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HomeMy WebLinkAbout8/14/2023 - City Council - Minutes - RegularCity Council Meeting MINUTES Monday, August 14, 2023, 6:30 PM Work Session 6:00 P.M. Council Chambers Conference Room, City Hall, 114 North Broad Street, Salem, Virginia 24153 Regular Session 6:30 P.M. Council Chambers, City Hall, 114 North Broad Street, Salem, Virginia 24153 AMENDED AGENDA WORK SESSION 1. Call to Order A work session of the Council of the City of Salem, Virginia, was held in the Council Chambers Conference Room, City Hall, 114 N. Broad Street, Salem, Virginia, on August 14, 2023, at 6:00 p.m., there being present the following members of said Council to wit: Renée Ferris Turk, Mayor; James W. Wallace, III, Vice- Mayor; Council members: Byron Randolph Foley (absent), William D. Jones, and H. Hunter Holliday; with Renée Ferris Turk, Mayor, presiding together with James E. Taliaferro, II, City Manager; Rob Light, Assistant City Manager and Clerk of Council; Rosemarie B. Jordan, Director of Finance; Chris Dadak, on behalf of Jim Guynn, City Attorney; Crystal Williams, Assistant to the City manager; and Laura Lea Harris, Deputy Clerk of Council; and the following business was transacted; Mayor Turk reported that this date, place, and time had been set in order for the Council to hold a work session. 2. New Business A. Discussion Items (1) Discussion of urban archery within the City Council reviewed a proposed ordinance for potential amendment to City Code pertaining to urban archery within the City. Discussion was held and questions responded to by staff and Counsel. Upon review by Council and legal counsel, Council members requested to add Item 6C to the agenda for the regular meeting this evening to consider adoption of ordinance on first reading. Staff was instructed to make any changes as noted to the ordinance to put it in final form prior to the second reading at the next meeting. (2) Amendment to Code related to Polling Locations Mr. Light reviewed that back in the fall the Electoral Board had requested that the polling locations for the Beverly Heights and West Salem Precincts be moved to the Civic Center due to the lack of another suitable location. In December 2022, Council voted to adopt a resolution authorizing the City Attorney to seek a waiver of the requirement that polling places be within one mile of the nearest boundary. Now, as a housekeeping item, Council needs to adopt an ordinance to amend Code so that the Precinct location for these two precincts reflects this change. Discussion was held and Council agreed that they wished to bring these ordinances to the next regular meeting to adopt both with one reading. 3. Adjournment There being no further business, Mayor Turk adjourned the meeting at 6:19 p.m. REGULAR SESSION 1. Call to Order A regular meeting of the Council of the City of Salem, Virginia, was called to order at 6:30 p.m., there being present the following members to wit: Renée Ferris Turk, Mayor; James W. Wallace, III, Vice-Mayor; Councilmembers: Byron Randolph Foley (absent), William D. Jones, and H. Hunter Holliday; with Renée Ferris Turk, Mayor, presiding together with James E. Taliaferro, II, City Manager; Rob Light, Assistant City Manager and Clerk of Council; Rosemarie B. Jordan, Director of Finance; Clark Ruhland, Communications Specialist; and Chris Dadak, on behalf of Jim Guynn, City Attorney. . 2. Pledge of Allegiance Vice-Mayor Wallace motioned to add Item #6C to the agenda for this evening. This item is to consider the first reading of an ordinance to adopt Urban Archery Season for the City of Salem. Bill Jones seconded the motion. Aye: Holliday, Jones, Turk, Wallace Absent: Foley 3. Bid Openings, Awards, Recognitions There were none this evening. 4. Consent Agenda A. Citizen Comments Comments from the public, limited to five minutes, on matters not already having a public hearing component at the same meeting. John Breen, 142 Bogey Lane was the first citizen to address Council. He expressed concerns about Council Work Sessions and Code enforcement. Mr. Breen shared pictures with examples of Code violations. He made the following requests of Council: 1) Vote to make decisions for each citizen request to Council 2) Conduct Work Sessions the week between Council meeting and schedule when public can attend 3) Vote that the City Manager enforce the Code or detail what sections should not be enforced. 4) Vote that when the City Manager is requested to take an action a time certain for implementation or response is required. 5) Record Work Sessions 6) Establish Work Session agendas that include at least these items: A. Old Business 1. Work Session items not yet voted on or resolved 2. Administration requests or reports and updates B. New Business 1. Administration reports or requests 2. Third Party presentations (limited to 10 minutes) 3. Agenda additions for discussion and resolution Mark Nayden, 352 North Broad Street, expressed concerns to Council about volume and speed of traffic on North Broad Street. He also expressed concerns about potential rezoning and development at the Hope Tree Family Services property. He expressed concern about the potential strain on public services of water, sewer, electricity, and the school system. He requested transparency and dialogue regarding all property redevelopment. He acknowledged the difference between privately owned and City owned property but expressed his feeling that all discussion of all development in the City should be made