PLACE Design Task Force Minutes March 8, 2018 12:00 – 2:00 Neighborhood Development Services Conference Room, 2nd Floor City Hall Members Present: Mike Stoneking, Fred Wolfe, Mark Rylander, Clarence Green, Andrew Mondschein, Rachel Lloyd, Kathy Galvin, Andres Pacheco and Lena Seville Staff Present: Carrie Rainey, Missy Creasy, Carolyn McCray, Alex Ikefuna Call to Order – Chairman Stoneking Agenda Arrival (5 minutes) Public Comments (5 minutes) Introduction of New Members (5 minutes) 4. Lighting Discussion (30 minutes) 4. Lighting Study Committee Update Mark Schylar and Joan Albemarle County is darker and we would like to reengage with a technical committee to modify the ordinance the ongoing benchmark particularly the model in North American RP33 committee, he is a member. This is part of a national effort. Needs to be updated soon. The fixtures are so powerful, 100 thousand foot level, an economic challenge. One of the examples the Edinburgh, a very similar and need for tourism. Its basis in the art, hilly city, the city engaged a light firm from London, in terms of a formal plan to tell you where you are and to actual light for people. 2013 successful in Edinburgh. Education is not hard and they get it right away. Personally make a really important impact talk about our city, light our crosswalks, lighting them properly. Things that tied together, cameras on the downtown mall. Rachel address only lighting performance standard, character, Earlier lighting study, any information from the last plan. Probably not, how things go to market and the process, extremely good for making financial decision Design for this specific initiative is part of how you determine, more h A section of character and historical fixtures, the side streets on the mall consider a lighting master plan. Joan Fenton: 94,000, 12 lights, why couldn’t you come up with a plan, put them on your block on each side of the street. Maybe the 1 City could spend 10,000 100 lights on her building. BAR, she has a building have a nicely lit block, how do we make this happen. Dealing with the whole could go into this pilot program. Adequately light, 3rd street all pedestrian. Holiday lighting last year, Parks and Rec now does it. How do you notice the building and look behind. Mike: New way of lighting quality, why it can be a code issue, controlled in the building code world, code reach larger group. Challenges differ so radically so different, the real power and character of your city of it. Andrew: lighting is an area base concern, part of a comp plan. Blue light at night; address the changes as we know. Take the round Gennie illuminated signs, entrance corridor review board, intersection of barracks and Emmet, she did not support the project because illumination of the project adjacent to a neighborhood. Mark the modeling of lighting is so much more apt based, almost no excuse, power cannot kill anybody, technically change has only happened in a couple of years. Joan has not made a request to the city. Can it be administratively from the BAR? Mark simple module from a façade at the height approved by the fire department mounted in something Fred: building mounting lights. Mark: Canerbery lighting, strands from one building to another Because they can lower the street lighting and the signs were really high above, the cost was so much higher. Lena: are we just talking about downtown mall. Go and see Stone field station was a plan. Joan do the model on the mall first, does it work for different neighborhoods, Lena: delivery system Bike path at intersection or a low level of lighting, depending on good ways, specific light, where and how much lighting. 2 Mike Stoneking: This cost money, an actual contract to do the master plan Alex: said the next cycle and then get some funds. Design some fall out discussion, have to structure the RFP, safety issues, submit for the next funding cycle. Joan: what amount of saving it is in doing this? Better spent funding some part of the project. Spider lights, made for these fixtures, cost extremely expensive to operate 100,000 hours a thousand watts. They are forever, Rachel: can you see it on line? Workshop, 2023, add that to that budget, good deal of information before they will consider, how what was done can be modified. There is a process. Mark want to work on this pro bono, have the committee to do this, outside model, team who is doing it, Andrew: short term needs is there a demonstration project to be done, what is the simplest way to do. Willing to do the pilot on my street. Picking the right spot, defining the criteria for the pilot, the light fixtures should be in line with our long term objectives. Using students, be with a survey to talk to the people, regular doing that 5. Long Range Planning Position Discussion (30 minutes) 18 month ago item 27, evolved for us city architect, long range person, move through as an assistant city manager position. Supervisory responsibility, eye line, eventual thinking, lists a few coordinating with developers, setting the tone for the future, how do you balance that. It is easy to be consumed and never get to the visionary a gap, really should be following the vision. In line with the Novak study, a planner position, assistant city manager, advisory position, how the long range planning responsibility is going to work out. Recommendation, re‐structuring it presents goals. In addition too. Long range between the two is what is on the table. Planner in VA Beach, 3 or four person team, design development, and implementation of larger scale development. Just Falango, 3 subgroups, the review group, research development group, don’t review on single document, and other group that bridges the gap. 3 Mike: Hire, nds, utility dept., public works, parks and rec, what department, confident. Not very good at some of this, some things don’t have to be there. That is his approach to not turning into an engineer job. Lena and advertisement for Charlottesville, a lot what we want is missing, originally dropped out. Long range planning and design, in other arena, in health and education. Focused in that regard. Public utility and public works focused everything above the ground. More engineering. NDS and parks and rec. Mike: utility line is under the sidewalks, pipes under the asphalt, carry an ethos and they are not first, move it. Reaches out to park and rec, make life a little easier, the pipes are The strength is from Social Services. Some advantage in having that kind of confident Asking the right questions, collaboration, how can create calibration, strong flirtation skill, long range vision, aspirational city, what do we want to be? As far as compelling department to implicate a vision, no way to compelled staff create a problem. Comp Plan flush it out and bring life to it Lena: communicate with the neighborhood people. Serena: Mike: want to apply for this job. This is an opportunity, recommendation at a budget, form a subcommittee. Tim Motsch: 6. Staff Updates (30 minutes) Emmet Street Streetscape Project under contract, Kimley Horn, kick off meeting and how to submit information and March 8, for E. High tonight. Surround downton business association. Planning commission and BAR, project Emmet and Fontaine. Consultant