Thank all for the fact that we live on a very country where we can meet like this to discuss the opportunities we have to make this a better community and wish to live.
We would ask you to be with us in any deliberations and decisions.
We also ask that, and you would help us to recognize the citizens who are going through it and it's true.
And we actually saved no money on that.
Please, flag please.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.
And to the Republic for which it stands.
One nation, under God, in the visible, in every day in Jesus for all.
That's time to approve the minutes from Nobel Prize meeting.
and the guy I have a chance to look at.
I see past the one correction or maybe a couple of corrections.
Who is home for the last pay to a reference with Lynch Road?
I think that should be Lynch Road.
I see reference to three towns as Lynch Road.
I think that should be Lynch Mill Road.
Yeah, I think that's right.
So in our case, we've been one of the most important things.
All right, and then that on page three of them, that was also one of the little very small.
And I didn't even know about that.
About that entire graph now.
I said, Ms. Williams, I wanted to commission the house on, now I'll just read one of
that same person who is in the willing to fix or sell a property.
She, I think I'd say it, it doesn't make me, but she reminded the commission, it doesn't.
She said, and remembered, and remembered, just scratch it out, and that's connected to the
very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very much.
It's got me a thing, I don't know how to say all of that.
All right, we have a motion that's meant to be a proof, I would say.
All right, both?
Yes.
Okay.
Don't say we have any public expression, folks here talk about a 99, and there are no public
hearings.
Okay.
So I guess it's time for the same way that I saw it now, so it's better.
Thank you.
Sir.
I didn't plan it.
Thank you for that.
Thank you.
Happy to be back.
Thank you.
See if I can do this this time, because last time I had a bit of a...
That's it.
I'm just going to move this to the middle.
Okay so back again with more sore analysis this will be our last one so that's great
we're making progress as we go along so the categories that we have left are
amenities and town services that's what we'll go over tonight and I have a few refresher
notes to talk about what we have come up with last time.
So some of the strengths in housing that we identified were that out of this is a lot more
affordable than nearby lunchbird and that there are many lots available that could be utilized
for housing growth in the future.
Some opportunities are rehabilitation of lighted properties and consideration of how we can
of our age partnerships with existing community agencies that focus on housing.
And some aspirations were of course to increase the overall number of housing units, especially
those that are affordable, develop new subdivision ordinances that will help support new
development, talk about incentives and a new property maintenance code.
Then for transportation, out-of-istic community transit was pretty much a strength across the
low cost of service, deviated broad service within one mile.
And we talked about, well I haven't been a strengths,
but I think it needs to go in opportunities
to coordinate with the schools to improve pedestrian safety.
And then for other opportunities,
we talked about having the bus go into English park,
better informed citizens about the Virginia breeze bus service,
and expand the way-finding signage.
Some aspirations were considering providing
activists to respire or hurt
and opportunities to extend that in the future
as well as sidewalk extension along Bedford Avenue.
So for the next meeting,
I plan to come back with a review of all of the categories
that we've done and some potential
result opportunities that we can look at as part of the SOAR part of the analysis because
obviously we've left that out as we have gone on. So that would be the January meeting.
I don't have my nifty timeline available, but in January we'll come back with an updated
timeline and then talk about February and March. I will very likely be the one to percentage
January but I would be having baby February. So I'm not sure if I'll be the person here
in February or not. But if I'm not then Kelly Hitchcock from our planning district
mission will come. And she's been following the law and that's a project all the time.
So she's up to date and ready to go. But I plan to be here at least next month. Maybe February
maybe not. So that's that's our plan for now. March 1st. So we'll see if he waits that
long, but you and everyone else. So yeah, I mean anything to say any corrections here
except the one that I pointed out about coordinating with the schools.
Again, you'll have an opportunity to review this at the end, but.
Well, what else will catch, and then maybe this isn't the time, is that I'm not sure.
I think we've gotten something misunderstood under the housing that there are many lots that could be utilized.
I don't think we have many lots. We may have some parcels of land that could be considered, but I would say lots.
We don't have that.
I would be a, um, a then I'm at it. Right.
That I'm a, yes, me.
You. So maybe I meant to be that we have some parcels that to be considered, right?
Yeah, actual lots that people could build on. There's light none. Right.
Okay, just a second.
Yes.
And that brings me into you brought the last time that you had it been contacted by the developer, which I don't know, I have to explore that a little further, but I mean, one of his comments was that the $100,000 was so cheap here, that it would have that in itself sort of chased his company out, or whatever, because it didn't feel like they could maximize their potential here, I guess.
That's an interesting problem to have.
Yeah, he was an interesting.
The cost to develop raw land and then build on top of it.
Oh, it was just not something that they were.
I think it somebody would develop the raw land.
But, you know, map it out.
But it is in the loss.
When one gets in my build, but just to take that raw piece of 20
makeers of whatever and subdivide it and get the infrastructure and they went on
instead doing that.
So, what I could do to get anybody interested in that kind of thing, we've got to have
somebody who's got enough capital, so to speak, you go in and actually develop, get the
face properly ready to build on it.
Or you can provide incentives for that.
I think that curious about where that county, I mean, that's going to take a lot of incentive
to.
Right. I mean, I mean, we can't know in the final document that, you know, affordability is both a strength and a weakness in that sense because obviously it's difficult to attract developers when you can't charge exactly what you couldn't lunchberg.
Any other thoughts on it?
Okay. So moving on to amenities.
These are just a couple that I thought of, but of course, you know, you're never limited
to whatever I put on the slides, it's just what I could come up with.
So going straight into some meaningful and feasible uses for the Booker Building, I know we talked
about this quite a bit, but just any ideas that we could get on paper would be nice direction.
One of the things that has been talked about was a multi-use field, and that would be like
for music venues, wedding venues, concerts,
trade shows, in a way, it would give you the
ability to use it for many different things.
Would
you say that that is what it is now?
To a certain extent, but it needs improvement.
Yeah, it needs a lot more improvement to me, a higher standard.
So I'm just following up with questions here, because obviously this is your place and I,
I'm somewhat familiar, but not super certain.
Do you mean physical improvement?
Like, air conditioning or air conditioning.
The floor was just redone in it, but that was kind of a basic.
Well, that's got to have a good nice floor, so that was re-finished.
But I think part of the reason Council hasn't gone forth and spent more money on it is they don't.
