Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, Finance/Government Operations and Economic Development Committee, Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Date: Tuesday, March 14, 2023
Place: Board Room, First Floor, Government Center, 1 Harrison Street SE, Leesburg, Virginia
Length: 1h 21m (video)
Official meeting video (county, Granicus): https://loudoun.granicus.com/player/clip/7216
Agenda (Granicus): https://loudoun.granicus.com/AgendaViewer.php?view_id=73&clip_id=7216

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 2026-10-22. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:02:29] Mr. Letourneau. You can leave me unmuted. I promise I'll mute when I'm not talking. I was going to say, I don't even know if I could recreate that. I've never seen that happen before. Okay.

[00:02:45] Well, it works. Great. And you can hear us okay? What's that? Can you hear us okay? It's not great, actually, but I can hear you.

[00:03:02] It's okay. All right. We only have one. Well, good. All right. Well, I'm here. I will go ahead and mute for now. So, Chair Upstead calls on me. Matt, can you hear me? It's Kristen.

[00:03:19] All right. We can hear you loud and clear. Great. All right. There are people in the vicinity. Yeah, that's correct. The chair is taking the button.

[00:03:53] All right.

[00:04:10] Okay. We will start momentarily.

[00:04:51] Okay.

[00:05:28] All right. I would like to call to order the March 14th, 2023 Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, Finance, Government Operations, and Economic Development Committee meeting. This room has a hearing loop if you need hearing assistance, switch your hearing aids to telecoil mode.

[00:05:46] If you need a headset, we have those available as well. Please see the clerk to request one. Committee members will have three minutes to ask questions for all items with as many rounds as we need. Pursuant to Virginia Code Section 2.2-3708.2 and the Board's Rules of Order, Supervisor Letourneau requested to participate in this meeting by electronic communication.

[00:06:12] A physical quorum of the Finance, Government Operations, and Economic Development Committee is present in the boardroom, and the committee has made arrangements for the voice of Supervisor Letourneau to be heard by all persons in the boardroom. Supervisor Letourneau made this request within the required time frame, and the county attorney determined that Supervisor Letourneau's request meets the qualifications to participate remotely.

[00:06:39] The FGOEDC will record in its minutes that Supervisor Letourneau participated remotely from a private location in his home due to personal reasons. We're going to go to the consent agenda, and the proposed consent agenda is as follows.

[00:06:57] Item 4, Contract Renewal Road Construction Support Services. Item five, contract renewal, construction support services for buildings and parks. Item six, acceptance of HOME, Investment Partnership Grant Award.

[00:07:14] Item seven, revised Loudoun Health Commission bylaws. I will make a motion to approve and adopt the consent agenda. Is there a second? Second. Second by Chair Randall. Any discussion on the consent agenda?

[00:07:33] Chair Randall. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just very quick. I'm really pleased to be passing the acceptance of the Home Investment Partnership Grant Award. It will help us get more attainable housing in Loudoun County, which we all know that we need.

[00:07:50] It's the largest federal block grant to state and local governments, and it's designed exclusively to create affordable housing for low-income households, and it's connected to Title 42, I do believe.

[00:08:05] So it's very positive as we continue to try to get attainable housing in Loudoun County for everyone, but especially for the people that serve our county. And so I just wanted to say to the housing department, to everyone who's working in the department, great job.

[00:08:23] I didn't want it to go by without it being acknowledged. Thank you, Madam Chair. Very nice. Thank you, Supervisor Briskman. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to thank staff for working on yet another product of the Committee on Commission's Boards and advisory bodies in the county.

[00:08:42] We are tonight passing that the Lyme Disease Committee will now be a committee underneath the Loudoun Health Commission and thus hopefully saving staff from staffing yet another committee and board. They did a great job. They fulfilled all 10 of their goals, and they still will be working.

[00:09:02] It will just be underneath the Loudoun Health Commission. So thank you so much. Very nice. Supervisor Letourneau, any comments? No. All right. No more comments. All in favor, please say aye. Supervisor Letourneau?

[00:09:19] Aye. And any opposed, say nay, and that will pass 5-0. All right. We are going to go now to our three information items. After that, we will take up our only action item of the night.

[00:09:36] So item number one, monthly Department of Economic Development report with the famous Buddy Reiser and the equally famous Kelly Fultman. So thank you all for being here. Okay, thank you. I appreciate the opportunity to be before you tonight.

[00:09:53] Through the end of February, DED has secured 120 wins, just under 4,400 jobs, and just shy of $9 billion in commercial investment. To put that in context, that represents about half of what the entire Commonwealth reported in commercial investment last year.

[00:10:11] I'm also very proud that we have 570 diverse companies in our pipeline. We just wrapped up a very successful trip to Uruguay, where we continue to expand that pipeline. We're currently working with six different companies that we visited with, and they're coming and looking at Loudoun County actively now.

[00:10:31] I look forward to a very beneficial relationship with our partners at Canelones, and I thank Chair Randall, Supervisor Brisman, Beth Erickson, Matt Rogers, and Bob McCuller for their invaluable support and participation on that trip. A few economic notes, consumer prices in February were 6% higher than a year ago, according to the report from the Labor Department.

[00:10:53] That's down from January when the annual inflation rate was 6.4, but it's still much higher than the Fed's 2%. That's their target. When the announcement came out last week, I was sure that there was going to be a bigger rate hike the next time the Fed met, But failures of Silicon Valley Bank in California and Signature Bank in New York might have added some new complexities to that.

[00:11:16] We'll just have to wait and see. Of course, the higher rates impact commercial development because it means the cost of money is going to be much more on construction projects. As you can imagine, that does have a very big impact on the ability to bring projects to market.

[00:11:33] And as you've seen recently, as it's 10 days ago with Amazon announcing the pause on HQ2 construction, companies are reassessing their office needs post-COVID. As a percentage of 2019, in 2023, the average number of office workers in the office building on a given day is barely over 50 percent at the national level.

[00:11:53] This tends to add uncertainty for office developers and lenders. The monthly jobs report last week showed U.S. employers added a robust 311,000 jobs in February. Wage growth slowed, but with 400,000 people entering the workforce, you know, that's really good news.

[00:12:13] But the job market remains really tight. In northern Virginia, there are 1.7 jobs available for every one person looking for a job. So that's, I mean, that's certainly good for, you know, job seekers, but not so much for their businesses.

[00:12:31] Just a couple of other notes that I wanted to give you before Chair Fultman gives her update on RADC. I wanted to touch briefly on the hemp industry in Loudoun. We provide the complex USDA definition for hemp in your item tonight.

