Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

All right. I'll call to order the May 13th meeting of the York County Planning Commission. The code of Virginia requires local governments to have a planning commission, the purpose of which is to advise the board of supervisors on land use and planning issues affecting the county. This responsibility is exercised through recommendations conveyed by resolutions or other official means and are all manners of matters of public record. The commission is comprised of seven citizen volunteers appointed by the board with one representative from each voting district and two at large members. Roll call, please.

Mr. Mr. Chamberlain here. Mr. Titus here. Mr. Brooks here. Mr. King here. Mr. Kryiner here. Mr. Smith here. Mr. Wesmer. Mr. Chair, you have a quorum. Thank you. All right. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay. Next in the agenda is approval of the minutes from the last meeting. Any comments on the minutes? Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion we uh uh pass the minutes as presented. All righty. Any comments? Roll call, please. The motion by Mr. King is to adopt the minutes of the regular meeting on April 8th, 2026. Mr. Titus, yes. Mr. Brooks, yes. Mr. King, yes. Mr. Kryer, yes. Mr. Smith, yes. Mr. Chamberlain, yes. Motion passes.

All right. Next on the agenda is uh citizen comments. It's a chance for citizens to address the commission for anything that's not on the agenda tonight. And I have no cards. Seeing none, we'll move to our first public hearing. Uh Genie, that's you. Okay. Good evening. This application contains amendments to various sections of the York County zoning ordinance to incorporate standards for inpatient substance abuse recovery treatment centers. A definition for inpatient substance abuse recovery treatment centers is proposed to be added to section 24.1-104. The use is proposed to be added to the table of land uses in section 24.1-306 in addition to performance standards in section 24.1-433 and parking standards in section 24.1-606. The following definition has been proposed. a statelicicensed facility providing 24-hour residential care, medical detoxification, counseling, or clinical treatment for patients recovering from substance abuse or substance use disorders including alcohol and drugs with overnight stays. These facilities currently fall under medical care facility including general care hospital trauma center on the table of land uses. Medical care facilities are allowed by special use permit in the limited business zoning district and by right in the general business and economic opportunity zoning districts. The proposed definition for inpatient substance abuse recovery treatment centers would differentiate them from other medical care facilities. Inpatient substance abuse recovery treatment centers are proposed to be permitted by special use permit in the limited business, general business, and economic opportunity zoning districts.

uh permitting inpatient substance abuse uh recovery treatment centers by special use permit in these same districts will give the board of supervisors uh the York County and the York County Planning Commission the ability to decide where these facilities are appropriate on a case-by case basis and provide any necessary conditions to situate the use at a particular location. Two performance standards have been proposed for inpatient substance abuse recovery treatment centers. A standard that would require inpatient substance abuse uh recovery treatment centers to be licensed by the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services has been proposed. Many Virginia state agencies require proof of zoning approval uh prior to the issuance of a license. For this reason, proof of lure is not required prior to the issuance of the special use permit. However, inpatient substance abuse recovery treatment center proprietors will be compelled to prove lure u during the annual inspections required for all SCPs. the 24 hours uh per day, 7 days per week care must be provided on site. This differentiates inpatient substance abuse recovery treatment centers from sober living residences or group homes that don't offer 247 treatment on site. These standards would apply in addition to the existing standards for all institutional uses set forth in section 24.1-431. Uh these existing standards require parking areas to be located at least 25 ft from any residential property and screen from view of residential properties with landscaping or fencing material. They also require a traffic impact analysis to be submitted unless the zoning administrator waves this requirement. The traffic impact analysis must show that the use will not create excessive or adverse impacts on residential streets nor demonstrable safety hazards at site entrances. where such excessive or adverse effects are identified. The analysis must provide improvements that would eliminate these issues. The existing standards also ensure that site lighting does not cast unreasonable light onto adjacent properties and noise from HVAC and other

utilities is kept to a minimum. The use is proposed to have uh one parking space per every two patient beds plus one space for every 350 ft of administrative office space as well as one loading space for every loading dock or bay. as the proposed uh parking requirement. This is uh almost identical to the parking requirement for hospitals with the only difference being that hospitals require one additional loading space. Inpatient substance abuse recovery treatment centers are likely to have medical, administrative, janitorial, and food service staff. While many while many residents may not bring vehicles with them during their stay, the proposed parking requirements takes uh staff as well as resident parking into account and only require loading spaces if the loading dock or bay is proposed. A proposed amendment to section 24.1-104 would add a definition for inpatient substance abuse recovery treatment centers and distinguish them from other medical care facilities. The amendments uh propose to make inpatient substance abuse recovery treatment centers permitted by special use permit in the limited business, general business, and economic opportunity zoning districts. Although only two performance standards are proposed specifically for inpatient substance abuse recovery treatment centers, the standards for all institutional uses address relevant concerns. Therefore, staff recommends approval of this application through the adoption of proposed resolution number PC26-9. Thank you. I'm happy to answer any questions. uh that you may have

questions for staff. I see no questions. Thank you.

