Coraggio Consulting
City of Fairfax City Council Meeting, Tuesday, May 26, 2026

Date: Tuesday, May 26, 2026
Place: City Hall, City of Fairfax, Virginia
Length: 1h 42m (video)
Official meeting video (city, Granicus): https://fairfax.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=13&clip_id=4565
Agenda: https://fairfax.granicus.com/AgendaViewer.php?view_id=13&clip_id=4565
Minutes: https://fairfax.granicus.com/MinutesViewer.php?view_id=13&clip_id=4565&doc_id=f37de8d6-59cc-11f1-9b4d-005056a89546

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-12. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

[00:00:09] Good evening. I would like to call the regular meeting of May 26, 2026 to order. Welcome everyone to our chamber. I would like to invite Junior Troop 50228 to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. So if you are able and so choose, please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

[00:00:28] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[00:00:47] Thank you so much, ladies, and you are welcome to take a seat and stay for as much of our meeting as you would like to stay for. Now I'm going to ask Reverend Emma Chatton of the Metropolitan Church of Northern Virginia and friends to come down for the proclamation acknowledging June is LGBTQIA Pride Month.

[00:01:24] Come on, everybody, just all over here. Come on, circle around, circle around, circle around. Gather, gather, gather. All right.

[00:01:43] I love this proclamation every year. Whereas, within the recorded history of humanity, there have existed people around the world who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex, living in cultures and communities that have shunned, shamed, ostracized, and criminalized their very existence.

[00:02:06] a practice that continues in many places to this day. And whereas the contributions of those in the LGBTQ community have lifted our human experience through their art, innovation, discoveries, explorations, and in a variety of professions for centuries while being denied the basic human rights of others in their local communities.

[00:02:28] And whereas the Stonewall Riots began in New York City on June 28, 1969 and are regarded as the catalyst for the gay liberation movement in the United States, bringing about a public display of pride and a celebration of people who refuse to cede their basic human rights to those who rigorously pursue a denial of those rights through dogma, antiquated beliefs, and discriminatory public policy.

[00:02:55] And whereas in October 2014, same-sex couples were allowed to marry in the Commonwealth of Virginia as a result of long-term efforts by many advocates, and in advance of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on June 25, 2015, that ended marriage discrimination for everyone in the United States of America.

[00:03:16] And whereas in 2020, the Virginia General Assembly passed 13 pieces of civil rights legislation known as the Virginia Values Act that protect the LGBTQ community from discrimination in public employment, housing, credit, and public accommodation.

[00:03:32] And whereas assaults on the rights of the LGBTQ individuals continue in legislative bodies across the country and around the world, necessitating constant vigilance and a resolve to protect the basic civil rights, human rights, and safety of our friends, neighbors, and loved ones.

[00:03:53] And whereas the city of Fairfax wishes to recognize, celebrate, and uplift our LGBTQ residents and their allies with a celebration at the Stacey C. Sherwood Center on June 6th in collaboration with our partners at George Mason University, now therefore I, Catherine S. Reed, mayor of the city of Fairfax, on behalf of all residents of the city of Fairfax, do hereby proclaim June 2026 as LGBTQIA plus pride month in the city of Fairfax.

[00:04:24] City of Fairfax, and urge all to acknowledge and celebrate our LGBTQIA plus friends, family, neighbors, employees, educators, and visitors to our welcoming and inclusive community. And with that, I will turn it over to Reverend Emily Chatton.

[00:04:45] Fairfax is the best place to live. I will tell you that. I've lived in many places. I wouldn't imagine living any other place. I love it. I love the people. I love the places. I love everything about it.

[00:05:01] I will tell you this much. People ask me what pride is. Our communities have a lot to be proud of. And the celebration of pride is just that. It's a part of an ongoing conversation with the world in which we live. Pride remembers our origins, our fights for our lives, our fights for our jobs, our fights to love, and our fights to be married, to be known as people, and to be known as human beings.

[00:05:28] Pride is also a reminder that we need to draw from each other strength for tomorrow. That we need to draw strength from community and our history for our future and for the days ahead. In the year 2000, Fairfax County public schools did not have protections, explicit protections for gay and lesbian teachers.

[00:05:50] And I remember going to countless school board meetings for that. And I remember Robert Rigby, who was a lion of the podium, in terms of making changes for that. Pride is about remembering that, because we've come too far to give up who we are, and that's what pride is about.

[00:06:10] Thank you for being here. And thank you, Mayor. Thank you. A photo. And now a photo.

[00:06:22] We can move to the adoption of the agenda.

[00:07:21] Is there a motion to approve the agenda? I move to adopt the agenda as presented. The motion has been made and seconded. A roll call vote. Council Member Amos? Aye. Council Member Hall? Aye. Council Member Hardy-Chandler? Aye. Council Member Peterson? Aye. Council Member Bates?

[00:07:36] Aye. Council Member McQuillan? Aye. Motion passed unanimously. We had nobody sign up to speak for initial general public comment, so we will go to the consent agenda. Is there, are there any questions on any of the items on the consent agenda? Left looking right.

[00:07:54] Are there any items Council would like pulled from the consent agenda? Okay, is there a motion? I move to approve the consent agenda items 6A through D as presented and the accompanying motions in the staff reports.

[00:08:14] A motion has been made by Council Member Hardy-Chandler and seconded by Council Member Peterson. A roll call vote. Council Member McClellan? Aye. Council Member Bates? Aye. Council Member Peterson? Aye. Council Member Hardy-Chandler? Aye. Council Member Hall? Aye. Council Member Amos? Aye. Motion passed unanimously.

[00:08:30] we will go to the public hearing we only have one public hearing tonight which is a public hearing and council action on a request from chelsea wolf property owner and applicant for consideration of a special use to allow for keeping up to four chickens pursuant to code section 110-3.5.5 at 4136 orchard drive in rm imprints residential medium district and more particularly described as tax map parcel 54-4-05-04-075.

[00:09:05] I'm going to recognize Savannah Newburn, our senior planner with the Berkeley Group, to provide the staff presentation. Good evening, counsel. Again, I'm Savannah Newburn with the Berkeley Group.

[00:09:23] Happy to be here this evening to present the special use permit request for the keeping of chickens at 4136 Orchard Drive. The applicant proposes to have four hens accessory to an existing single-family dwelling. The lot is 0.46 acres, and the proposed location of the coop is in the rear of the property, meeting all of the required setbacks.

[00:09:49] The coop itself is a 12-by-6 coop, and the hens are proposed to be fenced at all times, as is required by the ordinance. The zoning is compliant at residential medium. A special use permit is required because the lot is less than 20,000 square feet.

[00:10:09] This is consistent with the future land use of the property as well, single-family detached neighborhood, and there are other homes on this street that currently have chickens. The single-family detached neighborhood place type is primarily for single-family homes and those accessory uses which are permitted by.

[00:10:36] We find that the proposed applicant's request is consistent with a comprehensive plan, compliant with the zoning ordinance, creates no negative impact on the health or safety of persons residing or working in the neighborhood, nor on the public welfare.

[00:10:54] We propose the following conditions, that the keeping of chickens shall be consistent with the application, the city shall have the right to inspect the yard, and the permit shall be non-transferable and any additional zoning permits will be required. That is all that I have to present this evening and the applicant is here as well to speak. Good evening, my name is Chelsea

[00:11:29] Wolf and I live at 4136 Orchard Drive. I'm requesting approval for a residential special unit use permit to keep up to four hands for household egg production. My lot is 19,909 square feet, which meets the size requirements for this type of permit. As shown on the site plan included in my application, the coop will be located toward the interior of my backyard in a spot carefully selected to maximize distance from neighboring homes while meeting all setback requirements.