[00:12:48] We still see hemp as an opportunity for additional agriculture production or as a rotational crop, particularly on smaller farms. Loudon had 26 registered hemp growers and 147 acres planned for growing in 2020. But the market conditions, the lack of a processing infrastructure and some legislative issues has significantly decreased those numbers. In 2022, we have 10 registered farms and 41.3 acres planted. Loudon's first biomass processing facility came online earlier this year, so that is going to be an opportunity for farms to get local processing,

[00:13:26] but really too soon to tell what that impact is going to be. We do work directly with the Cooperative Extension Office on supporting the industry and the Loudon Hemp Growers Group, which began in 2020. And with that, I'll turn it over to Ms. Fultman and her update.

[00:13:42] Chair Fultman, welcome. Thank you. Can you hear me okay? Yes. I'll bring that a little closer. Hi everyone. So the RADC had its first organizational meeting just last week with the newly seated group. It was an orientation. They did FOIA. They learned about how we operate.

[00:14:02] We have decided to move our monthly meetings to the second Tuesday of every month instead of the first Tuesday of every month in the hopes that it might be easier for you people or your staff to sometimes engage with us during the meeting. So I think that will be very good. They're going to be held right now at the Percival Library trying to find one steady place that can have all of us in there. And that seems to be it. So looking forward to that. And it seems to be a very engaged group. So we're really just getting ready to know each other.

[00:14:34] This next month we'll be voting in chair, vice chair. And from that, the new executive committee, they'll be getting ready to create a work plan of the pre-existing group we had engaged giving us some pointers on what they thought they wanted to continue to see following through so that was nice and we can kind of take all of that roll it in see what the new group would like to be focusing on and we'd like to hear from you folks what you would like us if there's anything in particular you would like us to be focusing on so that's that's where we're at thank you so much that

[00:15:12] that was wonderfully succinct and we appreciate it uh any questions uh supervisor briskman thank you um thank you so much for that presentation glad to hear that you guys had your first meeting that's great buddy i'm starting my day with you at eight o'clock and i'm ending my day with you at six o'clock um i wanted to first of all the uruguay trip was phenomenal and your team should be commended for um the relationships that you obviously had to start building before we even

[00:15:44] got there and so um every i learned so much and boy you kept us busy but it was a good busy um came back very very tired but very excited about the opportunities for for both for both areas cannellona's and and loudon county so thank you so much for all that great work um i wanted to focus just a little bit on the hemp um issue that you brought up in the um in the your report this month um do you know when the regulations went into effect that seemed to be um hindering the industry sounds like background checks and the registration process that that happened in i

[00:16:24] believe 2020 and 2021 okay um you know i think the the problem is is that we're still trying to figure out what it, what it is and how it can be used. But the, the addition of the background checks and the additional processings of, you know, the applications has really, it's really hurt our, our momentum in that industry. Okay. And do you think that those background checks might be, and fees might be a barrier to entry for minority entrepreneurs who might want to get into that industry or just for everyone in general? I think everyone in general. Okay.

[00:17:04] um given the if i may go ahead the problem is is that there's not you know until we got this processing there's not a great yield so return on that crop has not been traditionally very high so all additional costs of applications and stuff it adds up do you think there's an appetite though um in the county to lease land and or start such a i mean you you see it as an opportunity but do you think that the community as well sees it as an opportunity for their land?

[00:17:36] Yeah, I think everyone was very excited. I think that now with the idea that they can get processing here, you know, it's a complex issue because when you had to ship it, you have a certain amount of time from the time you harvest it to get it to the right place to do the processing.

[00:17:53] So I think this piece of infrastructure is really important. And I think that there is a market for it. And I think that there are farms out there that are not being worked. Is the processing like the plant that we went through?

[00:18:09] Is that the kind of complicated processing? It's not that complicated. But yeah, it's the same kind. It's a manufacturing process, yes. And then one more quick question. Would you support something in our legislative agenda that would ask the General Assembly to reduce those requirements and make it easier for people to enter the market?

[00:18:28] I think we would. But I think that there's always a change in strategy that we've got to think through with that entire industry because it's fairly new. Okay, thank you. Chair Randall. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[00:18:45] Ms. Fultman, the Catalonia's trip was interesting in that there was so much of it that was, for lack of a better word to say it, rural Loudoun County things. I mean, so there are wineries or breweries.

[00:19:02] Their horses are everywhere. One of the men told me, he said, our horses are not wild. And I said, so they're born tamed? And he goes, yes. And I'm like, okay, sure. But I know you speak with Ms. Erickson all the time.

[00:19:17] She did an absolutely phenomenal job of discussing the relationships that Catalones and Loudoun can have in the rural economy overall. And so talk to her because it's just some really, really good ideas in a lot of different ways.

[00:19:36] And so there are very, in some ways, what we might be able to do on that trip in rural Loudoun is as exciting as what we would do in other parts of Loudoun and tech in the business. So give Ms. Erickson a call. She did a fantastic job.

[00:19:54] Mr. Reiser, you thanked us, but my gosh, you did the heavy lifting, and you did it well before, and it was, the trip was, we were incredibly busy, but it was also well planned. The logistics were down, you know, it was, we were on time, you knew what you were doing, and congratulations on maybe what I think might be the best international trip we've had to date, and you are to be complimented on that, and all the successes I think are going to be seen sooner rather than later for this trip. Mr. Reiser, I've now received

[00:20:33] two phone calls from people who have businesses that are located in industrial areas, small businesses. Both of them have expressed to me that their landlords have increased their rent significantly because some of these areas could also be by right data centers and so they feel and I'm not sure that this is what's happening the landlords have increased their rent 30% that they feel like that they're trying that people are trying to push them out so that they can have data centers my gosh when we need our small businesses we need our you know our our flex

[00:21:07] industrial area I'd like to sit down and talk to you more about this issue one and talk to Mr. Rogers also what my response to them has been is you know as government we may not have any we probably have no role at all in those private interactions between businesses however I am very very concerned if if people are being pushed out of their spaces so because they believe the data center will a data center will come in and and give them much more money for their space and and so I'm concerned about that and I don't know if you've heard any of that but I'd like to have a discussion if something can be done and that's a big if what that might look like.

[00:21:43] Sure, absolutely, and we do hear it. Now, I would say that the data center is only part of that conversation. The fact of the matter is that supply and demand is really driving the price in our flex product because we've got about 3 million square feet of demand, and so they are raising prices.