Not everybody has the same vision.
And, you know, if you want to make a brewery out of it, well, that's a different thing than having
them all to use feeling on a restaurant, it's different than having them all to use feeling.
So, why would you spend a lot of money on air conditioning heating if it might not suit
the needs of what your vision is, so that's why it hasn't known as far as it is.
And so, to get to that point, what do you think would need to be done?
You have to have a vision. That's what we've got to have a vision. We have a
agreement on that vision. There was a survey and I can remember who done a
survey and put it out. But amongst the public, I believe the number one asked
for back was multi-use. So, right. And that would be my choice as
multi-use, how she can do the variety of things with it. But I guess other people
to bring that to you.
We could also look at a senior activities center being reined on a heated basis, even as part
of the use of the Boca building or as a number for sort of.
Well, not just as part of the use of the Boca building, it's one thing that we don't have
is that we get that, um, what is it, uh, pace or something similar? Yeah, but we don't have
to say more seniors can get together and maybe playing checkers and shut the board and just,
you know, something recreational to where people can get together, at least once a week
or twice a month, however, often, and to have a place to go to, you know, there's a lot
of people that have said, well, let the wire in the morning, you know, seniors that use
the community room there, but then, of course, that requires a lot of membership, so this
could be a free immunity for the town that's safe to have something there.
I think that's a good thing.
As we don't have anything, and whatever the library offers or the argument for the law, then you have those activities, but.
You know what anybody is ever actually estimated or put in some, put some rough figures on what it would cost to do to the book and build it.
Yes, they did. I think Robert Lee did. I think Jay had Robert Lee went down there and look at it.
We also had a sound guy out of Lynchburg coming down because one thing was looking at a
possible music venue like the Hollister or something of that nature and we had a person
coming down and gave us a testimonial doing sound within the building and it never, like
I said, it never could hurt all the cats and one cage to get there by to bring on that
But no lobbyist done support in there.
I know we had point source out of Lynchburg who was only
a fulfilling business, but they came down and estimated
no sales system and they said some of the things,
one thing was a stage and there needs to be revamped.
But the whole idea was to make it a use for multiple events,
different things, whether it be senior center,
music, you know, garden shows, then just a normal function we use it for such as a barbecue
beer and blues festival, they are, you know, job, give them job, you know, the race, it's
an all-est kind of stuff, so that seemed to be the best use for me, because you could get
a lot of things done with it.
There's an information about the best of which you talk about available anywhere, you would
have to talk to Robert or Jay. I know they got some prices. But again, just like the bathrooms,
you know, you can pour those bathrooms a situated at right now. You could go in and redo those,
but if you wanted to have more of a music venue then you might have to put those bathrooms in a
location in the building. So what that being said is, you can get a basic idea. If you
just want to enter, so here's two bathrooms, let's remove them, and here's a stage, and
let's put a new stage. But if you decide, well, I want to build some different, you know,
we want to have a more music friendly or sing your citizen friendly, or this at the
may be some kind of shows, I don't know, you might have to.
That bathroom price might be different if you decide to do it somewhere else in the building.
I think earlier on when we talked about this, we talked about the limitations on staff's ability to coordinate these things.
So that would have to also be considered, I don't know if anyone has any thoughts on that,
but who would be in charge of coordinating events or...
That's not something, and I don't know, but we haven't really had this conversation yet,
but you need someone, and I don't know if it's a correct word as a producer or what
the word is.
You want to use it.
If you want to have events like that, you really need someone to run it because it's a lot, as
we know that people have done it, but we've got a lot of work going there, and the whole
And if that's what the panel wants to do, just to go down that road, then it might be a position to look.
Maybe not necessarily there'd be a town employee, but there could be a outside independent producer that we say,
we have a nice building facility here, you can use and bring some entertainment to town,
and we'll talk about revenue sharing or something to that nature.
All right.
Well, I think first off, it just needs to be a building that is just clean or a dinosaur
to use.
Those things may come later, you know, maybe as a town, as they evolve, there might be
a, um,
uh, one of the college area of promotions, uh, that's coordinator for the town,
but in the meantime, you do have the chain for that.
You could use our scalability standard, or this I didn't pass.
You've got Clare Parker, use it this weekend for their race, had the AOT use it for their
race, and the Barbecue, but if you just had a building where more people would be comfortable
using it, but the bathrooms are horrible.
And then if you want to have a meal of any sorts, there's not even a prep kitchen, which
is really all that's needed, but there's nowhere for someone to cater to.
anything down there. They'd have to work out of a tent or a truck or something. But what
they put in up that VTI as exactly what's needed, it's called a prep kitchen. A big refrigerator,
but in a warming up right warmer, but in the rest of it comes in, a caterer can bring the rest
on it to have a place to do. Is that a possible capital expenditure that the town, I mean,
And they don't talk about anything like that.
I'm not sure if the Forest had a mayor.
The Capitol has been interested.
So if that's not what you've been saying there,
apparently there are some of your own counsel
that one is in the direction we're talking about,
and others do not.
That's a peasant.
And so the compromise was, like,
Marie and Poetett,
in these some basic physical improvement,
and the first step was to do the floor.
And the forest, now, they talked about their bathrooms, they talked about painting, they talked
about, you know, just getting it in a general, as he is a general better appearance.
And that, that's where he is right now, you know, as far as what's the next step, we've
got to floor that I do, we want to do the bathrooms now, you need to paint it, do you need
to get the cobwebs out to sailing, you know, what do you need to do to get it, more people
you know, heat and air conditioning,
so, but I think that one of the
hold-ups was, is, you know, the one that's been 25, 30,000 miles on
heat and air conditioning didn't have to pull it out and put something else in
if you decide to do something else in there. I guess what it really needs to do is
It's have somewhat come in there and say, is there a general recondition of the building
that we can, can we do this heat in there, unit that will satisfy a multi-use building
in the future or can we do it, redo the bathrooms, set us by multi-use building and if
And yes, it's the way they work out, you know, but...
Do you think the question that now that the town has the theater, which could be more
for performance research, that maybe it needs to be revisited, that this becomes more of a multi-use
building, and if somebody wants to have a concert, it's something to them to go ahead and
sound equipment to do that.
because it's not really up that conducive to performances unlike theater.
And I think that's one of the things that was talked about is if the theater takes off
and it becomes a center of performances, if you need to grow and get bigger,
then that would be your next place to go to down there right now.
