City Council Meeting   3/17/2025

I call the Charlottesville March 17, 2025 meeting to order.

Council Oschrin?

Present.

Here.

Having established a physical quorum, council will consider a request from Council Snook to participate electronically.

Yes, I am.

All right.

Okay.

Are there any... Can everyone hear former Mayor Snook?

Yeah.

Second.

Can we vote?

Visiting family in Ypsilanti.

Second.

Can we please vote?

Okay, yes.

Okay, this meeting will be divided into three sections.

The first one will be a work session where we hear and discuss presentations that do not require a vote, followed by a closed session, and then the Council will have a regular business meeting at 6.30.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council, thank you so much for the opportunity.

Before we get started, I'd just like to say thanks to the community.

It's been almost 18 months that we've been working through this process, but the big thanks go out to the community.

The community came out to

All of our events are community engagement, so I'd like to say thank you to that.

Second, I'd like to thank the hard-working staff in Parks and Rec.

As I said, at the time when we started in 2023, we were probably around about only two-thirds full in terms of positions.

So staff worked day and night to get us through this process where we are today.

So thank you to the staff.

And if you do see our staff, please thank them too.

They work tirelessly through this process.

Before we get started introducing Mike, again, we went to the advisory board.

As you can see, their comments and the Planning Commission comments has also been added into the draft master plan.

and when I introduce Mike, our consultant, he will also walk you through the process of how we came here today and then we will be doing the presentation.

Thank you much.

Mike Svetz, Principal with Prose Consulting.

Mayor, Councillors, I very much appreciate the opportunity to

I very much appreciate the opportunity to kind of almost land the plane on the master plan so to speak.

And so tonight's agenda, if I, there we go, just to provide a quick overview of the master plan process, understand responsive to Counselor Snook's comments earlier just with regards to demographics and some of the updates that we have made associated with those.

Alignment with other plans, the community engagement process, which you know is very involved.

Levels of service, connectivity analysis, cost estimating plan, as well as the goals for the project.

So just kind of very quickly from a demographics perspective, we wanted to be responsive to the comments that came in this evening or this morning or over the weekend.

A couple of things.

We are using a Weldon Cooper number to represent the city of Charlottesville's population.

We know that this is a bit different than what is reported in ESRI and the census.

However, we know that Weldon Cooper is very rigorous associated with that process.

In terms of the ethnicity race, we just wanted to make sure we recognize that the community is going to continue to become more diverse.

and also recognize that the largest age segment population is the 18 to 34, which is influenced by the University of Virginia.

We have updated the language within the plan to reflect the fact that it is not the entire student body of the University of Virginia that's reflected in this number, but that there certainly is

and influence associated with that.

Additionally we have also updated the population density numbers by planning area and so we wanted to make sure that that is reflected.

So all of this information is reflected in the updated plan which we will provide to everybody following any other comments that need to be incorporated into tonight's, after tonight's presentation.

In terms of the

We're stuck.

Just say next line.

There we go.

Okay.

In terms of the overall master plan process, it is a 10-year planning horizon.

We did really look at the investment in recreational opportunities for residents, as well as then understanding the unmet need and importance associated with those experiences.

and the plan also is reflective of the investment and reinvestment in city-owned and or co-owned parks primarily within the City of Charlottesville's borders.

We did touch on some operational components associated with this plan, but we also will touch on those even further as we get into an implementation matrix with the department.

Next slide.

We also tried to make sure that there is alignment with a lot of the other current plans and policies.

I will not read all of these to you.

The one that has the most longevity is the urban forest management plan, which is, of course, getting updated at this point.

But most of the other plans reflected here are within the last five or six years.

Next slide.

I know that Charlottesville thrives on it being an engaged community.

And there are a lot of different viewpoints to consider as it relates to parks and recreation.

We made a significant effort to try to utilize three very specific overarching sources.

In-person engagement, statistically valid survey, as well as the project website.

This allowed for ongoing engagement throughout the entire plan.

There were certainly some questions for us to address from the advisory board, which was to provide an overview of the in-person engagement summary.

With 33 different engagement opportunities, nearly 2,500 folks are reflected in these engagements.

They range from the framework plan sessions to large town hall meetings over at the Carver Center related to the master plan as a whole down to focus groups as well as presentations to you all and the advisory board.

in terms of in-person community engagement and what that looks like on a map.

You can see that we've we tried to take this show on the road.

We did not make everybody kind of come to us, whether it be at council chambers, whether it be at the park and rec offices.

We really tried to disperse and go where the community is at.

And in particular, around four very specific outreach events done by the department, as well as other departments from the city.

In person engagement themes that came out, economic development through park reinvestment, that parks and recreation as part of the fabric of the community certainly draws people to the community and is reflective of a high quality of life.

Reinvesting in the parks and recreation system is certainly a must.

Increasing river access is something that came up repeatedly.

The expansion of the shared use path system, the connectivity component,

General increased awareness and advocacy as well as outreach and then sustainable funding for Parks and Recreation.

In terms of community priority ratings, again, this is an overview.

This does not necessarily break down into the household types and or the planning regions associated with the plan.

The way to interpret this, again, is the high priority areas are the components of the plan in which the community wants experiences expanded.

in those specific areas.

Medium priority more or less means you have things that are right sized.

The low priority are areas in which the community is very specific targeted, specific age group, special interest and or skill.

It does not mean that you don't do them, but you're just not going to provide those activities and or programs and services everywhere.

It's a value associated with combining importance, unmet need and need reflected as part of the overall statistically valid survey.

Okay, sure.

In terms of park level of service based on population, an old school way of measuring how well you're doing in terms of providing parks or experiences through amenities and facilities

is to measure it based on a population standard.

It's very old school, but it is still a way in which many agencies rate and rank themselves.

You can see that in terms of the overall amenities and acreage, Charlottesville has a very robust park and recreation system.

compared to the median service level provided by agencies within populations of 50,000 to upwards to about 100,000.

So again, this is not something that should be understated, but it also is a recognition of the fact that we do have a pretty robust park and rec system in Charlottesville.

Can you hold that slide for a second, please?

Yeah.

Yeah, sure.

Yeah, the current level of service in park acreage is approximately 45 acres per 1,000 folks in the community.

The median is the tan in the middle there.

And then the delta basically reflects the difference between what Charlottesville offers and what the median offers.

And I tried to color code it in a way that says anything that was below the service level would be in pink.

Everything in green would be above the median.

You're above the median.

OK.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

In terms of level of service from an access perspective, this is another way to really start to understand how well you're doing.

So very recently, there has been a huge push with regards to meeting a 10-minute walk to park standard.

There's 84% of Charlottesville residents live within a 10 minute walk of a park and or school that is serving as a park.

This is significantly higher than the national median for urban areas, which is 55%.

But we also don't necessarily want to rest on our laurels.

We knew that connectivity, we knew that trails, we knew that moving people

in ways other than vehicles was going to be important to this community which is why we did a connectivity analysis which I'll talk to in just a second.

Another measure of level of service since this came up quite a bit was to reflect in this plan the urban river plan that of course is also reflected in your comp plan.

Right now there's only four boat launches as well as the Rivanna River Company's input site at Pantops along the entire Rivanna River.

starts up at Ivy Creek and ends down kind of close to Riverview Park.

The problem is that what has happened is people have created their own access points along the river, some trespassing on private property and also some that are certainly not what we would call formal.

in any way shape or form that creates safety issues.

This plan did not intend to dive into this any further so we want to recognize that from a recommendation perspective and it is reflected in the cost estimating that a true, you know, Rivanna River access study be done but it also be done in conjunction with the county in particular because there are opportunities where the county, where this opportunity would sit within the county.

In terms of the connectivity analysis, again, the goals were to kind of identify shared use path segments, identify opportunities to expand it as well as identify missing components, and then to prioritize them.

There's an entire prioritization chapter on this.

I think the recognition here is that staff has done a great job of really trying to identify opportunities

over the last 15 to 20 years to increase the shared use path, I guess, system within Charlottesville.

Really not much of it existed at all beyond what was at Riverview Park, say 20 years ago.

And so the system has been expanded.

There are a number of components that are currently near construction.

There are other components that are in the design phase.

All of those are currently funded.

What we have done then is identified with the help of staff to identify other opportunities to expand this shared use path system.

You can see that it is certainly spread throughout the community.

These areas have all been prioritized using a multi-pronged approach to

considering different factors between the function of the trail to an equity component to what it was connecting, a feasibility component, as well as even just a land acquisition component.

So there are a number of maps in the master plan that reflect all of the different stages of the shared use of health system in the plan.

In terms of cost estimating for capital improvements, we have a three-bucketed system.

One is just life cycle replacement.

Another is expanding services within the existing park system.

And the third bucket is the visionary bucket.

This is meant to be guidance for future CIP planning, beginning with fiscal year 26-27, not the budget that you're about to adopt next month, through fiscal year 34-35.

As mentioned, it does not include any projects to be funded through the FY 25-26 annual budget.

We did not want to, at that point, kind of double count in terms of that.

Just a reminder, your community, as part of the Statistically Valid Survey, did recognize that basically about 67% of your community

In terms of cost estimating... That's one I would like to have printed out if I put it on like a big map on the wall kind of thing.

I'm being silly.

I would agree as well, but I think that's where the random sampling occurs.

Now, I will say, and I think this conversation did occur last time, is this was not said if you wanted parks and recreation versus you wanted public safety.

It was simply a matter of, hey, you know what, if we improve the services based on the way you want things improved, would you support that?

But they weren't necessarily given a choice.

Yeah, but I do agree with you.

I think further study would need to be done.

You can't just take that as this is a blanket statement.

Generally speaking, people are supportive of funding Parks and Recreation.

In terms of the cost estimating by bucket, this is where you start to realize that it's actually fairly well balanced.

I know that at 57% of the projects, or $45 million, are the visionary projects, which makes up, in many cases, new paved trails and the investment in the framework plans.

But for the most part, it is kind of spread out between lifecycle replacement

improving existing parks and expanding primarily through the advancement of the connectivity component.

In terms of just, again, looking at it from a timeline perspective, as we discussed back a while ago, about $23 million of this is in the next six years from now, whereas most of the costs have been back loaded to fiscal year 32-36.

This is not intended to in any way, shape, or form create any sort of pressure, it just gives you an understanding of

recognizing that implementing a park and recreation master plan requires strategic financial planning and therefore then did not want to create a bunch of pressure with regards to trying to do everything immediately.

Great question.

Great point.

So everything in fiscal year 27 through 31, we have added a 25% cost escalator based on today's dollars.

Everything in fiscal year 32 to 36 is a 55% cost escalator.

And so these are today's dollars.

plus 25% for the first column, plus 55% for the second column, and then those total up to the grand total.

The only other thing I would say is that it is not in any way, shape, or form intended that the city of Charlottesville, through 100% of taxpayer dollars, would fund all $78 million.

There are a number of different funding strategies that can be accomplished, and we have identified those in the plan as well.

A lot of the connectivity component will likely be funded through a series of grants, as an example.

And then the goals.

Provide safe, accessible public spaces, meaningful recreation programs and events, prioritizing health equity across your community, ensuring that you have a diverse and dynamic workforce for parks and recreation, since it doesn't happen on its own.

Innovative and lasting partnerships.

I want to kind of hit the pause button on that one really quickly.

Parks and Recreation has a significant opportunity to continue to be growing itself as a community building, community builder.

