Tuesday night at the County

Here is what happened at the Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, August 21, 2007. These are the combined notes of a group of citizens who attended. They are not minutes of the meeting. They are just citizen notes, provided here so that Page County citizens who might find they want to do something or get involved with any of this, have a chance to do so while it is still possible.
The meeting went from 7 p.m. to about 10 p.m. The topics covered were:
- A permit to put a light on a cell phone tower
- An ordinance to allow people to get business licenses if they work out of their homes
- Motor vehicle licenses
- Transferring land
- An ordinance to make a person pay for the use of emergency services if they are incurred while that person is committing a crime (ie drunk driving)
- A presentation about the status of broadband Internet access in the county
- A shameful turndown of Danny Comer’s rezoning request (editorial comment to follow)
- A resolution to declare the county in a state of Agricultural Emergency because of the drought (I take it this is in preparation to ask the state for money)
- An ordinance to start collecting real estate taxes as soon as an Occupancy Permit is issued (meaning, they didn’t hear Charlie two weeks ago when he told them people don’t get occupancy permits around here )
- A contract for Northwestern Community Services
- Some 911 address changes
- Some inaudible and impossible to follow changes to the budget that’s unreadable in the first place
- Some additions to the Capital Improvements Wish List
- Some new citizen members of the Water Quality committee
- A vacancy on the Planning Commission in District 2
- An approval to move forward with the pond at the end of the runway at the airport (more editorial comments to follow)
- A fire training center in Stanley
- A resolution (non binding) to tell illegal immigrants to get out of Page County
- Approval to pay a consultant to help build a Land Use Map (but just phase 1, the map, not the rezoning rewrite) -- this one is going to have its own Blog

I’m going to put this entire citizen’s report in one Blog here. If a topic gets significant comments, I’ll open up its own Blog.

I’m also going to make a special Blog for Rezoning, since that’s a hot button.
A. Special Use Permit: Shenandoah Mobile Company.

The special use permit allows the placement of a warning light at the top of an existing communications tower. The tower is located in an area frequently used by Medevac helicopters and presents hazard to public safety. Under current county ordinance, a light is only permitted if required by the Federal Communications commission. This requires an exception to county ordinance. In the interest of safety the waiver was approved. The special use permit was approved with certain restrictions, most notably that the light be red from dusk to dawn and white at all other times. The waiver and special use permit were both approved.

B. Ordinance Amendment to Home Occupations

This ordinance amendment has been percolating for a couple of months. It will allow certain small home businesses to operate without obtaining a special use permit. The intent is to encourage virtual businesses in the county. The biggest concern was the potential for excess traffic created by delivery trucks (UPS). It would seem there is really no way to enforce any restrictions that might be applied. Apparently the business licensing process will provide some sort of control. It wasn’t clear but I guess the business licensing process will react if there are a lot of complaints about too many trucks coming and going. The change was approved by the Board.

C. Ordinance Amendment to the Motor Vehicle License.

When the requirement to purchase a county decal for motor vehicles was eliminated the language that replaced it to continue to collect revenue on vehicles was a little muddled leaving some question as to exactly what constituted a taxable vehicle. This change defines a taxable vehicle as one that is licensed and on the road. An exception for disabled veterans was provided for in the amendment. This amendment was approved.

D. Transfer of Real Estate to the Economic Development Authority.

This provides for the transfer of ownership of real estate within the Luray town limits to the county’s Economic Development Authority. If I understood correctly, this property is adjacent to existing industrial park owned by the county and completes the transfer of ownership of property contiguous to the existing property. This action was approved.

E. Ordinance to Permit Reimbursement to the County for the Costs of Response by
Law Enforcement, Firefighting, Rescue & Emergency Services for Criminal Violations.

This ordinance provides for the ability of the aforementioned county functions to collect reasonable cost of response to situations where a criminal act has taken place. I understand this to mean that if a drunk has a car accident and is found guilty of DWI the cost associated with police and EMS response will be reimbursable to the county by the perpetrator. Makes sense to me! This action was approved.

Presentations.

Bluebird Presentation – Phase I Final Report.

The county, through the Economic Development Authority, has hired a consultant to pursue the potential for extending the availability of broadband internet (high speed) access throughout the county. The term Bluebird has been applied to the project. During Phase I, the consulting firm performed assessed the need for broadband internet access as well as for broadband education development.

The presentation provided a lot of numbers developed by the consultants based on citizen response to questionnaires. I assume if anyone is interested they can obtain a copy of the report or at least read it in the county administrator’s office. The bottom line is county citizens seem to want to proceed with creating the availability of broadband internet access to expand educational and business opportunities with the provision that its cost be reasonable.

