Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, Business Meeting, Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Date: Wednesday, February 19, 2025
Place: Board Room, First Floor, Government Center, 1 Harrison Street SE, Leesburg, Virginia
Length: 6h 39m (video)
Official meeting video (county, Granicus): https://loudoun.granicus.com/player/clip/7876
Meeting page: https://loudoun.granicus.com/player/clip/7876

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 2026-10-11. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:25] Hello, Supervisor LeTerno, can you hear me? Yep. Thank you.

[00:05:57] No, no, I don't want to do that.

[00:09:32] Yeah, I know where you're going. No, I don't. Well, good evening, Supervisors. Good evening, Staff, and good evening, Loudon. I'd like to call to order the February 19th.

[00:09:48] Oh, my God, today's my sister's birthday. February 19th. Darn it. Darn it. I'd like to call to order the February 19th, 2025, Loudon County Board of Supervisors business meeting. This room has a hearing loop. If you need hearing assistance, switch your hearing aid to the telecall mode. If you need a headset, we have those available as well.

[00:10:05] Please see the clerk to request one. This evening, Mr. Kirshner will give, Supervisor Kirshner will give words of inspiration and or a prayer and lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Supervisor Kirshner. Thank you, Madam Chair. Welcome, everybody. Let's bow our heads and talk to the Almighty.

[00:10:22] Dear God, we thank you for the opportunity to serve this county. Thank you for this county and all the blessings that you've bestowed upon it. We just got our budget presentation, and we know that every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above. And that you have bestowed that on us. I pray that we will be good stewards of not only the great riches that you have bestowed on us, but that we would be faithful in carrying out through our responsibilities.

[00:10:44] And that every single one of these supervisors here on this dais, every single one of our staff members and the leadership within this organization, that you'll give them wisdom in making each and every choice day in and day out. We ask this all in your name. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the United States and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, liberty, and justice for all.

[00:11:17] I think that for all part really should mean something right now. Okay. Okay, folks. Let's see. Pursuing to code section 2.2-3708.3 and the board's rules of order, Supervisor Matt Letourneau has requested to participate in this meeting by electronic communication.

[00:11:44] A physical form of the board of supervisors is present in the boardroom, and the board has made arrangements for the voice of Supervisor Letourneau to be heard by all persons in the boardroom. Supervisor Letourneau made this request within the normal time frame, and the county determined that his request meets the qualifications to participate remotely.

[00:12:03] The board will record in its business that Supervisor Letourneau participated remotely from his home in Loudoun County due to a medical condition. Supervisor Turner, can you hear us? I mean, so, Letourneau, can you hear us? That's a good question, though. Supervisor Letourneau can hear you.

[00:12:18] Supervisor Letourneau can hear us. That's all I care about. They can both hear me. Yeah, Freudian slip, that was.

[00:12:35] All right, at our last board meeting, we read into closed session. Mr. Kirshner read into closed session with us, but then had to leave for a medical condition also at 9:30. So when he came out, he was not able to confirm that what we did in closed session was only what we went into closed session to do.

[00:12:56] So he has to do and affirm, but I need to read the motion for him to affirm. So I move the closed session be adjourned at the minutes of the public meeting should reflect that no formal action was taken in the closed session, and I further move that the resolution certifying the closed session will be adopted and reflected in the minutes of the February 25th um February 4th of 2025 public meeting Mr. Kirchner is that a yay on that motion it is I affirm yes and then yes and you're fine I affirm okay wonderful okay uh no well not really but okay all right we do have some additions and deletions to the agenda um we are going to do um

[00:13:37] In addition to the agenda, it's a reconsideration of LEGIE 2023-0109, the NOVAC South Fork substation, specs 2024-0033 and specs 2024-0034, that's Supervisors Eternals.

[00:13:54] We're going to do that right after we do the consent agenda. We also have a deletion or a -- actually not a deletion, but Mr. Sains informed me right before this meeting that the Zebra Data Center application is being deferred, is a deferral, to the March 4th meeting.

[00:14:20] All right, so we have a deferral. Are there any other additions or deletions to the agenda? Madam Chair. Yes, ma'am. item number eight off of consent you're going to take item number eight off consent yes okay that's an action item yeah I do not need any staff presentation or applicant comment can we you know what then we just might do that one right now that sounds good to me do it right thank you after after mr. Turner finishes so we can just then have it done all right the consent agenda is as follows item R1 resolution to recognition for Loudoun County Fire and

[00:14:59] and Rescue Explosive Detections K9 Thor, and that's for approval and presentation. Item R2, recognizing Black History Month in Loudoun County, that's for approval and presentation. Item 1A, Contract Renewal Consultant Services for Transportation Planning and Preliminary Engineering.

[00:15:18] Item 1B, Contract Renewal Engineering Services for the Loudoun County Storm Water Management Program. Item 1C, Contract Award Design Build Delivery of a Compressed Natural Gas Fueling Station and the modification of the existing county transit maintenance facility, Item 1D, Community Development Block Grant funding recommendations, Item 1E, Loudoun County Microtransit Feasibility Study, Item 2A, Transit Advisory Board, 2024 Annual Report, everyone please go read that if you've not done it already, Item 3A, Appointments and Confirmations, Item 4, Administrative

[00:15:52] items report of February 19th, 2025. Item six, steeple court repairs and street acceptance. Item 11, waiver to administer a split precinct for the June 17th, 2025 primary election and on November 4th, 2025 general election. Item 12, response to board member initiative proposed through truck restrictions on Heartland Drive, Fleetwood Road, Everfield Drive and Watson Road.

[00:16:21] and item 13 response to board member initiative speed management study along st louis road in the village of st louis i will propose um to move the consent agenda is there a second proposed and seconded by supervisor turner is there a discussion on the consent agenda mr turner you have anything mr mr crony yeah thank you chair randall i just want to thank my colleagues for supporting the through truck restrictions on heartland drive fleetwood road Everfield Drive and Watson Road and the speed management study along st. Louis Road in the village of st. Louis

[00:16:58] Both our board member initiatives the truck through truck restrictions Will direct staff to advertise a public hearing to consider a request for VDOT to evaluate these restrictions and the speed study will authorize thousand for this purpose to study existing speed on say existing speeds on st. Louis Road within the village of st. Louis and determine management countermeasures to reduce speeds so I thank you for your support thank you

[00:17:34] mr. Kirschner all right that's been on the whole time okay don't really want to talk thank you all right I'll quickly say aye opposed that motion will pass 9-0. I'm going to go on right now and do item number 8. It's the Oak Grove application.

[00:17:51] I move the Board of Supervisors to approve Leji 2024-0069, Oak Grove ZMAP 2019-0021 to the profit statement dated November 27, 2024 and based on the findings for approval as provided in attachment 1 and 2 to the February 19, 2025 Board of Supervisors business meeting action item. That's actually in the Sterling District. Seconded by Mr. Saines. Discussion on the motion mr crony mr turner have anything all right all people say aye opposed that that motion will pass 8-1 with supervisor um step voting against the motion

[00:18:28] um number eight is done we're going to go back to the items for a supervisor letourner the reconsideration um of legy 2023-00-0109 the novac south forks substation mr turner would like to make a motion yeah i move the board of supervisors reconsider its action at the february 12-2025 public hearing approving ledgy 2023-0109 novex south fork substation special exception 2024-0033 and special exception 2024-0034 i second that motion discussion on that motion mr

[00:19:02] letourneau uh the motion is to send this to well the motion i will make should this pass will be sent us to the march 18th meeting um at the february 12th public hearing there was a miscommunication about the status of the application the applicant has agreed to do additional screening an extension of a 12-foot screening wall on the east side as well as supplemental evergreens that are being planted um along uh route 50 so it's it's being improved but that was not included in the materials that were presented at february 12th public hearing which in which i was not in attendance

[00:19:38] for medical reasons so i'd ask the board to allow me to reconsider this and then i'll make the subsequent motion so that we can take this out on March 18th and it will be an improved application at that point. Mr. Letourneau was being very kind as board chair I missed the request to not have this at the public hearing so it passed at the public hearing I should not have put it on the consolidated agenda that was that was my fault and for that I apologize to Mr. Letourneau and to the applicant. Anybody else on this matter? All in people say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

[00:20:11] That motion will pass 9-0. Mr. Letourneau. I move the Board of Supervisors forward Leji 2023-0109 Novick South Forest substation, special exception 2024-0033, special exception 2024-0034 to the March 18, 2025 Board of Supervisors business meeting for action. Second.

[00:20:29] Discussion on the motion? No discussion. No discussion. Anybody else? All right. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion will pass 9-0. Okay, we're moving right along. All right, supervisors, I will do my regional updates, and then after that I would do my voice for a cause. I have a lot of regional updates, so I won't do, I won't go through all the resolutions, but I will need help from Mr. Turner and Mr. Kirshner, and at least two of them, so I'll get to those in just a second. First of all, during COVID, there was a group of, there was a meeting that was called the Mayors and Chairs Meeting that convened every two weeks

[00:21:08] or PRN as it was needed to talk about the impacts of COVID on local government. That group has now reconvened the mayors and chairs' calls so we can understand the impacts of the executive orders coming from Washington on local government.

[00:21:28] What we know is that Virginia has about 150,000 federal employees. About 100,000 of those lives in northern Virginia. so some of the impacts will be felt here. The entity that has helped with this is NDRC, of which Mr. Sains, Mr. and Ms. Glass are members. I have talked to both of them. The way this will work is the chair, I, will be on the calls. Mr. Hemstreet, as our executive, county exec, will be on the call. And either Ms. Glass or Mr. Sains, depending on their

[00:22:03] schedules would be on the calls. I will then report back at the next meeting what's going on with those calls. So those are now reconvening. In NVTA, Prince William County did vote to remove the Route 28 from their CIP. The way money for NVTA works is basically when NVTA gives money, it's basically a loan to a locality. When the locality finishes that project, loan is forgiven. But if the locality doesn't finish that project in any way, the loan is

[00:22:39] returned in full. The project for NVTA, I mean, the amount of money given to NVTA was $89 million. That was a couple of years ago. They've drawn down some money for design and other things, but they've now taken it out of their CIP, which means they have to return the full amount to NVTA. And we will be working with them to figure out how to do that. The for a bike and pet study for trails was not moved to the full house in the General Assembly.

[00:23:11] NVTA is happy to do that study, but we would need a longer time to do it or more resources, and so that just wasn't moved along. NACO's Health Steering Committee conference -- well, the conference begins on March 1st, and NACO's Health Steering Committee, we start that very day. We start March 1st. There are seven resolutions for that, but really there's two of them or three of them that I need some help on. One of them, Mr. Turner, I'm going to read it. I don't really know that I understand what this says, so you and I can work later to try to, so you can, if you can help

[00:23:48] me understand what we're doing on this one, I'd really appreciate it. And then the other one is for Mr. Kirchner. This one is about veterans who, as I understand it, left their service with something other than an honorable discharge, but not a dishonorable discharge. And the way it reads is a resolution on eligibility of veterans with non-punitive other than honorable discharges for health benefits. What I think they're saying is if you had a general discharge,

[00:24:22] If you had a medical discharge or some other type of discharge, there right now are some benefits that you do not get, that you would get if you got an honorable discharge. And so the goal is to try to give those veterans the same benefits that you would get if you had an honorable discharge, but not if you had a dishonorable discharge.

[00:24:46] I'm gonna send this to you if you can read it do all the work and then give it back to me so I can take credit I really I really appreciate I know I'm just kidding but if you can help me through this I really appreciate it because I read it and it's it's a lot going on I just want to make sure I have it right mr. Kirshner there were of the seven resolutions there were four that were just about rural counties you and I have had this discussion already and truthfully I'd love to talk to your sister at some point.

[00:25:20] One of the resolutions was the issue of rural counties not having enough pharmacies. And I don't, I know we have a rural part to our counties, but in our rural part to our county, we have towns that do have pharmacies and they're very populated.

[00:25:38] So I think they're actually talking more about rural or even what we now call frontier counties. But the effort is to get more rural pharmacies, more pharmacies in rural areas. From what they said is over the past 10 years, 30% of pharmacies, period, have closed.

[00:25:57] But in rural areas, that's been much, much more than that. And so that's the effort to have more pharmacies. There wasn't a statement on why can't people just order meds offline. And there were a lot of issues where people thought they just couldn't order meds offline. So that was one of them.

[00:26:13] And so when we get to that issue, I would love some help while you are there. The other rural issue was, that might have been the only, no, there was another rural issue. It's going to take a much longer time.

[00:26:29] It was about preventative services for people who live in rural areas. For obvious reasons, it's just not, there's not hospitals and, you know, there's not people who are out there. but preventative services, especially for women, especially for women of color, especially for people who are of childbearing age, to have services that are offered to them. And we've had this discussion before of how that looks and how that works. But these are the resolutions coming down and will be voted on on March 1st. What happens with that vote

[00:27:05] means then on March 4th, no, on March 5th, I'm walking to Capitol Hill and I'm lobbying Senator Warner, Senator Cain, Congressman Supermonium on these issues, as well as some of the things we'll talk about tonight. So I really do need some help for the rural items.

[00:27:29] So I'll send those to you as well, okay? Thank you. And the thing is, those will come up on on that Saturday okay let's see I think that might be y'all I think that might be y'all okay I think that might be y'all there's other stuff but it's a long meeting so I won't go through everything into everything right now right now what I'm going to do is my um voice for a cause my voice for a cause today is the young kings movement uh would they please come to the podium the young kings kings movement is a non-profit organization created in 2020 to help empower

[00:28:07] young men ages 13 to 18 years old. Young Kings Movement is a safe place for young men to come and be themselves. They focus on one-on-one mentoring, educational support, community service, and most importantly, life skills coaching. Young Kings Movement was created to provide young men the opportunity to have an after-school outlet that would help promote personal growth and leadership. Hello, Ms. Summers, how are you? Would you please introduce, and you are the founder and CEO of the Young Kings Movement, would you please introduce who you brought with you today. Yes, I have Shalene Victory-Grayson and Debbie Holmes with me today.

[00:28:44] Ms. Grayson and Ms. Holmes, thank you for coming as well. So a couple of questions. What are the different ways that the Young King Movement mentors, educates, supports young men that are in the program? We mentor through life skills, one-on-one mentoring, building confidence, building character, unlocking their power and talents and gifts through the mentorship. I'm going to ask you a question is not on the list. There's three amazing women standing up here for the Young Kings movement and you all mentor young men. A logical question might be do we have men?

[00:29:21] And you have a good answer to that because I know you partnered with Omega Psi Phi. You want to talk about some of the partnerships you have with men in the community to help you with the Young Kings? Yes. We -- Bring the microphone just a little closer yes we have several young men in our organization that don't have fathers at home so therefore our main focus was to go out and to find male mentors to help fill the void for some of the young men that don't have fathers at home there you go thank you why do you think it's important to especially during their teenage years this is really middle and high school why is that why was that the

[00:30:01] age you selected and why do you think that's an important age to focus on? That seems to be like the male's formative years of their life. Our mission was to focus on the growth and support teen males in Greater Loudoun and again you know a lot of the young men don't have dads at home so we just I don't know we we all have young men we all have sons and that you know men are close to our heart and that's why we chose you know to help these young men. Amazing. Do you have a lot of events that happened in February so Black History Month and and some events that are coming up you

[00:30:40] want to talk about anything that's coming up you want people to know about? Sure one of the our biggest thing for Black History Month is we take our young men out to HBCU college fairs just to get the exposure. Several of our young men aren't really you know they consider themselves not college material but we want them to know there's always hope and so we expose them to a lot of different you know aspects and the hbcu college fair seems to be huge for us and them as well

[00:31:14] yeah hbcu college fair is big historically black college and university hbcu and what's the best ways that people want to find out more about you all what's the best ways for people to do that we have our website which is www.ykmloudon.org we have an instagram that's ykm loudon and we also have facebook that's young kings loudon okay well say one more time say your say your www

[00:31:49] the website's www.ykm-loudon.org and if i could just take a point of personal privilege to say the Young Kings are the ushers every year for my State of the County address, and they do an amazing, amazing job, and they're going to join me this year as well. You guys have been fantastic.

[00:32:08] Thank you all for what you're doing, and please thank all the mentors. It's such important work to give back, and this is what we say it takes a village. That's what we're talking about. Thank you very much. Do you have something you want to say? Amen. Amen. Okay, amen. All right, thank you all thanks so much mr hemstreet do you have any comments this evening thank you madam chair i've got four comments for this evening the first is that loudon county is hosting a virtual workshop on the virginia fair housing law for current and prospective landlords and housing providers in loudon the workshop is scheduled for tuesday march 4th from 1 to 3 p.m and will feature

[00:32:48] a presentation from the department of housing and community development details are available at loudon.gov/fairhousing. Second, Loudon County's Commissioner of the Revenue is hosting a series of seminars about the county's tax relief programs for property owners who are at least 65 years old or who are totally and permanently disabled. The seminars are being held throughout the county with the first session scheduled for February 25th at the Cascades Library. More information including the complete schedule of seminars is online at loudon.gov/taxrelief. Third, the Loudon Workforce resource center is holding a job fair focusing on public sector opportunities march 18th at the

[00:33:27] dull south recreation and community center loudon county government which as you know is one of the forbes magazine's best large employers in 2025 will join more than 15 state and local government employers at the fair more information including a link to pre-register for the free event can be found at loudon.gov job fair and then finally nominations for the third annual loudon county environmental excellence awards are due march 3rd the awards honored individuals businesses non-profit organizations and educators for their leadership on environmental issues past winners have included projects such as supporting community recycling services engaging students as young

[00:34:05] naturalists and volunteering in stream protection efforts more information including a link to the nomination form is online at loudin.gov environmental awards those are my comments Thank you very much. Appreciate those. Supervisors, we do have four information items. I do want to say that there are quite a few people who have signed up for the five o'clock and the six o'clock ranked choice voting discussion. It is just an information item. We will not be voting on anything tonight. We can give you some background on how we got to this place

[00:34:39] a little bit later, but normally I will save an item until after comments if there's going to be a vote on the item, but because it's just an information item, we're going to go on and get that information right now, and then you can absolutely speak on it when that time comes.

[00:34:56] The first item we are going to do is -- we'll just go in order -- item I-1, the Interim Zoning Ordinance Rewrite Technical and Procedural Newsletter. Would staff please come to the table? Good evening, everyone.

[00:35:19] How are you doing? Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board. I'm Laura Edmonds with the Department of Building and Development. I am joined this evening to my left by Melanie Mason who is our Natural Resources Division Program Manager.

[00:35:37] We have Kevin Murray, he's the Chair of the Facility Standards Manual Public Review Committee. Zeb Fultz is the Land Engineering Division Manager. And finally, Scott Berger is our Deputy Director. I just have a few comments to make on this information item to give you a brief overview.

[00:35:56] just want to tell you it's our pleasure to bring you the fourth interim technical and procedural newsletter to support implementation of the new zoning ordinance this particular tech memo was issued by the director on january 28th and will go into effect on march 10th as you might recall on december 13th 2023 the board adopted a resolution contemporaneously with the adoption of the zoning ordinance that directed the director to issue interim technical standards through tech memos in order to support implementation of the zoning ordinance

[00:36:35] and avoid delays in processing land development applications. That resolution further directed the director to present these tech memos to the board as an information item following their issuance. So we presented to you the first three tech memos at the end of last year. They were actually in regard to priority interim standards for the facility standards manual, FSM, and the land subdivision and development ordinance, LSDO, and those were issued last June. Those amendments

[00:37:11] were subsequently incorporated formally into the FSM and LSDO with a DOAM that the board adopted in December, and those went into effect January 1st. Therefore, those first three interim tech memos were subsequently superseded by the amendments. Staff presented the current tech memo to the FSM Public Review Committee for review and input before it was issued, similar to the previous tech memos. This current tech memo involves interim standards that took additional time

[00:37:44] for staff to develop regarding items in chapter 7 environmental design standards and chapter 8 administrative procedures of the fsm it includes topics such as revegetation plans required to address zoning violations invasive plant species management plans updating references to the scenic creek valley buffer adding the limestone overlay district the mountainside overlay district and the natural and environmental resources to informational exhibits that are required to be submitted in

[00:38:20] conjunction with plats we also consolidated existing conditions such as river and stream corridor resources steep slopes and cultural resources into an existing conditions plan that will be submitted in conjunction with construction plans and profiles and site plans we are planning to take the interim standards in this current tech memo out on agency referral in march to be followed by a may intent to amend a june planning commission public hearing and a

[00:38:53] september board public hearing that would become the second zoning ordinance rewrite doam and once that doam is adopted reflecting these changes the this particular tech memo will also expire and just to conclude we are in the process of drafting some additional standards that we plan to implement through tech memos and subsequent DOAMPs and we would be glad to answer any questions that you had regarding the item at this time. Wonderful, thank you. Ms. Attorney, I'm going to start with you tonight a lot just so make sure I don't forget you. So do you have any questions?

[00:39:29] Nope. Wonderful. Does anyone else have any questions? That means things are going well. The update was fantastic. Thank you all very much. Thank you. You may go home. well you can stay and watch because we're so fascinating all right we're going to do i2 which is our ledge report for our general assembly ledge report

[00:39:57] um this is not an action item it's just an information item good evening good evening

[00:40:35] madam chair members of the board good evening jonathan we're ready well uh good evening this is the last week of session uh if you can believe it uh session is scheduled to adjourn this saturday february 22nd uh to start with our initiatives uh the airport disclosure bills and the erosion bills both passed the house and senate are now awaiting the signature of the government some bills of note that the board are interested in the underground and transmission lines bill

[00:41:11] was unfortunately defeated this past monday in commerce and labor on a six to eight vote on the the Senate side? Right. Senate Commerce and Labor. This was the House bill that Delegate Singh was carrying, and it was defeated on a six to eight vote. So this is the closest we've ever gotten so that there's any silver lining to that. So another bill of note, the bill authorizing the state's acquisition of Oak Hill, which you may have seen in the papers this morning, was turned into a

[00:41:45] Study and Senate Finance Committee on Monday. We do still have language in the House budget for just a flat acquisition for the state discernment from the state part. And so we continue to lobby for that placement in the full budget agreement. Speaking of the full budget agreement, in accordance with the 48-hour rule, the full budget agreement is scheduled to be presented tomorrow on the House and Senate floors. And so we remain watchful to see which of our priorities are included in that budget agreement and so uh madam chair i'll stop there

[00:42:20] questions from the board supervisors you have questions mr turno you have any questions um just on that okill situation um so is this ultimately going to get hashed out as part of the budget process and conference uh that uh supervisor will turn off that is what we're working on uh we have the acquisition language in the house budget and so currently the house and senate companies are hashing out that budget agreement and we are lobbying to get it into that full budget agreement okay um the concern that i read was that some members of the

[00:43:00] senate felt that it was sort of jumping jumping the line over other potential state park priorities obviously i think we would argue that there were very unique circumstances around this and the locality in our case us is putting money toward it um what what is sort of our counter argument to that uh supervisor eterno our counter argument to that is that no other state park in the commonwealth has an endowment uh oak hill if it were to become a state park have an endowment

[00:43:35] uh the other counter argument to that is that conservation fund uh will continue to fundraise for oak hill uh even if it becomes a state park so the work does not finish just when the acquisition goes through uh the you know conservation has done a wonderful job they vote they've raised over 40 million dollars for the park uh as we know uh and so you know uh just the other week uh when the bill was in resources subcommittee and senate finance literally that

[00:44:09] morning five million more dollars came through oak hill so you know the conservation conservation fund is doing the work the county is also doing the work uh to get this into the book budget agreement and we've also shown uh financially that this is a great investment for the commonwealth as you all know this is james monroe's former home for yeah let me just i don't want to run out of time um i'm sorry yes can we have we can't we and have we had direct interaction with the administration on this uh we have so dcr uh did conduct the study which uh you know showed that

[00:44:49] this was a great investment for the commonwealth even with the most conservative numbers that the endowment will grow eight percent year over year and so this is a stable investment we've you know we've been interacting with the administration, but there are some that feel that this is not a good idea. Yeah, I just think maybe as a backstop here, if we could get up into the higher levels of the administration on this one, it could be a win for everybody, and we should maybe talk offline about a strategy to do that. Absolutely.

[00:45:29] Ms. Bricksman, I'm about to call Mr. Turner. Is your line on or off? Sorry, it's on. Okay, Ms. Bricksman. Thank you, Madam Chair, thank you for the presentation and for all your hard work, everybody, including Jonathan and everybody at the table. I think I wanted to just ask House Bill 2056, Delegate Reesers, absentee voting and satellite offices, days and hours.

[00:45:55] Our policy language generally supported that bill because it increases access to the ballot box, correct? Yeah, that's increased authority for localities in terms of the hours for satellite offices. And Madam Chair did testify in support of that bill when it was in committee last week.

[00:46:15] Fantastic. So I'm really excited that that one's awaiting the governor's signature. So that's really great news. I think combined with our initiative to have more early voting sites in the county, if this were to get the signature of the governor we would really be able to expand access to the ballot box so that's fantastic news and also I want to thank my colleagues for supporting house bill 1939 reads bill to have a new classification of personal property and the authority as a county

[00:46:49] to set the tax rate on that personal property classification which is electric and or battery operated lawn care equipment and that one is also awaiting the governor's signature so that's really exciting news again thank you for all your work mr turner thank you madam chair um mr framer can you to my understanding is the governor supports the oak hill project who is opposing it on the was it a committee member a senator or more so so supervisor turner the governor does as far as we

[00:47:26] know does not have an official position on oak hill dcr did do the study and felt very strongly about the study but uh there are folks on the finance side that uh believe that some more work should be done on the financial part of that um what happens if we don't get it in the budget poster study well we so currently we still have a uh study a bill um the senate did that bill but

[00:48:01] the house uh the language that the house passed was the acquisition language so once the if the study passes the senate then the senate will likely insist on their version um i'm sure the house will insist on their version and will likely go to conference so if it's not in a full budget agreement, we still have our bill as a vehicle. Okay. I understand that Senator Reeds, or Delegate Reeds, Advanced Conductor Bill is still alive. Is that correct? It's a bill that requires the

[00:48:39] utilities to advance conductor all new line replacements. Sorry to catch you off guard on that one. I think that one's still alive. HB 1822 is still alive. It's still alive. Yes. Great. Thanks, Renee. And just confirmed there's no more vestigial bills related to J. Lark's recommendation to tie the sales tax exemption to various conditions going forward. They're all dead, correct? Yes. So the bills are, however, the Senate budget language is still

[00:49:18] in play. Oh, that's Senator Deese's language, I think, right? Yeah. That's correct. Yeah. Okay, thank you very much. Before I start ticking my time off, Mr. Reiser, I'm not sure everyone understands what Mr. Turner was just talking about with the tax exemption on the data center issue.

