Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, Business Meeting, Tuesday, April 4, 2023

Date: Tuesday, April 4, 2023
Place: Board Room, First Floor, Government Center, 1 Harrison Street SE, Leesburg, Virginia
Length: 5h 7m (video)
Official meeting video (county, Granicus): https://loudoun.granicus.com/player/clip/7234
Agenda (Granicus): https://loudoun.granicus.com/AgendaViewer.php?view_id=73&clip_id=7234

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 2026-10-20. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:03:53] Good evening, Supervisors. Good evening, staff. Good evening, Loudon. I'd like to call to order the April 4th, 2020 Loudon County Board Supervisors Business Meeting. This room has a hearing loop. If you need hearing assistance, please switch your hearing aid to the telecom mode. If you need a headset, we have those available as well.

[00:04:09] This evening, Supervisor Letourne will give us words of wisdom or a prayer, and he will lead us in the pledge. Thank you, Chair Randall. Dear God, as our nation deals with another tragedy in Nashville, and even we have violence here at home in Loudoun County, we just ask for your wisdom and your help.

[00:04:30] We ask for peace. We thank you for our first responders, our heroes who every day respond to tragic situations when people are in need and handle it with professionalism and care. We ask you to bless them and all their families. We also pray for all of our other county employees, as well as our military and our leaders.

[00:04:51] We ask this in your name. Amen. Amen. Pledge of 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.

[00:05:13] Okay, Supervisors, Mr. Sane should be joining us. I have not heard from him, and Ms. Glass just did join us. All right, our proposed consent agenda is as follows. Item R1, Proclamation to Recognize April 23rd is Celebrate Diversity Month in Loudoun County.

[00:05:34] That is for approval only. Item R2, Declaring April 9th through 15th is National Public Safety Telecommunications Week. That is for approval and presentation. Item R3, Resolution 2, Recognize the Retirement of Middlebury Police Chief, AJ Pine Bianco, that's for approval only.

[00:05:57] Item 1A, appointments and confirmations. Item 2, the AIR report of April 4th, 2023. Item 3, the ZRTD 2021-0010 and SPMI 2021-0008, the NEVO substation expansion.

[00:06:16] Item 4, ZCPA 2022-0003. excuse me i'm sorry temple baptist church is there a motion for approval motion moved by mr buffington is to a second second by supervisor umsat discussion on the motion seeing none on people who say aye uh any opposed that motion will pass 702 with mr sayings and mr kirschner being off the dais um let's see um do we have any additions or

[00:06:53] relations to the agenda, none that I know of today. No? All right. I'm going to do my chair's report. It's pretty short this time, and I've already lost it. Just give me a second, supervisors. Okay. So between the last meeting and this, a couple things have happened. I attended a symposium discussion on aging in Northern Virginia, and I want to thank Ina Fernandez, the head of our Family Service Department, for attending with me. What we learned is that overall Northern Virginia is not a great place to age, and it's an even harder place to age in place,

[00:07:29] and I'll get to the age in place in a moment. What makes a good place for aging in the things that we don't have is a really strong transportation system, both rail and bus, because a lot of people who are older maybe shouldn't be driving anymore, and so they need to have a large interconnected transportation system, public system, of little to no cost, And unfortunately, we don't have that in Loudoun County.

[00:07:57] We also, libraries, the aging population likes libraries, and we have those, and so that's good. There is a dearth of preventative health services in Loudoun County. We have services to treat the aging population if they have an issue, but not enough preventative services.

[00:08:17] And we need to do more to boost up companion services. One of the largest issues of the aging population is that they're lonely, that they don't have companions, and not having a companion actually makes whatever issue you have worse.

[00:08:35] And then on the other side of that, the aging population is a faster-growing population for sexually transmitted diseases than people would realize. and that is because a lot of times people who are older, they're old but they're still active but they also don't want to talk about it and so they literally deny having sex at all and so by the time they have an STD, by the time it's caught, it's usually much further along and they're in bad shape and so we need to have people who work with these populations to talk about the fact that being intimate, well, as long as you want to, as much as you want to

[00:09:14] was totally normal and healthy, let's just make sure you do it in a safe way. So that was a really interesting discussion. Also, the National Association of Counties, the Economic and Mobility Leadership Network met and discussed was what makes a resilient county, which is an interesting discussion. Some of the things, and I'll let everybody else decide if Loudoun's a resilient county after you hear what makes a resilient county. Number one, county staff. County staff that feels supported and appreciated is number one and what makes a resilient county

[00:09:49] social cohesion amongst our citizens whatever that might look like this I think is interesting and something we could work on open civic and public gathering spaces so for more spaces for people to come and meet and be together and you know carnivals fairs that types of thing makes a resilient county. People need to feel included more often. Social, nonprofit, and faith services need to be integrated into county services, and so people do not feel like that they have to go through many places to receive assistance. So integrating social, nonprofit,

[00:10:27] and faith services, and then the ability, and this goes back to the other topic, to get around the county um safely to like literally move around the county safely all those things are things that they have said helps make a resilient county so um those are some of the things and all of the things so i will let you all decide if you think we have um a resilient county or not um so um having said that my voice for a cause today is emmy's elevator and i'd like to have Scott Drummond come to one of the podiums.

[00:11:03] This is one of the most interesting voice for a cause I think I've ever had, and so thank you. Let me read just what ME's Elevators is. ME's Elevators' mission is to address the overwhelming problem of outdated, broken down, underfunded, and decaying elevator infrastructure.

[00:11:22] The focus is on elevator modernization and repair to increase public safety to be full ADA compliance. It creates high-profile jobs while he's doing that, increases the access to necessary training for these jobs, and the elevator services are targeted at public housing, public hospitals, homes for the elderly, And, of course, elevators are not required in buildings that are under four stories.

[00:11:53] But if they do have them and they are not working well, it's also for those areas. And so I thought that that was, I think that's just a really unique mission and a really unique voice for a cause. Mr. German, thank you for coming today. I have a couple of questions for you. Thank you. What was your inspiration behind Emmys Elevators?

[00:12:14] being a dad and working on elevators for 20 years of my life and seeing what everybody went through over the last four years uh and going through working on elevators in that time my granddaughter coming down with cms and rapson which is she's one of 600 kids in this whole country and whole world actually and i actually watched my kids go through struggles i watched everything they went through and then i'm going to work and watching people in all these places go through struggles. I work at all the public facilities, up and down. You know, there isn't one that an

[00:12:48] elevator person doesn't go into. That's absolutely incredible. What is the Hard Knocks to Hard Hats program? That's where I hope our jobs program goes to these places and goes to places where these jobs were historically kept away from. And we can do it in the most perfect way. That is what i'm proud of that program i'd like to connect hopefully one day work through those places to connect to all the alternative high schools in this country i am a person who you know when douglas moved i wanted to know where it went because i was a douglas kid 30 years ago 40 years

[00:13:26] ago and i know there's leaders and brains in those places that were like mine that just needed a little maybe a swifter program than a college education you know if you go into apprenticeship program chances are you're almost going into a program it's going to teach you like a soldier you're going to go into an elevator business you're going to be an apprentice you are going to go through things that make sure you are ready for this type of job and things of that nature and it is something that it changed me as a man my whole entire career in the elevator business and i worked in the jail for 10 years and i'm amazing thing i could say is the jails have better

[00:14:05] elevators and better facilities almost in most public housing okay that is you know just one of my observations. I hope to try and help that. What are your current needs? Current needs, it's donations, introductions, and negotiations. This is all about that. It is something that now that I'm finally here in front of you folks, I am excited about because it's what has to happen for this to be right and be able to accomplish everything it can. It is something that I believe it benefits our entire business and our industry in the end, and that's exactly how you want to do these things is come into things and be able to enhance every aspect of the business with the

[00:14:44] beautiful type of you know opportunity that we have here i think if someone has a building or a facility um that needs to have the elevators service and they can't afford that how do they reach out to you how do they reach right now they can start calling me or or you have all the information you have emmy's elevators linkedin is where you can get me on this is a lot of We don't have a big social media presence.

[00:15:06] Do you have a website? We do not have a website yet. That is all coming. It's baby steps with this. It is about making sure we get everything correct and checking boxes and things of that nature. Our biggest thing is legal representation now and making sure we have all the accountants and lawyers continue to work for us to make sure that this is continued to be put together in the right way.

[00:15:29] Mr. Drummond, this is, again, one of the most interesting, I mean, you know, I guess I've never just heard of someone that offers the service that they are very good at and that they know well to enhance and make the lives of other people better. And the fact that it's an elevator business, this is something you don't really think about when you, one, have a working elevator, or two, can take the stairs, which is just not everybody.

[00:15:52] So thank you so much for what you're doing. We appreciate you. Thank you. Mr. Hemstreet, do you have comments tonight? Thank you, Madam Chair. I have four items for this evening.

[00:16:08] The first that I'm pleased to report that Loudoun County tops the list of counties in Virginia in the 2023 county health rankings released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. The county health rankings rank the overall health of nearly every city and county in all 50 states and provide county to county comparisons within a state.

[00:16:29] The rankings allow jurisdictions to see how well they're doing on more than 90 factors that influence health, including housing, education, jobs, transportation, access to mental health providers, and more. Second, Loudoun County has a new interactive tool designed to help identify optimal sites for different crops in the county.

[00:16:48] Virginia Cooperative Extension Loudoun and the Office of Mapping and Geographic Information have collaborated to create the Crops Suitability Tool. The mapping tool will assist farmers, prospective farmers, and real estate agents in making informed decisions before starting a crop for the first time or buying land for agricultural purposes.

[00:17:06] You can view the tool at loudon.gov forward slash crops tool. And then third, the Disability Services Board is sponsoring a virtual training on April 11th about fair housing laws and people with disabilities. The training is open to the general public, but may be of particular interest to anyone who sells, leases, owns, or manages residential property.

[00:17:27] The train is free, but pre-registration is required. Details and a link to register may be found at loudon.gov forward slash fair housing training. And then finally, the annual Loudon County Arbor Day Photo Contest is underway. This year's theme is Trees of Character.

[00:17:44] Photos of trees will be accepted through Wednesday, April 12th. Winning photos will be posted on the county website. More information about the contest is online at loudon.gov forward slash trees. That's my comments this evening, Sharon. Thank you, Mr. Hemstreet. So if somebody takes a picture of a tree, just turns it in to find out where they send that on the Loudoun County website?

[00:18:04] Loudoun.gov, four slash trees. Okay, four slash trees. All right, then. Supervisors, it is too early to do proclamations, and there are no information items tonight, so we're going to go to our action items at 4.18.

[00:18:20] We're going to go to our action items. The first action item we have is the short-term rental item. Would the staff please come to the table? And Mr. Kirshner is not here.

[00:18:40] Well, I mean, yeah, we're going to go straight to a motion, actually. So, Mr. Supervisor Turner, I'm going to call on you for a motion in just a second because you are the T-Luck Chair.

[00:18:59] Do you have anything new you want to add or anything we don't know already from last meeting to this meeting? I think all the updates were in your staff report, so I don't think we have anything to add since that time, is that right?

[00:19:15] Yeah. All right. Mr. Turner, would you like to make a motion, please? Thank you, Madam Chair. I move the Board of Supervisors approve ZOAM 2018-001, provided as attachments 1, 2, and 3 to the April 4, 2023 Board of Supervisors business meeting action item.

