See my blog for a meeting summary and Public Works Update. I apologize for the length but there are some important details I thought residents should see.
Approval of Consent Agenda
The consent agenda included acceptance of 2 grants, one from the CB Foundation $9k for signage and a 2nd from the Department of Housing and Community Development for $20k,
Ordinance 728 – Ordinance to Approve FY 23 Employee Bonus - a one time employee bonus of $1,500 from COVID (ARPA) funds
Financial Quarterly Report- I do not recall this happening or why it would be on a consent agenda so I followed up and received a copy.
Items Referred to Planning Commission: - Zoning Ordinance, Article 20, Definitions - for comprehensive amendment
Town Manager Update - Water and sewer bills due July 1, next round of ARPA funds will be received by the end of August I believe 1.8 million, $637k and grants award it to the town
side note ($387k of that is from Eleanor Park and it is still unclear how much we will actually receive from that grant)., hiring: a community enhancement officer formerly, code enforcement officer, part time parking enforcement officer a.k.a. meter maid, the water treatment plant supervisor and other positions. Guardians score a new program where you receive a card after interaction with our police officers and are able to fill out a 60 second anonymous survey. Public Works (see below)
Strategic Action Plan Update - there will be a link to updates about the plan and progress on the town’s website www.colonialbeachva.net
Presentations
Westmoreland County Board of Supervisors, Mr. Trivett - The sheriff’s department got their accreditation back, additional bathroom and residential parking needs in CB, additional solar farms In County, and suggestion for Town provide additional oversight on rescue Squad.
Colonial Beach Public Schools - Our High school principal is leaving, an executive director of construction and professional development has been hired, Ronnie Payton (48 yrs. of service) has retired, paving of parking lot is complete, 80 additional parking spaces and a new traffic pattern has been created and new sidewalk is being added to address safety concerns, and new committees have been added.
Colonial Beach Police Department Quarterly Report, Chief Deaver - CBPD has created a quarterly report for public safety and that was presented. April-June there were 1,702 calls for service including 24 accidents, 34 arrests, 112 crime reports, trespassing and DUI are among the highest. Calls for service drastically increase after 7 PM and weekends are busiest. 89 parking tickets and 10-20 warnings. I asked to clarify what a call was considered, it is anytime there is a call for a police officer (traffic stops, finger printing, police reports, basically anytime a police officer is required). Calls were up approximately +500 from last quarter.
38 fire calls for CBVFD 408-man hours. CBVRS numbers were not available at time of presentation but Chief does meet with them monthly. Police Department is also currently interviewing for park time parking enforcement aka meter maid.
Recognition of Service/ Retirement by Mayor for Bertha Peyton, PD Administrative Assistant - 22 years and Rob Murphy, Director of Public Works/DTM - 18 years
Citizen Input - Someone raise concerns about the designated outdoor refreshment area DORA which will allow drinking in the streets and designated areas of downtown (there will be an ABC hearing soon) Also several people spoke with serious concerns about the PUD Ordinance that primarily impacts the Potomac crossing property.
Old Business
Ordinance No. 726, Zoning Text Amendment -Zoning Ordinance Article 29- Planned Unit Development-Residential (PUD-R) - this is basically rewrite of the requirements that only currently impact the Lennar Property (roughly 500+ acres) across from Wilkerson’s and the Monroe Point property across from Food Lion (roughly 50 acres)
Many of the issues myself and other residents have raised I have listed in my previous blog but the following are concerns that are still unanswered even after the 7/18 PC public meeting:
· The primary land of concern is the owned by the Lennar group, it’s called Potomac Crossing and we have not heard anything from them and do not know who has talk to them about potential development.
· Several changes were made less than 48 hours prior to the counsels vote and there were even a several changes added by the mayor at the very last minute. My concern is this does feel rushed.
· We have been told this is a good thing for the town and it needs to be done now, the question is what are the actual implications of this PUD?
· Why after 20 years is this all the sudden urgent?
· What are the impacts on our fire police rescue, schools’, water and sewer and other infrastructure and traffic?
· We have no master plan to support this PUD.
· The units per acre have increased from 8 to 25. What does this mean for the concerns raised above?
· I asked the town attorney did I hear you correctly in our prior meeting that you said we can deny an application even if they meet all the requirements in the PUD, the answer from Town Attorney was yes, but some people are not confident this is correct and fear we will end up with another Dodson.
· I also asked what happened to the golf course, of the over 500 acres available to develop there may have been 100 or more for a golf course that is no longer there so how many additional homes does this potentially add? Previously a golf course was required in the development deal and now apparently that no longer applies so do we just get hundreds of not thousands of more homes and how will that help our economy? Will people move here if there’s nothing to do?
· While I don’t know exactly what is being done behind closed doors, if anything, the residents are suspicious and have been lied to in the past causing trust issues with their “government”.
I made a motion to postpone the vote for an additional month or more until we have time to study this more. Tom seconded my motion but it failed 6-1
The Mayor requested several more changes with no public comments, and then we voted and the motion passed for the PUD 6–1 with me being the only No vote.
Closed Meeting
· Appointment of a zoning administrator - Mr. Shaw has resigned so after the closed meeting we appointed Ms. Darla Orr as the acting Administrator based upon recommendation from the town manager. She was hired on contract basis just like Mr. Shaw was so she too should be highly qualified.
· consultation with legal counsel employed regarding pending litigation and regarding specific matters requiring legal advice from counsel relating to the following:
· Real property acquisition
· One or more requests relating to Town-owned real properties
· Zoning determination regarding private commercial use
· CBRVS
· Litigation pending in Westmoreland County Circuit Court
· Town DORA (Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area) License
· CBPS
Public works liaison update
Trash truck ride along - I did a pre-inspection with Bill Taylor Our primary trash truck driver and learned about the process and got some history updates and then I rode with Chris Ruchty (deputy Director of public works) and two of his crew members to observe part of the northside route done on Fridays. These guys do a great job and work really hard in all weather conditions. Some of the challenges they mentioned were: trash that was not put in cans, as many of you know the buzzards like to get into trash. They also mentioned that 60-gallon trash can totes can be lifted by a toter lift (like a claw) on the back of our current trash truck. One thing they said would be very helpful is if residents would purchase those totes so I will check to see if the town could do bulk purchase as has been done in the past (I believe this would reduce the cost to residents) and would be completely voluntary.
North Beach erosion project Town manager had a meeting with the Core of Engineers regarding our north beach erosion project. We should know the results by the end of the year but we are hopeful it will be excepted for this federally funded project that would restore the shoreline north of the American Legion.
Signs - new beach rules signs were installed on all beaches.
Town pier has been reopened - a few pilings were replaced and we were told they were already scheduled for replacement but I have no recollection of Council being notified or discussing this as I had raised concerns back in January when I was told we had 5 years left in the under structure. Since concerns have been raised by citizens, I requested to find out when Council was originally notified piling replacement was required and I requested any copies of inspections since the storm last year. I will give additional updates as received.
Waterline repair/ installation - down by Wilkerson’s and other locations.
Street Sweeping-A Street sweeper was rented to complete the core downtown area.
Please email or call with questions or comments:
540-604-4335
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