teams are based in Richmond, April 14th. Fontaine, steering committee, final approval from VDOT 4 Barrack Rd is pending although we have the money on March 19th, vdot if we can start the building early. Gap between, looking for applying smartscale for preston and grady and Barracks Road and Emmet, how to connect them. Be linked together. What is going to happen at barracks It is a streetscape projects improve turning lane, signals, right of way position. Less and less pedestrian friendly. CVS on that corner, bike/ped friendly intersection. Missy said it has not been designed yet. Alex: to improve the streetscape, You can’t get funding unless it multi-module Alex, present the project, an opportunity to, East High Street Streetscape Project: Chris Henry, Fontaine Ave: Gennie Andrew: New Business: a table for community engagement Interested in Place having a sub-committee put something together for community engagements. The accountability to that process, community input in making that process transparent, beating that drum for a while. Serena: want to bring process into civic job of creating programs and jobs, inquiry contential coming back what the implementation looks like, is not developing what that looks like, a lot of ways to communication that is not standard yet. Groundbreaking for this town, Clarence: a lot of thing he doesn’t know about PLACE Gennie open chapter embarking on something new, things are a little up on the air, holding a place, revised every year or two, Serena open to possibilities 5 Rachel long time talking a community engagement, systematic decision making, it is worth nothing, great ways to talk to people. Clarence what is the benefit for the community? Does people look at these boards and how they can benefit from it. Rachel: I know you are going to hear what I am saying. People who don’t like the process, don’t participate because it is not an appropriate process Serena: as the art project and Heather Hyer to create a Mural posing on 4th street building owner is on board. Topic of the mural, to support the idea of the project, art in place is a good thing. Clarence, combine with a collaboration of art both downtown and other places, A story is emerging to this picture. Clarence: LACE group debates role’s change to assistant city manager level A community engagement position approved by Charlottesville’s City Council last year has been elevated to an assistant city manager for design and development and will be advertised this spring. “This person has to have a steel skeleton and charisma galore,” said Mike Stoneking, chairman of the PLACE Design Task Force. “It’s like Cary Grant meets the Terminator.” (Stoneking is a member of Charlottesville Tomorrow’s board of directors.) The PLACE group was formed in 2012 to advise the council on design issues in the city’s public areas. Its annual report in 2016 endorsed “the creation [and provision] of funding for a city designer/architect position” that would play a role in shepherding the city’s aesthetics. 6 In the current fiscal year, the council budgeted $119,465 for a “community engagement/placemaking/design” position but it has not been filled. The proposed $171.3 million budget for fiscal year 2019 has raised the position to a managerial one. At their meeting Thursday, PLACE members discussed what they would want to see in the position. They used a draft job description written by City Manager Maurice Jones for an assistant city manager for design and development. “Our next ACM will work with staff to provide support to various citizen committees, including but not limited to the PLACE Design Task Force, the Planning Commission, the Board of Architectural Review and the Historic Resources Committee,” reads the description. “She or he will closely work with staff to develop a community engagement process to ensure that all voices will have an opportunity to be heard on critical development projects.” The city currently has two assistant city managers who report to Jones. The city manager’s office also includes the office of economic development and office of communications. The draft job description goes on to state that the new hire would be tasked with developing a long-range vision for design in the city. They also would supervise the Department of Neighborhood Development Services, Public Works and Public Utilities. The person hired also would work “with staff and key stakeholders to develop a comprehensive strategy for improving and streamlining the development process in the city.” Part of the PLACE discussion was about whether the position should be at the assistant city manager level. 7 “As far as compelling departments to implement a vision, the implication of Maurice’s statement is that unless you have an assigned supervisory role, there’s no way you can compel staff to undertake a project,” said Rachel Lloyd, a member of the group since it was formed. Another PLACE member suggested the position could become more like the Office of the Architect position at the University of Virginia. “They’re not supervisory but all major plans and all major policies have to go through them,” said Lena Seville. Lloyd said one difference between UVa and Charlottesville is that the architect’s office there generates development on Grounds and carries out a master plan. Other PLACE members said the person needs to bring new ideas to the table. “It’s thinking ahead to things we haven’t thought about and setting an agenda that we haven’t managed yet,” said Fred Wolf. “We haven’t had anybody really dreaming and managing the vision really since the 1970s,” said Genevieve Keller, the Planning Commission’s representative on the task force. “That’s what we need.” Seville raised concern that the position would not be connected to neighborhoods. 8 “I do think they have to have the ability to communicate with the neighborhood associations and the people,” she said. “If they are creating a vision, they really have to be connected to the community rather than supervising departments.” One person asked what role this person would play in the review of the Comprehensive Plan. “The way we said it before, this would be the person who would flesh it out and bring life to it,” Stoneking said. PLACE will form a subcommittee to continue discussing the position and what its members desire. Any meetings with more than two members must be advertised to the public under Virginia law. The new position is not the only one under consideration that would touch upon community engagement related to the built environment. Jones’ proposed budget sets aside $100,000 for a new position in the Department of Neighborhood Development Services. The exact role of this position is not known but will be informed by an assessment of NDS conducted by the Novak Consulting Group. The council decided at a work session Wednesday to wait until after the budget is adopted to finalize the position. The proposed budget has an additional $225,000 to fund two new positions as part of a reclassification of the clerk of council’s office. One would conduct research and development for councilors and the other would help councilors with community engagement and media appearances. 9 7. New Business (10 minutes) 8. Public Comments (5 minutes) 10