[00:22:06] You know, certainly the data centers have impacted the land value price, but I think what some of these customers are seeing is more about supply and demand and market rates kind of getting ahead of where we were before.

[00:22:24] Okay, I'll do a second round. Very good. Vice Chair Sains. Thank you, Matt. Thank you, Vice Chair Man. Vice Chair Man. Finance Chair. Finance Chair Man. Very good to see you, and good to see you as well.

[00:22:41] I'm glad your first organizational meeting went well. How did everybody respond to getting a Robert's Rules of Order kind of crash course? Well, that's always interesting. Actually, FOIA is what scares them the most. So, no, everything went nicely, and I think everybody's excited to get going and working on what we want to work on.

[00:23:04] Okay. You asked if we can give you any suggestions? Yeah, please. The hemp, I think you should wrap your arms around that and see what we can do for that industry here and make it flourish in Loudoun County, because we definitely have the potential to make it do well here.

[00:23:21] Yeah, I think all along we've thought processing was a big component of that. And so I know personally if we can make that into a horse bedding, because I love that stuff is horse bedding, and that's a different processing, but there is a market. Yep. And to your point, Supervisor Ristman, you know, the General Assembly actually, unfortunately, this year did a lot to hinder hemp in the Commonwealth.

[00:23:47] So, you know, we're going to have to talk more to our EDC and Buddy and our legislative team, but they actually did a lot to hinder it this year down there. And then the New Year's passed, unfortunately. And then, Chair Randall, I agree. We are definitely hearing a lot of horror stories regarding Flex Industrial and then those businesses that are in those spaces.

[00:24:10] So I think you're absolutely right that the rent's being raised. It's one of two reasons. One, because the data center can come and pretty much just offer the landowner a nice offer, and they'll take it and run to the hills. And so they're saying, okay, well, the tenants can't have many options to go.

[00:24:27] It's almost similar to the apartment situation where they don't have many options, so I'm going to squeeze them and get as much money as I can out of them until something else happens. And they know they don't have many options, unfortunately. So at least they're still in business because I remember last meeting I was telling a story of a data center coming in and outright just purchasing a facility, and they're waiting until those leases are out, up, if they're not buying them out, and then they're going to go in and do what they need to do to convert it.

[00:24:57] So hopefully we can figure something out, as we've been saying for some months now. So thank you for all your efforts. Glad to hear the trip went well and looking forward to the next one. Thank you, sir. I'm going to go to Supervisor Letourneau. Supervisor Letourneau, do you have any questions or comments?

[00:25:14] Thank you, Supervisor Johnson. Buddy, I noticed that the office vacancy rate was down to 6.9%, which is I think maybe the lowest I've ever seen it. any insight? Is it just the lack of product? It is the lack of product, and we're chipping away at the remaining product. The overall commercial vacancy rate is down to 2.4 percent, so with

[00:25:45] office getting under seven and the flex is under one, we just don't have much product to work with, but there is still a pretty decent demand for office space.

[00:26:02] Yeah, we just need the capital markets and the finance sector to catch up to what's happening with demand because I keep hearing from the development world that that's really their obstacle. I also noticed our unemployment rate at 2.1%, and yet, you know, I know we ask you this every month, With just, I think today, Meta announced 10,000 more layoffs.

[00:26:27] It certainly seems like the tech sector is really seeing a lot of layoffs. And we are tech heavy, so you would think that we would be feeling this. But I haven't seen the evidence yet. Have you seen anything? Absolutely nothing. We've seen none of the tech layoffs actually impact our area at all.

[00:26:50] Part of it is the product. You know, we're more on the mission critical side and the programming side. A lot of those layoffs that you're seeing, especially today's layoffs from Meta, are heavy on R&D and, you know, AI related and those kinds of things.

[00:27:10] Salespeople, HR, it hasn't really impacted mission critical at all yet. And our more mission-critical, and I don't mean just data centers, but more of our mission-critical cybersecurity and those products are really not impacted at all so far.

[00:27:31] Yeah, well, my 11-year-old thinks that Oculus is mission-critical, so let's hope that that doesn't get impacted. All right, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Chair Randall, second round. Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Reiser, I almost called you Mr. Hemp.

[00:27:53] I don't know that we're saying anything different. We're not. Yeah, okay, that's good to know because, you know, if you're saying it's a product demand, but the product is not there, and one reason the product is not there is because data centers can buy up the product.

[00:28:10] We're saying the same thing. The question is, is there anything that can be done? And again, I feel like I have to always say this. That doesn't mean we don't appreciate our days in the community, because we do in every way. But I also appreciate our small businesses.

[00:28:26] This business has been in Loudoun County for years. It's a small, female-owned business that's been in here for years. And she is not sure if she can keep up if her rent goes up that much. And so, you know, Mr. Tony Howard talks about the small fish and the big whales.

[00:28:47] Well, listen, we need both. And so as much as I appreciate the data centers, I appreciate our small businesses also. And I don't want to see them pushed out or swallowed up. And so is there anything that can be done? And I apologize if I was inarticulate. I was just adding another layer on top of that, part of that.

[00:29:06] And, you know, I think I'm meeting with some of the same people that you are meeting with. And there is not a lot that can be done. And anytime rents go up, it's tough. You know, rent increases in our flex and industrial product were not commensurate with market conditions over the last few years, mostly because of COVID and other things like that.

[00:29:29] So that can be a real shock to the system when they try to catch some of that up. I don't believe that there's any sort of legislative ability to, at the end of a lease, to force people to keep, you know, to stay in that lease.

[00:29:48] But I do think that we've tried to work very hard on a lot of those instances to find other alternatives or to work with the developers. But we're actively engaged with multiple cases, just like the ones that you've referenced. Well, it's really upsetting, and truthfully, it's a discussion I will also have with Mr. Levy because, you know, in the past, our data sets have been good community partners, and I am seeing some things that are starting to concern me about their willingness to continue to be good community partners.

[00:30:28] And so I will be giving him a call and having some discussions about a couple of different things. So thank you, Mr. Reiser. Thank you. Thank you, Vice Chair Sains. Yeah, sorry. Mr. Reiser, are we looking into the semiconductor manufacturing plants, or better known as the CHIPS Incentive Program?

[00:30:45] We are. We're actively working with, I think, almost a half dozen companies that are in various stages of the CHIPS grants. And we think that there's real opportunity here for that.

[00:31:03] And we've been able to leverage partnerships, and we're very excited about the possibilities there. Okay, great. I'll probably reach out to you offline to hear some more about it. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Letourneau, any second-round questions?