All right. At this point, I'll open the public hearing. Anybody wish to speak on this? I don't have any cards. Seeing none, I'll close the public hearing. And what's the pleasure of the commission? I think it's pretty straightforward. Yeah, it's straightforward. It gives us a a a look see at what they're doing with special use permit and I fully support it. Motion. Chairman, I recommend turn my thing on there. I start over again. Mr. Chairman, I recommend we send PC26-09 to the board of supervisors with recommendation of approval.

All righty. Roll call, please. The motion by Mr. Titus is to adopt PC26-09 to amend the section of the York County zoning ordinance to incorporate provisions concerning inpatient substance abuse recovery treatment centers. Mr. Brooks, yes. Mr. King, yes. Mr. Kryiner, yes. Mr. Smith, yes. Mr. Titus, yes. Mr. Chamberlain, yes. Motion passes. All righty. Any old business? None. New business. We have the comprehensive parks. That's under new business.

That's under new business. I was getting that. Sorry. Yeah. All right. Wait a minute. I didn't. All right. Um Good. Good evening everybody. Let me see if I can get this up here. Do you have the report loaded?

Oh, I sent you all emails. drive. It's on the hard drive. Drive.

Okay. Y'all get the one that's a little bit bigger than that.

Well, good evening. Thank y'all uh for allowing me to present tonight. Um quite excited to be here. I'm Brian Fuller, deputy county administrator with the county. Been with the county for 41 years. So, I've been trying to get this comprehensive parks and recreation master plan for about 40 of those years. So, first I want to thank uh the planning commission uh and the comprehensive plan because it's been in the last three comprehensive plans that the county do a comprehensive parks and recreation master plan. And I'm happy to announce that here we are today with a comprehensive parks and recreation master plan. So, if you please turn to page one, I'll start reading them. I would not do that to to you. Never give up. Hey, it took me 15 years to get it. 40 years to get it. I I figured I'd get my time. So, um really just wanted to thank y'all. I'm going to briefly go through some of the the presentation. Uh but really here to just answer questions about the plan, uh if you have any and then just, you know, kind of like we do with the CIP kind of get get concurrence for that. This is going to be map out the future for the board and for the county and parks and recreation uh and what we would like to do. We contracted with a company called McGill um out of uh they have offices in Virginia. This is one of their specialties and really pleased with the product that they've done and how thorough they were uh with the process and I'll go through a little bit about that. So, uh, here it's, like I said, it was the second item in our comprehensive plan, uh, in the comprehensive plan under the parks and recreation section, but we really just wanted to look at, uh, all parks and recreation programs, facilities, operations, and um, kind of match it to what we have in the comprehensive plan. So, they did a really good job of

benchmarking to our our programs and facilities to national standards. uh parks and recreation as a national recreation and parks association that do a t a tense amount of research on all programs and facilities and basically come up with a per capita number how many you know playgrounds you should have per 100,000 people or how many softball fields and baseball fields. So then they just kind of really ranked us where we were above averages uh as you can see in pickle ball since we've just added 12 pickleball courts and then areas where we were average in in green and then areas where we were deficient. So gave us a really good benchmark for where we stand today. So I'm not going to go through all of those, but um the big thing we did was community input. Um we spent a lot of time with community input. Uh we took a look at the the statistical valid survey and information that y'all did as part of the comprehensive plan. Uh and we kind of picked it up a notch and we did a a scientific survey with uh residents to get that information for parks and recreation. We also used uh several um open we had an open survey as well to match the scientific survey. But what we really did was what McGill did was got out in the community. They had community public input sessions. They went to events and programs and just basically interviewed people. Uh and they also interviewed lots of staff. They interviewed the public works staff that does the maintenance of it. They interviewed spent a lot of time with our parks and recreation staff and also with the parks and recreation advisory board to just gather all the data that they could. uh we had information out online where people could put input. So they really did a great job and then they

