C'ville Concerts Announced

I try to keep this blog on topic with Fredericksburg news, but I'm putting this here to show that what a college town almost exactly double the size of Fredericksburg can accomplish. I see hints that we're getting to this level of interest in community events and public space.

The Charlottesville Pavilion (http://www.charlottesvillepavilion.com/) - an outdoor amphitheater that anchors their downtown main street area - just announced their summer concerts. For anyone interested, it's a short 1.5 hour or less drive to a unique experience of music, camaraderie, shopping and socializing. The free shows are funded through sponsorships and drink sales, with profits returned to the nonprofit organizations that help staff the events.

Paid Shows:
Two of a Kind 4/13
Feist 4/26
Switchfoot 4/27
Gary Allan 5/8
Emmylou Harris 6/23
Gladys Knight 6/28
Live From The Hook 7/26
Willie Nelson 7/29
Crosby, Stills and Nash 7/31
B.B. King 8/6

Free Concerts through July 4th:
Friday April, 18 Sons of Bill with Justin Jones opening!
Friday April, 25 Kings of Belmont & 6 Day Bender A very special co-bill!
Friday May, 02 Eli Cook
Friday May, 09 Trees on Fire & NeedToBreathe A very special co-bill!
Friday May, 16 Abbey Road with special guest In Technicolor opening the show
Friday May, 23 The Groove Train with Tim Be Told opening!
Friday May, 30 The Lee Boys
Friday June, 06 The original Charlottesville AllStars
Friday June, 13 Inner Rhythm with Heather Maxwell
Friday June, 27 Peyton Tochterman & High Society
Friday July, 04 The Chickenhead Blues Band

City Zoning ordinance sent back for more work

V for Victory! At least for now. They city council voted to send the proposed zoning ordinance - the I have repeatedly pointed out here as a bad idea - back to the planning commission. From comments around the city council, there were a number of issues, many on different sides, that council had with the overall proposal. One comment I heard several times was why weren't overlay districts pursued further?

So for the time being, I'm taking this off the hot topic list and moving it down in the blog. I'll keep an eye on the results and keep you updated as I hear more. Hopefully we'll move on to parking and other important planning issues.

Hot Topic: City Zoning
Part 3 - Home size/lot coverage zoning - 3/15
Part 2 - City Zoning Update - 2/19 working meeting
Part 1 - Does Out-Of-Scale equal "out of character"

zoning ordinance public hearing

In case anyone is interested in the text of my comments tonight against the proposed ordinance, here is the speach. I'm sure I mangled a few bits and pieces. I really hate reading a speach, but it was important that I got out everything I wanted in 5 minutes.

Mayor Tomzak, city council, members of the public, I am here tonight to speak about the city zoning ordinance revision for residential homes.

Let me start off with the city’s own analysis. I take offense to the very first paragraph, which I believe sent staff down an unwise path. It states: In 1950 home sizes averaged 983 sq ft, compared to roughly 2200sq ft in yr 2000. Back in 1950, that was probably the largest size home most families could afford. This was a time when one parent was the wage earner, when salaries were a fraction of today, and when many single people couldn’t afford their own home. Today, homeowners have a much more diverse background, with more revenue sources, and with expectations of modern conveniences unavailable in 1950. Today modern homes are built to a safety code and efficiency standards that were unheard of back then. So to compare today’s market to the one in 1950 is simply a cleaver bit of spin.

Onto the specifics, I believe that in all successful negotiations, a little give and take is necessary. Unfortunately, here, the city has given nothing, and instead is proposing to take & take.

This ordinance takes away the ability to expand out. At the same time it’s taking away the alternative to build up.

Secondly, the city staff is proposing taking more in taxes this year, while also proposing taking away these zoning rights. What happens next year when the appraisers calculate the land only portion of our appraisals? I will argue that they need to lower the land value, simply because next year I cannot built the same home I can build today, and with less than a years sales data, they will have a hard time arguing against that justification.

Skipped this paragraph for time: Finally, the KISS principal, you know, Keep-It-Simple, has not been applied here. The old ordinance had alternative setbacks based on neighbors to the left and right. The new one has a vague reference to facing blockface. What happens when across the street is a different zoning – it doesn’t say? How about where it specifically states that coverage restrictions don’t apply to the front porch, yet how does that apply to homes like those on Lafayette or maybe Winchester? Homes where the 1st floor porch is open, but the second floor overhangs the porch. If this counts against lot coverage, then forget seeing any new homes with this beautiful architectural style because once you penalize someone for it, they will surely finish the porch area entirely.

I guess I just don’t see how this aids in maintaining “Character”. I also don’t see how the city can waste so much time and money on attempting to fix something people find visually offensive. Has the city proven any harm has come to this group? If so, why didn’t they use the existing laws for overlay districts to resolve their issues? Instead, I have written to council and posted on my website the social and economic consequences of this ordinance. Here are dozen groups that could show economic or other harm from the new ordinance:
- expanding families
- lower income owners with limited legal resources
- owners of small lots
- owners of 40.5’ lots
- contractors who will loose work
- their employees who will loose hours of labor
- investors
- new owners wanting their dream home
- Unfair to those responsible for processing special use permits
- Unfair to resident who believes this is would have prevented any large home examples
- Unfair to people who enjoy looking at revitalized neighborhoods
- Most importantly it’s unfair to taxpayers

Skipped this paragraph: Council has promoted commercial diversity, how about applying those same diversity standards to residential outside the historic district?

Looking at the city's own examples, 2 houses just need to lower the average roof height 2 feet, one house needs to remove 170sq ft. Lets look specifically at the house on Payne St that many people bring up in this discussion. This change will mean they take out the 1st level garage, probably replacing it with a detached 2 car garage, which doesn't count against lot coverage, resulting in more runoff, which causes harm to the surrounding area. Is that what we want?

I also did my own research, using nearby small cities that people can relate to. Of Lynchburg, Roanoke and the very historic Charlottesville, only one dictates lot coverage, and it is much more than 30 or 40%. All three of these cities continue to use the industry standard of 35’ height.

So I’m asking for my incentive package, and it doesn’t cost the city a thing, simply leave my zoning alone, and allow me to continue to hold the same rights tomorrow that I did today.

Airline Travel Tips

Today Yahoo travel has a good start for air travel tips "20 Tips from Air-Travel Insiders". I fly about once a month, so let me add a few more insights, and some local tips.