[00:12:00] The coop will be fully enclosed, predator-proof, and maintained in a clean and sanitary manner to prevent odor and pests. For me, this is part of creating a thoughtful, hands-on home environment for my family, especially for my son. We already spend a lot of time outside and gardening together and I see this as a natural extension of that, helping him understand where food comes from and building responsibility in a tangible way. I'm also a pastry chef and I've always had a strong passion for quality ingredients and sustainability and this feels like a natural

[00:12:36] small-scale way to bring those values to my home. This is a personal use request that I believe will remain fully consistent with the residential character of the neighborhood and I'm happy to answer any questions thank you for your time and consideration thank you I will open the public hearing mission of area has the public hearing been properly advertised yes it has no one has signed up prior to speak is there anybody in the room would like to speak on this agenda item are there questions from staff regarding this application okay seeing that I will

[00:13:10] now close the public hearing is there a motion I move that the city council approve the request from chelsea wolf applicant for the special use permit to allow the keeping of chickens as an accessory use in the rm residential medium district on the premises known as 4136 orchard drive and more particularly described as tax map 57-4-05-04-075 with the following conditions the keeping of chickens shall be consistent with the application

[00:13:48] plat and statement of support as shown in the application the city shall have the right to inspect the yard at any time the special use permit shall be non-transferable and the applicant shall obtain all required zoning permits to allow the accessory use second a motion has been made by council member hardy chandler and seconded by council member peterson is there any discussion on the motion seeing none a roll call vote council member amos aye council member hall aye council member hardy chandler aye council member peterson aye council member bates aye

[00:14:23] councilman mcquillan aye motion passed unanimously congratulations thank you okay we will go on the second general public comment is there anybody in the room that would like to make a general public comment tonight okay we will move on to items not requiring a public hearing we only have one item which is a consideration of award of construction contract to meadville land service and corporation and the amount of approximately six hundred twenty eight thousand six hundred fifty five dollars for providence park and van dyke park outfall restoration i'm going to recognize satoshi

[00:14:59] ito our public works program manager to provide the staff presentation great uh this agenda item is for contract award for two outfall restoration projects in providence and van dyke parks and these These two projects were bid together as a package for cost-effectiveness.

[00:15:26] The first project is inside Providence Park. It's at the northeast corner of the park, and this outfall, or area that collects stormwater, it collects stormwater from the Fairfax County Stormwater Management Facility off of West Drive.

[00:15:45] These are some existing conditions photos of this outfall. The outfall is heavily eroded, channelization has created vertical banks that are over five feet high in some areas and tree loss due to erosion in the outfall channel has occurred. The photos in the upper left and upper center are photos of the area where stormwater comes from the maintenance facility and enters into the wooded area inside Providence Park.

[00:16:14] This restoration project proposes grading the outfall channel so that the banks are sloped rather than vertical. Steep grades and high flow velocities are addressed through a series of step pools that dissipate energy. And there's eight in series that are highlighted in blue here. 34 trees will need to be removed to construct the outfall restoration project. Nine of those trees are in poor condition.

[00:16:39] Tree removal is necessary for site access, grading of the eroded outfall channel, and tying new grades to the surrounding area. And it's also been our experience that additional trees can be saved during the construction phase with input from the contractor. As an example, this same contractor, Meadville Land Service saved an additional 40 trees on the Stafford Drive stream restoration project during the pre-construction site review that we did with the urban forester.

[00:17:04] We also arranged for site access off of Bob Court with the Avalon apartment, so we have a temporary construction easement. This allowed us to save about an additional 40 trees as opposed to accessing this outfall from the Providence Park parking lot. 67 replacement plantings are in the scope of work, including one super clump, and super clumps are concentrated areas of diverse plantings that work together to establish quickly and discourage animal grazing. Here's some metrics on the project. It's a 250-foot-long eroding outfall channel, and the project area is approximately six-tenths of an acre. This is a maintenance

[00:17:43] project that's eligible for Stormwater Local Assistance Fund grants, and it does generate Chesapeake Bay pollutant reduction credits, and so $186,000 in SLAF grant funding from DEQ is available towards this project. The scope of work includes channel grading, step pools, and construction of rip-wrap line channels. It will require removal of 34 trees. To offset that, 67 replacement plantings are in the planting plan that we developed with input from the urban forester. And again, we did arrange for temporary construction access through the Avalon Apartments.

[00:18:20] The other project that's in this package is the outfall restoration at Van Dyke Park. It's on the east side of the park, and it takes runoff from the parking lot, trail, and parts of the tennis courts. These are existing conditions photos. There's heavily eroded channels and displaced concrete at the outfall structures. Channelization has occurred, and there are vertical banks that are approximately four feet tall in several locations. And similarly, trick tree loss has occurred along the banks of these outfalls. The project includes construction of a large

[00:18:57] plunge pool to dissipate energy from flows coming from the trail, tennis courts, and parking lot, and that's highlighted in blue in the lower right. It also includes a pipe to carry flows under the asphalt trail and restoration of the outfall channel segment between the trail and Daniel's Run, and that pipe segment under the trail is highlighted in yellow. The Van Dyke Outfall Restoration Project area is larger than Providence, and so 48 trees will need to be removed to construct this outfall restoration project, and tree removal is necessary to provide site access along the existing asphalt trail, regrade the eroded outfall channel, and tie new

[00:19:34] grates to the surrounding area. Most of the trees to be removed are within the area that must be regraded to repair the outfall channel. However, we will discuss additional tree save with the contractor during the pre-construction walkthrough. To mitigate the tree of removal, there are 262 replacement plantings in the project scope, including four super clumps. This outfall is 330 feet long, and the project area is just under 1.8 acres. This is also a maintenance project that's eligible for DEQ SLAF funding, and $362,000 is available from DEQ towards this project.

[00:20:11] The scope of work includes channel grading, construction of a plunge pool, and rock-line channels, as well as repaving a deteriorated portion of the asphalt trail. The removal of 48 trees are offset by 262 replacement plantings that include four super clumps, and again this plan was developed with input from the urban forester. That concludes the presentation that I have on these outfall restoration projects. Happy to take any questions. All right, Are there any questions for staff councilmember Peterson? Well first I want to thank staff for making yourself available for

[00:20:46] A review and discussion of this prior to the meeting. It was really very helpful. I didn't fully understand The scope and the approach here. So I was really, you know, very helpful. I say that because There's been a little bit of confusion in the community about these projects in comparison to what otherwise have been described as stream restoration projects at the broader scale.

[00:21:10] These are much smaller, and they're much more focused on the repair and enhancement of facilities that include concrete structures, but also drainage systems that are associated with them. And the drainage systems are a combination of hard infrastructure, rock, et cetera, plus green infrastructure, trees, et cetera.

[00:21:31] So it's a different story than the broader stream restoration thing. So I think that's very important. I think the other thing that's important at a big picture level to keep in mind is one of the reasons these structures and these drainage systems have to be maintained and improved is because like everybody everywhere, we are experiencing more frequent and severe storm events.

[00:21:58] I am a climate change professional by training, and there's a clear association between radiative forcing and the intensification of our weather cycles. So we should expect this kind of thing to continue and worsen, and we're going to have to keep up with it with everything we do in the city.

[00:22:13] I thought the other thing that was very helpful in the briefing that was pointed out is that there is a long list of these kinds of structures and drainage systems within the city. So as I understand it, this is part of a broader program to stay current with, the maintenance and repair and upgrade for a much longer list of these citywide.

[00:22:35] So that was really very helpful to know. And I know I'll look forward to hearing more about how the city is going to go about approaching that. All of this, I think, is important and necessary. The only more specific comment I would make is that I did have a look at the Van Dyke site over the weekend. And I must say that is a distressed site that really does look like it's overdue for this kind of improvement. And while you are planning to remove 48 trees, which sounds like a lot, when you look at the site, it looks like it is necessary and advisable if in fact that

[00:23:15] is going to be accompanied with the replantings that I understand from the conversation are going to be strategic in terms of their durability and resistance but also my understanding is the urban forester will be working hard to ensure that those are creating to the extent possible wildlife habitat for the area which is critical so I just wanted to call out what I thought were some fairly beneficial approaches and outcomes for this project and thank you again for bringing this forward thank you councilmember McQuillan could you just briefly explain what would happen if these

[00:23:49] these projects weren't completed at this time? The outfall channels are predicted to continue to erode and lose sediment. Additional trees would be lost along those banks as the erosion occurred. It's likely that the channels would shift over time, and so additional trees along those shifting banks would also be lost. But continued soil erosion is the primary effect of wading.

[00:24:15] And then what's the lifespan expectancy of these projects, the restoration? Generally, infrastructure projects like this are expected to last about 30 years. There is a maintenance plan and monitoring plan that's required for state funding towards this project.

