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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1991-12-18 adj 24O ~ecember 18, 1991 (Afternoon - Adjourned Meeting) ,(Page i) An adjourned meeting of the Board of Supervisors of Albemarle County, Jirginia, was held on December 18, 1991, at 3:00 P.M., Meeting Room 11, County ]ffice Building, McIntire Road, Charlottesville, Virginia. This meeting was adjourned from December 11, 1991. PRESENT: Messrs. Edward H. Bain, Jr., David P. Bowerman, F. R. Bowie (arriving at 4:00 P.M.), Mrs. Charlotte Y. Humphris, Mr. Walter F. Perkins and Mr. Peter T. Way (arriving at 4:00 P.M.). ABSENT: None. OFFICER PRESENT: County Executive, Robert W. Tucker, Jr. . . ~ Agenda Item No. 1. The meeting was called to order at 3:01 P.M. by the Vice-Chairman, Mr. Perkins. Agenda~ItemNoi~ 2. Executive Session: Personnel. ~Motion was immediate- .y.offered byMr.~ Bain, seconded by Mrs. Humphris, to adjourn into executive ,ession for evaluation of employees of a public body (Virginia Code Section ..1-344A.1)~ Roll was called and,the mot~ion carried by the following recorded vote: JES: ~Mr. Bain, Mr. Bowerman, Mrs. Humphris and Mr. Perkins. NAYS: None. ABSENT.: <Mrl Bowie and Mr~' Way. Agenda Item No. 3. .Certify Executive Session. At 4:00 P.M., the Board reconVened ~i~to !open session in Room 5/6. Motion was immediately offered by Mr..Bain' seconded by Mr. Bowerman to adopt the following certificate: CERTIFICATION OF EXECU~I-~TI~G '%~IEREAS, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisorshas convened an executive meeting on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in accordance with the provisions of The Virginia Freedom of Infor- mation Act; and kS{EREAS, Section 5.1-344.1 of the Code of Virginia requires certi- fication, by~heAlbema~rle County Board of Supervisors that such execu- tive meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law; :NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that. the Albemarle County B~oard of SuperVisors herebycertifies that, to the best of each member's knowl- edge, (i) only public business matters lawfullyexempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the executive meeting to whi.ch:~-this..cer.tif~c~t.~h resolu[i~napplies, and (ii) only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the~xecutive meeting were heard,.discussed or considered by the Albemarle Count-y Board of Supervisor.s~ AYES:, Mr. Bain, Mr, Bowerman, Mrs. ~umphris amd Mr~ Perkins. NAYS: None. ABS~DURINGMRRTING: Mr. Bowie:and, Mr. way. ABSENT DURING VOTE: Mr. Bowie amd Mr. Way. Agenda. Item.No. 4. Other Matter,sNot Listed on the Agenda. Mr~ Bowie noted that. the Mr.~Tim Lindstromhad asked to mak~ a presentation.for the Architectural Rev$e~-'Board. Mr-. Lindstrom presented aletter signed, by all members of the ARB thanking~ the Board for proViding the funds for a ,full-time professional staff member for the ARB. He a=lso presented photos of the "Toys R Us" project on Route~29.~North. December 18, 1991 (Afternoon - Adjourned Meeting) · (Page 2) 241 Agenda Item No. 5. Discussion of Legislation with local Legislators. lPresent were: Mr. Mitchell Van Yahres, Delegate (arriving at 5:03 p.m.), Mr. ~dgar Robb, Senator-Elect, and Mr. C. Timothy Lindstrom. Mr. Bowie said the purpose of this meeting is to discuss Albemarle ]ounty's legislative programs before the General Assembly convenes. Each legislator should have received a copy of the County's legislative program, the Thomas Jefferson Planning District legislative program, and the Virginia kssociation of Counties legislative program. Mr. Bowie said in order to narrow the requests down, he had mailed a letter to each legislator dated )ecember 13, 1991, outlining th& County's four major requests: 2.) To .allow Albemarle County to eliminate land use value taxation in designated growth areas and to enable the County to authorize local agricultural/forestal districts; To. allow Albemarle County'-s police department to ticket parked vehicles not displaying a county decal; 3) To. establish a separate legislative commissionto review.the effica- cy of the State's solid waste regulationsrelated to closure re- quirement for older landfills; and 4) To require the Commonwealth Transportation Board to acquire proper- ties in the right-of-way of proposed state roads. Mr. Bowie asked that Mr. Bain begin the conversation by discussion Item No.. 3 concerning landfills. Mr. Bain summarized Mr. Bowie's letter. The imposition of the newest state solid waste regulations requiring landfills built and operated prior to 1988 to be closed under.the new regulations results in significant costs to the locality with no proven ~benefit. For example, to require capping a land- fill cell to the new standards when such action has not been shown to provide a commensurate increase in protection of the environment is unreasonable. The Board supports the .need to monitor groundwater quality and other environ- mental impacts, but believeprotective actions should be required only when it has been determined such action is necessary, particularly since these