[00:31:22] No. Okay, thank you very much. Buddy Kelly, thank you very much. It's good having you guys here. And do you need to stay for the quarterly report, or are you good to go? I think we're good to go. All right. Thank you. And hopefully you can go home and enjoy your evening.

[00:31:41] All right. Item two is the quarterly report, FY 2023, second quarter financial update, cash proffer, and debt report. And we have Caleb and is it Tamara or Tamara or neither?

[00:31:59] Yep. Thank you, Madam Chair. I have with me at the table tonight is Tamara Kesecker, who's our revenue manager, and Hannah Osborne, who's a senior management analyst in our office. So tonight we are presenting the second quarterly report, the second quarterly report on the performance of the general fund, and I will get straight to the bottom line up front.

[00:32:21] So at the top of page two, there is a table that shows the projected general fund positive variance. as of this report, that projected positive variance is approximately $70 million. That's about a $30 million improvement since our first quarter report was presented to the Finance Committee this past November.

[00:32:44] Most of that improvement has been on the revenue side. I'll note two specific things that have changed since then. So for real property revenue, Now that we have the assessment information for tax year 2023, which is the second half fiscal year collection for fiscal year 2023, that revenue is significantly higher than was contemplated both in the FY23 adopted budget as well as the first quarter forecast.

[00:33:21] That is mainly due to the fact that House Bill 791, which changed the methodology for how commercial real property for data centers, that was unable to be implemented for tax year 2023.

[00:33:43] Mr. Hemstreet touched on that in his presentation for the FY24 budget. So we are seeing a windfall from that, but staff is definitely thinking about that in terms of more one-time revenue than ongoing. And we, as once again was detailed in the budget presentation, took actions in how fiscal year 24 was forecast to account for that.

[00:34:07] The second area where we've seen a change, a significant change, is on revenue from interest on investments. I discussed that past Monday night at our first budget work session, so that revenue source is performing very well this year.

[00:34:26] On the expenditure side, we don't have a significant change to report from the first quarter. What I will note is in terms of overall expenditure variance, we are under 1% of total appropriations.

[00:34:43] vacancies specifically because i know this is something that the finance committee and the board is is very focused on we don't the the vacancy and personnel savings estimates are are fairly consistent with what we presented in the first quarter we are seeing some some signs that that situation may be stabilizing so as an example in fiscal year 2022 the county's turnover rate was

[00:35:12] 12.1%. Right now we are projecting that turnover rate to be 11.4% for fiscal year 23. So we are hoping that's a good sign. Director Ina Fernandez shared during her budget presentation last week some of the aggressive recruitment tactics that Family Services has been able to deploy.

[00:35:37] So I wanted to once again highlight that success story. They had a turnover rate of approximately 20 percent in fiscal year 22 due to their aggressive recruitment actions they are we are estimating that will lower to 12 percent during fiscal year 23 which is good news I will note once again that the county's unemployment rate rate right now is 2.1 percent so we are continuing to see a lot of the same labor challenges that are occurring in other government industries as well as the private sector with that i'll be happy to answer any questions on

[00:36:13] the report but that is that is what i have to share this evening thank you very much uh any questions for caleb supervisor letourneau any questions i don't think so all right well that's probably good news good report um anything else from your team nope thank you okay thank you very much. We'll move on to item number three, review of the regional fair housing plan. I think we have

[00:36:46] John Hall and Rebecca King. I know that's not the limit of your team, but thank you all for being here. Good evening. Good evening, committee chair Umstad, board chair Randall, and supervisors.

[00:37:05] This evening, we will present to you the regional housing plan that is part of metropolitan Washington Councils of Governments, our analysis of impediment. At the table, I have Rebecca King who will present and assist it by our assistant director, Brian Regan. So, because Loudoun County receives federal housing funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the county must

[00:37:38] affirmatively further fair housing. Part of that requirement is to create an analysis of impediments or a fair housing plan to address barriers to fair housing at least every five years. In October of 2020, Loudoun County, with seven other jurisdictions in the metropolitan Washington region, agreed to take a regional approach and create a regional fair housing plan.

[00:38:03] And that draft plan was published for a 60-day public comment period on January 31st, and we'll cover 2022 to 2026. So as we mentioned, COG is coordinating this effort with a consultant team, a community advisory committee, and a project team consisting of members from the various jurisdictions.

[00:38:26] The key components are regional executive summary, glossary, and community engagement appendix. And then each jurisdiction has its own robust section with an assessment of past goals, an extensive analysis of data, a description of resources, and then regional and jurisdictional specific goals.

[00:38:45] And the data is a deep dive into demographics, access to opportunity, housing challenges, and disability and accessibility issues. Part of this effort was extensive community engagement, specifically from May 2021 through March of 2022.

[00:39:03] Regionally, over 1,200 agencies, groups, and individuals participated in focus group sessions, meetings, an online survey, and there were interviews with local leaders in every jurisdiction. Attachment one of the item describes specifically community engagement in Loudoun, which included a Loudoun-focused virtual forum, interviews with leaders in Loudoun, and presentations to various boards and organizations here.

[00:39:30] Over 400 of our residents participated in the regional online survey, and we had the second most participation out of the eight jurisdictions. I did want to provide a summary of some of the community input at a high level. Some key findings that came out was safe, affordable housing in acceptable condition is hard to find due to a lack of income, poor condition, or an inability to save up for either a security deposit or a down payment.

[00:39:59] Top three reasons reported for discrimination in housing were income level, race, or ethnicity, or source of income. Community members commented on a need for more Spanish-speaking housing counselors as well as local government staff.

[00:40:17] Other comments that came out was not enough program information available in various languages, including the ones listed here, a need for more housing for seniors who also have a disability, and that landlords are not abiding by reasonable accommodation regulations.

[00:40:33] And then some of the data, and then this is data specific to Loudoun, of non-U.S.-born residents, India is the most common country of origin. Spanish is the most prevalently spoken language for people with limited English proficiency.

[00:40:52] Asian or Pacific Islander populations and the Hispanic population have grown significantly here since 1990. And the areas with the highest percentages of renters are near Leesburg and Sterling. A couple other really interesting points from the data for Loudoun is residents have relatively high access to proficient schools that can vary dramatically by race and ethnicity.

[00:41:16] But in general, for all racial and ethnic groups, access to low-poverty neighborhoods is high. Loudoun County scores the highest in the region for access to environmentally healthy neighborhoods. And we have the highest proportion of owner-occupied households by race. So every group has a homeownership rate of over 50%.