[00:24:34] So it will be inspected every year and then maintenance conducted as necessary. I would just like to piggyback on what Satoshi said. If we don't do this, it affects a lot of the hardscape that Councilman Peterson was talking about. We have bridge abutments that become undermined.

[00:24:51] We have wing walls and head walls that become undermined because of this erosion. So the more you put it off, the more expensive it gets to start fixing some of these drainage structures. Thank you. Appreciate that. Thank you. Other questions? Council Member Hall. Thank you. I, too, want to thank you for taking the time to meet with us and go through some of these things.

[00:25:11] I think one of the things that stuck out for me, and I'm probably going to butcher the words a little bit, but you were saying that some of these are kind of deferred maintenance projects or things that hadn't really been thought about or in some cases maintained and so the the pipes or the the concrete connectors essentially are kind of full of sludge and mud but now that they're being done you and you have identified additional assets that need to be maintained there's a new essentially maintenance program to deal with these and other things like these moving forward can you just talk about that a little bit sure the city's asset management program for utilities encompasses

[00:25:47] both stormwater and wastewater. We kicked this off about five years ago, brought on another staff member to help us build this program out. It involves conducting inspections of these assets, rating their condition, and recording it in a map-based GIS software that allows us to categorize these maintenance activities based on the areas, the size of the areas that they serve, the length of pipe, and their overall condition, and we can use that data to prioritize our

[00:26:18] maintenance activities. These outfalls are of a set of approximately 75% of our total number of outfalls that have been inspected, and these are found to be eligible for state funding because of the high potential for future erosion that generates the pollutant reduction credits.

[00:26:39] thank you very much any other questions on this all right is there a motion i move to authorize the purchasing agent to award construction contract a construction contract in the amount of six hundred and twenty eight thousand six hundred and fifty five dollars to meadville land service inc for construction of the providence park and van dyke park outfall restoration project second a motion has been made by council member hardy chandler and seconded by council member peterson

[00:27:14] is there any discussion on the motion seeing none a roll call councilman mcquillan aye councilmember bates aye councilmember peterson aye councilmember hardy-chandler aye councilmember hall aye council member ramus aye motion passed unanimously i will now recess the regular meeting to go into work

[00:27:33] session we will take a five-minute recess to go into the work session room that's right welcome

[00:35:33] back to our work session thank you for joining us ms shinneberry what do we have up our first item is a Wilcoxon Trail Extension Connectivity Study Briefing. I'm going to recognize Wendy Sanford, our Transportation Director, for the staff presentation. Thank you.

[00:35:49] Good evening, Mayor, members of City Council. I'd first like to introduce who's up here with me. We have Chloe Ritter, our Multimodal Transportation Planner, and David Summers, our Public Works Director. And we are here to discuss the Wilcoxon Trail Extension, formerly known as George Snyder Trail Extension, not to be confused with the George Snyder Trail.

[00:36:09] And I will give some project context and then proceed to discuss that, to discuss the project. So we are discussing a planned and funded trail that received smart scale funding back in FY26. The city received $9.5 million.

[00:36:26] And the image on the screen shows the location of the trail that was funded and planned back in 26. And it shows that it goes along Fairfax Boulevard between the Wilcoxon trailhead on Fairfax Boulevard and the eastern terminus of the George Snyder Trail project, which has been canceled. But the project overall was designed to improve multimodal connectivity along Fairfax Boulevard between our various trails in the city.

[00:37:00] By way of more background, this project that received that FY26 funding was first included in the FY22 two-year transportation program. The funding became available in FY26, July 1st of 2025. So it's been online now for almost a year, but no work has been completed yet.

[00:37:19] And we are at this point considering a modification that maintains the project benefit, does not impact its score, and complies with the SMART scale parameters and the scope and intent of the project that was originally awarded funding. So as I mentioned, I'm just going to spend a couple of minutes speaking to the original project design. It was originally designed to connect, again, the Wilcoxon Trailhead on Fairfax Boulevard and the eastern terminus of the George Snyder Trail. And it was designed as a 10-foot wide shared-use path along Route 50, about 400

[00:37:58] linear feet on the south side of Fairfax Boulevard from Draper Drive to the Wilcoxon Trailhead, and then on the north side of Fairfax Boulevard, approximately 500 linear feet between Draper Drive and that George Snyder Trail terminus. So I'll focus just on the south side of the project and just I want you to remember that this is the side of the project. This portion of the project is not proposed to change. So this is the part on the south side of Fairfax Boulevard between that Wilcoxon Trailhead, which is shown with the one at the bottom of the screen, running west to the number two, which is the signal at Draper Drive. And so the proposed project or the project is to

[00:38:36] widen the existing sidewalk that is there today to create a 10 foot wide shared use path. And then from there, we utilize the signal that is already there at Draper Drive to have pedestrians cross Fairfax Boulevard at Draper. The second half of the project, which is the part we are proposing to modify, extends on the north side of Fairfax Boulevard from Draper Drive west to where that number one is shown, which is right in front of Circle Glass. And that is where the George Snyder

[00:39:10] Trail was supposed to end. That was going to be its eastern terminus. So what is being proposed is to eliminate that portion that I just spoke of right here where that red dotted line is shown, to eliminate that portion and to instead utilize Draper Drive and Beach Drive and consider a new name for this project instead of the George Snyder Trail extension, the Wilcoxon Trail extension. So again, we would utilize that south, the southern part, that southern leg would not

[00:39:45] change, just that northern leg would rotate up to utilize Draper Drive. This project adheres to the spirit of the original project, makes a connection to on-street paths rather than to the off-street trail. So this drawing is overlaid on an aerial and again shows that alignment that I just mentioned, utilizing Draper Drive to connect to Beach Drive and to Draper Drive Park and to the trail network that extends from that park. The next few slides have some images showing what

[00:40:22] Draper Drive looks like. And we're starting at Fairfax Boulevard and moving north towards Beach Drive. And you'll see these photos that show that there is on-street parking. There is a sidewalk on one side completely. And on the other side, there are just portions. So in front of the public storage, that is a new sidewalk that was recently built. And as we move up the street, you can see that that sidewalk ends on the left-hand side of your screen but there is still sidewalk on the right-hand side and i'm still moving up further and just so you can see right in the distance here

[00:40:57] where the where the pavement changes color that is the the line between the city and the county and i'm moving up now i'm down beach drive and as you can see there's parking on both sides there's bicycle facility on one side we even have a bike share station and then that heads right into the park so in looking at this project this proposed project modification what this would do is that this would connect draper drive park and the neighborhoods north of fairfax boulevard with things south of fairfax boulevard with blenheim boulevard with the cross county trail with vice memorial park and vice versa connects people south of fairfax boulevard with neighborhoods

[00:41:36] and parks north of fairfax boulevard it would activate three city neighborways draper drive cardinal drive ranger road and fairwoods parkway and these are shown in this purple line on the screen and neighbor ways just to remind you are this was meant this was adopted into the city's bicycle plan that shows roadways in the city that are low stress and good for biking and they've been identified as neighbor ways so what this does is that this is reorienting this facility to connect to draper drive park and utilize or activate those neighbor ways it also connects to

[00:42:13] fairfax counties definitely say they use a different word a neighbor a county neighborhood route which is the equivalent to our neighbor way on draper drive and kingsbridge drive and so this is this orange line that goes directly north of um the city line so instead of turning left onto to Beach Drive, if you went straight, you're into the county and connecting to one of Fairfax County's neighborhood routes.

[00:42:40] So this would provide new sidewalk, new on-road bicycle facilities with minimal to no tree removal. And now this is just showing that Fairfax County area, again, this is an excerpt from their comprehensive plan. And the area that's circled is showing the area on Kingsbridge Drive from their plan that shows this as that local enhanced neighborhood route.

[00:43:08] So in terms of impacts, we do believe that there would be a loss of parking on one side of Draper Drive and some potential minor property acquisition to accommodate the new sidewalk. But at this point, we don't know what the exact impacts would be.

[00:43:24] And so what we are proposing is to conduct a survey and a further evaluation to identify exactly what these project impacts would be, and also to identify what type of design would make the most sense for Draper Drive. It could be a continuation of that shared use path to match the portion that's on the south side of Fairfax Boulevard, or we could do something like what's shown in this picture and have a cycle track, a two-way bike lane on street.