[00:19:32] I further move that the Board of Supervisors establish a grace period that shall end on September 30, 2023, by which date all existing short-term rental uses registered with Loudoun County must have come into compliance with or have submitted any minor special exception or special exception application needed to come into compliance with the requirements established with ZOM 2018-001.

[00:19:56] I further move that when a zoning inspection occurs for property related to approval of a short-term rental zoning permit to direct staff to focus their their inspection on aspects of the property needed for compliance with the requirements established with zoam 2018 0001 and not on the entirety of the property unless such zoning inspection also is in response to a zoning complaint however if observations are made that may affect public safety health or welfare or could be a potential violation of state or federal laws that the county is required to enforce, zoning inspection staff will address those issues.

[00:20:33] Motion's made and seconded by Supervisor Bricksman. Discussion on the motion, Mr. Turner. Thank you, Madam Chair. I had a very good discussion today with Mr. Walker a few hours ago. And the issues that he brought up I thought were relevant.

[00:20:51] We addressed one of the major issues, in fact, probably the most important of the three, I think, in this third paragraph of the motion. Essentially, to outline the problem for everyone, what he described is when you go in with a normal residence and you want to apply for a change of use to become a short-term rental, in that application process, as I understand it, the property is inspected.

[00:21:17] And in the course of that inspection, if there are current violations of the current permitted uses of that parcel, then our staff feels an obligation to enforce those violations before they can approve the change of use. What he described was that there are many, many properties in Western Loudoun which currently are not in compliance.

[00:21:37] The neighbors are fine. There haven't been any complaints. But it does open up a Pandora's box. And I was in really of a quandary as to how do we fix that. And I asked him, and he said, well, we've got some suggestions. I think this paragraph addresses that. I think basically it says we're asking our inspectors when they go out there to focus on the use as a short-term rental.

[00:21:59] And I believe there's a checklist floating around of things that they should look for for the short-term rental. If they see health and safety issues as they examine the property, then obviously we want them to respond to those. But if there are other violations that aren't directly related to the short-term rental, then we ask that the inspectors use some discretion.

[00:22:23] And I think that's a reasonable compromise in the language, so I'm comfortable with that. The other thing he brought up is that he felt that it was important on an annual basis to have first a fire marshal inspection and second a health inspection. He said the easiest way to do that is to require the owner of the property to do, I think he called it a home sale inspection every year and report the results, presumably, to the short-term rental manager.

[00:22:48] I guess my question in that is do we have – I see the chief sitting in the back. You don't need to come forward, chief, but does staff have any feel for are those onerous requirements? We don't need to make an amendment or anything, but I thought those were reasonable viewpoints that it might be good for an annual health inspection and fire marshal inspection of these short-term rental properties.

[00:23:11] just for public safety any comment i can't say i'm overly familiar with those annual inspections to be really be able to answer that i apologize for that if you could just take a look at that as we go forward the program and i and also if we could consider maybe a report back i'm sure we're going to do this anyway in maybe a year as how this this program is working once we've got the ordinance approved but those are two things i thought were probably reasonable considerations and if we're shorthanded then well let's think through how we can do that let's all have thank Thank you, Madam Chair.

[00:23:43] Ms. Brixman. Thank you, Madam Chair. Well, I just want to applaud Supervisor Turner and TLUC for all their great work on this item, and also staff for all of your great work on this item. And thank you very, very much for adding in the paragraph that addresses the concerns of the HOAs in my district.

[00:24:08] Cascades HOA, which I think is still the, might be the second biggest now HOA in the county, had some concerns about it, and these were addressed, so I really appreciate it, and we've also uncovered a couple other concerns from other areas in my district that staff and I have been working on on the side, so I really, really appreciate that, and I think that we've come to a nice balance on this, and I appreciate the understanding from, you know, my counterparts in the western side of the county, understanding that, you know, we do need some regulation because of the density on the other side of the county without you know impeding what's happening

[00:24:46] over there so I think this is a nice compromise and thank you everyone for your work I will absolutely be supporting the motion thank you Mr. Buffington thank you Madam Chair a couple questions for staff do we know how many STRs are currently registered I'm thinking it was approximately 200 about 200 I was actually going through the report well it was a little early for you to be called up oh sorry i personally have no control over that um and do we have any idea

[00:25:23] how many are operating but not yet registered yeah we um granicus uh provided a report to us in advance of perhaps asking perhaps for an rfp and there are approximately 668 properties that are out there operating now. Okay, and I imagine we have a robust plan for getting the information out there that folks have a certain time to register if they're not already registered.

[00:25:50] Can you talk about that plan just a little bit? So yeah, the thought would be, I think, based on the hosting sites such as Airbnb, the list that we would get, I think that at least in my mind right now the way that would work is we would try to prepare some kind of a letter to notify them or some means of notifying them that the county did approve these regulations and give them contact information hopefully our website maybe can be developed to help as well to kind of point them in the right direction of what the regulations are and then of course staff would be able to assist these property owners with any questions they have or the process to become into conformance

[00:26:29] with the ordinance and I know we'll get some press coverage too that'll help us with that but and do we plan on doing a newsflash or a press release from the County on that I think that would be something yes that we would be looking hopefully we do anyway we can get the word and shaking his head yes so that means we do that's great thank you well I just want to to agree with my colleagues and thank staff you guys have put so much work into this for a long time and I know it hasn't been easy but here we are and we're finally passing this thing and we appreciate the work that you've done I know Beth Erickson and her team from visit loud and I don't know if she's I don't see her here

[00:27:06] tonight but she's on the WebEx I think many thanks to Beth and her team and the public we couldn't have done this without you all you've had such great input and we're where we are tonight because of all of your input and so thank you for that thanks to my colleagues for being patient I know we we thought we were gonna pass this at the last minute and then we had this a little bit more work that we were able to do between the last meeting and tonight so I'm glad we're passing this I know that there's probably gonna be some issues with it, but no new ordinance goes without that. So I'm sure we'll be taking another

[00:27:42] look at this down the road and making some tweaks to fix whatever unanticipated issues arrive that we weren't ready for. So thanks again. Appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Bovington. Ms. Umstead. Thank you, Madam Chair. Questions for staff. If a property owner was located in a rural village, Waterford, Lincoln, Luckett's, and they had a small lot, as in almost a zero lot line lot,

[00:28:21] would this ordinance permit them to have an Airbnb on that property? There is no minimum lot size proposed with the draft text, and it would depend on what the zoning ordinance or what the zoning district is as whether it would be permitted by right or by minor special exception or full special exception.

[00:28:46] I haven't been gung-ho about this for over a year. I think when we first started registering people, and I know there's a perception out there that this is going to prohibit some people who currently operate Airbnbs from continuing to do so.

[00:29:09] I know originally there was a concern about a five-acre minimum. That has been eliminated, and now we have no minimum size. Yes, and I apologize. I should have clarified that the minor special exception or full special exception would be if it was a commercial whole house rental.

[00:29:28] If it's residential accessory, we permitted as accessory to somebody's home. So it would not require that additional. Okay. Thank you. Thanks for all the work. I may not support this, but I admire you for all the time and effort you put into it, so thank you.

[00:29:45] I will support this and admire you for all the time and effort you put into it. Between last time we won the DS and this time, how many of my colleagues have reached out to you all for a full briefing on this? Mr. Kirshner had reached out to us as well as Ms. Briskman.

[00:30:07] And Supervisor Buffington's aide was also. Yes. Thank you. So, supervisors, I know you all didn't want to continue this another two weeks, and I totally understand that. But as I said before, if our colleagues don't feel really able to vote on, especially something that's a new ordinance, I'm going to always try to accommodate that.

[00:30:30] And so I know it was a little longer than we expected, but I thought it was worth everyone being very clear what they were voting on before they voted. So the motion was made by Mr. Turner. Just to clarify that we did also meet with Professor Glass's aide.

[00:30:47] He also reached out. So that's four of nine. That's four of nine people. So, Mr. Chairman, would you like a closing? Yes, I'd like to point out that several of us had extensive briefings before. I know, no, no, I know that. I know, I know, I knew that. But thank you for pointing that.

[00:31:03] It did not need to be pointed out. Four of nine got my attention. But thank you. Well, yeah, the question was before, since the last meeting, how many had, and so four of nine since the last meeting the rest of us had previously.

[00:31:18] I understand that, sir. Thank you very much. So all in my time. Thank you very much for the term all in my time. Now would you like to do a closing, sir? Thank you very much. Just like command staff, I'm at the risk of overkill.

[00:31:34] This is a two-year effort. This is a very, very challenging issue. As somebody who's trying to buy an Airbnb in Sedona, Arizona right now, I'm a lot more familiar with this than I was six months ago, and it's a very challenging issue.

[00:31:49] If you don't do it right, if you're not careful, these can inadvertently transform whole neighborhoods permanently, and you can't unring the bell if you step wrong. So I'm glad we spent the extra time. I'm glad, Madam Chair, we spent the extra two weeks, as unhappy as I was to spend the extra two weeks.

[00:32:07] I applaud your better judgment, and I'm very pleased that this is where it is and that we're finally going to pass it. Thank you. Thank you. And when you write up the minute notes, I wanted to say, Supervisor Turner applauds Chair Randall's better judgment. I want that there.

[00:32:22] Okay, thank you very much. All in favor, please say aye. Any opposed? That motion will pass 6-1-2, with Supervisor Umstead being against the motion, and Supervisors Sains and Kirshner being off the dais. Thank you.

[00:32:40] So, advisors, we're going to go to the BMI. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Thank you very much. To the BMI, which is the only other action item we have, is the BMI from my office, Mr. Turner's office, and Ms. Glass's office.

[00:32:56] And what I would do, I would just go straight to the motion. I'll read the motion and I'll kind of talk within the motion and we can have that discussion in the motion. It might be a little easier. And will the board of supervisors approve the letter to DEQ and the data center coalition shown in attachment one? Mr. Turner, Ms. Glass? Second. It's a quick motion. Motion made and seconded. Okay. So there has been a lot of, in my opinion, unnecessary confusion around what the DEI, DEQ was trying to do with the data center variance. And when you

[00:33:33] fully understand that it is not nearly as odorous as we thought it was early on in the process. The problem was that there was very poor communication. In fact, there was no communication between the data center industry, DEQ, and the county. So this letter does two things. One, it asks for there to be, you know, we've worked really hard to get better communication. And it just says, can we, you know, when there's legislation passed that literally only impacts Loudoun County. This is literally only about one county. Can they reach out to us? The other thing is because the communication has been so poor, we've had whole large HOAs send information to

[00:34:12] their residents about this matter that has been incorrect information. And it's not the fault of the HOAs. It's because they're going on the best information they have, which is not good information. Secondly, if legislation is only about Loudoun County, and this is only about Loudoun County, perhaps the public hearing on the legislation should be held in Loudoun County.

[00:34:40] The legislation, the public hearing on this is scheduled to be held in Woodbridge. Why on earth would you hold a public hearing in Woodbridge with legislation that is about and only about Loudoun County. So we're asking them to counsel the one in Woodbridge, give us notice as soon as possible, as soon as possible, and that they still need to have it in Loudoun County, have it in Loudoun County. I am aware of the letter that the data center community has sent. I am aware that the data centers are saying that they didn't ask for this, didn't want this. All that is true. I'm aware of all those things. However, communication is important, and if this is going to go forward,

[00:35:19] And as of right now, DEQ has not said it's not going to go forward. Let's have the public comment section in Loudoun County. I am afraid that they'll hold it in Woodbridge and then say, we've got nobody speaking on it, speaking against it, so we're going to go ahead. When why would somebody speak on it and against it?