[00:41:35] And the whole kind of purpose of the plan is to get to the goals. So there are seven regional fair housing goals, and then Loudoun chose three specific areas of focus or goals for ourselves. to increase the supply of housing affordable to low and moderate income families, reform zoning and land use policies to expand access to fair housing choice, and expand and increase support for fair housing outreach, education, and enforcement.

[00:42:00] And I just want to highlight, as it does on the slide, we are already making progress on that. The board approved a fair housing coordinator in FY 2023 to really focus on implementing the goals, among other pieces of fair housing, and that position just started this month with our department.

[00:42:17] And just to close out in terms of next steps, the public comment period is open. It closes March 31st. After that time, COG with the consultant team will make revisions to the regional plan and will bring back a final draft for a board public hearing by summer so that it can get submitted to HUD by the fall of 2023.

[00:42:40] And every participating jurisdiction will be seeking legislative approval. So with that, we are glad to answer any questions that you have. Very good. Thank you. Chair Randall? Well, first of all, thank you, thank you, thank you so much. Some years ago, I was on Virginia's Fair Housing Board and eventually became chair of Virginia's Fair Housing Board, and the reasons reported for discrimination housing were much the same, except the difference was they also had one of the top three reasons I remember was household size.

[00:43:11] So that's not there anymore, and now it's replaced by source of income, which I don't quite know. Help me understand that one. That's the first things. When on on the second page of the page six, actually of the presentation, landlords often not abiding by regional accommodations or regulations can explain a little bit more of what that means like the regional.

[00:43:36] What are what are they not what are they not doing? And I will say that I have said so many times that, you know, a lot of people in paying their in the rent that they pay is not that much difference than a mortgage they would pay. but to try to gather the money together for a closing cost and down payment is what's keeping people out of home ownership because they can't get that money.

[00:44:01] Finally, my question would be, right now we have a $0.05 dedicated source to go to our housing options and needs, although I'm not sure it's dedicated enough, to be quite honest.

[00:44:18] Is that what would happen, first of all, if we didn't have that 0.5 cents in Loudoun County? How important is that to keep it? And not that we can probably change it this year, but is it sufficient? And I'm not asking you to give me a number, but is it sufficient for now?

[00:44:36] And will we have to do something with that at another time? I know I ask a lot right there, so I will turn my mic off and get the answers. Thank you. Thank you, Chair Randall. So I will take the lead on answering the questions, and I'll defer to staff as necessary. Your first question was a source of income.

[00:44:54] How is that a discriminatory practice? What we're seeing across the nation is— Actually, that's not—I'm sorry. I know how that would be a discriminatory practice. What, when you say source of income— What exactly is source— What income source are they not accepting? So a lot of times they're not accepting the Section 8 housing choice voucher.

[00:45:14] That's what we're seeing the most from private landlords. I don't have words. I mean, because that's guaranteed income. That's guaranteed income. So that's not really about source of income.

[00:45:31] That's about who holds that voucher, because that's guaranteed income. Right. So that's, okay. The next question is, landlords often not abiding by reasonable accommodation regulations.

[00:45:50] I believe from various experiences that this is just a lack, well, probably not exclusively, but a lack of knowledge of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 and just really educating landlords who are participating in renting their homes, especially with federally subsidized properties.

[00:46:11] One of the things that we just completed at the Department of Housing and Community Development was a required fair housing training for all staff so that we could then exhibit and demonstrate that knowledge to our landlords and vendors to make sure we're raising the level of expectation. The third question is, if I understood it correctly, was related to down payment, closing cost assistance, what resources are needed to help us continue to move the needle.

[00:46:40] Housing stabilizes neighborhoods, and homeownership is the best way to stabilize our households. And so we need to do more to promote homeownership, that stability that it brings not only for the neighborhoods, but for ourselves and the children in them, as you know.

[00:46:57] And so the resources that we have, we have programs, and so I'm probably going to have to defer to Mr. Regan because we're working up the data for Thursday's budget meeting. But we have local funds and we have CDBG, Community Development Black Grant Funds, and now we will have Home Investment Partnership dollars that could be used to help with down payment, closing cost assistance.

[00:47:27] Mr. Regan, you want to add to where we are with the program? Sure. So the county has a down payment closing cost assistance program that is available to anybody. The county also has a public employee grant program, which is available to Loudoun County government employees, Loudoun County public schools and constitutional offices.

[00:47:44] And what we're seeing with the down payment closing cost assistance program is that is a loan and we're seeing average loans of around $13,000 to $14,000. So you can see that significant obstacle to becoming homeowners is having that $13,000 or $14,000 available for a down payment.

[00:47:59] So those are the two primary programs. We also have a program through Virginia Housing called SPARC, supporting partnerships and revitalizing communities, which offers a full percentage point off the interest rate of eligible loans through Virginia Housing, thus saving thousands of dollars in interest on any given year.

[00:48:23] Okay. I had one last question. One last question. the half penny on the tax. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. So the half penny for the housing options. So we desperately need funds to help families to achieve the homeownership stability.

[00:48:46] What would happen if we didn't have the funds is we wouldn't be able to leverage a lot of the dollars that we're pouring out to help actually build, whether it's condominiums, townhomes, or even single-family detached units to help leverage and provide that down payment closing cost assistance to put people into homes. So a lot of times you have to coordinate those resources so that they're delivered and it's timed so that we put people in houses. And also even as a precursor to that, we need to provide resources for housing, counseling, and home buyer education

[00:49:23] so that people are ready to take home ownership. We do not want to put people into homes where they will lose them you know later on so all of those resources need to work in tandem so we're really at the precipice of really moving our agency forward and to help Loudoun County residents with the resources that you've already allocated. We go to Supervisor Brisbane then Vice Chair Sains and then Supervisor Letourneau. Thank you Chair Olmstead. I'll admit

[00:49:58] to not quite getting through the whole report, but I guess overarching question is, is the fair housing plan meant to help us build and retain actual units, or is it more about making sure that we have fair, people have fair access to those units? Because those are two very different things, and I think I initially came at this as this is about access to fair housing, so that's kind of my first question. And then secondly, it's my understanding that the Fair Housing Act

[00:50:33] does not have a lot of teeth in it. Has that changed? Do we have actually ways to implement consequences, for example, for landlords that aren't accepting the Section 8 vouchers or landlords that, you know, find ways to not allow people to go into housing when they, by right, should be able to go into housing and if so do we have any power so if we don't if there's no repercussions written in the fair housing act or federal law that allows us to do that do we have

