1 00:00:04,319 --> 00:00:09,600 testing one two three 2 00:00:07,279 --> 00:00:09,600 four 3 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:20,800 i just love working for the district 2 supervisor but district 1 and 3 are my 4 00:00:18,240 --> 00:00:20,800 favorites 5 00:00:22,080 --> 00:00:27,840 all right good evening ladies and gentlemen i am so excited to see all of 6 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:31,359 you out this evening i am respectful of everybody's time 7 00:00:29,439 --> 00:00:36,160 but i'm glad that you all got the notice this time we did a second 8 00:00:34,160 --> 00:00:39,840 round of retail strategies and what the county is doing to move forward so 9 00:00:38,559 --> 00:00:43,680 tonight a couple of housekeeping things 10 00:00:42,160 --> 00:00:48,000 one when you there's going to be an engagement piece 11 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:52,719 and so when you um speak if you choose to 12 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:55,840 sharon is going to come and bring a mic so that it can be included in the 13 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:59,280 recording because this meeting is being recorded 14 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:02,879 and we'll post it later but that you can't capture if you're not using a 15 00:01:00,879 --> 00:01:06,159 microphone that's number one number two 16 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:11,520 there's an engagement please so we want you all to talk back with us um and just 17 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:16,960 another thing bathrooms to the left for ladies to the right for the gentleman 18 00:01:14,320 --> 00:01:22,640 um just really quick tomorrow is our covet clinic at the social center 19 00:01:20,799 --> 00:01:27,759 um they are giving the kovic vaccinations as well as the boosters for 20 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:31,360 all three and so if you are interested please you don't need an appointment you 21 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:36,640 can just show up from three to six miranda from three to six tomorrow 22 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:40,560 um quite a few people have called in so we're excited to just keep moving 23 00:01:38,079 --> 00:01:46,320 charles city forward we have about close to 70 percent of our county fully 24 00:01:42,799 --> 00:01:50,640 vaccinated we have three percent that already have boosters and so we want to 25 00:01:48,159 --> 00:01:56,799 get the boosters numbers up um so we're excited to to have that large percentage 26 00:01:53,759 --> 00:01:59,600 of people that are fully vaccinated so please share with your neighbors from 27 00:01:58,079 --> 00:02:04,320 three to six tomorrow at the charles city social center 28 00:02:01,759 --> 00:02:08,399 okay so tonight um the meeting discussion is for retail strategies and 29 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:12,080 so as you all know the board of supervisors and i would 30 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:16,640 like to say good evening to our chairman our vice chairman and i 31 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:21,360 remember mr smith mr code and mr atkins thank you all for being here so i'm sure 32 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:26,879 between the people in the room your district representative is here as well 33 00:02:24,959 --> 00:02:30,800 but the vision that those gentlemen have as well as administration is to move 34 00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:35,920 charles city county forward and to develop very strategically 35 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:40,720 to keep a rural character but however bring the amenities um that's 36 00:02:37,920 --> 00:02:45,360 desperately needed and so if you um 37 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:50,400 if you you during covet we had an impact of where you could get items from and so 38 00:02:47,920 --> 00:02:56,480 i think the dollar general really helped during that time to help people get some 39 00:02:53,680 --> 00:03:01,440 necessary items that you needed for just life right doing doing rough times and 40 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:05,920 so we are excited to move charles city forward in that capacity mr chairman or 41 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:09,440 other members would you all like to have a word before i get started or 42 00:03:09,519 --> 00:03:14,400 all right great all right so 43 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:19,040 my assistant county administrator dr rhonda russell will join me shortly 44 00:03:16,879 --> 00:03:25,040 so tonight we're going to go through what the county has what we where we are 45 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:30,239 get your feedback and we feel like as we're designing movement and growth in 46 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:33,360 the county it's important for the board and i 47 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:37,200 to get your feedback and what you want for the community now are we going to 48 00:03:34,959 --> 00:03:42,080 get everything every person wants no but if we can get a general consensus of 49 00:03:39,519 --> 00:03:47,280 what the ideas are then that helps us as we're doing the planning process 50 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:51,760 so the county has contracted with a company out of alabama um retail 51 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:57,280 strategies who performed the last meeting um who also shared the slides 52 00:03:54,879 --> 00:04:01,760 with charles city for tonight so the vice president of the company sarah beth 53 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:06,400 thornton and beth miller are our point of contacts for this project and so 54 00:04:04,239 --> 00:04:10,159 basically um what they are doing is just basically doing a market analysis for 55 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:15,680 the county looking at all the demographics that we'll talk about later 56 00:04:12,879 --> 00:04:21,199 looking at the county topography and exactly what's needed here once they 57 00:04:18,079 --> 00:04:24,880 come complete the market analysis then they will 58 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:28,479 make a recommendation of what businesses would fit here in the community some 59 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:32,800 national brands and then from there 60 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:37,040 approach those retailers to come to our community so they have been very 61 00:04:34,479 --> 00:04:41,280 successful with bringing grocery fast food and other commercial 62 00:04:39,199 --> 00:04:46,080 development in other communities around us and so we thought that this was a 63 00:04:43,199 --> 00:04:49,919 great idea to just have the study done and then have someone actually advocate 64 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:56,320 for us okay and so micah and julia are also part of 65 00:04:53,520 --> 00:05:01,759 the team that's um just doing all the analysis for the county 66 00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:06,080 so let's look at the retail trends we're going to have a pop quiz and let's see 67 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:09,280 what you know so and you can just blurt out your answers 68 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:14,800 and then we'll go through what the findings are so in your thought process 69 00:05:12,639 --> 00:05:22,240 what do you think the percentage of jobs in america are retail 70 00:05:17,280 --> 00:05:28,320 a 25 percent b 40 or c 50 just pop it out like popcorn 71 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:28,320 see 50 72 00:05:29,199 --> 00:05:33,919 yeah pop it out like popcorn 73 00:05:35,759 --> 00:05:43,360 so the percentage of jobs in america that are retail are actually 25 74 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:48,720 not 50 so one in four jobs are retail here in 75 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:55,280 the united states okay the next question how many jobs does a 76 00:05:52,400 --> 00:06:00,290 qsr quick service restaurant typically bring to the community to a community 77 00:05:58,639 --> 00:06:06,639 well she gave us the answer [Laughter] 78 00:06:03,759 --> 00:06:12,319 you're the winner mr atkins so when they look at quick service restaurants like 79 00:06:09,039 --> 00:06:18,840 mcdonald's chick-fil-a hearties those restaurants the fast food entities that 80 00:06:15,039 --> 00:06:24,080 we service they bring about 15 jobs for each um 81 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:28,960 business to a community i know we have bonnie here tonight with calls how many 82 00:06:25,840 --> 00:06:28,960 employees do you have bonnie 83 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:36,880 12. so that's right in line with what's the national trend so we can see that 84 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:41,520 additional retail restaurants bring about 15. so 85 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:47,360 let's try not to give the answer away on the next question okay 86 00:06:44,639 --> 00:06:54,880 so when you look at the average raises especially from retail versus non-retail 87 00:06:50,639 --> 00:06:57,840 between individuals between 25 and 34. is that 34 88 00:06:56,400 --> 00:07:02,880 54. my contacts are failing me so when you 89 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:09,280 look at non-retail workers the average salary is about 34 000 versus retail 90 00:07:06,479 --> 00:07:13,759 salaries of 35 000 and we're going to go into our household median income later 91 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:18,080 right dr russell and just talk about what that looks like 92 00:07:15,919 --> 00:07:22,160 for charles city so retail 93 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:25,919 actually can earn more than non-retail nationwide when you look at the trend 94 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:29,919 so in your 95 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:34,720 and here are some options what is the largest consumer demographic group 96 00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:39,039 millennials gen z's 97 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:45,240 baby boomers greatest generation or generation x 98 00:07:41,599 --> 00:07:45,240 what do you guys think 99 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:49,360 generation x i hear 100 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:55,919 eight millennials baby boomers 101 00:07:53,680 --> 00:08:00,319 well to tell the truth the millennials 102 00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:03,599 are the largest consumer demographics guess that's young folks they don't mind 103 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:08,720 spending money because they're spending our money right 104 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:13,840 they they buy everything and everything is probably from amazon or e-commerce 105 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:20,840 and so millennials the national trend shows they are the 106 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:20,840 largest consumer okay question 107 00:08:41,599 --> 00:08:47,519 we need a microphone yes because it's being recorded 108 00:08:50,880 --> 00:08:58,080 the sad part about this is the median agent charles city's 47 109 00:08:56,640 --> 00:09:02,320 which we don't spend a whole lot of money or 110 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:06,000 47 and up don't whereas millennials spend everything 111 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:11,200 they own and which