[00:49:46] Would you like to talk about that at all? Sure. The concern is that we do not view the sales tax incentive as an attraction tool. We very much see it as a retention tool. So that really serves the computers inside the data centers, not the buildings themselves.

[00:50:05] So should that come with, not be extended or come with really tough conditions, it could impact vacancy rates, which would impact lease rates, which impacts our tax base. So we think that that could, and this is, you know, across all of the government from commission of revenue to budget to everybody else we think that that could be a very bad thing for the long-term health of our economy here in Loudoun County thank you thank you a couple things one I have been we have been in contact with people in the General Assembly who do have contact with the

[00:50:43] governor and with the administration on Oak Hill with respect I don't believe the the article that came out was the the full story I won't say it was incorrect but I think there was more to the story than, much more to the story that's kind of holding up the bill a little bit. And some of these things we know are being worked through. We hope it doesn't go to a study. We would rather see this move forward right now. But if a study is what has to happen then there we are. But we are working on that and I will say that Delegate Higgins, I've talked to him a couple times about this including when I stepped off the dais last night.

[00:51:20] He is aware, he is supportive, he is working very hard. And so there are people who are having discussions with, as Mr. Letourneau said, upper echelons of the administration. I also want to say that good job, Jonathan, because when the undergrounding came to the Senate before, it crashed and burned pretty hard on the labor and commerce.

[00:51:44] You did a lot of work on that bill. And although it went down this time, 8 to 6, you know, it wasn't what happened before. Some of the language was changed. Some of the language coming out of the mouths of senators was changed. And so, you know, I think that sometimes, you know, the win is the incremental increase, and that happened this time.

[00:52:07] So thank you. And then I would just say overall, Jonathan, you have just been mighty down there. You just have. You've done such good work, and we've only seen your head on the screen for weeks and weeks, to be quite honest, but I do want to recognize how well you've done since you've been there.

[00:52:29] Do you have anything else for us? One quick question. The JLARC study on K-12 education, is anything going to come out of that study this year? Anything like money?

[00:52:47] Yes. So, yes, so there is a group within the General Assembly from the House and Senate appropriations committees that are working through the conference, to be exact, that are working through the near term recommendations to put them in a full budget agreement.

[00:53:08] So we be included a full budget member for this year. Well, near term recommendations. So we talked a few months ago about the near term recommendations. Okay, and we're happy to send that to the to the board. Okay, you know, as a refresher to what what potentially will be in the budget. Okay, well, okay, incremental baby steps. So thank you very much.

[00:53:27] We appreciate it. Anybody else? Thank you, everyone. We appreciate it. Okay, the ranked choice voting, the information item will come will come up a couple of months back when we were putting our ledger item together, the rank choice voting was removed from the legislative agenda.

[00:53:51] It was a two to seven vote. I think Mr. Sainz and I were the only two that voted to keep it in the legislative agenda. And so Mr. Sainz did a great job. He thought maybe not everyone understood this whole discussion on rank choice voting. And so maybe it would be helpful to get the information on people can understand it and we can see this back in our ledger agenda for next year.

[00:54:11] So thank you, Mr. Sainz, for bringing this back in this way. Good evening to the both of you. How are you? We're ready when you are. All right. Good evening, Chair Randall and members of the board. We are here this evening in response to Supervisor Sainz's board member initiative related to ranked choice voting, requesting the Office of Elections provide the board with an overview of ranked choice voting, how it works, and the path to implementation.

[00:54:38] Our presentation this evening, it will provide a high-level overview about how ranked choice voting works and the technical and operational considerations related to implementation and the next steps should the board choose to further explore ranked choice voting for the 2027 Board of Supervisors primary and or general election.

[00:54:58] I do want to note that we do have on the line tonight with us Gretchen Renemeyer from the County of Arlington where they have implemented ranked choice voting if you all have questions that we may not be able to answer for you. and so now i will turn the presentation over to mr keach we have a presentation yeah i'm looking at it oh there's a new yeah that's it's on the screen for everybody else to see do we have a presentation that can be put up on put up no we have a presentation but the guys we oh my god

[00:55:38] we have a presentation the public cannot see the presentation people watching us the thousands of watching us on tv can't see the presentation we can only see the presentation we like for everybody else to see it as well so i know we have one but just not the nine of us okay thank you thousands the tens of tens

[00:56:11] there we go all right good evening chair members of the board we now have the presentation for your fans um so they can follow along at home um so as um judy said tonight our goal here is to provide

[00:56:47] you a very high level overview of what ranked where ranked choice voting is and how it works um and as she said we do have gretchen with us tonight she is the only locality in virginia that has implemented frank choice voting so she thought we thought she may be handy um so basically what is ranked choice voting um in a ranked choice voting contest voters are asked to rank their their choices in order, one, two, three. So if there are five candidates, they're asked to rank their top three choices. After the initial count, which typically happens on election night and a few days after, if a candidate receives a majority, 50% plus one or more, that candidate is declared

[00:57:25] the winner. If no candidate receives a majority, so 49.9%, the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated. That candidate's votes are then redistributed to the other candidates based on their second choice. This continues until a candidate reaches a majority. So one of the things Supervisor Sains asked us to address were the technical considerations and the abilities of our current existing equipment. The voting equipment we utilize is Unison voting systems, Freedom Vote Scan, and Open Elect Voter Interface. That's our ADA equipment. The system can process

[00:58:04] up to three ranked choices with the current certified version in Virginia. That could be upgraded to five if the newer version was certified, which it will be at some point. The county currently owns the hardware and software to process the ballots using the cast vote records following the election should rank choice need to be processed. There are two options for doing that. We own software that can do it, and the state also has a contract for software that can do it. Data from our equipment transport media, which is a fancy word for thumb drive, a USB, would need to be imported prior to transfer to the circuit court. And we may see a vendor

[00:58:42] programming fee increase due to additional processing required. Next up, we want to talk about some operational considerations and what's been observed around the country in Arlington and other places that have done this and what we we would advise the board to keep in mind as you continue this conversation voter confusion is consistently cited as the largest issue only the board of supervisors is authorized by code right now to utilize this ranked choice method that would be not the school board no that would be the only races on the ballot that could use it the chair or

[00:59:19] the board members all other races would be the traditional voting method which would lead to two sets of instructions on the same voter's ballot. This method would only be used in Loudoun County every four years and then only if more than two candidates for a particular seat. The state local ballot is already the longest ballot we run. In 2023, it was a double-sided eight and a half by 17 inch ballot. Adding ranked choice would very likely require the use of two ballot cards per

[00:59:53] voter. So instead of a voter receiving one ballot, they'd receive two. Some things to keep in mind is there would likely be a delay in results and declaration of a winner. If no candidate clears 50%, the ranked processing cannot begin until after all ballots are processed. This means post election, which is mail received after election day, and provisional ballots, which are typically not processed until the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday after the election. So you'd be seeing a delay of approximately a week. Cost of ballots would likely double due to the addition of additional cards.

[01:00:33] We would have increased storage requirements, which would impact the circuit court. And the board of supervisors must pass an ordinance for each election and when drawing choice voting is to be used. Um, our understanding and from consulting with, um, Nick Lawrence and the county attorney's office is this cannot be a blanket ordinance. It has to be for each individual election. So now we've done an example for you of what the ballots would look like. Um, the November, did I skip Arlington? No, I went back. No, I didn't. Okay. Sorry. Um, so this is, this

[01:01:13] was the 2023 ballot. It's a little hard to read on here. It's a little easier to see on the paper, but it was a double-sided eight and a half by 17 inch ballot. The next slide shows you what the ballot would have looked like if November 2023 had been utilizing ranked choice voting. As you can see, the biggest change is the only race we had in the county that would have qualified for ranked choice voting would have been the board chair. That's why we picked on you, Chair Randall.

[01:01:38] Thank you. Appreciate that. So we asked our vendor to put together a ballot mock-up as what that would look like for us per state requirements. Did I win on all the ballots you? Of course. Okay, then I'm cool. Per state requirements, rank choice ballots must appear, make choice, break choices must appear on their own page of the ballot so as not to cause confusion. So this would mean that other Board of Supervisors members and the entire school board and any town members would move ahead of the board chair or any race for Board of Supervisors that would rank choice. So as you

[01:02:13] can see the layout here is Senate, House, Constitutionals, Board, Soil and Water, and then Chairman and Board of Supervisors. And then on the back of that page, we have our questions. So this is where I'm at. So now we have our locality comparison. We thought it would be interesting to compare the two use cases here. Loudoun County, we have a board election every four years. We elect our entire board all at once. Arlington County has a board election every year. In Loudoun, only the chair at large is elected. The chair

[01:02:49] is elected at large. In Arlington, all five seats are at large. We have eight district seats, and in Arlington, the board selects their chair. Again, all seats here are selected at once. In Arlington, they do one for three years and then two in one year. We have an average of two candidates going back through history. On average, we have about two candidates for each one seat.

[01:03:14] Arlington, looking through theirs quickly, averages three to six candidates for one or two seats. A complication, we believe, could be a problem in Loudoun County and something considered is we have seven incorporated towns, they have none. And we're almost double the size with 433,000 voters population and they have about 242,000. So now we'll talk about some next steps. As you said, this is an information item. We're here to answer questions. Basically what would happen is if the board were to choose to move forward, you would vote to move forward into the next phase. The

[01:03:52] requirements require that the board of supervisors consult with the electoral board and general registrar. We would do a fiscal impact study, obviously, and review that with the board. We would develop a draft voter education plan, and we would consult with the voting equipment vendor and get more details on what would be needed to be done. And then we are going to outline for you the implementation process if you were to choose to move forward in 2027.

[01:04:20] This process is governed by Virginia Code 24.2673.1 and Virginia Administrative Code 1VAC 20-100. The board would need to adopt an ordinance no later than 90 days prior to the election and which rank choice was to be used.

[01:04:38] In the information item, we outlined those dates for you. That's mid-April, no, mid-March for the June primary and early August for the November general. Signed copy of the ordinance is submitted to Virginia Department of Elections. We do not believe that public hearing is required as the code vests the authority to do this with the board of supervisors.

[01:05:00] But that would certainly be something we would discuss with county attorney's office. And we would have to develop and distribute a comprehensive voter education program no later than 60 days prior to each election in which ranked choice was to be used. Another thing to consider that I wanted to add here is that this law allowing the board, this authority does sunset on July 1st, 2031.

[01:05:24] It has a sunset clause, so unless it's reenacted by the legislature, it will go away. So in theory, as of right now, there are only three potential elections the board could choose to use this in. And that is the presentation.

[01:05:41] Well, good golly. That was really helpful. Thank you. You're welcome. Mr. Letourneau. I was confused by one thing you said. You said you were picking on the chair as the example because she was at large.

[01:05:57] But is there an eligibility restriction that this is only applicable to at-large seats? Or could it apply to every seat, including district seats? Thank you, Supervisor LeTourneau. No, we weren't picking on Chair Randall because she's at large. We were picking on her because that was the only race that had three candidates.

[01:06:16] So the way it works is if you don't have three candidates, if you don't have three or more candidates, it's just not used. So we may end up in a situation where two board seats, it's used, the chair and the others, it's not. So in mocking up a ballot quickly to put something together for you, that was the easiest to have.

[01:06:34] And then you were saying, historically, it's unusual for us to have more than two candidates. Yes. I believe recently we've had three candidates in Supervisor Sainz District for a primary. Yeah. And then we had Chair Randall. Those were both 2023.

[01:06:51] Right. It's not often. Even instituting ranked choice voting would not preclude a party from having its own primary and therefore narrowing the number of candidates through that process, right?

[01:07:07] Right. But the Board of Supervisors could say that if a primary were to be held, that it would be ranked choice. if it's a state-run primary if it's a yeah if it's a primary we are running for board chair or board of supervisors member that that would be covered by this yeah but one of the parties historically doesn't do that to pick well i don't think they'd have a choice i believe if the board passed this ordinance and both parties chose to do a primary and each had three candidates they would both be conducted with yeah but couldn't a party choose not to do a primary i'm gonna let judy talk about that do today choose not to do a primary um it is my understanding there was

[01:07:46] legislation passed last year um that prohibits the parties for doing primaries in local elections on according to what the state said to told us um unless they are able to provide um the ability for military overseas and people out of town to participate in their processes was that legislation or was that just guidance from the attorney general no that was legislation okay okay um well i don't necessarily think this any of this convinces me that this is a good idea because it

[01:08:23] just seems massively complicated i'm not quite sure the problem we're trying to solve with this but thank you for the presentation and that's pretty interesting miss um glass thank you madam chair and thank you for the presentation um so when you were talking about arlington is arlington one of the jurisdictions that does rank choice voting or they do are they the only ones in the They're currently the only ones, to my knowledge. Others are exploring it. We know Albemarle's been looking at it. Charlottesville. You were looking at this, Judy.

[01:08:54] Yes. Charlottesville did adopt to the city of Charlottesville. We'll be using it in their primary this year. They are a jurisdiction that votes their council. And so they have staggered terms. And so they have elections for the council every two years.

[01:09:14] And you said that it's to go into sunset in 2031, so it has to go through the General Assembly for the whatever jurisdiction that would like to use ranked choice voting again.

[01:09:32] Yeah, our understanding is the legislature would have to renew the legislation going forward. It's basically a pilot program, I believe. And so when you're talking about, okay, if we have, let's say, four candidates in there, and so the voter, they could choose two people if that's the only two that they wanted to vote for, or would they have to vote for all four of them, like that would be my third person or my fourth person?

[01:10:01] if there were four candidates they could vote their top three choices so they could vote for one they could vote for two or they could vote for three and they would and then the way the ballot is laid out it would actually be a rank thing if there's one column a two column and a three column and the voter would mark which which which space they want each candidate and also it we would also have to inform the community there would have to be some they have training or it information given out to the community about ranked choice voting that is required um you know we do expect that would that would be a relatively heavy lift um so it is a required thing to do and you know if you want some information about how that's done you know we do have gretchen on the phone and i'm

[01:10:40] sure she can jump in here as long as she's available still on the phone thank you miss umso um thank you madam chair um a political activist in arlington whom i know expressed concern about ranked choice voting because their observation was that it made it more difficult for minority candidates to win elections we haven't you haven't had the resources to look into that at all have you you weren't tasked with it so I wouldn't expect but

[01:11:20] that that was one concern another concern is that let's say you have a Republican incumbent a Democratic challenger and then a third individual who leans more left the two more liberal candidates probably one of them might well win that race because they they're the voters would tend to say if they're going to vote for the Democratic challenger they'd probably say the more

[01:11:59] liberal candidate was their second choice and when I looked at the literature that is put out by the um the nonprofit that has put done a lot of research on this what it indicated to me is much of the time it's the second place finish finisher who actually wins the election um it's it's not often the first place finisher so i'm i'm going to be

[01:12:33] really hard to convince that this is a good idea at all. But I really thank you for your hard work on it. This has been very helpful. Thank you. Mr. Crony. Thank you, Chair Randall. And thank you for the presentation. So I'm wondering if we could just do it for the primary election versus the general election. This is just for the primary election. Yes. Well, no, I'm just saying like not do it for both because we we tend to have lots of primary candidates and it's too bad we can't do for congressional because we had one with like 12 candidates i would say we have a lot of primary

[01:13:11] candidates but rarely in a board of supervisors race i believe the only primary we have the board of supervisors last time was supervisor shanes it was sterling i believe madam chair can i oh you're next you're next you're next but yes the answer is yes it could be done just for the primary or or for both or just for the general it's up to the board okay so we could pick and choose sure because i think it makes sense on the primary level do you know how we could would we have to ask the general assembly to apply it for like state elections and congressional because that that's where we had so many candidates

[01:13:49] for the primary um there was um legislation that was introduced um and i believe what they've done now is tasked the state with uh looking into um allowing it for more than just board of supervisors so it opened up to local offices which to me would mean constitutional offices the school board and so there's the state is supposed to look in and report back to the general assembly at the beginning of the 2026 session yeah and i'm thinking too for the state offices not just local

[01:14:25] anyway i i think it makes sense maybe for the primary but i don't know about the general election so thank you so much thank you mr saints oh thank you um well to clarify i had a primary in 2019 not 2023 um where we had several candidates and then for 2015 when i ran we had internal firehouse primary of three candidates then as well um so i just wanted to clarify a couple things from supervisor umstead actually and miss gretchen i'm sorry i forget your last name who's arlington who is the arlington counterpart to to miss judy and ricky here that's on the call

[01:15:05] if they can clarify oh unfortunately ms umson's not here she's off the dais but from my recollection and correct me if wrong um scratching from arlington and the last two elections i believe it was uh ranked choice elected two females and one african-american candidate from rank choice is that correct yes that's correct we used ring choice voting in our primary election last year where we two female candidates were nominated for the Democratic Party and then we use ranked choice voting in the primary and general election last year in which an African American was elected and

[01:15:41] nominated. Alright so for the thousands of thousands watching at home in this presentation correct that there was minority candidates elected with ranked choice voting despite what my colleague said from Leesburg so just want to correct that for the record um and thank you for the presentation miss gretchen thank you for being with us today um miss gretchen to you if you can you know with the remaining of my time if you want to talk about your experience with uh ranked choice voting in arlington and i believe you guys are the board this saturday is possibly looking to to do another uh vote to to have it uh for the for the

[01:16:16] upcoming elections is that correct yes that is correct so our the arlington county board is voting on whether or not they want to extend rank choice voting in all general elections moving forward they have already adopted an ordinance to select it as the nomination method for primary elections so you can do it for just a primary and not just a general um our experience in arlington the first year is a big lift i'm not going to sugarcoat it there is a definite need to educate the uh community about rank choice voting because it is a new method um by the time we got to our

[01:16:55] general election it was basically a non-issue in a presidential election where there are so many other issues there so we had 130 000 people vote in november and uh almost all of them were able to successfully mark their ballot in a way that we could count it okay so you feel there was with education the program went pretty smoothly these last few elections and miss um said just joined us miss um said i don't think heard heard there was two females and one african-american elected in the last few elections with ranked choice voting so that i wanted to correct what you your statement there that was not accurate so but in your opinion with proper education you feel rank choice uh is

[01:17:35] working well it's certainly our voters are not appearing to have any more trouble with it this yeah this last november all right thank you and thank you so much for being with us miss brixman thank you madam chair um i think a lot of my questions have been answered but thank you for looking into this um just very basic if you're a voter and you have a ranked choice ballot um can you just vote for one candidate okay and you don't you don't have to do the ranking you'd have to mark spot one just one yeah okay so you if you don't vote for at least one it

[01:18:14] becomes an undervote. An undervote. Okay. Okay. And I guess Arlington, people don't seem to be as confused anymore. But would you say that it was a little bit less confusing in Arlington because of the nature of their races, because they're all at large? Just personal opinion, I would say the at-large nature of their races and the fact that they elect, that they would, they'd use this method continuously. So my personal concern, the biggest one would be the

[01:18:46] every four year aspect oh yeah we'd only be using this every four years yeah arlington's elections also have um every fourth year we have two candidates up and then every other year we have one candidate up so we had two candidates in 2023 and one candidate last year and just the nature of switching between two to one candidate causes some confusion huh okay okay that's all i had thank Thank you.

[01:19:16] Thank you. Mr. Kirchner. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for the presentation. It was a very interesting concept to me. I've done a little bit of research on it. And one thing you didn't really touch on is I didn't feel like was outside of Arlington and their success or difficult -- successes or difficulties there with it is, you know, how it's kind of played out around the world or the nation, I should say.

[01:19:38] The general concept that I get from the materials I read is that it does create a fair amount a fair amount of problems just because I like to live by a simple mantra is keep it simple stupid. And this is obviously not simple. And I would have, you know, there's nothing really been touched on, the amount of extra work that it puts on our staff, the counting process, the confusion, the questions. The other thing I can just think of is some races would be ranked as voting on a ballot. Some would not. I would imagine that would create all kinds of issues. The other things I've read is actually, and I'm sure this isn't

[01:20:13] true across the board, but it has a tendency, as I understand, to actually, because of the frustration that people have, discourage voting, and that would be something I would obviously be concerned about. So I guess I'm trying to figure, and I appreciate the item coming because it is a very interesting concept, and I think, quite frankly, if parties want to use it within their system, that's, you know, entirely up to them. But I think when we're dealing with the public and the average person that probably votes once a year in their November election, or maybe they vote twice a year because they go to the primary and then they go to their general election.

[01:20:50] We could probably keep it as simple as possible. That's just my general feeling because I do think it would be frustrating, and we do want people to vote. We don't want them to have a frustrating process. And although in theory this sounds great because, hey, you're going to make sure the person with the majority votes and so you don't have to have a runoff gets elected, I think it will create more problems.

[01:21:13] create far more problems than, quite frankly, it will solve. Now, with that said, I did have a question about the process, and I think you kind of mentioned a little bit, but I had to go in back because my computer started talking back to me about ranked choice voting, actually. If we were to adopt this, and I think you kind of addressed it, what's the process?

[01:21:31] Again, we would -- it would come to us as a resolution and we would adopt it for the county and just board races, is that correct? Is that how I understood that? Yes, the board would adopt an ordinance to use rank choice voting for a particular election and it can be it would just be done no longer than 90 days prior to the election it would be just for our elections we don't have the power over any other type any other elections is that correct yes at this point and they would all be on the same ballot so potentially state races potentially town races they they would have to adopt their own in order to match ours and ours would be so they couldn't code only allows board of supervisors got it it's only the governing body of locality at this point that's my so my

[01:22:10] point is they would be different yes there will be different types of races yeah this this creates more problems i think than probably we want to jump into my thoughts thank you mr turner thank you madam chair so you got a couple things so the parties can no longer hold what they call firehouse primaries unless you give a fair access to military absentee voters and that sort of thing by state code yeah that is my understanding from direction from this state uh we had a meeting just this week where they indicated that all local races will be primaries state-run primaries

[01:22:50] will be primaries that we operate yes yeah okay um so if there are so we're looking at a primary it doesn't make any sense if you only got two candidates in a primary to have ranked choice voting obviously so it's got to be three or more i was interested you only rank the one two and three if there are five candidates in a primary you only rank one through three can you explain why that is it's it's a technical limitation technical okay got it the system can only handle the three so we asked the voters to rank their top three um you know and then just to clarify something also that we were we were looking into this morning is one issue you run into with a

[01:23:25] primary is the board would have to decide whether to use ranked choice voting prior to knowing how many candidates there were so right that that would be a decision that would be made so the decision may well be made and it would never it would not be used so to recap in loudon county the affected race the only affected race would be in actually it wouldn't be would be 2027 it would need to be 2025 correct because it's got to be the board of supervisors

[01:23:57] and my experience is as you pointed out correctly i this would have fairly limited application i don't know a lot of circumstances where there are regularly more than two candidates in a primary that would have to use this process and i agree with supervisor kirschner that having the voter would have to go and get a ballot that could potentially be four pages with one kind of voting on one part of the ballot and one kind of voting on the other part of the ballot which would be enormously complicated um yeah i i am i've been a strong proponent of ranked choice voting based

[01:24:34] on the concept based on the theory but the practical limitations here in loudon county with, I think, a relatively marginal benefit, I think, argue fairly strongly against it. I believe Judy actually did some research into how many times it would have been used over the past 10 years or so. Oh, great. Okay, so what I did was just November elections from 1991 to 2003, and there were 14 different races during that time, the chair and different supervisor races, where there were more than two candidates.

[01:25:09] What I determined also is that six of those would have won 50% of the vote and been declared a winner and then eight of them actually had less than 50% which would have triggered the rank choice voting.

[01:25:28] And then we also had a number of times, five different times where candidates were unopposed in a district. And that's five elections where you use rank choice in 10 years? Yes. Thank you. So I've been on the ballot five times. Every single time I've been on the ballot, I've had more than one opponent.

[01:25:46] Every single. I've never had one opponent, ever. It's amazing. It's just amazing. I think it's tough because the logistics are hard, and I think it's harder for you all. I think logistics are hard. It's a balance of then whether or not ranked choice voting would encourage people to run for office.

[01:26:08] And truthfully, in my opinion, even though I've, you know, when I ran for chair the first time, there was four people on the ballot with me. There was four other people. Three other people. There was four of us on the ballot. I have won against seven people in three elections, and then one person dropped off.

[01:26:28] So actually eight people in three elections. And then when I ran in 2003, there were three people. When I ran in 2007, I've never had an election with just one other person. I love the ideal of something that encourages more people to run for office. If I lose, I lose. If I win, I win, whatever. But I love the ideal of more people running for office.

[01:26:46] But because many times in a race, the party decides this is our chosen candidate, other people feel discouraged to run. And that's a problem for me because, you know, all ends what you want. You want as many people involved in the process as possible. So I really love that ideal, no matter how it would turn out for any particular person.

[01:27:05] On the other hand, I do hear the logistics. Now, I don't buy that it would be too confusing because if this happened during supervisor elections, those are off-odd-year elections. Voters in off-odd-year elections are the most involved, the most forward-leaning, and the most educated as far as how this works ever.

[01:27:21] Usually the vote turnout is 30%, 35%, maybe 40%. Those voters know what they're doing. They're going in on an off-odd election. If they're voting in that election, they know what they're doing. So I don't – not to mention I think Loudoun County has really smart people. So I think they can figure that out. That wouldn't be my issue.

[01:27:36] My issue would be cost. My issue would be cost. My issue would be how much harder it would be on you all. Those would be the two things, staff and cost. And so I don't know where I come down on the issue because, on the one hand, I don't want to cost more, and I don't want staff to have to go through more.

[01:27:52] You all work pretty hard already. On the other hand, I love the idea of having more people, as many people as possible, involved in the process. Our current governor was chosen in a ranked choice vote in a party process. He did not come in first for, I think, the first three ballots or something like that before he finally won.

[01:28:13] So, you know, party processes also can produce this, and it can work. It can work if that's what you want to do as well. So it may be that we can do a ranked choice something in a party process. So there's options and the information I think was really helpful because it gave us options and gave us information.