The report also provided an assessment of the need for developing educational opportunities for potential broadband users. There are a number of educational partners including James Madison, Lord Fairfax Community College, PRISM (don’t know what the acronym stands for). I gather the long range view is to provide a pathway from tech training to higher education on computer/internet technology for educational and business purposes. Other educational opportunities exist with the Shenandoah Community Computer Center and the Page Workforce Job Center. I gather that these organizations tend to provide more hands on training to develop skills in specific software application use.

There is enough county interest to continue pursuit of expanding broadband internet access but to do so will require some investment spending. It wasn’t clear to me if the county will be willing to foot the bill. If I understood correctly, the state has expressed interest in using Page County as a pilot project for modeling rural broadband access. I assume that means they will provide funding for this purpose.

SWBA/IPV6 Presentation.

The Bluebird project will eventually dovetail into the existing but limited broadband access capabilities with in the county. I missed exactly what the acronyms stand for but the there is an entity in Shenandoah that operates as a wireless broadband authority (SWBA?). It was created under a grant and provides access to the Shenandoah area. Once the grant is ended, it will be able to expand into other parts of the county. If I understood correctly, funding to expand the capability will come from the state. The capability will have to provide an open network so that any service provider can use it. It will necessitate having a few more communication towers in the county. The I PV6 reference is to the next generation of internet technology. I am not too sure what that means at this time but I would surmise that it will be incorporated into what I hope will develop into the availability of broadband internet access throughout the county.

Public Comments on the Agenda Items.

There weren’t any!

Action Matters.

F. Rezoning Request – Danny Comer

This request provided for the rezoning of about three acres of agriculture use to residential use to build a duplex dwelling. What transpired between the Planning Commission being opposed to doing this but somehow it was sent forward to the Board for approval. The county’s concern is that this would be viewed as “spot development” and would therefore be in conflict with the Comprehensive Plan (protect rural environment) and set a precedent. This could lead to future conflicts with the Comprehensive Plan. The fact that the proposed dwelling would be a duplex did not help the matter. Mr. Cubbage did not see a problem and asked that the rezoning be approved. The property is in his district. Mr. Shanks added that if the “vision” of the county is to ultimately consider that general area for residential use, then perhaps it would not be considered “spot development.” The rezoning request was disapproved (Supervisors Strickler and Cubbage voted to approve it.)

G. Resolution to Declare an Agricultural Emergency.

Mr. Whittle from the Virginia Cooperative Extension asked for a resolution to be sent to the Governor’s office to declare Page County in the state of agricultural disaster due to the effects of drought conditions during the summer. In view of the recent rain, it seemed that calling the situation an emergency was a little strange. Nevertheless, the drought has had a negative impact on the agricultural community. I gathered that the ultimate intent was to get on record with the state with the county’s problem. At some later date, depending on what Mother Nature does, it would be in place to enable the county to obtain emergency relief such as low interest loans. The implementation of a resolution was approved.

Mr. Whittle introduced a new county agent with a specialty in Food, Nutrition and Health. I didn’t hear her name very clearly but it sounded like Britney Wilkins. She will cover Page as well as neighboring counties.

H. Ordinance to Amend Article XIV of the County Code Pertaining to Real Estate Taxes.

The intent of this ordinance change is to provide for prorating real estate taxes to collect revenues on homes that obtain occupancy permits during a given calendar year. Essentially this would mean if an occupancy permit is issued in October, the homeowners tax bill for the next year would be adjusted to collect taxes accruing through the remainder of the tax year during which the occupancy permit is issued.
This was approved unanimously.

I. Northwestern Community Services Performance Contract.

Don’t have a clue what this was all about but it was approved.

J. Proposed Address Changes.

Due to some inconsistencies in county address designations there was a need to change the addresses (and create street names?) for a few folks to facilitate 911 Emergency Services responses. The homeowners were all notified and I assume in agreement with the changes.

The changes were approved.

K. Budget Changes.

Since I didn’t have a copy of the proposed changes, it was difficult to follow exactly what Mr. Belton was proposing to change. I gather one of the items was to “earmark” some excess funds from the School Board for use in funding items for the new schools that are not currently funded. The rest was somewhat inaudible. It would be helpful to citizens if there is a PP slide showing the budget changes. Anyway, the proposed changes were approved.

L. Appointment of Committee to Review EMS Revenue Recovery.

Members to the committee were nominated. I didn’t catch all the names but Mr. Shifflet and Supervisor Strickler will be on the committee. Its estimated time to perform the action is 6-12 months. They would like it to be shorter to accommodate next year’s budget process but it would seem unlikely that it will occur any more quickly.

The nominations were approved.

Adoption of Capital Improvements Plan.

I have no idea what the Capital Improvement Plan proposes to do from one day to the next. It is a document that serves as a planning tool. Its adoption does not constitute approval of any future capital improvement projects. It seems to represent a moving wish list.