produces sales tax income and all for the county 112 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:16,480 you have to use the microphone for recording thank you sir 113 00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:16,480 all right 114 00:09:16,560 --> 00:09:22,640 so millennials we see are the largest demographic 115 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:27,279 group okay so what percentage of retail sales are 116 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:33,920 online 15 22 or 53 117 00:09:30,399 --> 00:09:38,640 national trend what do you guys think see 53 percent 118 00:09:36,560 --> 00:09:42,640 b 22 anyone else 119 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:45,519 and the winner is 15 120 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:51,040 i couldn't believe that i would have gone with 53 percent too but 15 121 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:56,720 based on national trends is the percentage of retail sales 122 00:09:53,920 --> 00:10:00,959 online um so that was very like eye-opening for me because i know some 123 00:09:58,959 --> 00:10:06,959 of us in the room shop at amazon at least three days a week i'm not gonna 124 00:10:02,959 --> 00:10:06,959 call any names they know who they are 125 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:16,320 all right so when you look at post covet what the retail strategies are seeing 126 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:21,040 you know how you restaurant tech clothes um you know smalls had closed it had a 127 00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:28,079 lot of restrictions so what they're seeing post covet is just opportunity 128 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:33,600 for drive-through curbside um delivery and pop-ups and so what they're seeing 129 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:39,920 is that's trending like retailers who that are developing new projects are 130 00:10:36,079 --> 00:10:46,000 focusing more on external service than internal service so you know they're not 131 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:49,920 doing the um like the child fund gyms and like the chick-fil-a's and that sort 132 00:10:47,519 --> 00:10:55,920 of thing so a lot of the the the new retails or the retailers are focusing on 133 00:10:51,920 --> 00:10:55,920 drive-throughs and curbside delivery 134 00:10:56,160 --> 00:11:01,680 so the process that retail strategies you will take first 135 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:05,040 they're in the discovery phase which they're in right now 136 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:10,320 um which they're researching charles city looking at the demographics looking 137 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:15,360 at the travel times looking at um everything all the assets that we have 138 00:11:12,560 --> 00:11:18,560 here in the community and then connect the next phase would be to connect with 139 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:23,600 retails just to see exactly what will be a good 140 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:27,839 fit here okay we don't want retail popped up all over the place 141 00:11:25,680 --> 00:11:32,240 um you know we want to keep charles city county beautiful the way that it is but 142 00:11:30,240 --> 00:11:37,040 we do need amenities i know if you're like me you have to travel 20 30 minutes 143 00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:41,680 to go to the grocery store get insulated bags so everything won't defrost um so 144 00:11:40,079 --> 00:11:46,560 we still want amenities but we want to keep it real and beautiful as it is and 145 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:49,519 then the next phase would be the advance phase where 146 00:11:47,839 --> 00:11:54,839 they just look at their efforts and then they go out to those retailers and 147 00:11:51,519 --> 00:12:02,160 advocate for charles city county okay and so dr russell is going to talk 148 00:11:57,760 --> 00:12:02,160 about demographics here right all right 149 00:12:06,079 --> 00:12:12,480 good evening everyone miss johnson actually did a few more of 150 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:16,480 the slides and i thought so i'm going to be in front of you for maybe one maybe 151 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:21,519 two minutes at the most but i want to go back and pick up on 152 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:26,959 the slide that talked about the percentage of sales nationally that 153 00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:32,079 are online or e-commerce space and just draw a conclusion that should be very 154 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:33,760 obvious to everyone it is prudent for us to 155 00:12:32,320 --> 00:12:36,959 [Music] invest 156 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:41,279 in attracting what we call brick and mortar retailers 157 00:12:38,560 --> 00:12:46,959 to our community because presently the national trend is that consumers still 158 00:12:43,680 --> 00:12:52,079 want that on-site retail experience right and there everybody is not doing 159 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:58,480 it as well as amazon in terms of timeliness and the easy return policy 160 00:12:55,839 --> 00:13:02,560 and the um shipping costs the reasonable shipping 161 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:08,000 cost of any at all and so we have a potential to capture 162 00:13:06,480 --> 00:13:12,160 i guess what they call leakage in terms of 163 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:17,279 money that's spent outside of the community for your convenience oriented 164 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:20,720 retail needs to capture that and keep that in the community 165 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:26,399 okay so is it so you go back to where we were so 166 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:37,440 our potential market to capture retail spending dollars in charles city 167 00:13:33,279 --> 00:13:42,160 county is broader than our boundaries our neighboring communities prince 168 00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:46,160 george hopewell even 169 00:13:43,519 --> 00:13:51,120 henrico and bordering james city county 170 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:56,000 we have the potential to capture consumers who are traversing through in 171 00:13:53,440 --> 00:14:01,279 and around our communities and so not retail strategies data but our census 172 00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:05,800 our u.s census data estimates that the majority of our population community um 173 00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:13,120 commutes 25.6 miles um weekdays to and from work 174 00:14:10,399 --> 00:14:17,440 right and if you think about your own shopping trends 175 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:22,000 and what motivates you in terms of where you go to shop 176 00:14:19,199 --> 00:14:26,000 consumers for the most part aren't shopping they're not making a personal 177 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:30,720 decision to i want to shop within my locality boundaries i want to shop 178 00:14:28,399 --> 00:14:34,639 within my municipal boundaries they're looking for an opportunity that they 179 00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:39,279 desire or they're looking for something that's convenient and so if you think 180 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:43,760 about your own behaviors and see if your behaviors are like mine 181 00:14:41,519 --> 00:14:48,480 i and i don't know why i'm like this but i'm like this 182 00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:53,360 i can't pass my house um to go to a shopping opportunity if 183 00:14:51,199 --> 00:14:59,120 i'm on my way home it just it just drives me crazy so i'm gonna stop 184 00:14:56,800 --> 00:15:03,279 before i get home and it just depends on what i need 185 00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:07,360 if if i want to do it in a hurry i'm 186 00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:11,839 looking for a small venue like dollar general or a small neighborhood 187 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:15,600 mart there's a walmart 188 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:20,399 off of route 5 in williamsburg that i'll stop 189 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:26,000 stop at and i keep just like miss johnson the insulated bags in the car so 190 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:29,199 that it won't go go bad right but i have all of those opportunities in and around 191 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:33,040 me um where i live 192 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:37,120 but i would have to pass my house to get there right 193 00:15:35,279 --> 00:15:40,399 i love amazon for a lot of different reasons right 194 00:15:38,880 --> 00:15:44,160 love amazon um 195 00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:47,920 i don't like macy's for online shopping you want to know why because it takes a 196 00:15:45,839 --> 00:15:52,320 week and a half for it to get to you right so i'm just talking about me but 197 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:58,560 if you think about your own behavior and your own experiences and you multiply 198 00:15:55,279 --> 00:16:04,320 that times the number of households and adult shoppers in this 199 00:16:01,279 --> 00:16:09,199 community and that are also traversing in and around charles city county to to 200 00:16:06,959 --> 00:16:14,000 richmond the great richmond metropolitan area or or the williamsburg james city 201 00:16:11,759 --> 00:16:18,000 county area we have lots of opportunities to capture leakage that is 202 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:23,600 coming out dollars that are not coming in our 203 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:28,160 community and this graphic is meant to show 204 00:16:24,639 --> 00:16:33,839 retail strategies analysis for what our 205 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:38,480 market area our expanded market area is for attracting retail vendors to charles 206 00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:40,959 city county miranda 207 00:16:41,839 --> 00:16:48,000 so when we look at our population we are 208 00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:52,480 right under 7 000 209 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:56,320 persons in the county and so that number that's reported in front of you looks 210 00:16:54,240 --> 00:16:58,560 like it's deceiving but it represents the broader 211 00:16:57,600 --> 00:17:03,839 um opportunities for shoppers in our 212 00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:07,839 community if we look outside of our boundaries 213 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:13,520 so i believe not just charles city county but when 214 00:17:10,559 --> 00:17:17,799 you get in the roxbury road area the closest grocery store is where 215 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:25,360 food line on route 60. so we have a large larger premium is 216 00:17:24,079 --> 00:17:30,840 that what you would call it what do you call like the krogers and the 217 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:35,840 publix the larger brochures um you'd have parties well 218 00:17:33,679 --> 00:17:40,559 outside of the community that would come and and shop in charles city because 219 00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:44,640 it's convenient and it represents an opportunity that they seek and they want 220 00:17:43,039 --> 00:17:49,039 right i shared with miss johnson