[00:35:36] Woodbridge is an hour away. That just makes no sense at all. And I think, in fact, it's actually inappropriate to do that. So that is the motion, and the motion really is those letters and those two items. Mr. Turner and Ms. Letourneau. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[00:35:52] We had an exercise when I was a young officer in the Air Force. It was a leadership exercise called the Road to Abilene. And they spent a couple hours on this. The Road to Abilene is a paradox where a bunch of friends get together and someone says, let's drive to Abilene.

[00:36:11] And everybody gets in the car driving to Abilene and takes like an hour and a half. And on the way to Abilene, Joe turns to Harry and says, I'm really glad you suggested this. And Harry said, I didn't suggest this. I don't want to go to Abilene. I thought you wanted to go to Abilene. And they start polling everybody in the car, and they find out that not one person in the car wanted to go to Abilene.

[00:36:30] But no one spoke up to say, why are we going to Abilene? I don't want to go to Abilene. This entire DEQ issue has all the hallmarks of the road to Abilene. When you dig through this and try and find out who started this, where did this come from?

[00:36:47] Does it solve the problem? No, it does not. Why are we even having this? It's been in the news. We've gotten emails from constituents, and no one seems to want this anymore. Well, that forces we as elected officials representing the citizens of Loudoun County to stand up and say in the bus and say, we don't want to go to Abilene.

[00:37:08] We don't have any control. We can't drive the bus. DEQ is driving the bus, or somebody in the administration is driving the bus, but we're not driving the bus. What we can do is we can say, we are going to strictly enforce what we have control over. And please, in the future, if you're going to do something that affects people in Loudoun County and potentially affects their health and their well-being and their quality of life, it might be a good move to start the conversation process before you'll all pile on the bus to Abilene to sit down and at least notify the county chair of what you're

[00:37:43] thinking. So I think this letter and this item is exactly what we need to do. We need to lay down the marker that Loudoun County does not support this, and we will enforce our zoning ordinances to the maximum extent permissible under the law. And it's unfortunate we have gotten here to where we are, but this is where we are, and I think at this point we really have to take action. I think this is the right action. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[00:38:06] Thank you, Mr. Turner, and Mr. Letourneau. After we finish the meeting tonight, you and I are probably going to go to Abilene. I don't want to go to Abilene. Mr. Letourneau. But what I also don't want is a situation where we have blackouts for our residents, and that's really why we're having this discussion.

[00:38:26] So I would not necessarily go as far as to even say that this letter does not say we don't support this. It raises appropriate questions, and I agree with Chair Randall, every point you made about the lack of communication and the very odd choice of a location for this type of a venue.

[00:38:46] PJM has continually expressed concerns about grid reliability in Northern Virginia and up and down the East Coast. Now, you all know I very, very rarely bring it into the boardroom, but I work in this industry, and I'm aware of a lot of this. And the reality of the situation is, and this really needs to be said because I think our citizens need to hear it, if we ran into a point where there is a grid reliability issue because of a natural disaster or because of simply demand, a variety of things that happen with the grid, the data centers are going to get their power.

[00:39:18] They're not shot and have power to the data centers because many of them have core critical functions. The people who aren't going to get their power are the rest of us. And this has happened in parts of our country, not just Texas, but in California too and other places where they have these type of issues. And so what the variance is allowing is essentially for a particular large operator in this case data center to operate on diesel for a period of time in order to allow residents to continue to receive power that's really what this is about residents businesses

[00:39:52] all that kind of stuff and i certainly hope that we don't end up in that situation and we need it but it is not bad policy to be thinking ahead to these kind of situations because you don't want to be in it and not have a variance or something like that in place and then have rolling blackouts And then let me tell you, whatever questions and comments we're getting right at this moment about this issue, we will be getting times 10 if there is no power in somebody's house and it's 90 degrees and they don't have air conditioning.

[00:40:20] So understanding that background. Now, it just took me like a minute and a half to say that. And that's the problem because a lot of our residents are seeing this and they don't. You know, there's no context. There's no discussion. They don't understand that the data center operators themselves, why would they want to do it? It's way more expensive to run on diesel than it is to run on electricity.

[00:40:39] So either way, they're going to get their power. So this is a backstop, and I understand it. I get why they're doing it, but I also completely support this letter. It's asking the right questions. It's making the right points, and so I'm glad that we're having this discussion and bringing this forward so that ultimately other people whose responsibility it is for the grid and for the state DEQ can actually communicate correctly with residents so that we're not the ones trying to explain what their thinking is, even though because of our digging, we kind of understand it a little bit better now.

[00:41:13] Thank you. Ms. Bricksman. Thank you, Madam Chair. I agree this is definitely the right path. When we first heard about it, and my first thought, of course, went to we just learned from Dominion that they're not going to be able to power the new data centers coming online.

[00:41:32] This must have come from the data center community. And then we get a letter from the data center community saying we didn't ask for this. So you're right, it's sort of like chasing our tails, trying to figure out exactly where this request came from, why are they asking for it.

[00:41:48] And, of course, the environmentalists in our community really were concerned about it because of the pollution that's created when these generators are operating. So I'm very happy to support this. The other curious thing is, how does the problem get solved before July 31st, right?

[00:42:07] If the big problem is getting enough power for these new data centers, why is it only until July 31st? Like, I don't understand how that solves any of these problems. So I'm really happy and appreciate my colleagues putting this together, and I'm very happy to support it.

[00:42:23] Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Ms. Umstead. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll support this for all the reasons Supervisor Letourneau gave. I did send out an email earlier today requesting two very minor edits to this, and so...

[00:42:42] They were added. Were they added? Okay, then I'm good. Thank you very much. Thank you. Ms. Glass. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm happy to sponsor this letter, as there are many unanswered questions for the board and for the county residents about this variance entails, why this came about, what it means for our county.

[00:43:07] I hope DEQ will work diligently to address these questions and work to either move or hold another public hearing on the matter that is specifically Loudoun County. I also could have supported sending a letter to Dominion Energy as well because, you know, I feel the power provider for the area has a lot of knowledge about what the grid capacity might be.

[00:43:35] At this point, I do not want to see DEQ approve this diesel generator variance allowance and would encourage my colleagues to be open for the board to state a position as we receive full answers. The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors should always take a position on an issue that comes down from the state and it only affects Loudoun County.

[00:43:58] Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Buffington. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just to say I'll support the BMI and associate myself with Supervisor LeTurneau's comments. Thank you. Thank you. So let me just answer a couple of words. First of all, I want to thank Supervisors Glass and Turner because there's the three of us that is sponsoring this.

[00:44:20] It really does impact those two districts, and as Chair, my district as well, but really the whole county. Ms. Glass, you know, the reason I didn't believe this was appropriate to send to Dominion at this time is because they are the energy provider, you are correct, but it wasn't their responsibility, in my opinion, to be the ones to reach out and give us information on this.

[00:44:41] They were not part of that conversation that happened at the state level, and we were, and still are, well, not as much anymore, but we had some confusion as who did initiate this, but we knew it wasn't Dominion. And so, you know, if I have no issue, kind of ding in Dominion when I need to.

[00:45:01] But I didn't think that this was a Dominion issue this time. Ms. LaTernan did state it well that, you know, that we understand that there are needs for backups and then backups to backups. We understand that. But there are still a lot of questions to be answered.

[00:45:16] And for anyone who's listening, they should also know that in addition to this letter in this package that's not being voted on, but in the package, we've already sent a very long list of questions to DEQ asking them to answer some of the questions that we have.

[00:45:34] Now, some of them over time have already been answered because we've learned a little more, but some of them have not. So those questions are also, we've sent a Q&A down to DEQ, an FAQ, and we hope that they answer those, and that will help us understand a lot of this information.

[00:45:52] And so, you know, really, it is very rare that legislation is put in place that impacts one county in all of the Commonwealth. In this case, this impacts just Loudoun County. Now, we understand that with the amount of data centers we have, but Mr. Laterno did take a minute and a half to explain that.

[00:46:13] That's how long a phone call to me would have taken, a minute and a half to explain it, and no one made that phone call. I have gotten phone calls from the dance community on Christmas Eve when I'm out shopping to ask me a question. They know very well how to get a hold of me. They have my personal cell phone number, and they could have contacted us.

[00:46:30] And DEQ could have reached out to anyone in county government from Mr. Hempstreet on, and they didn't do that either. And then they set a public hearing in Whitbridge, Virginia, for next Thursday. So that is just nonsensical, and we're going to ask them that, one, let's have better communication, and two, let's cancel that public hearing and move it to Loudoun County.

[00:46:52] So, supervisors, I appreciate your support on this. All in favor, please say aye. Any opposed? That motion will pass 702. Thank you very much. Supervisors, we are rocking and rolling and really ahead of schedule. And so what I'm going to do is ask, because we may actually be, I'm not going to go to closed session yet, I'm going to do a couple of other things.

[00:47:14] One, let's do nominations. If you have a nomination, will you please put your light on? Mr. Turner. Thank you, Madam Chair. I nominate Anab Ali to fill the at-large, not the chairs at-large, but the general at-large seat on the Loudoun Health Commission.

[00:47:31] And I nominate Theo Stamatis to fill the at-large seat on the Housing Advisory Board. Also, that's the general at-large seat on the Housing Advisory Board. Thank you, Ms. Umstead. I'm sorry, Ms. Glass. I missed the lights that were on. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[00:47:47] I nominate Mr. Jermaine King to serve as the ADU program participant on the Affordable Dwelling Unit Advisory Board. I nominate Mr. Casey Veach to serve as an at-large representative on the Economic Development Authority. Thank you. Mr. Turner, your light's still on. Do you need something else?

[00:48:07] Okay. I'm going to re-nominate Priscilla Martinez to be my appointee to the Library Board of Trustees. And Supervisors, Mr. Rick Pearson's appointment to the NOVA Community College Board is up at the end of this month.

[00:48:23] And we have to make a new appointment. I did call Judy Lydic, the provost at the community college, to find out if she had a name or somebody that she'd been talking to. Because I wanted to put somebody in that she wanted. And come to find out that the person she's been talking to, when he's been talking back to her, so the nomination I would make is Buddy Reiser.

[00:48:45] He is in India right now, so I sent him a text that said, Buddy, I'm nominating you tonight, and he didn't say no, but it is 1 a.m. in India. So if I hear something from Buddy that says no, no, please no, I will withdraw it, but it has to be done by the end of the month, so right now we're going to go with Buddy and leave him right there.

[00:49:06] So those are the nominations. Supervisors, let's go to board comments since we are running early, And we can do that before we maybe even do one closed session. So let's do broad comments. And I will start today with Ms. Glass. I saw that at the corner of my eye.

[00:49:24] Yes, I said you. So everybody knows I call these just randomly because it's just fun for me to be random calling. So Ms. Glass, would you like to go first? Yes, Madam Chair. I have a few disclosures. On Monday, March 27th, my staff participated in a pre-app meeting for PRAP 2023-0011 Interchange Milestone Monopoles.

[00:49:45] On March 28th, my staff met with John Granahan and Pastor Pittman regarding ZCPA-2022-0003 Temple Baptist Church. On Thursday, March 30th, I met with Colleen Gillis of Cooley to discuss ZMAP 2022-0002 Shaw Road.