Anyway, it was adopted.

M. Board, Commission & Committee Appointments.

There are three openings of the Water Quality Advisory Committee. Supervisor Strickler recommended appointment of a lady from Shenandoah. I couldn’t quite hear the name but it sounded like Alice Pence. Supervisor Hoke recommended Neil McHenry. Apparently, Chris Anderson has identified yet another nominee to recommend. The two initial nominees were approved, I guess with a future draft choice to be named later.

This is where my head went as numb as my butt….

I think I heard there is a vacancy on the Economic Development Authority.

The resignation of one of the Planning Commissioners was announced although I did not hear who it was.

N. Consent Agenda.

Approved.

Old Business.

Luray Landing Easement Proposal.

The location of a storm water management pond is at issue here. In moving forward with the easement proposal, the county wants to ensure that it will be in compliance with FAA requirements as well as staying in good standing with the DEQ. The intent here is make sure whatever happens will be in compliance with appropriate county ordinances as well as FAA requirement so as not to jeopardize obtaining future FAA grants.

The only real issue seems to be who will have permanent maintenance responsibility for the retention pond. To leave it with a homeowner’s association could lead to problems since they tend to disappear or may not be able to afford the necessary maintenance requirements. The question is “Once the developer is gone, who will have the ball?”

It seemed that all of the Supervisors were in agreement to move forward under the above guidelines.

One additional note is that Congress did not budget much, if anything, for acquisition of land under FAA grants this year. I gathered the airport folks will have to wait until sometime in the future to offer to buy property for airport expansion.

Fire Training Center.

Mr. Shifflet proposed moving forward with using the property near Stanley for a new low impact fire training center to better serve the people of the county. Most of cost would be paid through grants but I gathered there might be some county money involved as well in FY 10 ($474K is in CIP) Mr. Cubbage suggested that the Board take a look at the property. They plan to do that before the special meeting of the Board next Tuesday. Supervisor Strickler expressed her concern that the county make sure it does not take on a liability when others use the facility. I assume this will require some sort of indemnification agreement with other users.

O. Proposed Resolution for Illegal Immigrants.

Mr. Hoke proposed a resolution to prevent illegal immigrants from taking advantage of county taxpayers. Mr. Shanks prepared a draft that was subsequently amended by the county staff folks. The essence of the resolution is to provide an incentive to become a legal citizen and provide a disincentive to remaining illegal. The ultimate intent is to forward the resolution to the federal and state level to encourage them to act on illegal immigration issues.

The resolution as amend was approved.

P. Contract for the Zoning Ordinance Rewrite.

The intention of this for quite a while has been to hire someone named Dr. Michael Chandler from Charlottesville to completely rewrite all our zoning ordinances. The problem was -- there was only $25,000 budgeted for it in the Planning Commission budget, and there was another $40,000 budgeted in the Planning staff budget (this is what makes the budget so hard to read. Different pieces are in different pots). The consultant is ready to go -- but $65,000 is not the number he wants to do the job. The question was, should they go ahead and spend the more money he wanted. I couldn't tell how much more he wanted, but I will FOIA that soon. It was a lot more.

Mr. LaFrance said he didn't think it would ultimately be productive to rewrite all our zoning ordinances in one big consultant inspired push, because the citizens would push back on that, and it would turn out to be something that ultimately couldn't get passed and implemented. So in the end it would be a waste of money. John Rust didn't agree.

Kevin Henry pointed out that they do have more than enough money budgeted to just hire the consultant to do the Land Use Map, which is the Phase 1 portion. That if they just approved the Land Use Map, which is needed before any zoning decisions can be made anyway, they don't have to make a decision about further use of the consultant after that, and they would have a Land Use Map that could guide zoning decisions in the future, whatever path they chose to take. He also pointed out that the consultants plan included plenty of public involvement and public meetings, so that this would be something the citizens would be fully informed and participate in.

Carol Lee wanted to be sure that any contract we made with Chandler would ensure that we actually got a good percentage of Chandler himself, not junior staff.

Somebody, I think it was Mr. LaFrance, said maybe if we had a good Land Use Map, then issues like Mr. Comer's request could have a solid basis to be either approved or disapproved, and we wouldn't have the issue of dragging somebody along for months and then disapproving them in the end.

They voted to approve going ahead with the consultant for Phase 1 only, the Land Use Map.

I (Alice) will FOIA all information regarding Chandler's contract and keep this issue out in front as much as possible. This also will tie in to the By Rights Subdivision zoning change which is going to the Planning Commission on Aug 28. We will have separate Blogs for all zoning issues.


So that's what happened in three hours on a Tuesday night. If you see anything of interest to your life, push the link that says "Post a Comment" and Blog!