The outside is the state outside that you use primarily for the concerts and all like that.
Inside, I don't know if it's ever been used if it has, it's been very limited.
But yeah, that would work, like you say, if it was Google Home to use,
and then zero-animal mediator for performances.
I think one of the other questions was, you know,
somehow the idea of leasing the building or selling the building
to a business to make a brewery or a restaurant out of.
I think the book of building is a town asset and it ought to be controlled by the town.
You turn it over to something like that. You lose all control of it.
And they can turn it into a brewery and that brewery lasts for two years.
And then they go, you know what happens to it.
And then you got this brewery.
And in the middle of our, of our prize possession, which was the park.
And I can't, I just don't see turning that over to somebody else.
I think the town thinks to keep that.
I agree with that, because we're 100%.
I'd love to see a book, just not there.
Is that something we want to note that it should stay
in town possession?
I think it's worth, I mean, are you afraid of that?
I do.
Since it is, to me, it's always been part of the park.
Yes.
And you know, the park has to have its rules and I think that those things we should apply
to the local field.
But unless there is a special permit that someone could get to have different activities there.
Well, I think the location we have here down here with the park and the river and the trails
and all the stuff that goes on down there already.
the combination of the book and the building and the speeder could make downtown out of this
destination point for a whole lot of people if anything was properly done.
One thing that I've always advocated for for the book of building is follow-in-winter
exposition or follow-in-summer spring exposition where in its spring town you might have
garden expo there and we got to river and you could tie things into the river such as fish
in or kayaking or canoeing and then in a fall you could do you know the harvester things how a
thing. There's so many things like that. You can use it.
You can use it a lot. Lots of parking, lots of good parking.
It just, it really, it can be some so many different things.
I don't think it should be pigeonholed.
And to just performances or something.
I'm just, so it could.
Some would be like an activist, a civic center, so to speak,
It's a way you can have a whole range of different activities of uses.
And I think as kind of it, that's another good term for a civic center, multi-use center,
because if you think of a civic center, that's what it is.
They do multiple things and it might be anything from a circus to a concert to a car show,
to rest on the right.
You know, our rest on the big trucks.
You know, depends on the size of building, right?
Say, to me, that would be the best use for this to be in the new different things like that.
So happy.
I'm curious, because I don't really know anything about it,
but what I've heard of them to be in radio, what happened?
It's a harvest or something compared to that.
It's not a great big place, is it used to be a tractor?
Yeah, it used to be a big much bigger than the book is probably not as big.
It book or build and I think a C-400 people.
And the farmer's dirt has two stages.
They have a main stage of stairs.
And they have a smaller stage.
Dale's stairs work.
One time I was up for the head concerts on both levels.
But I couldn't, I don't know, the number of people, you know, the seats, or anything like that.
But I think they do, they have a producer or events coordinator that gets all of those acts to come in.
I don't know if Rocky Mount has a whole lot to do with who they say comes in, but they have somebody that does it.
But the building lives by the town of Rocky Mount, is that writer is really, really not in that.
I don't know.
I'm pretty sure it is.
And then it's run by volunteers.
Most of the people who come pick, pick, pick, pick tickets and pop the pop and pour it and all
I get they have like I think they haven't been host to volunteers that do it.
But the original guy that was doing all the commercial bookings, I slept on here and they got
of my new company, but I already brought it to my day.
But he doesn't work for the town as far as you're home.
Yeah, that works.
I don't think.
I don't think the original idea works for the day.
We can look into that, too.
And, you know, I can come back with some more information about how works, over there.
That's interesting.
That's just kind of the thought.
The old rebel-valid resources, they turned that into a venue I can't think of the name.
It's a great hurry.
It's a phenomenal, the way that they win inside and revamped that from basically a warehouse space.
And I think that it's something like that.
They sort of wanted up with their architecture.
And that doesn't look like, you know, out of this war on expense that they went through to get that like it is.
And the book and Bill thing could be turned into something similar.
I think that, you know, you build it in the outcome of one of those types of situations.
And so, you know, that maybe a little bit of food to go up is to revamp that a side so that
people would want to come to my channel.
I don't know who was in charge of this, but several of you might know Marie.
Several years ago, there was someone at Canes through town that done some renditions of what
some of the buildings could be.
They done a sonic lodge and then the Jimi's restaurant, they done, you know, they
put it like a B-stroke in a B-H-B-D.
Would that be a possibility, maybe taken too far ahead, but to have someone like that come in and give you some drawings of what the building could be, could be.
Why don't I seem to think that that was once done on the book of building?
It probably was.
If I didn't have a building, I had.
I just want to make the study, your experience was great.
There's sometimes study and the only reason I know that is because I had right R&P based on that study
of what everyone said they wanted to use.
We can try to find that study and send it back to us.
Yeah, that's all.
What about if we make it for next month's meeting as well at Sharon Hall, I know you've got other things to do,
besides some of the stuff we say in this place here right now, but I was saying to me like,
if a person gathering about what's really out there about the book of build and right now might be a good idea if I have what it has been done.
Because I thought I had seen something either in some minutes of sometimes I see the town council meeting minutes,
and I thought I saw something about some estimates for something to go for a bit.
And I think I've got to experience something to talk about.
But I mean, I guess the question I have right now with the state of Virginia running this
multi-billion dollar surplus, you all got a big surplus here in the town.
I also was y'all majority of the similar facts that can get funny.
Well, we've been treating your money fairly.
We do a lot. We don't charge a lot. I think we end up with about 1.5 million left.
We can do a lot of the book and build it with just a little piece of that.
I can do the acting for that was far for the theater.
1.5 million is you can spread it out and don't go far.
And I would think, based on what we've been talking about,
because a couple hundred thousand dollars
would probably go a long way to solve them,
and hold out to the issues now, to hook it up.
But anyway.
Well, the hot money took it right now,
being the VISTA theater.
So I mean, I have up here meaningful and feasible
uses for the VISTA theater.
So I see that more as a form of music, and we used to have a little theater and community theater and just some great performances somewhere for that.
Even the little dance schools having their dance performances there.
You talked about the interdition to actually use being a nice spirit.
You know, just because I have to stage.
It wouldn't have a stage, so, you know, yeah, that would be fun, you know, once a month,
all for some kind of the actual movie, such as, you know, we've been doing the outdoor ones,
maybe, in the months where outdoors is a very conducive to being bringing indoors.