[00:43:52] But again, we don't know yet, but these are some ideas for how it could be designed. So in terms of where we go from here, we've already had some preliminary conversations with VDOT about this project because, again, this is smart scale funding, and it's very regulated in terms of making modifications but they have looked at this and in light of the fact that the George Snyder trail does not would not exist for this to connect to that pivoting and utilizing Draper Drive makes sense they've also preliminarily told us that this would not impact our benefit score in a negative way and that this would still be this would be an applicable

[00:44:29] and valid way to change the alignment and so here we are having conversations now with you all to see if this is something that you are on board with as well. And what we are proposing from here is to perform a feasibility study of the proposed modification using already appropriated city funds that we have set aside for project concept development. So we have some funding that is available to us. There is a CIP project every year for project development. And that is, and we use, utilize that funding to do this exact kind of work for projects before they have funding. But

[00:45:07] But we have funding already appropriated in that pool that we can use for this work. We are estimating that it will be approximately $110,000. That funding again is there. It is already appropriated. It does not need any action from the City Council for us to go ahead and do that survey of this proposed modification.

[00:45:29] It would identify the type of facility. It would confirm that the cost is within the funding that we already have received for the SmartScale project, and it would identify the project impacts. So once we have that feasibility study, we would then go out to the public and have some outreach about this proposed modification.

[00:45:48] More than what is happening this evening, we would have real engagement with the people who live nearby, with the businesses who are utilizing that on-street parking, to discuss that updated concept that would utilize Draper. At that point, we would then return to City Council with more information about that concept and information from the public engagement that we've held.

[00:46:09] And at that point, we would then be looking for a formal decision from the city council about whether to proceed with the modification as proposed or as modified based on what we learned from the engagement or from the survey. Once, if that's a yes, from there, we are then clear to go ahead and start using the smart scale funding because it is already online.

[00:46:29] As I mentioned, it's almost been a year since that funding has become available to the city. So, again, where we are right now is I'm just looking for concurrence to go ahead and utilize that already appropriated funding to do the study of the proposed modification. So, that concludes my presentation, and we are all here to answer questions.

[00:46:49] And, again, Chloe was the project manager on our bicycle plan and can answer questions about Neighborways or any other facilities that are proposed. All right. Thank you so much. Council Member McQuillan. Thank you, Mayor Reed. Will the study include opportunities for improving accessibility, lighting, safety?

[00:47:09] So one of the things we have indicated in our scope is that we want to look at having pedestrian-scale lighting along Draper Drive as well. Okay, excellent. Thank you. Other questions? Council Member Peterson? Well, to build on that, what about parking issues on Draper Drive?

[00:47:25] So one of the things we're doing, there is the engineering consultant that we would utilize would have a sub-consultant that focuses on parking studies. And they would be doing a survey of looking at both the on-street parking and even the off-street parking along Draper Drive to understand are these the businesses using the parking?

[00:47:46] Do they not have enough parking? One of the things that we have already noticed just looking is that there is more on-street parking available on that left side, on the west side of the street, than on the east side. So maybe there's opportunities to keep the parking on that side and even have the bike facilities on that side.

[00:48:04] So we're going to look at how much parking is available, truly, like how many parking spaces, who's using it, when are they using it, are they businesses using it because they don't have enough parking, or just we need to find out what's actually going on. So that whole survey will be part of the effort.

[00:48:20] Just one additional question right now, and that is Fairfax County, and I think it's a neighborhood program. Is that how it's described, but it's the equivalent of the Neighborways program? It's their equivalent. They call it a Fairfax County neighborhood route. Okay.

[00:48:36] And how far along is that plan in comparison to ours? The reason I ask is because there's a line between the two, but otherwise this is sharing a common area. and as an opportunity not only to have access that goes in the direction of Fairfax Boulevard, but also in the direction of Blake Lane, et cetera.

[00:48:57] And I'm just curious to know where that stands. I'm going to allow Ms. Ritter to answer that. I believe that the active Fairfax plan, which is their county-wide plan, similar to our bicycle plan, has been adopted. And this route is part of that plan. I don't know if they have any priorities for which roads they're going to work on and what facilities are going to be building next, but the plan, I believe, has been adopted.

[00:49:18] And we would engage with the county as well on this because we do want to make that a good connection. And maybe they would prioritize this if they knew we were doing something on Draper Drive. Who knows? But we would certainly engage with them. And then just to confirm, we do not need to do anything that would slow down our application process.

[00:49:44] We're not getting back in line for the funding here. So, again, the funding was approved back in FY22. And at that point, we then waited, and it became live in FY26. So the funding is actually live right now for us.

[00:50:00] So VDOT is actually anxious for us to utilize it, but they know that we are going to sit and wait. But there is not a reapplication process for this. VDOT will need to evaluate the modification. They already have preliminarily looked at it, but there is no further approval, formal approval required.

[00:50:18] What they have told me thus far is that it would not require a rescoring if it is as we show it. Councilmember Hall thank you if this were to move forward when do you think that we would be able to start the initial public outreach and receive that back and then have this be next steps so if this is a go tomorrow I'll speak with our consultant about the timeframe my estimate is that the survey and work would take three to four months so my hope would be that in the fall that we would be having that public outreach okay we would not do it over the summer Okay.

[00:50:57] That's great. I am definitely in favor of this, and I would also, I know you said that you would speak with the county, but Lake Lane, I think, should be a priority for them in light of what happened, and this, I think, is another kind of shove, not shove, push in that direction.

[00:51:13] Thank you. Council Member Amos. Thank you again, and I appreciate you also meeting with us in advance to discuss this. Just to be very brief, I know that you need to do the survey first to see if there's going to be any challenges along the way, but is there anything that you're anticipating when it comes to property acquisition or any concerns from preliminary walkthroughs you think we might need to flag or that maybe the consultant might have some concerns about?

[00:51:42] Our hope is to not have to relocate those utilities. And so if we are going to be extending that sidewalk, we're going to be looking to go behind a utility pole. So I do anticipate that there will be some property acquisition that is necessary. Um, but until we get into the survey and see exactly where our property is, um, it's, I don't want to make, I don't want to anticipate at this point.

[00:52:07] Completely understand. And then once the survey is complete, we'll also have an idea how much the cost of the property acquisition would be as well. Correct. Yeah. And one of the goals of this initial surveys of this initial effort, um, is to ensure that the cost is within the funding that we have allocated.

[00:52:24] Council member Hardy Chandler. So I won't bury the lead. I definitely support the feasibility study, and I'm especially appreciative of the intent to talk to the businesses along Draper.

[00:52:40] There are some places in Fairfax City, not necessarily there, but throughout the city, where the parking does not seem to be attached to what's in that particular location. So without making assumptions that there could be an impact, just finding out the information, I think it's really helpful.

[00:52:58] I also just wanted to comment on the fact that this is such a reasonable and well thought out pivot from the north side of the extension going to nowhere. So I really appreciate your team taking a look at where we are under the circumstances, really figuring out an alternative that is viable and also with that sort of regional view.

[00:53:24] But I'm looking forward to the findings of the feasibility study, and you have my support for this. Council Member Bates. Yes, I want to thank you for the proactive approach in getting this looked at.

[00:53:44] You know, this has been really excellent news. I also want to provide a clarification that, as you said, this is a separate project. This was formerly the george snyder trail extension project Which would have connected the separate george snyder trail project to the cross county trail via the existing wilcoxon trail right?

[00:54:06] Yeah But now, you know, I think that this is really kind of a first step toward a Alternative to that connection and I hope that in the future Perhaps through a mix of private road development and a future city project, we may see a connection over to Chambers Road and the 66 Trail on the other side.

[00:54:31] You know, not sure what that may look like in the future, but, you know, that's something that needs to happen because this is really perhaps one of, if not the most important, commercial corridor in the city. And we really just don't have consistent bike infrastructure along that whole way there.

