MINUTES
PURCELLVILLE TOWN
COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
APRIL 8, 2008
The regular meeting of the Purcellville Town Council was
convened at 7:00 PM with the following attendance:
PRESENT: Robert Lazaro, Jr., Mayor
Tom Priscilla,
Jr., Council member
James Wiley, Council member
Greg Wagner, Council member
Stephen Varmecky, Council member
Janet S. Clarke, Council member
C.J. Walker, III,
Vice Mayor
STAFF: Robert W. Lohr, Jr., Town Manager
Patrick Childs, Assistant Town
Manager
Samer Beidas, Director of Public
Works
Martha Semmes, Director of
Planning and Zoning
Theresa Stein,
Deputy Director of Planning and Zoning
Lauren Krempa, Senior Planner
Darryl Smith, Chief of Police
Maureen Gilmore,
Town Attorney
Jennifer Helbert, Town Clerk
CALL TO ORDER:
Mayor Lazaro called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM.
AGENDA AMENDMENTS:
None
PROCLAMATIONS/ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Recognition for Centennial Town Council Reception on March
14, 2008
i)
Students from Patrick Henry College
ii) Faculty
from Loudoun Valley High School
iii) Purcellville
Florist
iv) Giant
Foods
PUBLIC HEARINGS:
a) Draft Ordinance on Construction of Wells and Septic Fields
Within the Incorporated Limits of the Town of Purcellville, a proposed
amendment to Purcellville Utilities Ordinance Article I, by
adding new Section 82-8, that says any new residence or commercial or
industrial establishment that is within 500 feet of water and/or sewer service
lines shall connect to them. Property within 500 feet of water and/or sewer
service lines that is currently on a private well or septic field is not
required to connect to them until July 1, 2010. Any new residence, commercial
or industrial establishment beyond 500 feet of water and/or sewer lines may
construct a single water-supply well and septic field to provide service to the
property if the well site is outside the zone of influence of Town wells and
the well protection area. Unused wells and septic fields must be abandoned in
accordance with State and County regulations. The ordinance would also establish
a well protection area for Town wells and prohibit non-potable wells. These
amendments are authorized by Code of Virginia of 1950, as amended, Chapter 21,
Section 15.2-2143.
The Mayor indicated that public comment would be taken on this
item but that it would be referred to the Infrastructure Committee at their
next meeting.
Nick Pelchar of 530 South 20th Street
came forward to speak. “Uh, I would suggest that that this body uh, uh delay
this um public er not public hearing or reschedule this public hearing uh for
uh another month because I don’t believe it was properly voted on to move
forward as a public hearing uh I would check into um this is information that I
got from the Town that there was no vote to move this public hearing forward so
I would suggest that you reschedule it and uh for another date. Thank you”
Sam Brown of 37883 East Main Street came forward to
speak. Mr. Brown stated that he is the owner of Crooked Run Orchard a property
at the east end of Purcellville and it comes within the 1,500 feet restriction
or these wells and his family put a conservation easement on the property last
December and nothing will be built on it except for one house and one farm
stand so there will only be two hook ups for wells. He stated that they had an
engineering study done and it was determined that they could get 270 townhouse
units on the property then after that they had it surveyed and the survey
company could never find any evidence of any survey on the property and they
found out that it was actually five acres more than what they thought it was
which would be another 40 townhouses so that would be 300 houses that they
saved the Town of Purcellville in water, utilities and Police protection plus
road maintenance and not to mention 3,000 daily trips on Rt. 7. Mr. Brown
stated that this shows they are committed to farming and in order to stay
farming you need to be able to produce crops and they are having a problem over
the last few years because of the drought. He stated that for the last three
years they have not had a pumpkin crop because there has not been a lot of
water and pumpkins require a lot of water. He stated that he needs irrigation
on the property, he needs a well and as the ordinance reads 1,500 feet from the
well closest to Rt. 7 in Main Street Village, it’s called MSV 1 goes exactly to
the southeast corner of his property, the corner that is farthest away from the
well is exactly 1,500 feet so this ordinance eliminates the ability for him to
drill a well on his property and continue the business that he committed to do
and he asks that his property be exempted from this ordinance for a well. He
does not have the figures yet as to how much water they really need but in
order to stay competitive he needs water and a well and this ordinance is very
restrictive.
Bryan Brooks with Autumn Hill LLC came forward to
speak. Mr. Brooks stated that he is a developer and when it comes to
hydrogeotechnology is borderline black magic and in the staff report it stated
that Mr. Collin from HS Geo Trans recommended 1,500 foot surrounding the
wells. He stated that the County is 100 feet. He stated that this is a little
different scenario in that these are community wells and he understands that
but he looks forward to bringing data to the Infrastructure Committee along
with additional resources. He stated that the reality is that you could hit
one aquifer and draw out 1,000 gallons per minute at 300 feet and go three
miles and still be tapping out of the same aquifer and go 10 feet in the other
direction and drill 500 feet and hit a completely different aquifer so he
believes this ordinance to be overly simplistic. He stated that there is no
provision for a special use if someone were to fund a study and prove to the
Town that they would not be impacting the wells. He stated that ultimately a
significant portion and perhaps all of the JLMA will be annexed into the Town
so a broader view of this should be taken. Mr. Brooks stated that item E
proposes to legally control by a Town ordinance land in the JLMA and he stated
you don’t have to be an attorney to know that that is a “no no” you don’t get
to do that. He stated that he looks forward to working with the Land Use
Committee he stated that it is clearly needed to protect the Town’s resources
and the other thing that is absent is what if the Town wants to drill more
wells or others want to drill more wells on behalf of the Town.
Earl Hall with Patrick Henry College came forward
to speak. Mr. Hall stated that he was passing out a letter that he would like
entered into the record. He stated that he is glad to hear that this item is
being sent back to the Infrastructure Committee and he would like to
participate in helping to draft language that would protect the interests of Patrick Henry College. He stated that they have property that they are trying to annex
into the Town and part of the consideration for annexation would be to bring
water resources to the Town as part of that deal and the way that the ordinance
is currently drafted it would restrict their ability to proceed. He stated
that they have made a substantial investment thus far in the water resource
study that they have done and are doing currently and they would like to work
with the Town as a team to try to solve the water resource problem.
Mr. Hall’s letter states “Dear Mayor and Council, Patrick Henry
College, as you know, is in the process of securing a CPAM to PUGAMP in order
to pursue annexation of its 66 acres located in the JLMA to assure the
College’s long-term sustainability. The draft ordinance before you, as
currently written, would have a devastating impact on these efforts. As some,
but not all of you may know, we already have one high producing pilot well
which was drilled two years ago. This well produces sufficient volume to
satisfy nearly all of the College’s long-term needs. We have conducted a
thorough hydrogeological analysis of all 106 acres the College owns, and have
identified several targets of high yield potential. Some of these targets are
on that portion of the property already in the Town, and some on the portion of
the property that lies in the JLMA. We have secured drilling permit from the
County for those targets outside of the Town and will be drilling them over the
next several weeks. We need your permission to drill the targets located on
the in-Town parcel as well. If this draft ordinance is passed as drafted, we
would not be able to proceed. The reason we are going through all of these
efforts is to hopefully find significantly more water, which we will offer to
the Town as consideration in our revised water and sewer agreement, a required
precursor to annexation. We ask you to please send this draft ordinance back
to the infrastructure committee and allow us to work with you on language that
will accommodate our mutually beneficial goals. That is, to have plenty of
safe water for the entire Town.”