1. From Fredericksburg, it's just as quick to get to Richmond International as any of the DC airports. It's 11 miles further than Reagan-National, however, if you're coming home on an afternoon you'll enjoy the Northbound commute on I-95 much more. With the additions of AirTran and Jetblue in recent years, fares have become much more affordable.
2. Speaking of Richmond, if you fly on Sunday afternoon, or any evening flight, you can breeze right through security. The last two flights it was just me and 5 TSA agents at security. They are a lot friendlier when it's quiet like this, however, you will probably get your bag scanned closely since there isn't anything else to do.
3. Roll-on luggage may be small enough to be considered a carry-on, however, it will not fit down the isle, so pick it up by the handle and give the isle seats a break on all the bumping.
4. Always get in the line security without the family with children. It never fails that earings, belt buckles, pocket change, or something else will send several of them back through the metal detector.
5. It bears mention here, although you'll be told it 3 or 4 more times, don't bring your full shampoo, toothpaste, liquid gel, etc. in your carry on. After several years of this, I see someone's items being tossed about every 2 trips through the airport.
6. Always double check your seating 24 hours and again the morning of your flight. There are almost always better seats open.
7. On seating, check http://www.seatguru.com/ for some insight on what the best seats are. I prefer closer to the front, window (to avoid all the bumping in the isle), or even middle if it's the difference between the front of the plane vs after exit row.
8. When parking your car, use your cell phone camera to get a photo of the parking space. Invaluable info after a few days away.
9. When your flight gets cancelled (notice I said 'when', if you haven't had this happen yet, you will), don't freak out, there isn't anything you can do that will bring the flight back. Calmly call the airline # and get rebooked - they seem to be much quicker on the phone than the agents at the desk.
10. Keep your fingers crossed that the pilot has the safety set on his gun.

Spring @ Roxbury Farm & Garden

Last weekend I had the fortunate excuse to visit an anchor of Fredericksburg gardening history. Roxbury Farm and Garden Center on Lafayette (map). We had one of four arborvitae die off at the end of last summer in the dry conditions. I wanted to replace this with a similarly sized tree, along with adding some new mulch to the front yard. 20 bags of mulch, one tree, and two flats of pansies later and I was ready to go.

Prices were comparable to other stores and nurseries, the biggest difference was the ample help both inside and out. I would bet their labor to customer ratio is one of the best in the region. And where else can you still purchase seed in bulk. I laughed as an adult walked by shaking a bag like a maraca. A place where it feels like being a kid again. I remember buying things this way as a kid, and was happy to relive some of that experience. I can't wait to go back.

ODU Basketball

Shameless plug for my alma mater-

For anyone paying attention, ODU Women are winning in the first round of the NCAA, yet ESPN2 isn't showing the game. I guess #5 doesn't rate like #8vs9. It will be fun to watch an ODU vs. UVA game (assuming UVA wins at 9:30 tonight). That would setup 2 ODU vs. UVA games this week. The men's teams are both in the CBI tournament and will play Monday night, and the women would play on Tuesday night.

GO ODU.

Autochalk, love it/hate it

Ok, now that I've got your attention. For those of you that haven't seen this vehicle, it's a computer equipped SUV with a bunch of digital cameras. It drives around town recording who's parked where, then on a second sweep more than 2 hours later, it records who has been parked longer than the 2 hour time limit. A few days later the owner of record gets a letter in the mail. The first time, you only get a warning, and a letter reminding you that you can't park more than 2 hours Monday-Saturday, and it also puts info in there about where longer term parking lots and the garage are located. I of course am writing this with some first hand knowledge of this warning procedure (thanks for not sending tickets right away).

I'm writing this post because of the relative beating this tool takes, especially considering it's relatively inexpensive costs.

Lets go back to the beginning. Autochalk was purchased with money left over in a fund for transportation projects (think gas tax) that wasn't fully expended. They city spent part of that money (100k) on Autochalk, and the rest went into revitalizing the train station. The train station got a much needed coat of paint and some other minor repairs (thank you from a regular traveler on VRE). In the city council meeting minutes from that decisions, there were a few other options tossed around for the 100k, my least favorite was red light cameras. From attending the council meetings regularly, I can tell you that there are regular requests from residents around the college to help with the parking situation there, or from businesses downtown looking for help freeing up customer parking in a limited parking environment.

One poster went back to the January council meeting where a four month audit of the program stats was presented. Basically Autochalk alone, for four months, raised $10,030 (article in FLS). The article in the FLS also reflects other poster's comments that there are many intangible (and subjective) improvements such as reducing violations, more open spots, better enforcement in other areas, etc. You can read those for yourself, I want to echo what was posted as far as revenue, and what is backed up by data from the police chief at city council.

In that same four months that autochalk was measured, written parking tickets were up in two other closely watched (and complained about) neighborhoods. College Heights and the train station. In four months, Police Chief Nye reported that his department wrote 553 tickets in college heights. There were almost none written in 2006, so he did not give a difference. During those same four months, there were 172 more tickets written in the train station area than there were in the same months of 2006.

I went back to the council agenda, pulled up Nye's report on the overall ticket revenue for those four months. Of all the hand written tickets, I calculated an average ticket value of $24.80 (some tickets were as much as $100, others were just warnings).

$24.80 x 725 = $17980 (hand written revenue)

So looking at the increase in revenue from tickets from four months of 2006 to the same in 2007 gives us $17980+$10030 = $28,010. If ticket revenue is linear, x3=$84,030 more than last year. We must assume that part of this revenue had to cover the salary and benefits of the parking officer driving Autochalk - no robot vehicles yet - and that the SUV required more gas than whatever parking vehicle we used before. According to Salary.com, an experienced patrol officer making the median salary would be between $39k and $56k, a midpoint salary of $47.5k. I'm counting the 100k as sunk cost, which it should be since we didn't borrow the money. Alternatively, you can figure that city could have paid off borrowed funds in 5-8 years.
Update 3/20: The police dept did not hire a new patrol officer, rather they used an existing officer to operate Autochalk. I had figured this cost as a worst case, but now I have data that allows me to remove this conservative calculation. It was also pointed out that the first month of AC was almost all warnings, so if/when we see full year revenue, the full year should really be the first 13 months of operation. This makes the payback even better, not to mention the problems resolved through it's use. Matt Kelly points out in a comment to this post several items that this solution has addressed in the city.

Before anyone else points this out, this calculation isn't clear on exactly which tickets were written by the extra 1/2 of a parking officer being funded this year by UMW. The city must pay the other 1/2 person (unless you want only legs or only torso), so this is really all part of a parking solution that includes the officers AND autochalk, with a total annual revenue estimate of $84k. Still justifies council's "pays for itself" justification even with conservative expense estimates. Also, as stated before, much nicer investment than the alternative red-light cameras one other council member was proposing.

I'm putting this out on the blog as hope that the city police will present full year results of all parking activity when they get all of the data. Then city council can make sound decisions if they are correctly funding activities that alleviate complaints from citizens and businesses. Parking has been a priority, and will probably remain a priority.

Finally, let me give my suggestions for the next rounds of bonus transportation funding.

1. I'd like to see emergency services detectors on every stoplight from the interstate, RT1, RT2 & RT3 going to the hospital. Speeding ambulances through our congested streets is going to be important to the life those on board, and I hate seeing people having to get out of the way at lights that haven't turned.
   
2. If that is too expensive and costly, the other thing I'd like to see is to have the traffic engineer regularly re-time the lights down the major arteries. I routinely get stopped at almost every light on Princess Anne, Amelia, and the lights on Rt3 on both sides of the interstate.

On these two suggestions, there are many days where I feel that we don't have a traffic problem, instead we have a stoplight problem.

So as you can see here, even though Autochalk may look funny, and that ticket in the mail can be maddening, it seems to be a financially sound decision, and anecdotal evidence from residents, business owners and the parking officers indicates that it's helping. I guess we could have just put meters up on all the spots, which would make parking in the garage look great. FYI, back in 2005 USA Today and parking expert Donald Shoup had this article on the costs of providing free parking. I would say the situation we have with Autochalk is pretty good match to what the city has said they want for parking.