It's a conduit for folks like the gentleman that just sat down to my left.

and all of the organizations that in many ways shape or form feed into the experiences that are desired by your community.

And so Charlottesville, given the fact that you have a robust parks and recreation system, you have great spaces and places,

can help facilitate those partnerships to advance things beyond just what staff could do.

Environmental sustainability has been a huge driver of the park system for the last 20 years, continually communicating with the community and doing so in a transparent way.

And what I mean by this is that

Do not wait for a parks and recreation master plan to outrage church community about parks and recreation.

Ongoing conversations with the community are absolutely needed.

Though a park system plan has a 10-year planning horizon, we know that trends around parks and recreation change.

and they can change year over year, they can change every couple of years.

So continuing to have that conversation with the community is really, really important because it has an opportunity not maybe to change the physical side of your system but possibly with regards to programs and services and also how you leverage partnerships which of course then can in turn leverage dollars and then creating that financially secure and resilient operation.

ensure that every decision that you make understands the operational impact as well as the long term life cycle replacement costs.

If you can't afford that or you don't think you can afford it, then do just don't do it because it takes dollars to manage and maintain anything that you build.

And you don't want to put something out there that in turn just doesn't feel like it's providing the experience that you want because you don't have the dollars to manage and maintain.

Outcomes, all of this kind of gives you an understanding of where we're at, but again, 10-year planning horizon, feeling very realistic and implementable about this, and also trying to ensure that it's financially sustainable, doesn't feel very aspirational in nature.

The only thing else that I will say is as it relates to community input and some of the decisions as it relates to framework plans, capital improvement, some of that was very well thought out in terms of understanding a specific park or a specific location and the micro-community around it that it in turn serves.

And so though there are in many cases a lot of, shall we say, rolled up recommendations or needs identified in this plan,

As we get into the truly engaged process, especially around the framework plans, there certainly was a lot of effort to recognize who the primary users of any specific amenity within parks were going to be, and so some of that is reflected in those framework plans.

The only other thing that I will say about those specific framework plans is that the

They are just that.

They are at the very, very beginning of any sort of improvements that would take place in any parks.

Further community engagement, further development of plans that actually would result in the construction will be needed in order for those to come to fruition.

Those have pictures associated with them.

Every park in the system

You mentioned the term framework.

A framework plan.

All right.

Lloyd, we'll start with you.

Yeah, I have a number of them.

First of all, let me say,

I had made the comments that I had made about the demographics in part because Charlottesville continues to have a problem when people look at Charlottesville because they don't know how to characterize Charlottesville versus Albemarle versus the metropolitan area or how to count the university.

It's a familiar problem we run into every 10 years with the census.

And of course, it got even more confusing in 2020 with the advent of COVID.

So anyway, it's something we need to try to get right.

One of the questions that I had was a question that was raised in part because of a comment that was made at the Planning Commission meeting.

And I watched the Planning Commission video.

And that's the question of, again, a demographic question of somebody was asking, well, why are we putting in another cricket pitch?

I don't know whether it's been subject to anybody else's examination, but I know there already is a cricket pitch out at Darden Tow Park.

I've seen people playing cricket out there.

Because there was a mention by Mr. Anthony that 9,000 Afghanis were in Charlottesville just in the last few years.

And I know we've had a substantial infusion.

I've actually done a little bit of work with some of them.

We haven't had 9,000 of them certainly and I'm just wondering whether we have either a reliable source for that figure or do we know is that the Charlottesville Albemarle metropolitan area?

Is it specifically in the city of Charlottesville or what?

I can address the specific question about the cricket pitch and this also kind of goes to the same similar question with regards to the tennis courts.

The idea was for the inclusion of a cricket pitch was not to completely turn

the athletic field there into a cricket field.

It was intended to kind of create an opportunity for it to be multi-purpose in nature to recognize that there was a larger immigrant population within walking distance of that park.

So you'd still be able to play soccer, you'd still be able to play baseball or softball.

The idea was just to add that element.

Yep, thank you so much.

Again, as I mentioned earlier or later that evening that that was a mistake by me.

There was an article that picked up of 7,000 but it stated Charlottesville area.

So that's the, yes, I do apologize on that.

Okay, I saw the initial comment.

I didn't see the correction.

Thank you for clarifying that.

The broader question that I have, though, is

We have a lot of parks that Charlottesville residents use in the county and a lot of county residents use city parks.

And I wonder how much planning we have ever been able to do with the county to have sort of a common goal of, all right, we want to have so many tennis courts.

We want to have so many pickleball courts.

And I mention this in particular because at the same time that this is being presented to the Planning Commission, we were having a meeting of the Arden Powell Committee, which consisted of Mr. Pinkston and me from the city, and Supervisor Bill Episto-Kirtley and Supervisor Ned Galloway from the county.

And one of the questions we had was specifically,

What do we want to do with pickleball courts at Darden Tow Park, which is of course a jointly operated park, but it is in the county.

I didn't see in this discussion, in this master plan, any discussion of Darden Tow Park, of course it's not technically in the city, I don't know whether it was a part of your charge or not, but it just emphasized to me as we

We worked through that discussion, the need to have some joint planning and some joint understandings about how things like pickleball courts and tennis courts and so on will be apportioned.

In the specific context of the pickleball courts, I noted that it didn't seem to make a lot of sense to have half of the available courts be pickleball and half of them be tennis courts, but in two separate locations.

All of them in one location and all of them of the other kind in the other location and Supervisor Galloway basically said well one of the concerns he would have is that he's and this reflects ongoing issues between the city and the county is that we don't really have any way of guaranteeing that he doesn't have any way of guaranteeing that

the way that the city would treat these things in the future.

And I guess that leads to the question of whether we need to be having some really more robust joint planning even to the point of having some kind of a mutual parks authority or something like that so as to be able to bring that degree of cooperation between the two jurisdictions

to the point where we know that our citizens don't care whether they're going to a city park or a county park if that particular thing they want to do is located where it is.

Why do we care that much?

Maybe we ought to figure out a way to work together on all of this for everybody's benefit.

Well, I would say that the scope very specifically was focused on Charlottesville residents as well as the areas in which you own and or co-own.

So there is some recommendations associated with Darden-Tow, but nothing that influences the number of experiences or different experiences with Tow, given the fact that the county does kind of drive the bus with regards to that.

or at least manages the site maybe is the best way to say it.

The concept of regional parks and recreation certainly goes back to my time here as the director and there has been I would say on a site by site, issue by issue opportunities where conversations have taken place.

The issue that you raise with regards to tennis and pickleball is a great one because there are still 25.8 million people in the country that are playing tennis.

Pickleball is now at 19.8 million.

So the whole concept of, hey, you know, we're going to take one from the other doesn't really work because you have

significant populations playing both.

We recently did, I recently did a tennis and pickleball court study in the city of Boulder for this very specific issue to get away from the robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Your point about Charlottesville residents don't care if the county's managing it.

Albemarle County residents don't care if the city's managing it is absolutely spot on.

One of the survey questions was, who do you use for parks recreation experiences?

The number one response for your city of residents was Albemarle County.

Number two is Virginia State Parks.

Number three was actually the city of Charlottesville.

So that kind of gives you a sense of, hey, you know what?

Your community absolutely taps into county parks, taps into its own parks, and it taps into what takes place outside of even just Albemarle County.

I personally think that you have an opportunity, and maybe it starts with a specific study, a specific conversation, whether it be around athletic fields, whether it be around tennis courts or pickleball courts, whether it be around the Rivanna River, to be able to have a conversation that says, hey, you know what?

We need to think about parks and recreation a little bit more holistically because of all of the underlying

Sentiment in which people are just going wherever they need to go to get the experiences they want to get.

I would say starting at a project level would start to leverage that kind of regional approach and leverage that kind of partnership as opposed to trying to force it at a park authority level, which I think would open up a lot of different cancer forms.

Can you remind me the sort of process of reviews?

We have a Parks and Rec committee or board, is that correct?

Yeah.

Okay.

And then you've taken it to the Planning Commission, I guess that was last week, and it sounds like that conversation was a good conversation, but they also have given their blessing as well.

In my opinion, what we heard from our advisory board and the planning commission, they're really, really impressed with the comprehensive master plan that was presented that we have at the moment.

There has been comments in terms of demographic questions.

I saw Councillor Snook's email about those pieces.

That's correct.

And this gets integrated with our comprehensive plan?

Is that what we're looking at tonight?

That becomes an amendment.

Okay.

Pickleball, tennis grew by 8% last year, pickleball grew by like 36%, but they're very different sports.

I think we have a tendency to lump them all together because they're played on a very similar surface in a very similar way, but a user of pickleball

is exceptionally different than how folks play tennis.

It takes 30 minutes to figure out how to play pickleball.

That's a very sport that's engaged around social activity, whereas tennis is much more of a skilled sport.

They can also do pickleball at ACAC.

Yeah, that entire conversation that we had in Boulder reflected private, public, everything to really give us an understanding.

Yeah, I have a couple things.

First, thank you very much for the energy that's gone into this.

I attended one of the functions at Washington Square Park last spring and got to see how many people came out for that and that was really nice to see.

I have a couple of notes and a couple of questions.

The first note is kind of

Small, but just as we build the more restrooms for the public, I would like to just note that this is one of those equity versus equality things.

The same number of restrooms on the men's side and the women's side is not going to be adequate.

So if we could just make sure we allot extra space for the women's side, that would help.

with the type of usage.

And then generally a comment, some of the trails listed specified or noted a lack of tree coverage.

So I just want to ensure that we're trying to get as much tree coverage on trails as possible as they're built.

I know Chris is all over that, but if that's just make sure that's in the plan.

I know the connectivity with the county has been a big thing that people keep bringing up and I think that is important to recognize and aim for.

Not just locally and immediately in our urban ring, but the three notch trail if and when that comes to pass.

which I hope we're all very enthusiastic about.

That's going to involve connectivity within the city and the county and the counties beyond that.

Okay, excellent.

Thank you.

I'm excited to see that happen.

Another thing that I think should be incorporated, and it is a little bit, but not enough, and that is language supporting bikes.

I know there was a little vocab lesson with, like, this is what a pump track is, and this is what a traffic playground, and then there's a couple of those added, and in general, you know, connectivity amongst the parks is something that is mentioned.

We can take a look at advancing the conversation in the connectivity analysis

with regards to the purpose of a shared use path.

So a shared use path is intended as the name is for people to use in multiple ways.

The idea behind that was for that it would be accessible and it would be multifunctional.

So biking and walking and jogging are all intended for that.

If there's a need for us to enhance that a little bit more around the biking,

I want to be very clear that the shared use path is also intended

It's not intended to be a commuter bike path for bikes solely.

I've actually seen that in the city of Calgary where you have a recreation trail and then next to it you actually have a commuter trail that is intended for people to ride bikes on just specifically, almost like a high speed path.

So that's the only thing that I want to be very cognizant of is that

Absolutely, I can appreciate that there's a difference between the express lane and the leisurely usage but also we are

Land Contrained in a way that we might not have enough space for that if we are unwilling to take more space away from cars.

And so in the in the interim, until we get to that point where people are more comfortable with that and people have made that mode shift, I think making I mean, we get there by prioritizing bikes as not alternatives to walking or jogging, but as first choices over

especially cars.

So if that's a little more explicit in here, I think that would be a great push forward there.