There being no further comment the public hearing was closed.
b) Amending Water Curtailment Ordinance in the Town of
Purcellville, a proposed amendment to Purcellville Utilities
Ordinance Chapter 82, Article IV, Sections 236-241 changes the name
of the Ordinance to Drought Response and Contingency Ordinance and
modifies the trigger levels, restrictions and actions during water
supply emergencies. These amendments are authorized by Code of Virginia of
1950, as amended, Chapter 9, Section 15.2-924.
Nick Pelchar of 530 South 20th Street
came forward to speak. Mr. Pelchar stated “uh, uh, I have to apologize for not
actually get a chance to read all the way through this the uh changes in the
curtailment ordinance, however I would like to state that um, I I think that
any efforts to police this uh uh er mandatory restrictions uh should fall on
the meter. What I mean is we should be using the water meter as a way to um
penalize people for overuse of water in times of restrictions uh I suggested
that an average use for each home uh is easily found in your bills and that
somehow we create an ordinance that allows penalties above and beyond your
average uh monthly use and a penalty would be applied to how many gallons uh uh
a certain higher rate would be applied to those gallons over that use so I
would suggest that you uh go that route, I don’t know what’s in the ordinance
the changes you’re making but I think that would be a more prudent way it would
take away the need for someone to go around and check to see if someone is
watering their plants um people have a way of watering at night uh, uh I live
across from Locust Grove and in the summertime at night it sounds like a lot of
snakes over there so um I suggest that we we uh look at the meter you’ve got
accurate readings in the meter, we know how much people are using this would
also prevent neighbors from pointing the finger at each other saying stop our
water and uh little battles that we have in the neighborhood and uh uh
complaints to the Town Manager so I would suggest that you go that route, thank
you.”
There being no further comment the public hearing was closed.
c)
Draft Ordinance Amendment – Community Development, a
proposed amendment to Chapter 26. Community Development – Article VII,
Community Development Authorities. Section 26-42. Pursuant to Code of Virginia
of 1950, as amended, Chapter 51, Section 15.2-5152, the Town Council intends to
adopt an ordinance to elect to assume the power to consider petitions for the
creation of community development authorities.
There being no
further comment the public hearing was closed.
d)
Draft Zoning Ordinance Amendment regarding Parking Lot
Aisle and Driveway Widths. The Council is considering amendments to
Article 6, Section 1.7.2. Parking Aisle and Driveway Widths of the Purcellville
Zoning Ordinance to add standards that would permit one-way aisles and
driveways in off-street parking lots and specify the minimum widths of such
aisles and driveways.
There being no
further comment the public hearing was closed.
e) Draft Zoning Ordinance Amendments reducing MC District
Minimum Open Space & Certain Commercial Sign Setbacks. The Council
is considering to 1) amend Purcellville Zoning Ordinance Article 4, Section
7.8.3 to reduce the minimum landscaped open space required in the MC Mixed
Commercial Zoning District from 25% to 15% of a development site and to 2)
amend Zoning Ordinance Article 6, Section 3.10.3.d. to reduce the minimum
setback of freestanding and monument signs in all commercial zoning district
except C-4 to five feet from the current ten feet.
There being no further
public comment this public hearing was closed.
f) Public
Hearing on Proposed FY 08/09 Budget- The Town Council is holding a
public hearing on the proposed FY 08/09 Budget which will be adopted and
implemented on July 1, 2008. Copies are available for review at the Town
Office and Library.
Tom Larry
of 17280 Pickwick Drive came forward to speak. Mr. Larry stated that he is
here to express concern that he has for the rather large increase in the budget
for the coming fiscal year and the future financial impact that it is going to
have on the residents. He stated that in the current fiscal year the total
budget was $30 million and it will be over $52 million in the coming year which
is about a 75% increase. He stated that when he looks at the General Fund he
sees about approximately a 40% increase for the coming year compared to the
present year. He thanked the Council that the tax bill is not going to
significantly going to change this year but there are at least three items that
are basically non recurring revenue items. He stated that there was a recent
letter to the editor by Ben Belrose and in that he looked at that and saw that
these items and one includes the sale of this building and another has to do
with the fact that the personal property tax will be collected twice and then
there were some reserve revenues that also were a line item in that. Mr.
Belrose saw that that was equivalent to approximately $.18 on the residential
property tax so if those items are not there in the coming year then we are
faced with a very significant increase in taxes on our residents and that’s
what he is concerned about he believes this will be a financial hardship on
people and it will affect property values. He stated that rising tax rates in
Town has a negative impact on whether people want to buy property in this Town
and essentially decreases property values. He stated that the bottom line to
him is that he urges the Council to reconsider the budget and try to make more
significant cuts in the budget for the future financial interests of the
people.
Nick Pelchar
of 530 South 20th Street came forward to speak. Mr. Pelchar stated
“uh I was glancing at Leesburg’s budget, now Leesburg has a budget this year of
$106 million dollars, we have a budget of $52 million.”
The Mayor asked if
Leesburg’s total budget was operating and capital or just operating.
Mr. Pelchar stated “both,
ok, uh no operating budget, I’m sorry Leesburg’s operating budget”
The Mayor stated that the
Town’s operating budget is significantly less than $52 million.
Mr. Pelchar stated “ok
alright uh, however, well what number is that then if you want to give me the
number”
The Mayor stated that the
Town’s operating budget is approximately $9 million.
Mr. Pelchar stated “but
that includes capital though too, $52 million includes capital”
Mayor Lazaro stopped the
time limit on Mr. Pelchar and stated that $50 million is operating in the
General Fund, Water Fund, Sewer Fund plus capital.
Mr. Pelchar stated
“right, ok, the total budget”
Mayor Lazaro stated that
it is $50 million his question to Mr. Pelchar was is the $106 million in
Leesburg for just their operating.
Mr. Pelchar stated “I
believe it was capital too it said capital outlays, if that’s the case then our
budget this year is half the size of Leesburg’s and we’re a Town of 6,700 and
they are a Town of 37,000 so I’m sorry if my numbers are wrong but um that’s
what I saw in the public hearing notices in the paper ok. Now uh uh if I don’t
know how many of you saw the front front page above the fold in the Washington
Post yesterday but they had a story “Economic Woes Render Growth Debate Mute”
and they went through about uh what other uh governments are doing across the
country the fast growing governments that were similar to Loudoun County and
they they uh reference Naples, Florida and um it just so happened that I
visited Naples, Florida this winter and I caught their Council meeting and uh
they are cutting back, they have a hiring freeze they are uh they are not
giving the pay raises and they were even thinking about tapping into their um
cash reserves to balance their budget. Now uh they they reference uh Naples,
Florida and they suggest, they said that uh officials are debating a mix of
deferring capital improvements, hiring freezes and scaling back services. Well
that’s exactly the opposite of what we are doing. I would suggest this year
that we have a hiring freeze and that we uh slow down on this capital
improvements projects. We have uh a huge CIP and uh average cost per person in
Loudoun County in Town, I’ll show this to the crowd but Purcellville is like
the Empire State Building Leesburg looks like maybe a building in Washington um
we are way out of line of spending on CIP um compared to all other Incorporated
Town’s and the County and the County has a lot more projects going on than we
do, obviously they’ve got the whole school uh spending so I would suggest that
we have a hiring freeze and we eliminate the take home vehicle uh policy we uh
cut back on the CIP forget about moving this Town Hall over to the Baptist
Church uh you’ve got a lot of money that we’re just spending on uh real estate
and moving this is just the wrong time to do it, people are strapped. I know
people that work in the government may feel that they are insulated from what’s
going on in the real world but businesses here are struggling. Businesses all
over the County are struggling and this is not the time to be hiring people, to
be spending money and making it even tougher to live here. So in very uh bring
out your uh scissors and start cutting things because people aren’t going to be
able to live here at least the common average people that don’t have government
jobs. Thank you.”