[01:28:34] I think there's pros, I think there's cons. I think the biggest pros is what people are involved and the biggest cons, it costs more and it's harder for you all. So I do appreciate coming in and I think we'll spend more time later on having this discussion. So thank you both for being here, I appreciate it.

[01:28:49] Supervisors, we need to do, we have five o'clock speaking slots and then we have, and then we we have a resolution. All right. We have six people signed up for five o'clock that I have right now. I will check and see if there's more. Shane Crowe, Reverend Trammell, Don Slayman, you are the first three speakers for our five o'clock speaking time. Mr. Crowe, will you come up to please? Good evening. Hear me? We can hear you. Perfect. So thank you again for your time

[01:29:29] hearing me out. I thank Mr. Friedman, or excuse me, I thank Mr. Keech and Ms. Brown for their presentation today on explaining the applicability of ranked choice voting here in Loudoun County, and I also thank Ms. Reinmeier from Arlington County for being available to help answer any additional questions. I found the information session to be quite informative on my own end, particularly regarding the logistics of how rank choice voting would be applied here in Loudoun County.

[01:30:02] Some other things I'd like to bring to the board's attention. There was a piece of legislation regarding rank choice voting in the General Assembly, SB 1009, which was sponsored by Senator Saleem from Fairfax. It has now passed both the Senate and the House, albeit with some substitutions.

[01:30:20] There was language in there previously that would have expanded the option to use rank choice voting for all local offices but then the house made a substitution so if we did wish to consider like further lobbying in the future to expand the option I would definitely consider being in communication with our house delegation particularly delegates Srinivasan who does sit on the privileges and elections committee in Richmond but if I may take the rest of my time to try and answer some additional concerns that were raised during the board's information setting. There was one issue

[01:30:56] regarding the issue of ranked choice voting being confusing for voters. And I understand where it's coming from because it's more than just counting one round of votes. But one thing that I would say is that the more this concern is raised, I find it personally to be insulting to the intelligence of voters, particularly here in Loudoun County, because we're wealthy not just in like our own finances, but in intelligence. A lot of us have like bachelor's degrees and such. And even beyond that, like our own like children, for those of us who do have children, can easily like rank their

[01:31:34] favorite items, be it like foods, television shows, toys, and such. And so this isn't something that is overly sophisticated, but it's very easy and intuitive for people to know. And for the rest of my time. Another thing that I'd like to address to Supervisor Letourneau's criticism about why exactly we're doing this, I've had many conversations with people my age who are disaffected and disillusioned, and it's not a coincidence. It is a consequence of the way we run elections, but when I explain to them how ranked choice voting would work, I see the light come back in their eyes, and that's what I want to see happen here. Thank you very much, Mr. Crowe.

[01:32:08] Thank you. Reverend Trammell, followed by Don Sleeman, followed by Roy Marbury. Good evening, sir. How are you? Oh, I'm kicking off pretty good. Amen. How's all the board members? We are well,

[01:32:43] ready when you are, sir. That's good. I just come to support the Dallas Center that's going up down on Sickland Road. It's near my church, and I support them, whatever they got to do. We need any kind of building we can get down there because it's lonely down there.

[01:33:07] I've been there seven years, but I'm doing some creative work. The airport is the only thing that's quite naturally road, and they've got ball diamonds all around behind us, so I feel that the other centers would be all right, and we're in support then.

[01:33:26] When I said we am speaking of the whole church congregation, and this is Reverend Jackson. He's my assistant. Reverend Jackson, you're in support as well? Yes. Amen. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, gentlemen. Yes, ma'am. Don Slayman, followed by Roy Marbury.

[01:33:44] Let me do this one more time. I don't have to do this, but in an effort for full disclosure, my son works for IBDW, the Local 26, which is the same union that Mr. Slayman is from.

[01:34:00] So he works in right now on a data center contract. And again, I don't have to put that out there, but just for full disclosure, I put that out there. Good evening, Madam Chair and board members. And I understand we have 200 contractors, but I understand your son's doing a wonderful job and is really progressing well on his apprenticeship.

[01:34:18] That is how you get someone's vote, to compliment their son. Very good. It's a wonderful career. And I was just talking to the ladies. I'm just kidding, of course, people. I'm just kidding, of course. That we are expanding.

[01:34:35] We are growing, there's so many opportunities and it's nice to be in a growing industry. I spent my career in dealing with deregulation and globalization and deindustrialization and going to towns all over this country and making the workers feel so many cared and it's just such a different experience for me as a labor leader to being an industry that's growing and thriving and producing so many great jobs.

[01:35:01] Tonight, I'm here to speak on a particular project, the Greenland Park project. I spoke with a supervisor who district it lies in, and Supervisor Umstadt, and she was very positive about the project. I understand that the planning commission staff is very supportive of the project.

[01:35:18] I've seen they've done a lot of mitigation. They've reduced the project by one-third, and they've also changed the design and made a lot of other mitigations. I'm only here. Those are technical matters. You guys decide. I'm here because they reached out to me and they cared and they were wanting to know what they could do, the owners, when they pass it to the developer on helping the workers and we've had good discussions and so it's really pleasing for labor to be in a room where decisions are made.

[01:35:48] Unfortunately, workers have been not really listened to and it causes a lot of problems and the fraying of our social fabric as a result. And it's really good to be part of the decision-making process to speak on behalf of the working people.

[01:36:04] And it's also good to be involved in a growing industry. And so, just wanted to thank you all for my message tonight and thank you. Thank you, sir. Roy Marbury, Kirk Mainland, and Reverend Jackson, if you'd like to come again.

[01:36:24] Roy, is he on? I think he's on the phone. Yes, I'm on the phone. Yeah. Yes, sir. Good evening, Chair Randall. I have some bounce back of the sound. I don't know if you can hear it or not. You sound fine to us, sir.

[01:36:40] Okay. Well, let me get off speakerphone and try this again. Can you stop this time? Huh? We're ready when you are. You're good. We can hear you just fine, sir. Yes. Okay.

[01:36:56] I got off speakerphone and the bounce back is not as bad. Okay. Good evening, all. One of the strengths of ranked choice voting is a party can offer many candidates for the same point of view. Through that voting process and software, one of those candidates most likely will eventually win.

[01:37:14] Given the results of the 2024 presidential election, I see the mega movement gaining traction in Loudoun County. You might want to consider this as a risk. Mega supporters could take advantage of the ranked choice voting process and flood the ballot with mega candidates.

[01:37:33] And unless the software can assure victory, in my opinion, ranked choice voting and the mega movement poses a risk to the board. My question is, do you all really want to consider that and run that risk? Now, I'd like to go through a few bullet points that I see as issues with ranked choice voting.

[01:37:55] It is cumbersome, and as some have already spoken about, it requires a lot of extra staff expense and voter re-education year after year. It also runs counter to the principle of one vote and one person, but instead there's many votes by one person.

[01:38:16] The software actually chooses the winner, not the voters. In a case of a runoff, it denies a person the opportunity to reconsider the top two vote-getters and then vote accordingly. In summary, it cuts out the voter from the process and puts the power of the vote in the hands of the software.

[01:38:38] Those are my concerns, and I respectfully ask you to consider those in your deliberations of whether or not we should implement rate choice voting for the Board of Supervisors. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. I do believe Reverend Jackson has left, so we have one more speaker.

[01:38:54] Kirk Mainland, are you here? Good evening. Kirk Mainland, I'd like to take a moment of your time here to thank you for your continued support for data centers here in Loudoun County.

[01:39:10] My family and I have lived here in Loudoun County for almost 10 years. I've spent my career in the IT space, selling supporting hardware, software, and professional services to federal, state, and local governments. Data centers act as the backbone for government IT infrastructure to enable digital offerings and improving citizen services.

[01:39:34] They allow for data-driven decision-making and streamline operations along with cost savings and improved efficiencies in a very secure environment. Without our data centers, government cannot execute on our mission to our citizens and across the county, state, country, and globe.

[01:39:53] Your continued support is extremely important for data centers. For my business, it drives the growth of jobs for sales, engineers, application developers, operations, delivery, administrative, to name a few.

[01:40:10] Data centers truly impacts the growth of our economy and every aspect of the digital world we live in. As a resident of Loudoun County, my family sees the impact through increased tax revenues, the creation of parks and recreations that we all enjoy, better schools for our children, as well as lower taxes.

[01:40:33] Thank you very much for the consideration of your support. Thank you, sir. And just to just check, is Mr. Jackson, is Reverend Jackson still here? All right. I don't see him. All right. We have resolutions this evening. I'm going to do the resolution first for Black History Month.

[01:40:48] Would Supervisor Sane, Supervisor Glass, please join me down front?

[01:41:07] Would everyone who's here for the Black History Resolution, even if you don't know that you're here for the Black History Resolution, would you now come down front with me?

[01:41:26] Everybody's looking at you for a reason, so you may want to come down front. Yes, your father did this. Guys, come on. There you are. Miss Mitchell.

[01:41:42] Did I see Angela Mitchell come in the room? Oh, she's already over here. She just scooches in the room all the time. I need something on this side as well, please.

[01:41:58] I give this history all the time. Come on both sides.

[01:42:17] In 2007, I came into this boardroom and I said to the then chair of the county, I said, why don't we have a Black History Month resolution ever? And my predecessor, Scott York, looked straight at me and he said, why don't you write it? And I thought he was completely right. He's completely right. If I should not come into this room and ask for a resolution for black history for the community that I am most familiar with, and I shouldn't ask somebody else to write that.

[01:42:39] And I said, okay. I started writing a resolution, and then I wrote the resolution in Loudoun County ever since. I also have said that if we have resolutions for any group, whatever they may be, I won't do it unless the group themselves are involved in writing the resolution.

[01:42:55] So don't ask me to put a resolution forward for any group unless that group is involved in a resolution. I also always put out a call to say, who do we think should be celebrated? And I get lots of responses, and I would try to give back to everybody. But this year, one of them stood out to me especially, and we will talk about that in the resolution, because I want to hear from people, because I don't know what everyone does in the community, but we always want to know.

[01:43:23] And finally, I would say the Black History Resolution has a keeper of the records. The Black History Resolution does and has always and should always sit with the NAACP in Loudoun County. Pastor Michelle Thomas is head of the NAACP branch in Loudoun County, so she will always be here, or whomever is the head of the branch in Loudoun County, because they are the keeper of the records.

[01:43:43] They've always gotten a copy of this resolution. They always should. Proclamation for Black History Month in Loudoun County. Whereas, Angela Mitchell was sworn in as the first African-American woman ever elected by the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce to service their chairperson for calendar year 2024.

[01:44:07] Among her many successes and accomplishments during her tenure, the Loudoun Chamber grew by 1,000 members, and the Loudoun County Chamber Foundation allocated $80,000 to 20 different nonprofits. And five years ago, Harriet Summers started the Loudoun County Chapter of the Young Kings, a program that provides young men with the opportunity to foster growth and enhance leadership abilities.

[01:44:32] Under her leadership, the Young Kings volunteered for food drives, marched in the annual MLK parade, participated in educational seminars on youth human trafficking, and served as ushers to the Loudoun's Annual State of the County Address. And whereas Ashley Carontane, a graduate of Dominion High School, founded her own tutoring program working with students across Loudoun County and led a mentorship program, Rise and Thrive Incorporated, to inspire and guide the next generation of leaders.

[01:45:04] In 2024, Ashley established Virginia Vestee, a semi-professional women's basketball team in Loudoun County. Ashley aims to bring attention to women's sports and ensure that female athletes receive the respect, care, and support they deserve as elite athletes.

[01:45:23] And whereas on November 5, 2024, the Union Street School held a voter protection education day for students from the Charles Hamilton Houston School of Law. The Loudoun County Courthouse was also named after Mr. Houston, who worked to bring an end to all white juries.

[01:45:41] This case was argued in the historic courthouse in Loudoun County in 1933. And whereas, and I'll talk about this in a second, the former vice president of the United States, Kamala Davi Harris, sought the office of president of the United States.

[01:45:57] Vice President Harris, who won Loudoun County by 16%, was both the first woman and the first person of color to hold the office of vice president. Danielle Campbell, a former Loudoun resident and graduate of Freedom High School, served as Vice President Harris's associate scheduling director.

[01:46:16] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisor does hereby recognize February 2025 as Black History Month in Loudoun County and encourages all residents to educate themselves on the rich and impressive history of the African-American community in Loudoun County, Virginia.

[01:46:36] Take a second. Before I pass the mic on, we usually do this the first meeting in February. We're doing the second meeting in February because of the plane crash. Danielle Campbell could have been here the first meeting.

[01:46:53] She can't be here the second meeting because she got a phone call from Doug Emhoff to go to be his personal assistant. So she has moved to California to be the personal assistant of Doug Emhoff, but I let her know we will be sending a resolution to her. So congratulations, everyone.

[01:47:09] Who would like to speak? Yeah, I know, right? Clap for that, right? Yeah. Right. Who would like to speak? And yes, your parents will be coming up here for these pictures in just a second. Would anyone like to speak? Any of you?

[01:47:25] Okay, so what I will say is this. your parents in fact your father i put out what i always do who should we celebrate this this black history resolution i don't think i hit the word sins hit the button sin before i got an email back from your father who told me all about you um we went back and forth a couple times your father is prouder of you than any father has ever been to anybody in the nation ever i know about your whole life and oh by the way i have a son

[01:48:03] i'm just messing with you should like to say anything just thank you so much um that is definitely true i say my dad is my biggest fan and i appreciate him i love him so much and i'm really blessed to be a part of loudon county and to just live here and grow here so thank you so

[01:48:32] much. Good evening. As we have, I personally have received this proclamation, I guess, for the last five years, or maybe more than that. Today, I feel especially honored to have, to be the keeper of this, because you never know when the erasure of black history will happen. And in a moment where our civil rights are under attack, in a moment where our voting rights are under attack,

[01:49:12] our accomplishments, our brilliance, and our resilience in terms of black history is all under attack. And so to be able to have our history in Loudoun County codified in a proclamation may not seem like much to other people, but I'm telling you, it means something to go on the record, saying that we in Loudoun celebrate our shared history. Thank you.

[01:49:44] Ms. Glass, Mr. St. Joe Sainte. To the young lady who's starting in the basketball league, congratulations. Please make sure you email us all the information so we can put it in our newsletter for when you're doing tryouts and when your games are going to be held. And where are the games going to be played at? We're finalizing our location right now, but hopefully in Ashburn.

[01:50:13] or ashburn mr turner will you join me down front please we have one more resolution and it is for

[01:53:13] the dog exactly we have a resolution for thor the explosive detection canine is he here there we go oh oh they're both here thor and thor is a story retiring thor is retired Hi buddy! How's it going? Hi sweetie pie! How's it going? Can't guess which one's retired.

[01:53:49] I can't guess a little bit. Hi! Hi! That's right. You want to stand somewhere? We have to plant the dogs now. You good?

[01:54:16] All right. Resolution for the Explosive Detection K9 Thor. That's just Thor right here. Whereas, fire is a serious public safety concern, both locally and nationally, and the County of Loudoun is committed to ensuring the safety of all residents and visitors.

[01:54:33] And whereas, explosive detection canine Thor has served with the fire marshal's office for seven and a half years, alongside his handler, Captain Chris Berry. And whereas during his service, Thor has provided explosive protection sweeps for the United States presidents, members of Congress, state and local elected officials, and countless residents and guests in the national capital region.

[01:54:56] He's tired from it, too. And whereas one of Thor's greatest pleasures was being an ambassador for fire and rescue, greeting children of all ages at community events and teaching them about fire safety.

[01:55:08] And whereas canine Thor has raised awareness about the importance of explosive detections and their immeasurable value to the community and touched the heart in the process, now therefore be it resolved that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors and the Loudoun County Combined Fire and Rescue System does hereby recognize explosives detection canine Thor for his devoted and steadfast service to the citizens of Loudoun County and for his assistance to the federal, state, and local agencies.

[01:55:44] He's like, I'm tired. Who'd like to speak? Oh. I don't have anything prepared to speak, even though, to speak on. Chief Johnson is actually back.

[01:56:00] He was supposed to come. He was supposed to be gone, so he told me to be prepared. I was joking, not joking with him when I said, you're back, you can speak. Yeah, so Thor retired, and this is Zoe.

[01:56:15] this is his replacement and one thing that i've noticed uh in my time in the fire marshal's office is while they are replaced they're never truly replaced each one of them has their own personality associated with them uh thor has been a gentle giant uh they say that they take on uh the the life of their handler and you can tell that chris is also a gentle giant and in a lot of uh in a lot of aspects but a very well-deserved retirement uh and i'd be remiss if i didn't ask chris to have

[01:56:48] some words uh if you would for your experience with thor so first off i want to thank chief johnson fire and rescue for giving me the opportunity to work with thor um sorry can y'all hear me um so one thing about our dogs they're all um food reward dogs so they don't eat out of a bowl until they retire. So every day, seven days a week, we have to work the dogs depending on what odors they find, whether it's one of our accelerant dogs or one of the explosives

[01:57:21] dogs. We work them seven days a week and they only eat from our hand. The other interesting, so a lot of people are surprised to hear that they live with us. They're at work with us every day so pretty much you have a 18 month old tied to you every day for the entire time that you serve but I will say Thor has been one of the the best co-workers I've ever had he's a very important part of my family and yeah I'm looking

[01:57:59] forward to letting him or having him be a dog and be able to eat out of a dish so again I think all all of the board members the fire to rescue for giving me this opportunity to be able to work with him he's wonderful oh we should take a picture have you one question how does it take this to change to train an explosive dog so Thor went to school for 16 weeks prior to me then he had to teach me for another 12 weeks on how to be able to handle him and read read him

[01:58:35] of what he's doing I like ten weeks ten weeks ten weeks okay 16 weeks total it was six weeks of imprinting where she learns how to earn her food basically find what odors to eat for then the handler comes in and we do ten weeks after that of one-on-one anywhere from just doing certain searches or our

[01:59:12] searches building searches field searches and she's trained to find 19

[01:59:18] And they all come from the ATF? Well, let's take a picture. Okay, we're going to start the second round of public comments.

[02:02:30] And we have quite a few people. We have right now 14 people signed up to speak for public comments. I will say once again, there are quite a few people who were signed up to speak on ranked choice voting. The ranked choice voting item is an information only item. We're not voting on that item tonight. if ever, and we have heard the item already, but you're absolutely welcome to speak, but I just want to put that out there, that it is an information, non-voting item that we have already gone through with the staff.

[02:02:57] I will call you three people in advance so that you know that you're coming up next. When you hear your name, please come to the podium, state your name for the record. If you'd like to state where you live, you can do that as well. When your time is up, please relinquish the podium to the next speaker. Our first speaker is James Russell, followed by Ted Lewis, followed by Ms. Rula.

[02:03:16] Good evening. Hi. For any society's way of life to be possible, we take for granted some degree of suffering. But there is a parlay between those with power and those without.

[02:03:33] Those at the bottom are assured an avenue of ascension. But which takes priority in the minds of our leaders? obligations towards those at the bottom of our society who toil in the hopes for a better future or obligations towards those at the top who have been promised indefinite economic expansion

[02:04:07] at all costs. In the eyes of Palestinian-American residents of Loudoun County, the answer has become clear. Every day, those people drive past buildings housed by corporations that have invested in their ethnic cleansing with total impunity. I myself have long maintained the premise of

[02:04:45] the lesser of two evils, harm reduction, that it is always worth it to vote for the party that promises to speak up for the downtrodden. I recently read a quote, however, from a Jewish philosopher, Hannah Arendt herself. She escaped the tyranny of the Third Reich. She said,

[02:05:26] Politically, the weakness of the argument has always been that those who choose the lesser evil forget very quickly that they chose evil.

[02:05:41] Our next speaker is Ted Lewis, followed by Ms. Rula, followed by Sarah Bazar. Good evening, Mr. Lewis. Good evening. My name is Ted Lewis, and I live in the Little River District.

[02:06:00] I am here to urge you to reject the rezoning application of Greenland Park. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on the number of data centers in Loudoun County, and there are 177 current applications that will almost double the number. Fortunately, most of these applications are by right, and there's not much we can do about it.

[02:06:19] However, a zoning request is something that this board can do something about. The vast majority of the residents of Loudoun County do not want any more data centers, especially ones that result from a rezoning of land, where the recently approved comprehensive plans indicate they shouldn't be present.

[02:06:38] I'm also not going to spend a lot of time on the significant negative environmental impacts from putting 1.4 million square foot of impervious surface next to an impaired stream, Sickland Creek. But this proposed data center complex has indicated they will limit their peak electrical output to 300 megawatts, which is about 300,000 households.

[02:07:04] I served on Dominion Power's Loudon Energy Reliability Committee, and they were clear that the main reason they can't figure out how many transmission lines we're going to use is because the Loudon boards keep approving rezoning in areas where there wasn't intended to be that much electrical power.

[02:07:25] I did notice that one of the proffers requires the developers to conduct a study on the use of natural gas turbines. However, it clearly states that the developer does not have to transition to natural gas, even if the study indicates it's more efficient. There's a proffer to develop a tree conservation area, but that's after clear-cutting the site.

[02:07:46] If you want to look at what clear-cutting is, just drive down Belmont Ridge Road along Route 7, and you can see what it looks like. Looks like we raped the land. This application is very similar to the worst rezoning decision in Loudoun's history, True North. At True North, there were so many reasons to deny the application and so much opposition to it.

[02:08:06] However, that board approved the rezoning and created a feeding frenzy for developers that quickly got out of control. If approved, this rezoning will do the same thing. Data centers are Loudoun County's crack cocaine, and we really need to have the power to get off that drug.

[02:08:25] So I urge you to vote no for this rezoning. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Rula, followed by Sarah Bazar, followed by Chris Rowland. Good evening.

[02:08:41] Good evening, Chair Randall and members of the board. I've always wondered, why are people so misinformed about the Palestinian struggle? Why do so many fail to see the full picture? So I decided to find out for myself. I went to the public library, determined to learn from the books on the shelves.

[02:08:59] I searched for anything I could find about Palestine. I wanted to see what the world was saying. Then as I flipped through the pages of a book meant for children, it hit me. The Israeli side was described with positive, hopeful words full of resilience, bravery, and progress.

[02:09:17] But when it came to Palestinians, especially their resistance, the tone changed. Suddenly the words became dark, violent, and destructive. No wonder so many people are misinformed. when even children's books shape the narrative this way. What chance do people have to see the full truth?

[02:09:35] That realization led me to another question. How have past struggles for justice been framed? I looked up what people who opposed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said about him, and I found something shocking. The things they said about MLK, the accusations, the fear-mongering, the branding of him as dangerous, are the same things being said about the Palestinian resistance today.

[02:10:01] MLK was called a threat to society, an instigator, a radical. Many despised him for his calls for justice, and ultimately he was assassinated for daring to speak the truth. And yet his life ended, but his message did not.

[02:10:18] So I ask, when history repeats itself, will we keep falling for the same distorted narratives, Or will we learn to question, to seek the truth, and to stand for justice no matter how inconvenient or uncomfortable it may be?

[02:10:35] For those seeking a deeper understanding beyond dominant narratives, I recommend these books on the Israeli occupation of Palestine that challenge mainstream perspectives. The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Israeli-Jewish author Ellen Pape, a well-documented history of the 1948 Nakba.

[02:10:57] Ellen Pape is Israel's bravest, most principled, most incisive historian. The General Son by Mikko Pelaid, a personal and political transformation of a former Israeli soldier. Palestine, Peace, Not Apathite by Jimmy Carter, an exploration of the peace process and its failures.

[02:11:18] Thank you. Your time is up. Thank you. Sarah Bazar, followed by Chris Roland, followed by Thomas Kasparek. Good evening. Good evening. Words matter. Words shape perception, fuel action, and determine whose lives are valued and whose are ignored.

[02:11:41] And right now we're seeing the devastating consequences of careless rhetoric, selective outrage, and systematic disregard for entire communities. Earlier this week in Miami, a man opened fire towards a father and his son simply because he believed they were Palestinians.

[02:11:58] In Gainesville, Texas, a sixth grader took her own life because she was bullied with threats that ICE would tear her family apart. A few days ago, Israel forces opened fire at Palestinians, including children leaving school during a military raid in Nablus, West Bank.

[02:12:16] In the Oval Office, President Trump openly discussed displacing 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza as if they were pieces on a chessboard. Do they even know that those Palestinians are already refugees, people whose families were forcibly expelled from their homes in the 1948 Nakba?

[02:12:39] Palestinians' lives did not matter during the Biden administration. They certainly do not matter now. The mainstream media refuses to highlight our suffering, ignoring the anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian, and anti-hate crimes and anti-Muslim hate crimes that are surging.

[02:12:56] Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, where my family is, over 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced. Just today, Israel has abducted 11 Palestinians from their homes in Bethlehem, Nablus, and Hebron.

[02:13:12] One of them happened to be a 14-year-old child. Ms. Randall, do you still think it's a biblical issue? Israel continues to violate the ceasefire agreement by blocking aid trucks, essential materials for shelter, mobile homes, and fuel. The so-called ceasefire means nothing when Israeli occupation forces continue to shoot at civilians, trying to return to their homes to rebuild and even retrieve their deceased families from under the rubble.

[02:13:39] So I ask you as elected officials, what are we doing? How long will you remain silent while people like me, people in this very room, watch our rights, our dignity, and our very existence ignored? Accountability starts with words, but it does not end there.

[02:13:57] The fight for justice is interconnected. Black liberation, Palestinian freedom, and indigenous right. Thank you, ma'am. Free Palestine. Thank you. Chris Rowland, followed by Thomas Kasparic, followed by Jim Boutolev, I believe.

[02:14:12] Mr. Rowland? Good evening. My name is Chris Rowland and I'm from the Catoctin District. I am the chairman of the Loudoun County Make America Great Again Caucus. I'm also an election officer, trained and certified by the Loudoun County Office of Elections. Thank you, Mr. Turner. In the 2024 presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump emphasized election security, advocating for one-day voting, voter ID, paper ballots, and citizenship proof.

[02:14:39] He won by over 2.3 million votes, securing seven swing states in both U.S. congressional chambers. However, these priorities are being ignored by the majority of the Virginia lawmakers who are either uninformed or unmotivated to address them.