Twitter Explained

For those following the twitter experiment on fburgblogs.com, or for those that want to know more about this useful tool and why in the world someone would want to twitter - here is the best explanation - "Twitter in Plain English" - I've seen so far.

Thanks to Cali Lewis and the GeekBrief.tv podcast for pointing this one out so that I can explain to family and friends how twitter applies to life.

VRE (or any DC commuter) Travel Bag

Ok, so I realized that after years of commuting on VRE, that I have a pretty complete checklist that is required for commuting. Here is my survival bag for commuting to DC.

• Backpack, with laptop storage - it's entirely too slow to wheel a computer bag down the sidewalks
• Tote umbrella - I go with the tote because it folds up small enough to fit in a side pocket of the backpack and be out of the way. Not the biggest umbrella, but it has saved me a number of times when I left in the morning to a clear sky.
• Ipod - or any other MP3 player to tune out
• Noise cancelling headphones - a must when your neighbors are chatting away or the guy playing video games isn't using headphones (a great alternative is now high end earbuds that keep out exterior sounds and likewise keep your music in the ear)
• Reading material - the smaller paperbacks work best for me because they fit in the backpack easiest, or a magazine or two.
• Gloves (and skull cap or earmuffs) - Some just say layers, but for me it's ears and fingers that get cold. The temp in rail cars isn't the most fine tuned thing, so be prepared to survive a chilly ride
• Good shoes - I wear my dress shoes, some people leave those at the office and wear sneakers.
• Metro pass - you never know when you're going to have to transfer early from VRE to Metro if something bad happens on the tracks ahead, having a metro card with a few dollars on it really help speed up the transition if they haven't opened the metro option.
• Speaking of passes, get a clip and carrier from one of the "meet the management" events. Something to clip your VRE pass to your shirt so you don't forget it (I also keep a metro card in there just in case)
• Gum - a must for delays or when you have Garlic at lunch
• Chapstick, Eyedrops, Allergy Meds, hand lotion - Ok, these snuck into my bag due to other airline travel, but I found that it's nice to have a fix for dry eyes/lips/hands. Get the smallest size you can find (hotel size lotion is perfect). I even keep these in the quart bag for easy airport security.
• Cheap sunglasses - I say cheap because these stay folded in the backpack most of the time and inevitably will get scratched, bent, etc. I have a $7 pair from CVS. Also useful when you forget sunglasses on travel and you have to drive the rental.
• Blackberry - how else do you get the emails on delays and write blog posts? Actually there are several ways (see VRE website for notifications), I just prefer the 'berry.

Everything goes in the backpack. Pick a backpack with multiple pockets as it is much easier to organize. This is now the same backpack I travel with, because I know where everything is located.

City Finance Comparisons

In a comment on Question Everything in response to the city budget discusssions, there is an interesting link to a Richmond Times database of city/county spending (http://tinyurl.com/2mdtmn). Granted, this is previous yr data, but it helps to be able to compare localities.

I point this out, because I like to compare Fredericksburg to Charlottesville - another historic town/college town that is dealing with growth. Charlottesville is almost exactly double the size of Fredericksburg in sq miles, population, revenue, taxes. About the only ratio that isn't close to equal is the amount spent health & wellness (8% vs. 14% c'ville). I would bet you could attribute the differences in education, police, public works to the fact that even though we're smaller than Charlottesville, we probably have certain fixed costs or non-linear expenses that create a few percentage points differences.

As we look ahead a few years at the growth required (courts complex), and the potential for some new revenue sources (tourism campus), it's helpful to have another city close by that appears to have been through many of these challenges. There are a number of other VA cities we can also look at - I just happened to have lived in Charlottesville for a number of years and so it makes it an easy target for my comparisons. Now I feel somewhat more justified in making those references.

Home size/lot coverage zoning

Ok folks, this is the third and final post (Parts 1 and 2) related to the upcoming zoning ordinance change that results in downzoning most residential single family homes in the city of Fredericksburg. In ten days, on March 25, there is supposed to be a public hearing on the matter. I highly recommend anyone owning a residential property to come out and here how you are going to be affected. You will no longer be able to build the same size addition as before, if you found yourself in a situation to rebuilt, you are going to be more restricted after this ordinance than before.

Ok, so enough with the sky if falling talk. In my last post I promised to give one reason why this ordinance may be good. Previously I had pointed out that the harm in building a large modern home is generally being opposed as a visual abomination. I found it hard to imagine the city has spent so much time and effort trying to fix something because people don't like the way something looks. That these neighbors would have a hard time trying to prove harm from "large homes" nearby in their neighborhood.

Here it is: Included in this ordinance is a restriction on lot coverage. Depending on the width (not depth) of the lot, you may be able to cover either 40% (for lots under 40 feet) or 30% (for those over 40 feet wide). This might - and I say that with some reservation - be supported by an argument for reducing runoff during storms. The more you cover a lot, the less ability the ground has to assorb water runoff during a storm. As more water is forced onto the roadway an into the storm drains, the more susceptable the area is to flooding. Houses can help abate this by landscape design. In extreem cases cisterns can capture water from gutters that can then be distributed later for irrigation and watering after the storm has passed. I stated that I have some reservation to using this as an argument for the changes, because the ordinance does not have any limits on other structures or driveways, which all affect total land coverage. At the same time the ordinance reduces coverage, also reduces height. If you can't build out, then the only other way to go is up.

So in a year when budgets are tight, when we need to have people interested in the city, when every building is an opportunity to hire local labor and put investment back into the city, this ordinance change is the wrong plan. I believe that our current system of measuring height and setbacks is completely adequate for a city where space is limited. I believe that the changes being proposed don't fix "character" as originally requested by the council. I believe that if residents want to have control of the houses down the street, they should put it to a vote for the entire neighborhood to create an overlay district. I personally enjoy the fact that my neighborhood is not in an associtation, that I'm not having to go to the ARB for every change I make. I enjoy living in a vibrant city that still has new homes being built.

At a time when businesses are getting a lot of attention, don't the citizens deserve the opportunity to invest in their own property to the degree that we could when we purchased our property. The final thing that really gripes me about this change, is that it's being voted on by council, not by the citizens that affect them. There has been no ballot initiative that says the majority of residents and owners either agree or disagree.

Please take the time to read the announcement on the city website when it is released, and take a look at my three articles here. There are also links in the previous posts to items in the FLS. Before you make a decision one way or the other, take a time to look at the facts, and what this will do to the city, then come speak up at the public hearing.

Fredericksburg lot at VRE filled

Ok, why is it that seemingly random days the Fredericksburg lot at the train station is full? I was able to snag one of the three remaining spots this morning before my train. Normally there are a dozen or more spots when I arrive. Why would it be packed on a Thursday? Was there congestion early on 95? I understand when the weather is bad, or at the biginning/end of the fiscal year when gov workers usually can't get travel approved. This happens several times a month now, so maybe more people are taking the train!
At first thought, this would seem random, but that doesn't seem to make sense. Most people that ride the train have a pattern - same parking area, same car, same seat - so there must be something changing the patterns several days out of the month.
At worst, it just means driving around the corner to the garage for a few $. Take my advice, don't park on the street. That sign that says permit parking only doesn't mean your f'burg city sticker - or you'll be making a donation to our police department.
Glad to see more people riding the train. Most people that know me know that I advocate for mass transit that makes sense - and I'm a huge believer in commuter rail along I-95.