But I see it more out, personally, as a movie theater, only. It's got to be, you know, performances, musical,
I think there's going to be a public input on that somewhere in the other room, but I'm not mistaken, to find out what everybody in general wants.
You know, somebody said maybe, well, Wavley, when he was here, he said he was at a Harrisonburg, I think, and was in a redown theater up there.
It was a restaurant theater brewery, all in the same building.
It had taken one wall and put root tanks down it, and then it had tables, and then it
had the stage and the screen, so they were capturing everything, you know, so there's
a lot of different things that can be done, and it just, again, doesn't matter what you
want to do with it.
I think with the restaurant coming in across, you even have like a, you know, maybe not a
restaurant brewery in theater but have once a month a group as a fundraiser does a
dinner theater and you work with the restaurant across the street to bring
food or something. I think it lends itself with it's kind of a slut floor and it's kind
heart to have standing in the city of Sarah life.
Right.
I wish my Lord.
Lord, I wish my Lord.
To so do you think the public outreach portion of that will be done before we finish this?
The words.
I probably not will all be complete the plan, but as you think, it will, I think, as the
the vice mayor, probably with Mitchell now,
we're currently in there with our architect engineers,
looking at just structurally what's going to have to be done
and how it will find the different things.
So I think once we've buttoned the building up,
early this spring, then we'll start to have
leave mayor council with our county.
Was that part of the suicide put on the plan?
Yes, it was.
So they, yes, there are some comments, all right.
And there are a lot of comments.
But I wanted to get your input before I tell you it was common, sorry.
I'll try to remember what they are, but I know they're there.
So what you're not going to appropriate is to do structural repairs to that fear.
We appropriated a million dollars for the fear.
Now, based on the discussion that I've had with the engineers in the art text,
that's probably not a lot of money, but that at least gets us started.
More than likely it's going to cost 3 to 5 million to
we will restore it. But we will see grants, we will see historic tax credits, so the
town staff will do whatever they can to that council would need an information to lower the cost of the renovation.
And for now we can put into the plan that the town will pursue those things and we'll be doing public outreach and that.
So, I mean, other than the performance kind of aspect, we can leave it somewhat open ended to say,
you know, obviously the public comment won't have all come in by then.
So, if you're comfortable with that, that might be a good way to go.
And we can revisit it as we, you know, draft the actual plan.
Okay.
There's a lot of changes, I've probably all noticed, but what has happened in about the
roast for a better right now?
Well, we share.
Find those more and not do, but I mean, their plan is by spring.
Yeah, they're just, I don't know how to exactly share a lot of this slow start play.
But I'll repair as it is all.
I'll say, but who is who?
Here on the cobblestone, the cobblestone media, I think also when the cobblestone has several businesses that she runs.
So there's a sign company, there's a property management company, so in addition to the restaurant, there are other businesses and I think she's going to close here.
So they're all ready to meet that little guy.
Yeah, she's ready to go.
There's that there.
There's that little guy on the side.
We'll call one of you.
She's renting that too.
Yeah.
So they're all is to do renovations and open up.
This is bringing the last time these folks with them.
One side of the restaurant will be a little more on the scale.
So one to have date nights.
And the other side will be a little more family friendly.
But they also have a lot of outdoor areas.
So their desire is to actually increase the amount of alcohol
they're not in as well.
Good.
They've got past, press wrong.
I mean, significant past, press wrong.
Oh, good.
My good.
Takes off a little bit the only, then there's more.
I don't know.
She did say she wanted her restaurant thing to mention
the theater thing.
She wanted to kind of go hand in hand with whatever
I don't know how that's going to happen, but I think they're already at the wheel on.
Oh, no, it's a little positive.
Funny how that works.
Okay, so just for the sake of time, is there anything else that needs to go in those categories?
The book or building or the vissah theater?
Okay, great.
So town services.
I have somehow missed this up.
Okay, so this is the list of counterverses based on what we have in the survey.
There may be others, this is not a comprehensive list, but just a brief reminder of what
they are as we go through the questions.
This is a little bit more open-ended, but I thought it would be good to start out with
which town services are the greatest assets?
I've heard great things about your traffic.
I will, I will persuade you.
I won't persuade anyone of that direction.
I love everything
on that list, it's a right answer.
We can go in the other direction, which
are there any that need improvement?
I would like to make the suggestion
for improvement at Greenfield's cemetery.
More and more people are looking at cremation as a way of their bowel desire versus burials.
And
if you wanted to be put up there, you wouldn't have to buy a plot and you could put
your cremated remains in there or either into the muslim, there aren't smaller things called
all variants, please, is correct, which is small areas for ashes in your lessons.
I don't know how much desire there would be for that, but I know, as I think more of
that, my situation, you know, cremation might be my way to go and we're not decide to, you
And you don't need to hold a big piece of property to pull a little base.
You know, just use a post so that you don't make it, you don't make it, but that might be,
not to say, to spend a elaborate amount of money on it, but just to have a team of those there.
And I'll tell you another thing about brain health cemetery, people might know it.
Most of the lots of bears are sold in pairs of two.
You know, there are a few singles, not many.
And, you know, this would give opportunity, maybe.
I don't know what our population is on very
versus single people's profit, 50-50 in town to be honest with me.
But it might give opportunity for people to,
and now, don't need two plots.
I just need a little place for a month.
That's what we put in.
Anyway, that's always to mean, to be a little improvement,
to do it, bring you a cemetery.
There's not much space left to bring.
That's what I always do.
I mean, you know, some of those things are probably just a little...
Just a little...
Oh, yeah, I don't know if you wanted...
If you actually wanted...
Oh, yeah.
I think they're almost...
They might be.
I don't know.
But that whole area, where the most element is, I think is actually not very attractive at all.
It could be improved on you.
And that's where I think you add to that whole area.
If you made it look real nice, it might attract people to me.
Well, it's very good to take a look.
Well, one thing a grain hill has scored for is, again, a fortability, I'm not exactly sure what is in eight or nine hundred and a quarter.
I think that's right.
I mean, it's like eight or nine or hundred dollars for cemetery and a plan.
And if you go anywhere else, you will touch it.
You'll touch it.
will be traffic.
Thank you.
Have you ever seen a town with a town on some?
Sorry, so I was very intrigued by this.