[02:14:55] In 2020, Delegate Sally Hudson passed a bill for ranked choice voting in Virginia, and it was signed by Governor Ralph Northam. She later worked for a nonprofit promoting this voting method and contacted Mr. Sains in November of 2024 to initiate tonight's board member initiative on ranked choice voting.

[02:15:15] Not the citizens of Loudoun. Last year, Glenn Youngkin vetoed a bill expanding ranked choice voting and should do the same this year. No reasonable member of any party should support ranked choice voting. Tonight, based on the research I and other grassroots organizations have been involved with related to elections for the last four years, urge President Trump and Elon Musk to use Doge assets to audit the Virginia Department of Elections all the way down to every single county.

[02:15:44] Our research reveals contract, data protection, physical security, cybersecurity, and pricing issues affecting our First Amendment rights. The state's Republican leadership is not aiding communications or organization hindering our ability to influence election law changes.

[02:16:04] We need a federal independent audit of Virginia's 2024 election to validate our findings and implement reforms. Our team won, and we're still here asking for changes to laws. I like the sound of Chairman Rowland for the Board of Supervisors, so please implement ranked choice voting.

[02:16:31] Go ahead. I like that sound, too, to be quite honest. Go for it. Thomas Kasparic, followed by Jim Boutoff, followed by Beth Pascali. There are people that are awake and loud, and thanks, Chris. My name is Thomas Kasparic.

[02:16:47] I am the district chair for Algonquian for the Republican Party of Loudoun County. I'm here to speak about ranked-choice voting. Have you seen how the process of ranked-choice voting is actually conducted by the scene, behind the scenes?

[02:17:03] Have you seen how tedious the system is late in the middle of the night while still trying to determine a winner? Most of us in this room do not have the mental acuity to follow the process. It's very complicated and convoluted, and that's by design.

[02:17:20] To my friends on this board and to those in today's audience, if you haven't looked into how ranked choice voting actually works to determine a one-person, one-vote principle in elections, then how can you vote for it? If you haven't seen how it works, in reality, it's unbelievable.

[02:17:37] It's like taking a poisonous COVID vaccine, having been told by a doctor that it's safe and effective. Ranked choice voting is another way to play to minimize transparency and accountability in elections here in Virginia.

[02:17:54] Just like risk-limiting audit batch method, hand count, and logic and accuracy testing, none of these activities is meant to help anything but broaden the power base of the political establishment, that's you, here in Loudoun County in Virginia. Let me get this straight. You want me to vote for more than one candidate? When I've done my homework and I'm going to vote for the candidate of my choice and you want me to take a second choice? That's because that's how it works.

[02:18:25] You're just throwing away the vote. It's ludicrous to vote for an additional candidate just in case mine fails to get the vote. So that's a waste of my vote. So ladies and gentlemen, here's what we need to do vote one time and one time only in election if you get a choice to vote for more than one candidate just don't do it that'll defeat rank choice voting because not enough people will use it not enough people will vote for more than one candidate that's ludicrous don't give any political operative the opportunity to use your vote for their candidate because that's what you're going to do in rank choice voting if anyone has any questions i'll be in the lobby

[02:19:04] for the next few minutes after i leave this meeting thank you i'm sorry i hope i say your name, if I don't, please correct me when you come up. It's a Jim Butolf followed by Beth Pascali. Did I say your name right? That's right. Yeah, I'm pretty good. My name is Jim Butolf, and I do live here in Leesburg. I noticed you had ranked choice voting on the agenda, so I wanted to come down and speak to you folks about it. A lot of folks have raised some concerns with it, and I share some of those concerns, a lot of those concerns.

[02:19:34] Many think it's a flawed idea, you know, for good reason, actually. You run through in your mind the logic of a simple example with multiple candidates. I think we heard you do three with technology today maybe up to five perhaps with some enhancements and they're all vying for one spot now the possibility that a candidate receives less than 50 percent of the initial vote exists of course so what happens well the candidate with the least number of votes is eliminated so far so good all the ballots that reflect that candidate as the first choice will be re-examined to determine their second choice if the voter even made a second choice and i think

[02:20:10] we heard that the voter doesn't have to make multiple choices and that candidate gets that voters vote and the tabulation process is redone. And what we've seen around the country where ranked choice voting has been implemented or tried, there can be multiple iterations of this exercise.

[02:20:28] Now every one of those internal iterations, if you think about it, they're miniature runoff elections, and we've all understood how those work. But are all the voters asked to return and choose between the candidates throughout that process who are still in the running?

[02:20:45] Well, no. And that's the fatal flaw with it. If, for example, tabulating started with, say, five candidates, we heard we could have had as many as five with some enhancements, once you get down to, for example, maybe there are three left in the running, a number of the voters' ballots have been dropped out of the tabulating process by then.

[02:21:04] And that's a problem. Don't you think that those voters whose votes were dropped along the way have a right to choose between just those three that are left at that point? The ranked choice voting doesn't give them that option. Now, that strikes at the very heart of the principle of MISRA public of one person, one vote.

[02:21:25] Instead, what you can frequently have is one person with a partial vote, while others perhaps have multiple votes throughout those little runoff elections that are internal to the software. I think a gentleman on the phone alluded to that. We may have heard that also from others. It's an insidious problem. You have to really think through how that works.

[02:21:44] It's a flawed idea. It might be well-intentioned. folks it sounds good but many jurisdictions who have looked at this around the country have changed their minds and for good reason and i thank you for your time thank you thank you sir appreciate it um beth paschali uh and then on the phone is liz white followed by tim blue good evening good evening my name is beth paschali i live in ashburn village and i want to thank you for letting me make comments today and also thank you for moving the information session up beforehand That was very helpful to see what you all think about this so far

[02:22:22] Um, I know that ranked choice voting is a new way of voting that's used in arlington But I would say that the voting system that we have here in loudon is working. Well, it's not broken So we don't need to fix it There's two reasons that i'm against ranked choice voting the first is that some voters would actually be disenfranchised During the election while others would have the advantage of voting two or even more times the second is that the most popular candidate according to everyone's first and second choice might not win with this polling process i'm going to concentrate on the first one first reason for

[02:22:57] for time reasons um i was surprised i've looked into this recently and i was surprised to find that ranked choice voting is not the same as at a convention uh which is sort of how it's advertised that you know it's better to just get everybody's thoughts all at one time on the ballot at a convention if agreement on a candidate is not reached in the first round of voting then a second round is held and everyone at the convention is able to vote again it upholds the principles of one person one vote which is the very basis of democracy in the rank-choice voting process only the voters who voted for the least favored candidate are allowed to vote a second time now you

[02:23:36] might say well technically everyone else is voting for their first choice a second time in the second round and okay I got that but what happens in the third round in that case there may be some people who voted for the newly eliminated candidate as their first choice and chose the candidate that was already eliminated as their second choice in that case the vote itself is eliminated the voter did not get to vote and is not included in the final tally even if they showed up to vote and filled out their ballot correctly and the worst of it is the voter would not know that you can't walk out of the voting booth having

[02:24:12] confidence that your vote will be counted. Finally, rank choice voting will be a problem for voters who feel strongly about a single issue, and I know we don't have any of those here in Loudoun County, but you know, let's just pretend. This is impossible to only vote for the candidate that stands for that issue. We are putting an extra burden on the voter to research and take a decision about every single candidate and to vote for people that they disagree with and normally would never vote for in order to fill out their ballot properly so to conclude your time is up thank you so much thank you thank you

[02:24:49] very much this white is on the phone followed by Tim blue followed by Paul Soriano miss white on the phone yes okay good evening my name is Liz white I'm speaking tonight about right choice voting I'm the executive director of up vote Virginia which is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that promotes democracy reform and good governance frankly voting is a simple upgrade to way we cast our votes. It allows voters to respond honestly to candidates and to campaigns without

[02:25:23] having to act like pundits. To clarify a concern expressed earlier this evening, RCV often doesn't change the outcomes of an election. The candidate with the most votes on the first ballot usually wins. RCV, however, provides much more information to both the electorate and the governing bodies about voter preference, and it can act as a safeguard against polarizing candidates who wouldn't be able to get the support from the majority of voters voters across the country have repeatedly reported that they understand and like rcv in 2024 84 of voters in alaska 82

[02:25:59] of voters in maine 91 of voters in portland oregon and 88 of primary voters in arlington reported that they found rcv understandable and easy to use and while we often hear that ranked choice voting might be difficult or complicated, so we shouldn't use it. In reality, it's not hard, it's just new, and change can be hard, and voter education is key, but the benefits are undeniable.

[02:26:26] Loudoun voters have seen repeatedly in the last year what it's like to have a ballot with a crowded field, and RCV can help ensure that a winner has the support of the majority of voters in the end. In order to reach that 50 percent threshold, candidates are encouraged to appeal to a broader swath of the electorate, which means no one can rely on the support of a minority faction to win. Candidates elected with majorities can then govern not only with an undeniable mandate, but also with the knowledge and perspective gained from campaigning outside their comfort zones. RCD discourages negative campaigning, which is not only a relief to voters,

[02:27:03] but also creates space for a more issues-based nuanced discussion. It also eliminates the spoiler effect. Not only can someone vote for an underdog candidate without being told that they're throwing away their vote or helping the other team, but you can also have similar candidates in the race without them hurting each other's chances. All these benefits add up to RCD consistently electing more women and people of color to office. There is data from across the country to support this, but most notable recent examples are New York City. Ma'am, ma'am, I'm sorry, your time is up. Thank you so much for your time. And I should have asked you to set your own

[02:27:40] clock because you may not be able to see our clock, but sorry, I should have done that. But yes, your time is up. Thank you so much. Thanks. Tim Blue. Yes. You're being followed by Paul Serrano, followed by Brenda Baker. Good evening, sir. Good evening. I live in Luckett. I've been a London County resident for 37 years. I've been an election officer since 2020. Besides serving my regular duties on Election Day, I supported the batch comparison audit that was conducted in 2023.

[02:28:10] Also, I've been a poll watcher for early voting and absentee voting on several occasions, absentee ballot processing. I also participated in the counting of the ranked choice vote election that the Republicans conducted for the House primary in 2022. Bottom line is, I have a lot of experience with the electoral process in Loudoun County and with ranked choice voting.

[02:28:32] I think that ranked choice voting is a terrible idea for Loudoun County. There are several reasons why. I'll mention a few of them. I think this can be a confusing process for voters especially when it will be on the ballot with races that are not ranked choice voting especially if the voters are not well informed the process before walking into the voting booth. Ranked choice voting forces the voter to cast votes for candidates they don't like and candidates with whom they may not be familiar. Another reason for not going with ranked choice voting is that will delay the tabulation of ballots because we have to wait till all the absentee ballots and provisional ballots have been received. This delay will only

[02:29:08] served the cast shade on the integrity of the election. A third reason for not using ranked choice voting is that I don't think the results of ranked choice voting will always reflect the true intent of the voters. Maybe that's why some people are pushing it. I strongly recommend that we do not use ranked choice voting in Loudoun County. Thank you sir. Paul Serena followed by Brenda Baker followed by Jim Bingo. Good evening sir. I'm Paul Serrano. Serrano I apologize. Thank you members of the board. I rise to oppose the suggestion of

[02:29:45] implementing ranked-choice voting in Loudoun County. As someone who has participated in elections in Loudoun for 15 years and more than 40 in Virginia in total, I'm satisfied with the election processes we have. I feel fortunate to live in a place where we have either federal or state elections every year. It It keeps the citizens engaged with choosing their representatives and provides for recurrent airing of public policy alternatives.

[02:30:17] Now, I've seen ranked choice voting employed and engaged in it in years that fade into memory. As I recall, none of them were public elections, but only private elections, perhaps intraparty or organizations with multiple seats to fill.

[02:30:37] That is to say that the application of ranked choice voting is limited and useful only in specialized circumstances. I see ranked choice voting in public elections as promoting the influence of minor party or marginal independent candidates.

[02:30:56] In America and in Virginia, we have a long tradition of two-party government, majority and minority, which we hope represent alternative views of public policy. The two-party system permits but does not facilitate independent or minor party candidates.

[02:31:18] Contrast this with the fragmented governments of multi-party democracies whose success rises and falls with the shifting coalitions. But the advantage they have is that if the government fails, they dissolve and call new elections and campaigns that last for weeks, not years.

[02:31:41] This is America. Our regular election cycles are the envy of the world. Ranked choice voting in public elections diminishes the clarity of choice that voters have today. No certainty of who is running against whom and what the distinctions are.

[02:32:02] Ladies and gentlemen, ranked choice voting is a gimmick, a solution in search of a problem. I thank you for your time. Thank you, sir. On the phone, we have Brenda Baker, followed by Jim Bingle, followed by, in the room, Matthew Noonan. Thank you, Chair Randall.

[02:32:22] My name is Brenda Baker, a longtime resident of Sterling, and I am here to express my strong opposition to ranked choice voting. Also, I'm very concerned that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors has chosen to surprise its residents with a discussion and potential vote on using ranked choice voting in Loudoun County.

[02:32:46] Why should we change our traditional voting system from a system where every voter has one vote and the candidate with the most votes wins to a ranked choice voting system where some voters have one vote and some have many?

[02:33:03] It is imperative that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors do not take any action on this activity until its residents have time to fully understand the consequences of running our elections with ranked choice voting. Under this system, voters will never be sure who they are voting for.

[02:33:23] It could be that their vote will be trashed or even eliminated, as was done in New York City, Maine, Alaska, and San Francisco. Using the ranked choice voting system has proved to be a disaster in some states, such as New York, where the voters had to endure the reality of ranked choice voting, where it took eight rounds of kicking out other candidates before Eric Adams was announced the new mayor of New York City.

[02:33:56] And it took a month to certify the results of his election because they could not make sense of this nonsensical system. Worst of all, huge numbers of New Yorkers were disenfranchised by the end of the vote counting process With more than 140,000 ballots, nearly 15% of the total votes that were cast effectively thrown out because their vote did not count using the ranked choice voting system.

[02:34:30] Similar results for governor in Maine in 2018, where 8,000 ballots were trashed in the San Francisco Bay area. They found out that a wrong candidate won the election using the ranked choice voting system. To correct this, they had to recount the results in every election that used the rank-choice voting system.

[02:34:53] I strongly encourage the Board of Supervisors to reject the idea of using rank-choice voting in Loudoun County. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Jim Bingle, you'll be followed by Matthew Noonan, followed by Molly Novotny. Chair Randall and board members, I'm Jim Bingle, speaking for the Piedmont Environmental Council.

[02:35:17] We applaud the steps you're taking to better manage data center growth by increasing your legislative oversight and transparency. It's a challenging process, but your action is needed for the well-being of our community and beyond. Tonight, we support your votes against Greenland Park to serve the county's overall best interest. Greenland Park is currently zoned TR-10. This is a rezoning where you have the authority to consider a diversity of land uses, exactly what you're authorized to do. We have heard your concerns about the lack of diversity in our commercial

[02:35:53] sector, and we share that concern. Supporting this application would further the county's reliance on data centers and add to the economic risk, whereas the site would also be appropriate for other uses envisioned in the place type. What's more, other types of uses also have the capacity to provide more jobs in the community, so it's important to acknowledge that. Further, Nothing has changed about the negative environmental impacts of the proposed substation on the sensitive hillside denuding a mature tree stand and negatively impacting Sickland Creek at its base.

[02:36:31] Please reject the Greenland Park application. Although Zebra East has been deferred to March, I'd add just a few comments for now. It proposes to provide the right-of-way for Phase 2 of Prentice Drive, also called Lock bridge in exchange for almost doubling the 372,000 square foot facility currently permitted.

[02:36:51] But a couple of years ago, the board delayed action on this project with Supervisor Glass instrumental in questioning the need. The office and mixed-use developments that were envisioned in the area haven't materialized, but instead data center uses have developed on both sides of broad run, changing the originally envisioned traffic demand in the process. Given the high future cost to taxpayers and the environmental impacts of the road located almost entirely in the floodplain, it's worth taking a hard look at alternatives. And we, given the deferment, we appreciate the chance to talk with supervisors in the meantime. Thank you.

[02:37:29] Thank you. Matthew Noonan, you will be followed by Molly Novotny, followed by Brianne Carr. Good evening. Good evening. I'm about to read a couple of excerpts from an essay written a year ago by a Sheikh Jarrah native, Sheikh Jarrah is a neighborhood in East Jerusalem. The person that wrote is Mohammed El Kurd and I'll begin. Are we indeed all Palestinians

[02:38:03] in our thousands and millions? As we chant on the streets of New York and London, I've been asking myself that question incessantly, obsessively. Two years ago I would have said, declared even, that the cement of the Israeli military barriers is just that, cement, and the only way it holds is symbolic. Their colonial borders, try as they might, do not and could not sever the social and national ties keeping our isolated towns together. Our different papers, travel documents, passports, laissez-passers, or lack thereof, are mere words on a page incapable of dividing us.

[02:38:42] Those confined by siege or incarceration, I would have said, can still be emancipated in the mind, those dispersed behind walls and barbed wire can still unite in their hearts and yet i'm on the streets of new york and london protesting there's repression there's no tear gas yet and omar is in a cell in one of the occupations prisons in which at least 35 palestinian political prisoners have been martyred since october 7th in gaza men in tracksuits are shot in the chest in the head and the courage of their last action be it running towards an armored markava or running away to

[02:39:19] relative safety the massacres will be televised broadcast in broad daylight our judges will legalize them our politicians inert inept or complicit we'll fund them then feign sympathy if any our academics will stand idle that is until the dust settles then they will write books about what should have been the rotten institutions will commemorate us after our death and the vultures even from our midst will tour museums glorifying romanticizing what they once condemned what they did not deign to defend our resistance mystifying it

[02:39:58] depoliticizing it commercializing it the vultures will make sculptures out of our flesh a morbid joke but I am not abused I sound like broken record but now's as good as time as I need to divest and speak out thank you thank you sir Molly Novotny you will be followed by Brian Brian Carr followed by Melissa Matthews. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Molly Novotny. I'm an urban land use planner at Curata Partners representing Toll Brothers on the Stonehill application that will be before you

[02:40:36] all for a vote tonight, but because I won't have a chance to sit at the table, I wanted to take a minute to share with you the changes we've made since your public hearing and address staff's reasons for denial. Since our public hearing, we have dropped the density of this application from 104 units down to 85. All of those units are single-family attached, ranging in size from 16 to 20 to 24 units in width. That was at the request of Supervisor Sains. We have also incorporated significant acoustical treatment at the request of Supervisor Sucrony and Vice Chair Turner to address the LDN 67. Even though we are in the 60 to 65 LDN, we are treating

[02:41:12] all of the units as if we were within the 67. And finally, we are funding an offsite crosswalk. But staff is recommending denial for two reasons, both of which I'd like to address. One is airport proximity. Our property is within the LDN 60 to 65. This is a comp plan and zoning ordinance. Both the comp plan and zoning ordinance identify this property as appropriate for residential uses. These homes, they are farther away from the LDN 65 overlay than both the Cedar Terrace project and a similar distance from the homes at Old Arcola Residential, which this board

[02:41:49] has approved in both cases which this board has approved in the last 16 months. In both of those cases, neither airport noise nor proximity were raised as issues nor reasons for denial. Staff's second reason for denial is their statement that the site doesn't meet the civic space policies as a standalone application.

[02:42:10] This property is part of the LVE2 community. We received recognition from that board noting it, and staff recognizes that. That community has plenty of civic and open space, but additionally, we think our property alone meets that definition.

[02:42:26] That's because the comp plan calls for 10% of projects that are planned suburban neighborhood to be public civic space. Our property, our project, has 39% of the site as dedicated open space, which means that dedicated open space is preserving an on-site stream, protecting the scenic creek valley buffer, TCA, and other things.

[02:42:46] We also have a half-acre cemetery on our site that the county has deemed important enough for us to preserve and to provide signage to invite the community in. And so we think that all of these reasons should earn your vote tonight of support. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.

[02:43:04] Brianna Carr, followed by Melissa Matthews, followed by Sam Kreutz. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Brianna Carr, and I am a mother of three hockey players, two of whom are current Knights out of ION. with my youngest eager to follow in his brother's footsteps.

[02:43:20] Earlier this month, Governor Yunkin joined Chair Randall and came to our rink, and he said, Faces that have walked through these doors, relationships between friends and parents, the values of the skating community stand for so much more than athletic competition.

[02:43:38] Character, relationships, older skaters supporting younger skaters, and mentorship. Families engage in a shared passion that builds bonds, creates lifetime memories, and most importantly, brings families and communities together in a way that is incomparable.

[02:43:55] The governor's words were 100% true. That's why I'm here today, because I care deeply about ensuring ION remains a place where kids like mine and families like ours can grow, thrive, and find a sense of community.

[02:44:12] Unfortunately, under the current ownership, ION has suffered from severe mismanagement, resulting in neglected infrastructure, safety concerns, and a declining experience for those who depend on it. Efforts to engage with the owners in finding solutions have been met with unworkable terms and unreasonable demands.

[02:44:31] Instead of addressing these challenges, the owners have proposed converting the facility into a conference center, a decision that is not only economically questionable, but also deeply harmful to our community. The demand for ice sports in Loudoun County continues to grow. ION currently has 15 and 16-year-olds starting practice at 1030 at night because it's the only available ice time for them. Closing the ice rink will impact 800 kids, a number that has a lot of potential to continue to grow. The challenges ION faces are not due to a lack of

[02:45:09] interest, but rather poor management. With proper leadership and investment, IN could expand its programming, host additional tournaments, and fulfill its potential as a vibrant community resource. Who is funding this transition from an ice rink to a conference and performing arts center?

[02:45:29] Are town, county, and state government grants involved? If so, who approves them and who is advocating to remove them. These grants should go to keeping the ice open for our kids, and we'd love to speak to you guys more about it. Thank you. Thank you. Melissa Matthews, followed by Sam Kreutz. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Melissa Matthews. I'm a Leesburg resident, a construction manager, and a hockey mom. I am part of a team that represents the Loudon Knights, and I'm here on behalf of the Knights and the other children that practice ice sports at ION.

[02:46:08] My son is one of the Loudon Knights, and one day he aspires to be a Washington little cat who also calls ION their home rink. As you're probably aware, ION is intending to close its ice rink and transition the facility to a conference center, potentially a performing arts center. There are currently 32 conference centers within 20 miles of ION, including the National Conference Center located in Belmont, just four miles away.

[02:46:34] Most of these have hotels incorporated in them or immediately next door. You're probably aware that the National Conference Center alone has 250 meeting rooms and 917 hotel rooms. ION does not have a hotel, and it would be at least two years before one could be built.

[02:46:50] My point in sharing this is that I do not think that this area needs another conference center, especially one that comes with the detriment of so many area children. ION is a good rink, and with the potential to be a great rink, to service our area children and their passions for ice-related sports.

[02:47:06] It would be very difficult to make it into a conference center and a performing arts center and the cost would be extraordinary. I say this as an industry professional. While you might not be directly involved yet in the transformation of ION into the conference center, we do ask that Loudon please not direct funds towards the redevelopment of the rink into a conference center and potential performing arts center, especially to the immediate harm of our area children.

[02:47:32] If ION is no longer an ice rink, we will need to ask Loudon's assistance to find a new location for ice rinks to exist and be built this would take years to accomplish and the children that call ion their home rink would be forced to either quit skating or find another rink most likely outside of ion i loud and excuse me but hopefully that focus will not be needed thank you for your time and please help us to save ice sports and leesburg at ion anything that you could do to help would be greatly appreciated thank you um and our last speaker is sam kreutz good evening mr

[02:48:10] Kreutz. Good evening, everybody. I'm Sam Kreutz. I'm from Lovitzville. I sent you an email earlier today saying that I wanted to thank you guys for exploring your options on rank choice.

[02:48:27] Applause for that. I hope that you'll move forward and adopt it going forward. I got a chance to talk to a couple of the guys that spoke against it earlier, and like I said, I sent you a message about it laying out why I like it and everything, so I won't get into it right now, but I also sent it to Loudon now, so it's published as a letter to the editor, so everybody can check it out on there.

[02:48:58] I included my email address, and I mentioned that to those fellows, and they promised that they were going to email me, so hopefully we can have a discussion about it, and I would also love to have a discussion with with any of you guys that are interested about it moving forward you know um like they said it should definitely be a process that's um where we get to air out all the pros and cons and whatnot um so i did just want to sort of the the message that i sent earlier was was talking about that i do chili cook-offs using rank choice voting and some of the things

[02:49:34] that I learned from that and I did just want to say to come here and tell you guys that I'm not trying to call you guys bad chili I didn't mean it like that because when we did before ranked choice voting the winners was the chili was not good and then with ranked choice voting the chili is good so I'm not trying to call you guys bad chili you know I disagree with some of the decisions that you guys make but I so I dislike the things some of the things you do but I don't dislike you

[02:50:09] as people you know a lot of the bad things that you do I don't blame on you personally but I blame it on the system which you know the voting has a lot to do with that so I don't want I want rank choice I don't want it just to try to like take you guys out or something like that I'll actually think if you guys you know you might very well stay in your positions but but you will improve your positions just by having the rank choice voting system so look forward to uh discussing that more with you all thanks again thank you mr great appreciate it okay supervisors um we're

[02:50:48] actually doing pretty good on time i know we've been the day since four but i think we're doing pretty good on time so i'm going to try to kind of just keep moving us forward here for a little while you're okay let's we do have one more information item let's go on and knock that one out and then And then we'll do board comments and then we'll take our break.

[02:51:08] How's that sound? After the information item, we'll do board comments and then we'll take our first break. And then in the break, we will do the first closed session item.

[02:51:23] Good evening. Good evening, Chair Randolph. Good evening, board members. All right. To the left of me, I have Mr. Brian Regan, our Assistant Director for the Department of Housing and Community Development.

[02:51:40] To the right of me, I have Ms. Brandy Collins, who is our Housing Policy Administrator. So the intent of the item is to perform you of the department's participation in a study led by Arlington County involving rent stabilization.

[02:51:56] A catalyst for a rent stabilization study originated back in June 2024 with the Metropolitan Washington Council of Government for Housing at which the council planned for nine counties including Loudoun to participate in the Department of Housing and Community Development Pathways to removing obstacles to housing grant program due to department's collaboration with the council we have been invited to join arlington study along with several other northern virginia localities as well the study is in line with the county's priorities outlined in the unmet housing needs

[02:52:34] strategic plan for additional research and studies of unmet housing needs and to regularly report findings and develop recommendations for board consideration. The benefit for participating in the study will provide Loudoun County with research on best practices and analysis of the local rental market, benefits and challenges of rent stabilization programs, administrative costs and burdens, risk and mitigations, and options for potential iterations of a rent stabilization program.