[00:54:49] but this is a really big important step in the right direction and again just want to thank you for your work and thank you for going above and beyond. Other questions? So looking at the photos how does this fit with the small area plan for the Fairfax Circle area because at some point some of these industrial one imagines I like to imagine that some of what we're seeing in these photographs are not what we'll always see in these photographs so how does this pivot to this

[00:55:24] fit with that small area plan this is an exciting project i stayed just because of that reason it actually is just west of the activity center but in the activity center a key concept south of that shopping center is the trail network and rehabilitation of the stream valley there that that kind of is usurped by the existing parking lot of that and some of the car dealers it would terminate at close to where the Draper Drive intersection is. As Wendy showed, there's that section that needs to be built along. I think it's the Harley-Davidson frontage, and then it takes you to the park to the north. So the plan does speak to these types of connections,

[00:56:03] even though Draper, in particular the west side of Draper, is just outside the activity center. And I think it's important to remember that there will be redevelopment. We don't know what or when or how, but putting this bit of infrastructure in for active pedestrian bike mobility could make that property more desirable, depending on what anyone might want to redevelop there, like it would be an asset.

[00:56:30] Certainly. And I would also reemphasize, I think, what Wendy showed in the slides, that when the storage facility, easy storage developed, we require the sidewalk, it doesn't connect to anything. There's nothing getting the pedestrian to Draper Drive right now.

[00:56:46] which is not a safe situation. Excellent. And will any trees lose their life with this project? That is one of the things that we will be looking at when we do this evaluation. Well, that's good to know. I'm sure that that will be a question asked.

[00:57:03] So it sounds like we have agreement so far. Council Member Peterson, did you have a final question? Well, I just wanted to add my support for this, but also call out the value of this entire road network within the neighborhoods being enabled in terms of bike safety and bike use.

[00:57:26] And that, I think, is one of the key ingredients to getting ridership up is to make the streets and neighborhoods safer. So I think that's a really big development here. I, again, think that the connections going north through Fairfax County to Blake Lane are also very important because this has a north-south connection element to it that's quite critical.

[00:57:48] The last thing I would say, I've heard a bit of feedback from people in the area who are all in for Draper Drive becoming a more attractive and safer place, and I think looking forward to what the options are there.

[00:58:04] I've been in many cities and many places in the world that are proud of their industrial areas and use them as attractions and don't hesitate to connect them with bike and pedestrian development. And I think the city has a tremendous opportunity to do that here and turn this into an even better asset than it already is.

[00:58:24] So I think those things all make sense. Final thing, which is a bit of an offsite issue, is just to note, fall goes well and the use of the Wilcoxon Trail picks up. it connects all the way down to the ice park etc but on the way it goes under blenheim boulevard and um it'd be nice just to keep an eye on the uh trail under the bridge there because it gets filled up with mud and all that i'm not sure that's a construction project it may be just a little bit of maintenance after storms to keep that clear so that's an effective bike path because what otherwise happens is people hop off that path and climb across the road and i think we

[00:59:03] want to avoid that so anyway all that said really appreciate this and look forward to it well it sounds like you have a green light and to go ahead and move forward with the feasibility study and the all of the things thank you our last work session item is a discussion of city council code of ethics and we recognize Brian Lubkeman our city attorney for the staff discussion we're moving right along this evening so this item council requested that this be brought forward actually two items be brought forward one relating

[00:59:42] to an issue that arose during a recent attempt to appoint individuals to city board and Commission but then the broader question of whether the City Council wishes to consider and adopt a code of ethics and in the 20 plus years that I've been City Attorney this has come up a number of occasions and interestingly council has never adopted a code of ethics in the city of Fairfax That is not unique to the city of Fairfax.

[01:00:10] However, just a cursory examination of other jurisdictions, note that many now have codes of ethics. They vary in complexity. They vary in length. They vary in terms of enforceability, all the things that you would imagine.

[01:00:27] Some of them are aspirational. Some of them are quite detailed. So what I thought I would do is the request that was done several meetings ago was to first have the discussion about the issue that arose out of the attempted appointment to boards and commissions.

[01:00:45] And I've looked at this issue, and from my perspective, I was trying to figure out how best council could implement something related to this if it so desired. And I'm not sure that there's a desire across the board to do anything on this issue. But I wanted to make a couple of comments about what happened that other evening.

[01:01:02] First, I want to note that the council member in question, I believe, acted completely appropriately under existing law and policies. The recusal from consideration was entirely appropriate. And so I just wanted to note that.

[01:01:20] Secondly, there were some comments made during that meeting about whether if the city had sort of formally adopted some elements of state code, state conflicts provisions, whether that would have differed in this situation. I don't believe it would have. I think the process would have been the same.

[01:01:36] We can get into a lot of technical discussions. I don't think that serves anything here. The question, though, is, and it will relate to the second part of this discussion, is whether the city council wants to adopt a policy or to incorporate into an ethics code something related to appointments to boards and commissions that the city council appoints in a circumstance where a council member has an immediate family member who is an applicant for a position.

[01:02:04] So that's the first issue. I'm more than happy to talk about that separately. I might suggest that the better course might be to talk about the Code of Ethics generally and see if there's some desire to incorporate that into that or whether there's a desire to proceed with a Code of Ethics.

[01:02:20] But I'll stop on that first issue for a second to see if you all would rather have a discussion on that before we get into the broader question of Code of Ethics or whether you want me to proceed. Council Member Peterson? I'd be happy to talk about the broader Code of Ethics.

[01:02:39] Okay. So I will go on. We're really racing through the meeting this evening. So you see the staff report that I presented. I provided just a few examples of codes of ethics, including ICMA's code of ethics, which I think is very informative.

[01:02:55] You can see some commonality across the ones that I provided. You can also see some differences. The sort of the threshold questions, and I'll outline them here as five or six questions that I see that the council should decide whether it decides it wants to do it.

[01:03:11] First is, does the city council want to pursue a code of ethics? That's the initial question. I think the rest of the discussion is academic if there's no desire to do that at this point. Related to that is when. Is that something that this council would like to take up? Or knowing that you have seven-ish months left in your term, is this something that you would prefer to leave to the next city council to consider?

[01:03:35] Who would be drafting a code of ethics if you all decided to proceed? I don't recommend or I don't see the need to farm this out for discussion. I also don't see the need to have this be a broad general community discussion. I think we're perfectly capable of giving the examples that are out there in our own experience and coming up with recommendations for the council to consider.

[01:04:02] What would you be looking for? Would you want a standalone document that sort of lives organically on its own or would you want to incorporate it, for example, into the city code? You'll recall in the context of the rules of procedure that this council adopted at the beginning of its term, I noted that there are a couple of other jurisdictions that have gone to codifying rules of procedure into their codes, their city codes, their county codes, and a code of ethics could also be incorporated into city code.

[01:04:34] But the advantage of that would be it would avoid the need to have each council every two years spend significant periods of time talking about rules of procedure. If there was a desire to change anything or to change a code of ethics, if that were adopted, certainly we could do that through an amendment to the city code.

[01:04:51] But it would take it away from sort of being a check the box at the beginning of a term to be more of something that survives and lives beyond individual councils. The scope, the detail, again, it can be as detailed as council would like it to be or as short as some of the examples that I provided, and there are other examples as well.

[01:05:13] Enforcement. Enforcement is also a big question. Most codes of ethics tend to be sort of lists of aspirational targets, guidelines, but there are several jurisdictions that actually have enforcement. So, for example, there are provisions that allow for censure of council members, assuming it only applies to council, so I'll speak to that.

[01:05:35] Censure of council members, removal from committees. Council members are appointed to committees, so the council could remove members from committees. And then also this goes to the question of whether it's incorporated into the city code, whether you want to formalize that enforcement and whether you want a mechanism for enforcing.

[01:05:53] Do you want the ability to conduct a mini-hearing where there are perceived violations? Those type of issues. And then lastly, the applicability. Many of these codes apply only to the governing bodies. Some of these jurisdictions, there's a reason for that.

[01:06:09] Jurisdictions have other documents that relate to ethics and conflicts of interest. The city has administrative regulation relating to acceptance of gifts by employees, for example. There's other things that govern that. But these codes of ethics certainly can apply across an organization, whether it's a single document or whether there are variations depending on the position.

[01:06:31] And also, does council want it to apply to boards and commissions? You know, there have over the years been questions about actions of boards and commissions and comments that have been made at boards and commissions and whether the city council wants to have that be somewhat of a sort of a guideline or a guidepost for their boards and commissions, the ones that the city council appoints.

