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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1991-02-06 adjFebruary 6, 1991 (Afternoon Adjourned Meeting) (Page 1) 325 An adjourned meeting of the Board of Supervisors of Albemarle County, Virginia, was held on February 6, 1991, at 3:00 P.M., Meeting Room #7, County Office Building, 401McIntire Road, Charlottesville, Virginia. This meeting was adjourned from January 16, 1991. BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Messrs. Edward H. Bain, Jr., David P. Bowerman, F. R. Bowie, Mrs. Charlotte Y. Humphris and Mr. Walter F. Perkins. BOARD MEMBER ABSENT: Mr. Peter T. Way. OFFICERS PRESENT: Mr. Robert W. Tucker, Jr., County Executive, and Mr. ¥. Wayne Cilimberg, Director of Planning and Community Development. Agenda Item No. 1. Call to Order. The meeting was called to order at 3:02 P.M. by the Chairman, Mr. Bowie. Agenda Item No. 2. Work Session: Community Facilities Plan (an amend- ment to the Comprehensive Plan). Mr. Cilimberg said the Parks and Recreation Section and the Police Department Section will be discussed in today's session. He handed out an amended version of both sections containing the changes recommended by the Board at the prior discussion of the Community Facilities Plan. Mr. Cilimberg said staff is working on an executive summary as well. Mr. David Benish, Chief of Community Development, said the Community Facilities Plan is intended to be adopted as part of the Comprehensive Plan. As such, the objectives, strategies, standards and recommendations are devel- oped in a manner similar to those in the Comprehensive Plan. He noted that the objectives and strategies are considered to be guidelines, although there is a lot of detail in some instances. He feels that a common sense approach on a case-by-case review will be necessary when implement'ing the objectives and strategies for a particular facility. On Page 5 of the original Community Facilities Plan, Mr. Benish pointed out the Overall Facility Objectives. He said these objectives apply to any facility in the County and it is important that the Board agree with these objectives before the Plan is adopted. He asked if there are general ques- tions the Board would like staff to address before beginning the discussion of the individual sections. Mrs. Humphris asked what age children use a "tot lot" and if such a facility is intended for community use. Mr. Pat Mullaney, Director of Parks and Recreation, said tot lots are generally used by children in kindergarten through third grade. Mrs. Humphris referred to Page 42 of the original draft Plan and said she is concerned about the tot lot planned at Broadus Wood Elementary School because users in this rural area would have a distance to drive if this is for cox~unity use. Mr. Mullaney said the tot lot serves the school and the community. Generally, the school need is the greatest because of the large number of users at one time. Facilities which meet the needs of the school will also meet the needs of the community for recreation. Mrs. Humphris said residents near Broadus Wood say they need a soccer field. Mr. Mullaney agreed that there is a need for a soccer field and the draft Plan needs to be updated to include it. He said the Parks Department is currently surveying the schools to determine the existing facilities and the needs. He said the problem at Broadus Wood is the amount of property avail- able. When more property is purchased, there can be plans made for a soccer field. Mr. Bowie asked how a facility can be added to this Plan when the review by the Board is completed and the Plan adopted. Mr. Benish said additional facilities do not require an amendment to the Plan. A facility must be justified through the standards contained in the Plan, and then the facility for funding placed in the Capital Improvements Program through normal proce- dures. Mr. Benish said park facilities are classified by function and the services to be provided. The classifications include neighborhood, community, February 6, 1991 (Afternoon Adjourned Meeting) 326 (Page 2) district and County parks. The first three categories are considered active recreation parks and contain sports facilities. At the community and district levels, the services are provided at the schools. School properties are being used as a major source of recreation facilities to meet community needs. In the past, the School Board has taken the need for recreation facilities into consideration and purchased sufficient land during the acquisition process for new facilities. The actual facility development has become the responsibility of the Department of Parks and Recreation. This same process is proposed to continue in the Facilities Plan. Mr. Benish said the service standards in the Plan are based on providing facilities to growth areas. Services provided to rural areas are at existing school sites. The growth areas are the service centers for recreation for the rural areas. Mr. Benish said that County parks such as Chris Greene Lake are intended to provide environments oriented toward passive outdoor recreational activi- ties. Mr. Bowie noted that on Page 2 of the amended Parks and Recreation section, it states, "The private sector and the University play a vital role in meeting the recreational needs of the County." There is no mention of the City of Charlottesville. Mr. Benish said