[02:53:07] This concludes my comments. At the pleasure of the board, we are ready to take questions. you thank you and welcome to Loudoun County you live here no I do not what are we doing you live in Arlington no I don't you don't live in Fairfax though either right oh oh gosh now I gotta call you know Jeff McKay's gonna call me he's gonna call me um questions uh Mr. Turner are you would you like to have a question nope also nope um nobody has

[02:53:46] question because I do. So I'm a little, we've had more than one study done on the housing needs and the Council of Governments was one. How did we, did we take the numbers that they gave us and roll them into our strategic housing plan? Because I've seen different pots of numbers in a couple of, I guess last, several weeks ago, Mr. Crony and I and Mr. Turner were on a panel the chamber and if you look at one set of housing numbers we're going gangbusters with our housing

[02:54:24] goals however not our our goals for attainable housing if you look at another set not doing too well at all so how are we incorporating what what the council of governments put out for our housing goals into our strategic housing plan thank you thank you chair randall that's a great question As you all may remember, the unmet housing needs strategic plans housing targets are established by forecasting the projected residential units in the county from now through 2040.

[02:55:00] So that's based on projected residential development. The COG numbers are based on the projected number of jobs, and they use that forecast to determine how many housing units would be required or necessary for the D.C. metro area from that time it was adopted in 2019 I believe through 2030.

[02:55:19] So it's comparing apples and oranges and as part of the mid plan evaluation that we're proposing to do that you are aware of, we will examine the relationship between our housing targets with the strategic plan with the housing targets from the COG plan because we are aware that people in this area, they recognize the COG numbers as the barometer, but our numbers are different. So we would like to have a discussion around reconciling those or at least have a conversation about how they intertwine. But currently they're apples and oranges.

[02:55:50] That was really helpful because I have mentioned them both. The numbers we're talking about in the strategic housing plan, not so much Cog, but strategic housing plan. Are those, do you all differentiate whether those are rental units or for sale units? We currently do not.

[02:56:06] We currently do not. So the two categories for the Unmanned Housing Needs Strategic Plan are new units, new construction units, and then preservation slash access. Okay. When we were doing the budget some three years ago and we put in place the tax on cigarettes, it was my intention to use that money in the housing fund that would help a closing cost and down payment program for attainable purchase.

[02:56:37] As it turns out, that was done for one year, and then it wasn't done after that, and so now there's no money. Well, let me ask you, is there a fund that is focused on closing costs and down payments, and how is that looking, and are we adding to it? I'll let Mr. Reagan answer that question since he manages that program.

[02:56:58] So, Chair Reynolds, yes, as of right now, there are adequate funds set aside for the down payment and closing cost assistance program, in addition to the public employees grant, which is a specific down payment program specific to Loudoun County government employees and LCPS. So, President, if I could ask one follower question, how is that fund replenished?

[02:57:16] That is through the housing fund and through the trust. So, partially it is for the sale of ADUs are being placed into that program to be used for, that's one of the many uses that is used for, through the trust.

[02:57:32] Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Supervisors, let's do board comments, and then we can take our break. I appreciate you all. Thanks so much. All right. Mr. Letourneau, board comments. Just briefly, I appreciate the opportunity to participate virtually as I recover from a surgery. I may continue to need that remote participation into next week. Hopefully not too far beyond that, but the recovery will

[02:58:10] occur as it does. Otherwise, I have no comments. Thank you. Thank you very much, Ms. Umstead. Thank you, Madam Chair. I have one disclosure. On February 11th, I met with representatives for the zebra east project aaron swisholm pete home and peter worley both of cloud hq and that is all

[02:58:42] i have thank you okay miss trony uh thank you chair randall so um i met with aaron can we pull your i'm sorry her microphone always sounds so low to me i don't know if it's i don't think it's her I think there's something wrong with her mic.

[02:59:00] I can almost barely hear her down here. Can you just pull your mic a little bit closer? That's because you're loud. That's why. You're so loud. You have a big mouth. Can you pull it? Okay. I know.

[02:59:21] Okay. On Tuesday, February 11th, I met with Aaron Swishelm, Bill Junda, Pete Holm, Gavin Klein, and Peter Worley regarding the Zebra East application. And on February 19th, I spoke with Chuck Kuhn about the Greenland Park application.

[02:59:38] I want to let everybody know that Chair Randall and me participated in the Loud and Love song, and that is now online. You can actually find that link to the song on a Place to Be's Facebook page. So did Mike. That was a lot of fun, and I think I was, Oh, and Mike, sorry, Mike Turner.

[02:59:58] I felt like I had the beat, but I know Chair Randall questioned that, but I felt like I had the beat. And I was clapping with rhythm, so I think everybody should go check that out. It was a lot of fun. It was like a Valentine's Day loud and love song opportunity.

[03:00:16] So I'll definitely participate next year if they do that. Just wanna let everybody know the budget public hearing is starting on Saturday, February 22nd. That's at nine o'clock here. And then we have other public hearing opportunities on the budget on Thursday, February 22nd at three o'clock and six o'clock.

[03:00:41] And we had to reschedule the village of St. Louis Charette due to weather events. So now it's on February 25th at Banneker Elementary School at 6 o'clock p.m. Thank you. Thank you very, very much, Mr. Crony.

[03:00:59] You did have the beat, or a beat. Ms. Bricksman? I'll leave that alone. By way of disclosures, on February 18th, I had a call with Chuck Kuhn and Charles Yudd on Greenland Park application, and I had a call today also with Mr. Kuhn on that application.

[03:01:23] On February 14th and February 19th, I had calls with Molly Novotny on Stonehill. For Black History Month, I did want to flag the Black Patriots and Loyalist events that will be at the Cascades and Rust libraries this Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Cascades Library.

[03:01:40] Alicia Cohen from the Black History Committee will highlight the significant contributions of black Americans, such as Crispus Attucks and James Armistead Lafayette to the American Revolution, and she will also present at Rust Library on March 30th at 2 p.m. We will also be having, or I should say the county is putting on Black History Month celebration hosted at the Douglas Community Center on Saturday from 12 to 5. I am very disturbed about what's happening

[03:02:16] in our country right now. It's absolute chaos, and I think it deserves to be recognized because I think it's on a lot of people's minds. What's going on is going to be very destabilizing, especially in Northern Virginia, with closures of agencies and mass firings of government workers without really any reasonable reason or process that has been followed in the past when we were trying to make our government more efficient. It's unfortunate that we don't have a governor

[03:02:55] that seems to want to support 140,000 direct hires to the federal government that live in virginia and that's not even talking about the number of contractors who depend on their paychecks every day and it's not only going to be destabilizing for us it's the country and actually the world as we see our head of state apparently siding with putin right now in the war in ukraine unfortunately this is history repeating many of us could have could have and did see this coming but

[03:03:30] nevertheless, it is shocking and really disturbing. I did want to also note that I'll be having community office hours on February 28th. I still have slots open. There's a sign-up genius in my newsletter on my social media for folks that just want to have a conversation about goings-on in Algonquia and the county, the budget, and those sorts of things.

[03:03:57] I feel like we haven't had board comments in a while. I think we didn't have them the first meeting. I think maybe I wasn't here the second meeting. I can't remember. But I did have notes on the gun violence archive statistics comparing 2023 to 2024 that I wanted to share.

[03:04:15] Deaths are actually down by about 3,000 compared to 2023, which is fairly good news. Mass shootings were down in 2024 to 503 from 689 in 2023. Teen deaths were also down from 301 to 250, and children under 11, those deaths were also down from 644 to 547.

[03:04:39] Obviously, this is not good enough. I fear with the current administration, we won't be getting much done on gun safety and firearm safety, but we can always hope. And lastly, so far this year, we've had 1,831 total gun deaths, 37 mass shootings already.

[03:04:59] The deaths have included 34 children under the age of 11 and 133 teens, ages 12 to 17. That's all I have. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Mr. Kirshner. Thank you, Madam Chair. As far as disclosures are concerned, I met with the applicant for the Picnic Woods Event Center on February 10th.

[03:05:19] I met with the attorney for the Zebra East application. I want to say it was February 12th, right around there. And I met with the applicant for Greenland on February 18th. Well, I had my phone calls. I just want to, I don't usually comment on national politics, but since Supervisor Bristman brought it up, I just want to say one of the most destabilizing things we could possibly have in America is going bankrupt.

[03:05:44] And we're rapidly approaching that. And so, obviously, some drastic changes need to occur. I also want to just mention, since Mr. Croy was here, that I've never actually had bad chili. So, quite frankly, I'm not sure what all those comments were about in terms of the bad chili, but certainly appreciate everyone that came out tonight and spoke.

[03:06:06] Thanks. Thank you. Ms. Glass. Thank you, Madam Chair. For disclosures on Monday, February 10th, I met with representatives of the Zebra East data center application on friday february 14th tuesday february 18th and wednesday february february 19th my staff spoke with representatives for the greenland park data center application on february 18th i spoke with chuck coon and charles yud regarding the greenland park application on wednesday february 19th my staff for spoke with representatives for the stonehill

[03:06:46] residential application um i also wanted to say that i'm honored to to have been a co-sponsor of the proper proclamation recognizing black history month in loudon as chair randall usually says black history um is something that we um we have every month but um hopefully there will be one day when um there will be no need to highlight the significant contributions of black americans in history.

[03:07:24] I wanted to speak about one of my heroes of black history, and that is my sister. She was one of the people that desegregated the schools in Prince William County, which is a couple of counties over, depending on where you live in Loudoun County.

[03:07:54] And she tells the story, she has a lot of stories to tell, but one that I remember is that she had, well, first, she grew up where she went to a school that was on Fort Belvoir.

[03:08:14] My dad was in the military, he was in World War II, got a job there on base, so she went to school with white children. And so when my dad decided to, you know, get land and he moved down to Woodbridge and she was back at she was at a segregated school.

[03:08:35] So my dad knew that his kids were smart enough to go to schools with white kids and he wanted them to have the best education. And so she tells me the story that when she found out she was only 13, get ready to go into ninth grade, she wanted to be with her friends, you know, just like any other 13 year old would.

[03:09:00] And she was telling my dad that she really didn't want to go, don't want to go and, you know, really upset about it. So she told me that one day she got a phone call and the person on the line was a Philip Randolph.

[03:09:16] who had, you know, had, um, know my dad, my, cause my dad was in the civil rights movement. And, you know, she tells me in that voice that he had that, you know, Joyce, you are doing something for the, um, for black people. I can't remember exactly what he said, but with that phone call, she, uh, knew that that was something that she had to do. And, um, You know, she has a lot of other stories to tell, but I'm really proud of her.

[03:09:55] I'm really thankful that she went through all the stuff that she did so that black girls and boys like me could go to a school with everybody else. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you.

[03:10:10] And people should look up who Asa Phillips Randolph is if they don't know who A. Phillips Randolph is. Look that up. Mr. Sains. Thank you, Madam Chair. mandatory disclosures on sunday february 16th spoke with molly novotny of cready for stonehill residential application tuesday february 18th spoke to chuck coon and charles yudd for jk landing land holdings about greenland park and my staff spoke with uh molly as well last week friday

[03:10:44] and spoke with land use attorneys for Zebra East earlier today. So those are my mandatory disclosures. Thank you for the presentation earlier regarding Ranked Choice Voting.

[03:11:01] We had some good conversation, learned a lot of information. So I will, you know, as you guys know, it was an informational item, so I will talk to my colleagues and see what is what, and we'll see where we go on that item. But I do want to clarify that there's been some comments, you hear about it earlier, how people are going to have to vote for people they're not informed about.

[03:11:27] Well, the whole process of voting is finding out about candidates, all the candidates, doing research before you go and vote. So hopefully, even if we do ranked choice voting, don't do ranked choice voting in the old traditional form of pick one person. Hopefully you're reading up and doing your homework and research on all the candidates on the ballot, not just one individual.

[03:11:48] So you are an informed electric when you go to vote. And ranked choice voting has been done numerous times here. It was mentioned earlier in the conversation in inter-party races. It was mentioned Governor Youngkin was actually got the nomination from ranked choice voting.

[03:12:06] Party ran and a couple other folks who ran for congressional seats. On the Republican side, that's how they actually got their nomination. I believe that was Mr. Hung Kao and a couple other folks in recent years. So it's not foreign. People actually use it.

[03:12:22] The Republican Party uses it. Other states use it. Arlington, right down the street, has used it a few times and has done pretty well with it. So it is definitely doable. We heard from the elected officials, the people that run the elections, that it is doable as well.

[03:12:37] So like I said, we'll have talks with my colleagues. in regards to uh you know this is black history month but uh every every month is always a good time to celebrate history american history black history native american history indian history mexican history everybody's history so one i want to talk about today is i'm pleased to share there is a new digital exhibit land and community willard is now available in loudon county's government website this exhibit tells the story of the village of willard a thriving predominantly

[03:13:10] black township that was displaced in 1958 to make way for construction for what is now known as Dulles International Airport. I'll say that again. There was a predominantly black township in Loudoun County slash Fairfax County that was displaced in 1958 by order of the government to make way for the construction of what we now know as Dulles International Airport.

[03:13:41] Through archival records, photographs, personal narratives, the exhibit preserves the history and contribution of Willard residents, ensuring their legacy is not forgotten. I'm sure as many of you, I was not aware that there was an active township where Dulles Airport now exists and operates.

[03:14:12] Until I did some research along with the good folks at the Black History Committee, the friends of the Thomas Bulch Library, Donna Bohannon, and in partnership with George Mason University with Professor Wendy, let me get the name right here, bear with me one second, Dr. Wendy Emmanuel Scott.

[03:14:29] And thank you so much to those two individuals and their research team for putting all this information together, telling the story, getting the archival footage, pictures that share this information. So I encourage everybody to please go to the website, it's loudon.gov slash blackhistory, to learn more about Willard and other historical information that has been discovered in recent times and also known.

[03:14:59] But it is now being put into the forefront so we can know about these stories and people's lives that were unfortunately uprooted and and actually changed for generations And if you don't know the history again of a Dulles Airport, please go to this website to To find out more information because this is not the only place that this has happened Predominating black townships. Thank you. Thank you. Mr

[03:15:39] Thank you Madam Chair. On Wednesday, February 5th, I spoke with Aaron Swisham from Wash Kalusha to discuss the application for Zebra East. Thursday, February 6th, my staff and I met with Colleen Gillis and Ben Wales from Karata, Brian Conklin, Russell Powers, and Ron Snyder from TAPCO, and Adam Snyder, Steiner from J2 at work to discuss the application for West Belmont. Thursday, February 6th, I spoke with Charles Yod from J.K. Moving to discuss the application for Greenland Park.

[03:15:58] Friday, February 7th, I spoke with Colleen Gillis from Curata to discuss the application for West Belmont. February 14th, I spoke with Erin Switzelm from Walsh Kalusha to discuss Zebra East. And on February 18th, I spoke with Erin Switzelm again to discuss Zebra East, and I spoke to her this morning to discuss Zebra East.

[03:16:15] I went to the Air Force Academy in 1969. I vividly remember having a discussion in one of the lecternars after dinner one night on race relations at the academy and it was a pretty heated discussion again this was 1970-ish years later after I'd gone through helicopters and then in the fighters I was assigned up in Iceland our mission was to intercept Russian bombers during the Cold War coming down from the Kola Peninsula going down towards Cuba.

[03:16:47] And we had a black weapons system officer in our squadron, 57th Fighter Interceptor Squadron named Dodi Dura. And in the F-4, you have a pilot in the front and a weapons officer in the back. And we intercepted a Russian bomber, and Dodi was in the back, and when you intercepted the bomber, you pulled up right alongside the bomber, and the bomber, the bare bombers, had chin bubbles and bubble blisters so they could observe outside.

[03:17:13] So Doty goes, he started laughing, and I go, what? And he goes, watch this. And he raised his dark visor and looked out at the Russian bomber like this. And all the Russian crew members had never seen a black man in a fighter, in a U.S. fighter before.

[03:17:29] And they all filled the chin bubbles and started taking pictures to find out what was going on over here. And they're pointing and waving and all kinds of stuff like that. And I just looked it up on the Internet to show you how far we've come. Shawna Rochelle Kimbrell was the first black female fighter pilot in the United States Air Force.

[03:17:48] She's a lieutenant colonel who's flown the F-16 in combat missions. She was born in Lafayette, Indiana, in 1976. She went to the Air Force Academy, Civil Air Patrol and Air Force Academy, graduated in 1998, earned her pilot wings in 1999. She flew the F-16 Fighting Falcon during combat missions in Operation Northern Watch.

[03:18:07] Other black female pilots, Captain Teresa Claiborne was the first black female pilot in the U.S. Air Force. She's also the president of the Sisters of the Skies, a nonprofit that mentors young women of color looking to become pilots. And Lieutenant J.G. Madeline Swagel was the first U.S. Navy's first black female tactical air pilot.

[03:18:26] So we have come a very, very long and distinguished way. One final note. They can strip—oops. I did the same thing Caleb did here. god i completely lost my train of thought oh um so i've kind of i've kind of lived through the the gamut uh just to watch this movement in the united states mature over the the since the mid-60s and all i can say is uh this

[03:19:02] administration can order the elimination of dei till it's blue in the face dei is not going away It is part of our culture, it is part of our American society, in the best possible form that could be. It is a way of inviting everyone to look at people as people and nothing else, and to give everybody an equal opportunity to succeed.

[03:19:22] And that is now part of our culture, and it's part of our society, and they can strip all the names off of everything they want to, and it's not going anywhere. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. My staff member met with Aaron Swisholm on the 13th on Zebra East, and I have talked to Chuck Kuhn and Charles Yudd regarding the Greenland Park application. Mr. Kirshner, you talked about, you said you would have to say something because we're going bankrupt.

[03:19:50] You failed to say that the president who had the highest in raw dollars total debt rising was who? Donald J. Trump. You also failed to say that when the budget was balanced it was under who? William Jefferson Clinton. You also failed to say that who cut the deficit to a huge degree Barack Hussein Obama. So if we're going to talk about people who should actually be in office because they're going to be physically sound, it's not going to be Donald Dre Trump. In fact, it's not going to be a Republican at all. Thank you very much, sir. I will also say this. I've talked about a lot of people in black history, but

[03:20:25] I will say what Ms. Glass said. One of my most amazing people in my life is my mother. I was never a little girl who thought boys were yucky. I've always thought boys were just fine, just dandy to me.

[03:20:41] I never understood girls that went, boys are yucky. That was never my life. When I was in second grade, there was a little boy named Aaron Foster, and he's a little white kid, and he and I decided we're going to be girlfriend and boyfriend because why not? So we were girlfriend and boyfriend for, you know, about a week or so, and then he came to school one day and told me, his mom said I could not be his girlfriend.

[03:21:04] And I said, why? And he said, because I was brown, because I was a little brown girl. Actually, that's not the word he used. He used the words his mother used, which is a terrible word to teach a child. And so I went home and I told my mother. No, actually, I went home and told my mother that I wanted to make my hair blonde.

[03:21:23] I wanted to make my hair white. She asked me why, and I said, because I want to be Erin Mait's girlfriend. in my head uh erin mate foster's girlfriend in my head it was my hair that was keeping me from being his girlfriend i was in second grade it wasn't so much my color it was my hair because little kids don't know anything so my mom asked me who told you that and i said erin's mom said that i couldn't be with him because of my hair and because this other word my mother said to my older sister watch phyllis for a second i'll be right back and she went down the street two blocks

[03:22:01] away i don't know what happened down there down that street but i know the next day when when we came back to school i was aaron foster's girlfriend again that's all i know aaron's mother was the now that i look back on it one of the most devout racist women i've ever known she was nasty she was horrible. She was horrible to children. The reason I know we're going to be okay is because we have Aaron Mate's mother in office. But Aaron, Aaron Mate Foster, was such a nice kid. All through his

[03:22:37] entire, the entire time we were in school, he was such a nice kid. If you can grow up under that mother and still turn out to be the young man that he became, Donald Trump is Aaron's mother. we are Aaron. We will be fine because that's who we are. I liked Aaron so much, and he turned out to be such a nice kid that my second son is named Aaron. I named my son after Aaron because I watched the life he grew up under and watched him come out from under it. We will come out from under it,

[03:23:17] from under this, because that's who we are as a country. I believe in us. I believe in America. I love my country, and one person will never be able to destroy who we are. We will be just fine.

[03:23:32] All right, Supervisors, Mr. Turner, will you please read us into the first closed session? You know what's coming? I gave you a long kind of advance notice. I move the Board of Supervisors recess this public meeting and enter into closed session pursuant to Section 2.23711 of the Code of Virginia to consider a personnel matter involving the annual performance review of the county attorney.

[03:24:01] Motion made and seconded discussion on the motion. All in favor say aye. Aye. Mr. Letourner, are you still there? Yep. Aye. Ms. Letourner wants to join us in closed session, so you guys got that set up? Okay. All right.

[03:24:16] Any opposed? All right. We are in closed session. Thank you.

[03:58:04] Okay. We are back. Mr. Turner, would you please read us out of closed session? I move that 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 the closed session, and further move that the resolution certifying the closed session be adopted and reflected in the minutes of this public meeting.

[03:58:28] Motion was made and seconded by Ms. Brixman. Discussion on the motion. Seeing none, all of the people who say aye. Aye. Opposed. Would everyone please affirm? Mr. Letourne, let's go with you first. Would you please affirm? Affirm. Oh.

[03:58:44] Affirm. And I affirm as well. That motion will pass 9-0. we're going to do the federal program and then we're going to do the um the greenland park application we're not going to um wait until the last one to do the greenland park application so we'll do the federal program next would everyone please what's wrong everyone would

[03:59:14] uh come to the table good evening good evening good evening good evening everyone good evening madam chair members of the board good evening again mr freeman good evening again uh before you is the draft uh federal program item uh in developing this item uh at the end of last

[03:59:52] year the legislative team reached out to all county departments and board members for requests for changes to the federal program the requests were vetted by the legislative team reviewed by our federal contract lobbyists which we'll get into introductions uh in a second uh presented to the legislative contacts for review and then included in the item which again is before right now please note that the sections of the previous federal program that did not receive requests for changes will automatically be carried over to the board's newly adopted federal program

[04:00:29] so last year the county also went through an rfp for federal living services and background Policoff were awarded the contract at the end of that process. As the board considers the federal program this evening, Becker and Policoff have joined us for their formal introduction to the board and to also provide insight into the 119th conference, the new presidential administration, and how the board's new federal program will advance the county's entrance. I will now turn it over to mr clarence williams to introduce himself first and then the rest of the beckhamton

[04:01:07] oh there we go uh good evening uh madam chairman members of the board we're so very pleased to be here and honored uh to be before many of you we've had a chance to talk some of you we have not had a chance to talk but hopefully we can do some one-on-ones at some point in time my name is is Clarence Williams. I am one of the members of your federal team. I have a eight-year history in the United States Congress, working as the Chief of Staff for a South Florida member,

[04:01:42] and have been with Becker and Polyakov now since 2011. Started this with my partner Omar Franco, and we've built, I think, a pretty magnificent team. Let's partner up with a very magnificent team you have here at loudon county so again we are very pleased to be here i send greetings from alfonso lopez uh who is a the fourth member of our team and who is uh up there with uh jonathan uh down there rather hopefully getting some great things done to bring back home with that i want to turn it over to my partner here anthony bedell and we'll go from there i'm actually alfonso lopez

[04:02:18] good to see you all anthony bedell i've been with becker and polycoff for five years uh actually going on six now um previous i'm more of the executive branch side of our team where i served at the u.s department of labor the u.s small business administration and then most recently the u.s department of transportation before i joined the firm um and also served with the esteemed chair on the nvta which was fun so it was fun uh good evening thank you for having us my name is perry adair i'm a consultant and attorney at becker apolly I've been with the firm now for off and on about 10 years.

[04:02:56] I have some background at the state capitol in Tallahassee. Went to Florida, apologize, as well as on the Hill up here in D.C. And then some time at TSA chief counsel's office and now here at Becker, dealing mostly with municipal issues. So I'm glad to be working with you all. Thanks for having us.

[04:03:12] So we'll just give you like a 40,000-foot view. There's really nothing going on up here. It's all been very, very quiet. You miss Congress, miss me in the Congress? Yes, yes, yeah. It's a whole lot of nothing. The message, though, that we do want to deliver is at the end of the day, we will get back to some business as usual.

[04:03:32] There's been a lot flying around the last couple of weeks, catching a lot of us off guard. But at the end of the day, a lot of the things that are being spoken about now will land back in the hands of Congress here in a very short order. They are a fairly parochial bunch, and they'll take back whatever authorities they need to.

[04:03:54] And so the trick is to make sure that we're still walking in the steps that will help us maximize and optimize the things that we want to do here in Loudoun County. You know, we do have a pretty good view of what's happening at 16 and Penn. And so I'm going to turn it over to Anthony to kind of give you a little idea of how some of the things are happening from there.

[04:04:16] And then we'll talk a little bit about Congress and go from there. Anthony, I'll turn it to you. Sure. Obviously the number of executive orders that have been issued have had an impact not only on Loudoun County, but many cities and counties across the country. So you're not alone. I think that sometimes it's, at least during my time there, 90-day reviews are not uncommon. It's just done quietly and not with much throwing a bowling ball onto a birdbath.

[04:04:44] But I think that what we tend to preach is, and what we're learning for this, is that as these guidances are issued and rolled out as patients, I think that is something that will shake itself out. I also believe that they're going to be changing the criteria on a number of the grant applications, particularly at the departments you are interested in pursuing federal funds from.

[04:05:09] And what we'll have to do is work closely with the team here and make sure that the narrative fits what is in those guidances going out so that we are projecting to the administration job creation and economic impact, economic development, et cetera. And a lot of the things in the federal program meet that criteria.

[04:05:28] So I think we'll be in good shape. It's just a matter of making sure we're saying the words they want to hear back to them. So that's something that we'll work closely with the team on. So I would just preach patience for this to shake out a little bit, and as Clarence said, Congress eventually has to take, put arms around this because a lot of these executive orders are going to have to go in the statute, there's going to have to be a budget submitted, there's going to be budget reconciliation, Clarence can touch on some of the FY25 appropriations and what FY26 process is going to look like.