St Patrick's celebrations 3/16

We saw the sign up for the St. Patrick's day parade on Caroline St at 5pm on Sunday 3/16. Blue&Grey Brewing is also doing their parade/music event in Spotsy on 3/16 Saturday 3/15 [thanks to David for correcting my inability to read the correct date - now maybe I can make both!]. Any suggestions on which one to go to (both maybe)?
http://www.fredericksburgirish.com/
http://www.virginia.org/site/description.asp?AttrID=32778&MGrp=3&MCat=11%20

Twit'ing City Council Meeting

[Updated 3/11 9:50pm]
So what did visitors think of the twitter traffic from the city council meeting (you can find more at fburgblogs.com from TFR)? My thumbs are only mildly bruised from the typing (oh how I longed for a full keyboard and wifi connection). It was fun. Folks, keep in mind the twitter traffic is a bit more oppinionated since it's live, not researched and refined, and may show some immediate gut reaction.
****************************************************

Based on an idea from the Head Fred over at TFR, I'm going to attempt to twitter the city council meeting tomorrow night. Now I know that you can pick up the meeting on the Fredericksburg channel, but wouldn't you rather just have me kill my thumbs trying to get the word out in 140 character entries? Actually, this is somewhat of a science experiment to see how this works on the blog.

So if you're following me real time tomorrow, drop me a line so that I can get some feedback on how things went.

So follow along either in the left column of http://www.intheburg.info/ or follow directly at www.twitter.com/InTheBurg

The Scars of a Campaign

[Updates from the campaigns in the comments]

[3/10 update to image - drove by today and noticing something missing, also noticed a change in tax records at the end of last year, so I'm trying to find out if it's the same owner that had previously given permission for campaign signs.]

[3/11 update - The property owner just called to say that the tenants have her authority to either grant or deny campaigns the use of the yard]



What would you do if you had to cut the grass over these holes left from moving one of the campaign signs? What if you looked out of your window each morning and saw the backs of large campaign signs? Who would you complain to? Well, those were the questions I was asked by a renter at 1500 William St while looking at the two campaign signs for Mayor.

Long after the campaigns are over, these residents will still have the responsibilty for cutting the grass over the various holes left in the yard. They routinely have to pick up the blown over yard signs.

On this day, there were three empty wire frames from previous campaigns, three vacant post holes, and probably five holes holding up the current cammpaign signs. Not to mention, before I arrived, there was a campaign sign sprawled in the middle of their yard, along with an empty beer bottle (not related to the campaign). The long term responsibility for this area of the yard lies on the residents, and at least one is not too happy with the campaigns.

According to City ordinance, the city manager may approve (for a fee) a temporary informational sign in a public space. It was unclear if this is the method by which these two campaign signs were erected. It was unclear if these were placed in the public right-of-way. A short google search also indicates that Hanover County points out that VDOT may have to issue a temporary sign permit for a sign over 2x2ft installed in VDOT right-of-way. Further reports indicate this is indeed on private property, governed purely by city code ordinances and ownership consent.

Regardless of the law, politeness would dictate that the campaigns should at least be repairing the scars left from their post hole digging campaigners.

Local bloggers get press

Both TFR and this blog got press today on the front page of the spotsy&city extra at the FLS!

http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/032008/03112008/359689

And on the City Beat blog here.

A huge thanks to author Emily and photographer Scott!

Fri Night In The Burg w/The Culprits

Last night we went with friends to see The Culprits play at The Colonial Tavern (Home of the Irish Brigade). What a great combination of classic rock, blues and a hint of country. They debuted a new track with the assistance of Emily who added a beautiful female voice to the normal 5. Then they played a second new release. What a great night to be out in the rain, having a good time with friends, seeing who else braved the storm to see little live music.

Who is B-J Huff?

TFR uncovered a little background about him here. He seems to be the first to have a campaign in full swing (witness by the campaign cards, Huff for Council stickers and full website http://bjhuff.com/ - be sure to click on about and issues on the left column).

This morning I had the opportunity to meet City Council candidate B-J Huff. We were both riding VRE north. He was an I-95 commuter for 10 months before switching to VRE.

Lets get over the obvious stuff first. B-J, as he prefers to be called, is 22 years old. He is quick to point out that he isn't like most 22 yr olds, with several years of work experience in a variety of companies already under his belt. Completing college at UMW in 3 yrs, while also holding down an internship gave him experience even before graduation.

B-J rents on Caroline St, and enjoys walking downtown. He stated that he is happy to see the efforts underway to enhance the downtown area. He relayed to me that he would like to see more done to help current business owners that are interested in improvements, not just bring in new outside businesses. I asked B-J if being a renter would affect his votes on real estate taxes. This is when he said something that really surprised me. In addition to being someone who is weighing options for purchase vs. rent here in the city, he has had a family member close family friend that was forced to sell a home due to continuously increasing property taxes.

On the Huff for City Council flyer, the top issue addressed is building a 21st century education system. B-J has a parent and a sister that are both teachers. A little digging on his expectations revealed a well thought out position - that the city not only needs to make entry level positions competitive with surrounding markets, but to also ensure that we can retain higher-step top quality experienced teachers.


According to Emily Battle at the FLS, he has campaigned for Wittman, Howell and Stuart. Several of these politicians are now backing B-J and are even helping with his campaign. This gives a considerable amount of credibility to a candidate that does not yet have a voting record.


When talking with B-J, you get a sense of the energy and enthusiasm that this candidate has for the position. Looking back at what he has done in the past, I don't think the time commitment will be an issue at all. He closely represents a portion of the voters that routinely commute to NoVA. B-J made a point that in his work environment he would rather try not to divide people, and instead give ideas. I have often made a point to city council that data driven decisions is the only way to do business, and I can see a lot of that in B-J.


I will admit that I have a little more background and research to do on the other candidates before making my decision on the election, but it was refreshing to see someone bring this kind of energy to a discussion. B-J would definitely bring some diversity to City Council.

Kalahari Changes coming?

Emily Battle posted on her blog at the FLS that the city is pursuing an ordinance change to implement a TIF (tax increment financing) district as a mechanism by which to supply the incentives to Kalahari.

Story Here:
http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=20&p=1204823234

I posted on Matt Kelly's blog, hoping that we'll get at least one counselor's opinion on the changes. I'm a bit surprised that this is coming out this late in the game, and it does seem to me to be a game changer. There is no question that other localities have used TIFs to get developers to create certain businesses, however, it was my understanding that everything we wanted to do for Kalahari was possible under the existing city zoning and tourist zones. I wonder what the catch was? In trying to find if VA has any legal template for a TIF (vague if any), I did stumble on this 1988 VA attorney general opinion on the legality of TIFs. Seems that everything I can find about TIFs is that they use revenue generated from taxes over the original base tax revenue - where the development increases taxes from $1 to $3, the tax increment is $2. This $2 is then used to pay back bonds or to pay for incremental infrastructure improvements in the TIF. Hopefully council will quickly release some information about whether the full increment has to stay in the TIF zone, or can be used by the rest of the city (services, schools, etc). Also, what is the footprint of the TIF zone, just the 48 acres of Kalahari land, or is it bigger? If it's bigger, then how are the incentives structured - does Kalahari get up to 50% of it's taxes if the entire zone sees a benchmark tax increment met, or just the Kalahari property?