Chris Bledsoe
of 237 East Skyline Drive came forward to speak. Mr. Bledsoe stated that he
believes accommodations are in order for lowering the tax rate this year. He
stated that it is welcome news for himself and his family particularly in light
of the County’s rate increase and the burden that will be placed on us. He
stated that while this is welcomed by his family and every citizen in Town his
concern is the rising budget and the expenses of the Town and that’s impact on
the future taxes that we will face. He stated that an examination of the
current proposed budget and CIP indicates what he believes to be extraordinary
numbers and he is sure the Council is aware of but which he would like to
highlight tonight with his concerns. Mr. Bledsoe stated that over the last
year and projected into next year the population of Purcellville will have
grown by approximately eight percent and at the same time the Town’s Annual
Budget based on the current proposed budget before the Council would have grown
by 173 percent and to him that is an astounding and scary number. He stated
that the Town’s current proposed CIP budget alone is $102.4 million dollars and
of this 82% is financed through bonds. He stated that whatever the interest
rate is and no matter how attractive it is, financing close to $84 million
dollars in long term debt is an equally scary number for a Town of our size.
Mr. Bledsoe stated that
the Purcellville CIP on a per person per average basis is $3,000 and to put
that in perspective, Leesburg, our County Seat in a Town of 11.5 square miles
compared to our 2.5 square miles with a population of over 37,000 people has a
per person CIP for the same period of $700. He believes that the Town needs
to reduce and control spending and find ways to reduce our debt and its
inevitable impact on our taxes. He stated that growth is to be expected and
certain milestone adjustments as we may be experiences this year need to be
accommodated but he does not believe that they need to be on the order of 173 %
increase over the last two years.
Bill Druhan
of Maple Avenue came forward to speak. Mr. Druhan stated that he is aware that
the Council struggled with the budget and having sat at the dais he knows that
this was not an easy process and he is aware that hundreds of hours were spent
trying to get the budget adjudicated and clearly the largest number in the
document is the CIP. He stated that the CIP program was adopted during his
administration which would include Mr. Pelchar and Mr. Phillips as well as the
current Council except for Council member Wiley and Council member Clarke and
it is evident that if you have a Capital Improvements Program that you either
make it a program that you are going to actually implement and fund or you just
keep moving all of the numbers to the right and say you are not going to do
that now or take it out of the Capital Improvements Program and artificially
make it look like we aren’t spending any money. Mr. Druhan stated that the
fact is that the largest portion of the CIP is for the sewer plant. He stated
that in 1998 or 1999 he remembers sitting in the conference room and going over
the sewer plant specifications that are in place now for the sewer plant that
opened this month in 2004. He stated that that sewer plant is at least half
full if not 60% full today, that was supposed to last the Town 20 years and
it’s now 2008.
Mr. Druhan stated that
the Chesapeake Bay act came a long and the State was forced, just like all of
the other states were forced, to come on board with the Federal Government or
you don’t get any money so now the State imposed on everyone that has a sewer
plant that you have to meet strict nitrate and phosphorus standards and we are
one of those people and we are in the watershed for the Chesapeake Bay. Mr.
Druhan stated there are plenty of maps that you can Google to see which Towns,
villages and cities have a watershed that empties into the Chesapeake Bay and
you have to by mandate make your sewer plant meet these requirements or you
will be fined. Mr. Druhan stated that the Purcellville Town Council decided
that they would be proactive and looked at it and brought in a consultant and
came up with a plan and determined the plan and while we were looking at it we
are watching the sewer plant fill up with the expanding tanks. Mr. Druhan
stated that the Town needs to expand in order for the cleansing process to take
place and why not do the same thing to expand the plant to meet the shortfall
that you will have with the sewer plant. He stated that it was under built for
under capacity to it makes common sense to put the two together and back in
January 2006 Mr. Phillips among others on the Council in the Public Works
Committee to move that forward to the Town Council which was voted on
unanimously by the Town Council in February 2006 so now the dues have to be
paid.
Mr. Druhan stated that he
went before the Board of Supervisors two years ago and told them that the check
to be paid is coming down the pike and we need help and if you look at that
budget you will notice that the Town is getting some help but only $25 million
of that will be coming out in bonds. There is money coming from some grants
and there could be more money found. There is transportation money on there
that has been found and you can take that money out of it but as you know that
is the Capital Improvements Program. Mr. Druhan stated that he did not hear
anyone come forward to say what part of this you can’t do right now, they just
said don’t do it and don’t do it is not an option.
Sam Brown
of 37883 East Main Street Purcellville came forward to speak. Mr. Brown stated
that he came up here to answer a challenge, he stated that the Mayor had asked
that if anyone has any ideas to reduce the CIP to bring them forward and his
suggestion is that Town Council reduce $10 million out of the CIP budget by
doing away with the section of the Southern Collector Road that runs through
his farm. He stated that in his opinion this road is not needed. Studies have
indicated that 52% of commuter traffic end up shopping on the way home before
going home and since all of the businesses are on Main Street then that is
where people are going to go. Down Main Street then they will take Rt. 690 and
Rt. 611 and Maple Avenue to get to the southern development so as far as he is
concerned the SCR is not needed and the Town could save $10 million off of the
CIP right now.
Ben Belrose
of 624 Elliott Drive came forward to speak. Mr. Belrose stated that Mr. Druhan
challenged him that the Town needs this sewer plant. Mr. Belrose stated that
the Town’s own water study says that the Town can build a pipeline all the way
to Leesburg for $15 million which is approximately half of the cost. He stated
that he challenges the Council, he stated that Council member Wiley has said,
he has read in the minutes, that we will eventually going to have to
consolidate in this area. He asked why the Town invest all of this money
before we consolidate. He stated that Hamilton is already building a sewer
plant which means there are two Town’s within two miles of one another building
sewer plants so to him it is a sin that we don’t at least consolidate those two
but for half the cost we can build a sewer line to Loudoun Water sewer plant
which will be the Blue Ridge of our area.
There being no further
comment this public hearing was closed.
CITIZEN/BUSINESS
COMMENTS:
Charles Douglas
of 416 Falls Chapel Court came forward to speak. Mr. Douglas stated that he is
concerned about water and believes that it is the principle key about what is
driving a lot of the issues that have been discussed over the past few months.
He stated that he has spoken to the Mayor as well as others that are running
for Council and he has received varied opinions on what the situation is and
how to solve it. Mr. Douglas stated that there is no process that provides a
citizen with a spreadsheet that shows how this will be resolved. Mr. Douglas
asked the Council to help the citizens support the process by providing the
citizens with information that they need to see the differences.
Chantelle Savage,
Manager of the Purcellville Skating Rink came forward to speak. Ms. Savage
stated that the skating rink is a place where a lot of people come for
functions and most of the functions involve children but some don’t and she is
here for the ones that don’t involve the kids. She stated that she was
recently told that when the Town takes over that any functions that occur at
the Skating Rink cannot serve alcohol anymore. She stated that they do not do
it very often and they don’t encourage it but they do have very appropriate
times where that can happen. She stated that the Rotary Club had a fundraiser
and served alcohol. Also the last two years St. Francis DeSales has had a work
camp fundraiser and served alcohol. She stated that the Fire Department
Banquet each year serves alcohol. She stated that these were all good
fundraisers and good for the community. She stated that there really aren’t
other places in the community where you can have larger fundraisers like this
so she is hoping that the Council will consider allowing these functions to
continue.