[00:50:06] I attended the NVRC commission, NVRC meeting on March 23rd, where we had a speaker that had discussed water for the Northern Virginia region.

[00:50:27] And I think one of the main concerns that I got out about that was that the concerns that they had regarding salinity, how much salt is in the water, and the concern for, you know, if we get to a certain point, we could be in a lot of trouble.

[00:50:51] Another issue that they had was regarding, the discussion was about PFAS, and I know we had spoken, I know Supervisor Turner has spoken about that, about the very small microbes that's in the water, that's actually in our blood system.

[00:51:12] And that is a concern that we have, not just in our region, but in the nation. And one of the concerns that they had about that as well. I also went to the Route 28 Tax District Commission meeting on March 31st.

[00:51:33] And we had a discussion on the tax rate for Route 28. And I had my colleagues, Supervisor Letourneau was there, and Chair Randall. I'm sure they will speak more on the tax rate that had been lowered one cent from 17 cents to 16 cents for those businesses on the Route 28 district.

[00:52:09] I also wanted to just give a quick thank you for our firefighters, our EMTs, our deputies that were out at the Dulles Town Center on Sunday. When I heard about this, I had to go out.

[00:52:27] I knew there wasn't much that I could do because it was an event where we had an emergency situation where I had no control over, but we had our first responders that just did an awesome job, and I just want to commend them for the work that they do.

[00:52:50] It was a scary situation, I'm sure, for those that were in the mall, especially in the area where it's the food court and you have children there. They have a merry-go-round, so I know that there were kids there.

[00:53:07] I can't even imagine, you know, as a parent what it was like to be in a situation like that. But I just want to thank them for their work and their service. And I just want you all to know that I do appreciate you all.

[00:53:22] Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Buffington. Thank you, Madam Chair. I, too, want to thank our first responders just in general for everything you do on a daily basis, 24-7, 365, to keep us safe.

[00:53:39] Much appreciated. And we'll be doing a little bit more of that in a little bit with a resolution for you all. No disclosures. And I also want to thank two of my six kids who are here tonight, Evan and Aiden. This is the first actual business meeting that they've come to just to watch and learn about how government works.

[00:53:59] And I'm really impressed with how well you're paying attention. I'm thankful that you have your phones because that's keeping you quiet. But I appreciate the amount that you've been looking up and paying attention. And I know that you're learning something. And it's important because local government affects you more than any other level of government, from your schools to basically everything you do.

[00:54:23] They live next to Hanson Park, so they spend a lot of time there, especially my younger one on the new skate track there, or whatever we call it, the skate park. They have a lot of fun over there. So anyway, I want to thank them. As many of you all know, I'm not running for re-election.

[00:54:41] I announced that recently. And those boys have been with me since the beginning, and they've been campaigning with me. They've been knocking doors with me. They've been putting up signs. They've not been able to spend time with me on many, many occasions because of board meetings and other board duties and responsibilities.

[00:55:01] And so I just want to really thank these two boys and the rest of my kids for all the sacrifice and all the help and all the support and the love. And so I love you, boys, and thank you for being here tonight, and thanks for all you've done to support me doing this job over the years.

[00:55:20] So how about we break the rules tonight? Evan and Aiden, will you stand up, please? Don't sit. I've got to get your picture. Don't just stay there.

[00:55:35] Your father's taking a picture. I'm really proud of you guys. Smile. And you were on TV and everything. Thank you. Ms. Bricksman. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[00:55:54] One disclosure, on March 23rd, I met with Walsh Kalushi, the Clear Springs Development Group, and J2 Engineers, and Wells and Associates on the Clear Springs application. That's my only disclosure. The chair and I had a great opportunity to visit NOVA, the Loudoun Campus, last week for ribbon cutting at the new Reynolds building.

[00:56:18] I highly recommend going over there and checking it out if you get a chance. I registered my daughter for dual enrollment in that building before COVID, and the transformation is absolutely amazing. And in case it didn't register when they were here, the Nova Loudoun campus is now the largest Nova campus in the state, in Algonquian District.

[00:56:42] We also had the opportunity to go over to Ridgetop Circle for the HealthWorks opening, And so I'm really glad that we're providing some more health services over there for those in need. And lastly, yesterday, I had the opportunity to visit with the Loudoun Serenity House in Leesburg.

[00:57:02] It was very informative and very educational, and I highly recommend doing it if you get the chance. They run two recovery houses in Loudoun County, one for men and one for women. And the work they're doing there is absolutely amazing. and I thank them for allowing me to tour and giving me such great information.

[00:57:22] Many of you have heard, and staff, many staff have heard, though, but my chief of staff, Ray Banks, will be leaving us next week. Ray's been with me since the beginning, and she has done an awesome job, and she is going on to a phenomenal opportunity that I will give her the opportunity to share with you.

[00:57:46] But I'm just really proud to say that the work that we've done these last three years really helped her move into that new and phenomenal, and I'm saying phenomenal, position. So she can share that with you when you have the opportunity to speak with her and congratulate her and thank her for all the work she's been doing for the last three years.

[00:58:08] And Ethan Gardner will be my acting chief of staff. So I think everyone knows Ethan. If you don't know Ethan, please stop by and meet Ethan. He's also been doing a great job as my legislative aide, so he will be the acting chief of staff moving forward while we figure out what we're going to do with the responsibilities and duties of the office and maybe hiring somebody.

[00:58:29] As of today, we have had 136 mass shootings and 10,805 total gun deaths in our country. 6,204 of those deaths were suicide. 4,600 were homicide. This includes 63 children under the age of 11 and 371 between the ages of 12 and 17.

[00:58:51] And, of course, we're adding to that the three children, 9-year-olds, who were killed recently in Tennessee. I've watched in awe this week as these students in Tennessee have stood up, 7,000 of them marched yesterday, to demand gun safety legislation from their legislators.

[00:59:13] They were kicked out of the gallery in their General Assembly. Three legislators who stood with them also have been stripped of their committee assignments, and they are voting on Thursday for those legislators maybe to be expelled from their General Assembly.

[00:59:31] Yeah, the resolutions came down yesterday. They might be expelled for the very simple reason that they are standing for saving the lives of children who are getting murdered in our schools and at concerts and in the grocery store and at the Walmart and just about anywhere else you go in our country.

[00:59:51] The person who went into that school with high-powered weapons, weapons of war, fired off 152 rounds in 14 minutes. The shooter got through security by shooting through the doors.

[01:00:11] The shooter was able to murder six people despite the fact that folks in that school, staff and teachers, had weapons with them and on them. That was a school where the staff and the teachers had weapons. So the very thought that arming our teachers and staff in our schools would save lives is completely preposterous.

[01:00:35] On Wednesday, there will be another school walkout nationally, and I applaud and support the kids that will be walking out on Wednesday. more guns do not make us safer. We learned that in our own mall this week. What could have been just a fight turned into a near-death experience for somebody in our very own mall. It needs to stop. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Ms. Brixman. Mr. Letourneau. A couple disclosures.

[01:01:07] On March 28th, I spoke with Michael Capretti of Capretti Land about ZMAP 2022-0005 Old Arcola Residential. And on March 29th, I spoke with Sasha Brewer of Walsh Colucci and Brock Graham of JLB about ZMAP 2022 0014 Defender West. I do want to mention for my colleagues, it's going to be a little confusing. There are two separate land use applications with the name Defender in them.

[01:01:35] One of them is going to, I believe, next week's Planning Commission work session. It's just simply called Defender. Defender is a drive. It's a street in Loudoun County, Defender Drive in the South Riding area, just off of Route 50. The other one is Defender West, so basically we have one east and one west. They're both residential applications. The first application, Defender East, is land that is zoned for commercial industrial use. It could potentially be by right data center and it has a very dense residential proposal on it that received a public

[01:02:12] hearing from the planning commission uh last uh last month um we do have some concerns about that residential application in terms of its layout density staff has concerns so we're working with them on that defender west is an apartment complex that's being proposed along elklick road so i am

[01:02:32] Reimplanning a community meeting. Jared and I are working on the details of getting that figured out likely at the end of the month to discuss both of these applications. We are beginning to hear from residents who are concerned primarily about traffic. The intersection of South Riding Boulevard and Defender Drive is the location of one of the most popular Chick-fil-A's in the Mid-Atlantic region, I am told, as well as several other fast food restaurants and so on. And it's right off of Route 50. So there's a lot going on there.

[01:03:00] currently does not have a signal and you may remember I brought an item for that to be included as a study in our signal study efforts and it was actually given priority the top priority as a category five so it will be now it's in planning stages for a potential solution so those things are coming to us real briefly in terms of regional updates on March 23rd Metro had a work session on the FY24 budget, which we'll be adopting on April 14th. I had mentioned that I was planning on

[01:03:34] bringing an amendment to the budget that would cap the max fare at $6. It was proposed in the general manager's budget for $6.50. I did bring forward that amendment. It did pass on a strop poll vote from the board, so that will be included on the April 14th. The current max fare is $6, So this represents no change. However, I will note that there are changes to other elements of fare structure, including the base fare. And so these max fare riders will actually not be getting an increase, and they'll be some of the only riders not getting that increase.

[01:04:12] The reason for that is because we are eliminating the two-tier structure of metro fares where we have peak and off-peak. So we only will have one fare. So we currently max the off-fare peak at $3.85, and that's going away.

[01:04:30] So that will become $6. So it kind of evens out because those peak riders are not going to be getting an increase in much of the other system is. But it is something to be aware of for the off-peak riders. The good news is we are also instituting a low-income fare program.

[01:04:49] So that's going to be determined by SNAP eligibility. That's a 50% discount for all riders who are eligible for SNAP. So for our most income-sensitive residents, they'll be getting quite a bit of relief on MetroFair. And then we also have a number of service improvements that are coming as part of this budget.

[01:05:09] Hopefully, once we get past this budget, the attention will turn to FY25, where there is a major, major budget deficit. You will be hearing more from Metro probably in about a month or so about that and what it will look like if we don't get additional help from really any source, state, federal, funding, local, whatever you want to say.

[01:05:29] But given the size of that deficit, it will have a very large impact on operations. So we'll be working on that. And then, as Supervisor Glass mentioned, we had the Route 28 Transportation District Commission meeting, where we did lower the tax rate by one cent to account for rising assessments.

[01:05:46] Those meetings are nowhere near as exciting as they used to be, because all we're doing is really managing debt service at this point and getting everything paid off. However, apparently I'm going to be chairman next year. So for the 29 minutes of that meeting that we had this year, probably can handle it. Maybe, if I'm still here.

[01:06:03] Let me ask some questions because I'm a little, help me understand a couple of things. So if off-peak now is $3.85 and the whole system goes to the no more than $6, aren't people who are riding off-peak getting a fare increase?

[01:06:24] The people who are getting a fare increase, yes. The people who are currently riding off-peak max fare would be getting a fare increase, yes. And what does max fare mean? Max fare means it's the maximum amount that you can be charged. And it's the manipulation of the fare structure because those are the most heavily subsidized rides on the system.

[01:06:46] So it's not about how far you're going? Well, so it is. It's a distance-based system today. However, if you were to extrapolate, you know, our base fare is $2, so that's the shortest trip. If you were to extrapolate that out and try to figure out what we would actually charge without a cap, an artificial cap, going from downtown D.C. to Ashburn, the fare would actually be like $11 or $12, just simply based on the distance formula that Metro has.