re- quirements exceed. Federal requirements. Review of these regulations by a separate legislative-commission is warranted. Mr. Bowie said he would like to mention the County'~s continuing request for legislation allowing EQUAL TAXING/BORROWING POWER. He said that some way must be devised to raise money other than through the regressive real property tax. Mr. Lindstrom asked if the County were given the authority to have a local option income tax, or. some other form of tax, would theSupervisors allow the revenue from that tax to offset the real estate tax? Mr. Bowie said, speaking just for himself, he would never vote for another tax ~unless it were an offset. He had publicly stated thatif the meals tax passed, he would only.support it if the half raised from Albemarle -County residents ~was used to offset the property tax; while thehatf that was paidby non-county residents was used for the schools. Mrs. Humphris ~said she feels the Board is only looking for some flexibil- ity in its taxing powers. Mr. Bowermannext s~rized Item No. 1 pertaining toLand Use Taxation~ Albemarle County currently has land within the designated growth areas eligi- ble for land use assessments. .To ensure flexibility in the County's~land use planning and to eliminate use value taxation for speculative property acquisi- tion, the County seeks ~he same authority granted to counties adjacent to counties having the Urban County Executive form of government, which allows them to exclude land use value taxation from specified zoning districts by adding "land use areas designed for growth~in the Comprehensive Plan" per Virginia Code Sections 58.1~3231 and 58.1-3237.1. A parallel requests relates toLocal. Agricultural/Forestal Districts. Albemarle County needslegislation to authorize local districts with a minimum of 25 acres in growth areas to conserve active agricultural and forestal lands as well as open spaces. Small December 18, 1991 (Afternoon Adjourned Meeting) 242 (Page 3) rural parcels currently unable to join an agricultural/forestal district would be eligible under this local district legislation, Virginia Code Section _~ Mr. Robb felt this legislation would be arbitrary in its application. ~r. Bowerman said that at the present, the law does not allow the Board to ~ook at the intention of a landowner. Land that is zoned R-6 can carry an ~gricultural designation, and it clearly will be developed to that density in the future. The Board does not feel the request is arbitrary because these · re areas the Board and the community have decided should be designated for growth. Mr. Lindstrom asked if the Board ,has considered limiting the availability of the land use tax for land in the open space category only. He understands the Board's request to be that for property inside a growth area, that proper- ty would be ~entitled to the benefits of the land use tax, :or the Board would' at least require a commitment o~ some sort,from the landowner as to :his inten- :ions concerning development. Mr."Bowie said since the Board adopted the zoning ordinance and map in .980, it has not forced, a rezoning. Even if,property is ,shown in the Compre- hensive .Plan, for ,R~15, the Board has not applied that zoning unless requested to do so ,by. a. landowner, If the landowner makes such' a-request, the Board feels the change in zoning should t~rigger the land being taken out, of 'the.land use program, but it does not; the Board doesnot have that authority.' Mr. Robb asked if there is an automatic roll-back tax applied when the landpasses to another owner by sale~-'etc ,Mr.' Bain said "no" not until the, use of the property changes.. ' Mr. Bain said the BOard has designated certain areas,in the Comprehensive Plan,for growth. If~there is a landowner in the middle,of that area still practicing agriculture on land that is still zoned rural, the Board wants to encourage that use to continue. Mr. Robb said even if this landowner is practicing agriculture, he is clearly~intending .to develop theproperty, and that fs why'he feels this'~legislation might bearbitrary. Mr. Bainsaid the" Board',s proposal would 'allow this land to .be placedin an.agricultural/ forestat~district'of"as little~as25 acres.~ Mr. Bowie said if the land were .located inside~a growth area and the landowner wanted to take advantage of the land use tax, that owner would have to agree to put ~the landinto; the~A/,F District. That~ designation guarantees that,the land would notbe developed for ten years. Mr. Bowermansaid the~ Board recognizes that bona fide agricultural uses withinthe urban area are, in all likelihood, only transitory uses, but this type of activity next to high density urbanpopulations provides a benefit in greenspaces. While it ,appears to, be somewhat inconsistent to allow these uses in ,a growt, h area, the benefits'mitigate ~this inconsistency. Mr.~Way mentioned that, the Board recently heard an overall report on the land use~tax program, and were given several options from which to choose.,.'