You know, people do both.

Commute and recreate on their bikes.

And so having that space useful for both, not just to get to work or whatever, but to get to the parks themselves, which kind of brings me to another point.

On page 58, it's listing the differences between community park, regional park, and

The community park is small, nearby, easy to walk to, and then the other two includes as amenities ample parking.

And that is one of those phrases that kind of

My hackles raise a little bit at that because if we are doing a better job at connectivity I can leave my front door and bike to a park that's not within walking distance or would be a longer walk and so I wouldn't need the ample parking that that park provides.

I know that speaking in my experience other people have mobility issues or bringing a lot of stuff with them but if more people are

showing up on their bikes or by walking or jogging there, then that leaves enough space for the people who have to drive.

I can say right size parking.

And I think your point of what you just brought up is exactly the challenge that we always run into when we talk about parking when it comes to community parks and regional parks.

A best way to describe a neighborhood park is that length of experience is 30 minutes to an hour and a half.

And people aren't usually bringing anything with them.

They're just going to the park to experience whatever is provided to them.

Community parks and regional parks start to become a three, four hour potentially all day experience.

And people are bringing stuff like sports equipment and so on and so forth.

And that's where the challenge always runs with, hey, making sure you've got enough parking to support people that actually have to bring a bunch of stuff with them in order to experience what you're telling them that the park is intended to experience.

So there's always this kind of balance between

getting people to parks in different ways, but then also saying, this is the experience we're asking you to provide, and we need you to bring a bat bag, we need you to bring gloves, we need you to bring hats, and all the stuff that comes with even just doing a picnic, so to speak.

So it's those kind of things that we have to find the balance.

I would say that

The design guidelines are just that, they are design guidelines.

And I think every community is a little bit different in terms of how it interprets those.

Your point about ample parking probably makes it sound like more parking than you need.

Makes it sound like parking forward instead of park forward.

Right.

That's something I think we need to keep in mind because it also plugs into our general citywide kind of shift towards multimodal accessibility.

Yeah, understood.

Yeah.

Thank you.

And then

I was really, it was nice to see that 84% of people live within a 10 minute walk to parks already.

That's lovely.

Yeah, excellent.

Thank you.

It was a long document.

Probably not everything, but simply because this is not an update to the bike ped plan.

It's the park's master plan that has a connectivity component to it.

So I don't think we can overwhelm a park's master plan with

starting to expand it and have it feel like a biped plan because that wasn't within our scope.

Yeah I think one of the memorable things for me from those comments was places like the Pump Track or the Traffic Garden or other areas where young kids can learn how to properly ride and navigate on a bike and if that's something again we're trying to generate that mode shift more

Right, exactly.

And again, if you look at our outcomes in terms of partnerships, we are not talking about partnership outside of the city, but we're also looking inwards.

And that's why we have a partnership with India, with Tommy, for example, that has a mobile pop track.

So we are partnering with him right now, looking to see where that can go.

to kind of bring the community out to tell them, hey, we have a workshop or we have a clinic.

Great.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yep.

BMX track is a racing track.

Okay.

Yeah, a little slower speed, I think.

Brian, there's actually a Google question that pops up.

What's the difference between a BMX track and a pump track?

And the answer is not very much.

and I would say the pump tracks, if you look at them online, I was curious about it too because I was not familiar with the concept that there are pump tracks where you can, you know, they're wooden, some of them are wooden and you can take them from place to place and put them in different places.

In other situations, they're asphalt or concrete or permanent fixtures in some way.

The one thing that intrigued me was the notion that going up and down would provide enough energy to ...

It's sort of like almost the definition of the logically and physically impossible perpetual motion machine.

There does, in fact, have to be some significant input of energy into the process.

That's all for now because the Riverview parking lot is not in here, right?

Yeah, so I'll save those for later.

Just as a quick comment, I would agree with others on the point of, as I read it, it sounds like the perceived demand for some facilities like tennis and baseball is going down, but I hope we don't take that to eventually reduce those facilities significantly, because I think there's always just going to be something different about public access to it as opposed to needing to pay for it, even though I know there's a tension between pickleball and tennis, for example.

But in terms of questions, like a process question, like as an example, we adopt this document, let's say residents in the meadows, we want to begin a process to activate that park in a specific way.

Yeah, so once, especially for the park that we, or the land that we acquired, what we will do is we will do our internal engagement.

We'll address our park planner.

We'll have a series of engagements with that community.

It's asking specific questions since it's such a small park.

What amenities would you like to see it?

Would you like to have it just be a passive park?

Would you like to have a PC equipment in it?

And trying to engage with the community.

Once we have that,

Plan done and written.

From there we'll go into the implementation stage where we will either, i.e.

And I guess similarly, and maybe it's the same in this plan, it has more specific plans obviously for Washington Park, Market Street Park, Court Square Park.

There's a lot of elements that are still up in the air about what implementation of that would look like.

So it will follow some process.

Number one, it will be up to the pleasure of the board that decide which park you want Parks and Rec to move forward.

From there, we will then have to do a specific master plan and really move it to a conceptual, as Mike said, conceptual design in order to get to a construction docs.

But we, as council, we need to allocate money for a master plan for

to get to the specifics.

Okay, thank you.

I said this last time, and I know this is beyond the master plan, but I think it's important for Council to be thinking about that as we approach the 10-year anniversary of August 11th and 12th, because I think there are important decisions we have to make in terms about

If we memorialize those events in those parks, if we do how we do it, I think that can look a lot of different ways and I think should be done and can be done thoughtfully, but I think it sounds like that's a decision that we as council are going to concretely need to make in terms of both prioritizing funding a master plan and then giving direction in terms of do we want any public art or memorialization as part of that, it sounds like would kind of be the next steps.

Specifically for Market Street Park?

I think both for Market Street and Court Square Park, as well as memorialization of 4th Street, but obviously that's not the park.

But I know that's beyond the master plan.

But yeah, as others have said, I think it's clear a lot of care and feedback went into this, and I think largely reflects

the importance of our park system and just how it connects with pretty much every one of City Council's priorities.

It is an enormous public resource in all kind of different ways.

So I think it does largely cover that.

If I had to identify something where I feel like maybe we could call it a more specific plan, I would agree with some of the criticism we've got email of around

the Rivanna River in Riverview Park.

I know it does call out increase, I think, a plan for increased access points along the river.

And maybe that's not in conflict with the Rivanna River Corridor Plan and the Rivanna River Basin Commission.

But just thinking about what that corridor could be in terms of a river district and utilizing the historic assets along it, including Thomas Jefferson's birthplace, the largest black-owned farm in

One of the largest black owned farms in Virginia that was black owned throughout, before the Civil War, during the Civil War, after.

I think there's just a tremendous amount of potential there that I could see it worth council identifying, you know, we want to do more than just like a study of access points.

We want to think about fully implementing the Rivanna River Corridor Plan and turning this into something bigger.

So I don't know if this master plan is in conflict with that idea, but it seems like it's not

I think our intention is to reflect components of the urban Rivanna River plan within this plan because it's very consistent with a lot of the community feedback.

So we wanted to raise it from a recreational perspective in terms of how it fits within that bigger picture.

Right.

No, and I would definitely agree with that.

Again, I just hope if we do a study and maybe we elevate it, you know, beyond just that as the goal.

Yeah.

It's been a conversation for decades.

So I just had a – Michael, you finished for now?

Yeah.

I just had a couple of comments.

One is kind of extended from what Michael was saying specifically about Riverview Park.

Ironically, I have a mentee that lives on Riverside, and when he's having a bad day, I just kind of ask him, like, how do you deal with your stress or calm you down?

And he said he walks.

and Riverside.

So I think, you know, I'm glad we're doing these things, but a lot of people just kind of go to get away and to walk and to, you know, particularly that one with the river there.

It's really calm and soothing.

So I know that a few weeks ago we had a project to restore the shoreline, I mean the restoration of the basin or something.

I know that's something that we're considering doing to partner with the

and Marvanna River Alliance, I think, for a grant for that.

When this started, it seemed like years ago, my main concern was the input process, because we know a lot of times with these things we only get very active, you know, the activists to kind of come out and they can, you know, and I just want to make that we didn't just

You all went to the public and you had a lot of different ways and I heard about it and I know you got a lot of input so I'm really happy with that process and one of the things that Natalie brought up and that

I was going to ask was about the ADA kind of process.

And I know, Sam, you're coming up with a plan.

So we, ADA coordinator, was a part of the steering committee as well.

What we included in the cost estimating plan for capital improvements was his recommendation in today's dollars for the amount of money that needs to be incorporated into parks just simply from ADA perspective.

So that has been at a 10,000 foot level incorporated into the plan as a cost.

So again, that may not necessarily end up being a cost tied to parks, maybe something that's tied to ADA.

And my last comment or question is and it's kind of

hits on one of the things that Michael did, and that's kind of arts in the park.

I'm thinking that once the, what is the project at the Jefferson School, Swartz?

I don't know exactly what the projects will look like, but it might be several of them, and we may want to put them.

in different parks.

And I just want to make sure that we may already have a policy or whatever for that, but I don't want to go back later to say, you know, we need to create a policy if that's what we want to do, and maybe we cross that bridge when we get to it.

Oh, I see Lloyd's hand is up, too.

One second, Lloyd.

So that is separate from this process.

Mr.

Freeze is working on that.

You'll get more information in regards to an ordinance and a program around arts and parks.

Thank you.

Okay, so I note that we are not here to vote on this, unlike the Planning Commission, which did have a vote to add it to the comprehensive plan, which prompts my general observation that there are a number of things set forth in the appendix of specific actions that are suggested for perhaps six to ten years down the road that

Although we might at some point want to incorporate this plan broadly into the comp plan, I would be reluctant to do so if we were necessarily adopting as though it were the product of real deliberation some of the specific things set forth in the appendix.

For example, one of the proposals is in the years 6 to 10 out there to remove the basketball court in Greenleaf Park.

There's another proposal to remove a basketball court from Northwest Park and replace it with a futsal court and then remove a basketball court in Fifeville for a fitness court.

I have no idea what a futsal court actually is.

I don't know if anybody is actually playing it around here or wants to be playing it around here.

And it's not the point of my inquiry at this point.

Correct.

I would say the reason that we are calling it a cost estimating plan for capital improvements is because you're not adopting a capital improvement plan for Parks and Recreation as part of this.

The idea was we went through an intensive kind of park by park improvement exercise that incorporated a lot of different data points.

And we wanted to be able to give you a cost estimating plan.

We have to tie the cost estimating plan to something specific.

Does that mean that that is going to happen?

Absolutely not.

It's just that says, hey, you know what?

Here are opportunities and ideas around which you can improve.

your park system as being intentional about incorporating and listening to the community as well as staff as well as other consultants as part of this.

But this also leads to my sort of broader question.

Was there some sort of back

The information was such that you have so many basketball courts in your community.

And those basketball courts have been in those parks for generations.

And your community has started to become more diverse in certain areas.

The idea was to reflect that diversity

Okay, didn't know that.

So to Lloyd's question earlier, we are part of the business meeting.

You're voting later.

I have one smaller note that I just found in my notes from earlier.

The Market Street Park has the tentative plan has a plaza with decorative paving in the center.

And then in the analysis of the input themes is that we need more shaded areas and seating and picnic tables.

So I see more trees going in around the edge, and there's the existing trees that are already there.