public; especially when there was the potential to impact traffic, services, and property values. Mr. Nayden also requested that if impact studies for traffic and infrastructure had been done for this project, that they be made available to tax paying citizens of the City of Salem and to those in Roanoke County that were directly impacted. If these studies had not been done, he request ed that analysis of the proposed changes be done as well as a speed study between McClung Street and West Carrolton Avenue using an electronic speed monitor as soon as possible and prior to any rulings on rezoning and development being considered. Stella Reinhard, 213 North Broad Street, was the last citizen to address Council this evening. She expressed concerns about the proposed redevelopment and rezoning of the Hope Tree property. She noted examples of past development projects within the City of Salem in which she felt that communication between the City and residents had not been adequate. She asked that there be more opportunities for citizen input into proposed development and rezonings. She requested that the City communicate with citizens about proposed projects and that the citizens be allowed to have input on Hope Tree redevelopment. Specifically, she is requesting that consideration be given to keeping this as a greenspace to preserve the history of this land. She is requesting that it be used as a park with Equine Therapy continued in this location. Mrs. Reinhard provided a packet for Council’s review that included specific details, ideas for consideration, and concerns with this project. She requested that time be given to citizens to discuss and address issues of traffic, sewage, water drainage and other potential issues with proposed redevelopment. Mrs. Reinhard also asked that studies be done on this prior to approval of any rezoning/redevelopment by the City. Mayor Turk noted that she appreciated that Mrs. Reinhard pointed out the fact that the property was privately owned and that this limits what the City can demand. She said that we have options and that she wanted to make sure that Council was as open with the knowledge they have as possible. Mayor Turk commented that to her knowledge they had not submitted a plan of any sort to date as she had been checking on this. She requested that Mr. Light check on the status. Mr. Light confirmed that the City has not received a formal zoning amendment application from them at this point. Mayor Turk asked if the City has received any type of submission of any plans that they have at this point. She understood from Mr. Morris that this was still in the hands of the architect that had been hired. Mr. Light noted that we have received nothing formal for this project. The zoning code specifies the process, and that process does include a required meeting with City staff. They do meet with City staff as with any rezoning to receive feedback and may have in the process documents that they go through; however, the City has not received an application to go through as staff. Any application would go to the Planning Commission first for analysis, review, and a public hearing and then ultimately to Council for review, analysis, and a public hearing. We do not have documents from them at this point. Mayor Turk reviewed the process and noted that once they submit something to the City, the submission would be initially made specifically to Planning in the Community Development Department. If Community Development sees issues with what has been submitted, they would inform them of that according to current City Code. They would be informed and required to make changes to continue. Mr. Light confirmed that this was correct. Mayor Turk requested that Council be notified once the City does receive a submission so that they and Planning Commission are aware of it once something comes through. Mayor Turk also commented that Council had been able to attend some of the public meetings that were spoken of by Mrs. Reinhard. Mr. Holliday shared that the public meetings were held before he came onto Council but that he had met with Mr. Morris personally. Mr. Jones noted that he attended four of five meetings that were held by Hope Tree. Mayor Turk stated that Council understands her concerns and that they are looking to see what is being proposed for the property. Mrs. Reinhard shared that a map was included at the end of the packet of information that she had shared with Council. She expressed concern at the number of housing units that were being proposed as Mr. Morris talked about three hundred or more houses when she met with him about three and a half months ago. Mr. Jones and Mayor Turk noted that they had not heard anything at the meetings that included plans for three hundred or more houses. Another citizen in the audience shared that she had met with Mr. Morris and that he had spoken with her of plans for this number as well. Mr. Jones restated that this was the first he had heard of that. He noted that there were a lot of different conceptions at each one of the meetings that were done to get input from people around the Baptist Home. That was the purpose of the meetings. A citizen asked if the public was invited. Mr. Jones responded that Hope Tree was responsible for that, and Council was just invited to attend and that was over a year ago. Council was asked if the public had been invited. Mr. Jones responded that Council did not have any control over that. Another citizen asked if any notifications had been put up