kind of put all of that stuff together. They talked about um you know looking at what we need um you know how important the facilities are, the current level of unmet need and they came up with a priority investment rating uh which they have a company etc institute that specializes in survey documents and and data and really benchmark us against other areas. So you can see um the priority investment ranking. It's a proprietary tool that they use when evaluating parks and recreation departments. But this is the level of detail on each of the facilities as they went through and kind of came up with a ranking on on the need and which ones were the highest priorities based on the survey data. And I'm not going to read all this for you. Like I said, it's 300 pages. It's quite indepth. Um so then they they kind of looked at what we have. One of the things that really came out of the survey is um we have enough athletic fields right now. Um we we don't they don't envision us needing athletic fields right now. Uh youth sports goes through cycles. Uh you know and so that the use for or the need for athletic fields for youth sports uh is not that great right now. But if you look back at parks and recreation over the the 40 years I've been here, that's where our major investment's been. We've spent a tremendous amount of money on upgrading athletic fields at elementary schools and middle schools. Uh working with the school system to do that. Uh in 2009, we opened a Merc Reynolds athletic complex with had 13 fields. Um but if you look back at all the statistical data that was used to design that park

and justify the park, uh said we needed 17 fields by 2010 and we opened that in 2009 with 13 fields and said we would need 17 fields by 2015. So, uh, we we looked at all the data, the way things are going, the changes in youth sports, people are kids are playing sports year round now. So, that's kind of put a different uh different need for the fields. You got baseball kids that are just playing baseball year round. Uh, where before they would play baseball in the summer or in the spring and summer, they may play football in the fall or soccer in the fall. Now, they're playing baseball year round. So it's kind of changed the desire and the needs for fields. Um so um access to school facilities has changed though. Uh used to be and in the school system we've been working with them. We've done the athletic scheduling at schools since 1989. Uh we've scheduled all the middle schools and elementary schools. There's a desire for them to take that back. It's harder and harder with school safety for us to have, if you will, free reign after school hours uh in the schools, especially in the indoor facilities. So, while we've invested a lot of money in the school sites in all those years, there is going to be a need for us to to invest in in some additional facilities and all because we don't have the access to the schools that we did. But really, one thing that we really need is is passive areas and areas where people can get just get out and enjoy nature. Um, as you know, uh, being on the planning commission that the county's approaching buildout, you know, we got about another 10,000 more to go. Welen Cooper, we've looked at it a couple times now. They keep saying we're going to get to 85,000. We don't believe that. Y'all don't believe that. Our our zoning

doesn't support that. Uh but you know they they they think they going to do that. So uh I I talked a little bit about parkland. If you look at our uh where we rank uh averely it says you know we we really for a locality of our size we have enough parkland. The problem is 76% of our parkland is at one park and it's in the upper area of the county new quarter park. It's a beautiful park, but it's underutilized because of its location. Um, so it really is a challenge. As you can see, number six up there across the way from Camp Perry, uh, it's it's not conducive to the 80% of our population that's in the lower county. I've said for all the years that I've been here, if you could pick up New Quarter Park and drop it in Grafton or Dare someplace, you'd have 200, 300, 400,000 people a year in that park, uh, just because of the size of it and what you could do. Uh, being with it where it is at New Quarter Park, uh, and the way we've been able to unfortunately manage it where we keep it closed a lot of the winter, uh, it just doesn't get that much use. Um, and then you can also see, you know, um, one thing the countyy's not done is purchase land. Um, the little green circle there, it's while it's a big circle, that's 10 acres at Charles Brown Park. Uh, we've also bought 4 acres adjacent to York High School and 6 acres at Queens Lake Middle School in the 50ome years of the parks and recreation department. That's 20 acres. Um you go to other parks, you know, James City County has bought hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of acres. Uh there again, you see the pink area there. We we don't have a lot of land to buy. So you the the tab area, Mr. uh Shepard's district or in district

