Coraggio Consulting
Manassas City Council 3/10/2025

Date: Monday, March 10, 2025
Place: Manassas City Council, Virginia
Length: 2h 12m (video)
Official meeting video (Wistia / RegionalWebTV): https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/w370ehm4hc

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 2026-10-17. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:12:26] and welcome to the city council meeting of march 10 2025 miss garcia please call the roll mayor davis younger president council member ellis vice mayor wolf here council member smith here council member osina present council member vasquez luna council member hudson here a quorum is present thank you so much if you're able to please stand with me for the invocation and the pledge of allegiance dear god we thank you for bringing us together for another council meeting we thank you for the ability to gather with our friends and family and for all the

[00:13:06] residents of our wonderful city of manassas please continue to protect our men and women in uniform who consistently provide protection for us locally and overseas protect our staff and every member of this council and help them continue to show up for our residents and providing service. Thank you for protecting us from any harm or danger as we provide service to everyone in our community. We remain thankful for all these things. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic

[00:13:41] for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. I'd like to welcome you all again to our council meeting. For those of you who are here in person, thank you for taking the time to come out and be with us. We love to look out and see full chambers all the time, not just tonight. So please come back and see us again. And for those joining us via social media and television, thank you for being with us as well. Council members, always good to be with you and thank you for always being consistent in your service to the community and everything that you do.

[00:14:19] I don't know if any dignitaries are here. I didn't see anybody come in, so I don't want to overlook anyone. Next on the agenda is council time, and I'll call on Vice Mayor Wolf first. Thank you. Just a couple quick things. Number one, it's spring, or spring begins essentially today, this week.

[00:14:38] It's nice out, which means there are a lot more people outdoors and on the streets and on the sidewalks. And I will admit, I had a situation the other day where someone walked out, and I didn't see them, and it was very close to a tragic situation when they were walking across the street.

[00:14:56] So I want everyone to be ever more vigilant in those kind of circumstances. The other thing, regardless of your political affiliation, these are interesting times. And there are a lot of members of our community that are going through a lot of stress and unsettled situations, particularly if they're employment.

[00:15:22] And as we go through life, remembering our better angels and trying to give people the benefit of the doubt sometimes. Because it's like I said, it's a little bit unusual right now. So I appreciate that.

[00:15:38] Well, Annette, thank you so very much for being here. Let's see. Councilman Smith. Thank you, Madam Mayor. First, I want to welcome everyone. Thank you all for being here. I will tell you, as having been a presenter from time to time, there is nothing like being able to look over your left or your right shoulder and see such a crowd of support.

[00:16:04] So, welcome to our meeting. I think that's mostly pathway there, but that's a great showing, and welcome to the city. I echo Vice Mayor's comments towards the end there about care and concern.

[00:16:26] Those impacted, you're in my heart and my prayers, and I just ask you to be steadfast and keep going. Thank you.

[00:16:41] Councilman Osina. Mayor, thank you very much. So a few items here. First of all, our budget work sessions are underway, and residents are welcome to attend in person to listen as we have those in the adjacent work session room, or you can watch live on regional web TV, or view the recording starting the next day after the work session. I encourage all our residents to do so because

[00:17:13] That way, you'll know when the budget, the CIP, and the revenue rates are presented for a public hearing on August 28th. You'll already know what the discussions have been and the arguments for or against for what's being presented for residents to weigh in at that public hearing.

[00:17:36] Of course, at any time, residents are welcome to weigh in on the budget by email, letter, or telephone. A reminder that we're having a town hall meeting next week, Monday at City Hall, right here at 7 p.m., and residents may speak on any topic.

[00:17:55] A ribbon-cutting for Dean Park is taking place at 3.30 p.m. this Friday, and the public is invited. So if you have some time and you'd like to see what's been going on over there, I think you'll be very impressed to see the change that's taking place and all the additions of the various athletic fields and amenities.

[00:18:18] CFH is having its second annual Fun, F-U-N, Razor, this coming Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Salisbury Center. It's called a Fun Razor because they will have a variety of comics there performing.

[00:18:34] And so I went... Are you one of them, Mr. Lucina? Sorry. They couldn't afford my price. I see. All right. See, that's why I didn't show up.

[00:18:52] I would have had all these hecklers along the way here. Nonetheless, it is a good time for a good cause, and I think you'll enjoy hearing the various comics. They do some silent auctions and things of that sort along the way, but it is a good time.

[00:19:13] That's 2 p.m. this Sunday at Salisbury Center. The friends of the Manassas City Library are having their spring book sale on Friday and Saturday, which is March 21st and 22nd at the Manassas City Library. It's always amazing to me how many books are donated that are really top-notch quality along the way, and you get them for quite a bargain, $1, $2, sometimes as much as $5, but well worth it there.

[00:19:43] And then lastly, I wanted to note the passing of Judy Parrish Ratcliffe, who died recently after a short illness. She was active in community affairs, including the Manassas Volunteer Fire Company Auxiliary, the Junior Women's Club of Manassas, Manassas Garden Club, and the Prince William Manassas Chamber of Commerce.

[00:20:05] So our thoughts should be with her family at this time. Mayor, thank you so much. Thank you. Councilwoman Vasquez-Luna. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Good evening, everyone. I'm so happy when I see the room full and you know that whether you're here or online participating I hope that we provide great information for you so first of all I don't know if you were feeling it this morning but the time changed and I think at this time it feels better but in the morning you can get a little more difficult but it's a sign the spring is coming I know you know

[00:20:42] it is time to make changes. I will say that if you're ready to work on your yard, please support our high school sports and they are selling bags of mulch. If you live in the city, they will be able to deliver to you. So I will say, you know, that will be a great opportunity to help and also to do your chores in your yard.

[00:21:09] I attended on Saturday the Irish Parade. I can't believe it's been 25 years. Like I always say, you know, diversity is our strength, and I was happy to celebrate their contributions to our city and to our country.

[00:21:26] In the last few days, I also have attended the Metropolitan Equality Committee as I represent Manassas there, and TPV and other different committee meetings. As Councilman Tomasina said, I'm looking also forward into the ribbon cutting.

[00:21:48] It's going to be on Friday. It will be a great event at Genny Dean, so I hope to see you there. If you have time, you can join us as we open up again, you know, our great park. So, I hope you don't miss that.

[00:22:05] This month is a special month. We celebrate the Women's History Month. I have seen great polls from the police department, from other departments. Even our city was talking about all the elected. It hasn't been that many women sitting here, but for me to continue to be in a majority female in council is a great honor.

[00:22:29] So Madam Mayor, you know, congratulations and Councilwoman Ashley Hudson and our Councilwoman Teresa Cotelis who wasn't able to join us today. But, you know, let's continue to celebrate and make great contributions to our city.

[00:22:50] I want to remind you, if you are not serving in any of the city boards, this is your opportunity to give back. you can apply on our website check out the available positions you can do a form and also send your resume and you can give back to your city uh all you know with experiences that you have there is many changes going on and if you're looking into something new something different please apply all you got to do is look in our website apply for a board if you have

[00:23:29] questions you can contact our clerk at 703-257-8211 we have been working on the budget I'm looking forward into the town hall coming up I hope you can join us you can always reach out to us whether it's in person this meeting or any other meetings to give us your feedback and you can also email us it is important to hear from you as we make as we make these decisions there is a lot of uncertain when it comes to the federal government and the changes on funding

[00:24:08] let's remember our schools are 70% Latino Hispanic students which makes a difference so the impact can be greater to not only to our schools but to our city so I will you know continue to follow up on on the changes as they come along I want to two more things I want to talk about the breakfast is never too early the Monassau city business breakfast has opened you can request one ticket for business and I hope to see you there the

[00:24:46] The breakfast is going to be on May 1st, and the doors open at 8 a.m., so please, if you follow the Prince William Chamber of Commerce, you can request your ticket as early as now because they are open, and like I said, I hope to see you there.