[01:07:14] What are the peak and off-peak hours? It's morning rush and it's evening rush, so I think it's like 6 to 9 and then something like that. So if you're doing morning rush or evening rush, you basically won't have a change. but if you're doing off peak if you're traveling yes then you have you have an increase with the caveat that 9 p.m and weekends it's a two dollar fare okay all right all right so when we looked at the actual number of riders that are impacted it's it's less than two percent so for everybody every distance is the question i'm getting for the weekends yes yes okay all right yes all right Yeah, and that's in place now.

[01:07:53] Yeah, yeah. Thank you, Mr. Turner. That was fascinating because I'm a big nerd, so that was fascinating. Appreciate that. That's fascinating to me. Mr. Turner. Thank you, Madam Chair. On Wednesday, March 22nd, my staff and I met with Todd House from Cyrus One to discuss Cyrus One's buy-ride application to build a data center on the land previously associated with the Hyde Park application.

[01:08:21] On Thursday, March 24th, my staff and I met with Morgan Headlock and Aaron Swishelm from Walsh-Kalushi, Ron Meyer from Ron Meyer Consultants, Ryan David and Eric Siegel from Urban Limited, as well as David Fiedler and Joe Livesey from SDC to discuss the application for Belmont Innovation Campus.

[01:08:38] On Tuesday, March 28th, my staff and I met with Aaron Swishelm and Matt Leslie from Walsh-Kalushi, Hobie Mitchell, Roger Vissiliadis, and Jeff Lohr from Clear Springs Development, Andy Gorecki from J2 Engineers, Mike Rikoski from Wells & Associates, as well as Mike Wilkins from the individual landowner and assemblage of properties making up the application area to discuss the application for the village at Clear Springs.

[01:09:01] Two other quick items. I had a long meeting with Bill Niedringhaus and Karen Jones. Many of you may know them. They are, gosh, I don't know how to describe it. They are sort of like trail warriors, and they're really, really good at what they do.

[01:09:18] They walk everywhere. You can go on a trail in Loudoun County on a regular basis, and they plot them out and they map them out and they figure out what are the missing links, where are the easements we need to buy, and they have proposed a trail basically running from Ball's Bluff out to Harper's Ferry through all of western Loudoun County.

[01:09:36] It is a very innovative idea. They've plotted the path that has the least resistance for easements you have to buy and the least number of missing links. We discussed all of those. They also discussed some missing links over on the east side by the Broad Run, by the whole house to get an east side crossover and I just want to commend them and their work and staff has been very forthcoming and these are a lot of ideas that are kind of new just heads up over the next year or so that these are going to pop up and we're going to try and close these links and get this trail built so I was very very pleased to have that the second one is I want to

[01:10:10] I don't want to get into details but sometime in the next the remainder of our terms the zoning ordinance rewrite is going to come to this board and you're going to be asked to read the draft of the zoning ordinance rewrite. Now, when you sit down and think, gee, I'll spend a pleasant Sunday afternoon reading a thousand pages of zoning ordinance and have the predictable reaction, please try and keep in mind there are a whole lot of very, very smart people who spent the last two years wading through that real complex and heavy data. So please, when you're asked to sit down and read through the zoning ordinance, please sit down and read through the zoning ordinance.

[01:10:51] You don't have to do it in one sitting. I think staff has broken up into bite-sized chunks, but when you're asked to read chapters one, two, and three before five days goes by, please sit down and read those chapters and work through it and identify your questions in advance for staff because we're not going to get to come back and do this again.

[01:11:09] It's very, very critical that we keep up with all the work that's been done. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Turner. Ms. Umstead. Thank you, Madam Chair. So I would like to say for the benefit of Supervisor Buffington's family, I'm going to miss Supervisor Buffington when he's not here.

[01:11:29] You've been great to work with, and I'll be saying that in greater detail a little later on in the year, I'm sure. But it breaks my heart that you won't be here. I would like to praise DTCI, Nancy Boyd, and her team for two recent meetings that they actually helped run and attended.

[01:12:01] One involved the courthouse expansion. I'd like to thank Clerk of the Circuit Court, Gary Clemons, and Judge Deborah Welsh for attending that virtual meeting with the neighbors who live around the courthouse.

[01:12:18] And I would really like to thank the neighbors for their years of unbelievable patience and graciousness. While that project has really disrupted their lives, we're looking forward to Church Street being open again.

[01:12:36] And the neighbors have just been amazingly polite throughout all of this. I would like to also thank the Spring Lakes Homeowners Association Board for hosting a group of us, including VDOT, Nancy Boyd, Lou Moserak, Carolina from DTCI, as well as the Town of Leesburg's engineering staff to try to come up with a solution for that community.

[01:13:06] But like many of our HOA boards, that is a very hardworking board, and they really care about making life better for their community. And that is all I have. Thank you. Thank you. And I just sent Mr. Sainz away to do a job for me, so I'll wait until he comes back because it's his turn.

[01:13:28] Thank you, Mr. Sainz. Madam Chair, I appreciate that. Yes. I told you 9 o'clock on the late night fair, and it's actually 9.30. Just wanted to correct that further. Thank you, sir. Mr. Sainz. Thank you, Madam Chair. No mandatory disclosures, and I had a question for Mr. Letourneau regarding fares, if I may.

[01:13:45] Please do, sure. Mr. Letourneau, we're currently, the system in Metro right now, it's based on your distance, it's charged. Has there been any thought to just doing a regular blanket fare, you pay once and then that's it?

[01:14:02] Yes, there is. We examine that. So we have to go through what's called a Title VI equity analysis. Essentially, anytime we make a fair structure change, we can't disadvantage low-income or minority riders.

[01:14:18] And what it was determined is going to a flat fair, if you were to try to equalize revenue in the system with a flat fair, the flat fair would have to be really high, like $4 or $5. Otherwise, if you make a $2 flat fair, then you're just having a dramatic revenue loss.

[01:14:38] So when we looked at a higher number for a flat fare, we would not be able to meet Title VI. Okay. All right. That explains things. Thank you. That's it. All right. Thank you. So I thought I was prepared for a phone call that said we had a shooting in our county because no matter how wonderful an area is, there's nobody who is immune from gun violence.

[01:15:09] There's just no one. I grew up in Denver, Colorado, and I used to go to our cheerleading competitions were held at Columbine High School. And I remember when the shooting happened at Columbine, and I thought, oh, my gosh, if it happened at Columbine, it can happen anywhere. And so since I've been chair, I thought I had stilled myself for a phone call that there was a shooting in our county.

[01:15:28] I was at the Costco getting my glasses adjusted when the call came through that there was a shooting at Dulles Town Center Mall. At the time, I didn't know anything but there was a shooting. I didn't know if it was an active shooter. I didn't know if it was a mass shooting. I just knew that it was a shooting.

[01:15:44] And I wasn't at all prepared for that phone call, and I thought I would be. And I said out loud while getting my glasses adjusted, oh, my God, we have a shooter at Dullestown shooting them all. And I think I said, give me my glasses. I have to go. I'm the county chair. And the lady that was sitting there said, oh, my God.

[01:16:02] And then she said, I have to clean your glasses. And I said, no, no, no, give them to me right now. And by that time, like, everyone around me had just stopped. like everyone just froze. And she handed me my glasses as I'm walking out of Costco and with all deliberate speed, people are saying, God bless you, good luck, be careful, be careful. And it was such a moment because, of course, no one knew at that moment what had happened yet. And so like right away, right away, people, you just immediately feel scared and hopeless and mad and all the

[01:16:39] feelings you feel. Every meeting, my colleague, Julie Brickspin, even when she's home sick, she gives numbers and stats on gun violence in this country. And I appreciated that from her. And I've always appreciated that from you. I've always appreciated that. But this week, it hits you a little differently when something's happened in your own county.

[01:17:04] Thank God nobody died at Dallas Townsend Mall. But I do want to tell you some of the things I've heard from residents since that day. I had a mother tell me that her daughter, who worked at the mall, also they didn't know what was going on. And so they rushed everybody, including people who were shopping, into the back room. And the mom got that phone call, that whispery phone call. Mom, I'm in the mall. There's a shooter here. I love you. I love you. I love you. Not knowing what was really going to go on. I had a person that was sitting in the food court with their children who saw the shooting and she's like I might never go in there again my point is this

[01:17:43] we have these shootings and we think they only impact the people who are directly involved but there's so much secondary trauma from these shootings there is so much secondary trauma and you never know what's how that's going to be and what that's going to be it gives you a you know a new appreciation of first responders because I guess even though they're trained to do this there's still human beings have to deal with that deal with that later on that day um chief johnson called me and gave me a full briefing and i couldn't believe my my own words out of my mouth

[01:18:17] when i was saying thank god only one person was shot and he didn't die that's where we are in this country now when we say thank god only one person was shot thank god it was only six people it could have been so much worse that's who we are now we're a country that says thank god it was one not my god I can't believe that happened I can't believe that happened I am going to go back up to that Costco and hopefully find the same people that were working there when I was there and just thank them because they were so they were so wonderful but one shooting of one person in our

[01:18:57] county completely in very many ways changed the county there are some people who will never go to that mall again. There's people who have started having nightmares now. There's some people who will always remember that phone call from their daughter. One shooting, one shooting of one person can do that to an entire county. Ms. Bricksman, you keep giving those numbers. You keep giving those numbers because every single one of those shootings are real human beings. And I thought that I was prepared for that phone call and I was not. And finally, I do want to thank our first

[01:19:32] responders who went out there that day and so adeptly handled the situation and especially thank you to chief johnson who does such a great job briefing the board when something happens the phone call i get is from our fire chief that will brief us and tell us what's going on because usually more often than not we're the ones getting the questions because our first responders are busy doing what they do so we get the questions and chief johnson either calls me himself or has somebody call me, so that if I'm going to get information, I know it's the correct information.

[01:20:05] I do not take that for granted, so thank you very much. That's all I have. Can we go to the motion? Can we go to the, Mr. Sainz? I'm sorry, supervisor, we're going to go in and do the draft motion for the budget. This will end the budget process, Jens has. We're going to do the draft motion for the budget. So everyone give a second to turn that up to the budget item. Okay. Move the board of Supervisors adopt the 2024 budget as presented by the County Administrator on February 15, 2023,

[01:20:44] and amended by the Board of Supervisors at the March 6, 9, 13, and 16, 2023 budget work session is found in Attachment 6. Adopt tax year 2023 property tax rates is found in Attachment 2. Adopt a FY 2024 appropriations resolution is found in Attachment 3.

[01:21:02] adopt the FY 2024 EMS transport reimbursement rates as found in Attachment 4 and adopt the FY 2023 through 2028 amend capital improvement program as amended by the Board of Supervisors of the March 13th budget work session and shown in Attachment 5.

[01:21:17] I further move the Board of Supervisors direct staff to establish the Opioid Abatement Settlement Special Revenue Fund effective April 4th, 2023 and estimate an appropriate $765,185.78 of Opioid Abatement Settlement revenues in FY23.

[01:21:35] I further move that the recommendation of the Board of the Finance and Operations and Economic Development Committee that the Board of Supervisors terminate the Waterford Traffic Calming Project in the Capital Projects Fund and transfer funding from that project in the amount of $500,000 to a new project to be named the Village of Waterford Preserving the Landmark Infrastructure Improvement Projects for FY 2023.