It's very cool.
Okay.
Are there town services that need improvement?
Is our broadband that good?
Coming in.
I think so.
We're looking to improve with that.
We are.
The town council has heard from DHCD about potential broadband study for the town to update
our study in 2016.
I had a follow-up meeting with the last week.
And there are really two things that they are recommending we consider as a town which would be
hot spot in downtown, so that ultimately there will be some ways to get broadband in the park.
If we truly consider that, economic resource, there must be a way to connect people.
So they're recommending two different things that we will get at that, and then the last
mile.
How do you connect the existing fiber to the existing residences?
And to be honest, we don't know if there's a problem.
Um, so you're going to have a
We have to do some tests, but the perception is that there is a problem.
And I would say I don't read when you park as much as I should. But it is difficult in some areas of the park to get a signal. So connectivity is a problem, at least at the park. So the question is how do you get that signal to park?
How about options?
Does that fall under that too?
I mean, they only fall back back back back back.
Okay.
That's it.
And we don't have an option.
There's about a monopoly on that.
And the ten is contracted for years with the conquests
that the only broadband key in the country.
I wouldn't think that there's not an exclusive franchise.
Anybody else who come in and get a franchise
to tell if they would spend money to, which they would not.
I think that's the whole, they just like everything we've talked about, how much return
is it for these businesses?
And they're not looking to make a little bit of money.
Most of them are looking to make a lot of money.
So.
It's not the same as Mayor.
In the conversation that we had with DHCD last week,
they're actually making the option for that because there is so much money
right now through the federal government that it's possible if we already have a fire
which has been at planning that there could be some ways to convince one of the
other carriers to partner with minute planning since it's already there and
be able to offer an alternative source but I only had that information for a couple of
days so I'm sure we should tell you right across the highway that we haven't tried
at least at the time, we've had discussions with them as mental, I would need to go back and
look at what they're able to do. And again, I think that might have been just when COVID was hitting.
It's a great asset for the town to not be contracted in though. So, I mean, lots of communities
have the same problem but they're contracted into just one provider. So, excellent.
There are a lot of lines with a trash pick up and we're having to go into one of my favorite
subjects that is electronic gadget.
Disposable.
I'm waiting to say what I'm disposed of those.
Is that hazardous, this considered hazardous?
I mean, you can't just go for a little bit.
Not supposed to.
No.
I don't really believe that.
I don't know.
What are you doing with the whole team?
I don't know.
I got two of them in the basement right now.
I'm two.
Me too.
I have an old vacuum.
I have no idea what's to with it.
I don't know.
That's, I like it.
You know, right, the service.
Dang it.
But it is, if you could contract some might bring a re-cycle truck,
I guess that's the best way to put it.
somebody that does that and say on the first Saturday I'm just pulling it out of the air.
First Saturday the month they'll be at a town hall to take your recycling.
Between the hours of this and this.
That might be an option if somebody offers that service.
I don't know if anybody does or not.
I know that Lynchburg was offering their own three times a year.
So they weren't actually even doing it every month.
and then once COVID hit they cut that down.
So.
Three times a year would be fine.
Right.
Two times a year would be fine.
And that might be a law when we could look at it and see how they
done it and see if we came up like that.
Yeah.
We're pursuing that.
We're going to have to make it right now.
I want you to put an addition to the trans-transfer station
like Cup on Plan 8.
It would be possible that we could partner with Campbell County to get something like that
consider it anyway.
To say have a hazardous transfer site for being or whatever.
I don't understand that.
Right.
Absolutely.
Because you know, when you go to the Bayfield itself, all last.
They've got the separate containers for stuff like paints and tires, TVs and tires and raretees like that.
Now, when you take a TV over to the place, I mean, I probably don't know what that is.
I'm sure we're being right.
Totally here, but if you take a TV over to the camel county side,
do they charge you to dump it in?
No.
They do collect your information because you are limited for certain things, there's a
limit on the, what do you do? Yes, sir. So that's the problem that we've run into. When we've
requested the pick-up, can you, people just drop it off that, you know, town hall for some reason,
they still want to be able to capture that address. But it's something we'll continue to explore,
probably the closest thing that I found so far as the Mitchell was a company that's willing
to send you the box or the, you know, the game didn't even still have to do something with it.
Yeah, I'm not an organization, the PDC operates the 32,000 landfill of chemical county, so maybe we can figure something out.
I'm a little embarrassed that I don't know more about it, but...
I don't think I've picked up TV's on their book, they said that art, they're John, I think you put it out there on the street, you'll find it disappears, because I had one, I just took it out there and it came down.
Yeah, I had a big 36-inch for me.
Yeah, I can't find it anymore.
Just throw all the stuff out on the straight line, and I'll just put it in, and I'll get it.
I'll get it.
The town shop might appreciate having a dedicated day.
We'll definitely get some more information about this and figure out what the
limitations are and how feasible it is.
Are there any other services that you think the town should provide in the future?
One of the things that somebody brought up in one of the council meeting through the other day was a site, so that was,
would have a camera, for example, it might be somewhere in the town hall here,
and that would be for people that have to exchange children or if you will sell something online
and you wanted to have a safe meeting placed and you could come to the safe zone and do your exchange.
You're a part of that.
If I'm not a fake ambassador, the chief of that is part of the CRC.
I know a few PAS, you said something about it, but this is just a real course at, we could have that in writing that we want to have that safe zone because everybody,
There's so many interactions now with strangers, for one thing or another, it's nice to have a site in place to do.
Farmer, Facebook, marketplace.
I don't know how I've relived credits list as any more of the Facebook Marketplace.
That's definitely.
That was at the Tamar city of Malaskies.
Started the Christmas gift to the place department.
They're holding them.
So that Portch, where they come.
Portch power.
Oh.
It's really interesting.
Yeah, there's elective packages.
I think they're probably going to all think regret that this is good.
I'm going to guess the town doesn't have the capacity to do that.
That was a great service though.
Yeah.
And then you come and pick it up from the police department.
So it's not like you're from fortune.
Get stolen.
Yeah, I got to look into them.
I'm curious from him.
Yeah, I thought that was interesting.
So this site's done at the Chief of Police apparently
has a request of the money going, where would it be?
Thank you very much.
It would be somewhere around town all building.
It would be designated as a safe zone with camera.
Okay.
Well, 27.
Interesting concept.
Yeah.