[01:06:54] So with that, I will stop talking for the moment. I'm happy to answer any questions, take any comments, and any direction that the council may want to give on this topic. Council Member Hardy Chandler. Well, I think you've presented an array of questions, and I certainly don't have the answer to all of those.

[01:07:15] I do think that almost like with strategic planning, the input and the collaboration and the comments and the questions so that a council can ask around a code of ethics can actually be the most helpful part with the end product being the code of ethics or the code of conduct itself, right?

[01:07:34] So I think some of those discussions for us actually started when we did our first retreat, and we talked about some of the things that we wanted to, and I don't think we took it any further than that, but we did talk about some of the things that we wanted to see in terms of the interactions among council members, and we had those discussions.

[01:07:59] I think it's a worthwhile discussion. I don't know when that should happen, again, because I think the exercise of doing it is as valuable as the document itself, but I do think and I foresee a future where there will be a need for something to go back to, to say this is what we agreed on or this is what we're holding ourselves to, to help get ahead of any, you know, additional kinds of conflicts.

[01:08:33] So I'm in support of it. Not sure when. I think it could be helpful. I think if I look at the signals of what happens socially, I can see a future need for it. So I think planning that seed around positive conduct expectations, there's nothing wrong with that.

[01:08:52] And, again, this is not a new conversation for us, in my recollection. It's a conversation that we approached in our first retreat. Councilman Peterson? Yeah, I think this is pretty simple and can happen pretty quickly and follow some established standards and templates.

[01:09:14] And we have two templates, at least in the set that you provided, that would be pretty good places to start. One is from Warrington and the other is from Madison County, I believe. And I think what they have in common is that they do a pretty good job of covering a broad set of bases, which includes the former issue you've talked about, but they're a relatively, if not completely, but at least a relatively comprehensive approach, which is what you want.

[01:09:43] I think that could happen very quickly. I can't imagine it would be very difficult for you to produce a version of that for us to consider further. I also don't see any reason why there should be a delay in adoption. I think that could happen just immediately, and I think it would be in the best interest to the city and the city council to do that so i'd like to just share a parallel for this i'm a corporate director and for a corporation that raises a lot of money from philanthropies and

[01:10:15] from government sources and invests those funds in social impact and we can't do that without a very clear established consistent and accepted set of policies and procedures which include these kinds of issues. So literally, when we are submitting a grant application or responding to a request for proposal, we have to demonstrate that we have exactly this kind of instrument in place from a governance perspective for our corporation and everybody

[01:10:51] who we team up with, but they all have to abide by a similar instrument and a similar a set of standards. It's a matter of trust, and it's a matter of determining who is able to take funds and then responsibly invest them in an area and demonstrate that they have the characteristics that are associated with that kind of responsibility, which is a tall one.

[01:11:19] So we're in a city that spends $300 million a year, roughly, and that's a tall responsibility, And I would say that that is an investment in what we also would call social impact. And there's a contract we make with the people here, and that is that we are going to do that with responsibility. We are going to be trustworthy as we do that.

[01:11:37] And that covers a lot of things, which is precisely what these kinds of codes of ethics are designed to do. They also are living things. So, you know, a typical corporation in social impact will establish these at its outset.

[01:11:53] It's very difficult to actually form and capitalize without doing it, but you have to update it along the way. So you don't need to put in place something that is forever and covers everything in the conceivable future. You can update it along the way, and that happens on a need basis.

[01:12:09] So a couple years ago, we did a series of updates around anti-terrorism issues, and we had to go in and do a whole series of things around that. But we see these things happening periodically where you have to freshen it up for various reasons. It's okay. It's the stroke of a pen. We talk about it.

[01:12:25] You know, we're in a field that does this as a matter of practice, just as the city's in a field that does the same thing. So this can be a living document and flexible as a consequence of that. I can't speak right now to the question mark of whether or not it goes into code. I just don't think there should be any delay in doing this.

[01:12:42] There's no reason for that. This, again, I think should be a pretty simple, straightforward process, and we could be talking about this in some definitive terms rather quickly based on the templates you provided us. Other feedback? Councilmember Bates?

[01:12:59] I agree with Councilmember Hardy Chandler. I believe that this is something that could sort of come out of longer-term strategic planning, and we do have the strategic plan that's being worked on right now.

[01:13:17] And as was mentioned, we are nearing the end of our term, and this is something that the next council could also take up. And I think it's important to point out that even if we don't have a formal code of ethics or code of conduct that is documented and approved by us, we still have our own personal codes of ethics and morals and principles.

[01:13:47] And I think it's important to follow those, whether or not it's something that is codified in some way. But yeah, so again, you know, something that I think is certainly worth discussing, but something that, you know, I could see maybe thinking about a rough framework, but something that I think the next council could take up.

[01:14:16] Other feedback or comments? Council Member Hall. Thank you. To answer your questions, yes, I think we need this now. I think is the time to implement it. I'm fine with you preparing with your best judgment and then providing for feedback and input from us.

[01:14:35] I would be okay with it being a standalone document or incorporated into the city code. As far as enforcement goes, I believe on school board we had the ability to censure, and I think there are other boards and things where that is likely appropriate.

[01:14:52] I don't know that it would have been appropriate for anything, you know, in council's history here, But I think having the opportunity to lay those things out, if there's something egregious, is probably a good idea. The mini hearing, I don't know if we need to go that far with it.

[01:15:08] But I like that you're trying to kind of think ahead and plan for things. I think, as Councilman Peterson was saying, my job, we work with a bunch of different animal health companies. And we've had to implement policies around anti-trafficking, anti-money laundering, you know, all these kind of different things that we're just this little small company out of Maryland that we don't think of or, you know, we really don't think pertain to us.

[01:15:35] But when we work with these other organizations that are in bigger areas or in the state or in the country or the world, there's all these other things that we just don't even think about. And I agree with Council Member Bates that we all kind of have our own personal code of conduct, but we all also come from totally different places, and that might mean something completely different to each of us and to those of us who are at home.

[01:16:00] And I think having some sort of kind of agreed-upon terms and rules, per se, is not a bad thing. I mean, I think most of us in our daily jobs have some sort of agreed-upon things that we all expect to do. So I think that there were some good suggestions provided with the ones that you have prepared, or I'm sorry, the ones you provided for us.

[01:16:23] I do think that once we have this done, I think it also should apply to boards and commissions as well. I would assume staff has something that they have to follow. I don't know that this needs to go specifically to staff, but I would certainly leave that to the purview of the city manager and to HR.

[01:16:41] But I understand there might be new council members here. There might also be hopefully some of us that are still sitting up here. But as a almost brand new council that took office, there was so much we already had to do that I think if we could kind of check this box off and give them a framework or give, you know, give new people a framework and say, what do you like or hate?

[01:17:03] You know, you can modify this as you need to, but it's one less thing that council has to deal with. I mean, there's already so many things with the timelines of when we do budgeting and when we do all the new things that come in. I think the timeline is not set up in such a way that it is cohesive to November elections yet.

[01:17:22] So for me, we've been talking about this, you know, like Council Member Hardy-Chandler said, we did discuss this in January at our very first retreat and had some great ideas. You know, we were in consensus with a lot of things, but that it just didn't get that next step.

[01:17:39] And I think that this is an opportunity to tie all of those things together, as well as the things we've been doing together over the past 16 months. So thank you. Council Member Amos? Thank you. Before I give my comments, I just had two questions.

[01:17:57] One, I would be curious, and if you'd rather not, that's perfectly fine, because I know you're also newer to the city. But, I mean, I'd like to hear a city manager's thoughts on code of ethics and what you think is considered reasonable. Yeah, I mean, I think codes of ethics have their place, you know, definitely in the field.

[01:18:17] You brought up an example through ICMA. I think as it applies to your body, you see a variety of different options around the country, around the Commonwealth, to include the fact that many don't have the codes established.

[01:18:35] So that's largely obviously the council's decision as to how far they want to get into that. Again, very prevalent in our work as public administrators in most other areas. But as you see, there's quite a variety as it relates to governing boards.

[01:18:53] And then to pivot briefly to rules and procedures, could you kind of just give a quick overview on the difference between having a code of ethics and our rules and procedures, or is there some overlap there that you see? I think there are many ways to skin the cat.