on the City website. Mayor Turk responded that nothing had been decided so there would not be anything to post on the website unless there was some type of connection to the City and that there were not normally announcements put on the website about developments. Mr. Jones commented that until it came to Council, it does not become a matter of record that they can share. Mrs. Reinhard added that Mr. Morris had told her that the City of Salem was working with them on utilities and services normally done for developments. Mr. Jones noted that he had just spoken with Mr. Van Allman at the end of last week and that nothing had been received and this is a ll conceptual at this point. Council thanked the citizens for coming this evening and for their input. B. Minutes Consider acceptance of the June 21, 2023, Special Meeting Work Session and the June 26, 2023, Work Session and Regular Meeting minutes. The minutes were approved as written. 5. Old Business A. Amendment to the Zoning Ordinance Consider ordinance on second reading for the request of Brittany M. Haddox, contract purchaser, and Juilliard Enterprises, LLC, property owner, for rezoning the property of 1201- 1203 Texas Street (Tax Map # 149 - 1 - 1.1) from HBD, Highway Business District with conditions to HBD, Highway Business District without conditions. (Approved on first reading at the July 24, 2023, meeting.) William Jones motioned to adopt ordinance on second reading for the request of Brittany M. Haddox, contract purchaser, and Juilliard Enterprises, LLC, property owner, for rezoning the property of 1201-1203 Texas Street (Tax Map # 149 - 1 - 1.1) from HBD, Highway Business District with conditions to HBD, Highway Business District without conditions . H. Hunter Holliday seconded the motion. Ayes: Holliday, Jones, Turk, Wallace Absent: Foley 6. New Business A. Resolution Salem Museum Consider adoption of resolution 1458 in support of the Virginia America 250 Commission and their efforts to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Virginia’s participation in American independence. Mr. Light explained that this was created by the 2020 General Assembly and that basically the Commission requested that each locality form a committee to aid in planning for the commemoration period. This gives Council’s support for the Commission and their efforts to commemorate the 250 th anniversary of American independence and that the City will form a committee as requested. He also gave further background on the committee. The committee will be formed including representatives from the Salem Museum and other historical groups. They will plan events in Salem and will coordinate with Roanoke City, Roanoke County, Botetourt, and Virginia’s Blue Ridge to try to maximize attendance at these events. Mayor Turk noted that this puts us in line for any grants by supporting this resolution. Mr. Light responded that there could be potential grants availab le. He had spoken with Mr. Harveycutter and if there were matches available, there could be some potential funding. William Jones motioned to adopt Resolution 1458 in support of Virginia American 250 Commission. H. Hunter Holliday seconded the motion. Ayes: Holliday, Jones, Turk, Wallace Absent: Foley B. Boards and Commissions Consider appointments to various boards and commissions. James Wallace motioned to reappoint Jackson Beamer for a four-year term ending August 28, 2027, to the Planning Commission and NPDES Citizens’ Committee and to reappoint Skip Lautenschlager for a three-year term ending September 26, 2026, to the Roanoke Valley Greenway Commission. William Jones seconded the motion. Ayes: Holliday, Jones, Turk, Wallace Absent: Foley C. Urban Archery Ordinance Consider request to adopt Urban Archery Ordinance. SUPPLEMENTAL ITEM Mayor Turk stated that Item 6C is the item that was added to the amended agenda. She asked Mr. Dadak, attending for Mr. Guynn, the City Attorney this evening, for some background on this particular subject. Mr. Dadak explained that this is a zoning ordinance to allow for a specific urban archery season that is provided for in the Virginia Code. This adds time in September and in January through March. This would bring the City in line with other cities, counties, and towns that have adopted this. Roanoke County, Lynchburg, Amherst, Bedford, Blacksburg, and a number of other localities have adopted this. This brings us in line with the Code and the Virginia Department of Forestry and Wildlife Resources. This provides for the conditions and requirements for hunting within the City limits for bow and arrow for deer. James Wallace motioned to adopt Urban Archery Ordinance. William Jones seconded the motion. Ayes: Holliday, Jones, Turk, Wallace Absent: Foley 7. Adjournment Mr. Jones noted that there had been two major electrical outages this past Friday that were major due to an unfortunate accident at Carter Machinery and there was also at the same time a smaller one in South Salem. He applauded A.K. Briele that he was out fixing one of the outages himself. He commended A.K. for the leadership that he shows in his job and his love for Salem. He wanted people to know that the City’s electricity is in great hands when A.K. Briele is the head of it. All of the Council members agreed and expressed appreciation. Mayor Turk also noted that he was also a lifesaver at the Red Sox game on Saturday when they were without power for a period of time. She noted what an asset he was to the City. The meeting was adjourned at 6:58 p.m.