[00:25:03] There's always great information, great speakers, and you don't want to miss the time to network with other businesses that might be going through the same thing you're going through. the last but not least i want to talk a little bit about the hispanic resources we are minority minority community and for me it's important that you know your uh you you know where you can go how you can get information we have information in uh in espanol so if you need

[00:25:37] you can contact us and you can join the whatsapp channel it provides great information for events for meetings like this, over the weekend it was also provided the agenda in Spanish so you can request it if you if you'd like to get that information in Espanol whether you want to practice or you just rather to have it in Spanish. The City Connection had great information for the month of March and I would like to highlight on the first page the part of the Manassas

[00:26:17] Manassas City Police Department and also the Manassas City Public Schools the City Connection is a monthly newsletter from our city and it has great information you can find it on the website or you might be getting it with utility bills please take time to read that you know it gives you know only and great information about the event but for me during this difficult times it is not about the immigration status is about who you are and how you look like so it is important that you know your rights and you know I

[00:26:57] truly appreciate the information in in there it talks about the city agencies released a statement regarding immigration and that will remind you know everyone if you're an immigrant know your rights I know these are red cards have became famous so if you can have it or you can learn it is in English and Spanish and it talks about you know if you don't wish to speak and if you know if you don't you don't give permission to search your belongings I know that that might seem something that everybody should know but from coming to

[00:27:37] community that sometimes have no voice or feel voiceless, you know, a reminder of this right, you know, it's important. So I want to make sure that I highlight that. And it might not be necessary for you, but it might be somebody, you know, around you or somebody that you know, they need to be reminded of their rights. And with that, Madam Mayor, Jill, thank you. Thank you so much. Councilwoman Hudson. Thank you, Madam Mayor. And as this is our first regular meeting in March I want to wish you all a happy Woman's History Month and acknowledge that we are that I get to serve under our first ever female mayor

[00:28:15] Miss Mayor Davis Younger here so that is very exciting and proud to do that it was a loaded weekend here in the city of Manassas on Friday this the museum held the Osborne High School artistic expressions that had a lot of really great artwork and I believe that's on display until the end of the month so if you have time to stop by the museum and see what the high school students have put together you will, I guarantee, be amazed. Also attended the show from the Manassas Ballet Theater Love, which was very fantastic and glad to attend. Then of course Saturday we had our St. Patrick's Day Parade, which was really

[00:28:50] fun and well attended. And then Saturday night attended the Boxes of Basics fundraiser. If you haven't heard of Boxes of Basics, they're a group out of Prince William County that is serving really a lot of the Northern Virginia region, our students in City of Manassas included. Boxes of Basics collects lightly used clothing lightly used children's clothing and provide seasonal curated wardrobes underwear and toiletries for children in need in our community you can learn more at boxes of basics calm and if you're interested to donate like I said their facilities in Prince William County but filigreen here in the city

[00:29:24] is also a donation location this week is Virginia flood awareness week and the Northern Virginia Regional Commission urges Virginians to have flood insurance because anywhere it can rain, it can flood. Further, apparently one inch of water in your home can cost or can cause $25,000 at least worth of damages. So be aware if you live in a floodplain that you're at higher risk, of course. And if you want to look at the Northern Virginia Regional Commission website, they have a lot of good resources and information about Flood Awareness Week. Further, if residents are looking for a good cause, I encourage you to stop at Shining

[00:30:03] soul candles and pick up a rare disease candle in support of congenital hyperinsulinism. They have three different scents of candles, and it is going to support a rare disease. And lastly, this Wednesday, I'm looking forward to attending my first Parks and Rec Committee meeting, and then, of course, Friday, the ribbon-cutting as well for Dean Park.

[00:30:27] So thank you. That is all, Madam Mayor. Thank you. I think y'all hit everything that I had on my list to talk about. Thank you all, whoever did come out for the St. Patrick's Day Parade, it was cold, but it was a great parade. It's always good to see so many people out, and everybody was bundled up appropriately, so I'd like to thank everybody for coming out for that.

[00:30:50] On the, I think it was the 27th was the Prince William Chamber Business Awards, and City Manager's going to touch on that a little bit more in detail, But I wanted to publicly congratulate Phila Green for being chosen for the City of Manassas Business of the Year Award.

[00:31:08] Very well earned. John and Beverly are wonderful people. If you have not stopped by and seen all that they have to offer, and it's such a unique business. We're so thankful they chose the city, and they're now expanding into Fredericksburg as well. So they started, I think, at our farmer's market and then grew up and growing out now.

[00:31:28] So congratulations to them. And for this week, this is a busy week, on tomorrow at 6 o'clock, if you're around and a federal worker, they're going to be holding the Northern Virginia Black Chamber of Commerce is holding a federal employee kind of town hall workshop thing.

[00:31:46] They're going to have resources there to provide information for folks that are going through being let go. They're going to have people there that maybe have information and jobs for folks as well. So that's tomorrow night at Jerani Coffeehouse at 6 o'clock, and it's for federal workers or anybody that knows somebody that may need that information.

[00:32:09] We have Old Town Business Association this week. There is the Parent E3 Series at Osborne on the 12th, and that's 5.30 to 8. Dinner is served. Their subject this week is substance abuse awareness and prevention. That's always a great time of information for parents to come out.

[00:32:26] And also bring their children, students, along with them as well to learn more about. It's a partnership with the police department, and it is a lot of good information that is shared at that event. I have the WE conference coming up on Thursday.

[00:32:42] That's from 9 to 6 at the Virginia Portuguese Center. And then, of course, the Dean Park ribbon cutting is 3.30 on the 14th. And our town hall is on the 17th. And we would love to hear from folks about budget questions.

[00:32:58] That's what we're talking about right now. And we're trying to work through that and get ready to put that forward. So that's a good time for you to come out. That is the time where we go back and forth. We don't necessarily do that here from the dais during public comment time. But at town halls is where you can talk to staff and we give feedback to you directly when you appear at that.

[00:33:20] So I wanted to thank you, Mr. Osina, for mentioning former mayor's sister that had passed away. There was also another death that we had in the community, Mr. Pete Anastasi. And I don't know if those of you who have been following me for a while, they were a dear couple, married.

[00:33:39] I want to say they hit 80 years of marriage. The wife, Betty, passed away in June and he just passed away and they had his service on Saturday. I couldn't go because the parade, but he was 103 years old and I'd show up at Commonwealth.

[00:33:56] He was at one of the assisted living places over on the corner there and I would show up and he's, "There's my girlfriend, the mayor." I said, "Don't say that too loud," you know, and so just a sweet man. He was a veteran, just a dear sweet man and our condolences go out to that family as well.

[00:34:12] So just wanted to mention that and thank you for the recognition of Women's History Month. It is a pleasure and an honor to serve as the first female mayor, and I don't take the responsibility lightly. And it's such an honor to represent and be a legacy builder, actually, for our females here in the city of Manassas.

[00:34:34] Always want to be a source of pride for our community. So with that, I will turn it over to Mr. Berg for city manager time. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor. With spring, there's a number of events that are coming up. The city has added to our web page a calendar on the landing page.

[00:34:54] So if you're interested in finding out anything and everything that's going on in the city, please visit our website. As Councilwoman Hudson indicated, Severe Weather Awareness Week is next week. In addition, March 11th at 945, there will be a Virginia statewide tornado drill.

[00:35:14] If you're interested in how to prepare for either a flood or for a tornado, please visit vaemergency.gov. There's more information about how you can plan for any event. The city has started our Wellington Road Shared Use Path Project.

[00:35:33] That project is anticipated to construct a pathway along Wellington Road from Noakesville Road to Prince William Street. So just be aware that there is construction going on, and when it's closer to completion, we'll let everyone know, And it will be another link in the city's multimodal pathways.

[00:35:54] And then, as the mayor indicated, the chamber did recognize a number of city businesses. Again, Filigreen was our Manassas Business of the Year. Vanderpool, Frostick, and Nishanian was our Corporate Legacy Award. The Hilton Performing Arts Center was recognized with the Agnes Colgan Community Service Award for Arts and Entertainment.

[00:36:16] American Prav Maga. That's good. You got it. I don't know what the middle word is. I apologize. But was awarded the Emerging Business Award.

[00:36:34] STEM Solutions was identified as the IT business. Wetlock Wealth won the Mid-Size Business Award. Lockheed Martin was awarded the Large Business Award. Loveless Porter Architects was awarded the Small Business Award.

[00:36:51] and Steve Danziger was awarded the Charles Kogan Visionary Award. And so we recognize that Manassas has a number of outstanding businesses and we thank the chamber for recognizing them. And that's all I have, Madam Mayor.

[00:37:12] Any questions for city manager? No? Okay, we're good. All right, moving along in the agenda, we have presentations. I have three proclamations that I'm going to come down front and read and I'll call you down as I do each one. The first one being the pantry at St. Thomas United Methodist Church.

[00:37:31] And I believe we should have Pastor Matt Sargent and Gary Gillum. I don't know if I'm saying it right. The pantry director and John Weed, coordinator. If you're here and want to join me down front. Okay, can y'all hear me okay?

[00:37:56] Okay, good. Come on down. Okay. I love it. Oh, the founder of the pantry itself. Wow. That's awesome. Well, thank you for being here. Wow. I will give you an opportunity to say something after I read the proclamation, if you wish, so that's good.

[00:38:13] The proclamation reads, whereas since March 17, 2007, St. Thomas United Methodist Church has operated the pantry at St. Thomas United Methodist Church to provide food assistance to those in need. And whereas the pantry serves drive-up customers every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., supporting an average of 250 families each week with essential food items, including meat, bread, dairy, produce, desserts from local grocery stores, and government TFAP provisions such as canned goods, meat, cereal, grains, and rice.

[00:38:49] And whereas in the past year, the pantry has served over 45,000 individuals, helping to combat food insecurity by distributing more than 450,000 pounds of food to those in need. And whereas this year, the pantry has expanded its services to include a senior home food delivery program, ensuring that older adults and individuals with transportation challenges or disabilities receive food assistance through agency referrals with the program experiencing rapid growth and whereas the pantry operates with two part-time employees and the dedication

[00:39:27] of hundreds of volunteers who assist daily in receiving, preparing and distributing food every Saturday. This vital work is made possible entirely through donations from the public and parishioners along with occasional small grants as no budgeted funds are allocated for its operation.