Nick Pelchar
of 530 South 20th Street came forward to speak. Mr. Pelchar stated,
“I’d like to address the perceived underwear problem that we have in
Purcellville. Uh Mr. Lazaro you brought up some time ago about you can’t buy
an underwear in Purcellville and I looked into this and uh I’m trying to figure
out why there is such a need for underwear in Purcellville and I believe it’s
because we are being told to do full loads of laundry and everybody needs to
stock to make sure they get enough underwear to fill for a full load. Now you
could so something about this as a government, you could allow um vending carts
uh maybe have a cart mart during the week or something allow people to sell things
that other businesses don’t sell here in Purcellville or you could go online,
here’s Kohl’s you can buy underwear online, have it sent right to your house
$5, costs less than going to Leesburg and buying it so. I would also um what
Mr. Druhan brought up earlier about me voting for this CIP some years ago.
Welp this CIP also includes buying or leasing and renovating the Baptist Church, moving Town Hall over here for $1.2 million I never voted for that alright
I never voted to drill a $1.5 million well and then buy water at a $1.30 per
thousand from a former Mayor. I never voted to buy water from a developer up
on Short Hill Mountain at $1.08 per thousand gallons and I never voted in fact
I opposed a lot of the hiring that we did on my tenure on the Council. I
opposed the increase in the meals tax uh I opposed the take home vehicle policy
which we are now spending uh several hundred thousand dollars in our CIP on so
I never I oppose condemning 60 acres of Fields Farm and spending all that money
on lawyers which somehow has to come from somewhere so I’m assuming it’s coming
out of the uh uh cash reserves in the water and wastewater funds and in the
general fund. Uh I uh never agreed to to um expand the Police force beyond what
we had there’s a lot of spending that can be cut down to buying employee’s
boots uh washing their clothes for them uh building them this state of the art
Taj Mahal Maintenance building a lot in the CIP that I never agreed to so when
somebody comes up here and tries to lay this label of a spender on me then I
would appreciate if they would first do their homework.”
Jim Vogt of 221 East Loudoun Valley Drive came forward to speak. Mr. Vogt read the following statement
“ask Mayor Lazaro or a Town Council member why they oppose Woodgrove High
School and you will get a litany of readily-dismissible smokescreens: traffic,
water, PUGAMP issues, etc. Janet Clark assured those present at the March 10,
2008 Town Council meeting that the Mayor and Council are negotiating in good
faith with Loudoun County to end the expensive lawsuits which are currently
blocking the construction of Woodgrove High School. But, as with many
statements from the current Purcellville administration, particularly about
negotiating in “good faith,” they are full of game-playing, half-truths and
falsehoods. We now have on record Board of Supervisors Chairman Scott York addressing
this issue. At the March 13, 2008 meeting of the Joint School Board and Board
of Supervisors Committee, Mr. York, in response to a Western Loudoun citizen’s
complaint about new schools going up in the East County, but no progress being
made on the construction of Woodgrove said: “…I have received a call from the
Mayor [Lazaro] requesting or essentially wanting to enter into a dialogue for a
settlement. We’ve gotten into a point that there has been a long back and
forth, we have responded to the latest proposal by the Town of Purcellville. It has been over a month now, the most fundamental question to be answered
by the Council we still have not received. I don’t know why they are not
willing to answer a very simple question. As you know, I did not support that
location. We are trying our best to have it done [build the school].
Hopefully, Purcellville will truly come to the table and not play games.” Here
is Bob Lazaro’s former mentor, Scott York, taking him to task, over Lazaro’s
and his Town Council’s delaying tactics and game-playing. So much for the
current Council’s “good faith;” in reality it is just faithless. Let the
citizens of Purcellville know that the “Phillips for Mayor” slate: Karl
Phillips, Chris Bledsoe, Tom Larry and Jim Vogt, supports schools, students,
teachers and the construction of Woodgrove High School. We want to end the
overcrowding at Loudoun Valley High School, Blue Ridge Middle School and Harmony Intermediate School. Education not Litigation! Our administration will work with
the county in a true spirit of finding a win-win solution. Once we are elected
and take office on July 1, 2008, we will end the lawsuits.”
Joan Lehr of 824 Woodbine Court came forward
to speak. Ms. Lehr stated that she is a Planning Commissioner and stands
before the Council as a resident and business owner. She stated that the
Planning Commission has spent the last nine months working on Zoning Ordinance
changes and the Landscape, Screening and Open Space Regulations went before the
Infrastructure Committee and there was some confusion during that timeframe and
she wants to make sure that what is before the Council is what was intended to
be sent to you by the Planning Commission. She stated that she attended the
March 24th Infrastructure Committee meeting and heard some concerns
about the 15% maximum requirement for all landscape screening. She stated that
during the meeting is was decided to change the word shall so that the article
did not prohibit the developer from utilizing more than 15% of the property for
landscaping and screening but unfortunately due to some confusion during the
meeting the Infrastructure Committee asked the staff to change the word and
utilize the word minimum instead of maximum. She stated that she does not believe
that the Infrastructure Committee wished to change the intent of the document.
Ms. Lehr stated that in the current reading the property owner could be
required to landscape as much of the property as they would have in the current
ordinance. She stated that the intent of the Planning Commission was to ensure
that when someone was trying to develop or redevelop a piece of property they
would know exactly how much of there property would be needed for landscaping
and screening. Ms. Lehr stated that tonight she makes a recommendation as a
Town resident and a business owner to the Council that if the Council wishes to
approve this document in its current state that the following changes be made:
Section 1.4.2
Last sentence needs to be changed – Current Wording gives
the Tree and Beautification Commission the right to employ at the applicants
expense, an arborist. The Tree and Beautification Commission does not have that
right. The ordinance could be reworded to say:
The applicant will employ a certified arborist for the
purpose of determining if the tree or trees in question are alive and healthy.
Section 1.9
The section should retain its original title and read as
follows:
1.9 Required Landscaping, Screening and Open Space areas
exceeding 15% of lot area
The total of all landscaping, screening and Open Space areas
and buffer yards required by this article shall not exceed 15%.
Option 1:
In any case which the required landscaping, screening and
open space areas would together exceed 15% of the subject property, such
landscaping, screening and open space areas shall be reduced, at the request of
the applicant, to 15% , of the gross area of the site. At no time does this
article restrict the property owner from landscaping, screening or having open space
of more than 15% of the gross area of the site.
At the Infrastructure meeting, the question was raised if
this could be a number that changed with the size of the lot.
If the Council wishes to consider something of that nature,
I would propose the following:
Option 2:
Required Landscaping areas exceeding 15% of lot area
In any case which the required landscaping, screening and
open space areas would together exceed 15% of the subject property, such
landscaping, screening and open areas shall be reduced, at the applicants
request, based on the gross area of the site, as follows:
Lots of 2 acres or less – Can be reduced down to 15%
Lots of 2 -6 acres – Can be reduced down to 20%
Lots over 6 acres – Can be reduced down to 25%
At no time does this article restrict the property owner
from landscaping, screening or having open space of more than 15% of the gross
area of the site.
I would also recommend, that which ever option is used, that
two paragraphs that were deleted should be left in.
Landscaping, Screening and Open Space shall be reduced
accordingly:
1. Lots less than 2 acres
Landscaping, screening and open
space areas and buffer yards shall be reduced or eliminated in the following
order:
a. Interior
Parking lot landscape areas
b. Perimeter
parking lot landscape areas
c. Buffer
yards
2. Lots
of 2 acres and larger. The Zoning Administrator shall have the authority to
require the landscaping area reductions and buffer yard reductions occur in a
manner that best meets the purposes and intents of this article and each of its
sections.
Section 2.3.2
Hedgerows. – Remove the at least
five (5) feet in height – this was added and has no explanation in the grid,
and was not discussed at the Planning Commission. In places 3 foot high
hedgerows are sufficient and does not block line of sight.