Wow, I thought the city had done a pretty good job of answering questions on the existing proposal (although it wasn't complete). I hope that they can do as good of job explaining this new ordinance and specifically how it's going to be structured for this specific deal. Unfortunately this is going to delay getting started on a project that is probably very dependent on meeting certain dates.

Parking & Traffic, Charlottesville's Recent Developments

Just to our South and West, Charlottesville is tackling two big issues that hit pretty close to home. The city is trying to come up with traffic by-pass alternatives that mostly involve Albemarle County (which isn't always receptive to the proposals, and have their own development plans). They are also trying to address downtown parking issues.

Some of the best quotes I've seen from a city counselor is from Charlottesville's Ms. Edwards on thinking outside the traditional when the traditional doesn't make sense (from The Hook):

While the Councilors agreed to send a letter to the consultant, Lewis Grimm of PBS&J, urging a “return to the drawing board,” the two freshmen on Council saw what one of them, Holly Edwards, termed a “window of opportunity to start looking at and thinking about alternative forms of transportation.”
Edwards proposed getting “creative” and “radical” about extracting people from their cars. “Instead of leveraging a few dollars for roads,” said Edwards, “[we should be] leveraging dollars for alternative transportation.”
“I couldn't agree more with the comments expressed by Ms. Edwards,” said Mayor Norris. “The next major investment in our region should not be another huge swath of very expensive asphalt. Let’s use this as an opportunity to leverage the kind of investment that Ms. Edwards describes and figure out how to get people off the highway.”

The Hook also ran a front page story this week on parking in the city of Charlottesville. Author Dave McNair writes that the city and UVA have a combined 11 garages, with more in works by both the college and private developers. The two primary garages serving downtown are referenced, and noted that their architecture was designed such that they appear to be buildings in the landscape. I would have to say that our own Sophia St. garage is much the same in this sense. The article also talks about drivers reluctance to use garages (C'ville starts charging when you enter, unlike Fredericksburg where the first 2 hours are free), and unrealistic expectations related to on street parking. Unlike Fredericksburg, Charlottesville does not have any parking on their closed main street pedestrian mall. Rather, they are bounded by 2 garages and a slew of lots both public and private.

The article includes the following quote from author/parking guru David Shoup:

As Yale economist and parking issue guru Donald Shoup points out in his book, The High Cost of Free Parking, studies show that driving around looking for free or low-cost curb spots accounts for about 30 percent of the traffic congestion in downtown areas. Indeed, virtually all day long, drivers on the Mall are doing what Stroh calls the "the two-hour shuffle."
..."Drivers often compare parking at the curb to parking in a garage and decide that the price of garage parking is too high," Shoup wrote in a New York Times op-ed piece last year. "But the truth is that the price of curb parking is too low. Underpriced curb spaces are like rent-controlled apartments: hard to find, and-- once you do-- crazy to give up. This increases the time costs (and
therefore the congestion and pollution costs) of cruising."

Sound familiar (except autochalk helps with the 2-hour shuffle)? I would encourage anyone interested in parking to read the full article. It includes a lot of history, cultural stigmas, and future designs that range from radical all the way to classic that would fit into any historic neighborhood.
Now, how can we convince Kalahari that the right answer to lots of pavement is a single parking garage? Or could a developer make a descent return on investment by building a deck or two downtown? I wonder if we could find a private developer to build the deck for the new court building instead of using city bonds? Actually, I'm pretty certain some of these thoughts are also being considered by our city employees - but I toss them out here for comment.

Local Earth Day & Tree Sale info released

Several items appeared on the City website today. First off the local earth day events have been announced. You can find more information about the celebration scheduled for the April 19th event at Alum Spring Park here.

In addition to the celebration, the city is will be holding one of it's spring hazardous waste recycling days on the 19th. More info available on City recycling here.

Finally, the Tri-County/City Soil and Water conservation district is having their annual native seedling sale. Pre-Orders need to be in by March 28th for pickup on April 5th. Order forms and website.

If the weather didn't give it away this week, this must mean spring is almost here.

Scorecard for the week

I was able to get away with my wonderful wife for a week to do some skiing and lets see if I got everything that happened this week:

1) working session held so that the public could hear about all of the known Kalahari benefits and costs across the city

2) city heard from the public about a house in the historic city that put on siding without getting ARB approval. (funny, I thought that was in the zoning ordinance, not building code, so I would have to agree with the comment at the public meeting. I love having a DVR.)

3) VA Partners Bank asked for approval to get a few waivers from the city zoning ordinances. Most critical was parking, which brought up an interesting statement that the business would NOT pay for garage parking for employees. (Isn't this a lot like giving incentives if the city doesn't require the bank to pay for offset parking?) Thankfully the mayor sent it back for more discussion. Also sounded like the Bank needs to hold it's own talk with nearby residents.

4) The ALE HOUSE incentives were approved, again the city is refunding future tax income, not giving them a freebie handout (except for some upfront reimbursement for improvements).

5) Seems like a few spears are being tossed setting up for election year politics.

6) Oh yes, another park is in works. If the city can complete the former cossey water treatment plant park along with the new riverfront park, it will create a nice collection of public areas. (Doesn't this mean they shouldn't be spending so much time on the oversized housing ordinance since we will have these great public backyards?)

7) Cobblestone Square is now going to be appartments? Is this even legal based on the original site plan approval (I don't know anything about this one, I have not done the research to see what the city approved back-in-the-day)

8) City continues to fund some much needed capital equipment. Did anyone else notice that the $300k for computer equipment was for outright purchases? Don't most businesses now do a 2.5 or 3 yr lease to help spread replacement costs out over the equipment lifespan? Is everyone in the government doing everything they can to save money instead of going with the business-as-usual.

WOW! And it was only the last week of Feb - I thought things were supposed to be quiet in the winter months. Just wait, we're almost into budget season.

Buying the Executive Building

There was a brief discussion during the council meeting about the refurbishment costs to the city for the Executive Building. Mr. Wilson stood up and stated he would gladly buy it back for what the city paid for the building. In the interest of diversifying the downtown ownership, I too would gladly buy the building off of the city at this incredible value. If nothing else, I think they should just turn it over to me, that would save them 1.3M in next years budget.

Soapbox Derby Registration Open

Saw this on the front page of the FLS website. The Free Lance-Star classic soapbox derby registration is now open. Race date is June 14th.

There are options for anyone age 9 up to 17. Three car classes, and apparently for 5 years in a row this is has been the largest local soapbox race. Get your registrations in early (before April 23rd) and enjoy a discounted fee. Plus there are car clinics as early as April 13 (also 27th and May 11th).

Check out http://fredericksburg.com/community/features/soapboxderby for all the details.

City Zoning Update

Part 2

For a link to my first rant click here.

Last night city council met with the planning commission on the update to the city's single family zoning ordinance. Hopefully readers will see more detailed coverage in the FLS which also attended, along with at least one other resident, city council, planning commission, and members of the planning department.