[00:39:47] And now, therefore, I, Michelle Davis Younger, and on behalf of the Monassah City Council, hereby recognize the pantry at St. Thomas United Methodist Church and encourage all residents to support its mission, celebrate the dedication of its volunteers, and contribute to efforts that combat food insecurity through acts of service, donations, and community engagement.

[00:40:10] Congratulations. Do you want to have some words? we this is st patrick's day will be 18 years and uh nothing has slowed down in fact we have grown pretty much consistently the last few months in people eating stuff and i don't want to say but we do have eggs um but no no no no you gotta qualify anyway but glad to glad to be of service to the city and we'll continue to be there for a long time say anything about your start

[00:40:52] I was. I got voluntold. I was wanting to do that, so I did it. All I'll say is my biggest fear when we first started was that nobody would come. And that first Saturday, we had two families. So you can see we've grown. Thank you so much. We wanted to get a photo here.

[00:41:33] Next, we have the American Red Cross. I don't know if anyone is here for this one. I don't think there is. I'll just quickly read the proclamation for American Red Cross Month. Whereas during American Red Cross month in March, the city of Manassas proudly celebrates the spirit of humanitarianism and reaffirms its dedication to ensuring that no one faces a crisis alone.

[00:41:54] And whereas the heart of our community is reflected in the compassion of Manassas residents, whose acts of kindness through the Red Cross bring hope and assistance to those in need, continuing the life-saving mission of Clara Barton, who founded the organization over 140 years ago to prevent and alleviate human suffering.

[00:42:14] And whereas every day, ordinary individuals make an extraordinary impact by providing emergency shelter, food and comfort to families affected by disasters, donating life-saving blood for patients battling serious health conditions, supporting military members, veterans, and their families through the challenges of service, applying critical skills like first aid and CPR to save lives, and delivering humanitarian aid worldwide, reuniting loved ones separated by crisis.

[00:42:44] and whereas the generosity volunteerism and support of these selfless individuals strengthen the resilience of our community in recognition of their dedication we honor this march as american red cross month and encourage all to uphold clara barton's guiding words quote you must never think of anything except the need and how to meet it unquote there now therefore i michelle davis younger mayor of the city of manassas on behalf of the manassas city council proclaimed march 2025 as american red cross month and encourages all citizens of the city of manassas

[00:43:19] to actively support and participate in its vital humanitarian mission thank you very much but certainly not least we have the humanity first beat hunger day proclamation mr you know i'm not Hadoula? Okay, Chaudhary is the food pantry ambassador. Welcome. Thank you so much for being here. I'm going to read the proclamation and then you can have a few words if you wish, okay?

[00:43:52] The proclamation reads, whereas according to the USDA in 2023, 47.4 million people in the United States, including 7.2 million children, are battling hunger and living in food insecure households with 3,400 individuals in Manassas City also experiencing food insecurity.

[00:44:16] And whereas the observance of Beat Hunger Day on March 21, 2025, is an opportunity to recognize the hunger experienced by our neighbors and to take action by supporting the work of Humanity First USA, a nonprofit that provides vital and critical services by donating food, volunteering, and raising awareness about hunger issues in Prince William County, Virginia, and in seven other states.

[00:44:41] and whereas the campaign encourages its supporters to skip lunch on march 21st 2025 and donate their lunch money to humanity first usa to feed fellow americans and whereas this organization has hundreds of caring volunteers across the u.s who donate their time vehicles gasoline and energy to deliver hundreds of thousands of meals annually to our fellow citizens in the u.s and whereas humanity first usa is consistently partnering with local food banks and pantries working together to beat hunger now therefore i'm michelle davis younger mayor of the city of manassas virginia and on behalf of the manassas city council do hereby proclaim

[00:45:19] march 21 2025 as humanity first usa beat hunger day and urge every citizen to take time on this day to honor beat hunger day the people that will serve and the volunteers who care for them Our recognition of and involvement in Humanity First USA Beat Hunger Day can enrich our entire community and help combat hunger in America.

[00:45:43] Congratulations on the problem. Hello, everybody. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mayor Younger, esteemed council members, community leaders, and neighbors.

[00:46:03] Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak tonight. Humanity First USA is a humanitarian nonprofit organization established in 2004 as a U.S. 501c. operating in 65 countries worldwide we are committed to safeguarding human life and dignity through human development and disaster relief initiatives that support families in need our programs primarily funded by grassroots efforts and individual donors with additional support

[00:46:36] from corporate matching funds and small grants we take pride in this and efficient use of resources staff ensuring that approximately 90% of donations go directly towards programs and services that transfer lives. Fast to Feed, also known as Donate Your Lunch, is an annual campaign launched by Humanity First USA to combat hunger and food insecurity in the U.S. This initiative takes place during Ramadan, a sacred month of fasting observed by Muslims worldwide.

[00:47:15] It encourages individuals, regardless of faith, to experience fasting, skip a meal, and donate its value to help feed children, mothers, and elders facing hunger in the U.S. Since its launch in 2016, Fast to Feed has grown into a nationwide movement, now entering its ninth year.

[00:47:36] Through your generosity, this campaign has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, directly supporting food insecure families across the country. Since 2004 Humanity First USA food security program has provided over one million meals through nationwide food distribution and hunger relief efforts. Currently we operate eight regular food distribution sites across the U.S. and in 2023 proudly opened our first standalone food pantry in Duluth, Georgia.

[00:48:09] While working alongside local partners, we ensure year-round access to food assistance for those in need. In March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Humanity First USA partnered with Mansour Mosque and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association of South Virginia to launch a local food pantry. Since its establishment, this food pantry has served over 5,040 families,

[00:48:42] distributed over 511,648 meals, including 2,185 home deliveries for families in need, provided 53,000 meals in 2024 along with, oh sorry, along across Prince William County and surrounding areas. Your support makes a difference. By donating the value of just one meal, you can help provide food for those facing hunger in our community. Together, we can raise awareness, inspire action, and bring relief to those in need. Thank you for standing along in the fight

[00:49:21] against food insecurity, because no one should have to go hungry. Get involved, donate today,

[00:49:27] make an impact. Thank you very much. Thank you for that. That moves us along on the agenda to

[00:50:06] the consent agenda motion. I'll call on Vice Mayor Wolfe for that motion. Madam Mayor, I move the consent agenda be approved and the reading of the ordinances dispensed with. Second. We have the motion by Vice Mayor Wolfe, seconded by Councilman Smith, to approve our consent agenda.

[00:50:22] Any discussion? Hearing and seeing none, Ms. Garcia, please call the roll. Vice Mayor Wolfe? Yes. Council Member Smith? Yes. Council Member Osina? Yes. Council Member Vasquez-Luna? See. Council Member Hudson? Yes. The motion carries.

[00:50:38] Thank you so much for that. Moves us forward to item three. We've got public hearings on the agenda for tonight in item 3.1. I first need to read the newspaper advertisement, and we do have sign-up sheets.

[00:50:56] I don't know if anyone has signed up, but we won't miss anyone who's here to speak because I will open the public hearing. But the public hearing sheet is different from the public comment sheet, so make sure you sign up if you haven't already. But if not, it's okay. We won't miss you.

[00:51:11] First, I'll go over the procedures for public hearings. read the newspaper ad certification for public hearing then staff will present the issue for consideration and the council then has the opportunity to ask questions and i will open the public hearing for public comment and will make sure not to miss anyone who wishes to speak regarding a public hearing item and then the public hearing will be either closed which requires a motion or vote or continue to be taken up at the next regularly scheduled council meeting so with that i'll read the newspaper certification right now for public hearing as the mayor i certify that newspaper advertisements for the public hearings listed on tonight's agenda were published in conformance with the requirements of general law

[00:51:51] and city ordinances. As the mayor, I further certify that an affidavit of publication is before me, which is signed by an authorized representative of the Prince William Times newspaper, which states that the advertisements appeared on the required dates. And the first item is 3.1 public hearing for R 2025-615 Pathway Vineyards Church at Church SUP and Audra is here to help us with that good evening thank you madam mayor and good evening council members so first up tonight we have special use permit 2025-0001 for the Pathway Vineyards

[00:52:28] Church this property is located at 9329 Main Street the request is for a place of assembly of 50 or more persons the property is about 0.43 acres in size that zoned B3 city center commercial district with the historic overlay district also and it is designated as a downtown character area in the comprehensive plan and located along a corridor. Surrounding land uses include single family residential offices, a place of worship, the vacant old

[00:52:59] in lot, financial institutions, and a restaurant. So this proposed use is for a congregation with worship space of up to 150 persons. The building was originally constructed as the Manassas Presbyterian Church circa 1875 and previously it had been used as a restaurant and also as office space. Before you is their general development plan. They're not proposing any necessary improvements at this time so you'll see the building and then the parking area on the property. So SAS analysis

[00:53:35] finds that the proposed use does not have a significant impact on surrounding uses and any impacts would be addressed by the conditions of approval the proposed use is considered a place the proposed use of place of assembly is classified as an institutional use and as an appropriate use in the downtown character area there were no significant mobility concerns regarding the traffic no TIA was required and there is an on-site parking area which provides 22 parking spaces in addition to that there is the abundance of public parking within walking distance. One of the nearest lots is the City Hall lot here. As part of

[00:54:13] their application, the applicant did submit to us a parking exhibit. This very well illustrates all the public parking available within the downtown area. So conditions of use include that condition number one will be limited to the place of assembly, 50 or more persons, and requires the occupancy to be in conformance with the building code. Condition two requires compliance with the SUP plan. Condition three will require that drop-offs and pickup activities occur on-site. Condition four requires lighting to be down shielded. Condition five prohibits the use of an exterior public address or bill system. Condition

[00:54:51] six requires a copy of the SUP permit to be included with lease agreements and city applications. Condition seven requires compliance with federal state and local ordinances. And then condition eight does address the existing violations on the property and that the applicant is going to be responsible for for the abatement of those violations.