Section 5.5.3 a
I see no difference in a shopping
center parking lot vs. all other parking lots – the definition of a shopping
center is a group commercial establishments. I see no reason for parking lot
variances because of multiple uses within a building or group of buildings. I
recommend the Council to delete 5.5.3a (1) and renumber 5.5.3a(2) to 5.5.3a (1)
Section 5.5.3c (2)
Text was added to require one
canopy tree per required landscape island. This was not a recommendation of
the Planning Commission, not by the Tree and Beautification Commission. This
forces small landscape areas rather than the larger areas that we have been
working towards. The number of trees required is in the next 5.5.3d and is
based on the number of parking spaces.
Bill Druhan
of Maple Avenue came forward to speak. Mr. Druhan stated that before Mr.
Pelchar left he wanted to correct him that he said it was the 2006 CIP for the
Sewer Plant that was voted on not what is before the Council today. Mr. Druhan
stated that the other correction is the litigation issue, he stated that there
has been a lot of conversation that the Town needs to drop their lawsuit and
the assumption is that if the Town drops their lawsuit then everything becomes
normal and construction begins. He stated that the construction is not be held
up by the Town at all and second of all if the Town were to drop the litigation
tomorrow the County is not going to drop their litigation which means that the
school system will not proceed with construction as long as there is litigation
on the table before the Supreme Court so any way you look at this the County
and the School Board are in it and they are waiting for August or a new
administration to show up and that’s the deal.
Mr. Druhan stated that
speaking about the campaign he goes back to this time last year and their
certainly was a lot of activity with anonymous PACS who were sending out flyers
and a lot of information that was manufactured and that underhandedness
continued when the election was over and most of those individuals have now
signed up for Karl Phillip’s campaign and he is disgusted with that and he has
a problem when someone tries to under mind all of the good work that the Town
Council is doing. Mr. Durhan stated that he recalls a fraudulent petition that
came out to remove the Mayor which was one of just many underhanded campaign
tactics that are still going on.
Mr. Druhan stated that
there have been a weekly bombardment of Freedom of Information Requests to the
Town which he would call harassment and wonders what they are fishing for. He
stated that Ms. Lehr who is a Planning Commissioner just got attached by Mr.
Pelchar who unfortunately just left, he probably didn’t want to hear the
truth. Mr. Druhan stated that he is not running for Town Council and doesn’t
believe that he should be fair game but Mr. Phillips also FOIA’d his
application and his presence on the Planning Commission, he wanted to know
about the interview and whether it was properly advertised. Mr. Druhan stated
that he made copies of his driver’s license for Mr. Phillips or Mr. Pelchar so
they can get his driving record, he also brought is tax returns going back to
2001, he doesn’t have 2007 yet because he is still working on them but he can
have them to them this time next week. Mr. Druhan stated that he also has his
fingerprints so that Mr. Phillips and Mr. Pelchar can do a criminal background
check but in the mean time he is going to serve on the Planning Commission as
he served on the Parks and Rec Advisory Board, which he doesn’t believe was
FOIA’d because it is not politically sensitive. He stated that they could also
FOIA the Loudoun County Community Action Board that he was appointed to five
years ago where he still serves as Chairman and all of this should keep them
busy.
Mr. Druhan stated that he
was sorry that the Town Council and staff have to be deluged with nonsense and
wished the Council luck.
MAYOR AND COUNCIL
COMMENTS:
Council member Wiley
had no comment.
Council member
Varmecky stated that he is disappointed by Mr. Vogt’s comments. He
stated that they met last week and the only official comment he was going to
make was that he appreciated sitting with him and having a good conversation
about their views on different issues of the Town. He stated that he didn’t
agree but it was a very respectful conversation each listened and asked
questions but it was very respectful but he was disappointed tonight to see the
comments here where his comments were perceived as “half truths and
falsehoods”. Council member Varmecky stated that he defines a falsehood as
something you knowingly are saying is wrong and that’s just not true. He
stated that he sincerely believes that the County is knowingly violating the
agreements that they made with the Town of Purcellville because it is no longer
convenient for them. He will go one step forward and say that he believes they
have delayed this school themselves for many years in an effort to put pressure
on the Town of Purcellville to make a bad decision and today we are
experiencing a certain amount of pressure. Council member Varmecky stated that
he can’t raise his one hand and make an oath of office to uphold the laws and
regulations and ordinances of the Town of Purcellville and then knowingly make
a decision to violate them. What needs to be said is how will they change our
agreements to make the action by the County legal. He stated that the two of
them have a difference of opinion but he would ask that Mr. Vogt not advertise
his opinion as a falsehood or half truth that was not appropriate.
Council member Varmecky
stated that he is especially disappointed by the comments by Mr. York where he
states “hopefully Purcellville will truly come to the table and not play
games”. Council member Varmecky stated that the Town has come to the table and
have made a sincere effort to make some hard decisions, he stated that the Town
has sincerely listened and has truly considered their offers and the Town has
made sincere offers. He stated that his problem is that at the County’s
request the Town agreed to not discuss the settlement issues and yet Mr. York
is commenting as well as Mr. Burton but Council member Varmecky stated that he
is obligated to the agreement and will not violate it but he would ask the
Council to consider releasing all of the documentation related to the
settlement discussions at this point if it’s been in the publics venue on one
parties part then we need to release all of the documentation because he
believes it will clearly show that the Town is negotiating in very good faith.
Council member Varmecky
stated that statements have been made by more than one person running for
office that they will end the lawsuits but the problem is that if they are
successful in their campaign they will raise their hand and take an oath to
uphold all of these agreements so what you are essentially saying to the public
is that you are willing to ignore your Oath of Office and the Town’s legal
obligations and I think that is inappropriate. Council member Varmecky stated
that they need to read the documents talk to the Council who they might trust
or former members of the Council, find someone you trust. Council member
Varmecky stated that everything he has said tonight and in the past is as sincere
and as truthful as he can be.
Council member Walker
stated that he had a citizen call him the other day and ask why the Council was
raising the tax rate to $.32, he asked where the citizen where they received
that information and he was told by the citizen that they were told that by
Karl Phillips. He told the citizen that he needed to contact Mr. Phillips and
find out where he got that information because the tax rate was advertised for
public hearing at $.20. Council member Walker stated that he does not like the
negativity of the entire campaign. He stated that he doesn’t do business that
way and doesn’t run his campaign that way. He stated that come May 6, 2008 the
truth will come out. Council member Walker stated that he ran on a ticket with
Bill Druhan to support Mr. Phillips and Mr. Pelchar and there was a lot of
information that was fed to him because he did not have time to research a lot
of the information and he relied on Mr. Phillips to get the information. He
stated that it took about three months after being elected to find out that
some of the information was not correct. He stated that the more research that
he did to find the truth he realized that Mr. Phillips was full of
misinformation and requested that he read the agendas.
Council member Wagner
stated that the Town over the past several years has worked with the County on
many projects, the Carver Center, Fireman’s Field, the Public Safety Center, 14th
Street Group Home Improvements, Franklin Park Trail Project and a couple of
safety projects around the school. He stated that those are joint County and
Town projects. He stated that a lot has been said about the one very
contentious issue but business does go on between the County and the Town.
Council member Wagner stated that there will be points in time where the bodies
will not be in full agreement about a lot of things however the one thing that
you cannot overlook is that there is still business going on. One that springs
to mind is the 23rd Street sidewalks. The County had to work with
the Town, provide land. Council member Wagner stated that the Chief works with
the Sheriff’s Department on a regular basis.