It was a study in why politics is sometimes quite difficult. You could see the dilemma council faces of doing something, but with each alternative, they may restrict good development. For example, if you pick a height of 27ft, in some neighborhoods it will fit right in. While in other neighborhoods, someone would say they have done nothing to fix the problem because all of the houses are one story and this allows 2.5 stories.

I would probably loosely group the discussion into two or three buckets.

One group expressed interest in coverage, and wanted to make sure that owners were still allowed to make reasonable additions without having to get a special use permit.

The second group was interested in height, and quickly ran into concern that height in one area didn't match other areas. They also recognized that be fair, new construction in the flood plain is required to be elevated, and that elevation will quickly exceed other homes constructed before the flood rules.

The remaining discussion was around how this may impact values, and does this hold down value. Again, a double edged sword. If values are held down, perhaps that helps maintain affordable housing, yet that comes at the expense of existing homeowners. Some commented that affordable housing should be a separate issue. There were also examples given of houses that meet and don't meet the new ordinance. The public may be surprised that many large homes can still be constructed even under the new rules, especially where multiple lots are combined.

I think they glossed over a change that previously allowed construction in older neighborhoods to set front and side yards based on two lots on either side. The new rules state that setbacks are now going to be based on averages from the entire block and the entire facing block, with no allowance for different zoning in those blocks.

On the one hand there are constituents demanding something be done for preservation, on the other you have constituents demanding their right to have their dream home in a city they love. If the result is something that no one likes, is that the result of good negotiation, or has it been a waste of time to fix what could be considered only an assault on the visual senses? Apparently one owners castle is another owners eyesore.

All said, it was a good meeting, and gave me much more to think about as far as background and what alternatives were considered. For anyone that thinks these guys have an easy job, come attend one of these meetings.

Stay tuned for part 3 where I argue with myself and give you my opinion on why the city might want to implement some of these changes.

A unique tour of Kenmore

This morning my wife and I took a very unique tour of Kenmore, the home of George Washington's sister and husband. The foundation has setup a website (http://www.kenmorerestoration.org/) that details all of the work going into restoring the home and outbuildings. The behind-the-scenes restoration tour takes about 2 hours and is available by calling (540) 370-0732 or visiting http://www.kenmore.org .

On this tour, you get a history of why the home was constructed, how it was sold through several families, and the hard times that resulted in changes to the original plantation. The restoration has revealed some interesting facts, such as the unique wall paper in one of the rooms. Who would have thought that wall paper could be so expensive. The tour takes you into othe new underground center of the geothermal HVAC system that maintains the home's temperature and humidity. You get to see a recreation of the kitchen building, and take a tour around the exterior with a discussion of the battlescars of the civil war.

Then into the basement, where they are still storing some of the restoration parts. The foundation is taking great care to save any components removed during the restoration down to hunks of wood. The tour then continues to the main floor where you can see, up close, the incredible detailed plaster work in the ceilings, walls and overmantels. Finally we go upstairs to see the two front rooms. Interestingly, the home has shutters, but rather than being on the exterior, are contained on the inside of the windows. These shutters fit easily on the lower floor. To allow the shutters to fit upstairs, they fold over one time to fit against the space between the wall and the window. I was also very impressed with the simplicity of the exterior compared to the elegance inside.

The foundation is now working on the details of how to furnish the house. It's going to be a daunting process, but compared to the work that had to go into some of the detail work inside, shouldn't be a problem for this group.

Thanks to John who was a wonderful guide, and put up with the many questions about details of the house. I recommend this tour to anyone interested in learning a little more about the history of Fredericksburg.

(for pictures, visit the websites at the links, they are much better than what I could get today)

Brrr... The Rappahannock is 41F

This morning I went down to the city docks to participate in a polar plunge to support the Wounded EOD foundation.

The USGS reports that the Rappahannock River is a toasty 40.8F/4.9C this morning. I will attest to their accuracy. With a 3ft river height, the folks from http://www.woundedeodwarrior.org/ and the Fredericksburg rescue squad had plungers go down the ramp and into the water. They brought out BOAT 1 to mark the farthest point swimmers should go to, and let me tell you that it was a challenging swim in the frigid water. Everyone was in great spirits, and many smiles were seen between the shivers after the chilly dunk in the water. The crowd cheered after each group of five plungers.

The Fredericksburg water rescue team was there to make sure everyone was able to get out of the water safely. The Dahlgren EOD truck was there with their bomb disposal robot. They also brought their bomb disposal suit to show how much gear is required in their line of work.

The morning's activities were topped off with awards for the top costumes, and an award for the top group. The wizard of oz group easily took the group award. Dorothy chose to watch from the sideline, and looked much warmer than the rest of her crew.

Before the day started, about sixty people had preregistered. I saw a steady stream of signups throughout the morning. The organizers seemed to have good support from local businesses. The best donation may have been two PODS which were converted to changing rooms.

Arriving a little were Natasha and Jessica from Fatty J's, in their tutus. After a brisk swim out the the boat, one of the tutu skirts has to be rescued from downstream. It was the only rescue of the day.

The excitement was contageous and at the end of the event, several of the member of the rescue squad took a dip in the water. Funny, they had the best towels of anyone there.

Plans are to make this an annual event. Here's to hoping that next year they can reach the full 100 participants.

Bogey's sets an example

I could have titled this post "Another good use of incentives" but you might have thought I was talking about the Kalahari project again.

I always like to point out when I see a business doing the right thing. Bogey's Sports Bar, next to the ice park in Central Park, is now offering FREE rides from 7pm till 1am with partner Fredericksburg Limo. This is both to and from the following locations every Thursday, Friday and Saturday:

Belmont at Cowan Place at the visitor's center
UMW clock tower
Caroline St city visitor's center
Homewood Suites (next to the Expo Center)

I'm curios what F'burg Limo would charge if you want a ride from somewhere else in the city. If I find out I will post it here.

The info I received also stated a disclaimer saying neither Bogey's nor Fredericksburg Limo are responsible if you do something stupid like driving drink after they drop you off. So don't be like a Hollywood celebrity, let someone else take the wheel.

http://www.bogeyssportsbar.com

http://www.fredericksburglimo.com

Take a plunge for charity Sat.

A charity event is going on at the city docks this weekend to benefit the Wounded EOD Warrior Foundation. Yes, you too can jump into the river on Sat for $40 (up to 100 people will be allowed). http://www.woundedeodwarrior.org/

I hope to be there around 9 for registration, so come on out and join the fun. Or have some fun watching us freeze.

Does Out-Of-Scale equal "out of character"

Tonight I attended the Fredericksburg City Planning Commission meeting which voted to send an ordinance change to City Council related to residential zoning. I am going to try to get the latest edits to this ordinance, as several edits were made tonight which I do not have in this copy from last week. The biggest edition is measuring from the base flood elevation if the lot is in the 100yr zone.

Basically, the Planning Commission was addressing item #8 on their agenda "prohibiting new development (single family houses) that are out of character with existing neighborhood structures." I agree that what they ACTUALLY fixed was what was defined in a memorandum as "Out of Scale" houses.