A big open plaza has lots of ways to use it but on any sunny day it's going to be the worst place to be.

The intention was to allow that space to function in all kinds of different ways.

And for special events coming in, that portable shade could be brought in depending upon the event, the function, the experience desired, without locking yourself into a pretty small space of saying, hey, you know what?

If you build that shade, well, now it limits your ability to use that entire space together.

So there was some intentionality.

And that discussion did come up to say, hey, do we provide something permanent shade here?

Or do we allow it to be something that functions at a multipurpose level that there are certain times of the year in which shade may not necessarily be needed and allow the shade to be brought in as part of the special event?

That was the intention behind that.

Sure.

Okay.

And the most fun part, I assume, for any of these master plans as well as implementation of the ADA elements and certainly the longer term goals, you know, in future budget cycles, City Council would have to allocate, you know, a significant increase to Parks and Rec's budget, correct?

I think that's just good for us to be aware of as City Council.

Both, I guess you're saying operational as well as the CIP?

and this isn't programmed into the CIP at all now.

10 years?

We have this document presents an opportunity to invest in our parks over the next 10 years and the question is at what pace?

Okay.

I would leave you on this note if there are no further questions.

Parks that are activated, parks that are used for the right reasons, parks that are productive end up being parks that don't get used for the wrong reasons.

I've talked to many police chiefs across this country and that one very simple statement holds true.

to your IHR comment.

Any other questions or comments?

Thank you guys so much and your staff.

Parks is one of the most visible things that we do.

Okay, I have a motion for a City Council closed session pursuant to section 2.2-3712 of the Virginia Code.

I move that the City Council close this open meeting and convene in the closed session as authorized by the Virginia Freedom of Information Act as follows.

under Virginia Code Section 2.2-3711A3 for discussion or consideration of the acquisition of real property for a public purpose and or of the disposition of publicly held real property where discussion and open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body.

Okay, so we'll vote.

Lloyd, do you?

Yes, for me.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, we're in closed session and we will return at 6.30.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yes, a certification of closed meeting.

Second.

Just to note this.

Yes.

Lloyd has indicated from the four o'clock meeting that he is going to be joining us virtually from Michigan?

Michigan.

Michigan.

And visiting family.

So we certified that and he approved of this.

So the next thing that we will do,

Are there any announcements?

Lloyd, you had mentioned that you had an announcement, I believe.

Hold on, I was trying to find it.

Okay.

Okay.

While he's doing that, I do have an announcement.

This is for the 2025 City of Charlottesville Business Survey.

If you are a City of Charlottesville business, we encourage you to complete the Office of Development's 2025 City of Charlottesville Business Survey by

by doing so you provide valuable feedback that the office can and team can use to measure Charlottesville and what we're doing to impact businesses where business want to come.

The survey should only take about five to 10 minutes and can be found on online at Charlottesville.gov slash econ dev.

So if you can contact

Madam Clerk, and she can give you the link for that.

Lloyd, have you found your...

Yes, I did.

Thank you.

So, on Saturday, March 22nd, 2025, at 3 p.m., the Virginia Department of Historic Resources in the City of Charlottesville will unveil a state historical marker at the site of the Carver Inn in the 700 block of Preston Avenue.

That's about 150 feet west of the train bridge on the north side of Preston.

During the era of segregation, the inn was listed in the Green Book, a national guide to facilities that welcomed African American travelers.

It was among the few hotels in central Virginia where they could stay.

In addition to lodging, the Carver Inn offered fine dining, a private social club, and a beauty salon.

The inn was razed in the 1970s when Preston Avenue was widened.

The new marker that will be erected or unveiled at that point was funded by the city's Historic Resources Committee.

Following the unveiling at about 3.30, Preservation Piedmont

will host a viewing of a documentary film featuring the Carver Inn in the Swanson Room at the Central Library, 201 East Market Street.

The room honors Gregory Swanson, the first African American to attend the University of Virginia.

He was attending the law school at that point.

Mr. Swanson resided at the Carver Inn after his successful lawsuit to gain admission to the Graduate Law Program.

Thank you.

I'm looking forward to participating and saying a few words.

Thank you, yes.

We do indeed.

Whereas throughout history, women of every race, class, and ethnic background have made historic contributions to the growth and strength of our nation and our local community in countless recorded and unrecorded ways, and whereas women have played and continue to play critical economic, cultural, and social roles

in every sphere of life, constituting a significant portion of the workforce and serving as leaders, educators, entrepreneurs, and public servants.

And whereas women have been at the forefront of social change movements, advocating for equal rights, voting rights, and opportunities for all, strengthening families and communities in Charlottesville and beyond.

And whereas the city of Charlottesville recognizes the importance of highlighting and honoring the achievements of women past and present who have shaped our society through their courage, intelligence, and determination.

and whereas Women's History Month provides an opportunity to celebrate and reflect upon the invaluable contributions of women in our community and reaffirm our commitment to equality and justice for all.

Thank you so much.

I'm glad we can take a moment to

We now are at the first opportunity for public matters.

We have opportunity for 16 people to speak.

Two people have pre-registered to speak and the first one is Alec Pendleton, Pendleton Leon.

Good evening, Councillors.

On February 21st, I met with city and Rivanna Conservation Alliance staff down by the Rivanna.

We talked about river opportunities and challenges.

The Willow Mills neighborhood drains directly into the Rivanna.

Additionally, the neighborhood has less stormwater infrastructure than any other planning area in the city.

These features, the adjacency of the river and the lack of infrastructure, provide the city bike pad, traffic, parking, and fire planners with a unique opportunity to design their systems.

to minimize the quantity and improve the quality of stormwater runoff flowing into the river.

It's never too late to plan and implement thoughtfully, planning with a goal and a vision.

The mayor, Joe Riley, he was the mayor of Charleston for 40 years, 10 consecutive terms, has a list that will help us get there.

Give the people the finest land, not the cheapest.

Bring the water to the community.

Every detail is important.

Create a vision first.

Make pedestrian movement natural.

Knit the edges of each neighborhood together and connect fragmented pieces.

Don't forget about basic housekeeping and maintenance.

Maximize the natural assets.

Think regionally.

and above all else, build beauty into everything.

The people's top priority, according to the park's master plan, is trails.

Chris Ginsick has been building that inventory for years.

Another high priority item is river access.

Accomplish those priorities with Mayor Riley's list guiding your actions.

How might that be done?

Think long term like Mr. Huja.

Plus, follow the people's lead.

Look at the work of Gabe and Sonya Silver at Rivanna River Company.

Plant trees, cultivate respect and understanding of the river, its watershed and its wildlife.

catalyzed Charlottesville's riverfront renaissance, ventilate the four-mile riverfront with multiple access points via pedestrian and bike paths.

I worry that the recently accomplished federal functional reclassification of market and Chesapeake streets from neighborhood streets to minor collectors will, with the addition of the five-year sidewalk plan, supersize these shared streets into broad high-speed corridors like Elliott Avenue,

That would be a devastating outcome.

Instead, right-size the vehicle lanes, install a tree long between the street and the sidewalk, plant the trees called for in the 1975 Master Street tree plant 50 years ago, and do not enlarge the Riverview parking lot.

Thank you.

We have opportunity for another 15 people to speak if they would like to.

If you would like to

Yes, yes.

Yes, yes, to either one of the podiums.

I spoke in front of council, I guess it was a few months ago, on a gentleman named David Yancey who was from Charlottesville and his grave marker was down at Hartman's Memorial for 50 years while he was interned up at Oakwood.

So we did, we had a very generous donor who paid for his marker to be moved.

and so Hartmans has now done that and I checked at Oakwood Cemetery so Mr. Yancey's marker is, he's a World War II veteran and his marker is on his grave at Oakwood Cemetery.

and an anonymous donor lady from Charlottesville and her husband went down to Hartman's and paid for that stone to be moved.

Somehow it fell through the cracks when Mr. Yancey passed away.

He was a black man from Charlottesville, raised in Charlottesville near Washington School and he passed away and somehow the veterans paid for his gravestone but it never got moved.

and so we had been sitting down there at Hartman's for 50 years and so somehow it fell through the cracks.

So we've got it up now, it has been placed and the local veterans of foreign wars are planning to do a ceremony and to present a flag just because he was a World War II veteran and everything to give him that dignity or whatever.

Yeah, he was, David Yancey, he was from Washington pool area, from Charlottesville, and like I said, the whole thing, it just kind of fell through the cracks, but we're so happy, Hartman's got

over and we was going to do a GoFundMe to raise the money to get the stone moved and out of nowhere, you know, a lady just messaged me and her husband and her went and paid for it.

It took no time at all for someone in Charlottesville to

Step up to do the right thing and she says, oh I will Discuss it with Hartman's she paid for it Yeah, you know she paid for it And so it just took it took no time for someone in this community to step up to do the right thing Well, thank you for keeping it on the front burner because I had no idea I went to the cemetery yesterday and I said, you know, I'm just gonna hang out and

at Oakwood Cemetery.

I'm not going to hang out the center because I'd like to see his marker on his grave.

Yes.

Yeah.

Very pleased with that.

Very true.

Thank you so much, Lisa.

I think we can we give her a round of applause?

That's awesome.

That's why I love this city so much.

Well, it's the public hearing.

Would anyone else like to speak on an item other than the Parks and Rec?

Well, I will close the public matters at this point.

Consent Agenda, number 2, minutes from March 4, regular meeting, March 6, budget work session.

3, resolution to appropriate funding from the FY24 State Criminal Alien Assistance Program grant for Albemarle, Charlottesville Regional Jail, $9,036, second reading.

I have a question about item number four.

I don't know if it would be best to just remove it to the end of the meeting.

Yeah.

Sure.

I move for approval of the consent agenda with item number four moved to the end of the meeting.

So this evening I have invited two representatives from community partnership organizations to present updates.

These are projects that are in collaboration with the city using city-owned land.

We have Bennett's Village and the Botanical Garden that will be giving their updates.

All right.

So good evening.

My name is Karen McClurkin, and I am the president and the co-founder of Bennett's Village, which is working with the city to build a multigenerational all abilities play space at Penn Park.

I'm here tonight to talk about the opening of a new accessible space at Penn Park and to invite you all to come celebrate with us on April 27th at our party in the park.

Next slide, please.

So I always like to start presentations by telling Bennett's story.

Bennett's village is named for my son, Bennett, who, like all children, loved to play.

He loved to play with his sister.

He loved to play with his cousins.

He loved to play with his friends.

But unlike most kids, Bennett had spinal muscular atrophy, and that made playing on traditional playgrounds quite challenging.

We used to drive over an hour to Richmond to the closest all abilities play space, but Bennett dreamed of a local place to play.

When he passed away unexpectedly at the age of five, we took our grief and decided to make his dream come true.

So his father and I first presented this idea to city council in 2019 to form a partnership with the city of Charlottesville to build an all abilities play space at Penn Park.

Next slide, please.

So we held community meetings and stakeholder interviews to better understand what the community needs were and what the current barriers were to play.

We met with so many people.

First and foremost, we met with people with disabilities and they drive much of our design work today.

But we also met with families.

We met with caretakers.

We met with geriatric specialists and mobility specialists.

Those with visual impairments, those with hearing impairments, occupational therapists, behavioral therapists,

teachers, organizations run by and working with disability communities and community members themselves.