[04:06:00] But I think once Congress is able to now engage, and I think that will start in March, particularly when the continuing resolution starts to end around March 14th, I think we'll see a little more action as far as, you know, this kind of stuff affects red and blue states.

[04:06:18] So there's a lot of members of Congress who are going to say, okay, whoa, let's think about this for a minute, what we're really doing. So that's why I've been, and we've been saying to all of our clients, let's be patient and get through March and see where we're at. And what you're seeing in Congress at this point and why it's so quiet is this is catching them off guard a little bit, too.

[04:06:41] Like Anthony said, this is a fairly normal process. It just usually doesn't get thrown out in everybody's face the way it has been. And typically, if there is something that's going to be somewhat controversial, there's a good chance that the Four Corners, the Speaker and the majority and minority leaders, know about it before it comes out.

[04:07:00] And so a lot of these things are catching folks off guard. Now, with respect to a couple of things, the freeze that's been talked about so much, that is definitely going to work itself out. There are some legal authorities that are already out there on the subject matter.

[04:07:18] What I have been counseling folks is a lot of the things that you're seeing that are coming off as delays aren't necessarily about the executive orders. It is being portrayed a lot that way. A lot of it has to do with the fact that we didn't get an appropriations bill done until mid-March of last year.

[04:07:39] five months after it needed to be done. So we still have cities and counties that prior to January 20th were still waiting on their agreements to get signed for things. Some of them still haven't gotten them. Working with Jonathan and Chris and Renee to let us know if there are issues with some of the payments that you guys are expecting.

[04:07:58] If you've not gotten those agreements yet, we can get the delegation to work on that and tend to shake some things loose. So we're keeping an eye on that. So that's one of the things to be most concerned about the delays from FY24. So the U.S. Congress, not having learned from that mistake, we have a deadline of March 14th to handle FY25. But I will tell you, just to make sure that you are forewarned and forearmed, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Tom Cole, sent a letter to his

[04:08:36] rankings, his chairman and his rankings last week, setting a timeline for the FY26 process. No discussion of FY25, the FY26 process. In that timeline, he moved, typically we get to marking up bills on appropriations in that late June timeframe. He mentioned that he wants to start marking up bills in late April for FY26. I came up here in 2003. I don't recall a time that

[04:09:10] ever got to marking up bills and appropriations in April um but what that kind of worries me a little bit is that they may decide to punt on fy25 all together and do a continuing resolution for the balance of the year um what that does for anything that loudon county and anybody else for that matter had uh earmarks or programmatic uh upgrades um would go away uh so that might be something we go away would go away for this year the bill wouldn't exist there'd be nothing to pass it in there will be some what they refer to as anomalies if they do a continuing resolution for

[04:09:48] the balance of the year but that's all high level stuff there wouldn't be any project funding now we don't know this is going to happen we do know that the work on fy25 appropriations is way behind There's been very little progress made since the CR back before Christmas, and they've got just a couple of things they're working on.

[04:10:11] They're working on FY25. They're working on at least one reconciliation bill, which is going to carry as much of the president's agenda as possible. There is a huge divide between where the House is on that reconciliation bill, and they just got a framework out of the budget committee last week, and where the Senate's going to land on that reconciliation bill.

[04:10:31] That's been a lot of the problem. two chambers are so far apart in money and in substantive issues that it's hard to negotiate from that distance. So we'll see probably within the next seven to ten days what they're going to do in FY25. We are hopeful, there's still a glimmer of hope that they can knock this out.

[04:10:49] There are a whole bunch of reasons why they need to try to get a bill, not the least of which is defense can't do a CR. They are already down a considerable amount having dealt with delays from fy 24 and that's going to be the loudest voice in the room we need a we need a bill whatever you do we need a bill and that's going to be the drumbeat from the department of defense so we're hopeful then that that will carry the day as well as a couple of other things as far as fy 26 is concerned your staff has been absolutely awesome in putting together the priorities of the board here and we feel pretty strong that our delegation is ready and willing

[04:11:28] to help we are in constant conversations with both of our senators and our member of congress as well to kind of get those things done and we're feeling ready whether they start marking up in april or start marking up in june that we'll have our priorities not only settled but discussed and ready to rock when that comes comes to the fore as anthony mentioned with ex as we're kind of going through this process with these executive orders there's a significant number of those that will

[04:12:06] require statutory changes to be put in effect to do any of these things speaking to the workforce that is the auspice of the united states congress to determine what the workforce looks like and determine the process and the validation for any decreases in that workforce that are significant so that'll come back to congress and they'll make those determinations and decisions being a county that is greatly affected by reductions in workforce that is something we've been keeping a massively close eye on talking to our members and understanding exactly

[04:12:41] where they are going to be on these things and this affects again not just us here in northern virginia and southern maryland but the workforce that's distributed around the country and so that'll get handled in due time with the respect to the freeze we will allow that that there are IT issues that come up in the change of administration, but where there are delays in funding that where you've signed agreements, where you've signed contracts, let us know about those.

[04:13:14] We'll jump on those yesterday and get that taken care of because those cannot be frozen. Every now and then somebody will go on, whether it's the DOT website looking to draw down money for the report to this out of the other, they will not be able to do so. They will make a call to the legislator and that money all of a sudden is freed up available to them within 24 to 48 hours so do let us know um when these things come up and hopefully we can we can deal with those things um as anthony said looking through the federal program and working with jonathan and chris and renee you guys are on point you always have been

[04:13:51] a lot of the guidelines that we expect we're going to get from the president over the next couple of months and then those those same guidelines somewhat mirrored by the u.s congress and senate is going to be more reduction than it is addition there'll be some changes in language you'll be taking things out but you've always dealt with a lot of these projects at the core it's economic development it's quality of life it's uh it's access those types of things those are still going to be the things creation and creating jobs those are still going to be the

[04:14:25] things that matter there's going to be some verbiage that we take out um but then how you effect and implement the things and policies that you want to there'll still be a little bit of movement in there so we feel fairly comfortable that you know the discussions that we've had about the board's priorities are still in effect still implementable and we're ready to go with those so with that i think i've spoken about as enough as i need to i want to throw it to you guys with any questions that you might have for us you've given me a lot to think about already

[04:15:01] and i really hope you're right about some of this mr latourne oh is he back so turn that we leave you in the lovetsville room no can you hear me okay there you are all right yeah i was on mute i don't know uh no i don't have any questions thank you um miss brixman thank you madam chair well um you sound calm there's no reason to have a heart

[04:15:34] attack yet i'm not calm as you may know so you call this a 90-day review and that 90-day reviews are fairly normal is it is it normal to fire thousands of people and illegally fire thousands of people people who are protected by the the u.s services act people who were on probation for a year or two and then they're just fired without cause are you saying that congress you said something about Congress and the workforce. Are you saying that Congress is going to come in and fix that? Yeah, it's their job. The workforce is their job. The workforce is their job. They make

[04:16:11] the determinations. They implement, the president implements the policies that the Congress determines and the Congress has the right of authority when it comes to workforce. So at some point, and I think from what I've heard from different folks, and certainly Anthony, feel free to jump been, what I've heard from quite a few folks is folks who are letting the courts play out on this whole thing.

[04:16:33] There's no legal authority for these firings. We've seen already some of the opinions that have come from the most recent court on this whole thing while she's allowing the doge folks to continue their work. She did lay out very clearly, and this is Judge Shutkin, very clearly what the actual arguments should be to enforce then a restraining order on these firings and to reinstate folks.

[04:16:58] We've had several other courts come back and put some restraints on these firings, so it's going to have to fall back on Congress. This is their job now. Right, but I mean, I don't know how we're going to get thousands and thousands of people back to work in the federal government after this guy took a hatchet to it. Yes, I agree with you. But is it normal for someone to access IRS data without with with read-write capabilities is that part of a 90-day process that normally happens and please don't misunderstand um when we say that it's it is normal for a president to come in and

[04:17:34] enforce his will as best he can now what's happening now there are some questions about the legality of these things okay but it is not abnormal at all for president biden and and for you know 45 before him and 44 before him to come in and say these are my priorities these things we want to do yeah but they went through that but but biden and other presidents went through the normal process they didn't just wholesale fire people and cause lawsuits and chaos in people's lives and i i wish i had the same confidence that you do about this congress because i mean they're

[04:18:09] appointing the least qualified people possible to these jobs and nobody is standing up nobody is standing up to these appointments we're not going to be able to have vaccines airplanes are going to continue to crash nobody's i mean anyway i'll talk more in my motion thank you thank you mr saints oh i is it tough can we make motions now or no it's not time for make motions do you have any questions for them i will wait then all right miss um i'm stuck oh thank you madam chair

[04:18:42] so i don't i don't want to put you in a difficult position since you have to be on the hill But as Supervisor Briskman pointed out, you seem very calm. Can you share with us what you are hearing from members of Congress other than our delegation and of a special importance, I think, right now are our Republican members of Congress?

[04:19:17] Because I think if anybody had a shot at getting a USDA grant unfrozen, it would be someone in a red state. Are you confident that the congressional members from the red states are going to successfully push back and release funding?

[04:19:40] You did mention that a congressman or woman may get a phone call from a constituent who's suffering and suddenly money may be available again. But I think it's going to take a full court press by the red states.

[04:19:59] And I'm somewhat concerned, given what the secretary of transportation said about transportation dollars going to states with high birth rates or high marriage rates. That tends to be the red states more than the blue states.

[04:20:17] I am concerned that some of the country is going to be left out entirely, even if the red states can recover some lost ground. So I think that's the rub is when Congress starts to rein its will back.

[04:20:36] I don't know when that will occur. I hear a little bit about it on Capitol Hill that there is a little bit of growing frustration with the the speed this is happening i will say as an example the top three receivers of ira money um in this country are richard hudson in north carolina republican jody errington in texas republican house budget chairman and jen kiggins in virginia beach so those are three red areas one in our state so it's gonna be interesting to see how this plays out over the long term and

[04:21:14] whether those you know that's manufacturing money that went to those three congressional districts or are they going to push back i i can't tell you i just feel like it will happen at some point and there's certainly a lot of consternation you know from these folks at the end of the day they've got a year before they're going to start campaigning again and that is always always always the leveraging piece on this thing the three vote difference in the house the three vote difference in the senate um you know that the blame is going to land in your seat you're already dealing with with the fact that you've not gotten appropriations bill out and you're probably not going to that's

[04:21:52] going to be congress's fault and you've got an fy26 bill that you hope is going to get done but you're not sure that's going to be congress's fault you've got you know two wildly diverging reconciliation processes and bills that are that's going to be congress's fault there's only so much they can layer on so if they can't take things home if they can't defend their workers if they can't defend these various things that's going to fall on them and so but honestly you might as well retire now you know and so that's that's always the leveraging thing is if you intend to be here

[04:22:29] past 2026 you've got to consider how these things play at home and these things are so robust and so wide that they're not capturing they're not targeting just one group of people they're capturing and targeting everybody red straight blue straight purple state it's kind of indiscriminate And so that's always the leveraging thing in Congress is members will look at this as, okay, all right, this is great.

[04:22:58] We're going to try to get here, but at the end of the day, I've got to go home. One of the things that kind of gave me a little heart, my wife is a teacher, and you know Ms. Randall. Apparently, you guys shared some time together at Kamala Harris's, one of her events, Tawny Williams.

[04:23:16] And she's a school teacher, and she's been freaking out a little bit about a couple of these executive orders that have popped out. And I was like, well, there's one thing to look at, and you can always get a flavor for what they're thinking in Congress, not by what they say on the mic, but what they actually do on paper.

[04:23:33] So a fairly significant bill on a new program at DOE for K-12s was just introduced last week with two Republican co-sponsors, democrat co-sponsors immediately filled up with about 45 50 co-sponsors generally that were almost evenly split republican and democrat that's not the doings of folks who are planning on shutting down doe because the two republican co-sponsors are both very senior and so that's kind of a tip

[04:24:11] off to me about where they're thinking about a lot of these things at this point we're reading tea leaves there is so much happening so fast that nobody really has any kind of a a certified stance on how they're going to attack this thing other than to say we'll handle it when it gets here we're at that point because you can't start talking about budgets and you can't start talking about appropriations without dealing with some of these issues there is a line in the sand that's kind of been drawn on the senate side about what the reconciliation bill is going to look like And the house is pretty much on the polar opposite side of that whole thing.

[04:24:52] So that's going to bring up a lot of conversations very, very early before you get to the FY26 appropriations conversation. So while I appear calm, you know, I save my palpitations for, you know, the late night, 2 o'clock in the morning kind of thing.

[04:25:11] So I'll wake up and take a couple deep breaths. But I will. Clarence and I have become a part-time therapist for all of our great clients. You know, and so, you know, there's reason to be hopeful in the process.

[04:25:29] You cannot change, you know, decades of process in two weeks because there are 535 people that get migraines real, real quickly. And they're, you know, every bit as proud as the president is, and they're going to take back what's rightfully theirs.

[04:25:50] Even the ones that agree with them do believe there's a process. And so, that's the only reason for the calm at this point, but I certainly completely understand everybody's concern. Mr. Kirshner. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for everyone that's here, both our staff and our lobbyists, our contractors for all the work that you do on behalf of Loudoun here at the federal level.

[04:26:12] I have a question, I think, I'm not sure who this will be directed at, but it's my understanding that within our agenda, I'm going to kind of drill down a little bit if this is too specific maybe your maybe our staff can talk about it um the general services administration the per diem designation okay i'm seeing what um that that's we that's been cut out i know it's hurting our hotels and other businesses here uh what and i think it's kind of been arbitrary when it got cut out what do you have a strategy for trying to resolve this because it seems to me like it should

[04:26:48] be a fairly reasonable solution but obviously because of how we're included here in the northern of Virginia, nonstandard rate area, we're kind of excluded. We're going to have a great opportunity as the GSA administrator nomination is put forward during the confirmation hearing to make sure we have questions put in place asking that question directly about the loud and per diem issue so that we hear not only directly from the nominee during that, also they'll have to do follow-up and QFR questions for the record.

[04:27:19] Afterwards we'll have those questions submitted and then what we'll be able to do is now hopefully will be top of mind for the new administrator once he or she are confirmed and then we'll be able to go in and start setting up meetings with the team and bring some of you with us as well to start meeting and seeing what kind of action you can have on that.

[04:27:37] So right out of the gate, we're going to make sure that that issue is top of line during that confirmation hearing. Good. And we'd appreciate it and it sounds like obviously that's a very good start. It's been a problem since I think 2007 when we got kicked out of that. This may be a staff question and one of the changes that's in our statement is we're supporting initiatives to provide additional federal funding for regional transportation projects and I think we included Route 57, 9, Dallas Greenway and Route 50.

[04:28:05] Is there any reason that any of you know why we couldn't add Route 15 to that? These are requests that we got from DTCI. Our proposed language includes those projects specifically as well as other regional transportation projects which route 15 may be included in i'm not sure i would have to look into it it wasn't it wasn't included so yeah that may be something i don't know if it's an emotion we need to do

[04:28:39] yeah and maybe it's fully funded at this point but um that's just i just noticed it wasn't in there so i thought i'd bring that up as to alert both my board members and yeah our lobbyists as well in phases and i think the phase that it's in and that was why i thought it may not be included but didn't know if you know but maybe i could staff can follow up with me by email or something thank you mr turner thank you madam chair um has there been any discussion that you're aware of i i'd be shocked if there was because it's pretty radical i know we want to maintain the perimeter

[04:29:15] at national but in light of the aircraft accident and the hint of congestion in that air traffic area is there any suggestion of reducing the perimeter at national to boost traffic at dulles i have not heard that at this point um i think that unfortunately usdot and fa are going to have to look inward and i know that secretary duffy's number one priority he made a speech recently is safety and going in and fixing the ffa and the air traffic control system like what that outcome looks like i don't know but at least he has said that as a priority number one tasked by him from

[04:29:55] the president so it's possible i haven't heard that yet but i mean it's certainly within the realm of the discussions and this hasn't really been a new conversation for senators warner and kane they've both spoken on this for a while that there's too much traffic coming in out of dca as it is um i mean wow is as far back as as i can remember this has been a constant refrain from senator kane um and certainly you know no one wants to take advantage of a tragedy but this falls in line with the conversation uh that he's been having um and you have a very large

[04:30:31] accommodating airport down the street that can handle increased gate usage so i think that you know it may also be part of the conversation that goes forward as well as how to utilize and grow dulles yeah well and there's some basic things that jumped right out at me when i saw that they had an approved helicopter route that crossed the approach end of an arriving runway i i did a double take at the television set i mean i flew helicopters you didn't cross the approach end of the runway ever you just didn't do it yeah so i was shocked by that so i'm sure they're doing a whole lot of introspective discussion um the land the first round of national interest electric

[04:31:09] transmission corridors was determined and loudon didn't have any in them i would say that's a very high priority for loudon county we've got three new 500 kv lines coming into loudon county two from the north and the existing right-of-way and run from the south they can either a declare those national nitsies national interest electricity transmission corridors they could also designate a new one coming in from the west so that's a top priority and that's a that's a third rail for us so please keep an eye out for what they do with the nitsy program they just went through the first round and we survived the first round but we got to be pretty high up on the priority list for any

[04:31:47] future discussions absolutely thank you so i love it that you're you all are calm and i anthony i really love it that you're calm i think it's great um i'm like i'm a duck but underneath it's yeah i know and i as well i think some of the things that you're hearing is you know we are local elected officials in a place that has almost 18 000 federal employees not to mention contractors Each one of us have had people reach out to us about, do you have any jobs at the counties because I have been, I'm going to be let go or I have been let go.

[04:32:22] Mr. Sainz said he had two people call him just like today or something. So we are dealing with this on a very real level, and they're very real people for us and they're not numbers. And so I think that's part of what you're hearing. And I do think, not I think, you are right that every president asserts their will when they come in.

[04:32:40] And that doesn't look like this, though. No. And then there's other things like pulling us out of the WHO and, you know, things that are supposed to excite people, like I'm going to take them to the Kennedy Center. It is meant to be disorienting. It is meant to be overwhelming.

[04:32:58] And every day we have to kind of just take a step back and say I cannot respond to everything. I cannot swing at every pitch. But I also think, you know, I think it's correct to say that this is not normal. in the way that this is happening.

[04:33:14] It's normal that every president wants to assert themselves, but not like this. Not so unorganized, not so disjointed, and quite frankly, not with such cruelty. And I think that's some of what you hear in the response to those things right now.

[04:33:31] As we talk just a little bit about some of our grants, did I hear you correct to say that we don't think that there would be less money offered, but just that we're going to have to work things different, the verbiage is going to be different.

[04:33:48] Is that what you all think is going to happen? So as of now, remember the IAJ that passed was paid for. So that money for the next two years are there. What they name the programs, rename, reconnecting communities, whatever they rename them, and prioritize the money still should be spent and can be spent.

[04:34:10] And we just have to tailor our grant applications to what their guidance is. That's really good to know. And then even in a continuing resolution from FY24, that makes grant funding available for areas outside of the IJA. But that means community-funded projects will have to resubmit them for FY26 based on the county's priorities.

[04:34:32] One more quick question. When we say that a lot of Congress will do this and the courts, What, and I know because you guys are lawyers sitting around. What does happen when an administration just flat says, I'm not going to follow a court.

[04:34:54] I'm not going to follow a judge's ruling. What happens then? I mean, I hate to think about that, but. I mean, they have said it. That's why I'm asking. I think it's to be determined. Right. This is new. Yeah. All right. And so in the court case that I mentioned earlier, man, do I want to say this on the mic?

[04:35:18] So in the court case that was discussed, there might be some thinking that the Supreme Court in granting immunity to President Trump as the president is extended to the folks that work beneath him or adjacent to him. That is not really the case. I think at some point, if the courts want to enforce this every other thing, they may look to make an example out of someone. I don't know that for a fact, but just reading through the opinion, the opinion was

[04:35:54] interesting because if you look at any article that came out on it, basically all the articles say that the judge blocks the TRO that looked to keep Doge out of these agencies. Well, that wasn't really the reality of the opinion and so if you go through and read it there's a lot of emphasis put on who's doing what and what that impact is what that harm is and what the playbook then is for going forward this is completely new but I think at some point just like the congress

[04:36:28] the judiciary the judicial branch they're every bit as proud as anybody else and so at some point somebody's going to slam their fist down and say you're going to do what i'm you know i said to do well i'll figure out a way to hurt you um how that looks really new territory okay all right um i do know that there are some bills that are already being introduced to do different things and and restrict this and restrict that um so it's going to be a battle royale at some point um and you know i think um you know we don't have terribly long to find out what that is um because the same

[04:37:08] phone calls you guys are getting they're getting over across the water and so there's going to have to be somebody you know some just justice is going to come up with a plan this is how i'm going to attack this since you're ignoring me there's already three now that are kind of basically issued threats um so what you do with that is is you know what comes up comes up next we'll see this is new. Okay. Well, thank you. So we do have some motions on the dais. Now, I'm going to say this, supervisors, when we're in, when we're talking about the state program or the federal

[04:37:44] program, it's harder to get motions in in a more timely manner because things are changing sometimes by the hour for both those programs, state and federal programs. However, to the degree possible, the Thursday that the package goes out, as in the email I sent you all, I'd like to see the motions, and that is because one staff has to see them, but much more importantly, the public hasn't seen them. And so when we have motions to come to the dais in the last day, it's tougher. It is not as easy with our federal program and with our state program.

[04:38:21] I do understand that because sometimes we're responding to what's happening almost in real time. So I do know there are some motions on the dais. Mr. Sainz, Ms. Brixman, I don't care who goes first. Sure. Mr. Sainz, would you like to go first? Yes, mine are very simple additions. So under the FAA policies, we are changing our previous statement and writing in, oppose efforts to increase, and this is to Mr. Turner's comment earlier, oppose efforts to increase the slot and parameter rules at National Airport, and then right now it reads

[04:39:01] encourage the use of Dulles International Airport as the region's long-haul international hub, but I would like to add in the word domestic as well, so to change the language to say encourage the use of Dulles Airport International as the region's long-haul domestic and international hub. So you're just adding the word domestic? Yes, ma'am. Okay. That's a motion?

[04:39:24] yes ma'am okay motion is made by mr sayings and seconded by miss brixman discussion on that motion and it's just literally to add the word domestic um mr letourneau discussion i mean should we just be more forward and and ask for an evaluation of the perimeter rule if that's what really the intent is um i don't know that adding the word domestic to that position is gonna is gonna do anything i mean that you know well i think maybe

[04:39:57] I just asked Mr. Sainz if the intent is to reevaluate the perimeter rule for safety reasons, should we just say that? What's the verbiage, Jonathan or Chris, what's the verbiage in the program already?

[04:40:16] I think it just deposes an increase. It says ensure the status quo for perimeter rule exemptions at Reagan National Airport. It doesn't mention Dulles at all. Yeah. So, yeah, what's in here, what was being proposed in the package now is new language where, again, it reads opposed efforts to increase the slop parameter rule at Reagan National Airport, which I think we all agree with not to increase it any further.

[04:40:40] And then that following statement encouraged the use of Dulles Airport to internationalize the region's long-haul domestic and international hub. So, again, we're encouraging them to, one, not do any more increases at national, two, look at Dulles for any additional domestic or international flights where we do have capacity at Dulles.

[04:41:00] But reclaiming my time, so that is not under the purview of the FAA. You can add, any airline can add a flight at Dulles. The reason we have the discussion about DCA is because it's specifically slot restricted. So the only discussion and the only oversight of the FAA is about slots. So saying we want more domestic flights at Dulles is not a federal policy issue.

[04:41:21] What it is is saying that the FAA should evaluate the number of slots, existing slots, that it allows exemptions at DCA. So to me, if this is what we're trying to do, then we ought to just say that. And perhaps our staff or our lobbyists would have an opinion about that.

[04:41:42] And let me just stop the clock for a second. And let me say that whatever we're going to do in that way, we should do it tonight. Now, normally I would say this is a federal program. We have time. We can take it back. This is not the first time we have a shot at this. But we're going to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, right?

[04:41:58] And we're going to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to talk to our elected officials up there and put forward some of the things that we are talking about today. And, of course, we can see them other times. It won't be the only time we ever see them, but we're going to tap a bill on Tuesday.

[04:42:15] So if there's a motion that needs to be made or something needs to be done or adjusted or whatever, let's do it now. Normally I say wait, but let's do it now. It's the National Association of Counties. I saw you all like, are we? In two weeks. Yeah, in two weeks.

[04:42:30] I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is in two weeks. I'll be there on the 5th. Sorry, there's two weeks. I'm sorry about that. We will do that before we come back on this dais again. I'll put it like that. We will be uncapital here before we come back to the dais.

[04:42:47] So that's what I actually was thinking. So if we're going to do something, we need to do it soon and before. So, Matt, do you actually, I mean, it puts me in a bad situation. The language that I would say is ask, you know, request the FAA and Congress to evaluate the existing slot exemptions at DCA.

[04:43:12] can we can we add that as a as a friendly to yours or is that it mean sure okay so I further move yeah so how about I oppose efforts to increase the slot perimeter rule at Reagan National Airport miss Laterno add your language yep and then encourage the use of Dulles International Airport as regions long-haul domestic international hub all right yes so did you all get that you

[04:43:41] want to say domestic and international? Yeah, domestic and international, thanks. Yeah, it's a friendly, so you don't have to. Did you guys get that? You're good? You got that? Okay. So my language was saying evaluate the existing number of slot exemptions at DCA. And I don't care the order of that motion. Either way, it's a motion. Accept it as a friendly. So it's fine. Okay, you're good? Yeah.