[00:55:09] And then condition number nine requires an approved certificate of occupancy and building permit prior to occupying the premises. So staff's recommendations is at the applicant's proposal with the proposed mitigating conditions that sufficiently mitigates negative land use impacts on the existing patterns of development.

[00:55:26] The planning commission unanimously recommended approval at the February 5th hearing. And staff also recommends approval of the requested special use permit as conditioned. And with that, we do request that, if appropriate, you close the public hearing tonight and take action on SCP-2025-0001.

[00:55:46] And with that, I stand ready for any questions. Thank you so much for that. Any questions of Mr. Rossino? Thank you, Mayor. So, first of all, I note about mobility, meaning about driving, but what are the requirements for this building to be ADA compatible, meaning for people to get in and out?

[00:56:17] For it to be ADA compatible. So they are proposing to put an ADA ramp at one of the entrances because it was brought to attention that the current entrance is not accessible necessarily. So that is something that they are going to address and to make it ADA compliant to access the building.

[00:56:34] And that ramp is going to go in from the parking lot area into the building. the building so what about are there any requirements within the interior of the building because as you know you know there's an in the main set what I would call the former sanctuary you know it's an upper level there's a lower level and then when it connects to the back part those are different different heights there are steps along the way and I can see my recollection that when it was last used as a restaurant you could get in from the back but only to

[00:57:11] the back portion from the back parking lot I'm not sure you could get into the the upper part where the front steps go up unless unless you were able to to walk steps so as far as the interior renovations go the church is going to to renovate the interior to to be ADA friendly and that will be done through a building permit process what is the difference between ADA friendly and ADA

[00:57:43] compatible yeah the applicant can can address that for you if you give us a moment all right well because they do have some other questions that are on other topics go ahead please if you don't mind that's okay mayor good evening my name is Jessica Pfeiffer I'm a senior planner with Walsh Colucci Lublai and Walsh just to move forward here so this is the front of the building and then

[00:58:22] what you see in the bottom corner is the rear of the building so what What Audra was talking about is a ramp from that location you see where the hedges have a break to the back door, because this building is very old, and even in some areas that are on the same floor, there's still a step down.

[00:58:39] So what the church is doing immediately is putting in that ramp that you can see in that rear location.

[00:58:54] But to fully answer your question, this is a floor plan that you can see here. And ultimately, what the church wants to do in a future phase, which they will come back before you for a special use permit amendment, is where the existing kitchen is.

[00:59:12] See that gray addition? They would like to get a certificate of appropriateness from the architectural review board to remove that and put in an elevator. But until that is done, they are going to meet in a location that can be accessed. this existing ballroom location that can be accessed through that ramp in the back so that it will be ada compliant thank you thank you very much for that explanation there

[00:59:44] there's met a mention in your powerpoint there of a drop-off site what what is that and where would that be in the parking lot area it's just to ensure that nobody's stopping in the roadways to drop somebody off or pick somebody up?

[01:00:01] When there was a look at parking, and I believe what is referenced for parking is that there is, you know, the parking spaces I'll call behind the building there, but then there would be on-street parking, there's parking, you know, parking deck and so forth and so on along the way, was given the fact that I'm assuming this church will be the most people will be showing up on Sunday. At the same time, other

[01:00:35] churches will be a meeting along appropriately named Church Street. So there are other churches along the way here. Any recognition is the only word I can think of, but there are already other churches that are meeting approximately in the same time here. And having as 50 or The building, I believe, can accommodate up to 150.

[01:01:07] So all these additional vehicles, where in this analysis of parking, was that taken into account? Or did you merely look at, we have this number of spaces they could easily fit here? So when staff looked at the application and did our review, we looked at the abundance of parking in downtown within walking distance to the site.

[01:01:31] The other churches located in the downtown area are already utilizing public parking. it's my understanding that there is still parking available even with those church services meeting and so again staff didn't feel it necessary to require that we place a condition on this limiting the size or occupancies due to the availability of parking. And then lastly for the residents who are adjacent to this property what because I do not believe that there are parking restrictions along those streets there what would be the impact for them with

[01:02:11] the addition of a church coming in and having having services there if the on-street parking is public parking then so they would they they could quite possibly could potentially there was an available parking spot so they they if I understand correctly they could be parking along the the adjacent residential streets there, such as Mathis and what would that be?

[01:02:38] Quarry. What was that? Quarry. Yes. Okay. Very good. All right. Thank you very much, Mayor. Appreciate it. Any other questions? Mr. Wolfe. Yeah, I will just attest as having two churches that are within a half block of my house, the competition for residential parking streets during church services is significant.

[01:03:00] There is a church caddy corner from the property. Do the proposed SUP conditions with regard to parking and mobility mirror and match those that will run Unitarian?

[01:03:17] They do not. This is the first special use permit in the downtown area for a place of assembly in quite some time. That special use permit for the adjacent church was approved a long time ago, and so conditions have changed since then.

[01:03:33] so we should go back and change their conditions I don't think we can do that all right so when the people will bull run Unitarian come up and say why do they have different conditions than ours that have been opposed in that we are operating under your answer is because the sites are different the properties are different very good thank you any other questions and I don't know if the applicant wants to come back up and maybe

[01:04:03] Good evening. To formally introduce myself, Madam Mayor and council members, I am Jessica Pfeiffer, a senior planner at Walsh, Colucci, Lubli, and Walsh here on behalf of Pathway Vineyard Church, the contract purchaser of the property.

[01:04:23] Here with me tonight is Pastor Cornel Gallicay, as well as board members and our civil engineer, Darren Smith. This is a special use permit for a place of assembly for a church that wants to move into the city from Prince William County.

[01:04:42] Three Monkeys Pub was located here and closed in May 2023. The building has been vacant since that time. This special use permit will be bringing back a church use at 9329 Main Street. Oh, I'm one ahead of myself.

[01:04:58] The applicant is not making any changes to the architecture of the existing building, only repairs. Those repairs include existing issues of windows, molding, and fences. This is an aerial of the property.

[01:05:14] It shows you what is existing today. This is our existing conditions plan, and you can see that that ramp in the back is not there from the parking lot through the patio to that back door. This is our improvement plan.

[01:05:31] The current church size is about 75 people. Current attendance ranges from 40 to 65 people at services, and they are anticipating that services will be on Sundays at 10 a.m. for approximately two hours.

[01:05:53] We are putting in bike racks, as you can see from that plan. I did want to address a couple things about the parking. We do have 22 parking spaces on site. Since we are in the downtown area, zero parking spaces are required.

[01:06:08] We did receive the very good suggestion that we reach out to Bull Run Unitarian Universalists and we did reach out to them. They had very warm welcoming messages, welcoming us into the community. We do plan to continue to discuss with them. They were also invited to our community meeting, which was held on January 9th. No one came to attend that meeting except these fine folks from the church and myself.

[01:06:35] Also, you did ask a question about the on-street spots. I just wanted to clarify that the numbers on this parking analysis do not include those on-street spots. So they are there. They can be used as parking. But when we say, for example, that there are 206 parking spots, so the 900 feet, that does not include the on-street spots.

[01:07:02] This is our trip generation comparison. we did not need to do a traffic impact analysis but we did prepare this just to give an idea of the difference in trips between the previous restaurant and the proposed use and what it really comes down to is an estimated vehicles per day on sunday of a restaurant of 668 vehicles per day and then an estimated vehicles per service which could is approximately 80 vehicles per service we did hold that community meeting on thursday january 9th i believe about 35 people

[01:07:38] were invited we received that list from city staff for that invitation and we did not receive any comments or questions and no one was in attendance staff is recommending approval and the planning commission also recommended approval i am now going to ask those in support of the special use permit to stand and show their support. I thought this might be preferred over three minutes each.

[01:08:07] Yes, thank you. So this is Pathway Vineyard Church, which is very excited to be part of this community and to give this church building some much-needed love. We are seeking your action this evening to be able to meet contractual needs if the council has the will to do that. I'm available for questions. Thank you so much. Questions, Ms. Hudson. Thank you for that presentation.