With 2020, we hired Mahan Reichel Associates, a landscape architecture firm who had experienced designing play spaces that overcame barriers to play and recreation.

The concept designs they created, which you can see two of here, won two regional awards for their innovation.

Next slide, please.

For our first phase of the project, we decided to focus on the treehouse and the accessible path through the woods.

This would allow folks to continue using the current play space and provide us with an opportunity to show the community some of the considerations that come with designing inclusive play spaces.

We hired Euler and Company to build the treehouse and broke ground last spring.

The space officially opened in mid-January.

I want to quickly show you some photos of the incredible space and highlight some of the design features.

Next slide, please.

So unlike most tree houses, this one doesn't require a ladder or steps or a rope to access.

As you can see from the picture, it's built off of the back of the current play space.

We've added a sidewalk and an entryway that's wide and flat enough for wheelchairs, strollers, walkers, and those who may need a companion to assist them to move in and around the structure of the deck.

Next slide.

The sensory panels that we have were designed by local mosaic artist Nini Beckstrom.

The frames for the panels were built by our community member Jim Anderson.

The four panel series goes from early morning to late at night.

And there are little treasures like fossils and seashells hidden in amongst the glass and tile pieces.

Next slide.

The wooden cutouts are some of my favorite elements.

They represent sunlight, wind, water, flowers, trees, pulling in the natural elements that surround the treehouse into the space.

Next slide.

Yellow truncated domes provide a tactile cue for individuals who live with blindness or low vision, signaling transitions between walkways and entry points.

Walls provide contrasting color to floorboards, and the outer railing provides guidance around the perimeter for those whether you are this tall or whether you are this tall.

Next slide, please.

The electrical outlets are, this is one of the most exciting features to me because during one of our community feedback sessions, a member of the disability community emphasized the importance of having a charged cell phone for safety,

for communication, for interacting with doctors and insurance companies.

Medical equipment and communication devices often require power as well.

But electrical outlets don't just support members of the disability community.

We've all been out looked down and realized our cell phones about to run out of juice.

Adding electricity will be something you'll see throughout future elements to the park.

The electrical plugs provide opportunities for everyone, for those looking for alternate places to study or right to be immersed in nature, as well as to ensure safety and security for those with medical needs.

Having a place to plug in benefits everyone.

And I just want to give a shout out to Design Electric because they installed the electrical for free for us.

Next slide, please.

Another example of a partnership we had was with the Charlottesville area tree stewards and the Piedmont Master Gardeners.

We were able to add native trees, plants, and grasses to the slope behind the play space, improving the space.

I always, the Brownie, what was the Girl Scout way?

Always leave a place better than you found it.

And I just here want to give a special shout out to Cav Futures and the University of Virginia Library for planting with the Piedmont Master Gardeners on a day in December in which it was below freezing.

Happened to be my birthday so I only stopped by to take pictures.

Next slide please.

The Treehouse is a place for everyone, for all seasons, from early morning to early evening.

The photo on the far right is the one that I took the day the fencing finally came down in January.

Since the moment that fencing came down, the space has been used for quiet contemplation as the sun rises or sets, for hide and seek, for dance parties, for storytelling, and a space to explore and play with family and friends alike.

Next slide, please.

So in addition to the treehouse, we're working with Parks and Rec to add two additional accessible features this spring.

We've worked with Chris Junsik and the AMPPL trails to design a path through the woods behind the treehouse.

Bennett's Village received a grant from the Craig Nielsen Foundation to pave that path so that those using strollers, walkers and wheelchairs or who are a bit unsteady on their feet will have an easier time accessing the new path.

The path will be named Josie's Way after community member Josephine Klotz who passed away after a brief illness at the age of four.

Josie loved to explore the outdoors and the path below the treehouse will help everyone get out exploring the natural beauty of the woods.

We've also been working with Parks and Rec to design a family style accessible bathroom with an adult changing table.

Parks and Rec is paying for that renovation, but Bennett's Villas research the necessary features for the changing table.

And I think it will be the first public adult changing table in the community.

And I am so excited about that.

Like that barrier.

is something we don't talk about very much because toileting is something people don't really like to talk about in public settings, but having a safe space to support toileting needs for all community members of all ages and sizes is a really important way that we can lower barriers to play and recreation for everyone.

Next slide, please.

So what's next?

Well first, we're gonna have a big celebration.

This has been a long time in coming.

I'm hoping the entire council and everyone in the audience will come join us on April 27th as we celebrate the ways that we are making Penn Park a more accessible place to play.

We'll have food and lots of fun.

It's co-hosted with Parks and Rec and the family of Josephine Klotz.

We've invited different groups to come in that support accessible play and recreation indoors and out.

We'll have activities.

You can learn more about their programs.

You'll meet athletes of various sports.

You can come visit the treehouse if you haven't already done so.

Get your face painted, eat some food, and learn more about our plans for Bennets Village.

I actually would love to see the counselors getting their face painted.

That's a special request.

While registration is not required we are asking folks if they can sign up on our website so that we can better plan for the event and you'll be eligible for some fun raffle prizes including a signed jersey by Tony Bennett.

We're also looking for volunteers to help us make this day a success and I heard that the mayor has signed up so I'm super excited about that.

I encourage the rest of you to sign up as well and you can find that information on the sign up.

Okay, so what's next?

Next slide, please.

I guess the next slide is up.

So it's an exciting and active time at Bennet's Village.

Even as we're celebrating the opening of this magnificent space, Bennet's Village is working on what comes next.

We have once again hired Mahan Raghula Associates and we are working with Parks and Rec very closely to select play space equipment.

Thank you for joining us.

an accessible merry-go-round, additional bathrooms, a zip line and more.

Now, we know that in order to bring this to fruition, it's going to take additional resources to bring the plan to life.

So we'll be hiring development staff and creating updated outreach materials to support fundraising for the next phases.

Next slide, please.

We are always looking for folks to volunteer and spread the word and be a part of this great community project.

So you can find more on our website, or you can talk to me after the presentation.

And I hope you guys will all join us in April.

And if you can't be there in April, please stop by the Treehouse.

It really is a wonder to behold.

Thank you, Carrie.

You said you didn't like speaking in public.

You did awesome.

I hate speaking in public.

I mean, this looks amazing.

It's pretty powerful and I will say it has been a community effort and that has been one of the most wonderful things.

I was so happy that several years ago Lisa Torres on the school board introduced me to you and this project and I'm so glad to help with the, you know, some of the planning for it and when you get your mind set on something it's going to get done but this is just going to be, just like you went to Richmond to go to, we're going to have people come into Charlottesville to participate in this, there may be other places and so

It's just going to be an amazing draw to our community.

Some of them will stay longer, they will have a meal, they will, you know, shop.

And so this is just going to be not just a fun thing, because we talked about that before,

The only comment that I would make was that I was glad to be present at the groundbreaking, what, a year and a half ago, however long ago it was.

And it's been a great project to see from beginning to end.

Thank you so much.

That's a hard act to follow.

Joining me today is Kanzi Palmer who is the President of the Board of Directors and we have left some information at your table as well for each of you.

So next slide, please.

The information that I'm presenting tonight is as of December 31st.

Our fiscal year starts on July 1st.

The garden is being designed as a place for everyone to learn, play, explore, relax and gather.

It's a community asset that's already open every day of the year from sunrise to sunset, and we are working towards it being a combination of both accessible outdoor community garden rooms and interior spaces.

Our mission is to welcome all community members and visitors to engage in nature, to inspire learning through the beauty and importance of plants, to advance sustainability, and to promote human and environmental well-being.

Next slide, please.

Kanzi and I have been working on a three-pronged approach to build this garden.

First the internal organization which includes the board of directors, the advisory council, the volunteers and the committees as well as the staff.

It also includes our bylaws and policies and procedures because a project like this is really large and we want to make sure that the internal

infrastructure is evolved enough to support this project.

The next prong is stewarding the site so that the former leaf dump and mulch pile for the city is both welcoming and usable now while we are working on the third prong, which is planning the future garden.

Next slide, please.

Excuse me, Jill.

Sure.

An operating budget of $534,000 now.

We're approximately at $437,000 in our fundraising for this year.

We have received 50% of the grants that we've applied for this year so far totaling $88,000.

and that is what funds our free programs as well as a good majority of our stewarding the site.

We also have a capital campaign going and as of right now we're at about 9.7 million dollars towards our goal.

Next slide please.

With the events that we are able to offer the community, among other things, we have our botanical art festival, which we had the inaugural event last September.

This was a week's worth of free programming that was paid for by our ticketed art show.

Over 800 people, or almost 800 people participated in that week of programming.

This year it will be a month.

We'll be offering it at the Jefferson School Foundation and we look forward to seeing some of you come there.

There are other programs as well that we offer on a regular basis.

We have programs in arts, literacy,

Healthy Living, as well as Nature-Based Studies.

To date, as of December 31st, we had over 1,200 participants in that.

And then we also do programs with our partners, such as Bennet's Village and other groups in the community.

We are a destination for field trips for both public, private, and homeschool groups.

Next slide, please.

As I mentioned, we've been stewarding the site since 2019 and we do that through volunteer work.

We have programs three days a month as well as volunteer work days throughout the year.

We also use both contracted labor through arborists and landscape contractors to help us with

Projects that our volunteers are not, we can't ask them to do and we have a staff landscape manager who is now managing these efforts.

Next slide, please.

In 2022, we were able to negotiate a beautification lease with Norfolk Southern Railroad who has a right-of-way adjacent to the garden site.

and you can see that within, the date is missing on the bottom right slide, but within 11 months we brought overgrown right-of-way to a place where it could now be managed.

We were also, as a result of this, able to negotiate a grant through Norfolk Southern and they are actually helping us to pay for the beautification of this swath of land.

So we have one more year of judicious herbicide application on the invasive vines, and then we will be planting this whole swath of land in native plants.

Next slide, please.

We also worked with both the City of Charlottesville and the Department of Environmental Quality in order to collaborate towards making the stream restoration the best it can be.

We were very touched and honored to be

I want to thank all of the people that are included in this conversation so that the finished product could be something that would be beneficial to the garden in its programming.

And the minute the construction fence came down, we started our programs about the stream restoration and healthy water, and we've been really satisfied to see the aquatic life that's

return to the site as well as the diversity of birds that are responding to having clean water coming through the garden.

Next slide please.

We continue to work on the design for the garden.

We are now in the construction document phase for both the buildings and the landscape.

We've kept in mind during this process that we cannot charge admission to the garden, so we're designing it for both financial and environmental sustainability.

The first areas that we plan to build as part of phase one

is a small parking lot, the rain garden that is adjacent to the parking lot.

Number one on that map is the Garden Pavilion and number three, our Discovery Garden.

Next slide, please.

We've also been working with our architects on the buildings and I failed to mention that both the buildings and the landscape are

I'm sorry.

We have submitted our site plans to both the city and the county, so that's ongoing as we're doing the construction documents for both of these elements.

Next slide, please.

And these are some new interior shots of renderings of what these buildings would look like.

So the two on the top are the Garden Pavilion and the others are the Visitor Center.

So we are very honored to be able to partner with the city for this opportunity to build a garden just less than two miles from downtown Charlottesville.

and next door to Charlottesville High School.

It's a great opportunity for both the garden and we think the community also.

But we do have some concerns that we would like to bring to the attention of the council so that if you do hear staff talking about them, you know what this conversation has started together.