[04:44:06] All right. Do you all understand the motion? Yes. All right. Any other discussion on the motion? All right. All the people say aye. Aye. Any opposed? that motion will pass 9-0. All right, and I have one more. It's just simply and under broadband, let me get it here, is to add another bullet point to enable access to Starlink for economically disadvantaged families in rural communities. So for those who are not familiar with Starlink, it's pretty. Well, it's a motion. That's a motion. It needs a second before you can start talking. Sorry. Motion is made and seconded. All right, thank you. For those who

[04:44:44] familiar with Starlink it's pretty easy simple plug and play you order it get it delivered take it out the box follow the instructions within about 15-20 minutes you're hooked up to have internet access and you can also use it for for cellular services within your home so i think this is it fits within you know the broad scope of bringing more um you know connectivity in rural communities and also could help uh as the motion stated economically disadvantaged families and uh so if there's any grants or programs out there i think that we should look into that with starlink so i think we should add it to the program thank you all right um other discussion

[04:45:20] on the motion i'm going to have to abstain on this motion because i just cannot yes miss i second that motion yes you seconded the motion he's getting contracts yes this will help roaring and no no All right. Motion is made. Motion is made by Supervisor Sains, seconded by Supervisor Bricksman to give Elon Musk more money.

[04:45:55] That's the motion we just made. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? No. I have no idea what this vote is. Ms. Letourna, what's your vote? I don't understand this issue enough, so I'm going to abstain.

[04:46:15] Okay, so I think I heard two ayes, one abstention. Can we get a raise hand? Yeah, because I don't know who voted what. I think I heard two ayes. You voted yes. Mr. Kirshner voted yes. I think that was a 261 vote, I think.

[04:46:34] Huh? You said aye? Okay, guys. Okay. So that would be a 342 vote is what I'm getting.

[04:46:50] Am I right? Christy has it. Can we do your hands? Guys, listen, let's try this one more time. If you say aye, raise your hand. One, two, three. If you say no, raise your hand. One, two, three, four. And then there's two. I was all right. It was three, four, two vote.

[04:47:08] Those guys are crazy. I'm not great in math. No, I vote against it. Okay. That's your last motion, Mr. Sains? Ma'am. Miss Brixman. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move to add a priority statement to the economic development section of the 2025 federal program.

[04:47:34] It should read, support efforts to reaffirm congressional authority to establish a federal workforce and determine the appropriate processes and justifications for reductions of said workforce. I further move to add a priority statement to the economic development section of the 2025 federal program It should read oppose any large-scale freezes and federal grant funding especially any with a disparate impact on local governments I think I'm going to divide this motion, but I need a second before I can do that There's a second on the motion the miss miss. I'm glad second that miss Brickson. Would you like them opening before I divide the motion?

[04:48:10] Sure So I know that this sounds maybe a little bit obvious, but it reconfirms what our consultants were telling us, that hopefully Congress will have the authority to rein in the firings and the reductions in the workforce without any real examination or analysis of what they're doing.

[04:48:35] Virginia is home to more than 140,000 federal workers. We have an estimated 17,600 federal workers that live in Loudoun as of 2023. That doesn't count the contractors that rely on those paychecks.

[04:48:51] As of now, more than 200,000 federal workers have been terminated, which are mostly individuals in their probationary period, their first year of employment. Most of these firings only began last week, so this is a new and rapidly evolving situation. The terminations of federal workers happening now are haphazard and chaotic.

[04:49:12] They're being released, as I said, on probation. Many of the actions have been halted by federal courts, but I think that we just need a little bit more stronger language on our federal agenda about this situation in particular. As Chair Randall said, I've had one relative already laid off.

[04:49:30] I have a relative who's under the age of 30 that received one of those early retirement fork in the road letters. which seems ridiculous because she's been working for the Secret Service for a number of years already. I've been approached in the grocery store by nervous constituents, and the list goes on.

[04:49:51] This could have a huge economic impact not only on Loudoun but all of Northern Virginia. You would think that the governor would appreciate the millions and millions of dollars that go down to Richmond from Northern Virginia federal workers, but apparently he does not.

[04:50:07] consider that a problem he had several opportunities to say so recently and he did not so I think it's even more incumbent on us and local government to speak up for our constituents on the freezes we know that Loudoun County relies on a lot of federal grants for much of our many of our projects and programs and so freezes in those areas could really throw sand in the gears of the operation of this county government and many of the plans that we have in place to improve the lives of our constituents so I really appreciate it if my colleagues would support these changes in our federal agenda again I

[04:50:45] know it seems obvious I know that you guys are already doing all of this when it comes to grant you know making sure we get our grants and all of that but I we felt that it was important to get it explicitly in the legislative agenda given the circumstances right now thank you I am going to divide the motion so let's discuss the first motion first A discussion on the first motion, and Ms. Brixman, would you like to read that first motion again?

[04:51:14] It will still be stuck in the supervisor glass. Would you like to read it again? I'd be happy to. Oh, I better put my glasses. I move to add a priority statement to the Economic Development Section of the 2025 Federal Program. It should read, support efforts to reaffirm congressional authority to establish a federal workforce and to determine the appropriate processes and justifications for reductions of said workforce.

[04:51:39] Okay, Mr. Latour, do you have anything? No, just I don't want to take up too much time on the federal program on this. I think it is worth a separate discussion for the board with the county administrator and staff about potentially providing support to federal workers that are being laid off and or recruitment.

[04:52:01] I know you've mentioned it previously in this meeting and I'm sure all of us have had the same thought, which is we have a lot of open positions in Loudoun County. And if there's talent that's now available to hire, we should consider doing so and being very forward about that. So just a sort of separate thought that I think it's worth our time as a board to have that discussion.

[04:52:21] But I have no comment further on the motion. I'll support it. Okay. So Mr. Kirster. Yeah. So I don't think I'm going to support this motion. I don't think this has been really vetted through legal. I mean, this assumes, it says, support efforts to reaffirm congressional authority to establish federal workforce and determine the appropriate process and justification for reductions of said workforce.

[04:52:45] I think we're stepping, quite frankly, into a legal realm of decision-making that we don't really know, I don't think any of us up here, quite frankly, have a full grasp on what is congressional authority and what is executive authority and whether or not we should say reaffirming congressional authority.

[04:53:02] We don't even know ultimately what that is. We haven't been briefed on it. We haven't been told about on it. I mean, generally, of course, we understand that there's congressional authority to establish a federal workforce, but there's also executive authority to do certain things, and the executive authority is exercising some of that authority that Congress will either need to push back on, ultimately, as any executive order, or ultimately, they have to codify.

[04:53:21] So I'm just not comfortable with this language whatsoever. I think it's way too premature. I understand what the supervisor is trying to do here. You know, they're concerned about certain, perhaps, the executive branch overstepping their bounds, but again, this is a little outside, quite frankly, in my opinion, our level of understanding and perhaps even our level of jurisdiction.

[04:53:44] I think we're wading in a little deeper than we really should. Okay, so a couple questions. Would a motion like this harm you all's ability to lobby for us at the federal level?

[04:54:01] Would it do anything at the federal level to harm what you're trying to do for us? I don't believe so. I think... You said you do believe so, or you don't believe so? I do not believe so. Quite honestly, I believe, and this is my own personal opinion, the expectation would be that a county that sits right across the water that probably has the highest penetration of employees on the federal government side would, you know, write something to kind of stand up for those employees.

[04:54:38] What does this look like in action? I mean, what's the action? So support efforts to reaffirm Congress authority. How would you all play that out on our part, on our behalf? How would you play that out? So it is my expectation, just being a creature of the Congress, that someone is going to file a bill to, again, and this is going to really kind of guide a lot of the things that happen when folks actually kind of get their bearings and start filing bills the things that mean the most to them their priority

[04:55:14] issues whether it's dealing with health care issues dealing with climate dealing with you know whatever the dei whatever these things are up to and including the workforce someone is eventually going to file a bill um and that bill is either going to be a resolution stating it is the sense of congress that blah blah blah blah or they will file file a bill you know that says one thing or the other they will there's it's unlikely that there won't be some sort of legislation that's going to be based probably entirely on what the courts come back and say so at some point there will be something to either support or oppose

[04:55:53] and then we'll certainly you know as those things come across we'll let the staff know and and in turn they'll let you guys know okay all right thank you very much would you like a closing I would, Madam Chair, I would like a closing, if I might, in my time, ask Mr. Quintine a question.

[04:56:10] Sure. Mr. Quintine, the first part of this motion, was that the original language I proposed to you? It was not, no, ma'am. Okay. And was the language that you brought back to me, was that cleared by legal? It was reviewed by the county attorney, yes, ma'am.

[04:56:26] Okay, I thought so. And Mr. Quintine, did you used to work on Capitol Hill? Yes, ma'am. Who did you work for? Mr. Jeffords. Right. So you're very well aware of the type of language that we would need in our legislative agenda to influence congressional people, right? And it was also vetted by our contract lobbies.

[04:56:43] That's right. That's what I thought. Okay. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you. For this motion, for the first part of the motion, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion will pass 8-1 with Mr. Kirshner voting against the motion. The second part of the motion, would you like to read that, Mr. Frickson?

[04:56:59] Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move to add a priority statement to the economic development section of the 2025 federal program. It should read, oppose any large-scale freezes in federal grant funding, especially any with disparate impact on local governments.

[04:57:14] All right, that motion has been made. It's already been seconded by Ms. Bricksman. Discussion on that motion that you haven't done already? No, ma'am, I'm good, thank you. Mr. Turner, do you have anything? Okay, all right, all the people who say aye.

[04:57:35] Any opposed? That motion will pass 9-0. Are there any other motions on the dais? All right, then I need to make a motion because I just lost it to accept the whole package, including what we just did.

[04:57:51] Just give me one second because I just lost my item. There it is. All right, I move the Board of Supervisors to adopt the draft 2025 federal budget program provided in attachment one to the February 19th, 2025, Board of Supervisors business meeting action item and as amended at the February 19th, 2025 Board of Supervisors meeting action item.

[04:58:23] I further move the Board of Supervisors to adopt a brief -- whoa, that's -- I'm going to make two separate motions. Let's stop right there. That is the motion. Is there a second for this motion? The motion is made and seconded. So this first part of this motion is just simply to support our program and the things that we just added to the program just now.

[04:58:48] I didn't even make the second part, so the motion was divided just as I started talking, so it's the first part of the motion right now. Any discussion on that part of the motion? Mr. Letourneau? Yeah, so you made the number one in the draft motion, not the second sentence?

[04:59:10] Yes, exactly. Okay, I do appreciate that. I still do have some concerns about some of the other items in here we hadn't had a lot of discussion about. i'm not sure what the immigration enforcement language exactly means when we talk about imposing burdens on localities i think that is highly open to debate about what we mean by that and there's another a few other items here that i just thought were outside the scope of the county so i'm probably still not supportive but i do appreciate the effort to separate out the last

[04:59:45] item mr kirschner yeah i'm just going to agree with mr letourneau here um i do appreciate that and i know that we did that with the state with the state language there's just a number of other things within the uh the federal uh including the immigration language specifically but there were several other points that um i don't have to talk about them significantly right now but just just too many to quite frankly bring up a motion on um so i will probably be opposing um this adoption as a whole. Anybody else? Ms. Brixman. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm glad that Supervisor

[05:00:22] Letourner reminded me I wanted to thank staff and for including that language on the mass deportations that are being threatened in our country. And we know that we have some very nervous constituents. And yeah, so I did submit that by the January 9th deadline and I appreciate staff putting that language in there. Thank you. I would say this. I would say that it is unfortunate whether I understand it or not is unfortunate to have this boat split on a partisan basis it you know in some ways especially now

[05:01:00] to have our the two Republican members of our board not support this is it is unfortunate and we've been on this days for a while on this issue and none of those questions were asked and so if you all are saying I don't understand this I don't understand that you could have asked the questions you didn't so now you're saying you're not going to vote for it because you don't understand it, but you didn't take the time, you didn't take the opportunity to ask the questions. I would even have done a second round of questions if you needed us to. And so I think it's just interesting that you're going to not support the vote on things that you didn't ask about when you

[05:01:34] had a chance. And I think it's unfortunate that this is going to be a party line vote because, quite frankly, we really are not a partisan board in that way. We're not normally, and especially for a federal program, I don't want us to be seen like that. So let's, in the future, let's talk to staff and talk to one another and try to work issues out to the best of our ability so we can maybe have a federal program with unanimous support.

[05:02:07] All in favor say aye. Opposed? Aye. No. That motion will pass 7-2 with Mr. Kerster and Mr. Letourneau voting against the motion. The second part of the motion is, I further move the Board of Supervisors to adopt the reproductive health statement provided as attachment 2 to the February 24th, 2025 Board Supervisors business meeting action item.

[05:02:31] Would somebody grab that statement and let me read it before we go further because I want to -- let me go find out where it's at. Proposed legislation of federal funding that expands access to reproductive health care, telehealth, reproductive health care, codifies the right to travel across state lines to to receive reproductive health care codifies the legal right to privacy to all reproductive health medical doctors and establishes the full repeal of the Hyde Amendment.

[05:03:06] Furthermore, support legislation or use of federal funds that prohibits anyone acting under state law from interfering, preventing, restricting, impeding, or retaliating against health care providers to provide legal abortion services to out-of-state residents.

[05:03:22] Any person or entity who helps healthcare providers to provide such services, any person who travels to another state to obtain such services, any person or entity who helps another person travel to another state to obtain such services, are the movement in interstate commerce of drugs that are approved to terminate pregnancies.

[05:03:44] Motions made and seconded by Supervisor Bricksman. That's the actual language, though. That's the actual language. Is that new language?

[05:03:59] Oh, okay. Okay. I thought, yeah. Okay. All right. Um, no discussion on that part of the motion. Uh, Mr. Letourneau. Nope.

[05:04:16] Mr. Kirsten. Just, uh, um, I think I've made it abundantly clear where I stand on this and there's, and I just can't in good conscience support it. Thank you. Ms. Brixman. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[05:04:34] I think you put the argument right there when you read the statement. It's all valid, and the reason we have to have this language in our federal program is valid, given what's been happening with the basically stripping of our human rights in this country.

[05:04:53] So I appreciate my colleagues for supporting. Thank you. I will close by saying, from a medical point of view, when you have an atopic pregnancy or pregnancy in your tubes, to the medical answer for an ectopic pregnancy is technically an abortion.

[05:05:12] When you have a spontaneous abortion that maybe didn't clear, the medical response to that is technically an abortion. We think of an abortion as one thing, but if you cannot have your medical needs for going to talk about pregnancy provided, the woman is going to die. It is that simple. The woman is going to die. And so just medically understanding all the things that fall under the word abortion

[05:05:51] is really important to understand those things because, you know, there are times that an abortion is the only thing that will save a woman's life and and so as is true for most things none of these issues are as cut and dry as we want to make them so that's all i will say all the people

[05:06:22] say aye aye opposed nay that motion will pass 7-2 as well oh gentlemen ma'am it's going to be interesting year it's going to be an interesting year you can no longer say this is normal though this is not normal. You can say things like we can handle it, I'll hear that, or I got it, I heard that, or don't worry, Chair Ronda, we good, I'll hear that. But you cannot say this is normal because I think we're living in some kind of abnormal times. I do look forward to working with all of you all, including Mr. Lopez. I really do appreciate the help

[05:07:02] you're about to give us as we go to NACO, of which I am very involved in and others are too and i look forward to the relationship we are we now have and hopefully hopefully have it for a long time to come anthony you're the best thank you all right now we're gonna have to we're gonna have to hear that and we we have the right team in place externally and internally too we will handle it yeah we will handle it there you go there you go thank you everyone i appreciate it

[05:07:31] thank you we're going to not take a break we're going to do one more item before a break and that That item is Greenland Park, so will the applicant, not the applicant, but will staff please come forward?

[05:08:13] I have, I do have, oh my gosh, where did my question go? I'm going to have a question on this before we start. Leo, in making a motion tonight, if there's a motion to make, if a motion to approve this is being made tonight, does a motion to approve have to identify the concept plan, need to identify the concept plan?

[05:08:39] no the the motion is to approve the application as submitted right now the application has three concept plans so we vote up or down the application as it exists if the motion is so what if the board would like to apply I'm sorry go ahead I ask this because there might be support on the on the on the dais for a concept plan and not another so if you're just saying a concept plan period it might change people's votes that's correct and what the board could do is if it appears that the board

[05:09:13] would support one concept plan over another then you can ask the applicant if they'd be willing to amend their application but the board's vote tonight is to vote the application itself up or down I don't think I understand what you just said to me you could do a poll of the board to see which of the concept plans would be acceptable because the assumption that says they're all here any one of them would be acceptable. That's correct. And so we would then ask the applicant, which the board wants this one or this one, is that acceptable to you? And then that becomes

[05:09:49] part of the motion? That's correct. But you cannot make the motion to approve. The applicant would need to change the application. And Mr. Snyder could speak to this, whether or not we'd have to come back to the board because it, what my understanding is, it's too well integrated into the proffers to make the changes tonight.

[05:10:11] Well, okay. Okay, we can see how this discussion goes. It is my assumption that there would be agreement on a concept plan, but not on all the concept plans. So that's why I just need to know what legally we can do and can't do.

[05:10:27] If the board would like to make a request to the property owner to go forward with one or more of the concept plans or to delete one or more of the concept plans, Then that request can be made tonight, and I'd say this application needs to come back for a revision to the offers.

[05:10:44] Gotcha. Okay. All right. Hi. Good evening. Good evening. Mr. Rogers has covered my updates. Thanks, Leo. You're welcome. So we evaluated when this came to you last fall.

[05:11:00] We had raised several questions about design, again, with the unique context of the light industrial place type in the transition policy area. The applicants come back with cross-sections, vetting three options. We've evaluated all three options against the policies based on the revisions they've made.

[05:11:17] We felt that the commitments are consistent with the place type of all three options, and we would look to the board whether they accept all three or if you accept one of the three or several of the three, that that be sent to a future business meeting in order to make those amendments to the proffer statement if that's where the board chooses to go.

[05:11:35] Thank you. I understand. That was all the update you have? Yes, ma'am. All right, I almost always, I have been saying, we're gonna go to motion, we're gonna go to motion, we're not gonna have questions, we're just gonna go to motion. I'm gonna break that rule right now because I think there's a lot of discussion up here about the concept, about the plans.

[05:11:54] So I need to let people ask questions first, I do, and not just go straight to a motion. I apologize, I know it's gonna take longer to do that. Ms. Letourneau, do you have any questions?

[05:12:15] Ms. Letourneau, you still there? Okay, I'll come back. I'll text him and then I'll come back. Does anyone else have any questions? Mr. Kirchner. Thank you, Madam Chair. So I want to talk a little bit about these concept plans. This is kind of highly unusual for an application like this to bring actual concept plans to the detail that they have brought them. Is that a fair statement? Correct. Okay. And I know some of that's because this board wants more detail. And I know I've heard applicants say, and I'm assuming

[05:12:53] that's true with this applicant, that one of the reasons this board wants more detail, but a lot of times applicants say, well, we can't give you more detail because we don't exactly know who our user is. I have talked to the applicant a little bit about this, Mr. Yard, and my understanding is we have a couple, or we have a user who has three potential plans, and that's why these were kind of put in.

[05:13:18] Is that your understanding also as staff? Correct. This is always the balance between, you know, flexibility and concept. In enough detail for us to evaluate the policy, this was met, this met both of those options. So when staff, and it's my understanding that in large part staff has come back, they've done a number of fixes, I'm not going to have time to kind of go through, but the two big things were that staff, they had two outstanding issues before regarding architectural and site design as well as building height.

[05:13:53] You believe the applicant has significantly addressed those. seems to me like they've come back with amendments about 20 or 30 of them so they have obviously worked very close with you to get those amendments is that correct okay so staff is now supporting the application i mean it was pretty evident is that correct okay so um on the concept plans they are all the same far right correct at a point four far 1.4 million square feet and so um the different ones have different advantages or not one of the ones that i personally like the most is the one that kind of hides the utility field.

[05:14:30] I mean, I think they've come with this application. We should probably support the app. If we're going to support it, just support the application as it is. But some of them hide the equipment fields a little better than others. Is that your understanding as well from the various roads? Correct. In option one, you'll see that the equipment yards are oriented to the rear of the structures except for the most easternly building that's facing cyclone.

[05:14:51] But yes, each varies in terms of building orientation and how the parking and layouts or equipment areas are arranged. Does staff have any sort of opinion on -- are there any different aesthetically pleasing things, stronger with more -- one concept versus another from your perspective?

[05:15:07] Yes. Okay. I think all of them have met the minimum designs, but I know you're out of time, but we can go through some of those if we'd like to. Well, yeah, if you -- I mean, between the concepts, I mean, I personally am supporting all three. I think they've done a pretty good job laying those out.

[05:15:24] I know some of my fellow supervisors maybe support one over another. My concern is we're going to have one supervisor that likes one, one that likes the other, and I'm sorry, I guess I'm out of time, but I'd kind of like to hear your thoughts. Options one and two. Option one breaks it up across four buildings.

[05:15:41] Guys, I can't hear while you're talking. Orient into the site. This one, or it's three across three buildings, hides it closer to the existing vegetation. Option three, there's simply two buildings with their larger scale, and your equipment yards are facing the outside of the structure.

[05:15:58] so so three shows the equipment you're oh i'm sorry i'm out of time no no can you yeah yeah i'll i'll can you go through that one more time yes ma'am thank you yes same square footage throughout the the three options this divides it amongst three buildings option option one one okay you'll see the parking areas are oriented toward the exterior of the roads that they face and where's excuse me okay and you see the equipment yards are predominantly to the interior of the property okay and option two okay uh square footage across three buildings oriented more to the left of your

[05:16:36] screen which is up against existing vegetation so the scale and massing of the building is hidden with with the vegetation and also the buildings are being sunk into the grounds to reduce building height okay option three larger structures two structures and you'll see that the equipment yards are facing um the adjacent roadways all right that helped all right um miss umstead oh

[05:17:11] thank you madam chair would i be able to ask supervisor sayings a question through the chair yes supervisor sayings if you have a preference among these options what are your thoughts on why you would prefer one over the other um yes i do have a preference it would be option three i just um in my viewpoint i can't get with having four buildings three buildings i'd rather have the two buildings all the far's and correct me if i'm wrong through the chair to miss umstead

[05:17:46] the that are through the staff the far's are the same for all concepts is that correct correct so the heights are the same correct so yeah so i would prefer option three sheet what is this sheet 3b. Thank you, Supervisor Saints. Thank you, Madam Chair. If I could ask staff, do any of these options have more buffering, more plantings than the others? They're consistent across all three

[05:18:20] options. All right, okay. Design commitments, screening, use of retaining walls to bury the height into the property as consistent concepts throughout. When it comes to the height of the buildings, which options have the lower heights, which have the higher? All three. All three are the same? Correct. All right, thank you. Ms. Tocroni. Thank you, Chairman. I don't know if Marshawn can answer this question or not. While I appreciate the addition of monitoring power

[05:18:59] usage in the proper statement, I'm wondering if the timing was at all discussed, because it says in five years, you know, beginning from the date of approval, which is the date of this ZMAP, do you think they will be in five years at the point of actually needing the full power of 300 megawatts?

[05:19:24] I mean, I'm just wondering if that was at all discussed, the timing. Whoa. No, ma'am, I would not have the answer for you for that question. Okay. I mean, it is different. Well, I'm just wondering if that was discussed because I wonder if in five years. Okay. And then also I see the natural gas power generator analysis. What was that ever put in the proper statement is something that they would be required to install if it comes back that that would be positive.

[05:19:49] It would be at their election. Okay. Thank you. Ms. Bricksman. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. It can we just level set here. What's the underlying zoning right now?

[05:20:08] TR-10. And that's residential? Yes, ma'am. Okay. And I'm sorry, I had to go to the ladies room when you guys got started and we were talking to Mr. Rogers, but as the application stands right now and we're voting on it right now, we can't guarantee any of those scenarios. They have all three options if we vote yes on this tonight. That is the proposal. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Okay. And then do you know how many homes 300 megawatts can power? I do not have that statistic off the top

[05:20:38] my head no ma'am um okay i want to say it's about uh 300 000 okay thank you can we leo mr rogers can we all consider power usage today next week next month five years period the end no no okay board cannot make a decision on the rezoning supervisors the fact that we cannot make a decision on zoning

[05:21:15] on power issues. It is unwise to even ask questions on power issues when we're getting ready to have a vote. I don't know how many times I got to say this. You could vote for anything you want to, but if a vote goes down and you just ask a power issue, now we've opened ourselves up to a lawsuit. We cannot consider power issues. I wish we could. Maybe I put in the legislature in the next year to ask them, can we? Sure, let's ask them to

[05:21:43] do that I put it in there but as of now we can't just me being frustrated um TR 10 zoning why isn't the zone the underlying zoning in of itself nothing else enough to to for the staff to recommend denial well the request is to change the zoning district any rezoning is so denying it based on what the

[05:22:20] original zoning is is not something that we consider we look at whether it complies with the comp plan, use specific standards, things of that nature. And if we looked at impervious surface, do we believe that there would be less or more impervious surfaces if homes were built there versus a data center?

[05:22:39] If it stayed TR-10, there would be less impervious surface for sure. If homes were built? Yes. Then the data center? Yes. All right. We can't consider electricity or power, and there would be less impervious surface if homes were built versus a data center. Those two things are correct?

[05:22:55] If it developed by right. If it developed by right, yes. Exactly, yeah, okay. And we can consider that. Mr. Sains, in my time, the reason I like option two and not three is because I understand your rationale.

[05:23:10] I do, it's the two buildings versus the three. But option three actually has more of the equipment visible to the eye if you drive by. So I think we need to just take a quick second and find out if people have a preference and what that preference would be.

[05:23:31] My preference would be two or even one, but my preference would not be three if three would show more of the equipment. And did you all say three shows more of the equipment? Yes, ma'am. Okay, so three shows more of the equipment, less buildings, but it's more unsightly to the neck of the eyes you're driving by.

[05:23:49] So if you had to choose, if you had to choose, where would you be as far as the options? I will start and say I would be with two. Mr. Umstead, where would you be?

[05:24:06] I would go with two, Mr. Kirshner. Well, I support all three, but I think I'd probably go with one. But if the board's will is to narrow it down, obviously we cannot resolve it tonight. It would seem to be easier to vote on it tonight and then come back, I think, and amend it.