earlier and 221 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:54,280 as you know if you a numbers geek this stuff gets real exciting to you right so 222 00:17:51,760 --> 00:18:01,679 the median household income nationwide in 2010 was 50 000 right 223 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:04,400 that's two a household has it's two people so it wouldn't be called a 224 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:09,360 household if it weren't two people that's two people making 225 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:15,760 25 000 a year right so the number that was reported for 226 00:18:12,080 --> 00:18:21,520 retail average retail annual salary was 36 to i think it's 36.238 227 00:18:19,360 --> 00:18:27,200 a household with that is an income of above 70 000 a year 228 00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:33,440 so we potentially have access to median household incomes of 72 000 229 00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:40,559 in our market area that's very attractive to 230 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:47,280 retailers in terms of what's the surplus income that those households can spend 231 00:18:43,840 --> 00:18:52,400 for their convenience oriented retail needs and so we we believe or we would 232 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:58,799 not have invested in this opportunity that it is going to 233 00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:58,799 result in some immediate returns 234 00:19:01,600 --> 00:19:07,039 you wanna okay so miss johnson is gonna come back 235 00:19:05,039 --> 00:19:14,240 and this is we're liking this to a focus group we want your um popcorn just 236 00:19:10,880 --> 00:19:19,440 respond like you know very um um transparently with your answers to 237 00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:23,600 these questions about what you would like to see in our community and we're 238 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:27,840 not going to um we're going to share that information 239 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:32,559 with retail strategies untouched you know we're not going to try to correct 240 00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:37,360 it or or add to it or take away from it and they're going to look for trends in 241 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:42,880 your comments and summarize what the needs for our 242 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:46,400 community are based on the feedback that you provide and those are the 243 00:19:44,799 --> 00:19:50,240 opportunities that they're going to be seeking on our behalf 244 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:54,799 all right i want to thank you again for your time this evening and partici your 245 00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:58,799 participation one thing if we could go back to the 246 00:19:56,559 --> 00:20:03,039 other slide with the chart that's taking place right now no one 247 00:20:00,880 --> 00:20:07,840 more right there so one of the things that's being conducted 248 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:12,480 whether you know it or not so the mobile tracking is very very important it's not 249 00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:17,200 something that retail strategy implemented it's already on your phone 250 00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:21,679 right and so they are tracking our movements um so that they can see and 251 00:20:19,679 --> 00:20:27,360 basically just by zip code and it's just any a lot of people can get this data so 252 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:32,559 they're looking at to as to where you live and where you shop okay so 253 00:20:30,559 --> 00:20:36,240 one of the reasons that the 254 00:20:33,679 --> 00:20:40,880 the new dollar general on wayside road in 106 255 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:45,360 dollar general when they came back to charles city county said we want to put 256 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:50,880 another one here because the sales at this location has superseded our 257 00:20:48,159 --> 00:20:55,280 expectation but what they found is that individuals who lived in district 1 in 258 00:20:52,880 --> 00:21:00,000 district 2 part of district 2 did not shop here 259 00:20:57,280 --> 00:21:04,559 but they tracked the mobile numbers and those citizens actually shopping at 260 00:21:02,159 --> 00:21:08,720 dollar general in other localities that's not something that we do it's 261 00:21:05,919 --> 00:21:13,120 just a national thing and so that that would that is what promoted or motivated 262 00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:17,360 dollar general to say we want to bring another location to 263 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:22,000 charles city and then they noticed okay we don't have a grocery store so the 264 00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:26,400 second dollar general will have the market component um and i'm excited that 265 00:21:24,559 --> 00:21:31,840 that's going to be the first one in virginia of its kind okay 266 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:31,840 so the market 267 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:38,799 right the second one in the country new model it's in north carolina so we're 268 00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:43,520 excited that for virginia another first for charles city county okay 269 00:21:41,039 --> 00:21:48,320 so if we go forward this is the time now where we want to capture your thoughts 270 00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:52,720 get your feedback don't be shy because this is your opportunity to just say you 271 00:21:50,559 --> 00:21:54,880 know what you want your county to look like 272 00:21:53,600 --> 00:21:59,600 what your thoughts are and we're capturing those so that as they're 273 00:21:57,360 --> 00:22:03,840 developing all of the analysis putting all the data together they have a full 274 00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:07,600 picture of you know what citizens are seeing in charles city county and so i 275 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:12,240 think at the last meeting we had about 20 24 people who attended same about 276 00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:16,880 tonight so we want to we're going to take your answers and um actually give 277 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:24,159 it to retail strategies so um what sets in your opinion what sets 278 00:22:20,799 --> 00:22:29,200 our community apart from others popcorn just pop up 279 00:22:27,600 --> 00:22:32,320 bonnie we'll have to give you a mic 280 00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:41,840 um i feel like we're a visitor type community also okay and probably i don't 281 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:45,520 even know what the what it could be but 282 00:22:43,360 --> 00:22:49,919 what what is brought in from visitors could be almost equal to what 283 00:22:47,679 --> 00:22:53,120 the residents spend here uh when we first opened the restaurant i 284 00:22:51,679 --> 00:22:56,799 was like we're gonna do breakfast you know starting at seven oh i am so sorry 285 00:22:55,840 --> 00:23:01,600 go ahead so um 286 00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:05,200 so the breakfast we did it for about a month and no one in charles city goes 287 00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:10,240 away to eat breakfast because they're traveling 288 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:15,840 by half an hour to an hour to their um their work so we'd scratch that so what 289 00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:18,480 we do is mostly i'd like to see us be a big visitor 290 00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:23,919 type of a retailer and we do need that dollar 291 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:28,240 general let's help our restaurant out 100 292 00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:31,760 but so i i just think you got to take it slowly to see 293 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:34,799 what's different from us in other counties 294 00:23:32,799 --> 00:23:39,039 and i feel like visitors are the biggest thing we have i don't of course 295 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:44,000 personally don't want to see fast food drop through places and and 296 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:47,039 and just to see it grow the way it has with 297 00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:51,520 bed and breakfasts with other restaurants 298 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:56,799 you know with to have shops open up in charleston to 299 00:23:54,240 --> 00:24:00,960 have i think local shops and charles city would just be awesome 300 00:23:59,039 --> 00:24:03,200 but i think we're a visitor county 301 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:06,160 driven and that's what makes us different okay i think your neighbor she 302 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:08,960 right there [Laughter] 303 00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:13,760 hi um my name is jennifer um i think what 304 00:24:11,360 --> 00:24:18,320 sets charles city county apart and i am a transplant i've only been here for 305 00:24:15,279 --> 00:24:22,480 about a year um is number one the history obviously 306 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:27,600 you can't touch that um but honestly something that sets it apart is 307 00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:33,600 how untouched the county is and the fact that there aren't these huge national 308 00:24:30,159 --> 00:24:37,919 names dotting the highway and whatnot i don't think that needs to hold us back 309 00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:40,400 but i do think that's something that makes us 310 00:24:39,039 --> 00:24:43,400 special okay 311 00:24:51,679 --> 00:24:58,640 that's my man but this is my best man and my only man 312 00:24:57,120 --> 00:25:03,200 the bill so well it's all right with us but 313 00:25:00,559 --> 00:25:08,720 nevertheless i thank god for bill coley in jesus name he plays a big part in me 314 00:25:06,159 --> 00:25:13,840 and my husband's life and i thank god that we was able to visit this meeting 315 00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:17,440 but what i would like to see in charles city 316 00:25:14,799 --> 00:25:20,400 is a laundromat many people have their washing machines but it ain't nothing 317 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:24,960 like going to the large map throwing your big 318 00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:28,159 quilts or comforts in them you know 319 00:25:25,919 --> 00:25:33,520 i just love the laundromat and we got to go miles to get to a laundromat i would 320 00:25:31,279 --> 00:25:38,880 like to see charles city with one or two one down the county and one 321 00:25:36,080 --> 00:25:43,360 up the county okay we up the county so i sure would love to see a laundromat here 322 00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:48,240 in charles city okay i went to the laundromat recently 323 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:53,039 to do a comforter and i took like four dollars in coins i'm like what i hadn't 324 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:57,679 been a colander man in like 30 years i was like oh my god i got to go to the 325 00:25:54,960 --> 00:26:01,679 atm machine to do my comforter what in the world okay 326 00:25:59,039 --> 00:26:04,480 who else what sets charles city apart anyone else 327 00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:13,039 thanks so 