[01:21:58] Motion is made and second by Supervisor Saints. Well, first of all and always, thank you to the staff. The budget process is maybe one of the most important things we do and certainly takes the most time, and the staff works very hard on this.

[01:22:16] I say every year the same thing, and I'll say it again. I never walk to this day with a certain tax rate in mind. I never say I want to be at this place or at this place or at this place. I say the same thing every year. I want to pass the lowest possible tax rate while still adequately funding county government services and LCPS services.

[01:22:37] I believe this year we did that on the nose. The delta to the school district is, between what they requested and what we are giving them, is 0.0018. That is the delta.

[01:22:53] It's $3.2 million and an almost $1.7 billion budget. That is, in my opinion, that is absolutely adequately funding the school system. In addition, because of something we didn't expect, we received $6 million more to work with this budget.

[01:23:15] And so we were able to fund quite a few more county positions than we thought we were going to be able to fund. And I am very pleased that we were able to do that. We did fund 36 new deputies. That was needed. the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office is down about 130 deputies overall.

[01:23:37] Now, the truth is the sheriff hasn't been coming to ask for those deputies year after year after year after year. He hasn't asked. In fact, I remember one year last term when we sent the sheriff back to come back and ask for positions. So it's not that we haven't funded positions that the sheriff has requested.

[01:23:53] He didn't request them before, but he requested them this year, and they needed them. And so I am pleased that we did that because we had to do that. And in addition, our deputies are now being asked to sit at the hospital or a hospital with clients who are in mental health crises.

[01:24:14] And they often can sit there for an entire shift, two shifts, three shifts. And so it takes patrol officers off the streets. And so that was required as well. I will, before my closing, because I'll respond to the supervisor's comments at the closing, before my closing, I will also thank my colleagues.

[01:24:34] This is hard and heavy work that we're doing, but it's important work to fund the county. And unlike the federal government, we can't pass a continuing resolution. And unlike the state government, we can't pass a skinny budget. We have to fund the county, and we work hard to do that.

[01:24:50] And we did, I think, a phenomenal job this year. So thank you, staff, and thank you to my colleagues. Subvisors, you have comments. Ms. Brixman. Thank you, Madam Chair. Ms. Bork, remind me what the average increase is for the average household with the tax rate we have, 87 and a half.

[01:25:11] Approximately $340. $340, okay. And then LCPS passed collective bargaining, but they said in a letter that they're going to use their fund balance to fund those positions and then make it part of their base budget. Do we know how much LCPS has that could potentially be returned to the county?

[01:25:32] We do not have their projected year-end balance. And if they did have a year-end balance, would they be able to apply that to some things that might have to come out in reconciliation because of the local funding gap?

[01:25:50] I cannot speak specifically for what they would do with their year-end balance, but they have in the past identified one-time funding to spend down their balance at the end of the year. Okay okay so I've been I've had high anxiety about this I did make a motion to try and close that local gap that didn't pass and I considered strongly whether I might abstain from voting in in the affirmative on this budget. I'm not going to abstain because I feel like we we really as chair randall said it's it's a good budget we funded a lot of really good stuff in it

[01:26:28] and i don't want to just kind of throw away all the great stuff we've done because i'm so concerned about the local gap um and i have like this personal thing and my colleagues probably think i'm a dog with a bone on it but it's the it's the athletic fees that will probably be the first thing on the chopping block when the schools have to go to reconciliation um and we tried to resolve this two years ago when my colleagues supported sending $800,000 over to LCPS to fund the athletic fees, and then they used it for something else.

[01:27:03] So that's one of the main reasons I wanted to close that local gap, also for a couple of the positions that we think might get cut in reconciliation. I'm hopeful that our colleagues on the school board will not put those on the chopping block.

[01:27:18] I'm hopeful that if they do have some end-of-year balance that they can use the $900,000 for that because we have been trying to do this for four years. And to tell families that they have to pay for these fees creates inequities for the families that can't afford it. That means students don't have the opportunity to do things like marching band, DECA, theater, athletics. They have a deficit on their college resumes. They have a deficit in opportunity for leadership. They have deficit and opportunity to build their self-esteem so i'm going to i'm disappointed we weren't able

[01:27:58] to close that local gap um but i will i will vote in favor of this and implore the school board to not chop out the athletic fee funding thank you madam chair thank you miss brixman mr latourno thank you madam chair um so i have some heartburn about the level of increase that each taxpayer is going to have to incur this year given inflation and all the other pressures however when you really look at what was driving the county budget it was employee salaries and the need to be competitive with surrounding jurisdictions and it was inflation for us and then we had a number

[01:28:36] of critical need areas that we added into the budget and I had to support each one of those 36 additional field deputies given the international association of chief police study that clearly showed that we had staffing concerns and the field deputy area the crisis response team staffing is a program that i think we can be really proud of it's a pilot program that's in this budget where we'll be dispatching mental health professionals on certain calls law enforcement calls i feel really strongly about this we ask our deputies to be a lot of different things out there and a large

[01:29:13] volume of their calls are dealing with people in mental health crisis and it's just simply asking them too much in some in some cases so this is going to help them quite a bit we had significant issues with our service level at child protective services and the number of cases that each of our employees was incurring we had to address that so those are really some of the big ticket items that are in the budget that are driving what this is there were some items that i did not support that we're in the budget and like Supervisor Bristman this you know I will still vote in favor of the budget this is a compromised document we don't each get to write write it I think if we

[01:29:49] did you'd have perhaps nine different versions that might be a little bit different I'm happy that we were able to get some money in the capital budget for property acquisition at Route 50 in Loudoun County Parkway we got a lot of questions about that just in the last couple weeks because of some of the traffic issues happening and we have a long way to go there but at least it's a start. So overall, you know, we'll certainly be communicating with residents about exactly what's in this budget and why their costs are going up a little bit. I'm pretty comfortable about where we are on the school side. Student enrollment increases are very minimal. We absolutely have provided enough funding for significant pay increases for teachers, which I think we all

[01:30:28] believe are important, as well as staffing some of the programs that the school boards prioritized. I agree with Supervisor Brisbane about student activity fees, and we'll add that when you join a sport it's not just the fees you're also required to purchase a lot of gear and things like that and those costs really do add up so I agree with that and I hope that that will stay in the school budget and then we'll see what happens with with the state and the funding gap that is their responsibility to close and certainly hope that they will thank you Mr. Turner thank you Madam Chair just one quick question I was thinking of the other day I think this is a true statement And correct me if I'm wrong, Ms. Burke, or anybody, Caleb.

[01:31:09] This board has lowered the real property tax every year for the last four years. Is that correct? Yes, that's correct. Yes, I think it is. And then we lowered the personal property tax rate from 420 to 415. Correct. Within the last three and a half years.

[01:31:26] I understand that doesn't necessarily equate to lowering actual taxes, but I also think it's fair to say that our equalized rate over the last three and a half years has done things that we've not seen much of, if ever, with the wide discrepancy between the commercial equalized rate and the residential equalized rate.

[01:31:46] Property value has gone through the roof for two, maybe three years now. The extraordinary climb and exponential growth in the data center industry. I echo the comments of my colleagues. I think this is a good budget. I think these are really, really complex issues, And we have really tectonic shifts, not just one, two or three or four in this county that are unique to Loudoun County because of our growth rate, because of our data center industry, and property values.

[01:32:15] And I'm really proud of the work that we've done. I think we've really done a good job of effective, efficient compromise. And so I'm very pleased to support this budget. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Ms. Glass. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to quickly thank staff for the hard work that they've done for us regarding the budget.

[01:32:37] I'm also proud of the environmental initiatives that we're doing in the county. I think we are taking the lead and showing other jurisdictions what we can do to help regarding our environment and climate change.

[01:32:56] And thank you very much. Thank you. Mr. Sainz. Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I just want to kind of piggyback off with Mr. Turner's questioning, and you just heard that we've been actually very proactive in lowering our rates here in the county and to the staff. Correct me if I'm wrong, we have one of the lowest rates in our region compared to Loudoun, I mean, excuse me, Fairfax, Arlington, Alexandria, and Prince William, is that correct?

[01:33:20] Yes, that's correct. And Fauquier. And Fauquier County. So, yeah, so in the region, we are leading the way in this Northern Virginia area where the tax rate is pretty low here, even though I wish we could get it lower for some people, but this is where we're at.

[01:33:36] And in regards to the schools, you know, I understand Mr. Brixman's, you know, efforts with the fees and everything, but ultimately that falls with the school board. They're going to do what they're going to do. You remember a few years ago we worked to give them more money to waive the athletic fees.

[01:33:55] And some of them said, even though they didn't have the numbers here in front of us, they said, oh, yeah, we'll take this, and that's exactly what we're going to do. And then they turned around and did completely the opposite. So at the end of the day, they're going to do what they're going to do. I'll make the suggestion to the school board and to the LCPS staff if they're listening.

[01:34:11] I just came to find out because my son just got a car and he had to register and get the parking pass that they're not charging for parking fees for the students. So to me, that's super a luxury item. So instead of waiving the parking fees, maybe take whatever the revenue that you're using for that, move that over to the athletic fees if they want to find a way to lower the fees or get it suspended altogether.

[01:34:35] But ultimately, they're going to do what they're going to do, and that's where it's at. So I'm pleased with what we're getting ready to pass here today. Thank you to the staff for all your work, And thank you to my colleagues for making this process a rather smooth one for the most part for this one this year.

[01:34:52] So thank you. Thank you. I can't believe your son is driving. That is just incredible. Kind of depressing. So a couple of things. Ms. Bricksman, you are completely correct. Mr. Sains, you are as well.

[01:35:09] When you have athletic fees and all the other fees, what it means is that some kids get to participate. and some kids don't. And the problem is that when a kid's going to college and they do their college applications, those extracurricular activities matter, especially if you have GPA in Virginia, 3.7, 3.8.

[01:35:29] Those extracurricular activities may get you into the school you want to get in. And the fact that there are some kids who can't do those activities just because they can't afford them is a travesty. And we did provide the school system with enough money to handle those fees and in fact extracted from them some promises that they would do just that, and then they didn't.

[01:35:53] And so we can't keep doing that over and over again because we have no control over how the school system does out the money. I am hearing, and I do want to say this out loud and publicly, that there is a discussion about cutting the number of speech pathologists in LCPS.

[01:36:12] I have no idea why they would do that and I hope that's not true with a three billion dollar three million dollar deficit it's not necessary and we were hearing that well before we before this evening so I'm not even sure that's coming from we can't control it but I hope that's not the choice of my colleagues on the school board mr. Letourneau you are right I think that the total I think the total amount about 340 average this year average means just that some would pay more some would pay less but you know if you talk to mr.

[01:36:42] or commission revenue who is here you know he will he will let you know how he comes up with with with property values assessments and the fact is the property values have risen this year and so we have lowered the taxes um year over year over year we've lowered them um but the property assessments have gone up and so that's where unfortunately we are right now but again i will always pass the lowest property tax rate while still adequately funding um county services and And lastly, I want to say, recently somebody criticized me for always talking about county staff.

[01:37:14] Well, I don't care. Our county staff is amazing, absolutely, absolutely amazing. And it is hard to, I mean, a lot of people who work in the county government can go find jobs in the private sector and make a lot more money, and they choose to do this. They choose to do it in this way.