[01:19:11] You know, you can have them, and again, some of this also depends on how much you want to codify things, right? And so I think jurisdictions that have codified the rules of procedure, and I use that with air quotes around it, also tend to include sort of the ethics provisions in there because, you know, there's no reason to have those be separate.

[01:19:29] But, again, to the point that's been raised by several of you, having a standalone document is also entirely proper. And the one other comment I'll make, and it was interesting, I know Council Member Peterson mentioned this, but over the years I've mentioned this as well, cities in Virginia, and it's absolutely true, Cities in Virginia are municipal corporations.

[01:19:49] It's a very unique construct. Virginia has a lot of unique constructs. But, you know, when we, if you see, very often it will say City of Fairfax is a Virginia municipal corporation. And you all effectively are the board of directors of the city. And, you know, that speaks to, and we've talked about this over the years, that speaks to sort of the best practice being, at some level, you probably should have a code of ethics.

[01:20:15] And it's the details that become difficult, and it's the where you want that document to reside, whether you want it to be a living document, whether you want it to be a static document that's hard to amend so that, you know, a body can't just come in and say, okay, fine, we're just going to scrap it. But all of those things factor into a decision as to whether to proceed with this.

[01:20:35] From a staff standpoint, you know, again, I go back to what I've said many times. A manager just said, and I think others have said as well, you know, these things are not difficult to put into place. The difficulty is, and it's true of Fairfax City, it's true of other jurisdictions that haven't done it, is just simply making the decision of whether to do it.

[01:20:56] I don't think it's been for lack of discussion. Frankly, we've had a variation on this discussion over the 20 years probably 10 times. and I can't explain why it hasn't happened I understand I mean you know again we just provide the information it's up to the council to decide what to do but we're willing to do whatever whatever the body wants us to do yeah and I'll make it clear from the get-go I think a code of ethics makes sense and I know we had that conversation last year I do wish that the follow-up to this conversation would have been a little sooner I think we are a bit late in the game considering how rough of a transition we had and there's still for me a number of questions that haven't been answered for example if we go into

[01:21:33] talking about censure, in my opinion, we should also revisit going back to what we talked about with rules and procedures with speaking times. If you can censure, then you should also be allowed to limit how long someone can talk. So we have a number of items that I do feel like need to be addressed. I think something that was covered in, I believe, I know the Warrington one, and I believe the Madison one as well was disclosures. With the transition to November elections, potentially needing to raise more money, I think that could be a good thing. That's a practice at Fairfax County. I'm familiar with how they do it. So I think that can be very beneficial. Let's see.

[01:22:14] Yeah. And I really just, part of my issue with not just tonight's discussion, but with how we're proceeding is that the way that this was rejuvenated or reactivated, I think that having that type of response and then visiting a code of ethics could be a little concerning, just depends on how we go about it. So I'd be very critical of the language that we have in a code of ethics, because I don't want it to unintentionally become weaponized and we set a precedent for future councils to try to regulate each other politically.

[01:22:46] I think if we're going to set a code of ethics, it needs to be things that we agree on that other jurisdictions have looked at as well and that are just good practice. So I would like to see a code of ethics. I would like for us to have the opportunity to review it again and admittedly more than likely have it adopted by the next council since I don't just in terms of timeline and what we're going through already, I don't see us realistically getting there in time and specifically have you draft language to take a look at it.

[01:23:15] Let's see. And then I have questions about the BAC implementation. While I understand it and there are some things that we want to make sure we maintain decorum and respect across city government as a whole, I have concerns about codifying things to regulate BACs unilaterally.

[01:23:34] So that might be a broader discussion of just our philosophies on boards and commissions in general, which i know we've had conversations about before so that's kind of where i'm at i think a code of ethics is warranted i think it'd be a good thing i think it doesn't hurt to have a follow-up conversation regarding a draft in terms of implementation i just i don't realistically seeing it happening with this iteration of council council member hardy chandler i would just add and uh to piggyback on that comment that um whatever form it takes or whatever the timing is THAT YOU REINFORCE, YOU SPECIFICALLY AND MR. LOVKEMAN, REINFORCE WHAT THIS CAN AND CANNOT DO.

[01:24:13] AND I THINK THIS IS A FOLLOW-UP TO YOUR DISCUSSION ABOUT ENFORCEMENT AND WHAT THE POSSIBILITIES ARE. NOTHING ABOUT A CODE OF ETHICS OR A CODE OF CONDUCT IS GOING TO BE MAGIC OR, YOU KNOW, AS WAS MENTIONED PREVIOUSLY, COVER EVERYTHING. But I think we really need to understand the parameters of what it can do, but also be very clear on what it can do, depending on stand-alone document versus codification, that sort of thing.

[01:24:39] That clarity is really important to understand the boundaries of this. Council Member McGuillin. Thank you, Mayor Reed. I am in support of a code of ethics. I'm actually kind of surprised. I'm actually surprised that we don't have one.

[01:24:56] Having been a fairly recent graduate from George Mason University School of Business, every single class, the first semester, is on ethics. Every single class. It's right along with a mission statement. So I'm a little surprised that we don't have something. I would like to get something in before the next council comes in.

[01:25:16] I agree that it could be a living document that should be amended and modified as needed, but it needs to be in place. And I also think it's important to have something for the boards and commissions as well. Thank you. Any other comments?

[01:25:35] Council Member Peterson? I would just sum by saying I think there's no reason to wait. So as you know, Mr. Lovecom, it is my hobby to take into account electeds behaving badly all over the Commonwealth of Virginia. Because there's a lot of instances where electeds have issues.

[01:25:56] And censure really is the only, regardless of what your code of conduct or ethics are, even what's in the code of Virginia, the only tool is to censure people on the board. I mean, there have actually been legal cases in some jurisdictions that have gone to court, and literally you don't remove people from an elected body.

[01:26:19] They resign if they choose to do that. So I think we kind of need to be clear-eyed about what we think a code of ethics is going to do, because enforcement is one thing, and the tool to make people stay in line with the agreed-upon code of ethics is censure, which basically is, you say, you've done a very bad thing.

[01:26:41] That's what it is. So I agree that a code of ethics is many times aspirational in that it says this is how we should all conduct ourselves, this is how we should behave. I don't see anything wrong with that, but I think when you see elected bodies not being able to work well together, it is not a matter of whether or not they have a code of ethics.

[01:27:06] A lot of times it is the level of expectation and trust. When people elect us to this governing body, they want to trust that we are going to do the right thing the right way and that we understand. We as a body sitting here together need to understand that we work together as a body, And it is to the benefit of all of us and the city for us to work together centering what is the right thing to do.

[01:27:32] I don't see a problem with having a code of ethics, but we have 219 days left for this council. And putting one in place, whatever it is, again, I'm not sure what problem it's going to solve in the next 219 days or how it will be received and embraced by the next council.

[01:27:53] I don't object to a code of ethics. I'm just not sure that it's going to be a solution to whatever problem it is we're trying to solve. That's my feedback on this. Anything else you, it sounds like people are interested in moving forward with a code of ethics to look at and discuss.

[01:28:17] And I can certainly have one before you all quickly. It sounds like if I'm reading the tea leaves, I know there's some difference of opinion on this, you'd probably like at least a quick chance to review it and discuss it in a work session before it's implemented.

[01:28:32] So we'll work on getting it on the calendar as quickly as possible, and ideally before the break. I think that that is agreeable. All right. Thank you so much, Mr. Lubkeman. Thank you. All right.

[01:28:58] I will now reconvene the regular meeting, and we will pivot to future meeting topics. Mr. Alexander. Thank you, Mayor and Council. I'll go for the next month or so and any other items that you would like to discuss on our future City Council agenda items.