Council member Wagner
stated that about two years ago the Town really started rolling on a very
important project for starting the improvements at Main and Maple. The first
piece, that we have almost a $500,000 grant for, is to improve pedestrian and
bike access between Main Street and the W&OD Trail along north Maple Avenue. Most of the property is either in front of the Fire Department or along Loudoun Valley High School’s property. Council member Wagner stated that a few years ago he
attended a kick off meeting with the school administration and others including
consultants and engineers. Everyone was involved as a community outreach to
ensure that they were all part of the continual planning and understanding of
what the project was. He stated that the reason that they did that was so as
things progressed we were insured that as stakeholders we were part of the
process. Unfortunately, the treatment that many of the Western town’s receive
is the County saying “we have a new project coming out and the public hearing
is next week and all the planning has been done at the County and we have
failed to get your input”, then the Town weighs in and says that it violates a
plan or an Ordinance but in this case the Town has included them. He stated
that engineering is complete and we have gone back and asked if there were any
last words so 30 days ago there were concerns. The chief concern was that a
new project with an eight foot trail will somehow endanger the safety of the
students at Loudoun Valley High School. Part of it was because there would be
a joint bike/pedestrian thoroughfare but he doesn’t expect rush hour bicycle
traffic along the trail. He does expect it to be students flowing one way or
the other as they go to school but there are also improvements all along
there. He stated that the buses are packed in there nose to tail and the kids
are weaving in and out of traffic to cross the street and part of what is being
done is to fix these problems as well as the W&OD Trail. He stated that
his concern is that now, 30 days later, we have found out that Loudoun County
Public Schools, which needs to sign off on this project, needs 21 more days to
schedule the set up to meet so they can look at the project. He stated that
this is not an issue with the County or the County staff but with the Loudoun
County Public Schools, because it is there property, and the Town of Purcellville.
Council member Wagner
stated that a memo went out which was titled “Cancellation of Special Order by
Consent for BSWWF” which is a good thing. He stated that the Town wants to be
operating under normal conditions and the Town has now returned to that. For
many years the Wastewater and Water Treatment plants because of a whole host of
things have caused us to have heavy things hanging over our heads. He stated
that it has been cancelled due to the effective measures taken by the Town to
reduce inflow and infiltration. He stated that in a letter from the State it
states, “…and the commitment of the Town has demonstrated in it’s CIP to
continue with I&I reduction and improvement projects and upgrades to the
BSWWF.” So the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
has allowed to Town to return to normal operating conditions.
Council member Wagner
stated that Arbor Day was a huge success and thanked everyone that came by and
participated. He also stated that the Economic Development Advisory Committee
will be hosting an Economic Summit to talk about the state of the economy,
initiatives underway or projected for the rest of 2008, hold a networking for
businesses and have a roundtable discussion for all attendees.
Council member Clarke
stated that what has been said tonight and the whole high school issue makes
her a little emotional. She stated that after sitting at the dais month after
month and having people such as political candidates come forward and make
assertions and generalizations and what she would consider personal pointed
comments toward people that they do not know nor have had any conversations
with what so ever. Council member Clarke stated that the generalization about
this Council not being in support of education or the youth or the community is
just ludicrous to her. She stated that there is a gentleman sitting on the
dais who has been a resident of this Town for almost 50 years, he had a dental
practice and many families and children that he has supported and has served on
the Parks and Recreation Community Advisory Board who continues to do good work
in that light. She stated that there is a high school teacher sitting at the
dais who taught her 26 year old when he was a Junior at Valley and who is still
teaching there and she believes he is in support of education and the schools
and our youth. Council member Clarke stated that Council member Wagner has a
son who plays on the Valley Soccer Team who is in support of the schools and
education. She knows that he shows up as a supportive parent for those
events. Similarly with the Mayor who has a daughter over at Valley who has
been on the Cheerleading Squad, he has a wife that is involved. She stated
that Council member Priscilla has been directly involved with herself in the
negotiations with have been occurring since the first face to face meeting on
January 3, 2008. Council member Clarke read the following into the record,
which she stated that she had to write down because he said she was a bit
emotional because the facts that are out there are “so very wrong”. Council
member Clarke stated that she believes it’s understandable when people try to
assert themselves into business that they are not directly involved with and
that is where misinterpretation is derived. Council member Clarke stated that
Council member Priscilla was one of the people that supported and voted for
funds for the Teen Center that she opened March 4, 2004 that supports some 300
youth a week and is still going on. She stated that Phil Message is doing a
wonderful job. She stated that she arranged for transportation from
surrounding Towns like Lovettsville, Round Hill and Hamilton. These are all
youth that would go to the new Woodgrove High School and could come to the Town
of Purcellville and have additional pro social activities to be engaged in
that they do not get from the County. She stated that they can’t get lights at
Franklin Park to support the additional fields that we need so we had to add
some additional activities so she really takes offense to the generalizations.
She realizes that they are running a race but it doesn’t need to be negative,
you should run on your own merit not by trying to knock everyone else down and
she is really fed up with this. She stated that she did not politic because
she never expected to be sitting on the Council as a politician, she applied to
fill a two year appointment because she was working in the community in
education, she has a Masters in Education, so she does support education, so
she has been appalled that month after month since Karl Phillips lost the last
Mayoral race he just comes and shoot bullets and takes off so God Bless those
that stayed and listened this time. Council member Clarke read the following
in to the record “It disturbs me that Karl Phillips and his running mates such
as yourself have sought to create controversy and insert yourselves into the
business of an attempted settlement. In addition to the several face to face
meetings that Council member Priscilla, our Town Attorney Maureen Gilmore and I
have had starting initially with the January 3rd meeting with County
Attorney Jack Roberts then subsequently adding Carl Brown and Chairman Scott
York in these meetings, negotiations correspondence was generated from these
meetings and consistently the Town had to wait weeks for a response back from
the County each time. I will say however that the Town also had to meet with
the Council throughout for responding, there is a process, it is government.
She stated that she has had a few phone conversations with Scott York, he has
called me and I have called him back and spoken with him, most recently in the
past couple of weeks when he was yelling at me and I do respect Scott York, I
do respect all of these folks who serve in these capacities because there is a
lot more involved when you are sitting here dealing with this than what it
looks like on the outside, he was yelling at me and you can talk to my husband
and children because they happened to be in the home and could hear it. This
is an emotional subject and it needs to be resolved for all. I have two
teenagers, I have mentioned this before, who are affected by this, I walk the
schools most every day, I run a homework club Monday through Thursday at
Harmony, I live this, I sitting here on Council have to subject myself daily to
people asking me consistently about the high school issue, why isn’t it
resolved. This body is not against the high school, you need to dig a little
deeper and understand the true issues, it’s all about PUGAMP and this body here
has agreed that that school needs to go over there if that’s the only place
that they are willing to put it, that’s the great compromise that the Town is
willing to make, the responsibility is now on the County to step forward and
meet some type of a compromise but I think the frustration here is that on
their side, on the County’s side they are not willing or they don’t want to, I
don’t know where the pressure is from, but to meet those few items that we need
with respect to infrastructure in order for that school to go there. The Town
has said we will pull back all the lawsuits, we will allow that high school to
go there if you can just do these items.” So those are the facts, that’s where
is stands, she stated she doesn’t know why Scott York said what he said, she
stated there is also an email between Sarah Stingers of Small Town Schools and
Jim Burton and Jim Burton in that email blatantly said that there had only been
written correspondence which is a blatant lie and that is just so unethical and
the whole situation is extremely frustrating. She stated that she will be off
Council in two months and either it will be settled before she is off Council
or not but one way or another her children are affected the same that all the
other children in the community are affected and we are at a critical juncture
and if the competing candidates want to continue to drum up controversy and
make it difficult for us to resolve this then I think you will succeed because
you have set an agenda.