the City should be mentioned because of the cooperative effort with the City, as well as the University and the private sector, to provide recreation. Mr. Benish noted that Objective No. 2 refers to a secondary purpose for parks, and that is to preserve and protect environmentally-sensitive areas, such as the proposed Rivanna Greenway. Mr. Cilimberg noted that paragraph 2 on Page 3 addresses private recrea- tional facilities in response to a question raised by Mr. Perkins at the previous discussion on the Facilities Plan. Paragraph 2 reads as follows: "These standards help ensure that parity and equity is provided through- out the County. It is recognized that private facilities satisfy the recreational needs of a portion of the County residents; however, there still exists a large portion of the population that does not have access to private facilities. Also, many residents that utilize private recrea- tion facilities also utilize public recreation facilities. This makes it very difficult to quantify information on the demand for public recrea- tional facilities in the County. In developing standards, the County has reviewed an inventory of private facilities. The listed standards reflect that review and are considered to be these standards necessary to prvoide for public need over and above what the private sector provides. These standards ae intended to be guidelines for Park development and should be satisfied when possible. However, if the demand for services is being met, either by existing facilities or private facilities, then the recreational facilities provided at the site would not be expected to meet the standards below." Mr. Benish said that neighborhood parks are intended to satisfy immediate needs to a locality. These are provided through site development plan and subdivision ordinance requirements for certain densities of development. Community parks are provided at elementary schools and are intended to have a service area of 2.5 miles or a five minute driving time. These types of facilities would include playground, tot lot facilities, a multi-purpose field, a hard surface area with basketball goals, a softball/baseball field, a gymnasium and open space for walking or jogging trails. For urban area schools, the gym size recommended is 7000 square feet. Other school gyms are recommended to be 5000 square feet. He noted that jogging or walking trails are not mandatory within the standards, but will be developed where possible. District parks provide the same type of facilities on a more intensive basis. Also included would be football fields, tracks and tennis courts. These are to be provided at middle and high schools. The service area is to be five miles with a 10 to 15 minute driving time. Regional parks represent a major commitment by the County based on the standard of ten acres per 1000 in population. The service area is to be ten miles or a drive of 20 to 30 minutes. The typical regional park will have February 6, 1991 (Afternoon Adjourned Meeting) (Page 3) 327 major environmental areas such as lakes for boating, fishing and swimming activities. Community centers are mentioned within the context of State standards. He said the need for community centers in the County should be assessed. Currently, the indoor facilities normally at community centers are in school gymnasiums. However, there are other demands for community center services. Mr. Bowie asked if staff is recommending that community centers be built. Mr. Benish said staff is not recommending that any facility be constructed at this time. However, staff is ultimately recommending that an assessment be made as to the need for such facilities. Mr. Bowie said he feels that this Community Facilities Plan should only include facilities to which the County is already committed. He asked staff to clarify the language to that effect. He said his same comment holds true for references to Indoor Recreation Facilities on Page 9. He is concerned that someone reading this Plan will think that the County has plans to construct these types of facilities. Mr. Bain said the recommendation says that a needs assessment would need to be conducted before any indoor recreational facilities were provided. He feels that is clearly a future plan and no commitment is made. He feels that this Plan should contain references to possibile future facilities as a guideline. Mr. Bowie said a differentiation should be made between what the County is committed to do and those plans which it may consider in the future. Mr. Tucker said staff is recommending that this type of need be satisfied in cooperation with private sources. Mr. Benish noted that the amended version of the Parks and Recreation section has been updated to include projects included in the current Capital Improvements Program. He also noted that new wording referring to a new park on Whitewood Road is shown on Page 12 as previously requested by Mrs. Humphris. He said a needs assessment has not been made. However, based on the standards in this Plan and the Open Space Plan being developed, this park is in an area with high priority for the preservation of open space. Staff feels that the development of the site should be oriented toward passive recreational uses. He said this Plan also refers to nine acres in Earlysville which will have a needs assessment made and recommendations given. Mr. Bowie asked about