[00:51:12] the capability to do it in local government and then i have one more question after that go ahead okay again i will start and defer to staff as necessary so as far as the fair housing act having any teeth in it. And what's the purpose? Is it to increase affordable housing or just ensure that landlords are compliant? So I would say it's probably a mix of both. But the way I see it is to affirmatively further fair housing means to primarily deconcentrate poverty. So you're not

[00:51:46] putting all of your strategic resources in one area, which is really compensating for redlining that occurred many years ago, and the best way to do this is anytime there are federal dollars in a project, or if I'm recalling the threshold, I think it's $200,000 in a project, then there are certain affirmative covenants that a developer or owner has to comply with when they're building a development to ensure that the federal government, and HUD has its own fair housing and equal Employment Opportunity, FHEO office that would perform and conduct the investigations. They

[00:52:26] provide funding to the states, the FIPS and the FAPs of the world to actually provide the oversight and enforcement at the state level. So that's where the enforcement would come in with the Fair Housing Act. Okay. Okay. And when you say light affirmative covenants, for example, in federally funded housing does that mean like light tech housing yes uh low-income housing tax credits are part of treasury um the treasury department uh but they are for federal uh assisted housing

[00:53:01] so that's section 42 but the short answer is yes okay i will have a couple more questions thank you uh vice chair sayings thank you thank you for the presentation two quick things one is you know as As we all know, our voucher program is pretty much not taking any new applicants AS, right?

[00:53:23] So what can we do to open it back up? That's number one, if there's anything we can do. And then two, Section 108 loans, is that applicable here, or have you looked at that?

[00:53:40] Section 108 loans, have you looked at that, and would that apply here with us, or is that not something we should do? Okay, thank you for your questions. The first question on the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, we are assessing our portfolio performance, and what I have seen since my arrival is that there are ways that we can increase our voucher utilization.

[00:54:06] That really means at the end of the day to be able to issue more vouchers. We currently have 160 households that are on the waiting list, and our anticipation in our plan is to call in all 160 households by April of this year so that they can complete formal applications. Usually the success rate of a fresh waiting list is probably 50%. So I'm anticipating out of that 160, we probably will have about 75 or so that will show up and complete a formal application. And then probably half of them will actually receive vouchers. So thereafter,

[00:54:44] what the plan is, is to continue to monitor our progress with our voucher portfolio between now and August. And then with the expectation, if we have in our forecasting tool, if we see where we're going to have more vouchers available, then we will open up the waiting list most likely by the end of this summer so that we can plan for the calendar year, 24. The next question is the Section 108. So Section 108 is a loan advance for our community development block grant funds where we can receive, I believe it's up to five times the amount of our annual allocation.

[00:55:23] So that is always at our disposal as long as the county does not have an existing Section 108 loan, and to my understanding, we do not. So that is a potential resource that we can tap into as necessary. Thank you. All right. Let me go to Supervisor Letourneau.

[00:55:41] I don't have any questions. All right. I've got Chair Randall on round two, followed by Supervisor Briskman. Thank you, Madam Chair. If I could answer something that Supervisor Briskman said for you, if you don't mind.

[00:55:59] So Supervisor Briskman, when I was chair of the Federal Housing Board, I will say that I agree very much with your answer, that it was a bit of both. but we absolutely had teeth um the the ability to levy fines we had decoys go out to make sure that people who um maybe couldn't get a house for for reasons that we thought was a protect the class reason um we we did stings if you were as you were if it were all the time um we it was a it's a very

[00:56:31] active at least it was i hope i'm i hope it still is bored in virginia and um especially the the ability to to find somebody to give a landlord fines and a lot of those times it wasn't even a landlord of a building was an individual home owner who was trying to rent or not rent his home to somebody so i i actually thought that that it was a that the fair housing act gave gives fair housing boards at the state level a lot of chiefs to work with but that's how it works that's that that's

[00:57:06] that's how it works though but that but it works it works kind of as he said it works at the state level that's how it works truthfully we don't have a a local level we don't have local level fair housing boards we have state level fair housing boards and uh fairly recently when when we found some a landlord that was in our county that had violations now i of course because i had been there i knew what violation looked like i knew what to do we sent um i sent a letter to the State Fair Housing Board and within, I don't know, I have to ask Ms. Turner, but within

[00:57:42] two weeks, he decided to sell his property because he didn't want to clean it up. He decided to sell his property instead, and he did, and things turned around. So to your question, the Fair Housing Act acts within state government, and it's a separate body and authority that is appointed by both the governor and General Assembly members. That's how they get appointed to the board um they meet um twice a month in prn and it's a it's a it's a very very active board at least it was when i was chair of the board that helps thank you supervisor briskman maybe

[00:58:19] in the rest of her time madam chair oh darn so that is very helpful thank you and that that kind of helps as to where we would go um should we have a local issue my question was more along the lines of are we able to set local policy as far as fair housing goes.

[00:58:42] It sounds like it's more at the federal or the state level. And then my other question was through this fair housing plan, it's a fairly big jurisdiction with eight, I don't know what you call it, a coalition with eight jurisdictions.

[00:59:00] So would we have any ability to recommend or influence federal law um maybe through cog or something like that for example you know you mentioned um redlining and and i sort of feel as if sometimes the light tech buildings where they're basically told by the federal government is my understanding that if you want to build a light tech building that whole building has to be attainable housing affordable housing and to me that's almost like a red halo effect right because you're you're not dispersing so would we be able to influence any of those

[00:59:39] sorts of policies and also some policies. Madam Chair lent me a book recently, which I'm having a lot of difficulty getting through reading, but the policies that prevent folks from accessing even Section 8 housing, if they have had any involvement in the criminal justice system and their families actually not being able to even bring them into their home, if they have had involvement in the criminal justice system, they get kicked out of housing because they want to bring their child home and help them get back on their feet.

[01:00:10] So I guess my question is, will we be getting kind of that deep in this coalition to try and influence, you know, I think that the recent change in the Fair Housing Act, right, that they did recently is maybe helping with that.

[01:00:25] But I'm just wondering if the thought process is going there at all with this coalition and plan. I will start with the responses and then I'm going to defer to Ms. King because I was not actively involved with the entire process.

[01:00:43] But a few of your questions. So we normally cannot set the policy with the Fair Housing Act simply because it's already enabled. We're just implementing the covenants. Again, the FIPS and the FAPS of the world, HUD gives money grants for them to enforce and to provide education and outreach.