328 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:20,320 when you drive up route 60 toward richmond you arrive down route 60 329 00:26:18,559 --> 00:26:24,640 toward williamsburg it's nothing but crap 330 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:30,559 packed in everywhere national chains the businesses selling 331 00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:34,080 all kinds of things trash everywhere right 332 00:26:31,679 --> 00:26:37,600 we don't have that to anything like that extent i mean i 333 00:26:35,919 --> 00:26:41,279 live on ruthville road it's trash everywhere you know 334 00:26:39,120 --> 00:26:43,840 it's fast food junk all down the road there 335 00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:48,320 it's bad enough now if you start bringing in a mcdonald's or 336 00:26:45,919 --> 00:26:52,159 a hardee's or something like this what's that going to do 337 00:26:49,919 --> 00:26:55,520 to the county i mean we're going to be buried in trash 338 00:26:54,159 --> 00:26:58,880 and we're going to lose 339 00:26:57,120 --> 00:27:06,600 the rural character that has made charles city 340 00:27:01,279 --> 00:27:06,600 what it is for the last 400 years okay 341 00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:18,640 what i love about charles city is the small town feel 342 00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:22,720 the fact that like we walk in here tonight everybody's like hey hey how's 343 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:25,679 your son how what you know like we all know each other like hey hey how are you 344 00:27:24,399 --> 00:27:31,039 how are you you know um and 345 00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:35,200 you know we do need to grow and i am super glad that charleston is taking it 346 00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:38,240 seriously and taking it carefully because we 347 00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:41,520 have seen what has happened to other counties who didn't 348 00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:45,120 you know and just sort of let it happen and it just went crazy 349 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:49,440 um and i do i would love to see 350 00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:54,399 like bonnie said more small businesses more local businesses i do know that 351 00:27:53,039 --> 00:27:59,840 there's no way we're not going to have any chains come in and i do appreciate 352 00:27:57,679 --> 00:28:05,360 what dollar general has done and that that kind of opportunity but um 353 00:28:03,679 --> 00:28:11,440 you know i would just love to not lose that 354 00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:16,000 you know sort of local feel and we got a lot of talented people in this county 355 00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:21,440 yeah with all kinds of madden and just gills and they could bring them you know 356 00:28:19,039 --> 00:28:25,679 to bear if they had the opportunity yeah um and i don't know how to tap that 357 00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:32,159 but i just you know i think like this is 358 00:28:28,559 --> 00:28:35,279 this is a big chance for the people here um 359 00:28:33,039 --> 00:28:35,279 to 360 00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:42,240 to you know make that come true for people 361 00:28:38,799 --> 00:28:44,500 that have that kind of dream right okay all right so we're going to go to the 362 00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:49,279 next question [Music] 363 00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:53,360 i'm sorry so we have a couple more questions to go 364 00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:53,360 through 365 00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:58,000 let's go to the next question miranda up so people other people can see the next 366 00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:01,279 question that's coming up while he's giving his answer 367 00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:05,679 good evening everybody you know you know 368 00:29:03,279 --> 00:29:09,440 i've looked at charleston is a a beautiful place i've been living here 369 00:29:07,679 --> 00:29:14,399 for 75 years and uh 370 00:29:10,399 --> 00:29:18,720 i think that uh the older folks and i including the young folks i think 371 00:29:16,799 --> 00:29:22,240 we have to have activities that i won't have to go all the way out 372 00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:26,720 of town just to get a loaf of bread 373 00:29:24,559 --> 00:29:30,000 to vote you know i think that everything that 374 00:29:28,559 --> 00:29:35,279 we the people that anticipated charleston had i think is going to be a 375 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:40,240 very big helper to the people in charles city because we need we need playing i'm 376 00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:42,960 a very i'm a person i love to be doing something 377 00:29:41,279 --> 00:29:48,240 and i don't want to go to pittsburgh just to get me something 378 00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:52,559 to get but to do at home we had to have this thing so 379 00:29:50,399 --> 00:29:56,799 the older people has hard to go like doctors and 380 00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:59,760 whatever you know okay because like i'm saying i'm just getting older 381 00:29:58,399 --> 00:30:03,120 right and i don't want to move around like when i was young when i was young i 382 00:30:01,679 --> 00:30:08,000 wanted to get on that but now i want to stay in town 383 00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:11,840 okay so while you have the microphone um so the next question is which 384 00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:17,760 communities do you leave charles city to go get goods and services so where do 385 00:30:13,679 --> 00:30:17,760 you primarily shop like for groceries 386 00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:24,399 say that again i know what i'm saying what's what communities do you go to to 387 00:30:22,399 --> 00:30:29,440 shop primarily like for groceries do you go to hopewell or richmond 388 00:30:26,799 --> 00:30:33,600 williamsburg or we go to we go to hopewell and sometimes we go to the 389 00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:37,679 restaurant okay i don't go i don't visit william bear too much okay but uh we go 390 00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:41,600 to hope we're enriching hannah rocco okay places like that you 391 00:30:39,919 --> 00:30:46,159 know okay and we can just pop that out what about other people's where do you 392 00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:46,159 go to shop 393 00:30:47,279 --> 00:30:53,919 yeah i go to williamsburg i go to james city county i go all the way to newport 394 00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:57,440 news for costco um that is please don't put a costco here even though i'd love 395 00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:57,440 that but 396 00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:04,320 all right well so the surrounding counties just like you know most of us 397 00:31:01,919 --> 00:31:07,600 do and when you go if you're going to go to the doctor's appointment you guys 398 00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:12,320 like okay i'm here let me grab something on the way back like rhonda said if i'm 399 00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:16,640 in town already next question what category of retail businesses would 400 00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:21,200 you like to see in charles city so you have 401 00:31:18,399 --> 00:31:26,399 fast food you have grocery you have of course apparel what 402 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:32,679 categories would you primer like to see here in charles city county 403 00:31:29,679 --> 00:31:32,679 pharmacy 404 00:31:37,919 --> 00:31:42,720 specialty shops boutique type shops 405 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:47,840 okay 406 00:31:56,399 --> 00:32:02,640 okay so i think we've heard that a couple of times tonight just specialty 407 00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:07,039 unique boutiques and when we did its economic development study back in 2015 408 00:32:04,799 --> 00:32:09,760 that was that model show that you know williamsburg is where you go to see 409 00:32:08,399 --> 00:32:13,440 history you should come here and experience it and create entrepreneurial 410 00:32:11,840 --> 00:32:19,039 opportunities pharmacies 411 00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:24,240 and another any other areas of retail grocery 412 00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:24,240 definitely grocery miss 413 00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:35,360 not jones expand it so big but at least the whole 50 to 70 people 414 00:32:32,640 --> 00:32:38,320 still are going to mcb hospital you know 415 00:32:36,559 --> 00:32:42,559 that would be nice because when i went to hospital in june 416 00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:47,360 it took me up to um where did it take me baby 417 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:53,679 took me up on 60. okay they had to go to m's then i had to go 418 00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:59,360 to mcv so urgent care urgent care okay all right anything else 419 00:32:56,559 --> 00:33:03,039 next question miranda what brands would be successful in this 420 00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:07,120 market we all shop at different brands i think 421 00:33:05,519 --> 00:33:12,399 i need to buy some chick-fil-a stock myself but 422 00:33:09,679 --> 00:33:16,799 i know what brands did you all think would be successful here we've heard the 423 00:33:14,559 --> 00:33:21,440 specialty shop but so we have some national brands that have approached us 424 00:33:19,039 --> 00:33:25,799 but in your opinion what brands do you think would be great for this community 425 00:33:29,279 --> 00:33:32,080 just for retail 426 00:33:32,159 --> 00:33:38,480 or grocery any of the categories aldi 427 00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:43,600 one of my favorites uh aldi will be really good the price 428 00:33:40,399 --> 00:33:43,600 point for aldi is great 429 00:33:44,799 --> 00:33:51,279 lidl two brothers yeah 430 00:33:49,120 --> 00:33:55,200 anything else any other brand national brands that you guys can think of 431 00:33:55,360 --> 00:34:02,320 okay so what are our biggest challenges in 432 00:33:59,919 --> 00:34:08,720 charles city um if you had to guess if we have you know challenges what what 433 00:34:04,880 --> 00:34:08,720 would you say our challenges are here 434 00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:18,480 infrastructure lack of broadband we are remedying that 435 00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:23,119 problem we are almost there we find out december 436 00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:25,919 8th rhonda we 437 00:34:24,079 --> 00:34:30,000 december we can't wait the county just wrote another 12 million 438 00:34:27,679 --> 00:34:33,760 dollar grants and some bring every household so we're waiting to hear from 439 00:34:32,159 --> 00:34:37,119 that we're going to get them the microphone 440 00:34:37,919 --> 00:34:46,159 i think i think communication is much better than it's been in past years um i 441 00:34:43,919 --> 00:34:51,280 personally miss the virtual meetings because i think it makes it so much more 442 00:34:48,960 --> 00:34:56,079 accessible for working folks within the community to stay 443 00:34:53,040 --> 00:35:01,520 connected i think communication is still a challenge for us as a community 444 