the possibility for recreational use at the new Agnor-Hurt school site. Mr. Benish said there has been no designation made for the use of those five acres. Mr. Bowie said he does not want the possi- bility of park use to be overlooked since other sites owned by the County are included in the Facilities Plan. Mr. Perkins asked if there are any plans to locate the Albemarle County Fair at one of the parks on a permanent basis. Mr. Benish said staff has not looked at that possibility. Mr. Mullaney said that his department has dis- cussed this matter with the people who run and operate the Fair with regard to the new Southern Regional Park. He said there is a potential for the property nearest to Route681to be used for the Fair. However, consideration must be given to other possible future uses for that property which might be more efficient than the Fair. Mr. Mullaney feels that the Southern Regional Park is not as good a site as the one presently being used for the County Fair, located off of Route 29 South. However, the Southern Regional Park has not been ruled out as a possibility. Mr. Bain said discussions with residents of the North Garden area indi- cate that the Southern Regional Park is too far removed from the highway to serve the purpose of a fair. There was no further discussion of the Parks and Recreation Section at this time. Mr. Benish said staff has discussed three primary items with Police Chief John Miller related to the Police Department facilities. As a result, the staffing recommendation has been revised in the amended version handed out today from two officers per 1000 residents to 1.5 officers per 1000 residents. Another change in this version is that Recox~endation No. 2 on Page 6 was February 6, 1991 (Afternoon Adjourned Meeting) (Page 4) 328 clarified to indicate that there is not a current need for a police substa- tion. If it is determined that response times are increasing, a substation will be considered. The third item discussed is relocation of the firing range. According to Chief Miller, the existing firing range located at the Airport is considered a temporary facility. That is reflected in Recommen- dation No. 4 on Page 6. Mr. Bowie asked Chief Miller why the firing range is still considered temporary. Chief Miller said there is a future need for a place to store weapons and ammunition as well as a moveable targets system. He understands that nothing further can be constructed on Airport property. In that sense, the Police Department considers this a temporary location. Chief Miller said there is also the idea of having a regional facility to accommodate the other law enforcement agencies in the area as well. He thinks a time frame of three to five years is reasonable. Mr. Bowerman asked if a firing range in a regional facility would be accessible to the public. Chief Miller said the firing ranges he is familiar with have not been available to the public. Usually the demand is so heavy for a regional facility that there would be no time for public use. Mr. Cilimberg said staff can incorporate the idea of the need for other structures and the possibility of a regional facility into this language. Mr. Bowie asked that the timing be clarified as well. Mr. Bowerman said that public use for a fee may need to be considered to offset the cost of the structure. Chief Miller said a public/private partner- ship can certainly be studied. Mr. Bain asked how the Police Department plans to achieve a ten minute response time throughout the County. Chief Miller said he feels this goal will be achieved within two years. He said the current workload allocation study has shown that the response time for emergency calls is less than ten minutes in the "C" sector in the northern end of the County. In the "A" sector in the southern part of the County and the "B" sector in the western part of the County, the response time still exceeds ten minutes. Chief Miller said the response time of ten minutes or less could have been met in those areas as well if those beats were fully manned 365 days per year. Because of the workload in the northern end of the County, the "C" beats are staffed first and the south and west sectors are doubled up. Mr. Bain asked when the Chief feels there will be a need for a substation and why. Chief Miller said he feels there will be a need for a substation in the mid-90's. The reason is the increased workload in the Hollymead area. Chief Miller explained that a number of hours are wasted when police officers congregate in the County Office Building three times a day for roll call, etc. He said the officers are in effect giving the City a great deal of free protection and visibility and wasting visibility that is needed in the County. When officers are coming or going to the County Office Building, they natural- ly stop for accidents and stand by until a City officer arrives° Chief Miller feels that time can be saved by having a substation in the northern area for officers to report for roll call so that visibility is maintained in the area most needed. Chief Miller said he prefers that eventually the Police Depart- ment headquarters be located in the northern end of the County, with the County Office Building serving as a satellite station for the southern end of the County. He said that would practically eliminate the excessive amount of time officers spend inside the City. Mr. Bowie