Council member
Priscilla stated that he wasn’t going to say anything about the high
school, he believes that Council member Clarke summed it up very well. He did want
to say for the record that they did agree to a confidentiality agreement and he
would say that Mr. Burton has violated it at least five times in the press and
that speaks for itself about his character. Council member Priscilla stated
that he would like to read a statement into the record, it is as follows: “For
over a decade our community has been faced with ever increasing traffic and
utility challenges so in 2006 this Council began the arduous process to address
those challenges through the development of a comprehensive capital program
that meets government mandates from both the State and Federal levels, meets
the legal obligations to provide public utilities for property in Town limits
and addresses the transportation and quality of life goals from our adopted
Comprehensive Plan, that CIP presented tonight for the public hearing is that
document. The transportation, utilities and maintenance of public facility
aspects of that plan compromise approximately 97% of the total cost. The
remaining elements include other community identified priorities such as the
preservation of Fireman’s Field. The Phillips coalition has asked us to harken
back to the good old days when Mr. Phillips was Chairman of the Public Works
Committee, I have taken them up on their suggestion and offer a report card on
how he performed. What the Phillips coalition hasn’t told you is that their
candidate for Mayor supported a similar vision when he was on Council but was
singularly unsuccessful in accomplishing any of those projects. He stated that
Mr. Phillips supported obtaining the right of first refusal to buy Fireman’s
Field yet now he opposes this Council’s acquisition of it. He supported the
right of first refusal to acquire Bridge’s Towing and the acquisition of the Valley Energy Building across the street for Town government use yet now he opposes this
Council’s effort to lease the Baptist Church for those very same purposes. Mr.
Phillips supported the upgrades to the Wastewater Treatment Plant to meet the
mandated state and federal requirements yet now opposes the very CIP which will
construct them. He supported the provision of additional water resources as
mandated by our Comprehensive Plan yet now opposes this Council’s effort to
make that investment. The Phillips coalition argues against using the $6.7
million in already collected availability and utility funds to fund portions of
the CIP. Availabilities are quite simply the legal mechanism where fees from
developers are collected over years to provide for the construction of
additional utility capacity based on the adopted Comprehensive Plan. The Town
is legally obligated to use those funds for that purpose only, the utility
projects cannot be funded using General Fund Reserves as he has claimed. The
Phillips coalition understands this reality but has chosen to mislead the
public in their door to door campaign. Here are some obligations that were
previously made by the Phillips coalition in newspaper articles, these are all
quotes: “Utility operations and enhancements are paid through out sewer and
water enterprise funds. State law prohibits the transfer of General Funds to
either of these enterprise funds. Our cash reserves can never be used to build
water and sewer facilities, these must be paid through rate fees and
availabilities. Raising real estate taxes will do nothing to improve our
utility capabilities and finally we do have some moving expenses on the sewer
and water side but those cannot be paid for with general tax revenue” and the
list goes on but those were from the last election cycle we now know that there
was no credible plan developed under his term as Chair of Public Works to
provide the utility services we were legally required to do based on the
adopted Comprehensive Plan. After his term as Chair, during which Mr. Phillips
did not raise these fees despite several admissions from staff and consultants
the consequences of his decisions were revealed with the Town hired outside
consultants which specialize in utility rate and fee structures and municipal
financing. Those consultants identified that if we continue to follow the
Phillips practice of subsidizing the fees and rates with funds from the
reserves we would have depleted that account in two years time. Mr. Phillips
failure to provide the necessary leadership and sound judgment to develop an
adequate CIP also resulted in the inability to have collected adequate
availability fees from developers, those off sided by his team during the last
election from whom he would require payment. His inaction resulted in the loss
of over $20 million in revenues from availabilities for the 609 homes and ten
businesses that were built during his tenure, that’s $10,355 per current
household. Last month the Phillips coalition opined that we would be lucky to
borrow money at 6.25% for these improvements, contrast that with the leadership
and action provided by the current Mayor and this Council who have obtained
over $5 million in State grants, secured a $20 million State loan at 3% and
leveraged a $6.7 million in availabilities to implement the utility projects,
the debt that we will have to repay for the State loan can be directly
attributed to Mr. Phillips failed leadership and poor judgment. Quite simply
he avoided making tough decisions and decided to leave the heavy lifting for
future Councils, preferring instead to demagogue the issue each election.
Rather than pursue that course this Council undertook the painful process to
restructure the rates and fees to make the utility funds self sustaining. The
Phillips coalition also objects to the use of $11.3 million in Federal and
State grants to fund other portions of the CIP. During the previous election
cycle he offered the following observations of his position claiming “he had
obtained State grants for transportation improvements and noted that these
projects the Rt. 690 interchange and Main Street improvements are both VDOT
responsibilities and will only be achieved through significant State grants,
they are regional projects and must be addressed by the Commonwealth of
Virginia and it is the job of our Mayor and Council to enlist the help of
Loudoun County to lobby Richmond for the funds, it is not the responsibility of
the Purcellville taxpayers alone to bear the financial load”, while we concur
and instead of talking about it we actually secured $2.5 million from the State
and VDOT for the Main Street improvements. Similarly, the coalition noted
“currently funds are not available for the SCR and I would not tax the
residents to build it on our own, if VDOT funds were forthcoming I would
consider the project but not rush into it and I will not support the SCR”, well
we disagree with the coalition on this one, we support the construction of the
SCR and have obtained $3.8 million from the State of Virginia for its
construction. It is precisely because this Council developed a CIP that we
were able to not only meet with our State and Federal elected representatives
but also obtained funding from those sources for these projects and we continue
to meet with those representatives to pursue additional grants for these
critical projects. At the same time the Phillips coalition has attacked the
Council for putting the projects they actually voted for in the CIP, they both
championed the use of State and Federal grants and opposed their use. They
went so far as to contact our State and Federal representatives advising
“bottom line is that I ask you not to aid the Town with funding the projects.”
We share our community’s vision for our Town and are systematically moving
forward to help implement the improvements that vision requires and I ask you
to contrast that with the inaction and harsh rhetoric from the Phillips
coalition.
Mayor Lazaro echoed
Council member Wagner’s comments and thanked the Tree and Beautification
Committee, Town staff and volunteers for the 100 trees that we were able to
plant for our 100th birthday and the Cub Scouts and the Girl
Scouts. Mayor Lazaro thanked everyone for the US Navy Chorus event and he
especially wanted to thank Eileen Boeing and Cheryl Herman on the staff for
doing a fantastic job.
Mayor Lazaro stated that on
the Economic Development front he has spoken with the people with Cole Farm
they are anticipating a groundbreaking in late 2008 or early 2009 and the
owners of the old IGA have submitted concept plans to begin the dialogue with
the community about how that shopping center will be renovated.
CONSENT ACTION ITEMS:
a) Authorization to Schedule a
Public Hearing for the ULYFL Annexation
b) Authorization of Grid
Replacement Construction Contract
Vice
Mayor Walker made a motion to approve the Consent Action items.
Motion:
Vice Mayor Walker
Carried:
7-0
ACTION ITEMS:
a) Adoption
of 2008 Real Estate Tax Rate
Council member Wagner
made a motion that the Town Council adopt a Real Estate Tax Rate of $.19 per
$100 assessed value for Tax Year 2008 and under the FY08/09 Budget this
involves adoption of Resolution 08-04-03.
Motion:
Council member Wagner
Carried:
7-0
b) Authorization
of Zoning Ordinance Amendment Reducing MC District Minimum Open Space &
Certain Commercial Sign Setbacks
Council member Wiley made
a motion that the proposed Zoning Ordinance Amendment for the MC Zoning
District regarding minimum open space and minimum sign setback be referred back
to the Infrastructure Committee for recommendation.