[01:01:06] Our analysis of impediment plan actually feeds into those types of activities with the FIPS and the FAPS that we roll into our consolidated plan for entitlement grants to really show how we're going to interweave our funding with practices that promote compliance with the Fair Housing Act.

[01:01:29] So basically, deconcentrate in poverty. We're not going to pour all of our resources in one zip code, for example. The other part with housing choice voucher with felony histories with families that are separated, that's the gist of what I was getting from your question.

[01:01:51] So housing authorities can put in their administrative plan, and most administrative plans that I've worked with will have a three-year limitation on felony convictions.

[01:02:06] So if their felony conviction is greater than three years old, they are eligible to participate in the program, especially in public housing, the Section 9 public housing part of the program. I know we only administer the voucher side here, but that is at the discretion of the public housing agency that administers the program.

[01:02:28] So they just have to put it in their admin plan and submit it to HUD, and so that normally will work. However, where additional challenges will occur on the voucher side of the program is that even though we may put in there, you know, if it's three years or if your felony conviction is older than three years, you can participate.

[01:02:47] They may get a voucher, but they may have difficulty leasing up simply because the landlord or their property manager will have a tenant selection plan that may say the opposite or have it a little bit farther out. And so those are additional barriers to find in housing, even though they would be eligible on our side.

[01:03:07] In terms of the plan, I would just say a couple of things. The regional plan, and it gets back to something you were asking about access and production. There's seven regional goals in the plan. The first four are really focused more on production and preservation.

[01:03:27] And then the five, six, and seven are more about fair housing access and enforcement. And seven is kind of interesting because it's about transportation, but that's kind of a key factor in accessing housing. So I would say that because what we, again, from the community input and the data, part of the problem with fair housing is there's not enough affordable housing.

[01:03:48] So not only do you need to be able to get into it in a fair way, but it needs to exist. So all of the jurisdictions are really focused on how they can expand production and preservation in addition to really exploring what they can do in access and fair housing.

[01:04:07] Different jurisdictions have maybe funding for testing or other kinds of things. With our coordinator, we're going to be able to do more outreach because there's multiple avenues to submit complaints for fair housing. There's the state avenue, there's a HUD mechanism, and it can lead to severe outcomes to support tenants or residents, I would say.

[01:04:30] In terms of advocacy back to the federal level, this plan is really focused on implementation at a local and regional level. But I think at times the region and each jurisdiction has commented to HUD or pushed back on different things and would do so in the future, potentially in a coordinated way.

[01:04:49] Did you have something else? I'm going to go for one more round. You're using FIPS and FABs. Can you say what those acronyms are? I'm assuming you mean the Fair Housing Boards. I don't generally like to use acronyms without knowing what they mean, and I always forget what FIPS and FAPs mean.

[01:05:10] Fair housing, it comes up in my Google search fast, fair housing assistance programs, I believe, and I forget what the I stand for. But their grantees, a lot of the state governments will be grantees of HUD.

[01:05:26] They come out with a NOFA, Notice of Offundant Availability, each year to give money for enforcement. All right. Everybody good. Supervisor Letourneau, any final questions? No.

[01:05:43] Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you all very, very much. Thanks. All right. We are going now to our one action item, which is an update on the Town of Percival projects. We will have a motion.

[01:05:59] mark see we got scott we've got nancy all right so good evening committee members like we've done previously i'm just going to highlight some of the key issues and developments that have occurred since our last briefing in february and the the first one is which is pretty significant milestone is on february 28th the town council of percival did vote upon the legislative applications for the

[01:06:36] Western London Park and Ride, they did approve the rezoning application, they did approve the special use permit for the park and ride facilities. So what that means is that use is now approved and we can move forward with developing the plans for the park and ride. Part of that outcome is also it now sort of settles some of the uncertainty associated with Field Farm Park road to allow that to also move forward so so we we are now working with our design teams to

[01:07:11] go through the conditions of that approval and move forward on developing plans based upon those those approvals so so that will you know hopefully in upcoming months kind of remove those particular of projects from our discussion stand from our discussion points as we move forward another development that has transpired in the last month is we as you know as we've previously presented have been seeking clarification from vdot on a number of issues associated with the route 7690

[01:07:50] interchange one is you know one of the sticking points that we have is that there is an existing floodplain easement that the town has an interest in in one of the exit ramps from Route 7 to Route 690. And VDOT did clarify in writing that they do not accept facilities that have any encumbrances within the right-of-way. And because we had brought up that this is a very unique situation, but they did clarify that their sort of standard policy does

[01:08:28] hold. And the other clarification that they provided is that they cannot provide any relief on our smart scale schedule. So they cannot re-baseline that schedule. So one of the actions that we have taken as a result of that is we are now reaching out to our CTB, Commonwealth Wealth Transportation Board of Members to brief them on the detailed circumstances of

[01:09:00] this particular project so that the CTP is aware of this situation and that we're hoping to have our CTP members kind of lobby the group that it is not out of a desire or attempted execution of the project, that it is not moving at the pace that we had hoped and we had scheduled so uh that is that is in the process so you know we're doing what we can to at least make sure the decision makers know what's going on um and the the last uh item that we want to

[01:09:40] bring up is sort of the the actions associated with the board's action last month to uh authorize a purchase agreement for the property just west of the town limits for various uses uh

[01:09:56] We just wanted staff wanted to bring to the finance committee and ultimately to the board to define what the intent is for that property and to get authorization to begin the development of that property with with several uses, including the field, the field farm park facilities that were previously planned in the town to begin development that on the property under the purchase agreement.

[01:10:28] in addition to the planned Western Loudoun Rec Center and the planned library in that area. So we just wanted to formalize that and bring that to the Finance Committee and the board. And that's sort of the new developments, and we're open to any questions you might have.

[01:10:48] Very good. Thank you very much. Any questions, Supervisor Briskman? I don't remember a library being involved. Was the community center supposed to have a library? attached to it the i thought we already updated the percival library in a it is um listed as a need for western loudon in a future fiscal year scenario future fiscal year scenario okay okay so it's not imminent um i see in the motion that it says to relocate park facilities proposed for

[01:11:26] fields farms park to the 143 acre property west of the town of percival but we don't own that property yet right we are currently negotiating to we're doing our due diligence to bring that to a close here in the June time frame. Right, so I mean, I guess the motion's appropriate because staff wrote the motion, but it feels kind of weird to me to be relocating a facility onto property in this motion that we don't even know if we are going to own and we don't know if the terms of the purchase are going to be what we need the terms of the purchase to be.