[01:08:36] You mentioned bike racks. Will those be accessible to the public outside of church hours? I would assume so. They're going to be in the public right-of-way. Okay, great. Thank you. Any other questions from them? Mr. Osima. I do have a question for staff, so I get in queue for that at some point. So the community meeting, tell me who was invited to it. The whole list of who was

[01:09:12] invited? The community meeting on January 9th. I don't know the individual names, but I mean how you... It's neighboring properties within 200 feet of the property. We pull that from our GIS database and then send the list to the applicant to... I always have trouble with distance. So 200 feet uh toward mathis how far would that get me down to mathis would that get me to the all the way down to mathis avenue 200 feet from the church border give me something comparable for

[01:09:51] of 200 feet what i guess i'm really after or how far down quarry would this take me um it would take you to about the edge of this image i'm sorry say that was the edge of the image very good so that it looks like it would go all the way down to mathis there so i'm assuming the residences along the multi-family and the single-family residents would have received notice invited to that here was was any correspondence received from any of them no any questions we have not received any comments from from the public regarding that in in the notice for the community

[01:10:30] meeting did it just say that there's an applicant for this this particular property or did it elucidate some of some of the things that would be going on there so the community meeting notice is actually put together by the applicant um we do have standards that they they have to say where where the application is occurring at so the address um what it is for and then a general overview of it and the time and date and location that's accessible to meet at um is a copy uh here at this meeting that i might see yes i can get you a copy uh along the way a digital copy you know

[01:11:09] That's good. Again, I was just curious. All right. Very good. That's all I got right now. Thank you. Thank you. Did you need to say it? Councilman Smith. I would like to say it. Yes. Go ahead. Thank you.

[01:11:28] I'll just note that there was a five-level parking garage. Oh, there you are. Sorry. I dropped things. I was looking for Chief Keene to find my eyes. There is a five level parking garage, roughly three blocks away, right? Three and a half blocks. And going to church at 10 o'clock, I would imagine people would walk pretty rapidly, so they won't be late. And after church, they'd be quite happy, and they'd be glad to walk the three blocks back to the parking garage.

[01:12:04] But I'm curious to note that, do you recall the Old Town Inn had a restaurant very popular for breakfasts Sunday mornings? Do you recall whether the Just Closed restaurant had a brunch around the time that the other church would have been in service?

[01:12:29] I know the one craddles across the street from the Bull Run Church certainly had breakfasts. I was just wondering if both restaurants at some point during that time also brought customers into that area and parking seemed to have been accommodated when they were in operation.

[01:12:50] I believe it was. Well, anyway, let me just note that I believe it was. There was a significant enough traffic that they stayed in business for a while. Thank you. Ms. Vasquez. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I would like to ask, I don't know if there is any information in the past, when there was a church, how did they do with the parking before? I don't know if it was, I know it's too, too long, but I still feel like I wanted to, it's been too long.

[01:13:26] Yeah, going to the off-site parking exhibit, and I think that's the one right there. There is, you know, many concerns. I mean, Sunday is heavy traffic. I do, you know, have the concern about the other churchgoers, especially if there's, you know, the same starting time.

[01:13:49] My concern with the candy factory lot is that, you know, that also has restaurants and different, you know, use. It's always busy and, you know, taking that into consideration with these numbers.

[01:14:07] I worry, and my last concern will be when it comes to the Main Street, whether if, you know, the church courts will be, you know, parking in the north side, which is not showing in there, because I have seen, you know, Sunday morning, I have seen the traffic in that area and the other businesses.

[01:14:35] So I'm concerned, and going back to, I think it was the nine or 10 different requests. Is that normal?

[01:14:51] I don't know. Maybe I was feeling that it was, you know, more than usual. I got to look at the PowerPoint. My apologies. I think it's nine different, oh no, see, I'm almost there.

[01:15:14] The conditions. It says nine different conditions, and I'm just wondering if this is, you know, a little bit more than usual. You know, I just felt like it was more than usual. There are a few more due to the condition number eight.

[01:15:32] But for a place of assembly, these are fairly standard conditions that we place on them. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Any other questions or comments? Okay. Well, the public hearing is now open, and I do have one person signed up to speak.

[01:15:52] Did you have something else? Can I clarify one thing? I'm not sure that the bike racks will be in the public right-of-way. It will be next to the sidewalks. That will be determined at site plan, but it will be very close to the sidewalks. Thank you. One person signed up to speak, but we won't miss anyone.

[01:16:10] I have Diane Lane, if you want to come on down. Hello, ma'am. Good morning, Madam Mayor and Council Members. My name is Diane Lane. I'm a resident of the city of the Manassas, and I'm also a member of Bull Run Unitarian Universalist.

[01:16:28] So as you recall, back in October, you celebrated Bull Run's 40 years in the city with a proclamation celebrating our commitment to the community, our food pantry, and all the services we do bring to our community. My concern is around parking.

[01:16:44] The majority of our time this past 40 years, that church has not been a church. It has been a restaurant. It has been office space, etc. The traffic study mentioned is flawed. To compare a traffic study of a seven-day restaurant from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. or midnight against three hours on a Sunday concentrated in a very small area is flawed.

[01:17:09] We have been a member of Mount Nassau City for those 40 years. Good neighbors. We certainly are interested in having new neighbors adjacent to us, but the parking situation is not tenable. 22 spaces.

[01:17:25] two of which are going to be dedicated to accessible and in the study presented by the parking by staff shows that they're still short 18 spots so that means at a minimum assuming four people travel on cars that they're going to be short 18 spots every sunday bull run is comprised of families singles and many seniors who are over the age of 75. the idea of the additional walk the additional stress during this time frame is quite concerning. Most churches are contracting

[01:18:01] because of membership. Anything that puts a barrier to easy access to a community such as Bull Run is going to reduce our membership and reduce our ability to serve the greater Manassas community. Respectfully, I request that the applicant's special use permit condition 3 be modified to include language similar to Bull Runs, which is 2006, SUP 2000-06, number 6.

[01:18:30] Blue has a requirement for a notice of identifying parking near the facility shall be included on all permits and leases. That is telling anyone who's going to be coming to the church that there are parking structures to be used as recommended locations in order to minimize impact on the existing community, including Bull Run members.

[01:18:50] Thank you very much for your time. Thank you, ma'am. Anyone else that wishes to speak on this matter? Come on down. Mark Hempen. Hi, my name is Mark Hempen.

[01:19:10] I've lived here in the city since 1981. Small business owner and a member of Bull Run Unitarian Universalist. On first Fridays, if you look at the traffic and the parking that goes down Main, Battle, and West, especially when it gets into the spring and summer, Those whole neighborhoods are completely blocked with parking.

[01:19:40] And, you know, once the construction starts with whatever is going in where the old town inn used to be, that's also going to be another parking issue.

[01:19:58] As a member of OTBA, I don't think a meeting goes by without somebody talking about the parking. And it's just the problem of what we have in the city.

[01:20:15] And to say, well, now this one church wants to have its, you know, can we keep a church out because it might take some parking away from us? Personally, I don't think so. And I was sitting back there, and I remember what Zerk White said back, I don't know if many people remember Zerk White.

[01:20:38] But he said that that building would never support a restaurant or any other business because it was a church. And it was a church of faith and a church of God. And I was just thinking, you know, I'm sure Zerk is probably listening to this going, yeah, that's what I said, you know.

[01:21:00] So as a member of this community, to know that everyone, Old Town businesses and, you know, the other churches and other community, you know, that goes on, the neighborhoods already have issues with traffic.

[01:21:23] And I know some people are probably going to be mad at me at the church, but I think to stop a neighbor from their faith, because we may have some parking issues when we have a parking garage, you know, a block and a half away, I don't agree with other members that think this is a bad idea.

[01:21:51] Thank you, sir. Thank you. Anyone else? Mr. Pace, come on down. That's pretty nice, huh?

[01:22:13] Good evening, sir. Howdy, folks. I'm Brian Pace. I've lived in this city since 22, and I'm also a member of Bulgarian Unitarian Universalists. I don't have prepared remarks. I actually find myself agreeing with both of my congregants, fellow congregants, in that I'm here to first say welcome.

[01:22:34] City Manassas is a wonderful place. We're happy you're here. We just got to get this right. That's basically to everybody's interest to make sure that the parking works. Y'all got to park too. And so I'm optimistic that we can do that. And I just wanted to mention that we are not trying to push you out. We just got to make sure we do this right.

[01:22:57] Thank you. Thank you so much. Anyone else that wishes to address on public hearing time okay if not is there a motion madam mayor i scheduled we close the public hearing and schedule for a vote this evening second okay we have the motion by vice mayor wolf and seconded by councilwoman vasquez luna to close the public hearing any discussion mr wolf i will move adoption of the SUP with one amendment and I make sure staff I actually have the identifying verbiage

[01:23:37] that is the same as in the bull run universalist SUP which is a notice identifying parking near the facility shall be included on all permits and leases period end of story I would move the adoption with that. One change. Second. Okay. But don't we have to close first? Oh, I'm sorry.

[01:24:08] You're right. I'll let you go on. I mean, you are the vice mayor. I am going. So no discussion on closing the public hearing. Ms. Vasquez Luna does have something. I would like to say, you know, I'm happy to see, you know, a place to go back and be in a church.