Motion:
Council member Wiley
Carried:
7-0
c) Consideration
of Pancoast, LLC Approval of Public Shared Parking Agreement
Council member Wiley made
a motion that the Town Council authorize the Town Manager to enter into a
shared parking agreement with Pancoast, LLC to commit Pancoast, LLC to purchase
two parking spaces for an office use at 111 North 21st Street
pursuant to Section 78-137 of the Town Code conditioned upon Town Attorney
approval of the agreement.
Motion:
Council member Wiley
Carried:
7-0
d) Authorization
to Set PPTRA Rate for 2008
Council member Wagner
made a motion that the Town Council approve the attached Resolution to set the
2008 PPTRA rate at 48%, this amount is based upon total dollars from the
Commonwealth divided by the total tax of all qualifying vehicles in the Town of
Purcellville.
Motion:
Council member Wagner
Carried: 7-0
e) Authorization
of Initiating Resolution for Revised Development Review Processes
Council member Wiley made
a motion that the Council adopt Resolution 08.04.02 to initiate the revisions
to the Land Development and Subdivision Control Ordinance streamlining the
development review processes and refer to Ordinance amendments to the Planning
Commission for their review within 90 days.
Motion:
Council member Wiley
Carried: 7-0
f) Approval
of Existing Availability for Dilzer Eye Care
Council member Wiley made
a motion that the Town Council approve the use of the existing 5/8” water and
sewer availability for the Dilzer Eye Care Center located at 530 East Main Street, Purcellville, VA once the site plan has been approved by the Planning
Commission with the following stipulation:
1) The
approval of this availability with the understanding that if the number of
fixtures or water use exceeds the allowable amounts for the meter size the
current owner will be required to upgrade the availability as necessary with
all appropriate approvals or the use will not be permitted.
Motion:
Council member Wiley
Carried:
7-0
g) Authorization
for Geo Trans to Provide Hydro-Geological Services
Council member Wiley made
a motion that the Town Council approve Geo Trans, Inc. to provide hydrogeologic
consulting services to the Town of Purcellville
Motion:
Council member Wiley
Carried:
7-0
h) Budget
Amendment for FY 07-08 Capital Improvement Projects
Council member Wagner
made a motion that the Town Council approve a budget amendment to reallocate
$40,000 from the approved FY 08 budget for the Main/Maple Intersection
Improvements Project 119-4094-201 to the Maple to W&OD Trail Project which
is 119-4094-267.
Motion:
Council member Wagner
Carried:
7-0
i)
Approval of Ordinance on Construction of Well and Septic Fields
within the Incorporated Limits
Council member Wiley made
a motion to send this item back to the Infrastructure Committee.
Motion:
Council member Wiley
Carried:
7-0
j)
Approval of Amendments to Water Curtailment Ordinance – Drought
Response and Contingency Ordinance
Council member Varmecky
made a motion that the Town Council approve the Drought Response and
Contingency Ordinance.
Motion:
Council member Varmecky
Carried:
7-0
k) Approval
of the 2008 Evaluation of the New Mount Gilead Agricultural District
Council member Wiley made
a motion that the Council approve Mr. Brown’s request for removal from the
Purcellville Mount Gilead Agricultural and Forestral District and that the
Council adopt Ordinance 08-04-03 to repeal Ordinance 04-05-01 which created the
district.
Motion:
Council member Wiley
Carried:
7-0
l)
Appointment to Committee on the Environment
Council member Wagner
made a motion that the Town Council appoint James Harper to the Economic
Development Advisory Committee, to appoint Mary Voskian to the Committee on the
Environment as a Citizen Representative, and to expand the Committee on the
Environment to include two citizen representatives.
Motion:
Council member Wagner
Carried:
7-0
m) Authorization
to Set Public Hearing for Protection of the Town Seal Logo on the Flag
Council member Wagner
made a motion that the Town Council authorize this public hearing on an
Ordinance Amendment to protect the Town Seal, Logo and Flag at the May 13, 2008
Town Council meeting.
Motion:
Council member Wagner
Carried:
7-0
n) Adoption
of Zoning Ordinance Amendment Regarding Landscaping, Screening, and Open Space
Regulations
Council member Priscilla
made a motion that the Town Council approve Ordinance number 08.04.04 amending
Article 7 Landscaping, Screening and Open Space Regulations with the following
changes:
In any case which the required
landscaping, screening and open space areas would together exceed 15% of the
subject property, such landscaping, screening and open space areas shall be
reduced, at the applicants request based on the gross area of the site as
follows.
Lots of 2 acres or less – Can be
reduced to 15%
Lots of 2 -6 acres – Can be
reduced to 20%
Lots over 6 acres – Can be reduced
to 25%
At no time does this article
restrict the property owner from landscaping, screening or having open space of
more than 15% of the gross area of the site.
Landscaping, Screening and Open
Space shall be reduced accordingly:
1. Lots less than 2 acres
Landscaping, screening and open
space areas and buffer yards shall be reduced or eliminated in the following
order:
a. Interior
Parking lot landscape areas
b. Perimeter
parking lot landscape areas
c. Buffer
yards
2. Lots
of 2 acres and larger. The Zoning Administrator shall have the authority to
require the landscaping area reductions and buffer yard reductions occur in a
manner that best meets the purpose and intent of this article and each of its
sections.
Section 2.3.2
Hedgerows – Remove the at least
five (5) feet in height
Section 5.5.3 a
I recommend the Council to delete
5.5.3a (1) and renumber 5.5.3a(2) to 5.5.3a (1)
Motion:
Council member Priscilla
Carried: 6-0-1 with
Varmecky abstaining
STANDING
COMMITTEE/COMMISSION/BOARD REPORTS:
a)Report
from Planning Commission
b) Tree
and Beautification Committee
c) Board
of Architectural Review
d) Purcellville
Train Station Steering & Oversight Committee
e) Parks
and Recreation Advisory Board
f)
EDAC
g) COLT
h) Centennial
Committee
i)
PUGAMP
DISCUSSION ITEMS/INFORMATIONAL
ITEMS:
a) None
Scheduled
OLD BUSINESS:
a) None
Scheduled
NEW BUSINESS:
a) None
Scheduled
CLOSED SESSION:
Council member Clarke made a motion that the Town Council
recess the regular meeting and go into closed session pursuant to Section
2.2-3711 (A)(3) and Section 2.2-3711(A)(7) of the Code of Virginia as amended
that the Purcellville Town Council convene in a closed session and the purpose
of the closed meeting is as follows:
a)
Discussion of Potential Acquisition of Property
b)
Discussion of Legal Action Related to HS-3
The following individuals are requested to attend the closed
meeting:
a)
All Town Council members
b)
Robert W. Lohr, Jr., Town Manager
c)
Patrick Childs, Assistant Town Manager
d)
Maureen Gilmore, Town Attorney
e)
Martha Semmes, Director of Planning and Zoning
f)
Samer Beidas, Director of Public Works
Motion: Council member Clarke
Carried:
7-0
Council member Clarke made a motion that the Town Council
adjourn the closed session and reconvene the regular meeting and that the minutes
of the public meeting reflect that no formal action was taken in closed
session.
Motion: Council member Clarke
Carried:
7-0
Council member Clarke made a motion that the Town Council
adopt Resolution 08.04.05 certifying the public closed meeting of April 8,
2008.
Motion: Council member Clarke
Carried:
7-0
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Council member Priscilla
made a motion to approve the minutes of March 11th, March 4th
and March 25th 2008 as submitted.
Motion:
Council member Priscilla
Carried: 7-0
ADJOURNMENT:
They’re being no further
business the meeting adjourned at 10:02 PM
` ____________________________________
Robert
W. Lazaro, Jr., Mayor
_________________________________
Jennifer L. Helbert, Town Clerk