Let me try to state what I believe the zoning does NOT do.
a) It does nothing to limit style of housing. I would argue style has as much if not more to do with character than size
b) It does not restrict any non-single family home built in that zoned area. This greatly affects the changes they have implemented for the C-T commercial transitional zone, where it is by-right to allow single family homes next to commercial (one example is a telecommunication building).
c) According to a survey done by the city, generally all homes fit within the boundaries set by the new ordinance. In the FLS article on 12/11, the home on the corner or William and College Ave. was identified as a structure that is out of character, it would probably still fit within the 27' tall and coverage limits.
d) It sets two limits on coverage, with a 40' wide lot being the dividing line. Would this mean a 39' wide lot is suddently more valuable (due to more future potential) than the 40.1' lot next door?
e) It puts subjective measure into code (78 sec II.1.3 "...have an adverse effect on the neighborhood")
f) Does not consider porches or decks, both of which effect water runoff and the ability for land mass to soak up excess rainwater during a storm. This is one of the only arguments I can come up with for limiting coverage.
g) Does not grandfather in any resident that has not already submitted a building plan

Here is what this ordinance does
1) Futher limits free market economics on many residentially zoned lots in the city
2) Creates extra burden on the taxpayer and property owner to obtain special use permits where they may not have been necessary before
3) Only marginally considers property value. There is the potential here for devaluing properties that are only slightly larger than 40'.
4) It limits a single family home to 27' in C-T whereas any other by-right structure can be 40'.
I have several questions.

Can I still built a porch under a cantilevered 2nd floor? If so, can I cantilever the entire upper floor so that the base of my house is only part of the overall area?

Can I build any style of structure as long as it fits into the mold of coverage and height?

Can I increase or decrease the pitch of my roof so that the average height between the eve and the peak is less than 27'? This is the code measures 27'. I have always like the idea of a monolythic dome (note the sarcasm here before anyone states I'm building a new home).

Is it fair to allow a 40' telecom building to dwarf a single family residence at 27' next door?

Tonight there was discussion of measuring homes in the 100 yr flood plane starting at the base flood elevation. Does that mean that if I want to add a few feet of margin to my design, that I have to take those feet out of the max 27' height.

As written, I cannot support this ordinance change. If you agree with me, please sign this petition (http://www.gopetition.com/online/16909.html). I also ask that you email other city residents the link to get them to sign. The City Council has a working session next week with the Planning Commission to iron out some details. I ask them be very cautious on this one. The definition of downzoning is here, and I believe this would apply.

I took the time to lookup Charlottesville's, Lynchburg's and Roanoke's zoning laws, and they are nowhere near as restrictive as this proposal. I would consider these other localities to be in similar historic nature a Fredericksburg.

Charlottesville City Code (see chapter 34) check out Sec. 34-353. Dimensional requirements--By district. Wouldn't it be nice if all city code was documented this clearly.
Roanoke City Code (see chapter 36.2) their coverages go up to 50, 60 or 70%
Lynchburg City Code (see chapter 35.1)

If I am wrong on this, please by all means let me know how this specific change would impact any "large out of character" house that someone has disagreed with. I'll even look up the lot data if you have a specific question on an address.

I have seen a number of these large homes in the city, and I think many are quite beautiful. Some I would not have built for myself, but then part of being a city is recognizing the diversity that is around us. Please help me to show that we want to protect that diversity and sign up here.

Rail Funding - Is it all it's meant to be?

Bacon's Rebellion: The 21st Century Railroad Revolution has a great article about the new rail funding bills.

Last night at the Fredericksburg city council meeting there was a representative from Virginians for High Speed Rail. He is visiting all of the counties and cities along the major rail corridor along I-95 pushing support for the rail funding bills.

I used to work for Norfolk Southern, and left on good terms. I have to say that I have only glanced over the legislation and funding. What concerns me is the technical challenges of moving both heavy rail traffic, and light rail or high speed rail. Heavy rail tends to move at slower rates, and has much more tolerance for less than optimal rail. High speed rail requires attention to smooth, optimally adjusted tracks. Riding the VRE from Fredericksburg to DC every day is a testament to how bad the tracks are in this area.

Two rail projects have been implemented along this corridore in recent years. A new 3rd track was added at L'enfant station, and they build a new bridge north of Quantico to give 2 full tracks through that area. BOTH of these new tracks are used by heavy freight, and not the commuter trains. The most pristine tracks have been built for the trains that need them the least, whereas commuter traffic is left using the beat up old tracks that reside next to all of the train stations. The benefit to commuter rail has been fewer delays waiting for the commercial traffic.

I worry that this new legislation and funding is not the windfall for high speed or simple commuter trains as is being discussed. It may benefit auto traffic by decreasing long haul intermodal traffic, but I wish we could get serious about public transpotation rail around the busiest metro areas.

City Council Meeting attendance?

I have a question, do people watch the city council meetings on the fredericksburg government channel instead of coming out to the meetings to listen to the discussions? I find it quite interesting talking to people in the audience. In localities where I've lived before, there was almost always a contingent of 10-20 folks that attended and had a discussion of ideas.
Do people here listen to the meeting and then just send their questions to their council members? Tonight coucilwoman Girven raised several questions about past information that were sent to her. I know that when I have emailed my council member I normally get a response back by email in a few days. I guess this is a pretty good substitute for being there in person. I would be interested to know how many people are out there watching (contact me here if you don't want to comment).

FYI - congrats to UMW for 100 years! That's quite an accomplishment for the university. For those that missed it, the UMW alum on council presented a nice gift to UMW of a framed aerial view of the city.

Voting Lines

Did you vote today? I was voter #199 at my location today. I was pleasantly surprised to find a line when I arived. I'm glad that a larger number of voters are taking an interest in the primary this year. Competition is always a good thing.

Through the years of working in some pretty high tech industries, I've developed an eye for efficiency. Today's voting was not one of our outstanding moments. There were six (SIX!) voting boxes, yet the bottleneck was having only one station validating voter registration. There were another 3-4 people walking around and directing people. I hope this was due to only having two sets of rolls printed at this precinct.

Those of us waiting got to speak to each other, and laughed about the fact there was a line for the primary. Luckily the # of people in line fit in the heated building. You know it's cold when there aren't any party folks outside trying to sway your vote at the last minute.

At least our lines were in a gym, check out the photo on the FLS site about where somepeople were directed to stand.

Get out and vote.

Update 5pm: Line is now wrapped inside the building. Delay is about 20min.

Signs, signs, Everywhere there's signs

The City of Fredericksburg has started a project to re-sign the directional indicators around the city and add signs where they are needed. These new signs have a nice modern look to them, with arrows in addition to highlighted attractions. They don't quite have the contrast as some other localities, and a few signs are in dark locations, but all-in-all, I applaud the city for undertaking this task.



However, you wonder if the group installing the signs were given any leaway on placement, or what to do with old signage. Take a look at this location at William and Hanover streets. Putting a new sign behind the old historic downtown sign doesn't do anything to help drivers visiting the city coming north on William.


This is what the sign looks like for anyone wondering.

Roof blows off of Cafe New Orleans

The high winds today have taken a toll on the roof of Cafe New Orleans on William St. I came out of Hyperion, and the flashing lights of the cop car got my attention. I could see yellow tape blocking off part of the block. Everyone was standing there wondering if there was a fire as the ladder truck had been brought out. Then we saw the roof lifting off of the building. Hopefully they will be able to contain any damage. I was able to get a few snaps before having to head home for a previous engagement.