[05:24:25] limit the options so we can do the proffers so so that's not an answer but but i would i would i would go with any okay all right mr mr turner you would not go with any of them okay miss frixman you would not go up any of them a point of clarification madam chair why are we having this vote because if if we want to if we want to bind them to a particular option we have to defer this is that what we're saying we'll have to have to change profit so it would have to be deferred right mr rogers is that right that's correct um you you're giving advice right now to the applicant

[05:25:04] who would need to change their application yeah i i i don't want to eat all three of them so okay mr saynes i think i spoke earlier you still three mr mr crony no none of them okay miss miss um glass one or two one or two mr letourneau i don't think i have a preference except i'm concerned about three showing more equipment okay so it would be one or two so um for the people who

[05:25:41] actually said what they would choose and didn't say none of them it was one or two um there was more that said two than said one or two but it was one or two mr rogers how would this motion sound then we would make the motion and then say with option two and then it goes back and then and then and then it goes back for them to work out the proffers.

[05:26:04] Point of order. Yeah, I'm trying to figure it out myself, Mr. Turner. Point of order. I don't think what you're suggesting, Madam Chair, is legal. I didn't suggest anything. I asked a question. You asked what the motion would sound like. We can't make a motion to defer an application, can we? I wasn't going to make a motion to defer an application. I don't know how to do this right now.

[05:26:22] That's why I'm asking. At this point, Madam Chair, you could poll the board on options one, two, or three. I just did that. And if somebody would vote for one, two, or three, wherever there's the five votes, you would let the applicant know that that's what the board supports and that they should come back on March 4th with that application.

[05:26:43] So if it's, and I forgot what they were, one or two, if that's where the majority of the board or at least five votes are, then that's what you should defer to come back and have the applicant redo the proposal, the application. Madam Chair, point of order. Yes. You're actually asking a point of clarification, not a point of order, but go on.

[05:27:02] Well, I think with all fairness, I think it's best that we just defer this item altogether and not sit and play this motion, that motion, just defer the option, the item, let the applicant work, and then bring it back at another meeting instead of what we're doing now, to be honest with you.

[05:27:21] That's not a point of order. That's not. But, well, was it not fair to? okay so um i move actually mr whose district is this in would you like to make a motion

[05:27:53] on page nine of the of the package i move that the board of supervisors approve legy 2023-0059 greenland park zmap 2022-0024 subject to the proper statement dated february 13th 2025 and based on the findings for approval provided as attachments 1 and 2 to the

[05:28:26] February 19th 2025 Board of Supervisors business meeting action item. Is there a second? Second. Discussion on the motion Miss Umstead. There are a number of strong positives to this application. The fact that the application has gone through a number of revisions and there's been intensive work with staff

[05:28:58] to the point where staff now recommends approval the it's a fair amount of buffering the applicant has agreed to make architectural has made architectural proffers that will have I think at least 30% fenestration different colored materials so that it's not just one monolithic block the fact that there

[05:29:38] is no residential there are no homes around it the fact that the applicant has said if there are any homes to be built around it they will I believe take measure measures to look at noise implications they are proffering I believe to keep noise generated at the property limits down to 55 DBA and the fact that this is fairly close to where we have a significant industrial presence

[05:30:15] to begin with um and they have stayed on on the within what the comprehensive plan envisions for this area so for that reason i would ask my colleagues to support it thank you mr latourno um slightly confused about where we are um as a board but um because a minute ago we were talking about deferring this to narrow down the concepts um the motion is to approve all three i'm personally

[05:30:51] fine with that motion and i'll support it um i would also support deferring if that were to be the will of the board to get to a option that has support but i would agree with miss umstead's analysis um i think to me this comes down to whether we essentially don't support any more data centers ever or whether we support ones that are in appropriate places and this one is the definition of an industrial area surrounded with an industrial area it's not a place we would want

[05:31:27] homes i would much rather have a data center here than in many other places in the county including some where we see applications that are much closer to uh highly developed areas with much many more residents so to me it's sort of a you know a question of this being a better relief valve for growth that we know is coming than other locations that we know have been considered for data centers which to me are much worse thank you miss brixman thank you madam chair um i won't be

[05:32:06] supporting the motion i can't in good conscience um uh vote to rezone something that's residential in our general plan and in our zoning that's residential. I can't see rezoning that for this use.

[05:32:25] And I know some people are going to say, well, what would you have there? And to that, I would say, number one, I don't think we need to be programming out every last acre of our county today or even tomorrow. We can take a breath and see what happens, what other industries might come up.

[05:32:44] I would also say that industrial can be many, many other things besides data centers. We have a desperate need to diversify our economy in this county. And, you know, while I don't disagree that this is, you know, has become or developed into a, you know, kind of an industrial area, there are a number of other industrial things that can be put here.

[05:33:09] It does not have to be data center. So for that reason, for the zoning reasons, I will not be supporting this application, but I will also say that I think while we cannot consider power in our decision making, that our constituents and our residents of Loudoun County are very, very aware of the power constraints in this county and the possible unintended consequences of additional industry that draws so heavily on our power supply.

[05:33:47] And it's not, I just think that we need to be transparent about it for our constituency and our residents. We need to be transparent about what could be coming down the pike with approvals such as this. And while I understand I can't consider that in my decision, I am leaning on the zoning for this decision to vote no.

[05:34:09] Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Ms. Bricksman. Mr. Crony. Thank you, Chair Randall. I also will not be supporting the application tonight. I agree with some of the points Supervisor Briskman made. While there are data centers along Sickland Road, adding 1.4 million square feet of data center in 55 feet tall buildings is an intense use in the transition policy area, and the underlying zoning is residential, not industrial.

[05:34:38] I can't support converting the underlying zoning from residential, which is TR-10. One home on 10 acres to IP for a data center use. I have to disagree with some of my colleagues who say there aren't residents nearby. We just heard from a resident, Mr. Ted Lewis.

[05:34:55] The Little River District has neighborhoods in the vicinity, Turner Farm Lane, Goose Creek Community off Gulick Mill Road, and Red Cedar Estates. And this location is near a school. It's near Academies of Loudoun. The vast majority of Loudoun residents don't want more data centers, and nearby residents say there was a promise there would be no data centers on the south side of Sicklin Road.

[05:35:21] This is on the south side of Sicklin Road. I agree with the residents in my district that this rezoning is very similar to the True North rezoning. Like True North along the Goose Creek, this site has an impaired Sicklin Creek stream and is heavily forested with steep slopes, impervious surface of 1.4 square feet of building plus parking lot and sidewalks will have a negative impact on the creek, and the substation will necessitate clearing the forested moderately steep slopes between two very steep sloped

[05:35:56] areas. And I do want to say that the Pleist Tape is transition, light industrial, data center is not the only core use. I agree with Supervisor Briskman and I could support a rezoning for a more diverse light industrial use like Flex Industrial. Across the street is a Flex Industrial facility for Federal Express. I believe Flex Industrial would be a better use in this area.

[05:36:22] Loudon has a tight market for the Flex Industrial product and this is potentially a good location. It's across the street from another flex industrial use. We hear from our economic development department that this product is in short supply.

[05:36:38] So in my view, the flex industrial use is a better use and I can't support data center at this location. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Kirschner. Thank you, Madam Chair. I think you're seeing a preview, quite frankly, of the upcoming data center, what's going to happen with the special exceptions that the specs that is -- are being put forward.

[05:37:03] I think you're seeing every data center that comes in with a special exception is going to get denied because you cannot ask, quite frankly, for a better data center application. I've been here over five years now, and this is probably one of the best data center applications I've seen, and it certainly is one -- and what I mean by that is an actual rezoning, which essentially specs is a form of that, of course.

[05:37:22] It's -- you've got to get approval from the board. This applicant came in and was -- staff had two significant problems as applicant worked to fix architectural issues as well as the site design issues, helping to bury it, being innovative in how they did it, putting the -- I forget what you call the retaining wall, but to significantly hide this.

[05:37:47] They were asked by -- they jumped through as all the hoops the staff asked them to jump through, which is really what we're asking for our applicants to do. And so anyone who votes no on this, I know you're voting. of you are voting because of the energy issue, it's an incorrect vote, as I told the people making those statements the other day, that they are asking us to do things illegal, and a vote no on this, for many, I mean, you can talk up here all day long, but if it wasn't for the energy issue, we wouldn't be having this conversation, and everybody knows it, and I'm going to call you out on it.

[05:38:18] The noise mitigation that the applicant has put forward, the things they did with the, to cover the property from Sicklin Road, the transportation and pedestrian circulation improvements that they did by bringing Sicklin Road up to VDOT standards in the application.

[05:38:41] Environmental issues. We even heard today that if you developed a buy right, you're going to lose a lot more surface area to houses, et cetera. It's a very, very good application, folks. And for us to sit up here and say, well, it doesn't belong here. If you look at this, you don't have houses.

[05:38:57] You don't have houses anywhere around this. They're not even close, and it's going to be covered from the greenway. That's a facade. That's just not true. You have nothing but major industrial buildings all the way around. And so I just have to significantly disagree with everybody, and quite frankly, for us to deny an application that has come through, and they've jumped through all these hoops for staff, and they've come down way down in the FAR, I think we are treading on incredibly dangerous ground as this board.

[05:39:29] So I obviously support the application in its current form. I had some issues with it before, but staff really held the applicant to the fire, made them make those changes. They came in, they made those changes, and then for us to ask them to follow staff's changes and then say no to it, I think is disingenuous to our developers.

[05:39:53] So I'm not going to question my colleagues' statements, because I don't think we should do that for one another. If my colleagues say because it's a rezoning, they don't want to do the rezoning, then I'm going to believe them and not question them. Whether you always agree with Supervisor Julie Brixman or not, the woman is honest to a ridiculous fault.

[05:40:21] Everybody knows how she feels all the time about everything because she is honest to a fault. So I don't think it's okay to question one another's statements or motives. I actually wish we could consider power, but we can't. We can put it in the LEDGE program for next year, but we can't.

[05:40:40] Mr. Crony is correct. It is TR-10, but it's been TR-10 for a long time, and we have not developed homes there yet. And it's a very strange piece of land, and so I think if there were going to be homes developed there, and I would have loved for that to have come through, I would have voted for that and supported homes there in a heartbeat.

[05:40:59] But I've said this about data centers before. That's a piece of land that's been sitting out there for a long time and no one's doing anything with it. So, you know, it is TR-10 and it hasn't been developed. It also can be different industrial uses. That is also true.

[05:41:14] But different industrial uses can look like industrial uses. And the design standards on this data center don't look like an industrial use. And so, you know, you can have a flex industrial or another, but you can have a very unattractive flex industrial building.

[05:41:38] So, I mean, I actually think that this is a more attractive building than the FedEx building across the street. And I worked really, really, really, really hard my first term to do design standards and such on data centers when I came on board. I do not like, I don't know what, I am getting to a place.

[05:42:01] I don't know what to do with these applications because Mr. Kirshen's not wrong as far as data centers go and all that we're doing it's one of the best applications we've seen but we also I also feel put in the corner sometime because what else you know what do you what do you do I I do feel like first of all let me just say this right out loud I want option two y'all do what you want to do but I'm just gonna put that in the I want option two I don't know what y'all gonna do but I'm just putting that on the board I want option two um I do feel like sometime and and maybe it's because I am chair, it is important to me that we do not end up in court, and I do not

[05:42:38] think we would because I have had nobody say that they're voting for or against something because of reasons that they're not allowed to vote for. Every supervisor has said why they're voting for it or voting against it. So no matter how this vote goes, and I have no idea how the vote is about to go, every supervisor has given valid reasons for where they're going right now.

[05:43:01] Okay. Ms. Umstead made the motion. Mr. Kirshner seconded the motion. Mr. Rogers, right now on this motion, it could be any of these options, correct? The way the motion is stated today, right now. That's correct. And I do want to advise the board that you're voting an application either to approve or to deny.

[05:43:26] And if you deny the application, then by the county code and the state code, they can't bring it back for another year. So if the board's inclined to one of these options, rather than denying the application, you ought to be figuring which one of those options you could support and let the applicant know that.

[05:43:44] Which I just did. Okay. Motion made by Supervisor Umstead, seconded by Supervisor Kirchner. All the people say aye. Aye.

[05:43:59] Opposed? With the notes, please raise your hand because I missed that count. That motion will pass 5-4. advisors, Ducroni, Sains, Brixman, and Turner, voting against a motion. Thank you. And let's do nominations and then take a break. All right, if you have a nomination, put your light on, please. Mr. LaTurner, do you have any nominations? No. Well, I think Ms. Brixman,

[05:44:39] you're ready. Sure. I nominate Kara Yarnot as an at-large representative on the Disability

[05:44:53] Services Board. Ms. Glass. I nominate the Honorable Mr. Ron Meyer to serve as the at-large representative to the Northern Virginia Science Center Foundation Board. Who? Ron Meyer. All right. Thank you very much. All right.

[05:47:01] We are going to take a 10-minute break. Oh, I'm sorry. We have one more nomination. I'm sorry. My bad. Yeah, I nominate Herb Davis to the Disability Services Board to fill an at-large representative seat. All right. Thank you. 10-minute break. This is why.

[06:04:15] Hello, how are you? This is the Stonehill application, which is in the Little River and Sterling districts. I'm sorry, Madam Chair, we need to switch out. I thought you were going to Oak Grove. Huh?

[06:04:30] I thought you were going to take up Oak Grove. We did Oak Grove. We did? Yes, we did. Okay. No, I took it off consent. Okay. Well, it was on consent. There's one Madam Chair on this board. One. Can I be mistaken?

[06:04:46] Right now. We took it off consent, and we voted for it right away, so that one's done. thank you very much good night i'll see you later so now we're doing stone hill as i said which is in the little river and sterling district although mr sane says not really it's in sterling and it's item number 10. i can go straight to him you dropped mr turner right i mean let's see rise letourneau dropped as a 9.50 okay okay so is there any new information on stone hill uh there was a supplemental item distributed yesterday that

[06:05:26] updated uh the proffer statement in the staff report with respect to uh commitment to install a crosswalk on evergreen ridge drive so other than that there are no other updates and i'm going to go straight to mr saints for a motion because i know he knows about the supplemental i know he knows about that that proper yes ma'am okay all right uh i move that the board of supervisors i move that the board of supervisors approve legy 2023-0076 stone hill z map 2023 0007 z mod

[06:06:01] 2023-0066 z mod 2023-0067 and z mod 20-2024-0004 subject to the proffer statement dated february 11th 2025 and the conditions of approval dated february 11th 2025 and based on the planning commission's findings for approval provided as attachments one two and three to the february 19th 2025 board of supervisors business meeting action item second but is that the right are you reading out the supplemental motion original motion i believe you're reading that you need to go to supplemental motion you have the wrong date my apologies that's okay page two

[06:06:41] supplemental i thought i put it in my my notes i seconded it i'm fine he doesn't need to yeah no he's fine just just go to i thought i updated on my notes just go to the two yep i'm going okay okay all right so let me rephrase i move that the board of supervisors approve legy 2023-0076 stone

[06:07:09] Hill, ZMAP 2023-777, ZMOD 2023-0066, ZMOD 2023-0067, and ZMOD 2024-0004, subject to the proffer statement dated February 17th, and the conditions of approval dated February 11th, 2025, and based on the Planning Commission's findings for approval provided as attachments 1, 2, and 3 to the February 19th, 2025 Board of Supervisors' Business Meeting supplemental action item.

[06:07:37] I will second that, and Mr. Turner is technically correct, because I seconded the motion before. I'll just state without objection, the first motion is withdrawn, and the second is withdrawn. So this is the motion that's on the floor now. So discussion on the motion. All right. No. Thank you to the applicant.

[06:07:53] We've reduced the number of residents from 100 and something to about 85. This is a reduction in residential units. All of them are single-family attached, so townhomes, which matches in this area with already townhomes in existing.

[06:08:12] And as was stated, we also have the applicant doing a crosswalk, crosswalk study, and we'll be paying for it if it warrants a crosswalk, which was definitely needed in this community. So thank you. Thank you. Ms. Brixman.

[06:08:28] Okay. Mr. Crony. Okay. Thank you. So unfortunately, I can't support this tonight, and that's because it is located, locating residential uses adjacent to the LDN-65 aircraft AIOD area.

[06:08:48] Birchwood is right next door, and that's in my district. And as many know, Birchwood was instrumental in starting the FAA community process to mitigate aircraft noise within the area of the AIOD, and I really need to consider adding more residential to an area right next to Birchwood. I do appreciate that the applicant added airport acoustical

[06:09:18] treatments in the proffer statement to make noise attenuation features, which I think is good, but I still think it's -- the location is right next to Birchwood, and Birchwood has had significant impacts with the Runway 30 flight path.

[06:09:44] And I also think at some point this land -- this parcel was owned commercial, and I do think this is a good location for commercial. I know the applicant has tried commercial in this area before, but I think it does make sense you know commercial would alleviate you know that need to look at the AIOD and so that's the reason why it's just that it's close too close to the 65 plus area so thank you. Ms. Brooksman. Thank you madam chair if I

[06:10:20] might ask staff a couple questions the in the presentation for tonight it says that on page 11 where we're talking about how close they are to the ldn staff is saying they're 400 feet from the ldn but it says that's with approved without approved cutouts so it's my understanding that with the approved cutouts they're actually 1100 feet from the ldn 60 to 65 line is that correct it is further i haven't exactly measured it but that is correct okay

[06:10:54] they're saying it's about 1100 feet outside so um and then um we have we not had other developments approved recently and built like really close to the ldn 65 line including cedar terrace and old arcola residential that is correct uh what distinguishes this application from those others is that this area has received a higher than normal complaint um average from mwa

[06:11:26] So they provided a statistic that in 2023, they received a total of 60,858 airport noise complaints, and of those complaints, about 72% of them were generated from the residential communities in this immediate vicinity. Is it legal for us to consider complaints when we're voting on an application?

[06:11:45] Because to me, we have rules, the LDN lines are the rules. I mean, are we, is staff allowed to consider excess complaints in recommending whether we approve or deny an application? so we're we're pointing it as an as a known issue from the community the same as other people were we're here to speak about it yes okay um and and the the cut out there is not saying the noise has gone away we've made that as a conscious decision to deal with the land rights issue for approvals that were already there okay but to allison's other point from where the actual 65 line would

[06:12:19] be measured if we had followed it it is closer it's about the 400 feet that she noted okay i i think I'm recalling the conversation. But still, they've agreed to noise attenuation. They're outside the 60 to 65. Those are our standards or the lines that we drew, in my opinion.

[06:12:41] Anyway, I'll definitely be supporting the application. I do kind of wish that we had more density here. I do kind of wish it was a multifamily building because I think that folks, we really just need more housing in Loudoun County. That's just the bottom line.

[06:12:59] We have got to get more housing on the ground in Loudoun County. We now have a bill in the General Assembly that requires, even during, I believe, a resale, that you have to disclose that you're near an airport or within the one-mile buffer. And as I said, the applicant has agreed to put in noise attenuation. And I also think that they have enough active civic space in combination with LV2. Thank you.

[06:13:23] Chair Randall, I just want to let you know, Supervisor Letourneau has rejoined the meeting as of 10-10. Great, thank you. Mr. Letourneau is back on the meeting. Ms. Umstead. Thank you, Madam Chair. I do agree with the rationale that Supervisor Tacroni put forward.

[06:13:42] For me, the primary reason that I will be voting against this is it's going to generate a little over $1.1 million every year in school operating costs. Thank you.

[06:13:59] Mr. LaTurne, would you like to speak on this issue? Yeah, just briefly, Chair Randall. Look, I've been a pretty staunch protector of the airport and have always prioritized concerns over airport noise. However, we have an AIOD line.

[06:14:18] This application is outside of the line that doesn't permit residential housing. So I believe from a fairness and equality issue, we can't consider that in this application. Otherwise, it has improved since the public hearing.

[06:14:35] I am supportive of taking out the two over twos, fixing some of the parking, as well as the commitment on the crosswalk. And so I will support the application. Excuse me, thank you, Mr. Kirshner. Yeah, just briefly, I was definitely against this application.

[06:14:51] I think I'm going to still vote no on it because I have a couple concerns. I just want to ask staff a question. We still have the 5% civic space issue. The staff still has an issue, so they're not signing off on that, is that correct? Correct. Yeah, and that's kind of, some of the rationale that was shared, not all of it.

[06:15:08] I agree with Supervisor Eterno. I'm not sure of the 60-65 divide. I mean, they're allowed to build in this area. allowed, especially with the mitigation, but, I mean, you're putting 85 homes in and you're half the civic space that you're supposed to have, that does create some problems for me.

[06:15:24] It sounds like this is going to pass, but I just don't -- I have ongoing concerns with the number of houses we're building, but that aside, that I think should be and could have been approved. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Mr. Turner. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[06:15:39] Well, I've got a couple of thoughts on this one. I've spent the last three years trying to get the FAA community meeting process going. MOA and the airport have dragged their feet as I knew they would four years ago when we approved the new AIOD.

[06:15:55] That's all part of the game plan. I think the National Airport community FAA process is in its eighth or ninth year and going strong with no resolution. And I'm gonna continue to do that. The fact that we are fielding that many complaints from the neighborhood directly across the street

[06:16:13] It's just unconscionable to me that we would subject these new homeowners, yes, I know they're near an airport, I know they're supposed to know better, and I can practically guarantee you there's not a real estate agent anywhere in northern Virginia that would show a person a house anytime outside what they know is a heavy traffic departure pattern off runway 30, which is about 6 till 1030 every night.

[06:16:36] 10, 15, 20 of these airplanes take off, and they fly directly over this parcel of land 20 times a day. We are getting massive complaints out of Birchwood, and we have been for three or four years now. And now we're going to approve another housing area directly across the street.

[06:16:55] An LDN line on the ground is an imaginary line. If we think there's some magic difference between 1,100 feet, especially when that 1,100 feet is right along the departure flight path, which means it's essentially the same. If there's any attenuation of noise between that 1,100 feet start and end, we're out of our minds.

[06:17:15] This is inviting massive complaints out of this housing neighborhood. These people are going to buy these houses for some amazing cost of money, and then immediately within a week they're going to go, my God, what have we done? And we are setting them up for that. And I think it's unconscionable that the airport is dragging their feet on these new lines and these new departure procedures, and that's fine.

[06:17:37] keep on doing it i'm going to keep on doing what i'm doing and the community can keep on doing what it's doing but for this board to approve yet another housing district right in the middle of that departure path is just awful thank you well i i i believe people have um the right to make decisions based on the information that's given to them we now just passed a disclosure statement a disclosure and if the governor signs it which means they're not just going to be told they have to they have to sign something that says they know that the airport's there they have to sign something that says that um so if if if they can see the airport and and unlike birchworth they're

[06:18:16] not going to be moving in during covet when when flights weren't flying they're going to be moving in they can stand out there any moment and decide after standing out there for 20 minutes do they want to live there or not in covet one of the problems with birchwood is they all moved in during covet and there was nothing for 18 months and then all of a sudden oh my god what just happened so there will be noise attenuation there will be a disclosure I trust people to make good decisions about their families and their lives I would also wonder this because this happened before we had all these complaints supposedly from one neighborhood when we dug into it it was no kidding something like 91% of the complaints would come from one person

[06:18:53] that that's actually so I don't I do want to know how many complaints we have I also want to know how many houses we're getting the complaints from because sometimes you can have one person who just doesn't get a whole lot going on and that's what they're doing so if in the future if you don't mind if you could if you know those questions let me know that but you know people people get to make the decisions they get to make for themselves and for their families I know what how much pushback have we got on this from EMWA because I haven't got a single phone call from Michael Cooper and normally if they want something or don't want something

[06:19:30] Not only are they calling me and emailing me, the comment of this boardroom is speaking. Has Delos Airport, have they weighed in on this heavily? They have provided referral comments, and they provided the statistic and noted that this would be a high traffic area.

[06:19:47] But have they, okay, so they've given facts and stats, okay. If he wants to talk to any of us, he knows exactly how to reach us, and he's not shy about doing it, and he has not. And he has not sent his emails, and he has not come to this boardroom. And if he did, it would impact my decision-making, but they haven't.

[06:20:06] So people get to make decisions about whether they want to live or not live. Oh, Mr. Sage. No, thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate all my colleagues' comments. They're all warranted.

[06:20:23] But, yeah, I'll just say, ultimately, for me, what it came down to is, you know, yes, this is close, but we already have a housing development that's there, and to Chair Randall's point, people know what they're signing up for.

[06:20:39] We have the disclosure that we just fought and got down the General Assembly, and again, if you live in Loudoun County in a certain portion close to the Dulles Airport, you know there's an airport there, you know there's gonna be airport traffic and noise. So to me personally, I don't buy some of the arguments that some folks have regarding the airport noise, 'cause anywhere you live in Sterling, Ashburn, Countryside Cascades, Bramilton, Dulles, you're gonna hear airport noise all day long.

[06:21:08] So you know what you're signing up for if you decide to move into these locations. Now I'll be honest, I wish there was a other product that this applicant was bringing forward, which they initially started with, but unfortunately changed course. But what got me here was them doing the density reduction.

[06:21:28] So that definitely got me to a yes vote. so uh so thank you and we'll see where it goes okay mr saints made the motion i second the motion all land people say aye aye opposed i think that motion's gosh that might have been i think the motion passes past five four i think miss miss um step mr kirchner mr turner and mr crony voted against motion is that right that motion passed five four all right thank you um and now i think all we have left is close another closed session and I'm gonna you're gonna jump off okay all right

[06:22:06] thank you Mr. Letourne I hope you feel well yeah bye-bye um thanks um Mr. Turner we meet us in the will you please read us into closed session number two I move the board of supervisor recess this public meeting and entering a closed session pursuant to section 2.2 3711 of the code of Virginia to consult with legal counsel and staff members pertaining to an actual litigation regarding the state corporation commission's decision excuse me decision on the power line uh you say second oh motion made second by mr sainz discussion on the motion

[06:22:42] all in favor please say aye aye any opposed that motion will pass 801 as mr mr turner has dropped off the meeting we are in closed session there is no yeah it's going to be it's going to be fast

[06:23:01] jeez guys i move the closed session be adjourned the board of supervisors reconvene its public

[06:38:25] meeting that the minutes of the public meeting should reflect that no formal 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 everybody please affirm affirm affirm affirm affirm that's right I do have to call the vote all those in favor the motion please say aye aye any Any opposed?

[06:38:54] That motion will carry. And we have just affirmed. Have you affirmed? Did you affirm individually? We did. Affirm. Affirm. You were off the dais. Affirm. Seeing no further business.

[06:39:10] The vice chair -- no, you're back now. I can't do that. No. Close this out. Would you like to have some hot sauce and good fries? We're adjourned. We're adjourned. Somebody adjourned us. We're adjourned.

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