five is the most densely populated um area in the county has no parks. No parks at all. So those are types of things that we looked at d um addressing um as we go through this. So here it looks about um some of the inputs that we have um and and we can kind of compare that to with the comprehensive plan and you can see they're fairly consistent and and what's important to to the uh residents. And you see there, you know, athletic fields were were down low, but a lot of passive things, uh, areas, bike paths, sidewalks, things that we've seen in both the counties, uh, surveys that we've done recently as well as in the comprehensive plan. Uh, this was really uh, unique to us that only 2% of the population wanted to reduce funding in parks and recreation. Uh, so that shows that, you know, we've got a vast majority, 86% uh, think we should increase funding or at least maintain it. So plan is very detailed. It kind of breaks up things into things that we need to do now or or we can do now. Uh and then things in different in short-term, midterm, and long-term type goals. So uh you know, we talked a lot, it looked a lot about our policies and procedures, how we need to update those, uh working on our strategic partners, um and just kind of one thing it does talk about is getting accredited. There's a national accreditation for for parks and recreation departments. Uh that's a huge lift. There's 150 um things that they evaluate you on that you have to be proficient in. Uh with a small staff like we have now, I don't think it's really reasonable that we could take that on. With all the other programs and things that we're doing, most of the places either hire somebody or have much bigger staffs where they'll they'll put a team of three or four people together

and they'll work on it for two years to get that accreditation. So something we could should strive to, but but hopefully we can get there one day. Uh um so really, you know, looking at way we can improve our existing facilities. Uh as the budgets have waned in public works, they are they provide all of our maintenance. Um we have the MAC which is a world-class facility. Um the other parks have kind of slipped uh as far as maintenance. So we need to to reinvest some time, energy, and money into those parks uh to get them back up to to the level that they they were once. Um, so then you can look at some short-term things about rebranding, working on the curb appeal, uh, working on our programs to market them better. Uh, back in my early days in parks and recreation, it was I tell the story, staff doesn't like to hear it, but, you know, it's pretty easy running programs back then. Um, there was one soccer program in town. It was mine. There were maybe six TV channels on TV. Nobody had entertainment in their hand. So if you wanted to do something, you came played in my parks and recreation programs. So it was really nice. Now we're competing with everybody. You know, we're competing with social media, the internet, there's six different soccer programs, so it's it's a little bit more challenging. So we've got to do a better job of of promoting our programs and things like that. So, uh, and and we're doing a lot better on that. So, um, one big big, uh, void in the county aside from parkland is indoor facilities. We have no indoor parks and recreation facilities. Um, we have Charles Brown Park, which has a conference meeting room, and we have the senior center,

which is least space and four offices or four uh, storefronts. Um, and that's it. Those are the only indoor facilities that we have. Now, as I mentioned before, we spent a lot of time, money, and energy in school sites increasing those. So, we have some large elementary school gymnasiums at Dare Elementary School, which is where we offer our skating program on Friday nights. When we designed that, the schools were looking to put a PE space in. The county invested basically doubled the budget for that so that we could add space for recreation. And we put a big gym in there. We do skating. We have a DJ room and all that. Seafford Elementary School, when it came time to do that, we did the same thing. We doubled the budget from for the schools. We increas uh created a larger gymnasium and we put a dance room in there where we can offer dance and aerobics classes and things like that. But as I said, it's getting harder and harder to get into the schools. Um and and so that's making it more challenging. The schools programs are increasing as well. You know, now you have year- round sports at the high school where the baseball team can play year round with the exception of about four two week intervals where they can't play and schools are doing that. So, um also it's harder and harder for the schools to get coaches that are in the school system. So, if they can't get um you know, a teacher that's coaching uh this team, they're getting local professionals to coach that tend to work. So, if person doesn't get off work at until 4:30 or 5:00, he can't get to the school till 5:30 or 6. Well, instead of practicing right after school when school gets out and they practice from 3 to 5:30 and then at 5:30 I can use that facility. That's no longer the case. Sometimes they're not practicing until

5:30 or 6. So then that facility is no longer available to the rest of the public uh for our program. So that's a challenge as well both indoor and outdoor. So uh so indoor uh community center or some recreational facility is something that you know we should have a science community of ours um should have indoor facility where we can offer. I know the county does have two YMCA and that tends to be the answer of their their YMCA's. Um those are private facilities. Um they have membership requirements. They're not truly a community center. Um u they they serve a great need for the community. Uh and they're busting at the seams, but there's a whole lot of unmet need that people need um recreational outlets and programs. So indoor facilities, environmental classes, um parks, trails, and greenways, you know, you see that across the county where they're looking at trail systems. 7 the trail 757 that's going to connect one day the the cap to cap trail that ends in James City County will go all the way to Fort Monroe. Um and you know that's a huge lift by all the municipalities. Uh but there's there's a big momentum to get that uh in the pipeline and then then it's up to the localities then to run spurs off of that to get there. uh and that will really help with transportation. Um so I won't go through and then future you know beyond um you know 10 years is a long way away to think about what you may need. Uh but as we can uh knock off some of these things that we've identified some more open space, green