[01:29:14] note for the second level work session on a grant supplemental appropriation resolution that we have from time to time we'll also spend some time talking about our meeting agendas and future topics with a light schedule on the second so we'll go into a little more detail and kind of look at the strategically the remainder of the year and what that schedule might look like on some of the larger items that are coming up so we'll have an opportunity do that just next week. Looking ahead for the 9th, we will have on consent the result of the work

[01:29:50] session on the supplemental appropriation resolution. We will also have two construction manager at risk items for both Providence and Daniel's Run. As you know, you approved that approach earlier this year. And so those items will be on there. And also on consent will be the compensation for mayor and council as far as public hearings noise is scheduled again i know there's been a lot of work that's been occurring around that and feedback that we've been receiving

[01:30:24] on that issue we'll have and on consent was the air roof item it will have for public hearing on that night and then we will be bringing back to you both the sustainability matrix and green building policy for a work session on the 9th. As we look ahead to the 23rd, we'll be bringing forward some changes and revisions as we do from time to time on purchasing. We will have, as a result of the work session, public hearing and council action on the adoption of the green

[01:31:03] building policy. We'll have amendments to chapter 86 on there for public hearing along with the compensation piece again. For the work session on the 23rd, we have a discussion scheduled for the adopted small area plans and any potential review and update to those plans. And that takes us essentially through June. Happy to answer any additional questions, recognizing again that we'll try to get into a little more depth next week. Okay, comments on future, okay, Council Member Amos.

[01:31:41] I only have one question. For the July 14th work session regarding the Housing Trust Fund, presentation. Is that with HCAB? Is that an HCAB presentation? No, that is with HCAB. I don't think so. Or is it just a presentation from Jamie? Okay, thank you. Just to clarify, it'll include the work of HCAB, but they won't be here.

[01:32:09] Understood. Thank you. Council Member Peterson. Excuse me. Clarification on the pathway for ultimate adoption of the noise ordinance. We have a public hearing on at June 9th. What happens after that and when or do we not know at this stage?

[01:32:36] So there are not tremendous number of changes from what was originally proposed, but depending on any additional public testimony, public input, or comments by the council, you can either adopt it that evening or defer it for consideration to a later date. I am going to be suggesting, regardless of what happens on June 9th, that there be a delayed effective date of July 1 because we certainly believe and you all should as well that there needs to be a public education component to it so that we don't just implement it and start trying to enforce and we'll talk on the ninth obviously there continue to be issues with enforcement of the noise ordinance given

[01:33:14] how staff centric it needs to be but right now the plan is for the council to conclude the public hearing on the ninth and take action on the ninth but that of course is always subject to change so it's a wait-and-see approach in terms of the public hearing and our judgment in terms of whether it's time to proceed with finalization or whether additional development as with everything it's always up to the council how it wishes to proceed thanks other questions or comments councilman peterson just to thank you for scheduling out some of the environmental policies here there are a couple of them and

[01:33:51] one of them is i believe kind of an in-depth work session in terms of putting some thought Into the sustainability matrix and green building policy because I think the program is asking for guidance on how to sort through some not just strategic but programmatic and decisions and binding decisions on where to, you know, schedule its capacity and all that.

[01:34:16] So I just want to call that out for an important conversation for us to be prepared for and to work through. But also appreciate that you're putting that on there and then the follow-up items as well. Any other comments on future meeting topics? All right, then we'll just kick it over to the manager for manager comments.

[01:34:35] Yeah, just briefly, as being relatively new to the city, I was enjoyed and was impressed by a couple signature events, 27th Annual Antique Car Show and also the Asian Festival on Main. Congratulations and thanks to the community, council, and staff.

[01:34:53] Very well run, again, from my perspective, great attendance, always room for improvement. I think we're meeting at 9 o'clock tomorrow to talk about You know the the after action on those events and so more to follow on that But again, thanks to everyone Really defines and represents what's great about our community. That's all I have mayor. Thank you. All right. We'll start with Mr Councilmember Anthony Amos for your council comments only one comment Be sure to stop by Ace Hardware for their backyard bubble event on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. Thank you Yes, Council Member Hall.

[01:35:31] I actually have no comments, but thank you. Council Member Hardy-Chandler. I'd like to thank members of the city who are going to be coming together on the 28th to have a discussion about youth sports. It's going to be facilitated by the Aspen Institute at no cost to the city.

[01:35:51] And it will be a great opportunity for sports-serving entities to find common ground and really think about what our youth sports programs can look like in the future and following some national models, so it should be a really good discussion.

[01:36:09] Thank you. Council Member Peterson. Thank you to the staff and of the community for collaboration on the grant application, which has been successful for the Pickett Road Corridor Road Safety Audit.

[01:36:25] I'm probably not giving that the exact title that it deserves, But this was the third time for the application, third time as a charm. I think one of the critical things that happened here that helped was the involvement of the community in terms of outreach by council members, in terms of community members being able to identify material issues of scope that could be included in the application.

[01:36:48] The Transportation Planning Board encouraged that. Clearly, we're appreciative of it. And so it's great news for that to go through. As we've talked about before and as we've heard from staff, this is a very, very important corridor for the city. Very significant current safety issues, but this is an area that's picking up and going through changes.

[01:37:09] We know that a new Walmart distribution center is going in on the south side, an estimate of up to 200 trucks a day being added for that. We've got the softball stadium, the property yard. We've got 5% of the city population at the intersection of Blenheim Boulevard and Pickett Road.

[01:37:28] There's just a lot happening there. One of the standout comments during the approval of this grant at the Transportation Planning Board meeting, and I represent the city on that, was the chair noting that we had noted that that corridor has experienced 200 crashes in the last five years.

[01:37:48] And the reaction of that was good grief. That's almost a crash a week. for that many crashes you probably should have asked for more money but I think what it just underscored is a recognition of the importance of the investment in this area and it's great that it has come together at long last and I want to thank all the members of the community on both ends and in the middle picket road for getting involved in this because I think their participation not only has been important so far it's going to be really important as we go forward on this quarter because there are a number of issues that have to be sorted out there. So again, thanks so much for doing that.

[01:38:23] I want to thank all the staff again for another transportation improvement action that we heard from tonight with the Wilcoxon Trail. And this whole issue area of making streets safer for biking is really how we move the needle on bike ridership and commuting and bike safety. So going to the streets is really where it's at in terms of making things safer, making them more rideable.

[01:38:53] So I think this is a really big step forward. Really want to thank the staff again for being on top of that. Thanks. Council Member Bates. I just want to acknowledge Memorial Day this week and express condolences to all who've lost someone who's served.

[01:39:11] Council Member McQuillan. Thank you. I want to thank staff for the presentations this evening. I also want to just say as we head into graduation season and the start of summer. I want to share a few quick community reminders. Our high school graduations are going to begin this Thursday at Eagle Bank Arena through June 17th. Residents should expect heavier traffic around George Mason University during this time. I also want to highlight the Virginia Department of Health safe swimming pledge. As pools open for summer, it's important to remember that drowning is often quick and silent. Floaties and inflatable toys are

[01:39:46] not substitutes for supervision. Please stay within arm's reach of young children near water and designate a distraction-free water watcher. I'd also like to remind residents that Wear Orange Weekend is coming up June 5th to 7th. This is the 12th year in which communities across the country will wear orange to honor victims and survivors of gun violence and raise awareness about gun safety and secure firearm storage. And finally, to all of our graduating seniors and their families. Congratulations. As a recent parent of a graduate, I know this season comes with a lot

[01:40:22] of emotions, and we are all proud of the class of 2026 and excited to see what comes next for them. Thank you, and I hope everyone has a safe and happy start to their summer. Thank you. The youth community meeting, I will not make that meeting on the 28th. The Northern Virginia Regional Commission is having its retreat that Thursday evening to work on basically their strategic plan and what NVRC is going to be working on in the upcoming year.

[01:40:52] Echo what Councilmember Quillen had to say about having patience with the traffic around George Mason University. It's the largest number of graduations I think they've had. I think it's like 40 of them, 42 of them. Yeah, there's a lot of them. And so just understand that these families are coming from far away, and I hope they all come and eat in Fairfax City.

[01:41:11] That's what I'm going to say about that. Yes. So for everyone who has supported, our graduation is June 3rd. Fairfax High School will not be graduating from Eagle Back Arena.

[01:41:26] They will be graduating on the field, and we will all be there. So looking forward to that. And on June the 7th, in the evening at Old Town Square, Council Member McQuillan reminded me Moms Demand Action has a gathering at Old Town Square.

[01:41:43] I think it's at 7 o'clock. There's a proclamation, Council Member Bates will be reading the proclamation this year on gun safety and gun violence prevention, which we as a city support. And with that, I am now going to adjourn this meeting at 8.41 p.m. on Tuesday.

[01:42:02] Wah-ha!

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Coraggio Consulting · aguyonx.com