cited Page 5 which indicates that 32 additional officers are needed to meet the standard of 1.5 officers per 1000 residents based on the 1990 census information. He asked how additional officers will affect the response time. Chief Miller handed out a copy of the annual crime report statistics. He said an additional seven officers per year over the next five years are needed to complete the sector system and bring the response time to ten minutes or less throughout the County and meet the standard of 1.5 offi- cers per 1000 residents. Mrs. Hum~hris noted that the graphs in this report are superior. Chief Miller indicatAd that the reports are a product of volunteers in the Police Department. He said there are currently eight volunteers .with two others February 6, 1991 (Afternoon Adjourned Meeting) (Page 5) 329 beginning soon. He said this is just one work product from the volunteer force. Mr. Bain asked if State Police assistance is declining. Chief Miller said there have been three officers either promoted or transferred, and these positions are not being replaced. The number of State Police is down to nine from 12, with no indication that the three troopers will be replaced. Mr. Bain said that possibly a request for additional officers should be made by the County. Mr. Bowie asked if a study has been done to show how additional substa- tions would affect administrative overhead. Chief Miller said there will be a need for additional administrative personnel if a substation is open 24 hours per day. Mr. Tucker said initially the idea would be to have a location to which officers could report at specific times, rather than have a fully-manned substation at this time. Mr. Bowerman feels that it is important that the items included in the Community Facilities Plan be as specific as possible so that proffers can be accepted on rezoning applications. Mr. Bain agreed and said that staff will need to develop information such as building size, acreage, etc. to implement the items contained in this Plan. Unless some of these facts are available, a proffer may be meaningless. Mr. Benish said staff consciously designed the Community Facilities Plan to be somewhat specific, yet allowing flexibility based on other assessments. Mrs. Humphris suggested that dates be added to the amended versions of the Facilities Plan for clarification. Mr. Benish said he forgot to note in the Parks and Recreation section that wood floors are now the standard for construction in school gymnasiums according to a policy adopted by the Board in February, 1990. Mr. Benish also pointed out that no mention is included in the Facilities Plan concerning the lighting of facilities. Currently, the baseball and football fields are lighted based on night time demand. Staff did not feel it necessary to include a standard regarding lighting. However, Mr. Mullaney had raised the question. Mr. Bowie said he feels the present policy is working well. Mr. Bain agreed that a general statement is not needed. There was no further discussion of the Community Facilities Plan at this time. Not Docketed: Mr. Bain said he feels that a whole new gym floor may be necessary at the new Crozet Elementary School. He said there are an incredi- ble number of "dead spots" in the floor which he verified himself. He asked staff to investigate the matter since there is still a warranty in effect. Mr. Perkins asked if staff can check the acoustics in the cafetorium at the same time. Not Docketed: Mr. Bowie said he has a request from the Building Commit- tee for an Executive Session for the purpose of discussing disposition of public property, specifically the old Crozet School. At 4:10 P.M., motion was immediately offered by Mr. Bain and seconded by Mrs. Humphris to adjourn into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing disposition of the Crozet School property, pursuant to Section 2.1-344.A.3. Roll was called and the motion carried by the following recorded vote: AYES: .NAYS: ABSENT: Messrs. Bain, Bowerman, Bowie, Mrs. Humphris and Mr. Perkins. None. Mr. Way. At 4:25 P.M., the Board reconvened into open session. Motion was offered by Mr. Bain and seconded by Mrs. Humphris certifying the Executive Session as follows: February 6, 1991 (Afternoon Adjourned Meeting) (Page 6) CERTIFICATION OF EXECUTIVE MEETING 330 WHEREAS, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors has convened an executive meeting on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in accordance with the provisions of The Virginia Freedom of Information Act; and WHEREAS, Section 2.1-344.1 of the Code of Virginia requires a certification by the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors that such executive meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors hereby certifies that, to the best of each member's knowledge, (i) only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the executive meeting to which this certification resolution applies, and (ii) only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the executive meeting were heard, discussed or considered by the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors. VOTE: AYES: Messrs. Bain, Bowie, Bowerman, Mrs. Humphris and Mr. Perkins. NAYS: None. ABSENT DURING VOTE: Mr. Way. ABSENT DURING MEETING: Mr. Way. Agenda Item No. 3. Adjourn. There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 4:27 P.M. CHAIRMAN