Charlottesville Water Resource Protection Program Advisory Committee APPROVED Minutes for Meeting #20 Date: June 10, 2019; 3pm Location: City Space, 100 5th St NE, Charlottesville, VA 22902 Attendees: Advisory Committee Members: Michael Ramsey, David Hirchman, Melissa Orndorff Stephens, Mary Eiserman, Jacqueline Goodrum, Trey Steigman, Jeff Atkins, Rebecca Quinn, Morgan Butler, Brian Becker City Staff: Melissa Stephens, Lauren Hildebrand, Sarah Osterman, Jennie Latane, Lily Wincele (intern) Members of the Public: 1. Welcome and Introductions: 2. Public Comment: none 3. Approval of minutes from January 28, 2019: several clarifications were suggested by R. Quinn. Minutes were approved with the suggested clarifications. (D. Hirschman motion; J. Goodrum second) 4. Committee Items: a. Flood plain property assistance discussion: R. Quinn shared some background regarding flood zones and flood ways on Moores Creek on McElroy Drive. There are several homes in this area that have flooded repeatedly. There may be federal funding available to purchase these homes. We do not know whether these homes would qualify. R. Quinn is interested in obtaining data and screening eligibility with the goal of creating a contiguously owned public space in the area. D. Hirschman suggested inquiring with the city of Hampton as they may have some involvement, experience and suggestions. R. Quinn is happy to work with M. Stephens or Tony Edwards (neighborhood development) to obtain more information. T. Steigman offered to report back on the fair market values of the property. M. Butler expressed his interest in setting aside spaces for Best Management Practices and there was a following discussion regarding the Committee’s priorities for flooding in addition to drainage. M. Stephens asked the group to consider the precedent that this could potentially set for other properties. L. Hildebrand followed up that while it would be a worthwhile project, that it would likely not be for Utilities, Parks may have interest. R. Quinn asked that the City investigate how many homes are actually in the floodway and floodplain. It was agreed that a City employee would look into this. M. Butler suggested that some benefits that would be more directly related to the Committee’s and Utility Department’s goals be outlined. b. Review and Approval of Annual Report CY18: R. Quinn pointed out that the Water Quality Incentive program is available to homeowners and this should be changed to property owners. Under regulatory compliance, R. Quinn asked if there is anything specific to CY18 that should be pointed out. Under Capital Program Implementation, R. Quinn suggested that that the 4 projects listed for survey and the newly approved projects and Capital drainage projects should be clarified that this is an update as of CY18. R. Quinn suggested that 4 projects not yet underway should be listed as bullets. Survey should be clarified to be land survey. In the Regulatory Compliance section, J. Goodrum asked for clarification regarding why meeting the N goal would be challenging. D. Hirschman suggested that it is the BMP crediting formulas that make this difficult. There was a greater discussion following this point of the overarching State goals and plan for the bay. M. Stephens discussed how nutrient credit exchanges had been engaged with Albemarle County. B. Becker suggested expounding on this in the report. The report was approved with the above mentioned amendments. (M. Eiserman motion; J. Atkins second) c. Elect new WRPP‐AC Chairperson and Secretary: M. Ramsey was reelected as chair and M. Eiserman as secretary (T. Steigman motion; D. Hirschman second) 5. Staff Updates a. Maintenance‐ the maintenance crew is cleaning grates and drains. VAC truck to clean out pipes is in the process of being replaced. Contracted work is primarily in the Greenbrier neighborhood doing pipe relining and replacement/repair. b. SLAF grant (Stormwater Local Assistance Fund submitted to DEQ in October) is approved! This funding will support 3 stream restoration projects. The Meadow Creek stream restoration; Pen Park Phase 2 (continuation of stream channel restoration); and Schenks Branch just below Charlottesville High in proposed botanical garden. The City is still waiting for more information from DEQ but hope to have projects through design process and ready for construction within year. Schenks Branch/ botanical project will likely be prioritized. R. Quinn suggested updating the master plan to include these projects. There was clarification that the grant is matching funds. c. Update on PPP (Public Private Partnership RFI) – ordinance authorizing the use of Public Private Partnerships for procurement has not yet gone before City Council. This ordinance is expected to be reviewed in July to approve PPP procurement ordinance. d. FY20 budget: City Council approved FY20 budget. Utility Rate Report was presented by L. Hildebrand, but is not available to the public until after a second reading. The stormwater section of the report includes a section on how fees were actually calculated. R. Quinn asked if public perception of movement of maintenance positions could reflect a lack of allocation of city stormwater utility funds. M. Stephens indicated that the budget reflected that this funding came from a change in the funding of CIP projects and could easily be clarified if there was a concern. R. Quinn asked if stream projects were walked every year. This was confirmed by M. Stephens and L. Hildebrand. R. Quinn brought up the possibility of increasing CCAP (Charlottesville Conservation Assistance Program) funds. M. Eiserman gave an update on the CCAP program following a mailing in conjunction with the City. M. Stephens indicated that because of un‐ allocated funds from past years, CCAP funding for this year could be increased without any changes. M. Stephens shared that several larger issues have been identified for the City through CCAP site visits. R. Quinn suggested that where the CCAP partnership lead to project identification, this should be indicated e. CIP Master Plan: Several projects (Wayside, Pen Park stream restoration (not master plan), and Kenwood) were scheduled to be started on the 10th of June, but were postponed due to rain. f. Utility Billing: Bi‐annual bills went out beginning of May and were due the week prior to this meeting. One error from aerial imagery was identified ($12 per year). M. Ramsey asked about the utility rate report. It will be available on the Utility website after the second meeting of council. g. FOIA refresher: M. Stephens offered a reminder that the City is offering a training and that any information pertaining to committee activity could be requested and that members should be mindful. The City Attorney’s office is available to help. h. GIS activities: S. Osterman shared that she is working to update GIS layers every time a building or lot changes. She is adding to the storm infrastructure map and recently put large area around Hydraulic Road back into data. She has also been adding a layer of BMPs, both public and private. S. Osterman is making continual updates to keep things up to date and accurate. City viewer is not currently up to date, but this is being worked on. 6. Other Items: R. Quinn inquired at what point there would be a rate review. M. Stephens suggested that this would happen when there were budgeting issues. There is a VA municipal rate study program that the city compares itself to the rest of the state that is utilized. This shows Charlottesville’s fees to be right in the middle of the state range. There was no need to increase rates for some time as there had been no movement on projects/ expenditure of funds. This year should give a more accurate reading as money will be going out. M. Butler asked how much money is still available currently. Melissa suggested that it was around 2.9 million. L. Hildebrand reiterated that this money is allocated for projects and just held up by various planning and construction processes. R. Quinn asked if we could change annual reporting schedule to FY instead of CY and there was some discussion. M. Stephens will look into the possibility and report back at the next Committee meeting. There is a plan for the next meeting to be scheduled in October. 7. Meeting adjourned: 4:45pm