It's a good problem, that's true.
Yeah.
Yeah, this is a little nerve-wracking when something
and I don't know what work it plays to you.
Just that everybody, but you just don't know.
So you, you know, guess somewhere that is populated
like Walmart, are you talking about?
Because it's a piece of the thing that I don't know.
Yeah, I wonder if there are liability issues with that.
They actually had it up the street for me when I lived
and touched the building.
The thinning weather is right outside of the police department.
No one necessarily wanted to monitor it in first day.
But most people aren't going to come in and run
right in front of the police department, and it wasn't in the face to face this, and everybody
doesn't need it out of the face, and they were leaving the face in between, and so you weren't
wanting to anyone else's car, they weren't coming into yours, it was a kind of exchange in
the middle of that face, and it seemed to work well.
So you're just saying that everybody is called a sex patient, but you consider it to be like a guaranteed sex.
So we're probably like called a crazy sex patient.
You're the lawyer.
Don't you like those things?
You like the ones that you like the ones that you like the ones that you like.
But I'm sure if other places are doing it then maybe it's okay to do.
I'm sure if other places are doing it then maybe it's okay to do.
because of the mental state, but I'm where she's thinking it twice a year,
shredding. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
I want that.
I think it's still what, at least in terms of keep America beautiful,
and of the free still limited because of COVID coverage.
Even if again, that was just once a year, you know,
playing now.
I let it up to boxes and took them to lunch for about two months ago.
And we are still exploring that this is the Mitchell because the initial role that was supposed to be Earth Day.
So with Earth Day, not too far away, we're still trying to get them to come around that.
Do you have a company?
Is that the fun?
It is.
There you are.
Yes.
That's the fun.
Yeah.
Yeah, and then, but every time we have four of eight of them,
COVID, we're not.
We're still not ready.
Because that was, you know, if you had training,
you had the electronics recycling,
and even have the drum shake, take back all in one weekend,
you know, set it up, say them,
try a lot parking lot.
So it's pretty much in the center of tango.
Is there currently a drum take back?
Yes.
And as you know,
I don't know if it's been installed yet or not.
It'll be a box going in from the little cut of your brother's police department when you can drop off.
I don't know.
What is it?
It's CBS.
What do you want to do?
I do.
Of course I have to stay here.
Yeah.
I have to go for it.
No, it's run into it recently, right?
What's that?
No, it's run into it recently, right?
So.
that were paired that way? Yeah, that happens. Staff shortages, I can't see them to stay open.
Yeah. Okay. Any other less pull for other counterplaces?
This is not a final
last call. We're going to head at this stop. We're going to head at this stop.
We're going to head at this stop. We're going to head at this stop.
We're going to head at this stop.
Another one, sir, I said was a customer happened and it was supposed to be in coordination
with the county, through the library, and that was a place to stop or towards the information.
I don't want to press up a material last or not, but that needs to be a talent service
is that marketing or tourism, we don't have that right now, but it needs to be something
done from other town in the future.
And the way it was supposed to be was the library.
The county libraries, I'm not sure if it all came out of it,
but this one would have been a place if you weren't to find out.
You know, different things to do in the area
or things about out of this day, you would have been a library
and picked up the pamphlet or what.
And that was supposed to have been run through,
I believe, the county, but I can't, I don't know where it's at.
And we have to put Virginia the state in order to have all this brochures.
You have to be open seven days a week.
Which they would be.
Which you would want to change.
Chamber of Adol and that.
They weren't open.
So they couldn't be in a position or somewhere.
You just do have to have access to it seven days a week.
I think it was slow.
I'm going to say it with Paul Fembrelli due to COVID.
The last conversation I had to do was a couple of weeks ago.
is that they're ready to start ramping up and getting that run.
They've started to clean out of it, where it's going to be, and now there's the point
we're looking at, getting ready to be able to go and put in the shelves and
shelving different things.
Like that's only, I'll check the door, and I think that's the first to be needed.
Well, that is all I have for tonight.
Like I said, we will be back in January with a listing of everything that we've done.
you know, it'll be a full one-pager, it might be a two-pager, and some recommendations for
the results portion, and we'll come back with a revised timeline, and figure out where
we're at.
Anything else about that?
Yes.
Mr. Chair.
Good.
Just for anybody that might be watching, Chair Williams, Director of Community Development.
Just so that you know, some of the things that Ada and I have even been doing behind the
It's kind of interesting to be brought up the book of building study and you all have said in previous meetings to me about other studies
And I think the vice mayor said, well, who's responsible for this and I thought I'd bring you a vision
Just because I'm not sure that we all understand what goes into the comprehensive planned document, but this is multiple documents. They all say different things, they all have different years. I can tell you, I'm in every single one of them as an executioner of the document, but I think the comment that the Vice Mayor May was extremely appropriate. I think we're looking at hazard mitigation plan, a source border protection plan, economic development plan, a bicycle plan.
the comprehensive plan. We're getting ready to have the AOT strategic downtown plan.
We have the Parks and Rec master plan. There may be a few others I didn't cover.
So just one of the things that we're doing is staff that you may not see going on
behind the scenes is actually going through those plans because if it says one thing
plant, something different in the park, and we're at Master Plan, which one do we go with?
Is the one that's most recently been adopted by Council or is it the plan that actually
required under state law, which is the comprehensive plan? So I think sometimes staff
feels like they're pulled in a lot of different directions, but that's because depending on
what leader we may be talking to, they may be talking about one plan, and our focus could be on another
plan that we're talking about because we're in the conference of plan update. So what a lot of
localities do is if they fail to properly plan. And by that I mean you develop a plan, you put it to the
side, and the new idea comes up, you develop another plan, you put it to the side. In my opinion,
One of the things that we need to do is part of that process is make sure that every plan that we say we want, that we're going to follow, that there's some cohesiveness into this, so that staff knows what direction, planning commission knows what direction, as well as councils ultimately approving on a shared goal and direction when we update the comprehensive plan and list all of these various documents in that plan.
So we don't want you to think that there aren't other things that are going on behind the scenes.
I know Aida and I are doing a lot of fat gathering.
But we also want to let you know that our goal this time is to make sure that we don't have competing goals and competing dates.
Because it makes it very hard for staff to follow.
It makes it difficult for you all to make recommendations to council and ultimately it makes it difficult for council to speak with one voice.