00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:04,720 you guys do good work and letting us know 445 00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:09,200 that there are things but it's just such a big gap 446 00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:14,560 facebook is there but if a lot of people aren't on facebook 447 00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:19,599 so connecting our community we've got a lot of diversity we've got a lot of 448 00:35:17,839 --> 00:35:24,560 gaps in age of population 449 00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:30,000 and we just need to do a little bit better job in getting the word out 450 00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:35,200 timely so people can get excited and engaged in the things that we need to do 451 00:35:32,240 --> 00:35:39,119 to grow our tax base a good point and we are working on the virtual component 452 00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:43,040 back to virtual we've been testing now for two months it's gone great we don't 453 00:35:41,359 --> 00:35:47,359 want to deploy it until we make sure we have any glitches and so hopefully the 454 00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:51,760 first of the year we'll be back because it would hate we would hate to launch it 455 00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:55,200 and it just fails again so we're looking to that biggest challenges in charles 456 00:35:53,760 --> 00:36:00,400 city i would like to 457 00:35:56,880 --> 00:36:04,720 ask that question again but the december event is going to take up like the money 458 00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:08,720 or something because when when they had um 459 00:36:06,240 --> 00:36:12,000 i just had found out about you could go to the 460 00:36:09,760 --> 00:36:14,160 down here and they would pay your light bill 461 00:36:12,960 --> 00:36:18,560 they answered they would give you so much money towards your life or whatever 462 00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:22,160 but when i came down here they said we're totally out sorry 463 00:36:21,359 --> 00:36:26,960 right it wasn't no help like 464 00:36:24,240 --> 00:36:30,079 i had heard and i didn't get no help at all 465 00:36:28,240 --> 00:36:33,839 yeah that would be a social services i'm not sure how they market that but i can 466 00:36:32,160 --> 00:36:38,800 talk with the director for the energy share program through dominion 467 00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:44,240 oh i just think one of our retail challenges is um just the space of you 468 00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:47,839 know the general area that the county 469 00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:50,560 contains uh you know obviously the people on the eastern side head to 470 00:36:49,119 --> 00:36:54,000 williamsburg for everything the people on the western side are always going to 471 00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:58,000 enrico so so i think that is going to be a challenge 472 00:36:55,520 --> 00:37:01,839 that we need to overcome in centralizing kind of our kind of economic corridor 473 00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:06,160 okay any other challenges 474 00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:06,160 yes 475 00:37:07,680 --> 00:37:17,040 maybe this is lack of knowledge on my part but i i think um law enforcement 476 00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:23,359 and response times could as we bring more retail to the community 477 00:37:20,240 --> 00:37:28,800 there's more potential for traffic incidents and or 478 00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:33,359 crime incidents and and i live on route 5 which is a major corridor and there 479 00:37:31,119 --> 00:37:36,720 was an accident on route 5 a few weeks ago in front of our house and we were 480 00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:42,480 there 15 minutes probably 481 00:37:39,359 --> 00:37:47,119 before the rescue squad arrived and that's pretty significant when they 482 00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:51,119 could have been on another call however 483 00:37:48,720 --> 00:37:55,520 their couple miles down the road and the state police beat our local law 484 00:37:53,119 --> 00:38:00,000 enforcement to the accident again understanding staffing can impact those 485 00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:03,520 things it was an evening of eight o'clockish accident on a sunday 486 00:38:02,640 --> 00:38:07,680 night but i think those things are 487 00:38:06,240 --> 00:38:13,440 it takes money but it's something as we grow we have to 488 00:38:10,720 --> 00:38:16,400 keep up with the pacing to make sure that we have that infrastructure in 489 00:38:15,040 --> 00:38:20,720 place i totally agree i think 490 00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:24,400 we've done a much better job since we have paid fire ems we have two of our 491 00:38:22,960 --> 00:38:28,400 ems folks here tonight and we're thankful for them we've reduced our 492 00:38:25,839 --> 00:38:33,760 response time down from about 18 to 23 minutes to about 11 to 14 minutes and i 493 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:36,720 can assure you if they weren't at the call 494 00:38:34,720 --> 00:38:39,520 quickly they were out on another call because we have to 495 00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:46,480 yeah and mr fleming will respond to that and i think that you know we're getting 496 00:38:44,960 --> 00:38:49,760 ready we've gotten purchased some new apparatuses so we're getting there so i 497 00:38:48,640 --> 00:38:54,240 think calling 9-1-1 and having someone come to 498 00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:56,720 your house 11 minutes versus 23 minutes we're getting there 499 00:38:55,760 --> 00:39:01,599 so one of the biggest challenges that we 500 00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:06,320 face here in the county is that the paid staff 501 00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:10,880 operates out of wilcox neck so that's five miles 502 00:39:08,560 --> 00:39:15,200 shy of the chickahominy river so it takes us 503 00:39:12,560 --> 00:39:18,720 10 minutes to get from the firehouse to here 504 00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:22,320 so if we're heading west that's additional time and we're on curvy roads 505 00:39:21,119 --> 00:39:27,040 and we're driving large pieces of apparatus there is a 506 00:39:24,720 --> 00:39:31,119 volunteer station on atkins road has been there for many years 507 00:39:28,960 --> 00:39:36,480 but it's not staffed they kind of show up when they show up i get it 508 00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:41,040 they have jobs families obligations we are currently in the process of building 509 00:39:39,119 --> 00:39:45,599 a new station on roxbury road 510 00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:51,119 we'll fully staff that station and i think things will get better yeah 511 00:39:48,079 --> 00:39:56,079 so we have the the roxbury road we are negotiating the final stage of the 512 00:39:53,119 --> 00:40:00,960 contract hopefully they break ground sometime in january but that station 513 00:39:57,920 --> 00:40:06,880 will be open in the fall or the fourth quarter of 2022 we are renovating the 514 00:40:04,640 --> 00:40:10,560 old high school bus garage behind the old high school in ruthville so we'll 515 00:40:08,640 --> 00:40:14,319 have staffing there so we're trying to bridge that gap so but we're getting 516 00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:18,400 there all right 517 00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:23,040 is there anything else you'd like us to know about charles city or anything else 518 00:40:20,720 --> 00:40:28,720 that you would like to see we've heard you know small boutique retailers we've 519 00:40:25,520 --> 00:40:33,200 heard grocery laundry mats what else would you like to know like us to know 520 00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:36,760 about charles city and what you would like to see 521 00:40:39,119 --> 00:40:45,280 i think i'd like to see um you know obviously the things we're talking about 522 00:40:43,280 --> 00:40:48,560 tonight in terms of economic development um 523 00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:52,400 are kind of years down the road in theory um so in the meantime i think i'd 524 00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:56,560 like to see pop-ups and community-supported events 525 00:40:54,720 --> 00:41:00,079 where we bring you know whether it's festivals or things like that where you 526 00:40:57,920 --> 00:41:04,480 can bring these boutique reels to like you know local artisans and whatever um 527 00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:08,960 things that are supported community-wide rather than just i know peace hill for 528 00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:14,160 example had one this past weekend things that are are supported locally and um 529 00:41:11,760 --> 00:41:18,000 you know maybe not having them be done by an independent person maybe them put 530 00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:22,480 on by the county i think that would be a way to start getting people to know 531 00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:26,640 about charles city and and put us on the map before these big things you know 532 00:41:24,960 --> 00:41:31,440 happen yeah that would be great it's um is the town 533 00:41:29,440 --> 00:41:35,599 center i mean the um what was it going to be called there at the courthouse 534 00:41:33,040 --> 00:41:38,720 green area that development is that totally 535 00:41:36,800 --> 00:41:42,720 out of the question now the courthouse area plan yes yeah no that's what we're 536 00:41:41,119 --> 00:41:47,119 working on i'm going to touch on that a little bit later great okay 537 00:41:45,359 --> 00:41:50,240 what else would you like for us to know what else would you like to see here in 538 00:41:48,960 --> 00:41:54,240 the community because as we're reporting back to 539 00:41:52,400 --> 00:41:58,640 retail strategies and the board is continuously developing strategy we want 540 00:41:56,240 --> 00:42:04,079 to make sure we capture as many as much feedback as possible 541 00:42:01,359 --> 00:42:07,839 i would like to see i've been a resident of charles city 542 00:42:05,760 --> 00:42:10,400 too for x amount of years 543 00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:15,520 [Laughter] but nevertheless 544 00:42:12,319 --> 00:42:19,119 i thank god for the coal that i got this morning 545 00:42:16,960 --> 00:42:23,920 to come to this meeting because most of the time we don't know 546 00:42:21,359 --> 00:42:29,280 nothing that's happening in charles city and if you don't come to the meeting 547 00:42:25,839 --> 00:42:34,880 you're losing out more than losing in so if we know more about it like send 548 00:42:31,760 --> 00:42:38,400 flyers out in the mailbox or whatever whatever 549 00:42:35,920 --> 00:42:42,240 get the word of morse is more sufficient 550 00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:48,160 than if i hadn't answered my phone this morning i'd don't miss this meeting okay 551 00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:53,760 but i think if if we are anxious about charles city getting this and that 552 00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:59,280 it should be more people out to support the meetings 553 00:42:55,440 --> 00:43:04,400 okay more communication so we do have the alert system so there 554 00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:08,240 are four streams of communication that we get out we advertise in the chronicle 555 00:43:07,359 --> 00:43:13,359 okay we send out text alerts or it will call 556 00:43:11,280 --> 00:43:17,520 