whales and trails, places to go, you know, all of the playgrounds uh we've done a better job recently. We have playgrounds at the MAC and at Kil Creek Park in the lower end of the county. But if you've got a preschooler um and you're a stay-at-home mom, where do you go for a playground? because you have to travel to one of the parks in the lower end of the county or maybe Charles Brown Park. Uh but we have two playgrounds at every elementary school because that's how we've used that school park concept that we started back in the 80s. But you can't go there during the middle of a school day. You know, they won't let you on school site, you know, if you're not a child there. So those those facilities aren't always available. So, we need to look at at how we have increased facilities throughout the county and and kind of located. So, uh 10 years from now, you know, an aquatic facility is always high on the needs list of people, but I think we've got a lot more pressing needs than that. So, we really want to take a look and use this plan uh in order to build the county CIP. Um, so for the last 37 years, you know, Brian's developed until the last several, but Brian's developed the CIP, we put it in the budget. We've kind of just done what we've felt as professionals have been the best. But this has kind of given us a roadmap on what we should put in the compreh, you know, it'll be up to the the boards to approve the money to do those things. We know we'll never get everything we want. There's lots of competing um needs out there, but this plan is really um you know, it went through the scientific process and the public engagement process. I think it's a really good product that really will set us up if we

can kind of follow its plan uh and check off the things as we have the funding for and the staffing for, it's really going to serve the county well in the next 10 years. So, we really um want to thank the planning commission for for uh you know continuing to put that into the comprehensive plan because they felt it was important. Uh and now that we've got it, we're kind of looking for the the planning commission's blessing as the parks and recreation uh board has looked at it and approved it. Uh and then it'll be our kind of marching orders for the future for our CIP and how we uh improve programs. So really that's a really brief 300page synopsis. You there is cliff notes in the front that's only about 30 pages. So the executive summary is only 10%. Uh and I was I was really I really wanted to make sure we had that as well. That's a a really easy read compared to three and the 300 pages is it's a lot of the backup material and the data and the statistical data. If you really want to get deep dive into that stuff, it's there for you. Uh, so but I'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have and we have some staff here too as well.

All right, questions. We'll start this way. Just a couple of comments more really. First of all, what a fantastic job this is. As you said, this is long long overdue. U, it was brought up several times during the comprehensive plan uh, discussions and I couldn't be happier to see that. Um, can you speak a little bit to where York County is with surrounding municipalities with I know James City County for example, they're at about 100 million in their parks and reccks program. Uh, I don't think we're anywhere near that, but our population is higher.

My dear friends in James City County, I love them to death and I've always uh teased them that, you know, we want to be you when we grow up. Um they've got an 80,000 square foot recreation center, right,

with pool. Um I I they have I know 15 years or ago, maybe it's I'm old, so it may have been longer than that. Within about three months, they bought over a thousand acres of parkland with no idea what they were going to do with it. None came available and they bought it. uh they bought a campground at Chikah on the Chica up on the James River, you know, uh they're they're accredited, you know, but but they have the they've had the ability uh and and the support to to go out and do things um that that we would love to do. We're never going to be able to do that. We just don't have land. you know, as as y'all I'm speaking to people that know, you know, when 50% of your land's not available to do anything,

uh, and the rest most of it the rest of it developed, there's not a lot you can do. Uh, but we'll we can take those little increments and and do things. Um, so I I didn't want to bore you with, but the data is in here. It talks about per capita spending and how low we are on per capita spending in parks and recreation compared to our our municipalities in in the area. And if you do take out the new quarter park piece, we're really deficient in parkland as well.

Well, and I'm hoping that having this this document going forward will help propel some of that long-term investment. And and I think to give the board credit, um, you know, we've we've made some great strides in the last several years with the CIP. Uh, and we've had some funding in the CIP. I I can remember, like I said, I've been here 40 years. There there have been stretches where we would go five and six years at a time with zero CIP money.