So I just wanted to share that with you all, and then we'll add bookbuilding plan to this group tonight.
First of all, I'd like to share it, thank you for trying to keep up with all that.
But what I hear here is we have many different stakeholders.
And the problem is we don't have a place to gather all that information to one spot and it gets grown out.
Yes, sir.
So I don't know the answer to that is unless you've designated one certain place as
to where any capture, all these ideas they might be, recreation committee, okay, here
you're at the Escapola Building, but it's captured here.
Council, here you are.
I guess we're both in the building, but it's captured here.
Instead of on their documents or air documents or planning commission documents, there
needs to be a place to capture that.
And that way, you wouldn't have to help to go through 25 different reports.
But I don't know how to do that.
It might be something somewhere in the future that somebody that has a great mind,
and figure out how to capture all of these little tidbits,
and put them into one place, and then they can go back and say,
well, here it is, here's everything.
You've got every body's on the other side.
Thank you for doing it.
That's a lot.
One of the things that we typically do is planners just prevent it.
Again, I wasn't your planner when any of these documents were adopted, but normally what you would do as a planner is that they all go in one place.
So just town or community plans would go one place.
But typically you have any plans that are going to adopt usually the person in my position is going to comment on them.
And then at some point someone does actually just sit down and they do a matrix because all the partners are listed in the majority of those plans.
Some partners don't know that they're listed, and then some of the dates are changed,
like you may have assigned one date to it, but the economic development may have the same
goal, just with a different timeline.
So I think once we can never get it done once, just by pulling out the goals part of that
and creating a matrix, I think it'll make it easier for the next person coming along.
But at least putting them all on one page,
it's definitely a great suggestion for a start.
Thank you.
So since the conference,
the plan has the word comprehensive.
How does the comprehensive plan play
into a cumulative and all that information you're talking about
into the conference?
Well, I think it's critical.
And that's just my opinion.
I think you've referenced all of the other plans.
You don't necessarily put them all in one plan document.
But I think staff knows what we're hearing from the various groups.
And it may be that eventually we need to take the plan back to the groups to see if the
goals and objectives have changed.
I think the problem comes in when you assign dates.
So let's say the EDA had a date of, this is going to be done by October of 2021 and the Planning Commission said,
no, it's October of 2023. There should be some discussions when plans are created,
and hopefully I'll be that catalyst to run information group.
But I think before the planning commission adopts its goals and objectives,
that at some point during this process, you look at the matrix that staff will present to you.
And I'm going to be honest, we made this some stuff because it's just me, but we want you to...
We don't want you to, on this update, make a goal that conflits with another plan that has already been approved by Council.
So just something I wanted to, sometimes I'm a visual person as a planner, so I thought it might help you to know
We always have moving targets, but if we could just be aware that there are moving goals and objectives and other groups and committees.
For grant purposes, we'll probably make sure that any plan that the town has adopted where it's possible to secure a grant funding that we've referenced in the comprehensive plan and then stay where the other document can be found.
You've got all these wonderful plans and all these kind of stuff, and I don't know how to rest of them have been treated.
But I actually refer back to the conference and to plan to see what we did and what they've been planning down.
I've had a very many people have looked at this conference and planned very much at all since it was done.
And nobody is keeping up in my opinion with what we said we move on to.
And the town council, if you ask, I mean, I'm not ready to say things to be quite
honest with him on top of his name when he comes in here.
But I wouldn't put him on the spot, but I doubt very seriously,
I've read you knows a lot about him.
He just shook his teeth.
Right, I don't know everything about him.
No, but obviously what I'm saying, I'm the need to be a document somewhere
or series of them.
There's somebody actually takes and does something meaningful.
Did you even get that one first?
You're first being a police.
That was the point.
I did not.
I think I was.
I think I don't know.
I think I told you, wait, about the conference plan.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, what's that?
But I think that's what the problem is.
We've experienced this.
We come up with a good plan, but we never get it executed.
And that's where we need to be holding our cell accountable for the plane because, once you get through that copper, has it play a lot of times,
start a non-accompancy here at the end of the plane.
And it's kind of like, I'll take any surveys at different world places and they'll say,
okay, let's take a survey and make our place better.
And you take the survey, but the place never gets no better because nobody really looked at whatever
by put down.
And basically, you know, that's not how we want to treat the comprehensive plan.
We want to treat this as a executable document that we can improve our tail with, but we
have to act on it and go through with it.
You're exactly right, Mike Mayer, and I would say, you know, normally I would say that would
fall upon staff, so that's what I'm going to, at least try to do, so whether it's me or
someone behind me can be able yearly to take that matrix, and really tell all the various
boards and committees and council where we are.
And I'll tell you something, I would appreciate being able to cancel if you hold me accountable
because here's the thing is if there's something in the document that council needs to be doing
and we're not doing it and we're not reminded, well maybe that's a little bit airbised fall
but if we're told this is something you need to do and we don't do it, then that's our fall
And I would, I'd rather take it on myself that I want to act because what's written in
a document is for the best interest of all the citizens of the out-of-the-stone.
And we can't let it slide.
Thank you.
Moving on from the comprehensive plan, Mr. Chair, really just sort of wanted to have just
been there and there and brief discussion with you all about some of the discussions that
having with various developers, we're still hearing from the, I should remember the name of
the people, the solar people, clean energy, clean footprint, clean footprint, I'm out of
care, collateral, they have, I believe, transferred their interest to another solar company.
So I expect to hear from them soon. Right along in that same area, we've been talking about
I recently spoke with a company out of Ebbington that is interested in maybe doing resource
extraction on those parcels, just so that you know that it's something because again,
if I'm not mistaken, out of this at that time, so it's actually the code that I had in
Prince George and adopted it.
your zone coordinates exactly like my zone coordinates. So it was borrowed without permission
and not changed. Therefore, in my role locality which would permit resource extractions,
yours also does. So if you don't know what resource extraction is, it's pretty much creating a
So, you're going in and you're getting soul and minerals, things of that nature.
Don't know if the people will go forward yet, if they do, it's something that would require
a special youth permit, so that is something that would come before a planning commission
for a public hearing and then ultimately have to be decided by a town council.
So, much like the solar farmer, any development along Route 29 business, we have some concerns.
We do have some environmentally sensitive areas there.
And I'm not saying at this time whether I think it's in appropriate or not appropriate use.