Some of the bricks from under the lip of the roof had given way and were on the street. Didn't see any injuries.







[update] the roof did not come off, and thanks to some quick work was nailed back down but will require some rework to finish.

Kalahari Update

It looks like Kevin Gullette (Director of Economic Development) has uploaded a new page that consolidates a lot of the city's information on Kalahari and the Celebrate VA South development. He even links to the comprehensive plan and JumpStart program.

They finally published the whitepapers from the police department, fire dept, and public works (water). They even linked ot the minutes from the Jan 8 council meeting.

http://www.fredericksburgva.gov/city_manager/kalahari_project.asp

Open Gov't!

Ale House of Fredericksburg

Today we get to see the incentive package for Ale House of Fredericksburg. Thanks to Emily Battle of FLS for pointing out that this is now on the city website.

Here's the breakdown, they're getting 25k from JumpStart for improving the building, and after the first year they get a rebate on certain taxes they paid. Then they can get back UP TO 49.5k over years 2-10. If I read it correctly, it's capped at 5.5k for each of those years. There is one statement that says 5.5k per year or 50k whichever comes first. I'm not exactly sure how that compares to a later statement that says "not more than $5,500".

Let me be the first to bring it up. Say you read it here first: Does a "Beer Garden" fit with the character of the city? I have eaten at Capital Ale House in Richmond and very much enjoy the atmosphere. In their letter, they detail expansions they have made to the original establishment by creating a music hall and beer garden, meaning an outdoor seating area. I'm certain that in the next weeks you'll see an editorial in the FLS railing on how this isn't the type of business we want in our historic downtown. I would invite these commentors to come to the city council meetings and LISTEN to what is being said by this company and our own development people. And don't just visit on the hot topic nights, visit when the regular items are being discussed so that you can understand the challenges faced by the city. This company is renovating a building and actually contributed to helping the city maintain its downtown area. This is a great thing, and should help attract future small businesses that don't need that big box store space.

Variety, this has been a regular topic of discussions related to the future of the city. Lets not forget that every investment advisor tells you to diversify your portfolio. Thanks to the econimic engine of this city for exploring all types of businesses. Sure, some of us are going to dislike a few, but others are going to embrace them. When I go out, I like to have a choice of places to go, and I only see this getting better in the coming years.

So before anyone points out these 2 words in the Ale House letter, let's think about what this really means - adding to the vitality of a downtown area. I can only hope that Ale House of Fredericksburg is already thinking about future upgrades and expansion and that maybe we'll get a Music Hall and Biergärten (it sounds more authentic spelled that way doesn't it).

Kalahari

I'm going to put together this page to link to all of the city flyers and Kalahari publications related to bringing the resort to Fredericksburg in the Celebrate Virginia South tourist zone. For instance, I have not been able to find the original Silver/Kalahari mailing anywhere online. As the city releases more info on their incentives package, I'll try to come back to this site and update.

Kalahari is already starting to advertise for the Fredericksburg site. On their main website it is link #3:
http://www.kalahariresorts.com/va/

Incentive Letter to Fredericksburg City:
http://www.fredericksburgva.gov/notices/LOI_Kala_final_0108.pdf

If you pull up the city comprehensive plan, you can see that this zoning is consistent with the long term planning of the city.http://www.fredericksburgva.gov/citypubs/Comp_Plan08_FINAL_HiResPhotos.pdf

Oh, and in case you're interested, there are two Appendixes that go along with the comprehensive plan. Appendix B includes traffic analysis (hopefully this will be updated again soon):
http://www.fredericksburgva.gov/citypubs/Comp_Plan08_Appendix_B_Final.pdf

These images are of the mailer Silver and Kalahari sent out to area residents. It has the business reasons for building the area. Kalahari's business execs will be studying these, putting together their business plan for their banks, and making sure that this is a sound financial decision for them.






Take a closer look at page 4:


This is what the city reports the area zoning. Most of CV is C-SC (shopping center). Some areas are still zoned R-1.


In response to an editorial in the Free Lance-Star on 2/6 that sarcastically talked about what conventions would come to this new attraction, I offer this video of surfing at the other resorts. That editorial seemed to think that Harley riders are all tattooed thugs, not realizing that many Harley riders these days are doctors and lawyers, most with families. Let's take an honest look at what it realistically will bring to the area. I hope this includes surfing competitions.

Surfing Video:


Finally, next we need to put some energy into evaluating the post Kalahari decision, we should start putting together the impacts the region needs to deal with.

• Increased competition for hourly workers
• Treatment of 50,000 gallons of chlorinated (or other chemically treated) water from the park
• The impact of putting that water back into the Rappahannock (pH modification)
• Replacement of the missing landscaping (runoff from the parking lots and buildings can impact local ecosystems)
• Light Pollution
• Improving traffic flow (diverting traffic to Celebrate Virginia through roads best designed to handle out of town traffic, updating signage, removing bottlenecks )
• Added services Health/Medical/Police/Fire

This list is in no particular order, and it should grow as more info comes in from businesses and city departments.

HOT lanes and traffic

I've been reading a lot of articles and editorials about HOT lanes and their potential pitfalls. There seems to be a growing population that would rather are the state pursue some alternative. Let me add a stick to the fire...

If the state were to improve I-95 by widening the entire thing, wouldn't that just further encourage urban sprawl? Suddenly land in Caroline might become prime commuter area. And no matter how far they improved 95, the problems would follow!

I have seen where the state is exploring bus transport. Great idea, public transportation, how original. But it requires lanes for buses to bypass the slow vehicle traffic. I do see how having the HOT lanes could provide for this. Right now there are a few bus services in Fredericksburg and spotsylvania, but they have to deal with congestion all the way to dale city.

The answer to our problems should lie in incentivising drivers to get off the roads, she the way to do that is either through a complete public transport system, or some type of HOV or bus lanes. This area has a unique market driven system of slugging based just on the HOV lanes. Here I would say that the original plan has succeeded in getting vehicles off of the road.

When we moved back to the area, one of the deciding factors on where to but was the availability and cost of commuting. I am happy that we chose the city of Fredericksburg with its train station and variety of bus services.

I am deeply concerned that we are quickly developing huge tracts of land. While we are not setting aside enough natural area to support wildlife and our ecosystem. And if you don't want to hear about nature, think about where will our grandchildren build their new homes? All of this comes back to thinking about what is best for the road system. As we make improvements, can we make the incentives such that we preserve the population centers, and manage growth in a way that is intended.

Fredericksburg History

The monthly publication Front Porch has a great article this month that details some of the historic sites around town.  Mostly focused on the Washington family.

Fredericksburg City Water Dept.

Ok, I've got to give kuddos to the F'burg city water department. We had a break in the water main on our street Saturday morning. The guys were here checking it out in the morning, and showed up with the heavy equipment by about mid day. I talked to the crew when they were taking a break, and found out they were actually waiting for the utilities guys to come mark all the lines surrounding the break. We had water back on that afternoon.

Now for the amazing thing. That break was on Sat, and on Sunday they came by with a water truck and spayed down the entire road. All the dirt and crud from the digging has now been washed away and we have a clean roadway again. That's service!