Uh, we opened up the MAC in 2009. So from 2009 to 2015 there was no no money and our parks are aging too. So you know New Quarter Park um I could talk all day about that one but you know um we were opened it was it started as a reservation only park. I mean it was it's 500 acres that were given to the county by the federal surplus land act and it was going to be one of the most premier golf courses in the country or at least on the east coast. George Cobb famous ar golf golf course architect had to design a golf course had an amphitheater tennis facilities equestrian center. Uh and back then the board said nope we're not going to do that. uh give the property back to the federal government and the the direct parks and recreation director at the time said, "Hey, can I do what I can to keep it?" Uh and they said, "Yeah, but you have no money." And he worked miracles. Uh Beg Borrow and and did put got a state to put a road in, did some logging, and we were able to open that park, but we didn't have any money to operate it. So basically the park stayed shut and you would come to our office, reserve it and we'd give you the key for your picnic. You had 500 acres to use all by yourself.

Now the Queens Lake residents thought it was great because that was their neighborhood park. No other neighborhood park in the country is 500 acres. Most neighborhood parks are 10 acres, but so but it took us a long time. We operated like that for a long time. We finally got a little bit of money and we put we didn't have staff so we put a security guard company there and opened the park seven days a week and people would and we took time we timed them. They came in and out of the park. Average stay was 2 minutes. That was a mile long road. They were driving in because there weren't any amenities or anything to keep them there. Finally the board gave us some money. We added playgrounds and picnic shelters and bike trail and we got uh groups to uh build bike trails and disc golf and walking trails and so now people will come and and it's a beautiful park. Uh it's just kind of stuck in that area where

again my my congratulations to to the staff and to the I know the parks and wreck advisory uh group and others that had a tremendous play in that. So yeah, I am very very excited about this. So congratulations. I think we're at a great point here. Ryan, I I did notice in the in the breakout like 30 and 31, you have a proposal for a 30 to$40 million wreck facility. Um, does your vision, what does that encompass? I mean, is parks and wreck department going to be officed there? And

well, that would be a community center, you know, for, you know, some sort of indoor facility. Uh would we move the parks and recreation office there? I would hope so. Right now they're in a strip mall. Uh uh so that's not conducive. Um you know um but that that would be I would think would be the plan that would be part to put them there. That would make the most sense. But I noticed too y'all was talking about somewhere in the middle of the county. Am I correct?

Yes. Some somewhere centrally located. you know, we're never going to be able to, you know, I talk about 80,000 square foot facilities. I think Virginia Beach has got eight or nine of 10 of them or something like that. Now, you know, let's be realistic. We're going to get one shot, you know, so we're going to have to do one. Um, so it's going to need to be as conveniently located to as many people as possible. It is a very well done plan. Um, I actually did look over it, then I looked over it again, then I looked over it again because it's a lot to

It is a It is a lot to um to take in. Uh, but I think, you know, if we can kind of not just put this on the shelf and check box and say we did it and actually use it as the plan that it's intended to be, it's it's going to serve us for a long time. Thanks. All right. down this side. Any comments? Well done. Well, you you he was playing in my softball program at Tab Middle School. So he and at Mount Vernon Elementary School, I won't say, you know, last month, but it wasn't wasn't long ago. Anybody else?

Brian, great job. Thank you. And it's a testament that uh stick toing it and never quitting, eventually you can get it done. It took 41 years, but let's hope it doesn't take another 41 to implement some of these great ideas you have in there. Uh, one thing I'd like to mention as as you know, I was the um chairman of citizen comprehensive plan group. What kept coming up often during the meetings we had with citizens was neighborhood parks. Neighborhood park. And people would citizens would say, "Hey, the MAC is great. We love it. You got to drive there. You got to have a car. You got to load your kids up. You got to drive there." Um, we've got a lot of neighborhoods uh that I mean all as you know all through the lower end of the county and but there's very few if any neighborhood parks uh that you can walk to that's within your neighborhood. Now we do have some subdivisions as you know that have like a a tot lot or something like that that serves them but really it's not a neighborhood park. And I think uh you know uh to do the citizens justice I just wanted to bring this up. I noticed in the ranking system it was like number six or something. It was pretty high up there, right, of the need for neighborhood parks. So, if we can just keep that on the radar screen. You said 10 acres. I think we can find that. Uh got one I got some in my neighborhood in Piney Point. We actually have a lot more than that that's sitting out there vacant.