What I am saying is that I would like to say I appreciate what the developer did, which was actually coming in and have a conversation with staff.
It's actually asked staff what our needs might be in terms, is there anything else that they could do on that site to make improvements that might be amenable to the town?
So we expect those discussions to continue, should they decide to go forward?
But I would at least want it to make you aware that you could have a potential special use in front of you.
Recently spoke with some developers who are interested in perhaps doing solar over at the Fraser farm.
They met with Hank and then came and met with me.
I will say the one thing that I appreciated about that this request was a willingness to not develop the entire property for solar.
And so again, to come to the town and see if there's anything that we can provide that might make this more agreeable
in terms of a mixed-used housing, is there anything that you mean that perhaps we could respond to those means?
So, just wanted to make you aware of those conversations because it's always possible that I'll be bringing something to you.
Obviously, in more detail, I want you to receive it, but just wanted to make sure that you heard it for me and not from somewhere else.
And I'm available to answer any questions you have to the best of my ability.
So in the case of this
burp head?
No, resource attraction.
Burp head.
Termology.
Yes.
The order which is here to be.
What the special use for manufacturing by counts.
I understand.
So there's not enough to keep somebody from requesting that that be done.
Crap, there's nothing to...
To prevent them from requesting it in order to, at least, proceed with any type of recommendation from staff.
They need to give us the information that we would need to analyze the request,
which is going to include information on the site, such as the floodplain, the wetlands, things of that nature, how it will be developed.
I will say that a lot of people don't realize that this can be that this type of material can be a source of economic development.
It's not actually thought about how valuable it is.
But if it's not done correctly, it can cause erosion and sediment control issues.
It can tear up your roads.
it can cause congestion with the number of trucks that go through there there's a potential
for accidents. So it's definitely not something that we would just bring to court to you
without some additional studies and information. It's really just to make you aware.
Do you have any idea what those resources may or may not be?
I do not know what the materials are and the soul typically they're going to take
what's considered clean dirt and use it as your fill for other development. So as they
need to go in and create paths or do any kind of pre-construction work, it's usually what
it's used for. So they're not going to have a quarry, any of these other uses, they're just
words in their mouth because I don't have anything written in front of me, but my understanding is that it will be similar to
a site that's in Campbell County off of Langdon Road right before you get to Leesville Road.
Everyone's looking at me. Okay, there was a site somewhere in Campbell County where they had a
So they come in, they dig up, and then they leave.
Since I don't have an application, I'm not, I'm, I'm, I'm, who, I'm not going to come
in yet, but again, just, I don't want this to, I guess my concern is I don't want this to hit
you the way the soul of art did. We're all of a sudden we were having to react based on someone
trying to push something down, step in the towns,
throw it or put it on our plate before we were ready.
So I wanted you to at least have this in the back of your mind,
so you could be mindful that I may be coming back
to present something to you.
So where are we going to do this?
There are several parcels on 29.
I think some of the same parcels
that may have been considered for the solar farm.
There are no contracts.
They're really just doing their due diligence,
which we're grateful for. And if there was some way that it could be done in such a way that
it could benefit the town, you know, then certainly will report that back to you.
Yeah. Now, if it's true that it's been used as a borough pitch, you might have somebody comes in,
and that opens up the land, clears and does whatever they gotta do it, but it's in their
of control and comes in and removes a thousand cubic yards of dirt this year and they go away
and they'll come back to ten years. And I mean because that's the kind of thing you're talking
about with a bar up there with just no one bar because they come and use it when they want to use it
and they don't use it when they don't. And that is the possibility, Chairman, what I wanted to do was
I don't, I would prefer if we didn't come in on it before we had an actual request because I think
That sort of would happen with the solar farm.
We got into the weeds before we gave them a chance to speak.
So more so I just want to make sure that you're aware.
And this also be in my monthly report to Council, so they'll see it as well.
But because you all would be the first stop before you got to Council, I want to at least
make you aware.
We do, in fact, receive an application, I'll make sure that you have it.
It says people who are developers, who were interested in developing a piece of land here
to put a house, you know, that we might be more interested in talking to them.
That is a discussion that I've had, and something that they might be willing to consider.
But again, because we don't actually have a formal request in front of us, I'm hesitant to
be going that, but I did share if there was some way to, well, let me just give you part of
the concept.
If there was some way to do that and then find someone else who might be willing to come in
and maybe fill it back in with soil that has been treated, would it be possible to build
any type of pad-ready sites?
Again, you also, because you have wetlands and the floodplain there, yes, you can dig in it,
it's not that easy.
So, you're looking at the, there'd be a two year permitting process.
We would also, as the town, we want to see a reclamation plan.
And so, that just shows us what you plan on doing with the land when you walk away.
There has been some talk of, are there parts of the different parts of that they're looking at that might be able to be used to create an additional trail system.
They may be required to purchase credits from a wet land bank or a wet land bank may need to be established for this project, so there are a lot of unknowns.
So, but I think if the, in my opinion, if the town wants to support something like this, then it probably, the town would probably want to see something more,
just a pit being dug on Route 29.
So we will, if they go forward, hopefully,
be able to come up with some conditions that
might benefit the town and not as the chairman said,
go in there and dig a hole and walk away at the 10 years.
So I'll bring you more of that if more comes forward.
Then the last thing that I have for you is just
to remind you that January, on your next meeting,
will be your organizational meeting so it will be the election of our officers. We'll need to
look at goals. I would say I would ask you all so we think about that maybe only three goals
and I would hope time for hints of plan would be one. Housing would be another because that's
something both of you all and specifically town council have spoken about and staff would like
things that we have to execute in other plans. And then I will bring you your draft of the 2021
Annual Report. As you all know, the Code of Virginia does require that the Planning Commission
nearly submit a report to the governing bodies for their activities during the previous year.
And then of course, the information that Ada and I will have for you. We are working to
and how all of the information you've given us over the past three meetings, including tonight's meeting.
And then we will start looking at having meetings with the EDA, the Chamber,
and ALT.
And other groups as necessary.
But those seem to be the main core of the groups that the town lives upon, so we'll be soliciting their input
as well as continuing to see public input.
Any questions for me?
That's all I have for you all.
Thank you very much.
Any time you go, commissioners?
Then I'm sorry we will adjourn the meeting at 6.23.
If I don't see you all again, I hope you have a great purpose.
Happy New Year.