your phone number that you designate to get a we call them robocalls on your 557 00:43:15,680 --> 00:43:20,800 home phone or your cell phone text messages 558 00:43:18,720 --> 00:43:26,319 we put it out on social media on facebook and we also put it on the 559 00:43:22,640 --> 00:43:31,119 county's website we would like to um and we also will email that 560 00:43:28,720 --> 00:43:36,079 that robocall does whatever you sign up for text message email 561 00:43:33,280 --> 00:43:40,560 um and voicemail right um we 562 00:43:38,240 --> 00:43:45,119 would like to send out notifications to every household for everything but it's 563 00:43:43,119 --> 00:43:49,680 so expensive and you know we don't want to take taxpayer dollars and spend four 564 00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:54,880 thousand dollars every time we have something um so we are working on other 565 00:43:52,240 --> 00:43:59,280 communications within each district to get the communication out faster and 566 00:43:56,880 --> 00:44:03,760 better but right now those are the four main areas the four main ways that we we 567 00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:06,960 communicate so we appreciate whoever calls you we appreciate them 568 00:44:07,599 --> 00:44:11,200 what else would you like for us to know 569 00:44:20,960 --> 00:44:27,440 notices that will come out things we sometimes get notice of the meetings 570 00:44:25,359 --> 00:44:31,280 a couple of hours before they happen right and so i really appreciate the 571 00:44:29,599 --> 00:44:36,000 fact that we got notified of this one on friday okay 572 00:44:32,960 --> 00:44:39,440 good job good job anything else that you would like us to 573 00:44:37,599 --> 00:44:43,680 know and i'm excited to see that we have some 574 00:44:41,680 --> 00:44:47,680 eda economic development authority members here tonight because they're 575 00:44:45,280 --> 00:44:51,680 partnering with the county to help us bring economic 576 00:44:49,839 --> 00:44:54,640 so they're getting to hear exactly what the board of supervisors is 577 00:44:53,440 --> 00:44:58,880 hearing all right so 578 00:44:56,640 --> 00:45:02,960 uh following this meeting in the previous meeting we're going to take all 579 00:45:00,880 --> 00:45:08,319 of the notes send it back to retail strategies and sometime 580 00:45:05,599 --> 00:45:12,800 in december we will have the final report of what they what they recommend 581 00:45:10,640 --> 00:45:18,400 what retailers will fit based on all of the analysis and then we'll develop a 582 00:45:15,119 --> 00:45:23,520 plan to move forward like i said retail strategies will go to those entities and 583 00:45:21,359 --> 00:45:26,640 advocate for charles city but a part of this project 584 00:45:25,520 --> 00:45:30,720 staff and our economic development authority 585 00:45:28,480 --> 00:45:35,040 members will also get go through retail strategies academy 586 00:45:32,560 --> 00:45:40,960 to learn how to approach you know a chick-fil-a or you know whatever entity 587 00:45:38,160 --> 00:45:46,079 we want on our own behalf once they go away so the goal is for us to learn as 588 00:45:43,440 --> 00:45:49,440 much as possible and advocate it's very important when you look at the 589 00:45:47,119 --> 00:45:52,560 demographics that they expand because they looked at um 590 00:45:53,040 --> 00:46:00,319 jordan on the james so for those individuals to get to a grocery store it 591 00:45:57,920 --> 00:46:04,000 takes them about 19 minutes you know you don't realize that and even with the 592 00:46:02,480 --> 00:46:07,839 dollar general market that was one of the things it takes them about eight 593 00:46:05,440 --> 00:46:11,440 minutes to get there so that's going to help our numbers here in charleston when 594 00:46:09,839 --> 00:46:17,839 we have neighboring communities that large you know right next door 595 00:46:15,520 --> 00:46:22,960 any questions for us while she's queuing up the next 596 00:46:19,920 --> 00:46:22,960 um presentation 597 00:46:23,680 --> 00:46:32,720 any questions mr coda will be able to answer them all 598 00:46:29,119 --> 00:46:32,720 right there you can start right there 599 00:46:36,960 --> 00:46:40,800 one moment the microphone is headed your 600 00:46:40,839 --> 00:46:48,800 way she's right behind you you can come up at the end 601 00:46:45,599 --> 00:46:48,800 i hate this microphone 602 00:46:49,599 --> 00:46:56,640 the courthouse area plan that mrs johnson is getting ready to 603 00:46:54,720 --> 00:47:01,920 show you um i disagree with a hundred percent 604 00:46:58,880 --> 00:47:05,920 but i want to tell you why um i said that because there's one 605 00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:11,839 beautiful thing that's happening here in charles city and that's called a balance 606 00:47:08,640 --> 00:47:17,280 and it's a balance of ms johnson me the board members and we all have our ideas 607 00:47:14,480 --> 00:47:21,040 and what we want to see charles city go i'm a 608 00:47:18,640 --> 00:47:25,200 dollar and sense person ms johnson 609 00:47:22,400 --> 00:47:30,240 she is a constituent person and it makes for a good balance because 610 00:47:27,680 --> 00:47:35,119 she wants the courthouse area plan and all for the you know like the farmer's 611 00:47:32,559 --> 00:47:39,280 market that she put together her and her staff dr russell 612 00:47:37,119 --> 00:47:43,839 and this lady back here mentioned festivals 613 00:47:40,640 --> 00:47:47,760 um and and whatnot the problem with with festivals and bike races and 614 00:47:46,079 --> 00:47:51,520 farmers market is they don't generate a lot of income 615 00:47:49,359 --> 00:47:54,079 income for the county and 616 00:47:52,400 --> 00:47:58,319 years ago we signed on with waste management 617 00:47:55,839 --> 00:48:02,720 because it was the only thing we had at the time 618 00:48:00,079 --> 00:48:08,000 and it enabled us to lower the tax rates on your property in charles city because 619 00:48:04,480 --> 00:48:13,599 charles city had the second highest tax rate in the state of virginia 620 00:48:10,640 --> 00:48:17,200 only behind fairfax so imagine that you're living out here 621 00:48:15,359 --> 00:48:21,599 in the country with the second highest real estate tax rate in the entire state 622 00:48:19,760 --> 00:48:27,280 only behind fairfax the problem with having all your eggs in 623 00:48:23,680 --> 00:48:31,359 one basket happened to us in 2014 and if you recall what happened then 624 00:48:29,440 --> 00:48:34,800 in the middle of a budget year waste management came in and said 625 00:48:33,359 --> 00:48:40,240 we're not going to be able to give you a million and a half of those dollars 626 00:48:37,920 --> 00:48:44,160 well that was catastrophic because that happened 627 00:48:41,200 --> 00:48:46,880 midterm mid-budget year so 628 00:48:45,200 --> 00:48:49,520 we've been talking and i've been hammering ever since i've been on this 629 00:48:48,160 --> 00:48:54,000 board my colleagues agree 100 630 00:48:51,839 --> 00:48:57,040 ms johnson agreed that we have to do something 631 00:48:55,599 --> 00:49:00,640 in order to not have all of our eggs in one 632 00:48:58,400 --> 00:49:05,119 basket i it is my vision my my vision and the 633 00:49:03,440 --> 00:49:09,760 boards also to develop 106 634 00:49:07,680 --> 00:49:12,559 because if you go 5 000 feet and look down at trial city it's the only place 635 00:49:11,359 --> 00:49:16,960 to do it 155 is already filled up with houses 636 00:49:15,680 --> 00:49:20,880 route 5 you don't want to you don't want to 637 00:49:18,079 --> 00:49:26,240 diminish the historic of route 5. 106 actually connects interstate 85 95 638 00:49:23,520 --> 00:49:29,119 and 64 together and if you see all the food line trucks 639 00:49:27,599 --> 00:49:33,200 running down it's because they're at the other end out there and they shoot 640 00:49:31,440 --> 00:49:36,319 across 106 to get all out to this end of the end of the 641 00:49:34,880 --> 00:49:38,480 state but 642 00:49:37,359 --> 00:49:41,920 we're talking about the other communities that we go to shop 643 00:49:40,800 --> 00:49:45,599 and let me tell you how that hurts charles city 644 00:49:43,760 --> 00:49:49,599 when you go to williamsburg hopewell new kent 645 00:49:47,040 --> 00:49:53,200 and you shop you pay your sales tax there 646 00:49:50,720 --> 00:49:57,119 and we get nothing because out of that six percent which is 647 00:49:55,040 --> 00:50:01,119 now six percent has been an increase we get almost two percent of that 648 00:49:59,760 --> 00:50:04,880 and to tell you how 649 00:50:02,559 --> 00:50:09,200 how that plays in one year we ended up with 650 00:50:06,280 --> 00:50:11,839 330 some thousand extra dollars and we couldn't figure out where it came 651 00:50:10,319 --> 00:50:16,400 from so we're scrambling trying to figure out where this extra 330 000 came 652 00:50:13,760 --> 00:50:20,319 from it was from sales tax because dominion when the dominion that 653 00:50:18,079 --> 00:50:22,960 did the big upgrade to their thing so it's critical that we collect those 654 00:50:21,680 --> 00:50:27,040 dollars from those millennials that's spending 655 00:50:24,319 --> 00:50:30,240 all that money and and they're not going to spend it in charles city unless we do 656 00:50:28,559 --> 00:50:33,200 something and i've talked enough 657 00:50:32,000 --> 00:50:37,040 yeah and you know since dollar general has been 658 00:50:34,960 --> 00:50:41,040 here i mean it's not an astronomical amount but we see more sales tax i think 659 00:50:39,920 --> 00:50:46,960 this year we exceeded a million dollars in sales 660 00:50:43,520 --> 00:50:54,559 tax where we budgeted based on trends about 800 and about 774 000 between 774 661 00:50:52,079 --> 00:50:58,800 and 882 is what we budgeted when we finished june 30 we had collected over a 662 00:50:56,720 --> 00:51:01,839 million dollars in sales tax so that goes to show you when those retailers 663 00:51:00,960 --> 00:51:06,400 come that sales tax is what drives us is what 664 00:51:04,079 --> 00:51:11,280 helps us to fund schools what else helps us to fund other projects and so we 665 00:51:09,200 --> 00:51:15,359 that's one of the reasons you can actually 666 00:51:12,480 --> 00:51:18,960 capitalize you know financially on those retailers being here 667 00:51:17,280 --> 00:51:24,559 one of the reasons you know the courthouse area plan mr colt and i we 668 00:51:21,599 --> 00:51:29,440 respectfully agree to disagree on this but economic development you have 669 00:51:26,480 --> 00:51:33,359 industrial you have retail but you also have tourism 670 00:51:31,359 --> 00:51:38,720 our neighbors in henrico clear about eight million dollars in 671 00:51:35,599 --> 00:51:43,440 sports or recreational tourism so those softball leagues those baseball league 672 00:51:40,960 --> 00:51:48,319 soccer that comes eight million dollars between hotel restaurants and other 673 00:51:45,760 --> 00:51:53,680 entities that's what they bring in and they don't do anything for it we have 674 00:51:51,040 --> 00:51:58,319 something that no other locality has around us and that is the golden road 675 00:51:55,920 --> 00:52:06,160 called the virginia capital trail in 2020 1.2 million people 676 00:52:02,319 --> 00:52:12,000 rode that trail 337 000 of them were in charles city okay 677 00:52:09,680 --> 00:52:16,000 just imagine if we got one dollar from every rider on the trail we probably 678 00:52:13,839 --> 00:52:19,920 should just put out a bucket or something like drop your 679 00:52:17,599 --> 00:52:24,319 dollars you're passing by right but i know 680 00:52:21,680 --> 00:52:30,480 bonnie you've seen the uptick in in services for the capitol trail 681 00:52:27,280 --> 00:52:34,720 tripled right and so the courthouse area plan for us is very important because 682 00:52:32,880 --> 00:52:39,359 like mr coda said we don't want to compromise the rural character okay i 683 00:52:37,680 --> 00:52:44,000 mean i'm born and raised here i love this place right so we want route 5 to 684 00:52:41,599 --> 00:52:49,040 still be beautiful to ride down and see the canopy is amazing but we want 685 00:52:46,079 --> 00:52:53,200 industry on 106. we want to develop the courthouse area plan we want district 3 686 00:52:51,520 --> 00:52:57,200 to focus on our recreational opportunities the beautiful rivers down 687 00:52:55,200 --> 00:53:01,680 there and then that's all that this board has vision 688 00:52:59,200 --> 00:53:03,839 the next board next county administrator we don't know what they're going to do 689 00:53:03,040 --> 00:53:10,079 okay so the courthouse area plan is our 690 00:53:06,160 --> 00:53:14,640 economic tourism um engine okay and so what the board of supervisors has 691 00:53:12,640 --> 00:53:20,480 agreed to do and allowed dr russell and i to do is purchase property around the 692 00:53:17,119 --> 00:53:26,160 courthouse area so dr russell presented the courthouse area plan the board of 693 00:53:22,079 --> 00:53:30,079 supervisors adopted it in 2020 and so the area that you see in purple 694 00:53:28,480 --> 00:53:35,200 it's a little faint but that is our courthouse area so right 695 00:53:32,800 --> 00:53:41,680 beyond um the schools right in front of vdot and up to this building that is the 696 00:53:38,160 --> 00:53:46,240 entire courthouse area plan okay and so 697 00:53:42,960 --> 00:53:50,559 the nfb site is what we already own um however the county has leased that to a 698 00:53:48,480 --> 00:53:56,480 private developer and we'll show you some renderings in a minute um 699 00:53:53,200 --> 00:54:02,720 the two parcels to the right is that 40 58 and 40 59. 