The first one is that when we were negotiating the land lease with the city, we talked about building wells or digging wells on the site in order to irrigate the garden.

At that time, I contacted both sewer and water, and they said that for a non-potable water use, that digging a well would be something that they would allow.

Therefore, it was not

added to our lease agreement that we would have wells.

Since then, there's been a law that's been passed where wells cannot be dug for water in the city of Charlottesville.

As I said earlier, we're talking to staff about this, but we're hoping that there is a way that we can negotiate being able to have wells dug because we're looking at 14,000 gallons of water that could

potentially need to be used for irrigation purposes a day and treated water for this purpose seems like an overkill if there's well water available to us.

The second concern that we wanted to bring to your attention has to do with water as well.

Currently, the water that is servicing Melbourne Road on the garden side of the railroad tracks comes from the high school and is a two-inch line that feeds both the Charlottesville High School sports stadium as well as the landscape shed.

Therefore, for our purposes, we have to run a line, an eight-inch water line from Park Street

down Melbourne Road across the John Warner Parkway.

During our pre-submission list meeting with the city, they said that we could put a fire hydrant at that corner and then run a six inch line to service the buildings for fire suppression and our other needs.

Since then we've been notified by engineering that they would like to remove the two inch water line that is servicing the stadium

and the landscape shed and have the garden pay to extend that line up for their service needs.

So we're hoping that this is, as a shared commodity, something that we can discuss sharing the costs for actually extending that line from Park Street.

And our final question to you is that when we signed the land lease, one of the things

One of the statements was that we needed to begin construction 60 months from when we first signed it.

That would bring us to November of 2026.

And we are wondering what exactly beginning construction means because we have spent a considerable amount of time and expense and

Manpower, bringing the garden to where it is now.

And so we just want to make sure that we understand completely what it means to begin construction since that was not clarified in our land lease.

So these are discussions that we know will take beyond the meeting today, but we just wanted to start these conversations now.

Next slide, please.

So our near future plans for the garden are to respond to the site plan submittal.

We're going to feed back both from the city and the county as we speak, completing our construction documents for the buildings and the landscape, meeting our fundraising goals to launch the public phase of our capital campaign, continue to expand our donor space and grow our operating fund, launch our membership program,

engage with more community partners.

And we have a full season of Super Saturdays starting this month on March 28th, which will now include classical music and poetry programs as well as gatherings in the garden.

And I hope that you can join us for one of those this year.

So next slide, please.

Lloyd, I'll start with you, sir.

No questions, but I just wanted to say that I've always been really pleased that you all have been raising your own funds for the most part.

We're always happy when folks are energized to go do something and even happier when they're able to raise their own money.

No questions.

I would say to the, I guess the questions you offer to Council, I would think myself and I think all of Council are completely open to being flexible in what helps facilitate you all getting to the place you need to get to, especially as Lloyd mentioned, given how much private investment you've done outside of the city.

I think it's totally reasonable for us to be flexible.

But that's just first reaction.

But yeah, no questions.

I think, as always, I think it's an incredible project and it's really going to be a signature public space for the community once it's completed.

I just have a couple of questions.

But you've got the drawing substantially completed.

Right.

So we're talking about November of 2026.

and I'm just looking at the current circumstances where there's chances of building materials go up with the tariffs that are being threatened.

I'm looking at grants being cut around us and just wanting to start this dialogue now so that I'm not coming to you in 18 months and saying, oh gosh, the sky is falling.

I want to be able to know what I need to bring to, what Kanzi and I need to bring to our board and say the

The City Council is happy for us to be able to do this much and satisfy that part of our land lease agreement.

We were hoping that at this point we were on target for both the design development as well as fundraising to start in 2026.

But again, I would rather air on the side of caution and start this dialogue now.

And then my other question is the Garden Pavilion looked lovely.

Okay, it's an 875 square foot event space, so it is open to many different uses.

Part of our agreement with the city is that we cannot charge admission, but we can charge for our events.

We can also rent our facilities.

Okay, great.

Yeah.

I'm sorry, I have one more question.

Back to the event space.

There is a small kitchen area, yes.

I am giving a tour to the city manager's office on April 17.

I believe it's at 2 o'clock.

And you are all welcome to join us if you're available.

I would love to show off the progress we've made as well as the future plans of the garden in sight.

We have

surveyed off the different locations for the different elements, and there's also signage.

Thank you.

Yeah, the work you were able to do with the Railroad Company to get a grant to, you know,

maintain and clear the side.

Something else that you may have missed but the restoration of the

The creek there is just amazing and the difference that it's made.

Yes, this is prior to the restoration from the railroad bridge to John Warner Parkway there was 50 pounds of sediment that was being eroded along those banks every hour.

and last year the work finished, April 2024, the blast plants went in and we had Hurricane Debbie and Hurricane Helene in August, September.

There was no evidence of erosion.

It looks great.

Yeah, I've been out there several times with you and without, and I just always like to point, because you pointed out the first time I went there a few years ago, the butternut, is that right?

The butternut tree, I just love that tree.

It's a beautiful tree that's for the most part been eliminated from this area, but we're able to find one there when you're clearing all of the trees.

Yeah, and it's now producing fruit and the fruit is being collected by Blandy Arboretum.

They're germinating it as part of a project that they have to continue native tree fruit and nut trees in the state so that when we get ready to plant our future grove of butternuts, they'll be able to contribute.

So even in these early days as a botanical garden, we are able to

So just like Bennett Village, this too would be something I think that would be a draw to the community that people would come here to take advantage of the beauty there.

Just like people here maybe go to Richmond, to Lewis Ginter, and others.

Yeah, and I just wanted to point out that Virginia already has a very significant garden tourism business.

The historic garden week in Virginia pulls in an estimated $13.3 million in just one week's time, and it has, over the past 55 years,

amounts to $679 million worth of revenue for this state.

That's it.

That is the end of my report.

Can I ask one quick question?

So we're meeting Thursday night.

Yes, the budget forum.

Potentially.

Yes, so in last week's meeting we reviewed a series of recommendations, the biggest of them being the Vibrant Community Fund.

There is money within our Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund, which you will hear tonight.

the Housing Opportunity Program support, COPS and CDBG that I have recommended that be pulled as discretionary items added to your council's strategic initiatives fund which I am proposing to increase to $500,000 along with money that we have identified through the budget process that is available.

creating about a million dollars for council to direct.

So ultimately what I'm looking for is what is the list of your discretionary items that you would like to consider using those funds for with a reminder that your strategic initiatives fund is probably something you don't want to expire this

quickly because the fiscal year hasn't started, so you'd want to hold on to some of that for use throughout FY26, but ideally I'm looking for what are your priorities as a part of this budget for how to use as much of that money as you would like to use.

So I'm looking for each of you to give me your list.

And quick question to clarify.

I forget if this was something we asked for.

and had gotten confirmed like we were going to solve about it, but the difference between all of the different eviction programs?

Yes, so you should have received the CRHA eviction diversion program.

That was the proposal that they submitted, FAR's leadership development program, so that you would see that that was that specific request.

Pathways is our program.

That's the city program that we've been funding for years.

So that wasn't, I didn't give you that.

Um, but you also have the vibrant community summary of proposals.

Right.

That was, that was a separate off cycle request that the, um, Blue Ridge,

What is BRAC?

Yes.

And Burt was PHA and I don't remember how much that was.

Correct.

And that was direct assistance.

Yes, and I couldn't remember if we had talked about trying to figure out if the pathways in CRHA 1

So I was giving you their description.

Great, thank you.

On that note, can we just remind everyone that there's a

City Council budget public hearing on Thursday, community budget forum at City Space from six to about eight.

Yeah, I was thinking of it being about

These considerations.

By registering to participate, that's registering to view.

All public comment is in person.

Thank you.

All right, that is my report.

We're now on to action items and we're at the public hearing and resolution for the Parks and Recreation Comprehensive Master Plan.

Thank you, mayor, vice mayor and council.

Again, thank you.

We had a great session this afternoon.

So we are here today to present the draft master plan, Parks and Rec master plan.

Again, we started out with starting this process in August of 2023.

and now it is March 2025, so as you can see we had a long process.

I want to thank the community first and foremost and then also to Parks and Recreation staff for working on this plan for a very long time.

Further ado, I'll introduce Mike, our Principal Consultant from PROS Consultant to do a short presentation, a condensed version, so that we can continue on with the public hearing.

Thank you, Ryan.

Mayor, Councillors, thanks much for the opportunity to provide you a brief presentation from the work session earlier.

So just kind of very quickly, the overall master planning process.

It incorporated implementation and considered implementation along the way.

That was a key driver to getting us to a point where we felt like we had realistic and implementable recommendations associated with this overall master plan.

It is a 10-year planning horizon.

It is an investment and recognition of the recreational opportunities desired by residents

but really based on community need, unmet need and importance and it also considers investment and reinvestment in city-owned and co-owned parks and facilities primarily with the focus within the City of Charlottesville's borders.

In terms of alignment with other current plans, as you can see, there's a number of different plans that this does have an opportunity to interface with, from bike ped plans, urban forestry plans, to the, you know, urban river, Rivanna River corridor plan, as well as any, certainly City of Charlottesville plans, from the strategic plan to downtown mall tree plan, climate action plan.

as well as your strategic plan.

Again, it is not meant that every action or every item associated with these plans is reflected in the master plan.

However, where there is opportunities to acknowledge these and build upon them, it is done so in the master plan.

In terms of holistic and continuous engagement,

I think it's important to recognize that we spent a considerable amount of time not just on the front end of this plan, but throughout the entire plan to seek community engagement.

Whether this was in-person engagement done at parks through events, or whether it was small focus groups focused on framework plans at Tonsler Park or Washington Park, from large community gatherings at Carver Community Center,

or formal meetings such as the Advisory Board Planning Commission or City Council.

We had over 33 different engagement opportunities, close to over 2,500 different participants along the way.

We also did statistically valid survey, which you could see a lot of that reflected in the appendix of the master plan, as well as hosted a project website where we not only used the website as an opportunity to

Post information about the master plan, but also to continue to solicit input.

Again, whether it be mapping exercises, whether it be surveys, whether it be comments on connectivity analysis or the framework plans, we use that project website as an opportunity for people to engage as well.

We did not rely on any one specific engagement.

It all kind of came together.

and some of these are reflected in very, shall we say, micro recommendations such as things like potentially considering utilizing tonsillar tennis courts as a multi-use court to be respectful of the immigrant community that may want that.

or possibly using a cricket pitch as a way to re-engage the multi-use field at Tonsler all the way up to the connectivity analysis which looks at the city as a whole.

And so all of this really kind of worked together in a way to create recommendations, some big, some small.

In terms of the goals, safe, accessible public spaces, meaningful recreational programming and events, prioritizing health equity across the city, ensuring a diverse and dynamic workforce.

I paused on this one and I'll pause on it again.

Building innovative and lasting partnerships.

Parks and Recreation has the opportunity, as you heard through a couple of great examples this evening, to be a community builder.

It's public space.

It's where people gather.

It's about experiences.

And so continuing to foster those relationships can leverage beyond the city's capacity ways to meet community need.

Establishing an environmental sustainable park ecosystem

connecting clearly and transparently with the community.

This can be viewed in a number of different ways, whether it be continued outreach, whether it be making sure that we implement the connectivity plan, whether it be recognizing that community engagement does not need to happen just every 10 years, and then also creating financially secure and resilient operation.

