran, yes. Mr. Sheepard, yes. Mrs. Null, yes. Mr. Holoy, yes.

Motion carried. Now move on to the consent calendar. We have four items. Number six is appropriate grant funds for peninsula eviction reduction pilot program. Number seven is retirement resolution for David Leman. Number eight is Marlank stream restoration accept the grant and appropriate funds necessary. Number nine is short-term home short-term rental homes amending board policy BP24-30 to include a provision that would regulate pools. Do any of the members wish to have discussion or items pulled? If there's no discussion, I'll move the consent calendar.

So moved. The motion The motion made by Mrs. Null is to approve the consent calendar as submitted. Mr. Ran, yes. Mr. Shepard, yes. Mrs. Null, yes. Mr. Dury, yes. Mr. Hoy, yes. Motion carried. Next regular board meeting. The next regular meeting of the board of supervisors will be held at 6 PM on March 3rd, 2026 in the East Room of York Hall. This meeting stands adjourned.