[01:24:32] At the same time, you know, I believe that, you know, being a good neighbor, you know, we can work together. This highlights an issue that we have had for a few years, and it will get a little worse before it gets better, because those, the parking spot at the, and I know it wasn't highlighted, the parking spot currently at the former Old Town Inn will go away. So knowing that is another reminder that we need to urgently work on that parking building in this side. So the reason why

[01:25:10] I bring it up is because it might be a few years but it might be another option to fix this parking issue for Sunday morning. Thank you. Any other discussion? I'll just say rounding it out. I've met with you all a couple of times and thank you for doing the homework and reaching out to the community because that is so important that we hear from the people that are most affected in the area and that and I'm glad to see that Brew is welcoming as well and it's to me you can't ever have too many churches but being that close together you do need to make sure they all get

[01:25:48] along it does does set an example and thank you for um everyone who spoke um for the public hearing but i'm looking forward to welcoming you welcoming you to the community and i am also glad that it is going back to being in church which i think i have said a few times to you all so okay um no other discussion points and miss garcia you can call the roll please vice mayor wolf yes council Council member Vasquez Luna? Yes.

[01:26:17] Council member Smith? Yes. Council member Osina? Yes. Council member Hudson? Yes. The motion carries. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for being here and taking care of that. Woo-hoo. Y'all clap. We closed the hearing.

[01:26:35] We're glad it's closed, but that's okay. We got to vote on. So now the vote, the motion. Madam Mayor, I will move the approval of the SUP with one proviso, adding a clause subject to acceptance by the applicant, again, matching the clause that exists in the BRU SUP, a notice identifying parking near the facility shall be included in all permits and leases. Second is amended.

[01:27:04] We have the motion by Vice Mayor Wolfe, seconded by Councilman Vasquez-Luna to approve that item and any discussion on that? Hearing and seeing that. Just one. Can you clarify, just the matter of posting it on the property or sign or so?

[01:27:24] Again, it says, a notice identifying parking near the facility, so I assume that would be a note or an e-mail or something of a similar effect, shall be included in all permits and leases. So if the church were to be using, leasing out the space or permitting a special event, then there would have to be disclosure to the public and the lease or the permit or of available parking.

[01:27:54] That's the clarification I was seeking. Thank you. Any discussion points on that item? Okay. Not now. Ms. Garcia. Call the roll. I'll be advice. Mayor Wolfe? Yes. Council Member Vasquez Luna? Yes. Council Member Smith?

[01:28:09] Yes. Councilmember Osina? Yes. Councilmember Hudson? Yes. And the motion carries. Okay, now you can clap again. Thank you all for coming out tonight. Appreciate that.

[01:28:25] Okay, now the next item on the agenda. Everybody rolls out. That's it. Thank you. I didn't want to stick around. Have a good night. It's going to be interesting. I'm ready for them. Yep.

[01:28:42] Okay, so item 3.2 on the agenda. Public hearing are 2025-616 Pennington Traditional School, SUP. Andra, still the floor is yours. Yes, next stop. Thank you, Madam Mayor, and hello again, council members.

[01:29:00] So before you now, I have special use permit 2025-0002 for the Pennington Traditional School. So this property is located at 9305 Stonewall Road. This is for an expansion of the existing educational facility, primary or secondary. Properties about 15 acres in size, it is zoned R1 single-family residential low density and airport impact overlay district and is designated in the traditional neighborhood character area of the comprehensive plan and located along a corridor.

[01:29:31] Surrounding land uses are single-family residential, a place of worship, a funeral home, offices and the Prince William County court complex. So the applicant wishes to construct an addition onto the portion of the building fronting Stonewall Road for additional classrooms and administrative spaces the classroom space include music and arts classrooms for standard classrooms and special education classrooms the Pennington traditional school opened in September of 2000 prior to that date this location operated as the new Bennett school since 1969 the students are from Prince William County and the proposal is only anticipated to create a net increase of about 20 students before you

[01:30:10] is their general development plan the dark grade area is the proposed addition and you can see Stonewall Road on the left hand side in addition to the addition to the proposed addition there is also going to be some infrastructure improvements and parking before use the elevations the top elevation is the one that will be facing the parking lot and the bottom elevation is the one that will be facing Stonewall Road there's some renderings of the finished product and staff's analysis is that the proposed use does not have a significant impact on the surrounding uses and any impacts will be

[01:30:48] addressed by conditions of approval this uses an educational facility and it is classified as an institutional use and as an appropriate on larger properties located along corridors in the traditional neighborhood character area again the property is in the traditional neighborhood character area but it does border the downtown character area as that the property is considered a transition in between the two. The southern portion of the property closest to the downtown character area houses the school while the northern property is the open space and recreation area. TIA was not required and a traffic generation report was below the minimum threshold. The proposed parking does meet

[01:31:27] those zoning ordinance standards with 72 parking spaces and depending on funding there is an addition for the potential 14 additionals and the applicant is as dedicating right-of-way along Stonewall Road and Mosby Street for future improvements.

[01:31:43] So some conditions to take under consideration are the condition one limits the use. Condition two and three requires compliance with the GDP and elevations. Condition four does require a landscaping buffer being installed along the shared boundary with the residential properties along Stonewall Road.

[01:31:59] Condition five requires that the memorial garden be rebuilt. Condition six requires that the modular classrooms that are currently there be removed after the new CO is issued. Condition seven requires that all private drop-offs and pickups of students occur on site. Condition eight requires the dedication of the right-of-way.

[01:32:16] Condition 11 and condition 12 were added on on recommendation from the Planning Commission public hearing after public testimony was received. And these two conditions require noise mitigation measures and notice during construction activities.

[01:32:31] And then condition 13 requires the construction site to be fully secured when educational recreational activities are occurring. So with that the applicant's proposal with the proposed mitigating conditions sufficiently mitigates negative land use impacts on the existing patterns of development. The Planning Commission did unanimously recommend approval on their February 5th hearing with the additional conditions related to the construction activity and noise and then staff does also recommend approval of the requested special use permit as as conditioned. And with that, I stand ready for any questions. Thank you, Hutchira. Questions,

[01:33:06] council members? Any questions? Mr. Ossina. Yes. Was a community meeting held with the adjacent property owners? Yes. And when was that held? Give me one moment, please. October 28th, 2024.

[01:33:34] And where was it held? It was held digitally, I believe, and at the school. I'm sorry, where? it was in person at the school did anyone attend yes how many I don't have that number off the top of my head quite a quite a few I believe though and what kind of comments were received from that so I will defer to the applicant because again the community meetings are theirs to hold and facilitate I'll wait

[01:34:03] okay any questions for Andrew any other questions I would like to know what happened to 9 and 10 I think? So it's a summary of conditions on the on the PowerPoint the full list of conditions is in the staff report. What does it mean with a sufficiently mitigated negative line use impact? I'm sorry no I was trying to if you can give me examples about the noise mitigation I think it was. So the

[01:34:42] noise mitigation condition is left a little open for the applicant to at the time make a determination of when they submit to staff. We will review it and determine what would be appropriate based off of that. But the mitigation measures will be something that reduces the noise or assists the neighboring property owners in not being impacted as much by the construction activities occurring. So if we have an increase on complaints, will that be something reviewed through that?

[01:35:17] Yes, if there were complaints, the city would be able to address that through our noise ordinance in the city ordinance. Ms. Hudson. Regarding the construction process, will the construction take place while the students are attending school?

[01:35:36] That would be a question for the applicant, but yes. Okay. The exact details of that would be for them to answer. Okay, I guess I'll wait to ask another question. Okay. Thank you. Questions for Audra? Okay. The applicant representative want to come down and take some questions?

[01:35:51] They do also have a presentation, ma'am. Oh, okay. Good evening. My name is Amy Olenek from Horde-Copeland-Macht.

[01:36:08] We're the architects involved with this project, working with Prince William County Schools. I'm Luke Fetchow. I'm a senior project manager, civil engineer. Okay. Is there anyone here from the county schools? We have Shelly Claiborne and Greg Miller.

[01:36:35] Hi, Shelly Claiborne with Prince William County Schools. Hi, I'm Greg Miller, design and construction, Prince William County Schools. Yeah, thank you. I'm going to start with the generalized development plan, and I'm sorry, I'm a little bit sensitive on this, but it talks about Pennington Traditional School, Classroom Edition, Special Use Permit, City of Manassas, Prince William County, Virginia.

[01:37:00] Where is the school located? It's located in the city of Manassas. Why does it say Prince William County? Because our client is Prince William County Public Schools. It was this, this development is 32,000 square feet, I believe it's being added.

[01:37:21] 27? Yeah, 27 being added. Okay. And for a net of 20 additional students? That's a lot of money for 20 students. I can speak to that. Right now, the classrooms are double, triple used. For instance, the science room is being also used as the music room and also being used for after-school activities.

[01:37:47] The administrative offices are, you know, the principal doesn't have his own office Everybody's in sort of three people to an office. There's no conference room. There's no support space within the administrative office.

[01:38:03] The clinic is remote to the front administrative area. So parents are often having to wander through the schools and not staying within the confines for security in the front of the school.

[01:38:20] Would you like to add on to the reasoning? - Yeah, no, Amy summed it up pretty good. Yeah, right now, like art is done on a cart, basically. So we'd be providing a dedicated art room so they wouldn't have to, you know, limit their activities, 'cause you can only have so much on a cart.