So, um but keep that in the back of your mind and neighborhood park citizens and I wanted to promote that idea. Yeah, it's a great point. you know, um, like I said, I've been here a long time, but I I'm of the age that, you know, I grew up in recreation. We didn't have a lot. I jumped on my bike. I was eight or nine and I rode I don't know how many miles away to the little community center that we had that was at back of it elementary school and that's where I hung out in the summers and you know, but we got on our bikes and we rode to the parks. Um, but we also played in the street and we played in the backyard and the world doesn't do that now. Um, you know,

I'm very familiar with that upper. If I yell car, what are you going to do? You're going to stop and you know because that's what you were doing when you played in the street. Somebody yelled car, the game stopped. You know, everybody looked at the car and you got out of the way. You did that today, kids wouldn't they they'd get hit because they wouldn't know what to do. Um, and but you know, everything now has to be organized and structured and all and we've lost that ability to play. That's all I have, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Couple thoughts, Brian. One, uh, are you pursuing partnerships like you did with the with the YMCA with private public private uh, partnerships?

Yeah, we are always looking for for those type of opportunities. Okay. because we're we're pushing well Betty and I I think you know Betty Betty. Oh yes. Yeah. We push that as often as we can and

I mean you look at New Quarter Park and talking about what we did there. The partnerships that were there um you know we only had a if from if memory serves me about $375,000 and we put in some picnic shelters and some things. Um, we got 6 and a half miles of bike mountain bike trail that the mountain bike club put in and maintained. Uh, the disc golf club put in the disc golf course. We had to buy the baskets and stuff, but they designed and built the Appalachian uh trail walking club put in the walking trails. So, we've we I'm a parks and recreation guy. We always we can never do it alone. So, we always look for partners wherever we can.

Yeah. I figured you'd add and and and that goes without saying really, but another question I just had because my own information when you when you have facilities, I'm g just do the kayaks things because I I was talking to Nick earlier about kayaking. Kayak's a great thing. I have kayaks. I like to do that.

But how many different people use your kayak facilities? Do you keep track of that or is it just number of usage? Yeah, that's something we've we've struggled with on how to um how to capture that because we don't have staff. You know, we're manage I've got a $19 million facility at the MAC that I basically manage with one person that's there that oversees that and a bunch of other stuff. Parks open 364 days a Well, five, three days a year. It's only closed three days. Uh it's open from 8 in the morning till 5 at night in the winter, but 8 until 8 or 10 11 when activities open the the most of the year. I'm managing with part-time people.

Yeah. Um that part time caught me with my dog there though. But yeah, so Back Creek Park, we don't, you know, we don't have staff. New quarter park staff, we have staff. So, but it's always challenging. How do you get that data? Um yeah, we're investing in some platforms that use AI and geo fencing that we can now gather that data um through cell phone data and through some algorithms and all that they can give us, you know, some some really accurate data about um people that are using our parks. you know, we put up the the old vehicle counters. Uh, but that gets you just how many cars go through until it comes.

Same person comes through 10 times in 10 days, you know, versus different people. That's and and people used to always fuss about that. Well, that's, you know, one person only using your park. He's using your facility 10 times, you know. So, it's that's this no different than if 10 people used your bathrooms and your fac. So, that that is a valuable number as well. It's unique visits are one thing that's valuable, but also the total number of visits. Yeah. I just it it be a way to separate out those that are used by a few. Yes. Often and those were used by many few times. Oh yeah. So I think there's a difference way you you weight those two.

As your wife has been on the senior board, you know, you know the um body recall body renewal class um that we do. You know, at one point that was we were averaging about 20,000 a year um visitors at the senior center. Um over 13,000 of those were the people in the body renewal class. Yeah. Because we had three classes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 30 people in each class. Um and the three classes were full. But so that was Yeah, that was but but it put that much strain on your facility. But yeah, it's it wasn't unique visitors. Okay, that's all I had.

Thanks. I just want to add too, Brian. It's a great report. Um, thanks to all the folks that work behind the scenes to to pull it all together. So, um, with that, I'll entertain a motion. Mr. Chairman, I recommend we send PC26-11 to the board of supervisors with the recommendation of approval. All righty. Roll call, please. The motion by Mr. Titus is to adopt PC26-11 to certify conformance of the proposed York County comprehensive parks and breath master plan. Mr. King, yes. Mr. Kryer, yes. Mr. Smith, yes. Mr. Titus, yes. Mr. Brooks,

yes. Mr. Chamberlain, yes. Motion passes. All right. Great. Thank you. Thank you so much for your support and time. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All righty. Next is staff reports. And Nick, I think you're doing that. All right.