At the end of the day, it's a 10-year planning horizon.

It's realistic, it's implementable, it's financially sustainable.

The outcomes, community values and needs, assessment of parks, facilities, amenities, pools, program and service analysis, level of service provisions, operational and organizational assessments, park by park, facility by facility, improvement plans,

framework plans for Tonsler, Washington, Market Street, Court Square, cost estimating for capital improvements, and of course a strategic action plan.

Just a couple of notes.

You know, there are a couple of community needs that I think are important to bring out that we're not a part of

whether it be Albemarle County's plan seven or eight years ago or even a Parks and Recreation master plan in Charlottesville 20 years ago.

River access is a big deal to this community.

I found it to be a big deal across this entire state.

Unfortunately, this was not something that we were able to hone in on a micro level as part of this plan, but we do recognize that further study is done and have allocated, not allocated, but called out

You know, a cost estimate for a plan to be done in conjunction with the county that really just focuses on river access.

We recognize that that is a big deal.

And we also recognize, I think, from the framework plan perspective that these are just starting points.

It's step one of a five-step process before you would even get to a groundbreaking perspective.

So it is not intended, though they are visuals and they do have words around those visuals, they are not intended in any way shape or form to be a finished product.

They are plans that will go through a more intense community engagement process.

before they ever get to a point where they become construction documents.

So I know it's very easy to get hung up on pretty pictures and think that that's what is going to happen.

It's an idea of what could happen as part of this plan, but it's not necessarily what will happen.

Yes, so Lloyd, do you have any questions?

So we heard this presentation at four o'clock, so if we don't have any questions now, it's not like we are not interested in it.

Well, there are a couple of things that I wanted to bring up just because, although there are things that we talked a little bit about at four o'clock, I think they're important for folks in the community to hear as well.

One of those things is that we talked a little bit about the very specific proposals that have been made in one of the appendices to the plan for things that might happen in

years 6 through 10.

And one of my concerns, I expressed then and was reassured by everybody else that it was okay, was that we're not, if we add this master plan to the comprehensive plan, that we are embracing the plan as a whole, but we're not committing ourselves for example to the things that are projected to happen in years 6 through 10.

An example, the proposal is to remove the basketball court from Greenleaf Park.

That is not something that has been the product of detailed study by

Certainly not by council.

I suspect not by senior staff in Parks and Rec.

And I think it would be a mistake for anybody to figure that things like that are set in stone, that council is deciding, yes, we are going to remove the basketball court from Greenleaf Park or from Northwest or Northeast Park or from Fifeville Park.

that those are decisions that are still a long ways off.

So that's just sort of one point that was made earlier.

I want to re-emphasize that for anybody who did not watch at four o'clock but might be watching now.

The second point that I want to make is that I think it is important that we, as we plan going forward, that we plan more

and more specifically with Albemarle County because most people in Charlottesville and Albemarle don't really pay a lot of attention to which side of the boundary line the part that they're going to is actually on.

I think there are a lot of statistics mentioned in the report that talk about how many people in Charlottesville regard, if you ask them what part that they go to, they mention something that's more likely to be in Albemarle than in Charlottesville.

So I think we need to have some joint planning on things like this.

We need to have some meaningful way to get together with Albemarle County, for example, to decide on where we want to have pickleball courts as opposed to tennis courts and make sure they're adequate numbers of both and that these are being planned together.

So I hope that we will emphasize that kind of joint planning moving forward.

As far as what's in the report in specific, no complaints, no questions about the first 110 pages.

Thank you.

I have no questions and we're covered at 4 p.m.

I just wanted to re-emphasize that you've added kind of the note that throughout the process you've learned but weren't able to integrate fully into the report how important river access is to the community.

I want to note that again, bikes are also important to the community and increased connectivity and better land use policies from increased bike usage are also important to how the park system will be developed and I want that to be just as top of mind.

I don't have any questions or comments right now.

That being said, I will now open the public hearing.

Is there anyone that would like to speak on this item?

Yes.

Sure.

Hi, my name is Jackie Temkin.

I'm a business owner in the city, and I do a ton of volunteering in the city as well.

I also spoke in front of the planning commission meeting this past Tuesday or last Tuesday.

I appreciate you changing your elevator pitch to sort of address some of the things that I said, but I still don't feel like they're adequately being expressed.

A lot of the data in the master plan does not actually really lend itself to the recommendations.

The cricket pitch is an example.

I don't care if you build a cricket pitch or not.

I'm sure tons of people do build it.

However, according to your data in the plan, it's zero percent of households' profits

There's issues with it being the lowest priority in everything.

We're spending money on these plans that we're told are not concrete yet, but the tennis courts close at Tonsler Park for construction on April 1st.

So I don't know how not concrete that is if you guys are about to start construction on it.

My bigger issue, however, is the lack of addressing the partnership issue that's been historically a problem.

In a previous public meeting, Mike addressed the fact that partnerships have been really an area of concern for

the equity of accessing them through Parks and Rec.

I know we've heard about a couple of them today.

However, there's been a big issue for supporting women's sports.

Most of the partnerships are really only given to baseball.

Historically, they're allowed to build capital improvements on Parks and Rec land.

They've been allowed to post signage and things like that.

And we've been struggling to even get court space to rent for Girls Row the Court, which is a girls tennis program.

I'd like to ask council to force Parks and Rec to actually add concrete

Plan.

I don't care what it looks like, but it needs to be concrete and address the inequity of the fact that there's lots of groups in town who can't get these partnerships.

They have turned down partnerships with, I believe, PATA, who's the Piedmont Area Tennis Association.

They've turned down actually free money from the USTA for grants to try and improve some of these public areas, which would help with the budget.

But so far, we've just been stymied at every turn.

Even at the public or the planning commission meeting,

Brian, you said that you know that you guys have not done a great job of partnerships in the past and admit it, but there's no concrete plan guiding the next 10 years about what that's going to look like.

It needs to include socioeconomic, not just race, and it needs to include women's sports.

It needs to include the fact that really right now only baseball and boys sports are getting it.

I think that you mentioned there was maybe one sport now, girls basketball, for the first time in what, 2025, that Parks and Rec is getting

a partnership to girls sports.

It's not addressed in any of this.

I think the word female appears four times in 300 pages.

So I'd really, really recommend that you guys take a look at that, the inequity of accessing all of these partnerships and making sure that they put a concrete plan in place, not just saying we need to do better, but actually a plan about how to do better to reach different members of the community, including women.

We talk about refugees and things like that.

Half the population is women, and we have no plan on how we're going to address

previous inequities there.

Thank you very much.

Hi everyone.

My name is Helene Carey.

I'm a city resident and I work at Cultivate Charlottesville, which is a local nonprofit.

And we're excited that this process, as Reon mentioned, it's been a long process.

that the strategic planning process is coming to an end.

We know there was a lot of community engagement that went along with it.

And of course, you don't get to talk to everybody.

One thing that overlaps the work that Parks and Rec has done with some of the work that Cultivate Charlottesville has done is around putting a growing space at Booker T. Washington Park.

And we are very excited to see that that is in the plan right now, that there will be some kind of garden space there.

One of the things that is specific to Washington Park that has been talked about with community members is

the potential for gentrification, for further gentrification at that park and specifically one thing that is currently in the plan is a possible dog park in the space where there has been a softball field.

So that is one thing that whether or not that space stays a baseball diamond or a softball diamond or becomes something else that falls in line with the more historical

Potential uses for the park having it turn into a dog park is something that people have spoken out against traditional Neighbors who've been there for a long time folks that we met with through the Rose Hill Neighborhood Association when we did community engagement around that park as well have said Specifically that they don't want to see a dog park in the space that has been a softball field

So we are hoping that you all will not approve that becoming a dog park for, again, the reasons of further gentrification and listening to the concerns of the folks who live in that neighborhood.

Thank you.

Other comments for the public here?

Good evening, Council.

My name is Gabe Silver.

I live on Chesapeake Street near the Rivanna River, and I run the Rivanna River Company with my wife, Sonia, and I have some good background in tourism as well, having served on the

CACVB board for four years.

It was great to hear Mike reference the water and river access.

I was actually surprised.

I'm a one-trick pony.

I just think about water access.

But when I saw that it was the number two unmet need, as identified by all the folks that participated in

in their master plan process, I thought, okay, wow, a lot of people feel this.

And the number four prioritization for investment is water and river access as well.

And that's after trails and natural areas, which are sort of like bread butter park stuff.

And then comes water access.

So it's really clear.

I think

I understand there are reasons for the kind of saying oh this is for future planning versus like we have some things teed up we can talk about in detail but at the same time I'm really concerned about that because

The river corridor in particular has been sort of subject of planning for and talk for maybe like 40 years.

And some of the things that have come from fruition have been really wonderful, like the greenway that everyone uses along the Rivanna.

But there's been a lot of other things that really just have been sort of stuck in planning and talk mode.

And this master plan, not having really anything specific about water access,

What concerns me, because I think we should be of specifics.

For instance, for about nine years I've been talking to Parks and Rec about Riverview Park and how people love it, people go there, people want to do different things there, it's not working, there's some safety issues, here's some things we can do.

It feels like we go around in a circle, in a circle, in a circle about what can actually be done and improved, even though there's a lot of really good ideas on the table.

But I think water access in this area is going to play a part for local quality of life.

It's also going to play a part for diversifying the tourism draw, which helps small businesses tremendously.

And I think we don't have to feel bad in Charlottesville.

Albemarle County has really

Really not great water access as well.

So we can all work together to improve water access to our lakes and reservoirs, to our river, to help meet these needs that have been identified.

But I'd just really urge to start seeing some specific plans and not talk about, well, let's just put a little bit of money in for some more planning and we'll just think about it and write some more plans as opposed to some concrete actions, which are, there's plenty that are available and can be identified by professionals working in this space.

So, thank you very much.

Thank you, Gabe.

Anyone else like to speak?

I thought that with respect to, for example, Riverview Park, we have seen a proposal from the RCA.

It's in the budget.

So that's in the budget at the moment.

Again, we've been working with partnerships for a very long time, probably around about, I've been here for 10 years, been around for about 7 years.

So the first part is hopefully to get the restoration project done.

And if you are familiar with the park, during COVID, it became a very densely populated park since all of facilities was closed and people used the access.

Today, we still have that good problem existing where the park is densely populated and we have access

problem on our hands where people are parking in the neighborhoods, we are getting phone calls from the neighbors because it's just so hard to get a vehicle in and then can't get the vehicle out.

So our second proposal is requesting for some construction, for some ANI work done to do a layout of access so that vehicles can come in

Yeah, I mostly remember the proposal.

Thank you for that.

When we have some money set aside to help bootstrap this, is that right?

That is what he just described is actually the parking lot area project.

That's what's proposed.

We'll be bringing you more details on specifically on the water access.

Yes, that is.

The runoff.

Yeah, okay, so we are doing some things to, I feel like we are being somewhat responsive, at least in one area.

Hopefully we'll be able to make that happen, seemingly approve it in the budget, and that would be exciting.

So is it, can we get more information on the comments about the

Where we are lacking in Parks and Rec is partnership and also access to gender.

And again, what I always view this master plan is not to look at our good things, but also to look at improvements.

And this is a good

Stepping stone for our department is to look at what can we improve.

So we are looking into that at the moment, is to see how we can enhance our partnerships, because we can't do it all.