700 00:53:59,680 --> 00:54:06,319 the county actually um we're purchasing that i don't know if you all seen the 701 00:54:04,000 --> 00:54:10,480 activity the gas tanks were being removed this week but the county 702 00:54:08,720 --> 00:54:14,720 purchased those two parcels for about 11 point something 703 00:54:13,359 --> 00:54:19,040 acres and so that's going to help 704 00:54:16,720 --> 00:54:24,480 bridge the gap for this courthouse area plan 705 00:54:20,480 --> 00:54:29,680 along route 155 next slide the county has purchased these three parcels so 706 00:54:27,040 --> 00:54:34,079 dollar general is not on this map but right in the wooded area in front of the 707 00:54:31,599 --> 00:54:38,720 elementary school is dollar general so the county has purchased all three 708 00:54:35,920 --> 00:54:45,359 parcels here that we are looking to bring affordable housing okay 709 00:54:41,920 --> 00:54:48,880 and retail that was a you know it's a compromise if i come to the board 710 00:54:47,280 --> 00:54:52,400 with the idea then they tell well you can have this but you got to do this so 711 00:54:50,559 --> 00:54:59,520 we want um retail for the general community and 712 00:54:55,839 --> 00:55:03,760 the potential homeowners as well as a walkable community because you have the 713 00:55:01,440 --> 00:55:07,359 bike trail that they can walk to dollar general up to the courthouse 714 00:55:06,000 --> 00:55:10,559 complex and so 715 00:55:08,400 --> 00:55:16,000 one of the newer establishment is milk and honey brewery that we've leased the 716 00:55:13,760 --> 00:55:19,599 neighborhood facility building to and then the next slide will show you 717 00:55:17,920 --> 00:55:25,280 the rendering of what that will look like okay so this will bring 718 00:55:22,559 --> 00:55:28,799 a brewery which will be brewed on site a cafe 719 00:55:26,640 --> 00:55:33,280 outdoor area and one of the things that's so unique about this the beer 720 00:55:31,280 --> 00:55:36,960 will not only be brewed but it will be a canning operation and there will be a 721 00:55:36,000 --> 00:55:42,160 lab that they have worked uh negotiated with 722 00:55:39,599 --> 00:55:47,200 virginia tech and virginia state to create a certification for our students 723 00:55:45,040 --> 00:55:52,960 so once the students go to that program they can work at any lab in america okay 724 00:55:51,200 --> 00:55:58,640 and so this just shows you a little conference area um a small cafe and then 725 00:55:56,160 --> 00:56:05,520 the brewery and the in the rear of the building and so our vision is that this 726 00:56:02,240 --> 00:56:09,839 entire complex will be a walkable downtown charles city 727 00:56:07,599 --> 00:56:14,319 i think the more that we bring the more people that will stop here we see on 728 00:56:11,839 --> 00:56:18,079 saturdays the courthouse area this park line is filled with cyclists and so we 729 00:56:16,960 --> 00:56:23,200 want to capitalize on that and gain 730 00:56:20,640 --> 00:56:28,240 some of their sales tax right because the great thing about tourism they come 731 00:56:25,599 --> 00:56:32,640 in they experience your county and they leave we don't have to educate them you 732 00:56:30,559 --> 00:56:36,559 know hopefully i know firing ems they seem to pick up one 80 year old man off 733 00:56:34,960 --> 00:56:40,799 the bike trail who's falling at least a week or somebody breaks their arm you 734 00:56:38,480 --> 00:56:44,559 see the 911 calls like why would i mean he's 96 why is he on a bicycle anyway 735 00:56:43,440 --> 00:56:49,359 right but they come in they spend their money 736 00:56:46,799 --> 00:56:53,839 at coals and other places and we want to make sure that this area is like a 737 00:56:51,839 --> 00:56:58,960 downtown charles city or a hub because this is the center 738 00:56:55,680 --> 00:57:03,119 of the capital trail it's 51 miles charles city has 27 of those miles and 739 00:57:01,280 --> 00:57:07,200 this is the center of the virginia capital trail 740 00:57:04,480 --> 00:57:12,079 and so we um i think that's that's all for this so we are looking to develop 741 00:57:10,160 --> 00:57:17,280 this area to help it make sense and to gain you 742 00:57:15,119 --> 00:57:21,200 know that tourism component bringing the boutique shops 743 00:57:18,880 --> 00:57:26,960 we are going to be working with some design team once the analysis comes back 744 00:57:24,480 --> 00:57:33,680 from retail strategies on what this would look like for the entire corridor 745 00:57:29,920 --> 00:57:38,400 we have applied for housing grants for the affordable housing projects we 746 00:57:36,000 --> 00:57:41,920 have two that we are applying for looking at over close to three hundred 747 00:57:40,319 --> 00:57:46,640 thousand dollars to help with that project and what's great about it that 748 00:57:44,160 --> 00:57:50,960 project is gonna score really high with virginia housing because it's walkable 749 00:57:49,599 --> 00:57:55,839 to the schools so if that brings you know 750 00:57:53,200 --> 00:58:01,119 um parents single parent families or just families with children that can now 751 00:57:58,640 --> 00:58:06,160 walk to school which is you know scores really high on 752 00:58:02,880 --> 00:58:12,640 their process and so we're excited um to continue to move 753 00:58:09,280 --> 00:58:17,359 this area forward like stated earlier we are building the fire station and a 5 754 00:58:14,720 --> 00:58:20,880 acre parcel on 106 the solar panels which you will not be 755 00:58:19,440 --> 00:58:27,440 able to see we are also purchasing 47 acres on 106 756 00:58:24,880 --> 00:58:32,319 and that's the area we think where retail should go but we'll wait 757 00:58:29,599 --> 00:58:38,559 for this analysis to come back because we can just spin off of that development 758 00:58:35,119 --> 00:58:43,920 area um looking to bring water and sewer down 106 for other industry in the 759 00:58:41,200 --> 00:58:49,520 roxbury industrial area and that is our vision now after us again we don't know 760 00:58:48,000 --> 00:58:52,799 what the next board of supervisors the next county administrator will bring but 761 00:58:51,119 --> 00:58:57,680 that's where we think what is best for the community 762 00:58:54,960 --> 00:58:57,680 questions 763 00:59:02,839 --> 00:59:10,559 yes moving in 12 13 years ago and using the money i 764 00:59:08,240 --> 00:59:14,799 had from my retirement to open that business 765 00:59:12,079 --> 00:59:19,599 um it's hard to compete against a county that's also 766 00:59:18,000 --> 00:59:23,760 using money to have competing 767 00:59:21,520 --> 00:59:28,480 um businesses and that's the part i don't i mean i'm glad i hope this all 768 00:59:25,280 --> 00:59:33,359 works good but so the county has pretty much done this correct yes and competing 769 00:59:31,280 --> 00:59:36,880 against a small woman-owned business well we're not competing against a small 770 00:59:35,200 --> 00:59:42,160 woman on business we're looking to strengthen the small woman business 771 00:59:39,280 --> 00:59:46,240 because statistics show that the more development you bring the more 772 00:59:44,319 --> 00:59:50,960 opportunities because now they have more than one option in the area the area 773 00:59:49,040 --> 00:59:55,280 that's down on route 5 that's where we're looking to do the retail 774 00:59:52,799 --> 00:59:59,760 development with specialty shops on route 5. but this is the old social 775 00:59:57,680 --> 01:00:04,480 services building correct which is almost across straight from us 776 01:00:01,520 --> 01:00:09,359 correct okay um so different model but you know the more that we can provide to 777 01:00:07,440 --> 01:00:13,599 uh you know what they retail strategy especially has told us that it'll bring 778 01:00:11,440 --> 01:00:16,720 more people that are looking for other options 779 01:00:14,559 --> 01:00:21,119 yes when um can we expect to see any changes 780 01:00:19,440 --> 01:00:24,640 or anything done so the 781 01:00:23,040 --> 01:00:30,480 neighborhood facility building they are submitting their permits actually this 782 01:00:27,040 --> 01:00:35,680 week okay so it's already been gutted um so you will see they're looking to open 783 01:00:32,480 --> 01:00:40,880 the brewery and spring of 2022 okay the the fire department again will 784 01:00:38,079 --> 01:00:46,400 break ground probably in january and will be completed in december of 785 01:00:43,599 --> 01:00:51,119 2022 as far as the other development we have to wait for this analysis to come 786 01:00:48,319 --> 01:00:51,119 back to tell us 787 01:00:51,200 --> 01:00:54,000 december 788 01:00:55,200 --> 01:01:02,880 so you had mentioned another county had made a lot of money off of um 789 01:01:00,160 --> 01:01:07,920 like outdoor sport things um has there been any 790 01:01:05,359 --> 01:01:11,760 thought of maybe attracting somebody like james river outfitters 791 01:01:10,720 --> 01:01:15,680 to do like their kayaking business or 792 01:01:13,920 --> 01:01:18,400 something like that out of charles city since we are 793 01:01:16,799 --> 01:01:22,559 right on the james river and i mean we don't have you know big 794 01:01:20,880 --> 01:01:25,599 exciting rapids but we got a really beautiful river and 795 01:01:24,720 --> 01:01:28,079 um you know i know the 796 01:01:26,800 --> 01:01:32,559 [Music] there's like a non-profit organization 797 01:01:30,079 --> 01:01:36,720 that does things that they took the kids from the high school out and did like a 798 01:01:34,240 --> 01:01:41,040 really cool ecology thing but maybe james river yeah maybe there would be 799 01:01:38,960 --> 01:01:45,280 you know some some tourist dollars we could get from something like that i 800 01:01:42,960 --> 01:01:49,280 don't i don't know this is just like i do 801 01:01:46,000 --> 01:01:53,839 yeah so we are in when is that meeting chiron is it december with the tourism 802 01:01:52,000 --> 01:01:59,119 so tourism entities we're all coming together to 803 01:01:56,799 --> 01:02:02,319 just put together a brainstorming session for just tourism for all of our 804 01:02:01,280 --> 01:02:06,480 entities so this is a time where money is just 805 01:02:04,720 --> 01:02:10,240 flowing from the federal government more than we ever have seen and more we 806 01:02:08,240 --> 01:02:15,039 probably will ever see and so there is the american rescue plan 807 01:02:13,280 --> 01:02:19,520 act funding that we're going to get here in charles city 808 01:02:16,799 --> 01:02:24,799 county and so we're going to use that to we have to use it for like