Yeah. Nick Hill is um our high school mentee from Tab High School. He's a senior. Um he's been coming to our office three days a week after school since September. Um he'll be leaving us mid June to uh prepare for his departure to James Madison University where he'll be attending in the fall. But uh we wanted to thank him for his contributions and he's been a pleasure to work with. On behalf of the Department of Planning Development Services, thank you. Please take it away.

Sorry, having some technical difficulties here. Uh, good evening everyone. Um, my name is Nikil Dwire and just like Jeannie said, I'm an intern working with the planning division and tonight I'll be presenting this month's uh, development activity report. Uh, over the past month, the PLA the planning staff and commission have closely reviewed many site proposals and have made crucial decisions regarding what they must do to become compliant and move forward. This recap, typically given by the director of planning and development services, will briefly cover some of the most notable of these proposals and how they were handled. To begin, I'm going to start with recent board actions. All of these applications were heard by you and the board, and I'll be presenting the results of these board hearings to you now. This application submitted by TRC Williamsburg was a request to establish farm equipment and a retail building with an outdoor fenced area at 118 Waller Mill Road. The board of supervisors continued this application to the May 19th board of supervisors meeting. Um, this application brought forth by the board of supervisors was a proposal to consider amendments to 24.1-473 of the York County zoning ordinance with the aim of updating access standards for drive-in, fast food, and carry out restaurants used on major collector roads. The planning commission recommended approval during their April 21st meeting.

Moving on, I'll I'll cover various proposed future applications. A priosa submitted this application which was a request to extend their previously approved special use permits for another two years. The original special use permits approved a gas station, a mini warehouse storage, and a minor expansion of a non-conforming use to expand the floor area of the existing convenience store at 905 Dembi Boulevard. This application is on the board's consent agenda for the May 19th meeting. This application was a proposal to consider amendments of section 24.1-489.1 of the York County zoning ordinance to update performance standards for data centers. The planning commission heard this application on April 8th and recommended approval. It's scheduled to be heard on the board by the board on May 19th. Um this Peter Gole submitted this application which was a request for a special use permit to authorize a tourist home on a halfacre parcel at one uh 108 Hornsbyville Road. You all recommended approval be during the April 8th meeting and this application is scheduled to be heard by the board of supervisors on June 16, 2026. This application was submitted by Bendle Auto Service and is a request to establish an automotive repair garage at 106 Industry Drive. This application is scheduled to be heard by the planning commission during your June 10th meeting and the board of supervisors on June 16th, 2026.

Timothy and McKenzie Richie submitted this application, which is a request to establish a short-term rental in a structure and accessory subordinate to their private dwelling at 693 Winthrop Drive. This application is scheduled to be heard by the planning commission during your June 10th, 2026 meeting. This application submitted by Aaron Brinkley is a request for the allowance of of a space currently used for truck parking to be repurposed as a towing storage and impound yard with the added ability to provide storage for state and local police towing rotations should the need arise. The subject property is on 1570 Penman Road. This application is scheduled to be heard by the planning commission during your June 10th, 2026 meeting. This application is a proposal to consider amendments to the York County zoning ordinance to define and allow the use of shipping or containerized cargo units as accessory sheds in residential areas. This application is scheduled to be heard by the planning commission on June 10th, 2026. EAH submitted this application which is a request to reszone a 21.4 acre parcel of appro of an approximately 32 acre property from economic opportunity to mixeduse plan development to build 125 new town homes, a convenience store, and a gas station. This application is scheduled to be heard by the planning commission during your July 8th, 2026 meeting. To conclude, I'm going to be going over site plans, both submitted and approved.

This plan for a new drive-through Dutch Bros coffee shop was approved on April se April 2nd with construction scheduled to begin soon. This submitted plan calls for improvements to the existing school bus lanes and parking lot. The first submitt was received by the county on April 6th, 2026. And thank you very much. That's all I have to present. And I'd be happy to answer any questions you have. Any questions? Thank you. Thank you. All right. Great. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. do well at JMU. So, well done.

Thank you. All righty. Um, committee reports, no commission reports. Um, just a comment, Michael. I think this is your last meeting you're going to miss next week or is it you're you're missing next next month. So, um, great having you both. we're going to lose two fine commissioners here the the uh end of June and uh done great. I've worked with you well before I became on this planning commission and and look forward to uh your future. So, thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. And with that, we are adjourned.