VDOT Sidewalk Presentation, SMARP Grant, Public Write in Comments Halted, Budget and CIP Updates, $100K Sidewalk Repairs Approved, $150k Beach Renourishment/ Rip Rap Vote Delayed and -$10k Tree Fine Settlement were all discussed Wednesday.
Amendments to the Agenda
The mayor made a motion to move two consent agenda items, (2 large purchases) to the regular agenda. This was something I had planned to propose, but perhaps the mayor agreed that it was not appropriate for $250k in purchases be rubber stamped. Vote 6-1, Wood voted NO.
Meeting Minutes – December 4, 2024 and December 18, 2024 Approved 7-0
Council Member Liaison Reports
Wood made announcement that bird flu notice had been placed on the town’s website. This is something I had requested the Town Manager do because of concerns raised by Mike Mohler and Mary Wenz. Exercise caution when you encounter dead, or sick birds.
Public Safety - CBVFD Ladies Auxiliary are having a dinner Saturday 8th from 5-7p (drive through) and CBVRS Valentines Day bake sale at Halls.
Planning Commission – Their February meeting has been canceled. They will be having the FAR floor area ratio discussion at their March meeting.
Finance - utilities notices in the mail, FY26 budget in process.
NGO - 30+ nonprofits in CB, so many may not be able to report out on each.
EDC Economic Development Committee - they meet the 2nd Tuesday of every month; they’re currently working on the Main Street program and support business growth. New businesses: Mindful Mermaid, Icehouse Cafe, Custom Creatives, Pier 909 in Hunan’s old location, a 2nd Italian restaurant opening in the old Fire Escape location, Tides Inn, Car Repo building remodeled by Trivetts and Docks Motor Court being restored.
Parks and Rec -Next meeting on March 4, edits to event application and cooking class.
Public Works- great news, broken mixer motors have been replaced which will help nitrates to go down.
Mayor - CB Community Center and Westmoreland Little League accepting $20k grant from American Water to start construction of a T-Ball field at the community center (it will cost more so fund raisers to come).
Proclamation Honoring Black History Month - The Mayor read
Virginia Department of Transportation, David Beale - A few months back I had requested that the VDOT representative come answer questions about roads and sidewalks, and it finally happened. Many of these questions were from me. Below are some highlights, but here is a link to the video starting at 21 minutes.
How do we determine who’s responsible for specific sidewalks? Answer: it depends on who owns the property and the only way to determine that is by looking at the plats.
Maintenance, responsibility depends on who owns the sidewalk, private or public.
Repair vs replace, depends on the size of the problem.
Nonstandard- 48” is the minimum but if you have a 30-inch sidewalk, it can be maintained as a 30-inch sidewalk.
Poles in middle of a sidewalk would be addressed as new projects comes up, the issue would be addressed then i.e. moved.
Crosswalks, VDOT has guidance.
ADA compliance, new standards are followed for new sidewalks, and ADA ramps are typically added as roads are paved.
CB is the only town in the northern neck that maintains their own roads and sidewalks.
Liabilities to town if someone gets hurt? Refer to town attorney, but Town should consider removing or closing dangerous side sidewalks.
I raised the concern about Castlewood and they’re not being any crosswalks which is a safety hazard. I also mentioned that I was told last year that crosswalks could not go in without sidewalks. The answer was that is typically correct, but it’s not an absolute requirement to have sidewalks to create crosswalks. He also mentioned that if there aren’t sidewalks that may be an area that we would prioritize if there’s that much of a safety hazard. VDOT would possibly help design.
I asked how the rest of the sidewalks should be addressed vs waiting on more ADA violations. The VDOT Rep asked if we had a pedestrian safety plan, which I’m pretty sure we don’t, he suggested creating one and said they would be happy to help. Stated it should go in comp plan. Grants are available.
I asked about paving standards and does VDOT inspect? He said no that’s town’s responsibility.
Finally, I asked about bootleg signs and he said that is towns responsibility to remove.
Mayor asked if we need to develop our own safety action plan vs using others and answer was yes, we need our own.
Mayor asked about safer routes to schools (myself and others have brought this up in the past).
Mayor brought up that no extra funds are provided by VDOT for sidewalks. I will say that there’s nothing stopping us from using road maintenance funds towards sidewalks.
SMARP Grant, Downtown Colonial Beach and The Timmons Group - as previously mentioned Downtown Colonial Beach received a $60K grant to study roads, sidewalks and signage along the downtown area. We were given a short presentation on what the grant is for and plans for implementation.