[01:38:44] So same with music, they only have, the science room right now is shared with music, so they really only have one music classroom. So they, I believe they've recently been kicked out of there as well and are doing kind of music on a cart as well.

[01:39:02] So we're providing a dedicated band room and strings room and general choral room. So that's, you know, five rooms right there that will have their own dedicated space and they won't have to share and do double duty with the other classrooms.

[01:39:20] So it limits disruption for the standard educational classrooms and also allows those specials and art and music to provide more options, if you will.

[01:39:37] So that's kind of the... And the number of City of Manassas students that participate in these programs are? That's a good question. I'm sorry. I don't know the answer to that. Well, the answer is none. I can tell you. so more students more buses more traffic uh do you know what the current setback is on the property 35 feet i'm sorry 35 feet the current set oh the current no um what do i think it's i don't know that i have that specifically called out on the plan significantly more than 35 feet it is correct probably more like 100 yeah fair fair guess so this will now be setting much closer

[01:40:16] to the road correct then all the adjacent structures going up stonewall yes i don't all the houses in this residential area? Residential area, that's correct. So the city will bear the impact of all this, the city and its residents. Do you believe it's only one more bus than it currently has? Is that correct? Again, I don't know the exact number of buses that it will increase, but again, we're not anticipating. This is an application process to attend this school, so again, we're not anticipating increasing capacity other than the 20 students that we

[01:40:55] had indicated so yeah so maybe an additional bus and then just some additional parent drop off and pick up so Luke has and that was one of the things that was brought up at the community meeting was being able to kind of address that flow we definitely want to make sure all that occurs on the site so that's why we've added some provisions for additional parking and and then widening the turn lane so that we can separate the bus traffic from the drop-off traffic, keep everyone safe, and keep it on the property.

[01:41:32] Thank you. Any other questions for the applicant? Ms. Hudson. Can you talk a little bit about, during the construction process, how the buses and parents will enter and exit the school? It seems like there's only one entrance in and out. There's only one entrance.

[01:41:52] The service entrance is off the back for the loading dock. so we anticipate that most of the construction traffic will go that way we will have some work across on the other side of the parking lot so we try to coordinate any work that might disrupt the school activities for times when students are out of school summers are always a very busy time especially you know enter winter break spring break that type of thing okay thank you

[01:42:25] So on Stonewall Road, are you proposing a turn-in lane? There's no additional turn lanes proposed off of the right-of-way.

[01:42:41] What we're proposing is an additional lane exiting to provide a free-flow right turn on the Stonewall, or I guess that'd be going north. Tell me that again. So you are not doing an additional turn-in lane whatsoever, and the reason for that is?

[01:43:03] It's not warranted. The traffic counts in the study that was done, it's not warranted to provide a turn lane into the school, and it's not warranted to have a dedicated turn lane out of the school. So what is the traffic counts? What are the traffic counts? Is that in materials that we received?

[01:43:27] It is within the application. Did we receive the application itself? I see. Future, all right, I see. Existing and future site-generated traffic is what you're talking about. Yes. Okay. All right So what lane are you you you adding and where is it located in the interior then?

[01:43:53] Yes, it would be it would be the exit out of the the the main loop in the parking lot from the school the the entrances Being proposed to be wider to allow a left turn and a right turn out of the school facility That will help help alleviate traffic from backing up inside when they're trying to leave the site and Making the operation much more efficient to get traffic through the site during pick-up and drop-off Do buses back up right now on Stonewall Drive turning in?

[01:44:23] We witnessed both pick-up and drop-off operations that we did not see any any significant impact out into the right-of-way and they drop off So when they pull into the school parking lot there, they immediately stop to discharge. Is that correct?

[01:44:44] For drop-off operations, that's correct. Okay, and how many buses can kind of fill that space before they would be in the road? Two buses? Three buses? Four buses? In the morning again, they drop off pretty quickly and it's a pretty free-flowing operation.

[01:45:02] So there isn't very much stacking. The afternoon the buses do park within the loop and stack. in during dismissal the kids board and then they free flow up I got you that it but how many so again to my question how much space is there for buses to line up before they would start to poke out into Stonewall Road I don't I don't have that figure up was that considered at all it hasn't been in an issue that we are aware of so it wasn't it wasn't okay true but we are need to plan for the

[01:45:38] future don't we along the way is is right now how many students attend the school is that like meaning 620 is it 700 620 and so then there would be an additional 20 students making it 640 and the why is there why would be why are more students being added I think it's just in a high demand and it's in order

[01:46:15] to accommodate all the classes, we were able to gain, you know, space for about 20 more students. So has there been consideration on the school level, the school administration level, that after the 20, that there may be another 20 later on and several years later?

[01:46:37] That is not at my level to make that decision, so I don't know. I don't mean a decision, just I said considered. What's the thinking? Yeah, the thinking right now is just to try to not have classrooms doing double duty basically.

[01:46:57] Okay. And provide dedicated classrooms for all programs. So when the renovations, the interior renovations are done, how many students could be accommodated? To be 640. Sorry? 640. No more? And you could not add any more students beyond 640?

[01:47:16] The exact occupancy numbers. The classrooms are actually pretty tight. We kept as many of them as we could, and so they really could not really fit any more students in those classrooms. Okay, very good.

[01:47:31] I appreciate your answer to my questions. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Vesquez-Luna. Yes, what is the current square footage that you have? $625,000 is the current existing square footage.

[01:47:49] Okay, and is there a way to get information on, you know, how many students have been in the last five to ten years to see if they have been at it? You know, this is for, you know, information that will be good for me since right now we're talking about 20.

[01:48:06] But if you're already, you know, very tight and you're using spaces, you might, you know, do that in the future. So 20 might not be, you know, the number. And I think, you know, we're trying to have enough information so we know how this will affect the traffic and how will this affect the property and the neighbors.

[01:48:32] I am very concerned about what seemingly may be a negative land use impact with not only the existing patterns of development that's there, but we don't know yet, I don't think, the impact.

[01:48:52] The county complex is spreading its elbows and about to expand, And that's pretty close to this property, is it not? Has there been any coordinated planning or the impact on that? Particularly getting back to Councilman Luceno's idea about additional lane.

[01:49:12] We don't know yet, right, do we, the impact. We know the impact on our residents that's there now. And that's negative in my mind. We're not aware of any... I'm sorry, can you go into the mic? We're not aware of any plan development at the county complex at this time.

[01:49:30] I'm concerned. Any questions for that? Thank you so much for being here. I appreciate it. The public hearing is now open, and I have one person sign up. I have the sign-up sheet here, but if anyone wants to address, you can.

[01:49:49] I have Alan Muchnick, if you want to come down. Good evening, sir. Good evening, Madam Mayor, members of the council. I'm Alan Muchnick. I live in the city on Park Street. I just found out about this application by looking at the council agenda.

[01:50:07] I didn't follow it previously. I noticed in the presentation that there's a requirement of the applicant to dedicate right-of-way along Mosby Street for future improvements, but those aren't specified in the presentation, so I didn't know what those are. But I'll note that the street grid and the interparcel connectivity around the Pennington traditional school, particularly between Stonewall Road and Mosby Street, is pretty deficient.

[01:50:34] And on the other side of the school, we have the OmniRide bus hub. We have the Manassas Senior Center and, of course, the whole Judicial Center there. And I would suggest, if it's feasible, to require the applicant to provide a special use permit for this application, to require a dedicated and perpetually maintained ADA-compliant pedestrian access easement, preferably along the south side of the parcel between Stonewall Road and Mosby Street.

[01:51:08] I don't think the current parcel goes all the way up to the intersection of Stonewall and West Courthouse, but it's pretty close. So anyway, that's just my suggestion, if that's a feasible condition to be added. Thank you for your consideration.

[01:51:26] Thank you, Mr. Muchnick. Anyone else wish to address Council during this public hearing time on this matter? Okay, if not? Madam Mayor, we've closed the public hearing and scheduled for a vote at our next regularly scheduled meeting.

[01:51:42] Second, we have the motion by Vice Mayor Wolfe, seconded by Councilwoman Hudson to close the public hearing and vote at our next regularly scheduled council meeting. Any discussion here? Yes, Madam Mayor, I wish this hearing wasn't closed because I believe there is a lot more to learn.

[01:52:00] There is too many if or too many things that can be changed. So, you know, I understand, but, you know, I would like for that to continue to give, you know, the public an opportunity to weigh in this. Thank you.

[01:52:16] Okay, thank you. Any other discussion points? Okay, if not, Ms. Garcia, please call the roll. Vice Mayor Wolfe? Yes. Councilwoman Hudson? Yes. Councilmember Smith? Yes. Councilmember Osino?

[01:52:32] Yes. Councilmember Vasquez Luna? No. The motion carries. Okay, thank you. All right. That moves us forward to item 3.3, public hearing number 0-2025-617, REM Investment Group, REZ, the rezoning.

[01:52:53] Christian is here to help us with that. Welcome, sir. Good evening. Thank you, Madam Mayor, members of the council. Tonight, I'm presenting the staff report for REZ 2025-1. This is a city-initiated rezone requesting a rezone at 9700 Capitol Court.