~ ~he,Board,has not,decided what, type of, land use tax reform~it ~is interested Mr. Lindst=om said ~he thinks, there is~a perception,by'some key members of the General Assembly that the localities can tightenup the land use program~ ,within the ,bounds of their own,ordinances.. He said it'would be helpful~'for him to~ know~,howthe Board feels~about limiting the land use,:tax to the ~open ~space category. ,Mr., Bowerman said that was part ,of the *report presented, but because there were ~negatives,~involved,, it'was .not an option considered. Mr.~Tucker said there was a concern as to how the farming/agricultural community would perceive any change concerning the open space category. The staff had asked for atleast a thirty-six .month g~ace periodin which they could work with landowners to get thei~ land into this type of A/FDistrict, Mr. Perkins asked if is is possible to have a roll-back period ,in the growth areas that is different from that in the rural areas. Mr. Lindstrom said he feels that is, a.rational distinction, but~the,question is really po.titicat~- He does not think there isa legalproblem. "He knows,there is a ,ecember 18, 1991 (Afternoon - Adjourned Meeting) 243 Page 4) ~trong interest in strengthening the penalties for being in a A/F District and men converting the property to another use. What the County Attorney has mggested in the way of a change in the law is probably the simplest because Lt would be only for Albemarle County. Mr. Bowie said the Board has been :equesting this authority for five years, but so far it hasn't gotten any- ~here. Mr. Bowie said he had just been handed a letter from the Registrar dated )ecember 18, 1991, in which Mr. Heilman says that th~ Electoral Board voted ~nanimously on December 10 to request that this Boar urge the County's ielegation in the General Assembly to offer technical amendments to the ~eneral Assembly's redistricting plans. He then distributed copies to all nembers present' for~di-scussion at a later date. Mr. Bain said another request over the years has been to have the State Fund its mandates, particularly in the fields of education, solid .waste and :ighways,- Another item is the way jail construction is funded, where the .ocalities have to fund the construction "up~front" .and :apply for reimburse- ent. Mr. Robb said he has found that the boards of supervisors in all of the localities in his district are saying the same things relative to state nandates., He recently attended a session of all of the, neWly-elected senators to go over the State budget, and, as a result, he understands-just ~how.serious thebudget situation is. '" Mr. Bain said the State has never fully funded the Standards of Quality )r.education~ JLARC.,recommended funding ~59 teachers per thousand, but most localities have 75, so that's not full funding. Mr. Way said that last year the Board presented a list of.the mandates it wished to have changed to the Legislators~ Re felt that would be good to do again this year.. Mr.~ Bowie said one itemwhich does not involve funding .is that o.f recy- clin'g. He believes the State solved its recycling problem, by demanding that everybody across the state recycle at least 25 percent of their wastes. He feels .there will just be 25 percent of the trash on top of the ground .rather than it being buried, because nobody wants this stuff. .The County is ~paying $90per ton to have it hauled to some mythical placer,probably in somebody~ else~s landfill...The State is not taking a leadership role-with the private sector-to come up with ways to recycle. Mr. Rohb asked if Mr. Bowie was indicating that the State should become involved in the marketing of recyclables,. Mr.. Bowie said "yes", hopefully without.creating another.bu- reaucracy.. .~Mr.,Perkinssaid.tPmt many.Stateagencies grant permits such as those .to power, companies to-build power .generation plants., Why not require:that these companies take a certain number of tons of trash if they want to get an air permit?.- Another item concerns schoot~building construction where the'State Board of Education requires-a certain size cafeteria fora certain number of .students:. T. he CoUnty has found that it cannot add to its middle, schools because thecafeterias,, gyms,, libraries and probablyeven administrative .space,. wou:td have:to be upgraded, eventhough those schools-had ,750+.students 1.5 years-ago, and now only-house 550+. Mr. Robb said those mandates are coming out ofthe State Central Commit- tee of the Education Department. Mr.-Bain saidthat since Mr. Joe Spanola became S~ate Sup~r'intendent, some o~..the, mandates have been cut, but-there is a long way to go. Mr~.Robb said he was visiting a rural county yesterday, and they expressed just the opposite sentiment; they did not feel the State Central COmmittee was takingenoughinterest in the rural ,counties; they wanted m~remandates. .He suggested that the Board and the legislators get together about midway through~.the next session to discuss how some of-the Board's =equests are doing. : Mr. Bain said this Board.has-already talked about-being more proactive .during the next Session. Mr. Robb suggested a meeting in late January. Mrs.