[01:37:31] And so to the county staff, you're the ones that make these wheels not come off this wagon, and you do it every single day, and you do it very well. So thank you, county staff, Mr. Emstreet, and everybody, thank you very, very much. Supervisors, I made the motion.

[01:37:47] It was seconded by Mr. Sains. All the people who say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion will pass 801. Okay, we are going to do the only resolution that we have today for presentation, and it is for telecommunications week.

[01:38:05] And I do believe joining me down front will be Mr. Buffington. Is anybody else joining us down front? Just you and I? You and I's fine. I'm fine with just you and I. I like you.

[01:38:58] Okay, we're waiting for your team to come in. Coming down? You're not coming down?

[01:39:14] You are coming down. You're coming down. We're waiting for the sheriff's department's team to come down so we can celebrate National Telecommunication Safety Week. And I'm going to give this microphone to Mr. Buffington to read for us today. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[01:39:32] It's an honor, and I'm glad I anticipated this, that you might ask me to read this, and I brought my glasses down because otherwise I wouldn't be able to see it.

[01:39:44] Don't be shy.

[01:40:20] You want to make it in the picture. Come on in. All right. I'll go ahead and read the proclamation.

[01:40:35] Whereas emergencies can occur at any time that require the prompt response of law enforcement, firefighters, EMS providers, and humane law enforcement officers to protect life and preserve property, and whereas when an emergency occurs, the prompt response of first responders is critical to the protection of life and the preservation of property, and Loudoun's public safety telecommunicators are the single vital link between first responders and persons seeking immediate relief during an emergency, and whereas the safety of our law enforcement officers, firefighters, EMS providers, and animal control officers

[01:41:11] is dependent upon the quality and accuracy of information obtained from citizens who call or text the Loudoun County Emergency Communicators Center, and whereas Loudoun County Public Safety Telecommunicators have contributed substantially to the apprehension of criminals, suppression of fires, and treatment of patients, all while exhibiting true compassion and professionalism, now therefore be it resolved that Loudoun County Board of Supervisors does hereby proclaim the week of April 9th to 15th, 2023 as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. Yay.

[01:41:47] And before I give the mic to Chair Randall, I just want to personally thank you all from the bottom of my heart for everything that you do each and every day to keep us all safe throughout the county. It's critically important. We support you. We thank you. And the citizens, thank you. Madam Chair.

[01:42:07] Thank you, Mr. Babington. I think Chief Johnson said something one day and correct me. You correct the statement, but the first first responder a person has contact with is the communicator, the dispatcher, the person taking the call.

[01:42:23] And I think that's really, really true. And I had a reason to make a phone call to a first responder a couple months back. And, you know, I thought I was making perfectly good, calm sense, right?

[01:42:41] But as it turns out, I was screeching like a crazy person into the phone. And when the lady was like, okay, I'm going to ask you this question again. All right, I'm going to get this more information from you. And I thought, she sounds like my therapist right now. And I really, really appreciate it.

[01:42:57] The work you all do every day to, one, take the call. Two, get the information that you need. And then three, calm the person down is huge. And everyone probably thinks that when they're talking on the phone, they're making good sense and they're calm.

[01:43:13] But I sounded something like, oh, my God, I'm on a railroad track and I'm going to die. Like that. Like, remember that, Mr. Turner? And they got help for us there right away. So what you do every day for people, and I say this all the time, what you're doing is for people at the worst moment of their lives, when they've made a phone call and you are the voice they hear first and you take the information and you get the help to them.

[01:43:42] And often you stay on the phone with them while help is coming. And so thank you, thank you so very much. I'm going to ask Chief Johnson to speak for the firefighters. I'm going to ask, would you speak for the animal services? And who's speaking for the sheriff's department? That sounds good.

[01:43:59] Thank you, Chair Randall. I'm going to turn it over to our new deputy chief of communications, Chief Green. But last week, or two weeks ago, you had a proclamation for nonprofits, right? And I said we were going to have more people here than that. Thank you, Chief.

[01:44:17] Thank you, Chair Randall, Supervisor Buffington, and all the supervisors for supporting this proclamation. To give you a sense of what a telecommunicator does and their mental fortitude, if you'll just imagine with me, you're sitting in your comfortable chair, kind of like the one behind your dais.

[01:44:37] you're surrounded by five screens, and you say, Loudoun County 911, what is your emergency? My wife's water just broke. My mom's not breathing. And you have to have the mental fortitude to help that person through that emergency, like Tony did and delivered a baby, and like Justin did and gave pre-arrival instructions that saved the life of a visitor. But what's really tough is you

[01:45:13] can't get up from the chair. You can't go and help, because you know you want to, because you got to be ready for the next call. Thank you very much. Thank you to all that you do. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Chair Randall. Thank you, Supervisor Buffington. I think that all of the people in this room are heroes, and we all know that here, and I hope that our community understands that, because when you receive these calls from someone in crisis, it is, it's complicated, right, and I think that so many of us do not recognize the trauma that you experience by taking those calls,

[01:45:50] so i think it's very important for us to recognize the heroism that you all do every single day when you're answering those calls but also for us to recognize and support your mental health needs because that is something that so many people struggle to be able to do on their own basis and you are taking those calls on a repeated hour after hour you know day after day basis um our own dispatchers is a tiny but mighty team of three and work very closely of course with the ecc but uh those officers uh rely on the dispatchers so heavily i walked back there you know a couple months back and one of my dispatchers was walking through a situation which their dog

[01:46:29] was overheating fatally when the vehicle was stopped on the side of the road and they needed assistance uh were we able to get there for them we did we got there we we did the best we could as soon as we arrived but the important thing was is that dispatcher stayed on the phone with the person while that crisis was occurring. And the crises are real for people who are experiencing situations with their humans and with their pets. So I'm so grateful for everyone who answers those calls 24-7 for animal services and for all of our other public safety agencies. So thank you.

[01:47:00] Thank you. On behalf of Chair Chapman, I want to thank Chairman Randall and the Board of Supervisors for recognizing what we called first of the first responders. You're absolutely correct.

[01:47:18] Whether day in or day out, when there's an emergency, these professionals does an outstanding and phenomenal job for our community and for members of the board and everyone else here with us today. But more importantly, thank you for recognizing this great work. Appreciate it. And just can't thank you enough. Appreciate it.

[01:47:43] Please, please, please, please, please, please take care of your mental health. Remember, secondary trauma is real. And stop and ask for help if needed and take some time off when you need it. And I'm telling your bosses right now, if y'all need some time, I'll have to give it to you.

[01:48:02] All right, let's take a picture. Glenn, how are we going to do this? Everyone just scrunched, so maybe two rows and short people in the front, maybe?

[01:50:15] Okay, by 10 minutes, we're a little early for public comments.

[01:50:49] So what I'm going to do is I'm going to call you, and if you're here, you can go in and go. And if you're not, and somebody comes in right at 6, then I'll go back to them again because we're running ahead about nine minutes, but there's no reason to not start if people are in the room.

[01:51:06] And so we have two people who will need Spanish interpreters, our second and third speaker. Our first speaker is Sophia Saeed, followed by Nelly Diaz and Claudia Cusanda. And the second and third speakers will have an interpreter.

[01:51:24] Ms. Saeed, we're ready when you are. Where'd you go? Good evening. Good evening. Good evening, Chair Randall and County Supervisors. My name is Sophia Syed, and I am here speaking on behalf of New Virginia Majority.

[01:51:40] As you know, our community is facing a severe housing crisis as pandemic protections have expired and landlords are raising rents. Today, I'm happy to say that I'm here to recognize positive steps that the county has been taking to address this crisis. We'd like to commend the board and county leadership for your commitment to equity and accessibility in the ARPA Rental Assistance Program, which is currently under development.

[01:52:05] One of the primary goals of ARPA is to support an equitable economic recovery that uplifts low-income communities and people of color. For nearly a year, New Virginia majority members have been meeting with housing staff regularly to advocate that the program be accessible to the communities that it was intended to serve, including immigrant communities.

[01:52:27] We're glad to say that recently we gained a commitment from Assistant County Administrator Valmarie Turner as well as Housing Director John Hall that the rental assistance program will be open to tenants regardless of immigration status and that it will not require an eviction notice.

[01:52:45] These two program components will help make it significantly more supportive of working class tenants and housing stability. We thank the board, county staff, and administration for taking the time to meet with tenants and to address our concerns, and we hope that the rental assistance will be implemented as soon as possible.

[01:53:04] We know that this is just one piece of the puzzle, and that a lot still needs to be done to address the housing crisis, and we look forward to continuing to work together to create housing solutions for Loudoun's working-class tenants. So in a moment, you're going to hear from New Virginia Majority Members Nellie Diaz and Claudia Quesada, who will share a few words about what this commitment means to them. Thank you.

[01:53:26] Thank you. So próximo is Nelly Díaz, ¿hablamos español? Sí. Sí, ok.

[01:54:01] tomen in siempre en cuenta la familia de clase trabajadora sin importar su estatus migratorio raza género origen necesitamos más opciones en proyectos de viviendas justas y dignas para la clase trabajadora de la honda este es un gran paso adelante y felicitamos al condado por tomar a decisión correcta para la equidad y la accesibilidad el programa que se espera que se implemente en el verano estar abierto a todos los inquilinos de London con un saldo de

[01:54:38] alquiler atrasado cuyos ingresos estén debajo del 80% del ingreso medio del área y que tengan un contrato de arrendamiento válido. Seguiremos trabajando de la mano con esta Junta, Departamento de Vivienda, Administración y el Departamento de Equidad para crear más opciones en programas para nuestras comunidades mas vulnerables. Todos merecemos un lugar digno donde vivir sin temor a ser desplazados. Gracias. Gracias. Did you get, hold on one second, did you get them five minutes?

[01:55:14] Yes, you did that. Okay, okay, sure. Good afternoon, Board of Supervisors. I'm Nelly Diaz, a Leesburg resident and community leader with New Virginia Majority. As a working-class community, we feel the impact of the economy on our families.

[01:55:33] For that reason, we always ask our government that when approving a project or a housing budget, that you always take into account the working class families, regardless of status, immigration, race, gender, or origin.

[01:55:51] We need more options for fair and decent housing projects for London's working class. This is a huge step forward, and we commend the county for making the right choice for equity and accessibility. We understand that the program which is expected to roll out this summer would be open to all London tenants with a pass-through rent balance, income below 80% of area median income, and who have a valid lease.

[01:56:22] We will continue to work hand-in-hand with this board, housing department, administration, and the equity department to create more program options for our most vulnerable communities.

[01:56:38] We all deserve a decent place to live without fear or be in this place. Thanks. Thank you. Gracias. Próximo is Claudia Cuesada. Hola.

[01:56:54] Buenas noches, Junta de Supervisores y Administradores del Condado. Mi nombre es Claudia Quesada y soy originaria de México. Vivo en la comunidad de los Lisbeth Apartments.

[01:57:10] He vivido en el condado durante 26 años. Actualmente, trabajo en una empresa de limpieza de casas durante 24 años. Estoy aquí para reconocer la importancia que ustedes hayan pensado en nosotros como clase trabajadora y hayan acordado dar inicio al Programa de Asistencia de la Renta para todos sin importar nuestro estatus migratorio.

[01:57:38] Este Programa de Asistencia de la Renta vendrá a ser un alivio para nosotros that cada vez nos vemos más, con más dificultades en pagar los altos costos de la renta, con miedo a que nos desalojen y que no tengamos un lugar digno para nuestros hijos.