marketing and 809 01:02:22,160 --> 01:02:30,240 different development but we are looking to enhance our tourism part the only 810 01:02:28,079 --> 01:02:35,119 problem that we have as a county we don't have riverfront property we have 811 01:02:32,640 --> 01:02:41,520 lawrence lewis park but a lot of the entities especially the kayaking area is 812 01:02:38,319 --> 01:02:46,160 owned by private entities so gary mitchell in community development 813 01:02:43,920 --> 01:02:52,559 came up with a good idea game the wildlife area has over 4 000 acres 814 01:02:49,760 --> 01:02:56,880 so we're going to put together a plan to approach our legislators about making 815 01:02:54,640 --> 01:03:02,400 that a state park because that wouldn't be any county dollars it's you know 816 01:02:59,520 --> 01:03:07,119 wildlife management area and it could be another opportunity because there's 817 01:03:04,400 --> 01:03:09,760 really no state parks within our region that size so 818 01:03:08,880 --> 01:03:14,400 that's something that we're going to explore as well but everything just 819 01:03:11,839 --> 01:03:17,440 takes time yes 820 01:03:15,280 --> 01:03:22,960 any updates on when the breeze in on sandy point or route 5 may open 821 01:03:19,760 --> 01:03:25,760 so they were looking to open july 4th and then they ran into 822 01:03:24,799 --> 01:03:32,480 some well and septic issues with vdh so now 823 01:03:29,039 --> 01:03:32,480 they're looking to open early 824 01:03:33,039 --> 01:03:40,079 in november yeah so they the the store has really been outfitted so they're 825 01:03:37,440 --> 01:03:43,520 excited to be here so sometime this month or first part of next month 826 01:03:43,599 --> 01:03:52,160 uh this um is just directly about the last statement about um making the 827 01:03:49,359 --> 01:03:55,920 uh cwma a state park is there any um 828 01:03:54,079 --> 01:04:00,240 way i can get further information about that since i live 829 01:03:57,200 --> 01:04:05,280 in there so that is definitely talk later idea hot off the press 830 01:04:03,280 --> 01:04:09,520 that's just like we had a brainstorming session and we were like wait maybe we 831 01:04:07,280 --> 01:04:13,599 could do that so that's once we move further along we'll engage district 832 01:04:11,440 --> 01:04:17,119 three but so that's the idea hot off the price cool thank you 833 01:04:16,079 --> 01:04:21,440 yes i think miss jones and then pat 834 01:04:19,839 --> 01:04:25,520 why is it my husband 835 01:04:23,039 --> 01:04:29,280 has put in about six different applications for down at the river 836 01:04:28,319 --> 01:04:34,319 to work because he's a good cleanup man 837 01:04:32,559 --> 01:04:37,440 and he knows about 838 01:04:35,359 --> 01:04:41,280 what happened to the bridge or whatever before and all that good stuff 839 01:04:39,440 --> 01:04:46,799 it was repaired but i wonder why he was never called and 840 01:04:44,720 --> 01:04:49,280 some of the others that we've seen there because we go down the river anytime to 841 01:04:48,480 --> 01:04:54,720 fish in the winter time or summertime 842 01:04:51,920 --> 01:05:00,240 but my husband he even fished in deep snow down the river but 843 01:04:57,599 --> 01:05:04,960 i wonder why he was never called to give a chance to work down the river 844 01:05:03,280 --> 01:05:07,920 you know to clean up um so that's something that can talk 845 01:05:06,319 --> 01:05:13,760 offline i'm not really sure i would have to talk with recreation but we can talk 846 01:05:10,160 --> 01:05:13,760 offline on that on that topic 847 01:05:14,240 --> 01:05:20,799 this isn't really an economic development question but just a maybe a 848 01:05:18,480 --> 01:05:25,839 safety question in the community are there more parking opportunities that 849 01:05:23,520 --> 01:05:29,599 are being developed for the people that take 850 01:05:27,280 --> 01:05:35,680 advantage of the bike trail i know they can use the county complex 851 01:05:32,720 --> 01:05:39,599 i've seen people parking sometimes trespassing on private property 852 01:05:39,760 --> 01:05:47,359 parking on the bike trail itself at the historic markers different places 853 01:05:44,960 --> 01:05:51,280 and i think people are just trying to get out here and enjoy the bike path but 854 01:05:49,359 --> 01:05:54,240 it can create safety 855 01:05:52,160 --> 01:05:59,280 safety issues and we've personally have had some trouble with trespassing but 856 01:05:56,559 --> 01:06:04,160 just more in general i'd like to know if there's any ability i know it's 857 01:06:02,000 --> 01:06:08,319 private property maybe trying to find places for parking yeah i'll be honest 858 01:06:06,400 --> 01:06:12,480 it's not something that we have explored but that doesn't mean staff is taking 859 01:06:10,319 --> 01:06:17,200 notes tonight that we can't i know breesen will have some opportunity 860 01:06:15,520 --> 01:06:21,839 and they're looking to acquire more property to expand another operation so 861 01:06:19,920 --> 01:06:24,720 it may be something in the future but i know it's especially on the 862 01:06:23,200 --> 01:06:29,280 eastern end because they have herron creek they have the courthouse area in 863 01:06:26,880 --> 01:06:34,480 this end but i've seen that on the on the eastern end 864 01:06:30,880 --> 01:06:35,920 just in the like the little cuts so we 865 01:06:35,200 --> 01:06:39,599 the yeah the board and i we have not 866 01:06:37,760 --> 01:06:44,240 explored it again because we don't own property so it's kind of it's harder to 867 01:06:41,839 --> 01:06:46,880 do development on property you don't own right 868 01:06:45,119 --> 01:06:50,960 so that's something we can we can explore 869 01:06:48,480 --> 01:06:54,160 i was also just gonna ask off that um so if you're gonna put a brewery right 870 01:06:52,400 --> 01:06:58,720 there same thing are you gonna account for people parking for long periods of 871 01:06:56,319 --> 01:07:05,119 time there and if not can we put it on the radar 872 01:07:00,799 --> 01:07:05,119 for this development i think you know 873 01:07:06,319 --> 01:07:12,400 maybe so we'll we'll explore that further 874 01:07:13,039 --> 01:07:15,839 anything else 875 01:07:19,119 --> 01:07:22,000 absolutely 876 01:07:25,440 --> 01:07:30,880 um i would like for people to 877 01:07:28,960 --> 01:07:34,480 shout out answers on this one how much do you think it takes to run 878 01:07:32,480 --> 01:07:38,640 the county and the schools for one week in charles city 879 01:07:36,880 --> 01:07:43,520 hang on how much 880 01:07:40,319 --> 01:07:46,160 how many 100 000 anybody else 881 01:07:46,880 --> 01:07:56,440 100 and what 150 000 to operate the schools and the 882 01:07:51,520 --> 01:07:56,440 county for one week what does it take 883 01:07:56,880 --> 01:08:04,640 i haven't run the numbers on the new budget 884 01:07:59,359 --> 01:08:08,079 but as before july was 436 000 a week that's what it takes to run the schools 885 01:08:06,640 --> 01:08:13,119 now there's some federal state money in that but that's why the board is 886 01:08:10,799 --> 01:08:16,880 really adamant about bringing in economic development charles city 887 01:08:15,200 --> 01:08:20,239 we have to and and i've said it for years and years 888 01:08:18,640 --> 01:08:24,600 and michelle's tired of hearing me say it if we don't we're going to down the 889 01:08:21,600 --> 01:08:24,600 vine 890 01:08:26,319 --> 01:08:31,679 all right i i do believe that it only takes an 891 01:08:29,520 --> 01:08:35,520 hour to have power and so um or if there are not any other 892 01:08:33,759 --> 01:08:40,640 comments mr chairman do you have anything you would like to address the 893 01:08:38,799 --> 01:08:45,279 audience we have a microphone for you behind you 894 01:08:41,920 --> 01:08:45,279 we all have to use a microphone 895 01:08:47,520 --> 01:08:53,040 first i'd like to say good evening to everyone and i commend the account 896 01:08:51,759 --> 01:08:58,640 administrator and our assistant can administrator for 897 01:08:55,520 --> 01:09:01,839 making a great presentation and i think we need more of this and i hope you all 898 01:09:00,319 --> 01:09:06,239 continue to do this on the count of the citizens and i would like to thank the 899 01:09:03,679 --> 01:09:10,400 citizens for coming out this evening to have the input we can always agree to 900 01:09:08,640 --> 01:09:15,120 disagree but still we want to hear what you have to say 901 01:09:12,880 --> 01:09:19,040 it's very important that you come out and address these issues 902 01:09:17,279 --> 01:09:22,880 and a whole lot of people i would call them 903 01:09:20,880 --> 01:09:27,600 parking lot meetings and you know that doesn't count i mean 904 01:09:24,799 --> 01:09:31,759 you come to us we don't we don't have to disagree 905 01:09:28,960 --> 01:09:35,520 but we can work out these issues and you know i commend all y'all for coming out 906 01:09:33,279 --> 01:09:40,400 this evening and i hope that uh see you all shortly i know miss johnson 907 01:09:37,600 --> 01:09:44,400 and dr russell scheduled another meeting they just beat us to death 908 01:09:42,880 --> 01:09:48,719 but thanks everyone for coming out this evening 909 01:09:45,839 --> 01:09:53,839 we appreciate all of you um our doors are always open via email phone calls i 910 01:09:51,920 --> 01:09:57,440 know we get you know several emails you have a question and i try to get back to 911 01:09:55,440 --> 01:10:01,679 you within the week everything takes time right you know some of these ideas 912 01:09:59,840 --> 01:10:05,520 have been going on now for three years you know 913 01:10:02,560 --> 01:10:10,080 and we want it to happen expeditiously but it just that we're in government in 914 01:10:07,840 --> 01:10:14,880 corporate we can make things happen right but here it's a process we have to 915 01:10:12,080 --> 01:10:19,600 get public input but we are excited with the direction that we're going we feel 916 01:10:17,440 --> 01:10:24,719 the board and administration that we're going we're being very smart about it um 917 01:10:22,480 --> 01:10:28,960 and so we appreciate all of you if you have any other questions you know we're 918 01:10:26,640 --> 01:10:33,400 going to hang around for a second but please come out you know the next 919 01:10:30,640 --> 01:10:38,000 board of supervisors meeting is the 23 920 01:10:35,040 --> 01:10:42,880 tuesday before thanksgiving um so please come out we have our christmas parade 921 01:10:40,159 --> 01:10:48,480 coming up on the 11th we put out a poll on facebook about ice skating ring and 922 01:10:45,199 --> 01:10:52,159 we had several people about 85 people to say yes so we'll have ice skating mr 923 01:10:50,880 --> 01:10:54,480 coat is going to get on some skates y'all 924 01:10:55,440 --> 01:11:03,280 and so 925 01:10:58,400 --> 01:11:08,320 we had 129 responses we had 37 no and the rest were yeses 926 01:11:06,719 --> 01:11:11,760 well we're going to try one day and to make sure we have the participation 927 01:11:09,920 --> 01:11:16,320 before we make the investment so our grand illumination is december 928 01:11:15,440 --> 01:11:19,760 5th and so we're going to do a drive through 929 01:11:18,080 --> 01:11:23,120 on this area and so we're going to light up the 930 01:11:21,360 --> 01:11:26,800 downtown we have some treats for everybody who drives through we got some 931 01:11:24,880 --> 01:11:30,960 special things we're going to be giving away so you stay in your car you enjoy 932 01:11:28,880 --> 01:11:35,040 the lights and you just drive out so we're excited to do that on december 5th 933 01:11:32,960 --> 01:11:38,880 at 5 00. so a lot of things that are going on parks 934 01:11:36,800 --> 01:11:43,520 and recreation is doing a lot you know i see a lot of their events are now sold 935 01:11:41,360 --> 01:11:47,760 out and so we're excited to just continue to offer great programming to 936 01:11:45,440 --> 01:11:51,520 you guys but we do appreciate you we want to say thank you for coming out um 937 01:11:50,000 --> 01:11:55,840 and if you have any questions just let us know enjoy the rest of your evening