Parks and Recreation cannot do it all, but at least if we partner and work with different partnerships in order to make that happen.

An example, as I mentioned in the Planning Commission,

You know, we just worked with a company called Hur Sports, basketball, and we have flag football coming online.

But we're also looking at other avenues as well.

So again, give us time.

So I think, thank you so much.

I think what I'm hearing is that like, you know, like if

Peewee Baseball or whatever you know if they have a space and they've been doing it for 30 years or whatever and they have and someone else wants to do it I'm just using that as an example it's hard for someone else to kind of get a crack at it and maybe now that you're aware of this even if it's not in the plan least staff knows that it's on the radar and would try to

If I could address that, I think her comments are totally spot on and one of the things I think that we can do to help leverage and move that conversation along is to provide some pretty significant best practices around partnership policies as well as allocation policies associated with exactly the kind of issue that she's referring to.

I actually did this very specific kind of issue

in Pasadena, California, where there was inequities with regards to allocation of male versus female fields and courts and so on and so forth.

So I'm happy to incorporate some of that as a starting point into the appendices of the master plan so that folks don't necessarily feel like they have to start from scratch.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mayor, I just wanted to share that I'm actually really proud of the Parks and Rec team.

They actually underwent an equity audit

internally to make sure that they were being equitable to their staff, many of whom are women who lead these courses for our youth and our adults.

And I do believe in some of the check-ins that I've been able to have with Director Anthony, those are absolutely things that we're going to work on.

I'm really excited to see the materials that Mr. Spez can share with us and work with that team to ensure that we are providing

easily accessible opportunities.

I know often sometimes it's who you know and that's how you get certain things.

We want to make sure that anyone who wants to provide that access, whether it's additional courses for First Tee so that all youth have an opportunity if they so choose to go on the golf course or whether it's other opportunities such as maybe having African dance.

Good, that's great.

So, we look like it's going to be on the agenda for April 7th.

Mike, if you can pull that information and provide it before then, that would be great just for us to take a look at.

Mr. Mayor, one quick question.

Talking about the allocation problem, when a team of some sort or a league would like to be able to use a field that goes with a school, who allocates that?

Good question.

Parks and Rec is the allocator for that.

Okay, so I mean, I will tell you, when I was a little league coach back in the old days when they were still using wood bats, I suppose, we had a situation where we had a soccer field player or a soccer team practicing in right field while we were trying to have a little league practice on the diamond at Greenbrier School, and that kind of allocation problem

I always wondered who was really doing that and now I guess I know.

I just want to make sure that's not going to be a problem in the future.

Thank you.

If we agree to hear it again, that's just, I would like to hear the updates of what's been changed since Planning Commission and Council got their hands on it and since we've heard from the public.

I would reiterate, you know, I don't know if this document is the most important place for it to live or where it would be, but I would reiterate my concern in terms of the Rivanna River, in terms of we've made significant investments, and I think this calls out increased river access, but my concern is none of those things connect with kind of the scale of the ambition of, I think, what our urban Rivanna River corridor plan

Jesters towards and what I think is possible there.

So I don't know if, you know, this is the document that has the most impact in that respect, but I think wherever we can and it's impactful, we kind of need to connect these investments as part of a much larger vision.

And the other thing I just wonder about, which I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, is just

None of these things will be implemented unless in the next budget cycles we as City Council prioritize this, because these are some pretty significant investments that aren't baked in.

So I think that's just for our own awareness, but for the community as well.

Anything, Brian?

So we'll hear this as an action item.

at the April 7th meeting.

So the next item on the agenda is public hearing and resolution for the 2025 Ready Kids accessible play.

No for parks.

I'm so sorry, I know this is backing up, but quickly, as a city we passed the recent upzoning which also eliminated parking minimums.

There's language in here describing a park that has a minimum of five to ten parking spaces and I just want to be clear that that

would not fall under our new zoning code to have any kind of stated parking minimum.

Okay, good evening Councilors, Mayor, Mr. Mayor, Ms. Thomas, my name is Anthony Warren, I'm with the city's Office of Community Solutions and I feel like we've been almost set up to succeed by following so many wonderful presentations about converting public spaces into more accessible, opening, welcoming, inviting resources for our community.

I'm very pleased to have with me Amy Troyer, who's with Ready Kids,

I feel like we're talking about a story of a dream deferred in which they had spent a lot of time allocating very precious resources to develop their building into a very welcoming space and then they had some plans to work on some outdoor space.

and then the pandemic came along and they needed to reallocate their precious resources to their actual core mission services and the idea of working with this limited outdoor space that they have kind of fell by the wayside.

We have an opportunity here to kind of address that and to encourage them in this kind of redevelopment of this outdoor space.

I'll kind of skip through some of the notes a little bit but

There we go.

So today we have an opportunity to provide some funding that we are requesting be reprogrammed from prior activities that are either left over, a fair block of money that was allocated to the city for addressing the

COVID pandemic either in terms of prevention or remediation or planning for future healthy environments.

This kind of falls in along all three of them.

The Ready Kids building, if you can see right here, this is just a general proposal of one of the possibilities that this space can present.

And if you see these areas right over here with the numbers on them and kind of a blank space, that's the welcoming room.

That's their entrance.

They spend a lot of time trying to make that as welcoming to allow for some spacing.

And they still have clients who are so medically fragile that when they drop off their children for services, they go wait in their car for an hour or a little over an hour because they can't sit in a room for an hour or whatever.

And Amy can speak to that much better than I can.

All I'm saying is that we would like to propose reallocating some of this money from prior purposes.

No currently proposed activity would lose funding.

It fits into a variety of the city's plans and goals and ambitions and well within the scope of the Housing and Urban Development.

Frameworks under which we operate for the Community Development Block Grants Program.

Good evening, Council.

It's so great to see you all again.

Great to be before you.

As Anthony said, this really is a dream deferred.

We were really grateful to celebrate the opening of our beautiful

Building on the heels of this renovation and expansion in late 2019, early 2020.

We all know how the story goes from there.

The pandemic comes and funds are having to be reallocated to direct services programming, ensuring that city children and families are having their needs met through counseling, family support and early learning opportunities.

Playground got pushed to the back burner.

These are some old sketches that we did with Building Goodness Foundation back in 2020.

I'll be honest with you, support from the city really triggers this project, especially given the now unstable state of federal funding that makes up 23% of our funding portfolio.

We are committed to

raising whatever capital funds are required to complete the project.

But without city support, we really can't initiate this.

We have to continue to prioritize fundraising for direct programs and services.

But with these funds, we would get to reinvigorate this program.

We have begun talking to Cohort, which is a local women-owned landscape architecture firm that has a lot of great experience developing accessible, inclusive outdoor spaces.

We're very hopeful and we've been very inspired by our conversations with Anthony to the extent that we have some vision casting coming up with our masters level counselors and one of the lead landscape architects within the next four to six weeks to begin envisioning and dreaming what could this space look like

even down to the simple fact that the concrete slab deck area that comes off of the back of our waiting room has a pretty significant six inch drop.

So folks who have different forms of mobility, if they walk with a cane, if they use a wheelchair, it's not an accessible space and we really are hopeful and grateful for the consideration of the city council

Just help this space be more inclusive, more accessible, more welcoming to the families that drive into.

Most of the ones coming to our office are receiving counseling for trauma.

And one last point before we take any questions.

If you look on this sketch that was done a number of years ago, where they have the concourse and it says FFE 457.98, that's a barrier door leading from their waiting room to the outdoors, meaning that there's a significant lip.

It's a very narrow little concrete block.

It's not even a pad that you go on to.

It floods a little bit when it rains so there's no drainage built into it.

And one of the things that we came upon very early on in terms of design principles is that space right there right outside the door would be made accessible with a ramp.

And that would be a well spaced covered patio with drainage built in and accessible tables so that families can come out and then their children can play in whatever the space goes into and they can supervise

And the outdoor space currently is very underdeveloped for obvious reasons.

But it still uses a therapy space for some of the children, even though it doesn't prevent much of what we think that it could grow into.

Thank you.

No, I think as a $50,000 investment from CDBG, it makes total sense.

The only question I have out of curiosity is, once you receive the funds, what would you anticipate kind of your ballpark completion date being?

And do you foresee it being a pretty, it sounds relatively straightforward, but do you perceive it being kind of a project?

We don't foresee any complications.

We're still quite early in the process in terms of that vision casting meeting coming first.

We've discussed budget, staging, and support with Cohort and their landscape architecture firm.

so that way we can approach it realistically as responsible stewards so based on different funding opportunities what could be accomplished with $30,000 that would start with improving this outdoor deck patio area grading of the land up to the building and improve drainage with more defined paths that would be stage one.

Stage two and on would include

more intentional accessible play with feedback from our master's level counselors to ensure that we're also incorporating therapeutic assets in this space.

And then further from there is thoughtful landscaping with sustainable native shrubs, native plants that make good use of the space.

So unfortunately I don't have concrete dates for you.

We hope and expect it to be not.

Two advantages that they have here are that they have plans that were put in place initially.

The digital assets that went into a lot of this sketch work still exist and they can build upon those.

We're basically resuscitating something that was begun.

in good faith prior to the onset of the pandemic.

And the money that this would represent also presents opportunities for them to go to very specific funders who do match funding for projects like this, who have said, we'd love to help you, but we do match funding.

So maybe 50 cents on the dollar up to a certain amount or whatever.

And they've had those preliminary conversations.

Okay.

Any other questions, Michael?

No.

Okay.

Okay.

No, I don't.

I'm fine.

Thank you.

I do have one question.

What's the overall budget for this project?

I know $50,000.

We don't have the final budget at this point, Lloyd.

We are still in conversations with cohort where she knows what we're presenting to

Okay.

Well, I'm fine with it.

Yeah, I absolutely support this.

I think it's great.

Can you, just from my edification, where is

Where is East High?

Can you locate?

Where's the bank?

It's now a coffee thing.

It used to be Western Union?

As an aside to that, the Belmont Bridge corridor is going to work through this area, it's going to take some of their land for a little while right along the street so that they can put in

municipal utility lines I guess and then this project will be able to pave well with what the city already has in place for rebuilding that space so they can rebuild the fencing.

You said part of the Belmont Bridge?

Yeah, the corridor coming off the bridge that's coming through there, it's going to go approximately a quarter of a mile past their building.

It's going to take some of the land right by the sidewalk, and they'll be able to tie that in.

Yeah, I support it fully.

So I think that we need four out of five, is that what it is, to agree to approve it in one meeting.

Sure.

Yeah, I would move approval of this item.

Let me find it in the text here.

Move approval of what says public hearing.

Do we need to do a public hearing?

Oh, I'm sorry.

Yeah, I'll open up the public hearing for this.

Anyone like to speak on this?

Okay, can we vote?

Which say you, Lloyd?

I say yes, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Good evening, Councillors.

My name is Jason Vandiver.

I'm the City Treasurer and before you tonight as a member of the City's Retirement Commission, this particular item is a clerical amendment to City Code just to clarify some language regarding public safety disability retirement.

So as you all know, the City administers two retirement plans.

One is a defined benefit pension plan.

The other is a 401A defined contribution plan where its members receive a contribution each period.

As part of that plan, there's a provision that sort of governs what would happen in the case that a public safety officer were injured in the line of duty to the point where they could no longer perform their essential job functions.

When the city added the defined contribution plan around 2001,