[01:12:06] Julie, Tim? Yeah, thank you. Supervisor, I'm sorry. The board has authorized the purchase. Okay. So the terms, we've settled on the overall terms with the property owner. So we're in the process.

[01:12:22] We've actually signed the letter of intent. And so we are in the due diligence phase. So assuming the due diligence, maybe staff can provide an update on where we are in due diligence, but assuming the due diligence phase is completed properly, we will go to closing before June.

[01:12:41] Okay. I'm good on that question then. are we married to the names fields farm park and frank i mean franklin part i can understand we're married to but i mean fields farm park sounds kind of generic i mean maybe there's a fields family out there and i don't want to mess with it but there's it's just i get them confused completely confused all the time are we married to that name fields farm so we can we can change the name of park so the fields farm park comes from the previous site so the previous site was located on a farm that was owned by uh mr fields and his family actually the the the fields family

[01:13:15] okay so we purchased that whole segment of land is their former farm okay so we could change it because it's not going to be there anymore exactly yeah yes it feels i guess we're okay with the park and ride lot then going forward is is what i understand it feels when i look at this map now it feels kind of weird that there's just like this dot in the middle of a field where the park and lot is going to be able staff still thinks that that's the most appropriate place for it it is a good location it's right at the and it'll be easy to access it okay all right thank you okay yeah

[01:13:49] let's change that name supervisor letourneau any questions yeah so i asked a question previously about whether we still have a need for the park and ride lot i think the answer was that we were still evaluating. Certainly, nothing has happened since that question that would help answer that.

[01:14:09] So how do we kind of deal with it? So we do know that since COVID, the use of the existing park and ride in Percival is much less than it was pre-COVID. Looking at it from a very long-term perspective, and this is an issue with transit industry-wide, it is expected that use will creep up gradually over the years. So, you know, the expected need for it is delayed from what we had originally intended pre-COVID. But I think there is some thought that eventually we're going

[01:14:47] to need this size park and ride in Percival at some point. Well, what's the timeline to actually construct it? Actual construction would probably take place in the next two and a half years, We'd be able to begin.

[01:15:05] I mean, this particular site does have the constraint that we need to build the road that serves it first in order to be able to. But do we have to build within a certain timeline? Are we risk losing the funding?

[01:15:22] I think now that the entitlement process is complete, our next step with VDOT is to go through what's a process called we're closing the scoping phase.

[01:15:38] and then we would move into the development phase. So the anticipation would be under our project agreement that we would move into that phase in a normal development timeframe. And so I don't think we would be seeking to delay the time in which we would do that.

[01:16:04] We need to move forward with it under the terms of our project agreement. I understand the staff isn't, but I'm questioning whether this is a project that the county needs and whether anything would be gained by not moving forward with it from a financial standpoint.

[01:16:28] So if I can, let me make sure I understand your question, Supervisor Letourneau. You're asking from a financial standpoint, what would be to gain by not doing that? Yeah, I mean, let's just say we didn't move forward with it. Are we going to save any money ourselves? So in the near term, were we to not move forward with the project, We would have the remainder of the, and I don't have the numbers in front of me, I apologize, the remainder of the funds that we had planned to spend on the project would be made available, I suppose.

[01:17:00] Long term, long term, you know, we do expect that at some point in the future there will be a need for a commuter lot in this location. If you will permit me, Madam Chair, just one final question and my time is running out or is out.

[01:17:16] How long is the land use approval active for, though? We are looking at ourselves, and I don't think we have an answer for you, but we can get back to you with that. Okay. All right.

[01:17:33] I'm going to make a motion. I move that the Finance, Government Operations, and Economic Development Committee recommend that the Board of Supervisors direct staff to take the following actions. One, relocate the park facilities proposed for the Fields Farm Park to the 143-acre property west of the town of Percival.

[01:17:54] Two, designate the 143-acre property west of the town as the future site of the Percival Library Replacement Project and the Western Loudon Recreation Center. Three, initiate a feasibility study to determine the appropriate delivery of water and wastewater to the planned county facilities.

[01:18:14] And four, begin the programming of these facilities and initiate any required land use actions to accommodate the planned uses upon acquisition of the property. Is there a second? Second by Supervisor Briskman. Any, I have no opening, any comments from Chair Randall?

[01:18:34] No other comments except to say that I have been watching this whole process very closely. And I've been talking to, actually, a lot of constituents who live in the Percival area. And my compliments and my thanks to staff, because I know that it's not always been easy meetings.

[01:18:56] I will say that I've heard more than once from staff in Percival that they felt like you all treated them with respect and dignity. And that's not always how they feel sometimes. but the county staff treated them with respect and dignity at every step of the way.

[01:19:15] And so that means something. So thank you. Very nice. Supervisor Letourneau, any comments on the motion? Not exactly, but can I just go back and ask? So we have NVTA funds for the park and ride lot, right?

[01:19:36] Yes. The park and ride is fully funded by NVTA 70%. I'm sorry. It's fully funded by SmartScale funds, not MBTA. The commuter lot is funded by SmartScale. Ah, okay.

[01:19:52] And do we have to use those funds by a certain time? So our requirement from the Commonwealth Transportation Board and VDOT is to use them as expeditiously as possible. As staff has previously reported, we are in the red in terms of the timing for this project.

[01:20:10] A lot of that is having to do with the time it has taken to get through the process with the town. So we want to prosecute the work on the construction of the commuter lot as expeditiously as possible.

[01:20:26] And there are no county funds allocated at this point. It's all smart scale. It's primarily smart scale, but there is a small amount of something else that I don't have in front of me, and I apologize. Some CMAQ potentially, but we don't have it.

[01:20:42] I'm not looking at it. I apologize. Yeah, I believe it's other federal funding. So therefore, to answer my question from earlier, there really isn't anything to be gained for the county financially. We're not going to save our own money if we don't build the park and roadway. Nothing significant. Okay, got it.

[01:20:59] Otherwise, I would echo what Chair Randall said. I support the motion. I'm hopeful that we can move forward with a park facility for Western Loudoun that they deserve, even if the Percival Town Council doesn't seem to think so.

[01:21:15] Thank you, Supervisor Letourneau. All right, I'm going to call for the vote now. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, nay?

[01:21:30] Okay, that will pass 5-0. With no further business to conduct, I call this Finance-Government Operations-Economic Development Committee meeting adjourned, and thank you all for being here.

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