~.Humphris mentioned that the Board is seeking legislation which would require the Commonwealth Transportation Board to purchase properties in the right-of-way of~ a proposed .state road within three years of designation of )ecember 18, 1991 (Afternoon Adjourned Meeting) 244 ?age 5) ;uch a road (the Board adopted a resolution on this question recently). The :urrent situation with the Route 29 North Alternative 10 Bypass is having a tevastating affect on the fiscal and emotional lives of people in the lesignated area, as well as on business owners. She feels that the property )f these people has been taken without just compensation because they are ~eing deprived of the right to dispose of their property as they see fit. Mr. Robb said he has a number of knowledgeable people who have agreed to provide aim with background information on this issue. He asked if there was not a ;3.6 million study of this route. Mr. Bowie said the study showed that the ~oad is not needed. Mrs. Humphris said the estimated cost of the improvement Ls $109.0 million. Mr. Perkins said $3.6 million is more than the county spends to pave graveled roads in six years. Mr. Robb said he intends to study ~hematter~thoroughly, but, is not ready to' take any position at this time. Mrs. Humphris said it was a predetermined decision which wasted $3.6 million of'taxpayer'~s money. The City, County and University are on the Verge ~f adopting identical~resolutions on~,this issue, which puts~allthree entities in a mode~of, being 100 percent in concert on this question. Mr. Robb asked Mr. Lindstrom about his thoughts on this question. Mr. Lindstrom said the specific language drafted by the County Attorney addresses the part of the problem that occurs when a route is designated and the ~peopte pay the cost ,of that route-without any recompense for an Unlimited. period-of Iltime. The,one problem~he sees with thelanguage has to do. with "wQrk ioca- Ition'L. He believes the Department of~ Transportation will postpone doing lanythin-g~that~ couldbe legally characterized as a location until they are Iready to payfor the' right-of-way. Another problem is that VDOT is totally. - ~insulated from any~-input from either members ~of the public ortocal-govern- ~ments affected by the project. They have a location and design public hear- ing, but none of the decision-makers are required to attend. Although this Board tried~to get ahearing before the Commonweal-th Transportation ,Board, they were%urned down. This problem is not~simplyAIbemarle's, iris occur- ring in,other localities around theS%ate. There needs to be some way to require that if there is an advanced designation for a roadway that there be a mechanism to insure an independent study is conducted, andfotlowed. Second, there should~be an .opportunity fore.judicial review of the designationof'these corridors, so it is not justan internal decision by YDOT.. There is a growing coalition of folks in the~State of ¥irginia, including conservationists, developers and local~ governments, all of whom are ~fed up with the ~way the Department of Transportation is..operated. Mr. Robbasked Mr. Lindstrom if what he said aboutstudies would impact the~cost, of roads~ Mr. Lindstrom said that VDOT is required to do many of these studies anyway. Mr. Robb asked if Mr, Lindstrom was not suggesting additional studies. Mr. Lindstrom~said "no", hewas suggesting that if ~there is a~decision made that a road~is needed, but it won't, be built forsome extended period of,,time, the need.forthat road shoUld-be verified byan independent s~udy. He finds it remarkable that.VDOT would spend $3.6 million on a study and t~hen ignore its findings. Regardless of that, the study was needed to update.1970 traffic data. The majority of that costwent toward that part of.the .study, while theremainder was spent to.meet EPA requirements if they decided to use Federal money. Mr. Bowie said he believes VDOT went into the study believing they would come out .with justification for what they wanted to do. The.study did not show what they expected, but they decided to go ahead with their solution. i Mr. Lindstrom said ~the study showed thatthe problem.was not a through traffic problem, If VDOT followed the recommendations .in the~study, they would save,over $11.0.0 million in current dOllars in road construction~ costs that could be spend elsewhere. ~ The problem' is not the study. The problem is what .VDOT is doing with the study. Mrs. Humphris said the Board questioned the County Attorneyabout the language he drafted for .