[01:53:08] From I-1 light industrial and AOD to B-1 business office and AOD. It's a 3.12 acre parcel located within the Godwin technology character area. So you've had some of these re-zones before where the city has initiated them and this is part of an ongoing program where we identify industrially zoned parcels as guided by our comprehensive plan and working with property owners to change them to a more appropriate zoning district. In this case would we feel would be B-1 business office.

[01:53:40] The location map before you has city owned property to the east. Directly south of the proposed rezone is a multi-tenant building that was subject to another city initiated rezone last year, very similar to this one. And then to the west would be Prince William County, but that would be restaurants adjacent to it.

[01:54:00] So as I mentioned, the comprehensive plan does recommend rezoning industrially zoned property where the location is not appropriate. And in this case, this is a three-story office building, and it was built prior to 2015. In 2015, the zoning ordinance was changed to prohibit office uses within the industrial zones.

[01:54:19] And so this rezone is to enable office uses, which are currently prohibited in the I-1 zone. So our analysis, we found that this should actually have a positive impact on the surrounding area by removing non-compatible industrial uses. The uses around, as you see, there's an office building directly south.

[01:54:36] that area itself there's vacant land that could be potentially office buildings. There's office buildings further south. And so the B1 zone does allow for uses that are more compatible with the existing building and site design. And rezoning industrial land to more appropriate districts is recommended by the comprehensive plan. Traffic impact studies are not required since there's no change to, no changes in use proposed at the rezone. So it's just pretty straightforward. So we feel that the proposal doesn't, by the nature of

[01:55:13] rezoning it, sufficiently mitigates negative land use impacts. The Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval at last Wednesday's Planning Commission hearing and we are recommending approval of, let's just say rezone my apologies so anyway um with that i stand for questions it's been it's been a couple weeks thank you so much for that questions council members for christian on this item any questions okay if not thank you thank you motion

[01:55:48] public hearing sorry i'm messing up crazy tonight i have no one signed up matt i got i got the sheet is anyone here to speak on this matter the public hearing is now open anyone that wishes to address council on this issue this item if not now i will i will madam mayor move to close the public hearing schedule for a vote at our next regular scheduled meeting second we have the motion by vice mayor woe seconded by her councilwoman vasquez luna um to close right is that we're doing yes closing the public hearing to hear this item in our next scheduled um council meeting

[01:56:26] Public hearing O, 2025-617. Any discussion? Hearing and seeing none, Ms. Garcia, please call the roll. Vice Smearwolf? Yes. Councilwoman Vasquez Luna? Yes. Councilmember Smith? Councilmember Osina?

[01:56:42] Yes. Councilmember Hudson? Yes. The motion carries. All right, thank you. That brings us forward to item four, ordinances and resolutions. Item 4.1 is resolution number R, 2025-620, amending the fiscal year 2025 budget by budgeting and appropriating $254,082.65 of Virginia Department of Aviation Grants funds for the Manassas Regional Airport.

[01:57:06] And Mr. Rivera is here to help us with that. Good evening, sir. Good evening, Madam Mayor, Members of Council, Mr. Burke. The resolution you have before you represents three grants that we receive through the Department of Aviation approved by the Virginia Aviation Board totaling the amount of $254,082.65 One of the grants is for airfield marking and striping.

[01:57:33] Total project cost, $224,375.05. The state grant would be the $201,937.55, which leaves the airport's share $22,437.50.

[01:57:49] The second grant is to remove manual gates that are located at the airport. What we have found as we move towards commercial service is we have way too many entrance points onto the airport. So these will remove these manual gates and replace them with the fabric and the appropriate amount of barbed wire.

[01:58:11] $40,000 project, $36,000 in state funding, grant funding, $4,000 local or airport share. And the last grant is to change pedestrian gates on the west side to electronic readers.

[01:58:27] right now we have the punch system not very efficient total cost seventeen thousand nine hundred thirty nine dollars state grant is the sixteen thousand one hundred forty five dollars and ten cent local share airport share is one thousand seven hundred ninety three dollars and ninety cents again a total of two hundred and fifty four thousand eighty two dollars and sixty five cent in state funding for these projects at the airport I stand ready to to answer any questions you may have.

[01:58:57] - Thank you, Mr. Rivera. Questions, council members, any questions? Ms. Vasquez, no more. - Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just wanted to ask, 'cause I looked at the tentative allocations on the fourth one, and it was for runway 16L 34R for the Crack Seal.

[01:59:15] Was that no order, or did we see that before? - We were able to fund that with existing funding, so we didn't need to budget and appropriate that. - Thank you. Any other questions? Is there a motion? Mayor, I move to approve resolution R-2025-620, amending the fiscal year 2025 budget and budgeting and appropriating $255,082.64.

[01:59:44] Second. Other motion by Councilwoman Vasquez Luna, seconded by Councilwoman Hudson to approve resolution number R-2025-620. Any discussion? Hearing and seeing none, Ms. Garcia, please call the roll.

[01:59:59] Yes. Council Member Hudson. Yes. Vice Mayor Wolfe. Yes. Council Member Smith. I thought she said, did you say Ocina? Smith. Oh, okay.

[02:00:17] Council Member Ocina. We are often confused for each other here. Yes. And the motion carries. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Rivera. All right, moving forward. Next is public comment time on the agenda, Item 5. At this time, we welcome residents who wish to speak about services, policies, and affairs of the city of Manassas government because we want to ensure we hear from everyone we have provided a timer and ask that comments be limited to three minutes we appreciate the time you have taken to be here we treat resident comments as a public hearing and we do not engage in back and

[02:00:52] forth conversations with speakers the lack of an immediate response to your comments from the mayor council members or the city manager from the dais should not be taken as a lack of interest or concern. We have staff members who are taking notes of your concerns and will address them accordingly. We ask that you please be respectful when presenting your comments. I do not have anyone signed up, but if there's anyone who wishes to address council, public comment time is now open. Okay. Nobody wishes to speak. So that moves us forward to item six, authorizing our closed meeting. I'll

[02:01:28] call on Mr. Brown for that resolution. Good evening, Madam Mayor, members of council you have one item scheduled for a closed session discussion tonight that's the discussion of qualifications of applicants for appointment to city boards and commissions that discussion can take place in a closed meeting to convene a closed session i recommend adoption of resolution number r-2025-638 resolution authorizing a closed meeting of city council i had the number different

[02:02:05] i think the number is an error on the agenda the actual agenda yeah on my ipad it was 605 so i apologize okay men and mayor move adoption resolution 2025-638 second we have the motion by vice mayor wolf seconded by councilman vasquez luna to approve resolution number r 2025-638 authorizing our closed meeting any discussion hearing and seeing none miss garcia please call of the world vice mayor wolf yes council member vasquez luna yes council member smith council member osina yes council member hudson yes the motion carries okay thank you we'll proceed in our

[02:03:07] thank you mayor immediately following the closed session state law requires that you certify

[02:09:52] that only matters identified in the motion convening a closed session and matters which are exempt from public meeting requirements were heard discussed or considered in the closed session That certification is contained in Resolution No. R-2025-637, Resolution Certifying a Closed Meeting of City Council, which I recommend for your adoption.

[02:10:15] Thank you. Madam Mayor, I move to certify the closed meeting. Second. We have a motion by Vice Mayor Wolfe, seconded by Councilwoman Vasquez-Luna, to approve Resolution No. R-2025-637, Certifying a Closed Meeting. Any discussion?

[02:10:31] Hearing and seeing none, Ms. Garcia, please call the roll. Vice Mayor Wolf? Yes. Council Member Vasquez-Luna? Yes. Council Member Smith? Yes. Council Member Osina? Yes. Council Member Hudson? Yes. The motion carries. Thank you so much, Mr. Osina. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

[02:10:49] I'd like to move the adoption resolution dash, excuse me, R-2025-639, making appointments to boards, committees, and commissions that we, that City Council, City of Manassas makes the following appointments. Reappoint Brian Pace to the Board of Equalization as a regular member for a full term beginning July 1, 2025 and ending June 30, 2029. Appoint Charlie Sweet to the Board of Zoning Appeals as an alternate member for a partial term ending June 30, 2027. Appoint

[02:11:25] Jean Humbrecht to the Manassas Business Council as a regular member for a partial term ending June 30th, 2027. Appoint Louis Loarte to the Parks and Rec Committee as an alternate member for a partial term ending June 30th, 2027. Appoint Jeff McWhirt to the Social Services Board as a regular member for a full term ending June 30th, 2029. And appoint Robert Malden to the Local Board of Building Code Appeals as a regular member for a full term ending June 30th,

[02:11:59] 2029. Is there a second? Second. We have the motion by Councilman Osina, seconded by Councilman Vasquez-Luna, approving the resolution as read.

[02:12:15] Any discussion? Hearing and seeing none, Ms. Garcia, please call the roll. Councilmember Osina? Yes. Councilmember Vasquez-Luna? Yes. Vice Mayor Wolfe? Yes. Councilmember Smith? Yes. Councilmember Hudson yes the motion carries all right great thank you so much for that anything else to come before the council if not we are adjourned

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