[01:57:59] Como todo padre, nuestro sueño es que nuestros hijos estudien en la universidad, pero es difícil cubrir los gastos escolares cuando hay que pagar un alquiler muy alto. Me siento muy positiva y con esperanza de poder contar con un programa de asistencia de la renta, siendo el inicio de un compromiso de equidad e inclusión para todas las familias que vivimos en el condado de Londres. Gracias.

[01:58:30] Thank you. Gracias. Good evening, Board of Supervisors and County Administrators. My name is Claudia Quesada. I am originally from Mexico.

[01:58:46] I live in Leesburg Apartments community and have lived in the county for 26 years. And I have been working for a house cleaning company for almost 24 years. I am here to recognize the importance of the fact that you have thought of us as the working class and that you have agreed to start the rental assistance program for everyone regardless of our immigration status.

[01:59:11] This rental assistance program will be a relief for us, who increasingly find it difficult to pay the high cost of rent, fearing that they will evict us and that we will not have a decent place for our children.

[01:59:27] Like all parents, our dream is that our children study at the university, but it is difficult to cover school expenses when you have to pay such a high rent. I feel very positive and hopeful to be able to count on a rental assistance program and see this is the beginning of our commitment to equity and inclusion for all the families that live in London County.

[01:59:57] Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Our next speakers are Donnie Walker, followed by Trinity Mills, followed by Georgianne Overman. Good evening, Mr. Walker. I feel like you've been in this room so much you should be getting a seat up here or something.

[02:00:12] Just real quick, I want to thank everybody for everything you've done. And we hope this regulation works for everybody and that we can get the tourism to really drive Loudoun County and help everybody out. So thanks again. Thank you so much. Thank you. Trinity Mills, followed by Georgia and Overton, followed by Robert Griffin.

[02:00:32] Good evening. Hello. Good evening. I'm Trinity Mills, the Conservation Advocacy Specialist at Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy. Laudan Wildlife Conservancy wishes to address the need for more stringent lighting standards for athletic fields in Laudan.

[02:00:48] In the case of Temple Baptist Church, the allowance of a lessening in light restrictions is reflected in the increased light pole height from 18 feet to 75 feet, and the increase in foot candle allowance from 0.25 feet to 20 feet. These diminished standards significantly increase light trespass to an unnecessary degree.

[02:01:08] Important to acknowledge is the proximity of this property to biodiverse wetlands. In this case, the adjacent open space is within a floodplain and also directly adjacent to Westlands. Westlands are vital areas for a wide diversity of wildlife, and they are essential to the successes of many insects and amphibians, imperiled wildlife groups that depend upon dark size for breeding success and survival.

[02:01:30] The items packet contains language acknowledging that the increases have an impact on neighboring open space property that is held under easement. This language states that the 20-foot candle requirement limits light trespass. However, lighting standards must be more restrictive to protect important wildlife corridors and the insects and nocturnal animals that rely on darkness to maintain healthy populations.

[02:01:53] Latin Wildlife Conservancy appreciates stated attempts to adhere to dark sky standards. However, in order to protect dark skies and the wildlife that rely on them, minimized light use must be in place. Drastic increases in foot candle allowance into open space runs counter to the aim of minimizing light pollution.

[02:02:11] There are lighting standards set in place for residential neighborhoods, and the non-human residents of open space should be taken into consideration, too. Thank you. Thank you. Georgianne Overman, followed by Robert Griffin. Good evening. Hello, y'all. I was going to talk about short-term rentals, but I have decided that I will change my topic and talk about the draft zoning ordinance.

[02:02:32] There are three proposed uses in the draft zoning ordinance. Two of them are brand new. They're called food preparation and general manufacturing. These two uses will not be allowed anywhere in Western Loudoun. Food preparation is the preparation by any establishment of food for off-premises consumption, including catering and delivery of food.

[02:02:53] It will affect bakers, people who have the food trucks, people who make food for weddings and other events, people who sell out of their home, people who work at farmer markets to sell products. General manufacturing is going to be the manufacturing of any product.

[02:03:11] A lot of food products included in that, jams, jellies, dresses, anything that you can make and manufacture. It will affect small businesses. It will shut small businesses down. It will shut home occupations down.

[02:03:27] The third item is a change to agricultural processing, which appears to also be included in general manufacturing. Feed and grain has become a general manufacturing item, and it is barred in Western Loudoun.

[02:03:45] Agricultural processing, your farmer has to have his processing, his bakery or whatever he uses, has to be on the same property as 51% of the agricultural produce that will be used in the product.

[02:04:03] A lot of farmers lease property. A lot of farmers have adjacent parcels that are joined together. But these will be treated as separate entities. If your bakery's across the street from your fruit orchard, you are out of luck.

[02:04:19] I see no reason for these regulations. They are prescriptive and prohibitive and damaging. I see nothing that this is helping in the way of the rural economy, of all of Loudoun County. It doesn't just hit Western Loudoun.

[02:04:35] This will hit everyone who's not in an industrial district. So this is the wrong way for the county to go. I urge this to be stripped from the draft ordinance immediately. It's already going and being approved by the Planning Commission.

[02:04:55] It needs to stop. Thank you. Thank you, and we will take a look at that. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Okay, Mr. Robert Griffin is our last speaker for the evening. Thank you, Madam Chair. I've heard from the nice people.

[02:05:22] Mr. Griffin, I need you to... Well, I would like to also be able to talk to them. Mr. Griffin, I need you to direct your comments up here, please. No, I'm going to talk to them. Mr. Griffin, I need... Can I have my time back? Mr. Griffin, please. I am talking. Do you not hear me? Mr. Griffin, I need you to direct your comments. Do you not hear me? You're fine now, sir.

[02:05:37] Yeah, okay. Well, I am addressing them people because they're my fellow Loudoun citizens, and they have a complaint, and I think it's a just complaint. But the problem is the Democrats. Yeah, you put on a nice air, don't you, Mr. Turner?

[02:05:55] Yeah, you do. But why do we have this problem? It's because we have open borders where hundreds of thousands of immigrants are coming across our borders, and they're subject to horrendous, horrendous things.

[02:06:13] It's almost impossible to say. Child trafficking, drugs. I appreciate your difficulties. but it's these people who say they do something, but it's Democrats, our president, Biden. Yeah, just a week ago, there was nine, six people killed by an adult transgender person.

[02:06:39] And one of the persons was the daughter of the pastor of the church, who parents also go to that church. Did any of you complain when Biden berated and condemned and said the church was the perpetrator, making the transgender adult male exonerating him and saying he's the victim?

[02:07:06] That's how you Democrats operate. And are you proud, Mr. Turner? Today, are you celebrating? I think you've got a real problem, sir. Not from me, not from voters, but from God.

[02:07:22] You used the church. You used the church to advance your political agenda. And we've listened to Madam Chair. Yeah, put words in my mouth. Yes, you did.

[02:07:39] And you did not ask for one apology from Mr. Turner when he accused me of dividing the country. No, you did not. You all acquiesced. Well, that's fine. You can acquiesce all you want. But you know what God says about people who acquiesce, who are lukewarm?

[02:08:00] Mr. Griffin, your time is up, sir. Yep, he says. Mr. Griffin, your time is up. Mr. Griffin, your time is up. Your time is up. Okay, we actually did have one more speaker. I didn't see that before. I'm sorry. It is Julie Dordery.

[02:08:17] Are you in the room? Are you in the room? Chair Randall. Yes. She has decided not to speak. Okay, all right, all right. Then that is all the speakers for this evening. Supervisors, thank you all for coming. Thank you, everyone, for coming to speak this evening.

[02:08:32] we appreciate you. We really do. Supervisors, we are going to take a 10-minute break and then come back and read into two both closed sessions, and they're kind of long, and so we're going to take a 10-minute break before we go to closed session, but let's take a

[02:08:53] 10-minute break and come back to the day of spring to closed session. Okay, so we're

[02:28:14] doing both, but separately. So we're going to read the two closed sessions separately because Mr. Buffington is going to abstain on one of them. So Mr. Buffington would join us for closed session item number two, but not number one. So although, and that's the order that we're going to take them in.

[02:28:30] We're going to do two first and then one. So Mr. Sains, if you would read two first and then Mr. Buffington can vote on that one and then read the second one and that's the one he'll abstain on, I'd appreciate it, sir. Okay. I move that the Board of Supervisors recess this public meeting, enter into closed session pursuant to section 2.2-3711A7 and A8 of the Code of Virginia for consult with legal counsel concerning actual or probable litigation and discussion of a specific legal matter concerning land use in the 2011 Blue Ridge 2022 Kontochtan Election District.

[02:29:05] Motion to be seconded. Discussion on that motion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion will pass 801. Mr. Staines, will you read the second motion? I move that the Board of Supervisors recess this public meeting and enter into closed session pursuant to section 2.2-3711-A8-829 of the Code of Virginia to consult with legal counsel pertaining to the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement where public funds are being expended and where negotiations in open session would adversely affect the bargaining position of the county.

[02:29:38] County-wide? Motion is made seconded by Supervisor Umstead. Discussion on that motion. All people say aye. Aye. Opposed? All abstains. That motion will pass 7-1-1. Mr. Bifenton abstaining and Mr. Kirshner not being on the dais. Supervisors, we are in closed session.

[02:43:16] Okay, we are back in for the purposes of affirming closed session item number two.

[02:56:42] And since we've already voted on closed session item number one, after we affirm this vote, we will recess and go back into closed session for closed session item number one. Mr. Sands, will you read us out of closed session item number two? Reading out of closed session item number two. I move that the closed session be adjourned at the Board of Supervisors' reconvenience public meeting, that the minutes of the public meeting should reflect that no former action was taken in the closed session, and further move that the resolution certifying the closed session be adopted and reflected in the minutes of this public meeting.

[02:57:11] Second. Motion was made and seconded by Mr. Buffington. Sorry. Discussion on the motion. Really? No. Okay. If you affirm, please say I affirm.

[02:57:27] Mr. Turner? I affirm. Ms. Lumpstead, affirm, affirm, affirm, affirm, affirm as well. All the people who say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion will pass 8-0-1. Thank you. We are now going back to closed session.

[02:57:41] Okay, we're back in close, out of closed session, and we're going to read out of closed session. Mr. Sands, will you please read out of closed session?

[05:05:45] I move the closed session be adjourned, that the Board of Supervisors reconvene its public meeting, that the minutes of the public meeting should reflect that no formal action was taken in closed session, and further move that the resolution certifying the closed session be adopted and reflected in the minutes of this public meeting. Motion is made and seconded by Ms. Umstadt. Discussion on the motion. Would you please affirm Mr. Letourneau. Affirm. Affirm. Affirm. Affirm. Affirm.

[05:06:09] Affirm. And I affirm as well. All in favor say aye. Opposed. That motion will pass 7-0-2 with Mr. Buffington and Mr. Kirshner off the dais. Mr. Sains forgot to make a motion so he needs a point of personal privilege so he can make a motion.

[05:06:27] Mr. Sainz. Yes, a point of personal privilege to make a nomination. I was not at the meeting when you guys were making nominations earlier in the meeting day. So I nominate Wayne Smith as the at-large representative on the Board of Building Code Appeals. Okay, nomination's been made.

[05:06:43] Anybody else? All right, I think that is it. We are adjourned. Thank you.

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