=the resolution adopted last week. He explained,in great detail the reason for each word in.the resolution, The Board~will now haveto .throw itself on the mercyof_ whoever "is gonnacarry the banner" .to be sure the proposal is constructed correctly. Also, Mrs. Humphris said, there was to have been a change in the resolution to say "to acquire" and not "proceed" because~DOTcould proceed for 10 years. )ecember 18, 1991 (Afternoon - Adjourned Meeting) 245 iPage 6) Mr. Bowie said he had introductions to make. He then introduced Ms. kndrea Trank, the new legislative liaison for the Plarming District Commis- zion, Ms. Roxanne Rite, Executive Assistant. Mr. Bowie then noted that he '~ad to leave, and at 4:54 p.m., handed the gavel to the Vice-Chairman, Mr. - Ierkins. I/ Mr. Robb asked for some further history on the Route 29 North study. Mr. owerman said he understands that YDOT can only plan in 20 year increments, ut looking to the year 2050, VDOT has said there will be a need for a bypass in the Charlottesville/Albemarle area, so they're planning for it now, regard- less of the study. ~--Mr'. Robb asked What was forcing~this question. Mr. Way said it is eo-onomic interests in Northern Virginia, and in Southern Virginia, who want a straight run for trucks to travel on Route 29. Mr. Robb said that is what VDOT.says, but what"is really~driving this. ~-Mr:, Lindstrom said there are some egos involved, and the; people you talk to say it is somebody who ,has.been very ~edicated ~to the construction ,of ~this roaddust because "it's been on his plate for a while". ~ Mrs. Humphris noted that she serves on the Jail Board, and the Jail %dministrator has. had a hard time :trying to get approvals from Richmond for the expansion of the Jail.- Any help that can be provided would be appreciat- Mr. Perkins mentioned the issue of County Police not being able to ticket a parked car which does not carry a County decal. He said it would not bring in-agreat, amount Of income, buthe thinks that any car parked overnight in ~lbemarle County should .be required to have a County decal and pay personal ~roperty taxes on that vehicle~ Mr. Way said that is the quirk in thelaw; ~ities have.the right to dothis,-but counties do not. Mr. Bain said that. is similar .in thought to the five .percent,versus the two percent lodging tax. Cities are allowed to impose a five percent tax, while this County is limited to two percent. Mr. ,Lindstrom said that a couple:of months ago,~ he saw information which indicated that the :County might receive as much as.$1..5.,million from state :evenues for the schools for thecoming term. He asked if this amount has been fixed yet. Mr. Tucker said he has seen nothing new to indicate the.exact amount'. . : At 5:03 P,M., Mr..Perkins welcomed Delegate.Mitchell VanYahres. Mr. Van Yahres apologized for ~being.late saying he had a committee meeting, in Richmond this afternoon. Mr, Perkins said the Board has about finished this discussion, but he has one question. Do anyof the legislators have bills they plan to introduce that might "catch the Board .blindsided?" Mr. Van Yahres said he plans to introduce again his legislation concern- ing distribution of~lottery proceeds. It got through the HoUse last year, but was defeated in the Senate. Thelottery board had estimatedthat this bill would reduce lottery revenues by.about 20-percent, but there are some people who think this amount is exaggerated. If the billis passes, it will mean ~moneyfor the localities in the education area. Mrs Humphris said-she, had read..in VACO publications that February 13 is~ a special day when local government .officials cancome to Richmond to visit withtheir'-legislators. Mr. Robb noted for Mr. Van Yahres that he had sug- gested that this group meet again in late January or early February. Mr. Van Yahres said he would be willing to do that if the logisticscanbeworked out. , Mr~Perkins aSked' if there were Other matters to discuss. Mr. Robb said hewill introduce legislation, to.change what he ,feels is-an antiquated.~counting system for elections. Rethinks it is ridicUlous that the race between Mr. Lindstrom and.Mr..,Way hasstill not been decided this long after the election, Heis also introducing legislation to remove~from person- '.nel policy manuals in the state, prohibitions against employees,being able to )ecember 18, 1991 (Afternoon - Adjourned Meeting) 246 iPage 7) speak freely concerning thoughts on how to save money. Mr. Lindstrom suggest- ~d that Mr. Robb might want to look at the situation at the University of firginia where their personnel policy prohibits their full-time employees from cunning for election to the General Assembly. The inference is that if you ~re a full-time faculty member or staff employee that you do not have time for the General Assembly. Mr. Lindstrom said he feels the decision should be made zase-by-case, rather than being a blanket prohibition. Mr. Lindstrom said the legislation carried over from last year pertaining to both impact fees and transfer of development rights was killed in working committees last week. He does not believe anybody will try to reintroduce anything on this subject this session. ' Ms'. Trank introduced herself to Mr. Van Yahres. She noted that the bill which would have required localities to pay a 20 percent match on secondary ~nd urban' road, systems is a dead issue for now. She sat in on a VML/VACO ~eeting where ,the-impact,fee legislation was discussed. Northern¥irginia is the, only Plata which could ,have benefitted from ~he impact fee. s, and they did not feel the legislation was workable as written.. Agenda Item No. 6, With-.,no further business to come before the Board, at 5:20 p.m. the meeting was adjourned.