Public Comment
Citizen - suggested the town consider allowing bird box trails on town property. Possibly on public works Road.
Citizen- suggested part of our sidewalk issue stems from water meter boxes that public works installed in the middle of sidewalks.
Citizen- Lives on Lafayette and recently had smoke test testing done where it showed a lot of sewer leaks. Also mentioned water meter box sticking 4 inches up out of the ground being a major safety hazard. The town paving that street, knowing that there are major water/sewer issues was a waste of money. How do we add 5’ sidewalks with no room. Seems to be a problem with who’s running public works. May need to ask him why he’s spending money prior to problems being resolved. Warned of safety hazards, and potential lawsuits.
Public Emails no longer being read - No public comments were read and I knew that one had been received so I asked the town clerk why she did not read public comments. The town clerk replied she was directed not to read emails. I asked if it was a new policy and the Mayor chimed in and said due to back to office policy (I’m guessing she means the federal government policy) we no longer require emails be read because that was originally due to Covid. It was also stated that most other localities do not read public testimonies. The Mayor and Kenny Allison, along with the town clerk all defended this decision. My concern is that council was never consulted and no one member, including the Mayor has the authority change a council policy. I stated that I didn’t want to get into a debate without having this on the agenda so I will request that public comment policy be added to the next agenda. Some have suggested this is an attempt silence opposing opinions.
FY26 Budget Update - we were given a brief update/presentation on the budget and where we are currently at in the process. Two on one meetings with the town manager will be scheduled soon. I asked when we should have our request in for additional information in and they stated the sooner the better.
Review of the Planning Commission Recommended Capital Improvement Plan - This was council’s initial discussion on the 2026 CIP budget. We were told there’s going to be a write up on each item justifying the request. Myself and others asked for additional information, including more details and a prioritization of the millions in proposed spending.
Resolution # 05-25 - Amends and Appropriates FY 24-25 Budget, General Fund for Sidewalks - As stated above, I initially had concerns about rubber stamping a $100k in spending with no discussion. I asked for additional support from the town manager and never got it, but I did agree with approving this because there is a lot of detail in the ADA sidewalk response plan. Also, an engineer did review and provide feedback for the plan and cost estimates. I raised concerns that the town is projecting how much money they are willing to spend by asking council in advance for funds. The answer I got was this is a special circumstance due to the ADA compliance piece. Vote 7-0 to approve
Resolution #06-25 – Amends and Appropriates FY 24-25 Budget, General Fund for Beach Rip-Rap (CIP) for Fiscal Year 2026-2030 - This discussion was to authorize the town manager to spend $150k on beach restoration. Over the last couple of years beach/ rip rap restoration has been discussed. A year or two ago $50K was spent on the North Beach. Several people told me that project most likely was not done properly. Take a look at the boulders that were added to the rip rap, they are not level or placed strategically like a wall. This could be a safety hazard and waste of money. I’ve also been told the rip rap originally done by the Corps of Engineers COE was functioning properly, and the additional rocks may not be in compliance with the existing COE standards. I was also told that we should have some sort of plan in place for the entire beach area and not just add sand and stones for the sake of doing it. I asked if we had an actual plan and was told we did not know and the Public Works Director was not there to provide any information. Myself and others were not comfortable with voting for a project that we had no information on, so I made a motion to postpone the vote until our next meeting. My motion passed 5-2 with Rick and Kenny voting no.
Closed Meeting
Pursuant to Virginia Code Section 2.2-3711 (A) (7 and 8) for the purpose of consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members or consultants pertaining to an existing litigation, where such consultation or briefing in open meeting would adversely affect the negotiating or litigating posture of the Town Council, and consultation with legal counsel retained by the Town Council regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such legal counsel.
After our closed session, we voted on a resolution to settle a tree case. The contractor (Heritage Homes) that was fined $10k for chopping down 10 trees on Ninth Street filed a suit appealing the BZA decision to uphold the town fines. The settlement was to require the 15+ foot tall stumps to be removed and plant 30 shrubs to help with water retention. Council also sent a recommendation to the Plan Commission to review our tree removal policy to ensure these issues do not come up again in the future. Most citizens agree that topping off trees as a way of getting around the permit rule is not acceptable but it could to be more well defined in our ordinance.
Councilman David Williams
Please email or call with questions or comments:
540-604-4335
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